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I'm curious to hear people's opinion on this but I have been an ork player for a long time now and only played orks. I don't particularly enjoy making or hearing gutteral noises. Especially when shouted at me by relative strangers. I know we're supposed to get into the spirit of it, but I'm there for more of the chess part than "pew pew" to me it seems like someone taking your castle with his knight and yelling "CHARRRGE" while playing chess. I guess I wonder for other ork players


Am I the only one that doesn't particularly enjoy "getting into the game"?

climbing back up
With new codexes coming out and people knowing the fluff for them and how incredibly nasty space marines are. I really don't appreciate how silly people think of the orks. I rather like to think that i'm trying my best to kill your little guys off and mine little guys are with me! People seem to take the orks as a joke because they enjoy killing. As if a maniacally laughing ork tearing you apart is a joke. The(ok calm down) ultimate villian in batman, the joker was terrifying for that very reason. He simply didn't care, yet I don't think many people who watched the movie came out thinking "silly joker, what a hoot he was!"

So what to people think of imperium players hating on us xenos as a joke?

Generally speaking, the Orks are "silly" on the tabletop/codices, where they serve as the series comic relief.

The Orks of Black Library novels are another matter however and are usually shown in a more serious/darker manner. To be nasty, vicious, and brutal creatures bent on galactic genocide for the sport of it. Fifteen Hours is a good example where the Orks are the main antagonist but don't do anything funny, only serving as terrifying monsters that Guardsmen fight for their lives against.

i guess my point is, and as I write it I feel like a poor sport, but I didn't start playing to be the but of someone's joke. I understand less reliable but random doesn't equal silly. While I do enjoy the random part of the game

Orks are to varying extents(depends on circumstances) the comic relief.

Come on, you have Orks using horribly broken English, silly names for pretty much everything(shootas, boyz, nobz, flash gitz, kommandos), and inherently comical concepts(like cannons that use hapless little orkoids as ammunition, effectively 'tin and wood' ships that shouldn't even function). They seem, with a few exceptions, to be silly by design.

There's certainly a monstorous and savage element to Orks, no doubt, but if you're worried about not being taking seriously, you might be playing the wrong army...

For me personally the orks may well be my favorite part of the game. I see them as the 'soul' of 40k, a stark contrast of horrible, grimdark brutality, satirical nods to modern culture, some over the top dark humor, and just the right amount of lighthearted silliness.

While I respect your feelings on this matter, and don't think you are wrong for just wanting to be involved in the strategy, the truth of 40k is, people get involved for the fluff. The game...is mediocre. It is good, not great.

But it is huge because people love the feel. The silliness, the over the top violence, the dystopic future, the fanatical zealotry.

The "getting into the game" you describe is WHY people play 40k, and if you can't handle that you are in some trouble. And the orks are the epitome of this. And you chose them.

Now I wont say anything like "you chose the wrong hobby/army", because that is dumb, this is one of those times where you have to accept you opinions are the ones who are off from the base, so you need to just accept the situation and not grumble. It's like going to a bar where you like the buffalo wings, but hating when people get drunk. You aren't wrong for having that opinion, but you can't get mad at the drunks either. A bar is where people get drunk. You can go there for the wings, but it would be wrong of you to come down on those drinking. You just toughen up and accept it.

I get why you feel the way you do, but in this case the onus is on you to tough it out as a side effect of being involved this hobby.

It depends on the age of the person you are playing imo. I'm 32. So I definitely get the whole "calm chess" approach. But if you're playing against a young child, expect silliness... and that's ok. It's supposed to be fun afterall.

I don't know that, that is true. I see a lot more older guys involved in the fluff and spirit of the game than younger players, who seem to take it all too seriously.

My guess would be the OP is a younger player, not an older one.

Depends how young.

<18: tend to be quite silly and into the spirit of it
>18 & < 30: Tend to be very serious players!
>30: Get back into the silly side

riplikash wrote:I don't know that, that is true. I see a lot more older guys involved in the fluff and spirit of the game than younger players, who seem to take it all too seriously.

My guess would be the OP is a younger player, not an older one.

I can definitely see the guys from the "will the imperium ever fall" thread taking the table-top game seriously. lol *imagines them throwing their opponents space marines off the table and calling them murderers and tyrants*

I half want to ask how old you think I am! I'm 20 for those really wanting to know and It makes more sense when I think of it as a bar.

I started playing 40k because a buddy of mine and we both took the more calculating part of it. Now that he's quit it's frustrating. like going to the bar but having to take a few drinks before I'm allowed to order wings.

I don't find table top minatures to be something that gets my blood flowing, I have sports for that. Then it really pisses me off when people don't get into it. playing basketball with someone who's not really into it is the most frustrating thing in the world. I've found that a little at my local store. people just interested in having really badass fluff armies but then I play them and I lost a big shoota from my battlewagon in a 2000 point game and tabled them. It's the unbalance that annoys me.

If they would sit down and have a few chickenwings and beers great, but I don't want to sit down with a raging alcoholic.

I find it hard to take orks serous. Even when they are portrayed in a completely serous way.

Orks are stilll pretty damn grimdark...
Doks ripping orks apart to figure them out.
Orks desire for fighting and violence leads them find outlets on each other and conquered populaces.
Society based entirely on violence; transportation, economy even food, all serve some alternative violent purpose.

That being said, orks aren't too serious; they do some pretty funny things that are justified by their lore, but i've never seen them as comic relief per say.
Just to use the OP's example; The Joker is a funny guy, but its meant to serve as a frighting contrast to his psychopathic tendancies(imo).

Like, will when he pulls the trigger will it be a bang! flag, a bullet or a razor sharp bang! flag?

I've felt orks are similar; sure they shout WAAGH! and paint things red to make them go faster, but its tied to their "psychic ork auras" and the red thing is painting mounts in blood...

I think due to the crazy over-the-topness nature of 40k every faction has 2 sides to it: The severely dark and the severely absurd. It's probably a product of its early days when 40k was more parody than serious, now it has shifted in the other direction to a degree, yet there still exists moments of comedy.

For example take an army like Orks and you have the savage, brutal side and the silly, hooligan side. Slaanesh can be seen as a terrible, self destructive, hedonistic force or sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. I think it's up to individual writers to channel either side of the coin.

I think the thing with orks is at there core, they are basically 4 year old children.

Orks are interesting in that they can be both very silly, but also very nasty depending on the tone and nature of the writing. Playing up how they talk, or the "red ones go faster" or the various other silly elements of Orks (my favorite is still steam gargants) can be a nice throwback to the days when 40K did not take itself seriously. I don't consider this a bad thing, because I think sometimes the "gloom and doom" is driven to the point of grotesquely unintentional self-caricature.

And yet.. they can still be pretty nasty when you want to write them that way. They're an unstoppable tide of aliens bent on devastation and conquest. They don't care about you or your family. They have no concept of mercy or pity - only the strong survive, and the weak are to be killed or enslaved. They will work you to death to build them more weapons and vehicles they will use to inflict devastation and slavery on others. They may even eat you (or one of their pets will.) They may torture you for their own amusement. There is nothing 'funny' about that.

It's one of those reasons I like Orks.. they're not 'one way' or the other.. they can be both, and it gives them both character and diversity. Considering they started out mostly as a joke race, that's saying something.

I will say this... Dan Abnett portrays Orks very well (and the way I would like to see them portrayed all the time) in Brothers of the Snake. There's no funny business when he describes the carnage, fear and utter horror they invoke on the populace of the world they invade.

The video games on the other hand have only accentuated the silliness of Orks. I wince when they talk.

IronSnake wrote:The video games on the other hand have only accentuated the silliness of Orks. I wince when they talk.

Thing is, though, that's how they talk in the table-top game as well. So what you're complaining about is in essence the video games being true to the source material.

One of the lore snippets in Warhammer Online addressed this. A veteran Empire scout is talking to his newbie charge and points out that just because the orcs sound like they shoudln't be treated seriously, that doesn't mean that you can afford to take them lightly.

I suppose so. I just wish they would start moving away from the silliness rather than closer to it.

I've been collecting and playing orks since the 2nd ed days, and part of the appeal of orks for me has been their dark humor... the broken english, the ramshackle vehicles, the over-the-top drunken soccer hooligan culture. I don't shout "waaaaaagh!" at my opponents (at least not when I'm playing outside my house), but the "silliness" of orks is part of the fun for me. When I want to indulge my grimdarkness, I play my Crimson Fists.

IronSnake wrote:I can definitely see the guys from the "will the imperium ever fall" thread taking the table-top game seriously. lol *imagines them throwing their opponents space marines off the table and calling them murderers and tyrants*

Hey! i'm sure he worked very hard to make his Murderers and Tyrants look pretty, and far be it from me to throw them of the table, haha . I just like arguing really, and I'll keep spouting my nonsense as long as they keep spouting theirs until we get tired and our nonsense gets ridiculous, or I have real things to do. (Which is all the time really, but don't tell me that). I do write a lot of stuff, and think to myself it is funny when I write it too. It's better out loud in my head. Trust me.

Besides, its a game. Win, lose or draw, the point is to have fun: Thats a rule I do take very seriously.

I always liked the Ork POV from Ragnar's claw. It struck the same balance of silly with menacing and managed to portray the orks as being a threat rather than a joke.

vercingatorix wrote:I'm curious to hear people's opinion on this but I have been an ork player for a long time now and only played orks. I don't particularly enjoy making or hearing gutteral noises. Especially when shouted at me by relative strangers. I know we're supposed to get into the spirit of it, but I'm there for more of the chess part than "pew pew" to me it seems like someone taking your castle with his knight and yelling "CHARRRGE" while playing chess. I guess I wonder for other ork players


Am I the only one that doesn't particularly enjoy "getting into the game"?

climbing back up
With new codexes coming out and people knowing the fluff for them and how incredibly nasty space marines are. I really don't appreciate how silly people think of the orks. I rather like to think that i'm trying my best to kill your little guys off and mine little guys are with me! People seem to take the orks as a joke because they enjoy killing. As if a maniacally laughing ork tearing you apart is a joke. The(ok calm down) ultimate villian in batman, the joker was terrifying for that very reason. He simply didn't care, yet I don't think many people who watched the movie came out thinking "silly joker, what a hoot he was!"

So what to people think of imperium players hating on us xenos as a joke?

I am 26, I have been an ork player for years in 40k and i don't think my opinion weighs more than what has been posted here but you have to understand something about 40k and the orks, and that is that everyone gets into any topic for different reasons. Some play for power, others play for social groups and some play as you've mentioned; disciplined gameplay. I would say the main reason orks are seen as goofy idiots is the fact that orks have a very simple portrayal of themselves which almost anyone can identify; simplicity...

The idea of making orcs fungal based to me is very poetic, it's the idea that everyone decomposes due to this intergalactic threat. But what are they? Some say children, morons, goofy, but in truth the best term is "simple". You're right Orks are very frightening to me if they were real because of how impossible it would be to control their habits. Like a determined child they find ways to spite the universe from such things like technology, fighting, and even warfare. In truth the orks are one of the most perfect killing machines out there. With skin as hard a concrete, bones denser than space marines, and the ability to survive decapitations these sorts of things would truly be horrible to see.

Problem is in a game of over the tops no one can out-do an ork. Think of the ork stompa, it looks stupid as hell... EVERYONE says it; infact i bet the first time a Big mek rode into battle with one of those the Imperium had no idea what it even was! But the one things orks do is play serious about something you wouldn't imagine. People laugh it up at ork but honestly that is exactly what games workshop wants is for people to think "orcs are a foolish race of weaklings" and then get tabled like you mention.

Personally, i don't think most of us can help you since this is a perception others have to learn about 'you' rather than 'your army' as that view is the encouraged one. Just try making your intentions known to those around you. In my opinion if you are upset about the perception of orks, that's a good thing. I'd rather you hate some sort of fluff than the rules, models, or artwork.

Orks were made for the lazy modelers who suck at doing conversions; all they have to do is plasticard a toy and its now an ork battlewagon but that is why they're awesme

We laugh at the Orks...as we run for our lives fron 60 boyz! They are both funny and terrifying at the same time, as if the Joker got hit with gamma radiation, turned into the Hulk and then was cloned!

KhornePysker wrote:Orks were made for the lazy modelers who suck at doing conversions; all they have to do is plasticard a toy and its now an ork battlewagon but that is why they're awesme

I beg to differ.....



and I think khanaris would also beg to differ............(the creator of the looted carnifex)

Orks allow for the greatest freedom to the modeler, as the looted Carnifex above shows.

Orks are only limited by their creator's skill and imagination.

Orks are only as silly as you want them to be.

For me, there's very little silliness to Orks. Mostly just awesomeness.

Orks are silly usually. Their are exceptions to this like Ghaz and Wazdakka but most units and charcters are silly. That's part of the fun though, let them luagh at your fluff while you completely rip apart his most advanced unit with your most primitive troop choice. That'll teach em a lil respect for the boyz

OP has described why I don' t like playing with teenagers.
PEW PEW I IZ DA ORK.
Honest to god sometimes when I'm in Games Workshop, not even playing, I want to give the little gaks the back of my hand.

Comedy relief? Why of course they were comedy relief. That's what I love about them. I mean there is no army quite as much fun to convert as steampunk orks. As for Pew-Pew teenagers shouting WAAAGH!. I just try to ignore them. I know it is hard option for most, but it is truly easier than most alternate options.

I find it really odd. People say that 40k is losing it's Grimdark edge, I have heard whole threads complaining about this. Whereas orks seem to be getting more and more serious by the year. I mean look at the 2nd-3rd ed, Madboys, explosive craniums, Kombis that have over four weapons mounted in them, total insanity. But look at the last two codices, relatively serious if you ask me. There may be a day that orks become the most serious of all the factions. No in fact I joke, but it does seem funny. I suppose the main reason that this could never happen is that fare enough, all these supermen and super powered angle-spirits and the like stating that in IOM will never fall may not be very grimdark we are all going to die. But they are hardly comedic.

Anyway there is an urban rusted metal junkyard cliche about them that is definitely not comedic.


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KhornePysker wrote:Orks were made for the lazy modelers who suck at doing conversions; all they have to do is plasticard a toy and its now an ork battlewagon but that is why they're awesme

Too true. But that does not mean there is no skill in the ork converters art. For a start it is easy to get mass produced bits and kits for the regimented armies like the ones of the IOM, but a ramshackle selection of cyborg or vehicle parts that all look different?

This carnifex proves another skill in ork conversions. Imagination limits what skill can't.