My Ork fleet (as in armylist, any suggestions?)

[Malika]

Ok, at the moment I've got the following:

Kill Kroozer: 155 pts.
+ Boarding torpedoes: 5 pts.

Terror Ship: 185 pts.
+ Boarding torpedoes: 5 pts.
+ Warlord: 40 pts.
+ 2 Extra re-rolls: 40 pts.
+ Mega-armoured boarding parties: 15 pts.

Terror Ship: 185 pts.
+ Boarding torpedoes: 5 pts.
+ Warlord: 40 pts.
+ 2 Extra re-rolls: 40 pts.
+ Looted torpedoes: 20 pts.

Terror Ship: 185 pts.
+ Boarding torpedoes: 5 pts.

5 Ravager Gunships: 200 pts.

Total: 1125 pts.

I'm planning on adding either another squadron of Ravager Gunships or otherwise a squadron of Brute Ram Ships.

What I'm curious about is...well you can add a Warlord to your fleet for every 500 pts. you spend, but does this include upgrades or is this just 500 pts. on ships exclusively? Because the fleet I currently have is 1125 pts. (including warlords and upgrades) so technically I could add a third Warlord for my other Terror Ship. However without the Warlords and upgrades my ship would be a mere 910 pts. and thus not large enough for a third Warlord.

Help? Any suggestions for the fleet itself by the way?

[Dragon Lord]

I'm not particularly familiar with the Ork fleet so I'm afraid I can't help much with the fleet composition but if you post it on the specialist games BFG forum, I'm sure someone will give you some pointers.
As to the Warlords question I would say that the points spent on the warlords and any upgrades the warlord gives you wouldn't count, but that any points spent on ship ugrades that don't require a warlord for you to take them, e.g. boarding torps, would count.  Again if you post the question on the BFG boards someone will give you a more definitive answer.

[Malika]

Yeah I posted the stuff there as well. I thought it might be handy to post it at as many places as possible to get the widest range of opinions.

Oi CELS, if you are reading this...what was your experience with Ork fleets?

[CELS]

You can get a warlord per 500 pts in a game. So if you're playing with a 1001-1500 point fleet, you can have 3 warlords. It's as simple as that. Warlord upgrades are included in this, because no one ever plays games of 1535 points.

In terms of tactics, I'd say your fleet definitely needs more escorts to be effective. Unlike the Imperial fleet, the ork fleet isn't really based on having a small number of cruisers attack the enemy in neat formations. The ork fleet is far more crude, with lots of heavily armed escorts with forward-aiming weapons that just go full pedal towards the enemy. A single ravager escort  has D6 torpedoes, which is pretty awesome for its low cost. Get a squadron of 6 ravagers and you'll feel the Waaagh! in you

Of course, since you have to scratch-build each ship, I understand that your fleet isn't going to be entirely conventional.

Personally, I've only played a couple of games with my ork fleet, and it didn't go very well because I played them like I would play an Imperial fleet, which was a very, very bad idea. Orks are designed to be used as a club more than anything else. They've got fantastic prow armour and armament and decent speed. Just go straight forward and shoot, and try to turn around in a fashion that doesn't get your fleet blown away before the second attack. Easier said than done, because even ork escorts are as slow to turn as capital ships.

[Malika]

I've been getting mixed messages about escorts, some people suggest I should just build an entire fleet made from Brute Ram Ships, other say they only use Terrorships and Kill Kroozers. Another suggestion was to include mixed squadrons. I'm toying with the idea of including two squadrons of each 3 Ravager Gunships and 2 Onslaughts for that extra punch in case something goes wrong with the torpedoes.

I've also been pondering about removing the upgrades for the Terrorships and Kill Kroozer (stuff such as the boarding torpedoes, looted torpedoes and mega-armoured boarding teams) and hopefully replace them for either Torpedo Bommerz for my Terrorships or another Kill Kroozer.

But yeah...before I could be doing all that I need to get my hands on a large (and cheap) supply of superglue! 

[CELS]

I've been getting mixed messages about escorts, some people suggest I should just build an entire fleet made from Brute Ram Ships, other say they only use Terrorships and Kill Kroozers. Another suggestion was to include mixed squadrons. I'm toying with the idea of including two squadrons of each 3 Ravager Gunships and 2 Onslaughts for that extra punch in case something goes wrong with the torpedoes.

"In case something goes wrong"...? What are you, a Blood Axe?  Agreed about removing the upgrades though. The thing is, because of the poor turning ability of Ork escorts, you're going to have to take some punishment while moving your ships into position. And it's not like the ork capital ships will be doing "Come To New Heading" (giving them an extra turn), with their leadership. Your capital ships will probably spend most of their time trying to reload that ordnance anyway.

[Malika]

In case something goes wrong"...? What are you, a Blood Axe?

They are my favourite clan yeah...  And the perfect excuse to go for dirties/grey colours without people going: "But Orks are always flamboyant and colourful!!!  " 

I'm still conflicted about the mixed squadrons since I've heard mixed opinions about them. Personally I just want to play with a really fluffy fleet, not really an army/fleet that purely plays for winning (you know, like 3 Wraithlord Eldar Craftworld armies and stuff like that). And well...in a way it's fluffy to include mixed types of ships in a single squadron, quite Orky an all but on the other hand this is done purely as back up for the Ravagers which is very "un-Orky"!

Ah the choices!!! 

[Warboss Waaazag]

I've actually played quite a few BFG games with my ork fleet and I have discovered that kroozers are only effective if you combine them into squadrons. They just don't do enough damage on their own.

Brutes are difficult to set up for an attack run but if you get lucky you can destroy an enemy cruiser in just one pass and still have the potential for the squadron to survive the encounter. Brutes I find are nastiest in squadrons of 4 ships.

I find Terror ships are the way to go and when I say go I mean plow head first into his lines ASAP. Also, the Hulk is an amazingly devastating "ship" for its cost. Sure its slow, but it packs as much firepower as an entire 2000 point fleet and then some. Support it with escorts and you'll at least have oodles of fun rolling your firepower and blasting away at your enemy's ships.

Any escort with firepower is your friend but I find pairing the escorts with a random (D6 or whatever) firepower with the escorts that have a steadier firepower boosts the destruction you can dish out.

Also, trust your front armor and rush straight at your enemy, don't hesitate. Lock-on as often as possible and use everything in your arsenal. Boarding torps, assault boats, fighta-bombers (against escorts), teleport attacks, boarding actions, heavy gunz, everything. Close in and let loose.

[Malika]

Ok...update!

My two thousand point fleet:
-Kill Kroozer (155)
-Kill Kroozer (155)
-Terror ship + Warlord + 2 re-rolls (265)
-Terror ship + Warlord + 2 re-rolls (265)
-Terror ship + Warlord + 2 re-rolls (265)
-Terror ship + Warlord + 2 re-rolls (265)
-5 Ravager Gunships (200)
-5 Ravager Gunships (200)
-5 Brute Ram Ships (125)
-4 Brute Ram Ships (100)

Total: 1995

Not all the ships are done, my current status is:
-2 Terror Ships finished
-2 Terror Ships WIP
-1 Kill Kroozer finished
-1 Kill Kroozer WIP
-6 Ravager Gunships WIP (almost finished)
-4 Ravager Gunships still need to be built
-9 Brute Ram Ships still need to be built
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