Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

For as long as I can remember orks have been a relatively low tier army. I'm wondering is there any reliable way to run them in a competitive fashion?

Lots of trukks, deffkoptas, and bikes, with a clean up crew of battlewagons.

Some of the more competitive lists (at least for ITC) uses Buzzgob's Kustom Stompa which was a typo from forgeworld but basically lets you have a discounted stompa on the cheap where you can cherry pick which upgardes you can have and be way more effective than the current codex stompa.

Other than that oddity, most competitive Ork lists run most of the following:

- Warboss: Our main reliable source of S10 in CC, the lucky stikk is almost mandatory to ensure you get your hits in and when combined with Mega Armour can allow for an obscene amount of tanking against enemy attacks. The Biker Warboss is also super-deadly and gets to bypass the S10 instant death threshold that makes the MAW poop his pants. Does only have a 4+ save though, so make sure you jink when you can.

- Painboy: I really can't think of an Ork list without one, it adds such a huge force multiplier in terms of resilience that you are shooting yourself in the foot for not taking one. Auto-include in practically any list, best with boyz or on a bike with Warbikers.

- Mek/Big Gunz: Relatively cheap and surprisingly resilient thanks to T7 artillery rules, lobbas are the workhorse and most reliable artillery, being able to shoot guys we can't see and with the best range means that its great for clearing infantry. The Kustom Mega Kannon is a close second, held back only because of Gets Hot! and the recent FAQ drafts making it bad for blast weapons. The KMK covers an area which the lobba lacks which is dealing with multi-wound T4 units and dealing with heavy infantry. It also has enough versatility to be aimed at light to medium vehicles in a pinch. Always give them ammo runts.

- Tankbustas: Not quite as good after the FAQ draft's nerf to grenades, they still are our best bet at taking out the myriad vehicles and some MC's in the game. Tank hunter means they're reliable (for orks!) and AP3 and S8 makes them decent at MEQ hunting after their primary prey are destroyed. Best taken in groups of 5-8 in a trukk and with multiple squads for proper saturation.

- MegaNobz: Taken in typically two ways. The first way is a MANZ missile of 3 Meganobz (sometimes with a killsaw upgrade) loaded into a trukk and thrown as a "fire and forget" unit that the enemy will either waste valuable firepower on or regret leaving alone since they will wreak havoc on the enemy's back lines. The other way is through the Bully Boyz formation which is a much larger investment but makes them more killy and reliable with Fearless and WS5.

- Warbikers: One of the more cost efficient choices in the army, they can shoot and take hits fairly well with Painboy support, they are often taken as troops choices through the FW character Zhadsnark. Although versatile, their strength is in shooting with their mass of twin-linked S5 goodness and don't take losses well.

- Deffkoptas: Great for backfield objective grabbing and soaking overwatch fire for your other units. Also reasonably resilient enough to take as single units and MSU deffkoptas can be a nightmare for opponents to deal with.

- Grotz: El Cheapo objective secured scoring units that are small enough to avoid being seen depending on your terrain. Great for unlocking Combined Arms detachments and the enemy shooting/killing them means less focus on your other units.

- Battlewagons: List dependent, but generally also a good choice if you want to use mobz of boyz since footslogging (outside of Green Tide) just doesn't cut it anymore. Taken with a ram and big shoota, to avoid unnecessary points bloat.
Opens new opportunities if taken in a Battlewagon Blitz Brigade formation but is so points heavy you only see it in 1850+ games, which is hit or miss depending on what you're facing.

Grotz are also great if you have a fortification like an ADL with a quad gun.

Battlewagons are also excellent fire platforms for Tankbustas, with 4 Rokkits and a kannon plus a full squad of tankbustas and bomb squigs...if they get in range of anything AV 13 it's dead.

I'm also toying around with one that would be all big shootas and a lobba for infantry smashing. Add in a 20 strong shoota squad with a Nob and 2 more big shootas and you got a lot of firepower.