It ain’t easy being green...
For quite some time, I’ve been interested in
Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but I figured I didn’t have the money to spend on it, much less the time. Well, Lee, the regional GW rep and
all-around-great-guy heard me mention this and gave me a bunch of Fantasy Orcs and Goblins that he had laying around. After a bit of messing
around with the points, it comes to about 1100pts of stuff. Not too shabby for free! Well, now I'm hooked on an Orcs and Goblins army for Fantasy.
With the next bit of reward I got (for working the Seattle GT) I picked up the Fantasy rulebook and the Orcs and Goblins Army book. I’ve been
reading through it and figuring out what models I have and what I’d like to do with the army.
As usual when I am gripped by a new army, I have been doing a lot of research. In addition to reading the rulebook and the army book, I’ve also checked around online and found out how others play their green hordes. I’ve joined a new ezboard, The Old World I’ve read everything that I can and asked questions. Based on what I’ve learned, I’ve tried to separate the good advice from the bad. Also as usual, my brain has been working in overdrive coming up with interesting army ideas. I'm overwhelmed with the possibilities at the moment, so I’ll let you know what’s on my mind.
Goofy Gobbos Galore
First off, I am interested in an all-Gobbo army. They are a little kookier than their larger cousins, and very few people give them any sort of respect, which just endears them to me more. Not only do they have fun and goofy fluff and strange units, but it’ll be a little bit different from other folks, so it’s got the unusual on it’s side. Based on combining several ideas, I’ve even worked up an idea for both the army itself and how I’d play along with it. First off, the army would, of course, feature only Goblin units. Common and Night Goblins, Fanatics, Netters, Squigs, some goblin-crewed war machines, Goblin Wolf Riders, Goblin Wolf Chariots, Goblin Shamans, you name it. One thing that I would definitely like to include is a BIG block of Goblins. You see, Goblins are supposed to be quite numerous, and quite cheap, and I had a really wrong idea the other day to make a single unit of 100goblins. Yes, that’s Goblins lined up 4 or 5 per rank, stacked 20-25 deep. With each base Goblin only costing 2pts, I could spend as little as 300pts on this unit and still give it a bunch of upgrades! Even in a 1000pt game, that would still leave me plenty of points for other stuff. I think the shock value of that large a unit would certainly be worth it. Go ahead, shoot it, there’s plenty more to go around! Which brings me to the second part, how I plan to play the army and play with it.
Based on a combination of several ideas, I had a flash of how I want to actually play when I play this army. Given that some gamers take these games a little too seriously and that the Gobbos are such a kooky bunch and seeing how much fun Sean Zurn had at the Seattle GT being the Valhallan General, I’ve come up with a little bit myself. Essentially, I’ll be playing the part of two Gobbos, ostensibly the leaders of the Waagh. I’ll be keeping up a running commentary of events during the game, ranging from an incantation ("Mork, Gork, Dork, Fork, whateva.") to a brief interlude ("Oi, why dey calls you Bubbles?" -"Cuz I neva gots a hanky.") and all sorts of bizarre things. The trick with that will be to not only come up with a good chunk of material for a 2-3 hour game, but to also have enough that I don’t do the same routine over again. Well, anyway, enough about the Gobbos, on to the other madcap ideas.
Mons’ Goblin Raiders/ Genghis Gobbo.
This one will likely be primarily Goblin Wolf Riders. The idea is a fast attack army. Everything will likely be mounted, whether as Wolf Riders or Boar Boyz or chariots or pumpwagons, everything will be on the move and fast! Someone at The Old World suggested that if you put your Wolf Riders in light armor, they don’t count as Fast Cavalry anymore, meaning that you can get Rank bonuses. (For those that don’t speak Fantasy, that means that you can get the bonuses for having a large unit, meaning you have a better chance of winning a combat and running someone down.) With Morale playing such a large part of this game, the shock effect of cavalry looks like it could be quite devastating, particularly if applied on a large scale. I’d definitely have to make use of my mobility to overwhelm part of the enemy force at a time, however, since these units are more expensive than the standard fare for the O+G army. The inspiration came from a Magic: The Gathering card, Mons’ Goblin Raiders, if you are interested. Plus, of course, my penchant for speed in my armies. This would likely be a more serious army. (Serious as Goblins go, that is!) And now, for my final trick: the Great Green Waaaagh!
The Great Green Waaaagh!
This would be a bit of a change from the other two army ideas. Among other things, it will actually feature Orcs! The concept came to me when I was reading the O+G Army Book. There is a passage where it points out that Orcs will continue growing until they meet an Orc big enough to put them in their place. Bigger is definitely better when it comes to the Greenskins. Well, a Giant is certainly the biggest of them all... What if an Orc Boss kept growing and there was no one to stop him? What if he kept growing until he was a giant? He might have a unit of Trolls-sized Orcs as his bodyguard, with regular Orcs and Goblins and even Snotlings to round out the panoply of sizes in this Greenskin menagerie. On the other hand, what if the other Orcs were just dim enough to think that the Giant was the Biggest BigBoss they eva did see? They might have started following the Giant around and treating him like the Bigboss and the whole thing went from there. Either way, I think it would be visually interesting and a fun army to play.
So, what am I going to do? I dunno. I may settle on one, or try a couple out, then gravitate one way or another. On the other hand, I might just build all three as smaller armies, and use them together when I need a larger army. I'm not sure how practical that is, but it might be fun anyway, which is after all, the whole point. If you are curious, this is what I currently have available:
Fantasy Orc Inventory
Warlord and Snotling w/chest
6 Wolves
some sort of big handler attached to two Wolves (I think he was intended to be part of a chariot crew)
Squig Hound?
Nazbob-Ork Shaman
Ork Boyz-Bow 4
Ork Boyz-
2 Close Combat Weapons:2
Sword and Shield: 29
Goblins-
I have 9 with spears that look like they are supposed to be mounted on Wolves, so I'm guessing they are Wolf Riders. In addition, I have a whole bunch (like, 19 extra at the moment) of Wolves, for more Wolf Riders or other things.
More Goblins, some of which are Night Goblins
Spear and Shield 11 3pts each
Sword 5 2pts each (maybe 3pts w/lt armor?)
Sword and shield 30 3pts each
bow 9
20 currently unassembled
Fanatics-6
2 Night Goblin boss types
Goblin Shaman (Lord or Hero choice)
Right then, so what does this mean for my Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Warband plans? It means that they’ll be on the back burner for the moment. I’ll still play them as a Doom Eagles Terminator special detachment, but I'm not going to rush into the mad converting or painting yet. I’ve cooled a bit on the idea, and I'm trying to decide if I’ve just gotten too busy for now, or if I'm really tired of the idea, or if the idea just doesn’t fit a Deathwing army well. (Who knows, when the revised Eldar codex comes out, Harlequins are supposed to be part of it, and they might be a better fit for Sergeant Pepper, we’ll see.) Anyway, I’ll still be playing 40k, I'm just expanding into Fantasy as well.
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