ARTICLE

Written by: Rodney Desjarlais
6th Edition

Most Orc and Goblin units have low to average leadership values.  Because of this, the effects of panic should be a consideration for an Orc and Goblin player in every phase of the game, including the planning and building of your army.  Here are a few tips from my own game experience that may help your greenskins resist the urge to Panic.

BUILDING YOUR ARMY

• Buy Bullys for your war machines.  At the very least buy them for the important machines like Rock Lobbas.  For 5 points you are adding an Orc to the crew which has a 7 Leadership.  A 1 point difference may not seem like a lot but it's significant.  After all, if a war machine crew fails a Panic Test it will take the war machine out of the game for at least 3 turns (the turn it panics and runs, the turn the crew rallies and a turn to get back to the machine) and that's assuming it passes it's Rally Test on the first try.  3 turns is half the game!

• Build your greenskin units big.  I build my Orc units from 25-29 models in size. I build Goblin units 33-37 models in size.  One of several reasons to do this is to make it very difficult for your opponent to cause 25% casualties with shooting or magic and cause the unit to take a Panic Test.  Goblin units should always outnumber Orc units.  If any unit is fleeing within 4" of the Goblin unit at the start of the Orc and Goblin player's turn it will not be forced to take a Panic Test as long as it has a higher Unit Strength than the fleeing unit.  This will prevent a fleeing Orc unit from causing Panic Tests to nearby Goblin units within 4" at the start of their next turn.

• You should always buy a musician for every unit, even if it's the only thing you buy for the command group.  The extra +1 Leadership bonus you get when you need to rally the unit is priceless, especially for Goblin units.  A musician is usually extremely inexpensive as well so there really is little reason not to buy them.

MAXIMIZE YOUR GENERAL AND BIG BOSSES

• I've found that keeping my general where the army can make maximum use of his Leadership radius has produced the best results for me.  You can read my article on Infantry Block Formations for some methods that I use to accomplish this.  Even if your general is a Shaman it's still to your advantage to keep him where his Leadership radius can benefit the maximum amount of friendly units.

• If you are facing an enemy with lots of Fear causing units keep your general centralized  with low-Leadership units in his Leadership radius.  If facing these kinds of units it is even more imperative that you build your units big so that if you are charged by a Fear-causing unit your own unit will not run away.  It's better to need 6s to hit for the first round of combat than to run away and not fight at all.  For cavalry units I would try to put a Big Boss in the most important units to add his Leadership (as well as his combat potential).  A cavalry unit is absolutely worthless if it can't pass its Panic Test to charge a Fear-causing unit.

• For all-Goblin armies Rowdy Grott's Big Red Raggedy Banner is tremendously useful.  This banner can only be given to a Battle Standard Bearer, but the inexpensive Goblin point values and the extra Big Boss for taking only Goblin Characters make this easy to accomplish.  Put your general in a centralized unit (again, to maximize use of his Leadership radius) and put the BSB in the same unit.  This will give your general a respectable 8 Leadership if he's a Goblin Big Boss or an excellent 9 Leadership if he's a Goblin Warboss.

• For all-Night Goblin armies Panic is part of the game.  You should still strategically position your general  to maximize his Leadership radius but with a Night Goblin army even a Night Goblin Warboss only has a Leadership of 7.  If you are using this type of army you should seriously consider giving your general, or a Big Boss in a unit very important to your plans, Guzzla's Backbone Brew.  This one-use item will not help you throughout the game but it will help you make that one Leadership Test that could make or break the game.  A Battle Standard Bearer would also be helpful in limiting potential Panic.  If one of your Night Goblin units breaks and runs all friendly units within 6" will need to make a Panic Test or run as well.  A BSB could keep one or two units in a game from breaking and, by extension, causing Panic to nearby units.

BATTLEFIELD TACTICS TO LIMIT PANIC

• If you don't do something similar already, try some variant of one of my Infantry Block Formations detailed in the other article mentioned earlier.  These formations are designed to limit panic and maximize the Leadership of your general.

• If a unit of 2 or more models is vulnerable to being eliminated by enemy shooting or magic, try to keep all friendly units more than 4" away from it.  If you don't and it is wiped out during the enemy's shooting or magic phase any unit within 4" will have to make a Panic Test.

• If you have a feeling or it looks likely that one of your units is going to be broken in close combat, try to get nearby units more than 6" away from it if possible.  If you don't, all units within 6" of the unit when it breaks will have to make a Panic Test.  Also do the same if your Giant is close to being killed in close combat, as the destruction of a single model with 5 or more wounds on its original profile will cause friendly units within 6" to take a Panic Test.

• Before you declare a charge always take a good look at the units surrounding the enemy unit you wish to charge.  You do not want to expose the flanks or rear of your unit to a counter-charge.   If you can, try to tie-up or block potential counter-chargers with other units.  If you can't accomplish this you should only charge an enemy unit which would leave you open to a counter-charge in the flank or rear if your odds of defeating and breaking the target unit in one turn are good.  Your over-run move could move your unit out of danger of a counter-charge. Speaking of over-runs and pursuits...

• When you defeat an enemy in close combat and break him, always look at the units around you before you decide to pursue the enemy or make an over-run move.  You do not want to pursue or over-run right into a position where you can be flank or rear charged by another enemy unit.  This point and the one previous are regarding Break Tests and not Panic Tests but they are related.  Limiting Break Tests also limits related Panic Tests.

There is one more tip regarding Panic that I have for you, and it's the most important one of all in my opinion. It's so important that I'm going to put it in a dramatic-looking box.

I hope you enjoyed this article.  If you have any comments or suggestions give me an email or visit our forums in our Community section.