Warhammer 40K Ork Rumours: Seriously?

Here is the latest crazy from the Warhammer 40K rumour mill. Faeit212 offered up Ork rumours. Rumour mongers are probably just turning insane as a consequence of Games Workshop’s information lock-down. That said, the rumours sound fun and “orky”. After the awfully bland 4th Edition Codex for Orks, a breath of fresh air would be welcome. Even Gork and Mork may make their presence felt on the battlefield.

Faeit212 Warhammer 40K Ork Rumours

First things first, here are the rumours posted by Faeit212. No attempt was made on my part to correct any of the spelling!

In this mornings rumors we have Ork Weird Boys with powers that get more dangerous the more Orks that surround them, with powers directly from Mork (offensive), and ones from Gork (strategic). There are large new squigoth type creatures, new rules for Mega Armour units, and Orks with FnP.

It looks like we get to start off a November with a nice little rumor set.

Please remember that these are early rumors.

via Batty (from the Faeit 212 inbox)
First we can start with orks what i have heard is that they stay the same with furious charge and mob rules but all orks ( not grots or squigs)
will get FnP 6+ as a race because they are basically tough and it takes a lot to kill and stop an ork.

Most weapons will stay the same except choppas are ap6 but gain ap5 on charge and big choppers will be +2s and ap4 and ap3 on charge.

Nobz stay the same but are getting more characterful upgrades available to them, new kinds or grot assistants such as suicide grots(act alot like bomb squigs but prone to blowing up in unit) and
ammo runts and attack squigs also more weapon options like Big shootas and such.

new nob mega armour unit with teleporting abilities but its teleporting works differently from conventional deepstrike bit more random.
There is a special mek character that can bestow teleportation on D3 units.

special bloodaxe character with rules that can bring back boyz units once they are destroyed, much like an imperial guard special character.

A large multi wound squigoth type creature, not FW, it is ever hungry and uses a hunger points system. if it doesn’t fulfill the hunger points in enemy’s it will rampage nearest unit friend or
foe in order to eat.

Two new ork psychic lists for weirdboys, Mork more offencive and Gork more strategic. Many powers in the lists get more powerful the more orks are around the weirboy, although the more powerful they are the more dangerous they are if they are miscast as they will often misdirect or hit the weirdboy and unit.

New ork only fortifications (including an ork rock) and an ork only warlord chart.

The necessary grain of salt: It’s getting crowded

The run-down certainly sounds fun and plausible. A mix of things that seem like a shoe-in extrapolating from the Chaos Codex, a bit of Forge World inspiration without copying Forge World and a healthy dose of wacky Orkyness all round.

That said, if all the rumours out there taken at face value, Games Workshop’s release schedule for Warhammer 40K is starting to look awfully crowded.

Why is it crowded? Well, it seems hard to believe that Games Workshop would release more than two new books for Warhammer 40K in 2013. They rarely if ever did more. The last time they published three in a year was in 2008 (ironically, with Orks leading in January). But rumours already place four, if not five Warhammer 40K books into the coming 13 months. Something will have to give.

Dark Angels: Dark Angel rumours are rich and plentiful. I haven’t even blogged about them. If I had, I probably would have had to update them daily. Here are some recent Deathwing and Ravenwing rumours if you’re interested. As Dark Angels appeared in Dark Vengeance, it seems likely they will appear soon. Some hope the Unforgiven might yet appear in 2012, but with the Hobbit clearly set to launch, this seems rather unlikely.

Tau Empires: The 2013 release list leaked in August had a good helping of Tau units on it. If this list in genuine (and there are good reasons to believe it is not), Warhammer 40K’s up and coming young race would almost certainly get an update in 2013. What is more? Some Tau rumours argue that Games Workshop would use the Tau as a launching point for a dedicated supplement that expands upon the new allies rules from Warhammer 40K 6th Edition.

To be fair, this leaked list also includes a lot of Ork releases!

Chaos Daemons: Allegedly Chaos Daemons are also getting an update. Some claim as early as January 2013 (a rumour that seems to have made it even to Wikipedia for a while before it was pulled again). Thematically, this would arguably make the most sense, seeing how Games Workshop really pushed Chaos in both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. But.. well.. it looks crowded.

Eldar & Sisters of Battle: Craftworld Eldar currently have arguably the oldest range of models still in use in Warhammer 40K. The Codex is getting long in the tooth and rumours (without much substance) that they might get the big Christmas release in 2013 float about. Sisters only got a “quick-fix” in the White Dwarf in 2011. The infamous leaked list details some Sisters of Battle models. Even if these models are genuine however, they might come without a Codex or simply as part of a White Dwarf release.

The problem than seems rather obvious. If one goes by the rule of thumb that Games Workshop will release roughly two Codexes per year, perhaps an small update to one other armies through the White Dwarf, than something will have to give. Moreover, 2013 will almost certainly be biased towards the Hobbit, not so much towards Warhammer 40K.

Which of the rumours than is false (or, at least, premature)? Tough call. What’s your take on this?

If you enjoy reading coffee grounds than I’d love to hear your take on this. Leave a comment!

Z.