Alright Boyz, Da boss has given us a batch of new index cards to review and I’m here to tell ya a few of da things you’ll be stompin em good with in this new edition.
Orks traditionally and currently have their army identity as being a pressure filled melee army that wants to just hit their opponents over and over again with unit after unit. I feel they will maintain this identity, even with the plethora of changes.
Before we begin we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Index.
Army Rule – Waaagh!
The Waaagh we were given in 9th edition lives on in 10th. With a few minor changes and altogether a downgrade. You still get +1 Attack, +1 Strength , the 5++ invulnerable save and the all important advance and charge. You lose calling it in the command phase, as it now has to be declared in the beginning of the battle round. It also only lasts 1 turn with no subsequent effects. One key note is it is an army wide Advance and Charge hitting all units, not just Core (now gone anyway) or Character.
This will demand the Ork player to make the Waaagh turn count. Orks will have to rely on being a little conservative and for a staging turn or 2 to happen before declaring. Now it’s not to say turn 1 isn’t an option, but I surely will miss my opponent playing mess around top of 1 and me playing find out on the bottom of the turn once they’ve moved into range.
Detachment Rules
Detachment Ability
GET STUCK IN
They took half of the Goff trait from 9th and felt this was a good enough add on. Orks get [Sustained Hits 1} on their melee weapons. This will be an overall downgrade from the typical goff melee list we have seen in the meta. Without having a +1 strength also added on the charge. This is still a solid ability however and the volume of attacks orks can put out is still frightening .
Enhancements
Enhancements are the new way to upgrade characters in this edition and I’m happy to say the 4 Orks received are all worthy of being considered. Here are my 2 favorites
Headwoppa’s Killchoppa
Melee Weapons equipped by the bearer that do not have the [Extra Attacks] attacks ability have the [Devastating Wounds] ability. Oh boy is this juicy. With plenty of [Anti-Monster] and [Anti-Vehicle] around this combo can dish out a ton of mortal wounds.
Kunnin’ But Brutal
While the bearer is leading a unit, this unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it fell back. This is all sorts of handy; it can be played in an offensive manner in tandem with charge triggered abilities or [Lance]. It can also be played defensively allowing your shooting units to simply fall back at no cost.
Stratagems
The Orks Strategem section maintains the old orky flavor we’ve grown to adore and is very tuned for the army Identity. I have picked out 2 of my favorites just for you ladz.
ORKS IS NEVER BEATEN
2CP In the fight phase after your opponent has selected an Orks unit as a target of one or more melee attacks, you can fight on death with models that have not fought yet. This is fantastic and much better then the previous character only one from 9th edition. This will make any opponent think twice about charging any units.
‘ERE WE GO
1CP At the start of the move phase you can pick 1 infantry unit to gain +2 advance and charge. Adding 4 inches in a world where orks no longer reroll charges is incredibly significant and allows Da Boyz to go deep into the deployment zone to krump da enemy.
Datasheets
Five Coolest Units
- Mozrog Skragbad
- Beastboss
- Shokkjump Dragsta
- Gretchin
- STOMPA
Mozrog Skragbad
One of my favorite models also has some of the coolest rules in the index. The beast snagga units are where you find your anti vehicle pieces of the army. Mozrog takes it to a whole new level. Big Chompa’s jaws doing Damage 4 with [Devastating Wounds] is big boss energy not to mention the 7 attacks coming from Gut Rippa in the Waaagh. He packs this with adding 1 damage to vehicles and monsters and 2 damage if they are titanic. But wait, there’s more when he charges he counts all 5s as critical wounds. Meaning, Big Chompa is doing 6 mortal wounds and his Gutrippa is casually doing 5 per failed save. Now, Moz is targetable and is no longer character protected. To that end he is T10 and carries a 4+ Feel No Pain. Moz is a menace.
Beastboss
Like the above, the beast snagga characters are where a lot of the meat are as most of the ork codex handle infantry without issue. Vehicles and Monsters are where these guys come in. Packing a beastboss in your beast snagga unit is going to be a common play. He is a typical warboss package -1 total wound. He still grants +1 to hit but only to his unit. All beast snaggas also carry a 6+ Feel No Pain Standard. Now the meat is that he gives all his melee weapons Devastating wounds when he charges. His weapons all have anti-vehicle or anti-monster. This on average will deal 6-8 mortal wounds with spikes of 14 or higher on some lucky sustained hits rolls. I know I didn’t highlight the rest but I do feel beast snagga characters will be main stays in ork lists.
ShokkJump Dragsta
Ok, I might be trolling but this guy has a freakin SNIPER RIFLE on its chassis. They gave the kustom shokk rifle Devastating Wounds and Precision. You can totally set this up to have +1 to hit .. If you wanna go for some hilarious plays where you pick out characters by just dealing 7 mortal wounds to them off 1 shot.
Gretchin
Gretchin are back, now without losing half the squad to morale. While they may not score all your secondary missions anymore, they are a great source of CP regen by granting you CP on a 4+ if they are on an objective. This being one of the only sources of getting CP in orks makes them a highlight. Also the runtherd now gets to tag along as part of the unit. We will see if they are truly worth their weight with points but their data sheet isn’t bad at all.
STOMPA!
You’re probably like Ben…really? I’m a Stompa SIMP. I love this stupid model and if it even is remotely playable, I will highlight it. Its weapon profiles are all huge and good with the Kannon being s14 -3 d6. The supa-gatler got an upgrade to d2 and this boy can ADVANCE AND CHARGE. Other things to note. Towering keyword is going to be a polarizing word as this makes this gigantic model ignore obscuring. Combine this with a nearby mek and my big boi is hitting on 4s. I know it’s a stretch, but dang it I believe. Lets just hope he doesn’t cost too many points.
Honorable Mentions
Hunta Rig with a new carrying capacity of 21
Nob with Waagh Banner packing an additional WAAAGH for the unit he is in.
Five Biggest changes from 9th
- Fighting Units you didn’t charge (The dog pile effect)
- No Reroll Charges
- Multiple Warbosses
- High S wounding vehicles on 5s
- Not losing models to battleshock
Wrap Up
Orks got some very interesting picks and intriguing design choices this pass around. We will miss our power klaws wounding almost anything on 2s or 3s. They also seemed to be stricken with more side grades and downgrades in contrast to other 10th indexes. Some units saw some overall buffs while other units are obviously paying for their sins in the previous edition.
In contrast, a proper dog pile is incredibly threatening. Your army is no longer stuffed in its tracks by an inexpensive screen in front of the meat of what you want to attack. Clearing them with one unit then pilling in with the next is a new threat in this edition. This of course requires a bit more paying attention to positioning and moving in on charge/pile-in moves.
I believe you will see the current 9th edition recipes of Orks in transports rumbling forward with a few fast units on foot transfer just fine to this edition . You might see some interesting play with some of the shooting units, and cool plays with rapid ingress, but orks are still the same orks you know and love. There will be no lack of Waaghs at your local tournaments.
