Ork Unit Analysis: Mad Dok Grotsnik

Mad Dok Grotsnik

Mad Dok Grotsnik will be the first unique character we analyze here and he is by far the best,I would dare say he is better than even Ghazghkull Thraka. Fluffwise, Grotsnik is a painboy who has gone insane with rage and bloodlust. Personal painboy to Thraka himself, Grotsnik is more of a warrior than a painboy, always at the head of the pack, desperate to sink his needles and blades into the enemies flesh. 

Grotsnik comes in at a grand total of 160 points, and is worth every last point. Rocking a Nob's statline with toughness 5, 4 attacks and 3 wounds, Grotsnik is one of the toughest Orks out there. For his wargear he hosts a slugga and powerclaw, a cybork body (6+ FnP) and the regular painboy tools. He has furious charge and One Scalpel Short of a Medpack special rules, the latter giving him and his unit fearless and rampage, but restricting him to being stuck with that unit for the rest of the game.

His warlord trait is 'Brutal But Kunnin', which gives him a reroll on a single failed to hit or to wound roll every turn.

While a very brutal character on his own, his major role is obviously within a unit, not only does he give it fearless and rampage, but he also gives out a 5+ FnP. Obviously you will put Grotsnik in a melee unit such as nobz, or even boys. To give you some insight, is you were to join Grotsnik to a unit of 10 nobz all with slugga/choppas, that unit would have base 5 attacks, maximum of 8 attacks per model on the charge, thats upwards of 80 attacks for one unit, not including Grotsnik, who can also have up to 8 attacks. Especially if you intend on having a death star unit, Grotsnik is a must. 

One might also consider putting Grotsnik with a unit of meganobz, I say this because meganobz lack the invuln save that their terminator cousins so cherish. Having a 5+ FnP makes a unit so much more survivable, giving the model a 1 in 3 chance of surviving after failing its 2+ armor save. 

The fearless is something the Orks so desperately need, he is the only character in the entire book to give out fearless, even Ghazghkull Thraka likes to run away! The only other model to give out fearless is the 6" bubble on the Stompa, which is impractical for smaller games. This rule alone makes Grotsnik perhaps the best character in the entire codex.

The only perceivable downfall with the mad dok is that he loses the independent character special rule when he joins a unit, the only way for him to leave is if the entire unit is destroyed. This hugely restricts the versatility otherwise offered by Grotsnik. It would be quite common for your enemy to target Grotsniks unit first, as it is such a major threat. This could leave you at a huge disadvantage if you get unlucky and Grotsnik is left with just one other model, which your opponent would then potentially ignore.

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives and I would recommend Grotsnik to anybody who wants a relatively large Ork army. 

-Christian (The maddest mad dok that ever went mad)