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(I think this goes here, I'm not 100% sure, someone let me know if Drgon did wrong)

Hello everyone, Today I bit the bullet and decided no matter what I did, no one in my local scene would ever pick up Kings of War. so now I'm working to get into 40K, which I have played all of 3 times (last edition, I think... the battle for macragge starter). Looking over the fluff, I decided when I went to my FLGS today that I would walk out with either a box of Orks or Tau. As the title says, I now have the latest 40K general rulebook, an Ork Codex, and my first box of Boyz. I'll be using this thread to catalog a newbies intro to the game, and hopefully get some feedback on what makes a good Ork list. I'll be picking up some new models every friday, and probably have last weeks pick up painted then (I was a painter long before I even thought about playing )

so, week zero:
-11 boyz

An ambitious beginning, good luck with it. Make sure to take/post pictures

I'd suggest buying boyz each week until you can't stand to paint them anymore, then take a break by buying a couple boxes of Loota Boyz. Also, grab you a Assault on Black Reach Warboss for an HQ until you get a feel for what you want to do. Or if you wanna go ahead and jump right in, go with a KFF Mek or Weirdboy for your first HQ. Outside of that the other options are really up to your style/discretion.

Welcome to the Green side

My last painting project was 200 mantic skeletons... I could paint Boyz for a while I was originally thinking Tau, but after reading things over i think I might play Orks until They get updated/ the new edition.

Would it be worth it to buy the Battleforce? I'm determined to support my new FLGS, and they'd be selling it for $85.50+tax. other than that.. more Boyz are always good

battle for ce is a great way to go, I shoulda started that way, or assualt on black reach is a great set to start with too. If you dont want koptas, easy to convert them to bikes, buggies, trukks, whatever.

Money Save$$$

I'm building my boyz now (I had a crazy weekend ), and after the first two, i'm not sure its looking right. the first 2 look... too slouched. Looking at it it seems the only way the models can go together without looking like they are making an S with their backs.

DarkDrgon wrote:I'm building my boyz now (I had a crazy weekend ), and after the first two, i'm not sure its looking right. the first 2 look... too slouched. Looking at it it seems the only way the models can go together without looking like they are making an S with their backs.

Ok, I'll see if i can describe this accurately enough w/o the use of pics (no camera). I always make sure the Torso is as vertical as possible when attaching it to the legs., after you have it straight, before the glue dries, you can pivot the torso to get a "leaning effect" based on the particular leg set youre using. I classify Legs as "runners" and "standers". Runner legs are good for posing Slugga Boys. Stander Legs are good for Shoota Boyz.

When making a Slugga Boy, Im bad to always turn the torso to lean (vertically) to the left OR right (trying to make each as different as possible) so as to get the "leaning into a swing" effect. After I attach the torso, I make sure the head is facing vertically forward (straight up and down). Then when you have the overall pose you want, attach arms.

Shoota Boys are a little more tricky. The Legs and torso positioning will be fairly boring compared to Sluggas, but I've found the best way is to make sure that your Torso "button" fits as flush as possible into the Legs "button hole". After this is done, take care before gluing arms to ensure that you have the desired angle you want your shoota to be in (you can find shortcut to get some variance, but not much. The key is to allow enough room to still get your Head on at the very last (enough room to be able to get a brush in there, or at the very least, so his jaw isnt sitting on the top of the shoota). You should be able to draw and imaginary line from the ork's right eye to the sight at the end of the Shoota (left eye for the left handers).

Try you a couple test subjects first, to see if this works for you. And I hope that jumbled mess of words make some kind of clarified sense.

EDIT: BUT orks can slouch and itll be ok. If he is a sloucher, just make sure his head is raised a lil higher, and his arms are up a bit to off set it, and give him the image of moving forward instead of looking at the ground, and I think you be just fine. Keep up the good work.

I think the Ork physiology actually means for them to have that 's' shape. Actually, humans have that same shape, with our spines. If you look at a side view of someone standing regular (without bulky clothes) you'll see that their rear sticks out a lot compared to the small of their back. Orks are just a little exagerated.

Orks have terrible posture, so yea, they are supposed to be crocked like that. Make the rest stand strait, itll be how the look normally.

Any ideas as to what type of build you want to start with? There are a bunch you can go with in the Orks codex, its got alot of variation in it. Also, good luck man, welcome to the horde

They look perfect to me head on, Its when I look down at them I'm bothered, which sucks for gaming. They remind me of the Mantic zombies, which are the only models in that undead line I don't like

As for a build, I was thinking something basic, since I've never played a full game I just bought black reach instead of a battleforce so I have an HQ, and I like the looks of the kopta's as my first fast attack. I have some people demoing me the game at the store this weekend, so hopefully i'll have at least these 11 boyz painted up

my 11 boyz so far are equipped with choppas and sluggas, except for one with a big shoota... because it was the first I built and it looked cool.

for a build, I was thinking something shooty (I was considering Tau after all), or using the speed freaks army in the codex as a base and changing things up from there. i don't know my meta yet, I'll see what my local players thing

so I have around $60 incoming this friday, any ideas on whats next:

week 0 (again)
31 boyz
3 defcoptas
5 nobs
1 warboss

Well weather your playin shooty or Goff style, the AOBR is a great starter kit. IMO THATS how starter kits should come. If your going shooty though the only problem is you have slugga boyz instead of shoota boyz. Some people will let you count them as shoota boyz, others will be not so happy to. I personally play a very shooty BigMek x2 and rokkit heavy build. I just LOVE all the rokkits that Orks can pump out a turn. I once played a list using 3 x3 kannon batteries and I hit something like 23 or 24 rokkit shots a turn. It was fun.

The thing with Orks though, is its not such a good idea to just randomly buy things for your army. Unless you like playing up hill most the time. What I mean is, figure out, what build your wanting and start buying things for that build specifically. So if your going shooty, get boyz and put shootas on them and get some lootas and so on. If your going speed freaks, then buy bikers and trukks and koptas and so on. Dont get like grots, and then some burnas cause they look cool, and then grab a SAG mek because you like his weird chances of killing things. Thats the best route to go for Orks anyways. I too have slowly built up my army so I did the same thing you are, buying one part at a time.

Originally I started with a trukk/BW list and just went strait for the CC. But it just wasnt really my thing, I wanted something different. So I started playing around here and there with shooty Orks and was surprised at how well they can do with shooting, despite having an awesome BS of 2. But the serious changer was when my wife started playing Nids. That kicked me into overdrive real fast. Going CC against Nids just wasnt working, they are just so damn fast, but bullets fixed that problem


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Oh yea, to suggest on your next purchase. If your going shooty, then lootas/burna is the box you want next, or more boyz, "XXX" or more boyz is a stock answer because Orks always need boyz, and youll get some shootas in your build. The loota/burna box is cool. Basically you buy that box + a box of boyz, and you end up with lootas/burnas/ extra boyz at the same time. Just dont build the mek thats in the box, build a burna/deffgun if you have to, because the mek is just a waste on the table. Infact we had a thread about brainstorming on how to actually use a mek in those squads, and none of us could think of one lol.


Or if you DO go speed freaks, then decide on bikes/trukks more koptas. Look up Ebay also, sometimes you can get great deals on there. Specially for koptas, you can buy the AOBR koptas for like 3 bucks

another thing thats bothering me about the boyz... Is it usual to not have enough arms of a certain type to outfit them with sluggas and choppas? I feel like I ran out of right armed choppas

Unless you have a strong aversion to shoota boyz you should be building all "boyz boxes" as shootas. With the abundance of AOBR out there sluggas boyz can be found cheap. If you want to support your local store, that is fine, you will find a ton of more people playing willing to split a set with you for the space marines, proceed to sell the rulebook and all that stuff on ebay or at a bazaar if your store runs those. We generally need more shoota boyz anyway, slugga boyz are typically taken as trukk boyz with means 12 boy units, I tend to use a mob of 30 sluggas with Grotsnik. Outside of that all other models on foot should be shootas, in kan walls or just green tide, shootas just tend to do better on foot.

Good call not getting the battleforce. I made that mistake and don't even use the trukk or bikes. However, the boys are much nicer and more versatile. Yu should come up with a theme and like most people are saying don't just go and grab anything. Look at other posts and try a theme that appeals to you. If you like the kans do the kan wall, if you like the BW's get a bunch of them, if you like bikes make nob bikers., etc.

That being said lootas is always a safe box to get. You can make burnas for BW's and lootas fit in almost every list. You know what a cool box is, Nobs box. Lots of cool bits and weapons and you can always use more diverse nobs as the AOBR box nobs are pretty lame in comparison.


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The mek in the lootas box can be converted to a KFF. The trukk wrecking ball makes a cool looking KFF placed on a backpack.

DarkDrgon wrote:another thing thats bothering me about the boyz... Is it usual to not have enough arms of a certain type to outfit them with sluggas and choppas? I feel like I ran out of right armed choppas

They dont all have right handed choppas if I remember right. But double check your sprues, they make enough for either all shootas or all sluggas.


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I agree, I think the Ork Battleforce box sucks. Most people wont use the trukks, and if they do, the bikes are a total waste and vice versa. Really the only things everyone uses from it are the boyz. And thats alot of cash for shelving half the box

Try and get 3 boxes of lootas soon, there are 4 loota guns in each box this will give you 12 lootas so you can run 2 small units of 5 since it's best to do them in units of 5 or 15 (as a good hit can cause them to break and run so 15 is good to absorb the hit while 5 is like ohhh well it's only 75pts), when you get to higher points you may want to bump them to 15 in each group. Kommandos are nice for your 3rd elite slot, you are better converting boyz or you will be spending $40 for 4 metal models since the nob is useles with Snikrot which you want. Kommandos don't fit the bill for all army types but are nice in kan walls and green tides to make your enemy fear the table edges putting his guys closer to your boyz.

Nobz as stated are nice but if you are buying boyz boxes you could do without them for now as they will come with the PK nob with boss pole. You will not really have a need for nobz until higher level games.

Also for a small investment gretchin are nice, get 2 boxes for holding objectives or providing cover saves to more valuable units, plus they look awesome and are really fun.

Look up ways to convert or order the buzz saw for 1-3 of your deffkoptas, start the game in scouting 12 inches away from the enemy and first turn they either have to stop and shoot at your koptas and not at your boyz or you shoot TL rokkits into their transports and assault them with the buzz saw, a chance of immobilizing or possibly destroying them from the get go.

Try some stuff out before deciding on battle wagon spam or kan walls as they can be expensive

Welcome to the best army in the game (In regards to fun)

well, everyone's been telling me to come up with a list instead of just blindly buying, so heres my first crack at it. don't beat me too bad if I made bad choices

HQ:
Warboss, with PowerKlaw, Twin Linked Shoota, Cybork Body, and Bosspole

Weirdboy (I got an old weirdboy model from a gamer at my store, might try him out)

Elites:
2 squads of 5 lootas

6 Nobz, with PK and Twin Linked shootas (can I take both?)

troops:
15 slugga boyz with a Nob (With PK and Bosspole)

15 Shoota Boyz with Nob (with Bosspole), 1 with a bog shoota

18 gretchin, 2 runtherds with grotprods

fast attack:

2 squads of 3 Deffkoptas, with one Kustom Blasta and one buzzsaw in each squad

I haven't picked out a heavy support yet, but I've been considering either a Battlewagon with killcannon for my Nobz squad, or a unit of Big Gunz

Looks like you're gravitating towards a Footslogger list.

First off, yes you can give Nobz both. However, you might want to look into some wound allocation shenanigans with them, and possibly a painboy. It's expensive points wise, and you'll either have to convert the PB or buy him special, but from my experience, it's definitely worth it for that 4+ FnP.

With a Warboss, those Nobz are also Troop choices, so you could squeeze in another squad of Lootas or a squad of Kommandoes if you wanted.

I'd suggest, if you're going for footsloggers, to get some Big Gunz. Kannons, probably.


Nice to see a weirdboy being played. I'd suggest upgrading him to Warphead (again, expensive, but I think worth it) and sticking him with the Slugga boyz.


And Wound Allocation Deffkoptaz! That'll be interesting. Believe me when I say that every single other person on this forum will tell you to go "One Kopta to a squad, because of Leadership, and use Twin LInked Rokkits and a Buzzsaw". Don't listen to them, at least not immediately. Playtest (through proxy or whatever) them like this first, see if you like them or not. And remember, they're flying Nobz, and the extra toughness doesn't count for Insta-death.


Sounds like a quirky, fun list to play. Lots of folks here will discourage you from playing anything but the "Good" or 'Accepted' current meta-game lists (I dare you to tally the number of people telling you to go Kan Wall or Dredd Bash or buy more boyz for a pure Green Tide) but play your own game. I think this list will be fun, quirky, and unpredictable (for the opponent) to play.

Let us know how you like it. You can save yourself 10 pts by dropping 1 runtherder. I would find a way to upgrade that weirdboy to a warphead. And when it comes to boyz always always always: Nob with PK and Bosspole. A Waaagh Banner on the nobz would be good too a painboy would also add to their durability, and yes you can take twin linked shootas on them.

KingCracker wrote:
I agree, I think the Ork Battleforce box sucks. Most people wont use the trukks, and if they do, the bikes are a total waste and vice versa. Really the only things everyone uses from it are the boyz. And thats alot of cash for shelving half the box

I disagree:
Speed Freaks - Trukks and bikes ftw!
Non Speed Freaks - Trukks + bikes = warbuggies/traks, bike weapons can be used to spice up loota squads, could be a looted wagon in a pinch!

As for the list, I like the shenanigans on the deffkoptas, very interesting way to use them!

I also run a wierdboy quite frequently, the warphead upgrade will save your green smelly a$$ no end of times! oh and get used to rolling the most inappropriate powers for your current situation (such as my frequent annoyance, rolling a waaagh! on the first turn against shooty armies that set up as far away as possible!)

^ i also like running wiedboys i'll echo to always take warphead... and yes sometimes rolling things suck like ere we go first turn is awsome... ere we go once your in an assaul... not so awsome. heck i've even had ead bangers work out well in an assault scatter to enemy and wipe out the back line. btu its completely random funness... thats what the orks are. just like the SAG .. i'd never field it competitivly.. but in a fun match its awsome to roll doublt 6's and bam unit removed from the game. i am unsure if its how it is supposed to work but where i play they say if you hit the dedicated transport with a group embarked it would remove the whole transport and unit (never had this happen yet) but i did make a dreanaught dissappear which was nice as he was almost at my big mek / grots on an objective

good choice on AoBR and if you look around you might find somebody willing to trade out space marines for orks on it

ok, i think for my heavy support i'll go with 2 squads of big gunz

Im probably gonna get a painboy when I can, im awful at customizing models so I'd rather shell out the money next week (tomorrow i'm buying 3 boxes of lootas, and a Big Mek)

EDIT: oh, and more boyz from black reach i found a bunch for cheap on the 'bay

Army list update: I've decided to take a couple of looted wagons.... mostly for fluff, partly because I'm cheap, and partly because... why not?

So my list looks something like
HQ: 175
Warboss
-with PK
-With TW Shoota
Big Mek
-with KFF

Elites: 270
8 lootas with 2 Meks
8 burnas

troops: 546
20 Shoota boys
-with Nob w/ Big Choppa (AoBR makes PKs out for now, maybe later though)
-with 2 Bog Shoota boys
20 slugga boys
-with Nob w/ Big Choppa
-with 2 Bog Shoota boys
10 Nobs
-with Big Choppas

Fast Attack: 270
3 Deffkoptas
-with twin linked rockets
3 Deffkoptas
-with twin linked rockets

Heavy Support: 165
Looted Wagon
-With Skorcha (for burna boyz)
Looted Wagon (with boomgun)

total: 1426

I'll probably pick up more boyz to round out to 1500.

In the future, I'll probably phase out the Nobs for a Deffdread, since the Big Mek makes it a troop choice. If I like the speed of the wagons, i might get a couple of Trukks for the Lootas and Nobs.

Am I spamming now?

Had my first game at 750 points, spearhead annihilation ... got DESTROYED by Guard manticore.... and 3 valkyrie. Lost my 2 units of Lootas and Burnas in turn one, and that was pretty much game. Had a blast though,

I play against IG alot and manticors are why i put buzz saws on my deff koptas. TL rokkits in and charge turn 1 every time.. if i don't take them out its hard to win though i have had luck against 2 manticore's in a 1500 point match using a kanwall thanks to kff saves