Week 3 of 2021 Hobbying Sprint

Jan 24th, 2021

<<Next post: Weeks 4-5 of 2021 Hobbying Sprint Previous post: Revised Ork army list for 750 point round-robin tournament in May>>

Week 3 of our 2021 Hobbying Sprint ended last night. While I made good progress and nearly hit my goals this week, it also forced me to make some practical adjustments.

I always knew my goal for the 2021 Hobbying Sprint was ambitious. My original 750 point Ork list for our May tournament featured 42 models, which was going to take several hundred hours to finish given that it takes me upwards of 5-10 hours per model.

Surprisingly, I had managed to stay on track for the first and second weeks. Not the same story this week, though: I finally fell of the pace I had hoped to maintain.

In this third week, I had hoped to prime, basecoat, wash, and apply a first round of highlights to all 11 models in my Orks' January wave. I came close to this goal, finishing the basecoats and washes on all 11 models. Here's a quick shot of my painting station last night:

Note: models marked with asterisks will be referenced and explained below.

Although I was happy with this progress, it also took longer than I had hoped. Furthermore, my original hobby sprint schedule calls for a similar pace of ~9 models per month in February, March, and April. Given that I anticipate my free time will become more restricted in February and March due to ski season getting underway in New England, I've come to the realization that I need to make some adjustments in order to have 750 points of Orks ready to hit the tables in mid-May.

The most obvious solution to this problem was to reduce the model count in my 750 point list, which I had already started to do last week. Although I was happy with this list from a gaming perspective, I felt like it still needed to be downsized further to become more realistic from a hobbying perspective.

After consulting with some friends and reading tactics on the internet, I arrived at the following modified list:


+-----------------------------+
| Vanguard Detachment: Orks   |
| 750 Points; 43 Power Level  |
| 1 Command Point             |
| Deffskullz Clan Kultur      |
+-----------------------------+

[HQ]
  * Warboss [Warlord] - 78 points
    - Wargear: Attack Squig, Big Choppa, Kustom Shoota, Super Cybork Body (Shiny Gubbinz)
    - Upgrades: Da Biggest Boss (stratagem), Might Is Right (warlord trait)

[Troops]
  * Ork Boyz - 95 points
    - Boss Nob with Kombi-Rokkit
    - 7x Ork Boyz with Shoota
    - Ork Boy with Shoota & Tankbusta Bombs
    - Ork Boy with Big Shoota

[Elites]
  * Kommandos - 64 points
    - Boss Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga
    - 3x Kommandos with Choppa & Slugga
    - Kommando with Burna
    - Kommando with Rokkit Launcha
  * Meganobz - 123 points
    - Boss Meganob with Power Klaw & Kombi-Rokkit
    - Meganob with Power Klaw & Kustom Shoota
    - Meganob with two Killsaws
  * Nobz - 105 points
    - Boss Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga
    - 2x Nobz with Big Choppa & Choppa
    - 2x Nobz with two Choppas

[Fast Attack]
  * Deffkopta with Kustom Mega-Blasta - 25 points 
  * Stormboyz - 70 points
    - Boss Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga
    - 4x Stormboyz with Choppa & Slugga

[Heavy Support]
  * Deff Dread with Dread Klaw, Dread Saw, Kustom Mega-Blasta, and Scorcha - 105 points
    - Kustom Job: Orkymatic Pistons
  * Big Trakk with 2x Big Shootas - 85 points

The biggest changes in this new list were:

Swapping the Slugga Boyz squad for three Meganobz (Note: see the table of mathhammer comparisons between these two units below.)
Converting from a Patrol Detachment to a Vanguard Detachment (at the cost of 3CP, sadly...)
Dropping a single Nob from the regular Nobz squad so that both the Nobz and Meganobz can fit into the Big Trakk with the Warboss

There are also a few minor adjustments to balance out the points and a 1:1 swap of a single Choppa/Slugga Kommando for a second Burna Kommando, but otherwise most of the list stayed the same.

Given these changes, and given that I'm operating on an abbreviated week as we're heading out of town Friday night to ski, I've decided to make two adjustments for the remainder of January:

I'm restricting my painting efforts exclusively to the seven models from the January wave that are present in this new list (marked with asterisks in the image above) and will be putting the remaining models off to the side temporarily.
I'm toying with the idea of using this week to build my Deffkopta & Deff Dread, as I've planned elaborate conversions for both of those and want to get started in order to see if I need to order any extra bitz or materials.

Putting this al together, here's how my revised Hobby Sprint schedule looks:

January	February	March	April
Warboss	Kommandoz Nob with Power Klaw	Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa ("The Executioner")	Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa ("Gork's Champion")
Nobz Boss with Power Klaw & Slugga ("The Lieutenant")	2x Kommando with Choppa & Slugga	Nob with two Choppas ("The Berzerker")	Nob with two Choppas ("The Strategist")
Ork Boy with Tankbusta Bombs	Kommando with Rokkit Launcha	Stormboy Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga	Boss Meganob with Power Klaw & Kombi-Rokkit
2x Shoota Boyz	2x Shoota Boyz	4x Stormboyz with Choppa & Slugga	Meganob with dual Killsaws
Kommando with Choppa & Slugga	Deff Dread with Dread Klaw, Dread Saw, Kustom Mega-Blasta, and Scorcha		2x Shoota Boy
Kommando with Burna	Deffkopta with Kustom Mega-Blasta		Shoota Boy with Big Shoota
			Big Trakk with two Big Shootas

Appendix: Mathhammer comparisons of Slugga Boyz vs. Meganobz

Before committing to this newly revised list, I wanted to assure myself that swapping the Slugga Boyz for Meganobz wouldn't cripple my army's ability on the tabletop.

I have read that Meganobz are a competitive choice in 9^th edition, but the dramatic difference in model count had me worried that I wouldn't be able to pressure the enemy and contest objectives in the same way as I could with the unit of 10 Slugga Boyz.

To answer this question, I worked out some rough Mathhammer calculations to directly compare these two units (with loadouts as above and rerolls as applicable). Here are the results:

Category	Slugga Boyz	Meganobz
Points	95	123
Models	10	3
Role	Troops	Elites
Loadout	Boss Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa 7x Ork Boyz with Choppas, Sluggas, and Stikkbombz Ork Boy with Choppa, Slugga, Stikkbombz, and Tankbusta Bombz Ork Boy with Rokkit Launcha	Boss Meganob with Power Klaw and Kombi-Rokkit Meganob with Power Klaw and Kustom Shoota Meganob with Dual Killsaws
Defense	11 wounds @ T4 with 6+/6++ save: 8.33 damage taken from 10 wounds at AP0 & D1 8.33 damage taken from 10 wounds at AP-3 & D1	9 wounds @ T4 with 2+/6++ save: 1.67 damage taken from 10 wounds at AP0 & D1 6.67 damage taken from 10 wounds at AP-3 & D1
Shooting (within 24")	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3
Shooting (within 18")	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3 1.56 hits @ S4, AP0, D1
Shooting (within 12")	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3 3.11 hits @ S4, AP0, D1	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3 1.56 hits @ S4, AP0, D1
Shooting (within 6")	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3 0.78 hits @ S8, AP-2, D4.25 2.72 hits @ S4, AP0, D1	0.65 hits @ S8, AP-2, D3 1.56 hits @ S4, AP0, D1 1.36 hits @ S3, AP0, D1
Assault - hits	2.47 hits @ S7, AP-1, D2 0.67 hits @ S5, AP-1, D1 17.33 hits @ S4, AP0, D1	3.44 hits @ S10, AP-3, DD3 2 hits @ S10, AP-4, D2
Assault vs. GEQ (T3, 6+)	10.55 unsaved wounds @ D1 1.65 unsaved wounds @ D2	3.99 unsaved wounds @ D2
Assault vs. MEQ (T4, 3+)	3.20 unsaved wounds @ D1 0.82 unsaved wounds @ D2	3.55 unsaved wounds @ D2
Assault vs. T6, 2+	1.00 unsaved wounds @ D1 0.69 unsaved wounds @ D2	2.89 unsaved wounds @ D2

<<Next post: Weeks 4-5 of 2021 Hobbying Sprint Previous post: Revised Ork army list for 750 point round-robin tournament in May>>