The perfect orc army?

[Ratty]

Hi all,
I'm looking into selecting a new orc horde to start playing the Hordes and Heroes fantasy rules and was wondering what other players thoughts on army selection are. I played orc and goblin armies in Warmaster for years and always favoured the massed infantry approach. Now this was usually a real challenge to achieve success with but I like the visual effect of waves of attackers pouring over the battlefield. I've looked at the Hordes and Heroes list and had a few ideas of forming a tough core of mountain orc or troll infantry, and ably? supporting them with a mass of orc horde infantry. A smattering of cavalry to turn the enemies flank and ballistae to lob shot over the ranks.
Wizards were a huge strength of the Warmaster orc army but how much impact do wizards have in Hordes and Heroes- at 25 points they seem pricey- points which could be spent on at least 2 extra units. Are they worth it?
Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated,
Ratty

[dane]

Hi Ratty

I also played A lot of warmaster Orcs have 10,000 points I would go for the mountain orcs and the Horde Infantry in 6 stand units attacking things 2 hexes away even out of command is good I would put in a unit of giants attack 15 is always nice at least in this game infantry that are not isolated stand a chance against cavalry. Wizards I'm not sure of.

Dane

[Ratty]

Thanks for the reply, Dane
Wow! 10,000 points of orcs! I thought I was doing well with around 4000. I agree with the idea of creating 6 stand horde blocks. The fast movement of the orc infantry- even the tougher ones- seems to be a key strength as they can get to grips with the enemy without having to withstand too much missile fire when attacking missile troops. I'm currently painting up some orc archers for the army and then I'll set them against a force of high elves.

Ratty

[dane]

That's ok

I would try a Hero General with the hordes as he'll make them really tough High elves only have 3000 pts of them.

[Ratty]

Yep, hero generals do add resilience and clout to units. Would you place the hero general in the front line units or tucked in the hex behind to still influence the front units but not be directly exposed to immediate attack?

Ratty

[dane]

Hi Ratty

I would have him behind helping up to 3 units also gives you more choice of which unit to add him to in combat

[Ratty]

I need to try this as I am often guilty of hurling my generals far too early into the fray and suddenly finding I've lost control of sections of my army due to generals being destroyed or caught up with disrupted units. Have you played any of the fantasy armies or just medieval?

Ratty

[Ratty]

Played the new orc army on Friday. This is what I went for:
2 Generals
1 Hero General
1 Wizard
6 units of hordes arranged into 4 blocks of 6 stands
4 Mountain Orcs
3 archers
1 ballistae
2 wolf riders
3 heavy chariots
1 orc flyer

Total 253 (Army size 250 but we always give or take a little on this)

I found the speed of the infantry great but the slower ballistae soon saw it and the archers being left behind. The ability to move fast and exploit opportunities is a strength of the orcs and the battle, although ending in my defeat, was a close fought one against the high elves

Ratty

[Gabz]

I have a load of 6mm scale Orcs and I am going to adapt them to these rules. Should be a pretty big army . Just got to work out how to use the models , ie I have a load of Orc Boar Riders and lots of Goblin Wolf Riders. might use some kind of light cavalry stats for the wolf riders.