RS Ork Ruleset

[lastspartacus]

For the player who wants more orkishness in his Orks, and who believes that the random weapons mechanic is a clunky, time wasting mechanic that does not convey in a fun way the character of the fleet.  For those who want their BFG orks to have more WAAAGH! and less WAAAAA!
Homebrew rules I'm posting here for the amusement of the board.  RS stands for right shift, a way to identify the ruleset from the old one.

The creation of the ork fleet list followed a few guidelines:
Make them mean on the frontal arc
High firepower but inaccuracy
Partial strengthening against AC
Stay low leadership and hard to manouver
Define clear roles for the battleships.

Ork racial rules:
+1 to boarding value
Ork ordnance is hit on 3+
Ork capital ships may choose large bases
All ork vessels that make use of Ordnance can choose to launch boarding torpedos and assault boats
cap ships with leader may swap LD with other ship/squadron without boss/warlord
Orks always suffer a right shift on the gunnery chart
Automatic 2d6 AAF

Ramshackle: Before special orders are made, at the start of the Ork player's turn, roll a D6-1 for every ork capital ship and apply it to the critical hit chart.  Due to the simple nature of Ork starships, Ork Capital Ships automatically repair one critical hit in the end phase, in addition to those repaired by rolling repair dice

Mob Rule: Ork escort squadrons may contain up to 10 ships.

Optional Rule- Wut you say?:
When a special order is failed, roll the SO dice.  The result is the SO to be used.  It is still treated as a failed roll for purposes of continuing SO orders.

Kill Kroozer- 145
Battleship/10 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/5+/4+ Turrets:2
Prow Gunz 14 30cm
Prow Heavy gunz 8 15cm
Port/Starboard Gunz 8 30cm
Port/Starboard Heavy Gunz 6 15cm
*May replace prow heavy guns with str6 torpedoes.

Terror Ship-160
Battleship/10 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/5+/4+ Turrets:2
Prow Gunz 10 45cm
Prow Heavy gunz 6 15cm
Port/Starboard Gunz 8 30cm
Port/Starboard Launch Bays 2
*May replace prow heavy gunz for str6 torpedoes

Assault Kroozer-165
Cruiser/10 Speed:20cm Turns: 45 Shields: 1 Armor: 6+/5+ rear Turrets: 2
prow bombardment cannon 3 30cm
prow torpedoes 6
port/starboard heavy gunz 8 15cm
*Soopa Engines
*Ignores blast markers for purposes of boarding

Onslaught 35
Escort/1 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/4+ Turrets:1
Prow Gunz 6 30cm

Savage 25
Escort/1 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/4+ Turrets:1
Prow Heavy Gunz 4 15cm

Ravager 40
Escort/1 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/4+ Turrets:2
Prow Gunz 1 30cm
Str 4 Prow Torpedoes

Brute- 25
Escort/1 Speed:25cm Turns:90* Shields:1 Armor:6+/4+ Turrets:1
Prow Gunz 2 30cm L/R/F
*Counts as HP4 for ramming

Grunt 30
Escort/1 Speed:25cm Turns:45* Shields:1 Armor:6+/4+ Turrets:1
Prow Gunz 3 30cm L/R/F
*Counts as HP4 for boarding, must use large base.

Kroolboy- 280
Battleship/12 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:2 Armor:6+/5+ Turrets:3
Prow Torpedoes 8
Dorsal Gunz 4 45cm L/R/F
Port/Starboard Gunz 16 45cm
Port/Starboard Heavy Gunz 8 15cm

Gorbag's Revenge- 300
Battleship/12 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:2 Armor:6+/5+/4+ Turrets:4
prow gunz 10 45cm
prow torpedoes 9
dorsal bays 4
port/star gunz 8 30cm
port/star heavy gunz 4 15cm
port/star bays 2

Slamblasta- 280
Battleship/12 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:2 Armor:6+/5+ Turrets:3
Prow Lances 4 45cm
Prow Gunz 14 45cm
Dorsal Launch Bays 4
Port/Starboard Gunz 12 30cm
Port/Starboard Heavy Gunz 8 15cm

Dethdeala- 235
Battleship/12 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:2 Armor:6+/5+/4+ Turrets:3
prow heavy gunz 16 15cm front
dorsal bombardment cannon 8 30cm Front
port/star gunz 12 30cm
port/star heavy gunz 8 15cm
*soopa engines

Hammer class- 200
Battleship/10 Speed:20cm Turns:45* Shields:2 Armor:6+/5+/4+ Turrets:3
prow gunz 14 45cm
prow bombardment cannon 4 30cm
dorsal bays 3
port/star gunz 8 30cm
port/star heavy gunz 6 15cm

Space Hulk
Defence/40 Speed:10 Turns:Special Shields:3 Armor:4+ Turrets:6
*WIP

Ork Rok-80
Defence/8 Speed:10cm Turns:Special Shields:1 Armor:5+ Turrets:1
Heavy Gunz 4 15cm All Around
Gunz 10 45cm All Around
Torpedoes 6 All Around
*Roks may turn by using the AAF special rule, sacrificing any extra movement to move in a different direction.

Current warlord rules stay the same, but are called warbosses.  May take an ork warlord at 1500+ that gives +1 LD, or a Big Mek that lets you buy more than one upgrade.

[lastspartacus]

Gubbins
Ork ships vary wildly in design.  While Bosses always get the best loot, any Ork ship may show some kind of alterations to suit their captains. A
/X represents point cost for escort squadron.

5- Ram Prow. Cap ship only.  +1 to ramming dice..

15/20- Klaws.  When initiating a boarding action, roll a D6.  On a 4+, regardless of the boarding result, the ships are considered to be locked in combat until one or the other is destroyed, or the boarding Ork ship is crippled.  May not be used if ship is crippled.  If one ship has more base hits, it may move at half speed.

Boss Gubbins
5- Maniac Gunners.  Ship gains +1 on Lock On rolls.
15- Looted Dakka. Torpedoes need +1 to hit.  Every 3 heavy gunz exchange for 15cm forward lance, rounding up
15- Mad Meks.  Ship may reroll Ramshackle result, the second roll standing.
10- Advanced Tellyporta.  Ship may make hit and run attacks up to 30cm.
25- Extra Power Fields.  Ship gains +1 shield.
10- Maniac Turrets.  Ship gains +1 turret.

Bosses

All ork leaders must be placed on capital ships.  Fleets of 500 points or more must have a leader.

40- Big Boss. For every 500 points, a Big Boss may be purchased.
Must be assigned to a capital ship, and the ship he is assigned to doubles his boarding value.  Additionally, he comes with a reroll, and mega-armored nobs, which allows the ship to roll an extra d6 in hit and run attacks, taking the highest.  May buy up to 2 extra rerolls for 20 points each.
May take one Boss Gubbins upgrade.

40- Mekboss.  Replace any front firing heavy gunz with a shokk attack lance.  May take any amount of upgrades on his ship.  Comes with one reroll.
One per 1000 points.

80- Warlord.  +1 Leadership.  Doubles boarding value, comes with fleet reroll and mega-armored nobs.  May purchase up to 2 extra fleet rerolls for 20 points each.  Only one may be included, and a fleet must be at least 1000 points to have one.  Must be assigned to the most expensive vessel, but does not have to be assinged to a hulk.  May take one boss gubbins upgrade.

Clans
Goffs- Gain +1 to boarding actions and +1 leadership to ramming.  Brace for Impact rolls for Goffs are taken at -1 leadership.
Evil Sunz- Ships gain +5cm speed. Ships may not use Burn Retros special order.
Bad Moons- Gain Maniac Gunners upgrade. Enemy ships always treat Bad Moons ships as if on Special Orders.
Deathskullz- Ships gain Looted Dakka upgrade. Deathskullz ships reduce their speed max speed by 5cm.  Deathskullz Escorts move as cruisers.
Blood Axes- Capital ships may take a refit from the Imperial refit table for +10 points the cost.  Escort squadrons of at least 6 ships may replace up to three Imperial escorts at their listed cost.  Deathskullz ships may not carry a leader, and may not benefit from fleet rerolls.
Snakebites- May only use Roks and Hulks.  They gain +1 to BFI rolls.  They may not make use of the Lockon special order.

[lastspartacus]

Edited to include my idea for an Assault Kroozer.  Input demanded!

Next step is pricing, which will be a balancing act of base stats vs. the orky negatives of battleship movement, rightshift, and random criticals.

Edit:  Got the escorts priced right in the sweet spot, i feel.

[Sigoroth]

I have not read any of the above rules. This is not a case of TLDR, but rather more of a mental exhaustion when it comes to Orks, since I don't really like them in any form (fantasy, 40k, etc). Also, I feel that they can be fixed completely with an across the board (differential) price decrease. They're crap, but more of them would work. This equates to more Orks, which is more hordelike and gives more dakka. Done. The only other alteration to fix Orks isn't an Ork alteration (except in passing). Fix turret suppression rules, making Ork FBs just function as low strength bombers OR fighters. So no special rules for their FBs beyond what is absolutely necessary.

[Plaxor]

Also, I feel that they can be fixed completely with an across the board (differential) price decrease. They're crap, but more of them would work.

This was my thought originally, Artagnan made me think a little differently about the kroozas at least. Escorts, yes, points decrease. Kroozas; firepower increase to match points value. BB/BC, one with points decrease, 1 with firepower increase.

It's complicated, but what really struck me is that reducing the current KK to an appropriate cost would be somewhere around 140-145 points, which is way too absurd for a cruiser class vessel. Horizon said that it would limit the capacity to make new ship designs, as it would make a 'slaughter' effect. I.e why would I buy a light krooza when I can get a kill kroozer for 40 points more?

[Sigoroth]

It's complicated, but what really struck me is that reducing the current KK to an appropriate cost would be somewhere around 140-145 points, which is way too absurd for a cruiser class vessel. Horizon said that it would limit the capacity to make new ship designs, as it would make a 'slaughter' effect. I.e why would I buy a light krooza when I can get a kill kroozer for 40 points more?

This price seems fine to me. I don't see any reason why Orks would want anything between an escort and a kroozer. They would want bigger ships, not smaller. So 14 hit BBs and 16 hit Megabattleships.

[Plaxor]

The ork fluff states that orks really can't do anything too large, it is hard to maintain and design systems on a battleship, so their battleships are really just grand cruisers. Not to mention the fact that an ork ship is so likely to get blown up before it gets to the grand cruiser stage it is amazing they would get even there.

So far there have been five ships mentioned in the fluff that have ever passed cruiser displacement (significantly) the 4 listed in armada, and the Wurldbreaker from Rogue Trader.

Larger ships are countered by the fluff, and it defeats any swarm mentality. Orks could have a larger ship, but it would have to be a character, and they don't need it.

People may want to give the character BBs more hits, which could be done, reasonably. However I would like to see more outcry amongst the community before that happens. I would rather have them dirt cheap, 2 hits would cost likely 20 points each, not all that much, but it is substantial.

[lastspartacus]

LOL, I love this board.  Hours of thought, days of waiting, and finally post of...'havn't read it'

I am curious what you think of the rules Sig, since I incorporated one of your rules into it to make it a very Orky feeling fleet.

And as much as I would love a character 14-16 hit battleship, fluff states that Orks can't even handle battleship sized vessels, kroozers being the size they are because the Orks in their mad desire for the biggest and the best can only get to that size, but for a few character examples.

[Plaxor]

I've read through it, and it is an interesting idea, decent version of an Ork list. Sorry but I don't really have a comment, and this will be more of a personal preference type deal.


The ork players on the waagh had an interesting revision a few years ago, based on non-random weaponry and each ship choosing a weapon system for each hardpoint. It was a decent idea as well, but that one was too complicated to be realistic as a revision. Random firepower represents the fact that not all ork kroozers are similarly equipped, however they have heavy guns and guns in every arc. The guns are somewhere between 3 and 8 in the front arc, but rather than have a player choose and remember, this is just randomly determined.

You could roll at the beginning of a battle for it, but that would suck, a lot.

[Sigoroth]

LOL, I love this board.  Hours of thought, days of waiting, and finally post of...'havn't read it'

I am curious what you think of the rules Sig, since I incorporated one of your rules into it to make it a very Orky feeling fleet.

And as much as I would love a character 14-16 hit battleship, fluff states that Orks can't even handle battleship sized vessels, kroozers being the size they are because the Orks in their mad desire for the biggest and the best can only get to that size, but for a few character examples.

I know it's not the ideal response, but I was just letting you know why there was a dearth of replies. In the case of the Eldar, they were so broken that a complete rewrite became the only reasonable course left open. Even in that rewrite a good deal of their profiles were left the same, so they were not completely different ships, merely different rules. When I say broken, I mean really BROKEN. Doubly so in fact. They were both too strong and too weak at the same time. If you followed the optional rule for scenario and battlezone selection using strategy ratings (and why wouldn't you? SR is supposed to be an advanced rule that more accurately reflects a races ability to choose their engagement after all) then the Eldar would almost invariably gain enough terrain to win with little to no casualties in return. Otherwise, if you just plonked down some terrain randomly, or were using tournament tables (which are renowned for having too little Eldar appropriate terrain) then the Eldar were far too weak and got blown up pronto.

The Orks on the other hand seem to just need a few tweaks. Whether that comes as a general reduction in cost, a select upgunning of a few ships, additional flavour rules, a tweak to the way their fleet commanders work or some combination of these then that seems like it would be sufficient.

[lastspartacus]

Granted, most of the motivation for RS Orks came from a general dissatisfaction with how the Orks flowed during a turn, random dice was too much book keeping and time consuming, and Orks were only decent on the highest dice.  My rules I think give everything a defined role they can actually be good at.  Kroozers can actually sometimes choose to shoot rather than board and it be an ok option.

However, if you noticed what ive noticed on the boards, everyone is selling off their 'worthlessly underpowered ork fleets' and have no interest in them, because many playgroups see them as a joke fleet if you aren't min/maxing ordnance.  I see the Orks as needing help almost as much as the Eldar did, but thats just my opinion.

[horizon]

:/ I'd buy a cheap $$$ if I get the chance... so far I see no one selling around here...

[lastspartacus]

Try bartertown.  I got mine for 30% retail.

[lastspartacus]

Ok, tentative points up for all but the battleships.  Don't be gentle, its difficult in my point to points correctly without playtesting, though I need something to start off with to playtest.  This weekend!

[lastspartacus]

heavy gunz lowered from 14 to 12 on kroolboy.  Just too much for a dorsal anything.