Warhammer 40,000 Ork Deff Dread review
Another review off the back of Total Wargamer.
Deff Dreads are huge bipedal killing machines controlled by a an implanted Ork pilot, they are the Ork equivalent of the Space Marine Dreadnought.
Deff Dreads are a heavy support choice in a Warhammer 40,000 Ork army.
First impressions
The box of the new Deff Dread shows 2 very different looking Dreads and bodes well for the flexibility of this new plastic kit. On opening the box we find 3 sprues that contain lots of killy weapons and there appears to be a number of options that will allow you to build a unique looking Dread.
The pro’s
The new Deff Dread is a vast improvement of the old metal model, which was essentially a tin can with arms & legs bolted on, the new kit flows much better and, as with the Killa Kans, is much more believable. 
Another great point about the new model is that the full range of weapons options available in the Ork Codex can be found on the Sprue, rokkit launcha, big shoota, skorcha & kustom mega-blasta. This is one more than the old kit which just featured the skorcha, rokkit launcha & big shoota.
The other thing that immediately jumps out at you is the potential number of conversion options that this kit opens up for the rest of your Ork army. The exhausts are easily swapped with your warbikes, the smaller weapon arms can be swapped with your Killa Kans (opening up the option to field a Killa Kan with kustom mega-blasta) and finally the optional extras can be used on any number of Ork kits, all great for the bitz box.
On to price. The new Deff Dread, at £30 is £5 cheaper that the old metal model, add to this the extra weapon option and accessories and this kit represents pretty good value for money.
Finally, it just looks damn cool…
The con’s
For all that I love this new kit there are some negatives.
Firstly, although the model has a whole load of different options available it isn’t as customisable as might be initially thought. When you get down to it there are only 3 main ways to build the body section, big face or jaw with either of the two available visors. This is a problem, but a minor one, most armies will not include more than a couple of Deff Dreads but it may be an issue for budding Big Meks out there.
The lack of customisation options continues on to the legs where the only option is a choice of one of two types of toes and the engines where, although engine and exhaust location can be switched, the constituent parts are always the same (although exhausts can be swapped with the Warbikers kit).
Also, it would also have been nice if the model was made more poseable through the addition of elbow and knee joints.
Finally, when building this kit care has to be taken when posing the arms as the various bits of shoulder armour can get in the way, especially if the lower arms are attached first and posed quite high. I recommend pre-assembling all the arms and checking how the kit will fit together before gluing.
Summary
OK, we have a great looking model that features all the weapons configurations from the codex but with a few customisation issues, hhhhmmm… Still it is just so cool it has to get a…
Overall score: 9/10
Pick up this great new kit at Total Wargamer: Ork Deff Dread
Warhammer 40,000 Ork Killa Kans review
As part of my job at Total Wargamer I got to checkout the new Ork Killa Kans prior to release, here’s what I thought…
Ork Killa Kans review
Ork Killa Kans are the smaller brethren of the Ork Deff Dread but instead of an Ork pilot they are controlled by their smaller Gretchin cousins.
They are a heavy support choice in a Warhammer 40,000 Ork army and can be fielded in squadrons of 1-3 Kans.
First impressions
When the new Ork Killa Kan boxed set arrived at Total Wargamer we were immediately impressed, the new plastic miniatures are a vast improvement on the old metal models and it was clear that it was possible to produce a host of very different looking Kans for your Ork army, click sprue thumbnails for larger image.
The pro’s
Well, on getting stuck in to the kit our first impressions seem to have been correct. The new models are extremely characterful and are much more believable than the previous Killa Kan model which, I for one, couldn’t actually imagine was capable of walking.
However, the new Killa Kans models not only look great but it is clear that a large amount of thought has gone into making the kit hugely interchangeable. Essentially it appears that feet, legs, body, arms, claws, weapons, engine, shoulders, front panel/spikes & accessories are all interchangeable meaning the amount of variety that can be built into your Kans is virtually limitless, in our opinion by far the most flexible kit made by Games Workshop to date.
The new boxed set features a total of 4 different weapons for you to kit out your Kans with, these are a scorcha, a rokkit launcha, a big shoota & a grotzooka. This is two more than the old kit which just featured just a scorcha & rokkit launcha.
Finally the Killa Kan kit was surprisingly easy to work with, even though the the models are highly detailed and very modular in nature our first Kan was built in no time at all (see photo).
The con’s
For all that we love these new models there are some negatives and they generally revolve around the weapons that form part of the kit.
Firstly there is no kustom mega-blasta, this is now the only weapon available for a Killa Kan that doesn’t form part of the kit. Personally I would always choose a Rokkit Launcha for my Killa Kans rather than a Kustom Mega-Blasta but it seems an odd omission.
Secondly, for me the biggest issue with the kit, is the fact that it contains 3 Killa Kan models but only one of each weapon, this means that if buying a single box all your Kans will be armed differently, bar conversions. Killa Kans come in squadrons of up to 3 models, in Warhammer 40,000 vehicles that are part of the same squadron must all fire at the same target. So it is generally best to equip all models in a squadron for the same purpose, broadly this would be either anti-personal (with a scorcha, big shoota or grotzooka) or anti-tank (with a rokkit launcha), this isn’t possible with the 3 Kan boxed set.
It would possibly be unreasonable to expect 3 of each weapon in the kit but this is the only solution I can think of. Maybe if the weapons were made a little less elaborate and instead of being integrated into the weapon arm they were instead mounted on separate multi-purpose weapon arms the extra plastic required to do this could have been kept to a minimum, however this may have negatively affected the appearance of the model. As it is I guess the best we can hope for is that a Killa Kan weapons sprue will be released by Games Workshop at some point in the future. Otherwise to field a squadron of 3 similarly armed Killa Kans is going to cost £81 (RRP)…
The final gripe is that the Kans come in boxes of three, this seems to be a bit of a trend with Games Workshop kits porting from metal to plastic at the moment (this previously happened with the Tyranid Ravener) and it’s annoying that you can’t buy just one of these models any more.
Summary
The new Killa Kan models are some of the finest looking bits of plastic that Games Workshop have ever produced.
The only thing that stops this kit getting a 10 out of 10 are the issues with actually integrating them into your Ork army due to the issue with the weapons that are found in the kit, meaning we can only give this new kit an…
Overall score: 8/10
Pick up the new Ork Killa Kan boxed set from Total Wargamer