This past week has given us two new 40K detachments for the Space Marines and the Orks. Today I want to review the new Ork Option called Equatorial Hordes.
Goatboy here with some 40K reviewing time. We just recently got a new Ork Detachment that seems pretty dang neat. It even has a funky name that isn’t misspelled in that fun Orky way we are used too. This appears to be an old-school Jungle fighters style detachment that will really quickly put the pressure on your enemy with some sneaky Gitz.
Equatorial Hordes – The Basics
This detachment is all about giving you 3 Mob/Kommando units a 6” scout move at the beginning of the game. The Mob unit you have to worry about is of course the regular Ork boy unit that can easily have Ghaz attached and a bunch of other leaders to give you a really annoying brick of annoyance that is quickly in your face. Heck you could even see them move 6” inches, get the first turn, and then Waaagh into your face with an angry Prophet of the grande Waaagh. I don’t think that will be the best use of this – but having Ork boys gumming up the middle will be a rough thing for some armies to get through. They call this new ability Jungle Know-Wotz cuz deez Orks knowz da Jungle.
Equatorial Hordes –Enhancements
There are two enhancements for your Beastboss/Infantry Warboss that appears to be interesting. Again since you can join up your unit of Boyz with a ton of characters you could create some gnarly little death balls. The first ne is Kunnin’ Hunta (Thank goodness we got some Ork Spelling in this detachment). This lets your unit get a free normal move of d3+3 inches if an enemy units gets within 8”. A bit of free movement seems good to have when you got a mob of Boyz running around.
The other enhancement is Unkillable Scourge and it lets the Warboss/Beastboss fight on death on a 3+ (a +1 if the Waagh is active). I think this is pretty fun and again depending on how much it ends up costing will determine if it is taken. I do like almost Autofighting on death with very punchy characters especially if the Waagh is active and the Warboss is throwing out more attacks.
Equatorial Hordes – Strategems
There are 3 stratagems that all cost 1CP. There is a Hidden Mob option Concealed Krumpin’ that gives the units Lethal Hits in the Fight Phase or shooting phase. This is interesting as they have to count as hidden in the assault phase which is kind of weird. The next one, Stragglerz just lets you heal a Mob/Kommando unit of 2d3 wounds. That feels pretty good and should let you do some fun regrowth of your Boyz. The final one, Dey’re Over ‘Ere lets your unit get an extra 3” detection range if there is a visible enemy unit within 6” of your unit.
The Verdict
Overall I think the main army rule Jungle Know-Wotz mixed with the Stragglerz Stratagem is why you take this army. The ability to Heal more models is very powerful as well as just getting a cool scout move. This detachment seems perfect to fit with the Greentide option to allow you to have a very fast batch of annoying Ork Boyz that have saves, returning a lot of bodies, and powerful punching interactions. It is going to be an interesting time as the Ork player figures out what they can do and then see what their codex does for them.
~WAAAGH!!!
Don’t Miss:
Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
