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Hey guys. This is my first post here and I am here seeking advice
I am starting to build my first WH40K Ork army, and I have a basic plan, so I need some opinions and suggestions. Keep in mind I am on a monthly budget and will take me some time to get models.
My idea is going for a speed-freaky army, starting with some bikers and some shoota boys ( I really like Nob bikers ), working up to lootas and then some mechanisation and flyers. So far I bought some boyz and have nothing else.
This is my projected progression so far
------------------
Starting army:

20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170

20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170

Warboss biker (bike, Shoota-Skorcha, powerclaw, atk squig, cybork body)
155 points

3 Nob bikers cybork bodies (painboy , powerclaw+bosspole , Waagh!banner+big choppa)
250 points
745 ( a starting army, many people here play at 750 or 1k games around here. )
---------------
first upgrade:
+
Big Mek /w Shokk Attack Gun
95 points

12 Lootas
180

(get up to 1000 points)
------
Final composition:
------
Warboss biker (bike, kombi skorcha, powerclaw, atk squig, cybork body)
155 points

5 Nob bikers cybork bodies (painboy, powerclaw+bosspole, powerclaw, big choppa, waaagh!banner+big choppa)
360 points

Big Mek /w Shokk Attack Gun
95 points

13 Lootas
195 points

13 Lootas
195 points

20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170 points
Battlewagon (red paintjob, deffrolla , 2x Big Shootas)
125 points

20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170 points
Battlewagon (red paintjob, deffrolla , 2x Big Shootas)
125 points

Dakka Jet (extra super shoota, flying boss)
130 points

Dakka Jet (extra super shoota, flying boss)
130

1850 points (slowly work up to this from the 1000 mark, adding lootas and jets first, then the wagons to finish it up)
---
Thanks in advance guys

Most people will tell you to Forget the SAG and go KFF instead. Don't just take their word for it, try them against someone willing to let you proxy and see what works for you.

For Expanding beyond what you already have listed, more Nob Bikers is usually nice. I have a squad i refer to as Gork's Anjulz. 10 nob bikers, 2 biker bosses (one with PK for cracking AV14, the other with Big Choppa and an Attack Squig for accepting/issuing Challenges.

The KFF will most likely work better to protect your bikes however; I will not talk down the SAG. If you want to be more competitive KFF if you want to have a lot of fun laugh and kill things with winning as secondary SAG!

 zammerak wrote:
The KFF will most likely work better to protect your bikes however; I will not talk down the SAG. If you want to be more competitive KFF if you want to have a lot of fun laugh and kill things with winning as secondary SAG!

Ork warbikers allready come with a 4+ cover save due Smoke clouds.

Ork warbikers allready come with a 4+ cover save due Smoke clouds.

Looks pretty legit.

One thing you may have some issues with is getting cover for your Lootaz. Try running smaller units since they can go to ground if not fearless. They're easier to tuck away and more units is more target saturation for your opponent to deal with, plus a lucky roll on a unit of 8-10 is still 24-30 shots so it can easily take down a vehicle or MC.

Also, keep an open mind about what unit goes in the BW. There are some games where putting both units of Lootaz and slogging my Boyz has won me games.

The SAG is ballin, I love it, if you find you're rolling poorly with it then I would suggest a Warphead in a fat unit of Slugga Boyz, he can deepstrike them for line breaker or a rear objective and with 2 Dakka Jets the potential for an extra WAAAGH is pretty juicy, just remember to roll his power first to leave yourself the option of declaring a Waaaagh.

More nob bikers for sure. I roll 10 deep there. Usually 4 plain Jane nob bikers with cybork body up front catching bullets. The 3pk one with eaagh one with bosspole. 2 big choppas and a painboy

Jeez wheres the trukk love these days?

My usual advice: drop a few points on kannons and grot bomms and you won't regret it.

Durable and versatile shooting for the former, and an accurate and powerful barrage pieplate for the latter ~ even the odds against IG artillery and feth with your opponents deployment!

I'd try and add some big gunz and deffkoptas/buggies/trakks for vehicle hunting to that list.

The idea on 1k points is that the SAG Big Mek is to attach to the Lootas, the boyz advance and shoot, while the nob bikers hit hard where needed or dakka from afar
KFF seems redundant since i cant put it in a BW in the 1850 composition I have atm, i'd have to cut a boy to make him work
as for more Nob Bikers, I'd love too, but I thought adding more to the expense of other units is too many toys, seeing how 5 bikers + warboss are a solid size squad that can kill (IMO) almost anything and can do surgical strikes
I am not a big fan of trucks simply because with 6th ed. slugga boys just seem like a bad version of shoota boys with fringe cases where they are better. Also the 10 all around armor and 12 models limit is quite a limit with how things are right now. 13-15 lootas seems like the right amount of fire, and the going to ground doesnt seem to be that influetial the first time they fire on the squad, but it is also dependent on the terrain .

As for everyones suggestion to add units, please clarify a bit more, as in when you bikers what do you take out
btw thanks for the feedback, i am taking into consideration all the comments so far and there are good feedbacks

Lootas are best taken in groups of 9, 13 or 15 (to maximize the number of lootas that need to be killed to roll leadership)

I recommend you do not put a BM with SAG with them as their optimal targets are completely different.

Dakkajets are your friends, great anti-infantry, but dont expect them to survive for more than 2 turns.

Use deffrollas, they are our best anti tank, at 2000 points I use 4 battlewagons at the least.

That is a good point about lootas and their leadership checks, I did not think of that
I would use a 3th Battlewagon in this list perhaps, but i am not sure what to shave off

I've heard lootas are good, maybe stompa.

Lootas are a needed, no lootas, no army

 zammerak wrote:
Lootas are a needed, no lootas, no army

Imperial armor 8, with lootas as troops mhm k

Yeah I love the idea of lootas in the army aswell
my whole idea started with "I want to play with lootas and nob bikers"

Lootas, Shoota Boyz, Nob Bikers and Dakkajets is the standard for competitive Ork play.

If you want to play the standard, go for it. On the upside there aren't going to be many other competitive Ork players relative to the other armies, so when your army looks the same as theirs it's less noticeable.

If you're looking for something to cut for a battlewagon, i might ditch the dakkajets.Dakkajets are good, but lootas are a little better. You could cut the jets for a battle wagon and a few more bikes or lootas.

My advice for what it's worth, if you want to go speed freak, take a full compliment of Nob Bikkers - it's expensive, especially for the Pain Boy (75 pts.) but 'feel no pain' and your pain boy gets to fire a dakkagun. a 3 nobs unit in your 750 point army will take the brunt of the attack. They will throw everything they have at this unit and very quickly you will find your warboss all alone. After that they will then focus on your footslogging Ork Boys.

Big Meks are usually better to take a KFF and Burna. The SAG has a 3% (once every 50 games) chance of opening up the Warp. When it does work in your favor you will hit only 1 figure and not be able to fire for the next turn. Other than that it probably wont be useful as it uses up an HQ slot and if you are not taking the def dread as a troop, the SAG is not worth taking.

I really hate saying this, the one figure that currently is a must is the Loota. The only orky thing about them is they have very loud guns. What lootas are best at is limiting your elite options. if you take a number higher than 10 then they can't go to ground because they are fearless. At least you can move and still snap fire. I normally hide them behind an ADL but lately I've been putting a full compliment in a Battlewagon (90) this has been working out better for me.

Hmm now this has me thinking of how to change my 3 army lists
I really do love the concept of Nob bikers in higher games, but I just couldnt fit more in 750 and 1000 points (this is going to be my baisic army for some time since ill have to upgrade my army slowly after the 750 mark)
maybe cut the 2nd HQ at the 1k mark and cut a loota, and add 2 bikers ?
Lets say the 1k list is like this
Warboss biker (bike, powerclaw, Kombiskorcha, atk squig, cybork body)
155 points
5 Nob bikers cybork bodies (painboy, powerclaw+bosspole, big choppa+Waagh Banner, Shoota/Skorcha kombi weapon)
370
9 Lootas
135
20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170
20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170
1000 points flat
As for the 1850 army, if I take a KFF bigmek and an extra wagon, I guess its better to put the KFF with some burnaboyz in a wagon
Warboss biker (bike, kombi skorcha, bosspole, powerclaw, atk squig, cybork body)
160 points
7 Nob bikers cybork bodies (slugga+choppa, painboy, powerclaw+bosspole, Big Choppa, powerclaw, waaagh!banner+big choppa, Kombiskorcha)
465
15 Lootas
225
Big Mek KFF+burna
105 points
12 Burna boyz
180
Battlewagon (red paintjob, deffrolla , 2x Big Shootas)
125
20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170
Battlewagon (red paintjob, deffrolla , 2x Big Shootas)
125
20 Shoota boys (2 big shootas, 1 nob powerclaw bosspole)
170
Battlewagon (red paintjob, deffrolla , 2x Big Shootas)
125
1850 flat
It looks like a fun list but im worried that there are not enough lootas maybe ? I dont know
maybe you guys can trow in some lists in with the suggestions.

I like the list! i'm flattered you took my advice on the jets. My only point of caution is the burnawagon. If a burnawagon gets a hit on a unit, the unit is gone, but since they can only fire if the wagon has moved 6 inches, it can be hard to get in position. In e end, I usually bring a third wagon of boys and use the points I spent on burnas for more lootas, which can always hit something.

On the other hand, burnawagons are a great fire magnet. people are terrified of them and will throw everything they have at them, leaving your other wagons free and clear. if you are going to bring the burnawagon, stick 3 mechs in it. theres nothing more satisfying than drinking your opponents tears after they get 3 glances on the burnawagon, and you use your mechs to heal it back to full. Also, maybe you're better at maneuvering than I am, and your wagon will kill a unit every turn .


Hmm after writing this post burnawagons are sounding pretty good. Maybe I'll go modify my list.

Consider regular bikers as well as nobz bikers or instead of. They have a place in every army if you are willing to use them. Also, since like me, you are on a budget. If you want to get some battlewagons, consider taking something that is much cheaper to buy and convert it to a BW. Be careful to keep the sizes the same.

The list, like the first one, is a trial list that I want to develop now on paper before I start putting together an army. I am a great competitive MTG deckbuilder so I have a head for numbers and decking out, but I am a newcomer to this game still, and hence why I am here seeking advice. And due to my tight budget for now, I need to streamline an armylist as a collecting plan
Back to the brainstorming

 NinjaStars wrote:
I\I usually bring a third wagon of boys and use the points I spent on burnas for more lootas, which can always hit something.

Well if I swap the burnas for lootas, than I wont have points to put a 20boyz squad =/
I'd have to cut something like a biker and make the lootas squads smaller, to fith the 20 boyz squad
Then the KFF Bigmek doesnt have someone to ride with, unless I cut a boy from one of the wagons, and that means cutting a big shoota from the squad, and that doesnt seem like a good idea =/
Another reason why I am thinking Burnawagon, is that it will be easier to make, since from the loota boxes ill get the burnas anyways and i can Bits them up to a nice squad.
As for putting meks, im not sure, its nice to repair the battlewagon, but the bigmek can already do that, and I would be cutting firepower to do something cool but at the end gimicky

Lord Arturius wrote:
Consider regular bikers as well as nobz bikers or instead of. They have a place in every army if you are willing to use them. Also, since like me, you are on a budget. If you want to get some battlewagons, consider taking something that is much cheaper to buy and convert it to a BW. Be careful to keep the sizes the same.

My first thought was going all out bikers, but I kinda strayed away from that idea. I like the idea of the Nob Bikers because twofold. They are a point-expencive squad that does a good job when used properly, both at range and in close combat, and on the other hand since the difference betwean a nob biker and a regular one is the torso, they are easy and relatively cheap to get. Regular bikers are more of a shooty fast unit that can emulate a small ammount of slugga boys in close combat, and I kinda shied away from that idea as i said.
As for the battlewagons, I do plan to make a converted one when i get to that point value, though i havent thought of how to execute it yet, I'll cross that bridge when i get to it

Hmmm, don't forget with a Warboss your Nob Bikkers are a Troop Choice. They can take objectives.
Which means for your 1k army you can load up a full compliment of Ork Boys.

Also the Nob bikkers have Dakkagun, you don't need kombiweapons, partly because you wont use them.

Again for your 1850 army
Warboss makes your Nob bikkers Troops.
Always better to have one large group of Boyz instead of 2 smaller ones.
I would put my Big Mek with Lootas in battle wagon and strip down the wagon to just 90 pts.

I play against Tau often and for the most part taking BW's/Dakkajets is risky for me to bring to the table. They have superb armor cutters and can swat flyers out of the sky. Anything besides Tau, I always roll 3 flyers. Waaagh! and an extra supa shootah on your dakkajet (make sure you pay for the fighta ace) = LOTS of twin linked bullets peppering your enemy units.

Lootas, in big numbers, are the way to go. I usually roll 2 squads of lootas (between 10 and 15) just because their range is AMAZING for an Ork.

Sometimes I will roll a M.A. Warboss and get a trukk and have a few M. Nobz (also turned into a infantry troop choice) sitting inside to force my enemy to have to shoot at it or risk having a frenzy of power klaws on their doorstep with 2+ armor saves and 2 wounds a piece.

Having a single squad of 30 shoota boyz and a single squad of 30 regular boyz is always nice. One more focused on shooty and one to bum rush with lots of melee attacks.

I've seen some back and forth on the SAG- personally I love it. Everything is AP2 which helps against armor AND it always scares the be-jezzus out of anyone when you drop a large blast template with Strength anything & AP2.

I used to like Weirdboyz, but the only one I have any real love for is Zogwort. Put him with a bunch of 'Ard boyz and Use Zogworts curse on an independent character... so funny handing them a squig model and saying "yeah, how does it feel to play orks in your army?" even though it only happens half the time.

Be flexible and try different loadouts. I probably have 50 or 60 different lists that I have tried and now Im using allies- Having Tau Broadsides for long range / anti-air, and doing a crisis suit&drone bomb in enemy territory while your lootas fire away, SAG is dropping templates, and 90 boyz are slugging forward... you see alot of people do a double take when setting up your army for that game. Priceless.

the reason for the kombiweapons is for the Skorcha, it may do nothing, but there are situations where a well placed Skorcha can turn the tide of the encounter. This is why I included 1 on the warboss and 1 on a nob, just as an ace card. It is cuttable, especially in lower point armies, but they do cost only 5 points.
The 20boys squads in the 750 and 1k point armies are a "look to the future" thing, since I'd like to slam them into battlewagons when I get to 1850 to get that "speedfreaky" mobile feel on the army.
I am thinking maybe cutting some upgrades in the 1k army list (the secound one i posted) to add a few more lootas, donno maybe the kombiskorchas and cybork bodies upgrade ? Cybork body is really strong but it can be situational I guess, and that is 25 points on its own, remove the kombi-skorcha off of the nob, and thats 30 points, aka 2 more lootas. this will make them less durable though, hindering their purpose.
donno, what do you thing guys ?

when running a low point army, every point seems to count more. The Skorcha is nice, but bikes move 18" and if given the choice, the Dakkagun will always win over the Kombi Shoota/Skorcha. I know it seems like just 5 points each, but with a full compliment of Bikker Nobs, it's 45 points, which with 5 more point you could have 2 Power Claws or buy Cybork for the unit.

The thing about Battlewagons is they are awesome. the downside is your opponent should focus on stopping them. This means you want them to run as far and as fast as they can, before they get destroyed. You should always run them during the shooting phase. Which means that any weapons you add (other than a def rolla) are just wasted points. my only word of caution about red paint (which if done right give more 2" - movement and shooting phases) Paint them red - call me superstitious, but my experience is if you take red paint, the vehicle should be red.

The reasons I am putting a couple of big shootas on the BW's is for "weapon destroyed" Penetration Rolls, and that looked like a good idea to me. As for Deffrollas and Red Paintjob, its a must in my eyes.

As for the Lowpoint army , taking into consideration that every point counts, and a full squad of nob bikers is just too many points, even without any upgrades, and in that case they are not much better then an overexpensive Warbikers imo

This is why i opted for a 5 nob biker squad over regular bikes. With the warboss thats 6 very tough bikers, shooting twinlinked dakkaguns (18 twinlinked shots). Not to mention the fact that they are Nobs, and in close combat they are beasts, especially with the painboy and cybork bodies
I do agree that I it may be good to cut the skorchas since they have specific and rare usage, but the Nobs do need their Cybork Bodies imo =/, and cutting all of those upgrades gives me 3 lootas, for the price of their survivability
I dont know, it seems that those upgrades are the reason to play nob bikers over regular warbikers, their tougness and resistance to wounds and strength both in dakka and stomping (not to mention their can-opening powers)
What i was thinking is maybe cutting the kombiskorchas from the warboss and the bike for 2 more big choppas on the nobs, give them an even bigger kick in close combat