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Ork Blood Axes will sometimes work for other species, it says so in their fluff. But who actually hires them? It seems like any recounting of a time that Orks were contracted to fight for someone would end "...and the moral of the story is: never trust an Ork further that you can launch it's lasblast-perforated corpse with a krak grenade." And who needs the extra firepower anyways? I could see Shadowsun using them to mess with Farsight, but apart from that it doesn't seem like anyone can both afford to pay them and needs the help.

Individual wealthy people, Imperial governors, Rogue Traders, etc... The Imperium's presence is not all seeing despite their propaganda, especially in isolated areas that may not see any visits by official Imperial authorities for years or decades.

It varies. Sometimes it's an Imperial Governor of a world that may not have the numbers (either due to the Imperium tithing too many of their soldiers away for a crusade or their position simply being on the fringe areas of the Imperium where its less defended) and see it as a means to an end as a short-term solution against other raiders like Dark Eldar who can't be bargained with. Afterwards it can end up like a protection racket for the Blood Axes, who then force the planet to pay tribute or otherwise get raided by the Blood Axes themselves.

Other generic xenos species might hire them out of desperation or spite towards the Imperium if they're facing against Imperial expansion/encroachment, since you don't necessarily have to be fighting beside them yourself, just point them in the right direction while giving them loot as further incentive.

Kunnin Orks like Blood Axes can see the long term benefit of being mercenaries since it not only gives them a target to fight but they get the benefit of loot without having going through the trouble to nick it. It also provides them with an opportunity to glean other races' tactics and ideas that they can see Mork approving.

Desperate planetary governors, canny planetary governors that need to buy time for Imperial reinforcements and are confident that said reinforcements won't shoot them for treating with the alien, short-sighted planetary governors who will soon be shot for treating with the alien, pirate captains, Rogue Traders, pirate Rogue Traders, minor xenos empires that need some muscle, minor human empires that need some muscle, other Orks, anyone who needs a particularly impressive bodyguard...

It's a galaxy of war. Someone somewhere needs a big green mushroom to hit someone else very hard for them.

Sidenote - I can't remember where I read it, but because of the Imperium's genocidal attitude toward other species, they tend to be regarded as 'Orks with table manners', and renegade human bodyguards are actually in some demand among xenos with a little extra spending cash.

 gnome_idea_what wrote:
It seems like any recounting of a time that Orks were contracted to fight for someone would end "...and the moral of the story is: never trust an Ork further that you can launch it's lasblast-perforated corpse with a krak grenade."

But that does mean Orks are dependable in a way. Like the Chaos Marines in the first DoW game who use Orks as a distraction so they can go about their Chaos business while the Loyalist Marines are occupied fighting Orks. The Chaos Lord is a bit suspicious of how good an idea it is but his Sorcerer says exactly what you'd expect - Orks are not as random as you think, you can actually be pretty sure they'll turn on you when the first target is dealt with. Just make sure we're already done and nowhere near when that happens.

And ofc, as far as the IoM and Orks go the greenskins are probably the most widely known (and best known) xeno species. They're brutal and violent enough that there's little need for extra propaganda to keep even a less-than-loyal citizen away from them. They're also less of a "spiritual purity" threat than the other major players in the galaxy. No Ork would see the point in selling the idea of Gork and Mork to outsiders, they don't have ancient mystical or technological secrets to tempt anyone with and they're not going to offer humans a better position in life for switching sides. Tau tempt humans with better living, Chaos seduces with promises of power and the insidious Eldar will always have a plan within a plan which might or might not end well for you. Surely these are all seen as worse things to deal with than some fire-and-forget Orks mercenaries?

Radical Inquisitors will do anything if it suits them. Practically what occurs in Retribution if you play as Orks iirc.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Massacre_at_Big_Toof_River

The only concrete example in the official fluff that I know of. Regiment of Praetorians hired them as scouts. Things went south eventually, but Blood Axes did what they were asked for less or more well, though who knows...

Blood Axes and Freebooterz will hire themselves out to anyone who pays what they want; sometimes that reward is even just the fight that they'll get into - as Selym said, a Radical Inquisitor tries to hire Freebooterz in the DOW2 Retribution expansion, who is turned down by their Kaptin because he couldn't have her hat. He stays around after, however, just for the opportunity to fight a corrupted Chapter Master.

Both groups get the job done, much to the distaste of their fellow Orks. Still, no Ork denies the hilarity of turning the equipment they received on their clients, which happens almost every time someone tries to fool with Ork mercenaries.

It makes for cool fluff in any case. I can easily see Alpha Legion, renegade marines and renegade humans dealing with them depending on the circumstances

The dark eldar point is a good one too. It's not hard to imagine a loyal planet doing a deal with orks if DE are raiding, and the same with daemons, necrons and tyranids

Ork mercenaries are in general free of all sorts of imperial spies. They have a low tendency to report you to the local inquisition for ehm... stuf you would never do of course. They are no credible witnesses if they do, and they are the perfect scapegoat as an added bonus.

I am terribly sorry that your refinery got wrecked orks you say. Yeah they like to to that from time to time. But don't worry my refinery is still in perfect condition and I wouldn't mind helping you out by taking care of your customers until yours is repaired.

The governor of a planet that was in direct competition with Armageddon for a supply contract to the Admech might!

What they don't mention is that a lot of the groups that get the Ork mercenaries use them as bullet sponges, and often hire them to attack far away from the actual armies. These groups, which have been mentioned, often either send the Orks far away with a super weapon that they are likely to kill themselves with, such as when some Necrons gave a Ork warband some doomsday cannons, and the Orks blew themselves up, along with who (Whom? ) they were fighting. Also, Orks hire blood axes sometimes, and the few times groups like the Inquisition hire them, they send them to deal with a large demon army while taking out the portals letting them in, kill all the Guardsmen for knowing about demons, get out, and Exterminatus the planet while the orks are still fighting.

Wait there is fluff of necrons hiring oks ??

 oldzoggy wrote:
Wait there is fluff of necrons hiring oks ??

More like bribing them to go away.

What do they get for payment?

The orks that is.

usmcmidn wrote:
What do they get for payment?

The orks that is.

Usually good fights, weaponry and supplies - 'humie teef (and most other xenos gum jewlery) are too tinsey winsey for Ork currency. Sometimes they get pointless trinkets that the Kaptin took a fancy to, or even powerful artefacts that they'll never know how to use for anything other than bragging rights

 General Annoyance wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:
What do they get for payment?

The orks that is.

Usually good fights, weaponry and supplies - 'humie teef (and most other xenos gum jewlery) are too tinsey winsey for Ork currency. Sometimes they get pointless trinkets that the Kaptin took a fancy to, or even powerful artefacts that they'll never know how to use for anything other than bragging rights

Weapons and supplies will be the big thing, and usually its the Kaptain who sets the price. He may see the Governor's Orgyn bodyguard has a massive shiny gun so he'll reject the chest of gold and ask for that. At gunpoint if need be. Or he'll spot the shiny gold bobble the client has on their mantlepiece and demand it as payment

If you have a problem... if no one else can help... and if you can find them... maybe you can hire... The Ork-Team.

Hiring small groups of deniable xenos mercenaries? Great idea.

Trying to hire an entire army of them, and thinking that they won't see you as the next target... not so great.

The sensible person hiring Ork mercenaries will gift them shiny collars and tell them the collars will let everyone know not to mess with them.

Then, when the job is done, the collars are remote-detonated and the explosive-incendiary munitions take care of the mess, plus most of the spores.

Rogue Traders probably like to have a Flash Git or two on their ships. Desperate imperial commanders, fighting against a Tyranid swarm won't be too picky as well.

Having Flash gits on your ship is a logistic nightmare really. Those things infest everything with ork ecology spores if they die. Resulting in them having to keep a disinfection squad ready at all time.

 oldzoggy wrote:
Having Flash gits on your ship is a logistic nightmare really. Those things infest everything with ork ecology spores if they die. Resulting in them having to keep a disinfection squad ready at all time.

Free replacement crew though. But really the biggest problem with Ork crew members isn't the Orks themselves but the human crew members (and captain) who aren't Orky enough

 General Annoyance wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:
What do they get for payment?

The orks that is.

Usually good fights, weaponry and supplies - 'humie teef (and most other xenos gum jewlery) are too tinsey winsey for Ork currency. Sometimes they get pointless trinkets that the Kaptin took a fancy to, or even powerful artefacts that they'll never know how to use for anything other than bragging rights

I love the idea of artefacts. "Youz lot betta listin to me! I got ere dis dead shiny box that'll kill the lotz of ya!" (Has no idea how it works)

I seem to remember it's widely touched upon in the Rogue Trader RPG, and at least one campaign.
The answer was rich people who have few folk to answer to.
And chaos fleets who want to throw some real distraction at imperial forces.