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 Da Boss wrote:
So you guys all agree that the Eldar and presumably the Golden Age humans could easily have wiped out the Orks?

And the Eldar didn't because they were amusing, and the Golden Age humans didn't for some other reason?

Hard to say about Golden Age humans because they have very little lore (though it seems plausible considering some of the nonsense DAoT tech we've seen), but the Eldar? Absolutely. They were not only post-scarcity, they were basically post-everything. They created and destroyed stars on a whim. The reason they didn't affect the galaxy more than they did is because they were inwards-turned. The Orks were not amusing, they were uninteresting. Who cares about war and politics when you are so close to omnipotence that you don't notice a difference? This is also why DAoT humanity and the ancient Eldar empire seemed to not interact much beyond what Cawl speculates to have once been a diplomatic site. They just did not care.

That does not mean Orks are not dangerous in present day 40k. They are. But they are predictable. There is a reason why they are the default antagonist in so many 40k games, often before more striking enemies appear - see Space Marine 1, Dawn of War 1 & 2, and so on. They are "normal". The Imperium is used to fighting them. Everyone is used to fighting them. They can be a serious problem when massed, but they are also a problem that even the regular Imperial Guard alone can competently deal with on even ground, because very, very very often they have to, and the Imperium wouldn't last long if they couldn't.

Man, I really hate modern 40K background.

That last bit isn't that modern. Orks have been the regular brawling partner of the Imperium for the last 10k years. That the Imperium has endured and at times even rebounded a bit during that time tells us they can't be too unmanageable.

Not every threat has to be cataclysmic on a galactic scale. With Orks you can tell stories that aren't just about the end of everything. They can be a local threat for local narratives. I would actually like it if GW used Orks more often as the antagonists. Remember that the very first 40k scenario ever published, in the back of the Rogue Trader rulebook, was about some Space Marines hiding out in a farm that unfortunately also happened to be where some marauding Orks had buried some treasure. I also liked that Orks weren't as flanderized back then, and did (marginally) have interests beyond immediately fighting.

(I guess this thread is now about Orks.)

If you think Orks have been flanderised? Give the Ufthak Blackhawk stories a whirl. Loads of Orky action, and insight into their cultural world view.