Detachment Focus: Taktikal Brigade

Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.

Orks have had a roller coaster of a time in 10th edition, going from a weaker index release into a strong codex release followed by some immediate nerfs to put the faction back into the dumpster. Recently they have been taking a break from the top of the meta, but I have great news: It has been a very Merry Grotmas as the Orks are coming into this reveal freshly buffed by both the dataslate and a very good, brand new datasheet in the Breaka Boyz. We haven’t had time to see how this has affected the meta as a whole but things are sure looking up for the boyz in Green, and today we’re introduced to what looks like a sweet new Detachment. If you missed Blood Axes, then today is your day.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for review purposes.

Detachment Overview

The Taktikal Brigade has arrived and in proud Ork tradition, these rules have been Looted  from some stinkin’ humies. Orks now have Orders Taktiks they can issue to their units in the Command Phase, making those units better at doing various things. Taktiks can be issued by each Mek, Warboss, and Boss Snikrot in your army, and with a little risk they can issue two to a unit. The result is a very Blood Axe-themed army with a host of new options that brings an old index favorite back to the Orks’ growing arsenal. 

Da Video Version

If you’d rather watch this all than read, you can find the video version of our review here:

Detachment Rule: LISSEN ‘ERE

Once per battle round, in your Command phase or after being set up on the battlefield in your Movement phase, each BOSS SNIKROT, MEK, and WARBOSS model in your army can issue Taktiks abilities.

To do so, select one or two of the Taktiks abilities below and select one friendly ORKS unit within 6” of that model to issue them to. If you selected two Taktiks, the model must take a leadership test: if failed, the selected unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Until the start of your next Command phase, the selected unit is affected by the selected Taktiks. A unit cannot have Taktiks issue to it in this way more than once per battle round.

Taktiks abilities cannot be issued to Battle-shocked units, and if a unit affected by Taktiks becomes Battle-shocked, all Taktiks cease to affect that unit while it is Battle-shocked. 

• Get Stuck In: You Can re-roll charge rolls made for this unit
• Get On Wiv It: Add 1 to the Strength characteristic of melee weapons equipped by models in this unit
• Sneaky Stalkin: Infantry and Mounted models (excluding MEGANOBZ) in this unit have the Stealth ability and each time a ranged attack targets this unit, those models have the Benefit of Cover against the attack.  
• Shoota Drills: Each time an Infantry or Mounted model in this unit makes a ranged attack, add 1 to the Hit Roll

Keywords

STORMBOYZ units in your army gain the BATTLELINE keyword.

Ben: Astra Militarum orders were already a very strong rule. Giving orks an entire detachment with their own version of that rule along with being able to double up on them at will with some slight risk feels like all upside. With the ability to buff shooting units at will, have more reliable charges, more survivability and +1 Strength hitting some key break points both in and outside the Waaagh! I am a fan of the Taktiks available.

Curie: This is quite the powerful buff to Orks – only Sneaky Stalkin’ and Shoota Drills are restricted to Infantry/Mounted units so you can do some very silly things with this with the whole codex.

TheChirurgeon: Stormboyz being Battleline is cute. It doesn’t improve their OC and you probably aren’t going to take 4+ units of them, but it does make them very useful in those Pariah Nexus missions where being Battleline matters – they particularly love the Prepared Positions, Raise Banners, Swift Action, and Rapid Escalation mission rules. The big tragedy is that Zagstruk passed into legends with the Codex.

Enhancements

All of these are decent enough to take, and at least two are must-takes for armies building around this Detachment. 

• SKWAD LEADER – WARBOSS model only. During the Declare Battle Formations step, the bearer can be attached to a KOMMANDOS unit. While leading a KOMMANDOS unit, it has the infiltrators and Stealth abilities.
  Curie: So there’s definitely a keyword oversight issue here – with the current description you can give this to any WARBOSS model, including the Beastboss on Squigosaur or the Deffkilla Wartrike. I’d expect that this gets errata’d fairly quickly.
• MEK KAPTIN– BIG MEK, BIG MEK IN MEGA ARMOUR or BIG MEK WITH SHOKK ATTACK GUN model only. During the Declare Battle Formations step, the bearer can be attached to a FLASH GITZ unit. Each time a model in the bearer’s unit makes a ranged attack, you can re-roll the Hit roll. Quite the powerful enhancement and makes FLASH GITZ, which were already being seen in several high-performing lists, even more of a potent shooting threat.
• MORKS KUNNIN’ – ORKS model only. After both players have deployed their armies, select up to three ORKS units from your army and redeploy them. When doing so, you can set those units up in Strategic Reserves, regardless of how many units are already in Strategic Reserves. It’s a redeploy, nothing to see here (though it does allow you to block other Infiltrators units with Kommandos and then redeploy back).
• GOB BOOMER –WARBOSS or MEK model only. Each time the bearer issues Taktiks, it can do so to a friendly ORKS INFANTRY or ORKS MOUNTED unit within 18”, instead of 6”. Aw, the Orks have figured out how to use the humies’ vox casters. Not sure if you’d build around this, but a very useful enhancement nonetheless.

Stratagems

The six Stratagems here all cost one CP, and many of them are written for – or at least intended for use by – Stormboyz, though you can get plenty of use out of them on other units.

• DAT’S OURS (STRATEGIC PLOY, 1 CP) – Used in the Command phase on an Orks unit that’s within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units. Until the start of your next Command phase, they get +1 OC. This is a nifty way to flip an objective when you have models on it, but they’re going up against something with higher OC. Great for your Stormboyz and attacking home objectives protected by weak, OC 2 Battleline units.
• FIGHT PROPPA (BATTLE TACTIC, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase on an Infantry or Mounted unit to give them either the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] or [LETHAL HITS] ability for the rest of the phase. Not a ton to say about this, it’s just a solid increase on your damage output. Good for helping units that may be low on their attacks count get over the hump against tougher units.
• TAKTIKAL RETREAT (STRATEGIC PLOY, 1 CP) – Used in your Movement phase after an Orks unit Falls Back. Until the end of the turn, that unit can shoot and charge. This is always good to have, and useful for disengaging from screens or tarpit combats and reaching the targets you want to be stuck in with.
• KRUNCHIN DESCENT (BATTLE TACTIC, 1 CP) – Used in your charge phase, after a Stormboyz unit ends a Charge. Pick an enemy unit within Engagement Range of them, then roll a D6 for every Stormboy that’s within Engagement Range of that enemy unit. For each 4+ they take a mortal wound (to a max of 6). The infantry version of Tank Shock is OK, and has situational uses – such as when you charge a vehicle or elite infantry unit and need to push some damage through.
• ON TO DA NEXT (STRATEGIC PLOY, 1 CP) – Used in your Opponent’s Movement phase, after they fall back with a unit. Pick an Orks unit that was within Engagement Range of that enemy unit at the start of the phase. They can make a Normal Move of up to 6”. Reactive moves are universally good. Though this one’s trigger is probably the most restrictive. It combines nicely with the other strats here and the army encourages always tagging your opponent. 
• DED SNEAKY (STRATEGIC PLOY, 1 CP) – Used at the end of your Opponent’s Fight phase on a Kommandos or Stormboyz unit that isn’t within Engagement Range of an enemy unit. Pick them up off the battlefield and put them into Strategic Reserves. Orks get a proppa’ uppy-downy of their own. This Stratagem is always useful, particularly when you can combine it with Deep Strike units.

This is a solid set of Stratagems, and there are a lot of good tools here with zero duds. Dat’s Ours is probably the most novel of the set, and just wild as a tool to flip objectives without warning – the ability to throw that out in your opponent’s Command phase can lead to some wild plays, especially if you’re combining this with the taktik for +1 OC.

Curie: Being able to take a Batteline unit off the table and then drop it on T5 makes secret missions with this army stupid easy.

Playing This Detachment

Ben:

If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck in this detachment, you build around the models giving Taktiks. Which fortunately, most ork lists already do! Warbosses have been a staple for a while and Meks get a lot of value out of being able to repair a trukk, give it +1 to hit, and deliver a taktik. 

Having a Strength boost available to your army at all times is a bit like having a partial Waaagh! And having +2 during the Waaagh is great as it’ll usually mean hitting a breakpoint for getting +1 to wound against most targets. That said, we don’t expect this Detachment to play too differently from a War Horde List, bringing a mixed pile of Boyz or Nobz and Flash Gitz in Trukks that move up the board and set up for a Devastating Waaagh! Turn. This Detachment adds more kunning options and is a bit more robust in the Shooting department, and really wants to take a unit of ten Flash Gitz with an attached Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun.

The Stratagems in this Detachment are pretty strong but everything here is a bit more restrictive than you’d expect. The star here is the Ded Sneaky Stratagem, which gives your army the ability to put Stormboyz back into reserves. It really helps transform your Stormboyz into a fantastic scoring unit.

Strengths

• Taktiks are really strong, and Ork leaders can issue two to a unit with only slight risk of damage
• Some solid Enhancements that let your leaders attach to more units
• Battleline Stormboyz give you a lot of mobility

Weaknesses

• Stormboyz don’t have any leader options and so can’t issue Taktiks to themselves when arriving from Deep Strike
• Stratagems can be a bit restrictive
• Very little support for Vehicle units

A Sample List

Ben: A nice sampling of everything Taktikal Brigade brings to the table. Using both special character attachment enhancements to boost Kommandos with a beastboss on squigosaur and a Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun to play the new Kaptin badrukk and make these Flash Gitz even more deadly. It’s finished off with bread and butter orks units to fill it out along with Snikrot and his own group of troublemakers. 

”Sample

Final Thoughts

Ben: I’ve spent a lot of 10th playing Astra Militarum and Orks, to see them mixed together is quite the joy. I feel this detachment has potential, but there’s nothing particularly broken here. Everything listed is quite fair. It feels like it is one rewording or a Term and Condition away from being too hot. I think there’s a miss or two as well with the stormboyz being very difficult to give a Taktik too when they arrive from Deep Strike as they have no leader to speak of. I am excited to see a new Kaptin Badrukk along with buffs to my favorite Ork model, the Flash Git. If I had to grade this detachment, It gets a B+. 

Curie: I expect most Ork players will be very happy with this detachment as it gives them yet another flavourful way of playing the army. There are definitely some misses, but they’re fairly small and won’t hold this one back from winning a GT+ event in the coming months for sure.

TheChirurgeon: The flavor here is exquisite; the only miss is that there’s no leader unit for Stormboyz and it’s going to be a while before we get one. That’s a shame, because it’s the only thing holding this back from an A+ grade. Still, what’s here is pretty good and the ability to give orders to Orks is great.

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