Helping a friend out

[Jarl Caldersson]

Friend started playing 40k and is brand new. He wants to play orks, despite some telling him not to. I am not going to have people tell him the same thing that I have regretted (not to play IG, which I really regret). So I need help to help him build an army. I know he wanted to do a mass Boyz army and that is pretty much it. So I got him started with a few packs of Boyz to do while we start designing an army.

 

So what advice can you guys give me?

[Warhead01]

Well, it kinda depends on how you and your group play. If it's more casual then I'd say, Boys mobs are fantastic but don't over look the other units available. 
Grots have a bad rep but they are a good unit for filler at the minimum I recommend 30 of them. this can be mobs of 10 to as large as a full mob of 30. so it provides room for growth in early games. Use units from every slot in the detachment, if you like the battalion detachment. 8th edition, to me, seems to want players to use a little of everything. 
Don't be affrade of wasting points on units no one really seems to be using. I have been quite surprised at units I use that others don't seem to. 
Flash Gitz for example have been a good choice despite their costs and point costs.  

 

If your more of a competitive group. I guess just buy loads of Boys and buff units. 

Orks are a lot of fun. 

[N1SB]

Thanks for being a good friend and helping him get what he wants rather than what other people want.  My 1 feedback is:

 

+++++

 

Big Meks with Kustom Force Fields are still worth it despite how it looks on paper (especially for large Mobs of Boyz).

 

Kustom Force Fields were popular, but in 8th, the theoretical flaw is that they have to cover a unit entirely within 9" for that sweet, sweet 5+ save against shooting.  That sounds small...until you actually place stuff on the table.  When measured from the base of a character model (so include the width of the base), you can actually cover a full line of about 20 inches from one end to the other.  Two rows of 15 Orks are do-able, since you don't have to spread them out for fear of templates now.

 

Taking a KFF should be a no-brainer except I, for one, was initially turned off by its seemingly limited range.  But when the rubber hits the road (the plastic minis hit the tabeltop), realising the effective diameter is 20 inches in an age of no templates, I'd do 1 Big Mek with KFF and Killsaw per mob of 30.

 

The hard counter/weakness is if your opponent has Snipers to snipe the Big Mek, but due to his increase in Wounds, by the time he gets headshotted he'd probably have already helped Orks advance down the field into melee.

 

+++++

 

Nobz with a Power Claw hidden among the Boyz is still the most useful.

 

Another obvious thing, only mentioning it because at 1st we thought Big Choppas were enough in an age of save modifiers.  Nope, Power Claws still rule.

 

+++++

 

Warbuggies and Wartracks are a quite good but often overlooked unit.

 

I agree with above advice about Orks benefit from having something from every slot, even more so than other armies.  It happens I think Warbuggies and Wartracks, which were already quite decent but further improved with a points decrease in Chapter Approved 2017, seem to deliver good bank for the buck even before.  They're kinda overlooked because they're quite old models.

 

+++++

 

Just my experience on options I kinda hesitated on, but realised conventional wisdom still rings true in 8th.

[Jarl Caldersson]

He was thinking of using a gorknaut (or is it morknaut) for than invuln save, but since big me has it that saves him some points and lets him spread out more invuln saves.

 

He was looking at fast attack but was unsure how to go. I think he wanted to go with a green tide approach (mass Boyz and nobz with support from foot slogging units). I am trying to convince him a flyer would be useful to counter other flyers. He is about to change bases in 6 months so there is no meta for him as the gaming group will change every few years. Good thing about military is you always have a rotation of new players to shake up the meta.

[N1SB]

Oh good point, Morkanaut is the one with the Kustom Force Field and it just happened to get cheaper in Chapter Approved.  Yeah, his idea's better.

 

One of my very active gaming friends was very excited about Ork Flyers and the sheer volume of shots they pump out, you're probably both right about them.

[Warhead01]

He was thinking of using a gorknaut (or is it morknaut) for than invuln save, but since big me has it that saves him some points and lets him spread out more invuln saves.

 

He was looking at fast attack but was unsure how to go. I think he wanted to go with a green tide approach (mass Boyz and nobz with support from foot slogging units). I am trying to convince him a flyer would be useful to counter other flyers. He is about to change bases in 6 months so there is no meta for him as the gaming group will change every few years. Good thing about military is you always have a rotation of new players to shake up the meta.

The Morknaut does indeed have the KFF, it's a little challenging to use from what I have read. I own 2 of them but haven't had the chance to use them yet this edition. 

The KFF is mostly important for the first turn or two after that madness has broken out and combats all of that. 

The Flyers are... Well I've used the dakka Jet recently I like it but I see it more for going after ground units. It does hit on a 4+ if all of it's shooting target the same unit. I believe that would go down to a 5+ against aircraft. But I like it so far.  

Massed boys is stronger now than it's been in years. Well, not counting the green tide formation. haha. 

 

Kommandos and Storm boys  are both good choices as well. 

[Noeh]

While a Mork with a KFF looks appealing, I would recommend going the big mek with KFF route instead. A Morkanaut is a massive firing target and exceptionally weak until it gets into close combat. It's movement speed and size will prevent that from ever happening. Big Meks are smaller and characters so they can be safeguarded from being shot. Even being cheaper a Mork is really only good for being a cool model. It sucks that it's really cool because GW is maintaining it at nearly double it's effective points.

 

Grots I totally recommend as well. It's weird how often people will decide to shoot a blob of 30 grots instead of shiny bikers. But then again if they choose to shoot the bikers, the grots can be quite devastating sometimes.

 

Bikers are good, but not worth their cost in the slightest. Luckily fast attack can still be done without them. Buggies and fliers are pretty solid choices. Trukks and battlewagons move quickly as well.

[Aothaine]

Can't promote Dakka Jets enough. They are amazing fire bases for Orks. If your friend is running a Boyz assault list try and include 2 of them in the list to soften up chaff and other targets prior to the assault, I have also seen the bomber version that drops mortal wound bombs do very well as well. Also, wierd boyz are really really good!

[Jarl Caldersson]

So he's assembling 3 groups of 30 boyz  each (1 nob in each with power klaw) now. They are outfitted with basic gear otherwise. He also picked some Orc hardboys from AoS to convert to Nobz. He plans on a couple big meks with kff. I plan on giving him a dakkajet when he leaves. He is hoping there is a clan rule that support the Green Tide idea, and that Thraka comes back as a PrimeOrk for his warlord. 

 

Hopefully we can finish up together and play a game of DG vs Orks.