Faction Focus: ORKS!!!

I'm having a bit of an awful day, so this is a good time to learn about the most fun faction in 40K.  I love Orks.  If Tyranids didn't exist, I'd be an Ork player.  Orks have had their ups and downs over the years.  But one thing that hasn't changed is that they've always been fun to play and Ork players have nearly universally been the best players to play with.

Let's see what GW has in store or them!

WAAAGH!

I feel you're short a few exclamation points there GW.

So WAAAGH! returns as a once per battle ability where you call it on the turn you're going to make your big play and charge forward with everything you've got.  There's no separate WAAAGH! types this time, it's just an army-wide Advance and Charge, +1 to Strength, and 5+ Invuln.

Like Shadow in the Warp, when you declare this is going to be the skill test for the army.  You get one round to do as much damage as possible, so you need to make it count.  Call it too early and you won't inflict enough damage to matter.  Call it too late, and you won't have enough boyz to make a difference.

GW makes a big deal of calling out this as a "start of the battle round" ability.  This definitely helps a lot, as you can shrug off blows your opponent deals and counter charge in your turn.

GET STUCK IN

Well that's nice and simple.  Just SUSTAINED HITS 1 for every Ork in your army.  Not gonna complain about that.

BEAST SNAGGA BOYZ

Man, we need more love for the classic Ork Boy from GW.  Still, lets see what last editions new Ork menace brings. 

The Beast Snaggaz come with a 6+ FNP and re-roll Hits against Monsters and Vehicles.  I feel like maybe they should have gotten re-roll Wounds or LETHAL HITS.  The highest Strength on their profile is 7, 8 with the WAAAGH!  Hopefully there are more rules to get their Strength and AP up.  Cause their weapons and profile make them seem more like an ant-infantry unit.

GHAZGHKULL THRAKA

Next we get the big man, er Ork, himself!  Can I just first note that Makari is T6.  I know this is a rules thing more than any statement on the vitality of Ghazghkull's favorite, lucky git.  But I just find it funny.  At T6, Ghaz is tougher than the average Ork but not by much.  I'm a little surprised at this.

Ghaz isn't getting and Army Commander ability, despite his role in the lore.  Instead he grants a unit he's leading a flat +1 to Hit and Wound.  This will be much appreciated with the higher toughness threats out there.  This combined with Makari's banner granting LETHAL HITS is going to make an Ork WAAAGH! hit hard.

Ghaz doesn't need a shtupid humie "Pick an ability" rule.  He's just going to make the army better by being there, like a propper boss.

Also, I find it hilarious Makari's famous luck now applies to his stabba, granting him DEVASTATING WOUNDS.

DEFFKANNON AND MEGA-CHOPPA

We're not seeing a lot of special rules on the weapons themselves here.  Apparently the kunnin' brutality and brutal kunnin' of Orks means they just get a lot of attacks with big guns.  Works for me.

SQUIG LAUNCHAS

Oh but here's a fun reveal.  Squig Launchas are an INDIRECT FIRE weapon that also IGNORES COVER.  That means one of the disadvantages to using INDIRECT FIRE is automatically negated as the squigs scramble, bounce, and tumble into their targets.  Note, you'll be hitting on 6s normally, so you better hope you can get those boyz a bonus.

ORKS IS NEVER BEATEN

And Orks get fight on death!  It's 2 CP, but that's always a brutal way to turn back an enemy offensive.  Your opponent gets the 1st turn, it's Battle Round 2, and they're in position to launch their offensive.  You call the WAAAGH! so you can get the Invuln and can counter charge on your turn.  Then you spend 2 CP in the fight phase on the biggest scrap to punish their puny army for daring to steal your bluster.

'ERE WE GO

And we get a second one too!  That's a decent amount of reveals for this Faction Focus.  This one is another simple but powerful ability.  Just a flat +2 to Advance and Charge, perfect for when you call the WAAAGH! as this potentially gets you an extra 4" to your threat range.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We get a final reveal in the fact that Ork Boyz will also get AP -1 on their Choppas, which will help with enemy armour.  They also say they've taken a fresh look at the Painboy, but don't reveal anything.

On the whole, Orks seem to have been granted simple but powerful rules.  You'll still have your skill check for knowing when it's best to call the WAAAGH!  But if you're the kind of player that just wants to push models and roll buckets of dice, it looks like Orks should easily scratch that itch.

My only concern is that we haven't seen a lot of high Strength weaponry.  Ghaz is bringing his S14 claw, and the Stompa has it's big weapons.  But that's Ghaz and the Stompa.  I hope that there'll be enough combined bonuses on the army so that it doesn't bounce off enemy armour.