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So, I am relatively new to the gloriously grim dark world of the 41st millennium, however I do feel that I have a basic grasp of most of the canon. And I have been setting up a simple custom Ork role-play for some of my friends, based heavily around Only War rules. So I wanted to know how rare it was for Orks of different kinds (Stormboyz, Tankbustas, Stikkbommas, etc.) to be found working together in the same mob. I should make it known that I do understand some orkz such as painboyz can be attached to mobz of different types. I wanted to know if anyone has any idea on how rare mixed ork mobz may be, or any examples of them in pre-existing canon. Thanks for the help!

My approach to Orks is that whatever it is, no matter how crazy or implausible, its possible for the Orks to do it.

And really even something on a small scale I could see pretty likely. Say a Ork Nob wakes up one day and says to himself "Iz wantz me a proppa followin of boyz!". This Nob then can go find those he desires to be in his "followin" and if he has the might then he has the right to do whatever he wants until a bigger, stronger or more kunnin ork beats him down.

Or say you have a Orc Warband on just about any world. The Warboss likes mixing the boyz together in merged mobs "Cuz mor difrent boyz togetha means dayz kan do tonsa' stuffz at da same time". If thats what the Warboss wants then thats what he gets.

And this is Warhammer 40k. Nearly anything is possible in such a HUGE galaxy. There are so many possible situations that can happen that just about anything can be done (aside from a few exceptions) and remember we are talking about Orks. Where theres an Ork theres a way. Even if 95% of ALL ORKS did conform to the same caste system who is to say your Orks are not in the 5% who do things differently?

WAAAAAGGGHHHH!

Mobs are more of a gameplay consideration than anything else, because on the tabletop throwing individual rolls for every ork would get tedious as hell. Orks have no concept of tactics, so they just rush into a fight free-for-all style, as a huge blob of green tide. Any sort of cohesion has to be enforced by the warboss and nobs, if they want it. In that case, lesser orks will just do what they are told, or get a power klaw to the face.

kaszak wrote:
Orks have no concept of tactics.

Oi! Iz a Blood Axe boy an' Iz gud at taktics!

Yep, those blood axe are smart. They wear bright, garish tiger stripe uniforms so the other orks can see how great they crump blood axes crump their enemies!

The codex does talk about how orks do generally tend to flock with their own type - boyz are initially attracted to a certain aspect of war (meks, burnas, lootas, stormboyz, choppin or shootin') and tend to fit in with like-minded individuals.

Think of it like a bunch of rowdy soccer holligans all showing up to support one side at a big soccer game. They all come from their own cliques (and bars), and may not get along that will with other groups of fans, but they're united by their common love of supporting their soccer team by rioting.

That's kind of the ork mentality. The mobs tend to group up according to interest and ability, but show up to work together (mostly) when it comes to a fight.

Thanks for all the advice, I will keep all of this in mind when building my RP, good hunting!

 THEONLYTHATGUY wrote:
So, I am relatively new to the gloriously grim dark world of the 41st millennium, however I do feel that I have a basic grasp of most of the canon. And I have been setting up a simple custom Ork role-play for some of my friends, based heavily around Only War rules. So I wanted to know how rare it was for Orks of different kinds (Stormboyz, Tankbustas, Stikkbommas, etc.) to be found working together in the same mob. I should make it known that I do understand some orkz such as painboyz can be attached to mobz of different types. I wanted to know if anyone has any idea on how rare mixed ork mobz may be, or any examples of them in pre-existing canon. Thanks for the help!

It's also worth noting that the mob, by orkish standards, is a kunnin' military term.

If you are doing a roleplaying scenario with just a few orks (a RP scenario where just a few PC orks are the important ones, operating in a group), then those are the orks that matter.

While ork nobs might bang some heads together and sort out a warband into a group of semi-organized mobs, or a group of like-minded, oil-guzzling, tank-busting orks might get together to blow up some humie tanks on their own, if a few orks happen to need to work together, they can, even if one of them has a burna, another has a rokkit-launcha, and a third one prefers to sneak around in the bushes. They all might dislike each other, and all might prefer to be with 'right-minded' orks (aka orks who think like them), but if necessity (or a Nob with a big choppa) dictates, then they will be fine working with each other.*

*With orks, working with each other is probably a little bloodier and less cooperative than with humans, but it would probably stop somewhere short of 'full auto' or 'the burny dance'. After all, orks heal really well!