ARTICLE

Written by: Rodney Desjarlais
6th Edition
Last Updated: December 2003

SPECIAL RULES

Ignore Goblin Panic/Ignore Greenskin Panic
Orcs expect grots (a greenskin term referring to anyone smaller than you) like Goblins and Snotlings to run away and aren't surprised when they do in a battle.  Thus, Orcs have been given the "Ignore Goblin Panic" rule which means that if any goblin or Snotling unit is fleeing past, is broken in combat or destroyed the Orc units do not need to test for panic.  This means that you can use your goblin and snotling units in all sorts of devious ways without risking panic of your valuable Orc units.  You can use Goblin or Snotling units as a "meat shield" to absorb missile or chariot impacts.  You can also use units of Goblins in "flee traps" where you entice an enemy unit to charge the Goblins and then flee as a charge reaction hoping to cause the charge to fail and strand the charging unit in a vulnerable condition.  If they don't flee far enough and are caught and destroyed who cares!  They are inexpensive and, if you built your army well, won't cause any panic tests.

Just as normal Orcs expect Gobbos and Snotlings to run away when things get tough, Black Orcs (the biggest and baddest Orcs) and Giants expect the same of normal Orcs as well.  

Choppa
Instead of normal hand weapons Orcs carry a large, crude hacking weapon called a 'choppa' as standard issue.  The choppa special rule is a good news - bad news type of thing.  The good news is that if your unit is using a single choppa as its weapon (ie you don't use additional hand weapons, great weapons, spears etc) you gain a +1 strength in the first round of a combat when the unit charges.  That can be useful.  The bad news is that Orcs on foot cannot take advantage of the +1 to armor save for using a hand weapon and a shield in close combat because 'choppa' is a special weapon with its own rule.  There is no option to take normal hand weapons for an Orc.  Goblins come with hand weapons so they are allowed to use the hand weapon and shield combo but Orcs cannot.  This means that your Orcs will have to rely on their toughness of four to help keep them safe.

Goblins Fear Elves
All Goblins hate fighting Elves of any kind.  A unit of Goblins fears any unit of Elves that it does not outnumber at least two to one.

Night Goblins Hate Dwarves
Night Goblins hate their subterranean rivals the Dwarves and as such are subject to hatred when they fight them.

War Paint
Some Savage Orcs adorn themselves with tatoos, warpaint and charms which they believe will win the favor of the Orc gods Gork and Mork and protect them from harm. For a small point cost, Savage Orc characters and units can be upgraded with Warpaint which will give each a 6+ Ward Save.  Note that wearing body armor nullifies the save so you pretty much have to choose between better armor or ward save.  Having a 6+ ward save may not sound like much but when you have an entire unit with a ward save it can be extremely useful especially against high strength hits which heavily modify or nullify normal armor saves.

Animosity
As you might suspect, Orcs and Goblins are an unruly bunch that are prone to fight amongst themselves.  This is where the animosity rule comes in.   For every infantry or cavalry unit which contains five or more Orcs (except Black Orcs) or Goblins the controlling player must roll a D6 at the start of his or her turn.  If a 2-6 is rolled nothing happens and that unit is free to act as normal.  However, if you roll a 1 that unit is suffering from animosity for the turn and another roll of a D6 must be made against the Animosity Table found in the army book.  

The table has three possible outcomes.  If you are unlucky and roll a 1 the unit gets angry with another nearby unit of Orcs or Goblins (another unit that is also subject to animosity) and will attack it by charging or will fire a volley of arrows if it is armed with bows.  In the case of a charge it is fought out like any normal combat but luckily no combat results are scored so no units will get broken and possibly run down in a pursuit.  The combat is fought, casualties are taken off, then both units are separated by an inch and can't do anything else for the rest of the turn.  If you roll a 2-5 on the table the unit that suffered animosity will "squabble" amongst itself and can't do any movement or shooting that turn.  If a 6 is rolled the unit suffering animosity will attempt to prove that it's the best and can immediately make a full normal move (no marching) towards the nearest enemy unit.  This is a free movement and the unit is allowed to charge, move, shoot and otherwise act normally for the rest of the turn.  Who said that the animosity table was all bad?

Animosity may sound bad but there are ways to reduce it if you want your army to behave somewhat.  Black Orcs, the biggest and meanest of all the Orc types, have a special rule called "Quell Animosity".  Not only do they not have to test for animosity themselves (I wouldn't call it military discipline. It's more like they are simply more focused on bashing the enemy in than the rest of the Orcs)  but their menacing presence helps keep neighboring Orc and Goblin units in line.  Any unit which fails its animosity test which is led by a Black Orc character or is within 6" of a Black Orc unit can immediately re-roll.  If the unit fails the animosity test a second time the threats from the Black Orcs weren't enough to keep the unit in order and it must roll on the Animosity Table.  There are also a few other tactics to minimize animosity but that's the subject for other articles.

Big'Uns
The biggest and strongest Orcs often fight together in a single mob.  If your army includes normal Orc Boyz, Savage Orc Boyz, Orc Boar Boyz or Savage Orc Boar Boyz you may take a second unit of the same type as Big'Uns.  Whichever type of unit you wish to upgrade you must have at least as many normal models of that type in other units before you take the Big'Uns and you can only have one unit of Big'Uns in any army.  Big'Uns have a +1 weapon skill and a +1 strength over the normal Orc statistics and the Big'Uns unit can have a magic banner worth up to 50 points.

Next: Need to Know