Un article sur l'utilisation du bizarboy

C'est assez rare pour être repompé (du forum YTTH) :

Citation :

So I wrote this tactica a while ago. Thinking about tweaking it. Anyone who takes the time to read and comment on it would be a saint.

The Weirdness of Weirdboyz
From the day that young boy explodes his first head, his life is a turbulent stream of glorious violence and all that is Green. If a Warboss is the head of a Waaagh! and the Mekboy is the brains, then the Weirdboy would be the heart. He channels the energy that fuels every boyz lust for battle. He feels the motion of the fight, and expresses the rage and excitement that surrounds him.

The life of a Weirdboy is a short and brutal one, resulting in a great rarity. And this even is portrayed in their use on the table. Few players use them, and hopefully this article will inspire my fellow brethren to not leave the heart out of their army.

Weirdboy Physiology
The Weirdboys that survive to maturity carry the stature of a Nob. For the power of the Waaagh! strengthens him and elevates him beyond Boy-hood

The Weirdboy has the same stat line as a nob. Which is what makes him seem so underwhelming at first. He doesn't have the beef of the Warboss, nor the toys of the Mekboy. And his entry seems offly sparse. However, this belittles his volume of built in abilities. For a mere 20 points more than a Mekboy you get an interested assortment of psychic powers. And fully kitted out is the cheapest (still effective) of the HQ's we have to select from. Leaving plenty of room for other toys in the army.

However, one must realize that a Weirdboy will never go against his nature and not do weird things on the battlefield. He will never play the same way twice. One battle he may pound the opponent into the ground with devastating shooting attacks. Another he boosts his fellows to astonishing levels of violence. Or he completely lets loose and rearranges the field of battle, or blows up in a rain of gore and green bits. And most likely will do all three of these in a chaotic fashion. Elevating one to a Warp Ead might add a bit of control to the weirdness, but a general should never relly on a consistent pattern of play. This would undermine the strengths that a Weirdboy brings to a battle. For it is this chaos that you must embrace and throw the enemy down a similar path. Your comfort with the randomness will be your strength while your opponent struggles to get a handle on your strategy.

From Weirdness comes Victory!

The Eb and Flow of a Waaagh!
When the Waaagh! begins, the Weirdboy has little choice in being swept up in it. How it will manifest is unknown even to him.

The powers offered to the Weirdboy are an odd bag. I will go through them one by one, and hopefully expand upon them. Offering up my opinions, ideas, and general feeling of each. Fortunately the weirdboy gets them all, and doesn't pay any extra for them. This is about the only consistent thing you will find about the weirdboy.

General Power Notes
You determine your powers at the start of the Shooting phase. But remember, you don't have to use it at the start. You just find out what power you will or will not be able to use that power. And you have to use that power. One final fantastic feature is the auto hitting, who cares about BS 2 if you auto hit!

'Eadbanger
A Weirdboyz first and only real negative power. This basically frazzles your own Weirdboy and any unlucky enough to be next to him. Keep this in mind when you are moving him and his unit. Keep him in front of the unit, keeping a 2" gap between him and the unit. This will hopefully minimize the impact of it. If you are lucky enough to be close to the enemy, you could even catch some of them. Remember, the blast doesn't scatter, it centers on him and then resolves. Also, these are shooting wounds, so you don't have to wound the Weirdboy himself, but pop the poor fellows that are with him. The only unit in the army that can really stand up to this landing is Meganobz and a tooled up nob squad. But remember once you are in close combat, the negative of this roll turns into a positive. Turning your attacks into power weapon strikes.

Frazzle
This in opinion scares the life out of MEQ players. Many players often forget that this automatically hits. That means you place the template how you like, and it is there guaranteed. You can figure on 2-3 hits minimum from this power, and unless it is TEQ, it will not get to use its armor. The decent strength of the attack means against T4 or lower you are wounding on a 2+. So you can pretty much count on inflicting 2 wounds with it. And being moderate range means what ever you target will most likely not have cover. This power is one of the many reasons that you should try and keep the Weirdboy out front and unobstructed, so that the opponent won't get a cover save. The pinning aspect of the power is just icing on the cake. But don't expect much out of it, not many things in 40k will actually fail a pinning check in 5th edition. For anti-infantry this power is great.

Zzap
This is the Weirdboy doing his best to imitate a rail gun. It has good range so it can reach the targets you want, namely vehicles. Strength doesn't get much higher either, so it can wound those monstrous creatures as well. It's AP isn't the best, but it still beats TEQ just fine. And the amazing part of it being Melta. Anything short of a Monolith will cringe at a melta gun with this kind of range. When in melta range, you are looking at an average penetration roll of 17! If the AP was one lower, it would be the deadliest anti-tank shot in the game. As with all the powers though, don't rely on your Weirdboy to be your anti-tank. But rejoice when such a pure out pouring of Waaagh! energy happens.

Warpath
This is the mixed bag of all the powers available. It can be a waist if it pops up when you can't assault, and makes a general wanna cry wasting so many extra attacks. But woo to the enemy that stands before a horde of Orks on the warpath. The results of this power when it works are astounding. This power makes the most sense in large boy squads, where the most bang for the buck is received. If this power is up and running, charging into a group of genestealers is still viable, for even with heavy losses the bonus attack will make up for them. And even if the Weirdboy meets his demise, this power keeps on trucking right until your next turn, meaning you will have those extra attacks in your enemies phase as well!

'Ere We Go
This power can either be a blessing, a curse, or something in between. It can deliver a shoota squad into shooting range of a juicy target. Or it could throw the whole unit into reserves. The larger the squad the Weirdboy is with, the riskier this power is. Remember your footprint matters with deep striking. Also, keep in mind that you can't assault after using this power. If you use this power, and the opponent has templates or pie plates, use a run action once you deep strike. You will give up shooting, but will save you the nightmare of flamers or battle cannons gobbling up your entire unit. This power will also rip you out of a combat that you are stuck in with, for better or for worse. To many this is almost a negative power, but I see it as the epitome of a Weirdboyz randomness, and the ability to throw a curve ball at your opponent. You could end up taking an objective or threatening an opponent.

Waaagh!
The most appealing power to many who field the Weirdboy. But with the advent of 5th edition a lot of this powers power has dimished. Rarely will a first turn Waaagh! benefit anything but a trukk boy squad. However, this gives you plenty of reason to have at least one Trukk Squad in your army. A first turn Waaagh! with a charge from a Trukk squad can shift the momentum dramatically in your favor. Also, this power can lend you additional Waaagh!s through out a game. Which could mean far more assaulting, which is always the best for Orks.

Where a Weirdboy can be at his Weirdest
Those that travel with a Weirdboy consistently find themselves a bit Weird themselves. Raw Waaagh! energy can be a hell of a drug.

Picking who your Weirdboy will run with is crucial to getting the most out of him. I will go through each unit and discuss the merits of placing a Weirdboy with them.

By His Lonesome
This is in my opinion the worse thing you could ever do. Not only does he feel lonely missing out on his mob rules, but he is extremely vulnerable. The heart of an army can't survive with out the body.

Nobz
A crew of fluffy Madboyz are in fact nobz. But sometimes it isn't always the best to travel with them. The plus side is that they make for an excellent body guard unit for the Weirdboy. With tons of wounds, the addition of a painboy, and plenty of upgrades they can keep the heart of the army alive for a good time. However, this can be a giant point sink to tool up a nob squad. On the other hand you are already saving points by using a Weirdboy, so using them hear isn't a waist. Remember, your nob squad needs to be 10 man, so that you get that very important leadership bonus. The Weirdboy can also become the nobz biggest liablity though. A 'Ead Bang could cost you some very expensive models in the unit, and a 'Ere We Go could move your best unit into a poor location. And worse of all, if your Weirdboy uses a shooting power, you can't run. And you always have to use the power, so this could slow down the unit in general. Running a Weirdboy with Nobz is moderately good.

Meganobz
A small grouping of Meganobz can benifit from the 'Ere we go power the most. Getting them across the field far quickly than any other method. However, if you want a leadership bonus you are looking at spending an enormous amount of points. The shoota's they carry do mix well with the shooting powers of the Weirdboy, but this means your not running. And with Meganobz being slow as it is, this can be a real liability. The good news is that a Ead Bang won't do much to the unit. Overall this is less than ideal mob to run a Weirdboy with

Burna Boyz
I have mixed feelings about this unit. It can provide the numbers a Weirdboy needs, and with 3 mek boyz with guns the shooting powers mix well. However, leardership and fragility becomes a major issue. You don't have access to a Bosspole with a Weirdboy, so if this unit breaks it is bad news. Burna Boyz are sub-par usually, a Weirdboy doesn't bring much to this unit. I don't recommend this combination

Tankbustas
This can be a very interesting combination. They can provide the numbers and Pole that the Weirdboy needs. But they also bring along that horrible glory hog rule that the Weirdboy will have to abide by. However, a timely 'Ere we go can be amazing for this unit. And the Weirdboyz shooting powers fit right in. An odd combination, but not a terrible one. You will need to be creative to get the most out of it

Lootas or Kommandos
NO, NO, NO, NO, and NO! These units don't want a Weirdboy with them. Neither benefit from his presence and drag him down if stuck with them.

Ork Boyz
Ah, this is a Weirdboyz true home. Huge numbers to fuel his powers, and solid leadership from a nob. A shoota boy squad is the most ideal combination. They mesh with his shooting powers very well. Slugga Boyz still prefer to get a run in, but if you throw in big shootas or rokkits it can work just fine. The biggest danger to the unit is 'Ere we go, as your foot print will be massive if the unit is large. And if a weird boy is with them, it should be at least 25-30 boy strong at least. This is the unit I highly recommend for your Weirdboy to run with

Gretchin
These guys are just too weedy to bother running a Weirdboy with.

Storm Boyz
As much as I wish a Weirdboy could fly, he can't, so doesn't mesh at all. Not to mention these rebellious Orks are CONFORMISTS!!!! The dirtiest of dirty words.

Flashgitz
Now this is an interesting combination. These nobz with guns actually mesh nicely with a Weirdboy, better than Nobz do. Their guns mean that they prefer to shoot than run, allowing the Weirdboy to express himself with out the guilt. And can provide the sturdiness that a Weirdboy needs. The only thing lacking is a Pole, which can come from Badrukk if you are feeling like spending some points on this unit. Again this can be a point sink, but the Weirdboy is cheap, so you will have the points. I rate this matching as good as Nobz.

Archetypal Armies
The following I will discuss various Army archetypes and whether or not a Weirdboy should be present

Speed Freaks
Weirdboyz are a bit of a waist in this type of army. He doesn't bring anything that speeds up the army, like a Warboss on a bike. Nor does he bring the defenses of a Mekboy with KFF. Overall a Weirdboy will feel out of place in this army.

Goff/Deffwing
Again, this army doesn't play to a Weirdboyz strength. The need of 2 warbosses to make nobz troop choices makes the Weirdboy a poor choice.

Horde
The Weirdboy feels right at home in this army. With so many boyz in battle the Waaagh! energy is at its purist. He has plenty of boy mobs to run with, and can even hop from one mob to another. And those points you are saving on a Weirdboy means you will be able to buy more boyz. This is a good choice for a Weirdboy

Dreadbash
This army is one of the worse choices for a Weirdboy to run with. The lack of boyz means the Weirdboy has no one to really mob up with.

Mixed Bag
Armies that are a smattering of different units. These armies can actually play to the strength of a Weirdboy. Since there is no obvious point of focus to these armies, the randomness of the Weirdboy fits right in. This is the type of army that I play personally and recommend the most for a Weirdboy.

How to get the weirdness out of your Weirdboy
Not every Weirdboy makes the most of his weirdness, those that due can raise a Waaagh! on their own.

Weirdboyz are about as close to a finesse unit as orks get. They are not blunt tools like a Warboss, nor obvious war band support like a Big Mek. This is what turns off new Ork players the most. The use of a Weirdboy isn't always evident, and getting the most out of him is even deeper down the rabbit hole. I will attempt to gleam upon my brethren the uses a Weirdboy can play in their Waaagh!

Warphead or Normal Head?
When it comes to picking what upgrades to chose for the Weirdboy, we don't have to agonize over it. Namely because we only have one to pick from. The choice narrows down to be a Warphead Weirdboy or not. The upgrade is a 50% point increase and on paper doesn't seem to return much. It doesn't boost any stats or introduce new abilities. All it does is allow for your Weirdboy to reroll his power. But this is deceptively simplistic. The implications of being able to re-roll the power can be drastic. If you are looking for a super cheap effective HQ, you can skip this upgrade. If your Weirdboy is playing anything beyond a cheap purchase, then it is absolutely mandatory. The benefits can be amazing. If you are seeking an early Waaagh! result for your war band, then this will increase your odds of success. It will also allow you to potentially avoid the bad powers, like Ead Banger or Ere We Go. And don't forget, even with the upgrade the Weirdboy makes for a cheap HQ. I highly highly recommend this for anyone who is seriously thinking about using Weirdboyz.

When to use your Warphead
The ability to re-roll the power rolled for the turn is a mighty appealing choice. However, one must weigh the consequences of doing so. The only time I believe that the re-roll should be automatic is when your roll the Ead Bang power, since there is almost no positive to this power. But in other situations it can be trickier. You must remember that if a power seems a waist right now, to re-roll might end up yielding a far worse result. You need to weight the risk vs reward before leaping for that die. You may have wanted frazzle to deal with some MEQs, but rolled a Zzap instead, and then choose to re-roll hoping for that Frazzle and end up with a Ere We Go! When considering the re-roll, look to see if the current power offered has a use. Ask these questions:

* Will it kill or aid in killing something? If yes, then the power will be earning points back for the Weirdboy. If no, then another power might be better
* Is it gonna hurt them more than me? This follows in line with the previous question. If double yes, then probably best not to re-roll. If Yes and no, then better off re-rolling. If no and yes, this is the middle ground and re-rolling or not is matter of mood. If no and no, then definitely re-roll!
* Do you feel lucky? Well, do you….punk? Hopefully this is a yes, as Orks should always feel lucky. ^_^ But if your dice are betraying you, then always be wary of the re-roll.
* Would another power prove pivotal at this juncture? This relies heavily on the previous question. Cause you need luck on your side to play a gambit with a Weirdboy. But should it work, you will swear by Weirdboyz for the remainder of your glorious years

You should always weight all these pro's and con's before picking up the dice. For you could end up cursing yourself if you give up that Zzap in favor of a power that falls flat.

Bringers of the Waaagh!
I have seen many generals attempt to bring two Warphead Weirdboyz to the table to attempt to get that first turn Waaagh! (My math is subject to being wrong ^_^) But even with two Weirdboyz you only have a .611111 chance of rolling that Waaagh! And this falls into the most common trap players who field Weirdboyz suffer from, relying on a single power in the Weirdboyz arsenal. In fact, fielding a Weirdboy in hopes of exploiting a single power at all is a fatal mistake. If you are going to field a Weirdboy, you must be prepared to make use of all and any results that occur during the battle. It is okay to shoot for this, but be ready for it not to happen. If you walk into a game expecting Multitudes of a single result from a random source, be prepared to be sourly mistaken.

Making the most out of Chaos
The key to getting the most out of your Weirboy is to try and make sure he is in a position through out the game that will be able to maximize any result on his power table. Now this is obviously almost impossible due to the complete unpredictability of the game in general. But in a perfect world, Your Weirdboy would be in the front of a large squad at least 2" appart, with an unobstructed shot on a Landraider with in 18", a nice clear landing location near a vital target available on the table, and a tightly packed unit of MEQ only an 1" away from your weirdboy. In this situation there can be no wrong doing of powers ^_^ However, dream situations like this don't come to pass often enough, if at all. But you should always try. The more of the list that you make useful the happier you and your Weirdboy will be.

How to handle the inevitable back fire
At some point your Weirdbaoy is going to do something you definitely don't want him to do. Namely, Ead Bang or Ere We Go. These are the only 2 possibly negative powers you can get. There isn't much you can do about the Ead Bang, besides hoping the enemy happens to be next to you. However, don't forget that it is a shooting attack so you don't have to take the wound on your Weirdboy. And hopefully you have been giving your Weirdboy some distance so the most hits you should take is 2-3. The Ere We Go result is a bit trickier. Namely cause it could do something good, but most likely won't. First and foremost you need to determine if your opponent has templates or blast weapons. If he does, and they can hit your boyz, you need to use a run move to minimize casualties. Remember you can still run after the Ere We Go result because this is not a shooting power. Second you need to figure on a location that will benefit you later in game. Don't use this to pop in next to your opponents gun line only to find yourself target less once you have killed it. And avoid difficult terrain at all possible, as this will become dangerous terrain for every boy that ends up in it. Which could cost you a number of boyz

Building a Waaagh! for your Weirdboyz
If you want to build an army that revolves around your Weirdboy, then this is what I recommend. First step is set aside the points for the Weirdboy(s) that you intend to purchase. Then proceed to build one unit that will serve as the Weirboy(s) escort. Then set that unit aside. Build the remainder of your army with the remaining points, and make sure it is completely independent of the Weirdboy + Escort. The reason for this is that the Weirdboyz + Escort can't be expected to fill just one job. They will act differently every game, so building an army that revolves around a random unit will prove futile. If your army can stand by itself with out the Weirdboy + Escort, then you will have no fear of any randomness that is inserted by your Weirdboy(s). This will allow for the Weirdboy(s) to not constrain themselves during the fight and let lose, maximizing their potential. You will find that each aspect of your army (anti-tank/anti-infantry/ect) blustered by what ever the Weirdboy chooses to do that turn. If instead you had built your army with the intention of using your Weirdboy to play anti-infantry, and he ends up doing nothing but Anti-tank powers, you will find yourself with a weakened aspect. However, if you do it my way, your opponent will be the one being forced to react to randomly strengthened aspects. He might screen his infantry with tanks one moment because your Weirdboy is laying out his infantry, only to find himself on the receiving end of a powerful anti-tank gun. Now you have chaos on yourside ^_^

Winning Weirdness
Winning with a Weirdboy centric army is a difficult one. It will not play the same as your run of the mill ork army. Many ork armies rely on their HQs to boost their armies effectiveness, whether it be by a KFF or a threatening Green Torpedo. However, Weird Armies rely on no one aspect. The HQ in this army will not be blustering the overall army in the usual fashions if at all. Instead your HQ will simply be another tool at your disposal. I am not going to say that Weird Armies make for strong ones, in fact in my opinion they are the weaker than most armies. And you will lose more than normal. However, once you get the hang of it, it will make for a wonderfully wacky winning army. It will just take more practice than normal. Many people field a Weirdboy and then immediately toss them to the shelf because they didn't win. Much like Weirdboys in the fluff, rare are the mature Weirdboy Players. Be resiliant and you will become one of the few, the zany, the Weird!

The Old Zog
The old Zog is our named Weirdboy. Coming in at a 170% the cost of a Warp Head, he makes one nervous. He is only slightly more resilient than the normal Weirdboy, having one higher toughness and wounds. And at this cost not having an invulnerable save or even a real save at all is nerve wracking. But the old Zog packs a serious punch.

Zogy (As I like to call him) has the same powers as your generic Warp Head, but he has an alternate power that he can make use of. And it is an Independent Character killer. With some luck you can reduce foes like Calgar to pathetic squigs. Many players take him for this purpose, however, there is a point of caution behind it. First is that it doesn't work against some older armies, namely any army that offers retinues. Characters in retinues do not have independent character status, so they are immune to being targeted by this power. Also, this is a shooting power, so it cannot be used in assaults. And tyranids don't even have an independent character (well, broodlord but how often is he with out a retinue). So the point is don't take Zogy as an independent character assassin. See it as a bonus, not a purpose

What is the strangest thing about Zogy is that his strength lies in assaults. He gets a potential huge number of attacks. And can even out attack Thrakka himself. And he wounds on a 2+ thanks to poison, and against anything toughness 3 or 4 (on the charge) this becomes a rerollable wound. On top of it all he strikes at initiative so he doesn't have to survive till last. But assault is also a dangerous place for Zogy. Being an independent character means he can be targeted specifically, and lacking any real armor or defense he can go down to even lowly Tau. And on top of this his initiative isn't that hot and his weapon skill is average. And to make it all worse, his true strength won't show up till round 2 of a fight, when he could potentially gain power weapon status. So to get the most out of his assault capabilities he needs to be placed in a unit with a pain boy, this will bolster his defense against everything but str 10 weapons and weapons that ignore armor. So running him with flash gitz or Nobs is the best.

A dirty, albeit expensive trick, is to have Mad Dok grant him a cybork body. And if they both run in a 30 boy shoota squad, this becomes a massively dangerous unit. Lashing out with powers and huge dakka, that is then backed up with a fearless assault can end even the most sturdy of assault units. And most enemies will go for mad dok before they will attack Zoggy, further increasing his survival rate. I have personally fielded this unit, and was a bit taken aback by the violence that it wrought upon my enemy.

Overall Zogy is an interesting choice for HQ. But unless you really support him heavily, you are better off with a Warp Head. Personally I use him often because I made a great conversion ^_^

Superbe ! Un tactica des plus complets et interessants.
Même si je dois avouer que j'ai dû passer à côté de certains aspects, du fait de mon non-bilinguisme et de ma mauvaise connaissance du bizarboy.

Merci pour cette jolie repompe