And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Today, we focus on the only actually new thing in the Armageddon box: the Big Mek Dakkarig.
Ordinarily, I'd like to place a model such as this in its proper, or proppa, context, but the Dakka Rig is so new as to almost lack one. It's simply, and obviously, a gatling gun on legs. It's all about the Dakka, it's in the name. Perhaps it will gain said context with the 11th edition codex. I don’t know, I didn’t get the book until this model was done, and its only had rules in general for a matter of mere weeks. It seems to be positioned as a de-facto HQ choice for Dreadbash and Mek-centric armies, as it's the personal conveyance of a Mekboy. Other than putting a lot of bullets into something, it also carries rokkits, but unlike ever other Ork walker, it's mêlée functions are kinda minor. More importantly though, this is very much within my hyper-fixations, which is why I put off doing it until now.
As a build, this is very much in the same fixed pose style as everything else in the Armageddon box, if maybe less irritating due to the larger size. This still is a case where you're gonna need sub assemblies, some gap-filling as it turned out late in the process, most notably with the Mek whom needed painting separately. In three different parts because he's grabbing the controls with both hands. In all fairness though, that's as annoying as any of it got, because a rusty scrap robot is so massively within my comfort zone that it's like a soft cushion. I added a few extra panels, greeblies, and roughed it up, before doing all the major colours in a lazy afternoon. I find that doing metals is so much more immediately gratifying than infantry, and this project was a gentle confirmation of that. Then came the Mek, and assorted details, before washing and basing. I had wanted to use to a transfer on the banner, but realised too late that I didn’t have a suitable one. So I freehanded a rather-bad “Kan” gylph. That’s the symbol for ork walkers that sometimes looks like a robot doing the robot. It looks more like a cheeky gremlin thing, but its fine. A bit of whimsy. I also tried using old, dried-out mud paint to make new mud paint, which produced some nice textures. The whole thing came out quite well. And eventually, I got the codex.
As I now have the codex, and it has been collectively discussed to death, how do I feel about it? Well, I'm not fond of how this codex and indeed 11th in general have been communicated. Those data cards I got in the Armageddon box? Aged like milk. The Ork codex looked, if anything, over-tuned, but then news broke of Marines experiencing an even more extreme rebuild, loosing a bunch of units into the bargain. It follows that every faction will receive a similar revamp, but as this is being done via a codex cycle, not the index method, it's gonna take a while. As a result, game balance will be unstable for a long time, not least because marines are half the game. Furthermore, there is a trend for the initial codexs of an edition to be cautious and maybe a little awkward as the designers feel things out. So however impressive Orks look now, it may well be a different story next year. I acknowledge that there is a strong "First World Problems" feel to the above comments, but this is still a very rough transition from 10th, as it's not a clean break. More like unpicking stitches from a wound. It makes me disinclined to any deep analysis until things settle. And they took a bunch of units away too, and faffed with the Battlewagon again. That said, let's talk some positives. I do like the modularity of the detachment system. I mostly play at 1k, so having the vast majority be 1DP is good for me. I like how the designers seem to have gone out of their way to make most weapon options valid, a topic I've had a lot to say about in the past. I don't think they got it 100% right, but it's a lot harder to dislike big shootas now. The presentation is pretty solid, as is the rules language. So, generally a good first impression.
Up next: Probably some Boyz.
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