Underplayed & Overlooked: Codex Orks

Welcome back to Underplayed & Overlooked. Today I'm going to be looking over at our violent green skinned friends hanging out over at Codex: Orks. Lets begin. Mad Dok Grotsnik

• Cost: 3
• Offense: 4
• Defense: 3
• Support: 4

Looking things over assigning this score was a challenge. On the one hand a Nob Painboy is only 50 points base. On the other hand he is the only way to get a Painboy in a non-Nob unit. On top of that he is very respectable as a special character in his own right. But he is also saddled with a pretty debilitating special rule.

Offensively he is middle ground. He has a Slugga for Ranged Combat which is not very effective at its shooting job especially with his BS 2. However in Close Combat he does have both a Poisoned 4+ Weapon that can strike at Initiative order as well as a Power Klaw. As always having a choice can be very helpful and increases your flexibility. Lastly 5 Attacks with Furious Charge is always a welcome addition.

Defensively he is about average. 4+ Armor Save, 5+ Invulnerable Save, and Feel No Pain. Fortunately he also has Toughness 5 and 3 Wounds. So he should be able survive for a while from whatever is thrown his way as very little causes Instant Death.

Support wise he gives Feel No Pain, Fearless, and potentially Cybork Bodies to whatever unit he joins is great. But his special rule of being unable to leave a unit until he is the last model left in the unit and making him (and his unit) run after and charge the closest enemy unit can be irritating. It allows a savvy opponent to bait his unit and effectively waste his time.

Keeping this in mind when using him is very important. I think it is better to treat him more as a unit upgrade rather than a character. Also make sure that whatever you put him in has the ability to reliably crush whatever fodder might be put in your path. If you are going to be baited you might as well make them use something every turn as you leave a trail of wreckage in your wake.

Wazdakka Gutsmek

• Cost: 3
• Offense: 3
• Defense: 4
• Support: 3

Comparing him to a regular Warboss is tough but he seems about right for his points. While he does lose as point of Strength and a Point of Initiative he does have Mek's Tools, a great Warbike, and a Kustom Mega Blasta. So it is a wash as far as Im concerned and hence an average score.

Offensively he has above average shooting output armed with both a Kustom Mega Blasta and the Bike of the Aporkalypse which pumps out 4 Strength 8 shots even after Turbo Boosting. He is more that capable of being a threat to vehicles and units at range with that kind of ranged firepower. In Close Combat he does suffer somewhat from the loss of Strength and Initiative but he retains 4 Attacks with a Power Klaw which is the same as a Warboss.

Defensively he is about as good as it gets with Toughness 5(6) and 3 Wounds. While he only sports a 4+ armor save that is above average for Orks and he is extremely tough. Also I see him Turbo Boosting a lot which should make it a 4+ Cover save most of the time. It is only his lack of an Invulnerable Save that keeps his score from a 5.

From a support perspective he does have a Bosspole which is a necessary piece of kit for any Ork Boss. Also he lets you take Warbikers as Troops. So he really makes all bike lists viable if you aren't going with Nob Bikers.

Old Zogwort

• Cost: 2
• Offense: 3
• Defense: 2
• Support: 4

He is very expensive at 145 points compared to a Weirdboy with Warphead which costs only 85. The extra point of Leadership adds reliability but not enough to offset the huge increase in cost.

Offensively he has all the usual Wierdboy tricks along with a special Psychic attack that can target Independent Characters and turn them into squigs. So he is covered in the ranged department. In Close Combat I would normally say he suffers from the Strength, Initiative, and Attacks being 1 point lower than a Weirdboy but this isn't really the case. He doesn't have a Power Klaw and all his attacks are 2+ Poisoned. Furthermore he has D6 S4 attacks at Initiative 4 and then his regular 2 Attacks at Initiative 2.

Defensively he is Toughness 5 which puts him dead average with the other Ork Special Characters. He has the usual Ork 6+ Armor Save and no built in Feel No Pain or Invulnerable Save.

A Weirdboy is a very support heavy piece and he does this job very well especially considering the extra point of Leadership he has. So for his job which is casting Psychic powers he is better than a regular Weirdboy and can potentially bring a lot to the table for the army (Im looking at you Waaagh) and be a real game changer if a bit unpredictable.

See you next time for a real challenge: Codex Tau.