My list building history

My list building for orks has taken dramatic shifts from 5th to 6th and now to 7th.

Let's take a look at how the ork codex has changed my list making with each edition, what strategies were viable and which fell by the wayside.

5th

Tournament game vs Deathwing.  Victory thanks to Deffrollas

2000 points
95 Warboss with PK & cybork
95 Big Mek with KFF and Cybork
225 15 Lootas
225 15 Lootas
315 7 Nobs with mixed equipment, 3 PK, banner, painboy (wound shenanigans)
154 18 boyz, 1 nob w/PK and BP
235 29 shoota boyz, 3 BS, 1 Nob w/PK & BP
235 29 shoota boyz, 3 BS, 1 Nob w/PK & BP
40 10 gretchin, 1 runtherd
70 Kamikaze Deffkopta w/buzzsaw
70 Kamikaze Deffkopta w/buzzsaw
120 Battlewagon w/deffrolla, big shoota, plank
120 Battlewagon w/deffrolla, big shoota, plank


The idea behind this list is you have a firebase of lootas, grots that hide, 2 squads in battlewagons with the ICs attached, and two big squads of boys that would follow behind, clean up, and hold table space.  With first turn, the deffkoptas would turbo boost in their scout move and attempt to assault something stationary first turn since that was allowed.  Usually, you could destroy something heavy like a vindicator or Leman Russ.  Even attacking something like broadsides or long fangs was a solid strategy to tie them up.  If you got seized on you were in trouble.  Going 2nd or in kill point games, they could still outflank and assault when they came in.

The lootas handle light vehicles, the deffrollas heavy vehicles. The boyz and nobs chewed through infantry of all sorts.  Usually, it came down to how well my lootas and deffrollas cracked open vehicles.  If opponent could easily take out the lootas right away or if they rolled poorly, I generally also did poorly.  I just couldn't crack open vehicles very well.  If the deffrollas were lost (or immobilized, stunned, blocked) things could get ugly.  Skimmers dodged rams half the time so they could be problematic.

It's not the most effective list for 5th edition.  Battlewagon rush was much better, Kan wall was viable, full on mobs were solid, and running 45 lootas would have been preferred (but I didn't have the models).

I occasionally like to run a SAG attached to Big Gunz, since they were almost as cheap as a grot squad for ablative wounds but offered substantially more firepower.  The Big Mek could even fire at a separate target from the squad.

Another option I loved was taking Snikrot, attaching the warboss and coming in off the back edge to multi-charge vehicles.  The reserve rules were less generous and once I had a few games in a row where they didn't come on until the 4th or 5th turn I moved away from it.

I managed a draw against Purifiers only because my objective was in the far left lower corner.

Purifier spam, leafblower IG, necrons (with their 5th ed codex), and dark eldar would beat me up and take my lunch money, but overall I did pretty well.  Fearless wounds, getting swept, and assaulting moving vehicles were a bitch.

6th

With so many sweeping changes the Ork codex was upended.  You couldn't assault from reserve rendering my kamikaze kopta and kommando tactics useless.  Overwatch and removing models from the direction of fire made assaults harder to pull off since every wound you took (or caused) increased the distance between the units.   Changes to furious charge meant a lot more units would swing before you.  The reduction in cover meant that the boyz died faster.

But many more things helped them.  Vehicles were now always hit on a 3 in assault and with hull points meant you could reliably destroy them.  High volume str 7 shooting was king.  Bikes were now natively T5, which meant missiles didn't double them out.  Exhaust cloud still gave them a 4+ cover save meaning they were better in the open.  Fearless wounds no longer existed so large mobs survived longer in combat.  Artillery went from AV10 where every glance or pen destroyed them to T7.  There was much rejoicing with T7 grots.  Defense lines meant we could get cover saves for our backfield firebase.  The removal of wound shenanigans increased the strength of lobbas so that we could snipe out important characters.  Snap shots meant you get to shoot more and affected BS2 the least of any army.  We could down planes or go to ground and still shoot.

Oy, Psyker Battle Squads make Nobs cry.  Managed a draw.

Here is my prototypical 6th ed list

1850 points

155 Warboss Bike, BP, PK, cybork, squig
450 7 Nob Biker Mob w/3 PK, painboy, banner, BCs
185 30 shoota boys, 1 w/BS
185 30 shoota boys, 1 w/BS
185 30 shoota boys, 1 w/BS
40 10 grots w/runtherd
150 10 Lootas
150 10 Lootas
150 10 Lootas
60 3 Kannons
84 3 Lobbas, 3 ammo runts
50 Aegis

Games took longer to play for various reasons, so I almost never played at 2000 points.  Hull Points meant that battlewagons were out.  The deffrolla had less juicy targets since most people weren't fielding vehicles in mass numbers anymore.  So T5 bikers with 4+ armor, 4+ cover, 5++, and FNP led by a T6 assault monster..

The lootas would go to ground behind the aegis for a 2+ cover, especially if I knew fliers were coming on.  That's why I only took them in groups of 10.  The nobs would boost up and engage anything in the way.  The only real threat was morale and mindshackle scarabs.

I stopped taking nobs in my shoota boyz squads because of challenges.  The big shootas were there to extend my kill range. Everything (except the grots) put out a lot of dakka.

My favorite warboss moment in 6th was also my last 6th ed game with orks against the new AM and Tau.  He assaulted and destroyed Pask's Leman Russ turn 2, then a squad of 2 broadsides turn 3, then a riptide and buff commander turn 4, and a chimera T5, then took over my opponent's quad gun and shot down a Valkyrie in rear armor turn 6.

Kommandos were complete junk, there was just no way to get them into combat anymore.  Deffkoptas were ok with T5, but the rokkits just weren't needed as much.  Burnas were dead meat.  I could never get them in range anymore.  Nobs on foot still required a BW to make work.  For the same price I just took the bikes for added toughness and speed.  Too much AP2 meant that meganobz were dead.  Kans and dreads suffered from the changes to grenades and addition of hull points.  Zagstruck was pretty much the only way to assault out of reserve, but I felt the points were better used elsewhere.

Massed flier spam was a problem despite the loota.  Massed AV13 wasn't fun.  Therefore, Necrons were my least favorite match up.  Wraith, would lose badly to my nobs, but usually at least tied them up for a few turns.  The annhilation barges would then usually average about 14 hits apiece (damn you tesla), shredding my boyz squads.  Fliers would then tesla my lootas and that was pretty much it.  Unfortunately for me, Necrons were everywhere in my neck of the woods.  The predominate army.

Ignores cover would shred any units that stuck their heads out.  Things continued to get worse as Tau markerlights, Eldar wave serpents, and AM wyverns were suddenly everywhere.

7th

I didn't play Orks after the release of 7th but before the new Codex.  I can imagine using the new Mek guns or even flash gitz in heavy while retaining the rest of the list would have been fantastic.  Traktor Kannons shore up flier vulnerabilities nicely.  Nob Bikers didn't have to Jink.  The boyz were still fearless in large squads.  Life was pretty good.

Rules wise, the 7th edition rulebook didn't change a ton for Orks.  I never used a Psyker but since blessings became harder to cast, things should have improved there.  Unquestionably the biggest change would be to the way cover is handled.  Namely, they decided to leave out nearly the entirety of the cover rules and instead included datasheets for the pieces that they sold.  Multi level blast templates are in desperate need of an FAQ.

The bad news is that all the units that gave me trouble in 6th are still around, and probably even better in 7th.  The one thing foot slogging boyz lack is speed, so we're vulnerable to jetbikes or vehicles with objective secured.  Witchfire are painful as they usually destroy boyz in droves.

The 7th edition Ork codex was a success in that it revitalized a lot of units that were previously untouchable.  Not everything was the most competitive, but a lot more was viable.  Warbikers, Warbuggies, Stormboyz, Flash Gitz, Tankbustas, and Meganobz all got a good enough points drop or rules adjustment that made them better.  The HQ section was gutted and crowded.  Two HQs hit the scrap pile and 2 other named characters that were previously squad upgrades were moved to feeble HQ choices (Zagstruk & Badrukk).  The Dakkajet got more expensive and less shots.  Burna Boyz got an inexplicable points increase even though with 7th they are significantly worse due to changes to their kill distance.  Kans have morale tests, less strength and a points hike but only gained the ability to be taken in squads of 5.  I'm glad I traded mine at the start of 6th.  Deff Dreads have been a terrible choice since 6th, but now you can't take them as troops with a Big Mek and compete with other units in the best slot in the codex.  Lootas were moved to Heavy, completely changing the dynamic of dakka ork lists.  Shoota boyz got a points hike and with the changes to mob rule subtly made them a worse choice.  Slugga choppa boyz are roughly the same, but weren't very good before.

List building for 7th
The best strategy whenever a new codex or edition drops is to keep using your currentlist as closely as possible and adjust slowly.  The the quick succession of 7th and the new dex, this is going to be harder than previously.

The biggest change is obviously the switch for Lootas from elite to heavy and without enough slots, something has to go.  Cybork is useless, so we can save some points there

1848 points
125 warboss, bike, klaw, Da finkin kap, BP
75 Painboy, bike
385 6 Nob Bikers, 3 pk, 3 BC, BP, banner
210 30 shoota boys
210 30 shoota boys
210 30 shoota boys
49 13 grots w/runtherd and hound
210 15 Lootas
210 15 Lootas
114 5 Lobbas, 3 gretchin, 4 runts
50 Aegis

I love the Da Finkin Kap.  The strategic traits are great and for only 10 points is more worthwhile than the other options.  I feel like the Painboy is going to be more useful than a Big Mek with KFF since it stacks.  We'll have to start jinking more, losing a lot of effectiveness of the dakkaguns, but a 3+ cover is worth it, but unfortunately only when turbo boosting.

Might as well max out the lobbas, adding a few extra gretchin to try to mitigate the low leadership.  I'm also going to max out the Lootas.  I really want to take traktor kannons, but I'm not sure how I fit them in.  The Aegis stays there mostly because it's really hard to get cover since you can't just plop them in area terrain, even though we're protecting less.  Barrages hurt before but now castling up in ruins is a death trap.

In an effort not to change too much, the Nob Bikers stay.  No Cybork is a tough pill to swallow.  Since we don't get the painboy natively, we have to use the HQ spot just to get much of a save at all, given the points.  At least now the Painboy has a 2+ LOS, so harder to snipe.  We also get a Boss Nob, so the Warboss doesn't have to take the challenge.  I'm not sure if I want the Boss Nob to have a PK or BC.  The BC keeps him cheap so mss is less of a concern.

I'm really tempted to just take a 15 strong squad of warbikers instead.  With a nob toting a PK and BP it is only 310.  Not as deadly in assault, but more dakka if I don't have to jink,  A solid 45 Str5 ap5 TL shots is scary.  Av13/14 would be hard to handle still with only a few nobs able to do anything at all.

The Boyz require the most scrutiny.  They are now less reliable and more expensive.  My whole series on how to support boyz is exploring this and I'm not sure I have an answer yet. My guess with this list is that the Nob bikers will get there too quickly and the boyz are just too slow and not dangerous enough to represent a second wave.

This list really needs more threats to either allow small squads of Boys or grots.  This kind of forces us into the same mold as Daemons or Tyranids.  The troops are mostly useless, but you have to present a lot of other threats so they get ignored.  We lack deep striking or (good) infiltrating options.  So it has to come from some sort of other speedy option.  I keep coming back to Warbikers and Deffkoptas since they are resilient and represent a significant threat.

I think a meganob list can be very good.  Tankbustas are good, but fragile and need a transport.  Maybe two squads of Meganobz in BW (each with a painboy) plus tankbustas in a trukk hiding behind them might be decent, but that represents a huge shift for me, so I'm not ready to explore that yet.