10.0 Orcs and Goblins: Dem Taktikal Fings

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A lone Goblin came down the hill, running as fast as his green legs would allow him to. The Orc camp was abnormally silent, for all ladz had fallen asleep after a night of drinking Fungus Beer and eating Jellied Squigs. Only Thurgash, the War Boss, was awake, staring silently to fire. He was leaning on his longsword that he had taken from a fallen Estalian Knight. It was this weapon that had given him his nickname "Long Knife", or "Longsword" as Humans would have it. The little goblin threw himself at War Bosses feet, and began to squeak in a high pitched voice: "Boss! Boss! Dere are lotz an lotz an lotz of humies, pansies an stunties uvver dese roks! Dey are getting ready to do da charge thingy!"

The great Orc turned away from the fire, annoyed by the intrusion. He had just been about to discover how to count to four. "Ledz go." He grumbled. The little goblin led the way, and upon reaching the hilltop, he pointed at the massed armies with a trembling claw. "See Boss! We iz doomed!" Thurgash looked at the allied armies, and began to laugh.

10.1 Dem Bosses: Green Skin Characters

10.1.1 Black Orcs

With Orcs, these are the best characters you can get. Black Orc Big Bosses will give immunity to animosity for any unit they are leading, not to mention their truly formidable fighting abilities. While I think that the General of any army should always have leadership of 10, I usually don't buy a Black Orc War Boss, preferring some special character or Crown of Command. On the other hand, I almost always buy at least three Black Orc Big Bosses. Against Dwarfs and Elves or Humans who like to rely on characters boosted with Magic Items, my answer is a Black or War Boss with Sword of Destruction, mounted on War Boar or Monster (risky!). With weapon skill of 7, strength and toughness of 5, he can beat up almost anybody when deprived of their beloved magical toys.

10.1.2 Savage Orcs

Because of their frenzy, Savage Orcs are very powerful in hand to hand if you boost their mediocre strength somehow. Note that the Savage Orc characters have only one goal in their life: Attack! So equip them accordingly, and put them in an assault unit. Their Frenzy sometimes makes them charge before their time, so watch out those sacrificial units that might force you on offence too early. I always give my Savage Orc Characters a weapon of some kind. There is no sense not to take advantage of their multiple attacks. I very often buy a Savage Orc War Boss. His potential in hand-to-hand is awesome, especially if armed with a Deathsword.

10.1.3 Orcs

Grunt! Orcs are very average race. Usually I don't bother with them, buying only champions to my Boar Boyz and Big `Uns.

10.1.4 Goblins

The greatest failing of the Goblins is their abysmal leadership. Even a Goblin War Boss is only as good leader as your average human! You must be pretty desperate to field a Goblin Lord. On the other hand, one of my favorite characters is a Goblin Big Boss with the Heart of Woe. Very economical since he costs only 33 points.

10.1.5 Battle Standard

In fact I prefer Goblin Battle Standards because there are many special banners that can be given only to some specific group of Goblins. One of my favorite tricks is to take a Forest Goblin Battle Standard, mount him on a Spider, give him the Spider Banner, and put him into a unit of Sage Orc/Orc Boar Boyz that have a front rank loaded with characters and presto! Double attacks all around! Imagine a Savage Orc War Boss with 16 attacks.

The other infamous trick is to Mork's War Banner. Mount the Bearer on Giant Wolf/War Boar/ Flying Monster and use it to `Eadbang your opponent`s wizards. This is of course Green Cheese!

10.2 Shamans

10.2.1 Orc Shamans

Cheaper than the Savage Orc Shamans and more reliable than Goblins, Orc shamans are good if you really can't afford Savage Orc Shamans.

10.2.2 Savage Orc Shamans

Purchase your Shaman Lords here. These Boyz are the best mages you can get, and just by giving them halberd or a double handed weapon makes them lethal close combatants without taking up any of their magic item slots. With double attack for their frenzy, they are fully capable of slaying even opposing heroes. In addition to all this, their presence increases the effectiveness of magical tattoos in a Savage Orc unit they accompany. They also get a free additional Magic Card as a bonus when attached to a unit of Savage Ladz. Don't forget that you can take many Savage Orc Shamans! Everything counts in large amounts!

10.2.3 Forest Goblin Shamans

If you are one of those Generals who have always fail virtually any dice roll they are called to make, then Forest Goblin Shamans are a good choice since they won`t die because of a failed WAAAGH test.

10.2.4 Night Goblin Shamans

I often take couple of low level Night Goblin Shamans, munch up mushrooms and don't give a damn for the consequences. Their heads may explode, but if you succeed, you may well be able to force your opponent to use up all of his dispel scrolls. Reserve your power cards to your high level Orc Shamans, their spells are more difficult to dispel.

10.3 Dem Boyz: Green Skin Regiments

10.3.1 Savage Orc Boar Boyz

In my eyes, these boyz are your best cavalry unit. Frenzy and magical tattoos more than make up for their lack of weapon skill.

WEAKNESSES:
The opponent`s knights will sneer at their weapon skill of 3. Their leadership suffers -1 penalty because of their Boars.
USES:
I put the front rank full of characters with powerful magical weapons, field a large regiment, and go charging against any comers. Mounting a Savage Orc Shaman of any level and putting it with Savage Orc Boar Boyz is a wise because their already formidable armor save increases by one point. As a Magical Standard, I prefer Banner of Might, Gork's War Banner or Standard of Shielding.

10.3.2 Orc Boar Boyz

This is your other "heavy cavalry" unit alongside the Savage Orc Boar Boyz. Weapon skill 4, spears and a War Boar equal a good shock elite.

WEAKNESSES:
They have a decent armor save and toughness, but they could be better. War boars lower the overall leadership of the unit, so watch out for those psychology tests!
USES:
They are your assault troops. Their effectiveness is greatest when faced with opponents with basic weapon skill of 3, since this allows you to hit your enemies on 3+.

10.3.3 Goblin Wolf Riders

Giant Wolves are fast and pretty good fighters. Goblins riding them are just the opposite!

WEAKNESSES:
Basic leadership of 5 and low armor save.
USES:
Against Skaven and Humans or others with weapon skill of 3, Giant Wolf Riders are a good buy because their weapon skill 4 allows them to hit their enemies on 3+. One option is to treat them as a full blooded melee unit and give them characters, magical items and so on and to take a large unit of at least 20 Wolf Riders.

Sometimes I take two regiments of Wolf Riders in skirmish formation and race them towards enemy War Machines as fast as possible. Of course, you might take them just for a chance to field a Doom Diver or two, since they are plain normal gobbo mob. With their charge range of 18", they are excellent at chasing any broken enemies off the field, or completely destroying them!

10.3.4 Forest Goblin Spider Riders

Spiders are strong, and able to move through terrain unhindered.

WEAKNESSES:
Initiative of 2 and 1, leadership of 5 and movement of "only" 7.
USES:
I quite often use them as one of my main cavalry regiments. You must always remember that they are Fast Cavalry! Free number of turns and one reform for each movement phase is a useful thing. They excel in siege games because of their ability to scale walls. Remember to give spears to riders!

10.3.5 Big `Uns

Weapon skill 4, strength 4, Initiative 3! These boyz are real elites, especially if you consider the fact that their ridiculously low cost is 6.5 points.

WEAKNESSES:
They have a rather limited choice of weapons. I'd like to give them hallberds and additional hand weapons, but alas, this is not to be. Basic leadership 7 and animosity sometimes cause trouble.
USES:
They are good at skirmishing, so put them where the action is. I give my Big `Uns spears and then fight it out with opposing foot troops. Usually they can best anything else except Chaos Warriors.

10.3.6 Orc Boyz

Basic Orcs if there ever were any. They have great many options for equipment. But backbone of the Waaagh? No way! I'll take Big `Uns any day.

WEAKNESSES:
strength 3 is pretty low in the cruel world of the Warhammer. Initiative 2 means you should watch out for spells that are avoided testing against this statistic.
USES:
Remember that da boyz can carry a Magic Standard! I have often fielded a unit just to get that Banner of Wrath.

10.3.7 Orc Arrer Boyz

Orcs with bows. There is the usual temptation to buy armor for them. Don't fall for it.

WEAKNESSES:
Missile troops are not intended for hand to hand. Don't try it unless you are facing truly feeble enemies.
USES:
Longsword always equips these boyz crossbows to give some badly needed long range missile cover to other troops, and because crossbows hit very hard. I generally take 20 boyz with crossbows, because this size guarantees results.

A warning: don't rely on them too much! Animosity always strikes at the worst moment, and you are playing an offensive army, not a missile force! Remember also that many Special characters can only be fielded if you have a mob of Orcs. Arrow Boyz fill the description.

10.3.8 Black Orcs

Weapon skill 4, strength 4 and leadership 8 with excellent choice of weapons makes these boyz dead hard! They are immune to animosity, and if you take a unit of them, you'll be able to field those Black Orc Bosses and put some discipline to your rowdy crew.

WEAKNESSES:
They are expensive for Greenskins. Initiative of 2 leaves them vulnerable to many spells like the Pit of Tarnus. Their low armor save is balanced by the toughness of 4, but spells that ignore toughness and require armor save are troublesome.
USES:
As one of your main close combat units. I give them additional hand weapons against toughness 3 opponents, and halberds against Dwarfs and Knights.

10.3.9 Savage Orcs

Frenzy and Magic Tattoos make these wild boyz a reasonably good bargain.

WEAKNESSES:
Those double attacks don't mean a thing if you have strength of 3. Slow movement often hinders their ability to get frenzied. Initiative 2 is pretty bad.
USES:
Somebody might be surprised to hear that I prefer to give Savage Orcs double-handed weapons. While it is true that they will strike last, it is also true that they will hit very hard! By giving them a Savage Orc Shaman and the Standard of Shielding, they will have 4+ unmodified save, and this tends to give them enough resilience so there will be somebody in the first rank left to swing their clubs.

10.3.10 Goblins

The lowest of the low: Goblins.

WEAKNESSES:
Initiative 2, leadership 5, weapon skill 2. Enough said.
USES:
Obviously these little pointy headed chaps have pilfered their magical standard from some more deserving unit. In any case, this makes them pretty useful unit if you don't have room for that Banner of Wrath in any other place. Remember that a unit of 5 Goblins costs just 12.5 points, and it enables you to field all the Doom Divers you want.

10.3.11 Forest Goblins

One more Goblin unit. Where do they get those Magic Standards?

WEAKNESSES:
They are and remain just Goblins, colored feathers and war paint aside.
USES:
As with other Goblins, you can use them in sacrificial role as a missile screen, as a trap for opponent's best troops with Crown of Command, or with enough ranks and standard, you could try to break your opponent's missile troops. Taking them gives you an access to Forest Goblin characters, and I almost always want that Spider Banner.

10.3.12 Night Goblins

These Goblins are most useful ones in my eyes: They hate Dwarfs, can have fanatics hidden in their midst and get few pretty good Magical Standards.

WEAKNESSES:
Goblins are Goblins, That's enough of a weakness.
USES:
They are used almost exclusively as mobile bases for Fanatics. This is all well and good, though more often than not the Fanatics are drawn out before their time. Against Dwarfs, these are the Goblins you should take because they hate Dwarfs, making the otherwise fragile gobbos almost "break proof". One of my favorite tricks is to take 4+ units of Night Goblins and put them as far apart as possible. Your opponent will go crazy trying to guess in which unit the fanatics are! It is of course your choice do all of them have fanatics, or only some, or none at all.

10.3.13 Squig Hunters

WEAKNESSES:
These units are very fragile when it comes to absorbing missile casualties. If you lose too many herders while you are near your own troops, then the squigs will go wild and probably attack your own troops. Leadership 5 and their tendency to operate outside of the Warlords leadership are makes them suspectable to any psychology tests.
USES:
Squigs have a good weapon skill and strength of 5, plus 2 Attacks. Now this will hurt almost anybody, and because of that the opponents usually try to evade the charge of the Squigs. If you manage to make the squigs go wild in the middle of the opponent`s army (by placing the Goblins on a fighting rank), they usually manage to seriously hinder your opponent's advance. Just remember that the Squigs are not suitable for a core unit. Bosses in the back ranks are not a good idea.

10.3.14 Netters

Goblins with either nets that stop enemy attacking or clubs that grant +1 to user's Strength.

WEAKNESSES:
Goblins are infamous for their low Initiative value, so their nets are useless against many opponents unless they are charging.
USES:
I have two tasks for the Netters:

10.3.15 Night Goblin Fanatics

These are perhaps the most famous members of the Orc and Goblin army. They cause D6 Strength 5 hits on enemy if they make a contact and no armor save is allowed against their hits.

WEAKNESSES:
Missile fire cuts them down like so much grass, but there is nothing you can do about it.
USES:
Elf and Human Knights fear these green dervishes, and with a good reason! Against cavalry heavy army they are at their best, since armor offers almost no protection against them. When I take Fanatics, I take full three of them. No sense to chicken out when you play Greenskins! Even with Fanatics, try to consider the overall tactics. If you wish to stop enemy's flanking move on your right side, put some Night Goblins with Fanatics there. Nobody wishes to move thought them.

10.3.16 Squig Hoppers

Boing! Boing! Many people like to field Squig Hoppers just that they could paint these very entertaining figures.

WEAKNESSES:
Truly random nature. Missile fire will stop them in their tracks.
USES:
How can you use troops that rely so heavily on your luck with the dice? For entertainment purposes only. It is true that my Squig Hoppers have munched a unit or two in their time, but I really can`t rely on this.

10.3.17 Giants

Big, dumb creatures. Read their special rules thoroughly! There is more than meets the eye.

WEAKNESSES:
Artillery can be easily concentrated on Giants, and lone heroes with right equipment will cut them down. They have a nasty tendency to fall over just when you don't need it. If your opponent has terror causing monsters, Giants are in trouble. I generally don't field them against the Undead. Leadership 6 isn't much.
USES:
I often go for the "pick up" option, and try to eat any wizards within the reach. Of course, the "Jump up and Down" option is good if you want to cause lots of casualties, and Chaos will hate Giant's "Yell and Bawl" attack that allows you to win a combat by two points regardless of casualties!

One of my most successful strategies was based around four Giants. While one of them went down because of the enemy missile fire, the other three reached the enemy and dealt with the opposition by combining their efforts against one regiment at time. Two of them Jumped Up and Down on unit, and one either Yelled and Bawled or Picked Up enemy characters. They are an excellent choice against opponents who do not favor War Machines.

10.3.18 Ogres

These guys have some real muscle: Toughness 5, 3 wounds and 2 attacks.

WEAKNESSES:
High point cost value and low weapon skill. Mediocre leadership and large size.
USES:
They are useful for giving some muscle and resilience against opponents who tend to dish out lots of wounds when attacking. They also form a good bodyguard for any character mounted on a Large Monster, since the characters will benefit from the "Look out, Boss!" Rule.

10.3.19 Trolls

With 3 Attacks, movement 6 and strength of 5, Trolls are powerful shock troops. Their regeneration gives them great resilience. Unfortunately, they are dumb as doornails.

WEAKNESSES:
Being simple is all well and good if you are a soldier, but if you are plain stupid... Trolls don`t come cheap at 65 points per model, and if you are fired upon with Dwarf Cannons that have flaming ammunition or charged by Tyrion with his flaming sword, their regeneration won't save you.
USES:
As an additional close combat unit. River Trolls are especially good at this role because they are -1 to hit. Trolls are actually a very good at what they do if the stupidity does not get you.

Against magic heavy opponents like the Elves, I prefer the Stone Trolls, and when fighting offensive enemies I always take River Trolls. When I fight against wide frontage of Knights who have high armor save value that even the strength of 5 doesn't help much (read: Chaos Knights), I use their vomit attack since it hits automatically and allows no save. If I'm using a land bound general, I try to keep my Trolls within 12" of him so I can use my general's leadership for their stupidity tests. Saves the points of that Orc Big Boss.

10.3.20 Snotlings

Crummy Snotling Slaves.

WEAKNESSES:
What do you mean? Strength and toughness of 1!
USES:
Four or so bases are wonderful for tying up Dwarfs if they are fielded alongside Night Goblins. Since Night Goblins usually refuse to break when fighting Dwarfs, then neither will Snotlings! They will even get a rerolls on their "to hit" rolls on first turn of hand to hand! (A fat lot of good will that do to you.) You could also put them near Savage Orcs so you can make the snotties frenzied.

10.4 Dem Big Gunz: War Machines

I tend to put full quarter of my points on War Machines. If I am attacking, I take Chariots and Pump Wagons, and if I am advancing more slowly, I take lots of Rock Lobbers and Doom Divers.

10.4.1 Rock Lobbers

There is the usual choice between Big `Uns and Little `Uns. Just for the economical reasons, I prefer small ones against most armies. Then again, some opponents rely heavily on such troops as mummies and Dragon Ogres, and against these the Big Rock Lobbers are better. One Stone Thrower is never enough. If you field any at all, try taking a battery of at least three machines. This guarantees at least few "hits".

10.4.2 Bolt Throwers

Since your crews have a ballistic skill of 3, you can't really expect them to hit anything. When I do take them, I take a very large cluster. At least five is needed, and I'd prefer more. They are good against heavily armored targets since they allow no save.

10.4.3 Snotling Pump Wagons

Cheap in points and wonderfully destructive, if somewhat random, Snotling Pump Wagons are very good value for their points. If you have cash to spare, then a large group of them is very effective, especially against armies without heavy missile support, like Chaos. The low leadership value of the crew makes them fragile, however, and if your opponent cast Traitor of Tarn on a large block of Pump Wagons you can kiss your army for good-bye. One of the most terrible sights in Warhammer Fantasy Battle is a large frontage of Snotling Pump Wagons. One of the most successful Orc and Goblin armies I`ve fielded had a "Skirmish Screen" of 12 Pump Wagons! Those Bretonnians didn't know what hit them.

10.4.4 Doom Diver Catapults

These green loonies are your most accurate artillery. I use them to pick on Chariots, Cannons, Stone Throwers and so on. One of the best target of a flying loonie is the War Altar of Sigmar and the Grand Theogonist. Since Volkmar can't hide inside units and because he loses his powers when his War Altar is destroyed, the Empire will soon learn to fear Doom Divers! They are not as good against large enemy regiments because their smaller template (you won`t cover many Cavalry bases with that) and weaker hit. Warning though: Doom Divers are at their best only if you are very adept at guessing ranges. Their ability to modify the crash-site is useless if your original estimation is wide by a mile!

10.4.5 Orc Boar Chariots

These are very resilient chariots because the Crew and the Boars both have toughness of 4 and you can buy extra crew. Their weakness is that you can have only two boars to pull each chariot. As with everything else when playing Greenskins, the more, the better. Since you`ll probably be advancing towards your foes at full speed, hiding Chariots behind hills and buildings will do you no good. One or two Chariots are easily destroyed by enemy missile fire. Five gives you a chance! When they do hit their enemies, the results are usually very impressive, and even the thickest armor is rather useless against D6+2 strength 7 hits.

10.4.6 Goblin Wolf Chariots

I usually buy my Wolf Chariots in regiments because they need somebody`s leadership to take those panic tests. They are far too useful to be running away from the field. An Orc Boss, or even better, Skarsnik with Gobbla should provide the Leadership you need. These Chariots are very much to my liking: with Movement of 9 they rumble across the battlefield at admirable speed, hit enemies very hard and are relatively cheap. And remember to paint the chariots red `cos red ones go faster!

10.5 Dem Beastiez: Monsters

First piece of Advice I can give is to leave War Wyverns home! At 180 points, they are one of the worst deal imaginable: strength 5, 4 Wounds, 3 A and leadership of 5 make Wyvern a puny creature indeed! Believe me: it has simply painted itself green to fool honest Orcs. Manticore, on the other hand is an excellent creature, and worth considering even as a individual monster because it has leadership of 8. Gigantic Spiders are good when you are playing a Siege Game, and if your opponent has a unit you don`t fancy fighting with, take a White Dragon, freeze the Scum and laugh! I suggest that you don`t mount your Characters on Monsters. This is of course a matter of taste, but I feel that Ladz need their Bosses in the units.

10.6 Dem Big Boyz: Special Characters

One notable thing about Green skin Special Characters is their ego: almost everybody wishes to lead the army alone!

10.6.1 Azhag the Slaughterer

Azhag is a good choice for the Generals who want to get rid of animosity without Black Orcs or cheesy Hobgoblin allies. Just keep the bulk of your fighting force within 12" of him, and make sure that he stays alive. The fact that he always has to wear Crown of Sorcery limits his usefulness in handto-hand.

Never forget that Azhag has leadership of 10 as opposed to the standard Orc Lord`s 9, and this guarantees a good leadership to your army. Like the stubborn Orc he is, Azhag insists on riding a Wyvern. Not only is this creature one of the worst deals in whole Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but it also makes Azhag very susceptible to enemy fire. My answer is to attach Azhag to a large Regiment of Trolls or Ogres, so your enemy can`t pick on him with missile fire. Because Trolls and Ogres both have a good Movement score of 6, you`ll probably make it across the battlefield before you accumulate too many missile casualties. Such a unit is also a terrible Close Combat Crusher! If you decide to use this unit, put some additional Characters with it (mounted on other monsters) to take up any challenges, and if you want to follow this course, I recommend Trolls: Since they regenerate, they will have an immensive missile causality resilience, and the Stupidity is not such a problem since Azhag has leadership of 10.

10.6.2 Gorfang Rotgut

An Orc Big Boss with a massive strength of 5. I usually try to bring the best out of Gorfang by mounting him on a War Boar and giving him a Star Lance. 3 attacks are too few for my testes, however, so sometimes I give him a Blade of Leaping Bronze. If you are considering an Orc Big Boss, take Gorfang. Against Dwarfs, he is of course essential.

10.6.3 Grom the Paunch of the Misty Mountain

Grom gets his regeneration ability for 30 points, and this is a good deal indeed. He comes in a Chariot along with his trusty Goblin Standard Bearer. Grom always rides a Chariot, so he is not a good buy against Elves or anybody else who relies on missile Troops or War Machines. Against Chaos He is pretty good, however, though he rely needs that Crown of Command then. The axe of Grom is a decent weapon.

10.6.4 Gorbad Ironclaw

Gorbad is a leadership 10 Orc General who has to take Morgor the Mangler. If you need that leadership 10 and don`t want Black Orc General, be my guest and use Gorbad. Of course that extra point of leadership is for free (Gorbad rides a War Boar, +8 points and has light armor, +2 points), so he is superior to a normal Orc General. The trouble with Gorbad is that he has to be the Army`s General, so I usually leave him to the Orc history where he belongs and rather field a Savage Orc or Black Orc General.

10.6.5 Morglum Necksnapper

Perhaps the most popular of the Special Characters, Morglum is a Black Orc Lord that is immune to psychology. I tend to field him when playing against Chaos or Undead. It is no use to be immune to psychology if you don`t need to take the test in the first place!

10.6.6 Oglok the `Orrible

Oglok is a good Big Boss with weapon skill 6, leadership 9 and four attacks. Go get them! He is perfect for leading any supporting assault regiments because he has a respectable leadership and good hand-to-hand potential with the right equipment. All in all, he is not a game winner, but definitely worth considering.

10.6.7 Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks

With leadership of 9, Skarsnik is an excellent leader. Gobbla gives him a lot of additional hand-to-hand power. If you decide to take a large unit of Goblin Chariots, Skarsnik is an excellent leader for them. It is good to remember that Skarsnik is a Night Goblin, so he Hates Dwarfs. This means you should always consider him when facing the stunties.

10.7 Dem Magikal Thingies: Magic Items

When you start building your army, simply purchase Crown of Command first and wonder to whom you will give it afterwards. Morgor the Mangler is expensive, but in the hands of a Black Orc War boss, it is also wonderfully deadly. The Sword of Fortitude is a very good choice if you field lotz and lotz of Goblins, because you definitely don`t want to take those panic tests. To give your Savage Orc Big Boss/War Boss some real bite in combat, I prefer Blade of Darting Steel combined with Strength potion. 8 (or 16 with Spider Banner) automatic his with strength 7 can mow down almost anything! When taking magic items, I prefer things that affect units, since you`ll have lotz of them, and they tend to be large: Ruby Chalice against Elves, Magic Standards of any type, Sword of Bork and so on. If your army has great number of Goblins, buy Horn of Urgok. Items that allow you to cast spells are worth considering: since your own choice of spells is sadly limited, That Ring of Volans might just have a suitable spell for you. Book of Ashur is useful, allowing you to get access to some other spells than WAAAGGHH!

10.8 Dem Otherz: Allies

An extremely dirty trick is to field some Hobgoblin allies to get rid of animosity once and for all. This is cheesy to extreme, and your opponent will despise you, people will point at you on streets and children will spit at you. Wizards of any type are a good place to spend your allied quota, since your own shamans are a "bit" unreliable. Dark Elves (with crossbows) are good allies in general and (with Cold Ones) against High Elves in particular. Chaos allies give you even more bite in hand-to-hand.

10.9 Da Trouble: Problems with the Orc and Goblin Army

While your troops tend to be between dull and downright stupid when it comes to the brains, you, as a player must actually be VERY, VERY cleaver if you wish to field a successful Green skin army.

Animosity is, and remains one of the biggest problems of the Orc and Goblin Army. There are plenty of items like the Sword of Bork or The Evil Sun Banner that are effective against it, Black Orc Big Bosses cancel it and Hobgoblins stop it entirely, but any of these methods is not 100 percent sure. I think it is better to have your Main Units as well protected from the animosity as possible, with a Backup-system in case your original plan fails. For example, Big `Uns with TWO Black Orc Big Bosses.

Dwarfs are perhaps the most difficult army for you to beat: They are very good in hand-to-hand, have a wide array of very dangerous War Machines and worst of all, they Hate almost all your troop types. I have several ways to deal with the Dwarfs: First of all, your army list includes a lot of troops that are NOT Greenskins. Ogres, Trolls, Giants and Squigs are all good options and a large number of Giants can throw your opponent off-balance. Night Goblins are good with their Fanatics and because they hate Dwarfs right back! Taking a full quota of Allies is a good idea: Fast Chaos Troops like the Daemonettes mounted on Steeds of Slaanesh are a good match to Dwarfs.

All Elves are troublesome against Goblins because the little `uns will fear any Elf regiment they don`t outnumber at least 2:1. Keep your Mobs large!

10.10 Dead Sneaky and Dead Shooty: Tactics

Most armies field only one or two units that are meant for real hand-to-hand battles. Since your troops are cheap and generally effective in melee, try always to have at least three real core units, and more of them if you can manage.

Keep your Mobs large. First of all, it naturally gives them more resilience, and secondly, you must have reasonablysized units near your Shamans if you want to cast any spells. I`d say a minimum of 30 Goblins and 20 Orcs for Foot Mobs, and 20 Goblins and 10 Orcs for Cavalry. Take more if possible at all.

When you are picking your hand-to-hand units, spare no expenses: for example, I might take a Unit of 20 Savage Orc Boar Boyz, armed with Spears, Led by a Black Orc General with Crown of Command, Black Amulet and Sword of Fortitude. The unit shall also be accompanied by (fully armored) two Savage Orc Big Bosses, One with Strength Potion and Blade of Darting Steel, other with Morgor the Mangler. A Forest Goblin Battle Standard Bearer (on a Giant Spider) with a Spider Banner is also with them, as well as a Savage Orc shaman of any level. The regiment will carry either Banner of Might or Standard of Shielding. This unit should fight against anybody reasonably well.

The above comments does not apply to support units: If you just want to chase away some Kislev Horse Archers, then six Goblin Wolf Riders armed with spears is a good bet and very cheap. Trolls and Squigs are good for their fear value, and Arrer Boy units do not need to be that large, either.

Last, but not least, GIVE ALL YOUR UNITS SOME MISSION!!! It is fun to paint and field stupidly grinning figures, but if you take some units just for the hell of it, don`t expect to win.

10.10.1 `Ere We Go! `Ere We Go! `Ere We Go!

When faced with a defensive army like the High Elves, go for full offensive: Take Boar Boyz, Spider Riders, Wolf Riders and some Pump Wagons, and perhaps a LARGE foot regiment or two. Since you can`t hope to out-shoot your opponent, don`t try to: Simple!

10.10.2 'Old on Ladz

If your opponent relies heavily on War Machines, don`t charge headlong: Take those Hellblasters and Organ Guns out first. Field Doom Divers, Flying Monsters and arrerz to pick out these nuisances first, while still advancing with your real units. Chariots are good at this approach, since normally they tend to lag behind because they can`t make march moves.

10.10.3 Waaaagggghhhh!!!!

Some armies, namely Chaos, Dark Elves and Skaven are also very Close Combat orientated: Here you must rely on your superior numbers to deal with the opposition. I once again recommend Chariots: because these armies are normally not as numerous (excluding Skaven) and do not possess the sheer firepower of the Empire, your Chariots usually can get through and hit your opponents hard. Since their troops are expensive, they often can`t take this punishment. Rock Lobbers are also good to cut down those 80 point Chaos Knights.

The battle was over. Thurgash stood upon the corpses of the leaders of his opponent`s: Here was a Dwarf King, with his head missing from his shoulders: there lay an Elf Lord, whose magical armor had availed him not. Next to him lay a human General, his face a mask of pain and horror. "Well." Grumbled Thurgash "What have you learned?" He enquired from the little Goblin.

Goblin thought for a moment and then it`s features brightened. "Wee should drink da beer more often?" It explained enthusiastically. Thurgash grabbed his sword once again and started to run after the fleeing Goblin.

Next part: Skaven Tactics.