Orc Marauders Firefight Tactics

Orc Marauders

Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species:	Greenskin
Version:	v2.50

Why play Orc Marauders

The orcs are an inorexable tide of axes and muscle. When you attack, you attack in force and with charges as your chief means of attack. However, this comes with some critical drawbacks: Your army sucks at shooting and isn't very durable.

Pros

Lots of Activations
High model count
Sprawling variety of unit choices and upgrades
Your melee game is incredibly strong with near-universal Furious

Cons

Choice paralysis is very real
Your troops are flimsy as hell
You need to lean into the advantages for the various units - Orcs can't shoot and Goblins can't stand up to a good fight.

Special Rules

Assault Bombs: Whenever this model moves over enemy units, pick one of them and roll one die, the enemy takes a hit on a 2+.
Bad Shot: Your entire army (outside of Goblins) have a 5+ quality when shooting. This means that you absolutely should not be relying on shooting without using either lots of shots or some very powerful weapons that make the few shots worth it.
- Good Shot: The said exception, given to Goblins. Your model now has 4+ to hit with guns.
Energy Field: The attached unit has Stealth.
Repair: Once per activation, if within 2” of a unit with Tough, roll one die. On a 2+ you may repair D3 wounds from the target.
Shooting Frenzy: The hero and its unit get the Relentless special rule.
Warning Cry: Enemy units can’t be set up within 18” of this model when using Ambush.

Psychic Spells

Crackling Bolt (4+): One enemy unit within 6" must roll a number of dice equal to the number of models in the unit; each 4+ deals a hit.
Warpath (4+): Two friendly units within 6" gains Stealth the next time they are shot at. This is vital because of how limited your protection is.
Death Bolt (5+): One enemy model within 6" takes a single AP(4) Deadly(3) hit. Pretty much all you can ask for when sniping a hero or heavy weapon.
Headbang (5+): Two friendly units within 12" gains Rending on their next set of attacks, which can be pretty neat.
Psychic Vomit (6+): Enemy unit within 6" takes five AP(2) hits. This allows you to flatten elite units pretty quickly.
Teleport (6+): Two friendly unit within 12" get Flying on their next activation, allowing them to cross over cover and into the fight.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Big Boss: This is your genuine beatstick of a hero boasting Tough (6) for tankiness. Your shooting is rather meager between the base Pistol, a Carbine (with optional Heavy Flamethrower or Rocket Launcher add-ons) or Twin Carbine, but your shooting sucks anyways. Instead, you can focus more on the choppy and support. If you really need a boost in durability, you can pick between a Cyborg Body for Regeneration and Ultra Armor for additional Tough, while a Pet Attack Beast gives you Warning Cry to block out any ambushers.
- Melee: The Big Boss comes with a pair of CCWs that can be built to be whatever you want. Instead, you could grab the Ultra Club for crowd control, the Ultra Axe for general utility, the Ultra Claw for anti-armor or the Ultra Drill if you really want to kill an enemy boss fast.
- Upgrades: While not built for mobility, the Big Boss makes up for it in support potential. Gun Master provides Shooting Frenzy for any potential gunlines that you need to support. Shaman provides access to psychic powers. Mechanic provides Repair to supplement vehicles. Customizer provides Energy Field to keep a squad safe from gunfire.

Boss Leader: A toned-down version of the Big Boss. While just as mighty, they now only get Tough (3) and a single CCW to change out for the list of Ultra weapons given to the Big Boss alongside the special rules. However, the Boss Leader also has the option for more personal upgrades to support more squads.
- Personal Upgrades: The Boss Leader has many options for special wargear, the most of any hero. Alongside the Ultra Armor and Cyborg Body also available to the Big Boss, they can also take a Jetpack for mobility and Commando Gear for Scout, Stealth and Strider.

Orc Leader: Now we get into the lesser heroes, as the Orc Leader is a visible step down from the Boss Leader in quality and defense while keeping access to all the upgrades. Notably, this leader is the only one with an expanded access to guns, all while sadly remaining with Bad Shot. Aside from the basic but reliable Plasma Pistol and Plasma Rifle, they can also get a rapid-fire Rending Portal Gun, a cover-busting Lightning Pistol with Rending, a tank-busting Rocket Launcher or a crowd-demolishing Shock Gun.

Goblin Champ: The cheapest and puniest of your heroes, being a mere goblin. While they can't take better melee weapons, they can use the buff upgrades for their herds and can swap their pistol out for a nicer pistol between the close-quarters tank-busting Rocket-Pistol, the rapid-fire Flamethrower Pistol, the potent Plasma Pistol and the cover-popping Lightning Pistol.

Infantry

Orc: Your workaday goon. While Bad Shot does dissuade you from shooting and they come stock with a CCW+Pistol and Furious, you can replace their loadout for a Carbine to make use of something like Relentless. If you have a need for Fear, you can also purchase a War Banner.
- Shooting: These guys can buy from two lists' extra guns - one being a Carbine+attachment or Twin Carbine like the bosses, the other being more specialized between the anti-armor Plasma Gun, a crowd-controlling Flamethrower, a tank-busting Rocket Launcher, a cover-popping Lightning Gun or a long-range Heavy Machinegun. Of course, this is all dependent on keeping the CCW and Pistol.

Goblin Herd: A literal mob of tissue paper. These guys are practically useless, but they are the gifted with Good Shot and you get three of them. If you're intent on throwing to their death with zeal, then you can buy a Goblin Herder and confer Fearless and Relentless - pretty much a flat upgrade. You can also buy a special pistol like the champ.

Boss: A genuinely ded 'ard orc with 3+ quality and Tough(3). They can not only buy special melee weapons, but also replace their gun with a Carbine (either lone Carbine with addons or Twin Carbine) or a specialized gun given to the Orc Leader without any restrictions. This pretty much compensates for the otherwise glaring lack of any squads dedicated to special weapons since the Specialist Orcs are dedicated to two different weapons.

Commando: A sneaky orc with Scout, Stealth and Strider for impressive mobility. They can grab the special guns available to the base orcs, though they have the option to also replace their pistol for either a Shotgun or Carbine depending on how short-range they want to be. You can also buy a sniper carbine - a bit of a modest help since you can try to snipe out heroes and heavy weapons.

Jetpack Orc: An orc with Flying and Ambush. While they can still grab melee weapons like normal orcs and the option for a Carbine or Twin Carbine like the bosses, but their guns can only be limited to the same ones that Goblins can pick up.

Specialist Orc: An orc toting a flamethrower with Relentless. Unlike most specialist units, this guy has a very limited choice in guns, being either this, the Rocket Launcher or the long-range Railgun. If you take the Rocket Launcher, you can make the orc drop their gun for a Rocket Hammer in case they need to kill a tank up close. You can also buy a Bomb Beast, giving a small AP(4) rocket as an additional gun.

Orc Pirate: Comes with an improved Boarding Gun, each firing three AP(1) Rending shots as well as having Tough(3) and Relentless. Luckily, they also have an option for a melee weapon to make them just as deadly up close.

Ultra Boss: The equivalent of destroyers in the Battle Brothers. The Ultra Boss may have the epic 2+ defense, but they are stuck with foot-slogging and do so with Slow. While you can keep their carbines so you can slap on a Rocket Launcher or Heavy Flamethrower, you can also replace it with a Dual Carbine. If you intend on going full melee, you can instead replace their weapons with Ultra Sawblades for Deadly(3), making them able to chop tanks into scrap.

Goblin Artillery: Surprisingly, you can actually grab artillery in Firefight, which very few others can reliably do. It comes stock with a Bubble Launcher to fire small Rending blasts, but you can also get a Smasher Cannon to break elites, a Lobber Mortar or Tractor Beam to get past cover, or a Custom Cannon to break armored mobs.

Orc Biker: Your troops are now Fast and have Impact(1) in order to give some better charges, a welcome idea considering how Orcs are. Comes with a Twin Mini-MG and CCW, which can be swapped out for an Ultra Weapon. If you're focusing more on melee, you can turn the bikes into a beast mount for some extra attacks in melee instead of shooting.

Goblin Walker: Thought an artillery unit was weird, you can also get a small walker into Firefight! It's base claw is useful against armor but it also has a Mini-Saw to carve through Tough units. Its gun is the Bazooka for mid-ranged crowd control, but you also have pretty mighty options in the Rocket Launcher, Heavy Flamethrower, Heavy Machinegun and Plasma Cannon.

Orc Mini-Copter: The copter has 4+ quality but also has Fast, Tough(3) and Strider. Surprisingly, on top of the pistol and CCW they also come out with a Rocket Launcher. That launcher can be swapped out for more generalized Twin Mini-MG or Rapid Plasma Rifle. On top of this, they can also buy Assault Bomb for fly-over assaults as well as either Rotor Blades for improved Impact or a Copter-Saw for something better-kitted to slay tanks.

Goblin Tank: A goblin might be too tiny to ride a bike, but they can pick up a tank to ride around. This tank strictly has the same gun options as the Goblin Walker, but 5 points more expensive on account of it being Fast. This makes the tank a great choice to use if you just need the gun and don't intend to throw it into the front lines alongside your orcs.

Boss Biker: Your biker now have the Tough(3) of bosses. Their loadout options are about the same as the base biker with the exception of their access to Ultra Weapons.

Orc Marauders Firefight Tactics

Contents

Why play Orc Marauders

Pros

Cons

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

Orc Marauders Firefight Tactics

Why play Orc Marauders

Pros

Cons

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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