The important thing to remember when playing an Orc & Goblin army is that they have no truly great strengths (other than Grimgor Ironhide - the hardest hand to hand exponent in the whole Warhammer world) and no massive weaknesses.
Orcs and Goblin armies have a lot of tactical options open to them. They can go for head on charges with some meaty units like Big Uns and Black Orcs, out-flanking with spider riders and boar boys, bombardment from a ditance with rock lobbers and goblin doom divers or a combination of tactics. The magic users (shamans) are not great but are cheap. The only mior weakness comes in the lack of magical items for characters, having said that, there are enough to make a fairly decent selection which can help negate some of your enemies magical superiority.
A Goblin and Orc army should not really be treated as a Goblin & Orc army, more just an Orc army with a few choice goblin units, usually a couple of goblin units to deloy ball and chain fanatics and, possibly, some spider riders or wolf riders to out flank and threaten enemy artillery and magic users not associated with units. Doom divers can also come in handy depending on your opponent. (remember that artillery units are more expensive than you first think because if you are playing an aggressive attacking game you will still need to leave at least one unit behind to protect your artillery (unless they are dispensable in your plans).
Some generals play with Orc only armies, totally ignoring goblins and have had some success with this. Others also ignore black orcs (due to their relatively high cost - in comparison with their green brethren). I believe this is also successful under tournament conditions. Personally, I would deploy a whole range of units and races because it adds to the character of the army and enjoyment of the battle.
So, given the above... how do you beat a goblin and orc army ?
Well, try this:-
1) if you don't know the make up of the enemy army before battle always assume there will be fanatics. You will need a cheap fast moving unit or preferably flyers to draw those fanatics into the open - well away from your army !
2) assume Grimgor Ironhide is coming along for the ride ! (he's so relatively cheap, the enemy would be foolish to leave him at home) Grimgor is probably the single hardest character in the Warhammer Fantasy world. He takes a lot of stopping and, because he always strikes first with 7 attacks he will make mince meat of anyone he gets into combat with.
If he is fielded on his own, target him with everything you have in the missile department and/or block him with cheap units to prevent him from getting to your shock / elite troops.
If he is fielded with a unit of black orcs then try to outflank them and mass attack them. The Empire army actually has Van Horstmann's Speculum which can be used to swap Grimgor's key stats with the empire character attacking him ! Try it out.
3) Have a plan to counteract that Rock Lobber ! If you rely on whittling the enemy down with missile fire you'd better do something about the enemy's artillery otherwise he might just end up whittling you down.
4) Include any character/unit/monster/magic item which causes fear/panic or leadership tests of any kind. This is not one of a goblin/orc's army strengths !
5) Choose the right targets ! Attack ors if you think you can make them rout or panic, goblins might then well follow suit. Killing goblins doesn't bother orcs and killing orcs certainly wouldn't bother black orcs.
I have plenty more ideas but I think this is enough for now...
Painted Thor, Hero of Midgard
8 hours ago
