WHFB Orcs and Goblins Review: Part 4

Good day all.  This review may take a long time at the current pace, but it should pick up now that we're moving onto units.  So let's talk Lords and Heroes today.  Special characters will get discussed last after everything else is done.

So Lord level Warbosses.

Orc Warboss:  This is the cheapest option for a warboss, but he does the least.  He doesn't grant any sexy leadership buffs like a Black Orc Warboss, nor is he a combat monster like a Savage Orc Warboss.  This is the choice when you want the cheapest LD9 Inspiring Presence you can get.  He can be tooled up to be pretty nasty, but honestly, if you want a combat monster get a Savage Orc. 

Savage Orc Warboss:  He trades light armor for a 6+ ward save.  He also gets an extra attack due to Frenzy, which also gives him ITP.  He benefits from "choppas" so he has base 5 strength 6 attacks to boot.  This base makes him a combat monster.  My advice: mount him on a warboar (for another str 5 attack) and give him an additional hand weapon for a total of 7 strength 6 attacks.  Nasty!

Black Orc Warboss:  The big boy, points-wise.  ITP and Quell Animosity make him the best leadership character in the army.  You don't want to give him magical weapons, because the Armed to the Teef rule is pretty useful and you don't want to negate it.  If you take this character, and I don't recommend it, give him defensive equipment like a 4+ ward save, and smash people with his strength 8 great weapon. 

Goblin Warboss:  Low points for a fighty lord.  There are two uses: Goblin-star, and Folding Fortress.  Goblin Star is a goblin unit where the first row (or two) are made up entirely of cheap fighty Lords and heroes.  It's a bitch to kill that unit since attacks have to be allocated individually, and they can hit back pretty strongly.  Folding Fortress for 165 points in a warmachine based army?  Hell yes.

Night Goblin Warboss: Trades lower leadership for faster initiative.  After you have your normal goblin warboss, you fill out the spots next to him in the front rank with these guys, each with some cheap magic weapon.  Also a reasonable Folding Fortress vehicle if you have another character for Leadership.

Orc Great Shaman and Savage Orc Shaman: Never, ever, under any circumstances take the Savage Orc Shaman.  A 6+ ward is not worth potentially failing your frenzy check and charging when you don't want to with a L4.  Both mount options are fairly stupid, keep him on foot and give him anti-magic items like Dispel Scrolls, etc.

Goblin and Night Goblin Great Shamans:  No Araknorak mounts, please.  These are no high leadership models, you do not want the L4 goblin shaman and araknorak to run off the table because you someone broke.  Night Goblin Shaman gets Magic Mushrooms and actually costs less.  Focus Rumination for less points?  I'll take it.  

Orc Big Bosses:  The vanilla is boring and doesn't do much.  The Savage Orc is better to be put on chariots with additional hand weapon and taken in multiples. 6 Str 5 attacks, plus the impact hits, plus the str 5 boar attacks, plus crew attacks.  Yep, that's good.  The Black Orc Big Boss is your BSB.  His superior defensive equipment and leadership qualities make him the ideal BSB for your army.  Throw him in a unit of Savage Orcs with Crown of Command and crack heads.

Goblin and Night Goblin Big Bosses: Goblin-stars.  5 of these in the front row of a goblin unit makes that unit a real annoyance to kill.  I'd suggest giving them additional hand weapons to pour out a huge volume of str 4 attacks for the points.

Orc and Savage Orc Shamans:  Again, don't take the Savage Orc Shaman.  You don't want frenzy on a caster.  Keep these cheap, and if you give them magic items, make them things that screw over enemy casters.

Goblin and Night Goblin Shamans:  Always take the Night Goblin.  Magic Mushrooms + Sneaky Stealing is how you win in the magic phase.  No magic items, these are disposable.

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Summary:  I love fighty Savage Orc characters.  They just do so much freaking damage.  Though a defensively equipped Black Orc with great weapon isn't much worse.  Goblin characters are cheap and decent and enable you to run a pretty cool list which I'll discuss when I get to lists at the end of this series.