The Orks hit Armageddon swinging with new 11th edition rules and five character datasheets for Warboss, Bigboss, Bannernob, Painboy, and Weirdboy.
Games Workshop just dropped the full character roster for the Orks side of the Armageddon launch box, and there’s a lot more here than the usual “Warboss and supporting cast” rollout. Five character datasheets are here, and all of them are brand new sculpts that totally reshape what Ork units look like in 11th Edition.
If you’ve been mashing the same character combo into every list for years, the next time you play your green tide, it’s going to look different. Two new attached characters mean two new options for stacking buffs onto a brick of Boyz, and a few of these rules look extremely nasty when you stack them up.
So let’s break down what each of these five Ork characters does, and which datasheets are quietly going to reshape their listbuilding once players figure the math out.
- The Warboss is the new combat anchor: Da Biggest and da Best gives +4 attacks during the Waaagh!, putting him at ten attacks, hitting on 2s at S8 AP-2 D2 with Cleave 1.
- The Bigboss is the Lieutenant slot Orks have been waiting for: a cheap second attached character with Sustained Hits 1 and +1 to charge that stacks across two bricks instead of one deathstar.
- The Bannernob’s +1 Toughness while the Waaagh! is active: pushes a 20-Boyz mob to T6, halves chip damage from S5 weapons, and stacks with Painboy FNP 5+ for a brick opponents will have a hard time with.
The Warboss Datasheet Is the New Anchor of Every Ork List
The Ork Warboss is the top-billed model in this reveal, and the new rules pretty much earn him that spot. You’re getting M6″, T5, W6, Sv4+ with a 5+ invuln, and a Kustom Choppa with Cleave 1 hitting at S8, AP-2, D2 with six attacks at WS2+.
That’s already mean, but the real punch is Da Biggest and da Best ability turns him into a Marine killing machine.
- Da Biggest and da Best: while the Waaagh! is active for the Warboss’s unit, his melee weapons get +4 attacks. That’s not a typo either, Ten attacks, hitting on 2s, with +1 to hit from Might Is Right, on S8 AP-2 D2.
- Lead options: He can lead Boyz, Breaka Boyz, or Nobz, which keeps his target list focused on the actual fighting infantry rather than support models.
- Explosives keyword: He’s an Explosives keyword character now, which is just a fun little detail that suggests GW has kustom-grenade strats coming down the pipe.
So, against a 20-strong mob of Boyz with the Cleave ability, that’s 14 attacks and exactly the bully profile a Warboss should have. For the price of a single attached character, that’s the most punishment any basic Ork Warlord profile has put out in a while!
The Bigboss Is the Lieutenant Slot Orks Have Been Waiting For
This is the one that really changes Ork list-building forever, because having a Warboss is great, but this datasheet brings the extra support Orks have been asking for. The Bigboss is a Lieutenant-equivalent, and the source even calls it out with a cheeky footnote (“It’s not just a Space Marine thing”). Orks have watched Marines run a cheap second-character slot since 9th, and now Boyz finally get the same trick.
Statwise, he’s a smaller Warboss: M6″, T5, W5, Sv4+, swinging a two-handed big choppa at A5, WS3+, S7, AP-1, D2 with Cleave 1. The melee profile is solid on its own, but the real value comes in the abilities:
- Breakin’ Heads: gives the unit Sustained Hits 1 on melee.
- Somethin’ to Prove: gives the unit +1 to charge rolls.
Both of those stack with whatever the Warboss is already bringing, but obviously, he doesn’t have to be in the same unit as the Warboss. Now, Ork players can split their characters across elite infantry bricks instead of jamming everything into one giant deathstar.
So, if you’ve been stuck running shooty support characters in your second slot because nothing in the codex felt punchy enough to justify the points, the Bigboss is the fix.
The Bannernob Is a Toughness Buff That Quietly Breaks Math
The Bannernob is the third new sculpt, and on paper, the datasheet looks modest. M6″, T5, W4, Sv4+ with a 5+ invuln, OC6, packing a regular shoota and a choppa. That’s nothing that’s going to win the game in combat, but don’t forget, most of the support characters make up for their points in abilities.
- Waaagh! Banner: To start, he just gives any unit he joins a 5+ Invuln, and that’s awesome. Then, while the Waaagh! is active, the unit gets +1 Toughness.
- Attach options: He can attach to basically every infantry unit in the codex: Boyz, Breaka Boyz, Burna Boyz, Flash Gitz, Lootas, Nobz, Tankbustas.
So that absolutely breaks the math, but in a good way for the Orks. Now, a 20-strong Boyz mob going from T5 to T6 means S5 weapons wound on 5s instead of 4s, and a lot of the chip damage that normally grinds Boyz down across the midboard suddenly does half as much work. Then, the 5+ Invuln save makes units far tougher than your opponent is ready for. Pair that with the Painboy’s Feel No Pain 5+, and you’ve got an attached-character brick of Boyz that opponents will have a very hard time removing.
Plus, that’s a wide spread of “attach targets”, and it means the Bannernob slot is the new “anywhere” character that fixes whatever brick needs the biggest durability bump.
Lore-wise, this is the model that took the longest to earn its way onto the table. Nobz have to fight for the right to carry the banner, and the rules profile rewards that fluff with a buff that does something big on the table now.
The Painboy Datasheet Stayed Mostly the Same, and That’s Fine
Of all the Ork characters in the box, the Painboy is the one GW touched the least, and honestly, he didn’t need much. M6″, T5, W3, Sv5+.
- Dok’s Toolz: gives the unit Feel No Pain 5+. FNP 5+ on a 20-strong Boyz mob is still one of the best survivability tricks for them.
- Grot Orderly: once per battle, gives back D3 destroyed bodyguard models. Bringing back D3 models in your Command phase is the kind of repeatable resilience that punishes opponents who don’t fully finish a unit on the turn they commit to it.
- Hold Still and Say Aargh: on the ‘Urty Syringe, score a critical wound on a non-Vehicle unit, and the target takes D6 mortal wounds. That’s a sneaky character sniper profile rolled into a support character, which keeps the Painboy threatening even when opponents try to ignore him.
The new sculpt is honestly fantastic too. The Grot assistant tucked into the base sells the whole “shockingly brutal battlefield medicine” vibe too.
For Ork players who were worried the rework would NERF one of the army’s most reliable models, you can relax because he’s still the same incredibly annoying combination of resurrection engine and durability buff.
The Weirdboy Datasheet Keeps Da Jump and Adds a New Mortal Wound Engine
The new Weirdboy is the wild card here, and the new datasheet really plays that up.
- Da Jump: He kept it basically intact. Roll a d6 in the Movement phase, on a 1 he eats D6 mortal wounds, on a 2-6 his unit goes into Strategic Reserves and gets Deep Strike for the phase, including in the first battle round.
- ‘Eadbanger: The ability adds +1 to the Strength and Damage of ‘Eadbanger for every 5 models in the unit he’s attached to. Stick him in a 20-Boy mob, and you’re firing a Precision Psychic attack at S10 D5 from 24″ away.
- Hazardous at 10+ models: At 10+ models, ‘Eadbanger gains the Hazardous keyword. So the bigger the unit gets, the more the Weirdboy’s own dice can blow him up.
Exploding heads is fun and thematic (and if you kill a character, it pays for the model already), but Da Jump is why you take a Weirdboy for sure. First-battle-round Deep Strike on a brick of Boyz is the kind of tactic that can win games before turn one ends.
Predictably, he’s locked to leading Boyz only. No Nobz, or Burna Boyz, but honestly Boyz are the unit you want him in anyway for the ‘Eadbanger scaling.
Final Thoughts on the New Ork Datasheets Armageddon Reveal
So, how does all this fit into Ork armies now? The new Ork Armageddon datasheets bring one of the strongest character packs the faction’s gotten in any edition, and the Bigboss is the one that absolutely does the most damage overall (Sustained Hits on 20 Boyz is just wild). A second cheap attached-character slot is also something Marine players have abused for years, and now Orks finally have the tool to match.
Overall, that’s five new character models that work together neatly to make the launch box feel worth it for new or veteran players.
And if these are just the characters in the box, the real question is what else GW is holding back for the Ork codex wave that’s rumored for later this year. Because if the launch-box characters are already this loaded, the codex wave’s new rules could be even better!
🔗 Related Reads:
- How to Play Orks in 40k – Army Playstyles Guide
- Warhammer 40k Armageddon Box Set Contents and Value
- Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Rules Hub
- New Orks on the Way for 11th Edition
- Games Workshop New Releases Roadmap
