So im in the midst of a campaign wherein Orks are among the primary antagonists.

As we all know they do great in close combat but what about primarily ranged orks such as the bad moons klan?

They can't aim due to inaccurate weapon quality and I don't see Orks squeezing off single shots very often. It's all about being as loud as possible.

In the tabletop this is all reflected in their abysmal BS score. Here though you have bad BS on top of the penalties for full auto.

Is there any way to make them scary again beyond upping BS or firing point blank without losing the whole 'orky' character of warfare?

I could up their damage but then I end up with the whole all or nothing where either players survive unscathed or are completely pulverized.

I'd recommend checking the Formation Rules. Massed Ork Shoota Boyz are super lethal.

Massed Orks, as above, or the old Ork Fortress. They don't need to be accurate with that many bullets, shells, miscellanious pointy objects etc going off.

That runs into the problem of having too many damage sponges. Orks are already ridiculously tough as they are.

Besides wouldn't massed orks be better off just charging and bludgeoning their enemies with their shootas?

On a 1 to 1 basis is it even possible to make 1 shoota boy be anywhere close to effectiveness of 1 slugga boy or even a guardsman?

That runs into the problem of having too many damage sponges. Orks are already ridiculously tough as they are.

Besides wouldn't massed orks be better off just charging and bludgeoning their enemies with their shootas?

On a 1 to 1 basis is it even possible to make 1 shoota boy be anywhere close to effectiveness of 1 slugga boy or even a guardsman?

Yeah, but only ambush or point blank.

That helps some. Not that orks are particularly sneaky either. But I could have one group doing suppressive fire while another closes to short range for the kill.

That helps some. Not that orks are particularly sneaky either. But I could have one group doing suppressive fire while another closes to short range for the kill.

Some Orks are. Snikrots commando's.

That would be more in the vein of blood axes, which I suppose fits considering my ork antagonists have plenty of blood axes among them.

Still not sure how bad moons could be made viable but I could always up the amounts of support weapons and meks.

Well, being a "dedicated" ranged ork does not imply he has the same concept of the term "ranged" like... lets say... a guardsman would have. So several orks that charge but not to chop around but to shot around would be no problem. Also even though their attacks will often miss they can still waste bullet after bullet - some will hit for sure and their spongyness gives them quite enough to time to achieve... something.

And with support weapons that spit lotsa dakka they will be dangerous enough. On the other side the question is how strong your PCs already are? If they have a decent kill speed on orks that might actually make it quite hard for the orks for they need the time to spit out some bad rolls for some of them to hit.

Well at this point I figure I can easily throw 2:1 number of orks at them and still have players come out alive, a lot due to player ingenuity and not merely stats.

They are lacking in firepower but tend to use it very well, collapsing bridges, pushing orks off rooftops, calling for mortar support , laying traps etc.

Funny but I hadn't thought of orks actually charging to fire their guns at close range.

Aren't there any rules for flash gitz? Ie the orks with the big kustom shootaz? If not, homebrew something: how about a shoota boy armed with the ork equivalent of a assault cannon or another weapon with a high rate of fire?

This way you have a lot of shots comming at your players without having to much orks soaking up all the damage. (Flashgitz aren't usualy found in large numbers) The BS is still bad, but if you fire enough shots... Also if this proves to be to lethal for your players, you could always say "the ork's weapon suddenly runs dry or overheats".

Also flash gitz are into guns the way evil suns are into bikes, so they'd much rather stand back and shoot (and not hit anything) than charge (and possibly win)

Loota Boyz are just boys with deffguns, OW corebook, p. 364

I think flashgits - or atleast some orks with snazzguns - are in Final Testament.

I've always thought of orks as using shooting mainly for supression though. Fits with the idea of a race with a focus on getting "Stuck in" in melée.

Orks fire their guns to hear the sounds they make. Actually bringing down an enemy is secondary for the average boy.

Edited to answer question: As for scary I may roll in a bigger gun that does shocking damage or concussion damage. Meks are handy, go nuts with the ranged weapon qualities and make them all Overheats.

I seriously cannot emphasise enough the value of formations of shoots boyz.

10 Shootas led by a Mob has a ballistic skull in the 70s, so realistic odds of actually hitting, and simulates well the horde feel of the Ork.

Also reduces the bullet sponge encounter problem.

I came here to say what Lazarus said. Mob them up and use the formation rules.

They aren't too much of a damage soak as formation troops die immediately when their AP and Toughness as been passed. That is as easy as simply doing anything other than the minimum damage with an Overloaded M36 lasgun.

I use a optional "wide burst" rule for Full Auto that emphasising hitting the target (with the possibility of hitting bystanders) rather than landing as many hits on it as possible. +10% bs, every 2 DoS beyond the first lands a hit on another target within 3 meters. This allows orks to shoot and be happy while still sometimes hitting some (they still can't aim for ****).

On another note, my group encountered 12 orks in a tunnel - it was one of the most dangerous battles they have every been in, and one of our guys lost an eye to an ork firing a Slugga at close range because he couldn't get into melee (there was a line). I think they respect orks shooting now.

Shock attack guns. Funny and dangerous.....

A bit wasted on infantry suqads, but very fun inside a vehicle... or inside a suit of terminator armor!

Isn't there a talent somewhere that lets you make a ranged attack with a charge action? That sounds a lot like something Orks would go for.

Unless I'm confusing game systems. W/e. It's something Orks would do anyway.

W/E ORKS DO WHAT THEY WANT.