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I've played my several 1500 point games with my Ork Army against a Tyranid army that is heavy on Monsters (Mawloc, Trygon Prime, Carnifex w/Stranglethorn, and lead by a Hive Tyrant, plus tyranid warriors and gene stealers with a brood lord for his troops. Also some raveners who destroyed my cannons last time).

My Ork Army (called "The Dum Nasty" ) is fairly primitive, loosely based on the Snakebite tribe.

A war boss,

a weirdboy,

10 'eavy nobs with 4 powerklaws,

a gretchin unit,

12 shoota boyz,

20 brawla boyz,

5 each lootas and burnas,

6 war bikers,

3 kannons,

a looted wagon with a boom gun.

He's beat me three times so far. But there must be a way! My Orks won't give up!

My Nobz are my strongest unit. Last game my Nobs got stuck in combat with with Hive tyrant and the Trygon prime. They held their own for a while, but got wittled down. They could have taken one of them, but they both have regeneration as well, and use kept not dying. The problem is those monsters are really good an close combat, and the armor is useless. A

My Kannons and Boom gun are helpful, but they don't deliver enough wounds to the monsters they hit. The Dakka and Deffguns score a lot of hits, but their AP isn't good enough. Alsomy orks want to Waaugh; they weren't meant to hang back and shoot.

I'm thinking of swapping in some tankbustas to replace the burnas.

I also think I need to get a painboy to help the Nobs.

What else can I do? No Killa Kans or the like, the Dum Nasty don't have that kind of technology.

Without any big guys like Killa canz or deff dreads it will be hard to match tyranids in CC, so lots of lootas and burnas is logical.

Yes, it looks like you are trying a quality apporach which to their style is normally adorable. I'd highly suggest you get more orks first cause i can't imagine the list you posted much more than 1000 pts.

What i will say is orks don't small scale well unless like Hornifex mentioned you take cheap Dreads and killa kans as they can produce a stupid list FAST. But even then Trygons and terrvogons are normally a powerful counter to your own list.

here is how i fight nids...

Leave your Kannons in the middle back of your board edge to avoid infiltarting genestealers, fire them rentlessly at their monsterous creatures EVERY CHANCE YOU GET and make sure to focus fire no matter what.

Personally I would suggest making a looted wagon without the boomgun and giving a slightly better armored transport as to not get tar pit by his guants (make sure to give it a skorchas and if you are moving less than 6 inches your shoota boys could fire from it.

Your burnas will not be useful to you against nids unless you focus on their flame templates, don't try and use power weapons as you are too slow for it to make a huge difference.

Lootas need to help focus fire what your kannons shoot.

I dunno how large your gretchin squad is but it needs to be either removed or limited to bare minimums for objective holding (otherwise this unit is the worst unit in the game hands down, less you are using them to tar-pit ....which is a waste of points)

Your warbikers are very reliable shooting from the amount i've used them (I have 32 bikes plus nobs and wazzadakka btw lol) But you shouldn't invest them in a battle of CC until the enemy is left in shambles. I'd say this is a perfect unit to deal with new guants being pooped out by Terrvogons. and don't forget they always get cover unless in CC

Your nobs are great but 4 powerklaws might be a bit much as that is 100 pts you could trim up right there... I would suggest a large portion be big choppas, maybe putting them in that new looted transport instead and keeping maybe 2 klaws cause the way you make it look you are making them choppa sluggas which is the worst combo imo against nids. (charging with bigg choppas makes you strength 7 on the charge and 6 after) you should be able to slaughter trygons and terrvogons by forcing high amounts of saves. look at the math

8 x 4 = 32 strength 7 attacks
4+ to hit = 50% ratio = 16 hits
3+ to wound = 66% wound = 10.56 wounds
3+ armor from most nid MC's = %66 resistance = 3.48 (3.50 wounds dealt) just from big choppas

You still have 8 power klaw attacks to finish it with. Of course in this example that is assuming you will be faster than the trygon. that won't happen so prepare to see things get ugly in that fight but you should kill a trygon with this unit it just might be in trouble after this is why focusing fire is so much more improtant.

I personally hate weridboyz despite their cool effect they are too random for my liking even with warp head upgrades.

Warbosses are good but they need to be with the right units namely nobs. So obviously 10 nobs + boss = OUCH!

Again though, this list is fundamentally flawed against nids. I'd highly suggest War buggies with TL-rokkit launchas, deff koptas, killa kans & MORE BOYZ. the units i mentioned not being great like burnas gretching ect are just not the right fit for your battle. The lootas you have are a bit small to do alot of damage and AP4 is going to fail on 3+ armored MC's.

I'd suggest drooping those 3 units, flushing out 3 30 man squads of orks with nobs that have powerklaws (they are nearly impossible to kill since you can't pick out the nob even in close combat unless they exceed the number of wounds you have in the squad... i.e. 31 wounds) just to annoy your nob!

Having these large units promotes fearlessness, having the 18' spammy shootas helps you deal with the flood of nid bodies the power klaws help you finish off large MCs and your nob squad needs to be the ones normally dealing with anything that makes it past your lines or just compound bashing against a model

That's my best advice other than perseverance and a long look over the rulebook to understand useful options you may not have seen "Like a twin-linked rokkit lauching deff kopta with a strength 7buzz saw that chops into Terrvogons at the same time they attack so an easy way to deal like 2-4 wounds to each and if you manage to survive hit and run away to another terrvogon or the like"

Thanks! I have a slow growing army, but I think I can see adding some deffkoptas (Black reach deals on ebay!) and more boys. Man, 30 more boys. I'm going to have a lot of painting to do .

I'll definitely ditch the gretchin. THey were mean to provide cover to my advancing boys, but they get destroyed quickly, also happy to lose the burnas for sure. I like my weirdboy tho, when he works he works great!

I really want some war buggies, might be adding some to the wish list.

I agree about the looted wagon, I just happened to get a deal on a Revell model tank that was the right site, and it's cannon was boom gun worthy, so... Maybe I can adjust.

This ork army has done great against necrons. I just don't have enough models yet to truly vary the list depending on the opponent.

Thanks again, we're gonna smash 'em next time!

LordRex wrote:

A war boss,

a weirdboy,

10 'eavy nobs with 4 powerklaws,

As you already said, you need a painboy (plus his cybork bodies). If you do that, you can easily drop 'eavy armor. In addtion, both 10 nobz and four powerklaws is a lot of overkill costing you many points. If you reduce those nobz to 7-8 and three powerklaws, you will find them to be just as killy, but for less points. Things to add would be a Waagh! banners (makes you hit most 'nids on 3+) and maybe some big choppas and combi weapons. Big choppas make wounding T6 easier and combi-weapons add a flamer or a rokkit to soften up a unit before you charge. Just make sure to have all nobz have different equipment, so you can freely chose which one gets a wound.
As for using them, never charge them against any monstrous creature which has S8 or higher attacks, as those are the big weakness of nobz, because any hit will kill a nob. Nobz are pretty much made for slaughtering warriors or genestealers, so make sure they do that.

a gretchin unit,

12 shoota boyz,

How many gretchin? A big unit of gretchin can keep a monstrous creature busy for a long time, as runtherds reduce their attacks.
Shoota boyz should be 20, there is no reason to field smaller units outside of trukks

20 brawla boyz,

5 each lootas and burnas,

5 burnaz are not really worth fielding them, as they are nothing but boyz with powerweapons when footslogged. If you field tankbustas, you should also increase the unit size, as for orks more is almost always better

6 war bikers,

Do they have a nob with a pk? If not, add one, if they do, you're fine. Just keep them out of combat, they are way better at shooting than at fighting nids.

3 kannons,

a looted wagon with a boom gun.

Looks like a decent support against tyranids. Just keep them somewhere near the center of the board to make sure that genestealers and other deep-striking bugs don't come to eat them. You could also place your gretchin around them to protect them from assault.

My Nobz are my strongest unit. Last game my Nobs got stuck in combat with with Hive tyrant and the Trygon prime. They held their own for a while, but got wittled down. They could have taken one of them, but they both have regeneration as well, and use kept not dying. The problem is those monsters are really good an close combat, and the armor is useless. A

As above, both cybork and big choppas will help you put a lot more wounds into them while staying alive longer. This kind of combat still isn't a great place for nobz, you're better off tossing a unit of boyz at them and then watch 500 points of tyranid killing 160 points of orks over the course of three turns.

My Kannons and Boom gun are helpful, but they don't deliver enough wounds to the monsters they hit. The Dakka and Deffguns score a lot of hits, but their AP isn't good enough. Alsomy orks want to Waaugh; they weren't meant to hang back and shoot.

Though against tyranids you have to hang back and shoot. You still use charges to finish off wounded opponents, but there is not point in running into a fight you can't win.

Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:Personally I would suggest making a looted wagon without the boomgun and giving a slightly better armored transport as to not get tar pit by his guants (make sure to give it a skorchas and if you are moving less than 6 inches your shoota boys could fire from it.

There is no reason to ever field a looted wagon without a boomgun. If you want a transport, get a battlewagon. However, never put trukks or battlewagons in a list with footsloggers, so simply get more boyz.

Warbosses are good but they need to be with the right units namely nobs. So obviously 10 nobs + boss = OUCH!

Despite fluff, warbosses should not run with nobz. They support boyz and burnaz much better than nobz, and nobz simply don't need the extra strength. Having two strong units beats having one unit that overkills everything any day.

I'd suggest drooping those 3 units, flushing out 3 30 man squads of orks with nobs that have powerklaws (they are nearly impossible to kill since you can't pick out the nob even in close combat unless they exceed the number of wounds you have in the squad... i.e. 31 wounds) just to annoy your nob!

Rather than 3x30 you should go with 4x20. More power klaws, easier to maneuver, more flexibility and harder to tarpit. You should only ever increase your number above 20 if your FOC is full.

That's my best advice other than perseverance and a long look over the rulebook to understand useful options you may not have seen "Like a twin-linked rokkit lauching deff kopta with a strength 7buzz saw that chops into Terrvogons at the same time they attack so an easy way to deal like 2-4 wounds to each and if you manage to survive hit and run away to another terrvogon or the like"

At I2 I wouldn't exactly count on Hit&run

Otherwise, sound advice.

Build a good list and you'll be fine. This means more boyz and then getting your other units to gel.

You then sit back shoot a little. 30 boyz will kill a monster in cc, monsters just do not have enough attacks.

Tank busters would be good but a little overkill, equally loadz of lootas would work.

LordRex wrote:Thanks! I have a slow growing army, but I think I can see adding some deffkoptas (Black reach deals on ebay!) and more boys. Man, 30 more boys. I'm going to have a lot of painting to do .

I'll definitely ditch the gretchin. THey were mean to provide cover to my advancing boys, but they get destroyed quickly, also happy to lose the burnas for sure. I like my weirdboy tho, when he works he works great!

Mk, i thought at much when i saw that on your weirdboy list... it's rare to find someone who likes them. While I won't stop you for using him, I would like to suggest a way to provide your boys with better cover for as much as a bare minimum squad of grots without having a kill point or other weaknesses. When you get the chance look over the Big Mek's Kustom Force Field, it's a 6' inch bubble around his base that will provide all ork SQUADS/UNITS a 5+ cover save if even one model is within 6 inches of him. What i do is join him to 1 squad and have multiple other squads somewhat pearl necklace to him as well. I've easily provided 100+ orks a 5+ cover save till i reach combat. Best part of this little thing is it works for vehicles as well Killa Kans, Deff Dreds, Wagons, Trukks, Battle Wagons, bugges ect. Hell if he is embarked on a battle wagon you can measure 6 inches from anywhere on the vehicle so it makes it easy to provide all sqauds with cover . The Big Mek also can fix his ride while he drives around and give those nobs a reliable delivery system to stomp dem bugs flat!

Since you said you want to ditch the gretchin that isn't a problem but keeping them around to shield your kannons from Deep strikers and genestealers isn't a bad option i use this often with Lootas so same tactic, have a small 10 grot squad surround a flank of your kannons making it impossible for those bugs to declare an assualt on your kannons.

In short i know you like Weirdboy but I named myself Big Mek Wurrzog for a reason, I can't remember the last time i didn't use him in a battle... except for experimentation/fun

Thanks again. Turns out I did have some math errors in my list as well, and I wan't fielding as much as i should have in the 1500pt battle. I'm attaching my new list in case you are interested. I have to acquire an prepare some more Boys and the second looted wagon, then I'll be good to go.

LordRex wrote:Thanks again. Turns out I did have some math errors in my list as well, and I wan't fielding as much as i should have in the 1500pt battle. I'm attaching my new list in case you are interested. I have to acquire an prepare some more Boys and the second looted wagon, then I'll be good to go.

Your math looks off for the looted wagons and probably elsewhere as well, Not to mention 12 nobs?

I think the math was OK on the looted wagons (I mark the base points on the line above the point cost for the add-ons). However I did get the Nobz wrong - I'd remembered the max as 12 instead of 10.

I am admittedly a bit of a sucker - I keep the weird boy and avoid mechs and cyborgs because they don't go with the primitive origin story of my tribe. I'd rather lose but have a good story than win but break the narrative.

Currently there are Orks, Tyranids and Necrons battling for control of a moon, though some Blood Angels dropped in once to get their butts kicked by those nids (i just observed that game).

Orks up against the Necrons again next, I suspect the Dum Nasty will foil Imotekh's carefully laid plans once again.

- Warboss should have a Powerklaw

- Nobz are 3-10 choices. Even then, you shouldn't field more than 7-8

- Lootaz would work better as 2x 5

- That looted wagon transport is pretty much useless. If the model is big enough, use it as a battlewagon instead.

Sorry to elevate an old topic, but I wanted to let you guys know that I am half way through a 1500pt battle with the monstrous tyrannic army, and doing much better.

The larger mobs of orks are much better at destroying giant bugs, and each mob is ned by a nob with a power claw.

The looted wagons have been both been blown way by the heavy weapon packing 'nids, but The lootas and kannons are performing like champs by focussing fire on monsters.

My beloved weird boy was a great help when he gave his mob an extra attack, not so much when teleported them just as they were about to assault... but that's why we love 'im.

I play against Orks quite a bit, and here are some things that really chap my ass:

1. Lootas: My bud only has 1 squad and doesn't seem to want more, but let me tell ya, when he rolls a 5 or 6 for the number of shots, that usually means a dead MC or a squad is about to get wiped. Get as many of these as you can, they'll help against vehicles as well.

2. Deathstar: This is becoming less of a problem as I take Genestealers more, but a large squad of Nobs with a Painboy and a Warboss tears through basically everything I can take, besides Stealers. Expensive and not terribly hard to shoot to death, so YMMV.

hopefully some of that helps...

LordRex wrote:Sorry to elevate an old topic, but I wanted to let you guys know that I am half way through a 1500pt battle with the monstrous tyrannic army, and doing much better.

The larger mobs of orks are much better at destroying giant bugs, and each mob is ned by a nob with a power claw.

The looted wagons have been both been blown way by the heavy weapon packing 'nids, but The lootas and kannons are performing like champs by focussing fire on monsters.

My beloved weird boy was a great help when he gave his mob an extra attack, not so much when teleported them just as they were about to assault... but that's why we love 'im.

Great to hear you're doing well