Ages ago, Alasdair Sullivan asked the following questions about Orks. Well its taken a while, but I've finally got round to answering them!
"Why on earth did GW ruin my Orks? They used to be tragically inept, like physical commedians. You know, you enjoyed them, but deep down you felt really sad for them, wondering what the hell they thought they were doing. Now my orks are ineptly tragic. What's the fun in playing a bunch of muscle-bound, slow-talking, steroids-for-brains puppy-kicking rejects? No longer am I sure in my belief that Orks were the chosen ones. No longer are they exempt from such irrelevant things like ethics, honour and evil. Now, instead of being savage because, hey, what else were they doing, they're savage because they're dirty rotten scoundrels who actually have concerns and such. How boring. "
Although not a question as such, I'll take a bit of time to answer these comments, especially as I know a number of other Ork players feel the same. First of all, there is something inherantly humorous about Orks, and this is not going to change. The problem we had with the 2nd edition Orks was that these charcteristics had simply been taken too far. Orks had gone from being humerous to being green-skinned caricatures, and and the process had lost all of the things that made them a 'real' race. Basically the Orks had turned into cartoon Orks, rather than the real flesh and blood Orks that originally inhabited the 40K universe.
Rick was upset by this, as the Orks are probably his favorite race in the Warhammer and 40K games. So he got together with Andy, and basically decided to haul the Orks back to Rick's orginal conception of them in Rogue Trader, before they had been hijacked, first by Bryan Ansell and Nigel, and then by myself, and turned into the cartoony version of the 2nd edition. Having seen the stuff coming out for the Orks I have to say that there vision of them is altogether more exciting and 'real' than the pastiche I put together. It also retains the Orky humour that I'd so over-emphasised, but in a more restrained form. Basically, the 40K Orks and Gretchin are now much more akin to the Orcs and Goblins of the Warhammer world, and I don't think that anybody sees the Warhammer Orc army as a boring or 'serious' one!
The other thing that Andy wanted to achieve was to get an Ork army that... well that *fought* like an _Ork_ army. One of the problems with the 2nd edition list was the things that won the games for the Orks was all the wacky stuff, while Boyz were often only included in an army as an after-thought. With the new list you'll find that Ork mobs are one of the most important things in the army, while stuff like Zzap guns and such like, while useful, are not vital.
"Anyways, enough ranting, on to real questions.
Should I deconstruct my 30 shooty Bad Moonz (10 with Plasma guns and a random amount with melta guns and flamers) now because, well, they now suck, or should I wait until the Codex is released next spring when hopefully (hint hint) my Orks will once again be gifted with the ferocity of that which is plasma and the shooting accuracy of anything other than a small child, blind in one eye and wearing a patch on the other?"
One thing we've tried to do for each race is give them their own unique set of weapons, and this is especially true of the Orks. However, the thing that really characterises Ork equipment is that it is *all* hand-made, and therefore comes in a huge variety of forms and types. In game terms all these weapons perform with the same rules (i.e. they are shootas, big shootas, and so on), but in modelling terms it gives you the freedom to give a proper Orky look to your army but arming them with all kinds of guns and things. Or in other words, just count all of those plasma guns, meltaguns and flamers as shooters, and carry on playing with them as is for the time being (but check out the note on looter boyz at the very end of the message).
Whatever you arm them with, however, your boyz are *never* going to be all that accurate. Lets face it, it's just not the Orky way to bother with things like aiming, sights, targeters and so on. After all if you shoot everybody before you get to them, you'll miss out on all the fun of duffing them over 'hand to hand', and that would be a bad thing, now, wouldn't it?!?
"Why oh why do you torment us with light vehicles when even the lousy Panzees, haters-of-all-things-heavy, get tanks (pseudo or real)? Where's my overbuilt monstrosity loaded to the gills with worthless snots and grots to gum up the gears that control the 2,146 gunz on board? I mean, shouldn't Orks have something like that?"
Well, maybe not quite that big, but at some time over the next year or two the Orks will get their own tanks.
"Will my Traktor Kannonz make a comeback or are they forever a generic artillery piece? I want to continue to pull riders off jetbikes, it's oh so satisfying."
See my answer about Ork guns above. Basically we've used generic game rules for Ork artillery to give you a *better* chance to create a properly characterful Ork army, rather than to reduce it. I guess the main difference is that we've made this 'characterfulness' a modelling and appearance kind of thing, rather than game rule kind of thing. This change in emphasis means that there is no reason now for any two Ork armies to look the same, especially with regard to things like artillery. Remember, each of those guns has been hand-made by an insane Ork mekaniak, and the chance of any two of them looking even remotely the same is very slim indeed! Most players will capture this feel by using a variety of Ork artillery in the army, while keen modellers will be able to really go to town scratch-building guns to their own design. For us this is *much* more satisfying than any number of Eldar being dragged from their jetbikes!
(An aside to Dave, who was worried about Orky guns no longer killing their users; you'll be overjoyed to learn that Zzap guns are going to start killing off their krew in the Codex list. Basically, if you roll an 11 or 12 for the strength of the attack the gun over-heats and kills one of the operators.)
"Will clans come back or are my brightly colored Orks going to be mocked by the new breed of brown, grey and black wearers who attempt to pass as Orks these days?"
Ork clans are still around, and we'll actually be expanding on them. However, clans will primarily be a way of theming your army, rather than being a troop type within an army as they were in 2nd edition. One of the problems with the second edition list was that an Ork's clan defined how he was armed and fought, and this limited players freedom of choice when it came to painting and collecting models. With 3rd edition the clan defines what the Ork looks like, while the entry in the list describes how he is armed. Again, the main purpose behind the change is to give players more choice, and to encourage creativity. There is no reason at all not to invent your own clans now, or field really savage Ork armies like those that Andy and Adrian are collecting, or what ever you choose - its up to you to decide.
I asked Andy how he saw the old Ork clans fitting in with the 'Gorka-Morka' style Orks featured in the rules and WD226 battle report. In his view the new look represent Orks from the heart of Ork space, which, as they spend all of their time fighting other Orks, are considered to be rather stronger and tougher and, well, *Orkier*, than the boyz that inhabite the edges of Ork space and spend all their time fighting pansy 'Umies or Eldar. The 2nd edition Clan orks represent the Orks on the fringes of Ork space, that have taken on some of the elements of the cultures they fight against, and sometimes even copy the things that they see other races doing or using. Because of this the rather more colourful Ork tribes of the fringes tend to be laughed at and scorned as by their more ferocious and less debonair kin from the interior, and this has been the cause of quite a few Orky civil wars over the millenia (and will continue to be so, I would imagine...). In game terms, however, all of the different tribes and clans or Orks are treated as being the same.
"If clans don't come back will the immortal Nazdreg and the invincible Ghazkull be lost to us forever or will they return in new OrkLite editions?"
Well, even heartland Orks respect Ghazgkhull, though Bad Moonz are hated almost as much as Blood Axes as being the most 'Umanised of Orks (real Orks are not interested in money, only fighting!). This makes the alliance between the two even more extraordinary, and shows just how far-reaching Ghazgkhull's vision is, as he is even willing to ally with a Bad Moon if it will lead to the defeat of his enemies!
In other words, yes, they'll both be included s special characters in the Ork Codex.
"Can I look forward to any new non-infantry Ork models? New Dreadnought or new Battlewagon (yes, I know about the Ork Trukk, but it's ridiculously small. I can barely fit 10 grots in there, let alone 10 Orks) perhaps?"
Yes to Dreadnoughts, and, in the long run, a battlewagon/tank too.
"Finally, are we going to see more variation in Ork squad types post codex? I mean, 3 different line squads, 2 elite squads and grots isn't much to choose from..."
Yes - tank-hunters, burner boyz, and looters to name but three! The looters will be of especial interest to Alasdair, as they can use captured or bought Imperial equipment, and so can be used to field Bad Moon and Blood Axe units. However, in keeping with my notes above, rather than defining which clan they belong to in the list, the entry just tells you what weapons and equipment they've got, and leaves the rest up to you to decide. As Ork players are amongst some of the most imagnitive and and creative of all 40K players (well, the ones that I've met are), I really think that Rick and Andy's new approach to the race is only going to be a good thing.
So, let's hear it for da boyz...
WAAARGH!
'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go [sound of Orky singing fades into the distance]
Jervis Johnson
Games Workshop Ltd