So What the Zog Happened to the Orktober Buggies?

I am apparently now so old that I am surprised by the linear passage of time. Case in point, the Orktober Buggies, a huge army refresh that reworked the long-neglected Ork vehicle pool. That happened eight years ago. And now two are bring retired with the 11th edition Ork Codex. Damn, that's hardly any time at all. But hey, at least that's older than the Confederacy.

Righty, so the loss of units with a new codex is, regrettably, painfully, routine at this point. Invariably this is a business decision, the charitable view being that GW can only support so much, and must eventually discontinue something that's unpopular. Less charitably, it's an attempt to drive players to buy more stuff. Both are true, and if I'm totally honest, Orks got off lighter than the Beakies did. That having been said, it's a bit of a surprise to see this happen to the buggies. Especially as aircraft still seem to limping on with own detachment and the bloody Bosshead Bunka still being a thing. The buggies were  by any margin a substantial investment, with six distinct vehicle kits. Now only two exist as independent units, two persisting in the same generic unit, and two having been removed as units, if mentioned in the proxy list. Of the two survivors, the Deathkilla Wartrike makes sense, to assist those new Warbikes, but the Rukkatrukk is less obvious. Maybe it just sold well enough? So, let's explore what might have happened here. What happened to the Orktober buggies?

Suspect 1: Conceptual Issues
The Orktober buggies as they were known, sought to replace a quartet of fairly conventional vehicles. The main three of these were the Warbuggy, Wartrakk, and Skorcha, light, two-ork vehicles with exposed crew. These were very much warbike-adjacent, being relatively small models initially done in metal, and differentiated mainly by weapon load-out. These received (mostly) plastic models in the 2nd edition/Gorkamorka period, and aged poorly, promoting a lot of kitbashed versions. The forth was the Warboss on Warbike, which did get a Forgeworld version, but otherwise was one of those odd, no-model units GW allowed in times past. It made sense to do one at the same time. The units that replaced these were not 1:1 updates, and were radically different in character. This is is not in itself a bad thing, these units are so massively Orky on the artistic level they'll turn your skin green. But they didn't fit cleanly into the same tactical roles their predecessors did. In all fairness, the Dethkilla Wartrike (first picture) did OK. It was a bike that got so big it became a full vehicle. But if you want a flamethrower vehicle? Well, that's kinda spread out between the Kustom Boosta-blasta and the Boomdakka Snazzwagon. That might be why those two became the new amalgamated unit. What is the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy (picture 4) for? If it's anti-infantry, isn't that covered by the last two? OK, the Shokkjump Dragsta (below) is hyper mobile, I get that. Why is it also a precision anti-tank weapon? Meanwhile, the Megatrakk Scrapjet (above) is absolutely amazing, for a one-off special character. I mean, do Orks go through so many aircraft it's routine for them to be turned into tracked vehicles? And if they do, could we have alternative heads on the sprue? Do you see what I'm saying here? These replaced very simple units. These need whole sentences to explain. And all are so quirky that taking duplicates look odd. And speaking of sprues...

 

Suspect 2: Kit Economics
OK, here's were I admit that this entire article was inspired by passing comments made by the Poorhammer Podcast. Setting up a plastic mould is a non-trivial amount of money, so you want to mitigate that cost through volume. This why so many vehicle sets, historically, are dual build or modified from existing vehicles. It reduces costs, and hedges your bets against something being unpopular. Unfortunately, if the completed models were too individual, the sprues were too. The only parts these share are the bases. Was this a result of the Chapterhouse lawsuit? I don't know. But, in all fairness, how easily could some of these doubled-up? Say a common wheelbase, but with a body kit? Hell, the Rukkatrukk could have easily been a regular trukk too, you just have to clean out the flatbed and put new guns on it. Doing all of them as unique sprues must have been a big cost to slowly recoup.

Suspect 3: Game Balance
So you want as many people as possible to buy these models. One way to do that is make them good in game. With the buggies this has had mixed results, such as with the old Ramshackle rule circa 2021. Historically GW has struggled with balancing large numbers of light vehicles, and I don't want to go too deep into the specifics as these shifted with each edition, with unit sizes going up and down and such. But, taking a big picture view: adding six new light vehicles in one go presented an easy way for players to spam them, and a challenge for designers in making these both distinct and valid. Given the number of Leman Russ and Chimera variants, this is not impossible, but that's still not something that’s perfect. Or happened overnight. If the buggies were a problem in an edition, with six examples of them, they could really be a big problem.


Conclusion 
As I worked through these issues, I found myself coming to a somewhat troubling conclusion. I don't think GW was actually wrong in retiring some of the Orktober buggies. I don't think they did it well, there should definitely be legacy rules for the absent buggies. I don't pretend to understand how the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy made the cut. Possibly vibes and LOLs. Or people were kitbashing them into Trukks?  But, if you told me why this whole thing happened was because the models were an expensive pain in the arse to maintain and they wanted to cut something? Yeah, that passes the Sniff Test. The question is: where do people go from here? Well, I don't think it's a good time to go investing heavily in any of these. They brought the old Wartrakk back! The survivors must be on borrowed time. If you see a cheap Snazzwagon, maybe. If you want to kitbash or 3d print something, maybe. Otherwise it sucks. Not the happiest note to start Orktober on, but here we are.

Maybe I should I just play this, in memorial?

New Years Special: The 10th Edition Astra Militarum Codex Review

OK, last year, I did a tactics article on the assorted units of my Astra Militarum army. This year, I’m zooming out a bit, to talk about how the army feels now. I’ve got a good few games in, less so recently, but I keep my eye on the discourse. Its been a bumpy year for the Imperial Guard.  We got a new codex, and it was immediately patched. And then patched again.  They took away the basic Infantry Squad. They added a bunch of Kriegers, concepts making the jump from Forgeworld resin to plastic. Tournament win-rates fell, if that’s your thing. So, here’s my big picture thoughts on Codex Astra Militarum. What worked? What didn’t? Was it Kodex Krieg? How did the Balance Dataslates treat the book? For the answers to these and similar questions, read on. This will be a ramble, as I touch on topics as I pass them, and a new detachment was published only weeks ago, so its a bit unfocused.

OK, I’m not gonna beat about the bush. I’m gonna come straight to my key opinion, touch on detachments, especially the new one, before talking about Krieg, and then tanks. With the 10th ed codex, Astra Militarum infantry looks less like one force and more like four in a trench-coat, as dictated by the model range. Something like the four chaos marine factions compiled into one, but omitting the concept of Chaos Undivided. We have Cadian, Catachan, Krieg, and Tempestus forces. Each has its own grunt unit, at least one HQ, and at least one specialist infantry type, Cadians being the Ultramarines of the army. Catachan are currently the least supported, followed by Tempestus, but even then, it's entirely possible run a theme army using the vehicle pool to smooth any rough edges. You know, like marine factions all use Rhinos and that? This is broadly speaking a good thing. Guard players end up with a lot of choices, although I continue the dislike the loss of generic infantry options. The four regiments are very much reactions to the classic Infantry Squad, and now that's gone, so we are obliged to pick the closest regiment that fits. If we had a few more options I'd mind it less, or if one hit the same notes, but right now it feels like a vibes issue, only highlighted by what little background material there is the codex, which still mentions other regiments. From a more mechanical perspective though, these 4 regiments present a lot of redundancy. Guard in general tends to have a lot of good-enough, B Tier units, with those less desirable units mostly being niche vehicles or using unpopular weapons like missile launchers. There's not many bad choices if you know what you are doing. But, because key roles are covered multiple times, two phenomena tend to happen. The first is that people just gravitate towards whichever variant is "best", creating what might be called a mixed regiment or less charitably a Frankenstein's Monster. I find myself doing this a lot, especially in larger battles. The differences between the Battleline units for example are slight but very meaningful in this army, and as there is no generic option, I end up taking a combo-platter of Catachans/Krieg with some Cadians as a side. If I'm taking Heavy Weapons squads though, I'm likely taking Catachans though, as that's the best one for lascannons most of the time and Scout is always handy. Catachans in general are something of a sleeper hit TBH. Similarly, while I don’t field these myself, Kasrkin are the go-to infantry for so many tournament lists that its not even funny. While you can theme your force around a specific regiment as described above, you likely won’t, due to internal balance being what it is.

 

The second phenomena is that while 10th ed has rather loose army composition as it is, with this redundancy, the Astra Militarum can easily overpower such limitations. If you want a more elite army you can have upwards of 120 special forces dudes without even using the Bridgehead Assault detachment. That was a thing for a hot minute, wasn’t it? Funny they forgot Deep Strike for Scions too, bloody hell. And I'm sorry to make the space marine comparison again, it's gets a bit weird when special forces get outnumbered 3 to 1 by other, but lesser, special forces, ya know? If you just want to Zap Branigan the enemy with endless men, you can have 180 just in the battleline units for 1200ish points. Plus 27 heavy weapon teams for 600ish. Move things around a bit, add Officers, round it up to 2K, and you put them all in the Recon Element detachment for a cover save. Because 200 odd guys is something that's hard to see, OK. Maybe I'm mixing up thematic complaints with mechanical ones here, but I feel that GW's just-what's-inna-box philosophy is generating a few issues, and we might be better off reverting to something like the old doctrine system or what the Militia uses in Horus Heresy.  Would it not make more sense to just to treat basic Cadian, Catachan, and Krieg squads as minor variants of the same unit? That bit about Recon Element there ties into a wider complaint with the detachments in the codex; its not that they are necessarily bad, they are very much specialist things, with maybe one good trick or skew build, but these struggle to match Combined Arms in day-to-day play. Lethal Hits is just that good for an army based on shooting. The exception is the new Grizzled Regiment, which increases the availability of Orders and adds a lot of rerolls, plus also a Lethal Hits stratagem for good measure. Grizzled Regiment is probably the best detachment, full stop. This has properly borked the internal balance between detachments, to the point where I suspect nerfs are likely, and I'll be referring to that more later on. Right now? I wonder if its some form of apology, and/or over-correction.


With all that having been said, let's pivot to the main selling point of the codex: the Krieg units and the related Siege Regiment detachment. The amount of patching, release drama and anti-hype around this stuff is a big part of the reason I held off on deep analysis of the codex so long.  This was also something I'll admit to being very invested in, to the point of doing a long term project to make these new units. As the big new thing, you'd expect them to push it. You might expect this be the Kodex Krieg in all but name. Did it work out like that? No, not really. But if it had? I probably would not have mourned the loss of the old Infantry Squad as much. Krieg has a very distinctive look, are peak Imperial cannon fodder, and if the mechanics had backed that up I could have lived with it. My gut feeling is that is that Krieg is here and mostly good enough, and doesn’t overshadow existing units. But that’s not the same thing as saying their units are exciting, or that the other regiments are exciting.  Once you compensate for retired units… I don’t think anyone’s infantry tactics will have changed that much. Except maybe to put everything in Grizzled Regiment now, but even then old faves like Bullgrin and Rough Riders seem to be back in fashion. Because, with but a single Order, you can make them 2+ to hit with a reroll. Are we sure this was playtested? 

Siege Regiment, the de-facto Krieg detachment: I was gonna say this one was OK by the standards of the codex, but then the new Grizzled Regiment dropped and kinda broke the scale. Siege Regiment sets a trend here in that it was patched, probably should have been more properly playtested before hand, and now just gets overlooked. The Creeping Barrage thing was very characterful and desirable at first, but it was modified so much that you'd rarely take it. A penalty to enemy movement is nice, but it only triggers on a 5+, and the number of affected units is capped. An unreliable effect with a small payoff is not great. This relegated the detachment ability to effectively being either ignore cover for three targets or stealth for three units of your choice. That ain't nothing, and it helps with the artillery whom need the buff these days, but it ain't great. The stratagems are a lot more appealing, especially if you like infantry, but perhaps not good enough to replace Lethal Hits. At time of writing, in addition to its own unique strengths like Order economy and rerolls, Grizzled Regiment can do a lot of what Siege Regiment can, its buffs currently affecting artillery, and is the only real alternative to Combined Arms. So Siege Regiment is a thematic pick, but not necessarily a pragmatic one. 

Death Riders and Lord Marshall Dreir: I'm not gonna mince my words here, reactive moves are awesome. In an IgoUgo turn sequence this is immensely useful for high level play. The problem is, of course, the inevitable comparison to Attilan Rough Riders. Death Riders move two inches slower and lack the melta lance option, making them far less versatile as a counter charge unit. Rough Riders might plausibly take out a marine unit or damage a vehicle; Death Riders are gonna have a much harder time doing that. The gasmask cavalry do however have decent melee AP via power sabers and their nightmarish mares, so it's not all bad, but definitely a unit that needs finesse to use. The Lord Marshall can further compensate on the charge as he grants Devastating Wounds, and he's not bad in a scrum either. I do wonder why exactly he has three orders though. Mounted units are tricky to position as it is, due to their base size plus movement rules, and he's only got a 6 inch order range, with no way to improve that like the Lord Solar can. The points cost is pretty high too. Overall, unless you really want reactive movement or were working to a Charge of the Light Brigade theme, I don't see why you'd take these. An obvious miss, why hasn't this been addressed in a dataslate?

Krieg Command Squad: You will and should be noticing a pattern of comparison to other, per-existing units or concepts. These guys suffer from that too, and are disliked as they replace a Forgeworld HQ that gave their unit Feel No Pain 5+. Having FNP is far less common in this codex however, and in context the Krieg Command is pretty decent. Basic Krieg squads are about slugging matches on objectives and attrition, and the Command helps that in several ways. They aren't especially adaptable, and the “medic” is forgettable, but they make Krieg blobs a high OC anvil with a lot of power and plasma weaponry. Which then hits and wounds at +1, plus whatever Orders and Stratagems because battleshock is not a factor for them and casualties only make them angrier. The main criticism I would make however is one of omission. Krieg currently lack a second Officer option, and while the Servo Scribe helps with that, Krieg Commands don't have as good an Order economy as Cadians. Which, oddly, makes Cadian Officers better at babysitting artillery and heavy weapons, something you'd expect Krieg to have a talent for. See also: Grizzled Company, where that limitation suddenly vanishes, and you're looking at a critical mass of +1s and rerolls, but that's more a reflection of the detachment than this unit shining.

Krieg Battleline: OK, these aren’t new, but I’m mentioning them anyway. They are still good, see above, but that unit entry was a crime against the English language. And speaking of questionable quality control...

Krieg Combat Engineers: I would dearly love to know what happened with this unit's price. Was this a simple typo, one among a disconcerting number of gaffes? Or did someone honestly think 35 points was reasonable for something that could peak at 12 mortal wounds worth of output? These have been up and down in price since, with the Remote Mine rule nerfed, and honestly I think they are in weird place. They look like they should be the Krieg answer to Kasrkin or Scions, but the most direct comparison is actually the Catachan Jungle Fighters. Think disposable skirmishers. Combat Engineers are currently inexpensive, agile, and potentially very destructive to objective-sitters or careless vehicles, and have a melee option. Jungle Fighters are also those things, just with more bodies, and much more OC. They are much less good with respects to Mortal Wounds, but they have access to the Grenades Stratagem too, and a Vox Unit to potentially refund it. Combat Engineers do have use cases, and if you going full Krieg you will have a good time, but be aware of diminishing returns due to how their Grenadiers rule works.

Krieg Heavy Weapon Squads: These are basically a gimmick. A deeply fun gimmick, especially with the flamer option, but still a gimmick. Most of the discourse around these is about how to ensure those flamers get to fire, possibly via Taurox. That feels a bit more gamey than trench warfare, but OK. Meanwhile, the lascannon option is the undercut by the alternatives, and unless 11th edition mixes things up, there's no pressing need for heavy stubbers. Which is a damn shame.

Artillery Teams: By far the most unique of the Krieg units, Artillery Teams have a rather different footprint and execution than their obvious rival, the Field Ordnance Battery. These present as one model on a single huge 130mm base, as opposed to two on two fairly-huge 100mm bases, which has implications for both positioning and their attacks. Off the bat, the FOB can target two different units and benefit from Blast twice, while Artillery Teams are but one model, but are more durable and actually easier to conceal. The FOB has the best special rule, but Artillery are not as dependent on Orders. Both have some undesirable weapon options, but the FOB has the fewest and the lightest to choose from, while the AT is all indirect and/or heavier. With the Artillery Team currently cheapest of the two, I feel that choosing between is much more like a choice than a foregone conclusion. Which is good. Just pick the one that slides into your army most easily. Either the Heavy Mortar or the Bombast Field Gun, depending on points. Other weapon choices for these units remain a frequent trap however.

So, were the new Krieg units a success? Kinda; nothing leaps out as a must-have, most have a use case, but only the horses seem naff.  I just don’t love them. On balance, these are functional, and the internal balance of the faction seems steady. But the amount of rules patching and price changes it took to get here doesn't reflect well in the product as a whole. That said: these are probably more accessible than the Forgeworld versions, at least.


OK, enough about the meat; let’s talk metal. Perhaps paradoxically, the vehicle pool received far less attention for this ruleset, and ended up with a net positive for the treadheads. There is now a tank -centric detachment, Combined Arms loves tanks too, and there is now an Officer version of the Rogal Dorn. That last one now brings the possible number of Dorns in a list to six, which probably would be another balance issue if you could actually fit that on a standard table and terrain layout. There's also an APC detachment, which seems fine, although it's hop-on-hop-off approach isn't my cup of tea. I don't have Kasrkin or any Tauroxes. With the exception of that command tank, the actual datasheets are mostly unchanged, so almost all the work was done at the Detachment level. That new Grizzled Regiment detachment also works great with tanks. Imagine boosted AP and/or ignore cover on every gun a tank has, plus reroll ones, plus an Order. You can do that on a Baneblade too, so I’m totally sure all of that that won’t get nerfed.  Anyway, those mostly unchanged datasheets of tanks. This means that what was good before (usually) still is, guard armour always being a strength. Its not like they did something dumb like retire the Infantry Squad. 

 

Wait.

Sorry, I mean the Leman Russ. But there’s a butt-load of stuff left to wither on the vine. GW seems to want to wind back a lot of the more "Apocalypse scale" vehicles game wide, and in the Guard this manifests by superheavies frequently being discouraged in some rules-exclusion-sorta-way, and self-propelled guns still suffering the Indirect Fire nerfs we’ve had since 2024. There's at least a dozen vehicles currently languishing in mediocrity. I don't think many of these were super popular in of themselves, except when fashionably unbalanced, Indirect was nerfed for good reason, so perhaps no harm done. But it was a missed opportunity. I mean, they attempted to make the Leman Russ Eradicator relevant again. They failed, but an effort was there. They didn't fix the Vanquisher though. Or the Punisher. And they broke the demolisher cannon. <sigh>  They could have done some point tweaks in December, but they didn't. Instead, Grizzled Company happened, which has the effect of making superheavies and self-propelled guns threatening again, as well as making everything that was already good even better. 



Conclusion 
As the general tone of this article might imply, I’ve been a bit back and forth on this codex and the current state of the Astra Militarum as a faction. One thread is obvious lack of quality control evident by the amount of rules patching. I’m not gonna begrudge them for fixing mistakes, because once the fix is made, that’s OK. Something is only late until the point it arrives, then it is here. But with the Grizzled Company, I fear such mistakes are being repeated. Remember what happened with Bridgehead Assault? The initial tournament popularity, then nerfs, and subsequent price hikes? If GW does any noteworthy rules patches before 11th edition, I suspect that this detachment will be a focus. Its not Ork Dakka detachment bad, but its early days. (EDIT circa February: Told ya, didn't I? Its not a total nerf, but it lost reroll 1s to wound.) Another thread is one of vibes. There is a functional army here, but the connective tissue is kinda absent. Its a bunch of combos and key units, rather than something that looks like a regiment. And given the appeal of guard is military-space-soldier-WWII-fantasy, that’s a bit of a problem. Related to that is how anti-climatic the Krieg units proved to be, although I did set myself up for a fall on that one. Overall though? A good enough codex?  A conservative codex. A codex that, like so many in 10th ed, drops a lot of units. Perhaps a codex better for tanks than infantry or artillery, compromised in places, but still very playable. I’m just bitter about the Infantry Squad, I think.

Plamo: The Astra Militarum Hydra

 

While I now have a non-trivial number of armydudesmen, I don't have that much experience with the official vehicle models. Aside from the occasional indulgence or bargain, everything I have like that, is some form of kitbash/salvage job. While I have  previously dabbled with the Chimera type vehicles, today's subject is my first new build example, a Hydra.

As a unit, a Hydra sits in a awkward place. Its an anti-air flak tank, designed to inexpensively defend against aircraft. 10th ed, as you may observe, has not been kind to aircraft. They were always an odd fit for 40k anyway, something best saved for the biggest possible games or Epic, so it's perhaps not a shocker that GW is seemingly phasing planes out. It's 28mm scale after all. Perhaps they should take the Knights too, but I digress. So why might you want a Hydra then? Well, in addition to being a relatively cheap tank-shaped object for doing tank things, it gets bonuses against Fly keyword targets. That list includes a great many nuisances that deep strike into your lines and any number of advanced xenos vehicles that think floating is cool. Under ideal circumstances, those autocannons reroll to hit, possibly with Lethal Hits, and then wound on a 2+, with a reroll. Said autocannons do not get as many shots as it looks like they should, which is sad. But these do have a 72 inch range, so it can cover an entire board. I've been thinking of acquiring one for a while, and then I saw one cheap at Brum Toyfair, and here we are.

As a kit, the Hydra is a revised, call it second generation, style of Guard vehicle. The base hull and tracks are visually very similar to the plastics we got in the late 90's, but refined and rationalised. There's no faffing with individual track wheels, which is nice. That's all on its own sprue, with the version specific stuff on its own separate sprue, which in this case involves the Wyvern as an alternative build. This does look like a simple thing to magnetise, but I couldn't be arsed. The Wyvern is currently a solution in search of a problem, and while hoards may well come back into fashion soon, I'm not short on blast weapons. While a largely straightforward build, two odd flaws presented themselves. The first was that while the Hydra sprue had numbered parts, the track/hull sprue did not. Odd, if harmless. The second is more involved and takes a moment to explain. The Hydra features crewmen models and an open structure, with the ability rotate the business end as a big turret. Now, the sensible thing to do in such a build is to paint the crew separately, you don't have the space to do otherwise, but here comes the problem. The gunner is holding on to the controls and acting as a linchpin for the rotation. Odd, and annoying to work around. As a kit its fine, inoffensive, but maybe 10% more involved than it needed to be. But then again, I’ve never been a fan of exposed crewmen on vehicles anyway, so maybe I’m being unfair?

I made a dumbass mistake with this one, I assembled the guns in the wrong order, which is why the barrels are a bit shorter than usual. I kitbashed a crude hunter killer missile, but only built one crew model, which received a headswap and green stuff rags. You only really need one for this tank, and the other looks good for use in a command squad or similar.  Painting was then achieved via spraycan, drybrush and wash techniques. I’ve got nothing especially interesting to say here, these methods work well-enough, despite my mistakes. Which unfortunately include the crew controls, as that big screen was a problem.

I’m not especially happy with this model as a project. But I suppose its good enough for the gaming table.

Orktober: Kommandos

Righty, the actual Orktober Project.

Much like Stormboyz, Kommandos are another old unit, historically having some overlap with regular Ork Boyz, if having a few tricks. Kommandos are amongst the most parodic of Orky concepts, as their job is a stealthy one, and Orks are to stealth what a a punch in the face is to diplomacy. There's at least one in-universe account of soldiers being executed because Kommandos happened, and the officer didn't believe them. I suppose it works because of the contrast and misdirection; Orks tend to be very obvious, so you don't see the sneaky ones. If you go looking, you can find some absolutely spectacular kitbashed examples, and I even did some in high-vis jackets because it was funny. While lacking in good models for years, Kommandos got revamped for the Kill Team skirmish game, and this seems to have been a great success. I mean, there's even an ork sniper model now, a walking oxymoron if ever there was one. Plus they turn up a lot in merch. I would make the observation though that it also made them very fiddly by Ork standards, with at least six specialist roles and two decorative models. They also recently got the option to split squads, which looks really useful, but doesn't make them less complicated.

As a kit, the modern Kommandos exist as three densely packed sprues, some bases, a transfer sheet, and an honestly mandatory instruction booklet. I don't like the design philosophy here, which is all about fixed poses and excessive detail. Orks are a horde army, let me personalise, and don't waste my time with bells & whistles. There's no modularity as such, each model going together a bit differently so kitbashing between is discouraged, but a majority do have alternate heads and weapons. Some a lot more useful than others. While I'm complaining, I'd like to mention the ever-present mould lines, and that complex bits like the Breacha ram fought back. On the plus side, there's no shortage of character and creativity here. I just wouldn't try to build three sets at once.

I ended up using the alternative heads where possible, omitting the occasional greebly, filing off the Blood Axe iconography, and adding some green stuff work in places. I found pacing myself with these to be rather difficult, trying to paint them over the month, and aiming for posting on the 26th. And like the Stormboyz, the amount of little things to do was a slog that I struggled to get motivated for. But I needn’t have worried, my obsessive nature had these ready for an ink wash on the 12th. The colour scheme was something I went back and forth on, and eventually gravitating to a mostly camo green, with occasional blue details as these are Deathskulls. While this probably makes them look more like the actual military than my actual armydudesmen, additional flairs crept in like mismatched browns,  yellow tan, and Looney Tunes dynamite. I’m going to justify this by pretending that the lads had heard of camouflage, but didn’t quite get the concept. The fabrics are mostly sensible colours, but not in this combination, and I ended up having to go back and change some of these later on.

As tends to happen whenever I try new infantry in a new way, these went through a prolonged “oh these are gonna suck, they suck”, before entering “hey, maybe these are OK”, and ending in “oh that effect looks nice”. Ink washes tend to smooth out my limitations as a painter, while Citadel technicals and contrasts add highlights. I do like how the Soulstone Blue goggles pop against the drab green, and how the blood effect paint works against dull metal.  The flame on the benefitted from Iyanden Yellow; I’m very pleased with how well that turned out. I need to get better with eyes however, I had trouble with the squig.


While rough around the edges, these  turned out OK. I may talk about them again when/if I get to field them in battle. But, damn, I need another project now.

Orktober: Stormboyz

Here we go, some Orktober content. Although possibly not the Orktober content. I'm trying to get that done before the end of the month.

Stormboyz are a very old ork unit, not the oldest, but definitely something that was there when Space Orcs became proper actual fungus football hooligan GW Orks, and never really left. These were the orky equivalent to Space Marine jumppack units, Orks that wanted to get stuck in faster by flying. This was useful, although these were a close relative of the basic Ork Boy, functioning the same in many ways, just erratically airborne. Much like the Shokk Attack Gun, they were much more random in ages past, having a mishap chart due to the inherent dangers of a rokkit pack, not least of which being that Mekboyz find the accidents funny. Playing into that was the old lore that Stormboyz were teenage Orks that were doing the teenage thing of rebelling against thier society by forming organised groups, dressing alike, and marching in formation. Doesn't that remind you of something? Initial gameplay experiences suggest these work best as disposable deep strike assets in 10th Ed, adding more pressure on your foe.

I got these models sufficiently long ago that I don't remember how I got them. Probably eBay. These were assembled by their original owner, with the main thing I did being bigger bases and some minor tweaking. Way back when: I remember trying to heavily kitbash boss nobs for these, but it didn't work out. For this project, I ended up just adding power klaws to models instead, tooling for two squads of five, and made sure everyone had a unique head. Also some gap filling, and pennies to balance the bases a touch. One observation I would make here is that these models are very individualistic and busy. Mainly they stay on the good side of characterful, but these don't have the regimented look of older lore. Possibly there's hints of pilot suits in there, bomber jackets, goggles etc., but it's all over the shop. And that adds to the painting time, especially with all the "tactical rocks" which are being used to suggest flight. But at least they don't look as much like fucking Nazis, which is a plus. 

 

I think these turned out okay. My main difficulty was getting started again after stopping for a week. Basing these and doing touch-ups was a bit of a slog.

 

Plamo: Burna Boyz (GW)

 

OK, following my initial and successful fielding of my Orks in 10th edition, I had a slight issue. My metal Nob miniatures had simply not survived the process, and it wasn't looking to be a quick fix. More a paint stripper and drill job. This looked to be unfun, but then I had an idea. I'd been looking into Ork tactics, one that I'd come across was the idea of having a minimum size squad of Nobz with a minimum squad of Burna Boyz in the same trukk. One rummage in the boneyard later, and yes, I could do that.

Burna Boyz are a bit of an odd one, and they got on the wrong side of GW's "exactly what the kit allows" policy. They are a unit mainly equipped with flamethrowers that double as welding kits, which they happily use to dismantle things. Like people. This makes for a very short ranged but potentially very destructive unit, which largely requires a transport so they aren't immediately destroyed. They share a kit with the much longer ranged Lootas, whom historically have been a bit more popular, but under modern rules conventions, they now have the same issue. Both require, as of 10th, the presence of “Spanners”, apprentice meks with different weapons and thus some optimisation issues. The Spanners used to be able to repair things, but not now, and even then, nobody really fielded them before you had to. While still deeply annoying to anyone forced to modernise a mob, having to take a Spanner is perhaps less of a burden to Burna Boyz. You are at least doubling their effective range, and could combo a Kustom Megablaster with a Trukk.

As these came out of the bitzbox, this wasn't an especially complex project, but I was also trying to relearn my ork techniques, so things didn't need to be complex. The squad in general featured some minor green stuff and kitbash work, with the Spanner being more involved. That was an older 4th ed big shoota boy originally, the kind of model that ends up in a bitzbox because it's been suboptimal for a long-ass time, and I could have left it mostly as is. Fortunately, I had some oddments like the current Spanner head and backpack, so I took the extra step. The cog icon exists as I broke the boss pole. For painting, I checked my old notes, opting for browns and darker tones to contrast with ork skin and their clan colours. I got bit experimental here, stippling blue onto the fuel tanks and such. I even attempted a lit cigar, to mixed success. Otherwise, the colour palette was much the same as my recent Catachans, at least in so far as clothing and metals went. To make a sweeping generalisation, painting Orks can be a bit more involved than armydudesmen. The bodies are much larger, which helps, but Orks are much more individual. There are ways to optimise your painting time, and I did, but you can't just spray these in one colour and then pick out the details. Then again, no human skin tones.

While I was delayed by a heatwave, this was a fairly quick one overall, and a useful exercise. Not perfect, but I'm confident about my ability to paint Orks.

 

Warhammer 40K: Some Thoughts on Guard Heavy Weapon Teams

OK, so you can’t have heavy weapons in guard squads any more. This likely means that if you had a guard army prior to the 10th edition Astra Militarum codex, you now have a bunch of spare big guns to form into dedicated units. Here’s some ramblings on how you might do that.

I've written about this topic before, during the index era when there was only one type of  heavy weapon team, and they cost a bargain basement 50 points for three. Under the codex we now have three variants, and following some patching-the-patch shenanigans, cost 65 -75 each. This means its possible, if not especially wise, to spam 27 heavy weapons for 615 points. The specifics of each variant is something I will discuss below, but their basic functions see a lot of overlap with each-other and the now retired Index version. The argument against Heavy Weapon Teams is the same as it always was: fragility. These units are directly comparable to 6 guardsmen in terms of durability, arguably worse as damage 2+ weapons have use against them, and only need to suffer two wounds to see a loss in output. Placing them in a transport for protection is also discouraged in the codex, as each base now uses two firing port slots, which would be annoying if the idea of two of these poking these out of the top of a Chimera wasn't a frankly daft mental image. Previously, this dynamic favoured the Infantry Squad, which could protect those same weapons with numerous ablative wounds, but that unit no-longer exists. The argument for heavy weapon teams is now their density and availability of firepower at the infantry scale, and the potential to force dilemmas by their presence. If you need more of a specific kind of dakka in a list, this is likely the cheapest way to do it, and its very easy to get Orders for them. Take Aim! is so obviously a gimme I nearly forgot to mention it. Heavy weapon teams obviously do well in the more infantry centric detachments like Siege Regiment (Incendiary), Bridgehead Assault (reroll 1s) and Recon Element (Cover bonus), although Combined Arms is awkward as its it creates a nombo-combo. At the risk of spoiling the article, the overall balance between the three options is to place Catachans first, Krieg second, and Cadia last, but there's there's not much in it. At time of writing, a change of 5 points in either direction could totally rearrange that pecking order. The current price of 65+ also seems rather high due to, again, the durability issue. An opponent would have to wiff pretty hard not to wipe out one of these on the first attempt, and if you're honestly scared of mortars I want to know who hurt you.

Let me start breaking down the specifics. Cadian and Catachan heavy weapon units are very similar, and this will likely remain the case until such time as the latter gets a range refresh. They have the same basic statline, that same habit of dying to any amount of direct attention, and the same weapon options. There is a somewhat incidental difference, in that Catachans have lasguns as secondary weapons rather than laspistols, and can thus fire those weapons along their big guns, but I feel thats an edge case. The difference comes from their special rules, Cadians being rather niche, and Catachans having two rules likely to be useful in every game. Cadians get the rule from the Index HWTs, they are that unit reskinned, and thus get a buff when using the Fire Overwatch stratagem. As this scales up to a 4+ to hit when a Platoon unit is close, it looks useful on first impression, but in the wider context it's hard to get use of. The Catachans meanwhile have a Scout move, and a reroll 1s ability against vehicles/monsters. The Scout move is great as mobility wins games, you can use them as screens if need be, and Bring it Down! just makes them better with a majority of the things you'd want heavy weapons for, although obviously not all targets. Oh, and it does work in Overwatch too. So, assuming points costs remain comparable, and in the absence of other factors, you'll be taking Catachans over Cadians almost every time. Or you'd take Cadians as you'd maxed out on the Space Australians.

Now, there is a temptation at this point to break down each heavy weapon and what they do. Practically however, there's two main options, and a number of niche tools you would likely decide against. That's how it goes with 10th ed units; in the absence of granular points costs, you are doing well if there's two workable choices. With heavy weapon teams, those choices are the lascannon, the anti-tank option and the mortar, providing light artillery. Neither of these options are necessarily spectacular at what they do, but they do offer capabilities otherwise lacking in Guard infantry. I acknowledge that there are usage cases for autocannons and heavy bolters for either Cadians or Catachans, mainly in the context of the Combined Arms detachment, but they are fairly niche. Missile Launchers need a complete revamp though. The lascannon makes it possible to significantly damage, and occasionally destroy outright, a tank at 48 inch range. Mortars are much less damaging weapons by comparison, you're looking at a lot of inaccurate strength 5 shots with the benefit of cover, but it allows you to sidestep the durability of such units through indirect fire.  Please note: neither plays nice with Born Soldiers, that’s why I was down on Combined Regiment above. You take the lascannons to add more anti-tank, and to force dilemmas onto your foe. You take the mortars to annoy your foe with weak attacks they can't hide from. Lascannons are the active choice, a foe has to respond if their force has tanks and such in it. Mortars let you do passive things like screen out your deployment zone as they don't need a good firing position. Neither the Cadian or Catachan options really benefit the mortar, not really. You could try mortaring a tank with the Catachans, in that you do get reroll ones, but you'd be at that all day. Cadians are even less suited, as indirect attacks don't work with their Overwatch ability, and mortars make it far less likely they'll be placed to use it anyway. The Lascannons? Well, Catachans are the unambiguous winners there, although the Cadians could get to use their ability with them. 

Krieg Heavy Weapon Teams, meanwhile are different.  Almost so different they could be an article by themselves, but the contrast between them and the above is important to make. With respects to the more subtle differences, these teams have a slightly better save, worse movement, and a forth member whom enables their party piece while he is present. There's a few edge cases where this matters, they do get up to a 3+ save in cover for example but its something easily glossed over.  The practical differences come from their weapon choice, and their fire on death mechanic. Kriegers have no indirect fire option, they have actual artillery elsewhere, so by default they can't avoid taking casualties. However when they do, and this is another dilemma for your foe, they have a 50/50 chance of shooting in revenge. Consider this to be akin to a posthumous Fire Overwatch; its not something you can control, but it otherwise functions as a regular ranged attack in the enemy turn. Orders do apply, it doesn't work in melee, but you don't have to target the murderer. The complications for you as the player is that these Krieg teams are a touch too expensive to be truly disposable, and then there's the weapons. Krieg teams have access to the basic lascannon, and rank behind the Catachan option as they aren't notably good with them. Its much harder for a foe to stop them from firing of course, which is handy, but for direct fire purposes, you're paying more for the same gun. The other two options are where it gets complicated. The heavy flamer option is very much THE unique selling point, rivalling the Hellhound tank, and quite capable of killing 4 or 5 marines outright in a single roasting. There is no direct equivalent, but the range of 18 makes it tricky to use. Its an ambush unit, not a fire support unit, so you'd need to keep it safe until it can be useful, whereupon it becomes an unholy terror. Burn on your turn, burn on Overwatch, then burn in death. That's not something a foe lets happen twice. Or once if they are actually paying attention. So they need transports or placing in reserve, unlike every other variation discussed here. The heavy stubber option meanwhile, seems to be made for a metagame that doesn't exist, as thematic as it is. While that weapon is great at killing chaff units at long range, that’s not something you usually need. There is a fascinating comparison to make with heavy bolters though.


Conclusions? Well, like I said, its probably Catachans first, Krieg second, and Cadians third. Catachans are just generally good on their own terms, and when running Jungle Fighter themed list. Krieg are much less flexible, but have some interesting gimmics that make them worthy of consideration. Cadians are painfully generic by comparison, but force no strong preference on the player and do the job. All have the life expectancy of a wet paper bag in a thunder storm, which places some limitations on their use. In big picture terms, there’s not that much between them however. So field them however you please, but I’d recommend the Catachans option in the absence of a specific need or preference.

Watch ‘em get nerfed in the next balance patch...

Plamo: Rogal Dorn Battle Tank (Games Workshop)

 

Its been a hot minute since Project Draftdodger concluded, so a brief retrospective is called for. That ended up being one half modernization, and one half new shit, but all of it basically being infantry. I spent a bit of time trying various new units, and the Siege Regiment rules, although truthfully I am now defaulting back to my pre-codex ways. Ratlings and Combat Engineers haven't made it into regular rotation, for example. However, with the infantry done, and I can now do the fun stuff. Hence today's subject.

As a ninth ed addition to the Guard, the Rogal Dorn exists in something of a blind spot for me, and I did briefly go and look the thing up for this article. Given the depth of its lexicanicum page, I needn't have bothered. Seriously, there's a brief two sentence description in the codex, but basically nothing else has written about it that I have found. I mean, I continue not to care about the solar horse lord, but at least he had 4 paragraphs and a recent novel. This feels a bit light for something that's obviously a centrepiece for your force, not that guard players strictly speaking need any justification for fielding big tanks. No justification whatsoever. So, in a bid to pad the word count, I'm gonna talk about some design elements and gameplay mechanics. Seemingly based off the M26 Pershing, the Rogal Dorn is a rather big tank named for one of the less fun space marine demigods. While a battle tank, its overall size places it in a previously undefined category between the already somewhat heavy Leman Russ, and the aptly termed super-heavies such as the Baneblade. GW seems to want to phase out super-heavies though, along with the entire ForgeWorld stable, so this makes the Dorn the biggest guard tank you are likely see in every day 40k. It's tactical function seems to be as a bullet sponge. Its not lacking in firepower by any means, its got 7 guns on it, but it does tend towards being a generalist that outlasts rivals rather than one-shotting them. Its also such a fattie than it can survive a prolonged melee while firing the whole time. Its a vehicle that rolls up the mid board, not actually invincible, but like a Land Raider, it demands a response from your foe.

As a kit, the Rogal Dorn is pretty nice, if having one well-known flaw. It goes together nicely, and has a variety of build options. Neither of those qualities are necessarily a given in GW kits these days. It's never a deficit in detail or even ambition with their stuff, they are good at what they do. But I find myself with greater freedom and less irritation of than say an Ork buggy or those marines I made last year. If you built three of these, you wouldn't struggle making them different out of the box by shuffling around optional bits like crew and stowage. The main problem is the underside, which in a rather meme-tastic move, lacks a panel making the hollowness of the affair very obvious. Its a crying shame, as the kit doesn't seem to cut corners elsewhere, so I filled that gap with scrap plastic at the first opportunity. I also kitbashed a heavy stubber to resemble a remote operated example, facing rearward on the turret, modded a hatch slightly, and added a small resin box for additional character. I opted for a generalist weapon fit for this one, with an eye towards the Combined Arms detachment. That meant three stubbers for crowd control, two multimeltas as close anti-tank, a hull pulverizer cannon for heavy infantry, and the oppressor turret for long range ordnance. Like so many units, there's a few options that don't really shine with the Dorn, and had the twin battlecannon had more punch to it, I would likely opted for that and relived Command & Conquer.

Painting this was mainly achieved via the spraycan method and weathering techniques. I did everything in Color Forge Trench Brown first, masked a few bits like weapons and treads, before spraying Deathrattle green. I mixed up some blue-grey metal for the treads, but otherwise this was simple applications of vallejo paints and such. It was a relief to discover that there was little need for transfers with so many winged skulls on the sculpt. The main difficulty I had was with the assorted vision slits, especially the four massive ones on the hull. I initially tried to paint these with Soulstone technical as a cheat, but this proved to be impractical. Regretting it, I painted the areas black and added some Ardcoat to help it shine. I know the box photos want these to be blue, but in my defence, that's mainly to suggest that there's glass as per the house style. I did manage to find some images of military vehicles with black tinted bulletproof glass, and no blue glass, and that's the story I'm sticking with.


Minor mishaps and the occasional seam line aside, this came out pretty well.

Warhammer 40K: Some Thoughts on Guard Battleline Units

While the 10th edition Astra Militarum codex introduced many changes, a quickly overlooked one was the retirement of the basic, unbranded, Infantry Squad and its sister units. While seeing models dropped from their range has been a common thing in 10th, this was a unit that had been in constant use since 2nd edition, and a battleline choice to boot. We still have infantry, mind you, such as those associated with the three big name regiments, but this presents something a bit odd. Previously, Cadians, Catachans, and Krieg were reactions to or variations on the basic Infantry Squad, and now that no longer exists. An entire play style is now gone. Does this mean much for the Guard? GW has been working up to this for a while, after all. Perhaps not a lot, but let me explore the topic.

To start with the basic template, Guard battleline infantry are a Toughness 3, 5+ Save, horde unit, usually favouring quality over quantity. These have numerous peer units, think Chaos Cultists or Tyranid Termagants, although they are often outperformed by the likes of Orks and Alderi. Guard infantry are usually regarded as amongst the weakest units in the game, especially in the realm of melee. They don't shoot, stab, or absorb bullets very well. These limitations are however offset by the Order system, which allows for various useful buffs. Historically, a major strength of these units was the availability and variety of heavy weapons, but with the removal of the old Infantry Squad that's no longer a thing. You can't easily secrete lascannons and mortars amongst the rank and file to increase their effective threat. This means the battleline infantry now operate mainly in the 12-24 bracket, mostly using plasma and melta weaponry to offset the famously low-end lasgun. A consequence of this is that your infantry is somewhat more likely to end up in a melee than before, which likely won't suit them.  Furthermore, the Astra Militarum has actual variety in its detachments now, and in several them battleline units are actively selected against. Combined Arms, Recon Element and Siege Regiment can certainly make use of them, but in the others there's a preference for the more elite infantry. Part of that is the matter of transports, but I'm not getting too deeply into that today, its a lengthy topic. Battleline guard can get good use of Chimeras and such, but other units can use them better. What do these models excel at then? Well, objective control and screening. Guard infantry tend to offer a lot of OC for their price, and can cover a lot space on the table to frustrate enemy movements. These units can be surprisingly quick if properly managed, perform mission actions as well as anyone, and can be quite disposable. These are not your primary damage dealers, these are the unglamorous workmen or women of your force that score you points and contest the mid board. Where Cadians, Catachans and Krieg differ is how they approach those sort of tasks.

 

Cadian Shock Troops
Any discussion of these starts with a Cadia Stands meme, and then a discussion of the "Sticky Objectives" rule they have. This means that they do not have to physically be on an objective to hold it, and slows enemy attempts to flip such an objective. This is an undeniably useful thing to have in your toolbox, although it presumes that the unit will be both on foot and in motion. That's not a given in the wider context of this army, and it may be something you don't need a load of. I keep trying to use that ability, and it doesn't seem matter much given my play style. However, Cadians have the most extensive officer pool, including a pretty good Command Squad that now grants Cover when on an objective. The changes to medpacks in general meanwhile also make large squads more practical, and thus holding objectives. Shock Troops look like the generalist option at first, and I suppose they are by default, but I invite you to consider their name. There is a certain presumption of mobility there, especially in the context of the Castellan's fallback & shoot ability. Cadians are the ones most interested in objective play, with a secondary (actual/better?) function in maintaining the chain of command. However the other options here are more capable of either A) getting to an objective or B) holding it, if not both at the same time.

Catachan Jungle Fighters
Beloved of the tournament scene, the Jungle Fighters have a somewhat deceptive datasheet, and a good example of how raw damage output isn't the only metric. Due to them having a very old (awful) kit, this battleline unit has no real equipment options other than vox units & flamers, and a melee rule I'd describe as "well, okay then." They can beat up or burn alive similar costed units, but you feel the absence of melta and such. What makes them useful is the Scout rule, which gets them where they need to be that much faster. A Scout move, a Move! Move! Move! order, followed an by Advance averages out to about 18.5 inches of mobility on turn one. That's easily on an objective, and Catachans have a well-known role as Chimera passengers as a side effect of that. Where Catachans really benefit from the new codex though is the creation of their new Command Squad, which keeps the Scout rule while addressing the equipment issue adequately with similar options to their Cadian counterparts. And the Assault rule for all ranged weapons. This presents something of a dilemma with respects to unit sizes and investment, as there's a good case for disposable units of ten only, but you do have options that make up for the loss of named characters like Ironhand Straken. One factor to keep in however is the Scout rule is much more frequent in this codex, through various means, so you may find other options more appealing.

Death Korps of Kreig
Kriegers were told that the basic function of a guardsman was to die horribly, and responded by saying: "Yes please, more of that.". This unit embraces attrition like few others, as minor casualties make them more accurate, while a badly mauled unit will be punching up quite significantly with its surviving models. Also, while model regeneration is much more common in this ruleset due to the new medpack conventions, Krieg has that at the individual squad level and with greater proficiency. There's a strong/pull dynamic at play with this unit as a result, and of all the battleline options, the Death Korps make the strongest case for being actual damage dealers, having that buff ,and the small but important addition of power weapons and plasma pistols to their sarge equivalents. The unit does benefit from Orders, effects of those and Grim Demeanour stacking, but doesn't necessarily need them to work. The context they operate in has however changed around them, the loss of the Death Korps Marshal being keenly felt for example, and their datasheet is an obtuse mess. EDIT: Now fixed. The new Krieg Command meanwhile is inflexible but reinforces the attrition theme by largely negating battle shock and offering some redundancies. Krieg battleline are the spiteful ones, and work best in bigger squads doing a collective Necron impersonation while overheating their plasma guns. Squads of ten, possibly operating from a transport, are a touch less compelling to me. You do get more stuff, but it becomes more likely that the unit will be wiped before Grim Demeanour kicks in. I'm quite fond of Kreig at present, but I do feel their limitations.


Conclusion
I don't consider myself any authority on Astra Militarum tactics. Rather, I expect the issues discussed above to be worked through and analysed by better players. I do however mourn the loss of the classical guard gunline, and this document is me attempting to process this. So, for a practical conclusion? Choose the one you like the look of best, but maintain a squad of each other regiment just in case either the meta changes or your mind does. They are all pretty similar, but they do meaningfully different things once you get used to them. It may indeed be that having a mix of these is the way to go, but don't quote me.