The Power of the Waaagh!

Warbosses are the most common ork HQ. They are T5, which is practically immune to instant death, (except S10 or force weapons,) WS 5, and they can take almost every ork weapon in the game as wargear. (The only ones he can’t take? Shokk Attack Gun, Kustom Force Field, Waaagh! banner, big shoota, rokkit launcha, burna, kustom mega blasta, and weapons unique to specific units, [lootas, flash gitz, ETC.]) Okay, maybe there are a few weapons he can’t take. Anyways:

(The following items are listed on a scale of ‘never take (NT),’ ‘sometimes take (ST),’ and ‘always take (AT).’) (They are listed in the order found in the codex.)

First off, CC weapons:

Big Choppa: +2 strength and no disadvantages. You don’t get the extra attack, but S7 can kill most tanks, and wounds almost everything with ease. I would normally give this a ST, but I will have to abstain on that because of the next option. NT

Power Klaw: S10 hits that ignore armor! Sign me up! the only disadvantage is, you lose the initiative advantage. You could always chose to forgo using the power klaw and fight without wargear for a turn, but you would not get the extra attack normally allotted at normal strength and initiative. However, I can’t see the reason not to use this. And at I4, most units who threaten the Warboss are going to either beat that hugely or have I1 anyways (which ties the power klaw), so there is really no problem. AT

Now onto the guns:

Shoota/Rokkit: I consider this like I consider the nob version of it. With BS 2, you won’t be hitting much. And even if you do, what on earth would you be shooting at?!?! If it is a MC that you are going to assault soon, a single shot won’t hurt him very much at all. If it is a vehicle, who do you think your warboss is, Luke Skywalker? There is no way he will blow up a decently armed vehicle in one shot. And if you are aiming at a squad unit, (say, space marines,) there is a much more practical way to waste your points than trying to destroy a full squad of marines in one shot. NT

Shoota/Skorcha: This one is a little better, but if your warboss is within burning range, he is probably still will be out of assaulting range. Now, sometimes you will have already used your waaagh! and you want to just weaken the unit, other times you will still be within both assaulting and burning range, but other times you will not. A decent upgrade, worth the points but not necessarily a game saver. ST

Twin-linked shoota: Another mediocre gun upgrade, while it could cause a little more damage, chances are that if you are within gun range, you will have about one turn to shoot. And while in that one turn you can cause damage, you are still looking at a maximum of two kills, and that is assuming both shots hit, wound, and penetrate armor. against most units you won’t get any wounds. Also, if your opponent has fleet then you will be in assault range, losing those precious extra attacks. Not bad, though, if your opponent has a lot of slow and purposeful units that you can shoot at a lot before you assault. ST

Now on to the Mega Armor section: (does anyone else wonder why the mega armor is in a section of it’s own, but the warbike isn’t?)

Mega armor: This is an upgrade that I would only take if he was leading a unit of Meganobs. Of course, I am personally partial to meganobs, so I take mine all the time, but if you intend to have him leading a unit of boys, or flying solo, you will want to avoid this. ST

Miscellaneous:

Warbike: Just like mega armor, only take this to have him lead bikers/biker nobs. Otherwise he becomes a juicy 100 pt. target that can be killed in one turn of shooting easily. ST

Ammo runt: The only reason I can think of taking this is to turn an awful upgrade (Rokkit) into a more expensive awful upgrade. (rokkit with ammo runt.) NT

Attack Squig: Giving your PK warboss an extra attack is rather handy, and can get you those extra kills. Or, if you have the points, three or four of them! You could have around 600 attacks, if you spent the points. However, most games only call for 1, occasionally 2. Handy, but not always necessary. ST

Cybork Body: A 5+ invulnerable save may not be much, but will on average allow you 1 extra wound, assuming all of the enemies attacks penetrate armor but don’t cause instant death. Because if you have three wounds, and 1/3 of the time you save one of them, that averages to 4 1/3 wounds. However, 10 points is a bit much, and if you intend  on throwing him in a horde to act as a body shield, this may not work so well. That is, until you get into close combat. ST-AT

Bosspole: If you are taking meganobs, this is a MUST! doubling the odds of passing a leadership test when your unit costs 400 points can be very important.  However, with a unit of ork boyz, you will want one on your nob because he can’t be singled out in close combat. So it really depends on who you are facing, and who you are putting in the unit. ST

‘Eavy armor: if you are having your warboss lead smaller units, such as nobs (or possibly hiding him in a unit of kommandos with Snikrot!) you will want this. However, if you are already including body shields and/or a cybork body, this can get a little redundant. It is all up to taste. ST

So there you have it! A complete review on all warboss upgrades! If anyone has any other comments or ideas about the weapons, feel free to comment! Kill you later!