Start collecting Orks in 40k 11e

Orks overview

Orks are a brutal, fungus-based race who exist to fight, and they spread across the galaxy faster than anyone can stamp them out. In the lore, their shared belief has a power of its own. When a mighty Warboss gathers enough followers, the result is a Waaagh!, a rampaging crusade that rolls across whole star systems. In 11th edition they share the Armageddon launch box with the Space Marines, as Ghazghkull Thraka returns to the war he started.

On the table, Orks look like nothing else: hulking green bodies, armour bolted together from scrap, and guns that look one shot away from exploding. No two vehicles need to match. We think that makes them the best army in the game for kitbashing, which means combining parts from different kits into something new. Recent sculpts are noticeably bulkier than older ones, but the older plastics still sit happily alongside them.

The catch is cost. Most Ork units are cheap in points, so a full army needs a lot of models, and buying it all at full retail adds up quickly.

How Orks play

Orks want to get into close combat. Their melee attacks hit far more reliably than their guns, which are plentiful but wildly inaccurate. Most units are tough for their cost but have poor armour saves, so you win by arriving in numbers rather than by hiding.

The signature army rule is the Waaagh!. Once per battle, at the start of a Command phase, you call it, and your army is riled up until the end of the next turn. Riled-up units can:

• re-roll Advance rolls (the extra dice-based move a unit can make) and still charge afterwards;
• use an invulnerable save, a save that armour-piercing weapons can't make worse;
• fire their guns even after advancing.

Choosing when to call it is the biggest decision in most Ork games. Several detachments add other ways to rile units up outside that one turn.

Characters matter too. A Warboss as your Warlord earns a Command Point every battle round. Command Points are the currency you spend on stratagems, which are one-off tricks. Ghazghkull makes nearby Orks hit and wound more easily in combat.

The weakness is range. An enemy who can stay out of reach and shoot your transports will give you a hard time. Most players find Orks rewarding if they enjoy aggressive, all-in games and can laugh off a bad roll. Balance updates move the army up and down regularly, so choose Orks for the models and the playstyle rather than their current ranking.

Orks subfactions and detachments

The Ork clans, such as Goffs, Bad Moons, Evil Sunz, Deathskulls, Blood Axes, and Snakebites, don't carry rules of their own any more. They are paint schemes and personalities, so pick the one you like the look of and use it with any detachment.

Detachments are what shape your list. Each one is a package of an army-wide rule, stratagems, and enhancements (upgrades you buy for characters). These are the main ones:

• War Horde: the all-rounder. Every melee attack gains Sustained Hits 1, so a critical hit scores an extra hit. It's a large detachment that can't be combined with others, and it's where most guides point beginners.
• Green Tide: built around big mobs of Boyz. It adds combat bonuses and survival tricks, including an enhancement that improves one mob's armour save.
• Kult of Speed: built for Speed Freeks buggies and bikes. Fast vehicles can advance and still charge, and Warbikers count as Battleline.
• Dread Mob: walkers other than the huge titanic ones can gamble on random combat boosts, at the risk of hurting themselves.
• Da Big Hunt: Beast Snagga units become much better at punching through vehicles and monsters.

War Horde and Green Tide can be built almost entirely from the starter boxes. Speed Freeks and Beast Snaggas use modern kits, while Dread Mob leans on older walkers. A single theme makes a striking army, but most players find a mixed collection copes better with balance changes.

What to buy first

For most people, the best first box is Getting Started with Orks. It contains a complete Combat Patrol, which is a small ready-to-play force: a Warboss, a Weirdboy, 20 Boyz, 10 Gretchin, and a Wartrakk, plus a set of paints. Those units form the backbone of nearly every Ork list.

If a friend wants Space Marines, the Armageddon launch box is better value still. Split it between you and you get a larger Ork force, with extra characters and vehicles, for far less than the same kits bought separately. It only becomes poor value if nobody wants the other half.

Combat Patrol: Orks is the Beast Snagga route, with a Beastboss, Beast Snagga Boyz, and Squighog Boyz, all of them modern sculpts. Buy it if the tusked, savage look appeals, but it's narrower than the general starter.

We'd skip Armageddon Battalion: Orks as a first purchase. Its Deffkoptas, Wartrike, and Squigbuggy are fun, but you get less army for your money, and none of them are Battleline. It makes a good later buy.

Product		Cheapest	RRP	Saving
	Warhammer 40,000 Getting Started with Orks	$149.60HW Wargames	$177.00	$27.40
	Combat Patrol: Orks	Out of stock	$170.00	–
	Armageddon Battalion: Orks	$144.50MinMaxGames	$170.00	$25.50

Prices checked November 9, 2026. Prices exclude shipping and sales tax.

Cost to start

This is Getting Started with Orks plus the codex, which is the full rules reference and unlocks the Ork content in the official app.

Core units

The Warboss is your default leader. He joins a mob of Boyz to hit hard alongside them, and as your Warlord he earns you a Command Point every battle round.

Warboss

100 pts

M

6"

T

6

Sv

4+

W

6

Ld

6+

OC

1

Inv

5+

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Kustom Shoota	18"	4	5+	4	0	1
Kombi-rokkit - Busta Rokkit	24"	1	5+	10	-2	3
Kombi-rokkit - Shoota	18"	2	5+	4	0	1

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Kustom Choppa	–	6	2+	7	-2	2
Power Klaw	–	6	2+	12	-2	2

Points as of November 8, 2026

Boyz are Battleline, the core troops that most lists are built on. They're sturdy for their cost and good at holding objectives. On a turn they charge, their attacks gain Lethal Hits, meaning critical hits wound automatically. Run them in mobs of ten to ride in transports, or twenty to walk up the board.

Boyz

10 models: 85 pts · 20 models: 170 pts

Boy

M

6"

T

5

Sv

5+

W

1

Ld

7+

OC

2

Nob

M

6"

T

5

Sv

5+

W

3

Ld

7+

OC

2

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Shoota	18"	2	5+	4	0	1
Slugga	12"	1	5+	4	0	1
Kombi-skorcha - Shoota	18"	2	5+	4	0	1

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Choppa	–	3	3+	5	-1	1
Kustom Choppa	–	4	3+	5	-2	2
Big Choppa	–	4	3+	7	-1	2

Points as of November 8, 2026

Ork Gretchin are tiny, cheap, and fragile. Their job is to sit on objectives at the back of the board. Once they control one at the end of your Movement phase, it stays yours even after they leave or die.

Gretchin

10 models: 45 pts · 20 models: 80 pts

M

6"

T

2

Sv

6+

W

1

Ld

8+

OC

1

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Grot Blasta	12"	1	4+	3	0	1

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Scavenged Shivs	–	1	5+	2	0	1

Points as of November 8, 2026

The Weirdboy is your psyker, a battlefield psychic. His best-known power, Da Jump, can relocate a unit suddenly, which keeps your opponent guessing about where the next threat will land.

Weirdboy

60 pts

M

6"

T

5

Sv

5+

W

4

Ld

7+

OC

1

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Power Vomit	12"	3	-	5	-3	2

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Copper Staff	–	3	3+	8	-1	2

Points as of November 8, 2026

The Wartrakk is a quick, light vehicle for harassing the enemy and grabbing objectives late in a game. It's cheap enough to throw away if that wins you the mission.

Wartrakks

1 models: 70 pts · 2 models: 130 pts

M

12"

T

6

Sv

4+

W

7

Ld

7+

OC

3

Inv

6+

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Kustom Shoota	18"	4	5+	4	0	1
Multi-busta Launcha	24"	D3+3	5+	10	-2	3

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Kustom Choppa	–	4	3+	5	-2	2

Points as of November 8, 2026

The Trukk carries a mob of ten Boyz and their leader safely up the board. Its Firing Deck lets some of the passengers shoot from inside, and it's tougher than it looks.

Trukk

60 pts

M

12"

T

8

Sv

4+

W

10

Ld

7+

OC

2

Inv

6+

Ranged	Rng	A	BS	S	AP	D
Dual Big Shoota	36"	6	5+	5	0	1
Rokkit Launcha - Blasta	24"	2	5+	4	0	1
Rokkit Launcha - Busta	24"	2	5+	10	-2	3

Melee	Rng	A	WS	S	AP	D
Spiked Ram	–	3	3+	6	0	1
Buzzsaw	–	2	3+	6	-1	2
Grabbin’ Klaw	–	2	3+	10	-2	2

Points as of November 8, 2026

Expanding your Orks army

To reach 1,000 points, start with Ghazghkull Thraka. He's a centrepiece model, a combat monster, and good points value for the money. Next, add Kommandos. They infiltrate, which means they deploy well forward before the game starts, so they can disrupt the enemy and score secondary missions. Deffkoptas give you fast scoring units that can arrive from reserve. Split the starter's 20 Boyz into two mobs of ten.

From there to 2,000 points, buy by job:

• Anti-armour: Tankbustas and Breaka Boyz come from one modern dual kit. Put each unit in a Trukk so they arrive in range unharmed.
• Firepower: Flash Gitz led by a Big Mek are the most dependable Ork shooting unit.
• Mobile scoring: the Armageddon Battalion adds a Deffkilla Wartrike, a Squigbuggy, and enough Deffkoptas for a full unit.
• Objective anchors: another twenty Boyz and Ghazghkull's aura hold the middle of the board.

The Stompa is among the largest plastic kits made and fills a big chunk of a list for the money. However, super-heavy rules swing a lot between updates, so buy one because you love it.

Orks kits to avoid

Several Ork kits date from around 2014 or earlier. Ageing kits like these are the most likely to be replaced, or moved to Legends, which is Games Workshop's term for units no longer supported in matched play. They still have rules today, but we'd hold off on buying them in bulk:

• Ork Nobz and Ork Meganobz: ageing sculpts. Many players expect a new Nobz squad to arrive through Kill Team.
• Battlewagon / Bonebreaka / Gunwagon: an old kit that's widely tipped for a refresh.
• Orks: Lootas and Ork Stormboyz: older infantry likely to be redone.
• Flyers such as the Dakkajet kit, and fortifications like the Mek Workshop: their rules support has been patchy for years.

Forge World resin pieces such as Grot Tanks are already Legends, so check what your local group allows before buying them. The Trukk is old too, but one or two are a reasonable risk because they're so useful now.

The safer buys are the modern plastics: Kommandos, the Tankbustas and Breaka Boyz kit, Beast Snaggas, Speed Freeks buggies, and the contents of the starter boxes.

Painting Orks

Orks are forgiving to paint. Rough skin and battered scrap suit fast techniques like drybrushing (dragging a nearly dry brush over raised detail) and Contrast paints, which shade and colour in one coat. A practical palette is a strong green for skin, gunmetal for scrap, brown for leather, and one clan colour, such as Goff black, Evil Sunz red, or Bad Moons yellow.

Paint a single Boy first and settle the scheme before you touch Ghazghkull or a vehicle. Then batch-paint in tens:

• Prime black, or prime green to skip the skin basecoat.
• Drybrush silver over every metal area.
• Coat the skin in a green Contrast paint or a basecoat and green shade.
• Block in clan colours on armour plates and cloth.
• Wash metal and leather with dark brown, then dab orange on edges for rust.
• Finish with a textured base and a light drybrush.

If you like layering, a three-paint set of base, shade, and highlight for each colour keeps big mobs quick.

Further watching

These videos cover starting Orks, unit choices, and painting in more depth.

• Get Started with Orks in Warhammer 40K · Vanguard Tactics
• How to Start an Orks Army for 11th Edition Warhammer 40K - Ideas to Start from Armageddon · Auspex Tactics
• How to Start an Orks Army in Warhammer 40K 11th Edition: Ork Codex Beginner Guide · Auspex Tactics

Unit data from Wahapedia.