[IA 8 Review] Elites: Dread Mob

*Yawns* Hey what's up? This one took a bit to write, mostly as it took a bit of unit analysis and testing. This said, the Elites review.

Elites:
Unlike the Troops, Elite units in a 40k army tend to be more specialized than Troops; be it dedicated tank-hunting units like Fire Dragons or Hive Guard, or specialist/disruption units like Marbo or Deathleaper, the Elites generally act as a focused support element to the rest of the army as a whole. There are exceptions of course, with the Tau having the multipurpose Crisis Suits acting as a shoot-it-all unit, or Space Wolves having the *highly* flexible and customizable Wolf Guard. The Dread Mob units are a blur between these however.

Burnaboyz:
There were several complaints leveled at the Burna Boyz in the previous Ork codex: That they were overspecialized anti-infantry, they competed with Lootas, and that they couldn't take dedicated transports. On the bright side, they now can take a Dedicated Transport, even though it's the not-quite-a-Wartrukk Scrap Trukk (which will be reviewed alongside the Troops section).

Most importantly, with Lootas moved to heavy support, and better AT built into the army as a whole, one can more easily afford to take a Burnaboy unit in some armies; that one can attach a Pain Dok to their unit to improve their resiliency only further helps, though in general the units they're supposed to dismantle ignore saves anyway.

A secondary option exists in using them as a passenger unit for an artillery-based Big Trakk for they can be taken in units of less than 10, and this is something I do wish to experiment with more; the ability of the Dread Mob to put out a *lot* of vehicles looks like it could make for a relatively attractive option, providing a mass of repair rolls for cheap cost, and point-defense flamers, though I do need to test this out.

Mekboy Junka:
Also takeable as a Dedicated Transport for a Big Mek, it's an open-topped Rhino with the same passenger capacity, costing slightly less than a Las/Plas Razorback in exchange for several features.It has 3 Big Shootas on it, a Turbo-Charger, and a freebie option selected from Deffrolla, and upgrades that are not Deffrollas. So it's a cheap Deffrolla on a fragile platform but wait! See that Turbo-Charger? On any roll but a 1 (which immobilizes the vehicle; EDIT: Thank goodness the Junka gets Grot Riggers built into its cost, no?), the Junka can move as a Fast Vehicle. Yes, it's a Fast Deffrolla, though a fragile one; considering that you aren't using this vehicle to transport a superunit anyway, a 'Ard Case is pretty much mandatory for this vehicle.

There additionally are several options available to this vehicle. It has the option to swap out any of the Big Shootas for Skorchas for free, which is really worth considering considering the point-blank nature of the vehicle makes it prone to wander into enemy infantry units. Alternately, it can spend points to replace the Big Shootas with Rokkit Launchas, or to twin-link said weapons. However, the point-costs to pull this off on such a fragile vehicle are not worth it in the long run.

Other options include reducing the vehicle to Razorback Transport Capacity, in order to pick up some "Kustom" gear. Of these options, the Big Zzappa is expensive and unreliable (Imagine a Zzap Gun, already fickle, only triple the cost and make it d3 shots!), and the Shokk Attack Gun and Kustom Forcefield grossly overcosted, the SAG almost tripling the base cost of the vehicle! This said, the Supa-Skorcha and Grot Bomb Launcha are both reasonably costed for what they do; the former is a Flamestorm Cannon equivalent which is delicious, though with three Flamers already, is it *really* necessary; if you wanted to keep the Big Shootas, it does make sense though... The Grot Bomb is far more appealing though, costing like an old Hunter Killer Missile but instead being a one-shot twin-linked Barrage Battle Cannon shot...and you can buy two of them for a Junka! It's entirely reasonable for an Ork army to take 2 Kustom Forcefield Meks (or Shokk Attack Gun Meks even), and the full 5 Mekboy Junkas with Deffrollas, triple Skorchas and Grot Bomb Launchas, and use them to throw out an inordinate amount of firepower over the first few turns as they advance towards the enemy. Backed by a wall of Lootas, and the army becomes a frightening affair to face.

Cybork Slasha Mob:
Finally for those who are feeling lucky, there's finally the Cybork Slasha Mob. Essentially a more expensive Nob Squad with a Painboy and Cybork bodies built into the cost, and the inability to buy a Waaagh Banner or Bikes, it pays additional points to get a roll on a special chart pregame. It has a 33% chance of acquiring no bonus, a 33% chance of acquiring Fleet, or a 33% chance acquiring Toughness 5 & Slow and Purposeful. As a whole, the unit is too unreliable for its use; while they *can* be used in conjunction with the mass rotating of the Warkopta to get a turn 1 Assault against certain enemy armies as part of a Deffkopta Alphastrike, or to become more survivable against Strength 8, ultimately I'm not sold on them. I would need to get some games in with them though so the jury's out.

Summary: Mekboy Junkas are an great addition, providing access to fast-moving Deffrollas and a respectable early-game artillery salvo. Burnaboyz, while still overspecialized for many Ork armies, are no longer in direct competition with Lootas, and now can get their own transport. Cybork Slashas can provide a fast-moving beatstick unit in a Warkopta build, but in general are too unreliable for general use.