How to start your first Ork Army

So you have decided that your time has come to start playing the maddest, greenest army in 40k?
Here I will try and give you a run down on different types of Ork playstyles, so that you might formulate your own ideas as to how you play Orks.

There are 4 main play styles most Ork players make use of, these are:

• The Green Tide - A green tide army list is one that makes use of the incredibly cheap infantry which can be taken in huge blobs. A green tide will typically have the majority of the army boyz, with few heavy support to provide firepower.
• The Dakka Boyz - A common Ork term is 'dakka', this basically means firepower. A dakka based army will typically have few regular boyz, but more units such as Lootas, Tankbustas, Flash Gitz and Burna Boyz alongside vehicles such as the Jets, Mek Guns and Gorkanauts. While smaller than the green tide, this army will still probably outnumber your opponents, and while orks are not renowned for their ballistic skill, with this many shots, some are bound to hit
• Kult of Speed - The kult of speed is an ork army dedicated to getting as close to the enemy as fast as possible. A kult of speed army makes use of warbikes, warbuggies, deffkoptas, trukks and battlewagons more than any other army. Stormboyz and Kommandos are also quite common in the typical Kult of speed army. Orks are amongst the fastest armies in the game, and arguably the best at getting into combat quickest, this makes them a terrifying foe against shooting armies such as Tau and Guard, as turn 1 is the only turn they get to make use of the entirety of their shooting.
• Mek Army - A mek army, or a mechanized army, is an army made primarily of vehicles, with the only infantry models usually being meks or big meks. Mek armies make use of the huge range of Ork vehicles such as Killa Kans, Deff Dreads, Stompas, Morkanauts and Mek Gunz. A mek army is usually the smallest army model wise than any other variation of the ork codex and maybe the only army to be outnumbered by other foes. 

This section will describe the pros/cons of each play style, I hope this helps you in deciding what type of warboss you want to be!

 Green Tide
The obvious downfall of a green tide list is the amount of models you are going to have to buy/paint. A large Green Tide army can have upwards of 200 models in 2000 points, at RRP this equates to $960 AUD. This, however, is a small problem in comparison to what you will be faced with when it comes time for painting! Ork Boyz models don't vary greatly, so painting will get tedious after a relatively short time. A green tide army might be an army you paint over a long period of time, filling in time with more fun projects. The advantages of a green tide list are on the table top, the look on your opponents face when you have ~200 models on the table, some of them rocking a FnP save from Painboyz. Fluffwise, a Green Tide list makes sense as well, Orks are, alongside tyranids, supposed to be one of the most expansive races in the galaxy. Ork Boyz can be taken in squads up to 30, and because they rock 2 attacks base, they can get 120 attacks per unit on the charge, all for only 180 points! While a 6+ save is quite poor, a unit with a big mek with kustom force field, or a painboy, or both, will be a very scary unit to try and destroy.

Dakka Boyz
Armies with a lot of dakka are generally quite cheap. A 5 man squad of Lootas costs only $41 AUD RRP, meaning an army wont take long to buy. Another advantage to running a dakka filled list is the models are far more varied than in a green tide list. Loota models re just awesome, nearly as good as Flash Gitz themselves, all models you will be fielding in your Dakka Orks list! One might complain that Orks only have BS 2, but let me give you some quick statistics. A unit of 15 lootas which put out D3 shots a turn are going to have an average of 30 shots a turn, all of these shots are S7 AP4. This unit will hit an average of 10 times with a potential of more, no matter what foe you are up against, a unit or two of these will hurt. And they aren't even the best, Flashgitz have D6 AP, meaning the AP could range from 1 to 6, giving this small squad the potential to mow down terminators. The one weakness to a Dakka based list is weapons that ignore cover, so you will not have fun fighting Tau. Ork shooting units do not typically have the option to upgrade to 'eavy armor, meaning nearly all weapons are going to ignore your armor, leading to a lot of dead Orks.

Kult of Speed
The kult of speed is one of the most frequently played ork lists on the tabletops of Warhammer 40k. Orks are one of the fastest armies in the game, rivaling the Eldar for speed. If you love the color red and love being in combat turn 2, this is the army for you. Nearly all Ork vehicles have an upgrade "Red Paint Job" which adds +1 inches to your flat out or turbo boost moves, while not a game changer or anything, still very fluffy to take, because Orks believe red things go faster and what Orks believe, comes true. A kult of speed army is relatively cheap to buy, Warbikes, Battlewagons and trukks will all have a role in this army.The obvious advantage to this army is the speed of which you get into combat, it will be rare you will not be in combat by turn 2. The major disadvantage to this army is once more the poor armor saves, you will be jinking with everything you can for that sweet sweet cover, though this means you will be snap shooting, not that that matters when your axe is impaling itself through some guardsmen's face!

Mek Army
The mek army is the most atypical of all of these lists, and when you bring this list against someone in a game, they will be surprised when their Space Marines outnumber your Orks, all the flamers they brought with them because they knew they were fighting Orks are now pointless, they cant even dent the armor of your walking death buckets! (Unless they hit the rear armor of killa kanz....)  However, now that tanks have become such a bigger threat, people are bringing more anti tank weapons, this is grave news for the boyz in green as our walkers and tanks are made out of paper mache. The only thing we get rocking AV 14 is the front armor of our battle wagons, good, but not nearly enough. In my own 2k list I run a Gorkanaut, and in all the games I have ever played it has survived 1. You heard right, 1. This is because, unlike its morky brother, it does not have an invuln save, nor do any other vehicles from the Ork Fleet. And the huge size of many Ork walkers means you will get little to no cover saves in most instances. However, a mek army can be good fun to both paint and play and the looks you will get when the list tailored marines cant dent your walkers will be priceless.

From here I will move on into posting specific posts regarding individual units, doing breakdowns and run throughs of all of them.

Cheers,
Christian