Looking at using Orks for first time tonight.

Do they really have toughness 8? With armor 2 it will make them almost impossible to wound. Is that right?

Or do people house-rule the unnatural toughness?

thanks

No, believe me, they can be killed, just not by low ranking ill equiped pc's...

Orks (how much I hate the 40k canon) are though enemies and this is not D&D where orks are the 1st to 3rd level enemies....

Wounding them is possible . In melee with a monosword, you'll likely wound them on any damage roll of 6 or more. Of course, that has the disadvantage that you're in melee with an ork.
Other than that, Dual Shot/Strike is a killer against them since you add the damage from both weapons together before subtracting their toughness.

All in all though, yes, they are pretty tough guys, which is exactly what they should be.

Tough, yes. Unwoundable, hardly.

As has been said, you've probable got about a 50% chance of hurting them with a monosword and SB 3. From there, your chances only improve as you pick up better weapons.

I find that, once the PC's get some good gear, it's actually a lot harder to find enemies they CAN'T hurt.

UTx2 is pretty much the only thing Orks have going for them. They are generally alot worse equipped than say Eldar or Slaught (two other dangerous xenos).

Armor 2 is laughable, especially considering it's body only. And TB 8 isn't that much harder to take on than a tough IG in Guard Flak for starting acolytes, who have almost no Armor Piercing weapons.

In my game the party's Scum one-shotted the first Ork Nob they found (and I even gave him more armor than normal). Ok my PCs are rank 8 so I may be a bit biased towards tougher enemies, but the fact remains that it's a wonder how Orks can actually win battles against IG regiments considering the difference in doctrine.

'

Ork doctrine= charge, smash, crush and or more dakka.

IG doctrine= Neutralize the enemy from afar if possible.

PS because of the low armor Dum-Dum called shots are very nice against orks A hunting rifle with DDs and a good shot= lots of dead Orks. Well if you can take em on from afar of course.

If you want to use orks but are afraid your starting Acolytes could die, use Feral orks with some primitive armor, bows and arrows, and of course Choppas. Let the Acolytes engage them from afar, but have at least one ork get into melee combat (preferably with the guardsman or assassin).

Friend of the Dork said:

You're forgetting a few factors - Orks have numbers (often enough to outnumber even Imperial Guard infantry forces), as well as being nigh-impossible to dissuade from attacking. They also use fast attack vehicles, aircraft, heavy armour, crude artillery, orbital bombardment and a variety of other tools that make it more than just a matter of shooting down Ork Boyz as they charge.

Ork leaders typically possess a low cunning beyond the reckless warmongering of their smaller brethren. While a common Ork mob may think only of charging and smashing the enemy, their leaders are capable of considering things beyond that basic lack of strategy.

and make a choppa with red paint ;P

Sirion said:

Do you mean Deffkopta?

choppa = big sharpened piece of metal

Deffkopta= helicopter

unless you mean using your choppa and making it red, which is spot on! (but it still wont swing faster!)

Illithidelderbrain said:

It will if you strap rokkits to it... Gutzmek's Speshul Rokkit-choppa!

Lexicanum on Red Paint Job: "The effect is not limited to vehicles as red is found on just about any item an Ork wants to make stronger, faster, shoot better, etc."

If I was an ork I'ld use red body paint on myself and of course on my choppa!

red makes it swing faster!!

I threw some orks at my players. They learned to fear the red shoota.

I went with: if a shoota is painted red it gets the Storm quality. Red choppas grant swift attack regardless of qualifications.

Many Orks preffer to dakka dakka and they aren't accurate but they make up for it with weight of fire and size of calibre. There's more than enough flexibilty to make a challange for any group.

Thanks for replys. I didn't use them in the end!

but i did throw some servitors at my group (without checking stats) - with armour 6+ T4 they still resisted most wounds. This was rank 2 PCS. so it was tricky. lucky servitors are SLOW

Amazed how tough orks are though - it's all well and good saying a powersword will kill them - V few Imperials use power swords!

Amazed how tough orks are though - it's all well and good saying a powersword will kill them - V few Imperials use power swords!

I said a mono weapon, which is what every second-rank acolyte interested in melee should have.

I really think my Players PC's will have to come up against some orks in my campaign. they are so brutal, with a bit of humour added in.

They are totally my favorite xenos.

I threw some Orks at my players in the first game two of them had played. 4 Kommandoz (Slugga + Choppa) + 1 Kommando Nob (w/Slugga + Power Klaw). Only through the lucky of a Servitor w/Melta-Cutter and the Tech-Priests Omnissian Axe did they survive that encounter (lost two Servitors during that and most of the Tech-Priest's wounds!).

Only thing that they've faced that is tougher is a Praetorian Battle Servitor.

BYE