Ork Unit Analysis: Gretchin

Gretchin

The Gretchin are the second troop choice in the Ork codex, and are by far the weaker of the two. Rocking perhaps the worst statline in the game, the Gretchin are 9 times out of 10, useless. Gretchin are WS2, BS3, S2, T2, W1, I2, A1, Ld5, Sv- and cost 35 points for a unit of ten Gretchin and a Runtherd, who statwise is identical to an Ork Boy. Lets start with an analysis of the Runtherd!

The Runtherd is essentially the leader of the unit, an Ork Boy tasked with forcing swarms of Grots to run screaming into their enemies midst, killing any who disobey. A runtherd has identical rules to an Ork Boy, 'Ere We Go and Furious charge. 'Ere we go is largely wasted on the Runtherd as the rule only has an effect on units composed entirely of models with the rule, Gretchin do not have 'Ere We Go so the rule will never come into play. (Unless the Runtherd is the only model left in the unit) 

The Runtherd comes base with a Slugga, Stikkbombs and a Grabba Stikk, which is close combat weapon which reduces the enemies attacks by 1 if they are in a challenge, not super useful given that a Gretchin unit would be decimated by nearly anything in the event of a melee. For 5 points, the Runtherd may take a Grot Prod, which is a close combat weapon which allows the Runtherd to discard all of its attacks for a single Strength x2 attack. In the Runtherds case, this would make it a S7 Ap - melee attack due to the furious charge special rule. I would personally take the Grabba Stikk over the Grot Prod as S7 will not be instant killing the majority of the time, so it would often be a wasted 5 points. 

For an additional 5 points, the Runtherd may take a Squig Hound, which, if the unit fails a morale check, does D6 Strength 3 Ap- hits to the unit and forces it to reroll the morale check, this can only be done once, the hound cannot do this twice per phase. This is, I think, essential to the unit as this unit lacks the Mob Rule, and due to its low leadership, will flee a lot of the time. Bringing this relatively cheap upgrade doubles the chances the unit has of staying put, always nice for Orks! Not only thia, but the model comes with a squig hound, so for WYSIWYG sake, bring a squig hound!

The Gretchin themselves are very weak, however, they are very cheap! A gretchin costs 3 points per model and can have a max of 30 Gretchin per unit, this makes the unit only 95 points without further upgrades, pretty good for a 30 wound meatshield! The Gretchin themselves come with no special rules, and only a Grot Blasta  for wargear. A Grot Blasta is a 12" S3 Ap- Assault 1 gun, so it is nothing impressive, though in a unit of 30 at BS3, it has the potential to cause some harm to weaker enemies. For every 10 Gretchin you can take an additional Runtherd, so that is up to 3 per unit for 10 points per model, not necessarily worth it, though good if you like the extra wounds. Rules-wise there isn't much else to say as these guys are a pretty basic unit.

I would personally never put these guys in a transport, the only reason people would bring them is because they are cheap troops choices, so putting them in a transport is going to slowly build your points up and up until they are not so cheap anymore! While many Ork Warbosses will never see a unit of Gretchin on their table, those of us who just love Combined Arms Detachments might consider bringing this unit to stay battle forged because they are so cheap. 

Gretchin make good objective holders, their height means it is far easier to hide behind cover, and your enemy will typically not perceive a unit of Gretchin as a huge threat, meaning they can often go unharmed for entire battles. This means Gretchin can really win you games when come the time to calculate Victory Points, you remind your enemy that you have had a unit of gretchin sitting on an objective the entire game, bumping the game in your favor.   

I couldn't justify bringing Gretchin other than their tiny points cost and their objective secured, they are extremely weak in game and nearly everything is wounding them on a 2+, and without armor means they will die quickly if your enemy chooses to target them. This means always keep your Gretchin in cover if possible, and if you really want to keep them alive, remember they are tiny so they can hide behind units of Boyz, giving them a 5+ cover save.

Cheers,

Christian