Topic: New to orks!

[incredibleskulk]

well, just bought a giant load of orks and am lookin forward to having some good times. I have a large CSM army.

i ordered 120 boyz, 25 nobz, and 2 warbosses, all sprues from the black reach set.  the question i have first is do the boyz and nobz for black reach come with all the options the regular boxset does?  the second question is where do i go from here, i have the basics, what do i add?  ive never even played against an ork army so im clueless. obviously i need to read the dex in depth, as i have only grazed it so far.

[Blood Fist]

you ask a pretty broad question.  I would suggest searching through this forum for articles people have written, there are some really well thought out pieces written here by people who have a lot of experience.  Before you go building an army, you need to think how you would like to play.  Do you want to be shooty, choppy, mechanized, or all around?  I would suggest building an army that fits your style, so that way even if you are losing a battle you are still having fun.  That concept is very important for orks, because you will lose a lot of green guys in your waaaagh, even with a couple of slaughtered units in the first couple rounds, it may just be really a rolled out red (and green) carpet  for other units to win the match.

[OD from TV]

Welcome to da Orkz incredibleskulk!  Its always good to welcome a yoof into the tribe and help him get nice an propa before his first fight.

Anyway the AoBR set has one thing (and only one thing) going for it, its cheap.  It doesn't come with any spare bits, alternate weapons, gubbins, armor plates, or options.  But like I said you're getting a good amount of Boyz for far cheaper than you would have any other way.

Now I'm not going to lie, Blood Fist does make a good point in how it would be a good idea to read up more in the forum so you know exactly what kind of Ork army you want before you spend a lot.

But you've already got 120 boyz and 25 Nobz on the way, so lets take it from there.
With so many Boys at the getgo you really have a couple options which you may not realize.  Boyz, the standard Troop choice have 2 varieties, Slugga or Shoota.  Slugga Mobz have more attacks and have been greatly boosted by the addition of the Run rule in 5th, Shootas have slightly fewer attacks but have medium range guns which can soften up your enemy before an assault.

Now the AoBR Orks are all standard Slugga Boyz, and since it doesn't provide any spare bits (well I suppose you could label 2 boys with Big Shootas spare) if you want Shootas you can either build a cheap Shoota out of Spare Sprue, or trade someone probably using the Trade Post part of 40konline.  You could also buy from an Online Bitz store, but that usually ends up being more expensive than its worth.

Now beyond Troops choices incredibleskulk take into account one of the Orks' Biggest Attractions, how just about every Elite choice can be made from Boyz.  Yes this is easier when you have the spare bits that the current Boyz box provides, and you'll probably need to invest in a couple depending on the size of game you want to play.  So you should cheer, you don't have to be like Eldar with a mostly metal army where everything looks the same, you can rather field an all plastic force.

From regular Boyz you can make Burnas, Tankbustas, Stormboyz, Lootas, and Kommandos.  All it takes is a little time, something in the Bitz Box, and the drive to make some Konversions, which not only are cheaper than getting GW kits for these but every Konversion almost always looks cooler.  And since you come from a CSM background you already have some bits on hand that can help build what has become one of the best units in an Ork Army, Lootas.  Just grab some of those CSM guns that you didn't use and some Plasticcard (aka Sheet Styrene) and you can build some wicked Lootas.

Now I admit I may be going a little overboard with talking about conversion ideas, so I'm going to scale back and just breeze over the most common Ork army variants.

Footslogger Green Tide
  The Classic Ork style which never really goes out of style.  There are few to 0 vehicles to support the army, but the army itself swells with massed infantry the likes of which only Guard can come close to matching.  This kind of army usually maxes out its Troops with 30 Strong mobs and then swamps opponents who simply can't deal with as many as 200 Orks on the table.

Trukk Heavy Speed Freaks
  Comming up over that hill its half a dozen trukks each filled to the brim with Boyz.  This version of a Speed Freak force has lots of vehicles mounting multiple units in Trukks and speeding them up to meet the enemy head on.  The units of Boyz are smaller due to the size constraints on the Trukk, but have an effective threat range of 21 Inches (12" trukk +1" Red Paint +2" Disembark +6" Charge).

Biker Kult of Speed
  The other Speed Freak style is the Biker Horde, where by taking Wazzdakka you can take Bike units as Troops.  These Bikes zoom up and down the battlefield causing turbo charged massacres left and right, and truly excel in last minute Objective Grabbing and Denial.  They typically have a smaller model count than most other variants, but their bikes grant them a stronger save and a constant cover save making them more survivable than other Bikes in the 40k universe.

Dread Bash
  A Footslogging army which is generally accompanied by up to 9 Killa Kans and a couple of Dreads where the Boyz are either hiding behind the Kan Wall or in front of it trying to protect them.  I'm not a big fan of this varient so I'll leave it at that.

Armored Krumpany
  The new codex kinda called the death knoll for this varient, but some still play it anyway.  The Armored Krumpany consists of several Battlewagons providing cover for the lighter armored Buggies while transporting Ork troopers into battle.  After the Orks disembark these battlewagons start to really open up using their artillery and deffrollas to deliver a Knockout Punch to the enemy.

DeffWing
  A twisted parody of a Dark Angels Deathwing force an Orkish Deffwing relies on large numbers of Meganobz to crush the enemy.  This force is the smallest model count variant of the Orks and in my opinion the hardest to pull off victory with.  Its also probably the most expensive unless you convert your Mega Nobz.

Anyway good luck with your Orks and be sure to pop in the forums with any questions or if you need any help.

Peace
~OD

[incredibleskulk]

Welcome to da Orkz incredibleskulk!  Its always good to welcome a yoof into the tribe and help him get nice an propa before his first fight.

thank you for welcoming me!

Footslogger Green Tide
  The Classic Ork style which never really goes out of style.  There are few to 0 vehicles to support the army, but the army itself swells with massed infantry the likes of which only Guard can come close to matching.  This kind of army usually maxes out its Troops with 30 Strong mobs and then swamps opponents who simply can't deal with as many as 200 Orks on the table.

this is what i had in mind when ordering the parts, mass of green thats just too much to handle. a true horde. especially for low points games. the only problem i have would be dealing with mech units.  half the people i play are 5th edition fast vehicles and land raider space marines, so how would i deal with heavy armor and fast moving armor? spread out all over the board and hope to catch them? and that wouldnt work against armor 14 land raiders...

Trukk Heavy Speed Freaks
  Comming up over that hill its half a dozen trukks each filled to the brim with Boyz.  This version of a Speed Freak force has lots of vehicles mounting multiple units in Trukks and speeding them up to meet the enemy head on.  The units of Boyz are smaller due to the size constraints on the Trukk, but have an effective threat range of 21 Inches (12" trukk +1" Red Paint +2" Disembark +6" Charge).

Let me get this straight, all ork vehicles are assault vehicles?  i did not see anywhere in the codex i was reading where it mentions the ability to assault from a trukk/battlewagon. if this is the case im loving it!  warboss with klaw, ard nob with klaw, and 10 ard boyz in a trukk, hell yea!

and as for what im looking for, well, its a change of pace.  im tired of my low count troops, 8 man squads, that get smashed by 5 death company with PW. the fact is i play marines almost all the damn time, except a tau player and the occasional nids player, and i want some flavor, so im starting orks.

as for equipment thats basically what im looking for. i want them to be slugga boyz, all the attacks and all the glory!

[OD from TV]

Welcome to da Orkz incredibleskulk!  Its always good to welcome a yoof into the tribe and help him get nice an propa before his first fight.

thank you for welcoming me!

Your very much welcome, its my honor really.  I kinda like sharing my love of the Ork fluff, tactics, and konversions with everyone, particularly new players who can really benefit from it so they don't make mistakes early on.  Besides the more Ork players on 40konline, the better the environment on the board's community, as well as erasing the misconceptions of Ork players as pushovers.

A Green Tide is always a fun option, and should you choose to play so, you can field 6 units of 20 Boys with a Pk Bosspole Nob and a Big Mek with Eavy Armor as a 1000 point Green Tidal wave, equaling 121 Infantry ready to bash some brains in.  Although with such limited Anti-Tank you'll be in trouble against opponents taking Monoliths and Land Raiders in small points games (which some opponents do).

Anyway to answer your question, yes every Ork Transport is Open Topped, meaning they are all assault vehicles.  If this interests you, perhaps you'll want to undertake more of a Mech list than a Green Tide.  I don't mean to sway you in any particular direction, but I've always had a penchant for Speedy Orks, which while the current codex pales in comparison to the outdated Kult of Speed rules from Armageddon, it can be used to produce a very fast Krumpy army.

Since it sounds like your regular opponents are SM, Tau and Nids I would heavily recommend a unit or 2 of 10-15 Lootas if you go with Footsloggers.  These eat SM armor, and 15 have the potential of putting out 45 shots which is more Dakka than 2 units of any other races long range shooting can match.  The hard part with them is their BS, but with such a high potential output you'll still be piling on wounds.

Note that I said to put them in a Footslogger force.  In an army with lots of Trukks and Battlewagons the Lootas don't seem to fare as well and their LoS can be blocked by our own Transports.  Also it takes valuable points away from that style of play's main impetus which is a lightning strike attack.

Since you are weary of enemy Land Raiders, I personally rely on Rokkit Buggies and Kannons to take them out.  I do so because I find them to be reliable Anti-Tank weapons, both of which tend to be low priority targets for your opponents and in my experience they have a 90% success rate almost always earn back their points (and then some).  I've tried Tankbustas, and still just can't find it within myself to advice them as Anti-Tank.  I do find them to be worth their weight in gold against Tyranid Monstrous Creatures, but that's just my experience, which will invariably differ from yours or anyone else's.

If you do want to give the Tankbustas a try, or just want to read up on other methods of Ork anti-tank I strongly advice giving Oldcrow's AV 14 Tactica a looksee, its in the Ork Boot Kamp sticky.

However you decide to go with your Ork Tribe incredibleskulk, may Mork and Gork smile on it.

Peace
~OD

[Blood Fist]

You might want to invest in some big gunz.  They aren't that expensive point wise but they can help a lot, I have 2 lobbas and they always kill more points than they cost.

[JimmyHatfield]

25 Nobz!!  Not sure what to do with those models.  After adding one per mob squad you're going to have 19-18 left.  I suppose they could be globbed together for a Nobz squad, make sure to get a painboy and a few bells and whistles.  I bought 10 and still have 1 sitting on the shelf.

As for converting the models.  Making some of them into Kommandos is as easy as adding stikkbombz, which you may come across in bits( you will!)  Its also a bit hard to make them into Lootas or Burnas because the back packs don't fit around the bodies quite the same.  It can be done but won't look quite right.  TankBustas could work fine though.  You're going to probably want to switch the TL shootas on the warbosses with some Nobz,  Also those Big Shoota boyz would make great Tank bustas, and you could use their big shootas for future vehicle upgrades or Kopta upgrades.

Too bad you didn't get any Koptas.  They are useful Anti tank and fast. 

I would second the suggestion of Big Gunz, with a Horde army you want the enemy to have to choose between sliming down your hordes, striking at your artillery, or dealing with the infiltrating Kommandos.

P.S.  get some Boss poles and Power Klaws!

[OD from TV]

Its also a bit hard to make them into Lootas or Burnas because the back packs don't fit around the bodies quite the same.  It can be done but won't look quite right.

I have to disagree.  Firstly nothing says that you 'MUST' have that rigging pack around a Loota.  In fact if I had to have that gun carriage around my Lootas I wouldn't play with them.  I personally find the official models really really stupid looking.  The central point of the Loota's Deff Guns is that they're a hodgepodge of tech bits that have been smashed together into a heavy bore gun.  My Lootas utilize a mixture of Ork, SM, Eldar and Tyranid weapon bits that have been smashed together into Deffguns which actually look nice.

And as for Burnas, nothing says that they can't be carrying around Looted SM/CSM flamers which have a self contained promethium ammo.  Additionally you could create your own Burnas fairly easily out of the Shoota with the round barrel, a few pits of thin rod, thicker rod for a Promethium pack on his back, and some guitar string for cabling the Burna to the fuel.  Well some Greenstuff for straps I suppose, but still its an easy konversion where you really only need some time and the bits on hand.

Peace
~OD

[incredibleskulk]

well i am planning on converting my own lootas and burnas with flamers and heavy flamers from marines and reaper autocanons and assault canons from terminators. i did not intend to put a pack on them, the flamers hav tanks built into them.