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When
I play a mixed Orc and Goblin horde I always create a group of
mostly infantry units led by my army's general to be my army's
strongest point. I refer to this group as my "Infantry
Block". Because Orc and Goblin armies are so
susceptible to Panic Tests (and failing Break Tests) I view it as
vital to maximize the Leadership radius of your general.
While it may be effective for some greenskin players to put their
General on a Wyvern or out on some cavalry unit somewhere you
really must construct your army differently so that the rest of
your army can survive without his leadership. In my
experience this is a big gamble and I've had the most success when
I keep my General right in the center of the battle line. These
infantry formations work best when your general is an Orc (Black
or regular) Big Boss when playing battles under 2,000 points or an
Orc (Black or regular) Warboss when playing over 2,000
points. Those extra points of leadership are critically
important. Even if you choose an Orc Great Shaman as your
lord when playing over 2,000 point battles I would try to keep him
towards the center of your formation, on foot or in a unit, to use
his marginally better leadership. When you are playing as
Orc and Goblin, every point of leadership is gold. If
you have any chance at all of having to use your army against a
Tomb Kings or Vampire Counts player or if you think you may run up
against another army composed of lots of fear causing units having
a strongpoint led by your General is critical. Against such
units you will need to make a Fear or Terror Test in order to
charge and will need to take them if you are charged yourself.
Being able to make these tests is a must. There
are three basic Infantry Block formation strategies that I use in
most of my armies. In all cases my General is either leading
the center unit, which is usually my best infantry unit like Orc
Big 'Uns or Black Orcs, or is as close to center as possible if
he's an Orc Great Shaman on foot. It is important that your
Goblin units outnumber your Orc units in unit strength. If
an Orc unit next to it panics or is broken in close combat and
flees (and escapes pursuit) any Goblin units within 4" of
their final position that are not of higher unit strength will
have to make a Panic Test at the start of their next turn.
It should be pretty easy to keep Goblin units at higher unit
strength though. Just build them in greenskin fashion: 25 or more
Orcs in an Orc unit and 30 or more Goblins in a Goblin unit.
I always keep at least a two inch gap between units to allow room
for individual unit maneuver but not enough so that any unit in
the center can be charged in the flanks. Unless you build
your units extremely wide you should be able to use your general's
leadership value at least two units to either side with several
inches to spare. Using those extra inches you can put a Shaman or
Chariot in one or two of the gaps with easily enough room or you
can expand the spacing slightly to allow more room for maneuver. BATTLE
STANDARD BEARER If
you decide to include a Battle Standard Bearer in your army the
best place to put him is right next to your General in the center
unit. The goal is to maximize his battlefield effectiveness
so you want as many units as possible to be able to take advantage
of him.
ALTERNATING FORMATION
 In this formation I alternate between Goblin and Orc units. There are several advantages to this formation. This is the formation I almost always use if I'm fighting Khemri Tomb Kings. The Screaming Skull Catapult is a very scary machine to face because even one casualty will cause the unit to take a Panic
Test and this formation helps limit the spread of Panic.
If any one Goblin
unit is destroyed or breaks it will not cause the neighboring Orc units to take a Panic Test because of the Orcs' Ignore Goblin Panic rule. If any one Goblin unit in the formation is forced to take a Panic Test, either due to casualties or if they are hit by a Screaming Skull Catapult, and it fails the neighboring Orc units within 4" will not have to take a Panic Test at the start of their next turn also because of Ignore Goblin Panic. If any one Orc unit is forced to take a Panic Test, either due to casualties or if they are hit by a Screaming Skull Catapult, and it fails the neighboring Goblin units within 4" will not have to take a Panic Test at the start of their next turn as long as they have a higher unit strength than the
panicking Orc unit.
There are also some fun things you can do with this formation. You can set "Flee Traps" with your Goblins by having the Goblin units a few inches in front of the Orc units in sort of a sawtooth formation. Try to get your Goblins an inch or two within charge range of the enemy to tempt him to charge the Goblins. When he does, choose "Flee" as your charge reaction. If you did it right your opponent will fail all his charges against that unit and be forced to move 1/2 the charge distance, which should be in a prime position to counter-charge with your Orcs. The beauty of this formation is that even if by fate your Goblins are caught and destroyed by the charging units (ie you roll really low on your flee distance roll) the Goblins' destruction will not cause the neighboring Orc units to take a Panic Test because of the Ignore Goblin Panic rule. If you plan on using this as a tactic though I wouldn't spend too much on the Goblin units. It may be a good idea to make these units archers with only a musician. As you advance you can shoot arrows at the enemy. When you flee you can rally using the leadership of your general plus the musician bonus then continue shooting. With this archer unit even if it is lost you are out less than 60 points.
Another thing you can do with the Goblins is to use them as a meat-shield. This works best if you can somehow manage to get a Battle Standard Bearer in your army (which should be put right next to your general in the center infantry unit to maximize his effectiveness as well). Make sure your Goblins are equipped with light armor and a shield
(you can pay for spears too as an option if you wish), a full command
and is 30 or more models strong. Deploy your Goblin units a few inches forward of your Orc units. Your enemy will be tempted to charge the Goblin units because they are
perceived as weaker than the Orc units. If he does, once close combat begins announce that you are using "hand weapons" for the close
combat if you want a higher save or you can elect to use spears if
you think you have a chance of wounding enough with strength 3
hits. With the hand weapon, shield and light armor your goblins will have a 4+ armor save (+1 for handweapon/shield combo). The goal here is for your Goblins to hold for at least one turn so that your Orc units can counter charge. Your Goblins, along with the 4+ armor save, should have +3 for a rank bonus, +1 for having a banner and likely will get +1 for the outnumber bonus. If they do lose the Goblin unit can use the leadership of the general and, if you got the Battle Standard Bearer, can re-roll the Break Test once if you miss. If everything comes together correctly your Goblins may lose one turn of combat but on the next turn the Orcs should turn that combat into an easy victory.
NIGHT GOBLIN FLANKS
 My armies always have a strong infantry center but there's one weakness: the flanks. The outermost infantry units are pretty vulnerable because the "Infantry Block" must remain together in order to maximize its effectiveness. Usually I use Chariots or Goblin Wolf Riders to protect my flanks. If I know I'm likely to fight a very fast opponent (High Elf, Beastmen, Tomb Kings etc) or a heavily armored opponent (Chaos, Bretonnia etc) I will use this formation. In this formation I make my outermost infantry units in the Infantry Block Night Goblin units with 2-3 Fanatics. Most opponents are almost irrationally afraid of Fanatics. If enemy units get too close throw the Fanatics where they will cause the most trouble / hesitation for your opponent. Throw one each into the potential charge paths of your opponent or throw them at the highest value / most armored unit.
In my experience opponents will go to almost comical lengths to keep armored units away from them. I can't count the number of times having one Fanatic within 6" of an armored enemy unit like Knights or Chaos Warriors has caused my opponent to either back the unit up or do something else equally funny to keep that unit safe. As long as you build your own units in a good greenskin fashion (minimum of 25 Orcs and 30 Goblins) a Fanatic hitting your own infantry won't cause significant damage. Just be sure to keep stuff like Shamans on foot, Chariots or similarly vulnerable units safe if you can help it.
TROLLS AND SQUIG HERDS AS SUPPORT
 If I ever use Trolls in my horde I've always used them as basically a support unit for my General's unit. Trolls are subject to Stupidity and have a "good luck ever making a Leadership Test, ever!" Leadership of 4.
Thus, you are absolutely forced to babysit the unit somehow. Some people put a character in the Troll unit, which in my opinion seems like a waste of a perfectly good character. I simply use the Trolls as a support unit and keep them right next to my General's unit. As long as you don't let any of your own units get right in front of the Trolls (you don't want the Trolls charging one of your own
units if you fail a Stupidity Test) the unlucky and unlikely failure of a Stupidity Test will simply make them wander straight forward a few inches. As long as you are using an Orc general of any type your Leadership value will be at least an 8 making failed Stupidity Tests a rare
occurrence. It is incredibly important that you keep those Trolls within 12" of your general though because if you don't they are likely to wander stupidly right out of the battle. To regain control you will either have to run a character over to join the unit or waste time with your general's unit trying to get back within 12".
If
I ever use a Squig Herd I use them as a support unit for my
General's unit just like the Trolls. A Squig Herd can be
deadly in close combat but if you use the Squig Herd in this way
you must build it to avoid taking Panic Tests. One missed
Panic Test means that the Squigs will run amok right in the middle
of your own troops making trouble for you as Squigs get in the way
or cause casualties to your units. Needless to say, after
one failed Panic Test the Squig Herd is effectively destroyed
costing you a valuable unit. If you keep the Squig Herd next to
your General and build it large (to avoid having to take tests due
to shooting or magic casualties) you shouldn't have too much
trouble with Panic Tests. I'll write a separate article on
how I build and use my Squig Herd in more detail.
MIXING
FORMATIONS
These aren't the only
formations that I use in my Orc and Goblin hordes. Sometimes I mix
them up a bit. If I use Trolls I may use the Alternating
Formation or I may use the Night Goblin Flanks. In both
cases I keep the unit of Trolls right next to my General's unit on
either side.
LARGER
INFANTRY BLOCKS In
most of the battles I play I end up with 4-5 units for my Infantry
Block. Sometimes, however, I play larger battles in which I use 6
or more. In that case I try to keep my Goblin units next to
my General's unit and keep the Orcs on the flanks. Orcs have
a better leadership and are slightly harder to panic. If you
keep Goblin units on the flanks I would make them in such a way
that you won't lose too many points if they panic and run.
Goblin or Night Goblin archer units with only musicians (and maybe
a fanatic or two for the Night Goblin units) are good in this
role. CHARIOTS
AND OTHER "GAP DWELLERS" As
I said at the beginning of this article your general's 12"
leadership radius should be enough to be able to use it on two
infantry units to either side with several inches to spare.
If you want to put a Chariot, some Shaman or maybe even a Giant
into one of the gaps between infantry units there should be enough
room. If you plan on using Chariots against an army
where you are going to be fighting a lot of Fear or Terror causing
units, especially if you want to use Goblin Wolf Chariots, you
should try to put one (or two if you can get it to fit) in the
gaps. A Chariot can do a lot of damage but it is worthless
if it misses its Fear Tests whenever it wants to charge a unit it
fears. If you have a Giant you can put him in your line
instead of Chariots and his presence will add a tremendous support
punch to your infantry units. The only danger to this
strategy is that he attracts a lot of War Machine fire and if he
is killed you must be prepared for the possibility of him falling
on top of one of your units. I
hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any comments or
suggestions give me an email
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