40K Orks: Blood Axes Strike Back
Games Workshop has another Ork Clan Fokus – this time is on the propper sneaky gits: The Blood Axes!
We’re continuing our look at the Ork Kulturs today with the latest news from Games Workshop. The Blood Axes are smarter and sneakier than your average orks. They value “tactics, strategy and the finer arts of warfare.” If they weren’t orks, they’d probably be leading their race to war! However, their type of warfare goes against the oldest Orky traditions of charging head first into the enemy and shouting WAAAGH!!! at the top of your lungs!
Blood Axes are kunnin’ Orks who welcome strategic experimentation and are altogether more sensible than other greenskins. They’re happy to quietly sneak up on their foes, lay ambushes or even wear camouflage. That’s right – camouflage!
The Blood Axes count as being in cover as long as the attacking unit is 18″ away. This is a bit more limited compared to other versions of this rule. However, they get an added benefit of being able to shoot or charge (but not both) even if they Fell Back in the same turn. That’s an interesting mix and we’ll have to see if Orky Generals can use that to their advantage.
Kommandos
Boss Snikrot is back with a bloody vengance as well. He is now boasting Warboss level stats and the ability to make other Kommandos even deadlier! Combine that with the new Orky strength 4 minimum and Throat Slitta and you’ve got a particular set of skills that your enemies will fear:
Now, if you’re a little concerned about having your Kommandos infiltrate across the board alone, then take a look at Dead Sneaky. This stratagem will let you get another infantry unit up close with those Kommandos to form a 1-2 punch!
Any Blood Axe Infantry unit can use this stratagem – maybe you need some Nob support or maybe you want a squad of boyz backing them up. However you want to pull it off, your opponent will have to deal with a much larger force much sooner than expected!
Strike From The Skies
If you were looking for a unit that could really take advantage of the Blood Axe Kultur then consider the Stormboyz. Not only are they super fast (for Orks) they can deepstrike in from the skies thanks to their Stormboyz Strike ability:
You could drop them in and charge or if you get stuck in, retreat and charge back in. Alternatively, if you deploy them over 18″ away, they can benefit from that innate cover and then move up quickly into position. It all depends on how you want to storm in from the skies!
Codex Orks is up for Pre-order this weekend. Do you feel all caught-up on Ork Kultur?
