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The State of Orks


patchestheclown

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So, the Ork codex has been out for a bit and while it really seemed ready to shake up the meta at the LVO Orks didn't place too highly (though that could be because everyone built lists to counter them /shurg).

So my question is where do you think Orks sit right now within 8th edition? What klans/tactics do you enjoy using? Has vigilus specialist formations offered you anything?

 

 

Let's try to keep the distinction between local meta and the competitive meta.

 

In my own experience playing within my local meta (just me and my friends) Orks are strong! They hit hard and can control the board due to numbers, quick moving units, and of course da jump. I'm loving using deathskulls even with minimal MSU's the rerolls and more importantly invuln saves have really done some work. I have yet to lose while playing orks (only about 10 games though) and a few of those have been close run things. One game I had 10 gretchin, a weirdboy, and a trukk as the only things left on the map but I had their points doubled due to objectives.

 

Best units for me have been the tankbustas! I always take at least two squads of these guys and they constantly put in work. I've heard people going gaga for the lootas but for me tankbustas are where it is at. Their built in rerolls vs vehicles and flat dmg 3 means they take down just about anything. They are probably the best anti-flyer in the game (imo).

Honorable mention is warboss: brutal but kunning + killa klaw + fists of gork = a knight dead per combat phase (usually) hilariously he suffers vs hordes and good invuln. saves

 

I struggle the most with their staying power, squads of 30 boyz are great but most armies can focus fire down a full squad (or more) a turn. And once the boyz run out my army loses a lot of its teef (pun intended). Usually though because I can control most of the objectives turn 1 I can skate by on points or do enough damage that even though I lose all the boyz turn 3 the enemy has little left. I also hate that almost every "competitive" list seems to just be based around Lootas, is this the only way orks are seeing success?

 

What do you think? Are orks top tier or somewhere in the middle? What's been working well for you? Is the only way to play them green tide + lootas? I haven't tried any of the vigilus specialist detachments, any gems in there?

 

 

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I've played orks for years and, despite playing deffskulls, have never included lootas in my lists even once. I doubt my gaming group is the most competitive meta, but I've been consistently winning games with then even with the index and the codex just made them better.

 

I typically run big mobs with specialists in trukks and a bunch of stompy bots, kanz and dreadz and things. I've also considered getting/making from other things some of the new buggies but haven't yet.

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I'm so glad to hear that you've been having good success even without lootas! I've put in a small squad because they seem mandatory according to loud voices on the internet but they have yet to distinguish themselves (could just be the armies I've been playing against though). I feel orks are strong but was disappointed when they didn't do to well in the LVO

 

The buggies seem real interesting but I always feel that I have something else in my army that probably does it better. Though I do have to say the snazzwagon is one of the best models ever and mass S5 shots is never bad. The rivet cannon one looks decent too and now you can buy that by itself so may pick up one in the near future

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As I posted in the "Which codex won?" thread in the Amicus Aedes, I think Orks got a great codex that is just below the tip-top competitive armies. We did see at the LVO that Orks still can't handle mass flyers, which was a concern of mine from the beginning of the edition with the indices, but overall, I'm really pleased. Obviously, there's a few glaring issues (looking at you, Stompa), and as a collector I hate what they did to our options, but from an 8th edition gameplay perspective, I think we should be very happy with what we got.

My best units are Boyz, plain and simple, but I've enjoyed Mek Gunz and my Nob Bikers weren't a complete waste of points at LVO. I do think I need to get Lootas in, just to have some kind of mass ranged firepower, but I'm also interested in picking up all sorts of stuff to add to my collection, including Meganobz, another Dakkajet, a pair of Deff Dreads, and other things I'm blanking on right now.

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Lootas are overrated like most of the ork codex. Top armies do not fear any ork builds at the moment. Over priced units and a huge weight of bland time consuming rules drag down the ork codex. I would rate ork codex C+ at best. Tournament track record does not interfere with my assessment as far as I understand.
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I still haven't played a single game with the new codex.  How Orks are doing is a silly question anyway.  I don't consider ITC to be 40K. It's a pile of house rules for people who like that sort of thing.  If I were interested in how Orks were doing in that environment I would start by looking at how Orks did before the codex and see if the Ork player with the codex were placing better than before and just watch those stats for a year.
I think the codex looks good and I can't wrap my head around a codex than isn't brand new and bad this is the fist not bad codex I have had since 3rd edition.

This book reminds me of a 2nd ed codex, which is nice.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think out orks have a great standalone codex, but the other codexes having the ability to "soup" makes it difficult for orks in some match-ups.  I use the evil suns to sprint boyz across the field, while weird boyz send units with DaJump to get into the enemies' lines.  In the back field I have Smash Guns.  I use grots to take up space or get to objectives.  They do well most of the time, but against more competitive lists its difficult to get the points back if I don't get first turn, which i often don't. 

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I think a lot of that has to do with point level. It's terrible at 2000 points but at 1000 points soup can't be quite as soupy, and that's the sweet spot, I think. That's where my group typically plays since after all the point drops 1k-1250 is about equivalent to 1500-2000 from third to fifth edition in terms to amount of models on the table.
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I think a lot of that has to do with point level. It's terrible at 2000 points but at 1000 points soup can't be quite as soupy, and that's the sweet spot, I think. That's where my group typically plays since after all the point drops 1k-1250 is about equivalent to 1500-2000 from third to fifth edition in terms to amount of models on the table.

 

 

That is really true. This isn't a topic about soups, but since there are minimum detachment requirements, it stands to reason that "pure" factions, like Orks, are better at lower points levels where "tax" units take up a larger percentage of the points.

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It goes a bit further than that, since 1) boyz aren't a tax unit, they're one of the few troops units that can actually form an effective core for the army, and 2) most of their stuff is much lower in points and thus can have more solutions on the table. Mostly though we just play at the lower points because the amount of stuff on the gaming table these days is getting absurd, and if we end up with orks vs foot guard in a pickup game we don't want it to take an entire weekend.
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I saw that Orks did well at Adepticon this year. Any thoughts on that?

I do. Steve Pampreen and Nick Nanavati finished 3rd and 10th, respectively, and they both took lists very similar/the same as they took to LVO, with the horde of boys, lootas, and a bunch of grots. Elliot Levy finished 9th, with a similar list, though he didn't take large mobs of Evil Sunz boyz, instead going with six 10-boy and one 20-boy mobz of Deffskullz. That's a interesting departure from the "meta" list.

 

Bryan Hancock, however, finished 8th with a list featuring 0 boys and both a Gorkanaut and a Morkanaut. I find that very interesting. I do think if we see Castellans get a heavy nerfed, we'll see more variety in Ork lists, and maybe Bryan's finish kind of gives a glimpse of that, as he didn't face one.

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 Nick Nanavati 

I've read his blog last year a fair bit. That guy knows some stuff. I was amazed at just what I didn't know that I didn't know about 40K this edition. I have his article "cracking the screen' bookmarked. 

And that to me at the time was the thing about Orks that I became interested in. We had "Nothing" except the rules to the game for so long I was waiting for an Ork player to just master the rules to start steam rolling other players. I would expect it would only now be easier, barring bad dice, with this codex.

It is exciting that people are doing well and not all pushing the same lists. Very cool.

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Yeah I was very excited to finally see Orks in the top lists, i think there were 4-5 in the top 25 of adepticon. Although most had loota bombs I was happily surprised to see not all of them did. I still don't really understand how the 9th place ork list works since all he had were some min. sized ork boyz squads and I feel that any amount of fire power directed at them would have made them melt real quick. Always exciting to see gork/mork in a list and do well much less both. I am hoping that with some tweaks in the big FAQ (aka nerfing soups) will allow orks to really shine

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I haven't see the list that placed 9th. I did hear about something like you've described but hadn't looked into it. Is it posted anywhere? Another forum? 
My own low model count armies were doing well before the codex. But I was gaming mortal wounds from Bombers. Apparently no one had been ready for that. 

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I mentioned it, but the full list was:

 

Deffskullz Brigade - Dreadwaaagh! Specialist Detachment

Big Mek w/ Relic SAG

Bug Mek w/ KFF

Warboss on foot w/ Da Killa Klaw

2x Kommandos, 5 each

Mad Doc

5x boys, 10 each. Big choppa and 5 shootas, big shoota.

1x boys, 20. Same as above, but doubled.

3x Deffkoptas, big shootas

3x Mek Gunz, Smasha

 

Deffskullz battalion

Warboss on warbike

Weirdboy

Boyz, 10, same as above

2x gretchin, 10 each

 

Badmoons battalion

2x Weirdboy

3x gretchin, 10 each

Lootas, 15

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I'm not really sure about that list with out transports I don't know. I guess it's just a lot of scoring units. Looks really shooty too. I guess the combat power is in the bosses. Kinda looks like a lot of units no one really wan't to spend a lot of time shooting at so maybe that's the trick to it? I have no idea why it doesn't have another 10 lootas in it. Points maybe. 
The Sag Mek is probably the warlord, I read stuff about that over on Dakka. 
I wonder how fast it plays?  I know time is a thing ITC players worry about.

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My guess is he made liberal use of Mob Up. Other than that, it's really reliant on the Lootas and SAG to do damage, though at least both of those can fire twice a turn (he had 25 CP!). I don't know what the missions were like, since I'm pretty sure they didn't do ITC. But the list would have a lot of scoring ability.

In all, very interesting.

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Not to change the subject but is anyone using Blood Axe Mega Nobz set up in hiding?  

 

They would have the same problem every other non-Evil Sunz clan has: without the +1" to charge, it's hard to rely on. For 1 CP more, you could just put the unit in a Tellyporta and be Evil Sunz, making the charge much more often.

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Not to change the subject but is anyone using Blood Axe Mega Nobz set up in hiding?  

 

They would have the same problem every other non-Evil Sunz clan has: without the +1" to charge, it's hard to rely on. For 1 CP more, you could just put the unit in a Tellyporta and be Evil Sunz, making the charge much more often.

 

I was thinking about also using the tellyporta on another, Evil Sunz unit in a clan soup list.  Basically the more units I can set up that close the better. I used a Kommando based list this time last year prior to the "rule of 3" and it seemed to me at the time to save time during my turns, less models to move and move and move again. 

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