An Old Ork's View

Updated Comments, in response to inquiries if I'll be playing again in the new 5th Edition of 40k posted 16 July 2008

My issues with GW go back for quite some time. For years I promoted that hobby (in kind of a big way, especially as the orks go). I took it on the chin when my other armies rulesets and models were cut (Space Marines and Eldar, I still have a land raider crusader with extra forgeworld armor not built because I cannot use that with the White Scar traits) but the release of the ork codex, after 10 long years, was for me the final straw. What a poor effort. I've noted this before, but have you looked at the "conversion" section? You have to be kidding. The Orks are one of the premire armies for conversion, and that was the best they could find for the Codex?

I'm pretty sure that Jervis Johnson's kid, the one that he mentioned in his White Dwarf article that wasn't smart enough to build a Marine army from the codex, was in charge of design. No other excuse seems to make sense.

GW simply produces a poor product. They're becoming the Microsoft of gaming, forcing obsolesence, and making gamers throw out models and rules with each new release. I hold that these changes are not game driven, but instead profit driven, as the company needs to show quarterly improvements for their stock holders. The end result is the game, their primary product, will suffer, and ultimately so will their profits. GW doesn't seem to understand gaming as their rulesets indicate, I think that dropping area terrain back to LoS is a huge mistake as it will bring back all of those nasty arguments (I also think it's just a ploy so they can sell their $10 laser pointer, which is also a piece of crap, the cross hairs on it break up too much across the table and don't indicate a clear LoS path). They also do not seem to understand basic language skills, as it would be easy to simply reword phrases that are ambiguous to something that is definitive. I really don't think they play test, or for that matter give a rat's ass.

It seems very clear that Games Workshop has little concern for veteren players, and sees new players being its key to future success, and tunes their codices to that end

From a customer standpoint, I've seen our US gamesday drop from 2 days to 1, our grand tournaments almost disappear (down to just 3 a year), rogue trader tournaments disappear, bitz orders disappear, the Bitz bus come and go, Andy Chambers leave the company, their forum disappear, etc. When they do run big events, such as the Eye of Terror, its forgotten almost as soon as it happens, there is very little customer input allowed. And what have we gotten in return? More expensive model sets with fewer models in them (the new ork boyz box.) It used to be if you subscribed to White Dwarf, you could get a free vehicle, now you're lucky if you get it two weeks after the LGS. And now it's $10. Insane.)

I'm sure that some bean counter figured they could save .234% of their costs by eliminating the things I've mentioned, but what they didn't calculate are folks like myself who have become increasingly disillusioned with the hobby, and who are spending their hobby money and time elsewhere. Those cut items represent simple advertising costs as much as anything else.

I may or may not field my orks in the future, I'm selling off my excess GW stuff (which has been great, as I'm getting into model trains, and those are NOT cheap). However instead of championing the game system as I used to, I now simply game with my local friends; if that means playing Fantasy or 40k on occasion, than that's fine. At this time, I'm afraid that the Konvitkz won't be a prolific as they were.

I do know that I will not be spending money on GW products if I can help it. (although those new Citadel washes are kind of nice).

Question to the public posted 2 July 2008

So it's been six months since the new ork codex has been released. Has it acheived its goals? Are Ork armies running amok at tournies around the world? Do other armies fear this list as opposed to the old, "underpowered" one?

With the (upcoming) release of the new, 2007/8 ork codex for Wahammer 40k by Games Workshop, there has been a lot of talk about the changes that are occuring. Well Warboss Bob of Warboss Bobz Killa Konviktz, and his partner in crime Gooba and his Lootaz are not looking forward to the changes wrought by Games Workshop.

Well, I have made my decision on what to do.

After a long discussion with Warboss Bob and Gooba, it's been decided that the Killa Konviktz will NOT be played any longer, under the new codex. To put it concisely, the new codex is pure shit, is an affront to the loyal ork gamers, and GW can kiss Gooba'z burna, Bob'z Klaw, and my ass. After a long, long run, the Killa Konviktz will be shelved. They played their last tournament at Triple Play on the Mall.

Thanks Games Workshop, for the wholesale killing of my hobby.

Why, you ask? Is it the loss of the choppa, or looted vehicles? In part yes. Mostly, however it's because the new codex is a poor product, and I refuse as a consumer to purchase a poor product, and reward a company for continuing to do so.

now you ask, what makes it a poor product?

Is it the changes in the rules?

In part yes. The rule changes were poorly done, in my opinion, as they take what was openly considered an underpowered codex and weaken it. Simply stated, the sum of what was added is less than what was taken away.

Come on Dude, boyz are now just 6pts apiece base!

Yup, and that's quickly offset when you're making a list by two things - other units and toys are more expensive, and in the new GW boyz box, you only get 12 models. So guess what - for those of use that often ran large foot lists, the change in point costs and total number of models is minimal; and for those of us who don't have a lot of models to exploit the cheap boy cost. It's going to cost a new player $100 for each mob of 30 boyz. If you think that was done for your advantage, well, back to math class for you!

You should also ask yourself this - point for point, which 20 boy slugga mob was more effective? A 3rd edition one with 3 special weapons, including burnas, and a nob who had the run of the armory, plus choppas, power of the waaagh ,and mobbing up, or the new one, with 2 special weapons (no burnaz), no choppas, low leadership, furious charge, and a limited armory. If you honestly think it's the latter, well, no point in continuing this discussion.

But what about all of that fluff! Good grief, it's the longest single ork book in years!

True, but the majority of the fluff is simply recycled (cut and pasted) from the older books, and useless. Honestly, ask yourself what good is 6 pages of fluff on the klans when you're not allowed to actually play them? Other armies got traits....why not the orks?

I know it's too bad that some models are no longer usable, but look at the opportunities for new models. Can't you use them as "plays as"?

This one is hard to swallow, from my standpoint. If you take a hard look at these webpages, you can see the effort I've put into creating a large number of units and models that are now, with one swipe of the pen, useless. One of the reasons I've stuck with this hobby is the ability to actually use my models (as opposed to more traditional military modeling), but this is simply no longer the case. And for the "plays as", well to me that goes directly against the spirit of WYSIWYG rules, and I have no desire to field my carefully converted Hellhound as a skorcha buggy. If that rocks your boat, than enjoy.

But the word on the forums is that this codex is now competitive, in that the older one wasn't.

I haven't said you cannot win with the new codex, just that it's a poor product. I fairly expect that you're going to see very standardized lists from successful ork players, ones that include just a few unit types and undoubtedly named characters. To me this alone speaks volumes on how poor the new codex is, as the previous one allowed players to field a much more varied and balanced list and still be successful. This is a GW trend, pushing the named characters, and list "min-maxing" in all of their recent codices, and is a mistake in my opinion. As far as the forums, well, you should take that as you will. I personally have a hard time taking solid advice from anyone who's army I havent' at least seen pictures of, and or seen a battle report they've posted. A grain of salt, that's all I'm saying.

But it's new! The Orks finally got a new codex!

Exactly. We, one of the most dedicated and loyal players of any race, waited 10 years for this? You have to be kidding. I know I've said this a lot, but the simple fact that Nobs may still purchase 'eavy armor for the character upgrade clearly indicates to me that this was not proof read or play tested carefully by GW. Think I'm wrong? Than go ahead, and spend that 5pts on 'eavy armor for your nob in that mob of 20+ boys, and see how often his extra armor save comes into use. Just because it's "new" doesn't make it "good".

Sorry Scarps, I'm still not buying it.

That's your decision, but before you make up your mind, let me challange you: Find the picture of the, no forget that, any battlewagon in the 2008 codex. What's that? You can't? That's because there isn't one. What a wonderful product they produce, when one of the most important vehicle models in the amy list cannot even be found in the codex. Heck, it's bad enough they don't make a basic model for this, but couldn't they have at least cut and pasted the pictures of the ones from the old codex? Cudos to Adrian Wood, his battlewagon was of great inspiration to me when I started playing orks, and that was because there was a picture of it in the CODEX. Or was GW unable to find a battlewagon *cough* forgeworld *cough* the-waaagh *cough* on the Internet. Oh yeah, this is a great piece of workmanship, this codex.

Like I say, this is a shit product. To quote one of my favorite Big Mekz, 'nuff said.

So no more GW. I will NOT be buying any more GW product if I can help it, other than a few bits to finish out my Marines that are in process, or for my fantasy armies.

I refuse to financially, or morally support Games Workshop any longer, and for those long term readers, you know that I've done more than my fair share of both in the past.

Older Stuff...

This series is going to contain a varity of articles and playtesting of the new codex from my standpoint; be forwarned that these do not put the new codex into a positive view, so if you're a true GW fanboy, you may wish to change your internet channel.

Preview of the new ork codex, with reader feedback

A sample battle report using the new dex

So what did we get anyway....

The Warboss

Slugga Boyz

Now I've also worked up and actual model to represent GW's hope for the orks in the future. And here he is! Complete with a beaten dog demeanor, and instead of mighty choppa that his predecessors used, the current "slugga" boys is armed with an nice piece of wet pasta, soon to be feared across the 41st. Millennium.

'ere is dem nasty legal bits:

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