Ork Army Showcase Part 1- The Green Tide (Pic Heavy)

Given that I had most of my Ork collection out of the case for last week's large battle report, I thought it was about time to finally showcase my final army- my Deathskull themed Ork army. As I have a fairly large horde of Orks, I split the showcase into 2 parts. Part 1 will cover most of the foot troops that I have in the army, whereas tomorrow, Part 2 will look at all the vehicles that make up my army.

 

My Ork army got started when I friend of mine decided that he wanted to get rid of his collection and I ended up buying them off of him (he was just starting uni and decided that he might want to focus more on girls than playing warhammer, what a fool!). This was not long after the release of the 3rd edition codex, so my army started with a Warboss (the excellent metal 3rd edition model), a couple of units of boyz and some trukks.

 

I have always liked Orks. My first taste of their playing style was from GorkaMorka. I got a copy of the game for Christmas one year and my friend and I had a blast playing our own little campaign with our competing mobs.

 

I decided that I wanted my army to be a typical footslogging mob, with lots of large units of boyz backed up by a few vehicles and faster elements. The idea of hordes of boyz tearing across the battlefield to get to grips with the enemy really appealed to me.

 

For the style of my army, I settled on the Deathskulls as my clan of choice. I really like the contrast between the green of the Orks' skin and the blue of the Lootas. In addition to looking good, taking Deathskulls would give me plenty of opportunity for conversions and weapon swaps.

Da Green Tide

First up is most of my Ork army in all its glory. There is something quite daunting for an opponent to look across the table and see a sea of green coming for them.

 

 

Da Top Boyz

Next up, we have the HQ units for the army. Orks feature some of the best HQ models in the game, each with their own character and usefulness in the army. In fact, I think the current Ork codex is top-heavy, with so many good HQ units that warrant inclusion in the army and cannot be fit in.

 

My first Warboss model had a couple of minor conversions to fit the lootas theme. He was given a combi-shoota with parts of a Space Marine meltagun and had a bolter added to his backpack (his bag full of goodies). I still think this is a great model for any ork army- big and imposing.

 

Next up is the Warboss from the Assault on Black Reach boxed set. Featuring the standard load out of a power claw, this is my HQ unit that gets used the most. Having access to the Waaagh is pretty much essential for a foot slogging list, so he almost always gets a game.

 

Next up, a Big Mek with Kustom Force Field. This is again, another great HQ unit for an infantry heavy list, providing some great protection for large mobs of boyz. One of the few things that went right with the new Ork codex was making the KFF an invulnerable save instead of a cover save as previously (there were too many ways to negate this in the game). Again, I think this is a fantastic model and love having it in my army.

 

Another Big Mek, this time with a Shokk Attack Gun. It may not be the best way to equip a Big Mek, but it sure is a lot of fun. The random nature of the gun makes it unpredictable, but it is generally a great way to deal with power armour. The doubles table can also be a lot of fun in games as your Mek can accidently teleport himself into combat or utterly annihilate an enemy unit.

 

A later addition to my army, the Painboy is another great character for protecting large mobs of Boyz both in and out of combat. I prefer this older model to the newer Painboy model.

 

Here is a GorkaMorka Mekboy that I use as a Mek in my army.

 

Last up, we have a model that I use as a Weirdboy or Slaver for my grots. This was originally a fantasy Orc Shaman, but thought it would look good in a 40k army.

 

 

Da Boyz

The bulk of the army is made up by large mobs of Ork boyz. I have a two units of Slugga Boyz, a unit of shoota boyz, a large unit of Grots and a Stormboyz mob.

 

The slugga boyz have a banner waver and drummer to help keep them in check.

 

The Stormboyz are led by Boss Zagstruck, who had some awesome rules in the older codex, but was neutered a bit in the new codex. He normally gets used as a Nob with a Power Claw.

 

The grots are from the 2nd edition boxed set. I think they look really good when painted up and in rows. I added some spare bits of loot to their bases as the Deathskulls normally employ Gretchin to do all the digging on the battlefield.

 

Da Speshilists

Next up, we have all the specialist units in the Ork army.

 

First up are the Lootas (I couldn't really have a Deathskulls army without them). These are a great addition to any Ork army, able to put out a fair amount of firepower each turn. I have another 8 waiting to be painted to add to my mob.

 

I also have a sizeable contingent of Nobs in the army. These are a mix of old, metal models, the newer multi-part plastic ones and the Nobs from Assault on Black Reach. Some of these have the odd looted components scattered about the unit.

 

I also have a small unit of metal Meganobz collected before they got really expensive (£15 each for finecast. Seriously?!?!). I actually have 5, but the excitement of the photoshoot was too much for one of them and his arm fell off as I was sorting them out.

 

Next we have my unit of Tankbustas. As this is the Deathskulls army, their rokkits are composed of a variety of looted anti-tank weapons.

 

I also have a few burna boyz scattered around. These were from when Burnas could be taken in mobs of slugga and shoota boyz, so I don't have quite enough to make up a full mob of them on their own.

 

Finally, I have some Mek guns, made from looted Imperial Guard weaponry. These were originally my Grot guns and could be used to represent the three different guns. They now are used as Mek guns in my army.

 

Again, this is one of the few armies where I paid special attention to the bases. I really think it helps boost the army and may consider re-visiting some of my other armies to make the bases a bit nicer.

 

My favourite iteration of the Ork codex so far has been the 5th edition codex. It really suited my playing style, with large mobs of fearless boyz backed up by some Killa Kans and a Deff Dread with a few faster elements thrown in.