Thoughts on the new Ork Flyers: The Blitza-Bommer; the Burna-Bommer and the Dakkajet!

Here's a picture from the yet-to-be-released White Dwarf in case you happen to be living under a rock/in a cave/under the sea/in China:

Blitza-Bommer; Dakkajet; Burna-Bommer

The rumor for the Ork flyers, as well as the new Space Marine flyer and the Necron Scythe variants has been all over the interwebs for the past month or so - pretty much ever since Beasts of War had a live discussion about them, featuring drawings of the models, which now seem to be basically traced images of the actual kits. That was pretty cool. A lot of people thought it was just a giant joke, especially with the outlines of the Space Marine Stormtalon er.. Gunship? It seems to be sharing the fate of the Stormraven from a few year ago - basically people are swearing that they'll never buy it due to its ugliness, only to give in to the temptation and its ruleset a few weeks after its release.
Personally? I don't care. I'm not even going to post a picture of it, since it's really easy to find it anyways, plus it's going to dilute my point..

Beasts of War's "sketch" is almost identical with the real deal... !!!!

And now, for the Ork Bommerz.. 
There are three Ork Bommer variants, all of which come in the same kit, which is nice. They should become available for pre-order on the GW website in a couple of days, cost $45.50 each and are going to come out on June 2nd..
1) Blitza-Bommer - "a dive bommer used to deploy payloads at low altitude and high speed" seems to be a hybrid flyer/skimmer with some pretty big "bommz" and a few er.. supa shootas? I'm guessing that it's going to be similar to the Dark Eldar flyers with an assortment of different bommz with different profiles and blast sizes, but it will probably have less options and will compensate with quantity rather than quality, which is da Orky way. It will probably be able to drop all of its "payloads" in one turn and then it will fly around shooting rokkitz or other similar weapons at the enemy.

Rumored stats and rules:
????????

2) Dakkajet - "a brazen dogfighter outfitted with rows of high caliber supa shootas". The name speaks for itself - the Dakkajet is all about the dakka and it seems to have at least 4 types of shootas, two of which seem like regular big shootas, while the other ones (on the wings) are probably the supa shootas. Now, I have no idea what a supa shoota is, but... Anyways, I managed to find some rumored stats and rules for the damn thing, but in it it mentioned dakka guns, instead of the listed "dakka guns". When I saw the picture and the description, the Dakkajet really struck me as an anti-aircraft type of vehicle, so here's hoping its weaponry functions similar to the Hydra in Codex: Imperial Guard.

Rumored stats and rules: 

BS 2
10/10/10
Twin-linked Dakka Guns (18'' S5 AP5 Assault 3)
Aerial Assault (Can fire all weapons if it moves at cruising speed)
Supersonic (If it moves flat out, it can move up to 36'')
Waaagh! plane - can fire twice in the turn you call Waaagh!
Strafing Run - BS 3 vs everything but jump infantry and skimmers
Fighta Ace upgrade - BS 3 against everything..

3) Burna-Bommer - "an aircraft outfitted with an assortment of volatile incendiary bombs" is also pretty unique. It replaces normal bombs and the sheer amount of dakka with incendiary bombs and seems to be a vehicle that specializes in the extermination of hordes and perhaps small elite units.

 BS 2
10/10/10
Aerial Assault (Can fire all weapons if it moves at cruising speed)
Supersonic (If it moves flat out, it can move up to 36'')
Waaagh! plane - can fire twice in the turn you call Waaagh!
Burna Bomb - Similar to a Scorcha (S5 AP4)
S7 AP1 bomb in the movement phase?
Burna Missile - S5 AP4 small blast, ignores cover, one use
Grot gunner on one weapon

A lot of people have been asking and waiting for this release. I know I have. Ork Aircrafts have always been my favorite thing, but I have never expanded on my love for orky planes. As a matter of fact, it was the Deff Kopta model from the Assault on Black Reach set that pretty much sealed the deal and got me started with Orkz and Warhammer 40,000 in general. It's just such a sweet, sweet model and I want to field lotz of 'em. ALL OF THEM. A GOTTA HAVE 'EM ALL, YOU SEE? I want at least a 100... Help me?
So anywaaay...

All three kits look pretty cool to me. I'll have to agree that they do look kind of similar, but there are three variants in one box, after all. Imagine all the extra bitz inside? From the pictures you can tell that there are 2-3 different pairs of wings and tails, which can be used not only to differentiate your various flyers (because, let's face it, you're going to buy at least 2 of 'em...), but you can use the extra wings to Loot other vehicles and turn them into Orky flyers. Got a spare Tau Piranha? Add wings to it, it's now a Dakkajet. AND you'll have tons of spare shootas and rokkitz to kustomize it.

One of the main complaints on the interwebz is that they are kind of simple and plain. Again - 3 kits in one box. That, and I actually like their plain profile. It means that you can easily add stuff to them - extra weapons, gubbinz, wires, wheels, wings, plates, glyphs.. etc. etc. If anything, they are going to make converting your very own Orky flyer that much easier, because you'll have the main components as reference or simply as something to built on top of. Just the release of this kit will unleash a bran new wave of Ork conversions all over the world, mark my word!

Rules-wise.. nothing too crazy. After all they are xeno vehicles, they are obviously not going to be crazy over-the-top overpowered. Aerial Assault and Supersonic are definitely cool, but are certainly now unique and every flyer seems to have them. Waaagh! plane is amazing! I don't care if it's going to be good or not, the very fact that this vehicles gets to do something cool when you declare your Waaaaagh is just phenomental and I really hope that more non-infantry units in the Ork codex get similar treatment in 6th edition. We're obviously going to see many of the typical Orky upgrades as options: Armour Plates, Grot Riggers, Red Paint Job.. etc. Probably options for extra guns or for making weapons twin-linked.

I kind of wish they can be fielded as a Squadron. Come on.. how awesome would that be? 9 Ork flyers.. just 'cause. It wouldn't even be overpowered. No, really. We're talking about AV 10/10/10 vehicles here. I just want to be able to field a bunch of them. Which brings me to yet another pondering..

AV 10/10/10 is a bummer.. 11/11/11 would be soooo much better. Oh, well. At least they are not open-topped. Oh, that would be an even bigger bummer.

No variant with transport capabilities is a bummer. Perhaps in the near future? Yeah..... right. 

Are they Fast Attack or Heavy Support?
Fast Attack seems to be the sane choice, simply because they are well.. fast. But then they are competing with a lot of fast units, which are all pretty decent in Codex: Orkz - Deff Koptas, Warbikerz, Nob Bikerz.. even Buggiez... and I definitely want to be able to run a bunch of Ork flyers... with a bunch of Deff Koptas. Dakkawing, baby!


6th Edition Caveats: 
While the vehicles ARE sweet, we have no idea how flyers, skimmers and even vehicles in general are going to function in 6th edition. Are there even going to be Fast Attack or Heavy Support slots or is the game going to adopt the percentage system of Warhammer Fantasy? Buying a bunch of vehicles right now seems kind of risky and definitely dangerous, simply because 6th can (and probably will) turns everything upside down. This is why I won't be picking them up immediately and I'll wait until the new edition rolls out. I know that I'll be picking some up for sure, I just don't want to do it right now. I think that a lot of you will agree with my fears..

So yeah, I'm pretty excited. Are YOU?