Orks are da best army to play and I’m here to tell you why. But before I get into why you should rally to the great WAAGH!, I must inform you that Orks are not for the faint of heart or indecisive player. They require kunnin to keep your boyz alive with their nearly non-existent armor save. They demand brutality, gretchin are for sacrificing after all. Most of all, they always need more dakka (because they lack precision shooting). But these are not shortcomings, these are merely distractions to make your enemy over-confident…
Starting with the hobby side, Orks are the best army to build. Unlike other horde armies, Orks can be a cheaper faction to put together. This is because of the endless possibilities of customization. In Warhammer lore, Orks scrap together anything they can find to put it to use for their hearts’ desires. Guardsmen left some flak armor and lasguns when they died? Loot it and equip the boyz! Just blew up an Iron Hands dreadnought? Loot and turn it into a deff dread! Wrenched the brain out of a big bug with your power klaw? Call a mek to put some bits into the cavity so it fights for the Orks now! Your imagination can run wild with converting, customizing, scratch building, printing, and any other way you can think of to put the greatest lads on the table.
Some think Orks are a bit mentally dull. So why is it they can just throw a rocket into a Tau railgun and make it not only work, but make it so utterly powerful? Because Orks are the greatest psykers in Warhammer 40k (they just don’t know it). According to the game lore, of which I am not an expert, Orks make things work because they believe it will work. They have a series of beliefs related to color, for instance, that makes it so: yellow explosives ‘splode biggest; red things are clearly fastest; blue is lucky, because it draws the eye of Gork/Mork (the Ork gods). Ork beliefs concentrate their psychically attuned minds to manifest such things into being. Nasty space elves can’t do that, now can they?
Now a bit on the tactical side. Orks are considered a melee horde army. What this means is they specialize at having a lot of models on the table compared to most other factions and they are better at close combat than most other armies. This is not to say that you cannot deviate from this norm, but it will be difficult to do so and still be competitive. One of the special strengths of Orks that I enjoy is a rule called “‘Ere we go.” This allows you to reroll part or all of your rolled charge distance, making it more likely that you attempt to make a difficult charge. Another great thing about Orks is that they have several effective ways to get around the table: from ramshackle trukks crammed with the lads, to sneaking up with ambushes, to “tellyportation,” and even being magicked across the board with the psyker ability “da jump.” These are all inexpensive force options and even more reliable. As for being a horde army, you can really take a diversified army because your units are so comparatively cheap. This can make it harder for other players to pin down what you may bring to a battle.
There are also a few things that are a little less tactical and more just wildly fun. Orks have access to some potentially broken weapons. I say potentially because they range from killing many enemy units outright, to doing nothing, to killing the one bearing the weapon. “Da jump” is another wildly fun, but also very strong, ability where you can essentially teleport an infantry unit nearly anywhere on the table. Ork psykers generally cast powers more easily, though they are also more likely to be killed by casting their own powers. There is even a vehicle that can create a wormhole for itself to travel through. And for my final point, do you like going out in a blaze of glory? Then look no further than the Ork stratagem “Flyin’ Headbutt,” where you deliberately crash your high flying Ork vehicle, presumably, into the enemy.
There you have it. The best army. Prove me wrong, humie.