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I played 40k years and years ago but quit for a variety of reasons. Now I'm back and looking for some advice.

I've got a pile of orks and I'm wondering how best to expand them into a coherent list. Here's what I've got:

10 shoota boyz
30 slugga boyz
Warboss
10 stormboyz
12 kommandos
1 deff dread
3 deffkopters (from the AoBR set, great deal on singles from that box).
A couple random converted nobz and heavy weapons guys.

For now I'm just hoping to get to a 1k or 1.5k list. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Talk to Dashofpepper, he's a great source of ork info.

Though it really depends on how you want to run your orks as they tend to be an all or nothing list. What I mean is if you want to use mech, go all mech. If you don't go no mech.

Ork armies, to work well, should be themed. Look in the codex for some sample lists. Generally these are good Ideas. If you're playing speed freeks play them. If you're doing green tide, do it. Just don't try to mix-n-match units I find it doesn't end well, with a few exceptions:

In my Bikes & Deffkopta list I run 3 out of place units:
3 Killa Kans w/ Grotzookas - I like them for the anti-vehicle of their Str10 & the anti horde of 6 5str ,5ap blasts.
Lootas - Again they make quick work of vehicles though I may swap them out for some rokkit buggies.
10 Kommandos w/ Snikrot, 2 Burnas & My Warboss w/ PK. - The thought of orks arriving from ANY board edge makes the enemy slink toward the middle to avoid getting charged by them. With 2 flamers or 2 power weps it gives all enemies cause for alarm & the Warboss w/ PK will make quick work of vehicles or just add some more punch.
Since this effectively produces a 12" border of "You gonna get charged" the enemy will slink to the middle, which is closer to me & packs his units in. Making his blast weapons more risky & my chance to multi-assault better.

Lootas, as mention, are great. S7 @ 48" is great.

Trukks or Battlewagon for gettign the Boyz intot he fight quicker.

Big Mek with Kustom Force Field to protect those foot sloggin' Boyz. Pretty much the mainstay in all my Ork armies.

No ork footsloggers list should be considered complete without at least 2 units of killa kans, I feel.
Also, that big mek mentioned above is an excellent investment.

I suggest having some trukks. Good for a fast list. a Big Mek is always useful

Lots of bikes and deffkoptas, theyre great for speedin round and attacking from all angles.

Biker Nobz for the Cheeze!

Although you should read a fair bit about how they work before actually trying them.

You need 20 more shoota boyz to make that mob something fearsome. 30 shoota boys with 3 big shootas and a powerklaw nob are point for point one of the best troops choices in the game.

After this, get a warboss to lead your army, and give him a power klaw. You can get the Black Reach boss for like 4 bucks on eBay. Finally, get a Nobz box or two and make yourself a squad of big badass Nobz. They're really customizable and can be kitted out to do anything. Load them up in a battlewagon with a deffrolla and you're good to go.

Welcome back to the hobby, I too am a player that came back after years out. First thing to get done with orks in my opinion is get at least 3 30 strong boys squads (thats 90 orks for the math impaired) Boys are always and always will the be back bone of an ork army so you minus well just get that first bit of modeling and painting done, then worry about toys.

The only thing is choosing between shoota or sluggas, really it's not going to matter because eventually you should have way to many boys of each type anyways but to make it simple: If you want to eventually be putting your boys in vehicles and/or want to keep it on the cheap then sluggas (by cheap I mean using boys from the assault on black reach box set, bought off ebay, you can get like 20 for $20) if you want to march then shootas, or just fill out that shoota squad and use a mix, it's up too you but you need lotsa boys, i think is the point I'm trying to make.

And remember every boy squad NEEDS a nob with powerclaw and boss pole.