Kings of War/Tactics/Riftforged Orcs

Why Play Riftforged Orcs

• You love the Green Tide and everything it is to be an Orc, but are still found wanting..
• Fluff-wise, Kings of War Orcs are much darker than their comic-relief cousins. Less lovable Cockney; more tortured-into-insanity, Tolkienesque killing machine. On the upside this allows for a darker tone/theme to the modelling. On the downside it has less comedy gold. The Riftforged Orcs are even darker, having spent time in the Rift where they could fight, die, and be reborn over and over honing their skills.
• Riftforged Orc armies tend to a medium to low amount of models, as Riftforged units tend to be more elite versions of regular Orcs.
• Riftforged Orcs have a lot of the simplicity of regular Orcs baked-in but bring some twists.
• Stormcast but for Orcs, and Azyr is actually hell.

Army Special Rules

• Tribal Might: All units in this army have Crushing Strength (1) unless otherwise noted.

• Stormstrike: Any 6s to hit are resolved with the Blast(2) special rule, ranged or melee. Note that this is only on one special character and as an upgrade for two heroes, so don't expect it to come up much.

Unit Analysis

Note that a lot of units in this list are basically "like X unit from the Orc list but with Y buff for Z points more"

Hero

• Flagger: The basic Inspiring hero for the army. Take him for all your inspirational needs.

• Stormcaller: Orc wizardry at your service. Comes with Fireball (9), but can also get Bane Chant (2) and Heal (2). He has an interesting special rule whereby he rolls an extra die for all spells for each non-allied Horde unit within 6" of him. Take advantage of this by having him stroll along with your bigger units, probably hanging out back by your Flagger and War Drums.

• Riftforger:

• Stormbringer: Your slashy hero. Has Crushing Strength (2) and Inspiring by default, but can also take Stormstrike for more pain.

• Stormbringer on Winged Slasher:

• Stormbringer on Helstrike Manticore:

Infantry

• Unforged Orcs: Analogous to Youngax in the master list, same price, same stats, same keywords. Use them as cheap unlocking units.

• Riftforged Legionnaires: These guys are the middle-weight infantry. Think regular Ax units but no Legion size and you're paying 15/20/35 more points for 3+ Melee and +1/+1 Nerve. Seems like a good deal.

• Reborn Legionnaires*: The super-elite storm-orcs, these guys have Crushing Strength (2) and Inspiring. Making them Greatax but with better Nerve, armour and supporting friendly units. The addition of Inspiring on these can openers means you're able to extend a bit further away from your Flaggers.

• Morax: A phenomenal unit when used well. Take a couple of Troops for buckets of CS1 attacks. Orcs can struggle against MSU if you get too elite (as shooting options are limited) and these are a great way to deal with chaff et. al.

• Skulks*: Just like the master list, they're somewhat underwhelming and best used in Troop size.

Swarms

• Orclings: Cheapish swarms of little orcs, they don't unlock other units, and won't control objectives, but are more cost efficient for just flooding the board with bases to block movement.

Large Infantry

• Riftseers: Crushing Strength (1) and Spellward on these big Cyclops. You can pay 10 points for a unit, to a maximum of 2 units, to redeploy after all scout moves have been made, but before rolling for first turn. Probably not worth it if you're not taking the redeploy upgrade and trying to bait your opponent or something. Its not a typo, but CS1 feels a little pillowfisted when almost the rest of the army has CS1 too.

Cavalry

• Gore Riders: Your only basic cavalry unit, Orc boar riders. They have speed of 8, melee on a 3+, and defence of 5+. All of this is really nice, plus they get the standard Thunderous Charge (1) for cavalry. They're also not too expensive, although they cannot be taken over regiment size. A must include for most any Orc army, giving you mobility and hitting hard.

Large Cavalry

• Fight Wagons: More expensive than a Gore Chariot, but with almost double the attacks. They fill the same role in your army, so it's going to come down to personal taste. The complete loss of Thunderous Charge hurts the unit, so your extra attacks aren't going to be hitting nearly as hard on the charge. Gore Chariots are better with the charge, but these are better in the inverse.

• Gore Chariots: Your Orc chariot unit, pulled by boars. For 20 points more than a similarly sized Gore Rider unit you get an additional nerve, attack, and Thunderous Charge (bring it to 2), but lose a point of speed. Not too bad, plus it can be taken in a horde of 6 chariots. Good for hitting hard and very survivable.

Monsters

• Giant: Is a bog standard giant. A good distraction canifex.

War Engines

None.

Tactics

Orcs can run a pretty good sledgehammer.

Strengths

• Crushing Strenth 1 for all. When combined with Me3+, things you hit will stay hit.

Weaknesses

• Huge footprint. The Orc army is big. Things that can ignore terrain are invaluable. Giants, the Caterpillar, etc.
• Gun-lines. Terrain, an infantry backbone, and little shooting can lead to trouble against gun-lines. Keep a couple of cruise missiles and disruption characters around if you have the points. Or take a pig farmer army.