So, I had this idea to write a series of tactical analysis articles about a dead game I've hardly played, and am not likely to play for the foreseeable future. Why? Well, its something to do. I'm building some Ork Ships, so why not use the creative energy that's there?
With the completion of Gorbag's Revenge, I find myself having come to the end point of collecting an Ork fleet. I have a more than adequate selection of vessels, painted and built to a standard of "table-worthy" . I've even mastered techniques I didn't know before. The next logical step is to find someone to play against, something hampered as much by my own social awkwardness as pandemic restrictions. I miss gaming, and while this was meant to be a purely creative exercise, it would be nice to have a go. But you might say, "Dude, BFG is a dead game, nobody is playing. You say as much up top. ". Well, apparently not. There are various fan communities with their own rules, such as today's focus, BattlefleetGothic: XR. Now, as the XR ruleset is several hundred pages long, while play-testing is difficult, my observations will be somewhat shallow. I did try and write a full review of things, but decided against it due to inexperience. My general impression is that the rules have diverged so far from the source as to count as a new edition, although this shows an active community for it. This is particularly pronounced in the case of the Xenos Factions, especially Eldar. As I understand it, I'm broadly in favour of how they remodelled the Ork fleet. It seems the basic ideas of 2010 Clans list have been walked back a little, making the older material seem amateurish. So, on the one hand, you've got a convenient and actively-maintained living rulebook. On the other, by definition it's unofficial, and people can be funny about that. I will now discuss what this may mean for my fleet.
With both Gun Batteries and Heavy Gunz reworked, Ork Kroozers are now significantly more broadsidey. Randomised Gunz are now mainly a feature of prows, with flank examples having a standardised minimum of 6FP. I view this as more of a time saver than anything else, but at least you will have fewer RNG embarrassments and it stacks well with other weaponry. Heavy Gunz meanwhile are very different, have a 30cm range, no hit doubling, but a higher strength value within 15cm. The mathhammer comparison for this change is tedious, but you aren't really loosing anything, and gaining more in in the 30cm bracket. I admit that this is probably less interesting than the previous, but these revisions grant the common Ork capitals a basic competency they didn't have before. They also have Lance equivalents now. Zzaps are a little odd in that they damage on a 5+ and suffer infrequent misfires that cause blastmarkers on their parent ship. This makes them less useful than the basic Lance, although you are still looking at an answer to 6+ armour with consistent performance. If you're wondering what this means for the Slamblasta? Well, you get more shots into the bargain. Zzaps also turn up on the Onslaught as an upgrade. This plays into a general reworking of the escort category, a dense topic by itself, but the short version is that Onslaughts are more like Imperial frigates, while the Brutes focus on thier headbutting. So, there's new stuff to do, but its been done in a relatively clean way that feels in line with the original rules.
Does any of this actually count as "good" in the BFG:XR Meta? Maybe not, but is something. There is still a strong justification for aggressive movements towards enemy however. Weapon batteries of any flavour work best within 15cm, and almost everything gets a reinforced ram for happier ramming. But there's the thing; I can easily imagine people complaining because they feel Orks should be terrible, it happened a lot when I played regular 40k. Another example is the characteristic issue with Bombers, which remain, but come across as somewhat more fun. Orky turrets only hit on a 5+, but you have more, and get to fire at all tokens regardless of type. This means bomber tokens are still a worry, but it's not one-sided and boring. If anything, it presents the image of every Ork on board firing their pistols out of the airlocks as something gets close. This amusing mental picture is however swiftly followed by another of someone whinging that they can't destroy a Kroozer in a single pass any more. Given the extent attack craft rules seem to have been rebalanced over the years, this perhaps isn't a uniquely orkish topic, but if anything was gonna provoke a "Sorry, what?" from a foe, it would be the news that you've got 3 turrets. I never did like having to explain to an opponent something they should already have been aware of...
Wrapping thing up
I'm not quite sure what I'm doing next, on the BFG front. This may well be the last article on the subject for a while, assuming I don't feel the need to build some ships. That said, if I were to play, I'd probably play with the XR rules.
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