Can anyone give me some clarity on this, from the 0&G army book,

"Armed to da teef As a rule, Black Orcs tend to turn up to battle with as many weapons as they can carry. Every Black Orc prides himself on the breadth and depth of his arsenal, from small choppas kept handy for close encounters with little 'uns, to large, two-handed, armaments for bludgeoning more stubborn foes. At the start of each combat, a unit of Black Orcs can choose to fight either with single choppa (in case they have shields) two choppas or with a great weapon. If a Black Orc character chooses a magic weapon, he loses the benefit of this special rule"

Now then, Black Orcs come at 13pts each with the optiion of +1 for shields (they are 'heavy armoured' by default) but there is no additional cost for a great weapon...

...this seems strange to me, why have shields an option at +1 but great weapons included by default? I know in other armies like High Elves and Wood Elves there are elite warriors who can choose different fighting style options each turn, presumably now Black Orcs have been upgraded to be similar.

I'm in a twist about this because I like my lads to be (what you see is what you get) but most of my models have two choppas. Would people in tournies be bothered if I said ("well actually they are all carrying great weapons and shields too, just in case they need them!") I guess that would be armed to da teef.

Also, I think in the old rules, shield and handweapon gave a 5+ armour save, does that still apply or is the shield option here, just for 6+ armour save?

two choppas I guess means two attacks per model,

What do great weapons do in the new rules?

...yep, I dont have the ne rule book yet (only just got the O&G army book)


Cheers

Burp!

Great weapons are the same except they only grant +1 strength for mounted characters, not +2.

Black orcs come with heavy armour, so if you take a shield and choose to fight with a choppa and shield, you get a 3+ armour save in combat (5+ for heavy armour plus 1 for shield plus 1 for using a hand weapon and a shield, because you can now do this with choppas) and still get the extra strength in the first round. And of course the ladz are less susceptible to missile fire if you give them shields. That's the deal with Armed to da Teef.

As long as you point out that the unit is armed with shields it should be fine. Most people should know about the armed to the teeth rule by now, those who does not. Well, I guess they are in for a nasty suprise :P.

Thanks guys,

The metal Black Orcs that I have are so chunky and built up that it would be quite a task to sculpt shields onto them and line them up on a movement tray... I'll just pay the shields' points cost and not worry about 'wysiwyg'.

Cheers

Burp