500 army choice: Orcs vs. Gladiators

[Ivellius]

Just to follow up on my earlier commentary, yeah, Grimnak should get nowhere near Crixus and focus on chomping the Caps. Considering the Gruts (and Tornak) will have disengage, you should be able to control the battle line however you want.

For an army build involving the Blades, let's see what you could do.

Grimnak - 120
Tornak - 220
Blade Gruts x7 - 500

Er...that seems a little excessive for hexes, but I'm pretty sure the Caps will whiff enough that the Blades would win. Let's bring the hexes back in line with a standard point total.

Grimnak - 120
Tornak - 220
Blade Gruts x4 - 380
Ornak - 480
Marcu (well, okay, this is no longer entirely an Orc army) - 500

Hmm...well, Ornak can activate Marcu and Grimnak on the first turn, but using markers on the Blades will probably be better. You still have Grimnak to chomp Caps, Tornak to make quick strikes, and you can bring Ornak up to give the Blades some extra punch to get through that 4 defense. Maybe you could drop Tornak for Nerak and 3 more Blades (sit one), which would boost those Blades up to 4 defense if you can keep Grimnak alive and his warriors near him. This one should be closer for the Caps, but I still doubt they have quite enough figures to get it done. You could also swap out Ornak and Marcu for Krug, who I'd send after Spartacus, but Order Marker management would be problematic.

In conclusion, I don't think the Blades are nearly as favorable as Heavies if you keep it to a 24-hex limit, but I'd still give them a pretty good chance.

Hmm. I'm thinking Capuans should be rated around a B in the Power Rankings.

[Fallen Templar]

Orc's have ranged support and bonded support from beast heavy hitters such as Krug and Mimring. The Steamroller may be an impressive combo but without decent ranged support, the army seems to collapse on medium sized maps or any maps without a sizable amounts of LOS blockers

[Dragoloth]

Ornak
Grimnak
Tornak
Heavy grutsX2
Blade gruts
= 500 points

The key here is Ornak. With order marker 1 on him grimnak and tornak will get 3 activations per round along with 2 common squads acting each round as well.

[GreenLanturn]

I'm going to say Arrow Gruts beat the Gladiators pretty easy. Bonding with Swogs (Speed), Mimring (Range), and Krug (Power) is way to much for these Humans to handle. I've had some first hand experience losing to Arrow Gruts with the Steamroller.

Mimring and Krug are the deciding forces here, sure the Arrow Gruts take out a few, but Mimring throws 4 special attack dice (in a line!) (that is equal to the Gladiator's defense) and Krug is the number one 1v1 hero killer in the game (according to the match up calculator).

Arrow Gruts x3
Swog Rider x3
Mimring
Krug
465/19

And yes there is 35 points to spare for a Swog Rider, or Isamu and Marcu (but you do not need them).

[Tiny Timmy]

Heavy Gruts are the way to go unless you have some fancy with Mimring or Krug...

Okay,
Grimnak 120
Tornak 220
4x Heavies 500

I would only use this if you need to get a first strike, like a tourney were you know that zelrig or someone of his stature is going to be in everyone's army... The reason why I do not like this army is because you have two champions who deserve the bonding, though Grimnak deserves it more...

Ornak
Grimnak
Tornak
4x Blades

Ornak is a waste. Using order maker one on Chompy and Tornak is not a good idea when you can move one, and 4 blades. However i do not recommend this army do to the fact ornak sucks with blades and blades are too weak for 500 point army...

My personaly favorite
Grimnak 120
Nerak 170
4x Heavies 450
Marro Warriors 500

Now, this army has proven to be effective for me. Grimnak is there for the offense, but against the girly range units people like taking, slow and steady. Move your whole army up, of course taking some turns not moving the champions may happen but, they'll be a few gruts with 5 defence, and mostly everyone with 4 and up... Then when you need it too, you move in and start chomping. however you need to keep chompy surrounded by orcs or things like Cyprien, Minions, Sentinals, and the likes will surround the T rex and kill him....

Or besides Nerak and MW, Realin and Marcu may work as it did come in 3rd place in Main event... Only problem with this part is Braxas...

[Knight of Feylund]

The orc army offers more versatility and more options which can be a problem but in this case it's good.