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I have been a long time fantasy player and have decided to take the plunge into WH40K. I am having a tough time deciding what army to play. I know that I absolutely do NOT want to play marines of any flavor. I am a bit torn between IG and Orks, leaning more towards IG. How do these two armies fare in the current game environment?

IG shoot, Orks assault. Both have lots of men, low skill and bad saves individually. It comes down to your playing style, and your fluff tastes.

Both make heavy use of tanks. But yes alone they are weak but it is VERY easy to make lots of guard or Orks.
I myself am making a guard army. I reccomend ogryn for smashing things back

both armies have new codex, and are both very powerful. I'd go with guard myself, because I always liked powerful tanks, as opposed to waves of brutes.

That, and the guard have a sense of nobility and honor about them, while orks are hulking brutes not fit die on the imperium's worlds.

Orks is da best!

Both armies do very well and have multiple good builds.

I have to disagree with Shadowbrand about taking ogryns for IG. Ogryns are not a very good choice IMO.

augustus5 wrote:Orks is da best!

Both armies do very well and have multiple good builds.

I have to disagree with Shadowbrand about taking ogryns for IG. Ogryns are not a very good choice IMO.

Yup, overpriced as always.


Your going to have to sit down and figure this one out on your own.
Orks, LOVE CC. The look on your opponents face when you say OK i need 72 dice please, for one squad in CC. Orks can either be a horde army or a fast assault army. They are really tough in a bunch, but such the more they whittle done, or the longer they are stuck in CC.

IG are shooty as all get out. If you love tons of guns and tons of tanks, they are your army. Ive never played the guard, but read some battle reports and youll see they like shooting the piss out of things. Only real problem with them, is they are the most expensive army to buy.

Hope something up there helps

IG are (IMO) currently the best army in 40K. If I had $1,000 lying around, I would be all over IG

It's worth noting that although the Orkz are more focused on close combat, they have access some of the best and most overwhelming firepower, and in high volume too. They're shooting may be unreliable, but the sheer amount of dakka you can throw out is more then worth it. Lootas, shoota boyz, bikerz, and killa kanz are all great shooty options.

All in all, Orkz are probably the most versatile army in the game. At first glance, you have hordes, but they have access to some awesome elite options(and that goes far deeper then nob bikers) thar can assume a variety of roles and sub-roles. To add to that, with proper planning, they can fullfill any of those rolls very well.

As for IG, you've got shooting... lots of shooting, and not much else. Be it tanks, hordes, or some mix, you'll want to spend all your time shooting. That's not to say that IG aren't versatile- they're very much so -their versatility comes from how they assume that shooting role, be it throgh lots of armour and heavy weaponry, or massed small arms fire.

Orks can shoot and fight.

Guard can shoot, but do it very well.

I suppose that you could split the difference with a Feral / ramshackle low-tech human force that fights similarly to Orks. Of course, you'll need to be very good at conversions using the Catachan models as base.

If you liked all the melee combat in Fantasy, go for Orks.

If you really want to immerse yourself in the grim darkness of the far future(TM), you should go with Guard.

If you can wait a few months the Nid codex comes out... You can cc or shoot the piss out of something at a reasonable price =]


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Double post, sorry

If you can wait a few months the Nid codex comes out... You can cc or shoot the piss out of something at a reasonable price =]

Thanks for the great replies guys. I think that I am going to go with IG. The imagery and stories behind the Guard are too cool to pass up.

Either Army is good do you want to paint lots of green ork skin or lots of human skin. The only reason I don't do horde armys in 40K is I find painting Empire State troops such a pain that the idea of having to do the same in 40K just doesn't appeal