Kings of War 3rd Edition First Impressions: Orcs

Welcome all to our official 3^rd Edition Kings of War army review of the mightiest of races, that’s right, Orcs. Full disclosure, I started the signup sheet for army writing assignments for -/28, and when I did, I had already marked myself down as doing Orcs, I wasn’t letting anyone else in with a chance, not a damn chance. I just simply love the big green bastards. I love how straightforward the army appears to be, how blunt an instrument it is, but when you dig that little bit deeper you see the nuance and skill required to navigate such a transparently aggressive beast. This for me keeps the army endlessly entertaining. I love the modeling opportunities to make brutal looking units that appear ready to jump off the table and start to massacre. I love the potential humor that these killing machines can still possess for the creative painter/modeler to tease out for the enjoyment of all. I just love all things Orc and I’m excited to spend a little time here at the dawn of this new edition obsessively examining the new list in all its glory and (small) disappointments.

The format I’ll be using is pretty darn simple. I’ll be taking a very quick look at the lore from the book as it relates to Orcs, then go through each of the different types of unit entries discussing the options available and calling out important or interesting changes. I do not plan to speak about every single unit because frankly I can’t be bothered about some of this stuff and if I don’t really have something to say I don’t want to make you sit through reading it, it’s about respect for your time (and obviously laziness on my part). I’ll often be using the past (2^nd Edition) to frame changes and discuss previous strategies and performance to help bring context to the current and my wildly inaccurate guesses about the future. So without further blather, let’s begin.

Lore

I praised Mantic and their improved world building and background writing in my 3^rd Edition Review (found here), so it is with heavy heart I call out the Orc lore as being particularly weak and lacking any sort of invention or innovation. It is there, it is serviceable, it does the job of presenting a fierce and brutal race but is found lacking any sort of real narrative or surprises. Orcs like war, the strongest lead and they get some Trolls and Giants to help. Also, they could be the apocalypse according to some dreams. There seems to be a little ground to mine in their beef with Abyssal Dwarfs, but even that doesn’t get explored with enough to add real interest or dimension. I hate to start this out on a negative, but It just feels like a missed opportunity to make them anything other than a two-dimensional cutout of an evil race you’d find at the mall. I’d love to hear from other folks about why I’m wrong on this and what I’m missing, but for now, I’ll be making up my own background with only the loosest of ties to the Mantic worldview instead of being inspired by it.

Gameplay

In 2^nd Edition Orc armies were generally considered to be a limited (although sometimes effective) army. They usually had a strong plan A) with no real access to a plan B), although some creative Orc generals found some interesting variations, there was very much an established norm. They’d field a lot of infantry with just enough support to cover the big unwieldy units and hope that with the help of Godspeakers, great overall defense and nerve pools deeper than the waters of the Infant Sea that drowned Primovantor (look at that freaking lore tie in) that they could eventually punch through other more varied lists brought against them. Part of this rather standard design was forced by the interactions of Godspeakers and hordes that we’ll discuss later, and brought with it usually unwieldy blocks of average speed units attempting to huddle together within War Drum range and group in a way to maximize spell power that could create roadblocks and terrain issues. Clash of Kings 2019 brought the Orciest (I know that’s not a word Google) of flying monsters with the Krudger on Ancient winged slasher, which was all killer and no filler and was instantly adopted into high performing Orc lists. When I did my check earlier in the 2019 season, every Orc high performing list up to that point was using them, the only question was how many. I even made a chart to illustrate the point as I know how much people love a chart.

So how will the 3^rd Edition Orc army play? For the most part, I think there is still a winning list in the big bulk of boys strategy but there now at least appears to be design space to both give more variation to the support units used, as well as potentially try out entirely new build archetypes that didn’t really appear in 2^nd Edition. I plan to go through a number of the units and discuss their relative power and usefulness and ultimately throw up a couple sample lists. These are important as they’re being made almost entirely out of theory instead of practice and results, so are great tools to insult me with in 6 months’ time when something I didn’t expect is stomping all over the competitive scene and my clutch units won’t be caught dead in a real list.

Heavy Infantry*

*Cause Orcs don’t mess around with normal infantry

Orcs have an incredible selection of infantry that all is sort of missing one little thing that would make it perfect. This makes it a great design challenge for any aspiring Orc generals. They all come with Crushing Strength of at least (1) so they’re packing a punch but the majority also bring a Melee of 4+ so when they hit that damage sticks, but getting them to hit can be a challenge. The massive base size (especially on hordes) makes their infantry susceptible to being multi-charged especially by alpha strike style armies so need some form of protection. Longax make a welcome return from Clash 2019 and with the improvement to the Phalanx rule and Defense 5 they’re the most survivable unit in the whole army and one of the main defenses against alpha strike. They’re happy to stand across from any cavalry or flyers and take that hit. It really is the freaking Cadillac of Orc infantry. Even though they hit on 4’s, with their 30 attacks you end up with close to the same number of hits as a 25 attack horde hitting on 3’s. Vanilla or with items you’ll get value out of these absolute beasts, especially with a drum and a Bane Chant nearby. Youngax make an interesting budget version of Ax units but I’m not yet entirely sold on them. I want to love them, as I always wanted cheaper unlocks, but having Defense 5, especially with the deeper nerve available with War Drums, feels worth the difference in points for Ax especially at regiment level. We’ll see.

I found Greatax to be difficult to use in 2^nd Edition without heavily protecting them in your battle line so it is possible now, with more chaff and possibly Youngax mucking up things in front of them, they could find there way back into my builds as they still hit like a heck ton of bricks with Melee 3+ and CS (2). They’re the Orc heavy infantry most capable at the horde level of just deleting other units (and fighting through a hindered charge) but with their Defense of 4, massive footprint and high cost require a lot of babying to get value out of.

Morax didn’t get much of a chance in most lists during 2^nd but feel like a much more viable unit now. At troop level they pack a whole lot of hitting power for a low cost and that -/11 nerve can easily be a more respectable -/13 with drums nearby. Regiments don’t have quite the same insane attacks to points ratio but boast a sizeable nerve and could actually be hard for some units to reliably one shot giving them a more substantial role for a more substantial investment. Wild charge allows them to mix up the standoffs infantry can get caught in.

Overall, the improvement to Morax and intro of Youngax gives more tools to deal with opposing armies and slot in well to a varied infantry set of options each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Expect to see some more varied lists than just block after block of horde sized infantry and with cheap regiments and strong troops we might even see a sort of MMU (Multiple Medium Units) style build emerge. Exciting times!

Ranged Infantry

Skulks are slower, shorter ranged, cost more but are still pretty great in the troop size. Using the Scout ability to move forward into terrain and then hold order to avoid the terrain penalty can come in super useful in a chaff light shooting war. Also, they’re chaff with CS (1), how cool is that! We now also get them at regiment size which adds a pitiful 2 attacks but more importantly gives unit strength 2 and nerve 13/15 (15/17 with drums) for a reasonable bargain of 110 pts. Could see use to hold quarters, objectives or to push up and unoccupied side. Sure they got hit with a bit of the nerf stick, but just cause they’re worse in 3^rd Edition doesn’t mean they’re actually bad. For the points, they still have a ton of value.

Cavalry

Gore Riders are still Gore Riders. They went up by 5 points but other than that are basically unchanged. They have great predictability with Melee 3+ and CS (1) / TC (1) vs. the vanilla heavy cavalry profile of TC (2) but with lower nerve they’re susceptible to being punched back in the face and wavering or breaking. You really want to send them in with some help against equal foes to break their target in one go, or use them to pick on/clear out weaker units. I might be biased considering my Gore Riders are constant disappointments failing to even damage Empire of Dust Priests, rolling double ones on a ridiculously injured Flying Wyrm and whiffing on Gur Panthers to name a few instances. If I painted faster and Orcs had any other heavy infantry option, they’d have been put in the corner for bad behavior already. My personal bias aside, on paper they’re damn solid, just that nerve holds them back slightly.

Skulk Outriders are a new addition to the army giving more missile options in 3^rd Edition. In the last version of the game, Orcs I believe were deliberately held back from any real ranged options probably due to their great access to reliable Bane Chant and people fearing some sort of all piercing Godspeaker and ranged unit list of filth. With Bane Chant no longer affecting shooting (and no real good way to add piercing to shooting period), the design gates have been opened and Orcs get to shoot. They’re not shooting very well mind you, with even our scouting, sneaking, ranger type units still getting a 5+ Ranged value, but shooting feels so new and different to Orc generals these are getting a lot of attention. At the least these feel like a good option to chaff up the flanks and help out Gore Riders or other fast elements, but Skulks with their Scout special rule could already do that job decently. The main bonus these folks get is at Melee 4+ and the good old Orc CS (1) they’re reasonably reliable at putting wounds on opposing ranged units by just suiciding into them and still cheap enough to qualify for that role if needed. Their ranged ability is not amazing and you’re only looking at doing 1-2 wounds even to weaker units so will need to combine (or get lucky) even for the job of clearing chaff. I’ll be painting a unit up for test but holding off on heavy investment.

Swarms

I could be wrong but Orclings seem pretty wack now. They don’t unlock anything, their unit strength is 1 so they’re not even cheap board control and they’re not boosted by War Drums for survivability. Maybe I’m missing something but no thanks.

Large Infantry

This is an example of Mantic and the Rules Committee giving with one hand and taking with the other. Throughout 2^nd Edition frantic Orc generals called out for Trolls to be regular instead of irregular, and they’ve done that, but a number of small other rules changes have meant this is met with a whimper instead of a roar. The main reasons we (well, me) wanted regular Trolls was the smaller footprint and horde size allowed us to have a survivable unit with Defense 5 that could be pumped up by War Drums, charge up Godspeakers, claim objectives/dominate circles/quarters and fit into combats without the challenges of a giant 250mmx100mm base size our infantry hordes were rocking. As irregular we could put them in to do those jobs, but as they were providing no unlocks this created a squeeze on characters that was hard for Orc generals to deal with, especially when trying to fit in multiple Ancient Winged Slashers, God Speakers etc…

Now Trolls are regular, but don’t get the benefit of War Drums, don’t boost Godspeakers and at horde size, don’t offer higher unit strength than our heavy infantry regiments do (which are much cheaper at that size). They’re also possibly taking over the dubious honor of worst trolls in the game as Goblins have synergies that make their trolls better and Zombie Trolls aren’t looking so bad now either. They’re not bad when you look at them straight up, I just don’t know where they fit in the army that isn’t better filled by another unit.

Chariots

I don’t love the Gore Chariots at their new sizes and stats and the Outrider chariots just seem like cheaper and crappier versions of them (maybe that’s better?). The shooting on the Outriders even with Steady Aim ain’t getting you much of anything so don’t worry about it. Fight Wagons I’m still figuring out but holy hell does that legion look tasty. 30 attacks on 3’s with -/20 nerve is worth a look. As bad as I want to give them the Brew of Strength they find themselves with that footprint permanently hindered so the Boots of Strider could be a better tech buy. Honestly though, my Fight Wagon horde from 2^nd Edition is modeled as one giant wagon so my only choice right now is the legion so I hope it works.

Monsters

We only get one and it actually isn’t much of a monster coming in at Height 2 and a whopping 80 points. Despite its diminutive size for a monster, this is one of the units that makes the whole army tick and should be the first name on the team sheet (often the first two names actually). This is the unit, combined with changes to God Speakers, that could enable workable higher unit count army builds vs. the 2^nd Edition horde fest. You see, Rallying (2) is great wherever it is applied, but applied to multiple medium sized units it is even more efficient than the hordes of old. Adding two additional nerve to that 20/22 horde is nice, but only represents 9% of its Nerve, while it is 13% on a regiment. With a 6” range you also have the ability to fit more units into your bubble when they’re troops or regiments than with big bulky Heavy Infantry hordes. Adding 4-6 additional nerve by buffing 2-3 hordes is great, adding 10-12 additional nerve to the table buffing regiments is even better. Also, the sweet spot our Heavy Infantry regiments are sitting at (13/15 or -/15) get so much better at the War Drum increased value. Defense 5 with 15/17 Nerve for 130 pts on Ax regiments is tougher to chew through than most think and Morax regiments at -/17 suddenly have some staying power. Whether these regiments get used to support the normal 2-3 hordes of heavy infantry or a new Orc archetype with a battle line of smaller units can succeed remains to be seen but I’m excited by the prospect.

War Drums can also go on chariots now to keep up with Gore Riders (a problem before) or get a Dread bubble which seems cool.

Titans

I miss my Colossal Giant stat line. RIP 2019 “Big Stompy” you’ll be missed. They’re still a good unit and a much-needed smaller footprint anvil that is reasonably fast (for an Orc list) but is not buffed by War Drums so loses some synergy.

Heroes

Dear lord we’ve got a lot of heroes. Remember at the top of this article where I said I’m not going over EVERY SINGLE UNIT, well here it is, some of these bad boys are getting skipped. I just can’t be arsed going through all of them so I’ll hit some highlights/big changes and move on.

At work, we start each of our retrospective meetings by focusing on what went wrong first so we can move on to the good things and finish on a high note. I’m taking that tactic here and starting with the Godspeaker, who definitely got beat upside the face with the nerf stick and is looking worse for wear. Cutting straight to the chase, the changes to how and what powers extra dice for Godapeakers, Mantic and the RC has slightly raised the floor on its power, while severely lowering its ceiling. Capping the spell boost at +3 isn’t in itself horrible, we often were at a +3/+4 on our carefully managed battle lines in 2^nd Edition, but combined with their lower starting spell values on Fireball and Drain Life, it makes for a far less effective weapon, especially on offense. Having a maximum Fireball of 10 and Drain Life of 7 is only 1 above their old starting values, and more importantly, puts a limit on their ability to combine for real damage. They now power up off regiments, which should help them hit that +3 in different ways, but no longer power up from anything other than infantry which is hurts the Godspeakers role in any sort of cavalry/chariot/wagon support role and also hurts the viability of Trolls in the army. While the War Drum got itself sweet new wheels to keep up with the Gore Riders, Godspeakers still only want to hang out with our plodding infantry battle line which feels like a missed opportunity. They’re still great at Healing (especially with Shroud) and Bane Chanting, so expect them to continue in that role, but as one of the reasonably unique units of the army, having such a hard cap on their output hurts a little.

The God Speaker and how they powered up spells was I believe the single biggest influencer on the prevalence of hordes in the army in 2^nd Edition. I applaud the change to Regiments in order to create some army design space for players to move away from only horde based synergies, and therefore understand the need for either lower starting values or hard caps on spells. The application of both feels again like Mantic and the RC giving with one hand and taking away with the other, ultimately netting out in a unit that can more consistently perform a more limited role than in 2^nd Edition. That being said, they’re still our only real spell caster and perform a pretty vital function in many builds, don’t expect them to go away. 

Krudger on Winged Slasher got a little bit downgraded in raw power from the Ancient Slasher of 2^nd Edition but is still a pretty good no nonsense dragon. Doesn’t mess around with any spells, fire breathing or other jibba jabba and just brings solid combat stats for a decent price. The Krudger on Gore Chariot feels like a great value character that is still buffed by War Drums and could accompany Gore Riders to add those 2-3 extra wounds to push a combat over the edge and then be a dangerous flanking unit with Nimble and Movement 8. Morax Mansplitter is cool and I like to see another reason to bring Morax units into builds. I used a similar aura of Thunderous Charge in a Kings of War Historical Scottish list (yeah, we are going with the deep cuts here to bring you analysis) against fantasy lists and I found myself to be either hindered or disordered most of the time when trying to use my Thunderous Charge, so not quite the clutch move I thought it would be. We’ll see how this plays out with Phalanx units and terrain, but the allure of a Morax troops or regiments charging down a hill with a Bane Chant and the aura is pretty damn enticing. 

Wip the Outcast can very easily get up to Lightning Bolt 6 and is worth a look in the right builds purely for the ability to blast the piss out of annoying chaff and finish off wounded late game units.

Conclusion and Sample Lists

I’m really excited to play Orcs in 3^rd Edition and I believe the army has a couple more potential paths to victory than it did in 2^nd. There are changes, both general rebalancing and some specific reductions in effectiveness,  but overall it feels like there are new areas to explore within the list and that’s great. While some crazy all mounted or heavier shooting lists are possible, those just feel like bad versions of other armies. In the end, I don’t believe the character of the army is fundamentally changed, even with some of the new toys and potential archetypes it is mainly going to be some kind of Orc on foot stomping the juicy bits out of your enemies. They don’t quite have the tool box of say Undead or some other more versatile armies out there, and might not still have a plan B), but what they do have is deadly and effective so just go with it.

Sample Lists

Here are a couple sample 2250 point lists I threw together as first drafts around directions to explore. These are very rough and just represent a starting point in the list design process. I didn’t spend too much time optimizing and left a little room in each for the additional magic items or just to switch some things around to fit your collection or style.

List 1)

This is a sort of standard take on Orcs closely following the style of list I was playing near the end of 2^nd Edition but with added flavor from 3^rd. Longax hordes do what they’re supposed to do and hold the line and grind out enemy units. The Fight Wagon legion can hit like a truck and the Ax regiments work as sort of chaff bullies disrupting the enemy lines, protecting flanks and absorbing charges (that they often survive). It lacks late game maneuverability, so you must be careful with scenarios like Control, but it packs a lot of survivability and makes an imposing battle line. It leaves points on the table for adding items, dread bubble to War Drum or other toys. You can also reduce magic items and sneak another unit if that is your style.  

• 2x Longax Horde
• 2x Skulk Troop
• 2x Ax Regiment
• Gore Rider Regiment (Caterpillar)
• Fight Wagon Legion (Strength)
• Krudger on Winged Slasher
• 2x War Drum
• Godspeaker mounted on boar, Bane Chant and Heal (replace Fireball), Shroud of the Saint
• Godspeaker mounted on boar, Bane Chant and Heal (replace Fireball), Inspiring Talisman

List 2)

This is a massive departure from 2^nd Edition Orc list building and one of the directions that excites me to try out. This might just be a worse version of another army, in which case I’d eventually discard it, but I think it is worth testing as there is a lot of high-quality attacks that can really put down damage in this thing. It will need to seal up a flank as it lacks speed or flyers and therefore might require the Krudger and Gore Riders to be used in a defensive manner, protecting the swarm of other units from flyers or opposing fast units. Wip is mainly in to throw lightning bolts and clear out some of the annoying chaff. This list also gives the possibility of living that Thunderous Charge Aura dream. Only a tiny bit of points leftover for an item or you can move some stuff around.

• 2x Morax Regiment
• 4x Morax Troop
• 2x Greatax Horde
• 2x War Drum
• Krudger on Chariot
• Gore Riders
• Wip the Half Cast
• Morax Mansplitter
• Godspeaker mounted on boar, Bane Chant and Heal (replace Fireball), Shroud of the Saint
• Godspeaker, Bane Chant and Heal (replace Fireball)

This concludes the -/28 3rd Edition Army Review for Orcs. Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on must have units, overrated choices and new and interesting list building ideas. Or just rant about whatever sparks your fancy or grinds your gears.