Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Orcs&Goblins

Why play Orcs & Goblins

Because you like fun and you are not afraid of long games! Orcs & Goblins are arguably the most versatile and chaotic army out there so the list building possibilities are almost endless and every game might play out completely different from the last. O&Gs therefore have the (partially unfair) reputation of being a bad army due unreliability and many possible weak armylists. On the contrary, one might argue they are one of the best armies in the game due to their low point costs and resilience but they definitely require experience and skill to be played powerful by reducing and calculating their risks. That being said, they are also just incredibly fun to play thematically if you want to ignore their best winning strategies. In general, with so many different heroes and units the worth of each part of your army often depends on the overall composition so the army composition section will be of high(er) importance than the individual unit overviews.

Army Special Rules

• Animosity: The big elephant in the room. O&G units suffer from a 1/6 chance to not listen to your command each turn. This is quite a big deal and might ruin your battle plans if you cannot get your guys to attack on time. Look in the tactics sections for some advice.
• Ignore Greenskin Panic: Orcs ignore goblin and snotlings for panic tests, black orcs and giants just flat out ignore the rest. Very powerful ability to make sure a dense battle line wont route due to some goblin cowards.
• Afraid of Elves: Your Gobbos are afraid of elven units which they do not outnumber at least 2:1. Inconvenient due to the low leadership of Gobbos but nothing too terrible.
• Hates Dwarfs: Night goblins hate dwarfs. This seems like a very powerful addition to your night goblins until you remember they are Night Goblins and probably still wont kill a lot of Dwarfs... Still nice for no updated costs.
• Goblin only Armies: Not a special rule per se and often overlooked but if you only take Goblin characters you can take 1 boss extra for every 1000 points of your army. This is really powerful in 6th edition and makes Goblin only lists much more powerful.

Units Analysis

Lords & Heroes

O&G have a wide array of characters. Some better, some worse but your playstyle/army composition will have a large impact on who you want to take with you.

• Black Orc Warboss: One of the best fighters in 6th edition, the BOW is one mean dude. He also suppresses infighting which is handy but also means you would need to stick him close to your boyz to make the best out of it and he takes up two character slots. His mount options are ok - boar is great, chariot risky but powerful and wyvern surprisingly mediocre but makes your killing machine fly and equipment wise he is best fitted with a great weapon and the 1+ save magic armor to protect your most valuable asset. The sad reality is that despite being one of the best fighters and one of the coolest lords he is kind superfluous and overpriced. Skip him and just take a black orc boss at 55 points less or if you want a lord on a wyvern the regular Orc Warboss is a more sensible choice.
• Orc Warboss: No suppression of infighting and slightly less good at fighting than the BOW but if you want to get a good fighting lord on the frontline he is a good choice. Inside a unit he will potentially be a victim of infighting though which is something to keep in mind and overall there is a good argument that you do not strictly need a fighting lord since the bosses are already pretty decent.
• Savage Orc Warboss: Basically no protection and just 1 attack through frenzy more than a regular OW and they want 15 points more... hard pass if not for fluff or coolness reasons. However, if you get him on a boar and give him the pigstabba(+1 str and +1A for up to three for each additional enemy rank) and one of the additional attack items you can get him 10 attacks on the charge for a nasty surprise for the enemy but stars have to align for everything to work out that way and then he costs you on-par with a lvl 4 great shaman.
• Orc Great Shaman: A really great choice for you main magician. He is one of the more durable mages (you can kit him actually out to fight ok just as a joke) and the lores in the book are very powerful. He can right a boar which is a good choice or you can go crazy and put him on a chariot... very orcy. Just be aware that sticking him in a unit means animosity can distract him.
• Savage Orc Great Shaman: Well how about no? A frenzied magician is the last thing you need unless... you make a savage orc only army and want to have fighter / magician general but dont expect any wonders. Overall, having a lvl 4 magician is often a better choice than a fighting general for O&Gs and your regular big bosses are already good fighters so investing in him for magic isnt a bad choice.
• Goblin Warboss: A decent melee fighter for 65 points? Amazing. LD8 isnt great but also not horrible. If you want to field a Goblin only army he is a decent choice and even in a combined army he is a better fighter than a regular Orc Big Boss at the same price. His equipment options are pretty bad though. Give him a great weapon and a magic items that can make him somewhat survivable. On a wolf chariot he will actually be kind of a menace to many enemy troops.
• Night Goblin Warboss: At 55 points the cheapest lord in the whole of 6th edition and there is a reason for it. Even in a straight Night Goblin list try to find a lore reason why the boss is a regular Goblin (or better just get a shaman) and not this abomination. Equipment is bad and no mount.
• Goblin Great Shaman: Ok for what he does and reasonably priced. However, he is outclassed by the Night Goblin Great Shaman. Bring only for Lore Reasons or if you want to use a wolf or chariot for more mobility.
• Night Goblin Great Shaman: Not that much cheaper than the Orc Great Shaman with better stats but this git gets to use magic shrooms to give you W3 additional magic dices in the game. Very good choice for your lord and all in all a powerful spell caster for a good price. In many lists this might be your best choice.
• Black Orc Big Boss: If you want to quell animosity he is an essential choice. He will be great as a general and create a 6inch bubble against animosity around him / make his own unit resilient to it. Taking up to hero choices hurts but unless you want to have a lot of magic attack. If you take him, make him your general, give him 1+ armor safe and a great weapon and laugh at your feeble adversaries who probably will never even dare approach him. A boar is a good mount choice but then his bubble against animosity become more difficult to control. If you plan on rushing the enemy with boar boys a somewhat solid choice though. Skip the chariot even if the thought is hilarious and he becomes a killing monster.
• Orc Big Boss: Great hero choice and for his stats really affordable. You can put him on a mount or chariot without second thoughts and he is one of the few characters I would even consider going BSB since T5 makes him somewhat sturdy. Sadly all the magic banners are pretty awful. Great stuff and unless you want to quell animosity or get a wyvern, he is the only combat hero choice you will ever need.
• Wild Orc Big Boss: at 75 points not as blatantly bad as the lord choice but unless you do it for lore and flavor then he is mostly superfluous. On a boar with a unit of savage orc boar big'uns however he can be really scary - unless you miss your animosity test and get charged by an enemy of course... Give him a great weapon or a shield and a spear if you want him cheap or even better give him the pigstabba and you can get 8 str 5 attacks out of him and his boar if he charges a large infantry unit.
• Goblin Big Boss: If you want to play Goblins only he become somewhat of an important hero with LD7 (don't laugh). He is also fairly cheap and on a wolf chariot with great weapon he gets pretty deadly despite still being cheap. Good guy just not very sturdy unless on a chariot.
• Night Goblin Big Boss: Hard pass. Regular GBB is better in every way for just 5 points more. The worst hero unit in the game actually. Better make up a story why a regular Goblin is in charge of your Night Goblin horde than take this abomination. If you do want to bring him then good luck and at 34 points with great weapon he can be somewhat helpful for your boyz in melee.
• Goblin Shaman: Absolutely superfluous other than for lore reasons except if you want to take your magician on a wolf. Since the lore of the little Waaagh has the fist of gork which is the best magic spell against large units but only a range of 8, it might be a fun idea but your chances to get that particular spell is low and then you still have to get close to the enemy with a goblin on a wolf... Still, if all stars align and this works and isnt dispelled (which it most certainly will) then you have a game winner on your hands.
• Night Goblin Shaman: Great magic user with an array of amazing magic items, magic shrooms to get an extra die when needed and pretty cost effective overall. Good choice.

Core Units

This is where O&Gs really shine. Due to animosity and a lack of heavy hitters (like Empire or Chaos Knights)in the core the O&G have some issues in this categories but their basic infantry might be considered one if not the best in the game considered cost-efficiency.

• Orc Boyz: I love these guys and you should too. 5 points for T4 and S4 on the charge infantry is glorious. Spears or 2 hand weapons are great options, shields arent really necessary though - their staying power comes from their numbers and T4 and not their armor. Even more amazing are Big'uns for just 7 points with basically chaos warrior stats except for LD. Not panicking when goblins flee is also huge. If you go green horde, get several of these units and overwhelm your enemy with strong infantry along the whole line.
• Orc Arrer Boyz: They are still awesome troops for 7 points but do you really need an orc with a bow? They are on par with a human shooting but thats it.
• Savage Orc Boyz: AMAZING for just 1 more point than regular orcs. Give them 2 hand weapons and their 3 attacks will just about destroy any T3 infantry you are facing. Want even more? Get the Big-Uns and get 16 str 4 attacks from a 5 wide front. I prefer running these in smaller blocks and without shields or warpaints. They are great damage dealers but if you go big they somehow tend to attract a lot of shooting... You can just skip on your regular orc boyz though and go all Savage Orcy if you want to and then you can field large blocks. The enemy wont be able shoot all of them, right?
• Goblins: The next amazingly good option. 2 points for an almost human-like fighter? Goblins somehow got the reputation from GW that they cannot kill stuff in melee which is not completely wrong but they are not that much worse than regular humans. A unit of 20 with spears will defeat plenty of opposition by numbers and occasional kills. However, usually it is better to skip the regular goblins and go with NG due to their better options. Still, mixing your Orc Boyz with Goblin units means you are pretty well against panic and can just attack down the whole line.
• Goblin Wolf Riders: THE most cost effective cavalry unit in the game. I do not think my wolf riders ever killed more than one feeble enemy at the time but they are still an essential part of any combined O&G army. If you want to break the game just field 4-5 made up of 5 men each and watch your enemy cry out in rage when you march block him, redirect his best troops and swarm his war machines turn 2. If you want to use them for actual fighting then go with 10, spears and shields and full commando. Still only 150 points. (which means you could have gotten 3x5 naked units instead though)
• Night Goblins: I would argue Night Goblins are gamebreakingly good. Their leadership is awful so they will run away if they have to take any kind of test but they are super cheap, can get staying power with netters at basically no cost and fanatics are amazing. Fanatics means that your enemies heavy hitters will lose 1-6 models through each fanatic they have to pass when they attack the NG or when they are unlucky and just get close. So many players broke down over their favorite knight units for 200+ points getting decimated and then beaten in melee (static combat res) against a bunch of Gobbos. I take them with spears, 5 wide, 2 netters and 1-2 fanatics (dont make the unit too expensive) and full command (the boss is skippable though).
• Snotlings Expensive for their stats and in very offensive armies or armies with a lot of goblins and fanatics they might not bring back their points but I always field at least 3 bases of them. They are your most reliable unit (yes... the irony is stunning). They do not have animosity and never run away. This poses a huge issue for any enemy who thinks they can rout your weak flank with panic tests and overwhelming force. A single unit of Snotlings can even bind Archaos for a round or two while you slaughter his army. If they fit your army thematically, they are definitely a must have.

Special Units

Special units in the O&G army are your support that makes your core unit outperform anyone else. Your core units are pretty good at swarming the enemy with static combat resolution but to support them in winning encounters you get your special guys. Some of them also do not suffer from animosity.

• Black Orcs: Essential! Never leave without one unless it does not fit your army theme. Black orcs are expensive compared to Big'uns and their reputation of being "really dangerous" is not really warranted. They are great but they are barely better in stats than big'uns (and arguably worse than savage orc big'uns) and lose to a lot of other elites 1:1. So why are they essential? They quell animosity and do not have animosity themselves which means they are one of your most reliable units and also keep their surrounding units in line. They will be the center of a part of your battle line and with Nogg's Banner (+1A for everyone once) and greatweapons can suddenly dish out a lot of pain but their real worth lies in their reliability and their quell animosity bubble.

• Orc Boar Boyz: These guys do a lot of damage on the charge thanks to their boars and are affordable for what they can do. Animosity and M7 is really a liability against fast enemies but overall a good damage dealer. Big'uns are even better but to take them you need a base unit as well which means two special slots. They really shine with a hero wielding the pigstabba and the Flag of Bork (ignore first animosity fail). They are also your most heavily armored troops so getting a big unit as a death star is feasible but I would take rather 1-2 small units if at all. The other special choices are just so tempting.
• Savage Orc Boar Boyz: Cheaper, less armor protection but frenzy. These are your real heavy hitters but very fragile. Frenzy makes them vulnerable to redirecting but other than that a fantastic unit. If you want to go really risky get two, make one big'uns, give them Nogg's banner (+1A once a game) and a hero with the pigstabba and you get the deadliest unit of this army list with theoretically 24-25 attacks(9 s5) + 5 s5 boar attacks if all stars align. I do play them safer with just one unit of 5-6 as additional damage dealer and enemy light cavalry chasers. Frenzy helps there.
• Night Goblin Squig Herd: The ultimate gamebreaker. Take 30 squiqs, not enough Night Goblins and a lot of shooting and you will spend the rest of the game on calculating random squiq movements denying the enemy victory or a fun game... Now that this is out of the way how do squiqs fare in a real game? They are quite good at killing stuff with S5 and 2 attacks and Squig Hoppers can be seriously troubling for your enemy but overall the unit is just too random and easy to kill. I take one often just for the flavor and amazing models but overall they are not that great due to their high costs and other special units are definitely stronger.
• Orc Boar Chariot: Good heavy chariot that can dish out a lot of damage. No animosity like all war machines and at 80 points quite affordable. With 3 orcs you look at 3 s4, 2s5 and W6+1 S5 attacks on the charge. If you have a character with greatweapon in there it gets even more deadly. Overall a solid choice only hurt by the fact that you can take only 1 for one special slot and M7 is not great.
• Goblin Wolf Chariot: Essential unit! This is your most reliable (no animosity) war machine / shooting unit charger. At M9 you will attack turn 2 and despite being a goblin unit this thing hits hard! And it costs only 60 points and you can take 2. In a Goblin only army I would also encourage to get at least one goblin big boss with a great weapon in there. Often Very underrated unit that will perform well against many targets just don't expect it to take on blocks of infantry by itself.
• Rock Lobba: At 70 points it is a good unit and not hindered by the BS of the Gobbos. I personally am bad at judging distance, so I avoid it but if you are good at it you might get one. Only issue is that it is mostly good against soft infantry units which you likely will not struggle against anyways and the spear chukka is a very good alternative.
• Spear Chukka: Essential unit! Yes really. At only 35 points a piece and 2 for 1 special slot this is one of the best investments you can make. O&Gs are not particularly strong against armored foes but these things are. Get two or even four and never look back. Focus your fire though since you will miss at least half your shots. Still, a single Chaos Chosen killed by one of these things already gives you your money back. Prioritize monsters and cavalry and then focus on infantry blocks where you can easily reduce rank bonus with it.

Rare Units

Rare units really add flavor to your army but are a bit of a mixed bag.

• Trolls: Baaaad. Like really baad. Trolls have some of the best models GW has ever done so I always tried making them somehow work but the truth is that they just are not worth it. Due to stupidity they only work if close to your general or if you put an orc big boss in there. They are expensive and statistically fail against 20 skaven warriors due to static combat res and with LD4 they also basically run away every time they have to take a test. They are decent at killing small enemy elite troops and monsters and with M6 theoretically can catch them but you need at least 3 for 150 points and then a hero or the proximity of you general so really a bad unit.
• Doom Diver: Amazing. At 10 points more a better rock lobba. Quite precise but you still need to be good at judging distances... If you take 1-2 get a bully.
• Pump wagon: Adorable and pretty good at confusing your enemy. Otherwise hard pass. Its really bad at T4 and 3W... Hits like a truck though
• Giant: Essential unit! The best Rare choice. For 205 points you get one of the best monsters out there with 6W. Very reliable in your army and it will draw a lot of fire so the rest of your army is spared. (Seriously though, if a O&G army with two large Boar Rider units with heroes in them, two giants and a block of black orcs comes at you - what do you shoot first?) Best used at the flanks to easily crush enemy cavalry, chariots and light infantry but keep them away from great cannons.

Tactics

Three General Trade-offs

There are three things you have to consider building an O&G list

• Go with a thematic army or try to maximize effectiveness?: Thematic armies like Night Goblins only or Savage Orcs hordes are very cool and look amazing but will never be as strong as a mixed army (with one exception I cover in the Army composition section). Still, they can still be good and give new challenges and fun playing O&Gs.
• Suppress Animosity but at what cost?: A Black Orc Big Boss costs you two hero slots but at the same time will create a bubble to suppress animosity. If you get two your hero budget is already spend at 2000 points. You should get black orcs anyways but if you make them really big their 6 inch bubble can grow quite big. War machines and Giants also are not subject to animosity and neither are Snotlings. So in theory it is absolutely possible to have a O&G arm with almost no Animosity issues. This would however extremely narrow the choices you can do. So you have to do a trade-off between how much you want your army to be stable and reliable and not weakening your army by letting your feat of Animosity control your list building too much.
• Some large Blocks or Multiple Medium sized Units?: O&G core troops are cheap so you can either go really big with units and make them more resilience against panic from shooting and losing their static combat resolution or you can have many medium sized (16-24) units which will be less resilient to shooting but

have a multitude of other benefits. The army book recommends you going big but I want to make a case here that in most situations having more units will be better. More units means that you can already get a huge advantage when deploying your troop, focusing your enemy to reveal his strategy to you and you can react accordingly. It also means that you can cover most of the front with troops with good static combat resolution so that flanking will never be an issue (cavalry units can be nasty but what are they going to do against 20 night goblins with fanatics?) and you can generally spread the risk of animosity, terror, panic and getting hit by a cannon / mortar / strong magic over much more targets. You gain a lot of agility in movement as well but you will have to be careful that in case you get traffic jams your heavy hitters still come through. But anyways, it is a trade-off you have to decide for yourself.

Army compositions

Green Tide

A traditional mixed Greenskin army focused on overwhelming the enemies with a mix of large numbers and selected hard hitters. You first main goal is too have more units of your enemy and make him finish the deployment of his army before you even come to your heavy hitters. This kind of army will be quite unreliable outside of 1-2 quell animosity bubbles (black orcs!) and if you have boars get them the animosity ignore once banner but that does not really matter. You want one large brick wall of static combat resolution made up of orc boys with T4 as protection and Night Goblins in between. Night Goblins on the flanks should get 1-2 fanatics against enemy cavalry which is essential for the list. To make sure you win enough encounters get yourself at least 2 bolt throwers, 2 wolf chariots and a giant as support. Goblin Doom Diver is helpful as well. Wolf riders will be perfect at distracting your enemy until you are very close. Strengths: You will always be able to react to your enemies strategy simply by deploying after him and having troops everywhere. You can also protect your heavy hitters by being out of sight of the enemy. There are very few armies that can dish out enough damage in 6 turns to kill your 10+ individual units. Weakness: Really heavy hitters and the Undead. Really heavy hitters like a bunch of Grail Knights with 2 characters in them will be an issue. Most of your units will be steamrolled. With fanatics, bolt throwers and a giant or large block of snotling you do have enough stuff wear such units down though and if everything goes bad then you can redirect them with some cheap units and then flank or ignore them. The only real weakness of this list comes against large undead armies that cause fear. Relying on your LD against fear / terror and not getting animosity will make your plans very difficult so be prepared for a long and bloody slug fest. Thank god for your giants and Savage Orcs with two hand weapons shine here a lot.

The Green WAAAGH Magic Tide

This list relies on the fact that Goblin-only armies can take a big boss extra for every 1000 points. So get yourself two Goblin Big Bosses (LD7!), One Night Goblin Great Shaman and 3 other Shamans (mostly NG but bring one regular Goblins for Staff of Sneaky stealing (steal one dispel dice...). Having four magic users at 2000 points is ridiculously great and you still have a lot of points left to get yourself some goblin units, black orcs against animosity, giants etc. all the good stuff just a bit less orcs and special units. The little Waaagh and the Big Waaagh are both excellent lores and if you get your great Shaman the right kit he can do every spell twice and is fairly well protected against miscasts. Really terrifying if gets Gorks Foot twice and Gorks War Path twice - and rerolls from Mork save UZ! This list is one of the most powerful in the game if combined with good support units (like four bolt throwers, two giants and wolf riders and chariots to just redirect and harass enemy shooting...) And do not forget you get extra dices from combats close to your Shamans and pack Nibblas Itty Ring for a bound spell to totally overwhelm your enemy in the magic phase from turn 1 onwards! Strengths: You absolutely dominate the magic phase and still have points left for a regular army. Which other faction can do the same in 6th? Weakness: Well there is the small chance of getting multiple miscasts and all the wrong magic spells but this should not be an issue. The big issues is that your Shamans need protection and most of your units are pretty bad at protecting someone due to animosity. Either you let them go alone and park them somewhere safe or you use them in the bubble around your black orcs making some units almost useless. There is no good answer here and you need to be careful at positioning. And dont forget Gork's warpath can flatten your own units so a single Shaman is a very tempting target for your enemy.