Ork Tactics
On this page I will give out the pro's and con's of each choice of the ork army from both mine and other veteran Ork players weighing up these different chopices, how best to use them and whether or not I would advise using them in your army. Soon I will post full army tactics which you can use for your own army. I will also look at the special characters of the ork codex and judge how they should be used and whether they are worth using in your army. In the cases of Snikrot and Zagstruk I will look at them in their units section as they are character upgrades. Hope you find my analysis useful.
HQ
Warboss
The Ork Warboss is a close combat monster with an impressive stat line to back it up. He is the biggest and 'Ardest Ork there is. For a base of 65pts to field him he is one of the cheapest basic HQ's in the Warhammer 40k game. His primary role is to be kitted out for close combat with either a big choopa or a power klaw and charged head long into the enemy where he can effectively smash many units apart. He is most often accompanied by a retinue of Nobz as he is an independent character and they support him very well. A warboss is best placed either on a bike with Nob Bikers as his squad or Nobz with a Painboy in a Trukk or Battlewagon if you decide to make him a footslogger. Most players (me included) give him a power klaw and either a twin linked shoota of a kombi skorcha for softening p a unit he is about to charge. A must is cybork body and evay armour as it will ncrease the survivability of your warboss. His target priorities are heavy enemy tnks such as those pesky Land Raiders as with a power klaw he is the only S10 unit in the ork codex. He also hits enemy elites pretty hard as well as most elites are between T4 and T5 so he can easily wound them and in the case of things such as Tyranid Zoanthropes he can instant kill them. Watch out for enemy power weapons and S10 wepons as these are the Warbosses main weaknesses as well as if he has a power klaw he strikes at I1 and as an independent character he is able to be targeted from his unit in close combat so try to keep him out of base contact with power weapons and power fists. Apart from that he is an incredibly dangerous model but try to keep him supported.
Big Mek
Here is one of the most versitle HQ choices in the ork codex. The most common tactic is to equip the Big Mek with A Kustom Force Field then place him in a battlewagong alongside a group of 15 Burna Boyz giving him both protection inside the armoured behemoth and giving an incredably large area for a cover save which increase the survivability of a Speek Freak army drasticly. The other tactic is to keep him on your side of the board and with a Shokk Attack Gun pound the enemy line with deadly ordance. This tactic is more hit and miss duue to the chance on a double 1 to kill the mek and anything up to 6" away from him. Yet the potential reward for this unit more than makes up for it. He is one of the most verisitial HQ choices the orks have in part because of the different load out choices he can have dictate what he does, unlike a Warboss which is just a close combat model no matter what.
Weirdboy
Weirdboyz are always fun to use as their unpredictable nature makes them difficult to counter as your enemy wont know what you are going to do. If you decide to field him always give him the warphead upgrade so you can reroll unwanted results such as 'Eadbanger in an attempt to get a better power. They are best put in a mob of 30 boyz as whilst subjected to mob rule the Weirdboy gets a leadership of 10 as he has to make a psychic test each turn, this is useful to tryand get those powers used. He is a potentially deadly model as one of his powers can destroy heavy tanks such as the Leman Russ and the Land Raider with Zapp as it is an auto hit S10 melta shot with a range of 36". His downside is his own unpredictablity and that you have to make psychic tests each turn and a third of his powers are almost useless to you. However this can make for very entertaining games.
Elites
Nobz
These are the best melee troops in the ork codex. With Big Choppas they become S6 or S7 on the charge, or with power klaws they become S8. They also have a wide range of upgrades to increase their survival rate such as eavy armour. Almost an essential upgrade is the painboy. He can be expensive to use but he gives the unit a 5+ invul for 5 extra points, as well as giving his unit feel no pain. He more than makes his points back if he keeps a Nob with a power klaw alive to strike back. His poisoned weapon also gives him the chance to wound big monsters on a 4+ and can re-roll to wound things such as guardsmen. The Nobz can also be made a troops choice as for every Warboss in the army either a Nobz or a Mega Armoured Nobz unit can be taken as a troop choice which makes them a scoring unit. They are the best bodyguard unit for a Warboss as they add to his already formidible strength whether he is on foot or on a bike. Be careful on how you equip your Nobz as thir points cost can easily creep higher and higher as you keep adding upgrade after upgrade to make them more deadly on the table. Their main weakness is that a well placed S8 or higher hit can kill them outright so they are best placed inside a vehicle for protection such as a battlewagon so they reach your enemy's troops with most of your Nobz intact. Also they tend to fair poorly against power weapons in part because they can only get a 5+ invul save.
Mega Armoured Nobz
These are the orks answer to Terminators. Armed with a twin-linked shoota and a power klaw these are a deadly unit to anything without power weapons and a high armour save. Their main weakness is unlike Terminators they do not have and Invul save which can make them squishy against anything that nedigates their 2+armour save. This can be off set by taking the Mad Dol in your army and giving them cyborks. Opiion is divided on whether they are useful in part because of the lack of an invul save and because they lack a bosspole so if they decide to leg it whenunder 50% strength they are gone. When used right these are a deadly choice for your army, but use them wrong a big point investment goes up in smoke.
Lootas
These are the extreme example of orks getting big guns, shooting large quantities of high calibre rounds whilst shouting DAKKA DAKKA at the enemy. With a D3 S7 AP4 weapon these guys are light vehicle and medium infantry killers. With a a full squad they can unleash 45 shoots at a target. Althought a large proportion of these are statistically likely to miss but if enough hit it is highly likely to at least glance the front armour of most vehicles giving your boyz a chance to close the gap unmolested. I have personally found these to be highly effective in what they do from both using them and being on the receiving end of all those shots. The biggest downside of them is that they are still just boyz and die just as easily so they are best placed in cover and well in your deployment zone so you can shoot your enemy as the deffguns are 48" range and they cannot return fire.
Burnaboyz
These bad boyz are one of the most devastating elite choice in the ork arsenal. With a S4 flamer template a full unit of 15 can be deadly at shooting but its combat where they are at their most dangerous. If you elect not to shoot their burnas then their weapons count as power weapons for that assault giving 45 S4 attacks on the charge all being power weapons. This is almost certain death for elite squads such as Space Marines and even Terminators. They suffer the same problem as the lootas that as they are boyz they need protecting. The main tactic is to put them in an open topped battlewagon with a mek with a Kustom Force Field and charge forward. If any enemy units try to assault the battlewagon and fail to destroy it then 15 flamer templates can be unleashed from any point of the vehicle resulting in an almost certain victory point if you are playing Annilation.
Kommandos
Kommandos are the sneaky elites of the ork horde. For 10pts per model they are basically boyz with the Infiltrate and Move Through Cover special rules. This makes them possible first turn hitters if you decide to set up in cover on the table thanks to the Infiltrate move or you can hold them in reserve and hit an enemy flank. This tactic is hit and miss due to the rando nature of which board edge to come in on and if your oppenent has depolyed aything along that edge. This can be countered by instead of a Nob you take Boss Snikrot. With him you can choose any table edge to come on goving enemy tanks a nightmare. Although you lose the power klaw choice of the Nob on the charge Snikrot is S6meaning most tanks with rear AV of 10 are easily penetrated and if that fails to destry the tank, the Kommandos can glance the tank to death. There are some special weapon upgrades, the only useful one being the burna due to the power weapon ability or to dislodge a tricky enemy in cover.
Tankbusters
I have found this unit either performs extremely well or extremely poorly from game to game. Being orks they only have a BS2 so their one shot rokkit launchers are most likely to miss, however up to two of the mob can be given tankhammers which make them S10 in close combat. This combined with a Nob wit power klaw makes them prime heavy vehicle and mosterous creature killers. Their special rule of glory hogs makes them a little unweildy as they will always try to kill the big things and are effectively subjected to rage but to the closest tank. The bomb squig upgrades are a potentially deadly weapon if used correctly but if you run a mechanised list prepare to destroy your own vehicles. They are best deployed in a transport and sent towards the big kills all guns blazing and should be in combat with them. Yet they suffer what nearly every infantry unit in the ork codex does and that is they are still just boyz.
Troops
Ork Boyz
The Boyz are the backbone of your army. They should make up the majority of your army as they are troops and as such can capture objectives. Also they do have a habit of dying due to their poor armour save which most armies can slice through with all their weapons aside from Imperial Guard lasguns. However their are dead 'Ard and are one of the most cost effective troops in the game at T4 and able to have a maximum of four attacks on the charge a full unit of thirty boyz can dish out 120 attacks hitting most things on a 4+! An essential upgrade for the squad is the Nob upgrade with a power klaw adding extra hitting power and adding an almost certain four wounds on your oppenent. Also a bosspole is an essential upgrade as once your boyz are below ten in the mob the likely hood of them running off increases dramatically and the chance to reroll failed leadership tests is a bonus especially if that mob is holding an objective. The Ard boyz are a choice of personal preference due in part to the extra cost in some cases not outweighing the overall effectiveness of the 4+ armour save in part as they are targeted by powerful blast weapons such as the Leman Russ Battlecannon.
Gretchin
These are in my opinion one of, or even, the worst unit in the entire game of Warhammer 40k. They may be cheap at 3pts a model but they are poor fighters and although they are the best shots in the ork army they have almost useless guns which makes shooting with them almost pointless. They are easily killed due to a low toughness and have a pitiful strength. I would rather spend the points on more boyz. They also have a low leadership and are relible to break but the Runtherder kills D3 of them to get a reroll on the test. Their best use if you decide to use them is to give cover to lootas of something holding an objective as they are small and if placed well enough, cannot be seen.
Fast Attack
Stormboyz
Now these boyz are a bit like marmite. people either love or hate them. They are the fastest footsloggers in the codex as they get to roll a D6 and then add that to a standard distance of 12" giving them a possible assualt rnge of 24"! This comes at a cost of if you roll a 1 for this distance then you automatically lose one model as he crashes into the ground. A wide spread tactic however is to upgrade one of the boyz into Boss Zagstruk. this is a potential game winner as he can allow the unit to deep strike and assault on the turn they arrive so long as they are in range. But to assault you have to roll a D3 and lose that many Stormboyz. Boss Zagstruk makes up for this as he is essentially a nob with a power klaw when he charges except he strikes at normal initative giving you 5 S9 attacks hitting most things on a 3+ with no armour saves allowed, all at I4. Very few vehicles or even Terminators can survive this and isf something does then you have the boyz to follow up. If you should lose combat and then proceed to lose your leadership test then Zagstruk makes the unit pass the test automatically but at a cost of a Stormboy. This all adds up to a game winning unit but at the same time if it does not go your way with them in a game, it is not a game losing unit either.
Deffkopters
They are the outriders of your force and can be a tanks main trouble. They should always be given twin linked rokkit launchers to add ranged anti tank power to your army. Ypu can then either hold them in reserve and deep strike them or you can scout move them, which can give you a dangerous suicde unit as you can turbo boost towards enemy ttanks and blow them to kingdom come. They can also be give a buzzsaw which counts as a power klaw but as they are just boyz with toyz this is not as strong as a Nob. Their higher than average toughness makes them a resilient unit and can provide distraction from your boyz.
Warbikers
These guys are a mobile screen for your main force. They always have a 4+ save either due to armour or the cover save they always get as they kick up dust and belch oily fumes every where. These are a must for any Speed Freak army as they are fast pace and can hit hard very quickly.. They are best used with Wazdakka as they become troops then but they should be used to pepper the enemy with fire as they have effectively twin linked heavy bolters on the bike which can kill a good number of a unit before the bikes hit home. Be careful with them as they are not cheap to field so do not put all your eggs into one basket.
Warbuggies
These are a useful addition to the force as they can provide ranged anti tank fire but they compete with the deffkopter for this role in in my opinion the deffkopter is the better choice. Not ony is it more mobile, but the models themselves are so much better than the old warbuggy. they are also too fragile a vehicle to use and are too easily destroyed. Whilst saying that I have been on the receiving end of a rokkit volley from these and it was not a nice encounter. They can be useful one game but pants the next so be careful.
Heavy Support
Big Guns
These are almost unseen in war nowadays due in part to the grot crew and the face a glancing hit on the artillery destroys the fun. Although the Gretichin are the best shots in the codex they are not survivable and need to depoly in conver. The Kannon and lobba are the two better choices as the Zzap gun is too un reliable and can kill your own models if you roll above a 10. I would not recommend them but if you feel like you have a use for them go for it.
Battlewagons
These are the heavy tank of the ork horde and make for big targets. They can transport up to 20 models inside them and if used with burna boyz when open topped anything too close is going to be burnt to a crisp. They are also heavy weapon platforms, providing cover for your advancing horde. The most common upgrade for them is the deff roller which can be a nightmare if you tank shock straight down a battle line. Be careful to keep them moving and not to expose your sides to the enemy anti tank fire, they have a side and rear arour of 12 and 10 respectively so do not hold up well if assaulted your you position them badly. Saying that a Big Mek with a Kutom Force Field makes these behemoth almost unstoppable.
Looted Wagons
Looted Wagons are one of the best vehicles in the ork arsenal. Although they have relatively weak armour, they can be given the Boomgun upgrade which at a cost of removing the transport capacity it gets a S8 AP3 ordance weapon which is the bane of many a Space Marine. They can be a little unweildy due to the don't touch that rule and can shoot off in a straight line when you want it to shoot its gun. Its best deployed within 6" of another unit directly infront of it so that it wont shoot of too close to the enemy and can still fire its main gun. Another fun thing about this unit is that there is no official GW model for it and they encourage ork players to go after any vehicle kit and convert it so it is more 'orky' usually by adding peices of ork bitz to it and making the main gun bigger. The model most commonly used is the Leman Russ but anything can be used. Even a Eldar Fire Prism. Overal for a relatively cheap points cost you can field a effective tank that although has a high chance of scattering, can deal a death blow to many units and reclaim the points back very quickly. It is best used against units such as Space Marines or any vehicle with an AV13 or lower.
Flash Gitz
These guys are the heavy weapon infantry of the ork army. Not only are they able to premeasure to see what is in range of them before you declare your target for their shooting, they can be upgraded to make them even more dangerous. I recommend always taking the more dakka and shootier upgrades which makes them light vehicle and monstrous creature killers but also grants them an extra shot to do the damage. The Blastas upgrade can be dangerous as although it takes 1 off the roll to see what the AP is, it can biackfire as their snazzguns get the Gets Hot Rule! and for 40pts a model that is not something I personally would risk. They are a conversion job as the only way to get the models would cost a lot but you can easily convert them.
Deff Dreads
Deff Dreads are a deadly walker with a variety of weapon load outs to choose from. The base model comes with two dreadnought close combat weapons and can have up to four of them making it a dangerous foe to face in combat. The most common load outs are four close combat arms or three with a skorcha as it has a low BS so the other weapons such as rokkit launchers, big shootas and the kustom mega blaster are too unpredictable and I find do not do enough damage to earn their points back. I found that a skorcha template to soften the enemy up a bit before charging in is the most effective tactic with them. They not the most reliablely effective heaby support choice as your opponent will see this metal behemoth coming towards them and will often make it a target priority. Yet if it does reach the enemy line with one of its close combat arms intact then whatever it hits will be pounded to dust. The Deff Dread is best sent out against infantry and tanks as the high number of attacks will give it a high damage potential but Dreadnoughts with close combat weapons and units with powerfists are best avoided as it only has a front armour of 12 so a Space Marine sergent has decent chance of doing some damage to the Dread . Saying that I have seen it charge a Captain and his command squad and killed all of them and took no damage in return. These are potentially deadly walkers.
Killa Kans
These are by far the most cost effective walker in the whole Warhammer 40k game. The cheapest version of the Kan is only 40pts and is the best shot in the ork army as instead of it being an ork hotwired into it, it is a gretchin. This makes the Killa Kan a potentially deadly ranged anti-tank weapon. They can be fielded in squadrons of up to three which can help keep them moving should one suffer a stunned result they keep moving towards the enemy. However doing this means if an immobilised result it thrown, you lose a Kan which could reduce the squadron's effectiveness. The best way to equip a squadron of Kans is to keep them all the same as mixing the ranged weapons reduces the overal effectiveness of the team as a skorcha is useless against a tank when you have one rokkit launcher in a team trying to take out the enemy Predator. They also provide a cheap and reliable distraction for you oppenent as their fire priority will be splity between taking out your boyz and trying to neutralise these. They are also a good mobile cover save for the rest of your army. Their main weakness is that they are only AV11 and may not survive long against a disciplined fire base. They also only have a WS of 2 so powerfists and enemy walkers are going to hit it on threes. The best targets for them are less than S6 infantry units and vehicles as these will suffer under its S10 attacks.
The Special Characters
Ghazkhull
He is the prophet of Gork and Mork and is without a doubt the most powerful ork in the codex and has a statline and special rules to back it up. He is an Eternal Warrior and gets two extra attacks on the charge making him an HQ and monstrous creature killer. However these are made all the more potent as he can call a WAAAGH! that allows all of your units to automatically run 6" and grants Gazkhull a 2+ invul save for that ture and your oppenents next turn making him almost unkillable in combat. He comes with a big shoota but it will probably be useless in part because of his low BS and because he should be in combat within two turns. His mega armour makes him slow so he needs a Trukk or Battlewagon to get him across the board as he is too slow to risky footslogging as your oppenent will concentrate all fire on him if they can. Remember once in combat he will butcher anything in his reach but if his unit takes too much damage then he can still lose combat and be run down. Aside from that I have never lost a battle with him in my army as he just keeps steam rolling through everything but do not over rely on him.
Mad Dok Grotsnik
One of the more useful characters as he can allow any unit to hav an invul save of 5+ for a small cost. However he is subject to rage and this can work against him as your oppenent can make him run around the board making him ineffective. His power klaw makes him a deadly character against armoured targets and vehicles alike. He is quite tough so is a survivable character but he needs a big unit to protect him. But he is still a painboy so if he is in a unit of boyz and they take wounds he can offset them with his Feel No Pain making his unit all the more difficult to wipe out.
Wazdakka Gutsmek
The king of the Speek Freaks, Wazdakka is a fearsome oppenent. He can move flat out giving him a 3+ cover save and still fire off his Dakkakannon which is a medium tanks nightmare as he can get at side armour within turn 1! His main weakness is that he lacs an invul save so he needs to keep moving in order to survive long. He also makes bikers troops so they can become late scoring units if the gsame has only a turn of play left. He has a power klaw so in combat he can rip apart tanks and infantry alike but he should be kept out of melee if possible.
Old Zogwort
This guy is one of the most deadly special characters in the game, not for his stat line but because of his ability to turn any model with the independent character rule into a squig. He should be deployed in the same way to a normal weirdboy and sent towards the enemys HQ units. When in range use his ability to squigify your oppenents model making a 200pt+ model worthless. He is not too shabby in close combat either with 2+ poisoned attacks and an extra D6 at I4 on top of that he has the potential to cause a large number of wounds before his mob gets stuck in. His downsides are exactly the same as a weirdboy but his potential benefits are massive if facing a high point character such as Abbaddon are huge as removing a potential game winner such as him will allow the rest of your boyz to hit all the harder.
Kaptin Badrukk
Ere be da Kaptin. Kaptin Badrukk is an upgrade character for the Flash Gitz and is an almost essential upgrade as he gives them a boss pole keeping them in the fight a bit longer. He can be deadly to himself as he has a assault 3 plasma gun. However he has three powder grots from the start so you can try t offset any Gets Hot! rolls and turn them into hits instead. He also has an invul save which helps keep him fighting. He is a fairly average fighter but his potntial fro destruction comes from him shooting before he charges.
Apocalypse Units
Stompa
Known as an idol to Gork (or possibly Mork) the Stompa is the ork empitomy of big guns and stompyness. The gatling gun is possibly one of the best guns the orks have as iif the dice gods are on your side you fire an infinite number of shots until you roll a double for the numbe r of shots fired. Essentially you can fire up and down the enemy gun line sycthing down unit after unit until you run out of ammunition. Then you can re-roll the scatter dice for the main gun as long as one of those shots hit the last target. The Stompa also has three super rokkits which hit on 2+ providing long range anti tank weaponry, or even taking out pesky flyers. These are all well and good but it is close quarters this super heavy excels at. With a Titan close combat weapon it is a super heavy killer up close, supported by 4 structure points it will take a lot of fire to take it out before he comes crashing down on those pretty Baneblades. The Stompa also has a transport capacity of twenty models which can deliver a mob of boyz into the fight unharmed. The Stompa also makes all orks within 12" fearless so if your mobz take a bit of a beating they wont go anywhere this this metal monstrosity walking around. Be aware though it has only a front AV of 13 so it iis comparitively weaker than the standard super heavys of the Imperium.
Squiggoth
The Squiggoth is a big mean green terror that although with an I1 making it a risk to charge high strength units such as powerfists and Carnifexs, but with a large number of S10 attacks and they all count as ordnance against vehicles and power weapons against anything else not much will stand against this beast. The high T of the Squiggoth and 10 wounds make it a resilient beast so not many weapons can easily hurt it let alone kill it. The Squiggoth is made all the deadlier with two super lobbas on the back pounding anythin within range and up to four big shootas peppering the enemy infantry. All of these plus a transport capacity of twenty models make it a hard hitting monster capable of taking on nearly anything.
Skullhammer
This tank is the ork answer to the Baneblade. Whilst in my humble opinion not as powerful as the Baneblade, it is still a great addition to any WAAAGH! looking for any big weapons. The main strength of the Skullhammer is its speed over other super heavy vehicles as it can move up to 12" making it almost impossible to hit in close combat. The Skullhammer would not be something I would use as the Stompa is much more effective but in a large game it can take out may smaller vehicles and large pockets of infantry.
The Greentide
The idea with this tactic is to put so many boyz on the table that your opponent cannot kill them fast enough. Generally this army puts at least a hundred boyz alone onto the field and in some cases with Gretchin infront of the line in order to offer a cover save to the orks behind them. This can be combined with a Kan Wall which involves three units of three Killa Kanz which stretch out infront of the army giving a cover save to anything behind them and offers your opponent a difficult choice of either taking out the Kanz in front and hold out against the incoming orks or to take out the boyz and risk the Kanz cutting through their army. This force also makes use of a Big Mek with a Kustum Force Field which if any barrage weapons negate the Kan Wall save then most of the army behind get a 5+ cover.