Ork Unit Analysis: Boss Zagstruk

Boss Zagstruk

Boss Zagtruk, commonly known as simply "Da Boss" is the leader of the stormboyz and is described as "One of the most shockingly violent Orks in the Galaxy". He is basically the commissar of the Orks, one of the very few leaders who is a disciplinarian. He does not tolerate stupidity and incompetence, and it is not uncommon to see him killing one of the grots under his command for the slightest step out of line (or just because he wanted to) and such is feared by many Orks, not to mention their enemies. 

Coming in at 65 points, Zagstruk looks good on paper, though he fails in practice. His staline is that of a nobz with strength 5, 4 attacks and Ld 8. He has no special rules of note but his warlord trait allows all Ork units within 12" of him reroll morale and pinning tests, incredibly useful for Orks. 

His wargear is pretty standard stuff; slugga, choppa, 'Eavy armour, cybork body and a rokkit pack. The cybork body is a nice addition, giving Zagstruk a 6+ FnP. The Rokkit Pack is more of a hindrance than a help as it turns him into a Jump Infantry unit type, meaning the only unit he can join is Stormboyz, I will explain later why this is such a bad thing. Before I get to that, an interesting piece of wargear Zagstruk gets is his legs, Da Vulcha's Klaws. He got this set of augments after being torn in half by a dreadnought. These give him a strength 8 ap 2 Hammer of Wrath which can be used to surgically remove certain models from units. 

The only way you can possibly use Zagstruk is with a unit of stormboyz, this sucks as stormboyz aren't all that impressive... Their upgradeable 6+ armor makes them super squishy especially as it is hard to get them in a transport. (unless you use open topped battlewagons) While Zagstruk and his boyz can make good use of cover, any weapons that ignore cover (cough, Tau, cough) will decimate these units and so unless Zagstruk is lucky, chances are he will be dead before reaching combat. 

Another potential tactic is to deep strike Zagstruk and his unit, though this is not really advisable as it means you cannot charge and you are in close proximity of their guns, the 2D6 run can alleviate this as you can spread out far easier than a D6 run. Especially in a mixed list, I would never deep strike a stormboyz unit, though this tactic can be considered if you run a stormboyz based list.   

Unfortunately Zagstruk is probably the least versatile of the entire Ork HQ because of his unit type. In a stormboyz based list, he would be a fine addition, and these lists are actually quite practicable as they can run 2D6 and if a Waagh! is called they can still charge.

For his unit type alone, I would not recommend anyone take Zagstruk, I have brought him on a few occasions to fill up points etc and he has let me down every single time.

- Christian (The bossiest boss that ever was boss)

Ork Unit Analysis: Kaptin Badrukk

Kaptin Badrukk

Next up is the Freeboota King, Kaptin Badrukk. Before we go any further, can I just give a massive kudos to Games Workshop for this absolutely fantastic model, I wouldn't be alone in saying this is the best infantry model in the Ork range, and that's saying something, Ork models are awesome!

Badrukk is the leader of the Freeboota clan, which are essentially space pirate orks, awesome eh? Badrukk is obsessed with being the richest Ork there ever was and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Badrukk is described as a tactical genius (by Ork standards) and thusly is highly sought after by Ork commanders as a mercenary, though he is by no means cheap!

Coming in at 110 points, Badrukk is quite frankly a letdown rules-wise, I would describe him as average at best. His statline is that of a Nob's with an extra attack and WS5. An interesting thing to take note of is his armor, he is the only model in the Ork codex to have a 3+ armor save, this comes from his armor which is a set of power armor with a built in shield generator, giving him a 5++ invulnerable save, something we all know Orks lack.

Badrukk has no notable special rules, though his warlord trait allows him to reroll a single failed saving throw each turn. For wargear he has a slugga and choppa, stikkbombs, a bosspole and a gitfinda. This is pretty ordinary stuff, but the gitfinda does give him BS3 if he stays stationary, which is always nice for a shooty character.

Other than his armor, Badrukk also wields a heavily modified Ogryn gun, which fires plasma canisters instead of the regular high caliber bullets. The gun is 24", S7, Ap2, Assault 3, Gets Hot. While having potential BS3, I still think this gun is less than average, if it were S8 it would be completely worth it, though the inability to instakill most things and its short range are real letdowns. Badrukk can also bring up to 3 ammo runts for 3 points each which allow him to re-roll a single failed to hit, though they are one use only.

If I were to take Badrukk (Which I wouldn't) I would most likely stick him in either a Trukk or Battlewagon with a unit of Flash Gitz, this gives him the ability to get to where he is needed, though is does render the gitfinda useless, as he will most likely always be on the move. A unit of flash gitz and Badrukk inside of a Battlewagon could be potentially very effective, lots of potential ap 1, 2 or 3 all at assault 3 and strength 5, with Badrukk at strength 7. A maxed out unit of flashgitz with badrukk are putting out 33 shots a turn, most of those at Strength 5 ap D6, which could potentially be very scary, or scarily disappointing. Such a unit would have the ability to gun down an entire squad of terminators, though there is the potential to roll poorly and not kill a single one with Ap3 or worse.

All in all I would not recommend bringing Badrukk in any Ork army unless for fluff purposes. He is relatively expensive for what he does, which could be potentially killing himself with his own weapon. For the 110 points you could take nearly 2 more squads of boyz, or a Deff dread or some Killa Kanz, all far more useful.

-Christian (The kingliest king that ever was king)

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)

Abaddon the Despoiler

One thing I wanted to get out of my system, something that infuriates me in this hobby, is people that believe Abaddon is a total failure, a shadow of Horus and not worthy of the title Despoiler of Worlds.

But this is completely wrong, Horus was the one who messed up, it was Horus who led the Chaos Legions to decimation and it was Horus that failed in his task. Abaddon saw the tactical flaws in Horus' plan. Wait, what plan? The entire idea of the heresy was to spear tip straight into Terra as fast as the warp could take them. This obviously led to the failure on Terra and the splitting up of Chaos' somewhat coherent fighting force. Lets look at the Battle of Terra hypothetically. If Horus had won, he would have been emperor for approximately 22 seconds.

 The Ultramarines, the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves were all en route to Terra and would have arrived soon after Horus was crowned Emperor. The traitor legions that were on Terra would have been at half or less than half strength, and would have been facing the largest legion in the galaxy, the greenest army in the galaxy and the legion who were designed to hunt and kill other space marines, all 3 of these legions were at relatively good strength and would have doubtlessly smashed Horus and the remaining traitors.

"Horus was weak, Horus was a fool. He had the galaxy in the palm of his hand, and let it slip away."

-Abaddon the Despoiler, Archfiend of Chaos

In this hypothetical, where we assume The Emperor could be killed, and Horus succeeded, then it would have been highly likely that Horus would be very badly wounded after the fight, perhaps even unable to lead. This would leave; Deamon Angron, not a very good choice as a leader, Possessed/Deamon Fulgrim, too up himself to lead, Transfigured Lorgar, who nobody liked, and lastly Pertuarbo, who would likely have become Leader at that point as he was one of the last sane (relatively) ones on Terra. Put the tactical might of Pertuarbo up against that of Roboute Gulliman and see who the victor would be.

Abaddon saw the battle of Terra for what it was, a mistake. That is why he had the body of Horus destroyed when Fabius Bile tried reincarnating him, to save the forces of Chaos from another colossal screw up. Abaddon realized that this "Drop everything and attack Terra" idea would never have worked, thus why he is on his 13th black crusade. The first 12 crusades were in fact not failures, just steps of preparation leading up to the final crusade against Terra, if Abaddon wanted to, he could attack Terra whenever he pleases, though he realizes that in the long run, it would not achieve anything, he would be on Terra for Days at max before the rest of the Imperium arrived and banished him back to the Eye of Terror.

Now lets look at Abaddons characteristics, much unlike other Chaos leaders such as Kharn, Typhus, Lucius and Ahriman, Abaddon is the only one who has mental fortitude. I would not be surprised if he was offered deamonhood on deamon prince status on a daily basis, each God trying to get Abaddon under his command. Though Abaddon, unlike the others, resists this and stays true to himself, true to his purpose. It might be just me, but I don't see Abaddon as the one to pray to the God's at every chance he gets, rather, he still acknowledges his humanity and his freedom of choice, something stolen from many other followers of Chaos.

In conclusion I think people should stop and see Abaddon for who he really is, the first Chaos warlord with more than 2 brain cells.

Ork Unit Analysis: Painboy

The Painboy

The final generic HQ we will be analyzing is the Painboy, one of the blandest, yet most essential of the HQ choices. The painboy is the apothecary of your army, though he is cheaper, and is an independent character. This is important as it allows him to join any unit he wishes, giving the potential for some very nice builds.

To start off with, he has the stat line of a nob, with a un-upgradeable 6+ armor save. He costs 50 points base and comes with an 'Urty Syringe and a set of Dok's tools. An 'Urty syringe is a melee weapon which is Poisoned 4+, Ap -, making it the only poisoned weapon in the ork's arsenal. This is obviously useful at wounding things with high toughness, not that this matters though as your army should contain models which are S10 or S9. The Dok's tools confer FnP to the unit the painboy is with. The painboy is very limited with options, it can take from the Orky Know Wots list, though nothing here is of interest, and from the Runts and Squigs list. The only item of note here is the grot orderly, which, for 5 points allows the painboy to re-roll a single failed Feel No Pain roll, this is useful, though not to be relied upon. I would not recommend taking grot orderlies, however, keep your painboyz base so you can bring more of them.

Painboyz are useful in any list except for a Mek based list. The best list to take painboyz in is Green tide lists, they are a relatively cheap means to give your unit of boyz extra survivability. In an unbound list, I would recommend putting a painboy with every squad, this will make your Ork army far harder to kill, giving them extra survivability against small arms fire.

Painboyz are also very useful in units like meganobz, meganobz are slow and lack an invuln save like their terminator counterparts so a feel no pain save is the next best thing. Any unit, however, can benefit from a painboy unless they have s special unit type, such as jump infantry or infiltrators.

There is not much more to be said about the painboy, they lack options but are crucial to any good Ork army, Feel no Pain saves cannot be underestimated, they really can be game changers, especially for orks. Every Ork army should try and bring these, though I believe a Big Mek takes preference as they have far more versatility than a painboy could ever hope to have.

Cheers,

Christian (The Painiest Painboy that ever caused Pain)

Ork Unit Analysis: Mek's and Big Mek's

Mek's and Big Mek's

 

The next HQ we will take a look at is the Mechanics of the Ork society, the Mek's and Big Mek's. Let's start with the regular Mek's!

Mek's

Mek's are interesting little models and you would be a fool not to take at least one, before anything else, these Mek's work similar to techmarine's, you can bring one for every other HQ choice in your army, so they do not take up a force org slot. However, if you do this, they must start the game in a infantry or artillery unit and are not independent characters. 

 

Mek's rock the same stat line as a boy, and are base 15 points, making them, as far as I know, the cheapest HQ in the game. They come base with the same weapons as an ork boy but with Mek tools, these allow them to repair a vehicle on a 5+. They can be upgraded to have a S7 chainfist for 30 points. This upgrade, in my opinion, is not worth the points cost, might as well just bring more mek's! The mek may be accompanied by a grot oiler, which lets it re-roll a single failed repair test. For 5 points, there is no reason not to take one of these. And finally, the mek can take anything from the mek's weapons list, the only item of significance in here is the kustom mega blasta, which is a 5 point, 24", S8, Ap2, Get's hot slugga. 

 

A mek is a handy addition to any army, for 15 points, 20 max, he can get you out of some potential sticky situations, I can tell you from experience, there is NOTHING more annoying than your trukk getting immobilized and having to watch your boyz foot slog it across the board getting shredded by any form of ranged weapon. Mek's can repair immobilized results, making them worth their weight in gold to any user of Trukks or Battlewagons.  

Big Mek's

Big Mek's are just that, Mek's but bigger. A Big Mek is a nob where a mek is a boy, and he rocks the appropriate stat line. S4, T4, W2, A3, Ld8 (Better than nobz). A Big Mek also has far more options than a mek, and is an independent character, meaning he does not have to join units but can camp in a vehicle, repairing it as it goes. A big mek is 25 points base, and is equipped identically to the regular mek's though has lots of room for upgrades.

 

Firstly, a big mek has the options to increase its armor save to a 4+ or a 2+, if equipped with mega armor, the big mek can take a tellyporta blasta or a kustom force field. A tellyporta blasta is a teleporting gun which is 12" range, S8, Ap2, 6's causes ID or auto pen. Good, but the short range and low BS makes it impracticable, especially as it costs 25 points, I would rarely, if ever, bring it to a game. A far more expensive upgrade, but worth every point, is the Kustom Force Field, one of the most useful items in any ork army, it gives any model within 6" a 5+ invulnerable. This is one of the only invuln saves the Orks can get, and it is essential in any unit you want to survive, such as Meganobz with a Warboss or a unit of Nobz. However, keep in mind Mega Armor confers slow and purposeful to the unit, meaning it cannot run, so the KFF should go with meganobz or around vehicles, conferring the 5++ save.

A kustom force field can also be taken by a Big Mek wearing 'eavy armor, however, this replaces his slugga, meaning he has no shooting attacks. If the Big Mek does not bring this, he can bring a Shokk Attack Gun, which is a new weapon as of this codex and has a chart for if any doubles are rolled during rolling for the 2D6 strength. This result can go very well or very poorly for the Big Mek, ranging from his blast gaining the vortex special rule, to his gun overheating and him being removed as a casualty. This rule alone makes the Shokk Attack Gun unreliable to take, and could potentially be a waste of 85 points.

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun

Apart from this, the Big Mek can bring a S9 Chainfist, probably worth it if you plan on getting your Big Mek into close quarters, most likely a bad idea, but sometimes inevitable. The big Mek can take from any of the wargear lists, though the only items worth taking are "Da Fizer Uppers", which allow the big mek to make repairs on a 3+ or the cybork body, which gives him a 6+ FnP. If you are bringing a Kult of Speed army, consider putting a Big Mek on a bike with a Kustom Force Field, further buffing your warbiker mob. 

Bringing at least 1 kind of Mek is essential no matter what type of Ork army you play, they are useful around the board and only a foolish warboss leaves for battle without one! The versatility of the Big Mek's gives you an edge in battle, you can use them as close combat monsters, ranged warfare supremacists, cheap fillers that sit in your important vehicles repairing them or support characters that follow around important units, giving them a much needed invuln save.

Cheers,

Christian (The mekkiest mek that ever did mek)

Ork Unit Analysis: Weirdboy

The Weirdboy

Coming up next is the next HQ in the book, the Weirdboy. Weirdboyz are the only psychic units us Orks get, and the only models in the game that access to the "Power of the Waaagh!" discipline. To be honest, these models aren't worth the HQ slot they fill up and I would most likely never bring one to a game, no matter what the points limit was.

A 45 point model, this guy rocks WS4, BS4, T4, S4, W2, I3, A3, Ld7, 6+ , a pretty average statline for a pretty average model.

He comes with psychic mastery level 1, though, for a heft price of 25 points, can become level 2. Other than that, this model can take no other upgrades, meaning that your 6+ save is not getting any better. He has a special rule which gives him +1 warp charge if an ork unit counting more than 10 models is within 12" of him. If he does not pass a psychic test however, he takes a single S2 hit with no saves allowed, this is wounding on 6's, so it's nothing to worry about.

He comes with a weapon called a "Weirdboy Staff", which is S+2 Ap4 Force weapon, the ap4 means you wont be hurting many things with multiple wounds anyway, rending the force rule near pointless.

The only redeeming factor for this model is his ability to choose powers from the Powers of the Waagh discipline, as well as either demonology disciplines.The Ork powers are as follows!

• Primaris Power - Frazzle (Warp Charge 1): Witchfire, 24", S6, Ap3, Blast
• 1. - 'Eadbanger (Warp Charge 1): Focused witchfire, take a toughness test or lose a wound, no cover or armor saves
• 2. - Warpath (Warp Charge 1): Blessing, Psykers unit gains +1 Attack
• 3. - Da Jump(Warp Charge 1): Blessing , Psyker and unit arrive via deep strike anywhere on board, if doubles are rolled for scatter, unit fires snap shots.
• 4. - Killbolt (Warp Charge 2): Beam, 18", S10, Ap2, Assault 1
• 5. - Power Vomit (Warp Charge 2): Witchfire, Template, S7, Ap2, Assault 1
• 6. - Da Krunch (Warp Charge 2): Witchfire, 24", S2D6, Ap4, Assault 1, Large Blast, Barrage, If an 11 or 12 is rolled, resolve more attacks into a 10 or less is rolled.

 Some of these psychic powers are really outstanding, especially Warpath, +1 attack for Orks means so much.However, there is only a 1/3 chance you will get that power at Mastery Level 2 so it cannot be relied upon. The powers you get at the start of the game really determine whether or not this model was a waste of points.

The best unit to put this model with is one you will dedicate to Close Combat, I would suggest either Boyz or Nobz. On the off chance you get Warpath, this gives Nobz the potential to have 4 attacks base, 5 attacks on the charge and 6 if dual wielding, turning them into a totally brutal unit. However, putting the weirdboy in a trukk or battlewagon with a squad of boyz will allow him to make use of his highly destructive psychic powers, the trukk getting him into the optimal position to use his powers.

In conclusion the weirdboy is perhaps the least powerful HQ choice for any ork army, especially that he does not have access to powers such as divination, which would be a massive help to any Ork commander. In nearly all scenarios, a mek or a painboy would be of far greater use than a weirdboy ever could be.

Cheers,
Christian (The Weirdest Weirdboy to ever use power vomit)