N18 New Player: Ideas for an Orlock Dark Gods gang

[Matthias404]

Hey, all. I'm currently putting together gangs for Escher and Delaque, but also wanted to explore something very different with an Orlock gang that has embraced The Dark Gods—namely, The Lord of Skulls.

Sump Wolves — 1000pts (link)
Road Captain — Chainsword, Plasma Pistol, Mesh Armour (Iron Stare / Nerves of Steel)
Road Sergeant — Chainsword, Hand Flamer, Mesh Armour (Blade Breaker / True Grit)
Road Sergeant — Plasma Gun, Mesh Armour (Lucky / Fearsome)
Gunner Specialist — Shotgun, Mesh Armour
Gunner — Autogun, Mesh Armour
Wrecker — Chainsword, Autopistol
Wrecker — Flail, Autopistol
Wrecker — Autopistol x2


I went for variety in their loadouts, to give both play and modelling options, with the Wreckers being like crazed berserkers!

My first question, do gangs keep special rules, such as Orlock Legendary Names, when embracing The Dark Gods? I assumed so from what I've read, but I guess this is down to individual Arbitrators?

The Captain, with Iron Stare and Nerves of Steel, will hopefully stay on their feet and charge into the fray, leading the Wreckers in...

The Sergeant with the Hand Flamer is all about the flames! The intention is to get close and burn their foe, with Blade Breaker (plus Parry from the Chainsword) and True Grit giving them survivability against both shooting or being charged themselves.

The Sergeant with the Plasma Gun brings ranged threat, with Fearsome to prevent and deter charges... and Lucky seems great with a Plasma Gun. It enables them to pass their first failed ammo check, or their first failed unstable check when overcharging—which feels thematically spot on for The Lord of Skulls blessing their chosen and wanting more carnage!

The Gunner Specialist has a Shotgun, which seems a good option to build on with ammo types, while the Gunner has an Autogun and is mainly present to pin stuff. Both have Mesh armour, which seems appropriate...

In contrast, the Wreckers have no armour. Two are kitted out for close combat, for charging in and swinging, while the third will hopefully rush up into short range and open fire with both Autopistols—that's probably a waste, not optimal, but feels spot on for a follower of The Lord of Skulls.

Options I'm currently considering would be to:

1) Drop the Mesh Armour on the Autogun Gunner and the Autopistol on the third Wrecker, to give them a close combat weapon, such as a Chainsword or Flail.
2) Drop the Mesh Armour on both the Gunners, to give the Gunner Specialist either a Boltgun or Combat Shotgun (and a Stub Gun for someone else).
3) Drop the Mesh Armour on both Gunners, to give all three Wreckers Hazard Suits, mainly to ignore blaze and rad-phage, to represent going berserk and not caring what happens to them.

Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Hobo86]

it fits the lore you created, but as a gang they're not built to their strengths.
-you'll keep the orlock names
-I would pick nerves of steel on the plasma gunner
-also the melee orlock champion, is the arms master who's simply better at, it compared to the road sergeant
-the wreckers suck at melee, you could arm these with template weapons like sawn-off shotguns & handflamers to make them more effective skirmishers

 

[Matthias404]

it fits the lore you created, but as a gang they're not built to their strengths.
-you'll keep the orlock names
-I would pick nerves of steel on the plasma gunner
-also the melee orlock champion, is the arms master who's simply better at, it compared to the road sergeant
-the wreckers suck at melee, you could arm these with template weapons like sawn-off shotguns & handflamers to make them more effective skirmishers

Thanks, @Hobo86!

That's good to know that you keep the Legendary Names.

With the Plasma Gun Sergeant, I assume that is to keep them mobile, so they can more easily move and shoot?

Yeah, the Arms Master is a much better melee fighter, but they don't have access to the Hand Flamer and their close combat weapons are limited—the hammer is great though, but it just seemed expensive with everything else.

Are the Wreckers really that bad? On the charge, their Jump Boosters give them +1 to Hit rolls and +1 Str, and with the Chainsword and Flail they're getting another +1 to their Hit rolls, that seems good to me +2 to Hit with WS5? That's better than most Juves and Prospects in the game, and better than some Gangers can get out the gate. The Flail armed Wrecker, for example, is two +2 to Hit rolls, Str 5 attacks, and one Autopistol sidearm attack on the charge—a charge that is either 9+1d3" or 9+2d3", so getting the charge is likely.

Don't grenades or template weapons on the Wreckers make them Unstable, too?

 

[Hobo86]

plasma gunner sergeant:
he's more likely to be pinned then to be attacked in melee and you can use your other melee models to avoid he get charged

armsmaster:
you could get him a plasma pistol/hand flamer from the trading post later on?

wreckers:
I didn't factor the accuracy modifiers in, that makes it better, but it would make them 'average ganger' strong on the charge (or slightly above that due to flail, chainsword, ...). but after that they would be more fragile... it could work.

I looked in the house of iron book, but didn't find the unstable part.
i'd envision this as a way to have your champs charge and your wrecker 'swoop in' to blaze or pin targets who might attack your champs

 

[spafe]

Wreckers with flails or chainswords are pretty nice to bully gangers. Sure you cant throw them into a goliath champion and expect anything other than a smear where your prospect used to be, but they are great with the speed and manuverability allows them to pick their fights and run objectives.

In terms of theme, the lucky plasma gunner could easily be a tzeentch leaning follower if you are going for middle of the road chaos rather than pure khorne.

I think I'd go with hanf flamer o nthe 2 auto pistol wrecker, and geting the sargeant a better weapon (maybe switch to the armsmaster and give him the shotgun.

tbh, I really like the variety of loadouts you have, in that you want a mix for more fun, but.., there are ways to make these a lttle more efficient, and you can realisitcally jsutify/theme any loadout into the chaos-y theme

 

[katfezza]

wreckers:
...

I looked in the house of iron book, but didn't find the unstable part.
i'd envision this as a way to have your champs charge and your wrecker 'swoop in' to blaze or pin targets who might attack your champs

P120 House of Iron: Hazardous Equipment section of the jump booster rules.

 

[Matthias404]

P120 House of Iron: Hazardous Equipment section of the jump booster rules.

Thanks, @katfezza. I thought I had seen it somewhere.

 

[Matthias404]

Wreckers with flails or chainswords are pretty nice to bully gangers. Sure you cant throw them into a goliath champion and expect anything other than a smear where your prospect used to be, but they are great with the speed and manuverability allows them to pick their fights and run objectives.

In terms of theme, the lucky plasma gunner could easily be a tzeentch leaning follower if you are going for middle of the road chaos rather than pure khorne.

I think I'd go with hanf flamer o nthe 2 auto pistol wrecker, and geting the sargeant a better weapon (maybe switch to the armsmaster and give him the shotgun.

tbh, I really like the variety of loadouts you have, in that you want a mix for more fun, but.., there are ways to make these a lttle more efficient, and you can realisitcally jsutify/theme any loadout into the chaos-y theme

Thanks, @spafe.

The Wreckers seem great as, well, a wrecking ball! They won't last long, are glass cannons, but that fits the fluff I have in my head for them as crazed berserker—I plan to use the World Eaters' Jakhals models as the base for them.

The Arms Master is tempting with the Combat Shotgun. Hmmm... Moving the Hand Flamer to perhaps the Gunner Specialist? I'm loathe to put a Hand Flamer on the Wreckers because of the Unstable and then not being able to fully use their great movement.

And thanks, I like to avoid spamming and get more modelling options, etc.

 

[Aulenback]

Wreckers seem exactly the thing for moving Loot Crates as well, since their base move is increased, and their terrain rules are changed, making them excellent candidates for Move Loot Casket (Simple). And with the added (and safer) movement from Grease Monkey.... They can be rather swift even without risking the Unstable rules around template and blast weapons.

Yes, it is confusing that the rule for the Grease Monkey is ALSO called "Overcharge," but is a completely dfiigerent rule with completely different effects, only a few pages away. But the Grease Monkey "overcharge" is safe, where the innate Wrecker "overcharge" is not.

But yeah, looking at them as mobile objective-getters, medikit-carriers, loot-casket-draggers, might do pretty well, if you choose scenarios that suit.

 

[Matthias404]

Thanks, all, for the feedback and suggestions!

After much mulling and tinkering with the list, I've settled on the following, while trying to keep the spirit of what I began with (i.e. an Orlock gang that has turned to The Lord of Skulls; trying not to duplicate weapon loadouts and skills; fun modelling options; and the three Wreckers representing Berserkers):

The Sump Wolves - 1000pts (link)
Road Captain — Chainsword, Plasma Pistol, Mesh Armour (Iron Stare / Iron Will)
Arms Master — Arc Hammer, Stub Gun, Mesh Armour (Blade Breaker / Nerves of Steel)
Road Sergeant — Plasma Gun, Mesh Armour (Lucky / Fearsome)
Gunner Specialist — Combat Shotgun
Gunner — Bolt Gun
Wrecker — Flail, Autopistol
Wrecker — Fighting Knife, Autopistol
Wrecker — Autopistol

The Road Captain is unchanged in their loadout and having Iron Stare, but I have swapped Nerves of Steel for Iron Will. Alongside the Arms Master, Iron Will should hopefully give me some leeway with Bottle Checks—given that the Wreckers will be glass cannons!

I've swapped out a Road Sergeant for the Arms Master as suggested, focused on melee, with an Arc Hammer, Blade Breaker, and Nerves of Steel.

I kept the Road Sergeant with Plasma Gun, Lucky, and Fearsome, as The Lord of Skulls would surely approve of overcharging and mitigating Unstable by changing failed rolls to a six, and I like the potential charge prevention, keeping them unengaged and shooting, with Fearsome.

The biggest changes are with the Gunner Specialist, Gunner, and three Wreckers. I've upped the punch of the Gunners, the Specialist getting a Combat Shotgun and the Gunner a Bolt Gun—this seems a much needed additional punch at both close range and long range respectively.

This came at the cost of downgrading the three Wreckers slightly.

Again, any thoughts and feedback welcome.

Thanks!