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Hey all. Forgive me if this is the wrong forum.

After having a game with a friend that I enjoyed I went to my local Games workshop and chose Orks. I got a starter kit with a Painboy, a unit of Ork Nobz, a unit of Boyz, a Boss Knob and a Deff Dredd. I also bought a Trukk to transport them.

I've started to put them together but I've become a bit stuck and can't find the information to become unstuck, for lack of a better word.

There are lots of weapon options in the instructions, and someone mentioned to me that units have to be 'legal', so I'm unsure as to what weapon options I should give them and whether those options would be the best option. How do I find out? I've tried searching but it's a bit inconclusive.

If I could have some advice in this that would be great. Thanks.

You need the Ork Codex, which is a book that gives you all the info you need to build an army. It tells you how many points units cost and what weapon and upgrade options they can have.

Hi, I bought that start collecting too so I hope I can give you some valuable input.

Let's start with the boyz, I think only slugga & choppa boyz are worthy but if you want to save money you can convert all those boyz into tankbustas using that rokkit launcha and adding rokkits from kombi weapons to some shoota. Regular boyz can be bought form ebay with a discount price, I'm talking about the AOBR ones.

About nobz, I'd suggest to equip 3 of them with slugga, pole and powerklaw, one with big choppa, and the remaining one it's up to you, another p.klaw or a big choppa. Nobz as a unit really suck but those models are amazing and I always use them as nobz to lead the boyz units. So basically you just need them with pks or big choppas. Another cheap solution is to buy along with the AOBR boyz also the nobz belonging to that set and converting some of them with the power klaws included in the boyz set. This way you'll get 10 nobz, I'd suggest 5 pks, 2 big choppas and to do whatever you want about the remaining three. You could keep two of them with no upgrades and build a waaaagh banner for the third one so they could be used in the council of the waaagh. Or maybe convert them into painboys, big meks or weirdboyz.

Now talking to the deffdread, I've magnetized it. That walker is not very competitive so if you really want to field it you should keep it cheap, with no upgrades. That means 2 big shootas, other than its standard close combat weapons. But adding a skorcha or a third power klaw could be nice too. So if you don't want to magnetize it I'd suggest to glue a big shoota and a skorcha, maybe 2 big shootas. Use the rokkits to convert tankbustas or give them to trukks, battlewagon, buggies.

Yea I've got that. But im a little confused as to why I should choose upgrades and which to choose.

I understand that a unit has a set amount of points, /!: the when I add upgrades I'm adding extra points to the unit. But the whys and when's are a little bit foreign to me. Like, why should I choose a big choppa? How many should have a boss pole?

This is the first type of this game to play so I'm very new to it all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Blackie wrote:
Hi, I bought that start collecting too so I hope I can give you some valuable input.

Let's start with the boyz, I think only slugga & choppa boyz are worthy but if you want to save money you can convert all those boyz into tankbustas using that rokkit launcha and adding rokkits from kombi weapons to some shoota. Regular boyz can be bought form ebay with a discount price, I'm talking about the AOBR ones.

About nobz, I'd suggest to equip 3 of them with slugga, pole and powerklaw, one with big choppa, and the remaining one it's up to you, another p.klaw or a big choppa. Nobz as a unit really suck but those models are amazing and I always use them as nobz to lead the boyz units. So basically you just need them with pks or big choppas. Another cheap solution is to buy along with the AOBR boyz also the nobz belonging to that set and converting some of them with the power klaws included in the boyz set. This way you'll get 10 nobz, I'd suggest 5 pks, 2 big choppas and to do whatever you want about the remaining three. You could keep two of them with no upgrades and build a waaaagh banner for the third one so they could be used in the council of the waaagh. Or maybe convert them into painboys, big meks or weirdboyz.

Now talking to the deffdread, I've magnetized it. That walker is not very competitive so if you really want to field it you should keep it cheap, with no upgrades. That means 2 big shootas, other than its standard close combat weapons. But adding a skorcha or a third power klaw could be nice too. So if you don't want to magnetize it I'd suggest to glue a big shoota and a skorcha, maybe 2 big shootas. Use the rokkits to convert tankbustas or give them to trukks, battlewagon, buggies.

Hey. Thanks. Okay I'll have a look into that.

Jam_Sandwich wrote:
Yea I've got that. But im a little confused as to why I should choose upgrades and which to choose.

I understand that a unit has a set amount of points, /!: the when I add upgrades I'm adding extra points to the unit. But the whys and when's are a little bit foreign to me. Like, why should I choose a big choppa? How many should have a boss pole?

This is the first type of this game to play so I'm very new to it all.

In the ork codex there are all the rules about how to equip your units and every possibile items and upgrades are fully described, as well as the units themselves. Without that book you can't play.

I do have the Codex, but why I should equip a weapon over another is the issue for me. Will I give the unit too many points, too little, make them too unversatile, etc.

Jam_Sandwich wrote:
I do have the Codex, but why I should equip a weapon over another is the issue for me. Will I give the unit too many points, too little, make them too unversatile, etc.

There is no simple explanation as that just comes with experience

I suggest looking at ork tactics

Rightyho. Well, I'll go with blackies suggestions for now.

Many thanks.

While they are by no means the only tactica available, and some of the humor might not be your style, I have always found the 1D4chan tactics pages to be helpful.


You can find the Ork tactica (and all other armies) on this page.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Category:Warhammer_40000_Tactics

Welcome to the hobby! And welcome to the Ork Waaagh!

Generally speaking, you want to run Ork units cheap. Their strength is often in volume of attacks, both shooting and in close combat.
Why should you equip one weapon over another? Some provide more range, or stronger attacks. However most games have a points limit (500, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1850, 2000, etc.), so you can only take so many upgrades. You work you this limit with your opponent before the game. Then you build your army list, composed of models you want to field in your army. After you total up the points values for all the models you are taking, you can see how many points you have left over to spend on upgrades. It might sound a little bit complicated, but it's actually kind of fun. You can build different theme armies based on the kinds of upgrades you take. Maybe your Orks really like to shoot their loud guns, or they really like to go fast. The models and upgrades you take allow you to customize your army.

It sounds like you purchased the Orks Start Collecting box. That's a great value.
For Ork Boyz, their basic slugga/choppa are probably the best choice. Boyz can shoot their Sluggas up to 12", and put out 4 close combat attacks each on the charge. Shootas are nice (2 shots and 18" range) but at the cost of 1 CC attack and they cost 1 extra point per model. Either way, I recommend upgrading one to a Nob with a Power Klaw (PK) and Boss Pole. That PK will really be doing most of the work, and the Boyz will just help the Nob get into close combat.
Nobz should also be kept as cheap as possible. Blackie's advice is sound. I like bringing 2 PK's in a unit of Nobz, and then either keeping the rest with slugga/choppa, or giving them a few Big Choppas if I have points left over. Include at least 1 boss pole.
Keep the Deff Dread with the base loadout (2 PK's, 2 Big Shootas). That way he can advance, shoot, and hopefully put his PK's to use when he gets into CC range.
Stick the Painboy with the Boyz unit most likely. He will be more useful there.

One tricky thing for you is that you only have 1 Trukk. This means that part of your army is potentially moving faster than the rest. Of course you could choose to only move your Trukk up 6" to keep pace with other footslogging units. Consider picking up a second Trukk for your Nobz (or Boyz when you purchase more).

If you continue playing Orks, I would recommend picking up a Warboss and a second unit of Boyz. You can then form a Combined Arms Detachment with 1 HQ (Warboss) and 2 Troops (Boyz). You can also bring other models. See the CAD rules in the 40K rulebook. In low points games, a Warboss, some Boyz, and a few other support units can be very effective and fun.

Consider scrolling through some of the army lists here on Dakka to see what other people bring for Orks in their games.

If you want to read a lot about Ork weapons, gear, and strategies, check out these links, in addition to the 1d4chan site.

Making Orks Competitive- Gather the Council, Prepare to Waaagh!
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/643980.page

Orks in 7th Edition
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/601805.page

Good luck! Feel free to keep asking questions!

Personally, its all in what you want your orks to do on the battle field. Do you want to be up close in personal fighting in hand-to-hand combat or do you want to stay back in shoot your way through with just massive amounts of fire power, or a mix of both. The pain boy is pretty standard and you will not find many upgrades for him, a pain boy on a bike is pretty awesome. You'll find that most of us ork players have lots of models. Personally, I own 100 sluga chopa boyz and 100 shoota boyz. I also own 30 nobz and 10 deff dreads. I like to play different options and even tho you can magnetize your guys, this might be hard to do if your new to the hobby.

There are plenty of how to videos online about how to do magnetize your models. There are also what we call battle reports. Basically guys recording their games. Miniwargaming is a good group to check for battle reports. I started watching their videos when I started to not only learn how the game is played but also some strategy.

Hope this helps and welcome to da WAAAAAAAGH!

Hey thanks a lot for the advice. I'll get started on that!

This wiki, 1d4chan, is it associated with the notorious site with a similar name?

Jam_Sandwich wrote:
This wiki, 1d4chan, is it associated with the notorious site with a similar name?

Yes. Browse at your own risk. It's definitely NSFW and full of offensive things, but there's nothing questionably legal on there. And underneath all the 4chan garbage there's a lot of good advice for new players.

Got it. Cheers.

Are there any books that are available that will give me some formations and advice too, aside from the codex?

The Waaagh! Ghazghkull codex supplement has some additional formations. However most formations are generally for larger games (1500pts+), and require a lot of models. Since you are just starting out I recommend sticking with the Painmob formation that came with your Start Collecting box, or building towards a CAD.

There aren't reallly any books on advice for playing Orks that I know of, however DakkaDakka has lots of great advice on the forums here, and YouTube battlereports have already been mentioned. The best way to learn the game is by playing it. So get your Boyz together and go stomp some 'umies!

 Peregrine wrote:

Jam_Sandwich wrote:
This wiki, 1d4chan, is it associated with the notorious site with a similar name?

Yes. Browse at your own risk. It's definitely NSFW and full of offensive things, but there's nothing questionably legal on there. And underneath all the 4chan garbage there's a lot of good advice for new players.

Peregrine is correct, but I find the tactics pages pretty tame for the most part. They are the only part of the site I use/visit, the rest can be pretty gakky.

I found this page with lots of tactics. Seems decent?

http://bloodofkittens.com/orks/

Wonderfully named

Jam_Sandwich wrote:
I do have the Codex, but why I should equip a weapon over another is the issue for me. Will I give the unit too many points, too little, make them too unversatile, etc.

This is going to be a generic answer because I haven't played orks in a long time.

In general, most units can't do much without upgrades.

You add upgrades to a unit in order to give it a role. Anti tank, anti monstrous creature, anti elite infantry, etc.

Your first consideration should be making it good at that role whilst spending the fewest points.

The second thing to think about is versatility. Some units and upgrades can be good at more than one role. This is desirable (as long as it doesn't weaken their primary role or make them too expensive) because it makes them good against more opposing units and it makes your opponents job more difficult (when every unit has one obvious role then it's easy to know what you should be concentrating on destroying).

Another suggestion is to look at the 40K Army Lists forum and read about other people's lists. It can be pretty instructive, people will debate different configurations.

You can search for faction and points value to find what you are looking for quickly. Just be careful, some of the lists there are dated.

Once you get the hang of it, write your own sample list and let other people critique it. You will get a lot of valuable advice.