[Berzerker]

I've been thinking of starting an ork army, but wasn't sure where the best place was to start, someone suggested to me that I get Black Reach, as it gives a good base to start an army on, and I could use the Marines for Chaos conversions. Is AOBR the right place to start? If not, where is?

[cammerz]

I would start with assault on black reach, not only do you get loads of orks but the warboss is bigger than the metal one and the deffkoptas are only available there (or on eBay from there)
You could always do with more orks so the boys you get are a good purchase, this is the only way to get a warboss with a powerklaw without basing it on ghazgkull or converting and it is altogether cheaper than buying individually

Many people start with multiple assault on black reach boxes and yes, the space marines could make chaos, (I converted the dreadnought to chaos)

Conclusion: Just get it

[Atticus]

I'd either get two AoBR boxes or for a bit more money grab one AoBR and an Ork battleforce. The bikes are fine on their own (although a unit of three is a tad risky) and for what you pay for the battleforce the trukk is a nice way to get a small unit in combat faster for cheap, although in Annihilation games it's an easy KP. More importantly, however, you have the real Ork kits instead of the snap fits, so you can give those boyz power klaw Nobs, arm them with shootas, etc.

[jimmy_mymail]

AOBR is a good box set and is worth getting. As atticus says, 2 AoBR's are a good investment, you could then swap your the AoBR marines for the orks in another Black Reach set. If you make this trade using 2 AoBR boxes then you'd have 80 boyz, 12 Koptas, 4 Warbosses and 20 Nobz which gives a strong fighting force allthough you can only use a pair of Warbosses.
If you were to use the marines as chaos then you'd have two small armies that were both pretty good.

[CmdrBonesaw]

Also, don't forget you can convet the Dreadnought into a Deffdread with a little effort and a few orky bits...

Cheers,
-Bone

[scoutfox]

You really can't go wrong with buying 1,2,3 black reach sets. If you are good at converting there is almost no ork unit you can't make. I bought 1.5 sets myself and I still haven't put everything together. Trade away the marines, sell them, or convert them to chaos. There are some great conversions on the Waaagh making mega armored nobs from the AOBR nobs/terminators.