In the last few editions, Orks have stuck to the fairly proscribed fighting styles of their clans despite their anarchic nature, which lent a measure of uncharacteristic order to their otherwise-hooligan battle plans. Those days are no more, for the six Detachments found in Codex: Orks are far more concerned with the units they’re using to krump gits rather than the colour of their shirt – and they have a lot of krumping to do.
So where do we start? The Waaagh! Tribe is back from the Index, polished up and renamed the War Horde. The new Detachments let you field anything from a Beast Snagga hunting party to a Deff Dread-heavy Mek mob – don’t worry, we’ll come back to that one – but no self-respecting Waaagh! would be complete without its near-endless Green Tide of Boyz. Even the most basic Ork is hard as nails to begin with, but when the Mob Mentality takes over, they can shrug off absurd amounts of punishment and keep their thunderous charge going.
As you might imagine, the Green Tide Detachment is all about piling as many Boyz onto the battlefield as possible and overwhelming your opponent with sheer numbers. Its Enhancements and Stratagems are all about boosting units with at least 10 models in them – such as the Ferocious Show Off Enhancement, which triples its Strength boost when in a crowd. It even has a way to make sure all of those models get a chance in close combat, thanks to the Bulldozer Brutality Stratagem.
Of course, this means that keeping your mobs topped up is paramount, and the Come On, Ladz! Stratagem flexes regenerative powers that would make a Necron jealous. Attach a Painboy to the unit for maximum durability, and give your hollering muscles a good workout as the Boyz thunder across the board soaking up shots that would bring down tanks.
If sheer numbers aren’t your style* and you’d rather test the limits of Orky ingenuity, the Dread Mob is a great place to use that new Big Mek you definitely picked up in the Stompa Boyz battleforce. True tekhead Orks are always eager to Try Dat Button!, with results that hearken back to the good old days of randomised bonuses and occasional self-detonations.
Gamblers can let the dice decide what their gubbinz do each turn, or pick out a specific bonus at the risk of blowing up. Either way, the benefits this mekaniak expertise offers your mobs of Deff Dreads, Killa Kans, and Mek-led ladz makes it hard to resist tinkering under the hood…
Besides, since we’re already riding the red line, why not go all-in and push it with the wonderfully named Bigger Shells for Bigger Gitz Stratagem? The sight of a Killa Kan single-handedly blowing up a Carnifex before exploding in turn is only going to delight your Boyz more.
That’s only a grot-sized handful of the rules you’ll get to play with when Codex: Orks goes up for pre-order this Saturday, and the other Detachments are equally as bonkers. The Kult of Speed can give their Trukks and buggies a 4+ invulnerable save just by going extra-fast, while the new Bully Boyz mob trades the quantity of Boyz for the quality of Nobz and gives them extra Waaaghs! just for themselves.
Waaagh!
* Are you sure you’re an Ork player?