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I've been wanting to play a Tank-Heavy army for a while, and while i figure IG are probably the best, they just aren't as fun as Orks.



Is there any viable way to play a Tank-Heavy Ork army? Not against looking at FW rules.


Battlewagons are alright, but they're more transports than tanks.

FW is really the only way with grot tanks and the like.

Pretty much what Pain4 said. I do run a 'tank' heavy theme at times with my Orks, but that's because I own 5 battle wagons and love to field them.

They do serve a better purpose as transports, but they can be fairly decent as well as a gun platform, BUT they get very costly. When you look at it, you get a Killkannon, which drops your transport capacity to 10. Which still isn't too bad, you can put some meks or something in there, maybe some burnas, to try to keep it going if you wanna play fluffy. Then you can also add up to four guns, either big shootas or Rokkits. So, you get a large S7 ordinance blast, which isn't terrible (Could be better, granted) and either 4 st8 ap3 shots, or you get 12 S5 shots (I believe Big Shootas are s5? Could be S4). Either way, you can put out quite a bit of shooting...just...a little sub par shooting

The cheapest (point wise) way to do it, is load up on some Looted Wagons. But you can only take up to 3, as they fill Heavy Support. (And you need White Dwarf rules).

I usually use the Blitz Brigade formation to bring all 5 wagons so they can scout into position better, or arrive off board edges if they start in reserve to really lay Hell on their back lines. Easiest way to bring a lot of tanks without filling slots.

As you said, IG do it best. But Orks do it funner. :p

Sounds like an awesome Blood Axe Tank Brigade

FW bring a lot of tanks, take a look at the Dread Mob list as well.

Big Trakks are a decent mid-armour tank, with a lot of options and variations.
Lifta-wagon is just hilarious when it works.

Looted Wagons and Junkas are a good lighter tank. Again loads of variation available for weapons.

It's all about customisation with Ork tanks really.

Thanks for the replies, some good insight here.

Im a relatively new Ork player and so far I've got a pretty standard army, but i'm really starting to like junked out vehicles the Orks have.



So aside from Battle-Wagons, ill need to turn to FW really...? Bit of a bummer.

If you want a "Tank Army" then probably, yes.
You've only really got Battlewagons and Looted Wagons otherwise. You can do quite a lot with them, but it's still a limited choice.

Have a look through FW's Dread Mob (here) to get an idea. All the rules you need are in the document, most of the models can be converted out of Battlewagons or IG Tanks.

I think IA:8 would be a nice added help to building an ork armored battle company. Personally, I use it and i enjoy it, but it has its limitations. An idea of a list you could use

Big mek in a Mek junka.

2 deff dreads (Troops)

Grot tanks

Buggies and wartracks

Big Tracks

Gun wagons

Lifta Dropa wagon (One of the best anti-armor vehicles we have)

Look into the junka rules! The can be taken in the elite slot or dedicated for BigMeks. Using the blitz brigade formation and the big mek formation from the red tide (taking junkas as dedicated) you can get a good start on a tank list before even using a CAD.

How about;

play IG rules, except make them orks.
My favourite aspect of orks is their scavenger nature. With a little effort you can orkify almost any other unit in the 40kverse. its not then that hard to play them as the original models but with an orky feel.

You could even make them multipurpose.
a chimera which plays as a chimera for your grotguard, can also be a trukk in your ork army. Simply magnetise some weapons and the turret and its very simple.This is something I have wanted to do for ages, but i dont have the time or the money currently.

Some inspiration;



As you can see, he's simply combined an IG squad with the Orc goblin regiment from fantasy.
He went a little further with the tank conversions, but you can see a chimera in there thats pretty close to its standard model. Personally this is the route id take, as this way you can play them as;
IG
Orks - looted wagons, trukks
IA:8 - some of the big trakks

I think you'd find it a fun adventure, grab a little plasticard and go a little bonkers. You could simply start with a couple chimeras that you run as trukks/looted wagons while you build the rest of the conversions, then once you have enough to play your IG list you can. You get the pleasure of playing two completely different styled armies without the $$$ of 2 complete armies. But il warn you! this a path once you embark upon you'll find yourself buying many cool kits purely to convert. my current orkifying list;

a 2000 pts necron army im grotifying.
some pink horror shoota boys
a warboss deamon prince
nurlge terminators - MANz

its addictive.

in my list i have 8 trukks and 12 warbuggies - 20 fast vehicles. it does very well

if your looking for options, try wartraks. they can be easily converted to look even more tanky and are comparable to fw grot tanks (tl rokkets ftw). i personaly found ww2 model tanks that were about the same size of warbuggies and wartraks, i plan on orkifiying them and fielding them (panzer and shermin orks just yells win).

warbuggies and wartracks have the bonus of being fairly cheep (point wise) and take up fast attack and come in squadruns of 1-5. also try out the skorcha wartrack (something extra killy for those tyranids, ig blobs, and rival ork hordes)