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As I mentioned in my intro post, a friend and I have recently purchased the AoBR set to get started. We have the SM, Ork and Main codices, all that good stuff. Now, as I read the codices, I'm seriously considering trying to expand on what was gotten in the AoBR army, and trying to build up an actual battleforce from there. I'm considering building it largely assault, with a few vehicles to help the boyz get there with minimal casualties, though I may attempt to employ a grot screen for this instead. Now, may I get a few opinions on good choices to expand?

I know I'm going to need more boyz as a good solid core. Perhaps lead by nobz with powerklaws to give them a bit of anti-armor. I'm considering using a few lootas as fire support, stick them in back and take potshots at things from afar. Another, more exotic option of a unit to add that would involve a bit of custom modeling...has anybody ever put burnaboyz on bikes? Ought to hit halfway hard during the assault, be pretty maneuverable before then, and since a burna is an assault weapon I could lay down quite a bit of flamer template all over the place. Thoughts? Opinions? Am I a raving idiot? Was even considering the burnas to be used as a unit tied to a warboss on a bike [I see these a lot, perhaps overdone but...how cool is that? Big deadly ork on a custom chopper with a klaw of doom?] to have them run around, do some armor killing and whatnot.

Thank you kindly.

You can't put burnas on bikes, so that is why nobody does it

Either way you will need more boyz! That's a given with any ork army. Most competitive ork armies, I gather, work around a Kustom Force Field-equipped big mek. This unit gives a 5+ cover save to infantry, but, because of the way vehicle cover works, a 4+ save to vehicles. So, you either take a line of killa kans (and maybe the extra dreadnought a big mek allows you to take) with boyz advancing behind them, so that everything gets a 4+ cover save. OR, you take the maximum number of battlewagons allowed, and keep them all close enough to the BW the big mek is riding in - this can give you a lot of protection, enough for the boyz inside to reach the enemy unscathed.

More general advice: many ork lists include a powerful nobz unit, all models armed differently to make them harder to kill. Also, every boyz unit must, MUST have a nob with power klaw, it's in the bylaws. So get a nobz box. Most people think lootaz are the best fire support available, and it's common to see a fair few in any list. Deffkoptaz are also good, use them with rokkits and buzzsaws to scout ahead and hopefully charge stationary vehicles on the first turn.

But every ork list needs around 60 boyz minimum, so if you can't decide just paint some more of those.

It is worth pointing out the difference between Shoota Boyz and Slugga Boyz. Conventional wisdom is that if all your troops are going in vehicles, you want Sluggas, if they're marching down the field or holding objectives, you want Shootas.

As such, I suggest you buy the actual Boyz box a few times so you can have some Shootas along with the Sluggas that came in AoBR. Alternately, it might be cheaper to eBay yourself some more AoBR models and the Shoota arms by themselves, then get to converting, but then you'll miss out on all the extra bits that come in the full box, including a Power Klaw Nob. The choice is yours, ultimately.

More Boyz is where to go for the Orks. Pick up another box of nobz to get some PK to put with the other nobz and Warboss, a KFF Big Mek and maybe a Battlewagon or a Trukk or two to keep the Nobz/KFF mobile. Also buy a few boxes of regular Boyz so you can get some shootas and the PK nob.

Illumini wrote:You can't put burnas on bikes, so that is why nobody does it

Well actually you could make a mob of Nob Bikers with Kombi-skorchas and... oh man I have to try this.

Thank you all for answering! Alrighty, I had a little misunderstanding about what you could put on bikes, I gotcha now.

A further question, why shootaboyz on foot? I understand that they're a bit better [hard to say lots when you're talking orks] with ranged combat but is it worth the loss of the slugga counting as close combat? With the shootas you get an extra shot per boy and the extra range but as far as this noob can tell it'd more or less halve the CC attacks with the unit.

Agrinja wrote:Thank you all for answering! Alrighty, I had a little misunderstanding about what you could put on bikes, I gotcha now.

A further question, why shootaboyz on foot? I understand that they're a bit better [hard to say lots when you're talking orks] with ranged combat but is it worth the loss of the slugga counting as close combat? With the shootas you get an extra shot per boy and the extra range but as far as this noob can tell it'd more or less halve the CC attacks with the unit.

Taking a mob of shoota boyz along side 2-3 mobz of Slugga Choppa boyz just provides you with more versatility, especially if you need to camp an objective.

I disagree completely. I would carry shoota boyz in battlewagons for massed fire, slugga boyz on a trukk or on foot (you'll be running every turn anyways, no reason to give foot boyz guns), and shoota boyz camping objectives.

Best bang for your buck, would be the ork battleforce. It's like buing 2 boxs ork boyz (20 boyz), a trukk box and biker box, for like 80 bucks. With both boxes thats close to a 1000pts army.

I might actually be able to help here since im doing the same thing atm and im fighting the same army you are (im assuming your friend is running SM) hit ebay and find some cheap AoBR boyz there everywhere and cheap as hell since everyones got them next get yourself a box of nobz build 3 as PKs and boss poles to lead your boyz mobs and use the rest of the bits to convert your AoBR nobz with some better gear as they are really not worth taking unless they get some toys =) With all the AoBR stuff your got yourself a playable army that should do well in small games.

After you have your core of boyz and a strong uber killy nobz unit its really up to you best choices seem to be a couple of battlewagons loaded with boyz or a bunch of killer kans for your boyz to hide behind while they advance avoid trucks they cost way to much in terms of money and time to buy and paint up and are worth bugger all points and will die to bolter fire. Id recommend a unit for burnas over lootas aswell if your main opponent is playing SMs as they eat termies for breakfast

Alright! It's something to consider. The more I read and study, the more I have a vague idea of what style I'd like to run as well as what I'll need to support it.

Thank you all!

Noir wrote:Best bang for your buck, would be the ork battleforce. It's like buing 2 boxs ork boyz (20 boyz), a trukk box and biker box, for like 80 bucks. With both boxes thats close to a 1000pts army.

~1500 actually; with only "essential" upgrades(PK Nobz, Red Paint on the Trukk, AOBR Nobz w/Eavy Armor and Big Choppas)

As to Shoota Boyz vs Slugga Boyz:

True Slugga Boyz get 1 extra attack in Close combat; and for small mobz(15 or less) this is necessary, as that sized squad will likely stay in CC for 2 rounds.

Shoota Boyz get the extra shot at ranged(which for orks is less effective than close combat), however in Larger squads(over 15) they also get the Extra Shots at a longer range, and the 1 less attack on the charge tends to get evened out.

Both Shoota and Slugga Boyz get 5 total attacks during a turn they intend to charge(2 shooting, 3 close combat for shoota Boyz; 1 shooting 4 Close combat for slugga boyz); however only the Shoota boyz are going to get 2 attacks the turn before they charge.

Lets go with 2 mobs of 15: both 24" away from the enemy(5 MEQ vs each mob, an equal number of points):
The Slugga Boyz move up to 18" and are done
The Shoota Boyz move up to 18" and fire 2 shots; 5 hit, 3(rounding up) wound, 1 dead marine
The Slugga's Marines Move up to 12" away and rapid fire; 7 hit(rounding up), 4 wound(rounding up), 4 dead slugga orks
The shoota's Marines Move up to 12" away and rapid fire; 5 hit(rounding down), 3 wound(rounding up), 3 dead shoota orks
the Slugga Boyz move to 6" and fire 12 Shots; 2 hit(rounding down), 1 wound, no dead marine
The Shoota Boyz move up to 6" and fire 24 shots; 5 hit, 3(rounding up) wound, 1 dead marine
Both Boyz Charge
The Slugga Marines make their 6 attacks; 3 hit, 2 wound(rounding up), 2 dead sluggas
The Shoota Marins make their 4 attacks; 2 hit, 1 wound, 1 dead shoota
The Sluggas make their 36 attacks; 18 hit, 9 wound, 3 dead marines
The shootas make their 33 attacks; 17 Hit(rounding up), 9 wound(rounding up), 3 dead marines(wiped squad)

Now mind you the above is in a vacuum, and neither set of squads were upgraded in any way, just an equal number of points vs an equal number of points(90 pts of Orks, vs Base tac squad 90 pts, sgt had a bolter); But it does show you that the extra 6" of range and extra shot/model edges the shootas forward in killing.

That isn't too bad. From a tactical standpoint I think I'm going to be building an army with the central idea of getting a very large CC force into assault range via bikes, trukks and wagons as quickly as can be done to minimize rounds spent shooting at each other as well as having to advance under heavy fire, with a few other units added in for support. Would shootas or sluggas be recommended for this tactic?

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing sluggas if only because less time is spent actually arriving at the enemy leaving less opportunity for serious shooting.

Sluggas are the best choice for trukk boyz