Plastic Ork Warboss: First Impressions

Games Workshop has finally succeeded in making a cool plastic ork warboss model.

Over the last few months on Dragged into Turbolasers, we have been talking about the new Warhammer 40k Ork models, starting with their first reveals for the new edition. The models are finally available in stores, so we decided to purchase some to assess their quality firsthand. The warboss model was one of our favorites from the released photographs, so we thought it would be a good one to put together!

After opening the box, one of the first things I noticed was how large the model was. The warboss towers over standard boys and even the larger nobz. The model's torso is massive, but it impressively does not make the model look clumsy and oafish (looking at the Necromunda Orlock ganger models…). The arms and legs, while heavily muscled, look much more lithe and limber than some of the orks of the past. One could actually envision this model moving around.

The warboss model offers an impressive range of customization options, many of which aren't obvious from the box art or the listing on Games Workshop's website. This is especially true of the head options, which are made by combining an upper head and lower jaw, each with four options. These include stuff like a lower jaw with a cigar and another with an iron jaw. For the upper heads, they have one with a military cap suitable for a Blood Axe.

The helmeted head also lets you add extra armor plates to the sides of the helmet.

The model has two belt options that make small modifications to the armor plates that, while minor, noticeably change the model's overall look.

The kustom shoota the warboss carries is surprisingly small by GW and ork standards. Surprisingly, it is about the same size as the standard shootas carried by the ork boys (aside from it being two linked together).

The kustom shoota comes with two separate attachments to make it a kombi-skorcha or kombi-rokkit launcher. Both slot in nicely on the undercarriage of the weapon. Fortunately, the undercarriage of the weapon is fully detailed, so if you decide not to add either attachment, it does not look out of place.

Aside from the kustom shoota, you can choose to equip your warboss with a kustom choppa or a power claw. The kustom choppa has a little on-off switch to electrify the weapon, which is a fun detail that adds an appreciated level of veracity.

The power claw includes a heavy-duty cable that ends in a small gasoline canister to fuel it. In another impressive detail, they sculpted a valve on the canister to open or close the fuel flow to the weapon (which would almost certainly be accessed by the Warboss’ grot helper).

The model comes with a back banner pole with a sculpted banner. Thankfully, the banner is relatively plain, giving painters much more flexibility. There are a series of three ork glyphs that you can glue to the top of the banner for further customization.

Unfortunately, if you decide you don't want to give your warboss a banner, you will need to do some cutting and sculpting to rework the harness on their back.

The kit comes with a chainsword that can be attached to the model’s belt. Fortunately, the kit was designed so that if you choose not to use it, you don't need to sculpt to fill gaps on the belt.

As a callback to a previous warboss model, the set includes an optional attack squig that can be chained to the model's belt.

One interesting and impressive detail is the shell casings on the model’s scenic base. Each casing has a dented primer, as you would expect for a fired cartridge. Most GW models I've seen in the past don't even bother to sculpt the primer, let alone whether it is dented.

In addition to being well-designed, the individual pieces were cut cleanly on the sprue to minimize undercuts and areas of poor definition. Still, some areas have extra plastic that should be trimmed or reshaped. One clear example is on the bottom of the model's right boot. Part of the metal spikes are not formed properly and slope down awkwardly.

With an X-Acto knife and a little careful cutting, I removed all the extra unwanted plastic from the sole of the model's right boot.

When assembling the model, most seams are pretty well hidden, minimizing the need for a lot of gap filling. The most obvious ones are on the shoulder pads. Here, I smoothed the gaps with plastic glue and sanding.

The warboss also comes with a gretchin helper (ammo runt) carrying additional ammunition and explosives. They have many visual characteristics similar to the Rebel Grot Head Honcho from Gorkamorka (and I can see many people using the model for just that purpose when playing Gorkamorka). Additionally, the model is very similar in size to the old Gorkamorka grot models.

The new ork warboss model has been a breath of fresh air for my hobby work recently. It has been a while since I have been this excited about a modern Games Workshop sculpt. Maxime Corbeil and the Warhammer Studio team have done an amazing job, capturing visual elements of warboss models from the past while creating something new and visually distinct. And dare I say this is the nicest warboss model Games Workshop has released! If you are at all interested in orks, I think you should do yourself a favor and acquire the model! I am still working on the model and doing some minor conversion work, but when I am finished, expect another blog post taking a closer look at the conversion.

- Adam Wier