Had my first game with the new Ork codex today.
What I liked
Ere we go.
Being able to re-roll one of your charge dice all the time is super convenient.
New WAAGH!!!
I think ork players are going really love getting there old WAAAGH!!! rules back. Being able to run and then charge is awesome and is going to mean more boyz getting stuck in more often. Warbosses are going to become more important and should be seeing more use.
Gifts of Gork and Mork
I took the Finkin Cap and Headwoppa's Killchoppa. Finkin Cap is probably the best one for what it does. For ten points you get an extra roll on the strategic table IE the best Warlord traits table for Orks in the big rule book. With strategic there's always that chance you can roll Master of Ambush and really cause some problems for your opponent. The other ones aren't bad either. The Killchoppa is nice because it gives you some options. It's a Gift of Gork and Mork so you can take it along with a power klaw if you wanted. Since Warbosses are initative 4 you have a way to deal with things like seargants with powerfists, Initative 3 characters trying to tie up your own guys in challenges, monstrous creatures etc. The lucky stick is looking pretty nice too.
Cheaper Rokkit Launchas
A lot of people didn't like rokkit launchas in the old editions. I always had good luck with them and now that they're cheaper there's no excuse to not have rokkits everywhere. Rokkits with your boyz squads, rokkits on trukks, rokkits on battlewagons, rokkits on looted wagons. They may not hit often but when they do it hurts. Suddenly that lone trukk your boyz disembarked from is more of a threat.
Tankbustas
These guys are amazing. Everyone has melta bombs, everyone has rokkit launchas, everyone has tankhunter. It's great. I managed to do 7 pens on a landraider with these guys it was amazing. And they can take trukks so they're fast. And you can infiltrate them if you took the Finkin cap and got Master of Ambush.
Things I didn't like.
No invulns for HQs.
Yeah this is going to suck especially now that there's awesome new close combat weapons, but to be fair unless it's Ghazgull during his WAAAGH!!! turn your warboss was still probably going to be killed by that Demon Prince, Greater Demon, Chaos Lord, or Chapter Master decked out with relics in a challenge. And the Invuln wasn't going to help you much if all thirty of the boyz around your boss were killed off and he was out in the open staring down the barrels of 6 razor backs with twin-linked assault cannons.
Mob Rule
I actually only rolled for mob roll twice but it ended up not going to well after another exploding landraider killed off my nob and half of the boyz in a 25+ man squad. They ended up failing their moral check and rolling a one on mob rule with no way to re-roll it. If you have a character Mob Rule isn't too bad and thankfully you can take extra characters in the form of mekboyz, but if you don't have one it's going to be tough.
Other Thoughts
New Kustom Force field rules
I found the model per model thing wasn't too much of an issue. If you have multiple kustom force fields you can spread it out more and get pretty good coverage. Honestly considering how many times I've gone up against things that ignore cover (templates and prescienced squads) I'm happy to have the 5++. The Ghazgull book's 4++ relic KFF is going to make thing very interesting.
New Ramshackle Rules
Honestly they are actually starting to grow on me a bit. Now that vehicles in 7th don't explode as much and my trukks have things like tankbustas in them I'm not sure I really want them to kareen 3d6" and explode. My tankbustas might end up further away from the superheavy tank and won't be able to punch it with melta bombs. In fact the only reason I was able to get the tankbustas in to do 7 pens to a landraider was because of the new ramshackle rules. Jury is still out on this one but my first impressions are it's better overall.
So yeah things didn't seem as bad as everyone on the Internet is making them out to be. I still want to try out the new psychic powers, the Shokk Attack Guns , the new looted wagons, field some meganobz, maybe try running that Ork Warband formation. My advice is try actually playing a few games with the new rules before you decide if they suck or not. There's some good stuff in this book and the Ghazgull supplement looks like it's going to provide even more options. Try proxying some Gorkanauts/Morkanauts with a mekboy repair crew in side they aren't bad.
