Speed Freeks, the best army of the best race in the galaxy. Not only are they dead hard, dead tough and dead choppy, they're dead fast AND dead shooty! What more could any green-skinned warmonger wish for? Ahhh, I love the smell of skorcha fuel in the morning.
I'm not a regular tournament player, and approach the game more from the hobbyist's point of view. My love for the game, like the games themselves, is model driven. This is a practical Tactica that will take you through how to choose a fast, manoeuvrable army which will stand up pretty well against all comers without having to adjust it for every opponent and situation; one you can actually paint as you play with it. But we all like to win, and let me tell you, I've got just as many tricks as any tinboy tournamenter can hide behind his beard. Mount up!
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This Battlewagon is a recent addition to Waaagh! Duffsnik. |
HIRIN' DA BOYZ
To play the tricks you need the troops, preferably beautifully modelled and painted! However, when you start playing with a new army, it's just plain unrealistic to buy multiple units for each troop choice. Hopefully the tips we'll look at will help you pare down your choices, but before we look at all that, there are a few general points that are worth considering.
Think carefully what you'd like your army to look like. Though they are already themed, Speed Freeks are actually a diverse bunch. You could have, for example, an army comprised mostly of bikes. Freeks can choose FIVE Battlewagons, if you fancy a ramshackle answer to an Imperial Guard Tank Company, while it's even possible to give the Boyz a big-gun bias and create an artillery warband.
Start small. Pick a 1,000 points army before you buy anything but the most core units. Even play a few games with it first using substitutes, though don't take it too far. I won't tell you what we did to the guy in our gaming group who insisted on using a deodorant bottle for a Chaos Predator and broken plastic skeletons for everything from Dark Eldar Incubi to Chaos Cultists but, like his army, it wasn't pretty.
Speed Freeks aren't the easiest army to use. As Freeks are more fragile
than Orks, it's vital you get to know the strengths and weaknesses of
the units you'd like, and be able to replace them if they don't
fill their role quite as you originally envisaged it. With a 1,000 points set-up,
even a modest budget will allow you to buy a few more mobs than you really
need to start with. In my initial 1,000 pointer, for example, a unit of Burna
Boyz became a unit of Tankbustas before finally being replaced (along with
three bikes) by a unit of 'Ard Boyz with three burnas. The burnas got 'remodelled' into 'Ard
Boyz, and the Tankbustas are now in my expanded 1,500 points army.
It might be an idea to stick together your first Orks as 'generic' boys. A few armour plates can turn them into 'Ard Boyz, Skarboyz just need extra weapons and scars to make them look harder, and so on. As your knowledge develops, you will begin to know exactly what you want and what you're still not sure of, so you can paint your 'core' as you go, leaving more exotic stuff until last.
FREEKY FALL BACK AND THE PROPER USE OF TRUKKS
Speed Freeks have a number of special rules that set them apart from all other armies, mostly concerning the Trukk.
Unlike normal Orks, they don't mob up. As they see their Trukks as home, they fall back to a transport instead. This has to have enough capacity for them all AND be unoccupied!
Once things start getting hairy it is imperative that you have one vehicle kept back out of harm's way that the Boyz can run to. If there's nothing to fall back to, a unit will scatter. If you only have one vehicle with transport capacity left, keep it free. Make sure there is nothing in it either, as just one passenger invalidates the vehicle as a viable fall-back point, even if there's room for 19 other Orks. As soon as a unit has reformed, get them out again as soon as possible in case some other lads need somewhere to hide. There's nothing as upsetting as losing a whole unit of Boyz because there's momentarily nowhere for them to go.
Likewise, make sure that you disembark away from the enemy as falling back Speed Freeks can still get minced by crossfire...
Handily though, Freeks can use any transport, not just the one they came on in, and will automatically embark once they get within 2" of the Trukk, reforming immediately. Though they can't disembark in the same turn, they can regroup the turn they run off and, of course, they can fire their weapons.
When moving your transports, hug the terrain. Don't come out of cover just to get off extra shots - it's not worth it! Squadrons of Buggies and Wartraks can block line of sight to the bigger vehicles too, keeping them safe.
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Guy's unit of 'Ard Boyz, supported by their trukk, attempt to overrun the Black Templars. |
THE SHAPE OF THE WAAAGH!
Unlike in a standard Ork warband, you don't actually have to have a Warboss in your army. You could take a Big Mek instead, which frees up points to be spent elsewhere. However, I heartily recommend the Warboss. He's one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the game with a whopping 5 Attacks when he charges! Grrr!
I always take mine armed to the gills - a choppa, kustom slugga, cybork body, bosspole, bionik bonce, 'eavy armour and a bionik arm. This gives him 6 Attacks on the charge plus a special additional Attack per turn, a 3+ Armour Save and a 5+ Invulnerable Save and a Leadership of 10. Waaagh! tests and his Initiative of 4 means he has a very good chance of fighting first too. This makes him devastating to normal troops, whereas big nasties like Hive Tyrants or Beekee captains have to choose between fighting him, or the numerous mega-armoured Nobs in his bodyguard. Either way, there will be something left to hurt them.
As for his Nobz mob bodyguard, leave them at home to start with. A 1,000 points army is better off with extra Trukk Boyz. Once you start playing bigger games, though, a bodyguard unit becomes a must.
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Guy is a big fan of Nobs. |
Page 5 of Codex: Orks tells us that in mixed Saving throw units, the majority Save is the one that takes all saves, and casualties are taken from those models alone, so try to make sure that the majority of the unit are wearing mega armour. Always, always give one of the mega-armoured Nobs big horns or an iron gob. Should the Warboss be eliminated (as is invariably the case) this will reduce your Leadership to 8 instead of 7.
The other Orks should wear 'eavy armour. This is great protection against small arms fire, and is also invaluable insurance for when your Trukk gets blown sky high.
Oddboyz are pricey for what they do, but a Mad Dok is good value for money. Take Dok's tools and three Orderlies to patch up wounded Nobs. Meks aren't really worth it unless you've got a very large bodyguard riding in a battlewagon, in which case take one with a kustom force field, which will make the vehicle hull down, and another with Mek's tools and Grot Oilers to repair it.
All the bodyguard (besides mega armoured Nobs) should have sluggas and choppas. Give them the shoota kustom job too, as a Strength 5 hit can hurt nearly anything. Give a couple of Nobs tankbustas, and all of them frag stikkbombz. Above all, try to keep them flexible, but don't give them so much gear that you forget to use it.
Lastly, remember your Warboss (or Big Mek) always has to have a transport of his own. A Trukk is much better than a Battlewagon, as it'll get him into combat quicker and that's where he wants to be. If you're worried about it, give it extras like an armoured top (the unit doesn't need to shoot anyway) to negate the 'open topped' nature of the vehicle.
If you're going to take your Warboss on his own and want him to come on with some of the Boyz, make sure the unit you want him to lead only has nine Boyz in it or he'll have to walk! You still have to take a transport for him too, but he doesn't actually have to start the game in it, but that's okay, as you can leave it lurking at the back of the board for units to fall back to...
BOYZ, BOYZ, BOYZ
When you're choosing the main bulk of your army, you need at least twenty Boyz. Trukk Boyz are the standard troop choice, and in a 1,000 points army you won't be able to afford much else, but if you can, take 'Ard Boyz. Though these toughened nutters may suffer wounds more often when their transport gets mashed (4+ as opposed to the Trukk Boyz' 6+), their 'eavy armour more than makes up for it, and this is on top of the obvious benefits of combat protection.
This alone makes them more survivable than Burna Boyz, Tankbustas and even Skarboyz, but what really makes them good value is their ability to take THREE special weapons. Burnas are best, offering excellent anti-personnel effects at close range, as well as ignoring Saving throws in close combat. Nine power weapon Attacks on the charge is not to be sniffed at. Remember you can't do both in one turn, so be careful when the time comes to put the boot in.
Don't bother with rokkit launchas for any of your basic Boyz. They never hit. Take big shootas instead. Combined with the vehicle's armament and a bolt-on big shoota you can have 9 Strength 5 shots a turn. Even Orks'll hit something with that amount of firepower.
Both Trukk Boyz and the elites can have a mix of shootas and slugga/choppa armed boys. Go for the slugga/choppa combo; with so few Orks it's not worth messing around with shootas, and you'll miss the extra Attack and Saving throw leveller of the choppas in the assault.
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Ork Warlord Waaagh! Duffsnik and his Nobs charge straight for a unit of Imperial Guard. |
Next: Speed Freek Tactics.
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Waaagh! Duffsnik.
