Warhammer 40,000 Ork Deff Dread review

Deff Dreads are huge bipedal killing machines controlled by a an implanted Ork pilot, they are the Ork equivalent of the replica watches uk 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