Kings of War/Tactics/Goblins

Why Play Goblins

You like horde armies, but don't want to play undead or rats. Your favourite colour is green.

Army Special Rules

Thanks to 3rd Edition, Utterly Spineless is no longer a rule, instead Goblins get something better.

• Mawpup: A unit with a Mawpup gets 6 bonus attacks that hit on 4+ and have Crushing Strength (1). These attacks are rolled separate from the unit's attacks, they do not benefit from buffs/debuffs on the unit, and are not doubled/tripled when flanking a unit. One-use only, and a unit can only have one of these at a time, though you can reload a unit's mawpups.

Unit Analysis

Hero

• Biggit: Inspiring goblin with a bow. He can also be mounted on a fleabag for more mobility. For 20 more points than a flaggit you get a much better melee value, a ranged attack, 2 extra attacks, and 1 point better in nerve.

• Flaggit: The cheaper version of a biggit. It can also be mounted on a fleabag. Not very good and terrible in melee, but it is 20 points cheaper for a source of Inspiring.

• King: The bigger melee hero to the Biggit, costs 15 points more for 2 more attacks, 18" Shortbow, Ra 4+ and +3 to both Nerve values.

• King on Chariot:

• Slasher:

• Troll Bruiser:

• Wiz: Your caster choice. Comes standard with Lightning Bolt (3), but can be upgraded to have Bane Chant (2), Fireball (6), and/or Wind Blast (5). Cheap at 45 points and versatile with the different options. It can also be mounted on a fleabag to become cavalry like many goblin heroes.

Named Heroes

• Groany Snark: Technically just an upgrade to a Goblin King, gives them Fly, Speed 10, Thunderous Charge 2, Blast (D3 - Melee), but can run the risk of their Irongoblin suit breaking at the start of a turn and hurting everyone nearby.

• Magwa & Jo’os:

• Kuzlo & Madfall:

• Grupp Longnail:

Infantry

• Mawbeasts Pack:

• Rabble: Dirt cheap goblin infantry. Nothing special about them, other then Yellow Bellied I suppose, but they are your cheapest unit. They are likely to form the core of your force as you are a cheap, horde based army and this is your cheap, horde unit.

• Sharpsticks: Slightly more expensive then a rabble to gain some attacks and Phalanx. Usually you're probably going to want to stick with the rabble, but if you face a lot of Thunderous Charge units they might be worth their points if your chaff is always getting charged. Generally though you'll probably want to save the points for something else and will want to stick to the rabble.

• Spitters: Your goblin shooters. They come in 2 sizes; regiment and horde. Unexciting perhaps, but a solid choice for your army. Keep them protected and use them to harass your enemies with shots.

Large Infantry

• Trolls: Your non-Yellow Bellied beaters. They're very expensive, but come with Crushing Strength (2) and Regeneration (5+). They're alright as far as large infantry go, but they're not really what you should be looking for in a goblin army. They also are way too expensive for what you get.

Cavalry

• Fleabag Riders: Your basic goblin cavalry. They come with Nimble and Thunderous Charge (1). Good for rushing out and redirecting opponent's units, just like their cousins over at Games Workshop. Good if used to screen and redirect, but don't expect them to take a lot of damage and hold the line for long.

• Fleabag Rider Sniffs: For the same price as regular riders you trade out Thunderous Charge (1) for Bows. Not terrible, but probably not ideal in most cases. If you want cavalry, take fleabag riders. If you want shooters, take spitters. This unit is something of a hybrid between the two, making it a really situational choice.

Large Cavalry

• Fleabag Chariots: Goblins on chariots? While that does sound cool, these are much like your trolls in that they are too expensive for what you get. Cheaper then trolls for Bows and Thunderous Charge (2) vice Crushing Strength (2) and Regeneration (5+). They're still too expensive though for a horde army. If you want some cheap shooting, just take spitters instead.

Monsters

• Giant: Amazing for forcing a unit to just stop. 17/19 nerve with fury, defense 5, all on a 50mm base means it can reliably tank almost anything and will punish the enemy for daring to fight him. Best use as anvils as they don't have the number of attacks to be hammers unless charging in the flank.

• Mincer: It slices and dices. Comes with Big Shield, Brutal, and Thunderous Charge (3), which is all pretty good. Only getting damaged on a 6 from the front is nice, although a 4+ will damage it in any other arc. You want this thing to be charging into your foes with protection on either side to keep it alive. It gets D6+6 attacks each melee, so it can vary wildly in how much damage it is doing, but Thunderous Charge (3) is generally ensuring you're always hitting. Offensively the mincer does the same amount of damage as a giant if it still has it's TC so its a cheap unit your opponent has to deal with. Not bad at 80 points.

• Winggit: THANK YOU VANGUARD! Seriously, this is the best thing to be given to goblins, a flyer that can bomb shit, AND IT MARKS TARGETS FOR YOUR ARTILLERY! Ok so the target marking is a 10pt upgrade, but its mandatory for the buff to your warmachines. It does mean you need to take several warmachines to get the most value, which you should, as Goblin warmachines are cheap and individually weak, but in numbers and with the target marking buff from a Winggit, they get scary. Taking one is fine if your opponent has never dealt with this combo, otherwise run a pair because anyone who's been on the receiving end of this will prioritise your flyer.

War Engines

• Big Rocks Thrower: Its cheap, not very good stat-wise when compared to most warmachines (that are almost twice the cost), and something you always take in numbers. If you're taking one, you should be taking a second with it. If you have two on the board, see if you can fit a third, oh and always have a winggit to mark for it. Has blast D3+1, piercing 3, 48" range, indirect and ignores cover. Benefits from Winggit marking.

• Sharpstick Thrower: Literally the same as above, only piercing 2, blast D3, no indirect fire, no ignores cover, but cheaper and RA 4+. You take these after you've hit the limit for Big Rocks Thrower. Goblin artillery is about quantity. Benefits from Winggit marking.

• Mawpup Launcher: RA 4+, 36" range, indirect, ignores cover and Blast D3, but no piercing. Can also shoot allies with the Mawpup Cage keyword to reload their Mawpups ability. Adds a bit more use to some units, and helps to get more warmachines on the table for your Winggit to buff. Benefits from Winggit marking.

• War-Trombone: Musical war machine with a breath attack; like a fantasy version of Noise Marines. Nah, sadly it's basically just a giant blunderbuss. It can't strike in melee, but gets 12 attacks with Breath Attack that have Piercing (1). Tons of potential for unit conversions for this bad boy. Does Not benefit from Winggit marking.

Tactics

Tactica here.

The Goblin Gunline.

Take 2-3 Winggits, take as many warmachines that benefit from the marking ability as possible. Everything else is screening tarpits, or spitters to shoot down flyers and help finish off targets. Deploy defensively and focus down threats one at a time with your artillery. Spitters aren't going to do much to most infantry blocks, we just need them to stop shit flying over the tarpits while the lobbers etc deal with whatever hammers the other side has first. Spitters also finish off units that are too damaged from your artillery to be worth a second turn of shooting.