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Back when I started playing 40k and picked up an ork codex I fell in love with Wazdakka and the idea of an entirely Ork biker army. 6th edition came around and I took this as an opportunity to put together a 2000 point Ork biker list. Not just some wimpy wazdakka + a single unit of bikes army but an entirely bike army with only warbikers, deff koptas & nob bikers. It looks fantastic, plays like gak but I lose with style. The first and only tourney I took them to I got a surprisingly good painting score, my best ever, but I lost 4 of my 5 games, 3 of which were me being tabled.

Now Orks have a new codex and I've been spending so much time drooling over mek guns that I haven't bothered to go over my biker army. What was once a 2k point list is now a 1500ish list, quite a huge difference with minimal loss in offensive capability barring nob bikers getting a kick to the teeth.

So enough rambling here's an Ork biker list in the new codex thrown together to look similar to my old list using what's available in the new codex. I'm using IA8 Zhadsnark to get warbiker troops and the Ork horde detachment to get the third HQ.

HQ:
Zhadsnark 'Da Rippa' - 150
Painboy, Warbike - 75
Big Mek, killsaw, KFF, BP, Gazbag's Blitzbike - 155

Elites: 5 x Nob Bikers w/Waaagh! Banner, 2xPK, 3xBC - 310

Troops:
9 x Warbikers w/ Nob, PK, BP - 202
9 x Warbikers w/ Nob, PK, BP - 202
9 x Warbikers w/ Nob, PK, BP - 202

Fast:
3 x Deffkoptas w/ Rokkits - 90
3 x Deffkoptas w/ Rokkits - 90
3 x Deffkoptas w/ Rokkits - 90

TOTAL: 1566

Now I don't have a points value I want to aim for but that's not really the purpose of this. I'm kinda looking for a bit of discussion on how viable an Ork biker army at any points level will be. Is the Big mek as a third HQ worth it? Are the Nob Bikers worth it anymore or should I just swap them out for even more regular warbikers?

I'll have to double check, but i am pretty sure that bikes cannot be taken as troops anymore, same as nobs and meganobs can't be taken as troops now.

Hold up, i just read the first part you wrote, disregard my previous statement

With Zhadsnark Bikers can be troops, but the big question is: will they allow you to field Zhadsnark?

The people I play in my area, those that allow FW are in the majority. Tourneys are about 50/50.

This is the note from FW FAQ:

"Zhadsnark ‘Da Rippa’ may be included as part of an army
selected from Codex: Orks as a HQ choice."

And after email exchange with FW team I was advised to use him freely as per FAQ, until new edition of IA8 comes out.

Cheers


/FAQ link:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/d/Dred_Mob.pdf

List looks pretty good.

Anyone who doesn't support FW doesn't support 40k since the rules for them are both publications of Games Workshop, and as such useable based on the rules for them.