AoS 3.0 GHB2021 Orruk Warclans First Impressions

 Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

This quick blog post is based on preview copy of the GHB2021 that was found on Facehammer's Youtube channel. The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoGwGjNBBwk . This does not discuss the information actually in the book, only the points will be discussed. If you would like me to right a more bird's eye view of the state of Orruk Warclans as of GHB2021, let me know and I'll see if I am able to muster up the motivation. ADHD is a bitch.  

First, we expected increases, so that will be mentioned in passing and if it can be justified. Second, minimum unit sizes and reinforcement points are a thing now. This is a HUGE problem for Orruk Warclans players who usually play a horde army. You basically pay 2 prices for your large units, once in points and again in reinforcement points. It doesn't feel good. Hopefully there will be some ways to increase the reinforcement limits for horde armies in the future. As of this writing I was unable to find anything to increase the reinforcement limits using the universal battalions. 

THE GOOD:

As a rule, I try to be optimistic It just doesn't feel good to be negative or be around people who are negative, so let's see if we can see some good in this. First, we expected increases, so that will be mentioned in passing.  

ARDBOYS down from 100 to 95. So Ardboys are a mixed bag but generally in Good shape. The minimum unit size stayed at 5. Which will eat up a lot of reinforcement points to get to the horde levels we had before. Running 60+ Ardboys was easy and actually really fun to do. 40 Ardboys are still gonna run you 760 pts and use all of your reinforcement points, but HEY, who cares?! The Ardboys also lost the conditional size requirement to be considered a BATTLELINE unit in Ironjawz and Big Waaagh armies. This makes Ardboys the cheapest way to fill out the BATTLELINE require for lists running only 285 pts. 

WARDOKK up from 80 to 85. This naked dancing orruk is still a great buff piece and an auto-including in all of my Bonesplitterz lists, usually 1 per block of Savage Orruks. Wardokks got off light here. They are easily worth 120 pts being both a PRIEST and a WIZARD. With Mystic Shield back to AoS 1.0 levels, this means Wardokks might make it into Big Waaagh lists for that easy cast. The lost of stacking save buffs is a little lame but it was gamey and a little weird to have a 3+ Save naked Savage Orruk running around. Being able to Banish endless spells or Invocations will be hella usefully for any list coming up against Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch or Fyreslayers. 

KRAGNOS down from 760 to 695. Well that was quick! An almost 10% decrease is great. He is considered your general so he has extended range on command abilities and can keep getting those sweet sweet Command Points each turn. Will this make him more competitive? Probably not but compared to a Megaboss on Mawkrusha (495 vs 695) it definitely makes Kraggy more appealing, especially in Bonesplitterz lists where they generally lack mortal wounds and high Rend. His average damage output against a 4+ Save is 20.6! That's discounting any mortal wounds from Rampaging Destruction. Remember that Kragnos has access to both Their Finest Hour, Heroic Recovery (at Bravery 11), Titanic Duel and Stomp. 

THE EXPECTED:

WARCHANTER up from 110 to 120. With TOTEM able to extra the range of command abilities namely Mighty Destroyers this was expected. The Warchanter is probably the greatest buffer for any army for the points. Violent Frenzy IS JUST THAT GOOD! I'm sure this increase will not diminish out many Ironjawz or Big Waaagh players field. I'm still going to field 2 in a Ironjawz Da Choppaz list or 3 in my normal Big Waaagh list.

SAVAGE BOARBOY MANIAKS up from 140 to 150. 70 attacks. We had 70 attacks at 140 pts. Only 10 points feels like a light touch, but I'll take it. 

THE BAD:

SAVAGE ORRUKS up from 120 to 130 and no Horde Discount. This is TERRIBLE news for Bonesplitterz players like me who relied on our large sturdy block of Savage Orruks with stikkas to hold the objectives all game. No more stacking the +1 to Hit buffs mean that if Big Waaagh isn't changed, you won't be seeing Savage Orruks there either. Casting Kunnin' Bone Spirits or Brutal Beast Spirits now feel wasted in a Big Waaagh list. At least there are is one drop that loads of 20 orruk strong blocks of Savage Orruks can fit in and still be a one drop.

SAVAGE BOARBOYS up from 130 to 140. Well this came out of nowhere. Who is running Savage Boarboys so well that they need an increase? They honestly need to be 120-110 to work or getting the bonus for having 5 in the unit like Maniaks do. No clue why Boarboys got this slight nerf... this affects 0 people since everyone just runs Savage Boarboy Maniaks instead. CARRY ON!

ORRUK BRUTES up from 130 to 150. Ouch. That hurt! Why!? Were they a great buy at 130? Well yes they were. They were still struggling to get into lists for the more maneuverable Ardboys. This increase definitely won't help. They are still the most points efficient Orruk Warclans BATTLELINE unit we have. Brutes are going to be most effected by the unit coherency rule. If you run 10 Brutes they are definitely going to be armed with Jagged Gore-Hackas and walking in a phalanx formationn, no more lines of Brute Choppas. Just expect more of them on the table if you are building a Da Choppas list. 

AoS 3.0 has brought us Orruk Warclans players a lot of emotions, a lot of mixed emotions. But one really stands out and that's da feelin' of DA WAAAAAAGGGGHHH!