8th Ed. How do you deal with the spell: foot of gork?

[FRYtheEGGofQUANGO]

I've recently began playing WHF again, and boy has the game improved! I have played several games with my friend (O&G player) and I usually tear him to pieces every game. But I consider myself a mediocre player.

I played against my friend today, who decided to field a level 4 orc shaman for a change. He proceeded to cast the foot of gork every turn (max dicing it every turn) and the result was rather sad for me; 14 saurus or temple guard getting squashed each time, and gork deciding my army is a trampoline... Infact, the game was essentially over by turn 3 because he managed a couple of 4+ rolls to stomp again. My main infantry blocks were left so thin, and some supporting units were badly damaged. What was left of my army put up a hell of a fight, but without saurus/temple guard blocks, it is an uphill struggle to say the least.

I was wondering how you fellow lizard players deal with this spell (especially if it is spammed)? It seems awefully strong and effective against lizardmen saurus/TG blocks. Honestly, this seems even better than the purple sun or pit of shades for its long range and damage output.

 

[Scalenex]

Welcome to the forums!

Honestly, this seems even better than the purple sun or pit of shades for its long range and damage output.

I respectfully disagree with the above comment, but rather than sell you on how danger, at least the Purple Sun half though I probably agree with you that it beats Pit of Shades.

In my experience Foot of Gork has two modes: pointless and devastating (pretty much like most of the entire Orc and Goblin army actually). I haven't got to place the Foot of Gork on a misfire more than once but it's fairly common for me to see it deviate and have Gork stomp on nothing. I often see Orc Shamans self destruct when casting Irresistible Force.

There is a proactive counter you can use. A Skink Priest carrying the Scroll of Shielding. It bestows a 4+ Ward Save on the target of any spell, even a spell that was cast with Irresistible Force. Even if he gets multiple stomps, the ward save will apply every time, at least for that one casting of the spell.

Sadly it can backfire, if he rolls the chart result that lets you place the foot template the Orcs would get the 4+ Ward save since the Scroll applies to all targets of the spell. Still, the Scroll of Shielding is nice and cheap. It's my preferred tool against all the nuke spells that lack the phrase "with no saves of any kind" (ie Purple Sun).

 

[FRYtheEGGofQUANGO]

Thanks Scalenex, this was exactly the advice I was hoping for I hadn't paid enough attention to the wording of this item- this item is so cheap, too!

 

[Screamer]

magic resistance is pretty good on your TG.

 

[blackrainbow]

Also consider that if your friend is putting all his, ahem, feet in one basket, and not casting any other spells, a (standard issue for most players) dispel scroll will easily buy you a solid turn. This also gives the ol' orc shaman another chance to burst his own head. I really like the above "devastating and pointless" bit about OnG. That being said, often they are their own worst enemy with so much of their random charts, movements, damage, etc. Was your friend getting really lucky with all the focused casting of Foot?

As always, never take one game or one string of good/bad luck in dice rolls, as the absolute about a unit, spell, or situation. You don't need to math-hammer anything, just play more and learn on your own. Over a few games you should see that a single shaman max-dice casting Foot of Mork (or is it Gork, I forget) is not the stratagem all the time.

Also, if you have them, get some flyers in there to tie the shaman up or eat it.

Best of luck, Waaa.., er, hiss? What do lizards do for a battle cry? Stoney silence as they do their purposful bidding? I started with OnG, waaagh is ingrained in me to answer almost anything.