A question about ORKS! (spelt right) Warhammer 40.000

[death13245]

I am starting an Ork army and right now I have a few troops but I want to know what's the best units, tatics and stuff needed for a good army. I mainly plan to gather a strong Ork Boy force with few nobs and maybe a few Battlewagons but what's your views on a good Ork army?

 

[foxfax]

Orks are primarily a close combat race. They rely mostly on sheer force, so subtlety isn't going to work very well. But they are a very fun race to fight and face, and they respond well even in the hands of cack-handed losers like me! Their main tactic is "Waaagh!!!" Their seocndary tactic and tertiary tactic is also "Waaagh!!!". But stameding into a fire zone is a bad idea, so look to you deployment and where on the battlefield you set up.

Tactics and Set-up:
WAAAGH!!!
Put big units of orks in battlewagons or a trukk or twelve with some bikers, stormboyz and/or dethkoptas on one flank, big units of footslogging Shootas and a few dreadmobs on the other then advance. The opponent will have to either kill the close-combat death on one flank or the slower nasty stuff on the other. Big Meks, Shootas, Lootas and Flash Gits are good for this tactic in the footslogging role, whilst Slugga Boyz, Nob Squads and Meganobs are insane CC stuff for your battlewagons and Trukks

Da Kunnin Plan
Fast/Flank/Infiltrate/Deep Strike combo with Stormboys, Dethkoptas, Wierdboys, Bikers and a big Shoota/Slugga unit. Upgrade the Weirdboy to a Warphead and try to get the Blink psyker ability. Once you do, DS the big Boyz unit into your opponents deployment zone. Your fast stuff, flankers and/or DSing units will by then show up and complete the mayhem. Very risky, but rather Orky.

Ork Nobs
The Big Biker Boyz (BBB) tactic is simple, Warboss and Nob Unit on Bikes, as big a unit (or two) as you can afford. Charge insanely into the opponent (Turbo Boost to get the cover save when you're far away) and you tend to eviscerate all you encounter. Your standard Bike Mobz (5+ ones are Troops IIRC) can assassinate lone characters, contest or claim areas and do quite a lot of damage of their own.

Uvva Gubbinz
Big Meks, either with a Kustom Force Field or Shokk Attak Gun are excellent "Keep da boyz alive" units, and they will draw fire from what will really do the damage (big units of Boyz), Grots are very good "Ignore me as I claim objectives" units as they are Troops. Docs in your squads will vastly improve thir survivability. In all, there are no real weaknesses to the Orks units, no real "Woo I'm crap!!!" choices like in some codexes. Just try to ensure you get the charge! If you don't your S, I and A all drop, and you get hit a lot harder.

 

[Trivun]

Cannon Fodder. That's all they are.

(I collect Tau, by the way...)

EDIT: May as well have some input...

My main tactic, used in most situations, is to have my Crisis Suits and Heavy Weapon units at the back, with the Command Squad, and have Kroot at the front to tie up enemy troops before they can reach my second line of Fire Warriors. I then have Stingwings and Pirahna Fast Attack Vehicles on the flanks moving in very quickly to attack the weak points on the sides and move back before a retaliation strike. I rarely move forward save with the Kroot, and rely on the long range of the Tau to do the job before the enemy can get close enough to attack. Very useful tactics and they definitely work, especially against close combat armies, such as the Tyranids and the Orks.

As an Ork player, therefore, you will be vulnerable to this type of tactic. As a Tau player I can give you advice on what Orks can do to prevent this being used. Make sure you have some kind of Heavy Weapons, maybe some Nobz and some Looted Leman Russ Tanks on the battlefield. Have them near the back and on the sides for defence, but keep the flanked troops safe with squads or Stormboyz. Have a line of Shootaboyz as your second line, and then put Stormboyz in front of them, so your configuration looks a little like the following: Stormboyz at the front and sides, Shootaboyz in the middle, and Nobz and Heavy Weapons units at the back and inner sides. Plus, try and get some Flash Gitz as well, they're always useful, and anything with a jumppack is great for Fast Attack because then it means it's easier to get over the enemy lines and hit in the centre, where troops are more likely to be weaker against that (if you play well). Orks aren't built for Fast Attack, but they can still jump over and hit a player where it hurts, and I hate it when the enemy manages to get inside my 'territory' and attack from within. Really fucks up my tactics when I'm trying to organise a fight back.

With this army in the right positions, then the Heavy Weapons units can take care of the Tau Fast Attack units, meaning I'd be vulnerable to return fire since you'd make faster progress towards my troops. With the Shootaboyz firing between your Stormboyz squads it would weaken my Kroot Carnivore squads and soften them up, meaning the assault from the Stormboyz (close combat) would be a victory for you. Then you'd be able to consolidate into or close to combat with my Fire Warriors, and your remaining forces would be able to wipe out my remaining army giving you a sweet victory. It all depends on the tactics you use and effective use of units. Remember too that although you may need a certain size army to play a certain points battle, you don't necessarily have to spend loads on creating an awesome kickass army. A friend of mine played as Necrons against one guy who was Space Marines. A single las-rifle shot took out the Necron guy's Monolith in the first turn. If you know how powerful the Monolith is and how Las-rifles aren't meant to take down such huge targets, then you'll know how awesome that was (and yes, I do know that it was simply a lucky dice roll. It was still pretty epic though... ).

 

[BladesofReason]

An interesting note to Trivun; Orks can't take Looted Leman Russ's anymore. Their looted tanks fall into a catch-all unit entry simply called "Looted Wagon".

I play Eldar and my favorite tactic is the mutable defense. Against Orks I basically (not going into specific unit functions) want my army to be able to exhaust the Ork charge and then hit back with superior speed and weaponry. If it works the Orks attack and are either stalled long enough for my units to get into position or overextend a charge and open themselves up for a flank charge from Striking Scorpions (who brutalize Orks on the charge) and for my long range units (Dark Reapers, Fire Prism/War Walkers) to destroy key Ork units. If it fails my army gets slammed hard and I get smeared all over the place.

I think to start off an Ork army you would want a varied, but balanced force (Eldar are all about variety so this is what I'm going with.). Trivun's advice was pretty good and even more viable given the WAAAAGH! rule now in place. A well timed WAAAAGH! can clinch victory for your boyz, so with this in mind I can say that you won't go wrong with a couple of nice strong units of Ork Boyz along with a Warboss, following that up with a selection from the fast attack and heavy support choices to round out the force.

What I personally would like to suggest is building a theme for your army. The easiest way to pick a theme for Orks is to read up on the various clans. Is your Warboss a Goff boss, who loves to get stuck in with his loads of gnarled Nobz? Or is he a Bad Moon Mek who has used the funds from his many (many) teef to buy himself tons of Flash Gitz? Maybe you like the thrill of cranking the throttle to full and racing towards the enemy, with your hordez of Bikerz in tow; in which case the Evil Sunz are for you! I understand it's a lot to think about but I found when building my army that deciding on the character of my army was a lot of fun and helped me create an army that I really enjoyed playing, with true tactical effectiveness being a close second.

Hope this helped, and good luck!