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Offline SKEETERGOD

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The Burna Boy Tactica
« on: December 4, 2010, 10:24:56 AM »
The Burna Boy Tactica

Many people feel that there are so many better choices in the ork codex that the lowly burna boy is often ignored. Well I am here to tell you that the burna boys are one of the best choices the orks have for their elite slots. With the profile of a regular ork, they are the closest thing we have to being a super unit.

Now of course this unit must be correctly used, putting it in the wrong place and they will do nothing all game, pitting them against the wrong opponent will simply get them wiped out, but having them in the right place against the right enemy units will be game winning. So hopefully this article will help all you aspiring war bosses to better equip your army.

First, let us discuss size, as in most things ork, the bigger the better, and the more the merrier. Unfortunately, for us, GW sells them in packs of five. Actually, there are only four burnas and mek, so if you want a pure burna squad you will have to buy four packs, which will leave you one extra, of course you can just use this last one for your commando squad. Nevertheless, you will need at least five, as this is the minimum size squad you can take. The best is a squad of 10 as it makes math easier, but for ludicrous results, you should take a squad of 15. I personally run a squad of 15 of which 3 are meks with KMB.

The flamer template causes a wound on any model it touches; this is good as ork shooting is poor, so causing automatic hits is a good thing for orks. Since you are allowed to move the template around to optimize wounds you can usually get multiple hits that turn into multiple wounds. A single burna can usually cause multiple wounds that usually results in a fatality of at least one enemy. The less the armor save the better the chances of killing more, and since the AP for the burna is 5 when fighting eldar, IG, nids, and other orks the burna will certainly kill as many as it hits. Now if your squad has more flamer templates, then you will certainly kill even more. Thus the more the merrier!

There are many uses for burna boys; the obvious one is the flaming of massed troops. Move into a semi circle around a large squad of IG or nids and lay out as many templates as there are burna boys and wipe out the squad. Of course, this means that you maneuvered them well and got to within burning distance without being shot to pieces or assaulted. The solution to this is to mount them, put them in a looted vehicle or battle wagon.

Of course, you can buy a truck for your boys or nobs and then make them walk so the burnas can ride, but this requires some careful maneuvering and set up, not to mention your nobs will be mad at you for taking away their truck. So just, buy a looted vehicle for about the same cost, as a truck and you do not have to worry about the transport problem.

When mounted in a vehicle the templates stack. According to the rules, (page 70 of the rule book) all models in an open top vehicle can fire measuring from the hull. This means that you can place the template from any point in the hull; and this allows you to maximize the amount of hits. Again according to the rules (page 29 of the rule book) it says to resolve the shots one at a time. Well now, here comes the beauty of the mounted burnas; instead of laying the template down once for each burna boy you simply lay it down once and you then multiply those hits by the number of burna boys.

For example, if your vehicle has 12 burna boys in it, and it drives up next to an enemy unit and lays out the template that covers 5 marines, now multiply that by 12. That is 60 hits, which should average 30 wounds, which should average 10 casualties. That's one dead tactical squad, and if it is a larger squad of other types of enemy then you will get better results. For example if you can cover 13 termagaunts that's 154 hits that will result in 110 wounds, this in turn will cause one wiped out squad of nids.

The next use of the burn boys is to clean out bastions. According to the rules (page 80 of the rule book) if a template covers a firing port the contents of the building take D6 hits. So again the templates stack and cause 12D6 hits which is usually enough to dramatically thin out the defenders, against lightly armored enemy, such as IG and daemons, you will clean out the bastion so that another of your units can just walk in and claim the building for themselves.

Yet another use for them is the power weapon spam. If you do not shoot with them before you assault you can use the burna as a power weapon in combat. Against most things, this will wipe them out, the burna boys get three attacks on the charge, this is more than enough to cause massive casualties to the enemy, and this is great against higher toughness enemy like bikers and their like. Unfortunately, as their initiative is low you will lose some before they strike so you will not get the full amount of your potential impact. So against a squad of regular marines you will lose about half your squad, but the good news is that the half that remains will kill enough to win the combat if not outright kill off all the enemy unit. Against units with lower initiative, like necrons, the burna boys are absolutely devastating in combat.

About the meks. You have the option to make up to three of them as meks with kustom mega blasters (KMB). The mek weapon is basically a plasma gun, and of course, it gets hot, and when it does it kill that mek. The advantage is that they have longer range than the burnas and can kill most things armored when they hit. They are good for fixing your vehicle that you are in too. Say your wagon gets immobilized; you now have three chances to fix it. The KMB has a chance to insta-kill most thing toughness 4 like space marine heroes, and nid warriors. Of course, you have to hit, which is why you take three. On an average shooting phase, one will hit and wound, and the AP is low enough that unless the victim has an invulnerable save they will die. In addition, the meks are good for taking as casualties in combat, assign them wounds first. This will leave more power weapon attacks for later.

My favorite way to use them is in a battlewagon with a death roller. This allows the unit to ram vehicles, or to slow down for a drive by flaming. Not to mention the better armor of the battlewagon will help keep the burna boys alive longer. As once you have flamed a unit out of existence a time or two, this squad will become a higher target priority for your opponent.

The last thing, but not least, is to add a big mek with a KFF and a boss pole to this unit. The burna boys do not have the option for a boss pole so the big mek can fill this role nicely, as well as adding another burna to the mix. The built in cover save will also allow your battle wagon to live longer, and thus the burna boys live longer to kill more of your enemy. Then if the battlewagon gets destroyed, you still have the ability to re-roll any failed leadership, smacking the lesser meks of course.

While this article is not the end all of the burna boys, I hope it has given you some good ideas and has encouraged you to get your own squad so you can go out and make your enemies do the burny dance



« Last Edit: January 4, 2011, 08:45:45 PM by SKEETERGOD »
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Offline The Gretchin

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #1 on: December 4, 2010, 02:12:58 PM »
nice tactica

it really helps me build my army

but in a FAQ I read, it stood that you cannot use a KFF inside a vehicle, is that true
« Last Edit: December 4, 2010, 02:51:21 PM by The Gretchin »

Offline spotaflint33

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #2 on: December 4, 2010, 06:06:09 PM »
Thanks I like it a lot.  I was planning on a unit of burna boyz the whole time, but wasn't sure how to use them.  Now I have some nasty new ideas. 

Offline hinga

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #3 on: December 4, 2010, 06:19:52 PM »
ill tend to go for 10 burna's with 1 mek with a kmb... i usually put them close 2 an objective wait to be attacked or stumbled upon then POW Let it burn..
"usher track- Let it Burn" comes 2 mind lolo

Offline AXEBLADE

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #4 on: December 4, 2010, 07:40:12 PM »
I have an arson squad that I use in 2K point games.
10 boyz, 1 mek with slugga/choppa and a big mek with KFF, BP, Cyborg in a looted wagon with skorcha.
Total points cost 330 points (though the big mek is in my list from 1500 points)
Throwing down 11 flamer templates and a heavy flamer, priceless.

When attacking an enemy while not in a transport it is relatively hard to get everyone into range/position to hit with their templates without touching your own models. As such when you charge into combat after shooting you will be hit first (probably) so you can allocate wounds first to the mekboy and then to the burna boyz who have shot their weapons, this gives the power weapon attacks a better chance of going through.

An example.
A squad of 10 burna boyz reaches an enemy squad. Fire off 5 burnas and set some things on fire.
Then charge into combat. Any saves that you have to make are allocated to the burnas who shot. Some will die.
Any remaining burnas who shot will then get some normal attacks but the burnas who didn't shoot now get to attack with power weapons.

Possibly something most people know already but I felt it should be said for completeness.

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #5 on: December 4, 2010, 10:12:54 PM »
As a Guard player, anything with flamers in a transport is a high priority... and Burna Boyz in a transport are the number one priority, to protect my Combined Infantry Squads holding objectives.

Nothing says, "Too bad Guardsmen!" quite like multiple flamers. :(

Offline enlg

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #6 on: December 4, 2010, 10:53:48 PM »
While I don't play orks, I love the idea of using mad dok grotsnik with them, as you can give them all cybork upgrades, giving them an invuln+FNP allowing them to have a 2/3 chance of surviving, so technically making them as resilient as chaos possessed marines.

-note my other  post was long and referred to a terrible misinterpretation of the template rules, please forgive this.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2010, 12:51:04 AM by enlargingcloud »

Offline IGBunker (-Hela - Finnail-)

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #7 on: December 5, 2010, 01:35:37 AM »
Thanks for the tactica skeetergod. very handy, Id like to ask you what size you normally like your burna units. Ive got 9 burna boys (with bitz for a few more), 2 mek boys with kustom mega blasters. Im thinking about running them in a looted wagon (a hellhound conversion im thinking of) with scorcha. it seems like a prefect line breaker, open topped trasport so the flamers can fire from the inside. 10 flamers, a heavy flamer and 2 plasma gun thingys will ruin someones day! Suggestions?
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Offline SKEETERGOD

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #8 on: December 5, 2010, 09:31:51 AM »
Thanks for all the replies.

The Gretchin; I have not seen any mention of not being able to use the KFF inside a vehicle. Not to mention that I have been putting my mek in a vehicle for many battles now, including a few tourneys, and the Ard boys, and so far no mention of anything illegal going on. So, put your KFF mek in the wagon, he will like you more.

IGBunker; I run a full size squad of 15, of which 3 are meks with KMB. For those three meks I use the "rockers" models treating their guitars as the mega blasters. I always mention it to my opponents at the start of the game that these three "count as" meks. The mega blaster do come in handy when running into dreads, and really tough ICs like nightbringers. They all ride in a battle wagon with red paint, death roller, grots, armor, and 2 big shootas.

"It needs but one foe to breed a war. And even those who have not swords can still die upon them" (Lady Eowyn)
     We orks are not about being the hero; We orks are about being the mob.
                         
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Offline MekEad

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #9 on: December 6, 2010, 01:04:55 PM »
I'm a big fan of Burna Boyz.  They are an exciting and versatile unit.  My only gripe is about the old Codex taking away their amour penetration when used against vehicles.  But I guess they are good enough. ;)

I also use them in a "Burnawagon" configuration, and this is the config I use them most often as.  I don't have any KMBs as I use other units to fulfill that role in the army.  I take either a 12-15 Boyz unit for fearless and the Battlewagon they ride in always has stikkbomb chukkas.  Depending on the point value of the army I also throw in armour plates so that on those annoying rolls of 1 the Battlewagon can keep on trukkin' in the next movement phase.  I highly recommend red paint job for the extra movement distance, and either a reinforced ram or deffrolla for difficult terrain checks.  Also depending on the points value of the army I take 1 (min)-2 big shootas.  The unit has done a ridiculous amounts of wounds to everyone from Tyranids to Sisters of Battle.  I had to roll 92 To-Wound dice one time, and it was a good experience.  One thing I highly recommend as well is a bosspole from a Big Mek or Warboss.  Having Burna Boyz run away after taking a few wounds is a waste of points.

I have tried having Burna Boyz jump into a Trukk but it means some deployment arrangements that may not be favourable if I don't go first.  However if there is a more important target than the Burna Boyz they may get saved from the KFF and lack of targetted fire.

I actually have a full unit of the old pewter models and a full unit of the newer plastic models.  I've played games with both units both in Battlewagons, and they tend to take care of my anti-infantry needs.  Finding a good balance of anti-tank fire support is the key to fielding units of Burna Boyz.  The Deffrolla helps, but sometimes its not enough, especially vs heavy-mech army builds.  It was recently recommended to me to try using the Wrecking Ball but I have yet to do so.  Will report on that when I do.

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Offline LordKriegan

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2010, 12:10:28 AM »
@ enlargingcloud... you dont play orks so your obvious mistakes are forgiven.. but it should probably be pointed out before someone tries to use this post as a reason for fielding an oversized unit and improper template rules :p

First of all, burnas have a max unit size of 15, you can't have 18 burnaz (too bad.. that would be a ridiculous amount of wounds).
Another thing is that you gave the battlewagon the 'ard case upgrade... This makes the vehicle close topped, and last I checked you can only stack templates as skeetergod mentioned from an OPEN topped vehicle.
Theres also the mistakes you made with your Big Mek.. He can't take both the kombi-skorcha AND the KFF. its one or the other (in the codex, it says replace choppa with big choppa or power klaw, and slugga with a whole list of items I don't wanna type :p KFF and Kombi Skorcha are listed there, however).

hopefully you didnt get that unit from a fellow greenskin :/ if you did that cheater needs to be krumped.

@ MekEad: Don't bother with the wreckin ball. The rules for that thing are so screwed up... The only things a wreckin ball can hit are any models within 2" of the wreckin ball. NOTE: NOT within 2" of the vehicle, but within 2" of the wreckin ball. This doesn't matter so much on a trukk because it has the same armor all around, but if you were to put it on say... a battlewagon, then maneauvering the battlewagon so that you can hit your target might leave your back armor of 10 exposed to the enemy. This is a big no no :(
« Last Edit: December 28, 2010, 12:12:12 AM by LordKriegan »

Offline MekEad

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #11 on: January 4, 2011, 02:28:03 PM »
@ MekEad: Don't bother with the wreckin ball. The rules for that thing are so screwed up... The only things a wreckin ball can hit are any models within 2" of the wreckin ball. NOTE: NOT within 2" of the vehicle, but within 2" of the wreckin ball. This doesn't matter so much on a trukk because it has the same armor all around, but if you were to put it on say... a battlewagon, then maneauvering the battlewagon so that you can hit your target might leave your back armor of 10 exposed to the enemy. This is a big no no :(

Go Burna Boyz!

Now onto an further idea of backing up Burnaz with some sort of AT - Wrecking Balls.  Know those big cranes with wrecking balls in real life?  What if an entrepreneurial Ork Mek put the Wrekkin Ball on a big mechanical arm on top of a Battlewagon, and magnetized the arm to swing out 360 degrees?  That way it would be easy to balance the burnanation with anti-tank capabilities.  And as always the sweet sweet Deffrolla.
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Offline SKEETERGOD

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #12 on: January 4, 2011, 08:53:12 PM »
Great Idea, that is how I mount the boarding plank on my trucks; on a gimbal on the front center so that no matter where the truck actually parks I can lay the plank onto the target critter.

So maybe make a telescoping pivoting wrecking ball and mount it in the center of the wagon just behind the cabin like a fire truck ladder. (Hmmm, visions of little balls of destruction swinging around)

As for putting this on the burna wagon, I think it would go to waste, as the main job of the burna wagon is anti-troop work, and the BW is the best way to get them in close relatively intact. IMO, if your using the burna boy wagon to attack tanks then you are either using the burna boys incorrectly, or your opponent has too many vehicles.
"It needs but one foe to breed a war. And even those who have not swords can still die upon them" (Lady Eowyn)
     We orks are not about being the hero; We orks are about being the mob.
                         
Quote from: angel of death 007
Skeetergod: (adj) A crazy fascination for all things combustible mixed with an unhealty lust for red paint. see also Speed Freak

Offline LordKriegan

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #13 on: January 5, 2011, 04:32:57 AM »
i actually looked at the rules for the boardin' plank. its NOTHING like the rules for the wreckin' ball... the sentence that mentions range is worded like this: "...make it's close combat attacks against an enemy vehicle within 2" exactly as if..." It doesn't say within 2" of the boardin plank.. or within 2" of anything... which boils down to within 2" of the vehicle's hull. even if the boardin plank is on the other side of the vehicle, you can have an ork assault an enemy vehicle within 2" :D now if only they would errata the wreckin ball to work like this.

Offline zero88

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2011, 03:54:49 PM »
BUMP

Im gonna make a squad of 10 burnas here pretty soon, this tactica helps out but one question/note I have: Obviously the buna wagon strategy is the best way to utilize burnas, but the battlewagon and looted wagon are NOT fast vehicles, meaning if the burnas want to shoot out of it the vehicle can only move 6" ..and if you have any experience with 40k you know that templates that move 6" a turn SUCK. So to me it seems like the only way to efficiently use them is to buy a looted wagon for the burnas and then pull a switcharoo at the start of a game with a squad of trukk boyz, then the burnas can move 12" and still fire, and the trukk boyz just got an extra point of armor for their transport.

Thoughts?

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Re: The Burna Boy Tactica
« Reply #15 on: February 15, 2011, 05:02:16 PM »
BUMP

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