It's been about a week since the new 7th edition Ork codex was released, and since then, I've done some 'ard finkin' about the changes in the book. Immediately before the release, I had grown increasingly concerned about the codex. I had dug through piles of rumors, ravenously devouring anything I could find, hoping to get an idea if the codex was going to be worth it. And while many of the rumors I read were quite nice, they were simply rumors, easily fabricated and nigh-impossible to prove. I was convince GW would drop the ball on the codex I'd waited so long for, and leave me stranded with tens of thousands of points of orks left unusable.
As my luck would have it, nearly every rumor I read was wrong and, thankfully, so was I. The new codex looked almost nothing like the earlier rumors predicted and, after an initial shock and baseless rage at some of the changes, I feel Game's Workshop did a passable job on the codex. While there are a number of things I'm irked about, and likely will always be annoyed with, on the whole, I can confidently say our 7th edition codex is a great deal more solid than our 4th edition one.
Today, I'm going to go over the changes to the Head Quarters slot and what I think it means for the codex. The lists of changes isn't huge, but the ramifications could definitely be quite large.
HQ's
While we lost both Wazdakka and Zogwort to no-model syndrome, Boss Zagstruk and Kaptin Badrukk got moved from squad upgrades to full on HQ's. With these changes, I feel the HQ slot has a bit more variety now as you can get the super shooty Freeboota King or the Da Boss of da Vulcha Skwad.
Warboss
The most immediate change to da boss is the inclusion of the Waagh! rule. While it used to be an army-wide feature to unleash the unstoppable (or rather in 6th edition, completely uninspired) energy of the green tide, that power rests solely on the Warboss. (Unless you roll well on the Warlord table.) Now due to the limited availability of the Waaagh!, the upped the power significantly, giving orks the distinction of being the only army to run AND assault in the same turn! Beyond that, the Warboss remains largely unchanged with the next to largest changes being a 15 point drop on biker bosses and the incredibly minor difference of attack squigs granting a reroll to hit instead of another attack.
Weirdboys
I don't even know where to begin here. A drop of 10 to 15 points depending on what Mastery Level you want, the ability to consistently gain an extra warp charge, three pretty potent trees of disciplines to choose from, and just the general buff to psykers in 7th... The weird boy got lots of love in this new codex, turning the fun and funny HQ choice from a waste of points, to a potent force multiplier.
Mek
No, not the BIG mek, just regular old meks. While not truly an Head Quarters in the traditional sense, it is rather nice that you can bolster your forces with some handy Meks to fix your wagons up. The potential to get 2 characters and Power Klaws in a group isn't too bad either, but the cost may certainly be prohibitive. My only gripe with the new mek is the nerf to the tools which raised the 4+ roll to a 5+. It's may not be huge, but with my love of ork vehicles, it seems like it's going to hurt.
Big Mek
These guys got some interesting changes, that's for sure. The Kustom Force Field got a better type of save, but worse ranged as it only affects models. I think with proper positioning, you can easily make this version just as good, if not better, than the old Pseudo-Shroud one. Sadly, they lost access to Burns, but can take the slightly buffed Big Choppas now. They now also mount both the KFF or the (new and improved) Shokk Attack Gun on a bike, and they can get a KFF and a SAG-Lite gun on Mega Armor. The last changes worth mentioning are the ability to have either a Kustom Mega-Blast OR a Killsaw (Chain-Fist / Armour-Bane Power Klaw) on the Mega Armor. If you need an HQ to kill a vehicle, light or heavy, this is your guy.
Painboy
Virtually unchanged from the old nob version, except now he's an HQ and an independent character. You'd almost always pay the points to give some nobs Feel No Pain. Now you can pay the same price to give it to ANY squad. Ever wonder what a mob of 30 boys protected by a painboy? Seems like it could be great to me!
Mad Dok Grotsnik
Pretty straight forward here. He used to be a liability, but now for the same price, you get the same ol' Dok, but now he gives Fearless and Rampage when he used to just make them charge headlong into their deaths! I'll have to pick up this guy and see what sort of nastiness he can do with some Meganobs!
Kaptin Badrukk
This guy dropped points and became arguably better with the new Gitfinda rules. While he doesn't seem ground-breaking, in any particular way, he's cheap enough that he could act as a more shooty oriented Mega-Boss. Or you could just throw him in with some Flashgits and throw those guys in a truck for some high strengh, low AP killy fun!
Boss Zagstruk
Just like Badrukk, he dropped in points and got moved to HQ. Don't want to afford a Biker-Boss but still want the speed? Sagstruk's probably the HQ for you. They toned down the potency of his power-klaw feet, changing them from at-initiative PK's after charging to a slightly weaker Hammer of Wrath hit. The potential for this guy in challenges is hilarious; the enemy character either has to accept your challenge and risk being instantly killed by an initiative 10 power klaw, or sit out the fight and let Zagstruk tear up the enemy squad.
