Supporting the Boyz

We determined that boyz on their own are a pretty middling choice and have very obvious weaknesses.  Compare the basic Ork troops and dedicated transport options to what other codexes can bring and you really see the troop section as the weakest part of the book.

Let's look at how we can make the boyz better.

I'm pretty happy with this paint job and feel it holds up well.  Magnetized burna not shown.

Kustom Force Field on a Big Mek

A 5++ will protect against a horde's worst enemy, the flamer, but altogether it isn't a very appealing option to me.  Since it is only models within 6" it has limited utility for troops.  You don't want to waste this on grots, so let's talk about how to use it on boyz. 

To protect your models, there are a few strategies.  Clump up so boyz are near the mek, but then you're susceptible to blasts. Spread a few boyz out front, so they're protected, put everyone else spread out behind the mek.  Templates aren't as big of a problem, but weight of fire will get to the big mek quickly, although look out sir will usually keep him alive.

The 5++ only goes to a vehicle now and doesn't project a radius. You're better off with a KFF on a bike (110pts base). You can ride behind battlewagons giving out the bubble to the vehicles then.  However, you're now burning an HQ and a heavy support to bolster a fairly middling choice (boyz) to begin with. 

At the end of the day, a 5++ still lets 2/3 of the wounds through.  As an option to protect boyz, we can do a lot better.

What about Kan wall?
My reading of the rulebook is that anything between the kans will always get a 5+ cover save.  If you keep the big mek close enough, you can give the 5++ to the front rows and the kans.  Once again, you're using a heavy support and HQ to bolster boyz, but at least the kans have utility beyond just being a transport. 

Kans are weak at S7 and not that durable with AV11 and 2 HP.  If they are shaken, destroyed, or immobilized, you'll be forced to go around or over, and thus slowing you down.  If you run, you forgo their BS3 shooting (rokkits or grotzookas).

Morkanaught?
The morkanaught does project it's KFF, which gives it a huge radius.  It's still slow and can be outmaneuvered by almost any army.  It packs a decent offensive punch, but is still so slow.  As an option for protecting boyz, one again I think we can do better.

About 90% complete.  I still have some work to do on his right, which is why the photograph doesn't show it.

Warboss

He must be your warlord to call the Waaagh.  With a warboss, you're relying on speed to get you to your destination since you'll be charging straight ahead.  It doesn't matter if you lose boyz along the way because the warboss and nobz in the squad will do the damage anyways.  Boyz are just extra wounds.

Move 6", run D6". Call Waagh turn 2, move 6", run D6, charge 2D6", rerolling.  That's a 36" threat range.  Obviously, the dice aren't going to be all sixes.  With average dice it's about 26" assuming a few things 1) your opponent is stupid 2) you put no terrain on the board 3) your opponent forgot to shoot.  To put it more concretely, any intervening terrain will slow them down and every lost boy from the front, is less charge range.  Sure if you get first turn and you opponent lines up right at the front of his deployment zone, you could charge a rhino, but see assumption #1 earlier.

The waagh makes boyz useful and more reliable to charge, but we'll have to see how well it works in practice.  Obviously if you go 2nd you're going to suffer 2 rounds of shooting and probably overwatch.

Despite this, I still think it's the strongest option we have so far.  Since the waaagh affects all your units, you need to target saturate the board so the boyz are ignored.  We need to determine what

Yikes, he looks pretty rough.  The first character I ever completed.  Suffers from finecast warping and poor color choices.  Needs to be redone.

Painboy

For only 50 points you get FNP for the unit.  I think this is a superior choice over the KFF.  You still get the KFF, but can stack with a cover save or 'ard boy armor and it works in CC.  Str8 and above, especially the ignores cover variety (e.g. riptides with markerlight support, AM orders). For the reasons listed above, the KFF isn't going to help you a whole lot either.  We have to force the opponent to use these shots on units other than boyz.

In my opinion, it's the best way of keeping the boyz alive.  You're only using 1 HQ to support them.  This is an option we can work with to make boyz better.  the real question is if it is worth keeping the boyz alive, or using the painboy on a more worthwhile unit like bikes, meganobz, etc.

Weirdboy

The psychic powers very solid shooting options.  Witchfire still let you run and assault afterward, even at a different unit.  His biggest drawback is that at Ld7, the perils table is devastating to him.

A lot has to go right for 'eadbanger to work, my choice for most useless psychic power in the game.  Roll to cast, not get denied, roll to hit at BS2, then a T4 model is still fine 2/3 the time.  If it was a casualty, then we're talking, but a straight 1 wound (with invulns) isn't going to mean much.  The blasts at BS2 are 'hit or miss' *snicker*.  Killbolt is a beam and power vomit is a template -- now we're talking.  Very strong shooting for orks and you can even pop multiple vehicles, but not necessarily force multipliers, but can get you out of some tricky situations.  The real problem is WC2, which takes 4-5 dice to get off reliably, which is a really high chance of perils.

Da Jump can get your boyz there quickly, but the larger the squad the riskier it is. You also don't want to get caught in the path of pie plate or template bunched up like that.  From a practical standpoint it will slow the game down, but at least you can run afterward.  Warpath is clearly the top choice for a squad of boyz at plus one attack for only WC1.  A squad of 30 boyz is rolling 150 dice on the charge... hmm... Adding in Mad Dok for rampage and send them up against an AM blob for another D3 attacks.  This is a max roll of 240 dice.  You would literally need a bucket to roll that many (provided you have enough, I don't).

I won't discuss sanctic because you'll almost certainly perils and you can't generate enough WC to get off WC3 powers reliably.

The big issue is of course that you have to roll for your ork powers.  This is better than previously when you had to roll each turn.  You can make it work as long as you have 2 plans for the weirdboy.  If he rolls da jump or warpath, put him with the boyz (or ard boyz), but for shooty powers he can stick with another short ranged unit like flash gitz or add utility to meganobz, burnas, and tankbustas.

Snikrot

Can't support the boyz directly since he can't join them.  I don't see any reason to ever take him as a standalone HQ for the same reasons that Death Company Tycho is never seen.  At least the Masque can shut down a unit staring her in the face. 

Essentially, you join Snikrot to kommandos , come on from any board edge, wait a turn then assault.  You get a decent cover save, but you announce your intentions when you take him.  I'd rather not rely on my opponent being dumb and would rather tell them what he does anyways.

Zagstruck

Has the bellowing tyrant for a warlord trait, which lets you reroll morale tests.  For only 65pts it's not the worst thing you could do.  What kills him is that you lose out on the Waaagh if you take him, since he isn't a warboss.  You lose the run and assault for any stormboyz units too.  Not worth it.

Zhadsnark Da Rippa

I won't get into the other FW characters, but he is an interesting option if FW is allowed, since he makes bike squads into troops like Wazdakka used to and can use his PK at init.  He needs an FAQ badly and I wouldn't use him until he gets it since his entry still refers to Big Gunz and he has the exhaust cloud special rule. 

Ork bikes as troops are studly.  For 310 you get 15 troops plus a Nob w/PK.  They can jink for a save and turbo boosting is encouraged This is a unit worth protecting with a painboy.  It can assault, is durable, and can shoot.  It's unlikely to be allowed.  FW probably won't put out an FAQ for him and if they do, he will certainly lose his FOC swapping ability.  It was a fun thought though.

Conclusion

I left out Badrukk and a Big Mek with SAG because they don't directly improve boyz since they are shooty units, so I'll cover them in my look at dakka.

Another option is to tank wounds with a big mek or warboss in power armor.  I just don't think it's worth it for basic boyz since it slows them down too much.

After all that, it comes down to painboyz and warbosses.  Really, a 2nd warboss is only ever worth it if you want to take mega armor and da lucky stixx.  The warboss should be your warlord (for waagh) and should take Da finkin' kap (for the strategic trait).  That leaves a painboy as the obligatory 2nd HQ if you want to make boyz work.