Episode 121: So You Want to Start an Army – Orks
The “So You Want to Start an Army” series continues, and this time the Green Tide rolls in! In this episode, we’re talking Orks. How good is the Start Collecting box? Where do you go from there? And are you interested in bein’ da biggest and da best? Also, we interview Zach Becker, organizer of the London 40K Grand Tournament, the first large-scale tournament to be held in that city since GW left the tournament scene. Finally, a look at Deathwatch: Overkill, the new Supremacy Tactical Deck, the ITC vote, hobby progress, and as always, your rules questions!
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Link: London 40K Grand Tournament
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9 Replies to “Episode 121: So You Want to Start an Army – Orks”
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You say that 7th is the tightest rule system yet, but I found 3-4-5 all to be tighter. Partially this was because the rule set actually included official FAQs but even without that I remember finding them more consistent. Is that just rose coloured glasses or perhaps did I pay less attention to the rules as written?
Little of column A, Little of column B. I’ve found other wargames do a lot more balancing now. 40k still has the problem of when one codex comes out the others begin to hurt more. I started late into 5th and felt that even then the Orks were bottom tier.
Balancing is not the strong suit of GW games. Especially when they update rules between armies. For instance, the Decurion Detachments weren’t a thing until Necrons and now the rest of the armies are trying to catch up with their own.
The best way to do things seems to be have an idea for what point costs should be based around and then release all the armies together. But that’s easier for small games like Warmachine and Malifaux. GW’s business model wouldn’t allow for that, mainly due to them working on a Codex at a time and that their profits are based off of monthly releases.
Really disappointed in your coverage of Orks. While they aren’t a power codex, a big issue that I see and hear from Ork players is that they still attempt to use them as if they were still playing 4th and 5th edition. The adage of “boyz before toyz” doesn’t really apply any more in my opinion since you can take ‘eavy armor on any unit of boyz, making them able to take a save from bolter fire. While the effectiveness of a boyz unit relies on their numbers, the powerklaw nob within can dish out a ton of damage. Same goes with bikes – yes they are fast and cheap for their cost; however, their effectiveness at killing something is nothing more than a unit of boyz assaulting out of a truck (and boyz, during a Waaagh, can assault further than a unit of bikes due to assault vehicles and other such items).
Also, Mob rule, in my opinion, is a LOT better than the old way where they were fearless at 11+ since I can “pass” my morale tests now with 1 or 2 boyz in the unit instead of getting instantly swept like the old books. The modified version in Waagh Ghazghkull does suck unless you take numbers; however, in the normal book it isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. While it is a number of rolls as you guys said, the fact that you could still break heads and save against those hits (should they wound) also helps.
Lastly, the codex itself is one of the better ones overall in that there are very few bad units. A unit of Nobz and the Gorkanaut/Morkanaut are probably the worst things in the book. Lootas are too random to be dependable and pale in comparison to Flash Gitz (though I do concede the are cheaper) in terms of general effectiveness as well. Same goes with Buggies which are arguably the best unit with outflank in the game. Mekgunz are some of the most powerful for their cost as well – be it multi-barrage lobbas, the anti-flyer Traktor Kanons, or the frighteningly powerful smash gun. Even the Weirdboy has some of, if not the, best witchfire powers in the game due to the profiles and being more blast, beam, and template powers which help offset the BS2. It’s just bad since Orks came out when people were going crazy with Daemon Summoning that they may have overlooked the other potentials (i.e. a Weirdboy that gains Tankhunter by being within Tankbustas can be extremely effective).
Orks have a bad rap; however, the book is good enough to where you can play it just about anyways you want. Waaagh Ghazghkull is focused on the massive horde army and very large games; however, the normal codex and other formations not in the supplement provide a huge amount of tactical options and fits a playstyle for any player. They aren’t as powerful as Eldar shooting, nor as resilient as Necrons; however, those armies have weaknesses that any player can exploit and Orks can do it REALLY well. I would have loved to have heard the ork section had someone who plays actually orks as their main army talked about them instead of players who seem to think the army is stuck in older editions.
Permission to answer this one on the air, James?
Sure. And I agree with Alpharius that the Ork book isn’t an extremely strong codex (in comparison to Tau or Eldar); however, internally it’s solid and there’s a lot of positives as to why someone would want to play them. Most of the segment focused on the negatives I felt.
“Also, Mob rule, in my opinion, is a LOT better than the old way where they were fearless at 11+ since I can “pass” my morale tests now with 1 or 2 boyz in the unit instead of getting instantly swept like the old books.”
In that book you had the option of using your regular leadership, you didn’t have use the number of orks.
“Lastly, the codex itself is one of the better ones overall in that there are very few bad units.”
Only internally.Externally, most of the options are pretty poor. Mekgunz, buggies, warbikes, do not a strong codex make.
True, with regards to Mob Rule in the previous codex; however, in determining close combat results, -3 or -4LD usually meant the mob would get swept. Now with the current Mob Rule, I care very little about my LD value within close combat as I have a 50% chance i’ll stay locked in with my opponent provided my nob is still alive. Add a boss pole for the reroll and it’s extremely helpful to ensure I don’t get swept, don’t get shot at if not swept, and tarpits my opponent for at least one more round.
Thank you for saying this. As an Ork player it feels like the army gets Unjustly Maligned a lot of the time.
In my old game group reactions to Orks ranged from “Why isn’t your entire army red?” to “Ork players are fun to play against, because they don’t care about having a good army.”
One of the largest issues that I think Orks suffer from in the current competitive arenas is that they don’t have a lot of combos available to them. There are no battle-brothers for them to tag team with and our Allies of Convenience don’t have the best synergy for us. So in a meta where allies and combos allow for destructive psychic and deathstar units, orks have to rely on the player and a different play style to address such threats.