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All, at a bit of a loss on how the marines can chew the Orks.

About what I am facing:
1 big Nob squad but they are a concern for later.
A HOARD of copters with missiles (2 full squadrons)
3 full 30 man squads of shootas with dakka guns and occasional rockets.
1 maybe soon to be 2 full squads of lootas.
There may be more because we are playing for 2000 points.

Findings from prior games:
The Koptas are a pain if you only get shots here and there, not much opportunity for instant kill and 2 wounds can get spread around.
Lootas can unload a hoard of dice, I jump on them right away.
Do NOT stay in cover when attacked by Orks due to their stick bombs, keep your initiative: one of few advantages we have with them.
Hard to do but charge them first.
Normal terminators die like dogs if they find themselves in melee.
Landraiders may be the way to go since only rockets can seem to hurt it.
Whirlwinds I am cursed, cannot hit a rampaging hoard if my life depended on it.
Got to remind opponent that fearless does not mean immune to sniper pinning (right?).
Opponent stayed out of range of Vindicator quite handily (darn that pre-measure any time).

Options to field:
I pretty much have everything so all options are open.
Strategies I am thinking:
Landraider just to have a tank that does not die in two turns.
Sternguard just manning the line, special ammo can extend bolter fire range.
Scouts with 4 sniper rifles and heavy bolter.
Auto cannon dreadnaught.
Really toying with jumptroops.
Try whirlwinds one more time (grumble).
Thinking Thunderfire cannon (plus can upgrade a ruin due to the techmarine!)
Thinking the good old Devestator squad of plasma cannons.
My attack bikes work great and are cheap and are a pain much like his Koptas.

Give me a strategy against the hoard and I will sing great praises and name a miniature after you...

Thanks All!

A drop pod dread with TL heavy flamer and underarm flamer will do wonders against orks. Great for lootas, boys, whatever you need dead.

I like the land raider idea, get a crusader and watch hordes of boys dissolve in front of your eyes.

It sounds like you had bad luck with your whirlwinds, but they could be good for area denial if nothing else. Maybe also try a vindicator as the large blast instakills nobs and can mush infantry all the same.

And yes, fearless is immune to pinning.

Actually, Fearless is Immune to Pinning(they can go to ground however)


The real key to orks with Space Marines is to shoot as much as possable before counter charging and denying him the charge.

It should be almost impossable for him to avoid a Vindicator. Move 6" and fire that Demolisher cannon. Thats an effective 30" range.

Take flamers, lots of flamers. Tac squads get them for free and Sergeants can take a Combi-flamer for real cheap.


With proper firing discipline you should easily outshoot him. He advances, you move away and keep shooting. you have 6" on him with your bolters. Then when he gets close enough, you'll end up in rapid fire range. Then, he will advance again. With proper positioning, he will only be able to barely be within 12"

Now you advance forward, bolt pistol, frag grenade, and flamer him, and follow up with a charge. A Tac squad with a Flamer and Missile launcher can pretty much gut a 30 strong mob by themselves.



Tactical Terminators are an excellent unit against orks. Give them Clyclone Missile racks.

a ten man squad with 2 clyclones is 460 points,but they are worth every one of them.

On average, they'll drop 7 orks with their bolters each round of shooting. Their missiles can take out either Boyz or Tanks very reliably. Assuming the ork player spreads his boyz out to max coherency, you'll still get 3-5 orks a turn with the Frag blasts. And the Krak missiles can ID Deffkoptas and Nobs with each hit.

I could spend all day going over fine-tuning advice, some of which you seem to have already figured out - so instead let me give a few pointers.

1) Devastators are a good idea, but not plasma cannons. Take missile launchers to give you the option between frag and krak, plasma is just too expensive considering you won't be up against any 2+ saves. You also avoid the risk of Gets Hot!.
2) Land Raiders are very expensive so if you're going to take one, make it a Redeemer for all the anti-infantry weapons. Bringing two Whirlwinds/Vindicators instead would work better though, in my opinion.
3) By all means take jump troops. I would suggest either an Assault Squad or Vanguard Squad, depending on how expensive you want to run it and how tricky it will be to catch those Koptas, since that's what they're for. Charge them and tie them up to stop them from causing your other forces any damage. You can use the same tactic against Lootas, but here you definitely want Vanguard to get the charge as a normal Assault Squad can just be shot to pieces.
4) Pick up heavy flamers and assault cannons wherever you can.

A crusader might be a good idea, as it has a ton of shots, at a pretty good range, and it just gets more killy as they get closer. An assault squad with two flamers might not be a bad idea for hunting those kopters, and they have some killing power if they have to take on boys.

Thunderfire cannons should eat those orks up.

Have you considered a fortress of redemption? Extra HBs, pie plate of death, and a nice collection of AV14 walls to hide behind?

 Grey Templar wrote:
Actually, Fearless is Immune to Pinning(they can go to ground however)

Pg 35, they can't go to ground if fearless.

a couple of landspeeders with two heavy flamers, then go and burn down his squad with the KFF mek.

So, am I wrong, or are you asking Dakka to tailor a list for you so you can beat a player who consistently brings a regular old Ork footslogging army?

Focus fire and bolter rounds. Try backing off, premeasure to choose the furthest back firing position. Orks without cover saves die pretty quickly.

Boyz need to be cut down to size. You'll find once down to a small squad they are not so scary and you can fire at something else. Reasons to stop shooting would be: that they no longer have models in assault range; no longer fearless and you want them to roll leadership; the squad is now all in cover; the squad is down to a number so you are no longer scared about cc(Remember you are Han Solo in cc.)

koptas squads are expensive. There are relatively hard but they really ought to be. Make them roll against their leadership. you need 4 unsaved wounds to make them roll against their leadership.
Assault them.

Lootas are pretty cool. If you can drop pod or something. Otherwise make them roll against their leadership. They always run.

Push the right unit into combat with nobs, they are foot slogging so you should be able to find the right guys. Probably shooty terminators, after you said you are now not fond of them.

You seem to have tactics more or less sussed. Sit back and shoot.
Combat squad, as to goad the orks in multiassault.
Use cover. You may not be used to this. Make sure vehicles get cover saves. Also do not give lootas a good view, sure they can snap fire but that is a big loss despite being BS2.

Some good units that you have already mentioned:
Vindicators.
Orks struggle to touch landraiders, it is a bit of a joke.
I would say do not go for flamers, they need to get a little too close to work. Orks are happy to lose a few models if that means they get the charge.
Sternguard are pretty great at killing orks.

Do orks take stikkbombs? Nobs maybe. But they cost a load of points, are you sure your opponent has costed them right, they boost what would be I1 to I2.