First off, Tervigons. (Or, Proof that Games Workshop hates you.) These guys are vraiment difficile de tuer. (Pardon my French.) There are only two good techniques I have thought of for fighting them. The first one is a Warboss, mounted on a Warbike, armed with a Power Klaw. Make sure you get the chance to assault the Tervigon, and it will die. You might lose the Warboss, but you also will keep him from spawning more gaunts, giving Feel No Pain, and causing the nearby aliens to become super-warriors. The other one is Deffkoptas with Rokkits and Buzzsaws. Soften up the target with your rokkits and then hack it apart in close combat. However, the problem with these is that it often costs equal or more than the Tervigon just to kill it.

The Tyrannofex is another big nasty that is hard to kill. Rokkits dont work, and it is really hard to kill in CC. I find the only way to kill it is mass fire, or Meganobz. Huge amounts of power attacks are the best.

First off, when using Nobz against Tyranids, here are a couple of words of advice: They kill everything, and nothing can kill them, with three exceptions I have found: Carnifaxes, (because they are S9-10 on the charge, so they cause instant death,) Tyranid Warriors, (because of high initiative and bonesabres,) and Tyrannofexes, (once again due to instant-death causing.) With a unit of 10 Nobz and a warboss, (two power klaws plus the warboss’s,  a couple of big choppas, painboyz, cyborks and armor all around, and a waaagh! banner,) I charged a Hive Tyrant, a Carnifax, and a Tervigon. Only the Carnifax caused a death. (Also, all 3 Nidz died in 2 turns of combat.) Then, he charged me with his THIRD carnifax and killed my warboss. (caused instant death.) My Nobz killed it, and then took a third objective, (out of five,) winning me the game.

Another technique that is killer against horde Nidz is burnas. I had two burnas in a unit of kommandos who outflanked. I ended up next to a unit of Genestealers, and with one turn of firing from the burnas, I killed ten of them. I shudder to think how much damage I would of caused if I had nine or ten in a battlewagon. (Actually I don’t shudder. It sounds awesome.) They also are good for cracking through MC’s, but that is just a bonus.

First off, their cost. This is the greatest advantage of regular warbikers. They are 20-30 points cheaper per model, depending on what upgrades you give the Biker Nobz. (Cybork bodies is a must, by the way.) So for this, Warbikers win. However, you also have to consider…

Survivability. While they both have the same toughness and armor, Biker Nobz have a couple of advantages over Warbikers when it comes to survivability. They have two wounds, Cybork bodies, and Feel No Pain. (You are taking a painboy, right?) This means that they will survive at least twice as long as Warbikers, against most fire. So, Biker Nobz are better in this aspect. Then again, they also have better…

Kill ratio. Orks are good in close combat. It is a proven fact. They are WS4, S3, furious charge, and have 3 attacks each, 4 on the charge. (2 close combat weapons.) They only have I2, but that is made up for by a ridiculous number of models. Warbikers have all of this, and will always get the charge because of their bikes. Biker Nobz, however, have all of this and more. They have S4, I3, and 4 attacks each, 5 on the charge. Not only that, but with a Waaagh! banner, they are WS5, and you can take extra weapons so that they are higher strength, or even have Power Klaws. They can dish out huge damage. So they win this category. Then, we have to consider…

Unit size. Nobz can take up to 10 models in a unit, Warbikers can take 12. So, not much difference here.

Lastly, cost. Yes, this is the same as the first category, but here I am referring to real-world cost. Warbikers are really expensive, at 40 bucks for 3 of them. However, you would think that Biker Nobz would cost even more. Not so. You can get just bikes off of eBay for around 20-25 bucks for three of them, so a total of around 45 bucks for 6 bikes. Then, add a Nobz sprue, and you have a 70 dollar kit for 6 Biker Nobz. The same number of regular Warbikers actually costs more than the Biker Nobz. (I actually got some of those bikes.) So, yeah, Biker Nobz are better here too.

So, all in all, I think that Biker Nobz are a great deal, and pretty powerful on the board. They can be killed with enough firepower, and are a bit costly, but for the most part they are well worth the cost.

My army box:

My Warboss on a War-trike:

A few lootas:

A Big Mek:

And lastly, a Warphead:

As opposed to hoarding against them, or using just a bunch of AP 3-2 blast weapons, try this: Mimicry. Marines are basically super-tough warriors, with great armor. So, make your orks just like them. This is mostly a fun-based strategy, but it works. Instead of normal boyz, use ‘ard boyz. They are tougher, and their armor will make them far more durable. Nobz are a great choice to counter almost any close combat unit. Meganobz as opposed to terminators. A Shokk Attack Gun instead of a Thunderfire Cannon. Battlewagons in the place of Land Raiders. Just make sure everything is as tough as you can make it, and marine-like. Just for fun.

(Note: It is kind of ironic, because of my recent post on power-gaming, but I used Ghazkull Thraka. Just wanted to say I made sure that was okay with my opponent first, and I only did that to try out him with my meganobz, since I just finished modeling them and hadn’t used Ghazkull with them before.)

Anyways…

Here is my list:

(Once again, 99% of it is Meganobz, since I wanted to try them out but it was a small game.)

Ghazkull Mag Uruk Thraka

5 Meganobz

Battlewagon w/ kannon, 4 big shootas, deff rolla, armor plates, grot riggas

20 Ork boyz w/ PK bosspole Nob

And here is my opponents list: (As best I remember.)

Farseer

Fire Dragons inside a Wave Serpent armed with Missile Launchers

Dire Avengers inside Falcon armed with Bright Lance

Rangers

So, the map was 4×4, with two city-like terrain pieces (one in each corner,) he set up first and moved first, we were playing pitched battle, and Objectives. I had a home-field objective (held by the boyz, who did nothing.) He had a home field objective, (Held by the scouts, except they managed to shoot at my, unlike the boyz.) Then, there was an objective in the middle of the field. That was it.

First turn, he moved closer and shot at me with his tanks but nothing happened. I moved my meganobz closer, and that was it.

Second turn, ditto. I rammed one of his tanks and immobilized it, but he had stopped moving anyways, and was about to deploy, so nothing really happened.

Third turn, he got out his Fire Dragons, used his tank to wreck my battlewagon, and he assaulted, (and I killed,) with his Dire Avengers, against my meganobz. (Mostly because they were about to be assaulted anyways.) (Funny story, he shot at my meganobz with everyone, out of his scouts, (all of the ranger shots penetrated armor, BTW,) and his melta guns, all of them aimed at my meganobz, I passed nine cover saves! Nine 4+ cover saves! and then, his Dire Avengers fired at my meganobz and caused 2 wounds. I then used my meganobz, (Calling a WAAAGH!) to assault his Fire Dragons, killing them. I consolidated back to the objective.

Fourth turn, he fired at my Meganobz and did nothing. I assaulted a nearby tank and blew it up.

Fifth turn, Ditto. He shot and failed, that’s it.

Game ends. I had one more objective then he did, thanks to my meganobz. What did I learn from this game? Meganobz inside a battlewagon are very good at seizing and holding an objective, whether in cover or out of cover, no matter where on the board, due to survivability and high deadliness. Also, 4+ saves are far more valuable than people assume. It was a great game, and fun to play.

This is how to kill them.

First off, don’t simply power game against them. Even if they take a C’tan, don’t take Ghazkull. However, if it is a non-tournament game, and they are ‘list tailoring,’ to beat your army, (EG, orks,) don’t list tailor back, just do something to throw them off. I play orks, (You all know that,) so if someone tries to tailor a list against that, I will simply alter my strategy. They will probably take a lot of blast weapons, so in response I would make heavy use of tanks and guns. Anything that their tailoring won’t work against. You could even have two pre-fab lists, so it isn’t tailoring at all. (Just make them complete opposites, so an army can’t be tailored to beat you.)

If they are simply taking a Uber-model in a game that cannot support it, giving them a huge edge that is unfair, (They can do this in tournaments, so I am going to assume you didn’t plan ahead for it,) you will have to use a different strategy. As in, either tie it up in a situation that it cannot possibly escape from, (Charging a C’tan with 30 ork boyz. It probably won’t lose, but it probably won’t win either.) Or, you could try the relatively successful, (And in some cases, hilarious,) tactic of ignoring it, as if it weren’t there. Don’t shoot at it, don’t let anyone get in combat with it, isolate it. (This won’t work in games on smaller boards.) Lastly, and probably most effective, you can simply fire everything you have against it. Every slugga, every rokkit, every Power Klaw attacking it, no matter what it is it will die.

The last form of power gaming is simply taking an over-powered army list. Something with no strategy to it, just exploiting the codex using the units that are way to cheap for what they do. Blood Angels are good at this, since they are a newer codex, and able to take ridiculously powerful lists. Against these, I don’t have much advice. (It will commonly be pretty easy to tell who is doing this, just by the models they put out. Other similar forms that are just as ridiculous are: Not letting you see army lists, or even telling you wargear, not notifying you of reserves until they appear, ETC.) If they are only playing to win every game, the only way to beat it is to power game as well, which sort of defeats the purpose. Or, you can either play the game and hope to beat the odds, or refuse to play. Neither is a great option, so in this case I actually would not care about an equal amount of power gaming, because that is the only way for there to be a sporting chance. Of course, it would be best if people never actually power gamed, but there always will be some.

Eldar are not overly tough to kill, but they can dish out a lot of damage. Fighting against them, there will be more damage taken on both sides than fighting with most other opponents. Their ability to kill easily is almost like they are over-compensating to make up for above-average cost and only average model count. Also, the Farseers casting ‘Fortune’ on a unit of scouts planted in cover is nearly impossible to kill. What I find effective is to use rapid assaults and hard-to-kill CC units. Stormboyz, Nobz in battlewagons, (Meganobz in battlewagons,) and Deffkoptas, (For anti-tank as well as bigbomms,) are all good choices. Hordes are less effective, (Try getting shot with a nightspinner and then having to take a dangerous terrain test next time you move. Not fun. Especially when it is thirty ork boyz moving. (four or five wounds, after the actual blast template does it’s damage,) but they can draw fire from otherwise vulnerable units.

Guns are not my first choice for fighting Eldar. They can outshout you, so you should try and beat them on your home field, as opposed to trying to beat them where they are strong.

How many of my readers have been reading since 6 months ago?

My second question is:

Out of you, how many remember the Ultimate Painting Challenge?

To those of you who have been reading that long, congratulations. To those of you who haven’t, let me bring you up to date:

The Ultimate Painting Challenge:

I (Waaaghpower,) must completely paint (Or re-paint, on some of the older models that are painted very poorly,) all of the orks I have, (as checked six months ago, obviously I have gotten more orks since then, but I only have to paint what I had.) Note that it does not have to be the exact same models, just the same number/type.

If I do not complete this challenge, I will give away exactly 1 (one) item in my store away to 1 (one) of my readers, chosen randomly.

To those of you who remembered that, and were looking forward to getting a chance at winning a free model/group of models, I have bad news: I finished them.

Also, to those who remember a couple of other posts, where I mentioned the Gargant I was building, here is my progress on that:

I am 1/2 done. I have to complete one arm, the belly gun, the legs, (treads, actually,) one side, and the front. I have completed: the back, one side, one arm, the head, and the shoulder-mounted cannon.

These guys are tough to kill, deadly in Close Combat, and able to deep strike a lot of their army. In addition, every stinking one of them has an invulnerable save! it may only be little, like 6+, but it is there. However, they have one major disadvantage: A relative lack of guns. There are some, but for the most part they are a Close Combat army. Not like orks, who have guns but are inaccurate, instead they have almost no guns, despite relative accuracy in many cases. What is needed is a unit that can dish out large amounts of firepower, that wounds with relative frequency and has enough shots that invulnerable saves won’t help. I am thinking lootas. With their S7 guns, and relatively high number of shots, these guys are very good against daemons. Against any troop choice, they will cause 6-7 wounds per turn. Against greater daemons, they will cause 3 wounds a turn, on average. If you have 45 lootas, (and maybe some ork hordes as an assault buffer,) you will be able to destroy 3 greater daemons in 2 turns, or 3 troop units in two turns. Either way, these guns are very effective.

Also, give the Nobz big choppas instead of Power Klaws. It saves you 20 points, and you get initiative. Since you don’t need power weapons, (Everyone has invulnerable saves,) the Power Klaws only slow you down. (Still give the warboss a PK, it is one of the only ways to get S10.) Large boyz hordes are only mildly effective, (Most close combat units are,) but vehicles, (and especially deff dreads,) are more effective, due to a lack of high-strength weapons, even in combat. (It will be very difficult to kill a deff dread, when it has AV 12 and you have S3. Even if the S3 model has rending, like some Daemons do, that only give a 1/18 of a chance to even glance.)