ARTICLE

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

WEAKNESSES

LOW LEADERSHIP AND PANIC
Probably the greatest enemy to an Orc and Goblin army is panic.  With a few exceptions the majority of units available have leaderships in the 5 to 7 range.  Even the mighty Black Orcs, the elite infantry unit of the horde, only has a leadership slightly above average with an 8.  Units that cause fear can be a problem for the army's mainstay units and fighting an undead army like Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts can be a challenge if your army isn't built correctly.  

ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL MISCAST TABLE
Greenskin magic can be extremely powerful but there's a major league drawback.  If an Orc or Goblin shaman rolls a miscast you don't roll on the miscast table in the main rulebook.  There is an exclusive miscast table that's in the army book that you roll one dice on.  If you thought the general miscast table in the rulebook was bad, this one makes it look like a slap on the wrist by comparison.  It is absolutely savagely brutal.  Whenever I roll on the table I subconsciously think "Oh great, I just lost a shaman".  The best you can hope for on this table is to roll a 6 where you can at least get a spell off before he dies or to roll a 3 where he thinks he's a loose Squig and moves around randomly as such until you roll a 6 on a dice at the start of your turn.  What makes it worse is that for each Orc unit of 10 or more models or Gobbo unit of 20 or more models that is fleeing within 8" of a shaman you have to roll another dice on the table.

ANIMOSITY AND UNPREDICTABLE NATURE
The Orc and Goblin army is extremely powerful but it's never fully under your control.  Animosity will frequently delay units and sometimes will cause them to miss charge opportunities.  Animosity is rarely a factor that costs you the game, it's more of an annoyance.  In addition, most of the horde's most powerful war machines and special weapons have random elements to them.  If you play Orc and Goblin you should give a name to your scatter dice because you will have a close relationship. Because of these unpredictable elements an Orc and Goblin general must be extremely adaptive and be able to change plans on a turn-by-turn basis.

PATCHWORK ARMY
The tremendous variety of character and unit types is a solid advantage for the Orc and Goblin army but until the player gets experience it can also be something of a weakness.

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