Next up in the wall-of-text...
Part the First: Anti-Tank
5E has variously been called Tankhammer, the Transport Game, etc, etc, but the simple truth is that vehicles are good again and sheltering your fragile soldiers with steel has become a very good policy. Steel Coffins FTW! All armies have had to adapt to this- some better than others- but Orks take their place alongside Tyranids and Daemonhunters for being unusually lacking in this department. On the other hand, many proponents of the Ork army scoff at this, pointing out that they have Rokkits and Klaws in abundance as well as Lootas and other shooting. Obviously, being that I am writing this article, you know which side I am on, but I would like to take a closer look at the failures of each of the methods in the Ork codex to deal with AVs.
Lootas are the first unit that generally gets brought up, and with good reason- they genuinely are some of the strongest light anti-armor available, even measuring up against such greats as Crisis suits and IG Autocannon spam. For a reasonable point cost each, they get a random (but often high) number of anti-transport shots with excellent range. What could be considered bad about that? They make a perfect unit to stick in the backfield and threaten Rhinos and Chimeras, it's true. The main problem with them is a very simple one: no single unit is perfect. Lootas are great at what they do, but what they do does not cover everything and they can't possibly fill an army's needs by themselves. They can't realistically hurt battle tanks (like Predators and Leman Russes), are completely static (meaning they are vulnerable to being disrupted by assaulters and can be outmaneuvered), and will sometimes simply take some damage and simply run off the table (inflicting ~5 wounds on them, a few more if it's a full squad, will generally send them scurrying away in short order- and T4 with 4+ cover it's not hard to wear down). Even ignoring the weaknesses of the unit (which, realistically, every unit has- Lootas are not at all poor in this respect), the real failing is that the limited amount of AT available in the codex means that Lootas become an obvious target for enemy firepower- once they are dead, the opponent can be reasonably sure that his tanks will be able to survive the remainder of the game. Redundancy is key in any list to avoid having a single weak link that can be shattered to cripple the army. Forgot to mention that even with a high number of shots they only have BS of TWO! Like every other unit in the game. Except Big Guns with a BS of 3 and Old Zogwort with a BS of 0.
Rokkits are another option, and here the issue is different: Ork BS is low, so paying for a (comparatively) expensive shot that usually misses is a poor option. Now he mentions it. The platforms it is available on are also problematic. Rokkit Buggies and Coptas are both perfectly reasonable choices, but extremely fragile. Deffcoptas are low-Leadership units in small squads and often run off the table at the slightest provocation; additionally, they are vulnerable to simply being shot with Bolters or other such guns. Buggies are much better in this regard, but as AV10 open-topped vehicles, their survivability is often rather limited as well. (Twin-linked helps them out as well, but you are still paying ~80pts for roughly one S8 hit, taken up to three times; to compare, Hive Guard are ~30pts per such hit and you can get twice as many effective shots by filling your appropriate slot.) Rokkits in mobs of Boyz suffer a dilemma of their own: only one per ten in the mob means that smaller mobs (such as those fitting in a Trukk) have no realistic chance to hurt an enemy vehicle. Large mobs, on the other hand, are forced to go on foot at which point the 24" range becomes a real limitation due to the slow speed of foot units. (Yes, I know, the Run rule- mech still outmoves you easily.) Boyz riding in a Battlewagon seems ideal, and is in some ways, but you have a very limited availability of such units (generally 2-3), putting a real dampener on such plans. Killa Kans are the last option and have the bonus of BS3. However, they fight for space with the Battlewagons (and thus fail to solve the Orks' redundancy issues) and are not a terribly effective unit, all things considered (mediocre protection, suffers from squadron rules, 50pts/model for one shot). All in all, Rokkits simply lack any really outstanding choices for Orks and fight with many other options.
Power Klaws are the third big item of note. They are abundantly available in the codex, with practically every unit being able to take one at a quite reasonable (or, in some cases, wonderfully cheap) cost. We will also roll in the DCCWs and similar weapons, since their differences are negligible for the purposes of this discussion. The nature of 5E melee combat against vehicles is the big issue here- yes, you always hit rear armor, which is excellent, but an intelligent opponent will insure that his vehicles are moving 7"+ against you, so you are not hitting very often- and will only one Klaw in most squads, you are going to spend a lot of time whiffing. The issues here are more strategic- as any Tyranid player knows, relying on CC for your anti-tank needs is a gamble at best, as many mech armies will devastate you in the 1-2 turns before you can manage to get stuck in against them. Furthermore, even assuming you DO get there, you have conveniently clumped yourself up against his hull, ready to be flamed/blasted to death on his turn after he drives away.
Tankbustas are sometimes cited as an example of Ork AT. I have no idea why. They are BS2 and 24" range, and thus suffering most of the problems of other Rokkit platforms, but have to fight with Lootas for space, are 15 pts/model for an extremely fragile unit (remember, that's Space Marine prices on a 6+ save unit; Vespid, anyone?) and they have a special rule limiting their shooting. Oh, and they don't have a transport available to them, so you have to shove them into a Battlewagon if you want them to actually be able to get any shots off- at which point they are stealing TWO sources of other AT for you (the Elites slot for Lootas, the BW for holding some Boyz), which is not a good plan. The various other shoddy forms of AT in the codex (Big Gunz, SAG, Boomgun, etc) are all so bad that I don't think I even need to explain why they aren't worth considering.
Thus, what we are left with is the following: Ork AT comes in three forms. Lootas, which are good (but can't pull all the weight themselves, and suffer against high AVs). Klaws, which are fine against suppressed vehicles (but Orks have little suppression) and excaberate your vulnerability to blasts and templates as well as having poor strategic value. Rokkits, which have issues with all of their platforms either being sub-par or fighting with each other for space and netting comparatively few hits. In smaller games, and in games where there are fewer vehicles on the table, these problems are mitigateable. However, as one ascends to the top end of the game (or to high points values), more and more they become real issues that Orks simply have no way around. The fact that they also do not have any melta- meaning no AP1 and no double-pen, both of which are huge hindrances in reliably getting rid of particular vehicles when you absolutely have to (like when it's contesting your objective, etc)- is a major blow on top of non-ignorable issues already. Tyranids, at least, have the super-efficient Hive Guard, the survivable T-Fex, mobile Harpies, and ways to kill heavy tanks with MC attacks (rerolls to hit and 2d6 pen being very different from Klaws) and Warp Lance, on top of their miscellaneous suppression tools and Rending attacks. Orks do not have any of these things. They have other advantages, but in terms of killing tanks, Tyranids are clearly ahead of Orks- and they have superior CC and mobility as well.
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