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Hey guys, I've been interested in Warhammer 40k for a long, long time now, and I finally have the money to start a respectable army from exchanging gift cards for actual cash with some family members. I've always wanted to play Orkz: I love their concept, I love their designs, I love the great conversion potential, I like the idea of the play style and I like not being another Space Marine player.

No offense intended to you Beakies out there.

So, any of you Boyz out there have any recommendations for an aspiring Ork player? Any units, strategies or money saving techniques? Anything I absolutely need, aside from boyz and a Warboss? Any anecdotes gathered from playing Orkz, anything you love or hate about the army, anything I should know ahead of time? Lemmie' know.

Thanks.

None taken.
I'm told the AoBR is a good stop for Orks. You can always trade the SM for more orks.

Make you army before your purchases. Ork armies need to be themed. It's either all mech (Trukks / wagons) or no mech. Don't use the "Little of this little of that" strategy with orks it won't work.

That said there are several ways to run them.
Green tide (Mobs of boyz)
Nob Bikers (You will be called cheesy and remember proper wound allocation)
Kan Wall (9 killa kanz, 2 big meks & 2 deff dreds)
speed freeks (Boyz in trukks, nobz in BW & 2 big meks with KFF and buggies)

Just pick how you want to run the orks & stick to it.

Thanks, Purplefood, I'll ask around to see if I know anyone who would want to trade before I purchase, though.

Excellent advice, Shas', I was going to make a mostly footslogging army with some trukkboys/Kans supporting them, I didn't know that it wouldn't work well. I think I'll go for a primarily footslogging force, then; shootas, lootas, stormboyz, maybe some grotz if a Big Mek with KKF won't cover it all.

By the way, on warbosses; most of the warboss models I've seen look a little... weedy, to me. Just not impressive as I'd like a boss to be; any conversion ideas? Nothing too elaborate; I've done some light conversion and painting before, but I'm still a beginner.

I have a ton of AoBR boyz (almost 70) if you want to trade, my friend

It might be a few days or a week before I could get this stuff together, man, sorry to curb your enthusiasm.

Are your boyz painted? I'd prefer to start with a blank slate; if not, send me some photos of them, if it isn't on too thick I could just paint over them.

If we were to trade, however how would a boy for a Marine sound? I wouldn't want to rob you on this.

A boy for a marine is a brilliant trade.

Yeah; I'm aware that you need more boyz than marines and that they have a lower points value, but these are still plastic army men we're talking about, here. I'm not GW.

Basham wrote:Yeah; I'm aware that you need more boyz than marines and that they have a lower points value, but these are still plastic army men we're talking about, here. I'm not GW.

Not sure how much it is money wise but i'd say boyz were cheaper than marines as well.

I just looked it up on GW's website; here in the States, a Marine costs roughly twice as much as a Boy. That's pretty incredible.

The ork players at my usual usually got for a hordish armies with a mek or two with a kustom forcefield-so pretty much every boy gets a 4+ cover save instead of none at all-, supported by a few killa kans and a battlewagon or truk to distact the opponent, provide additional cover for the boys and/or deliver a warboss and some ardboys into the enemies midst. At 1500 pts you should expecting to have atleast 40+ boys even without vehicles, so obviously you should get a few boxes of them before you go for anything else-pretty much all the other footslogging units in the army can be easily converted from them anyhow too. =P

Actually my friend, they are only semi-primed black.

Perfect clean slate for you.

I'm not sure if it would be worth it for us, but would you be willing to trade most of the SM stuff for all the boyz? That is, if you want them all.

I've found that a force of three units of 30 boys with three big shootas and a nob with a powerklaw backed up by a battlewagon with a few meganobs and a warboss, protected by a big mek with a kustom force field, a trukk full of burna boys and a unit of warbikers works pretty well. The mass of boys acts as a diversion while the meganobs motor up on flank and the burna boys deal with the other. Also, a couple of deff dreads to escort the boys might be a good idea, especially against eldar or drop pod space marines. All mech doesn't leave you with enough numbers, and all horde leaves you too vulnerable to shooting. And always, always, always try to steal the initiative if you get stuck with the second turn. Orks always do better when they get to determine the pace of the battle.

Roughly seventy boyz for all of the marine stuff in the AOBR set? That's an outrageously good deal. I would definitely be willing to make that trade.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for the tactical advice, Wyrmalla and Warpcrafter; I do see a little conflicting information in this thread, however; I'll check around with the local ork players to get a consensus on this.

Actually boys work great with kans just leave out the deff dreds. Leave out the trukks though. AV10 + Open topped doesn't work well unless you have a lot of them & the KFF meks to cover them all.

Use the kans in units of 3 and have them act as a cover-granting wall for your boyz. Toss in the KFF mek with the lead mob & they will also get a 4+ cover save.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Wyrmalla wrote:kustom forcefield-so pretty much every boy gets a 4+ cover save i

KFF only gives a 5+, it's a 4+ for vehicles because they "Count as obscured"

Basham wrote:Roughly seventy boyz for all of the marine stuff in the AOBR set? That's an outrageously good deal. I would definitely be willing to make that trade.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for the tactical advice, Wyrmalla and Warpcrafter; I do see a little conflicting information in this thread, however; I'll check around with the local ork players to get a consensus on this.

Its 68, I believe. I'll have to count.

But pm me when you get the box, and we can work out the details

At least one Big mek with Kustom Force Field. Do it.
Kans and dreads seem like a common tactic & they look badass with their plastic kits
Nothing wrong with TONS of boyz. People seem to be hot on the shoota boyz, but i prefer my boyz nice & choppy since i don't rely on ork shooting outside of my loota squads
Oh yeah try out some lootas!

I like the good old speed freeks approch. When ever i foot slog against my friend all my boyz died from shooting That's why I load them in a trukk so they can get into battle so they into assult as fast as possible with 2 deffkoptas and a unit of warbikers for cover

Also, make sure you pick a good klan.

My painted orks ( like, 1k or something points) are Bad Moonz. Richest orks der iz!

Klans are over rated, make zombie orks.

No offense meant to Shas'O Dorian, but a "Little of this little of that" list can work if you know what you're doing. I've won three tournaments using a 'Kitchen Sink' style list that goes in the face of a lot of 'internet' wisdom. I've got no Nob Bikers, no Lootas, and No special characters.

You can check out the tournament reviews on the Battle Reports section of my website (http://www.irondogstudios.com/batreps.html). There are links to the army lists there as well. I have found with Orks that it comes down to playing what 'feels right' to you. Play the models you like and then build your tactics to suit.

I agree with Irondog on the little this and that can work for orks if you know what your doing. I combined a foot slogging speed freeks list and big mek army and I finally beat my friend with that list

Question, if vehicles get a +4 cover for obscured does that mean Kans and Dreads get +4too?

Da-Rock wrote:Question, if vehicles get a +4 cover for obscured does that mean Kans and Dreads get +4too?

Yup, they sure do. One of my favorite tactics is "The Wrath of Kan". Basically you run a wall of Killa Kanz (I arm one mob with Rokkits and another with grotzookas) and back them up with a 30-strong mob of Boyz led by a KFF wielding Big Mek. The Kanz get a 4+ cover save from the KFF, and the Boyz mob gets a 4+ cover save from being behind the Kanz. It's a nasty combo that creates a real 'anvil' unit to anchor the center of your line and march forward taking ground. Run some 'flanking' units, loaded in Trukks and Battlewagons, and you've got a nice combined force that can be pretty nasty for your opponent to deal with.

Wow you got lots and lots of good advice here! but the point I cant stress enough is to make a good list before you buy anything! I see it over and over again, lots of people will got out and buy stuff they think is good or cool but find out they dont like the unit and have just wasted money on the models.

Sickening is right. If you're looking to save money, building a list before you buy is essential. The trouble is, you often don't know what fits your playstyle until you try it out. So what I would suggest is the following:

- Buy some 'essentials' to get you started
- Play a few games with some 'proxy' models, and then pony up the cash if you like how they play

That way you can get a feel for the army and refine your list a bit without dropping money on stuff you won't use.

As far as essentials, here is a list of what you can buy 'safely' without having to worry about wasting money.

- Warboss (the AoBR plastic guy has a good loadout and is dirt cheap in terms of $$)
- Boyz (you can never have too many, but anywhere between 40-60 is a 'decent' start for an army)
- Nobz (you may not be using these guys as a mob on their own, but they are indispensible as mob leaders with powerklaws)
- Big Mek with Kustom Force Field (whether you're running a footslogging horde, a speed freek list, or some hybrid of the two you will NEED this guy, can easily be converted from an AoBR Nob)

So basically, an AoBR set or two and you're off to a good start. Other units that are a good buy in my opinion are Killa Kanz and the Lootas/Burnas box. The Kanz just plain rock, both model-wise and rules-wise, but some folks don't play "Kan Wall" well if it doesn't suit their style.

The Lootas/Burnas box comes with arms and heads for both types. So say you build a squad of Lootas, you can convert up some AoBR Boyz into Burnas very easily using the arms.

One note of Ork Vehicles. while the Trukk and Battlewagon kits are cool, you can often do just as well heading down to the toy section of your local department store, picking up some toy monster trucks, hitting said toys with a hammer and rebuilding them. It's a lot cheaper and they come out looking suitably 'orky' as well.

Hope this helps.

Tips for orks:

Play to have fun and you'll win. Play to win and you'll be frustrated. When in doubt, charge.

All squads of boyz need nobs. All nobs leading boyz need powerklaws. Period. Bosspoles are also useful.

The more boyz you have, the more you will win. And don't neglect shootaboyz, who are good.

Orks are an army that benefits from having sacrificial units. Grots are good for this. No one cares about grots. Cheap stuff like buggies, and kans can be sacrificed when needed to buy your boyz time, or the charge. Getting the charge is very important. The difference that an extra 30 attacks makes, at +1S, cannot be understated. If you let a big unit of boyz get charged, you will probably lose them, if you do the charging, you will probably win. So you put sacrificial stuff in the way, so that your opponent charges is, and then you charge their stuff with the big unit...

You can play with a wide variety of stuff and still be plenty effective. Earlier today, I played the following (1850) army:

HQ: Big Mek with forcefield <- one of the best hqs for any ork army...
HQ: Mega-armour warboss w/ cybork body.
Troops: deff dread w/ 4 close combat arms and grot rigger (troop cause of big mek)
Troops: 8 nobs, (powerklaw, pokwerklaw/bosspole, powerklaw/waaagh banner, combi-skorcha, big choppa, big choppa/bosspole, dok, and slugga/choppa) w/ battle wagon (deff rolla, boarding plank, armour plates, 2 big shootas, red paint) transport (Troops cause of warboss)
Troops: 30 shoota boyz, 3 big shootas, nob w/ powerklaw & bosspole
Troops: 19 slugga boyz, nob w/ powerklaw & bosspole
Troops: 10 slugga boyz, nob w/ powerklaw & bosspole, trukk w/ reinforced ram.
Troops: 10 grots, 1 herder
Elites: 9 lootas
Fast attack: 2 warbuggies w/ twin-linked rokkits
Heavy Support: Battlewagon w/ armour plates, deffrolla, boarding plank, 2 big shootas
Heavy Support: 3 kannons
Heavy Support: 2 killa kans w/ grotzookas.

It played pretty well, and had a lot of fun toyz to play with, a lot of threats for the enemy to deal with, and five scoring units for objectives.