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So in my gaming group we have 3 players who have an ork army. We noticed the other day that ever since 7th edition came out none of these armies have won a battle (vs SM, CSM, Daemons, GK, Tau, Necrons, and SOB!!!)

Also, on the fact that the fluff of orks is so.... different then the rest of the other factions, it just feels like Orks are the joke of 40k. I thought this was why Squats were "squatted" because they felt so silly against the rest of the other factions. Orks also aren't very competitive, No drop pods like tyranids have, so 90% they just get shot before close combat ever starts.

What do you guys think? Are Orks a bad joke? Or a good joke? or not a joke at all?

Ive seen green tides do horrible things to top tier armies/players.

In general though, they have often been looked at as the "fun" army. And they really are fun to play. That's why they got their own game. Orks are synonymous with shenanigans.

Imo they really were never meant to be competitive. They were the army for the casual who wants comedy in his wargames. This is in no way a bad thing

Orks have always been the comic-relief army of Warhammer 40K- they've only relatively recently started becoming more serious in the fluff, as 40K's aesthetic slowly becomes more video gamey and generically space-fantasy.

But yes, Orks basically exist to get their faces punched in by the Heroes. Mechnically, they just don't have enough cheese compared to some of the other factions, and have really suffered from some poor design decisions.

 jokerkd wrote:
Ive seen green tides do horrible things to top tier armies/players.

In general though, they have often been looked at as the "fun" army. And they really are fun to play. That's why they got their own game. Orks are synonymous with shenanigans.

Imo they really were never meant to be competitive. They were the army for the casual who wants comedy in his wargames. This is in no way a bad thing

This. It sounds as if your friends aren't playing orks right, if 90% of their army is off the board when they finay make combat... My kult of speed list makes combat turn two with minimal casualties... My mek list can take shot after shot after shot... My tide list can tear open anything and everything you own..

There is not shame loosing against SOB.

Pretty much, yeah. Orks are the comic relief or "joke" army, and kinda always have been. You just can't take them seriously, the models look goofy and cartoony (even more than what you already expect from GW models), they still talk and act like hooligans in the fluff, and the rules are ass. They're barely a playable faction but GW wants people to believe they're dark, scary, and a serious threat to the galaxy comparable to Necrons or Chaos or any other "serious" faction. It doesn't really work.

I wouldn't really call them a "bad" joke, though. I kinda like Orks and I'd hate to see them go, but they really don't "fit in" with the super dark and super serious tone in modern 40k. When 40k was first created everything was a little more "tongue in cheek" and it wasn't really meant to be taken seriously, then GW eventually cranked everything up to 11 around the time 3rd edition came out, coined the term "grimdark" with the now infamous tagline and made the game super dark and "edgy" to attract 90's kids who were all about that, and as such Orks just kinda feel out of place now.

How much scenery are you guys using? Maybe up the amount of cover available if they're getting shot off the board right away.

In the fluff Orks are the comic relief with their crazy techonology and silly behavior.

In the tabletop they are a mid tier army with strong builds but lacking the hard cheese that tournament 40k is built on. As Reecius from Frontline gaming put it "Orks are playing the game on hard mode" but he goes on to say that Orks can win and potentially do well plus are a ton of fun to play. I play Orks a lot and I can do rather well with an over 50% win rate (its really 100% win rate because Orks always win and losing doesn't count because they died fighting).

The key to Orks is to play to their strengths and don't play like your one of the elite armies. Numbers and raw power is the name of the Ork game. Individual Orks suck but in numbers they crush through volume of dice and bodies. 7th edition Orks suffer from GW not having a pro Ork writer and where the test bed for formations and new FOCs. Up until the newcrons Orks where looking really solids except against the gak like Eldar and to a lesser extent Tau. The wave of 2015 releases being turned up to 11 has put Orks further behind as they weren't designed with that new "make everything more OP" philosophy GW has adopted.

orkses are for krumpin' and krumpin' ain't no joke ya puny 'umie git

 argonak wrote:
How much scenery are you guys using? Maybe up the amount of cover available if they're getting shot off the board right away.

We normally use a large amount of terrain. Terrain isn't an issue, they always just move so damn slow!

Orks are a fun army like no other.

Two ork armies colliding is like watching the most incredibly entertaining car crash video you could possibly find on YouTube.

There will be piles of firey debris, there will be explosions, the most random things this game has to offer can and will happen. And orks will cause all of it for free in ork on orkses warfare. And simply put bother army has that feather in their cap.

Where watching space marine on marine can get really actiony and tacticy it's not whacky and "lost its mind" insane. And every other army fighting itself is either hopelessly boring or hopelessly mediocre. But orks... Orks are the closest you can get to going to the movies without a subscription to Netflix in the confines of your flgs

Get 'em some trukks.

They're a Lethal Joke army.

I find it funny that you are shocked at the Orks losing against Sisters.

Of all the armies in the game, there are very few match-ups more once sided than Orks (everything has 5+ except the super-elite, everything relies on numbers, cover or assaulting for shooting protection, all their vehicles are made of paper) against Sisters (3+/6++ saves all round and a truly ungodly amount of flamethrowers).

It would seriously be hard to pick a worse army to play against with Orks than Sisters.

Yeah, I could see why someone would think Orks are a joke army. There are so many things that are good against massed infantry today, I almost want to say Orks deserve a 100% points handicap in competitive games.

But there are times they shine. When the dice go your way, they can really go your way.

While it is true Orks in 40k are the comic relief and they are indeed fun and I would dare say even original and part of that old GW crazy spirit in the golden days, they do also have some very dark and disturbing things about them once you get past the humor side, I mean if they landed on an imperial world they would cut down every man woman and child just for the fun of it, which in some ways would have leaning towards both khorne and slaanesh.

See if you were to rip out most of the religious middle ages stuff ( which really does make 40k an original sci fi setting and why I love it so much vs traditional sci fi cause im more of a dark gritty fantasy guy ) you would have a more generic setting, the orks are comedy for sure and add something to it all, but there is also a very brutal savage part to them which also fits right in, same with the dark eldar.

I think gw was able to really get them right when it comes to the humor and over the top stuff and their extremely violent nature. I have a growing deathskulls army that I'm enjoying painting and working on. So to say they do not really fit with 40k I think is a little bit off, 40k is not serious it's still very much over the top comedy mixed with that grim darkness and I think they have their place and would never want to see them go.

If anything I would claim the Tau have no real place in 40k they are far too animu generic sci fi for my tastes, I know why GW made them but its one army I just cannot get into or enjoy or feel they belong, there is something really weird about them that does not say 40k to me or ever will.

Revenant78 wrote:
If anything I would claim the Tau have no real place in 40k they are far too animu generic sci fi for my tastes, I know why GW made them but its one army I just cannot get into or enjoy or feel they belong, there is something really weird about them that does not say 40k to me or ever will.

You can't get into them, so they don't belong? Whatever.

Joke or no joke, I have had really good luck playing Orks. I have some Space Marines and have difficulty winning with them, but when I put down Orks I feel like I have a chance. Of course I have a bigger collection of Orks at this point and have many more choices, but I just find playing them more fun than the marines and I am for sure more successful with them. So if they are the "joke army" I have no issue with that, I like them for what they are.

Fluffwise, I would say that they are the background guys, that keep the main Heroes entertain while the real menace prepared itself. Sure they can do massive Waaagh, but that's still not on par like other Xenos menace I would think.

Gamewise, they are the 'variance' army. You throw soooo many dice with low success chance, that one game you can table someone turn 3, other game you get table turn 3. Slow initiave really hurt their CC if you get them in trukk and stuff (because now you would have smaller squads, which mean each troop counts). Andi f you don't get them in trukks, ya you can overpower pretty much anything, but you will get shot to pieces the first 2 turn where you aren't in close. You can also build shooty Orks, which is pretty decent. But once again, it all come down to luck most of the time. Will you get a million 5+, or none.

 luky7dayz wrote:

 argonak wrote:
How much scenery are you guys using? Maybe up the amount of cover available if they're getting shot off the board right away.

We normally use a large amount of terrain. Terrain isn't an issue, they always just move so damn slow!

Mobile shooting lists can abuse terrain as well. Terrain is really only useful against static gun lines. Against things like scat bikes you might as well play on planet bowling ball.

They are fun, they can be funny, they may look ridiculous, but they can tear things apart. That's no joke.

 luky7dayz wrote:
So in my gaming group we have 3 players who have an ork army. We noticed the other day that ever since 7th edition came out none of these armies have won a battle (vs SM, CSM, Daemons, GK, Tau, Necrons, and SOB!!!)

Also, on the fact that the fluff of orks is so.... different then the rest of the other factions, it just feels like Orks are the joke of 40k. I thought this was why Squats were "squatted" because they felt so silly against the rest of the other factions. Orks also aren't very competitive, No drop pods like tyranids have, so 90% they just get shot before close combat ever starts.

What do you guys think? Are Orks a bad joke? Or a good joke? or not a joke at all?

Nope. The real "joke" army is Chaos in general... Supposedly they're the single greatest threat to not just the IoM, but the entire galaxy in general, and yet in game Chaos Marines especially have all the hitting power of a wet noodle.

Experiment 626 wrote:
Nope. The real "joke" army is Chaos in general... Supposedly they're the single greatest threat to not just the IoM, but the entire galaxy in general, and yet in game Chaos Marines especially have all the hitting power of a wet noodle.

That just put the image in my head of a squad of Chaos Marines whipping dudes with giant wet noodles and it was awesome.

Orks are only a "joke" fluff-wise because we see them from their own perspective. Reading a Caiaphas Cain novel or similar fluff will but them into perspective. As to table top performance they can be scary if you know what you're doing.

For me, when I started contemplating getting back into 40k, one of the first factions I started reading about were the Orks. I don't care about winning games or being the best tactician. Running an Ork army (like it should be with any army for that matter) is all about having fun with buds and laughing about how your Ork boy just took down a Carnifex or whatever...

I feel they can't be playing orks 'right' or with a lot of thought behind their lists. My orks are 12/3 W/L for games over 1,000 points.

They're not bad. They're different. Winning with orks requires a lot more forethought, and a plan. Plus a second plan for when the first goes wrong. And a third plan for when something ridiculous happens. I joke a little here, but I don't see them as a bad army at all, they just are more difficult to play well then a drop pod and shoot army.

Orks can be kind of silly, but in the fluff they are also a wildly dangerous menace and want nothing more than to main, shred and kill.

Also, 3 guys with Orks and none of them have ever won? Man, that's surprising. I win with my Orks all the time. I'd say I probably win with my Orks more than I win with my marines. But I tend to play more fluff with my marines than the cheese, but still.

As to your question I wouldn't say they are a joke. They are a fun option, that can still win games. Oh, and whenever I win a game with my Orks, I've never had my opponent be upset about it. Well one time someone was a little annoyed at my nob bikers and how much firepower they absorbed, but other than that, its all fun

I've only played 3 games recently before that it was about 15 years ago when i played a lot didnt play orks then.

My ork army has won all 3 games against 2 marine players and a necron player.

All 3 opponents enjoyed the games as they got to kill quite a lote of stuff before getting chopped to bits!

Orks were always "choppy" the rule was when they got a hold of you, you are deeeeaaaaddd!
You might as well just field "Shoota boys" because sluggas are just over the top death in melee.
That has been proven to my satisfaction with my BT taking them on.

Now Orks are fairly shooty: It seems all their weapons are "assault" and on occasion twin linked or just a ton of shots.
Lootas spring to mind, never saw the front of a Predator tank evaporate so quickly.

Death Koptas with TL missiles have been a thorn in my side for a while.

Dakka Jets have been surprisingly killy as well.

I would say there are no really good points "deals" with Orks but they seem to always be able to move, shoot at you reasonably well and kill you in melee, am I wrong?

I still cringe when I feel "I have to" charge orks into melee.

They ARE funny alright in that bully kicking the sand in your face kind of humor.

I guess it must just be luck of the dice then. Keep in mind these are secondary armies, so they don't get played weekly. I do have a lot of fun playing orks and even flirted with the idea of owning some. I guess I'll just have to watch and see when orks start pulling out the win.

I've played seven games with my 500-750 point Ork army and have won five of those, against Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and Tau, with losses to Space Wolves and Tyranids. I'd say that fluff-wise they're somewhat jokey (precisely why I chose to play them), but in my (admittedly limited) personal experience they've been actually really good. That's not to say that as the points go up, they'll continue their success streak, but so far anyways the performance has been more than impressive.