Games Workshop dropped another stealth update on us this week, giving us a new datasheet for the Breaka Boyz unit from the upcoming Kill Team boxed set. If you missed this unit, which most people noticed when it showed up in the app yesterday, you can find the rules for it here.
Ork Breaka Boyz PDF Download (WarCom)
So what’s the story with these boyz, and are they any good? Let’s dive into their datasheet and talk about what they are, what they can do, and how you might use them.
With T5, a 4+ save, and 2 wounds apiece, Breaka Boyz are similar to Nobz in profile but are limited to small units, coming in groups of 6 with one Boss Nob and five Breaka Boyz, though they can be joined by any leader who can join a unit of Boyz. As a Kill Team unit ported over, they’re pretty limited in their loadout. By default they come with Smash hammers, but you can replace one hammer with a tankhammer and another with knucklebustas, while the boss can replace his hammer with a second rokkit pistol (never do this).
Wargear
Smash hammers are pretty damn good – They give you two attacks each, hitting on a 3+ at S6 AP-2, 3 damage but notably have the ANTI-MONSTER and ANTI-VEHICLE 4+ keywords, making them very much vehicle hunters on the tabletop. Upgrading one to a Tankhammer won’t change its statline, but gives its user Devastating Wounds and Hazardous – a pretty welcome tradeoff. The Kucklebustas on the other hand trade out damage for attacks, taking you to five attacks at S5 and AP-1, and while they include the ANTI-MONSTER/ANTI-VEHICLE keywords and Twin-Linked, losing the AP and 3 damage output is a bad deal – against big vehicle targets with a 3+ save you’ll average slightly less damage with the bustas over the smash hammer.
It’s difficult to overstate how big a deal it is that these boyz are 3-damage; almost everything in the Orks armory is D2, and that can make abilities that halve or reduce incoming damage by 1 very hard to deal with. Having a 3-damage option is very much appreciated in that regard.
Abilities
Breaka Boyz can natively re-roll Charges and twice per game can use their Bomb Squigs after they end a Normal Move, picking a unit within 12″ and rolling a D6; on a 2+ they take D3 mortal wounds. This is pretty great for doling out some extra mortals and softening up a target before you take it to them.
Playing With This Unit
You really want these guys in a War Horde Detachment, where Sustained Hits helps make up for the fact that they only have two attacks apiece (especially when combined with Critical Hits on 5s through a Stratagem) and the ability to Fight on Death with Orks is Never Beaten makes them a nightmare to remove. They offer a powerful 3-damage option to an army that desperately needs one, with a good save, good profile, and which conveniently sit on 32mm bases, making it easy for them to fit in to tight spaces. They’re good in trukks with a 5-man nob squad and while they’re expensive at 140 points for the unit, they’d likely be undercosted at 130. They have some very silly “Go” Turn options and they can just absolutely rip things up – being able to huck Bomb Squigs after a normal move out of a trukk is solid enough, but the damage they can do after they hit is very solid.
While the Warboss is the most obvious leader for them as he gets them hitting on 2+, they can optionally take a Big Mek Leader to get that Pseudo-FLY ability to go through models and avoid screens, and that’s worth consideration as well.
Final Thoughts
Breaka Boyz are very good, but feel appropriately costed at the moment. We expect to see at least one unit show up in lists and won’t be surprised to see 2-3 regularly making appearances, particularly in War Horde lists. They fill an important role for the army and continue the trend of Kill Team pushing solid units into the 40k datasheet library.
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