More Musings On Orcs & Goblins

The more I read and think about the new Orc & Goblin book the more I think Jeremy Vetock has done a great job. Mr. Vetock copped a load of criticism after the Skaven book but most of this was in relation to the looseness and ambiguity present in the book. I felt he made a real characterful army with the Skaven and there is absolutely no doubt he has done that with the Greenskins.

One of the best tests of how good a book is, is when you go through the various units and determine whether or not you would run the unit in your army. There are 20+ units and 20+ character choices in the new book and there are only a limited number that I think I would run from an “efficiency” point of view:

• Goblin Shamen (the Night Goblin choice is far better – Mushrooms, anyone?)
• Night Goblin Warboss (if my General I’d go with a Goblin Warboss instead)
• Orc Boyz – if you only have room for one unit then use Big Uns instead
• Snotlings – single Trolls do the same job cheaper or you can get wolf Riders for 10 points more
• Giant - Five points cheaper and still a big load of poo!

I can see a place for virtually every other choice though personal preference will result in certain choices over others in a reflection of play style. One unit I am really keen to see how it works is the new Goblin Wolf Chariot unit….the possibility of 3D6+3 Str 5 impact hits plus 9 Goblin attacks (6 @ Str 4 Spears?) and 9 Wolf attacks is pretty mouth watering – all for less than 180 points. Yes, the unit has risks but it looks like it could really do damage to an anvil unit that other O&G units can then exploit.

Squig Hoppers look interesting now, especially with the addition of models that allow you to re-roll your random distance. Effectively they can become the ultimate hit and run unit.

The other thing I really like about the book is the limitation on O&G Magic Items. There has been much gnashing of teeth on this but I still hold the view expressed in the post “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” that restricting army-specific magic items leads to a tighter book. And to be honest if you can’t build some pretty tasty characters and units using the 81 Common Magic Items…..well, you’re not really trying.

I still hold the view that the most common army will be a “Pick’n’Mix” with lots of sub-100 point Rare units but I could be well off the mark. Personally I can’t wait to face them across the table.