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Hi folks, I've decided to go xeno for the first time, I've been playing marines for 2 years (space wolves) and wanted a break as my creative juices have run dry.
I have always loved the ork models and how fun they can be, and it'll be a nice change to move away from extreme elite units like the space wolves have.

I have a question though, as someone just starting on this journey, what top tips can you give me in terms of must have units for a decent 1000point beginner list?

I has thinking a couple of units of boyz in trukks, one upgraded to a nob with power klaw.
A unit of bikes, with my warboss possibly on a bike too.
I really like buggies but how useful are they, I see them as none hovering land speeders?
A battlewagon perhaps.
Definitely lootas.
And some stormboyz.

Advice welcome

P.s. I like relatively fast lists but open to new ideas. I was also wondering if 12 boyz in a trukk is better than a full unit of boyz foot slogging?

Welcome to the WAAAGH. Theres a lot of discussion about how to play Orks and while the general consensus is that they aren't that strong (compared to those zogging eldar, tau, necron, and spess mahreen gitz) the Orks are a fun faction to play as. Trying to win competitive games with Orks is basically playing on hard mode but its not impossibly difficult to win with Da Boyz. Figure out what your looking to get out of playing Orks and take any advise with that in mind. Somebody might say Deff Dreads absolutely terrible (and they wouldn't exactly be wrong in that assessment) but in a casual game they can be fun and potentially quite good if used well.

General tips about Orks.
Chop the shooty and shoot the choppy: Orks are a melee focused army with their shooting being generally designed to soften the enemy up to then charge in instead of it being the primarily damage dealing source. That being said Orks are not actually very good against durable melee units as Orks lack any form of defense in melee outside of armor. So the Orks generally want to get stuck into close combat against shooting focused enemies while they want to avoid close combat (until the time is right) and shoot melee focused units to wear them down. Tarpitting with lots of Boyz is often an option against really hard to kill units.

Nob with a PK is the workhorse of a Boyz unit: To be frank boyz are not very good at killing things in melee, they have S3 base and furious charge often times isn't in effect because Orks do a lot of multi charges. The boyz rely on weight of dice rolls to drown the enemy in attacks forcing a lot of saves out of the enemy. The Nob with PK can do the work of like 6-10 boyz in melee and its more when your up against something that's T5 or 6 with 2+ armor. That being said challenges can zog off as it puts the Nob in danger and risks the Nob getting killed before he can swing is PK.

Always have a plan to get your Orks into the fight quickly: Shooting is the bane of Orks and marching your boyz across the table isn't going to cut the mustard. Trukks, Battlewagons, and Bikes are all valid means to transport the Orks into combat and keeps them a bit safer from being shot to death. Very few Ork units excel at long range so for most of your stuff your going to want to close the distance ASAP.

Mob Rule Sucks: Mob Rule is terrible for anything other than making giant boyz blobs impossible to sweep in melee combat. Avoid having to rely on mob rule to save your bacon as much as possible. The best Ork lists are the ones that can mitigate its existence and still keep the Orks in the fight.

And from a modeling/money saving perspective.
Kitbash, scratch build, and convert everything: Orks are the best army in the game for kitbashing and conversion work. Basically any infantry unit can be made from a Boyz or a Nobz box if you put enough effort, green stuff, and looted bits into it. Why pay $23 for a Painboy when you can make your own from a Nob box and have 4 other Nobz (or Big Meks) for basically the same price. Why buy a $45 finecast tankbusta box when you can get the much cheaper boyz box and convert them with some creative rokkit launchas (or just use the rokkit launcha that comes in each boyz kit).

As to the units you mentioned.
Boyz in trukks is Orkology 101 and probably the most bread and butter way to run boyz. Trukks explode like nobody's business and it usally kills half the squad in the process but its about numbers. One trukk is easy to stop but 10 can be a lot more difficult. Always have a Nob with PK as mentioned above. Eavy armor is probably a worthwhile upgrade for trukk boyz.

Warbikes are one of the top tools in the Ork toolbox and list built around them are usally among the better for Orks. Forgeworld has rules for a Warboss named Zhadsnark who is incredibly good and can make bikers troops.

Buggies are dirt cheap and decent all things considered. Individual ones can be annoying for the enemy to deal with as they have to waste a units worth of firepower on a single AV10 vehicle. Very much filling that land speeder role.

Battlewagons are expensive but durable (in the front) with a decently good size transport capacity. My army lists usually revolve around Battlewagons to get my Orks into the fight (Blitz Brigade formation which is 5 Battlewagons with scout), Not the most cost effective transport but the most durable the Orks have.

Lootas are a solid choice and one of the few long range options in the Ork codex. Nothing fancy but they spam lots of S7 shots and one of the better anti air options.

Stormboyz are....... not very good . They tend to die quickly like a boy but cost more ppm. What they are good at is abusing LoS blocking terrain to shield them from shooting then jump over the next turn, run 2D6 (during a WAAAGH) and charge in to create a rather large threat range. If you don't have good LoS blocking terrain then its going to be very rough for them.

Some of the MVP units in the Ork army are
Tankbustas: Gork and Mork looked down upon the tankbustas of 5th edition, slapped them fools upside the head and said "Oi you gitz, quit mucking about and gets to krumpin dem wagonz rite proppa yer ova sized grotz". Tankbustas went from zeros to heros overnight learning how tankhunter works, realized that their tankbusta bombs are more effective when you actually pull the pin, and that you don't have to only shoot vehicles as space marines turn into a satisfying red mist when you fire a rokkit into them.

Meganobz: These lads are dead killy, durable (for an Ork), and relatively cheap in points for how hard they murder things. Throw them in a trukk, drive it at top speed at the enemy lines, force the enemy to deal with them or die horrible as massive amounts of PK attacks rip them to shreds. Lack of Invuln saves and only T4 so don't expect miracles but they are quite good at chopping through high armor targets or assisting in chopping through an enemy unit that's being locked up by boyz.

Gretchen (grots): Those little lads are often times under appreciated but a very useful tool for the Orks. Nobody wants to waste shooting at them and they are tiny so its easy to hide them or ensure they have good cover. Can camp objectives, fill troop slots for CADs, and also act as mobile cover/screen for your boyz.

Mek Guns: Artillery is silly in that it makes your crew members act as T7 vs shooting. Grots are dirt cheap and T2 so its hilarious when scatter lasers are wounding grots on a 5+ and the artillery unit has like 20 wounds between 5 guns. The weapons themselves are a mix of good to downright laughably bad but they are generally cheap for their points and stupidly hard to shoot to death. Morale is a huge problem as grots are Ld 5 but slap a mek in the unit and they become a "respectable" 7. Mek Gun in ruins is a major pain in the butt to deal with. Can't use them with zhadsnark sadly.

Wow. Thanks for the extremely detailed and full response. It certainly helps me get an idea of which units to give a try to begin with and where I can develop things in the future.

I'm currently waiting on about 40 boyz, 15 meganobz, 5 lootas a painboy and some other bits (all cheap second hand stuff). And I have a trukk coming also.

The plan is to have 3 trukks full of boys and a nob in each with PK. I really want to get some bikes, as at least they have the option to jink for a chance to survive.

In your opinion what is the best way to run a warboss? I hear lucky stick is exceptional lol. I've been watching a lot of battle reports and it varies between a bike or mega armour?

You're off to a very good start with those models. Ideally you want Trukks for those Mega Nobz as well as for your other Boyz units, they won't be doing much without them. Tankbustas are excellent and although Lootas are okay at a similar job, the 'bustas are pretty much an auto-include choice. Buying those will tie you into buying more Trukks or Battlewagon's though as they have short range and no armour. Boss Nobz in any squad without an IC pretty much need a bosspole and usually a power klaw (Tankbustas being the exception, they don't benefit much from a PK).

Warbosses basically only have those two builds you mentioned seeing in batrep videos. Mega armour, da Lucky Stikk and bosspole or warbike, power klaw, da Lucky Stikk and bosspole. Both are very good for the points you pay.

 MuzzleKrumpah wrote:
Wow. Thanks for the extremely detailed and full response. It certainly helps me get an idea of which units to give a try to begin with and where I can develop things in the future.

I'm currently waiting on about 40 boyz, 15 meganobz, 5 lootas a painboy and some other bits (all cheap second hand stuff). And I have a trukk coming also.

The plan is to have 3 trukks full of boys and a nob in each with PK. I really want to get some bikes, as at least they have the option to jink for a chance to survive.

In your opinion what is the best way to run a warboss? I hear lucky stick is exceptional lol. I've been watching a lot of battle reports and it varies between a bike or mega armour?

Mega Armor Warboss with the Stikk is incredibly tanky to non AP 2 shooting and is quite deadly in melee combat. Absolutely needs a transport (I tend to run him in a Battlewagon in a Blitz Brigade) as he can't run due to Slow & Purposeful. The bike trades off the 2+ armor for +1 toughness (giving ID immunity from S10), jinking, and mobility. In a biker list taking Zhadsnark is great (bikes as troop is so good) but if you want you can just take a Biker Warboss and give him the stikk. Jinking with a 3+ rerollable is quite durable and against AP2 you actually have some defense (against range you have cover, in melee your at least T6 so FNP works). Warboss without mega armor or a bike is generally inefficient but you might get by with a boss on foot (in a transport) with a finking kap. Always take a PK, Big Choppas while being really up there on the cool factor just are not good at killing things. The relic weapons are generally garbage so stick with the tried and true Power Klaw (even Yarrick aka the orkiest umie to ever live knows how awesome a PK is)

I tend to run my Warboss in a unit of Boyz as the Warboss and the PK Nob can do the work while the boyz are there to jump in front of AP2 attacks (LoS) and grab multiple units with multi charges. Putting a Warboss in a unit of say Meganobz tends to be overkill against units that can't chop through them while being somewhat ineffective against units that can. Mega Armor Warboss or Big Mek is good with big loota units as they can walk and shoot due to S&P. A regular Nob Squad can work with a Warboss if you have a decent amount of disposable Nobz in the unit to jump in front of AP 2 attacks while bringing a few PKs. Orks make for terrible death star units due to lack of invuln saves so don't sink a ton of points (like say a giant 10 man Nob squad stacked with PKs) with a Warboss as they tend to just draw a ton of fire and get shot off the board.

 MuzzleKrumpah wrote:
Wow. Thanks for the extremely detailed and full response. It certainly helps me get an idea of which units to give a try to begin with and where I can develop things in the future.

I'm currently waiting on about 40 boyz, 15 meganobz, 5 lootas a painboy and some other bits (all cheap second hand stuff). And I have a trukk coming also.

The plan is to have 3 trukks full of boys and a nob in each with PK. I really want to get some bikes, as at least they have the option to jink for a chance to survive.

In your opinion what is the best way to run a warboss? I hear lucky stick is exceptional lol. I've been watching a lot of battle reports and it varies between a bike or mega armour?

40 Boyz and 15 Meganobz is the perfect core for running a Blitz Brigaide that transports the Bullyboyz formation. The fourty boyz could unlock a CAD to get you the support of an HQ, I would recommend painboyz for the boyz in the wagonz, and then filling out lootas for weight of fire for the odd flier you may face, or to try and destroy some of the more mobile things in your opponent's army (stuff that will flank your wagonz and run). The Scout move from the wagonz puts the fearless meganobz in the center of the table turn one. This can be very daunting for some opponents, forcing tough decisions with heavy weapons that can't neccasarily move or dont want to move. If you have turn one you likely have the positioning to dictate the game for several turns.