===ARMOR/ARTILLERY===
All heavier Ork vehicles may be equipped with grot riggers that repair damage of the vehicle is hit, except the big guns which are crewed by grots anyways. There is a series of Ork tanks called the “Kill Blasta/Bursta/Krusha”, but information is scarce on them. As such, assume that the Orks are in fact capable of building tanks of their own design that were not looted from somewhere else and smaller than a battlewagon despite what the profile may indicate. Native Ork tanks that are not battlewagons are real, probably. Most descriptions of the quantities of guns mounted on these vehicles are probably more bare minimums than anything else. While bigger means better, bigger also means rarer. Comparatively, anyways.
Name: Big Gunz
Weapon Type: Artillery
Armor Type: Scrap Metal
Speed: Virtually Immovable
Classification: Field Artillery
Basic Description:
A general term for Ork field artillery, Big Gunz come in many shapes and sizes that are all capable of spewing death from a distance. Supposedly a result of imitating Imperial Guard support weapon teams, these guns are set up in a facsimile of Imperial procedure. They are wheeled or towed into position at the back of Ork battlelines, set up in a battery, and manned by a team of two individuals per gun. And there the similarity ends, along with any hope of military orthodoxy or efficiency. Key differences include the fact that the Gunz are selected based on which ones are the biggest and loudest, the carriages shake themselves apart when the Gunz fire, and that the Gunz are crewed by terrified grots kept in line by fear of their Runtherd handlers. Additional crew may be present, as grot casualties may be high because of the pranks the grots play on one another involving the Gunz, and larger batteries may simply have a cloud of grots milling about to provide spare crew. Big Gunz have the utility of traditional field artillery batteries, being force multipliers and implements used to destroy larger opponents.
LOADOUT
A big gun can by any of the following variants, although hybrids, intermediates, and nightmarish assemblies of combinations all probably exist.
Variants:
Kannons: Heavy-bore artillery pieces that can fire a solid anti-tank shell or large-bore frag round, effective against tanks and infantry respectively. Both types of ammunition tend to be in stock, so the kannon can shoot either. The Kannon has the most variant types of all Ork artillery pieces, all of which are bigger, louder, and killier than the base variant. However, the range of Killkannon variants is not always greater than the base form but should be at least equal.
Lobbas: Sometimes looking like big mortars or rokkits, and sometimes in primitive or desperate tribes appearing as catapults and trebuchets, these guns are effectively the mortars of the Ork WAAAGH!. They fire massive bombs in high arcs primarily to reach enemies hiding behind walls or other obstacles. They also tend to be found even farther from the action than other Big Gunz. There are bigger variants called Supa-Lobbas that have essentially the same range but fires bigger shots for bigger booms. One specialized lobber variant is the Squig Katapult, which has notoriously poor accuracy and fires a specially bred pot of squigs that automatically find and eat non-Ork targets upon landing.
However, these are Feral Ork catapults are less likely to be seen in an Ork army with gunpowder.
Zzap Guns: Powerful but unreliable energy cannons, these guns are often composed of little more than a wire-bound tube and a powerful generator at the back end with lots of “kustom gubbinz”. These guns cause massive damage to enemies by firing energy blasts that can potentially be stronger than any energy weapon the Imperium can field. And sometimes, the shot won’t even scratch enemy vehicle armour. It’s a gamble, but not really much more so than any other Ork weapon. These guns are fired by having a grot hold down an electrified lever as long as they can. Presumably the longer the lever is held, and the more the grot is electrocuted, the stronger the shot is. This weapon’s stronger shots, the ones that tend to murder tanks outright, always kill the member of the Grot crew that fired it. Which is a decent trade, all things considered. There exist larger variants called Big Zzappas that are larger, heavier, more unpredictable, and have longer range. There is an even bigger form called the Supa Zzap-Gun found as a Soopa Gun.
Pulsa Rokkits: Containing a large and unstable force field generator that “teeters on the brink of contradictory physics” and relies on the force field around the generator being disrupted by the impact of landing. This causes the field to collapse with devastating results. These missiles typically send out great waves of suppressing force that suppress enemy by forcing them into the ground. Infantry are sent face-first into the dirt or are forced to their knees, mounted heavy weapons are flipped over, and generally things are generally turned topsy-turvy. The largest rockets and most powerful generators can crush enemies as if the feet of Gork and Mork themselves were stomping on the foes of the Orks. The size and sophistication of these rockets vary, ranging from just the generator sphere mechanism given wings to “building-sized labours of love”. Most of the time the rocket will just send out a pinning pulse, although the size may vary, other times it sends out waves of destructive energy that can harm vehicles. These rockets are mainly used to force enemy positions to stop firing and allow the main WAAAGH! to advance on the enemy, although the side effect of their mechanisms has sunk an island and an entire company of Ultramarine Space Marines with it in the past. The rokkit can also be piloted by a grot who wants to go out spectacularly, and can have an optional stabilizer mechanism that makes it less likely to blow up on the launching scaffold.
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Soopa Gunz: Much larger variants of the three artillery pieces described earlier, versions of each dialed up to eleven or twelve. These guns are most often used to destroy enemy titans or other massive units.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Deff Dreads
Weapon Type: Heavy Weapons, Close Combat Weapons
Armor Type: Scrap Metal (May be optionally reinforced with extra Armour Plates)
Speed: 20 km/h? (About as fast as a jogging human most likely)
Classification: Walker Vehicle
Basic Description:
Though they vary in shape and size, Ork walkers embody the Ork values of being big, stompy, and shooty. The Deff Dread is piloted by a volunteer who sees piloting the Deff Dread as being a shortcut to reaching his ambitions, as Dreads are massive metal machines bristling with deadly weapons. And what Ork doesn’t want to be big and deadly? This volunteer that soon realizes that “the disadvantage to being permanently wired into an enclosed metal can is being permanently wired into an enclosed metal can”, which causes no end of stir-crazy frustration. These fusions of Ork and machine require both Painboyz and Mekboyz to create and maintain. Painboyz are needed to surgically insert the wires into the pilot’s brain into roughly the right spot and stick them back in if they fall out in the heat of battle. The Mekboyz are needed to build the Dread itself. Still, Deff Dreads are a powerful asset to any WAAAGH!, being enormously destructive and capable of annihilating squads of enemies using their terrifying arsenal of weapons and unending rage.
Deff Dreads tend to be about twice the size of an average Ork, and so are roughly three and a half metres in height. While usually sighted as solitary engines of destruction, they may be found in large mobz of their own similar to those of Ork Boyz in particularly large wars.
LOADOUT
A Deff Dread always has two close-combat weapons, and can two of any combination of the following weapons. A Killa Kan always has only one close-combat weapon and must take one of the following or their unique grotzooka. Or a Mek might try to add more stuff, who knows.
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but usually bigger.
Rokkit Launchas: See Ork Boyz, but usually bigger.
Kustom Mega Blastas: See Wazdakka Gutsmek.
Skorchas: See Warbuggies.
Close-Combat Weapons: Usually a massive pair of a pincer-like power shears and buzz saw, these weapons are powered by the piston-driven limbs of the Deff Dread to tear through reinforced walls, armour, and enemies alike. While not wielded skillfully, these weapons are extremely strong and make close quarters combat with a Deff Dread a dicey proposition. The WAAAGH!, the frustration and aggression of the pilot, and the pistons of the limbs all contribute to the Deff Dread being to tear up nearly anything up close including power armour.
Variants:
Killa Kans: A smaller variant of the Deff Dread piloted by grots, these machines can use any weapon a Deff Dread can but perhaps on a slightly smaller scale. Another difference is usually one arm is a melee weapon and the other holds a ranged weapon, instead of where on a Deff Dread both arms are melee weapons and the ranged weapons are fired another way. Kans tend to be more cowardly and retain some grot instincts of self-preservation, and operate in groups of two or three on smaller battlefields. Kan pilots can sometimes panic or cause their walker to flee when the going gets tough, despite the fact that their new forms are impervious to small-arms fire. A unique weapon found only on Killa Kans is the Grotzoota, a gigantic blunderbuss that fires scrap gathered from the floor of a Mek’s workshop. This weapon is deadliest up close, like most things that are likened to a blunderbuss, but also has surprisingly good range.
Mega Dreads: Dreads that are bigger than a normal Deff Dread but smaller than a Stompa, these are much stronger than the smaller Dreads and Kans. These hulking metal-plated monsters are also still more manoeuvrable than a Stompa, and are armed with a combination of Killkannons, Klaws, and other powerful high-calibre weapons. These are often also more complicated than their smaller cousins, and correspondingly less complex than their larger ones.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Looted Wagons
Weapon Type:
Armor Type: Scrap Metal Tank Armour (May be optionally reinforced with Armour Plates)
Speed: 85 km/h? (a bit faster than a modern tank)
Classification: Tanks/Transports
Basic Description:
The results of the proclivities of Ork Lootas for theft, these vehicles are usually acquired by Ork salvage teams after a battle is over. After towing the wrecks, a few days of repairs and kustomizations to make them more “Orky”, most of these vehicles see battle once more as Looted Wagons in Ork employ. However they also tend to be far more temperamental than they were before, and may be prone to various unforeseen occurrences because of their non-Ork technology. In game this manifests as a rule called “Don’t Press Dat” where a bad dice roll can send a Looted Wagon careening straight forward regardless of what the driver wants. They serve a wide variety of roles, but are most often repurposed into tanks or transports. The tanks are equipped with either a skorcha or a powerful boomgun, and the transports have equal carrying capacities as trukks. Whatever they do, Looted Wagons are an integral part of the mechanized component of any WAAAGH! The size and shape of a Looted Wagon obviously depends on where the Orks got it from.
The abilities of the Ork Lootas and Meks to repurpose a wide variety of salvage is legendary, and have included Space Marine Rhinos and Land Raiders, Imperial Guard Chimeras, Baneblades, and Titans, Tau Hammerheads, Eldar Wave Serpents, Necron Monoliths (Necrons don’t phase out anymore, and even when they did there may have been some Orky gubbins that could keep them from phasing out, and even then the phase out tech was not completely reliable), and many more including rumours of Tyranid Carnifexes lobotomized and controlled with the aid of Painboyz. Some Lootas are so skilled they can loot a slagged vehicle, repair it on the spot, and use it in the very same battle it was destroyed in against its former masters before said owner can react. They also find this hilarious. The Orks even have a tale of a legendary Loota that could even loot an Imperial Titan and unleash it on its former comrades. Looted Wagons also, oddly enough, refer to Ork vehicles built in Imperial and other factories.
 |
| Yep. Looted Carnifex. |
LOADOUT
A looted wagon may take either a boomgun, a skorcha, or have carrying capacity. It may also in addition take up to two either big shootas or rokkit launchas or one of each. In theory. Mekboys might try to cram more in. The reinforced ram, wreckin’ ball, boarding plank, and stikkbomb chukka are all optional.
Boomguns: A generic term for the main gun of a stolen tank, and often the main reason why the tank was stolen in the first place. The most frequent variety of stolen tank and accompanying Boomgun is from the Leman Russ battle tank of the Imperium, but it is not unknown that other tanks such as ones belonging to the Tau or Eldar are taken as well. This can be removed from a Looted Wagon that already has one to increase the carrying capacity of the looted wagon by about 12 Orks, but what’s the fun in that? A looted wagon with a boomgun cannot be used as a transport.
Skorchas: See Warbuggies, but bigger.
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but bigger.
Rokkit Launchas: See Ork Boyz, but bigger.
Reinforced Ram: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Wreckin’ Ball: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Boarding Plank: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Stikkbomb Chukka: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Additional Factor:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Battlewagons
Weapon Type: Automatic Weapons, Energy Weapons, Roller
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Tank Armour
Speed: 75 km/h? (a bit faster than a modern tank)
Classification: Super Tank
Basic Description:
Battlewagons are massive metal mechanical monstrosities built by Meks to serve as mobile fortresses and grind their enemies into the ground. They bristle with guns, move on great clacking treads, and are often filled with the most elite Ork warriors. They are built for the most prestigious Orks, are effigies of the great beasts the Orks used to hunt in the wild, are often bedecked with skull totems, and are often created with a specific role in mind. Gunwagons stay in the thick of the Ork mobz and fire ordinance from their killkannons, assault wagons are made to serve as gigantic transports to take as many boyz to the front as quickly as possible, and krushas go into the bloodiest part of the battle to steamroll enemies into bloody paste with their deff rollas and grabbin’ klaws. These rumbling machines of shooty and crushy death tend to be at least four metres tall and seven metres wide, but as mentioned many times before Ork vehicles are not a terribly standardized lot.
LOADOUT
The killkannon, reinforced ram, deff rolla, wreckin’ ball, boarding plank, grabbin klaw, and stikkbomb chukka are all optional. Battlewagons with a killkannon have the same transport capacity of a trukk, ones without a killkannon can carry about 20 boyz or 10 boyz in mega armour or their equivalent. The battlewagon may take a single big gun in possible addition to a killkannon as outlined in the “Big Gunz” section, but this big gun does not affect transport capacity. They may also take up to four of any combination of big shootas and rokkit launchas. Once again, mad Meks may add more gunz or make one of the optional things the focus of the wagon entirely.
Killkannons: See Big Gunz. These massive guns are frequently mentioned as being made to hammer enemy infantry, and so probably use massive frag rounds.
Deff Rolla: A great spiked roller that allows the Battlewagon to bring its weight to bear on anything that gets in its way. It can also act as a minefield clearer in the highly unlikely event that grots are not available for the task, clear difficult vegetation, and generally mulch things smaller than it into a fine, fine paste. Cannot co-exist with a reinforced ram, as they go in the same place. Probably won’t stop a Mek from trying, though.
Kannons: See Big Gunz.
Lobbas: See Big Gunz.
Zzap Guns: See Big Gunz.
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but bigger.
Rokkit Launchas: See Ork Boyz, but bigger.
Reinforced Ram: See Trukks, but usually bigger. Cannot co-exist with a deff rolla, as they go in the same place. Probably won’t stop a Mek from trying, though.
Wreckin’ Ball: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Boarding Plank: See Trukks, but usually bigger.
Grabbin’ Klaw: True to its name, the Grabbin’ Klaw is a mechanism that allows an Ork vehicle to physically grab an enemy vehicle to keep the poor unfortunate from running away from the beating it is about to receive. In theory it could also be used to grab smaller units and large monsters, depending on the size of the klaw itself. Also, the klaw could likely be used to crush a man-sized target if it could grab hold of one or be used as a tow to drag things with. In game, it’s just used to grab vehicles. The Grabbin’ Klaw of larger vehicles tend to incorporate some kind of attractive or magnetic force to grab things with.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Gargantuan Squiggoths
Weapon Type: Melee, Automatic Weapons, Energy Weapons
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Tank Armour
Speed: 60 km/h top speed? 20 km/h walking?
Classification: Living Engine of Destruction
Basic Description:
Massive Orkoid monstrosities bred by a particular clan, these beasts are towering hulks of muscle and bad temper. They are single-mindedly aggressive and incredibly savage, and the Orks love them for it. Squiggoths are goaded into battles by the Orks that ride in the howdah on its back, like a big nasty green elephant-komodo dragon hybrid, and the howdah is also itself bristling with weapons. The noise of these weapons incites the Squiggoth into greater acts of violence as a bonus, leading them to seek out and gore, stomp, and otherwise flatten non-greenskins nearby to the raucous cheers of the Orks. Covered in heavy welded-on armour, bedecked in big guns, and terrifying to behold, the Gargantuan Squiggoth is massively destructive Ork unit capable of causing mass terror and annihilation. These massive beasts come in many shapes and sizes, although they all have large tusks, teeth, and fangs, and range in size from large tank-sized to equal in height to a small Imperial Titan. Roughly speaking, they can be anywhere from four metres to thirteen metres tall. Each Squiggoth may transport about 20 boyz in the howdah, or maybe 10 meganobz or their equivalent.
LOADOUT
Uniformity is a lie.
Huge Tusks: The tusks of the Gargantuan Squiggoth, simply enough. Given how big the beast is, the tusks can sometimes be larger than a man. They also give the monster a bonus when charging into close combat.
Fangs and Stomping Feet: The teef and feet. Shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine what they do. Gargantuan Squiggoths also tend to eat the things they bite, naturally enough.
Twin-Linked Big Shootas: See Warbuggies, has at least two of these mounted on the howdah.
Supa-Lobbas: See Big Gunz, has at least two of these mounted on the howdah.
Zzap Guns: See Big Gunz, not actually in the rulebook but the Dawn of War version had these and they owned so there.
Variant:
Orkeosaurus: An even larger version of the Gargantuan Squiggoth, but also much rarer. These were also used more by feral tribes then the gunpowder ones.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this. This applies to this particular entry less so than most Ork vehicles.
Name: Battlefortress
Weapon Type: Cannons or Roller or Rockets or Flak Guns (Depends on Variant)
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Tank Armour
Speed: 60 km/h? (about the speed of a modern tank)
Classification: Mobile Fortress, Super-Heavy Assault Vehicle
Basic Description:
Described as “clanking, smoke-belching behemoths festooned with gunz and boyz”, Battlefortresses are essentially much larger and more powerful battlewagons. They fill the same roles as mobile fortress and artillery platform, but are much bigger. They are also far faster than they look, possessing a “triple-overpressure turbo engine that occupies a good deal of its hull”. Loud, shooty, and capable of crushing all in their path, these massive Ork tanks are formidable sights to see on larger battlefields and a match for anything short of a titan. Battlefortresses are intermediate in size between Looted Wagons and Gargants, so are likely between five and ten metres tall.
LOADOUT
In general, all battlefortresses can carry about 30 boyz or 15 meganob equivalents. Beyond that, good luck finding anything about uniformity. Even the variants listed are just a guide to possible forms.
Variants
Skullhamma Battlefortress: The most popular variant, this design is usually made from a looted Baneblade and features the Skullhamma Kannon. This kannon is big and loud, like other Ork gubbins, but is also remarkably powerful. This design may also have any combination of two twin-linked big shootas or rokkit launchas, and further include either a kannon or lobba as seen in the Big Gunz section. This tank may also hold up to three supa-rokkits, which are bigger versions of the grot-guided missiles fired by a grot bomb launcha. Or they might have way more weapons that that, as these are just guidelines.
Deathrolla Battlefortress: Presumably similar to a Skullhamma in all respects except the Skullhamma Kannon is replaced by a massive deff rolla.
Rokkitspitta Battlefortress: Again, probably similar to a Skullhamma except the titular kannon is replaced by a large cluster of rokkit launchas crammed together like a drunkard’s fireworks display.
Flakk Battlefortress: A form of Battlefortress built to serve as an anti-air platform, and thus decked to the brim with guns such as flakka-kannons, big shootas, and quad flakka-dakka guns. Flakka-Kannons are, simply enough, flak shooting kannons. Flakka-Dakka guns are heavy Ork autocannons, which are rapid-firing weapons similar to miniguns but able to use both larger ammunition and a wider variety of bullets.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Stompa
Weapon Type: Various (includes rockets, enormous rapid-fire guns, massive flamethrowers, cannons, energy weapons, melee attacks)
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Armour
Speed: 35 km/h?
Classification: Heavy Walker Vehicle
Basic Description:
We’ve got our Gargantz an’ we’ve got our weapons. Wot ain't we got? We ain’t got anyfing for target practice iz wot! So I'll tell you wot we're gonna do. We’re gonna give da Humies a taste of ‘ot metal death is wot. We’s gonna take Big Gork and Big Mork ‘ere an’ we’s gonna stomp Hummie!
- preparing the Boyz for the Waaagh!
A noisy, walking idol of an Ork god, a Stompa is one of the most destructive engines the Orks can field. They are crewed by several Orks, usually the Meks that built it aided by a large mob of grots to act as general assistants, and inspire great amounts of fear in enemies and fearlessness in nearby greenskins. Loaded with weapons, Stompas are a force of pure destruction on the battlefield and can stomp, shoot, crush, and kill almost anything in their path. These massive idols of the Ork gods are a little bit bigger than a Battlefortress, and tend to be between twelve and sixteen metres tall. It also has a carrying capacity roughly equivalent to that of a trukk. Sometimes in larger in a larger WAAAGH! Stompas will be organized into mobz of their own, such as during the Third War for Armageddon where thousands were present.
LOADOUT
A minimum estimate of Stompa ordinance is one titan close-combat weapon, a deth kannon with a co-axial supa-gatler, a supa-skorcha, a twin-linked big shoota, two more big shootas, three supa rokkits, and a rear mounted big shoota for the pesky gitz that get behind it. They always have a crew of dozens of grot riggers to patch up damage. Bare minimum, of course. Who knows what a Mek will try to cram onto an effigy of his God?
Deth Kannons: An enormous kannon. Not much more to be said. Other than it’s as strong as a Warlord Battle Titan’s Melta Cannon in game, and those things are nasty.
3 Supa-Rokkits: See Grot Bomb of Grot Bomb Launcha, but usually with a bigger missile.
Supa-Skorchas: See Skorcha of Warbuggies, but scale it up for a roughly 13 and a half metre tall walking metal monstrosity.
Supa-Gatlers: Gatling gun scaled up for something that matches Ork sensibilities for a weapon of a walking metal avatar of God. This particular weapon manifests its Orky origin by being so hard to control that it will not stop until it runs out of ammo once it starts firing.
3 Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but much, much bigger.
Gaze of Mork: A large and unpredictable force beam generator built into the head of the Stompa, usually firing from the Stompa’s eyes. They are essentially giant Zzap Guns, but are even more powerful than the Big Zzappa Soopagun variant. They’re just as unpredictable, with some shots melting Baneblades and other failing to kill a single guardsman or something in between. Usually something in between. But it can melt a Baneblade, which is all the Orks care about. Sometimes the Mek crew divert extra power from the rest of the Stompa to the Gaze, increasing the strength of the shot enough to even tear an Imperial Titan asunder.
Skorcha: See Burna Boyz but much bigger. Lifta-Droppa: A big tractor beam that lifts, moves, and flings around or drops enemy vehicles. It is typically unpredictable, like other Ork tech, and is sometimes employed to wreck enemy machines and monster by dropping them into inhospitable or unfavourable terrain. This terrain may be a chasm, magma, or just a horde of boyz waiting to tear something apart.
Kustom Force Shield: Created by Meks to safeguard their most beloved creations, and usually themselves, these crackling barriers of energy repel almost all attacks. They can be found elsewhere, even on a lucky Ork Boy if he manages to steal or find one, but they are most often found on valuable war machines like Stompas. They’re also seen on Ork ships to keep the air and stuff in the ship, but they have been known to fail in this regard without the Orks even noticing or being affected. Some Stompas can even have two of these protective barriers, but once a barrier goes down it cannot be raised up again.
Close Combat Weapon: See Deff Dread, but way, way bigger.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, \
--Can Transport up to 20 orks (besides crew) inside it)
Name: Gargant
Weapon Type: Various (includes rockets, enormous rapid-fire guns, massive flamethrowers, cannons, energy weapons, melee attacks)
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Armour
Speed: 45 km/h?
Classification: Super Heavy Walker Vehicle
Basic Description:
Titanic warmachines found only in the largest of WAAAGH!’s and under the command of the mightiest of Warbosses. These machines are true effigies of the Gork and Mork, and are the mightiest engines of destruction the Orks can field on the ground. They are extremely complicated as well, requiring the most brilliant Meks, but also have the most devastatingly powerful weapons. While employing relatively simple technology compared to their counterparts in other races, their sheer firepower and destructive force make them more than equal to any of their peers. Gargants come in a relatively large range of sizes, with larger ones being rarer. A “normal” Gargant can be about 20 metres tall, while the largest Gargants that are a match for Imperial Emperor Class Titans can be up to 60 metres tall.
LOADOUT
A Gargant is a Stompa, but much bigger. Scale up anything you find in the Stompa section appropriately for the increase in size, which generally means double the size of the main guns and the quantity of smaller guns you imagine the Stompa bristling with. And maybe double the number of main guns too. They also tend to have many layers of kustom force fields, maybe as many as 6 if their equivalence to Imperial Warlord Titans is any indication. The bigger the Gargant, the more stuff it has. The Gargants also have access to a few special unique pieces of kit such as the one that follows. All the others are just really, really big heavy weapons.
Snapper: A uniquely Ork weapon, consisting of a pair of spiked metal jaws for close combat and a massive melta-gun equivalent inside.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this. The Gargant in particular should be a useless pile of junk without the field.
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| Titan vs. Gargant |
Name: Ork Submersible
Weapon Type: Heavy Weapons
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal Armour
Speed: 150 km/h?
Classification: Aquatic Battlewagon
Basic Description:
An invention of the Mad Mek Orghamek, this seagoing vessel is design for surprise landings and assaults. They are “heavy duty enough to negotiate storm-wracked seas and poisonous oceans alike”, hold an entire warband of boyz in their cavernous holds, and are armed with massive cannons and torpedos. They are seen as aquatic battlewagons by the boyz who ride in them, and a source of adventure as the seas can hold many interesting things to fight. They are landed behind enemy lines and unleash their raucous cargo to hit enemies where it is less expected. These machines were first operated at the behest of Warboss Ghazghkull in the Third War for Aramgeddon. They were built in and launched from the Fire Wastes, a region thought by the Imperium to be strategically useless because of its remote location, with parts taken from disused Imperial tankers. Crossing the ocean, they made landfall at a hive under siege and “in a battlefield coup of such violence and cunning it wrested the fiercely contested hive from Imperial hands within the space of a few hours”. The Ork submersible is both a useful and formidable machine of war as well as an indication of Ghazghkull’s cunning.
LOADOUT
The following is the minimum.
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but usually bigger.
Seacannon: See Big Gunz.
Ork vehicles are not limited by such petty constraints such as “standard designs” or “good taste” or “subtlety” or “not overdoing things” or “theft is bad”. Ork aircraft are no different, and many Ork ships are simply things looted from other races and kustomized to be more Orky with a coat of red paint and bitz and spikes all over.
As with Armour and Artillery, remember that bigger means better but relatively rarer.
Name: Fighta-Bommas
Type of Aircraft: Multipurpose Aircraft
Weapon Type: Bombs, Guns, Other Heavy Weapons
Armor Type: Scrap Metal
Classification: General Purpose Aircraft
Basic Description:
Piloted by flyboyz, who are Speed Freaks marked by their desire to fly, general Ork fighter and bomber aircraft tends to be incredibly diverse in form, size, and armament. As their pilots get euphoric highs from going at high speeds, and get the biggest high from flying straight at the ground, Meks tend to build aircraft with great offensive abilities and speed rather than survivability. Ork fighters and bombers are all fast, have loads of guns, and tend not to survive missions. Their pilots, on the other hand, do usually survive their suicidal attacks and reckless dive bombs and come back for more. Ork aircraft are used to disrupt supply lines, attack an enemy from the air, go on bombing runs, hit enemy positions deep behind the battleline, and other military applications contemporary humans use them for. Orks also like to use them for kamikaze runs, given the greater durability afforded by Orkoid physiology and their compulsive love of excitement, and there are even some pilots who specialize in crashing into enemies to inflict maximum damage. And they do it over and over again with a different aircraft each time. Ork aircraft tends to be between 10 and 26 metres long.
LOADOUT
Lots of different variants of Fighta-Bommas, but they’re all loaded with guns and move at insanely high speeds. Safety is not an issue for the Orks. A standard Fighta-Bomma comes with at least four hull mounted big shootas as an anti-aircraft measure, a turret mounted twin-linked big shoota manned by a grot, a payload of bomms, and either two supa-rokkits or two burna bomms. Or maybe more, depends on the Mek that built it and how they were feeling.
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but bigger.
Bomms: It’s a bomb. They’re apparently equal to Imperial ones, which mean they weigh about 500 pounds. They probably weigh more though, knowing the Orks.
Supa Rokkits: See Grot Bomb of Grot Bomb Launcha section, but maybe bigger.
Burna Bomms: Essentially a canister of highly volatile flammable substance, probably similar to what’s found in skorchas or burnas. They’re used to coat large portions of the battlefield in flame.
Variants:
Fightas:
Located on the smaller end of Ork aircraft, these planes are used for dog-fighting and ground attack. They’re described as easily a match for any Imperial Navy fighter, and sport big shootas and a small wing of bombs and rockets. They love to fly really close to a enemy fighter and tear it apart.
Burna-Bommas:
Blitza-Bommas:
A dive-bomber suited for the most deranged flyboyz, these planes aim their bombs by releasing them as close to the target as the pilot can get during a dive bomb. Sometimes, the pilot forgets to pull out of the dive. Which can be pretty funny. These bombers carry a pair of the largest aircraft held bomms, which are bigger than a normal bomm, called boom bomms. They also have a pair of supa shootas, which are bigger version of a big shoota, and a big shoota in a turret manned by a grot.
Heavy Bommas:
Dakkajets:
Kustom: Very, very rarely the Orks build something too awesome for any of the descriptions above including
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
===MISC AIR ===
Name: Minelayers
Type of Aircraft: Defensive Aircraft
Weapon Type: Bombs
Armor Type: Scrap Metal
Classification: Purveyor of Floating Mines
Basic Description:
Less a flier and more a floater, these contraptions are a product of the genius of Mad Mek Orghamek. Consisting of over 50 tons of rusted scrap, the Minelayer is held aloft by powerful repulsor fields. Its bomb bay contains rows upon rows of specially built explosive mines each equipped with their own smaller repulsor fields. The Minelayer uses a winch-and claw mechanism to place its mines.
LOADOUT
Mines: Drifting high in the air under the power of its own miniature repulsor field, these mines are usually activated when an opponent tries to cross below it. This motion collapses the delicate field that keeps the mine aloft, and it drops. If the enemy below isn’t killed by the mine dropping, they will likely die in the resulting detonation of “a ton of high explosive”.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Landas
Type of Aircraft: Transport Aircraft
Weapon Type: Guns, Rockets
Armor Type: Thick Scrap Metal
Classification: Transport
Basic Description:
Aim fer dat big buildin’ over der. No da uvver wun! NO DAT WUN! Zoggit, just land it ‘ere.
Kaptain Parrkurr of the Ork Landa ‘Funderbird Too
Large transport aircraft, typically about 38 metres long, which like most Ork technology is armed and dangerous. Yes, Ork transports have guns. Lots, in fact. These have about half the carrying capacity of a trukk, and while the pilots are generally not the steadiest of hands the Landas themselves are incredibly durable and can ignore most enemy attacks and withstand damage that would send most other aircraft down in flames. However, they are relatively slow and ungainly, but many Imperial Thunderbolt pilots have made the mistake of underestimating it and being shredded by a Landa’s large assortment of shootas.
LOADOUT
Big Shootas: See Ork Boyz, but probably manned by grots in turrets.
Rokkits: See Ork Boyz.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Name: Deffkoptas
Type of Aircraft: Flying Jetbike
Purpose of Aircraft: Reconnaissance, Attack
Classification: Scout
Basic Description:
Wot's faster than a warbuggy, more killy than a warbike, and flies through da air like a bird? I got no bleedin' idea, but I'm gonna find out.
-Kog da Flymek, pioneer of the Dethkopta
The subjects of decades of experimentation, and quite of bit of still ongoing trial and error, Deffkoptas are fast and deadly one-Ork attack craft. They consist of a set of whirring rotors above the pilot’s head, to hold it aloft, a jet booster at the rear, to send it screaming full tilt in the general direction of the enemy, a set of weapons on the underside, to deal death to those unlucky enough to be below, and a Speed Freak pilot a with a few cards short of a full deck, as only the most unhinged would even consider climbing into such a flying rickety deathtrap. Oddly enough, there never seems to be a shortage of pilot volunteers. The closest thing the Deffkopta has to a “typical” role is recon vehicle, scouting ahead of the main tribe for victims to attack. They then, as the Ork pilot dies a little inside from passing up a fight, head back for reinforcements. It is also not unusual to see Defffkoptas spearheading an attack, blazing ahead of everyone else as oily blurs and howling in glee before crashing headfirst into the enemy. They are found in squadrons of up to five koptas in smaller battlefields, and are organized in larger swarms for bigger fights.
LOADOUT
There is no standard. The codex even says “The problem with Meks is that they never make the same machine twice”. There is a minimum though, as the codex also says “Ever since the first Deffkopta was pioneered, the Mek fraternity has devised more and more cunning ways to turn it from bizarre conveyance to lethal weapon”.
Buzzsaw Blades: The rotor blades of a deffkopta are often outfitted with choppas and other choppy things to let them inflict damage. Many pilots are rather fond of making daring runs close to the ground and angling the kopta in a way to puree their target. Optional.
Kustom Mega Blastas: See Wazdakka Gutsmek
Twin-Linked Rokkit Launchas: See Warbuggies.
Twin-Linked Big Shootas: See Warbuggies.
Bigbomms: Are actually the smallest of the Ork bomb variants. Still, they pack a heck of a punch in bombing runs. Deffkoptas generally only carry one, and they tend to be dropped while the kopta goes full turbo. Optional.
Variant:
Warkopta: Also called Chinorks, these larger Deffkopta variants are mostly used to carry boyz to the fight. They are less common, but no less useful. They still have a blistering array of weapons, and are favoured by Kommandos as deployment vehicles and places shout insults to the rest of the boyz from. They are armed with a minimum of a set of several twin-linked deffguns and nose-mounted big shoota. They may also be armed with skorchas, rokkit launchas, mega-blastas, or other guns instead of the big shoota. Some may even carry a payload of bombs. They are usually deployed in squads of three with Deffkopta escorts.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but vehicle probably wouldn’t work without this.
Rare Units: Ork Drop Pod
Orks are also known to use starship-launched landing craft, analogous to Space Marine Drop Pods, although usually far larger. Sometimes referred to as Krash-Kapsuls, they were used during The Fires of Phaistos. They are rarely used as most Orks prefer to use Roks as makeshift drop pods. Ghazghull also prefers teleportas to these.
===SUPPORT====
Name: Weirdboyz
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Active Abilities
Classification: Wild Card
Basic Description:
===May be factored as Elites===
The most psychically powerful of all Orks, Weirdboyz act as a focal point for the energy generated by their greenskin fellows. They resonate with the power of sheer Orkiness, and the more Orks there are nearby the more powerful the Weirdboy becomes. Unfortunately, young ones are not very good at controlling this energy, and they tend to glow and spark even when there’s something as simple as a particularly rowdy contest between two Orks. This inability to control their power tends to result in something inconvenient, such as the heads of nearby boyz exploding. However, the ones lucky enough to reach maturity learn to control this power and how to use it to unleash destructive waves of force, vomit deadly psychic green flames, or augment the abilities of their fellow Orks. The oldest and most successful Weirdboyz, and consequently the most powerful ones, are known as Warpheads and have a great deal of control over the energies of the WAAAGH! In battle the shouting, chanting, stomping, and fighting done by Orks all charge the energy of Weirdboyz and allow them to perform spectacular feats of psionic ability in their battle trances. Weirdboyz tend to be good for morale in battle, as the boyz always love a good show, although they are ostracized and closely watched outside of combat. Their non-combat roles include psionic interrogation, and occasionally divination and scrying.
LOADOUT
Psyker Powers: See Old Zogwort.
Staff: It’s a staff. It’s Ork sized. It is likely spiked. The Weirdboy hits things with it.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz, but Weirdboyz specialize in harnessing the WAAAGH! to attack enemies and support their fellow Orks.
-Orkoid Physiology
-If given the chance, the wierdboy will flee the battlefield as being alongside so many orks causes them pain. Only Warpheads enjoy battle.
-Weirdboyz are alot more likely to misfire then Warpheads, which are few and far between.
Name: Painboyz
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Healing, Active Ability, Immunity to Pain
Classification: Battle Medic
Basic Description:
Right, first I'll take those teef out for yer, dat should help ease da pain in yer leg. Grokkit, hand me that wrench. Now then... Open wide, and say... AAARGH! -ork Painboy
Ork surgeons, medics, and dentists, Painboyz also are involved in the installation of bionik bitz and are an essential part of any WAAAGH! They maintain, repair and improve the bodies of Orks themselves, and get along very well with Meks. As a result of their good relationship, Meks and Doks often closely collaborate on many projects such as weapons of war, bionik enhancements, the creation of cyborks, and other fantastic technologies. Painboyz are capable of many conventional medical treatments, learned through a combination of instinct, trial-and-error, and “the time-honoured principles of Orky know-wotz”, However, they often disregard a patient’s requests in favour of doing their own thing medically. Such as replacing a leg with a bionik exploding one when the patient wanted his missing arm replaced. Funny guys. They carry a wide variety of medicines, and quite a few toxins as well, serving as both healer and death-dealer in battle. They are also highly sadistic, operating on living patients without painkillers partly to know if they’re still alive and kicking and partly to laugh at the pain of the poor sod they’re working on. And the fact that we call Ork anesthesia “concussion”. Their greatest joy is “ eksperimentin’ ”, and are usually quite happy to do this on non-Orks as well. Despite their eccentricities, and outright psychosis beyond that of a pathologically aggressive race, Painboyz are tolerated for their myriad uses on and off the battlefield.
LOADOUT
Sluggas: See Ork Boyz.
Choppas: See Ork Boyz.
‘Urty Syringe: See Mad Dok Grotsnik.
Grot Orderly: The Painboy’s assistants, who function as messengers, attendants, and pack mules. They carry the Painboy’s stuff, aid him in surgery, and occasionally help him fight in battle usually acting as meatshields. And sometimes, they actually learn something.
Dok’s Tools: See Mad Dok Grotsnik.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz.
Orkoid Physiology:
Name: Mekboyz
Armor Type: Force Field
Type of Support: Vehicle Protection and Repair
Classification: Battle Mechanic
Basic Description:
Da best shoota I eva made, dat iz. Loadza barrulz, so dat it’s ded shooty. ‘Sept dat wun, ‘cos dat’s da skorcha, dat’s burny insted. Yeah, good an’ propa. An’ da bullitz is ‘splosiv...dey goez boom inna fings wot you’z shootin.’ An’ dat button dere...dat’s da best bit. Wot it duz, see, iz...iz...oh, zog. Nah, its nuffin’ boss. Nah, you’z don’t need ta see wot dat button duz...‘onist. Don’t push it!
Last words of Nazdakka Boomsnik, Renowned Mekboy
Orks with a natural gift for engineering, implanted by the Elder race that created the Orks, Meks build, maintain, invent, and improve all Ork tech. They also have blueprints in their DNA that allow them to build general structures of the most popular Ork weapons and warmachines. They are obsessed with creating ever bigger and deadlier technology to unleash upon their foes. However they are also “jovially imprecise”, and no two Mek inventions will be built the same way. Ork technology evolves in a ramshackle and explanatory way, and the Meks are willing to cop ideas from other races. The Gargant was in fact the result of a Mek being inspired by an Imperial Titan to create an effigy to his own God, for instance. Meks are also formidable to face in battle, with powerful personalized weapons that usually spew bolts of energy and surprisingly effective shielding technology. They tend to lead teams of Lootas and Burnas during battle, often to see how their inventions do, and outside of it, when looting the battlefield for usable salvage. Meks also take commissions from richer Orks, usually for vehicles or bioniks or weapons, and while the result is usually not what the customer ordered it is typically “dead good anyway”. While it is a marvel Mek tech works at all, bring crude and contravening common sense and several laws of physics, no one disputes it is effective.
LOADOUT
Kustom Mega Blasta: See Wazdakka Gutsmek
Shokk Attack Gun: One of the most fantastic and esoteric Ork weapons of all, the Shokk Attack Gun creates tears in reality that go through the hellish immaterial otherworld known as the Warp. The codex notes that while others would use this tech to “advance science or revolutionize travel”, Meks use it to fire Warp-crazed snotlings at the enemy. It is a great example for the depths of the Mek’s technological abilities, but it also shows that they only use it to destroy things. The gun works by “projecting a narrow force field tunnel though a small portion of the Warp” by means unknown to all but those who make the weapons, and they’re not telling. The entrance is at the front of the gun and the exit is where the operator aims it, and both living creatures and non-living things can be thrown into the portal. For a living creature the journey is terrifying, as they are surrounded by the manifold daemons and horrors of the Warp, and they often emerge at the other end completely mad. Meks throw snotlings down these portals because they’re too stupid to run away, and the snotlings emerge biting, clawing, and crapping in terror. This tends to have a massive negative impact on enemy morale whether the portal exits in the middle of an enemy formation or inside an enemy vehicle or suit of power armour, and the same sight tends to be hilarious to the Orks. However, this complicated bit of technology is one of the most unpredictable Orks weapons in existence. It may work as advertised, which is a surprisingly large amount of the time, or it may blow up and leave a “cracking orb of unreality” in its place, or go out of control and target an ally, or it may simply open a portal to the nearest combatant instead, or the snotling may come out in a deadly spray of bones and gore, or the Mek may be the one fired through the portal, or the field may collapse and open a portal to the Warp that inflicts damage where the exit should have been, or a larger portal to the Warp may open and a “ravening cloud of sentient daemonic ichor” may emerge and automatically kill whatever it touches. Fun times.
Choppa: See Ork Boyz
Kustom Force Field: See Stompas, but smaller and personalized.
Grot Oiler: A general term for a Mek’s assistants, these grots serve their master in a similar fashion as grot orderlies do. They carry the Mek’s stuff, help build things, and sometimes are forced to take a bullet for him in battle. These grots see themselves as apprentices, and can usually build something worthwhile if they live long enough.
Junkas: A type of vehicle built by junior Meks to showcase their mechanical aptitude. These vehicles have almost nothing in the way of standardization, sometimes built from scratch and sometimes looted or sometimes a mix of both, and their abilities depend mostly on what the Mek can come up with himself.
Mek’s Tools: Meks excel at repairs in the heat of battle, and use these tools to undo damage inflicted by enemies of Ork vehicles and occasional friendly fire. Sometimes the Mek gets a bit carried away, but their ability to repair damage to tech and machinery is always useful.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz. Most of their stuff would likely not work without this.
Orkoid Physiology: See Additional Factors.
Name: Runtherds/Slavers
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Logistical, Artillery Commander
Classification: Commander of Lesser Lifeforms
Basic Description:
The slave-drivers of the Orks, Runtherds are the ones responsible for keeping the lesser greenskin races in line. The preferred way to control the grots and snotlings is pain and fear, which Runtherds excel in inflicting. As Ork slavers they’re also responsible for managing slaves taken from other races, and often treat said slaves the same way they treat their usual grot and snotling charges. They can sometimes be found in battle leading charges of large masses of terrified grots and too-dumb-to-know-any-better snotlings. Outside of battle they are responsible for overseeing the everyday tasks of their underlings, such as the cultivation of food, the brewing of alcohol, and the production of munitions.
LOADOUT
Runtherd equipment is mostly used to keep recalcitrant squigs, grots, and snotlings in line, but Orks tend to be big and strong and cunning enough to make seemingly harmless implements into deadly weapons.
Grotwhip: It’s a whip. It’s barbed and larger than a human one, apparently. It hurts. What else is there to say?
Grabba Stik: A sturdy metal pole with a simple pulley system and a barbed klaw. It’s used to throttle things and restrain potential slaves.
Grot Prod: Far as descriptions go, it’s a taser on a stick. The voltage can be increased to lethal levels.
Squig Hound: A breed of squig bred to aid Runtherds in their tasks, they are also useful as attack dogs and morale restorers. If the Runtherd sees grot morale flagging, he can command the beast to eat a few grots and put the feat of bigger things in the remaining members of the lesser greenskin mob.
Additional Factors:
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz.
Name: Gretchin
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Logistical, Battle
Classification: Fodder
Basic Description:
Just becauze wez not runnin doesn't mean we want to be fightin'!
One of the lowest form of greenskin, Gretchin are naturally cowardly and relatively weak. They are smaller and feebler than proper Orks, being runts in every sense of the word, but are better able and more willing to make use of low cunning. They are also more likely to be cautious, and have excellently honed senses of smell, hearing, and night vision that allow them to survive for a little bit longer in Ork society. Some are even supernaturally lucky or have a sixth sense of sorts for danger, which may allow them to live to the ripe old age of nine years. That is the current record, whose holder got sat on by his boss and his broken body fed to a squig. They are herded into battle using promises of plunder and brute intimidation by their Runtherd handlers, and often given incredibly poor weapons. In conventional fights they rely mostly on sheer numbers to kill anything at all, being sent in a massive green horde that carpets the battlefield. However, their best uses are tasks other than to tire out the arms of the enemy and force them to spend their ammunition. Their slightly better ability to aim makes them comparatively ideal gunners, their sheer numbers can be used to clear minefields and their willingness to stay back out of the fight makes them suited to operate Ork machinery such as Big Gunz and Gargants. They are also good for serving as pack mules for larger boyz, such as Meks, Doks, and Warlords. Outside of battle their serve the bigger Orks and grease the wheels of Ork economy and society, preparing food, acting as couriers and messengers, carrying stuff, selling and recycling discarded items for their own ends, coordinating bets when a fight breaks out, acting as an unwilling snack or something to be kicked by an Ork in a foul mood, and generally acting as a lower subservient class. They generally accept their role in life, however there was at least one Grot revolution against their Ork masters, showing some discontent.
LOADOUT
Knives: See Kommandos, but far, far smaller and less ably wielded.
Grot Blastas: As described in the codex: “run-down, second-hand, low-tech, dust-caked piece of junk that just might conceivably kill something provided they remember which way round to hold it”.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz. Maybe.
Grot Tanks: Grots that have laboured under Meks and have lived long enough to pick some engineering ability up have a tendency to create their own tanks. These vehicles are considerably smaller, less capable in all respects, and are made of even lower quality scrap than most Ork machines. However, there tend to be a lot of them. Some tanks, the Grot Mega Tanks, are larger and of generally better quality overall and may have even had a Mek working on it at some point. These ramshackle vehicles add even firepower to any Ork WAAAGH, though mostly only through sheer numbers.
Special/Detailed Purpose: Pack Mules, Source of Food, Cannon Fodder
Name: Snotling
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Logistical
Classification: Fodder
Basic Description:
Appearing as an even smaller grot, Snotlings are the lowest rung in Ork society. They have an intelligence level on par with that of a fairly dumb animal, and are incapable of speech. Sometimes they are “pets” of sorts, but more often they use their natural affinity with fungi and squigs in agricultural roles. They cultivate the squigs and fungi to provide food, drink, and medicine to their superiors while under the careful supervision of Runtherds. Their affinity ensures that “only a few dozen Snotlings are eaten by their livestock each day”. In battle they mostly used as ammo for the Shokk Attack Gun, or are given simple melee weapons and herded towards their enemies. Their lack of intelligence and fear allows them to get close to enemies, but their lack of natural violent tendencies makes them difficult to use in any capacity in battle save as a living bullet.
LOADOUT
Small Rudimentary Melee Weapons: Right as the name says. Sticks, clubs, that kinda stuff.
Body: When they are too stupid to even hold a stick or something, it is hoped a snotling will at least have the presence of mind to bite and scratch a foe. They do this after being fired from a Shokk Attack Gun, but so would most living things.
WAAAGH!: See Ork Boyz. Maybe.
Special/Detailed Purpose: Pack Mules, Source of Food, Cannon Fodder
Name: Squigs
Armor Type: None
Type of Support: Logistical
Classification: Fodder
Basic Description:
More properly referred to as “Squiggly Beasts”, Squigs aren’t even on the Ork social ladder. As the simplest form of Ork life, they are a catch-all term for the various fauna that populate an Orkified ecosystem. They serve as the primary food source of the Orks, but have a staggering number of uses depending on how they’re bred. Squigs naturally breed and grow and breed in the cesspits of Ork settlements, often called “The Drops”, subsisting on Ork refuse and generally making sure nothing is wasted in the Ork environment. However disgusting the process of an Ork eating something that eats the Ork’s excretion is. Other roles for squigs include attack dogs, bomb carriers, grot and snotling herders, toys, carrier pigeons, syringes, swabs, hair, medicine, oil and fuel producers, paint producers, parasite hunters, weapons, musical instruments, psychic grenades, biological acid mines and grenades, and virtually anything else you can think of.
(Note: Even humans don’t eat pigs that eat human fecal matter)
LOADOUT
Teeth: They bite. They bite hard. Often, a squig’s teeth accounts for most of its mass and volume.
Special/Detailed Purpose: Pack Mules, Source of Food, Cannon Fodder
Applicable/Relevant Variants for war:
--Attack Squigs:
-Bomb Squig:
A Squig strapped with explosives intended to detonate themselves near enemy vehicles.
Buzzer Squig:
Used as ammunition in catapults, these squig can tear enemies apart.
Herd squig:
Herd Squigs, or Squighounds, are a breed of Squig used by Orks as herding animals for Gretchin.
-Squigdeon:
Squigeons are squig counterparts of Terran columbidae. They are sometimes used for transferring messages in Ork tribes that lack more advanced methods of communication.
'Sploding Squigs are an unusual subspecies of Squig, possessing multiple stomachs, each containing a thick broth of unstable digestive chemicals. When agitated, most often simply by active shaking, its digestive juices combine into a combusting liquid, causing the Squig to explode in a shower of meat, teeth and bone. Orks are known to force-feed these Squigs metal bits to enhance their lethality. They are usually thrown in combat, but can be used as mines.[21]
Wyrdsquig:
Wyrdsquig are an orkoid mutant breed of the gnasher squigs found rarely in the wild. It has massive densely packed neural lobes and its used by orks as a psionic bomb, triggered on the Wyrdsquig death.===BASE DEFENSES===
Orks are not big on base defence, as a moment mucking about at base about is a moment that you’re not fighting something.
Name: WAAAGH! Banner
Type: Anti-Infantry, Can be upgraded to Anti-Armour
Basic Description:
A large tower structure and banner that acts as a rallying point for the boyz. It is manned by grots at the top of the tower that have either big shootas or rokkit launchas. There tend to be a lot of these, enough to blanket an area in bullets.
Name: Ork Base Turrets
Type: Anti-Infantry
Basic Description:
Automated or grot-manned defence turrets that use big shootas to suppress and kill the enemy with a high volume of fire.
Name: Rok
Type: Anti-Infantry, Anti-Armour, Anti-Aircraft
Basic Description:
May be factored in Misc air or Defense
A large and hollowed out asteroid covered with and filled with guns, the Ork Rok is nominally a spaceship. They are covered in every type of armament the Orks possess, and then some. They also include targeting systems and engines, and both may see use on the ground as defences. In planetary combat, Roks are crash-landed onto the planet to serve as forward bases. Being massive, exceedingly well protected and extremely durable, they are perfect for this role. Sometimes, the landing of the Rok itself is used as a weapon. In space Roks are also used as positions of orbital bombardment, dropping large numbers of munitions from space down on an enemy. This entry also fills in for other large Ork spacecraft that may be crashed onto a planet for similar reasons. Ghazghkull in particular loved to use Roks as weapons of orbital devastation and forward bases, and pioneered the technique of loading giant teleporter arrays onto Roks to ”bring down Ork reinforcements, Gargants, and heavy artillery in an endless stream”. These are probably going to be the rearest of the Ork defense, but the most powerful.
====Leader Profile ====
Name: Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka (The Prophet of the WAAAGH!)
Notable Battlefield Accomplishments:
“I'm da hand of Gork and Mork, dey sent me to rouse up da boyz to crush and kill ‘cos da boyz forgot what dere ‘ere for. I woz one of da boyz till da godz smashed me in da ‘ead an’ I ‘membered dat Orks is meant to conquer and make slaves of everyfing they don’t kill.
I’m da profit of da Waaagh an’ whole worlds burn in my boot prints. I’m death to anyfing dat walks or crawls, where I go nothin’ stands in my way. I iz more cunnin’ than a grot an’ more killy than a dread, da boyz dat follow me can’t be beat.
I’m Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka an’ I speak wiv da word of da gods. We iz gonna stomp da ‘ooniverse flat an’ kill anyfing that fights back. We iz gonna do this coz’ we’re Orks an’ we was made ta fight an’ win!”
-Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, Ork Warlord
Despite his legendary reputation, Ghazghkull is actually kind of a mixed bag in terms of battlefield success. He did unite an impressive Ork force by force, and made a good account of himself in a pair of wars he started, but as of yet never really definitively crushed an opponent in a full campaign of war.
After having most of his skull replaced by Grotsnik with adamantium, Ghazghull managed to rise to the rank of Warboss of his tribe within a decade. A year later he united the Ork tribes on Urk following events that he took as portents from his gods, which included several deadly solar flares and the appearance of a space hulk ripe for taking in the star system. By coercing his fellow Orks, mostly by conquest and beating their faces in, he managed to form the nucleus of his WAAAGH! He told every Ork in that star system that if they followed him they were destined for greatness, and to a boy they believed him. Ghazghkull then boarded the hulk, made it ready for war, and set off to conquer the galaxy. On route through the Warp he may have fought demons, but that is speculation.
Ghazghkull’s WAAAGH! attacked the hive world of Armageddon resolving to crush it, expose the more vulnerable and richer worlds beyond, and bring about an age of war that would never end. Thus began the Second War for Armageddon (the first one involved Chaos, not Orks). He attacked then Imperial commanders were at their most complacent, although whether that was good timing or good luck on his part is uncertain. He crashed his forces into the planet, overrode the defences, and cut his enemies down “like wheat to a scythe”. His forces brute forced their way past the deadly equatorial jungles of Armageddon and the expert Imperial fighters within, crushed a retaliatory strike by a legion of Titans with an numerically superior force of his own Gargants (Titan Legions usually consist of at least 50 of the machines), and finally made his way to the largest hive cities on the planet. Splitting his forces in two, he ordered each to attack the hives of Helsreach and Hades. The governor unleashed his secret stock of virus bombs, which carried a pathogen that could even reduce “tough Orkoid flesh to a bubbling soup in a matter of seconds”, but the munitions were ancient unreliable and failed to wiped out the Orks. Elsreach was overrun. However, it should be noted that most of his successes thus far on the world were because the planet’s governor was a stubborn fool. This would change at Hades, where the defence was led by a commissar that called for help via Imperial distress signal and rallied the populace. Ghazghull did everything in his muster to overcome the defences, even joining the himself and reportedly “slaughtering his way through entire regiments of the enemy”, but for naught. Every ploy was countered, such as “lightning assaults and feints, attacking in massive waves and trying to reduce the hive to ruins by orbital bombardment” or “dropping elite commandos onto the spires of the hive”, building “great siege weapons”, and “even retrofitted gargants with earth-moving devices”. While Ghazghkull’s multi-pronged attack allowed him to hold all of the planet but Hades for a while, Imperial reinforcements arrived including three chapters of Space Marines (or at least marines from three chapters: the Ultramarines, the Salamanders, and the Blood Angels) led by Blood Angels Commander Dante (who is apparently kind of a big deal or something, and was accompanied by two guys named Tu’Shan and Marneus Calgar, all three later became chapter masters) turned the tide of battle. The codex notes that Ghazghull could have beat the Imperial reinforcements had he immediate adjusted his plans, but his personal hatred for Yarrick caused him to focus on beating the commissar to the detriment of campaign management. Ghazghkull was driven off, although not before giving Yarrick the drunken uncle of all headbutts, and through a “masterful campaign of lightning attacks” his WAAAGH! was dispersed. However, he survived and vowed to return once he internalized the lessons he had learned.
Ghazghkull travelled to the Golgotha system, intending to take the main planet and its rich mineral deposits to convert it into a giant munitions factory. He used the tellyportas to “make a series of lightning strikes” that quickly overcame the planetary defenders within weeks with sheer numbers. Yarrick then appeared, ambushing Ghazghkull and intending to kill the Warboss ad leave his boyz leaderless. He failed. Ghazghull let him off after a brief bit of torture, noting good enemies were hard to find. Yarrick returned to the Imperium and began to shore up the defences of Armageddon.
Fifty-seven years to the day after the first Ork invasion, Ghazghkull returned to Armageddon at the head of an even larger force to begin the Third War for Armageddon. Kill Kroozers made suicidal rushes to break the Imperial blockade, and overcame the Imperial navy. Even more Ork forces then arrived, and Ghazghkull’s forces combined with his allies numbered over 2000 ships, at least 12 space hulks, and dozens of crude hollowed out asteroid fortress called “Roks”. This force is noted to have been “the largest number to ever assail a world of the Imperium”. Ghazghkull obliterated the Hades Hive, as it had become a symbol of resistance, with giant asteroids with mass measured in Megatons launched from orbiting space hulks. The fighting was fierce. Ghazghkull actually managed to subvert Archeron Hive and capture it by treachery by promising the imprisoned former governor of Armageddon a position of power if he rebelled. Despite Ghazghkull being the one who made his life miserable, the former governor actually agreed to turn traitor and succeeded in turning over the entire hive to the Orks. He was later killed by an Imperial penal squad of traitor hunters. Ghazghkull then deployed his latest plan, dropping dozens of Roks whose descent were slowed by powerful force fields onto Armageddon. Each one that survived to land became “a rallying point and ready-made fortress”, with each brimming with loads of dakka and containing their own tellyporta array. These tellyportas were “employed to bring down Ork reinforcements, Gargants and heavy artillery in an endless stream” from other locations. Ghazghkull also made landings in desolate areas deemed strategically useless, and used them as launching points of a great an unexpected amphibious attack featuring hundreds of Ork submarines to capture the Tempestora Hive and the docks of Helsreach. This fighting drew every Ork from neighbouring systems, eager to join in the holy grail of unending war. This attack even forced the Imperium to divert troops away from the Tyranid threat. The planet forced an uneasy stalemate when the Season of Fire hit, forcing both forces to stop fighting the sweltering heat. Unable to stomach the lack of fighting for long, Ghazghkull left the planet to his generals and went in search of new fights. Since the War for Armageddon had diverted so many Imperial resources, the surrounding worlds were easy pickings. Yarrick pursued accompanied by a force of Black Templars, and Armageddon became a byword to unending war to both the Imperium and the Orks. Ghazghkull has since “laid waste to dozens of planets around Armageddon”, and while he has not militarily beaten the Imperium he has created a zone of unending war. And, to an Ork, that’s a success in itself.
The order of battle for both sides of the Third War for Armageddon can be found in the links below:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Armageddon_Imperial_Forces (it is heavily implied each Space Marine force sent their chapter master)
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Armageddon_Ork_Forces
Personality:
While Orks would be detestable in real life, they’re pretty fun as fictional characters and Ghazghkull in particular has a lot of traits that make for a good military leader.
Good:
Orks are made for war, in all aspects including personality, and Ghazghkull is no exception. He will never tire of war, and enjoys challenges to a point, although he may get bored if the fight is uninteresting or conditions dictate battle is not possible. He fears no enemy, is kunnin’ like a proper Ork, is capable of learning from his mistakes, and is not afraid to resort to tactics usually seen as un-Orky to achieve victory. Ghazghkull is capable of formulating and executing daring and unorthodox plans that catch opponents entirely off guard, as they generally don’t expect an Ork to be capable to planning at all. He also knows enough about combined arms to make all parts of his WAAAGH! hum like a decently oiled up machine. Usually. He has an instinctive grasp on how to best lead his forces, despite the natural Ork penchant for doing their own thing. As such he is capable of being intimidating, inspiring fear and awe, dealing with insubordination ruthlessly, and otherwise getting his massive WAAAGH! to run more smoothly than any other Ork leader could. He is also merciless and pragmatic, and generally willing to do whatever it takes to win a fight including using his endless tide of troops in suicidal attacks. When he focuses, sometimes not even commanders with thousands of years of experience may best him as seen in his brutal beating of Chapter Master Belial. Above all, he has vision and he genuinely believes in what he is doing for his people.
As Yarrick Chains of Yogoltha shows he is very intelligent even by human standards, and unlike most boisterous Orks is quite, contemplative and brooding. He knows 3 languages, an unheard of accomplishment for an Ork.
Bad:
Unfortunately, Ghazghkull has his own character ticks that sometimes cost him. He can get obsessed if the enemy leader makes personal challenges to his authority as Warboss. If an opponent can challenge him like Yarrick did, and make him look foolish in front of his men, he will focus his energies entirely on destroying them personally. Ghazghkull’s pride is a spot for him, and pushing will cause him to be a less able and focused commander, but pushing too hard may backfire on a foe personally as an angry Ghazghkull is a particularly kunnin’ and merciless Ghazghkull. Leaders that tick Ghazghkull off do tend to win the war, but they also tend to have significant plot armour (Yarrick, Belial), require significant outside reinforcements to do so (Yarrick, Belial) and often end up physically broken (Yarrick, Belial). Pretty much every fight not involving an extremely noteworthy commander ended with them dead beneath Ghazghkull’s stompy feet. However, Ghazghkull will let particularly interesting foes go if he thinks they’ll provide better fights in the future. As mentioned before, Ghazghkull may get bored if the fight is uninteresting or conditions dictate battle is not possible. This is seen in the fact that he has technically not won a noteworthy war on a large scale yet. He has always having left to do something more interesting or got beaten because someone made themselves the personal target of his rage and distracted him long enough for reinforcements to beat his WAAAGH!
Style of Leader: Authoritarian
Ghazghkull has to be an absolute despot and authoritarian to be an Ork boss of any effectiveness, as the Orks will bow to no other style of leadership. He may face several direct challenges to his leadership from within, but probably not many and few that go anywhere because of his own considerable size and tendency to kill those who disagree with him too much. He may have underlings and advisors, and he may listen to them more than most Warbosses would, but he ultimately calls all the shots and relies on his personal size, strength, and loud voice to ensure his orders are followed. His nobz in the field are there to ensure his orders are carried out without question.
Leader X-Factors
Adaptive Creativity/Resourcefulness: 77/100
Pioneered lots of new and creative tactics, most of which failed against Yarrick, but he tried I guess? They probably would have worked against most Imperial Commanders other than Yarrick, who knows him pretty well. Advisors would probably be pretty good at this.
Tactics: 64/100
The best means of Attack is Defence, an' the best means of Attack is a really really Big One, right, with lots of Boys an' dead big shooty things an' what have ya. - Legendary Ork Tactician, Derek Zog
Mostly successful at battlefield improvisation? Though he hasn't actually won either of the Armageddon wars, he did conduct both fairly brilliantly. In Yarrick Chains of Yogoltha he did legitimately outsmart his archnemesis and annihilated his force through an ambush.
Strategy: 54/100
"Get 'em boyz!
Dakka dakka dakka!
WAAAGH! THE ORKS!
WAAAGH!" _Rogtob, Ork Strategist
The “unite all Orks” thing isn’t going too well, but apparently the two wars he started were part of some greater scheme or something. Still it is at current what that scheme and its effectivesss is though.
Intuition: 67/100
Has some foresight, and some visions from Gork and Mork. Maybe.
Audacity: 99/100
Orks fear no one, Ghazghkull especially. Yarrick is special.
Intelligence: 53/100
Orks are not much for book smarts. Ghazghkull is no exception. He’s cunning, though and good at fighting. However at the same time he is reffered to as one of the smartest overall Orks, and has beaten other commanders such as Yarrick through genuine tactical skill. He also knows three languages and can speak somewhat correctly (I.E. not in a Cockney accent) with those languages being Orkish, Low Gothic and the unheard of for an Ork High Gothic.
Psychological Warfare: 67/100
Pretty good, if his use of Snikrot and Kommandos is any indication. Snikrot himself would be pretty good at this.
Experience: 63/100 (73/100)
Admittedly, he has only personally fought against humans and other Orks. Space Marines are included, but humans all the same. His advisors bring a wider resume though, and he’s an Ork that’s survived at least 70 years of constant challenges and war.
Discipline: 49/100
Good at making and following through with plans. However, he can get bored and leave. As this is not an option in the tournament, this might not matter as much.
Leadership: 82/100
He is the Prophet of the WAAAGH! The Orks will obey him as best as they are able, moreso than pretty much any other Ork leader, but it’s in their nature to do their own thing some of the time. There will certainly be no insubordination, or none that gets anywhere, so that’s good.
Corruption: Who Knows? (Xeno Values)
Ghazghkull is an Ork. They may be evil to us, but to them Ghazghkull is an Orky Paragon that embodies their values. So, hard to say, really.
Additional Factors:
-Gork and Mork may actually be talking to him
-He’s willing to make alliances, could even subvert the former leader of a place he invaded (Von Strab)
-Prophet of the WAAAGH!
===Army X-Factors===
“Orkses is never defeated in battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fighting so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!”
-“Commonly held Ork view of warfare”
Morale: 90*/100
Orks do not fear. Mostly. Orks do not run. Mostly. Orks cannot be scared off. They definitely cannot be dissuaded from a fight. Under Ghazghkull they will fight to the death.
Logistics: 74/100
It’s ramshackle, but the Ork logistical train does exist and is surprisingly effective. Not nearly as good as ‘Nids, however.
Espionage: 58/100
Mostly Kommandos, but Ghazghkull is pretty good at using subterfuge on a strategic level. Usually.
Discipline: 43/100
Hahahahahahaha Orks and discipline.
Still, Ghazghkull can for the most part keep them in line. Mostly. Oh and the Stormboyz slightly raise this.
Overall Army Intimidation: 83/100
A race of loud, mean, ruthless green monsters with a basic grunt about the size and musculature of a cross between Hulk Hogan and Wilt Chamberlain, and will either kill you or enslave you. Probably pretty high.
Misc X-Factors:
Reinforcement Rate: Very High*
One of the “Swarm” factions, the Orks are notoriously numerous. Their fungal biology, the fact they grow from spores that they release from their bodies their whole lives and especially at the point of death, allows for massive population growth in relatively short periods of time. They are often described as one of the most, if not the most, abundant races in their galaxy. It is mentioned that Orks do grow up significantly faster than humans, but the only other possible clue of their rate of growth is a mention that it may take young Orks a year or so to find their place in society. Also, being in zones of intense military conflict causes them to grow quicker. The sheer number of already grown Orks and previously constructed war equipment (including Gargants) that can be transported in by tellyporta is substantial. Orks can also literally rain from the sky in roks, as the news of the conflict reaches other planets and the Orks there decide to join in on the fun. When the WAAAGH! is in full swing, and the Orks are led by a charismatically or brutally persuasive leader, great feats of manufacturing can also be witnessed. Unceasing streams of Trukks, Bommas, and Gargants alike can be pumped out in terrifying short periods of time if the Orks are motivated by the prospect of something to shoot and stomp. In the tournament, Orks will arrive to the battlefield in the “tens of thousands daily” if not more, allowing them to swamp their unfortunate foe in the endless green tide they are known for.
*However there slow planetbound reproductive rate means that they will probably have the lowest score of any of the factions with a very high reinforcement rate (Tyranids, Zerg, Flood ect).
Past Opponents:
The Orks have fought every race 40k has to offer, and maybe some more besides. Note: Ghazghull has personal experience with Orks and the Imperium, with the possibility of Chaos.
Travellin' through space is boring. Well, boring unless da hulk yer on is full of dem gene-sneakers, or a base fer da chaos lads wiv da spikes, or already has Boyz on it. Or if humie lootas come callin', that's always good fer a bit a sport. Or unless yer have a mutiny or two to pass da time, or unless strange fings start happenin', which dey usually do when yer out in da warp. One time we had some bloody great ugly fing come straight out of Weird Lugwort's 'ed! It butchered half da lads, that was pretty entertainin'. Come ter fink of it, space is a pretty good larf. And that's before yer find yerself a nice world ta crush!
-Bigmaw, Ork Runtherd
Orks: The Orks love to fight. This also means, as has been stated before, that they will fight each other if no other foe is available. And sometimes they’ll beat on each other even when there are non-Ork foes to face. On the bright side this aggression means that no Ork ever go without battle experience for long, and Ghazghkull and his horde are no exception. Ghazghkull’s first battles were likely against his fellow Orks, lobotomies by Space Marines aside, and he did spend a considerable amount of time “uniting” the Orks of his home system by beating the crap out of them until they submitted. The Orks know themselves, and are aware of how to deal with a foe that is numerous, aggressive, and underhandedly kunnin’ as they are.
"Oomans are pink and soft, not tough and green like da Boyz. They'z all the same size too, so they'z always arguing about who's in charge, 'cos no way of telling 'cept fer badges an' ooniforms and fings. When one of them wants to lord it over the uvvers, 'e says "I'm very speshul so'z you gotta worship me", or "I know summink wot you lot don't know so yer better lissen good". Da funny fing is, arf of 'em believe it and da over arf don't, so 'e 'as to hit 'em all anyway or run fer it. Wot a lot of mukkin' about if yer asks me. An' while they'z all arguing wiv each other over who's da boss, da Orks can clobber da lot" - on Humanity and its weaknesses, Ork Boy
Imperium: Using masses of infantry, post-human super-warriors, massive vehicles, massive number of vehicles, and the occasional superweapon and psychic powers among other things, the Imperium of man bring a pretty complete package. Orks love to fight humans. They also like to loot their stuff. The humies usually put up a good fight, especially when the Space Marines are involved. The Imperium of Man represents Ghazghkull’s biggest source of combat experience, having fought them in multiple wars and campaigns.
He has also faced some of the best the Imperium has to offer in terms of leadership, the chapter masters of the Space Marines, and either beaten them or was implied to be able to beat them. Ghazghkull has also beaten von Straub and other hapless planetary governors around Armageddon. And he’s fought and lost to Commissar Yarrick, who continues to vex and challenge him, but Yarrick’s special. Ghazghkull and his horde know how to deal with the humies and their ways, teaching them how to deal with a foe that is just slightly more conventional than they are and in possession of some terribly scary supersoldiers. Fighting and beating the Imperium also gives Ghazghkull a keen insight into the human mind, which may be useful against human factions who are not Imperial.
Tyranids: The hungry endless swarm, possessing unwavering loyalty, mostly competent leadership, and the occasional giant bug monster. The Orks love the Tyranids. They always put up a fight. And there’s always a lot of them to fight, even if looting their stuff is a bit tricky. There’s a reason the Octarius system is now an unending quagmire of war. They’d thank the Imperial Inquisitor that led the Tyranids there, but said Inquisitor might not like those crude Orky words of appreciation much. And the krumping that’d probably come with it. Although Ghazghkull himself has probably not fought the Tyranids, it is somewhat conceivable that his some of his boyz may have experience fighting the unending chittering horde. And Kaptain Badrukk, Freebooter extraordinaire and one of Ghazghull’s advisors, has fought and beaten the Tyranids before on some level. That, and word of good fights and the best way to win against those good fighters travels pretty quick in Ork society. Orks have the amazing ability to hear of and gravitate to massive battles like flies to a carcass, somehow. Ghazghkull would be decently well prepared to fight the Tyranids or an enemy similar to the Tyranids, and Badrukk in particular would be an invaluable asset in fighting the Tyranids or any other giant space bugs.
They got ded big shooty guns dat'll kill tons of boyz, but if you can get near em den you've got a chance. Just gotta make sure you bring loads of boyz, coz you ain't gonna have a whole lot left when you get close enough ta crump em.
- description of the Tau,Warlord Skarmork The Great Despoiler
Tau: Overwhelming firepower, manoeuvrability, inspiring but not necessarily capable leaders and commanders, and a general fear of getting too close to most enemies and getting their butts beaten in. The Orks do not like the Tau that last part. The Tau fight in an improper and un-Orky manner, preferring to blast at range rather than get stuck in combat like a proppa Ork. They still like fighting the Tau though, if only for the catharsis they get when beating one of their ‘eads in. They also like looting Tau guns for their excellent firepower and Tau vehicles because it’s fun to crash a hovercraft. They enjoy fighting the Kroot because for the most part the Kroot fight proppa. The Tau do tend to get the better of the Orks in initial engagements, at least until the Warboss smartens up and starts doing wholly expected things to neutralize the traditional Tau ranged advantage. As with the Tyranids, Ghazghkull has not personally fought the Tau. However, word of mouth concerning tactics and strategy still spreads quickly, and some of his boys may have fought them, and special advisor Badrukk was instrumental in the stalemate during the War of Dakka. Admittedly the war gains were more along the lines of a strategic victory and new place to get a good fight for the Orks, and strategic loss and major ongoing resource drain for the Tau. But, stalemate is probably the best word. Regardless, Ghazghkull is in good stead against the Tau or any other shooty race with lots of dakka and a penchant for manoeuvrability.
Eldar: The sissy fraternal twin brother of the Ork race, according to certain interpretations of the background material, the Eldar pack high technology, powerful weapons and psionics, and are generally pretty hard to catch. The Orks are kind of ambivalent about the Eldar, especially since their stuff after looting generally doesn’t work well in Ork hands, but any fight is a good fight. Ghazghkull is probably not fought the Eldar personally, but maybe his advisors and boyz have and the Orks do know the Eldar very well. If push came to shove, Ghazghkull would probably be able to effectively fight against the Eldar or a similarly powerful, mobile, and psionic race.
Dark Eldar: The more unhinged side of the pansy Eldar, the Dark Eldar have less psionic power and are more fragile but compensate with even greater speed, hit-and-run tactics, and lots and lots of battle drugs. The Orks probably feel pretty much the same about the Dark Eldar as they do about their less depraved counterparts, but interactions between these two factions is fairly minimal in lore aside from Orks krumping the Dark Eldar and the Dark Eldar having the Orks fight in pit fights for amusement. Ghazghkull is in a similar boat in regards to the Dark Eldar as he is to their less torture-happy relatives, but should be able to eventually come up with effective counters to a fast and brutal but fragile hit-and-run raiding force.
Chaos: The dark counterpart of the Imperium of Man, doing everything that Imperium can do, accompanied by literal demons. The Orks are fairly fond of fighting Chaos, and followers of Khorne in particular are always willing to provide a good scrap. Looting is a somewhat different story, but still workable. Ghazghkull has probably not fought the legions of Chaos, except for maybe a few demons while in transit through the Warp, but the usual statements regarding the experience of his boyz and advisors still applies along with the whole word of mouth spreading thing. Like against the Eldar, Ghazghkull should be able to fight competently against the madness of the Warp made flesh and given guns.
Gorgutz: You looks like an oomie dats needs some feeding, metal boy.
Macabee: We exterminated all life on this planet before, and we shall do so again.
Gorgutz: Dat woz before me Waaagh! got 'ere. Now, we is da wuns doin' da 'sterminating!
Exchange between Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter, and Tomas Macabee, Necron Pariah
Necrons: The Necrons, the ancient and powerful race the Orks were created to help fight against, wield incredibly powerful technology that may be the most advanced of the setting. The Orks enjoy fighting the Necrons, as they enjoy all fights, and Necron tech is good looting. The Orks, if Dawn of War means anything anymore, seems to have an instinctive knowledge of who the Necrons are and how to fight them. Ghazghkull would likely a good idea of how to fight the Necrons if the fight ever came, and he might be able to generalize the tactics used to fight any highly advanced mechanical race. The second point is iffy, but the Necrons are still the force the Orks were essentially made to fight even if they don’t always fight them successfully.
Various Alien Races: Not all species in the 40k universe have their own codex. Some notable exceptions include psionic shadow monsters, the space dwarfs, most of the Tau auxiliaries, the freaky things living in the Ghoul Star systems, void whales, and many more fantastic things that the Orks have likely fought and killed at one point or another. Not Ghazghkull personally, but things his boyz and advisors probably have seen and krumped.
Quantity vs. Quality: Mix, hard to describe
Stereotypically the Orks field lots of boyz, who are relatively low quality. The Orks are often perceived as an army that tends to win their wars only through sheer numbers. However, different Ork leaders have different approaches. A less competent Warlord will just throw nothing but boyz at an enemy until he wins, but a more cunning boss will gleefully utilize higher quality units en masse and the best quality units the Orks can field in relatively brilliant manoeuvres. Overall the Orks do tend to favour quality over quality, but like the Tyranids, the Orks will make use of more powerful units. Ghazghkull, for example, has been known to field entire mobz of Stompas and Gargants.
===Additional Factors====
Looting: As noted in the Looted Wagon section, the Orks are capable of stealing, looting, and repurposing nearly anything. When Painboyz and Mekboyz work together, there is very little they cannot convert to the Ork’s side.
Orkoid Physiology:
“Ork Physiology is fascinating and terrifying in equal measure, demonstrating inhuman degrees of resilience to the point where they can withstand seemingly fatal wounds with little apparent long-term consequence. Indeed, Orks witnessed suffering fatal wounds in the midst of heavy fighting have often been observed again several days later, larger and stronger than they were before their injuries and with no sign of those wounds save for some largely superficial scarring.”
- Genetor Aurelius Thoze, Adeptus Mechanicus Xenobiologist.
Orks are extremely durable and strong, with multiple redundant organs and great regenerative ability. Their choppas, which they wield one-handed, are often large implements that most humans would struggle to lift with both arms or their entire body. The average Ork boy is like a two metre tall green Lawrence Taylor, with a mean streak that exceeds even the worst of humanity. The Nobz are often larger than that, about two and a half metres, and minor Warbosses are often 3 metres tall. Their codex notes they feel virtually no pain, that they may “fight on whilst horrifically injured and even after a short while after he is technically dead”, and that “the greenskin regenerative process is so powerful an Ork who has been cut apart in the crucible of battle can simply be stitched back together again, bewildered but ready to fight once more”. Orks have been noted to be extremely resistant to heat and cold, as demonstrated in the novel Caves of Ice when Orks are noted to have little clothing in contrast to the Valhallan Imperial Guard that required thick coats to function, and when an Ork in Dawn of War 2: Retribution notes that he won’t be trying the trick of hiding in lava again after surviving the logical consequence. They also grow bigger while fighting in a war, needing it to remain fit and healthy, and veterans of a ten-year WAAAGH! have been noted to be twice the size of ordinary boyz.
“The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their turn? And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn't even bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.”
- Uthan the Perverse, Eldar Philosopher
Inventive Meks: A legacy of the Ork’s creation is the innate mechanical ability inherited by their Meks. While mechanics are capable of repairing and building already known and existing Ork tech, they can also be inspired by what they see enemies field to make new designs. The Gargant, for instance, came from a Mek observing an Imperial Titan. If the Orks need something, there is a fairly good chance the Meks will make something approximating what is needed in short order.
Strategic Assets: At Ghazghull's command the Orks can be overcome with a desire for destruction known as "'Ere we go lads!". He can inspire them to forgo all defense and go on a mass offensive with " Go Get 'em boys!". Or he can place an idol of Gork (Mork?) on the ground which likewise sends nearby orks into a frenzy. Finally he can have his mek shops build right on the edge of combat, resulting in faster repair of vehicles.
--BattleWagon Steamroller Squad: Battlewagon Steamrolla Squads are famous for the crushing, grinding carnage theydeal out with their deff rollas. Lining up wheel to wheel, they rumble towards theenemy battle line with deadly intent, a cloud of fumes marking their passage. The foe's
attempts to stop them are deflected by the spiked metal cylinders on the front of the
vehicles as they squash their victims to a bloody paste. Requires 3-5 Steamrollers.
--Burna Bomber Skywardon:
Burna-bommer skwadrons pounce on large concentrations of enemy troops, unloading a rain of deadly burna bombs into the heart of the enemy army. Great clouds of black smoke and flames billow hundreds of feet into the air in the wake of the attack, setting buildings and vegetation alight and causing fuel tanks and ammunition to explode with deadly force. Those troops not immolated in the attack will find themselves surrounded by a blazing inferno. Requires 3-5 Burna-Bombers.
--Da Bully Boyz:
The hard core of an Ork Warboss' planet-conquering horde is a great mob of the largest and meanest Orks in the star system. Known and feared across Orkdom as Da Bully Boyz, this fungus-beer-swilling gang of violent headcases are trusted by the Warboss as much as he trusts anyone. Essentially its a giant mob of Warbosses (Thazghul leading them), minor warbosses and nobs.
--Dread Mob:
Some Meks and Doks are so obsessed with making ever stompier Killa Kans and Deff Dreads that they can't stop themselves, and quickly run out of willing pilots, resorting to installing a few Grots and the occasional Ork boy into their latest contraptions without their permission. When they have built a big enough Dread Mob, the Mek and his Dok mate stride into the nearest Ork settlement and treat the Warboss to an impressive demonstration (typically by demolishing his stronghold, but on occasion used against the enemy). Requires a number of Killa Khans and Deff Dreads.
Weakness: The Orks are a highly fractious race. They like to fight each other if they’re bored, and their leader needs to be absolutely in control to get anything done. If their leader dies, in the big or small picture, the largest boyz in the area with fight each other to establish supremacy. If there’s a lull in the fighting or the leader seems weak, the boss will often experience challenges for authority by the largest nob in the group. A good leader will have his orders obeyed, but if he goes down the Orks are little more than a collection of hooligans swiping at each other.
Of course there are also the factors mentioned in some of the profiles. Not all of their stuff works all the time, many Ork variants shun accuracy in favor of making loud noise, some orks are stupid (see throwing grenade pin instead of grenade) and many Orks focus on reckless actions that almost have as good a chance as killing themselves as the enemy.
--Randomness: some would count this as a weakness, with cause. Orks lack discipline compared to other races, have unreliable technology, tend to fire in the air to make loud noise, and are somewhat prone to infighting. However at the same time it quickly becomes apparent that far from being their greatest weakness, this randomness is in fact one of their greatest strengths. Their unpredictability allows them to perform feats that baffle outside observers, and Imokhet the Stormlord, Necron lord and one of the greatest tactical geniuses in the galaxy, who apparently utterly dominates the Tau/Imperial/Eldar forces he normally fights without losing, has lost to Orks. Why? Because they do things that should not be logically tried or done successful, and they baffle him. While obviously this doesn't negate the effect a superior enemy commander has on a battle ( for there will be many superior to thraka) it means that even someone as good as Thrawn is going to be given headaches fighting orks. There is a reason orks have survived far more powerful foes then the Tyranids and Imperium, and a reason they have been fighting nonstop for over 60 million years. They are, simply put, the most successful race in Warhammer. Nuff said.
WAAAGH!: As mentioned before, this is the powerful psychic field that is generated by and permeates the entire being of the Orkoid races. It makes their weapons of war work, makes their beliefs come true, provides energy for their psykers to harness, and acts as their warcry and rallying call, among other things.
Clans: The Orks are divided into a number of different clans that are more constant and enduring than their tribal affiliations, and act as more permanent affiliations for every Ork. Each has a distinct character and identity, and each lends whatever WAAAGH! they join a different set of skills and abilities.
Bad Moons: The richest of all the Ork clans, with their teef somehow growing faster than any other. As such, they are often merchants in Ork society and the git that gets beaten up if a larger boy needs an immediate payday. Members of this clan have a penchant for showing off their wealth, often in the form of shiny decorations and massive guns. While gaudy, they are still Orks and capable combatants. Bad Moon nobz tend to be flash gitz, or something resembling them.
Goffs: The meanest, biggest, and toughest of all the Orks. The Goffs live for close-quarters combat, and will take any excuse to start a fight even amongst their own number. They are also notorious for the number of infantry they can muster to battle. Ghazghkull was originally a Goff, but has since branched to out incorporate all clans in his battle plans.
Evil Sunz: Addicted to going fast, members of this clan tend to be Speed Freeks. They have a need to carren around the battlefield at great speed, and are often field the most mechanized warbands of any clan. As such they are the most manoeuvrable of the clans, and most enemies will find themselves often engaging in battle on the clan’s terms. Some of the older tribes will observe the traditional practice of painting their vehicles with the red blood of an enemy to make their vehicles move faster.
Snakebites: The traditionalists, this clan tends to eschew more technologically advanced means of war in favour of older methods. They breed the fiercest squigs and grots, both of which are frequently herded into battle, and are often the source of the mighty Squiggoth in a WAAAGH! They also carry around a large menagerie of poisonous snakes that serve as both weapon and initiation ritual into the clan.
Blood Axes: Held as untrustworthy gits by the other clans, the Blood Axes are the clan most willing to trade openly and parley with non-Orks. They are also the most likely to even consider retreat if faced with overwhelming odds, something other Orks see as a cardinal sin. They can sometimes be found working as mercenaries, but also have a tendency to trade for or extort weapons from a non-Ork faction and then turn those weapons on their origin. The Blood Axes also have adopted the practice of wearing camouflage, seeing the act of being shot down before actually killing anything as being a waste. Their Warbosses are more likely to plan things out and “have a better understanding of grand strategy” than peers from other clans. However, if one tries to swindle a Blood Axe, they will be struck down in short order.
Deathskulls: Described as “plunderers without equal”, the Deathskulls are good at stealing from both foe and fellow Ork alike. They comprise the main looting element after an Ork victory, stripping the battlefield bare and waking even the most seemingly inconsequential knick-knack. They are fond of taking trophies such as skulls and scalps after battle, and post-battle looting sprees often followed by auctions and barter back at the camp.
“We don't fight fer food, or fer teef, or guns, or cos we's told to fight. We fight cos we woz born to fight. And win.”
-Grukk, Ork Boy
Motivation: Love to Fight, Live for It: Self-explanatory. The Orks just want a good scrap, and have been doing so for 60 million years.
===Victory Gains===
-Anonymous Ork Boy
“ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS”
-Another Anonymous Ork Boy
“’Ere we go! ’Ere we go! ’Ere we go!”
-Third Anonymous Ork Boy
“’’Ere we come! ’Ere we come! ’Ere we come!”
-Yet Another Anonymous Ork Boy
-Stronger, bigger veterans
-More troops
-Looted stuff, including monsters
-Tech Absorption: lower than you’d think, mostly they never really figure out how stuff works, but they’re pretty willing to make use of the stuff they steal or loot, decently high overall?
-Biological Absorption: they could breed squigs inspired by stuff? Willing to use alien bio-tech if they can.
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