Ork Takktikaz: Surviving and Utilizing Overwatch

[Naser Al-Istikhara Cyrus]

Orks are a brutal army to put it mildly. Though 6+ armour is what most of our troops are packing, our units are cheap and can pack a real punch, especially when numbers are on our side. However, 6th edition brings one major change to Ork strategy

[The Man They Call Jayne]

"feel free to charge into things like vindicators, leman russ tanks with a hull lascannon and no sponsons (not a punisher though!), and of course, petty rhinos after they have dropped off their cargo."

I may be misremembering, but Vehicles cannot fire overwatch at all. So you can Charge with impunity. Not sure about troops fireing out of transports though.

[Naser Al-Istikhara Cyrus]

"feel free to charge into things like vindicators, leman russ tanks with a hull lascannon and no sponsons (not a punisher though!), and of course, petty rhinos after they have dropped off their cargo."

I may be misremembering, but Vehicles cannot fire overwatch at all. So you can Charge with impunity. Not sure about troops fireing out of transports though.

Oh whoops, must've misread that line in the rulebook *facepalm* will look it up and fix it when i get home.

And IIRC, passengers may fire out of a transport using fire ports. So open topped transports are deadly,while falcons and devilfish are not.

(Common-sense wise, it would make just as much sense for  a vehicle's hull gun to fire at the charging melee units as it is for the people on the back deck to be firing - a potential house-rule? )

[BigToof]

Hi Lord Zambia,
Great article!
I wanted to add a few things, just in case people were wondering:

1.  Walkers
There aren't as many walkers around as they used to, but beware as they can overwatch as well!
It's also a nice surprise that say... double skorcha Deffdreads can also overwatch with 2d3 S5 AP4, but if you don't be careful you could be eating a face-full of dakka.

2. Distractors
I also like the use of a second unit to screen, but remember that you can always abort charges by going to ground, so you can fake a charge with say a unit of grots, have them go to ground to avoid overwatch wounds (assuming that they aren't flamers) and then they won't be a liability in the resulting melee.
I've thought about kommandos and stormboyz in a similar way, as they can effectively distract serious shooty elements from doing too much damage to the boyz.

Lootas also give out a hilarious amount of overwatch, so be careful about charging a big unit!  But if they're linked to a Mega-Armored Warboss for SNP shenanigans remember that SNP units can't overwatch!

Overall, getting a successful assault is an art in itself for 6th, given that you have to weather SO much more than previous editions.  One thing that I've wondered about is whether or not Boarding Planks have a serious advantage, as you can then attack units from your own Trukk/Wagon without too much fear of retaliation.

Oh, and for those Rhinos and the lot, remember that it's only 2 weapons shooting at you, so statistically, you shouldn't even be hit.

Best,
-BT