The 8th Edition Ork Codex: Hang on, we can shoot now?

This article follows on a footnote in the previous article, a thought that just kept bubbling up when I tried to write about Orks. Shooting. Its a thing we do now. Its a good 90% of what those new models do. Its gone from being something we couldn't consider, to what people earnestly are building armies around. And I've found in the few games I've managed to play, its an element I've been having success with. But is this just novelty? Are we making up for lost time? Or are mistaking crumbs for a feast after a famine? This article discusses the issues.

I will now use the word “shooty” a lot.

Item 1: BS 5+ and Dakka Dakka Dakka
Even under ideal conditions, most Ork models are not marksmen. They hit a third of the time, but as most of their guns are short ranged with the Assault keyword, that often ends up halved. Dakka Dakka Dakka, or DDD for convenience, stops that from dropping to zero due to enemy bullshit like camouflage, but what excites people is the bonus shot a 6 generates. Ork guns put out a lot of shots anyway, so this creates the potential for a ridiculous damage output. Mathematically speaking however, and I'm sorry if you have already grasped this(1), you don't actually get that many actual hits out of it. Say 60 shots, no other modifiers. That's 20 hits, 10 of which generate more dice, and 3.333 ish extra hits. Or, if we treat the DDD bonus shot as improvement to accuracy, its a 5ish% increase on top of the basic 33.333%. Units with higher BS obviously do better, but we'll come back to them. This reality check is important, but it glosses over two important factors. The first is that when the gun is big enough, say a rokkit and above, the pay off is worth it. The second is that this triggers for Overwatch, where any additional shot is welcome, in hope of killing a model that strikes first. The takeaway from this is that DDD doesn't help the rank file that much, although shooty specialists do love it. DDD can be further improved with More Dakka, which is somewhat situational, but does grant 44.4% accuracy if needed.

Item 2: Bad Moons and Other Clans
As the designated shooty clan, Bad Moons obviously excel with guns although not in the way you may think. I honestly had to get help with the sums for this one, but the interaction between DDD and their culture boils down to 46.5% accuracy. This is a hair below "competent", AKA BS 4+, although it does pay dividends if the unit gets a +1 modifier. Bad Moons impress more with the Show-Offs stratagem, which is a straightforward doubling of damage output. Mob up some Lootas or Tankbustas, apply that, and opposition vanishes. So far, this has granted Bad Moons a certain popularity in competitive play, as part of a multi-clan strategy(2). Some other clans do also have shooty aspects, not as immediately powerful as Bad Moons, but enough so ranged units get a bonus without hampering the choppy ones. Deathskulls get many rerolls that help with the more unstable Ork weapons and the Wreckers Strategem. This leads to a lot of Kustom Megablasters and small units to max usage of the rerolls, but also big units of shooty specialists because Lootas are their thing. Also notably, their Opportunist warlord trait allows them to snipe characters. Freebooters inevitably feature Flash Gitz, but also shooty units in general, so as to trigger their Kulture, at which point you are looking at BS 4+ or better. Finally, Evil Suns don't suffer the negative of assault weapons, although that is obviously about going fast rather than dakka.

Item 3: Shooty Units
Ok, we've established that there are reasons to think Orks can be shooty. Do the actual units and their abilities back this up? I mean you get T'au players pointing to Kroot and the Farsight Enclaves as examples of "close range" and "melee", but that's only relatively speaking. Or are Orks more like Tyranids now? Mainly choppy, but quite capable at shooty, if they wish? Lets look at the codex as a whole. We're gonna pick out units that are overtly shooty. Ones that rely on shooting as their primary damage output, have a reasonable option of shooty for the price, or come with so many guns by default it would be dishonest to say they weren't. We are also gonna ignore any Kulture benefits, we're looking for a baseline.

HQ: Shokk Attack Gun, Deffkilla Wartrike, Kaptain Badrukk.
Troops: Shoota Boyz, (including Ard Boyz,) Gretchin.
Elite: Tankbustas, technically Burnaboyz.
Fast Attack: All of it bar Stormboyz, for a total of 7.
Heavy Support: Flashgitz, Gunwagon, Killa Kans, Lootas, Mek Guns and 'Orkanauts.
Fliers: all 4.
Lords of War: The Stompa.

Shooty units: 26.
Total units in codex: 47.

I think we can safely say Orks are shooty.

Is This Actually Wise?
Maybe, but context is important. On the competitive/tourney side of things, those shooty units that seem to be popular are those that fill a specific niche, tie in the aforementioned Bad Moons strategem. or are shooty as secondary function. For example, the Traktor Kannon has gained fans as it solves a historical problem with aircraft, while the Smasha Gun just blows up tanks very cheaply. Those units do have quite major limitations, such as the Gretchin crew preventing many bonuses, but they do the job. By comparison, Shoota Boyz turn up in hordes, going for the old Stalin quote about quantity. Shoota equipped Boyz do shoot, but given their effective range, its more something they do BEFORE they charge. This brings us back to the elephant in the room(3), the self-evident counterargument to any suggestion that Orks should shoot; Orks are really good at punching things. You don't see people talking too much about this as its so obvious. Ork profiles default to WS3+, A2, with a special rule about charging. Ork units typically put out more numerous and more accurate attacks in the Fight Phase than at range, and have numerous reliable delivery systems to get there. Basically all ork vehicles have an explicit melee function too, the only exceptions being supersonic aircraft and artillery. Even Gretchin units, whom have a obvious shooty bias, include Killa Kanz in their number with have 3 unique melee weapons now. Its just a lot harder for ork players to mess up punching than shooting.

The Conclusion
Orks are shooty again, but its about third or forth on the list of things they do. There's certainly the tools to build a compelling shooty army, but you'll run into some tactical preferences baked into the army design. This puts them slightly behind shooty Tyranids in my judgement, as bugs specialise more easily, but Orks can definately play against type better than punchy Astra Militarium or T'au(4). Dakka Dakka Dakka is very much the odd one out of the Ork rules; its an ensemble dark horse, a clearly welcome one, but the big picture for most players is unchanged. For those of you want to shoot though, go right ahead.

Foot Notes

1. Maybe skip a section, or two.
2. This is slightly outside the remit of the article, the idea of taking cheap detachments from different clans for different roles, while maximising Command Points, is a popular one.
3. I call him Dennis.
4. Don't @ me. Once those factions routinely give their Troops swords and pistols, we can talk.

The 8th Edition Codex Orks: My Thoughts

I really should dust this place more often. Yes. I'm back doing this blog again. Yes, its been ages. But, I've not felt like writing about stuff. So, there's been a new Ork Codex with new models. Before that, there was the 7^th ed codex, that sucked. Then 8^th ed happened which was good. Then the Ork index army list aged like a glass of milk left abandoned next to a radiator. Then, much later, we had Orktober. With the ACTUAL CODEX released November. Suffice to say, its been a long and annoying wait. Here are my first impressions, possibly to be followed by further articles.

The codex as a revised Index list
Now, what annoyed me so much about Orks being so late to a codex was that so much of it was obvious and simple. You could have done it in maybe 3 pages in a Chapter Approved. 1 page for discounted prices of about 10%, 1.5 pages for stratagems, and the rest for some kind of shooty rule. So, the first question I have to ask is: did they do the obvious bug fixes? My first instinct is to say yes, as I'm somewhat impressed with the end product. Not everything is as I'd like, but there's enough rebalancing so multiple playstyles are feasible. Its also noteworthy how many little additions have been made that so easily could have been ignored. Case in point, we now have three flavours of Battlewagon, and Kans get multiple different melee weapons. On the flipside, Boyz are now 7 points each, BOO! BOO, I SAY! But I can live with it. This leads us neatly to the next section.

The matter of shooty
Orks never suffered because they lacked close combat ability, they suffered because they lacked reliable tools for shooting. This is simply due to the nature of dice modifiers, which would completely disable such attacks by demanding a 7+ on a six-sided die. Of course Orks were never actually good at shooting, anyone whom claims otherwise is misspeaking at best or cherry-picking data at worst(1), but we shouldn't have been incapable. The result? A very melee-centric army with loads of infantry, and maybe some grot artillery. GW has came in, done the obvious fix, and took it further with the Dakka Dakka Dakka rule. This makes ranged attacks functional again, and fits in very well with existing units. Those of you wishing to make a go of it have plenty of choice too, with the Bad Moons being explicitly a shooty clan, with only Goffs and Snakebites selecting against it. Of course, the other reason for slow & choppy ork forces was overpriced fast stuff, so lets talk about the real reason you are here.


Freeks & new tactics
Orks are the first faction in a while to get new units, excluding beakies, and this brings another concern. GW has a habit of balancing rules to sell new models, which was the match that lit the raging dumpster fire that was the 7th ed codex. The question here is not necessarily do these new units work, its also "did they make something popular suck?" Well, as mentioned they did make boyz more expensive. Mek Guns got reworked too, removing crew shenanigans. And they declined to include a few units without current models, such as, surprise-surprise, the old trakks and buggies. These units seem to be both useful and characterful, a stark contrast to the mishandled launch of the 'Orkanauts. However, its rather difficult not to look at the Evil Suns rules and not say something like, "Yeah, this is too good.". You could easily have one rule removed from the Kulture and it still be powerful, but given how my old favourites Deathskulls turned out, maybe I shouldn't throw stones. Less cynically, the new speedwaagh units seem to be a culmination of something bubbling below the surface in Ork rules: vehicles as close combat units. Its not a new idea, as this can be found as early as 1992 with the old Epic game, and then appearing as dethrollas and wreking balls for more modern kits. Ork vehicles now clearly value the Fight Phase as much as the infantry do. And their role is to drive straight at the enemy lines, firing all the way, and then Tokyo Drift into people. I remain undecided as to which of these new ones are actually the must-haves, if the term can actually be applied to any of them. The Shokkjump Dragsta and Kustom Boostablasta seem to be the most obvious choices, but these models in general are hovering around the 120 points bracket for something with Trukk-like durability. People don't seem to like the Squigbuggy, I dunno. One thing more immediately useful is the Tellyporta strategem, which allows you drop a Gorkanaut anywhere you need it, which did win me a game.

Conclusion

Ehhhh, it looks OK.

Foot Notes

1) Don't even start with your 1^st edition, your Feral Orks or your Lootas. An accuracy of 50% is average, not good, and while you can have shooty orks, you can also have tough Aeldari. It doesn't mean all of them are.