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I'll take your army off your hands if you really get sick of it. I'm just now getting into 40k and I thought the orks sounded dope, though this thread is making me think otherwise

I will tell you what someone told me to make me lose interest in orks, after complaining so many other armies are getting rediculous power boosts.

"you dont play orks to win! you play them for the sillyness and wacky games. If you are trying to win you are playing wrong with orks"

Well I disagree, you can have silly fun AND still have the mindset of wanting to win. I started mechanicus, and havent looked back. And it will be years before they are uptaded, if they dont decide to drop the power scale down AGAIN right when it rolls around that its orks turn.

Orks are a mid level army but they take finesse to win. I know you say you aren't competitive but one thing that helped me was looking at competitive list and see what they are taking. Right now lots of people are taking tank bustas and power klaws. I didn't see many of either in your list. .

Also look for units that work good for you. Lobbas and Big meks with KFF's don't work for me at all. Lootas are average for me. Big mek with a Shokk Attack gun is great, flash gitz in a battlewagon are great, Mad Doc with Ard Shoota boyz work wonders FOR ME. so it is finding things that work for you.

If you decide to sell them off let me know I will add your 5K to my 3K+ of orks.

Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone. Like I said in an earlier post, the example list I gave was a variation of other 1,000-point lists I've played. Another list utilized several units of choppa boys with a nob wielding a pk. Lately I've liked taking the big choppas, though, since my nobs find themselves getting challenged more often than not, so a nob with a pk could fight, but would most likely die before he can swing back--which is a waste of points in my mind. I like the big choppas because they can do decent damage in cc if they get a chance to fight, but it's not a huge deal if they don't. I mostly rely nobs for their bosspoles. I'm also a fan of he warboss and painboys with the units, but since I've been playing lower-point games lately, I decided to forgo those options--maybe a bad idea in hindsight. Finally, while I appreciate the proposed idea, I'm averse to using forgeworld stuff. I know it's legal and all that, but having to resort to stuff outside of the codices feels like cheating to me. (I actually get a little annoyed when opponents show up with fw models.) I'm gonna mess around with lists using trukk boys and nob bikers. We'll see how it goes!

I'll post something I put in another thread regarding weak Orks:

I found a rather sneeky orky build that is quite tuff.
It requires the use of FW rules but is definitely capable of handling the majority of stuff currently.

Big Mek w/ KFF (Invuln Save Bubble)
Mekboy Junka w/ Force Field (Cover Save Bubble)

Run some Warbuggies in front as LOS blockers (the warbuggies are tough because of the Cover + Invuln) and then everything behind them gets a +1 to cover save.

Run Warkoptas as transports for your boyz, they get a cover save anyway for being skimmers which gets improved by the Junka and improved again by the Warbuggies and LOS and then they have an Invuln too. Suddenly you have extremely tough troop transports.

Throw in other stuff as desired.

Trukk boyz don't work brother not in my experience with or against. Too much working against them. BWs can but a lot depends on the opponent and what else is in your list. They heavily dictate list construction.

I suggest going back to PKs on everything you can and putting as many meks into units as you are allowed. I'll often take another detachment just to unlock a couple more key meks. Honestly controlling challenges is one of orks strengths and a very under valued ability I'll add. If you can beat their IC then use the ID wielding boss. If not don't challenge and just krump his unit. If he challenges accept with the 15 pt distraction mek. 7-9+ attacks at S9-10 will sort out most elite units and fodder get destroyed by weight of attacks from the mob. Plus this is one of the better ways to deal with skimmers at your disposal.

 morfangdakka wrote:

Also look for units that work good for you. Lobbas and Big meks with KFF's don't work for me at all. Lootas are average for me. Big mek with a Shokk Attack gun is great, flash gitz in a battlewagon are great, Mad Doc with Ard Shoota boyz work wonders FOR ME. so it is finding things that work for you.

Also I gotta second everything above. The SAG, gitz and doc in particular have been champs, KMKs with runts too. Lastly I'll add a solid 10 strong bikers unit with pk nob and no additional support. Each of these has become a staple when I put down the green.

grogbutz wrote:
Finally, while I appreciate the proposed idea, I'm averse to using forgeworld stuff. I know it's legal and all that, but having to resort to stuff outside of the codices feels like cheating to me. (I actually get a little annoyed when opponents show up with fw models.)

Just wanted to point out that FW stuff is completely "legal", especially now that GW owns FW. (Which, of course, doesn't mean every TO will allow it, but then again some also ban stuff that's in the BRB, like Unbound armies.)

Going to put my logic out there, hope this helps:

Orks have been hit very hard, in the most recent edition. Their codex was okay, but stuff was still not great. Especially our friggin' mob rule, and morale and all that... But hear this. If it is bad now, it must get better at some point! I collect orks, but also collect other armies. My other armies have been seeing more games than orks recently for this reason. I'm sure I can get them out of the box and onto the battlefield next edition, and if not? Who cares. Orks are fun to play, and can be useful allies.

 QuazzaP wrote:
Going to put my logic out there, hope this helps:

Orks have been hit very hard, in the most recent edition. Their codex was okay, but stuff was still not great. Especially our friggin' mob rule, and morale and all that... But hear this. If it is bad now, it must get better at some point! I collect orks, but also collect other armies. My other armies have been seeing more games than orks recently for this reason. I'm sure I can get them out of the box and onto the battlefield next edition, and if not? Who cares. Orks are fun to play, and can be useful allies.

The opposite is true for me. I play Orks, Tyranids and DE. There's too much ignore cover in my meta (my usual opponent is Tau) for DE to be effective at all, nevermind that Codex: Eldar Taxi Service is blossoming.

Tyranids have such a monobuild theme at the moment with their garbage Codex that I've not played at all with them, because I was sick of spamming S6 FMCs.

Orks are so fun to play, even when I lose. I'm using them more and more and although I'm tempted to leave 40k, moreso if it goes the same way Fantasy did, I'll be keeping my Orks and selling the rest. Heck, they're the only army I've given a toss about to start painting properly.

I have to second what someone else said, use what works well for you. Single Mek Guns don't work for me so I don't normally use them, despite being fantastic for most. I usually run Zhadsnark as Warbikers work amazingly in my meta.

I find that I have to ask my opponents what army they are bringing.

It's simply hard to try and bring a TAC list.

I had an opponent over to my house for a friendly game, and he brings three Flyrants and two crones with gargoyle spam. Blah! I'd sure as heck bring more than just one tractor kannon if I knew.

Orks seem to do good on the friendly game side, when you have an idea of what army you're playing. I don't mean specific lists, but it helps to know what your opponent is bringing. And if you're opponent isn't trying to ram Tourney lists down your Warboss's guzzle just for a pick up game.

TAC lists don't exist anymore. The best you can do is a Take Most Comers list.

Or at least spam something so hard you've got too many scissors for your opponents rock to handle.

 Frozocrone wrote:
Or at least spam something so hard you've got too many scissors for your opponents rock to handle.

That's the basic theory behind for 90% of Ork tactics.

 Vankraken wrote:

 Frozocrone wrote:
Or at least spam something so hard you've got too many scissors for your opponents rock to handle.

That's the basic theory behind for 90% of Ork tactics.

Well you can never have enough boyz

 Otto Weston wrote:

Big Mek w/ KFF (Invuln Save Bubble)
Mekboy Junka w/ Force Field (Cover Save Bubble)

I think FW Ork stuff should be used with modern rules. No mass fearless (if playing by the book), KFF is an invuln bubble.

I hate mob rule, I hate invuln bubble, and I've championed Forgeworld for years and used it long before it became mainstream in 7th - but I think using old rules with Forgeworld stuff is shenanigans up there with the worst of it

Finally, while I appreciate the proposed idea, I'm averse to using forgeworld stuff. I know it's legal and all that, but having to resort to stuff outside of the codices feels like cheating to me. (I actually get a little annoyed when opponents show up with fw models.)

Its your decision, but you'll come to regret it when you realize how little GW cared for Orks in our release and how much FW cares for them in theirs.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
By putting PKs on those Nob squad leaders and not fearing to go into assault with Shoota Boyz against shooty units you will be much more imposing. PKs are the Ork's swiss army knife and a certain amount is always needed for every list. Don't put Mad Dok in big blobs, stick him with Nobz or Manz whom can't number more then 10 models. He gives them a whole bunch more attacks with the Rampage ability when they are fighting units that outnumber them.

My take on the mad dok is that he's often an overkill for a unit of manz but provides much needed fearless and extra PK for a blob. He can be great in both roles nevertheless.

If you want fearless, given grotsnik is most of the price of a MANz missile might as well go all the way and get bully boyz

When I play Orks my strategy is basically around delivering PK into the enemy and how to do that as fast as possible. The other units are there to support that goal and make things easier to cut to bits with PKs.

I have had pretty good luck with them. Been playing them regularly for about 2 yrs now.

For the record, I love Orks but I don't play them for the whacky. I play them as vicious, merciless savages, or as swarms of gak vehicles.

Either way, redundancy is key. Never take one when ten will do; never go for ten if you can get twenty. Focus on a few (preferably large) key units as damage dealers, but take multiples. Make sure you're packing enough infantry to be survivable while holding/threatening multiple objectives.

I find Ork boyz to still be effective in multiples, whether you make them resilient (Armour or B-Wagons), fast (Trukks or B-Wagons) or cheap (load up on basic Grots/Boyz).

Big Grot screens still work, as do small mobs of Grot objective-sitters.

With an infantry or walker heavy warband I always take Kommandos (Stormboyz should also work) to threaten the enemy backfield and fire support. Koptas or Buggies can do this too, but are usually less resilient.

With a mounted force never count on your Trukks to be more than a single-turn speed boost. If you get more out of 'em great.

Battlewagons are a big point investment, but they attract fire. This is both a plus and a minus. If you have a frail unit inside it'll probably die when the Wagon goes up in flames. Make sure the passengers are themselves resilient if you want them to be more than a bullet sponge.

That said, putting Tankbustas, unarmored Boyz or Nobz, Burnas and the like inside Wagons can work if you don't try to go with small (MSU) units.

Tankbustas never fail me these days, especially in 10-15 Ork mobs. Than you GW for the change to Glory Hogs! I prefer Lootas to Grot Guns as a fire support option for the range, the strength and the volume of shots fired. Lootas remain an effective antiaircraft option against just about everything that flies due simply to the strength and volume of fire they dish out. I will go with Kustom Megakannons as another high strength low AP fire support choice on occasion, but I'm more likely to opt for shooty vehicles (boomgunz and rokkits, oh my!) but that strictly a personal preference.

If you go walkers go big for walkers. Cover as many as possible with Kustom Force Fields (plus Mek repairs) and stalk forward, backed by hordes of infantry and Kommandos in the backfield.

Whatever you do, go big or go home. More than any other army Orks benefit from synergy. If one of x has a value of one, then two have a value of three and four have a value of six and so on.

I eschew choices like flyers and the Stompa that don't get me the kind of synergy I'm looking for. They can certainly be effective, but their resilience is rather limited compared to the stompiness and/or dakka they bring.

Many of my choices are kind of old school, but they work in my local meta - and for my playstyle.

My two teef. Sorry for the wall of text.