Questions on Orks

[odinsgrandson]

Ok, so I've got the White Dwarf with the rules for Orks, Genestealer Hybrids, etc.  There are definitely some things that were overlooked (the scouts and terminator squads use the same equipment cards as the normal space marines, but many of them don't make sense without some homebrew fixing).

The orks are a bit more fleshed out, but might need a few rulings.

-The Painboy card seems to work exactly like a medipack (which seems a bit broken in conjunction with the Power Armor card).  Is there a good way to mitigate this card, or is the ork nob just going to live a very long life?  Is there a good way to make the card associated with a particular boy (like, he needs to be adjacent to the nob to heal him or something).  

Would that fix it, or is there some other card text that we could use to replace it?

-The Stickbomb card seems like it gives bombs to all of your boys (although only one can throw in a given turn, but a different one could each turn).  I'd contrast that against the Kustom Shoota weapon (you designate a particular boy when you pick that one up).

[Gold Bearer]

odinsgrandson wrote

Ok, so I've got the White Dwarf with the rules for Orks, Genestealer Hybrids, etc.  There are definitely some things that were overlooked (the scouts and terminator squads use the same equipment cards as the normal space marines, but many of them don't make sense without some homebrew fixing).

The White Dwarf SC rules are done really badly. It's hard to believe they do it for a living. The only reason Hero Quest and Space Crusade turned out so well is because of MBs influence.

odinsgrandson wrote

The orks are a bit more fleshed out, but might need a few rulings.

They're far too similar to the blood angels. Close assault order, force field (power armour for orks) and bionic arm.

odinsgrandson wrote

-The Painboy card seems to work exactly like a medipack (which seems a bit broken in conjunction with the Power Armor card).  Is there a good way to mitigate this card, or is the ork nob just going to live a very long life?  Is there a good way to make the card associated with a particular boy (like, he needs to be adjacent to the nob to heal him or something).  

Would that fix it, or is there some other card text that we could use to replace it?

You could have to nominate the painboy (making sure that mini is different somehow of course) and have him adjacent to the nob to heal him. That way the alien player can take out that ork before he gets to heal.

odinsgrandson wrote

-The Stickbomb card seems like it gives bombs to all of your boys (although only one can throw in a given turn, but a different one could each turn).  I'd contrast that against the Kustom Shoota weapon (you designate a particular boy when you pick that one up).

Doesn't make much sense but that's what the card says.

[odinsgrandson]

Thanks.

Another fix for the painboy I was considering is to just scrap the card wholesale, and make it play like the Eldar's foresight (discard the painboy card when one of the orks gets killed to negate the damage).

I'm sure that wouldn't be overpowered (since one Guardian is worth more than one Ork).

Maybe I'll try it both ways.


I don't suppose you have any other advice on making the orks more distinct?  I agree that the Blood Angels sergeant looks pretty much the same as the ork nob, but I figure that they'd feel pretty distinct in the end, since the squads are so different.

[Gold Bearer]

I've been slowly working on other squad rules, this is what I've got for orks. I love orks, they're adorable. :)

ORKS

Squad
The squad (mob) consists of a nob and ten boyz or the nob and sixteen boyz if played using Mission Dreadnought. Two of the boyz have 'eavy weapons who have a maximum movement of four and are worth five points, two Burnas and two Heavy Plasma Cannons are available, four boyz have 'eavy weapons if you're using Mission Dreadnought, the other boyz have all the same stats as the alien player's orks. The nob has eight life points, an armour value of one, a maximum movement of six squares and is worth ten points.

Nob'z Weapons
Light Plasma Cannon + Choppa: Two white dice in hand to hand combat and shoots in the same way as a Plasma Gun but with a range of twelve squares.
Blasta + Power Choppa: Four white dice in hand to hand combat and shoots with one red dice.
Chainsword + Power Claw: One red and three white dice in hand to hand combat and can attack diagonally forcing the target to attack back with one less dice (white dice if they use both) and can be used to attack bulkheads destroying them on any score higher than zero with one red dice, rolling the rest of the dice if it scores zero.

Boy'z Weapons
Choppa: Two white dice in hand to hand combat. (All boyz)
Shoota: Shoots with two white dice.
Heavy Plasma Cannon: Shoots in the same way as a Plasma Gun except with two red and two white dice and can't be fired in a turn that you move.
Burna: Fired in a 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 cone shape with the first square being any of the eight surrounding squares and attacking all targets in the area of effect separately with one red and one white dice.

Orders
Get 'em: Boyz roll one extra white dice in hand to hand combat this turn and in each hand to hand combat during the alien player's next turn.
Waaagh: Orks roll one extra red dice in hand to hand combat but can't shoot this turn, Waaagh affects the nob as well.
Battle Frenzy: One boy can shoot twice, attack once in hand to hand combat and move once this turn in any order.
Death Frenzy: One boy can attack twice in hand to hand combat, shoot once and move once this turn in any order.

Equipment
Power Armour: The nob has an armour value of two.
Frag Stikkbomb: The nob can throw the Stickkbomb without using an action hitting a target square within twelve squares with the total of two red and two white dice, hitting targets in the eight surrounding squares with the red dice and targets in surrounding sixteen squares with the white dice, can be used once per mission.
Pain Boy: Nominate one Shoota boy to be the Pain Boy, if he is standing directly adjacent to your nob he can fully heal him, can be used once per mission.
Kustom Weapon: One Shoota boy is worth eight points and can fire their weapon as a Shoota or as a Heavy Plasma Cannon if you don't move during the same turn.
Combi-Scorcha: One Shoota boy is worth eight points and can fire their weapon as a Shoota or as a Burna.
Shooty Mags: Shoota boyz can shoot the same target twice if they don't move during the same turn.
Power Claws: The whole squad except for the nob (and Freebooter) roll one extra white dice in hand to hand combat.
Freebooter: The mob is joined by a Freebooter who has the same weapon choices and stats as the base nob except he has three life points and is worth five points, the Freebooter is unaffected by order cards and falls under the alien player's control and is treated like any other alien from now on if Equipment Malfunction is played on him.

Advanced Equipment
Dead Shooty Mags: Shoota boyz can shoot twice if they don't move during the same turn. Replace Shooty Mags.
Frag Grenades: The whole squad has an extra action this turn that attacks a target square within twelve squares using two red dice and hitting the surrounding squares with the highest dice, only one grenade type can be used in a single turn, can be used once per mission.
Krak Grenades: The whole squad has an extra action this turn that attacks any targets on 2x2 area at least one of which must be within twelve squares attacking with the total of two red dice, only one grenade type can be used in a single turn, can be used once per mission.

[odinsgrandson]

That looks pretty legit.  I'm surprised that you made the nob start with 1 armor (if you don't take the power armor, you're in a lot of trouble).  It does make the freebooter quite a lot easier to kill than in the WD version.  Actually, I think there's a rules ambiguity there- does the Freebooter match the statline of the nob after gear?  If so, then he'd benefit from power armor as well.

Power Armor seems like an auto include item to bring the nob into line with a marine commander.  I'm not totally sure how I feel about that (it isn't like none of the other forces don't have 'auto include' cards- you'll never see an Ultramarine commander leave home without his medi kit).  It just feels like a bit of a let down, since those cards are auto includes because they make you really good, while this one just brings you up to par.

Armor 3 is definitely very powerful, and seems kind of overly common (since the Eldar can do it as well).  Especially given how powerful it is, I can see why you'd want to ditch it.

[Gold Bearer]

Yea I think giving him eight LP to represent his 'ardness makes a lot more sense than giving him an AV boost through power armour. I added the burners to give them a bit more weapon variety and made the nob's weapon choices different to the marines and just added a few other things that I thought were cool like the freebooter's extra rules. I think the freebooter is supposed to have the same stats as the base nob, equipment shouldn't make a difference, that's how I'm doing it. I think I'll raise his LP to three to compensate.