I should have known better, after all these years I should have known better. Was I seduced by the enormity of the Arachnarok Spider? Was I deluded by the hype regarding Orc tribes? Was I enamoured by the Nasty Sulkers? Was I washed away on the tide of euphoria surrounding a new Orc and Goblin Army Book. You bet I was! Was I once again suckered by the omnipotent GW? You bet I was.
I suppose it is because the Orcs and Goblins are so dear to my heart that I believe it is impossible for GW to produce an army book worthy of them. However putting my own personal prejudice to one side this book is still a bitter disappointment.
As a book lover the new format for the books themselves is delightful. It feels nice, it smells nice and it handles nicely. It is everything a book should be. However it is supposed to be a gaming manual and as such it is bulky, cumbersome and heavy. The claims that it was full of all new artwork were of course an exaggeration. There is plenty of small new art but also a rehash of a lot of popular old stuff including the cover of the last book!
As for the rules content well… This book perfectly fits the ethos of the new Warhammer. Its emphasis is upon fun rather than competitive supremacy. Personally I think that is great. Yes I believe that Warhammer should be fun before anything else. However, the Orcs and Goblins are the only ones playing to these rules at the moment. In particular the new, more complicated, animosity rules heavily penalise a catastrophic failure with two units taking casualties and losing a whole turn’s activity. Yeah that is loads of fun guys, not!
Now we come to the big jaw dropper; the cheapest magic item is worth 50 pts. But that is ok because there is only eight magic items in total. Two magic weapons, one magic armour, one arcane item, three banners and an enchanted item. There you go; good luck kitting out your own orc hero with that lot. Sure there is loads of generic stuff but where is the excitement in that?
Sorry this army book gets a big thumbs down from me. Your best bet is not to buy this book until they have levelled the field a little by nobbling a few other armies with their new “fun” rules.
Grumpy Old Orc 