Well the new Orcs and Goblins book has been out for a couple of weeks now so I thought I would give it a review. I know there are some other reviews out there but I wanted to give my opinion as a non-competitive player on the new rulebook.
First and foremost, I know some people complained when it was announced that the book would be hardback. I for one love it. I think the book is beautifully put together and just feels so much sturdier than any of my other Army Books. The full color is nice but I could have lived without it. The fluff section was pretty awesome and I particularly liked the timeline that was included. The Bestiary section was well put together but no different than other army books. I was a little disappointed with the hobby section as it seemed to only showcase the GW painted minis, there was no painting guide or examples of conversions and no sample army lists at all. The army list section is fairly standard but I don't like how no page numbers are listed for units until the last page of the section.
OK, now onto how I feel about the greenskin specific rules. The two biggest changes are to the Animosity and Choppa's rules and I personally love both. Animosity can still wreak your battle plans but over all I like what they did with it. The Choppas are by far one of the best things about this new army book. +1 strength in the first round of combat is going to be extremely useful and equipping my boyz with two choppas and in a horde should be pretty devastating.
Moving onto the characters. I have no complaints about and on the standard lords or heroes, but when you get into Special characters there are some issues for me. Chief among these issues is their points cost. This seems to be the trend for fantasy but some of the Characters are just crazy. My best example is Azhag the Slaughterer. At his points cost you cannot use him unless you a playing a minimum of 2500 points. On top of his cost, he has Stupidity which really makes him unreliable in my opinion. I just don't feel his rules match his fluff and his cost is just not worth it for me.
Now there are two Orc Special Characters I love, the first is Gorbad Ironclaw. While I still consider his cost a bit high he is actually worth taking. One of my favorite things about him is he allows you to take more than one unit of Big Uns.The only down fall is if he dies not only do you lose your General but he counts as your BSB as well.
The Second Orc character I like is also my favorite, Grimgor Ironhide. I personally feel that he is the best Orc Character in the book. He is hard as nails, strikes first, re-rolls misses and givens a nice upgrade to the mandatory unit of Black Orcs you must take with him.
I thought all of the Goblin characters were pretty fairly priced and all seem to be rather useful. I will definitely be looking to some of them for my all goblin army list.
Moving onto the core units, I really don't see any bad choices here. The Boyz are great, I am going to field at least one horde unit of them. I need to get some Arrer Boyz as they seem extremely useful. I love the Savage Orcs' Big Stabbas upgrade that gives them impact hits. Goblins are probably my least favorite choice though they can still be useful. Both Wolf Rider and Spider Rider units are good fast cav choices. Lastly my favorite unit in the core, the Night Goblins. Give em netters and Fanatics and just sit back and have fun :)
Next up are the special choices which are some of my favorites. Black Orcs are still full of awesomeness, I think both boar boyz types are a little pricey for me, but I would probably use them in a larger game. I like both the Orc and Goblin chariots; it is nice to know if I am getting short on points I always have the option for a cheaper chariot and Goblin chariots can be taken in groups of three, now if they just made it in plastic they would be perfect! Spear Chukkas, what is not to love about a 35 point warmachine :) I almost always field at least two. Night Goblin Squigg Hoppers and Herders are cool units that can dish out some damage but for me will only make an appearance in my goblin army. The Snotlings, what can I saw they are a nice tarpit unit that now have a pretty cool ranged attack option as well. Basic Trolls are probably one of my favorite additions to the special section; again if I am running low on points but want some trolls these guys are 10 points cheaper than their cousins and don't use up points for my rares if I am running close to the limit.
Last but not least is the Rare section. I am not going to go through each one because little has changed with the trolls and giants. I am disappointed that the Rock Lobber was moved to rare but in my opinion the Doom Diver is better so I will be spending on them instead.The Snotling Pump Wagon jus got even better, it has 4 cool upgrades a the Pump Harder Ladz rule lets you roll 3D6 for movement. I plan on having at least two of these in my armies. The two new additions to the rares are both excellent. First off is the Arachnarock Spider. I think the model looks great and the stats and price are pretty awesome. I don't plan on using either of the upgrades for this unit, I am going to take a basic spider and just run it at my enemy. Now my favorite addition, the Mangler Squiggs, These guys are just as devastating as Night Goblin Fanatics and just as random, the only disappointment is that GW did not make a model :( These will always be in my goblin army and will make appearances in most of my other armies.
Well there you have my take on the new Orcs and Goblins book. I think this is an excellent army book which I expect to enjoy playing for many years to come. I didn't write this for competitive gaming, just an honest review of what I think of the book. As always thank you for stopping by the blog and please feel free to leave a comment.
-Meatball
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