Getting The Most Out Of The Magic Phase with Orcs and Goblins

Getting the most out of the magic phase with Orcs and Goblins!

By Izzy Gutsnik

The Magic Phase in General Before we take a detailed look at the Orcs & Goblins lores and how to use them, let’s first take a look at the general principles that govern the magic phase. General principles Getting the most out of the magic phase starts before before the battle when selecting spells – which spell (if any) to swap for you signature spell, and which which spell do you pick when rolling a duplicate spell? You’ve hopefully already carefully designed your army and come up with a general idea of what you want to achieve in the magic phase, but each game is different and your opponents army, the scenario, and terrain will all affect how a battle is likely to pan out. For example, suppose that your opponent is playing an army with lots of skirmishers, fast cavalry and other mobile troops, but without any real combat power. In this case, you probably won’t need your combat buffs. If you manage to pin him down in combat at all, that’s enough. So you’re better off with spells that control movement or do ranged damage. On the other hand, if your opponent is sporting a fast, hard hitting combat army such as Warriors of Chaos or O gres, then you’re unlikely to get a lot of ranged damage in before combat ensues, and you’ll need every bit of help in combat to tip t he scales. Similarly, if you’re faced with lots of Bretonnian Lances, then suddenly the Curse of the Bad Moon may be a spell that you like to keep on your Night Goblin Shaman. In short, think about your own and your opponents armies, and what spells will be useful.

Similarly, the scenario can also play a big part. If you play Blood & Glory, a lot of the fortitude of your opponent is often concentrated in his General and BSB. Especially if he uses a wizard as his general, spells like ‘Eadbutt and Brainbusta should come much higher on your priority list to keep or swap for when rolling a duplicate. Even if your opponent isn’t running a wizard as his general but is running Death magic, you want to protect your own general and BSB from the snipes and your own snipes should be high on the list to kill your o pponents Death wizard with. On the other hand, in Watchtower it’s all about who contro ls the tower. How can you get it, and how do you keep it if you have it? When it c omes to taking the tower, suddenly the mighty Foot of Gork doesn’t look that helpful any more. But your Savage Orcs, or Black Orcs could get a massive boost from ‘Ere we Go when assaulting the tower, and Gork’ll fix it can be crucial in reducing the number of casualties that you take when defending the tower, which is crucial since you’ll be steadfast till the last man standing. So always consider the game at hand when selecting your spells, and don’t fall in the trap of selecting spells because they have done well for you in the past! Another aspect important aspect before and during the game is determining your overall position. Do you have magic superiority or does your opponent top you? Are you look ing at getting your own spells through, or should you first and foremost look at stopping your opponent from wreaking havoc. When you’re faced against a Slann with Life Mag ic, Dark Elves with Shadow Magic, or Tomb Kings with Death magic, you’ll often want to keep them in check first and foremost. That means that you’ll often have to allow remains in play spells play spells to be cast when they are not that harmful and dispel them in your own turn instead. While this is something to consider each and every turn again, I find it helpful to have a general mindset regarding my role. If I play against the Life Slann and my general mindset is that I’m defending, I find that I’m less inclined to cast that Foot of Gork anyway, while the wiser decision is probably to dispel Throne of Vines. Against Tomb Kings with death magic, a casket, and a Hierotitan, I want to get in combat as soon as possible to be safe from the death snipes. On the other hand, when I’m the one having magic dominance and a good selection of ranged damage spells, I’m more inclined to hang back and wait

for my opponent to take silly risks. Also, when I’m having magic dominance I’m more inclined to enter these combats that are slightly in my favour but could yet go wrong, when I have a few decent combat buffs. As a general principle, it’s a good idea to consider consider how magic will affect the game in the next to turns when determining your battle plan. Magic Offense To maximize the potential of your magic phase, you have to get the right spells through. That’s what I call ‘Magic offense’. One of the mistakes that I o ften see inexperienced players make is being greedy, and it comes in several forms. The easiest mistake to make is not throwing enough power dice into a spell. Many players seem to focused on averages and seem to think that everything that is ‘over average’ should pretty much always see them succeed. For example, when casting a spell that’s 16+ with a level 4 (thus needing a 12), they figure that 4 dice should do the trick, because 4 dice averages 14, well over the required 12. If they fail, the moan about their dice. Though when you do the actual math, the probability of failing is about 24%. Indeed well above average, but certainly no guarantee. The consequences are not only that they wasted 4 power dice, but also leave their opponent with a handful of dispel dice and broken concentration on their level 4, with a result that they achieve nothing at all in the magic phase.

As a rule of thumb you should strive to have a 90+% 90+% chance of meeting the casting value of all your spells. An exception perhaps, is the last one, which can be slightly lower as the consequences of missing out are not that disastrous. Even then, I’d like to keep the success rate over 80%. If is spell is worth casting, it’s worth an extra power dice! When it comes down to the individual Orc & Goblin spells later, I will include tables for each spell and the various wizard levels with a suggestion of how many dice to use to get this 90%. Another example of being greedy is wanting to cast to many spells, even when meeting the 90% requirement. Consider, for example, the situation where your opponent has 5 dispel dice, and you have 8 power dice. Now suppose that you have Brain Busta, ‘Eadbutt and ‘Ere we go that you all want to cast, but ‘Ere we go is crucial because you’ve just engaged in a very important combat. Now you start with 2 dice on the Brain Busta to kill an Eagle that threatens to charge your war machines and your opponent allows it (say you manage to kill the eagle). Next up is an unboosted ‘Eadbutt on 3 dice with your Level 4 shaman and your opponent allows that as well. You might k ill a level 2, you might fail to reach your target… but whatever the outcome, the difference in VP is no more than 150. Finally, you cast ‘Ere we go with your last three dice. Your o pponent easily dispels it with his five dice and your combat unit loses the following combat instead of winning it. Suddenly your 400 points unit is sent running, instead of chasing your opponents opponents 350-point unit. A massive 750 point swing in Victory points, and exposes the flank of another of your units to your opponent as well, and you’re in all sorts of trouble! Yeah, you have gotten two spells off, which is a fine achievement. But they were of little use. Had you instead simply thrown 6 dice into ‘Ere we go, you would probably have gotten that off and were in a much better position. If there is a spell that you really want to cast, then cast is at the first opportunity that you have when your opponent is unlikely to stop it! Note that a similar situation could have occurred if decided to first cast Brain Busta on two dice, and then planned to proceed to casting ‘Ere we Go on 6 dice, and you got Irresistible force, and lost a bunch of power dice in the process.

Also note that the strategy outlined in the example above can be an excellent strategy in other situations, when all three spells are about equally important! In itself, the 2-3-3 splitting of dice is an excellent way to get off more spells. If your opponent splits up his dispel dice in 2 and 3 to try and stop your Brainbusta and ‘Eadbutt, he’s very unlikely to stop them both (just over a 25% chance). And if he fails to stop the first f irst one, it’s very hard to stop the second spell with broken concentration and all three of your spells go off. W hile in this situation it was a disaster, the 2-3-3 is in fact quite good in itself. If you casted two spells on 4 dice each, your opponent will probably have to eat one, but stop the other. Which leads us to the third general principle of magic offense: If there is no spell that’s especially important, manage your power dice well to try and get an extra spell through. Now this isn’t always possible (and not always the best solution, as demonstrated before!); But there are some other dice distributions that sometimes allow for an extra spell, assuming equal wizard levels (so your bonus to cast is equal to your opponents bonus to dispel). This is most often the case in situations where you have (almost) twice the number of power dice compared to your opponents dispel dice. PD v DD

How to cast?

PD v DD

How to cast?

4v2

2-2

8v5

3-3-2

6v3

3-3

9v5

3-3-3

6v4

2-2-2

10 v 5

4-3-3

7v4

3-2-2

11 v 6

3-3-3-2 / 4-4-3

8v4

3-3-2

12 v 6

3-3-3-3 / 4-4-4

Finally, there’s the situation where you have two spells, both of them nice, yet neither of them ‘must-casts’, and you are unlikely to get them both through. For example, if you have two spells that both need 2 dice to cast, you have 4 power dice and your opponent has 3 dispel dice. How to handle such situations? Take a good look at the spells. If t hey are about equally appealing, then it’s best to split you dice and cast them both at 2 dice. Your opponent has no way to stop them both (at least, not without taking very unhealthy risks and though that may work once, it’s a poor strategy in the long rung), so you’re guaranteed to get one through. If you would throw all four dice in a single spell, your opponent will toss all his dice in the dispel attempt, and while his changes aren’t very good, he might well beat you if you roll poorly o r he rolls well. Don’t give your opponent the chance to get lucky when this isn’t needed. However if on second thought, one spell is more appealing than the other, then by splitting your dice 2-2, you only give your opponent the chance to stop the spell that he dislikes most by throwing 3 dice against your 2 and he’ll almost certainly stop it. In that case, it’s better to throw all 4 dice in the better spell (and hope that the dice gods don’t thwart your good strategy by rewarding your opponent with a double 6 or so…). … but also don’t let your opponent decide for you. Goblin shamans have a unique way of altering the power balance with their Lore attribute Sneaky Stealin’. Stealin’. This can come in handy both when trying to cast the one spell that you really want. Suppose there’s one spell that you want to get of above all else. For example: an expensive unit with your general in it has just failed a charge, and is now in a position of being flank-charged by an enemy. This will most likely cost you the game, unless you can use Hand of Gork to teleport your generals unit to safety). The problem is: your opponent has got 6 dispel dice and while you have 9

power dice you can only use 6 to cast the Hand o f Gork, so it’s basically a dice-off. The second principle of magic offense was to cast your important spell as soon as possible, lest Irresistible Force drains your dice when going for the small gains. B ut the Sneaky Steallin’ ability can actually quite dramatically improve your chances of getting your important spell off. First cast a small spell like Gift of the Spider God on two dice (It’s nice if you have a target that can make good use of it, but you can still do it if you get no benefit at all from it). Your opponent probably realizes that he’d best save his dice for your big spell. But if he lets this spell go off, he risks losing a dice to Sneaky Stealing and will be left with just 5 Dispel Dice versus your 5 power dice. If your opponent doesn’t bite, and Sneaky Steallin’ doesn’t work, you can try to repeat it by throwing a single dice in for example Sneaky Stabbin’ or Vindictive Glare. Your odds of making t he casting value may not be in the order of magnitude that I normally suggest, but you’re not doing anything else with that last die anyway, so you might as well try it. This gives you another shot at stealing that all-important dispel die. Now there is of course a chance that you cast the f irst spell (Gift of the Spider god) Irresistible on two dice. That chance of that happening is however very small (3%), while the chance of stealing a dice is much bigger (33%), so that’s well worth it. When you want to cast an important spell, first cast as many spells as you can with Goblins to try and steal dispel dice. The final thoughts on getting important spells of go to t he Dispel Scroll, that almost all armies include, and for good reason. With a scroll, you can often neutralize an entire magic phase, dispelling one spell with a surplus of dice and the other with the scroll (and it’s a rare day when you have to dispel more than two very important spells). Especially in situations where you expect a big combat to ensue and you want to swing the odds in your favour there with for example ‘Ere we go, then it’s important to try and get the scroll out early. Foot of Gork and ‘Eadbutt are great ways to achieve this, and Itchy Nuisance is a potential candidate too. These spells have a high threat value, because they have the potential to wreak havoc. Even though they don’t always deliver on that potential, very few opponents are willing to take the risk. It’s difficult to stop all spells each magic phase, so if you can force your opponent to use some dice on one of them, and throw all your remaining dice in another, your opponent won’t have the dice to stop that, and has to choose whether to allow it and live with the consequences, or to burn his scroll early so he can’t use it to stop your essential ‘Ere we go when crunch time comes. Tempt your opponent to use his dispel scroll earl, especially when you think you will rely on combat buffs later in the game. Summary - Try to have a 90+% chance of meeting the casting value of all your spell, except perhaps the last one, which can be slightly lower. - If there is a spell that you really want to cast, then cast is at the first opportunity that you have when your opponent is unlikely to stop it. - If there is no spell that’s especially important, manage your power dice well to try and get an extra spell through. - Don’t give your opponent the chance to get lucky when this isn’t needed .If you have two equally important spells, split your dice. - … but also don’t let your opponent decide for you .If one spell is more powerful, just chuck all your dice in that one. - When you want to cast an important spell, first cast as many spells as you can with Goblins to try and steal dispel dice. - Tempt your opponent to use his dispel scroll earl, especially when you think you will rely on combat buffs later in the game.

Magic Defense

With every spells that your opponent casts, your faced with the decision to try to stop it o r let it go. This decision depends on how dangerous this spell is, and how dangerous the remaining spells are. So when your opponent casts a spell, take a good look at what other spells he still has at his disposal, and how many power dice he has left. Also, look at the range of his other spells! Opponents also make mistakes, and the only dangerous spell that he has left may be on a wizard who’s out of range, in which case it’s obviously best to try and stop the one being cast just now. If you have the Warhammer Magic Cards, it’s obviously helpful to keep track of which spells he has. Alternatively, you can use small Post-it’s and stick them next to the spells in your rulebook. Alternatively, just quickly write down the spell effects, range and cost when your opponent selects them at the start of the game. Know your enemy, and what he still can and cannot do in the rest of the magic phase! In the same vein, but a rather different situation, many opponents will try to cast unimportant spells before casting their killer spell. If this killer spell will kill will kill you (e.g. Flesh to Stone, the Withering or the Ogres ‘bubble regen’), then hold on to your dice and don’t fall fo r the bait. If your opponent has however two, more or less, equally dangerous spells, and you can realistically only stop a single one, then I find it best to t hrow all your dice at the spell that’s just being cast. On his second spell, he may roll really badly when casting and thus fail to cast. Or he may roll a double 6 and get irresistible force. In both cases, your left with a handful o f useless dispel dice, which were much better spend dispelling the first spell. Stop the first dangerous spell that’s being cast, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush Now when you try to dispel with dice, you should again look at the dice that your opponent has left and decide if you have a genuine chance of stopping another. If not, don’t hesitate to throw all your dice into it. Better to stop one spell, than to have two dispel dice left which are very unlikely to stop another spell, and also fail at stopping this one. As a rule o f thumb, you should again look at having a 90% probability of stopping it. Don’t be greedy: when a spell is worth dispelling, it’s worth making sure you dispel it! The following table can help you determine how many dice you need: Dice roll needed (NB: wizard level NOT included) Suggested number of dice 3-5 2 (5 is 83%) 5-8 3 (8 is 84%) 8-11 4 (11is 84%) 11-14 5 (14 is 85%) 14+ 6 If you don’t have enough dispel dice, you could also use your dispel scroll to automatically stop it. We already spoke about the scroll earlier when it came to magic offense. The advice that I’m going to give here is complementary… don’t be tempted to use your scroll too soon, especially not if there’s an important combat yet to come, and your opponent has a couple of powerful buffs and hexes. If your opponent has invested a decent amount of points in magic, odds are that magic WILL hurt somewhere, and you have to minimize the damage. So if you’re faced with a Shadow wizard who has The Withering, Pit of Shades and Mindrazor, then it may be tempting to use your scroll in turn

two, when your opponent casts Pit of Shades on 6 dice, and you only have 4 dispel dice. But remember that your opponent will likely slaughter you in combat in the next round, while the Pit has a good chance to shatter for less (or even no) damage, and wit h 4 dice you also have a small chance to roll double 6. Assuming that any scatter of 3” or more will result in very few casualties, this means that the Pit has only a 45% chance of avoiding both your double-6 dispel dispel attempt and scattering away. Even if he DOES make it, he will probably ‘only’ kill 10 out of the 15 Savage Orcs Orc s that he hit, which is painful, but far less painful than losing the entire unit and the characters included to Mindrazor in the next turn! Don’t be tempted to use your scroll too early. By all means, use your scroll if your scroll-caddy is about to die anyway, but don’t throw it away cheaply when giving in to the fear factor. Remains in play spells deserve some special attention. If your opponent has earlier cast such a spell, you already are in a disadvantageous position, as you probably want to consider dispelling that, leaving you in an even worse position in the Power dice vs. Dispel dice equation. There are some things to consider here though: dispelling remains in play is easier than dispelling normal spells because your opponent doesn’t add his wizard level. Still, many people fail to do so because of the ‘fear factor’ of spells being cast. W hen you’re faced with a dangerous remains in play spell, it’s best to mentally deduct the dispel dice from your pool at the start of t he magic phase, and just play as you don’t have these dice anyway. Wait as long as possible with dispelling the remains in play spell so that your opponent doesn’t have any more dice to recast it. Sometimes you can allow the remains in play spell to be there for one more turn, especially if it isn’t very dangerous, but be VERY wary about this if it is something like Doom and Darkness or the Enfeebling foe. In the next turn, your dispel position will probably be just as bad as in the current one, and if combat has started then, you really want to use all dice at your disposal to counter his combat spells! If you’re faced with a remains in play spell, mentally deduct the dispel dice from your pool at the start of the magic phase, and just play as you don’t have these dice anyway. Summary - Know your enemy’s spells , and what he still can and cannot do in the rest of the magic phase! - Stop the first dangerous spell that’s being cast, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. - Don’t be greedy with your dice: when a spell is worth dispelling, it’s worth making sure you dispel it! - Don’t be tempted to use your scroll too early. - If you’re faced with a remains in play spell, mentally deduct the dispel dice from your pool at the start of the magic phase, and just play as you don’t have these dice anyway. There are two other ways of magic defence that are worth mentioning, that are not directly related to dispelling spells. The first is magic resistance. This ability is a bit o f a hit-and-miss, because there are quite a lot of spells that don’t care at all about magic resistance: Dwellers, Final transmutation, Pit of Shades, Purple Sun are damaging spells that ignore W ard saves, and it doesn’t work against hexes and buffs either. Another problem is that it is easy for your opponent just to select another target without Magic Resistance and thus avoid the Ward save. Still, it is very useful against the snipe spells in the Lore of Death. Now Orcs & Goblins are very reliant on the general and BSB, so keeping them alive is of prime importance. With the other spells in the Lore being lethal as well for us (Doom and Darkness sets up running, Purple Sun is lethal to our low Initiative, and Soulblight is an excellent

combat spell), it’s very nice if you don’t have to worry about the sniper spells too. So if you play in an environment that sees a lot of this lore, it’s well worth picking up a po int or two of magic resistance. Another way of magic defence, is to look for ways to kill wizards in combat! Don’t forget to allocate as much attacks as you can when you’re in combat with a wizard, lest he survives your charge and casts a devastating combat buff just before he dies next turn. Also, always keep an open eye for wizards in vulnerable positions especially if they already have lost a wound or two. Even a lowly Goblin wolf boss, some wolf riders or a chariot might kill him off by charging into his unit, even if they get killed in return.

The Big Waaagh! Now let’s take a look at the spells of the Big Waaagh! First, don’t forget about our Lore attribute: when more friendly units are in combat than fleeing, all your Strength based spells get +1S. This affects all spells except Hand of Gork and ‘Ere we Go. Gaze of Mork Gaze of Mork is a direct damage spell that hits everything under a single line for a S4 hit (S5 with the lore attribute). The latest Orc & Goblin FAQ says that you can cast it into combat, which is very helpful. The unbooted version goes on for 4D6, the boosted version 8D6.

If you cast a spell, you want to be pretty sure that it is cast. But with a random range, you also want to make sure that you have a good chance to reach your intended target. So to get the most out of it, you have to know how far 4D6 and 8D6 actually goes. For 4D6, the average is 14”. But about half of the time, you won’t reach the average, whilst the other half you roll over it! When looking more closely, you’ll find that you have a 90% chance to go 10” or more, a 83% change to reach 11” or more (the equivalent to a 2+ on a single D6) and a 66% chance to reach 13” or more. It could go further, but you definitely can’t count on it. To get the most out of this spell, this means your targets should lie within 11”. Obviously, 8D6 goes a lot further, but still you should try to keep your targets within 24%. The probabilities are summarized below: 90%+: the range that you 83%+: You can normally are pretty much guaranteed expect to reach this, but dice to reach. are fickle! 4D6 >10" >11" 8D6 >22" >24"

66% - It already gets iffy and you are not guaranteed to reach this, but might still be worth a try. >13" >26"

Damage wise, this spell is most effective against low T, low-to medium AS models. Prime targets are deeply ranked units. If you hit something like 7 models, it’s like 2D6 S4 (or S5 with the lore attribute) hits, which isn’t bad. But it can also be very useful against small units of fast cavalry or skirmishers outside the general/BSB range to do just enough damage to cause a panic test. Finally, because you can now cast it in combat, you can also use it just to cause a few casualties when you have nothing else to cast. I suggest using the following number of dice if yo u’re casting this spell if you want at least a 90% chance to cast it successfully.

Normal Boosted

Level 1 3 4

Level 2 3 (2 for a 83% chance) 4 (3 for a 84% chance)

Level 4 2 3

There’s sometimes a bit of controversy on how this spell works. It is generally accepted that any characters that are hit receive a Look-out-Sir roll, though looking strictly at the rules, this isn’t the case. Unlike a cannon, it is not classed as a template. But it’s c lose enough to being a template to accept this. The second problem is whether it can hit more than one model per rank. Again, some players argue that you can’t hit more than one rank per model with a line, but this rule is specific to cannons. This means that when angling the ‘template’, you can easily hit 7 models when hitting 5 ranks. Seven hits is the average of 2D6, so you have something like a 2 D6 S4 hits spell for 10+ (assuming that the boosted version is needed, which

is the majority of the times) which is actually pretty decent, especially because it can easily become S5 when there are troops in combat, cheaper to cast when at close range, or both. Although this spell has gotten a lot of bad press amongst O&G players, it’s not awful. But I do agree that this spell is a bit lacking, especially when comparing it to the signatures of the Basic Rulebook Lores. The other signatures are basically always useful, and you can always swap a spell that you rolled, but isn’t very useful in this situation for your signature spell. The Bi g Waaagh! signature spell is however somewhat circumstantial in the first place and often you’ll want to swap out a spell that you rolled, only to find that Gaze of Mork isn’t much good in these these circumstances either. Still, there are some times when one of the spells that you rolled is useless, and it’s good to know how to make the best of it.

Brain Busta This is a direct damage spell that snipes a model for a single S5 hit. (The Lore attribute increases it to S6). On a mere 6+ you can hit something within 18” and boosted to 9+, it goes a massive 36”. A very useful little spell, especially when you also have ‘Eadbutt. Of course, with the sniper special rule it’s most useful against characters, though don’t overlook the possibilities of • chipping a (last) wound of a monster killing the last survivor of a unit to get the points • • killing a unit champion that’s about to get in the way of your powerful character However, most of the times you want to go after characters. Which c haracter to go for of course depends upon who’s available, on how the game is developing, how many wounds they still have left, and whether or not you have ‘Eadbutt. With ‘Eadbutt, you could press for a continued barrage upon your opponents level 4 wizard. Even with a 4+ ward save, he’s bound to fail his saves if forced to make enough of them. And when you get a wizard to his final wound, casting suddenly becomes very scary due to the risk of miscasting. But if don’t have ‘Eadbutt, or if you expect only t o get 2 or 3 turns of casting, then you shouldn’t expect to do more than a single wound, or perhaps two. It’s probably better to go for a low level wizard (who has less wounds and generally less protection) or the BSB. Of course, if any character is on his final wound, that always makes for a juicy target!

I suggest using the following number of dice if yo u’re casting this spell if you want at least a 90% chance to cast it successfully. Level 1 Level 2 Level 4 Normal 3 (2 for a 83% chance) 2 2 Boosted 4 (3 for a 84% chance) 3 3 (2 for a 83% chance)

Fists of Gork Fists of Gork is one of the two combat buffs in the Big Waaag h and a rather situational one at that, enhancing the S and A of the casting wizard by 3 , in addition to giving a 6+ 6 + ward save (mostly useless, because savages already have it and vanilla Orc Great Shamans normally buy a ward save anyway), and giving you magical attacks. Now having your wizards in combat is generally not the place where they want to be. And even if you are, then your S and A don’t matter much if you don’t hit much in the first place. Therefore, many O&G players give their Orc Great Shaman the Fencer’s Blades. This enhances their protection in combat by making them more difficult to hit. It also enhances the effect of Fists of Gork makes them hit pretty much anything on a 3+ and the paired weapon rules for the Fencer’s Blade gives an additional attack to benefit from the S boost. A Savage Orc Great Shaman thus can put out 6 attacks at WS 10 and S7 (or 8 if this spell is cast with the lore attribute in effect), and he still benefits from

the choppa rule for yet another point of Strength. Quite a choppy little character! For a hero-level caster this spell is pretty much useless though. Tactically, this spell can be used in two different ways. The most obvious one is when your shaman charges into combat. The second one is early in the game. For example, if you have a single dice left at the end of your magic phase, or if y ou have an 8-dice magic phase and you want to use 6 dice for Foot of Gork, you can first cast Fists of Gork on two dice. Your opponent will probably let it g o and save his dice for what’s to come. This means that later in the game he will have to use either his dispel dice to remove it (so he can’t use them against other spell that you cast), or his power dice so he will be able to cast less himself. Now beware that this little tactic isn’t guaranteed to work out like that. Your opponent may at some earlier point during the game also be left with one or a few useless dice (after an Irresistible spell or broken concentration for example), which he can easily use to dispel it anyway. So I don’t suggest explicitly saving dice for Fists early, if you have a better use for them. But if you don’t have any better use, then by all means cast the Fists early.

Hand of Gork An augment that moves an unengaged friendly unit for 3D6”, or 5D6 ” when boosted. From this spell on, the Big Waaagh! gets real good. real good. There are many little things that can be done right or wrong with shooting, magic, or in combat, but once you get the hang o f target priority and such, these are relatively minor. Ultimately the outcome of the game is decided by who positions his unit best (well, a little luck helps too every now and then), and Hand of Gork c an really help you here. As such, it’s a rather subtle spell and it’s difficult to explain how to use it o ptimally as it depends on so many factors. But here are some possible uses that might yield you a tactical advantage: Moving one of your units into a f lank/rear charging position. • • Moving up a unit that has stranded as a result of stupidity/animosity up with the rest of your army to keep your battle line intact. Moving a unit left somewhat stranded on the flank without any opponents to fight up clo ser • to your other units. Moving a Mangler or Fanatic in front of enemy units. • • Moving a one of your fleeing unit inside General/BS B range, out of charge range/arc of your enemies and/or facing away from the closest table edge. Moving one of your units out of c harge range/ arc of your enemies (or possible overruns!). • Also think of saving your own War machines that might get charged, or moving a lowly unit of wolf riders into a position to threaten your opponents War machines! Moving a cheap redirector in front of your opponent’s deathstar. • • Simply fling your best unit forward when facing a gunline.

As with all the random range spells, it’s good to know how far you’re likely to get. Again, hoping for averages is for fools as about half of the time you won’t reach them! 90%+: the range that you 83%+: You can normally 66% - It already gets iffy and you are pretty much guaranteed expect to reach this, but dice are not guaranteed to reach this, to reach. are fickle! but might still be worth a try. 3D6 >7" >8" >9" 5D6 >13" >14" >16" Again, if you’re casting this spell and you want at least a 90% chance to cast it successfully, I recommend using dice of follows. Level 1 Level 2 Level 4 Normal 4 (3 for a 84% chance) 3 3 (2 for a 83% chance) Boosted 5 5 (4 for a 84% chance) 4

‘Eadbutt …is another direct damage sniping spell, this time for wizards only. It allows no armour save (which can come in handy against WoC and vampires) and does D3 wounds. Just like Gaze of Mork, it has a 4D6” range, which can be boosted to 8D6”. F or convenience, I repeat the small table of how far you’re likely to get with that.

90%+: the range that you 83%+: You can normally are pretty much guaranteed expect to reach this, but dice to reach. are fickle! 4D6 >10" >11" 8D6 >22" >24"

66% - It already gets iffy and you are not guaranteed to reach this, but might still be worth a try. >13" >26"

There’s one nifty thing to remember about ‘Eadbutt: when you cast it, you don’t have to nominate your target yet! After you have successfully cast it, you roll the range, and then decide which enemy wizard within range gets hit. So if you roll lower than you’d hoped to reach the ‘intended’ target, you may yet select a ‘secondary’ target within range so the spell isn’t wasted. Personally, I think this is one of the strongest spells in the deck. Because it c an (and often does) oneshot most hero-level wizards, and can even one-shot level 4s, it’s a spell that many opponents consider a ‘must-stop’. Therefore it’s great to draw out dispel dice and even scrolls. Which target to go for of course depends on the situation. In general, level 1s and 2s are far easier to kill with fewer wounds, lower toughness and generally no ward saves. If you manage to target the scroll-caddy, you are very likely to draw out the dispel scroll. After all, it’s better to use it than to have your wizard go down with it still being unused. But level 4s have a greater impact on the game, casting and dispelling spells more easily, and are worth more points. With the pros and cons more or less outweighing each other, the deciding factor for me is to select the wizard with the spell(s) that I consider to pose the biggest risk for me in the turns to come. So when I fight a ‘ranged battle’ it may be the wizard with Banishment, Flame Cage or Purple Sun. But when I expect to face combat soon, it will be the wizard with Speed of Light, The Withering or Flesh to Stone. Again, if you’re casting this spell and you want at least a 90% chance to cast it successfully, I recommend using dice of follows.

Normal Boosted


Level 2 3 4


‘Ere we Go This is an augment spell that grants rerolls to hit for all Orc Units within 2D6 inches. For Orcs, this is great since none of our units have innate abilities to get rerolls and we have a low WS to start with as even Biguns and Black Orcs still need 4s to hit many enemies. Having rerolls is already very good under normal circumstances with average dice rolls, when it needs you a fair few extra hits. But it’s positively awesome when you fumble your to hit roll, as you get a second change on a massive number of dice. For example, when your Black Orcs with great weapons fight a monster and only get 2 hits from their 8 attacks, you will of ten get three more from your rerolls. Or when your Savage Orc Biguns get 30 attacks in and only hit a meagre 10, you’ll probably get 10 more on the rerolls. Thus, it’s a great insurance policy!

The downsides to this spell are the short variable range, and the fact that it o nly affects Orc units. Though it can create a huge bubble of rerolls, it’s not smart to count on it reaching anything more than 4” away. In practice, this means that this spell spell should be read as “gives the the shaman and his unit rerolls to hit”, and that you should consider anything more than that a bonus. Now there is some unclarity as to whom this spell affects. Whilst at first glance this sounds simple, it actually isn’t. Following the Size Matters and the war machines’ Bully rules, any unit with an Orc in it counts as a unit of Orcs. So if a goblin unit with an Orc Character is in range of this spell, who gets the rerolls? A) The entire unit, because it now counts as an Orc unit, or B) Nobody, not even the Orc character, because the ‘counts as Orcs’ only applies to Panic for the ‘Size Matters’ rule. The unit is by nature a Goblin unit and when a character joins a unit, it becomes part of it, so it is not affected. C) Just the Orc character, which is the most logical solution, but in no way supported by the rules. Quite a few players on Da Warpath (the O&G forum) even play it like it affects all O&G units. After all, the Lore attribute also states ‘Orcs’ while the FAQ clarifies this to be all friendly units. When casting this spell, I suggest using at least the number of dice below. But considering the fact that this is our primary combat buff, you’ll often want to throw as many dice as you can into this when it’s crunch time! However, if you cast it when combat hasn’t started yet, but to discourage your enemy from charging you, the numbers are more appropriate. Level 1 Level 2 Level 4 Normal 4 4 3 Boosted n/a n/a n/a

Foot of Gork Aaah, our number 6 spell, the feared Foot of Gork! With a massive range of 36”, a big template, a high Strength and Multiple wounds, this spell poses a lethal threat to pretty much anything on the battlefield! Moreover, the boosted version allows for a second or even third or fourth attempt! There is of course the chance that Gork slips when you go for the boosted version, and the chance that rd Gork will stomp your own unit is in fact 1/3 when you boost it up. However, this is often worth it as on average you now get 2,5 stomps on your opponent! And if your own fighting blocks consist of Trolls and Savage Orc Big Uns with the Shrunken head and some magic resistance, then even if Gork slips you’ll have a good chance of mitigating a lot of the damage. Averages don’t tell the whole story though, as I’ve so often seen the massive size 78 of Gork repeatedly smash entire units of enemies, and the sheer dismay on your opponents fac e when it again continues after the third or fourth try is priceless! However, I’ve also seen it to scatter away after the first attempt, only for Gork to slip and do the full Monty on your own unit instead… such is the fate of being a Greenskin!

As said before, the Foot of Gork is a threat to pretty much everything, so it can be difficult to select the appropriate target. Generally speaking, it’s best to select the target that is most likely to cause your problems and that the rest of your army can’t handle very well. When targeting a unit with one of more characters in it, always try to get the template over the characters too (the big toe is ideal for characters hiding in a corner!). W hile your opponent will make most of his Look-out-Sir rolls, occasionally he will fail one if you persist long enough! While placing the foot optimally is generally not too difficult, some opponents are a bit greedy when it comes to determining who’s hit. In these cases, the following diagrams may be helpful:

20 mm bases – 23 hits

Cavalry bases – 14 hits

20mm bases, 6 wide – 26 hits 40mm bases – 10 hits

Bretonnian lance – 12 hits

25 mm bases – 22 hits, just 1 less than on 20mm bases, because the foot template allows so many to be just clipped.

Finally, again a small table with the suggested number of dice to have at least 90% chance to reach the casting value. Level 1 6 6

Normal Boosted

Level 2 5 6

Level 4 5 (4 for 84%) 6 (5 for 85%)

How many dice? To summarize the suggested number of dice for all spells in the Big W aagh per wizard level, I’ll include the following tables as a quick reference. The suggested number of dice nets you at least a 90% chance to cast the spell, though sometimes there’s a second number in brackets with a percentage of around 84%. If the range is variable, I’ve also include the distance that you’re pretty much guaranteed to reach when casting said spell.

Level 4 Spell

Level 3 Dice

Range

Gaze of Mork -boosted

2 3

4D6" (10”) 8D6"(22”)

18" 36"

Brain Busta -boosted

2 3

18" 36"

2

n/a

Fists of Gork

3(2)

n/a

Hand of Gork -boosted

3 (2) 4

24" / 3D6" (7”) 24" / 5D6"(13”)


3 5 (4)

24" / 3D6" (7”) 24" / 5D6"(13”)

Eadbutt -boosted

3 (2) 4 (3)

4D6"(10”) 8D6"(22”)

3 4

4D6"(10”) 8D6"(22”)

3

2D6"(3”)

4 (3)

2D6"(3”)

Foot of Gork

5 (4)

36"

Foot of Gork

5

36"

-boosted

6 (5)

36"

-boosted

6

36"

Dice

Range

3 4

4D6" (10”) 8D6"(22”)

3 (2) 4 (3)

18" 36"

3

n/a


4 (3) 5

24" / 3D6" (7”) 24" / 5D6"(13”)

Eadbutt -boosted

4 (3) 5 (4)

4D6"(10”) 8D6"(22”)

4

2D6"(3”)

6 (5)

36"

6

36"

Gaze of Mork -boosted Brain Busta -boosted Fists of Gork

Ere we Go

Dice Dice

Range

2 3

4D6" (10”) 8D6"(22”)

2 3 (2)

Level 2

Spell

Eadbutt -boosted Ere we Go

Level 1

Spell

Dice Dice

Range


3 (2) 4 (3)

4D6" (10”) 8D6"(22”)


2 3

18" 36"


Fists of Gork

3

n/a

Fists of Gork

3 5 (4)

24" / 3D6" (7”) 24" / 5D6"(13”)

Eadbutt -boosted

3 4

4D6"(10”) 8D6"(22”)

Ere we Go

4

2D6"(3”)

Foot of Gork

5

36"

Foot of Gork

-boosted

6

36"

-boosted


Spell


Ere we Go

Big Waaagh overall:

There are a couple of things you need to consider when using the Big Waaagh! First, is that it only has two combat buffs – Fists of Gork and ‘Ere we Go – and both of them require your wizard to be in the thick of the fighting. Therefore, if you want to capitalize on using those spells, you should equip your wizards to be able to handle the heat! Also, you want to include at least one unit of fighty Orcs in your army to use ‘Ere we Go. If you go f or the Great Shaman, and don’t include a big of Orcs and/or make him fighty, you’re pretty much screwed when you roll both of these spells. Second, three of the four ranged damage spells have a variable range which is shortish when casting the normal version and can be boosted. But when boosting, you’re suddenly looking at casting values of 10+, 9+ and 12+ fo r Gaze, BrainBusta and Headbutt respectively whilst at short range they look much more affordable at 7+, 6+ and 9+. Given the f act that the first two of these spells are seldom a huge threat for your opponent, it makes sense to not spend too many dice when casting them from afar. Third is that all the damage spells get a significant boost from the lore attribute. This means that you should try to have at least one combat somewhere as soon as possible, to make your spells more dangerous. All these consideration can have a big impact on your overall army design! O&G are an army that really benefits from paying attention to what the spells do for t hem. That being said: ‘Eadbutt, Hand of Gork and Foot of Gork are strong enough by themselves. So if you don’t want to adjust your army too much, you certainly don’t have to. Most of the time (>90%) you will get at least 2 from these 3 spells on a level 4 and you can instead opt to just chuck a load of dice into these spells.

Sample army

Orc Warboss, Warrior Bane, Enchanted Shield, Crown of Command, Talisman of Preservation

205

Savage Orc Great Shaman, Fencer's Blade, Lucky shrunken head

290

Black Orc BSB, shield, Dragonhelm, Opal Amulet

142

Orc Shaman, Dispel Scrol, Boar

106

38 Savage Orc Big Uns, Additional hand weapons, Full Command

453

3x 5 Goblin Wolf Riders

150

39 Black Orcs, Full command, Banner of Discipline

518

7 Boar Boyz, Spears, shield, standard, Banner of Eternal Flame

160

2 Goblin Doom Divers

160

1 Goblin Rock Lobba 2 Mangler Squigs

85 130 2399

A sample 2400 points army that makes good use of the Big Waaagh! It’s by no means the be-all-endall of O&G armies, but it’s not bad either. A L d 10 general, sitting in a stubborn horde of B lack Orcs who can smash you up with great weapons if you want to get to the Warboss, the two hard hitting hordes are not affected by animosity, Boar boyz that can support the blocks and deal with

regenerating monsters, decent shooting support, some wolfriders to act as redirectors or war machine hunters and two manglers for general harassment. Magic can do a lot for this army; Lots of potential for Hand of Gork, both early and late in the game. The Orc Shaman on Boar acts as a backup in case the Level 4 misses one of the key spells, and can take Gaze of Mork otherwise and ride down the flank. The level 4 himself can make good use of the Fists, and Ere we Go can be a game winner if it af fects two of the three Orc units. With the shooting support, and Foot of Gork plus the sniper spells, this army can sit back for a few turns if it faces a more combat oriented army, while it is strong enough to advance when facing a more defensive army. With the Wolf riders, you can setup a quick (though rather insignificant) combat somewhere quickly to benefit from the lore attribute.

The Little Waaagh! Lore attribute – Sneaky Stealin’: when you successfully cast a spell, on a 5+ you steal a dispel dice and add it to your power pool. It affects all spells, which is good, and works very well with the Little Waaagh, because there are many cheap spells which you can cast on just 2 dice. This allows f or multiple attempts to steal a dice of your opponent or force him to use dice to dispel it. If you use a Night Goblin shaman, then dispelling with dice will require your opponent to throw a substantial number of dice because you add the mushroom dice to your score as well!

Sneaky Stabbin’

The signature spell gives armour penetration to a unit. It affects both Close combat and Shooting attacks. This spell is already quite useful on its own, especially when you cast it on a unit with a huge number of shots or attacks (a big unit of poisoned bowmen, or a unit of Savage Orcs with additional hand weapons make excellent targets.) Now that armour is becoming more and more prevalent, this spell has even increased in usefulness since the book has come out. But this spell really becomes downright terrifying when you cast it on a unit that fights an enemy from the side or rear, when it also grants rerolls to hit a nd to wound. I won’t include all the possible calculations, but to demonstrate how powerful this is, I’ll include a few examples in the table below to demonstrate the effects of fighting with and without this spell: Example

Attacks

Goblins vs Saurus Orcs vs Skullcrushers Savage Orcs vs Dwarfs Big ‘Uns vs Mournfang Big ‘Uns vs Ironguts

12

You hit You wound His armour on… on… save 4+ 5+ (S3) 4+

Wounds without 1 Stabbin’ 1 (0-2)

Wounds with Stabbin’ 3 (2-5)

15

4+

4+ (S4)

1+

0 (0-2)

2.5 (1-4)

20

4+

4+ (S4)

5+

4 (2-6)

11 (9-13)

12

3+

3+ (S5)

2+

2.5 (1-4)

6 (4-8)

18

3+

3+ (S5)

5+

8 (6-10)

14 (13-16)

As you can see, the increase of the number of wounds various from ‘very useful’ against difficult opponents, to ‘spectacular’ against optimal targets. Against optimal targets, it’s well worth chucking 6 dice into this spell. But if yo u’re adamant about casting other spells, you’re almost guaranteed to cast this on two dice with all goblin wizards (except the normal Goblin level 1, who needs 3 dice). Still, combat is where it’s at, so generally you want to maximize your chances of getting Sneaky stabbing through when you have a flank or rear. So when do you swap one of your spells for the signature? Personally, I pretty much ALW AYS do so when I expect any combat at all (perhaps unless I have just a level 1 scroll caddy who gets Itchy Nuisance). The sheer game changing potential of this spell in a crucial combat for me tops all the nice-but-not-earth-shattering nice-but-not-earth-shatterin g other spells i n the Little Waaagh.

1

The number of wounds in the table is first the average number, a nd then all the possible outcomes that have a 10% change or more of occurring. Thus 4 (2-6) means: On average you’ll cause 4 wounds, but yo u still have a decent change of causing 2,3, 5 or 6 wounds. Other outcomes are still possible of co urse, but are rather unlikely.

Vindictive Glare

This is a magic missile that inflicts 2D6 S3 hits on just a 5+, which can be boosted to 3D6 for 10+. A very useful spell, that’s especially good against skirmishers, fast cav and redirectors. Beware though, that even the boosted version may not be enough to instantly wipe out a typical unit of T3, 5 + armour fast cav or a single troll. Even 12 hits will not be enough enough with average dice… so if it’s a case of ‘this turn or not at all’, you might want to consider whether there is no other target that might be slightly less vulnerable, but where a few casualties will be nice as well. Another good use of this spell is against high-toughness, low armour save targets. Every 6 is a wound after all. War Machines, Terrorgheists and Warsphinxes are prime examples examples of such targets. Finally, just shooting up some expensive infantry, infantry, even for just 2 or 3 man per turn isn’t bad. bad. Casting this spell on two dice (or even just a single leftover one) with the lore attribute possibly stealing one back is seldom wasteful. A final tip: don’t get blinded by the boosted version. Occasionally it’s useful, but the single extra D6 will seldom cause more than a single casualty against something that’s meaningful, and you should ask yourself if that’s worth an extra power dice. A summary of how many dice I suggest using on this spell with the different type of casters. Note that I generally advice going for at l east a 90% chance of success. But due to the mushroom mechanics, Night Goblins can’t reach this percentage, because a 1 on the mushroom dice always fails if you don’t get Irresistible force! Therefore, their success-percentage tops around 84%.

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 2 4

L2 Gobbo 2 4(3 : 84%)

L4 Gobbo L1 N. Gobbo L2 N. Gobbo L4 N. Gobbo 2 2 2 2 3 3 3(2 : 75%) 2

Gift of the Spider God

Gift of the Spider God grants a unit poisoned attacks, or increases the poison to a 5+ if they already have it. This applies to both close combat and shooting attacks. Just like the ‘normal’ version of Sneaky Stabbin’ this spell is most useful when you’re rolling lots of to-hit dice anyway, so hordes of (Night) Goblin Spearmen or archers make good targets, as do Sav age Orcs, especially if you already have poison to start with. However, when you already have a high Strength, this becomes much less useful. With average dice, and –for example – S4 versus T3, you will only get one extra wound per 18 dice rolled… not something to write home about. But a Goblin horde with bows, that get to to shoot lots, then gets a stand-and shoot with it, and subsequently fight a round of combat with poisoned attacks really becomes quite dangerous. So though potentially powerful, it is very circumstantial and to get substantial benefits from it, and you need to include some units that can really make good use from it. The dice needed to have a good chance of casting it:

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 3 n/a

L2 Gobbo 3 n/a

L4 Gobbo L1 N. Gobbo L2 N. Gobbo L4 N. Gobbo 2 2 2 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Itchy Nuisance

A wonderful little hex, that reduces both Movement and Initiative by D6, with a good range. It’s prime usage is slowing an enemy unit and infantry especially are reduced to a crawl. But even keeping swifter units out of combat for a turn longer can be priceless, as can slowing flyers who are 19-20” away from your War Machines as you now have a good chance of them failing any intended charges. It affects Random Movement too, so it’s also great against Steam Tanks and Hellpits, both of which can cause major problems for our army. In combat, this can also make a bit of a difference when it comes to characters fighting before their enemies, and when you are running out of models to step up. When this isn’t the case, it will do nothing at all, but in the small combats it can m ake all the difference. That being said, the prime usage of this spell is slowing dangerous units in the early stage o f the game, and that alone can be game-winning, which almost always makes it worth having. The dice needed to have a good chance of casting it:

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 3 n/a

L2 Gobbo 3 n/a


Gork’ll fix it

Another combat spell, and another one that needs the right circumstances to work well. It’s the only spell in both Lores that actually reduces the amount of incoming damage. It makes your o pponent reroll all 6s to hit, to wound and armour saves. This is obviously very good against poison and killing blow, as it almost completely removes it from the equation. But especially against poison, you need a big unit fighting you (or shooting at you) to make a difference. A handful of skins that have moved and shoot at longe range are not rolling that many 6s in the first place. Of course, it’s nice to remove them from the equation, but you should ask yourself if your power dice aren’t better used elsewhere. Now this spell can still be useful when fighting against something without poison or killing blow, but pay attention to the circumstances! If your opponent is hitting you on 3s and wounding you on 2s, most of the 6s that he’ll be forced to reroll will hit/wound you on the reroll too. However, if he hits you on 4s and wounds on 5s, then these rerolls are far more likely to result in misses and you get more effect from it. Once again, I’ve made a table with a few examples to demonstrate the effects, assuming that the opponent dishes out 24 attacks:

Example

Hits on

Wounds on

Wounds without Gork

Wounds with Gork

% saved

Greatswords vs Goblins

3+

2+

13,3

11,8

11%

Inner circle knights vs Big Uns

4+

2+

10,0

8,1

19%

Ironbreakers vs Orcs

3+

4+

8,0

6,1

24%

Halberdiers vs Big Uns

4+

4+

6,0

4,2

31%

Swordsmen vs Orcs

3+

5+

4,9

3,3

39%

Ogres vs River Trolls

5+

4+

4,0

2,2

44%

Netted Swordsmen vs Big Uns

4+

6+

2,0

0,3

86%

To summarize: •

•

•

•

Gork will fix little if you're wounded on 2s (or hit and wounded on 3s.) The spell then is about the equivalent of a 6+ ward save. Don't cast it unless you've nothing else to improve the odds. When you're hit on 4s and wounded on 3s (or vice versa), Gork starts fixing things. He's not up to steam yet, but his efforts start getting meaningful and may affect combat enough to swing it. When you're wounded on 5s (or hit on 5s, but that's a rare), Gork really starts fixing things. The spell is now more effective than a 5+ ward save. If you're also hit on 4s, then it's almost a 4+. When you're wounded on 6s, Gork's a machine an fixes virtually everything. Better than a 2+ ward save. But well, when you're wounded on 6s, not much gets through in the first place...

So another circumstantial spell. Useful, but not earth-shattering. The dice needed to have a good chance of casting it:

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 3 n/a

L2 Gobbo 3 n/a


Night Shroud

Probably the worst spell in a deck that isn’t chock full of win in the first place. Night shroud makes units charging into combat with it take a dangerous terrain test. It only affects models actually in base contact (just a handful), only when charging, and they only get a wound on a 1. If that nets you a single casualty you should count yourself lucky… The effect of giving the unit soft cover against shooting isn’t that useful either, as it only affects Ballistic skill based shooting which generally isn’t much of a threat anyway, and only a single unit so you opponent can easily concentrate on your other units instead. The most interesting version is probably the boosted version (which should cover most of your army), when you’re playing against enemies with lots of Ballistic skill based shooting as some Dwarfs, High Elves, and Dark Elves and most Wood Elves. Since the signature spell also won’t be very useful against these armies, you could consider keeping Night Shroud when you roll it, but fo r the 15+ casting value you would expect a lot more your power dice are o ften better spend elsewhere. For completeness’ sake more than anything else, I’ll include the dice that I suggest using to cast it, the one time that it could actually be useful:

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 4 (3) 6 (5)

L2 Gobbo 3 5

L4 Gobbo L1 N. Gobbo L2 N. Gobbo L4 N. Gobbo 3 (2) 3 (2) 2 2 5 (4) 5 (4) 4 4 (3)

Curse of the Bad Moon

The basic version sends a magical vortex 4D6” away, and makes everything it hits take a S, T or I test (randomly determined) with a single wound if they fail. The number 6 spell of the L ittle Waaagh! has gotten a lot of bad press for not being quite as game-breaking as some other big spells in the BRB lores, notably Dwellers, Purple Sun, Pit of Shades and Mindrazor. Moreover, it’s the victim of high expectations… if you do get it off, and hit a whole unit with it, it isn’t that the unit instantly fal ls over ( though 7-9 kills is quite common even when you get a ‘bad’ charac terictic to test on). But killing, say 8 T4 /5+ armour save models with S4 magic missiles requires about 20 hits, which equals 6 or 7 D6 S4 hits. Not bad for a ‘wrong’ characteristic to test on. But due to inflated expectations and comparison to the killer spells many players seem to disregard our Curse straight away. Now I’m not saying that this spell is in the top league, it definitely isn’t. But w hen judging it on its own merits, it isn’t all bad, and comparing it to some of the other #6 spells, I’d say i t’s on par. So how to use it? Obviously Curse of the Bad Moon is most useful when you hit a substantial amount of models with it. Most of the models in the game that come in sizeable numbers have a S and T o f 3 or 4, with only very few exceptions. Initiative is a lot more variable, but again there’s lots of 3s and 4s around, and for every unit with I5, there seems to be one with I 1 or 2 ‘to compensate’. This means that the Curse of the Bad Moon will often kill one third or the half of the models that it hits. This makes it a decent threat against big units which need a bit of thinning out, and a lot of our units prefer to win combat quickly and move on, rather than in a prolonged grind (All Orcs with their choppa’s, the vulnerable squigs, and chariots with their impact hits). A quick reminder of how far those 4D6”will get you 90%+: the range that you 83%+: You can normally are pretty much guaranteed expect to reach this, but dice to reach. are fickle! 4D6 >10" + 3” template >11"+ 3” template

66% - It already gets iffy and you are not guaranteed to reach this, but might still be worth a try. >13" + 3” template

Now you may not always roll the characteristic that you want, but at the moment of casting, neither does your opponent. And very few opponents are willing to risk losing half of their dragon princes th when you don’t roll Initiative, or 5/6 of their Saurus Warriors when you actually do. In that respect, it’s higher on many opponents ‘must stop that’ than many O&G generals give it credit for. Of course, you can always go for the big version if you’re feeling lucky, and especially if there’s a juicy target around with that Initiative of 1 or 2 . The massive 25+ to cast leaves any attempts best to the Night Goblins (a level 4 has a 75% chance o f reaching this, while a level 2 still has a 64% chance, beating the vanilla Level 4 goblin at 56%). So when faced with big units of Plaguebearers, Dwarfs, Saurus, Skeletons, or Savage Orc Big Uns you should consider the big version, while the small version may be useful when you’re faced with lots of Bretonnian, Empire or High Elf cavalry or with any sizable stubborn/unstable/unbreakable blocks of infantry that have to be soften up before (or even when) engaging them. Finally, you can combine the Big version with Itchy Nuisance! You need a bit of luck to get two spells off, but if you manage to pull it off, it’s something to remember forever! I suggest using the following number of dice when casting:

Normal Boosted

L1 Gobbo 6 (5) Not advisable

L2 Gobbo 5 Not advisable

L4 Gobbo L1 N. Gobbo L2 N. Gobbo L4 N. Gobbo 5 (4) 5 (4) 4 4(3) Not Not 6 6 advisable advisable

How many dice? To summarize the suggested number of dice for all spells in the Little Waagh per wizard level, I’ll include the following tables as a quick reference. As with the Big Waaagh. the suggested number of dice nets you at least a 90% chance to c ast the spell, though night goblins will fail more often due to poisoned mushrooms. When there’s a second number in brackets, the chance is somewhat lower, but acceptable if you feel adventurous.

Level 4 Normal Goblin Spell

Level 3 Normal Goblin Dice

Spell

Dice

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

Vindictive Glare -boosted

2 3


2 3


2


3 (2)

Itchy Nuisance

2

Itchy Nuisance

3 (2)

Gork’ll Fix It

2

Gork’ll Fix It

3 (2)

Night Shroud -boosted

3 (2) 5 (4)


3 5


5 (4)


5

- boosted

Not advised

Level 2 Normal Goblin Spell

- boosted

Not advised

Level 1 Normal Goblin Dice

Spell

Dice

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

Sneaky Stabbin’

3 (2)


2 4 (3)


2 4


3


3

Itchy Nuisance

3

Itchy Nuisance

3

Gork’ll Fix It

3

Gork’ll Fix It

3


3 5


4 (3) 5


5


6 (5)

- boosted

Not advised

- boosted

Not advised

Level 4 Night Goblin Spell

Level 3 Night Goblin Dice

Spell

Dice

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

Sneaky Stabbin’

2


2 2


2 2


2


2

Itchy Nuisance

2

Itchy Nuisance

2

Gork’ll Fix It

2

Gork’ll Fix It

2


2 4 (3)


2 4


4 (3)


4

-boosted

6

-boosted

6

Level 2 Night Goblin Spell

Level 1 Night Goblin Dice

Spell

Dice

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

Sneaky Stabbin’

2


2 3 (2)


2 3


2


2

Itchy Nuisance

2

Itchy Nuisance

2

Gork’ll Fix It

2

Gork’ll Fix It

2


2 4


2 4


4


-boosted

6

-boosted

5 (4) Not advised

The Little Waaagh overall:

Overall, the Little Waaagh is rarely a game-winning lore, certainly not in the terms of blasting things from the table like the Big Waaagh o r the Lore of Death, neither with massive game-swinging buffs and hexes that Lores life Life and Shadow bring to the table. That being said, it isn’t useless. useless. Many of the spells are cheap, and combined with the lore attribute they can provide a major nuisance. Speaking of nuisances, Itchy Nuisance can change the game by slowing a key unit and Vindictive glare can blast a redirector out of the way. If that enables you to get of a flank charge, it can prove to be game-winning in the end, especially with Sneaky Stabbin’. Gork’ll fix can easily save a wound or two in combat, which can just mean the difference between losing by one and winning by one. With the right expectations, even Curse of the bad moon can also do quite a bit of damage, and a lowly NG level 2 can be reasonably sure to cast it on just 4 dice. While I don’t consider the Little Waaagh to pack enough raw power to be run on its own, I think that it’s an excellent support lore to the Big Waaagh.

A sample army list:

While I just said that I think that the litt le Waaagh isn’t strong enough to be used on its own, I have included a sample list that can make very good use out of it. Black Orc Warboss, Armour of Silvered Steel, Talisman of Protection

235

Gobbo Great Shaman, Level 4, Dispel scroll

205

Night Goblin Shaman, Level 2, Power stone

105

Night Goblin Big Boss, BSB, Obsidian Amulet

100

5 Night Goblin Big Bosses, Additional hand weapon

160

Goblin Big Boss, Giant Wolf, Charmed shield, Spear

54

57 Night Goblins, bows, nets, 3 fanatics, Full command

321

30 Savage Orc Big 'Uns, Additional hand weapon, standard, musician

350

21 Squigs with 14 handlers

210

Troll

35

Troll

35

2 Goblin Bolt Throwers

70

2 Doom divers

160

8 River trolls

360

This list includes 4 good combat blocks, which is more than most lists at this level. Moreover, any of the 4 can afford to lose a few models without losing much of its hitting power, because that’s provided by the front rank. Therefore this list can very well set up flank/rear c harges and if any of the combat blocks get sneaky stabbin’ off, it takes some kind of miracle to not win that combat. The night goblins, Savages and River trolls all benefit from Gork ‘ll fix it, as they’re not easily hit (4s for most) or wounded. The big night goblin unit benefits a lot from poison, poison, as do the savages with all these attacks. The usefulness of the other spells is more dependent on what your opponent brings to the table, but you seldom have to worry about finding suitable targets for Itchy Nuisance or Vindictive Glare. Also notice the power stone on the Night Goblin level 2, which can be used to fuel Curse of the Bad Moon. (If you roll spells for your level 4 first, and swap Curse of the Bad Moon for Sneaky Stabbin, you’re pretty much assured to get Curse on the L2). With just 2 power dice and the rd power stone he can cast the small version, and 4 dice plus the stone give you about a 2/3 chance to reach the 25 needed for the big one. Very few people will see that coming! that coming! If you’ve 6 dice, and start by casting a rather inconspicuous Itchy Nuisance on two dice, who will expect it to be followed by the Big Bad Moon??? I admit that it’s a bit o f a gadget, but even a simple Sneaky Stabbin’ at the right time can be brought to undispelable heights with both a mushroom dice and the power stone…

Spending points on magic Picking your Shamans

Of course, how many shamans you want to include depends on a number of factors: Po ints level, whether you want an offensive or a defensive magic phase, and what role you want magic to play in your army. But considering a 2400 points game, I’d always want to include a level 4 shaman even if only for magic defense. Too many mages can put out too much quality spells, (both ranged and hexes and buffs) to significantly tip – or smash - the game in their favour if left to t heir own devices. And with all other things being equal, I’d take a (Savage) Orc Great Shaman over the Goblin variety. The Little Waaagh lacks the raw power of the Big Waaagh and has problems drawing any dispel scrolls out early (more on the importance of that later). But when it comes to supporting my Orc Great shaman, I prefer Goblins over more Orc Shamans. The Big Waaagh is lacking in combat buffs, and when at range the spells of the Big Waaagh aren’t exactly cheap to cast for a lower level Orc Shaman. Therefore I like Night Goblin level 2s (one or two), or even a Goblin level 4, if points allow it. With the magic mushroom the Night Goblin casts spells almost just as easily as a level 4, and the Lore attr ibute of stealing dispel dice puts extra pressure on your opponent to dispel it. Including more than 8 levels of magic is a waste of points in my opinion. With 8 spells, you should always have a decent selection to choose from, whether at range or in melee. When it comes to choosing which goblin wizards, I prefer a normal goblin when using a level 4, and night goblins when using level 1s or 2s. The reason for this is the mushroom dice, combined with the number of dice that I suggest using for casting the different spells. In the table below, I’ve repeated the suggested number of casting dice for both normal and Night Go blin level 4s and 2s:

Spell

Night Goblin Level 4

Night Goblin Level 2

Goblin Level 4

Goblin Level 2

Sneaky Stabbin’

2

2

2

2


2 2

2 3 (2)

2 3

2 4 (3)


2

2

2

3

Itchy Nuisance

2

2

2

3

Gork’ll Fix It

2

2

2

3


2 4 (3)

2 4

3 (2) 5 (4)

3 5


4 (3)

4

5 (4)

5

6

6

Not advised

Not advised

-boosted

As you can see from this table, the number of dice that I suggest using are almost identical for the Night Goblin Level 4, Night Goblin Level 2, and Goblin Level 4, while the goblin level 2 needs an extra dice on pretty much anything. That means two things: -

There’s not that much point in taking a Night Goblin Level 4 over a level 2. Due to the mushroom dice, they both cast spells rather easily, and the biggest reason for spells failing to cast is in fact the same mushroom dice – if it’s a poisoned one, it fails. I prefer to spread the risks when that happens: level 2s are cheaper, the two combined have more wounds, they have an extra channelling attempt and an extra arcane slot.

-

When taking a level 4, the Night Goblin doesn’t add much over the Vanilla L evel 4. Sure, if the spell is cast, the extra mushroom die makes it harder to dispel, but because the 1 on the mushroom dice always fails, this means that the Night Goblin always has a non-negligible chance of failing, and a single f ailed spell makes your magic phase so much less of a threat that I prefer the stability of the common goblin.

At smaller game sizes, I prefer an Orc level 2 (perhaps with the Ruby Ring as well) over the Goblins too. Again, the Big Waaagh generally does make a bigger impact on the game and it seems to ‘scale’ better as well. Also, the lore attribute of the Little Waaagh isn’t very useful when you just cast one spell per turn anyway. Summarized, my advice for selecting wizards in general is: -

Go with the Big Waaagh! first until you have a level 4 When you have your level 4, support him with goblin shamans, though you can of course use lower level Orc shamans if your game-plan is really dependant on getting the right spells. Use Night Goblins when using level 1s and 2s Use a normal Goblin when using a level 4, unless you really want really want the big version of Curse of the Bad Moon

Some final tips: always include a Black Orc character or a unit of Black Orcs for your level 4, so that when his unit is hit by animosity, that doesn’t mean you instantly lose out on an entire turn of casting! When fighting battles at really low points levels (-750 points) it’s probably best to spend your character points on a decent general and a BSB rather than on shamans. Don’t overlook the Ruby Ring of Ruin however. In these small battles, it can be a r eally useful item and all the power dice that you get aren’t wasted if you have the Ring. If your opponent doesn’t bring wizards either, you can easily chuck all your dice into the ring. And 70% of the time, you’ll have more power dice than your opponent has dispel dice (and if not then it’s a roll o ff of your 6 versus his) so you will find yourself casting it most of the times.

Equipping your shamans

When you’ve selected your shamans, it’s time to tool them up. There’s lots of interesting options here, but I won’t go through all the magic items. Instead I’ll focus the main categories (Orc Great Shaman, Goblin Great Shaman and lower level Shamans), and discuss some of the kit that I like on them and why: (Savage) Orc Great Shaman: Shaman : While wizards in general are ill equipped for combat, the (Savage) Orc Great Shaman can actually do quite well do to his high toughness, decent S and the Fists of Gork. If your list is built so that he’s likely to see combat, than the Fencers Blade is a must on him, making him bot h harder to hit (many Rank and file will now hit him on a 5+ rather than a 3+), and making him hit his targets easier. Lacking armour, a Ward save is also a must on him. This can come in the form of the Lucky Shrunken Head, or the Talisman of Preservation. For example: -

Savage Orc Great Shaman, Fencers Blades, Lucky Shrunken Head, Obsidian Trinket (Magic resistance synergizes well with the 5+ Ward save, but if you already have some Magic Resistance elsewhere then the Potion of Speed or Potion of Foolhardiness are nice too)

-

Orc Great Shaman, Fencers Blades, Talisman of Preservation, Power Stone. I think that the power stone is a great item to get a crucial spell through at the right time and with the Arcane Slot still free when not using the Lucky Shrunken head, this is my item of choice. For the more defensive minded people, the Sceptre of Stability is great too when you just fail to stop that crucial spell or when you roll really low trying to stop a cheap spell and your level 4 can’t dispel any further due to broken concentration.

If you don’t expect your shaman to be in combat, then the Obisidan Lodestone is a good choice as 2 well, especially in a Savage Orc character bunker . This can be combined with the Lucky Shrunken head to give your Savage Orc Shaman, BSB , General and the entire unit a 2+ ward saves against magic. There’s our own Banner of the World Dragon! If you think that 3+ will suffice, then you could swap the Lucky Shrunken Head for, for example an Earthing Rod which is a useful item too for any shaman that will often throw a lot of dice into a spell. Another option that I want to mention is rather unusual, but one that I’ve played a few games with, with great success. I’ve mounted my Orc Great Shaman Shaman with a 4+ Ward on an Arabian carpet. He can’t go into a unit this way, but I seldom struggled to find a save place for him nevertheless. And even in the open, he gets a 4+ Look out Sir, and then a 4+ ward against cannonballs and the like. The mobility that the Arabian Carpet offers is very useful on a character t hat primarily wants to cast direct damage spells, preferable from short range. I must admit that I’ve never been brave enough to take this to a tournament, but it certainly is an option worth mentioning. Goblin Great Shaman Unlike his Orc cousins, the goblin great shamans definitely don’t have any place in combat at all. Therefore, I see little point in equipping him with a ward save other than magic resistance if you run him in a character bunker. Otherwise, only equip him with useful Arcane items that you’d also g ive to lower level wizards like the Dispel Scroll, Power Stone, or Sceptre of Stability. The Earthing Rod isn’t much use here, because he will cast most of his spells on just two dice. It makes sense however, to run him (or the entire bunker including a general and BSB with Standard of Discipline) on Giant Wolfs. That keeps him very mobile with high movement and you can run away from any threatening situation. It also helps to compensate for some of the Little Waaagh spells being rather limited in range. Lower level shamans Lower level shamans are almost always best kept cheap. You never want those in combat so giving them any weapons or protection is most likely a waste of points. They are however ideal for carrying Dispel Scrolls, so that you can still protect yourself against evil spells even if your level 4 suffers from broken concentration, is fleeing, or dead. Other than that, use the magic item allotment only fo r items that benefit the entire unit or army, such as Sceptre of Stability, R uby Ring of Ruin, Magic Resistance, or Ironcurse Icon. The only time protective item that I’d ever consider is the Opal Amulet for a low-level shaman for a Level 2 Night Goblin with the dispel scroll. He is expensive and important enough to get that one extra save when eating a poisoned mushroom or miscasting or taking a wound from a miscast.

2

A ‘bunker’ is a unit that is specifically designed not to come in combat, and that contains some or all of your key characters. The primary role of the unit is to be behind the lines and keep the characters safe by providing Look-our-Sirs rolls and is preferably Immune to Psychology too.

Well, that’s all I have to say about the magic phase, and it turned out to be a lot more than I initially though! Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I hope this was useful, and if you have any comments on things that I may have overlooked, where I’ve erred, or anything else, be sure to register on Da Warpath (the place for all things green!) - http://www.da-warpath.com/ and send a PM to Izzy Gutsnik.

Cheers!

Getting The Most Out Of The Magic Phase with Orcs and Goblins

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