Ork Long Range Dakka

I have yet to see any Ork builds straight from the codex I'm excited about.  I usually like to compare it to standard lists I bring with my other armies (Blood Angels, Grey Knights) and consider how I would have to change my list to handle it and what would give me a hard time.  Without relying on multiple FOC or formations from the ghaz supplement, I have yet to see an Ork list that scares me.

One list I had fun running in 6th was a max-dakka list with Nob bikers.  For the dakka base I would take 3x10 lootas, 3xbig  guns squads, SAG with grots, ADL w/Quad manned by more grots.  That's 10 backfield shooty units with a 4+cover (2+ if I go to ground) for only around 950 (depending on how I ran the gunz).  A squad of nob bikers with a warboss would absorb the first few rounds of shooting and shoota boyz on foot in 30 strong squads would represent the 2nd wave.  MSU shooty backed by blobs (boyz) and a resilient & fast deathstar (nobz).  This list was fairly scary for orks, especially if I went first.

Grot overload

Orks can not overwhelm their opponents with long range Dakka in this codex.  Most units have mid range 24" guns or less.  Lootas, Mek Gunz, and SAG are pretty much it when it comes to long range.  Unfortunately, since Lootas and Gunz now share heavy support so we're limited to 3 in this slot and nothing long range in elite or fast attack.  The Quad gun only snap fires against ground targets, losing substantial utility.  Really hard choice have to be made for our dakka support.

30 Lootas

Lootas themselves got cheaper, though mob rule made them less resilient.  Mek gunz are hardy, but very susceptible to morale and assault.  Lobbas and Kannons are as good as ever, the Traktor kannon is A+ air support, The Kustom Mega Kannon at Str8 AP2 is being overlooked.  The smash gun is an improvement over the Zzap gun, and I can see merits in the bubble chucka (though I am unlikely to ever use it myself).  With 2 FOC, I can see myself taking 3 squads of loots, Lobbas, Traktor Kannons, and Kustom Mega Kannons.  Of course if I do that, then I'm likely going to get obliterated by a 6 vindicator list or any other list that can spam even better units.

Custom Zzap guns built from BW kit

We'll explore exactly what works best for dakka unit by unit in a post coming soon, but the end result is that we're limited in what we can bring.  We can only support a very small tail with the majority of the army pushing forward into assault. We could also ignore the firebase completely and just try to push to midfield and control.  Of course, our vehicles and infantry are not resilient, so that's very hard to do.  2 Manz in BW, 2 squads of flash gitz in BW, Tankbustas, etc.

There is marked lack of armourbane in the codex outside of boom bombs, but that has always been the case.  Outside of mek guns, very few ranged weapons are ap1 or 2 so vehicle killing has to be through hull point attrition or assault. The kustom mega blasta and pistol are very underwhelming. Against a target in cover or with a 5++ you're almost as likely to kill yourself (13.8%) as you are your opponent (18.5%).   The odds go down dramatically to kill yourself if you are in eavy or mega armor but 1 shot BS2 weapons can hardly be counted on for my liking.

The only other platform for these guns are on walkers.  The flaw in this is that you'll be sacrificing speed (i.e. running) for fairly underwhelming firepower.  I'm not considering them since they all occupy the heavy support slot and you can get more efficient fire in other units.

Ol' Rustbucket on wings

This leaves the Dakkajet.  It has 36" range plus the mobility of a flyer to get the shots where you need to be.  It went up 15pts for the same configuration and lost substantial firepower during a waaagh at the same time.  It was decent at stripping hp off of av10/11 flyers (night scythes, ST), but inefficient against av12 (SR, Helldrake, Valkyrie) and middling against FMC (except Harpy/Hive Crone it would rock them).  Combining this with the FOC that let's you Waagh every turn would have been pretty sick.  It does offer decent range and fire output nonetheless.  I initially dismissed it when the codex came out (I thought it needed a cost reduction) I'm coming around to it again. It's going to be tough to compete with 5 deffkoptas though for roughly the same price.

Just as rockets in general get worse (cannot explode, except open topped), the Orks can now mass them.  Tankbustas are very efficient but need support.  A KFF probably won't help that much.  A trukk is really flimsy and mob rule will hurt  Dedicating a battlewagon to them requires using two slots for one purpose, which I don't like.  One of the few units that need a nob, but not a PK. Was the option for 'eavy armor just too OP?

Magnetized buzzsaw

Aside from the rare hit from a Trukk, Battlewagon, or boyz squad rokkits can be massed in FA.  Both Deffkoptas and buggies come stock with TL rokkits.  They can move 12" and fire effetively giving them a 36" range.  I prefer Deffkoptas to the 2 hp buggy even at 5 pts cheaper.  I have bad luck with terrain rolls and the risk of immobilizing themselves is too great.  The most important consideration is that I have 6 Deffkoptas already and only 1 buggy.  Buggies are much uglier and looks like it hasn't been updated since the rogue trader days.

Definitely should have clipped the magazine

Assault is one of the more effective ways to break armor. At least tankbusta bombs and kill saws have armourbane in assault (plus a wierdboy who perils and rolls a 6 on the chart and passes his leadership, yippee).  This means Powerklaws and Big Choppas on Nobz.

  

The SAG is a quintessential Orky 'fun' item.  A 60" large blast template is no joke. As a new player, the first time I rolled double 6s I took out 2 Zoanthropes and a Tyrannofex in one glorious blast.  It has ordnance, but given the variability of the strength you shouldn't be firing at anything but squadrons of av10.  It's real potential is the AP2 large blast.  Now you can take up to 3 ammo runts to help with BS2.  It's cheaper baseline makes this an appealing option.  It's hard to compete with the painboy though (assuming mandatory Warboss).

It's clear that GW doesn't want Orks to sit back and shoot.  We can have a few units sitting back shooting, with rokkits in mid field support and a charging assault wave that tries to hit everything turn 2.