Ork Kommando

Stab stab, motherfucker. OI WOT KIND OF KOMMANDO IS THIS?! IT 'SNOT PURPUL. OF 'COURSE 'ES NOT PURPUL YA GIT, IF 'E WOZ PURPUL YA COULDN'T SEE 'IM! DAT'S WHY WE MADE 'IM SLAP ON SOME RED! 'SIDES, HE'Z GOT PURPLE TROUSERS ON! OV CAUSE 'E'S PURPLE YOU GITS, 'E'S JUST TOO SNEAKY TA SHOW IT! DON'T YA GITS SEE THE OTHER FOUR PURPUL BOYZ?

Orks have assassins in a sense. They're called Kommandos AND DEY DA SNEAKIEST AROUND , and they come primarily out of the Blood Axes klans, though all klans have them to some extent. Less "get in, kill, get out" guys and more "Viet Cong serial killers", Kommandos move in small packs (15 boyz iz small fer Orkz) and make maximum use of cover and secret passages to move ahead of the main Waaagh! and drop a load of well-equipped Orks onto a critical strategic point, stabbing, shooting and 'sploding everything around them. How is this different from your average Boy, I hear you ask? Well, where a Boy will see you, charge at you with a mighty warcry and kill you with a stick, Kommandoes will sneak about, get behind your back, then charge at you with a mighty warcry, and kill you with a stick. They also wield a lot of the Ork Kombi-Weapons such as a Kombi-Rokkit Launcha, Kombi-Skorcha or a Twin-Linked Shoota, because they are just that killy.

While most Orks hate the idea of sneaking around and for the most part despise Kommandos, Kommandos are still considered invaluable for their reconnaissance work and ability to be exactly where the enemy most wants them not to be. Their natural inability to be subtle and monstrous size relegates the Kommandos to in-field operations, and rarely do they cross into civilian territory. This also means that Kommandoes get to make sure the main WAAAGH blasts the right things at the right time, as the only "eyes and ears" of the Orks are themselves.

Want to know how cunnin' they can really be? One time, WAAAGH! Grog, a small ork WAAAGH!, was having trouble out-dakkaing a Tau battleship guarding a Tau planet, the Korst'la (the Orks literally called it "The Big Dakkaship"). While Grog was off trying to get some more dakka, and hopefully this time maybe smash the thing, some Ork Kommandos figured out it would be easier just to smash the only spaceport the Korst'la could dock at. They took a captured Tau transport ship, and literally bullshitted their way into the docks ("Help us, mighty Ethereals, help. Ork pirates everywhere zogg-I mean, pummeled our fleet really bad. Please, we need repairs fast.") AND IT WORKED. You can imagine the epic slaughterfest that ensued once the ship's hatches opened. Station went boom, The Big Dakkaship soon became The Big EmptyFueltankShip, and WAAAGH! Grog proceeded to assrape the entire sector. If this sounds familiar then congratulations, you know your history.

However, certain Kommandos of note, most prominently Snikrot and his Red Skull Kommandos, are most certainly assassins in the traditional sense, moving silently and infiltrating just below their victims noses before slitting their throats, taking a trophy and, in Snikrot's band's case, scalping them. Despite this, he is not the most famous Kommando. That would be Spookums, he who can total everything with a Rokkit Launcha and a grappling hook. He also tried to camouflage himself in lava at one point in his career.

Tabletop

Ork Kommandos can be bought in mobs of 15 like most special Boyz, and cost 10 points each. So, 4 points more than your average Slugga Boy, in smaller mobs... What could they possibly bring on the table?

Well, Orks who can make it to the front line without losing the entirety of the mob.

Kommandos come with Stikkbombs like everyone else in the new 7th Codex, and has the Special Abilities Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, and something new: Stealth, which actually make them quite capable of coming in from a flank or dodging through the rubble before charging their enemies with glee. Mind you, they are the same Boyz as normal Sluggas with respect to their statline, and they get the exact same upgrades as well, with the exception of the option to get a Burna in the Mob and losing out on the option for 'Eavy Armour - treat them as such, while remembering that they can and will utilize Cover a lot better than all other dudes in your army, save for Grots.

They're generally a good choice for any Ork army, and can do very well with a bit of low kunnin', but don't expect them to perform miracles just because of their Special Rules. they can be killed by all the same things, and if your opponents bring Flamers, you might as well take a regular mob of Boyz instead, - they'll fare just as well.

A bonus they also get is the ability to take Boss Snikrot (mentioned above) as a free character, allowing him to join their force. Doing this allows for Snikrot to join the Kommando mob from reserves and pick any side to infiltrate from. To make it even better, they get Shrouded instead of Stealth the turn they arrive, giving them a way to survive fire until they can get to the killing.

In 8th Edition, Ork Kommandos can now Deep Strike 9" away from enemies anywhere on the table, as can Snikrot (They aren't technically deep-striking, just coming out of hiding, but for intents and purposes its the same thing). They also get a 4+ armor save from ranged when in cover. Snikrot gets a 3+, effectively making him a space marine when in cover. Snikrot also now has a re-roll 1's aura of six inches, allowing him and a "Strike Force" of 15 Kommandos to pop up with pretty decent chances of making a first-turn charge. This is great against Tau or Guard armies, where squishy important units often are hidden way in the back, where its hard to reach them with conventional foot-sloggers.

As 9th Edition rears its ugly head, Kommandos look better than ever. They are now only 1 point more expensive than regular Boyz, and considering the massive hit to Orks that Blast Weapons are, there is no reason not to take squads of 10 Kommandos whenever possible (saving on those nerfed big, squishy blobs of Boyz).

Types of Kommandoes

With the new release of the Octarius War Kill Team playset, several new type of Kommandoes have been birthed with much fanfair to the community. These includes:

Breacha Boy

FBI OPEN UP!

Breacha Boyz are a type of Ork Kommando who specializes in kicking the door down and issuing an arresst warrant death warrant. As such, these boyz aren't about to let minor obstacles like solid ferrocrete walls get between him and a scrap.

Their ability to smash straight through most terrain, therefore, makes these guys the ones to watch out for in a Kill Team game, as they are great for grabbing objectives, catching an enemy operative unaware or simply smashing through a door/wall to create a shortcut.

Breacha Boyz are armed with their quintessential Breaching Ram, which gives them this special rule called Breach, which allows them to perform a Normal Move, Dash or Charge action on each round. It can also move through parts of terrain features that are no more than a few feet thick as if they were not there.

Despite his awesome melee power, do keep in mind that he only has 3 attacks, which can cause some problems. With 5/5 damage and the Brutal ability, these guys doesn't care one iota about critical strikes unless he charges into combat, in which case his ram gets the stun keyword for even more power.

Slasha Boy

A Slasha Boy channelling Zoro from One Piece.

As the ancient Ork saying goes, “when all you ’ave is a choppa, everyfin’ looks like a humie.” With more weapons than he can hold in two hands, the Slasha Boy sees a lot of humies to chop.

Slasha Boyz are the knife nuts of the family, These boyz are so hopped on speed blood that it is intriguing that Khorne did not try to abduct a few of them in his armies. If you somehow manage to slip past their guard you will get a good-ole fashioned headbutt for their trouble.

On the tabletop, these Zoro cosplayers are dangerous in close combat. They have a rule called Dat All You Got? in which each time this operative fight, if he lost any wounds in that combat but is not knocked out, you can roll one D6: on a 4+, the enemy that fought it in that combat suffers an automatic 2 mortal wounds.

Moreover, his twin choppas have the Relentless rule to maximize his slice and dice action. As such, he is an incredible asset that's all but guaranteed to bring some serious pain in melee, provided he can get their first. Almost strictly speaking better than the normal boy in every way, even his throwing knives are better than a normal boyz pistol. You do NOT want to fight this boy head on.

Dakka Boy

One wonders where he got that beanie from, or if Orks actually do indeed knit in their spare time.

The Ork best known for his beanie and his drip.

The Dakka Boy has discovered that blasting away with his triple-barrelled Dakka Shoota is just as much fun as hitting things, and he’s an unusually accurate and mobile attacker that few opponents see coming. Directly the opposite of the Slasha Boy in every way; the Kommando's Shoota Boyz to the Slugga Boyz if you will.

On tabletop, they have a unique ability called Dakka Dash allows the Dakka Boy to unload on unsuspecting enemy operatives before dashing back into the relative safety of cover, and when placed in the right part of the battlefield, he’s virtually unstoppable.

Snipa Boy

Every Celestial Lions worst nightmare come to life.

Yes, the Meme has been broken, GW has literally given us real-life Ork Snipers. Guess the Inquisition really weren't bullshitting to us that these things exist.

The idea of an Ork sniper might seem ludicrous to some, but Kommandos take glee in dropping their enemies from afar. The Snipa Boy is still an Ork, of course, so he wields a Scoped Big Shoota rather than a flimsy rifle like other factions. If you fire more bullets, you’re more likely to hit, right?

On tabletop, these are of course, your sniper unit in the game. His weapon is a modified Big Shoota that is BS/WS 3+, D2/2 and A6. Not too bad for Ork standards, which should be a given since he is the sniper class.

Comms Boy

If you want to know how the Orks managed to hijack a Tau Space Station. Here's your answer.

The Boss has a plan, and woe betide any Boy who doesn’t follow it to the letter. To ensure they don’t ‘forget’, Comms Boyz are used to relay the Boss’ genius orders to their comrades.

Comms Boyz are as such, considered the rough equivelent of an Imperial Guard Vox Communicator. So he is more of a tactical asset than a raw balls-out-power type of guy. Because of their equipment, they are lightly armed and armored, only carrying a Shokka Pistol as his main weapon; requiring the protection of his other comrade-in-arms.

Nevertheless, they are one of the most important units in the game because of this.

On tabletop, true to its name, Comms Boyz are important in spotting and giving your other boyz increased advantage on your turn. From giving a selected Ork and extra APL to performing a Mission Pickup for less AP. This makes them relatively important in holding the squad together. In terms of offense, they only has the aforementioned Shokka Pistol, which is a gun that deals extra damage to vehicles and the only one that does not have the ability to replace a Choppa. Whether it is point sufficient, however, is up to debate, as the Comms Boy is meant to be an inoffensive unit, so you're unlikely to go into any combat with a Comms Boy. But in terms of offensive power, consider it an upgrade to a normal Slugga with an added Blast radius.

still hardly worth the points as you might go the entire game without shooting it even once due to 6" range and Blast (preventing it from being shot while in cc). If not for Blast, would otherwise be fairly straightforward upgrade to a slugga, although still not worth the points as it's half the price of another boy in the mob.

Kommando Grot

Look Umie! We SEAL Team Six now!

The only non-Ork git in the team.

Turns out, life of being cruel and sneaky ended up a boon for Grots looking for employment in the Kommando team. As Kommandos are more level-headed than the usual boyz, they often employ these elite Grots to sneak in places too small for the large and bulky Orks. However, to Kommandos themselves, they are referred to as "Distraction Grots".

Kommando Grots are therefore, a more useful asset than the regular Grots. Used well, this grot will win you games as the Grot Grappling Hook can zoom the grot across the board to a piece of terrain that’s visible to it, where it can grab an objective and zoom back to safety. Other than that, they could also count as being in cover and gain the +1 to wound rolls bonus, once per battle when selected to fight. This is for that important turn when your sneaky boyz finally get out of cover to punch something.