Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Orcs & Goblins (section)

===Magic Items===
Anything that gives ward saves is always handy. Bosses should take magic weapons and Shamans should take things that either boost their own powerdice or fuck up the enemy's magic phase. It's also hilarious to put the one that turns enemy wizards into toads on a low level shaman as well. Lastly, if there is a magic banner that can help with Ld issues in your army, take it.
The problem with magic weapons for O&G is not about effect to price ratio actually and more about price at all and kind of effect. In fact Orcs and Goblins are just an army which don't need pricy weapons which don't let them attack faster (via ASF or Initiative). Weapons giving you more attack or more strenght are mostly ommited as they cost their share (fair) and help you kill with characters which you don't want to do for most of times! Firstly our bosses are vital in providing Leadership. Secondly they are weakly kitted for combat (speaking about base stats). They desperately need some better protection above T5. Firtly focus on making your vital characters protected - which means BSB, General, main Shaman and probably secondary shaman (last one don't have to be protected - scroll caddy should be enough). After that one should think about obvious magic protection and then you see that you either don't have points for making your characters killy or simply other units will do that better. You will end up taking cheapish magic weapons to kill damned banshees and kind. Orcs cannot be blender lords like Vampires, Chaos Lords, High or Dark Elves. They don't make good killy cowboys (partially due to bad kind of transportation). Goblins can be instead cheapish cowboys. Ther is no place for pricy magic weapons and better come to terms with it if you want to play competitively.
The following are the O&G specific magic items:

*'''Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh!:''' Not worth it. Getting d6 additional attacks and strength is one can of serious ass-wooping but it's unreliable and risky, on behalf of having to run a lord character completely naked in order to carry it. 50% lord points in endtimes makes this more fieldable, because you have a general with armor and talismans and stuff, and have a supporting black orc warboss take it to destroy whole units at a time.

*'''Basha's Axe of Stunty Smashin':''' Interesting item but not that appealing. Getting +1S and +1A and armor piercing for 50 points is about right but it's nothing to write home about. Skip it unless you happen to be fighting Dwarfs a lot and really hate their guts. This axe actually cost the exact same amount of points as the 3 different magic weapons with the same effects in the main book and work as a 3 in one package with the added benefit against dwarves. Is actually worth it at times, but still little pricy. It's funny to see Night Goblin wielding that weapon into scrap with stunties as he is perfectly suited for that with high enough initiative to strike first and hatred to make those attack hit the target despite inferior weapon skill (at least vs. characters and elites).

*'''Armour of Gork:''' How about no. The +D3 toughness and impact hits are nice but the 100 points price tag is completely ridiculous.

*'''Lucky Shrunken Head:''' Best magic item in the book. The Shrunken Head upgrades the ward save granted by Warpaint from 6+ to 5+ for both the bearer and his unit. It costs 50 points and can only be carried by a Savage Orc Shaman or Great Shaman so you need to be ok with sending your wizard into battle. This is not only the strongest magic item in the whole book but also the most popular, appearing often in competitive lists to support a horde of Savage Orc Big 'Uns. This item also causes the ward save of one character (Wurrzag) to become 4+ if he happens to be in the unit.

*'''Mork's War Banner:''' <strike>Horrible item.</strike> Gives magic resistance (d6) and turns magic items into mundane items when in base contact with the bearer. Woopee doo. Horribly expensive at 100pts but seems to be useful for players from top of the world on Savage BSB. If one can place characters in suitable position then it can turn off some precious magic items letting you unleash some torment of Savage Big'Uns attacks upon unprotected character. Also let you to turn off magic banners (could be funny). A lot of people find it overpriced as MR(3) can be bought for 45 points but still used by some who can use those tricky abilities.

*'''Spider Banner:''' <strike>Somewhat ok.</strike> The Spider Banner grants poisoned attacks to a unit, while attacks that are already poisoned will now take effect on a 5+. This has synergy with the spell Gift of the Spider God from the Lore of the Little Waaargh. Sadly, the 85 points price tag and the specific rules mean that this banner can only be taken by a defenseless goblin BSB. The Spider Banner is typically used to deliver a ridiculous amount of poison shots with a horde of Goblins, Arrer Boyz or Savage Orcs with bows. In the later cases, it means you have a goblin character standing next to a Orc unit which just doesn't look right. It should be noted that a list utilizing 100 night goblin archers and the Spider Banner has been having quite a lot of tournament success. Even snatching up FIRST PLACE. For an Orcs & Goblins list that's extremely impressive.

*'''Bad Moon Banner:''' Crap version of Gnoblar Trappers. Can only be taken by a Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer and makes his unit Stubborn. Dangerous terrain tests are only taken by models that charge into base to base contact with the unit with the BSB, so only the front rank of a charging unit gets hit. Told you it's crap. Stubborn is great but goblins rarely loses steadfast and you have crown of command cheaper and in more flexible way than as magic banner on goblin BSB. Being in soft cover really doesn't change much as you just can add more bodies.

*'''Skull Wand of Kaloth:''' Situational item at best. The Skull Wand grants the bearer Terror and can unleash a curse at the start of every round of close combat, forcing one model in contact with the bearer to pass a Leadership test or automatically die. Can only be taken by a Shaman. Interesting item but made useless due to costing a whooping 75 points. Nobody wants to send an unprotected wizard lord into combat, even if it has a cool magic wand. If only our shamans could be better protected and could buy that protection with Wand it would make tricky, nasty item. Also Ld test are nowadays pretty easy to pass.