[farmergiles65]

I need to design a 500 point army and buy the models necessary for it. Eventually it will upgrade to 1000. However I've no idea what units to get!

Obviously I think I need to start with a Warboss and an Ork Battleforce so I'd have 20 boys, 1 trukk, 3 bikers and a warboss.

However I prefer funky vehicles to footslooggers (so more a spead freaks army) and I'm facing the following foes:

Deamonhunters
Dark Eldar
Tyranid Horde
Tau
Chaos Space Marines

Beyond the warboss and battleforce which way should i head? I've had interest in the following:

More Ork Bikers
Ork Warbuggies
More Trukks
Battlewagons

Things like tankbustas are ok but if a vehicle can kill vehicles just as well I'm happier to have vehicles.
Do bikes and buggies work well? What about killa kans and deff dreads are they worth it?
What about HQ choices? Is warboss a good way to go or would Big Meks or Weirdboys go better?

 

[BigBaddad]

Wait a second....don't buy the battle force.

This is what I started with and found it quite effective. 43 models for only 500pts. One of the great things about orks is that you can make changes to a list like this without changing the whole structure. If you face light armies with little armour, swap one of the Kans for an extra scorcha buggy of doom.

HQ - Warboss (X0) Choppa (X) Slugga (X) 63pts

Troops - 17 Slugga Boyz @Xpts 153pts

Troops - 20 Grotz @Xpts (X0)
Slaver (X) Choppa (X) Squig Hound (X) 76pts

Fast Attack - Buggy (X0) Scorcha (X) Spikes n' Blades (X) 43pts

Heavy Support - Truckk with mortar (taken as looted Griffon) 75pts

Heavy Support - Killa Kan with Rokkit Luncha 45pts

Heavy Support - Killa Kan with Rokkit Luncha 45pts

Total 500pts

 

[farmergiles65]

I've heard that grots are near useless now. Killla Kans are a tempting option, though its like £10 a killa kan.........saying that its £10 a buggy isn't it? But buggies are faster.

 

[Dire Avenger]

I recommend you to get the Battle Force, an extra trukk and a warboss first off.

Then you can field

Warboss + 11 slugga boyz inlc nob,PK, boss pole
trukk, wrekka ball

11 Ard slugga boyz incl nob, PK, boss pole
trukk, wrekka ball

3bikes incl nob, PK, boss pole

Which is a good starting place and has some punch in it.

Later on try adding 3 Killa kans which are good, more bikes and some rokkit buggys.

Good luck!

 

[LordV]

Start with a battle force. It saves you money and you need those boys. After that get another battle force and a warboss and you have your army running! Kans are good but you might just realize you like speed better and go instead a direction of lots of trukks and buggies, or maybe you'll find out you like bigger metal cans better.

 

[farmergiles65]

Sounds like a plan, the only thing I worry about is the lack of models in the force. Only 22-23 orks and 3 bikes makes the army very brittle indeed. Against Tyranids and Chaos this could be nasty.

I've never liked Killa Kans personally. Too slow, and I find power klaws to be a faster way of deploying the high STR. If you want them to kill armour you might as well have Tankbustas or Rokkit Buggies.

What about using the Big Mek with Shock Attack Gun instead of the Warboss? Perhaps replacing a trukk of boys with a large squad of shoota boys to get some numbers in?

 

[LordV]

From 2 battle forces you'll have 40 boys + 4 nobs so you can easily get 2 trukk boys squads and a slightly bigger shoota boy squad. Mek with shokk attack gun is great, and since you don't necessarily need tons of klaw attacks in smaller games you don't really need warboss. Those 2 battle forces + a mek would bring your army to close to 700 points too so you could even wary your list quite a bit in 500 points games.

 

[mynameisgrax]

In any case

Rokkit buggies are the best investment in points you can make for an ork army. That, and more boyz. Everything else is helpful, but I've found those two units are the ones that prove the most crucial in the match.

Rokkit buggies are very cheap, very fast, and can not only harass and destroy vehicles, but also instant-kill most infantry and bikes. At 35 points each, they're a real bargain. Just be sure to deploy them individually, in units of one, otherwise large guns with multiple shots will erase an entire unit at once. By themselves, your opponent will have to decide how many shots they're willing to spend on them. If their large tanks does nothing but shoot everything they have against a single one of your buggies, you've come out ahead. At worst, you've lost 35 points. Even if you like bikes or storm boyz, there's almost always room for one or two buggies, especially in smaller lists.

On the other hand, rokkit buggies, as I've mentioned elsewhere, are a gigantic rip-off if bought through retail. $25 is a ridiculous cost to pay for a vehicle roughly the size of a bike. I'd either convert them out of spare parts, or look for deals on ebay. You should be able to find them for $10 or less, and I personally purchased one on ebay for $6, which included shipping.

As for boyz, why not go on ebay and find a load of the old classic plastic orks for cheap? You know, the ones with the viking helmets and axes. They aren't visually stunning, but when you win, you won't care. arty2:

 

[Dire Avenger]

Sorry for wandering off topic here, but grax, how do you model your rokkit buggys? I really dislike the models so I´m thinking of using the new bike kits to build me some trike buggies. However it´s going to be expensive..

 

[mynameisgrax]

Ebay

Sorry for wandering off topic here, but grax, how do you model your rokkit buggys? I really dislike the models so I´m thinking of using the new bike kits to build me some trike buggies. However it´s going to be expensive..

I purchased all my buggies on ebay for cheap, but in every case they were big shoota buggies, not rokkits. It wasn't hard to convert them over though. On one I glued the ends of bombs onto the end of the barrels, and on another I simply glued large rockets, left over from tank kits, to the sides of the gun. In any case it shouldn't be hard.

Making a buggy from scratch is a little trickier, but all you really need to do in order to make a bike a buggy is to give it a front armor plate, and then extend the back a little with some extra parts, so a man can stand on top, with a mounted gun.

You could also try combining two bikes to do it, but that will get expensive. I'd honestly just look around for some deals on either cheap bikes, buggies or parts, and see what you can do with them. All it needs to be is a small vehicle with a driver, and enough space on back for a second guy with a mounted gun.

If you're feeling ambitious, you could also use a marine bike, with sidecar, and replace the marine passengers with orks.