2100 Hundred Orks Project: Treatise on List Building Part I and WIP Pics

     This is a roundabout way to an Ork list. I hope the added content beyond posting my current list and some pics is found useful for some. If you are a veteran list builder and/or veteran Ork player you may want to skip to the bottom or just wait to read later installments.  The smattering of WIP pics are what I have been up to this last week as I dig out, retrofit, assemble, and prime some of the vast horde of grey plastic that is my Ork army.

Brief tangential journey down memory lane:

     I started 40k nigh thirteen years ago with Orks. It was a tight decision between the "New" space wolf codex or the Orks.  I went with Orks, funny now that still 13 years later my two favorite armies are still Orks and Space Wolves.

     I cut my gaming teeth at a local gaming club named Pandemonium in Garden City, MI. It was the days of the rhino rush Blood Angels and Black Templars;  and on the table at "Pandy" at it was nick named, baby seals were shown no mercy.

     My Orks were viciously beaten again and again until I finally, finally, began to study the game, my opponents armies, and my opponents. Many hard fought battles and lessons learned later, my speed freak army became something to dread on the local level. Mid 3rd edition they had run their course with me. Life changes saw me out of 40k for about a year and when I returned I was bit by the Chaos Marine bug and the Orks were relegated to storage boxes in the garage, only revisited to scavenge bits and bobs for a project or three.

     With the new Ork codex...circa late 2007 or early 2008? (memory is a bit fuzzy when the actual codex came out, big leaks back then) I drug the Orks out for some runs with the new rules. A string of easy wins later and an explosion of new Ork players saw me box them up once again...that is until now!

     With the newly renamed 2100 Hundred Orks Project the fungal spores thought to be dormant are regenerating into fearsome warriors and taking their proper place in my battle ready storage bins, chomping at the bit to face my opponents on the table top.

So where to begin with list building?

     I will throw a caveat to the ether before digging in; "Take all Internet opinions with a grain of perspective." This means many things on the webs are "an opinion" based on a one persons' perspective and rarely universal truths. Also note the time stamps on Internet information..what had value once, may not now, or to the same extent.

     The first thing I did when thinking about Ork lists is...read, and reread, and reread the Ork codex..and often the FAQ and rule book. Next I did some research by visiting several Ork forums and searching for Ork Tactica.

I found the following helpful:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dakka_Dakka_Ork_Takktica

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=43446

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_Art_of_Waaagh!

Then I searched for some old posts of mine that contained lists I wrote in 2008/2009 followed by some lists I from that time period that I had saved for one reason or another. Here are some samples:

A list I wrote Wed Oct 22, 2008

• 2000 pt: Dakka Horde  
• Big Mek (SAG)x2  
• 12 Lootasx2  
• SnikRot's Kommandos (#14, 2 BS)  
• Dred (2BS)x2  
• Shootas (#20, Nob BC/pole 2BS)x4  
• 3 Kans (BS)x3  
• 1 Def Kopta (TL BS)x3

Baltimore GT/5th edition list Biker/Horde (author unknown)

• HQ: Warboss, bike, cybork, PK, attack squig, kombi skorcha, bosspole X 2  
• Troops: Nobz (7), Painboy, Kombi Skorcha (3), Waagh banner, Bikes, PK (3)  
• Troops: Slugga/choppa (29), Rokkits (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK  
• Troops: Shoota (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK  
• Troops: Shoota (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK  
• Elites: Lootas (15)  
• Pts: 1750 Killpoints: 7 Scoring: 4

1000pts Team Tournament style Orks (me circa 2008):

• WB: Bike, PK, squig,kombi-skorcha,boss pole=150
• Nobs: #6, pain boy, cybork, kombi-skorchax2, waagh banner,bikes,Pwr Klwx2=415
• Shootas: #30, big shootax3,nob,pk,boss pole=235
• gretchin: #10, runt hearder=40
• Elite: Lootas #10=150
• ttl=985 (take either cybork on WB+ 1 nob Kombi-wpn or +1 loota)

My comments at the time: "This is a tough list at 2000. Gretchin go to ground and take objectives, 60 shooty orks for beef, lootas for long range vehicle, etc. Nobs kill everything else."

Two of my lists circa Jan 18, 2008:

1. Dakka Horde 2000 (with my comments from back then)

Big Mek SAG
Big Mek SAG

12 Lootas
12 Lootas
12 Lootas

3 x 20 Boyz (2 BS, Nob w/klw and Pole)
3 x 20 Boyz (2 BS, Nob w/big chop. and pole)

"Here is where I get fuzzy with the remaining points from 2000...about 300"

A. 3 zzap
B. 3x2 Big Shoota buggies, backed up by 2x2 Kanz with Big shootas

"Either way 1 or 2 lootas from 2000pts....and LOTSA Dakka!!!"

2. 1850 Dakka List w/solid Hth (titled circa 2008)

Grotsnik
8 Meg. Arm. Nobz w/cybork
Battle Wagon ( 4BS, RP, Ard top)

Mek: SAG
12 Lootas
12 Lootas
5x20 Boyz (2BS, Nob w/BC and Pole)

  

     Alright, the trip down memory lane has concluded. However, reviewing your old lists can give you a deeper perspective to how the game and/or the rules have changed. Also, where you on the right track or not...what did time tell you?

     In retrospect, Nob bikers were the bees knees for quite awhile, as was the Kustom force field mek. The deff rolla had yet to be FAQ'd as death to vehicles in the early lists or battle wagons would have been more prevalent, having 60+ boyz is a mainstay, twin linked is your friend, and gretchen are decent objective holders. A few of these lists still have some decent weight to them even today..some, not so much.

     What the better of these lists and the tactica referenced will tell you about Orks will give you some "Rules of thumb" for Ork list building. (Credit for idioms is located in the links or is unknown...a few are mine)

• Orks can do ONE thing better than anyone else
• Boyz before Toyz
• Keep It Simple Stupid
• Orks played well takes solid generalship
• Twin link everything you can and double up on everything else
• 3 Orks need to shoot at a barn to hit it, 1 Ork needs to hit a barn to destroy it.
• A well written codex will play on the table top true to the nature of the force represented...this is Orks, play accordingly.

Next Installment we will look at some more recent lists and work out my Winter League 2100 point Ork army. Before that we will see a scraped together list for an Escalation Tournament on October 20, 2011.

Thanks for the read,

BDS