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I'm looking to start Orks as my first 40k army. Besides the codex, what should my first purchases be?

Well get the codex, the 7th edition rules and spend a weekend figuring how it all works then decide what you would like to field.

You can never go wrong building your required base army needs with troops choice and HQ being needed. Gonna have to get boyz for the grinder so that might be a good place to start.

Almost every Ork army will have a core of Boyz, hard to go wrong with a few boxes of those.

You can probably safely start off with a warboss and a mob of boys. The first decision you'll need to make is slugga vs. shoota. I'd do slugga if you want to do green horde since it's cheaper and better in CC. However, if you are only looking at a couple of mobs or will keep them in transports, go with shootas. Another option is to get a few squads of gretchin and then forget about troops.

Some standout units (IMO) in the new book are warbosses, mega armored nobs, stormboys, tankbustas, deffkoptas, big guns, lootas, and warbikers. Battlewagons are more expensive now, but still our only decent option for a transport since trukks get shredded super easily.

Recommendations for first purchase: Black Reach orks off ebay, 3 boxes of boys, box of nobs for converting your nobs and characters (it's a truly fantastic kit). Then jump into your first specialized squad, whether it be lootas, tankbustas, storm boys, or meganobs.

If I were starting a new ork army this is what I would get:
-2x mega armored nobs box, convert 1 to mega armor warboss
-30 boys w/ shootas, 3x big shootas
-10 gretchin
-2 or 3 battlewagons (one of the actual kit then some trukks to help convert my own out of other race's vehicles)
-30 storm boys
-10 tankbustas (convert some out of boys with rokkits)
-Deffkoptas from Black Reach

I have an ork army, but I'm hesitant to embrace the new book because I don't really want to go buy 6 boxes of storm boys, more tankbustas, and meganobs. Right now I run a short of mixed-arms green tide (lots of slugga boys and lootas, among others), and I do okay with it. Not great by any means when my opponent knows what they're doing and is prepared.

Warptide wrote:
You can probably safely start off with a warboss and a mob of boys. The first decision you'll need to make is slugga vs. shoota. I'd do slugga if you want to do green horde since it's cheaper and better in CC. However, if you are only looking at a couple of mobs or will keep them in transports, go with shootas. Another option is to get a few squads of gretchin and then forget about troops.

Some standout units (IMO) in the new book are warbosses, mega armored nobs, stormboys, tankbustas, deffkoptas, big guns, lootas, and warbikers. Battlewagons are more expensive now, but still our only decent option for a transport since trukks get shredded super easily.

Recommendations for first purchase: Black Reach orks off ebay, 3 boxes of boys, box of nobs for converting your nobs and characters (it's a truly fantastic kit). Then jump into your first specialized squad, whether it be lootas, tankbustas, storm boys, or meganobs.

If I were starting a new ork army this is what I would get:
-2x mega armored nobs box, convert 1 to mega armor warboss
-30 boys w/ shootas, 3x big shootas
-10 gretchin
-2 or 3 battlewagons (one of the actual kit then some trukks to help convert my own out of other race's vehicles)
-30 storm boys
-10 tankbustas (convert some out of boys with rokkits)
-Deffkoptas from Black Reach

I have an ork army, but I'm hesitant to embrace the new book because I don't really want to go buy 6 boxes of storm boys, more tankbustas, and meganobs. Right now I run a short of mixed-arms green tide (lots of slugga boys and lootas, among others), and I do okay with it. Not great by any means when my opponent knows what they're doing and is prepared.

I wouldn't stop myself from buying the new codex for fear of buying new models. Just because you have the new Dex, doesn't mean you NEED to buy more models. Even with your 6th edition codex, you should get Mega Nobz because they are good. Storm Boyz are not mandatory for your list, and are often simply preference or a rare need for super speed to tackle certain threats. The buffs gained shouldn't be overlooked.


As for the topic on hand, for a starter army, Warboss is a good HQ to start. He is very straight forward and is fearsome once he is in CC. Boyz are the foundation of any Ork army, so I would reccomend getting at least 60-90 just to start. Numbers are our friend, and not many races can do the numbers game better than us Orks. Overwhelming them with sheer body count. Make sure each squad of Boyz has a Nob as well to keep them in line.

For other options, Lootas are amazing in small point games and starter armies. They have incredible range with their weapons, decent strength weaponry that can really lay the hurt on people, despite our poor ballistic skill.

For a basic army, I'd say run a Warboss with Power Klaw/Bosspole, 2 squads of 20 Boyz each with Nob, Klaw, and Bosspole, and 2 squads of 5 Lootas - thas about 540 points, and will give you a pretty decent start. Then from there, you can start diving into vehicle options, as well as our many Walker options, etc. Happy WAAAGH!

The most important thing with Orks is to use your bitz. Nearly every kit is compatible with every other kit, so you can fill out your ranks more easily. For example, if you get a Lootas and Burnas box, it comes with enough arms and heads to make 4 Lootaz, 4 Burnaz, and 1 Mek. All you have to supply are the torsos and legs. You can get 20 Black Reach boyz for $30 on hoardobits.com (not as cheap as they used to be, but still cheaper than boxes of boyz) or keep an eye out for them cheaper on eBay and either field them as slugga boyz or use them as bases for making varieties of specialists. You can make Kommandos by adding backpacks, or Tankbustas by taking the rokkits from boyz boxes and making a unit from them. Nobz can be kitted out for their own unit, customized to be sergeants for whatever kind of mob, or altered to make your own scatchbuilt Big Meks or Painboys.

Also, don't discount the Fantasy range. Black Orcs make absolutely fantastic looking Nobz. I got some Boar Boyz, added some eBayed dakkaguns, and now I have a unit of Snakebite warbiker equivalents. Also, I know at one time it was cheaper to eBay bitz to make your own boyz, with the exception of the legs, but legs from the Fantasy boyz kit were cheaper.

I'd not rely on boyz as a core of an ork army no more to tell you the truth. Yep, a couple of mobz ain't bad but they can't do the job on their own just cause they're so slow and vulnerable. They can still work in battlewagonz though. Worse than before but still doable. Lobbas, bikers and rokkits everywhere - that's what makes orkses work.

Note that anything will work in casual enviroment. Orkses are designed with casual games in mind. You won't have great time vs tourney eldar and stuff like that anywayz.

 koooaei wrote:
I'd not rely on boyz as a core of an ork army no more to tell you the truth. Yep, a couple of mobz ain't bad but they can't do the job on their own just cause they're so slow and vulnerable. They can still work in battlewagonz though. Worse than before but still doable. Lobbas, bikers and rokkits everywhere - that's what makes orkses work.

Note that anything will work in casual enviroment. Orkses are designed with casual games in mind. You won't have great time vs tourney eldar and stuff like that anywayz.

I feel Boyz are best served during smaller point games. In most cases, your opponent can't bring enough firepower in small games to take out that many bodies. But once you get to bigger games, you need to start bringing more toys, and more dakka. But Boyz should never be neglected from the field. Again, they should be in a BW of all things, Trukks are more risky this edition, but can still serve a purpose if used proper. But I don't think any battle with Orks can be won without Boyz in the thick of the fight. They are easy to kill, but they are a threat that CAN'T be ignored once they close in, leaving your other stuff free to cause chaos. Not many armies can handle even 10 Boyz in CC.

I'd start looking up vids on youtube on Ork vehicle conversions, and see f that's something you think you can do.

You don't need to spend a dime on Ork vehicles, including Super Heavies and Apocalpyse models. The stuff my friends have scratch built is as good or better than what GW is putting out Ork-vehicle-wise.

 koooaei wrote:
I'd not rely on boyz as a core of an ork army no more to tell you the truth. Yep, a couple of mobz ain't bad but they can't do the job on their own just cause they're so slow and vulnerable. They can still work in battlewagonz though. Worse than before but still doable. Lobbas, bikers and rokkits everywhere - that's what makes orkses work.

Note that anything will work in casual enviroment. Orkses are designed with casual games in mind. You won't have great time vs tourney eldar and stuff like that anywayz.

This. With the new codex, the old saying 'boys before toys' is no longer sound. My first purchase (if you don't play in a GW) would be to scour your local thrift stores, yard sales and dollar stores for cheap vehicles of the proper scale. Then get some plasticard (For Sale signs are often a good source of cheap cutable plastic stock) and ork them up. I'd focus on scratch building things like kannons and battle wagons and whatever else you damn well please. Then I'd get some grots.

(great minds think alike)

4 boxes of Boyz
3 boxes of Lootas
3 trukks (kit bashed from toys)
3 boxes of bikes
6 Lobbas from Shapeways ($50) via Grimdarkbits "28mm mortar" is what I recall them called.
1 box of Gretchen.
1 box of meganobz
In that order.

 doktor_g wrote:
4 boxes of Boyz
3 boxes of Lootas
3 trukks (kit bashed from toys)
3 boxes of bikes
6 Lobbas from Shapeways ($50) via Grimdarkbits "28mm mortar" is what I recall them called.
1 box of Gretchen.
1 box of meganobz
In that order.

Dats sum fine lookin' lads you got der!