This article, I'm going to look at the various styles of Ork armies that I can (or aim to) get out of my Ork army and the pro's, con's and example units used in each.
From my point of view, there's 6 distinguished playing styles to playing orks and then the option of a Hybrid for any of the styles.
Style 1: Horde
The first style of play for the Ork army is the most obvious playstyle - the Horde. This basically revolves around you getting as many, and as big as possible, units of Ork boyz onto the table.
Being 6pts each, you can fit a helluva lot Boyz into a 1500 - 2000pt list, and your standard boy isn't anything to be sniffed at. It's a very easy playstyle to adopt, when first starting Orks, as the ability of them to "tarpit" elite units or use the hidden Power Klaw weilding Nob to lop wounds off of a Carnifex.
Pros:
- Easy playstyle
- Some armies have a hard time dealing with Hordes.
Cons:
- Flamers
- Dealing with Mechanised lists.
Example Army setup:
HQs: Warboss and Big Mek with Force Field
Elites: Kommando unit for Outflanking, Lootas for support.
Troops: Boyz and Grotz
Fast: None
Heavy: None
Style 2: Mekanized
The second playstyle is one I've been experimenting with, since getting frustrated packing away 100+ Boyz after each game night.
The idea behind the Mekanized Ork force is to safely taxi elite units of Orks (or your standard boyz) as fast as possible, dispatching whatever lies within assault distance.
It can be frustrating at times, as the unit size you can fit in a transport vehicle limits your Ork Mob rule, needing only 2 casualties to start taking a leadership test.
The importance of playing a Mekanized list comes in your Big Mek with the Force field. I've happily played games in a Diamond formation with a Big Mek and his forcefield sat within 6" of all other vehicles.
The options for your transports are Trukks, Battlewagons and Looted Wagons. Now unfortuantely the Looted Wagons are just too unreliable, and take up a previous Heavy Support slot, so your main force is looking at Trukks and Battlewagons.
Pros:
- Very Fast
- Deadly on the turn you launch it
Cons:
- Once you're out, you have to deal with the fire
- Low armour values outside of Battlewagons
- Unreliability of Looted Wagons
Example Army Setup:
HQ: Warboss, Big Mek with Force Field.
Elites: Nobz, Meganobz, Burnas
Troops: Nobz, Meganobz, Ork Boyz
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Battlewagons, Looted Wagons, Kans, Dreds.
Style 3: Speed Freeks
Speed freeks are quite similar in make up to the Mekanized list, however, moving away from armour and increasing mobility and speed. Speed freaks utilise a LOT of bikers and Trukk boyz in their lists.
Pros:
- Extremely fast
- Mobile
- Options for numerous fast troop options.
Cons:
- Fragile
- Low numbers
Example Army Setup:
HQs: Warboss on Bike, Wazdakka
Elites: Nob Bikers
Troops: Nob Bikers (Warboss), Warbikers (Wazdakka), Trukk Boyz
Fast: Warbikers, Warbuggies, Deff Koptas
Heavy: None
Style 4: Elite
A rarely used, in my opinion, build for the Orks is to play the elite-heavy army, forgoing the Ork boyz in favour of Nobz etc.
This build suffers from high points cost for models with low armour saves, but benefits from multiple wounds and sheer destruction.
It also suffers from the lack of scoring units, being onl able to have 2 depending on your HQ choices, so the option for Grots as a cheap scoring unit is worth taking.
Example Army setup:
HQs: Ghazkull, Warboss
Elites: Nobz, Meganobz, Nob Bikers
Troops: Nobz, Nob Bikers, Ard Boyz in a Trukk, Grotz
Fast: Stormboyz
Heavy: Dreds, Kans, Flash Gitz.
Style 5: Shooty
Another really underused Ork build is the option for a shooty army, basically spamming the amount of assault or high-volume fire to make up for the naff Ballistic Skill of the Orks. Quantity over Quality all the way!
Most people view the Orks as a Close Combat army and nothing else, which is how a lot of people viewed the Nids - and looking at the amount of shooty builds that rely on High volume of shots, things eventually drop to them.
Pros:
- Similar to Horde
- Variety of weapons
Cons:
- Each units tends to be specialised in what it can shoot.
- Mobility
- Anti-Tank
Example Army Setup:
HQs: Big Mek with Force Field, Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
Elites: Lootas, Burnas, Tankbustas
Troops: Shoota boyz, Grotz
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Flash Gitz, Big Gunz, Dreds and Kans.
Style 6: Heavy Metal
The final variant is also known as the Dred Bash or Kan Wall, but I like to call it Heavy Metal... because that's what it relies on, primarily Walkers and armour.
This list uses Killa Kans to support the advance of Dreds who want to walk up and Krump some 'Oomies with their metal claws.
Pros:
- Very strong against horde armies
- Good against armies with low anti-tank
- Mek + KFF + Dredz = Major annoyance for opponent
Cons:
- More melta = More dead Vehicles
- Low on scoring units
Example army setup:
HQs: Warboss, Big Mek KFF
Elites: Burnaboyz
Troops: Nobz, Dredz, Shoota boyz.
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Dredz, Killa Kans, Battlewagons.
Summary:
So I hope I've opened up a few people's minds on the Orks here, specifically with the Elite and Shooty builds, as opposed to Nob Biker spam or 180 Ork Boyz with a Warboss and some extra bits.
Personally I prefer the hybrid approach like so:
Warboss on Bike with 9 Nob Bikers (my fast contingent)
Big Mekk with KFF with 15 Burnas in a Battlewagon (A LOT of points, but they always do well.)
2 x 30 Ork Boyz
1 x 20 Shoota Boyz for mid-table objectives
1 x 19 Grotz with Runtherd (so I save 10 points on buying another Herder)
Deff Dred with 3 CCW and a Skorcha
3 Killa Kans 2 with Big Shoota, 1 with Grotzooka
A mix of Horde (the amount of Boyz), Elite and Fast (Nob Bikers), Mekanized (Mek, KFF, Wagon and Burnas) and Heavy metal (Dreds and Kans).
Enjoy!
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