Warhammer 40K Hot Mess: Ork Stompa Makes Gork & Mork Cry
Goatboy here to talk about the still sucktastic 40K 10th Edition Ork Stompa, and how Gork & Mork (GW), can make it better.
This kit that has been shoved into an Ork pseudo “get started” box and is something that just never seems to work in the game. From edition to edition the Stomps is usually too expensive, too niche, and too ineffective. It’s a funky kit that is sorta fun to build, but not nearly as good as its 800 points cost says it should be. Let’s talk about it and see if some things could make it better.
800 points is a lot to pay for a model that is in the basic codex. Most of the time, models that cost this much come from Forge World, are built of resin, and are usually a pain in the butt to assemble, and keep together. That point range is supposed to be for those almost meme-like units that show up from time-to-time wearing a teeny tiny hat. I feel if you are paying that many points in your army – it better be able to wreck that many points from your opponent in one way or another. The Stompa just can’t.
It shouldn’t get those points back based on a fluke. It should have a reasonable chance to get them back. If it can’t then it probably should be cheaper so it has a better chance to hit that cost vs action ratio we all want in a valid unit. I also don’t want it to be a broken thing on the tabletop too. With that I got some ideas for the sad sad Ork Stompa.
Stompa NEEDS a Firing Deck
This model can hold a bunch of Orks and it looks like it has a bunch of windows that could be used – so why not give it some kind of Firing Deck Rule? This way you can load this up with a ton of Lootas or other shooting options and utilize this rolling ball of bullets. Heck, you could make it have a rule where the guys inside can shoot and if they hit stuff the Stompa gets to shoot better as it has been “spotted” by someone. Give it a Firing Deck 15 so it can hold a bunch of Orks and let them hold the trigger down on their guns as it rumbles around the table top.
Stompa Needs Stacked Shooting Benefits
How about a way that if you hit stuff with your smaller weapons, the Stompa’s bigger weapons hit better? Remember how some IG tanks used to have coaxial weapons that did this? The idea of spotting with another gun and then gaining a benefit would be a cool option. You can say it only happens when you target things it has hit and have a rule where it has to shoot its “big shootas” first at targets and then you can choose your bigger ones to do damage. It would help make those guns be a bit more interesting and powerful to help justify the Stompa’s 800 point cost.
Let the Stompa STOMP!
How about as it moves around the table it causes issues to the ground near it – literally shaking things to the ground with its gargantuan footfalls. It could be something as simple as the Stompa has an AOE Mortal wound-like effect or just makes it harder for the enemy to come near. It might limit movement too. Just something to do with how big and fat the Stompa is and how it really doesn’t “work” in normal games just due to its size.
Make the Stompa an Ork Effigy
It needs to do more for the Orks around it other than helping with leadership. It could do things like give them an extra attack or a +1 to their charges. Something that drives them crazy as they get nearby. Heck, do things like if certain things are riding in it – it gives off their Aura as something other things can use beyond the unit they join. Make the Stompa a giant walking amplifier of WAAAGH energy and let it somehow affect that Ork army mechanic.
A lot of these ideas are about making the Stompa a centerpiece to the army and I think it helps it out. I love the idea of just adding Firing Deck as an option as you could have a ton of Lootas shooting around it. Or how about a barrel full of Burnas throwing liquid flame out windows where its “nips” would be. Just the sheer amount of nonsense you can do would make it so much more useful and fun.
WAAAGH!
