Deck Tech: Dakka Goffs

I started collecting Orks when I bought a couple 40K CCG decks off eBay several years ago. I originally built the deck as a generic Orks list, but I switched over to the Ghazghkull’s Waaagh! fleet card a few months ago and haven’t looked back.

The Ghazghkull’s Waaagh! fleet card offers card advantage unlike any other fleet card. Just by throwing your troops into battle, you’re able to fuel your command hand for further battlefield advantages. Unlike Magic, however, having extra cards in your hand doesn’t present nearly as much of an advantage in the 40K CCG. But, it definitely helps.

The tradeoff for this fleet ability is a smaller card pool from which to build your deck. You could always treat the fleet ability as a niche bonus and build a regular Orks deck, but at that point you’re weighing whether or not that decision is worth giving up the considerable “first BA” advantage offered by the generic Orks fleet card.

I say, if you’re going to go with da Goffs, you’d better go all the way!

Here’s my current Goffs decklist:

I built my Ghazghkull’s Waaagh! deck as an infantry-based shooting deck, as the core units happen to be Goffs:

I’ve written a lot about Kannon Krooza (and how it’s basically the best card in the deck) but the deck’s other firepower enablers are no slouches either. Ammo Grotz grants a flat +1 firepower to all your units, with potentially more, and Looted Demolisha can grant at least 2-3 extra firepower on demand without needing a test (at the risk of blowing up your own unit). It’s a good thing Orks have so many units due to their high First Wave!

This theme appears to be the crux of the deck: it’s a machine that performs better than the sum of its parts. Yes, we’re playing cards like Dakka Boyz and Wazza Boyz…but a number of mediocre shooting units, backed by efficient firepower support and extra BA cards, can run rampant over a sector. 

Extra BAs are the glue that holds the deck together. Unlike other races, I believe Orks depend mightily on extra BAs to mitigate losses and reduce their opponents’ options. To dig into this a little further, let’s look at how other races protect their flag count at a sector:

• High armor and armor boosting (Space Marines)
• High speed and armor (Eldar)
• Infiltrating additional units (Chaos, Imperial Guard)

We have a handful of higher speed units to block shooting attacks (and some infantry/vehicle hybrid units to take advantage of firepower boosts), as well as 4 Gretchin Mobs to jump in the way, but by and large the deck is built on redundancy, sheer numbers, and extra BAs to pre-emptively kill your opponent’s biggest threats. Plus, due to the fleet ability, the more units that die on your side, the more cards you’ll have to boost firepower or dice rolls (or Kannon Krooza and Ghazghkull’s Command Gargant).

Speaking of protecting units, Rokk Thumpa from Malogrim Hive is especially adept at doing so:

Aside from being a Goff unit with hefty armor and assault as well as a useful command line, Rokk Thumpa takes the heat off your other units when it’s charging. Shooting down the Thumpa will require at least 4 firepower, and assaulting it requires 2 precious BAs. Rokk Thumpa is a solid unit that can save plenty of flags while dishing out some damage on its own.

The double-edged sword of extra BAs is that if your opponent has prepared their deck accordingly, you could be walking into some painful traps. Planetary Defense Cannon is the bane of this deck’s existence, and 2 of the 5 Verdicon sectors are explicitly hostile to your deck. I believe this is the kind of risk you have to take when you play Orks.

The other downside of this deck is that it rolls relatively low. Orks have plenty of ways to modify die rolls when needed, but when my regular opponent plays Chaos, it’s best not to rely on them to execute the deck’s strategy. That being said, Bunker Complex, as well as tactic-denying cards like Command Bunker, are a massive pain for this deck.

While I’m pretty happy with the core strategy of the deck, I’m still tweaking numbers and considering new cards to test. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!