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Got stationed in Virginia Beach. Saw they had a games workshop store. With me being a long time fan of warhammer I walked in and bought the "start collecting" orks box. Huge fan of Orks, and I'm totally willing to start playing once I acquire an army. What should I get for my army? The box came with a painboy, some boyz, nobz, and a dredd. I know I'll need a lot more boyz (should I equip them with shootas or choppas?).

Also one more question, I read the Ragnar blackmane books, what should I read next that was amazing as his story?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

As an experienced Ork player I feel I should let you know "Abandon all hope"

Orks are arguably the worst army at the moment. We lack shooting, close combat, psychic skills and a plethora of other things. With that said, if your still hellbent on being an Ork player I would suggest purchasing a lot of bikes. It is probably the best unit we have. Modify your painboy to ride a bike. Find some old cheap WW2 Artillery pieces (smaller ones) and then modify them to look like Mek Gunz, probably the best heavy choice you have access to. As far as the dread...its borderline unusable. It just isn't good enough these days.

As a counter to Semper Mortis, build the army you like but pick your games. As in, don't play against people who bring the big and bad stuff. Play against casual players who want to have fun even with modest units. Orks aren't the worst army when playing casual but they have a snowball's chance on the big boy tables.

As far as Boyz goes, it depends on how you run them. In a blob of 20+ just hoofing it across the table, give them Choppas, but if they're mounted in Trukks, give them Shootas because your numbers are limited and they can fire at whatever happens to be close before they get to where they're going.

If you want a character driven story, Gaunt's Ghosts is the best hotness for 40k books, but with you playing Orks, get Fifteen Hours as your next read. It's a one shot, but it's a damn good book. I think there's a book for the Armeggedon War but I can't think of a title and I can't say anything about its quality. There is a series going right now about Orks making a massive push Terra-Ward in something like M36 or something, I did not enjoy the ones I've read and have heard some very negative reviews.

Also one more question, I read the Ragnar blackmane books, what should I read next that was amazing as his story?

What else have you read?

I walked in and bought the "start collecting" orks box. Huge fan of Orks, and I'm totally willing to start playing once I acquire an army. What should I get for my army? The box came with a painboy, some boyz, nobz, and a dredd. I know I'll need a lot more boyz (should I equip them with shootas or choppas?)

Which do you like more hooting or chopping?
With the get started box, if it were me, I'd build shoota boys.
Shoota boys can be quite strong with all their shots but it's best to shoot a unit they dasticly out number to improve their odds. Get your 3 to 1 going.
As far as what to get next. A Grot mob, full sized. (It can also be fielded as 3 small units, starting sized units.) And then just buy all the cool stuff you like from the Elite, fast and Heavy..And HQ slots. Make it a nasty bad of hammers.

 warhead01 wrote:

Also one more question, I read the Ragnar blackmane books, what should I read next that was amazing as his story?

What else have you read?

I walked in and bought the "start collecting" orks box. Huge fan of Orks, and I'm totally willing to start playing once I acquire an army. What should I get for my army? The box came with a painboy, some boyz, nobz, and a dredd. I know I'll need a lot more boyz (should I equip them with shootas or choppas?)

Which do you like more hooting or chopping?
With the get started box, if it were me, I'd build shoota boys.
Shoota boys can be quite strong with all their shots but it's best to shoot a unit they dasticly out number to improve their odds. Get your 3 to 1 going.
As far as what to get next. A Grot mob, full sized. (It can also be fielded as 3 small units, starting sized units.) And then just buy all the cool stuff you like from the Elite, fast and Heavy..And HQ slots. Make it a nasty bad of hammers.

Just Ragnar's story

Lots of Boyz of course I'm going 1/3 Choppy and 2/3 Shooty. Make sure you stick a Nob with PK for each mob. At least one mob of Choppy Boyz will have eavy armour. Shoota Boyz mainly to hold mid field objectives with big shootas to harass. Eavy armour shootas (if used) in trukks to push forward I'd points to spare as a second wave to choppy Boyz. These all change around depending on what else will be fielded but suffice it to say having lots of Boys makes a solid core.

Warboss is a very point efficient HQ choice and almost mandatory with his default Waaaaaagh! Lots of options for da boss making him good for all point levels but should be kitted for melee because he's a CC beast. Most give him a PK because s10 ap2 is too good to pass up.

You already have a painboy which is good. Very handy HQ to have.

Don't put PKs on all your nobz. If you want an all PK nob squad then look to meganobz. A meganob is cheaper then a PK nob and with better armour plus a twin linked shoota stock. With the nobz only put a PK on one, preferably the one with waaagh banner since the model comes with one, this way the boss nob character getting challenged out won't cost the squad it's pk. The rest should take big choppas. Each nob in the group now swings four times on the charge with the strength of auto cannon's while keeping initiative. Give them heavy armour to protect your investment and grab the shootas for free since they can't take advantage of the slugga extra melee attack. Now they each have an extra shot.

Boss nobz in Boyz squads can also get challenged out so when possible toss in a cheap me char to take the challenges. More important on choppy mobz then shooty ones.

Meganobz are better then nobz. Get some. 15 of them would be best to field the bully Boyz formation that will get you results. Almost everything they touch will get erased. Until you get fifteen the best way to use them is 3 in a squad loaded onto a turbo boosting trukks with reinforced ram. This known as a Manz missile that is quite cheap for its effectiveness. Send it crashing into enemy line towards priority targets. Each squad should have one meganob using killsaw's, preferably the that's not a character and won't be challenged out.

Ork artillery is great being cheap and field able in batteries of 5. Kannonz, lobbas, kustom mega Kannonz and traktor beams would be the ones worth noting and I'd pass over the rest. Give them all the grits they can get. T7 grots are hilarious. Put them in front of the gun to tank hits.

Lootas are the moist point efficient source of s7 ranged firepower and with 48" they proviDE irks with one of the few choices to reach out and touch the enemy. They are squishy and can really benefit from a mega armoured boss to tank for them.

Even though the grenades got need from faq tankbustas are needed to pop vehicles. Get some. With all that s8 in the squad the nob doesn't need PK give him big choppa and he can use the tank bust bomb. Equip the tank hammer on another so it doesn't get challenged out and let him use the bomb squigs during shooting phase. Bomb squigs are awesome. Use them.

Solo deffcopters are great. Pseudo distraction carnifex. A deffstar can be made if you attach a boss on bike with right options as well as a painboy on a bike.

Bikers are expensive but still effective. The twin linked dakka gun that come with the bike are great and outshine Boyz cc so I tend to see bikerboyz as a mobile Shooty unit. The nobz cc is good enough to rival dakka gun and are good to get stuck in thanks to being T5 and at least one with PK.

If you ever get enough cash then 5 battle wagons can be fielded as a blitz brigade. 5 bw with scout is very nice. Units in transport can't charge first turn. Not an issue if you are second.

Something else to consider. Trukks taken as dedicated transport for Boyz using the cad in BRB counts as troops and gain obsec. All trukks with reinforced rams can tank shok. After dropping off their Boyz they are still useful at pushing enemy infantry off objectives and claiming the vp for you.

Last but not least. Get some grots. I prefer to leave them in a back field objective because of how cheap they are. Better to have only 30 pts in the back doing nothing then 60 pts. Also hilarious if they get lucky and kill a deep striking terminator and instantly earn their points back and more. They are also good as a screen in front of a footslogging army providing cover and also soakin over watch. Take them. Always. They are cheap so why not?

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
As a counter to Semper Mortis, build the army you like but pick your games. As in, don't play against people who bring the big and bad stuff. Play against casual players who want to have fun even with modest units. Orks aren't the worst army when playing casual but they have a snowball's chance on the big boy tables.

This is definitely the best piece of advice here. I wouldn't try and tool an Ork army towards competitive play, even if they were top tier - kinda ruins all the fun you can have with their myriad of unreliable but deadly units. Get to know some local patrons who are frequent visitors and who play casually, and build an army around stuff you like, perhaps with a little friendly input from them

That being said, you can never have enough Boyz (unless you're me, with a meagre 30 in my box ) - I'd perhaps toss in a Trukk after you've got another set of Boyz, so either the Nobz or a choppy Boyz squad can ride about in it.

You may also want to consider a Warboss - can't really remember a time when a Warboss hasn't been fun to field, even if they flop sometimes.

I'd also recommend the Eisenhorn series as something always worth reading - a true classic, if you don't mind a little less gunplay

Hope this helps

G.A

Regarding books to read.
I've read a few over the years and have a small pile of them.
Storm of Iron was really good as was , I think it's, Dead Sky Black Sun. The Eisenhorn trilogy was a lot of fun too.
I really really enjoyed all the Ciaphas Cain books. I think there are 9 books and 4 or 5 short stories. They'r kinda like the old Black Adder series 4, if Black Adder had been an imperial commissar. Loads of fun.
Also just about any book by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
He's fantastic.
There are also several collections of short stories out there as well most full of Space Marines doing Space Marine stuff.
A reasonable way to get further immersed into 40K.
Sadly there are only a Small hand full of stories from the Orks prospective but I did enjoy Evil Sun Rising. About some Meks who have a stompa who are part of Grukks WAAAGH.

Orks are a very fun and very challenging army to play.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
Lots of Boyz of course I'm going 1/3 Choppy and 2/3 Shooty. Make sure you stick a Nob with PK for each mob. At least one mob of Choppy Boyz will have eavy armour. Shoota Boyz mainly to hold mid field objectives with big shootas to harass. Eavy armour shootas (if used) in trukks to push forward I'd points to spare as a second wave to choppy Boyz. These all change around depending on what else will be fielded but suffice it to say having lots of Boys makes a solid core.

Warboss is a very point efficient HQ choice and almost mandatory with his default Waaaaaagh! Lots of options for da boss making him good for all point levels but should be kitted for melee because he's a CC beast. Most give him a PK because s10 ap2 is too good to pass up.

You already have a painboy which is good. Very handy HQ to have.

Don't put PKs on all your nobz. If you want an all PK nob squad then look to meganobz. A meganob is cheaper then a PK nob and with better armour plus a twin linked shoota stock. With the nobz only put a PK on one, preferably the one with waaagh banner since the model comes with one, this way the boss nob character getting challenged out won't cost the squad it's pk. The rest should take big choppas. Each nob in the group now swings four times on the charge with the strength of auto cannon's while keeping initiative. Give them heavy armour to protect your investment and grab the shootas for free since they can't take advantage of the slugga extra melee attack. Now they each have an extra shot.

Boss nobz in Boyz squads can also get challenged out so when possible toss in a cheap me char to take the challenges. More important on choppy mobz then shooty ones.

Meganobz are better then nobz. Get some. 15 of them would be best to field the bully Boyz formation that will get you results. Almost everything they touch will get erased. Until you get fifteen the best way to use them is 3 in a squad loaded onto a turbo boosting trukks with reinforced ram. This known as a Manz missile that is quite cheap for its effectiveness. Send it crashing into enemy line towards priority targets. Each squad should have one meganob using killsaw's, preferably the that's not a character and won't be challenged out.

Ork artillery is great being cheap and field able in batteries of 5. Kannonz, lobbas, kustom mega Kannonz and traktor beams would be the ones worth noting and I'd pass over the rest. Give them all the grits they can get. T7 grots are hilarious. Put them in front of the gun to tank hits.

Lootas are the moist point efficient source of s7 ranged firepower and with 48" they proviDE irks with one of the few choices to reach out and touch the enemy. They are squishy and can really benefit from a mega armoured boss to tank for them.

Even though the grenades got need from faq tankbustas are needed to pop vehicles. Get some. With all that s8 in the squad the nob doesn't need PK give him big choppa and he can use the tank bust bomb. Equip the tank hammer on another so it doesn't get challenged out and let him use the bomb squigs during shooting phase. Bomb squigs are awesome. Use them.

Solo deffcopters are great. Pseudo distraction carnifex. A deffstar can be made if you attach a boss on bike with right options as well as a painboy on a bike.

Bikers are expensive but still effective. The twin linked dakka gun that come with the bike are great and outshine Boyz cc so I tend to see bikerboyz as a mobile Shooty unit. The nobz cc is good enough to rival dakka gun and are good to get stuck in thanks to being T5 and at least one with PK.

If you ever get enough cash then 5 battle wagons can be fielded as a blitz brigade. 5 bw with scout is very nice. Units in transport can't charge first turn. Not an issue if you are second.

Something else to consider. Trukks taken as dedicated transport for Boyz using the cad in BRB counts as troops and gain obsec. All trukks with reinforced rams can tank shok. After dropping off their Boyz they are still useful at pushing enemy infantry off objectives and claiming the vp for you.

Last but not least. Get some grots. I prefer to leave them in a back field objective because of how cheap they are. Better to have only 30 pts in the back doing nothing then 60 pts. Also hilarious if they get lucky and kill a deep striking terminator and instantly earn their points back and more. They are also good as a screen in front of a footslogging army providing cover and also soakin over watch. Take them. Always. They are cheap so why not?

That's a lot to process and I don't know a lot of the acronyms. But what I got is boyz, nobz, bikes, trukks, what about stormboyz?

Oh yeah...first lesson: try to learn the Dakka gibberish. People seem to think that abbreviating everything is useful to other folks (or they may be typing from their phones, I don't know). Personally the acronym overload here is borderline atrocious sometimes.

off topic about Orks, the other army I would be interested in would be a chaos nurgle space marines and nurgle daemons. How would that be in competitive

Chaos Space Marines are bottom tier competitively as well, and I would almost say lower than Orks in casual play too, even with the new Formations. They desperately need a new codex to fix a lot of the problems they have right now. BUT, Nurgle CSM is the best of the group. They have a Biker Lord and Daemon Prince that are very scary, and Plague Marines are still one of my favorite units of Marine type models. Typhus and his ability are some of my favorite rules in the game. He makes Cultists, a cheap Troop choice, into Zombies with special bonuses. It's very cool to see that on the table.

Daemons are a different deal. Daemons are top tier, easily in the Top 5 pretty much no matter who you ask. Nurgle often has a showing in lists, but it's not often the main focus, atleast in my experience. Again, Princes of Nurgle are awesome, and the Nurgle bonus on a lot of stuff makes it better, but Daemons like to swarm and they do that by summoning extra models from outside the game. That requires a psychic power to do so and no one does psychic like Tzeentch.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Chaos Space Marines are bottom tier competitively as well, and I would almost say lower than Orks in casual play too, even with the new Formations. They desperately need a new codex to fix a lot of the problems they have right now. BUT, Nurgle CSM is the best of the group. They have a Biker Lord and Daemon Prince that are very scary, and Plague Marines are still one of my favorite units of Marine type models. Typhus and his ability are some of my favorite rules in the game. He makes Cultists, a cheap Troop choice, into Zombies with special bonuses. It's very cool to see that on the table.

Daemons are a different deal. Daemons are top tier, easily in the Top 5 pretty much no matter who you ask. Nurgle often has a showing in lists, but it's not often the main focus, atleast in my experience. Again, Princes of Nurgle are awesome, and the Nurgle bonus on a lot of stuff makes it better, but Daemons like to swarm and they do that by summoning extra models from outside the game. That requires a psychic power to do so and no one does psychic like Tzeentch.

Could I mix daemons and plague marines?

To fill out your army of ork boyz do yourself and wallet a favor. Do these steps if you want to repaint models
1) search eBay for used painted ork boyz
2) buy bucket, simple green, and tooth brush
3) soak models over night in bucket w/ simple green
4) scrub models that soaked in solution with tooth brush
5) rinse models in cool water
6) prime
7) repaint

When I first started 40k I had been in a GW a couple of times looking at all the armies. My friends pushed me to go with WHFB but every time I came in there was this guy there playing orks, in specific Stormboyz. I loved the little rocket packs strapped to their backs and he kept yelling WAAAAAAAAAAGH! Which seemed super silly but he was having a blast. I talked to him about those little stormboyz and he explained that with orks sometimes things go your way and sometimes they go horribly horribly wrong. Either thing that happens gets your boyz killed and is hilarious. Play what you like and it's how you'll stick with the hobby. That being said BOYZ YOU NEED SO MANY BOYZ! GET MOAR BOYZ!

Edit: P.S. PowerKlaws, load up on powerklaws. That's just me and others will tell you other setups, but seriously man, powerklaws.

Red boyz wrote:

Could I mix daemons and plague marines?

You can. There is an ally system in place so that you can use multiple armies as one big one, and CSM and Daemons are Battle Brothers, which means they treat each other as if they were chosen from the same army for all rules purposes. There might be an issue here or there because Daemons tend to do some random crap from time to time, but other than those instances you shouldn't have a huge problem. You will just have to be very observant of your rules about Primary Detachments. For instance, if you make Typhus your Warlord from CSM, then the CSM is your Primary Detachment and then you may choose to use Plague Marines as Troops if you build that Detachment out as CAD. But, if your Warlord is a Daemon, a Daemon Detachment if your Primary and you no longer have the option of making Plague Marines Troops for the CSM. It's a bit wonky but it's something you have to be mindful about when you want to build a multiple faction army.

Okay, I'm very excited to paint. I should start painting tonight

Sorry about the acronyms.

PK means Power Klaw and is the orks Swiss army knife. Same stats as a power fist but looks much cooler (except angry marines with the middle finger). In the hands of models with nob stats it's strength 8 (9 on the charge) armour piercing 2 and in the hands of a warboss or Ghazzy it's always at strength 10 the max that stat can be. The high strength gives them the capability to take down vehicles with armour value of 14. The S8 attacks count as Instant Death attacks against models with T4 and lower such as marines. S10 attacks counts as such with T5 and lower. The Armour Piercing 2 means it can ignore armour saves of up to 2+ which is all armour snice there is no such thing as a 1+ save. AP2 also gives a +1 to the die roll on vehicle damage table which gives that model a chance to explode vehicles in a single hit. It's drawback is that the wielder strikes at initiative 1 the lowest. If challenged by an enemy character with a decent strength weapon that ignores the nobz armour and strikes at a higher initiative like force swords then the nob will get killed before making a single swing. This is why we add that cheap slotless mek to the units with PK nobz. As characters they can take the challenge and die to that sergeant while the nob tears up the unit.

Because of how many PKs orks can get on the table it's a popular choice for ork players. It's not hard to field a army with every unit hiding a PK without going unbound if you were incline to. The challenge is delivering those PKs to the enemy.

Most common and cheapest delivery system is a mob of Boyz led by a PK nob. Satisfies troop tax and this mob can take a trukK as dedicated transport. It can only hold 12 models but you don't necessarily have to deploy in it or use it to transport that mob. The mob is essentially a meatshield protecting the PK nob until the unit gets into melee.

You asked about stormboyz. I like them for their fluffiness and they can perform well if taken care of. They are choppa Boyz with rockits that allow them to move pretty fast. They have jump infantry rules and also adds an extra rule for running making them even faster then jump infantry but can/will incur some casualties. They don't have eavy armour option which means only a t shirt save. Fragile and as strong as basic choppa Boyz BUT also a fast delivery system for a PK nob. The unit can deep strike but mishaps are not good and they can't charge the turn they deep strike. Not good for a cc (close combat) unit. Use them for early charges across the board or hold them back and use them late game when both sides have less units to rush for objectives.

I'll bring it up again in case you get the idea to put PK on all your nobz from that starter pack. Meganobz are cheaper in points then Nobz taking PK upgrade. Meganobz are 40 pts each and come stock with a PK, twin linked shootas and the big daddy 2+ armour save. A nob with just a PK and shoota is 43 pts and still hasn't taken armour yet... Give your current nobz big choppas, eavy armour and whatever shooty upgrades you see fit, let the waaagh banner holder have the hidden PK, and get Meganobz as your unit that has every model wielding a PK.

15 Lootahs w/ a Mekboy in a battle wagon and you'll be golden.