How to Play Orks in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

The structural change is Detachment Points. In 10th edition you chose one detachment; in 11th you get a DP budget — roughly 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points — and spend it on detachments that each cost 1 to 3 DP, so you can now combine detachments.

The Faction Pack set Orks' DP costs: War Horde at 3 DP (the generalist), eight detachments at 2 DP, and three at 1 DP — More Dakka!, Taktikal Brigade and the brand-new Rollin' Deff. It reprinted six detachments in full and issued errata to the six core codex detachments. There's no full 11th-edition Ork codex, so a future book could change things — but this is the current, live state.

The Waaagh! is the beating green heart of an Ork army. Once per battle, at the start of your Command phase, you call it; it then stays active for your whole turn. While it's up, your Ork units can Advance and still charge in the same turn — an enormous, army-wide threat range — and they hit harder in melee and shrug off more damage. It's the alpha-strike button: build your list so that the turn you call the Waaagh! is the turn your whole horde crashes into the enemy at once.

The timing is the skill. Call it too early and you strike before you're in range; too late and you've been shot off the board. The 11th-edition pack made the 'once per battle' wording explicit, which is why detachments that grant a second Waaagh! (like Bully Boyz) are such a big deal.

Your DP budget scales with game size: about 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points. Costs:

• The 3-DP detachment (War Horde) fills your whole 2,000-point budget with the flexible generalist package.
• 2-DP detachments (Bully Boyz, Kult of Speed, Dread Mob, Green Tide, Da Big Hunt, Speedwaaagh!, Blitz Brigade, Freebooter Krew) leave 1 DP spare for a support.
• 1-DP detachments (More Dakka!, Taktikal Brigade, Rollin' Deff) are the glue — bolt one onto a 2-DP core to add shooting, kunnin' redeploys, or war wagons.

The new list-building question is "the flexible 3-DP War Horde, or a themed 2 + 1 split?" A 2-DP core plus a 1-DP support gives you two detachment rules and two stratagem/enhancement lists to draw from — and some Ork combos stack beautifully (More Dakka!'s Sustained Hits with Freebooter Krew's loot-objective Sustained Hits, for instance).

Twelve detachments are legal. By role, with DP costs:

• War Horde (3 DP) — the flexible all-comers generalist. Start here.
• Bully Boyz (2 DP) — elite Warboss, Nobz and Meganobz, with a second Waaagh!.
• Green Tide (2 DP) — a massed Boyz horde with an invulnerable save.
• Kult of Speed (2 DP) — fast Speed Freeks that shoot and charge after moving.
• Speedwaaagh! (2 DP) — Trukk-and-buggy speed with a huge straight-line Advance.
• Blitz Brigade (2 DP) — mounted assault; disembarking units re-roll Advance and Charge.
• Dread Mob (2 DP) — kans, dreads and Mek war machines.
• Da Big Hunt (2 DP) — Beast Snaggas that hunt a nominated Prey.
• Freebooter Krew (2 DP) — loot-objective pirates with Sustained Hits.
• More Dakka! (1 DP) — Assault and Sustained Hits for Ork Infantry shooting.
• Taktikal Brigade (1 DP) — Blood Axes redeploys and hit-and-run.
• Rollin' Deff (1 DP, new) — Battlewagons, Hunta Rigs and Kill Rigs.

Pick a core from your collection and playstyle:

• All-comers / unsure → War Horde. Nobz and Meganobz → Bully Boyz. Massed Boyz → Green Tide. Bikes and buggies → Kult of Speed or Speedwaaagh!. Trukks and transports → Blitz Brigade. Walkers → Dread Mob. Beast Snaggas → Da Big Hunt.

If your core is a 2-DP detachment, spend the leftover DP on a 1-DP support:

• More Dakka! to bolt a shooting element onto a melee list.
• Rollin' Deff to add a war-wagon spearhead.
• Taktikal Brigade for kunnin' redeploys and objective play.

A concrete example at 2,000 points: a Green Tide 2-DP Boyz core + 1-DP More Dakka! gives you a resilient horde whose shootas now put out real ranged pressure on the way in.

Two habits win Ork games. First, plan the Waaagh! turn. It's once per battle, so build your list and your first two turns around the turn everything reaches the enemy at once — usually turn two or three. Advance-and-charge under the Waaagh! is what makes Orks terrifying; wasting it on a turn you can't reach anything throws the game. Second, don't fizzle your CP. Orks lean on a few big stratagems (extra attacks, a save-boost, a re-roll) at the decisive combat — hold command points for the Waaagh! turn rather than dribbling them away.

And since 11th edition lets you run two detachments, remember you can use both detachments' stratagems — a 2 + 1 split quietly widens your toolbox for that alpha turn.

If you're new or returning, build a War Horde list first. It's the most forgiving detachment, it teaches Waaagh! timing without extra sub-systems, and almost any Ork collection fits inside it. Once you're comfortable, try a 2 + 1 DP split to find the themed core and support that suit your boyz.

Because Orks are on a Faction Pack rather than a full 11th-edition codex, watch for a future codex that could re-tune detachments and points. Until then, everything here reflects the current, live rules.