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I told my friend I would help him by posting his list for Orks and see if anyone has any tips or ideas to improve his army. Some things to note: He claims to win maybe 25% of his battles. If this is due to poor army design or just poor playing I can't say. His list is also more than 1500 points, which he claims is acceptable as long as it's not too much over. To me, 1500 points means not one point more than that, but that's just me. On to the list:

HQ: (115 points)
Warboss
+Power Klaw
+Attack Squig
+Cybork Body
+'eavy Armor

Troop 1: (350 points)
Ork Boyz (30)
+'ard Boyz
+Big Shoota (3)
+Nob
+Power Klaw

Troop 2: (162)
Ork Boyz (22)
+Rokkit Launcha
+Nob

Troop 3: (134)
Ork Boyz (12)
+Stikkbombs
+Nob
+Trukk
+Red Paint

Elite: (225 points)
Burna Boyz (15)
+Mek (3)

Heavy Support 1: (220 points)
Battlewagon
+Killkannon
+'ard Case
+Armor Plates
+Grot Riggers
+Kannon
+Big Shootas (2)
+Rokkit Launcha

Heavy Support 2: (350 points)
Flash Gitz (10)
+More Dakka
+Shootier

Total: 1556 Points

As you can tell, he is a bit over the limit. I don't know if this is allowed, but he seems to think it is. I don't know the first thing about playing Orks, so I thought someone that has some experience might know what he needs to do to improve his army. Anything you can suggest?

Thanks so much to all the helpful people on these forums, you are all a great help!!

Flashgitz suck, Lootas are better.

That said, he needs to get his priorities in check. Does he want a mechanised army or a footslogging one?

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!!!

aka Flash Gitz in a list...
They're horrible, cost way too much and are, after all upgrades, still dependant on their BS2.

Burnas should never have Meks, stick 'em in the Battlewagon and take off 'ardcase. When they shoot stack the templates on top of each other and you get Y X 15 flame hits, where Y= The number of models under the flame template.

Boyz don't need stikkbombz, they hit last almost always and are big enough to take PF hits without problem. Nobs leading Boyz squads must always take the Power Klaw, heck boyz are just a delivery system for the PK to hit things without being singled out like an IC would be.

Also take the Killkannon off the battlewagon to fit all the Burnas on board and take a Deff Rolla.

HQ: Great!
Troop 1: Dont use 'ard boyz in such great number, make em shoota boyz, 'eavy armor + bosspole on nob
Troop 2: Drop rokkit, increase size to 30, PK 'evy armor´+ bosspole on nob
Troop 3: here you can use 'ard boyz if you want them more durable, + PK, 'evy armor, bosspole on nob
Elite: To many to fit in the battlewagon with 'ard case/killkannon , either reduce sizeto 10, or drop 'ard case/killkannon
Heavy support 1: If you use killkannon you dont need so many other weapons. I would only fit Deathrolla och maybe 2 Big shootas to it, then use as transport for burna boyz.
Heavy support2: Gitz are a nob with eavy armor (25 pts), and should be played as Nobz! Get the dakka upgrade so they get Assult 2.
As Nobz, they still need to get in CC, so let your oponent think you will use them as purly fire support, then you suprise him with an assult. Four S5 attacks each on the charge at I4 is good.
And 20 str 5 shots results in 4 wounds on Spacemarines (i dont mathhammer much)? Half the time they be AP3 or less!
Use Gitz as Nobz or dont use them, If you want fire support, use Lootas.

Now, without all those expensive upgrades you should have lots of points to spend on other stuff!
I often play half mechanised, half slogging and im doing more then fine in friendly games.
Always remeber that friendly games are friendly games, play a list you find fun to play!

I haven't been playing very long myself, but I do read these boards quite a bit and am very happy with the list that I run (Mech Orks), so I'll see what I can do to help your buddy out:

stormywaters wrote:
HQ: (115 points)
Warboss
+Power Klaw
+Attack Squig
+Cybork Body
+'eavy Armor

This actually looks pretty decent. My only suggestion would be to either go with Cybork Body or 'eavy Armor, not both. Personally, I'm a fan of Cybork body for the invuln save.

stormywaters wrote:
Troop 1: (350 points)
Ork Boyz (30)
+'ard Boyz
+Big Shoota (3)
+Nob
+Power Klaw

Again, not a terrible unit here, assuming that the boys are toting shootas and not sluggas and choppas. If they have S&C, all I can recommend is either dropping their numbers to fit them in a battlewagon (with no special weapons) or splitting them into trukks (again, with no special weapons). The nob could benefit from a bosspole, but it's not essential in a mob of 30 boys.

stormywaters wrote:
Troop 2: (162)
Ork Boyz (22)
+Rokkit Launcha
+Nob

This unit isn't that great. As a starting point, boys should only be in three different numbers: 12 (in a trukk), 20 (in a wagon) or 30 (sloggin'). I'm assuming the reason there are 22 of them is either a)that's all he had left or b)that's all that would fit in the point limit. Also, this nob needs a power klaw. I can't think of a reason for a boys nob to not have a power klaw. Also, the lone rokkit launcha won't do much good, with a BS 2, you'll hit once or twice a game on average.

stormywaters wrote:
Troop 3: (134)
Ork Boyz (12)
+Stikkbombs
+Nob
+Trukk
+Red Paint

A decent looking trukk boy mob. Drop the stikkbombs (boys aren't gonna go before anyone anyway) and add a bosspole and a power klaw to the nob. The trukk could benefit from the Reinforced Ram to reroll those dangerous terrain tests.

stormywaters wrote:
Elite: (225 points)
Burna Boyz (15)
+Mek (3)

First off, drop the meks and just run 15 burnas, preferably in an open-topped battlewagon. Without a transport, they just don't perform nearly as well.

stormywaters wrote:
Heavy Support 1: (220 points)
Battlewagon
+Killkannon
+'ard Case
+Armor Plates
+Grot Riggers
+Kannon
+Big Shootas (2)
+Rokkit Launcha

My first battlewagon I ever built looked similar to this. I think it weighed in at 250 points. It was terri-bad. The battlewagon looks like it would be awesome as a gun wagon, but I've found them to be lacking. Ork shooting is not to be underestimated, but that's usually because we have a shed load of guys firing at BS 2. The wagon, however, is all by its lonesome.

I build my wagons to be uber-trukks. I have 1 Big Shoota (so that a Weapon Destroyed won't auto-immobilize me), a Deffrolla, and a Red Paint Job. Depending on the points, I'll put Boarding Planks on them so that my nob or warboss can take swipes at vehicles, but nothing more.

stormywaters wrote:
Heavy Support 2: (350 points)
Flash Gitz (10)
+More Dakka
+Shootier

Flash Gitz. The very first models I scrath built were flash gitz. I used them once and now they're re-purposed as lootas. If you do the same thing with yours, I think you'll be much happier. Also, for the same point cost, you could get 2x as many lootas. They will out dakka the gitz any day of the week.

Now, the army as a whole.

I subscribe to the belief that orks can do just about anything they want to, but they have to commit everything they have to that purpose. Your friend here has 2 or 3 different lists mashed together. He kinda needs to decide if he wants to be mechanised or foot to start with. I would say one of his biggest problems is his trukk and battlewagon going down on turn 1 or 2. That's because he only has the two vehicles as targets. Any anti-tank/transport the enemy is fielding has an easy time picking their targets out. So, I would suggest either adding more trukks and battlewagons or dropping them completely.

Whatever he decides, I would definately recommend investing in a Big Mek with a KFF. The KFF mek is almost a staple in any ork list (bikers are the big exception). In a foot sloggin' or kan wall list he provides a mobile cover save for your boys and your kans get obscured. In a mech list, he gives the vehicle he's in and any within 6" a 4+ save due to being obscured. It greatly increases the survivability of your vehicles.

I would also suggest adding in lootas and more than likely add in deffkoptas. The lootas will usually be able to handle the opponents transports (AV 10 and 11), while the deffkoptas with their scout move can get off turn 1 assaults with buzzsaws and have TL rokkit laucnhas also. The buzzsawed 'koptas can usually take out light tanks like Predators because of the assault going off on the rear armor.

stormywaters wrote:
Total: 1556 Points

As you can tell, he is a bit over the limit. I don't know if this is allowed, but he seems to think it is.

If he ever goes to a tournament, it will have to be 1500 or less. In a friendly game, my buddies and I will let a point or two slide, but at 1556, that's almost a small unit of boys!

Hopefully, some of this will help your buddy out. If you want to PM me, I will send you a copy of my 1850 list, and how I would modify it for a 1500 point game.

....and Zatchmo pretty much sums it up...only thing I can think is that the group of 30 foot sloggin' boys could benefit from a Mek with a KFF for the cover save if they sluggas so you can get the majority into CC without getting shot up too bad on their way. 30 walkin boys is a pretty juicy target.

Well thanks to everyone for the replies...

Sadly, my friend refuses to listen to any advice from anyone. He also said he is fully aware his list is 56 points over the limit and refuses to change it. I told him that if he wants to play again, he needs to take the army down to the points limit and I don't want to hear a single word about how he always loses, because he refuses to try anything to improve his list.

Oh well, I will continue to dominate him with my Space Marines I suppose.

If he isn't willing to adapt, than I really doubt we can help him.