I’ve concluded I’m a bad man. I’m a bad man because I promised that I wouldn’t collect any more Games Workshop armies because one uber Ultramarines army was enough. Then I decided I wanted a Warriors of Chaos army for Warhammer Fantasy. So I made a new promise that I’d only collect one army for each game. Then the Lizardmen came out and I started lusting after those. I have the book so it’s really only a matter of time before the first purchases are made. And then I reviewed Codex Orks and it all went a bit wrong.
In the same way that I said I’d only get a couple of bits for X-Wing I have told big fat stinking lies and now I have a little under 1,000 points worth of Orks, kicking off with the gaggle of green skins available called Badrukk’s Flash Gitz. A handy-dandy box with Kaptin Badrukk, 10 Flash Gitz and 6 Ammo Runts. This box is interesting for two reasons – 1. It’s the first time Games Workshop have done a mixed plastic and resin box which gives me hope for more boxes like this cropping up. And 2. You actually save a decent amount of money. Granted it’s on the Ammo Runts as they’re basically free but as they’re quite useful to Flash Gitz I’ll take it.
As soon as Freebooterz cropped up in the fluff of the new book I’d already decided I was going to collect those should I be damn fool enough to give in to my baser hobby urges (I know, I know!). I’ve always loved Freebooterz I love the fact that they are basically dimwitted pirates, albeit dimwitted pirates with large ships, large guns and no sense of self-preservation. It also tickles me that the Freebooterz feel no bond or comradery with other Orks and would happily bankrupt a Warboss in exchange for the use of their ships. They are the Ork equivalent of scoundrels. And I can think of two scoundrels that the geek community are extremely fond of.
So it was inevitable really that I would take Kaptin Badrukk as my army’s warboss (although Lee, Mat and I have agreed to no special characters for our new armies) as I want my army to be as brash and as ostentatious as it’s possible for an Ork army to be. I don’t even care if I win games, I just want to look bat shit crazy whilst I’m doing it. Kaptin Badrukk as a model – regardless of the character’s rules, does that exceptionally well. He’s an Ork pirate. In space. Give him a massive gun and he’s perfect. Oh wait…
The model is awesome. Hands down my favourite Ork infantry model and one of my favourite models in recent years. Whilst he’s not dynamically posed like a lot of the new generation Games Workshop models it’s reminiscent of the old John Blanche and Mark Gibbons artwork from when I was young in the hobby. And for that reason alone I love it. Whilst Finecast is still wildly unpopular amongst hobbyists, and even I admit to having some bad experiences, Badrukk is perfectly cast. Although the Games Workshop certainly embraced the first part of the Flash Gitz moniker because there’s a lot of it. But at least it’s nowhere stupid that will ruin the model with the exception of the sword tip but as that’s pointing downwards it shouldn’t make much difference when it’s on a base and painted. Yes I said it!
The Badrukk model is that perfect blend of Orkiness smashed together with human clothing and technology. The heavily modified Ripper Gun, the stolen naval medals hanging from the very human looking hat. And course the well-tailored, if heavily augmented, naval coat. And I love the overturned chest of teef. And only when you scrutinise the model you start to notice all the other teef. The teef lining the choppa. The teef hemming the collar of the coat. Badrukk is a rich bitch.
And he has the toys to prove it. Armed with Da Rippa, it’s a basically an Assault 3 plasma gun. Which is hideous. Fortunately he also comes with a Gitfinda so between that and that number of shots its chucking out, you should kill some folk. The Goldtoof armour will help keep Badrukk alive whilst you do it with a 3+ save and a 5+ invulnerable. For an Ork that’s a tasty load out.
The rub is that for 110 points he’s bot as beefy as a Warboss. He gets a point less strength, toughness, wound and initiative which is quite a hit considering you can buff up a Warboss for fewer points and only really lose out on a point of save and the invulnerable. Da Rippa though is a meaty weapon and he’ll make his points back providing you play aggressively enough with him.
By putting him with some Flash Gitz for example…
These models are awesome. I mean really really cool. I haven’t had this much fun building models in ages. The kit is as Orky as it can get. The Snazzguns have 8 components to them and there’s so many options that no two guns will look the same and that’s pretty cool. Throw in the variety of heads and the 5 components to make the boss poles and it makes for some fantastically individual (and flashy) models. They do take bloody ages to build though. It’s not time wasted however because the end result is a centre piece unit that rivals even the big stuff in the Ork army. The size, detail, customisation and sheer bat shit craziness of them is incredibly impressive. And I love the little homages to the original models from way back when.
It’s just all the little touches that really set the Flash Gitz off. Built a twin drum mag rotary cannon? Well that’s not enough dakka, so why not stick a big shoota on the underside just to make sure? Your Snazzgun not loud enough? No problem, fit it with a sound deck. No gag. It’s in there just look on the sprues. One of the coolest bits are the strings of casings you can have coming out of the ejection ports, just to really sell the action. The downside of those is they’ll like snap off at some point and it only makes storing large models even harder. They’re already terminator size models without the boss poles or anything else.
The Gitfindas are a little clumsy even by Ork standards. They don’t feel Orky they just feel like an after thought. Everything else just works beautifully on the kit. I don’t hate them by any means I just don’t think they’re as strong as the rest of the bits on the sprue. The nice thing is that they’re optional so you can leave them off. I’ve done a mix in my squad of 10 as some are cooler than others. But that just adds to the Orky ramshackle look.
The Ammo Runts are a cool addition to the box and add not only an air of pomposity to the Flash Gitz in so much as they have minions following them around but their weapons are so powerful that they need said minions to follow them around with heavily laden with boxes of ammo, which is a nice touch. The models are pretty cool and well cast. My only thought is, whilst awesome and basically for free I’d have happily had them left out and the box be cheaper by a tenner. This said, Ammo Runts to a unit that really needs to hit with their shooting to get the most of out of them, they go a long way to boosting the combat effectiveness of the Flash Gitz. Although that’s true of all Orks, ramshackle guns or no.
And of course no Ork unit would be complete without the ramshackle rules to go with it (see what I did there?). The Snazzguns for all their ostentatious glory are a tad unpredictable. They chuck out an impressive Assault 3 at Strength 5 at a 24 inch range giving the Orks a tasty base of fire, supported immeasurably by the Gitfindas and the option to take Ammo Runts so shots will hit and have enough wallop to wound. Where it gets iffy is the AP is a D6 roll. The average roll is a 4 which means you’ll be dropping everything except Marines and Necrons which isn’t bad but the unpredictability does mean you’re always taking a risk when hurling shots at heavier targets.
The other problem they have is that they can’t upgrade their armour like Ork Boyz so they’re very vulnerable to return fire. Only their two wounds stops them from being mown down and at 220 points for 10 without upgrades, they’re a weighty investment in an Ork army. As with much of the meatier Ork units the answer usually revolves around mounting them in a vehicle of some sort and or putting them near a kustom force field.
But despite the question marks against them, it doesn’t take much for Flash Gitz to make back their points and more if you’re sensible with them and choose targets wisely. And the fact of the matter is that they have the stat-line of a Nob getting 4 attacks on the assault. So they’re just as capable at smashing skulls with the blunt end of their Snazzguns as they are blasting skulls to cinders with the business end.
Whilst Flash Gitz aren’t for everyone or for every army – the points value alone making some think twice – I think they’re awesome and will be a staple of my Freebooterz army…once I’ve thought of a cool name for Badrukk.
Kaptin Badrukk’s Flash Gitz are available from Firestorm Games priced £72.00.
Boxes of 5 Flash Gitz are also available from Firestorm Games priced £28.80.
