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I have a Grey knight army and im after playings orks for the exact opposite.

We never play tournaments, so im not after super competitive, but my friends do play Tau, Eldar, and Admech. Kinda Waac players. But outside of tournaments, are orks fun to play?

Thanks

They're not terrible, but they're certainly not great.

That or maybe it's because of the new Space Marines and Craftworlds putting everything in their shadow.

Anyway, if you get a good list they'll win some games. And Orks are certainly a fun army in all aspects of the hobby; building, painting and playing.

In terms of fun I think most players will agree that Orks are incredibly fun to play against as well as most Ork players will say they are fun to play as. They have very few uber cheese or OP as gak power units, they die by the bucket load, and they throw tons of dice at everything. Win or lose the Orks will take heavy casualties but they can still win so its fun for everyone involved.

Orks do require a solid strategy and gameplan to pull off in even casual games as they don't do that well just throwing anything on the table and marching forward. General game plans include bringing lots of Warbikers for a biker gang style army, Blitz Brigade to throw your boyz in battlewagons to protect them until they get in close and choppy. Green Tide to form a super unit of boyz and basically be a fearless army of green with increased WS, and FNP (if setup correctly) while Dread Mob is a tactic using the forge world rules to spam walkers (there are other Ork tactics), The general goal is to bring a lot of the same kind of thing that has some mobility, redundancy, and durability to survive the enemy shooting and get in close where the boyz can do their orky thing.

Orks do tend to have issues against really shooty armies and aren't part of the new wave of OP releases but they operate on a sort of anti-meta strength that can catch many opponents off guard (Orks tend to laugh at things like plasma and grav when they are shooting at 6+ armor boyz or 4+ or 3+ jinking bikers). A list tailored army will generally smash an Ork army due to the large number of anti horde weapons that most armies have but seldom bring "what do you mean I list tailored? I always bring 6 whirlwinds and 2 flamers on every tac squad".

Orks are by far the most fun army to play and play against in this game, making me regret my original choice of waiting till they had a modern Codex before even looking at them.

I strongly encourage anyone thinking a new army to always consider the Orks. This is not due to their ability to Win games, but because you are more likely to enjoy playing them regardless of the end result. They have the most interesting Models to collect and construct, thanks in part to their 'slapped together' look. They have the most interesting Special Rules to be found, many involving random elements with all sorts of fun results. They even have the most unique lore, a take on greenskins far above and beyond anything ever put together in any other fantasy or science-fiction setting. Most of Game Workshops creativity clearly went into this race, which makes them insanely fun all around even if this meant little creativity was left for the other Races.

Not above all else: ******* bubbles!

Heck yeah, Orks are well internally balanced and everything has a use.

Externally leaves something to be desired, but that's more a power creep by other codexes.

Put it this way, I used to play Tyranids before starting my Orks and I now normally play my Orks. I have so much fun with them and my opponents have fun playing against them because it's just a massive bloodbath either way.

 Andy140491 wrote:
I have a Grey knight army and im after playings orks for the exact opposite.

We never play tournaments, so im not after super competitive, but my friends do play Tau, Eldar, and Admech. Kinda Waac players. But outside of tournaments, are orks fun to play?

Thanks

The truly fun aspect of playing Orks is that they are an all-or-nothing army. They can lay out an insane amount of Dakka, but rarely hit. When things go well, they can absolutely demolish the opponent. At the same time, they take an incredible number of casualties in the process, which is always a rewarding experience for your opponent - win or lose. I have been playing 40k for over 16 years, and the most boring games that I have played are always ones in which one side is "too elite" and just doesn't take many casualties, and, as a result, the board just doesn't change much - if you get what I am saying. I stopped playing my Necrons after the new codex for this reason. The speed of Orks, combined with their exceptionally high damage output but weak defense, means that the games are almost always exciting.

My first 40k army was a Speed Freaks force way back when GorkaMorka was still a thing. I sold it I can't remember how many years ago when the codex changed. I started a new Ork army a year ago and it has been a blast. If you are playing them for fun, then I strongly recommend downloading the free IA-8 Mek army list from forgeworld and ally it with standard Orks. I love converting and the IA-8 book offers tons of vehicle conversion armies. In my mind, nothing paints a more entertaining picture than mixing these two CAD's.

Imagine, if you will, a mighty Morkanaut, flanked by a couple Deff Dreads and Kans, clanking towards the middle of the battlefield, attracting bullets like a magnet. Anticipation grows as you and your opponent realize that the math isn't working out as rounds bounce harmlessly off a force field or the color drains from his face as you get a lucky run and you Dreads reach the middle of the table turn 1. Meanwhile, long range support from Big Trakks with a Suppa Kannon or the dangerously powerful but hilariously frail Gun Trukks armed with Big Lobbas lobbing shells across the table more often than not missing, but every so often obliterating a unit and immediately earning their points. With all the attention on the big boys, your ramshackle Grot Tanks see an opportunity to race towards an exposed portion of your enemy's line, and then deliver a ridiculously powerful payload for their size - or they fail miserably, because they have random movement of 2 D6 and you roll double 1's and they fail to get into range. With all the threats racing across the board, your opponent completely forgets about your twin-linked rokkit buggies, which outflank and blast apart his devastators/gun emplacements/artillery/rear armor of a tank/support characters. Meanwhile, diminutive little grots scramble around the battlefield, trying desperately not to die, and every now and then piercing the armor of a terminator. So much of the Ork force relies on chance that both you and your opponent, regardless of the outcome, begin to celebrate when the Orks succeed against unbelievable odds or fail completely. Either way, both of you begin to anticipate dice rolls more than ever because the randomness is simply too hard to predict.

Oh yes, my friend, good times will be had by all, just as long as you don't take it too serious. With that being said, I have won all 6 games that I have played with them against semi-competitive/semi-tailored lists (not heavy tournament lists, but definitely competitive forces). As you play the army and learn to embrace the chaos, use the weight of numbers (my army usually has over 20 vehicles in a 1500 pnts game), freely sacrifice units for the chance of advantage, you can really disrupt your opponents plans and force them to respond to you, they can be quite competitive. I have found that such an army absolutely demolishes most elite forces with much fewer units. For example, the opponent drops in a unit of melta-vets from a drop pod only to realize they are expending twice the number of points to kill a single tank. Or they drop in to blast apart a Morkanaut and fail to eliminate it in on turn of fire - either because they didn't one-shot it or you have enough killa kans/boyz/grots to bubble wrap it and they scatter just beyond range. Either way, you have tons of Meks running around fixing vehicles. Well, I could go on and on, but you get the point.

anyone saying orks are horrible and bad at casual and competitive levels is wrong. routinely have orks placing in the top 3 at about 75-80% of the events i run. they are very competitive and a great meta breaker against power lists. the greentide formation is insane strong.

Everyone should also keep this in mind: Winning is not a pre-requirement for having Fun.
Even if your Ork army loses the majority of matches, your likely to still have more fun with them then an Army that always wins!

I tried to do it, but coming from GK I couldn't deal with the huge model count, I wasn't sure what to do with them all!!

The best thing about Orks is the fact that you are playing 40k on hard mode. I love the fact that I have to work to win, and I can't rely on the uber-resiliance and reliability of an OP unit to win me the game, I am actually involved and taking steps to mitigate the randomness and tactically beat my opponent.
I haven't met an army yet that I haven't been able to overcome, eventually, using Orks, and the feeling of accomplishment when you do that is great.
I just don't think it would feel anywhere the same if I just rolled a Necron Decurion up the table. I feel like I might as well not bother turn up with an army like that, it just requires very little input to win, compared to Orks.

Oddly enough, for a codex that is fluffwise about relatively simple minded Orks, it has a deceptively steeper learning curve than you would expect. It is not very forgiving compared to marines given that you are vulnerable to morale, pinning and fear and you have limited survivability short of through numbers and judicious use of Painboyz and KFF. Despite this though, playing Orks generally gives a very different and fun mindset of losses making you that much more aware of how your army works rather than having a bunch of special rules babysit you and it really makes you think on how you use your army synergistically. As mentioned previously, it really is all or nothing when it comes to Ork builds but it is absolutely gobsmacking with some fo the variety of Ork builds I've tried. You've got dred mobs, speed freak lists with either trukks, battlewagons, buggies, flyers or bikers. You've got Green Tide. You've got different mixes including using Snikrot's Red Skull Kommandos formation. The variety in such a copy and paste MEQ world is like a fresh breath of air and the personality in each army feels that much more personable.

There's definite flexibility in the codex and supplement. You can field virtually any type of army with degrees of effectiveness and still have a laugh.
I particularly like just being able to rock up with whatever takes my fancy and trying to work out how to beat 2 super heavies and a bunch of tanks with not much at all.
Plus the army can always surprise you. A unit can be absolutely terrible in one game, and awesome in another. The skill comes from learning how to mitigate that, and not worry. There's not much reliability here, and that's what puts some people off.
However, it's not a problem if you learn how to handle it, and that includes learning to lose well too.
I know some people would like to see the codex improved, but TBH, I like it as it is. People play Orks because they enjoy the game and the models, and the Codex encourages people who want to enjoy the game and be imaginative, and come up with their own ideas on what they'd like to field.
It'd be ace if some other armies had that too.

Of all my armies, orks are without a doubt the most fun to play, no question. If you feel competitive you can also run the green tide + detachment for some crazy power!

I dont play in tournaments, but people around here still like to play with decent lists, and my Orks have a better win/lose ratio than my space marines.

Orks are super fun, and can play very well, and you get to roll A TON of dice. It's actually less stressful when you have so many models and dice to use. When you are running an elite unit of terminators or honor guard, sure you have a 2+ save, but every failed roll stings. Every single casualty has a notable impact on your army.
With Orks, it is expected to lose lots of models, you don't have to fret those individual rolls.
Unless its a cover save on your battlewagon from a melta-gun. Then that can be a make or break roll.

So Orks are really fun to play, but they do require a lot of planing and synergy to run well. Tau are one of their toughest matchups, and usually that victory comes down to who gets to go first.

They are fun, but not the best in term of ''raw power''. They have good tourney list, but outside of that, they fall short a bit. You will win some/lose some and have a great laught tho

Do you like taking at least twice as long in the movement phase?
Do you like (or at least not mind) pulling casualties off the play field?
Do you want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (in a usually hilarious manner)?

Do you like charging head-long into your enemy, often out-numbering them three-to-one?
Do you like rolling buckets full of dice?
Do you like rolling another bucket of dice because "that was just the first wave of punches"?
Do you like playing the odds with rolling against your opponents toughness/armor saves?

If yes to most of these, then orks are probably your thing. Therre's just something so charming about then.
Orks are the only army I've ever played, and the only issues I've ever had was when we were the 3rd oldest codex.

I have never had a bad game when I played my orks. Win or lose, there is just something about them that makes me happy.

 Andy140491 wrote:
I have a Grey knight army and im after playings orks for the exact opposite.

We never play tournaments, so im not after super competitive, but my friends do play Tau, Eldar, and Admech. Kinda Waac players. But outside of tournaments, are orks fun to play?

Thanks

They absolutely are. I bought a battleforce of orks for fun as I usually play CSM, but surprisingly my orks did well against my CSM. They are lots of fun because you get the most units (excluding 'nids) for the points. So if you can imagine overwhelming numbers of orks under your control, and how much fun the green tide can truly be!

 kronk wrote:
I have never had a bad game when I played my orks. Win or lose, there is just something about them that makes me happy.

Ork are pretty awesome - usually for both players

and you can't loose.......

Orkses never lose a battle, if we win we win, if we die we die fightin' so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't loose either, cos we come back for annuva go, see!