Good news for the Ork players out there!
First of all, we got our Stormclaw boxes and popped one of them open to take a peak. The models are rad, and both Grukk and Krom, the new models exclusive to that kit, look pretty awesome. Stormclaw is a fun box with a lot of cool goodies in it, a mini rule-book and campaign book in addition to all the great miniatures.
Krom’s rules are OK at best, but, he is cheap. He has Wolrf Lord stats, a strength 6, master crafted power axe, stubborn, Furious Charge and the regular Space Wolf extra bonuses. However, he has to challenge or accept a challenge per his Saga (Saga of the Warrior Born) but gets rerolls to to hit in challenges. Eh, he will murder non-combat characters and cut through normal infantry, even put a decent beating on an MC with that many strength 6 attacks (7 on the charge), but against anything really choppy in combat or that has a power first style attack, he’s probably going to get mulched. I can’t stand models that have to challenge, so that is a big turn off for me. If that doesn’t bother you, then you may like him a lot as he does offer a lot for his price point.
We also see the very clever use of Factions now, as both the Ork and Space Wolf units in the box are all units that are available in the Space Wolf and Ork Faction and so, you can put them into a detachment for those armies. I really dig this new system, it is good fun and allows for a massive amount of flexibility on GW’s part to release rules across a multitude of mediums. You can now get official rules for detachments, formations, units, etc. in White Dwarf, Supplements, a Codex, forge World, etc. It is a brilliant idea on GW’s part, I have to hand it to them.
There are two Formations in the box too, but who cares, they require you use the exact models and wargear in the Stormclaw box for the models provided and no one outside of maybe a new player will be doing so. The real star of the show though, is Grukk Facerippa!
Grukk is a boss dipped in boss sauce. He is extremely good. He is a Warboss with FnP stock (5+), a Kombi-Rokkit, Attack Squig, Bosspole, Eavy Armor and a Power Klaw that has Shred. By itself, that is solid as it gives you a really durable, hard hitting fighting character. The Kombi-Rokkit is silly, but hey, once in a while it will do something cool. However the real benefit is that he comes stock with Bellowing Tyrant as his Warlord trait. Boo-yah! That is the 12″ reroll Morale/Leadership bubble. That is absolutely fantastic. Orks struggle big time with morale and this gives them a way to dramatically improve their odds of passing checks and avoiding Mob Rule. 12″ is a healthy radius bubble, too. The only other character to come with that Trait is Zagstruck, however he is a wet noodle and as he is not a Warboss, you lose WAAGH!! if you take him which can be a big loss for many lists. Grukk gives you both, which is awesome, AND he beats the crap out of most things.
Grukk works great in a variety of lists. A foot mob where he is in a big unit of Boyz and flanked by another 2 works great. That gives you 90 Boyz that will be very reliable. You may be able to sneak more in there, but that is a number you can count on keeping in Grukk’s radius during the course of play. Send them up the table and force your opponent to deal with them as with WAAGH! and ‘Ere we go! you will reliably be charging turn 2. It also means that on your first turn if you are going second, you keep your shooting units like Mek Guns and Lootas safer, too as they also benefit from the leadership reroll.
He also works well in a mechanized list as he helps a ton to mitigate the Pin and Morale checks from exploding vehicles. As his radius extends from the vehicle, Grukk in a Battlewagon is a good choice. He doesn’t stop the damage from the explosions, unfortunately, but, it’s something.
The only downside at all, is that this means you can’t take a shot on the awesome Strategic Warlord traits. One of my favorite load-outs right now is a Warboss with Da Finkin Kap. That gives you three chances on Strategic (reroll on the Warlord table with many detachment command benefits). Those traits are stupid good for Orks, and if you can infiltrate 3 units? Good night. However, that is a minor critique. Grukk is a chief!
My favorite line from the white dwarf explaining Grukk ” by giving Grukk a combi rokkit launcha it adds some much needed fire power to the orks”. I literally laughed my ass off, serously its gone now. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since this is the company that uses the word lavish to describe all of their new releases, no one at GW HQ has a thesaurus =p
Yeah, the Kombi-Rokkit is ridiculous, lol, a Skorcha would have been infinitely better, but hey, who cares with everything else you get?
ya its not really big deal I just love how they described it
How many grotz does he cost?
He weighs in at 10 Chaos Space Marines in price =) Very reasonable for what you get.
I think i might actually run the Grukk formation outside of the campaign for the novelty of a warboss, a unit of nobz and killa kans in the enemy backfield and grotz grabbing an out of range objective turn one once in a while.
From what i understand, all units have teleport insertion/deep strike if taking the formation and if all are put in deep strike reserve they arrive on turn one, no rolling for reserves.
Anyways, Waaagh! For Da Waaagh! Gods!
Yeah, and they automatically deep strike turn 1! lol, it is funny, but you have to take the exact units with wargear. That’s the bummer. However, deep striking Killa Kans and Grots is lulz!
While having to accept/issue a Challenge with Krom isn’t that great a thing, being in a Challenge works to your advantage. If you Challenge and your opponent accepts, you get to re-roll To-Hit, and now his excess wounds roll onto the squad. If you Challenge and your opponent declines, you’ve taken one of his models out of the fight, and can still potentially kill him anyways.
So, really, any character that has an ‘in a Challenge’ ability, in 7th, there’s no down side to challenging.
There is one, huge downside and that is being forced to enter into a challenge with something that is almost certainly going to kill you, especially if they swing first. You basically watch helplessly as your character commits suicide. Drives me nuts.
Although as you said, it is not as bad as it was.
Krom does have a 4+ invulnerable save, should help and hes S7 if he charges
Yup, good old Belt of Russ. He is a lawn mower, for sure, and cheap, but a character you don’t have control over frustrates me, personally.
Nice overview of Grukk Reece! Now get some video bat reps of your orks in action :). (with some formations and various tricks up your sleeve!)
Thanks! And Grukk is a boss, he will be in many lists, I guarantee it.
So, if I understand this correctly, he can be taken without taking the full formation? Because, if that’s the case, I expect him to become THE standard warboss. Lord knows I’ll be using him if he doesn’t need to bring the full formation with him.
I used the Stormclaw formation with Grukk in a battle against Nids. Goodbye pesky enemy artillery unit! I chose to deploy dangerously close to the board edge, but the scatter dice was merciful. The invuln and leadership saves were blessings in surviving the response. Unfortunately, we tried to run too large of a game too close to closing time. Nevertheless, Grukk’s squad is awesome when deployed as a formation, especially when it makes your adversary suddenly off-balance. Combine him with Snikrot, deffkoptas, and bikes in your main army to get a really nasty load of surprises in your foe’s face fast.