Orks in 6th: Elites

Orks have some cool choices for Elites (and some not so good). Thankfully, with a bit of FOC manipulation (Warboss making Nobz troops) it open ups a few slots. Up until now the obvious choice has been the Lootas since it's the only long range anti-tank shooting orks get. If not very reliable it still got the job done. Let's see if this has changed in 6th or as people say, the more things change the more the stay the same.

Nobz: If you want to include Nobz in your army (and you want to include biker nobz nowadays) take a Warboss and make them scoring. Since a Big Mek with a KFF is not auto include anymore you can take two even. Totally worth it! So, I always considered Nobz to be a Troop choice rather than elites.

Edit: After the recent FAQ Nobz don't seem that great any more but I will have to elaborate on that in a different post. 

Tankbustas:They still suffer from Glory Hogs so they can still be easily kited. Could potentially be devastating in close combat against vehicles now that they will be hitting on "3"s ( with two Tankhammers, a Power Klaw and a score of Tankbusta Bombs) but lacking a dedicated transport, their usefulness is limited. Bomb-Squigs hitting flying vehicles on a 2+ is cute (their stunty hind legs must be really powerful to be able to jump that high) but an opponent with half a brain could easily negate that. Much better options in Elites to waste slots on them. Better avoid them.

Burna Boyz: When I first read what Template weapons do in 6th (with regards to overwatch) I thought that burnas were going to be amazing. Stick 15 of them in a Battlewagon and you got the ultimate BBQ mobile. Even if they have to disembark to shoot at a vehicle,who is going to charge them afterwards (scoring 30 hits on average when overwatching)? You could even Overwatch from inside the Battlewagon! Ultimately though, template weapons suffer from their short range.

I thought I could play them like a did in 5th, i.e. move the Battlewagons 7'' forward, catch 3 or 4 guys under the Template and score 60 hits on the units. However you can no longer remove models as casualties that are out of range of the template (or out of Line of Sight) so this wouldn't really work unless your opponent really clumped up his models. Since he can easily counter measure that (place his units in conga lines) and Battlewagons ain't what they used to be I think these guys will stay on their spot in my IKEA display cabinet.

Kommandos: These guys are unfortunately the big losers of 6th edition. I used to field them occasionally (with Snikrot and maybe a Biker Boss joining) and they could cause a lot of havoc if they arrived on the table early enough in the game while they were outflanking. Even though it's easier for reserves to arrive at the board, the unit is almost useless since they can't charge the turn they get deployed from reserves and their shooting is non existent. Using them as infiltrators would be an idea but you'd have to rely on some very heavy LoS blocking terrain for that to work. And you would have to really count on a first turn charge or else you'll lose them to rapidfire shooting. Too many random factors there to count on a unit like that. They are only a big waste of time now I am afraid. Too bad since I love the models and made a lot of conversions of my own. 

Lootas: These guys have been a staple in every competitive Ork list since the rise of 5th edition mech lists.With the change to 6th edition rules these guys became even better at what they do. Keep this in mind. Lootas rely on their rate of fire rather than their accuracy. So firing at snap shots is nothing for them. When you are letting 30 S7 shots lose, you don't mind if you are hitting on sixes.

Keeping this in mind there is so many more thing you can do now. Reposition during the movement phase for better LoS, go to ground in area terrain or behind Aegis defensive line to get 2+ cover save when suffering a lot of wounds, shooting at flyers etc. And the only drawback is that you are going to be hitting on sixes instead of fives. Not too bad at all if you ask me.

They still suffer from their low leadership of course but you can always mitigate that. Keeping them out of rapidfire range and using 2+ cover saves will minimise casualties and leadership checks. You can regroup now if you are over 25%, so that will give them a second change to regroup if everything else goes wrong.

In a few words, their usefulness and survivability has greatly increased so now even more so they are a must for every Ork army. They are so much better than anything else in the Elites sections, there's no competition for the slot. Ideally I would use 3 x 10 if I had so many of them!