The Unnamed Gorkamorka Site

Today we’ve got something a bit special for you, an interview with Iain Compton, a fine gentleman who worked on both Gorkamorka and Digganob.

In a moment we’ll get into the interview itself, but first let’s get Iain to introduce himself for us:

I was at the Studio from 1996 to 2000 in various capacities. When I left I was a WD staffer under the editorship of Paul 'Fat Bloke' Sawyer. After leaving GW, I did a few fill in jobs for a couple of years before moving to Paris to work for the European publishers of the MMO Dark Age of Camelot. I was the English co-coordinator which meant that I was responsible for all customer service, community management and the day-to-day operations on the English language servers. In 2006, shortly after the Warhammer: Age of Reckoning game had been announced, it was revealed that the company I was working for would publish that in Europe too. Naturally I was extremely interested in that and ended up as the English Community Manager for that product from 2007 until I left in early 2009. Nowadays I work for a small, independent studio in the Black Forest area of Germany as a games designer. We are making a free-to-play FPS that will be released later this year.
I still play GW games after a bit of time off the wagon - I rediscovered my love for Dwarfs while introducing the Paris office to the joys of small metal men. These days I mostly play WFB due to the availability of opponents although I have a few colleagues who are almost ready to take the plunge and start WH40K armies too.

**
What was your inspiration behind some of the madness in the Ork fluff? How did you come up with it?**

The Ork fluff had already been laid down long before I arrived and as I understand it had been a collaboration between Andy Chambers, Gav Thorpe and Rick Priestley. The idea was to really nail down the Orks in 40k and to try and bring them back to the feral and ferocious warrior-race that they should have been. Remember that the studio style for Orks had previously veered off into a rather cartoonish, comical look so Gorkamorka was almost a reboot for the race. Brian Nelson had just joined and everyone was very excited about the stuff he was doing for the Greenskins. Andy was a huge Ork fan and really led the charge on the new 'Orky vision', he had very clear ideas on how they should be portrayed and this, along with Brian's re-imagining of the greenskin miniature lines was colouring everything we did.

**
What kind of direction were you given?**

Mostly I worked with Gav or Andy. As I said above Andy was fairly evangelical about the Orks, his desk was covered with various Orky contraptions that he'd built for 40k, BFG and other such stuff. As I was very new and extremely junior, I was mostly playtesting with the other guys in the department, modelling up things to playtest with and occasionally being given writing assignments. For the most part the writing I was given consisted of what we called 'colour text'. This is the short fiction that is scattered around the main text to provide flavour. I wrote a lot of stuff and Andy would read it and tell me if the tone was right or not. Mostly he was trying to get away from stuff that made the Orks look overly comic or just stupid although he wasn't opposed to humour per se. Orks don't take anything very seriously after all, not even fighting.

**
What was it like working for Games Workshop?**

Well there's a question! It was simultaneously incredible and terrible. I'd come to the Studio from retail where I had been the acting manager of the Cambridge store. As it happened my full-timer (whose blog Behind the Rules you should read) moved to the Studio at the same time and we ended up living across two houses on the same street with a motley bunch of other new Studio employees. As you can imagine, we pretty much ate, slept and breathed Warhammer. At work things were about the same. My job was, within very broad limits whatever I wanted it to be that day. I didn't have the responsibilities of the more senior guys such as Gav or Ian Pickstock who were responsible for particular products, I just helped out wherever I was needed. The first thing I ever did at the studio was to convert up a Dogs of War army for Nigel Stillman because the strict rule for playtesting was that you had to have proper figures for everything you fielded and, if the figure didn't exist yet, you had to convert it before you could test it. Mostly I playtested stuff with the other guys in Games Dev, we were just starting work on 3rd ed 40k so that was the biggest thing we had on our plates - I converted up the very first Dark Eldar army out of old Melniboneans, discontinued High Elves and selected bits from the Craftworld Eldar range. When I wasn't playtesting or creating things for playtesting I could largely please myself. I had writing assignments with deadlines that were easy for me to hit so a lot of my time was open for just soaking up the Studio atmosphere. I was encouraged to spend time chatting to the illustrators, sculptors, 'Eavy Metal team and others in the Studio to get a feel for what was going on and how the rules we were working on were being portrayed in other media. All of this was of course awesome. There were a lot of very cool people at the Studio, some amazing talents and it was a great time in my life.

The flip side was that GW were pretty overt about the replaceability of almost everyone who worked there. There were several explicit reminders that if we didn't like working for the (very low) wages we were on then there were thousands of rabid keeners who would cut body parts off to be able to do our jobs instead of us. I'd been in the Studio for about a year when I was made redundant. There had been a massive overspend in setting up the new HQ at Lenton (previously the head office, the studio and the warehouse had all been at separate locations around Nottingham) and a huge chunk of the Studio was let go as a result. 3 of us from Games Dev were axed (from a department of 7) along with a bunch of 'Eavy Metal painters and some of the production guys. I found a job elsewhere in the company (making moulds for the metal figures) until I returned to the Studio about a year later as a WD staffer. Getting made redundant was one of the worst moments in my life up to that point. I was pretty young and I really didn't know how to deal with that.

**
Was much content cut from Gorkamorka/Digganob? If so, why?**

I don't remember anything being cut specifically. Naturally a lot of material was produced for the product - illustrations, colour text and so forth - of which not all made the grade but nothing of substance was removed prior to release.

**
Was there any talk/plans of expanding Gorkamorka further in future if it was a commercial success?**

Gorkamorka was always intended to be a limited run product. This was the new product strategy that had been in place for a couple of years; there were the core products (WFB and WH40K) which were always in production and then there would be various secondary products - stuff like Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Epic, BFG and so forth. These secondary products had a very specific lifespan, they'd be full retail for a while (long enough for the main box and the expansion to sell properly) then they'd be moved to Mail Order and after that Specialist Games. So Gorkamorka wouldn't have remained in production for longer than it did because the next secondary system would be waiting to take over, however commercial success would certainly open the possibility of a second edition later on in the rotation of secondary games. Of course if the game continued to do well during its MO/Specialist Games phase then there may have been additional support for it in WD later on although new miniatures or boxed product would be unlikely.

**
If you could go back and rewrite a few bits would you make any changes?**

Gorkamorka was very much a product of its time and that time was 2nd Ed. 40k. As such it was limited by the constraints of that system. I think that a new 40k skirmish game along the lines of Gorkamorka or Necromunda using the post 3rd Ed. framework would be a great game and I'd love to see it. As it is however I think that Gorkamorka stands as probably the best expression of the 2nd Ed 40k system so I wouldn't change that.

**
What do you feel are the major differences between the community surrounding GW specialist games during the 90s and today? Do you feel the development of the Internet has changed things much?**

The internet has changed the Specialist Games division in ways that are almost too huge to properly put into words. Simply, I think that the internet is the natural home of the Specialist Games as the traditional publishing channels that GW used prior to that simply weren't adequate. Back then there was the Citadel Journal which had a tiny circulation compared to WD and that was pretty much it. Very occasionally you'd see a WD article covering one of the Specialist Games but they were rare and the coverage was patchy. Now, we have the living rulebooks and a collaborative effort by fans all around the world to keep their favourite systems current. I think that's fantastic and it's what SG always should have been.

**
What prompted the factions in Digganob and how involved were you in its creation?**

Digganob was almost entirely Gav's baby. As far as I recall, the main points of the expansion were thrashed out between him and Andy and then we made them. I built some prototypes of the Grot vehicles which were used as the basis for the final production miniatures and I also wrote some of the colour text. He and I did a lot of playtesting and of course I gave him my feedback and we talked a lot about the various elements such as the background and the rules but the creative direction plus the vast majority of the writing was all Gav.

**
Perhaps it's a silly question, but do you have any particular favourites within the realms of greenskins; a particular unit or clan?**

I really like the clans, I think they add a great deal of depth to the race which would otherwise be somewhat one dimensional. Back in 2nd Ed. I had a Freebooterz force which I loved for the super flamboyant miniatures. Nowadays I would have to say that my favourite Orks are the old metal Kommandos. I love the idea of Orky special forces with their woollen hats and demolitions gear. They have so much character and humour without being cartoonish.

**
Lastly, were there any particularly memorable moments during your work on Gorkamorka?**

I remember playing Gorkamorka with my friends just before it was released and, between the unending stream of nob jokes that characterised our sessions, there was a point where we all just looked at each other and said 'This game is simply brilliant, this is going to be awesome'. And we were right.

Thank you so much, Iain! if you’ve got any other questions for him post them in the comments as we may do a follow up interview.

If you’d like to see more stuff from Iain check out his website Antipwn.

As a big fan of both The Warriors and fire I couldn’t resist the urge to write something to let the Diggas wreak fiery havoc on their enemies. They may be the underdogs but they’ve got a lot of fight in them!

Firewater is both a strong liquor and an excellent weapon. Add a burning rag and you’ve got a Molotov Cocktail in a pinch.

I drew some concept art to go with the rules but it didn’t turn out so well – so I gave the doodle to Clayton and he came up with this bit of awesomeness.

Can you dig it?

Download PDF

This document was written by Benjamin Fox and contains artwork created by Clayton Tait. It’s licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike license.

Happy new year, everyone!

We’re back from our festive down time and have various things we’ve been working on over the holiday period. Lots of them aren’t quite done yet, but needless to say you’ll see them soon enough.

In the meantime check out these rather cool trash bases. Ideal for scrap counters we reckon. Thanks to Jamie Heath over at Vague Connections for that tip!

There’s some pretty cool other stuff over at Micro Art Studio too, like these commie gobbos:

They’re pretty awesome, we think you’ll agree!

Today we’ve got a guest article written by Boss Gobbstompa who you might have met over on The Waaagh. He also has a blog where you can find out more. Over to you, Gobbstompa:

My name is Boss Gobbstompa. Most of my experience with Orks, so far, is in the modelling department. I’m the biggest mag-freak at my LGS and am a 10 year veteran of Warhammer 40k. I’ve always had a love for Orkz, though I never collected them seriously until this year. One of my quirks is that whenever I get into something new, I research it exhaustively until I’m up to speed with many of the other veterans of the area. Part of this led me to Gorkamorka. I’ve yet to play my first game, but it didn’t take me long to put together my first warband, fully magnetized of course.

However, I think I managed to approach my warband differently from many other players. I’ve noticed an overwhelming majority of players that get a Nob, a Spanna and a bunch of boyz and load them all up in a trukk. This certainly seems effective, but it is common with Ork warbands. One of the greatest weapons Orkz have is their unpredictable nature. So with this in mind, I set out to be an unpredictable warband. I went with bikes.

Having all my boyz in one trukk reminded me too much of “All your eggs in one basket.” If something happens to that trukk, then I’m walkin’ everywhere and I hate walkin’. It also means that my opponent only has to really keep his eye on one target, which is not the kind of challenge I want to present to him. Another thing that shouted, “Bikes!” was that I chose a warband of Morkers. Morkers are inherently better drivers. All their boyz have access to the Driving skills, not just Nobz and Spannaz. So bikes it was. There is, however, a design problem with bikes. They’re small. The stock bike has absolutely zero transport capacity, though there are rules for transporting passengers on a bike (They don’t get protected by the vehicle’s armor. Sucks to be them).

This got me thinking. How could I carry a passenger adequately without having an armored compartment on the bike? I dove into my bitz box, thinking like a mek, and came up with a solution. Rhino side hatches. One of these little puppies is a perfect size to hold one model on it, and looks like something an Ork would grab and weld onto his bike for an exposed platform to carry one unlucky passenger. This allows for a couple of strategies. I can concentrate all my fire power onto one target by driving my bikes in a group. This gives three linked Shootaz, plus any weapons that the passengers are carrying. If I find myself in a situation that calls for a little divide and conquer, I can split the bikes up and drive around collecting scrap and rapidly redeploying my forces while my opponent has to decide which of the three he actually wants to go after (same reason any animal travels in packs). Having bikes with limited and exposed transport space is balanced by the fact that I can’t be boarded. I also have the advantage, when going against Muties, of having wingmen to watch each other’s back instead of having one vehicle as the target for every hostile on the board. With the driving abilities that will open up to the Bikerz when they gain experience, it will be easier to do crazy things with the bikes, and they’re generally faster than everything else since they get their first Boost for free.

But, now that I’ve settled on how I’m going to deliver my boyz into the thick of it, I need to figure out what they’re going to do once they get there. I had the choice of running a bunch of standard, rank-and-file Slugga/Choppa boyz, or make them each with their own style and focus. I went with individualism because it’s something that’s very difficult to do on a 40k level with Orkz.

Now, I needed some dedicated anti-vehicle power because of my total lack of Big Gunz. For this, I made one of my Bikerz with Krak Stikkbombz. I figure he can catch anything and get close enough to lob one of these bad boyz into something important while on a bike, so he’s my travelling anti-tank missile. Since he’s also most likely to get closest to vehicles, I put a dedicated hand-to-hand boy as his passenger. Slugga/Choppa and bad attitude, I’ll probably groom him for the nastiest fighting, either jumping off the bike onto trukkz and trakkz, or just jumping off the bike onto enemies. Either way, he’s jumping off the bike.

After that, I needed some dedicated ranged anti-infantry. For this, I went with a Biker armed with Frag Stikkbombz and a passenger with a Blunderbuss. This will make for some mean strafing runs on groups of enemies on the ground.

My nob, being the biggest and da ‘ardest, gets to ride around on his bike with my spanner. The spanner has a simple shoota, but the nob got a choppa, slugga and frag stikkbombz. He’s a bit of an all-comers kinda fighter. He also kinda acts a bit like a body guard for the Spanna since if my Spanna bites it, I’m gonna have a serious problem with my bikes.

Because GoMo is so vehicle-centric, one of the first things that young nobz should invest in is probably a second spanna. Someone that can step in and take over the duties of the primary spanna if, Mork forbid, they get iced somewhere out on the Skid. Just remember that this extra spanna is still going to need someplace to ride so you may want to save up until you have enough for at least a bike for him, if not a full-on trukk/trakk/buggy. Now, this advice is mostly for Ork mobs (including Freebootaz) and Dark Eldar mobs (If you’re playing with those rules). Diggaz have no limitation on Spannaz, Muties don’t use vehicles, while Dust Rats and Grotz are so different that the advice listed above simply doesn’t apply.

Anyway, that’s why I chose a biker mob!

Sorry about that folks, our web hosts were having some serious issues with traffic, crippling our server for the last few days. This seem to have been sorted out now, but we’d like to apologise for the inconvenience, and congratulate the nine intrepid web users that still managed to access the site despite the heavy load!

With any luck we’re out of the proverbial woods now, so normal service should be resumed as of now. Having said that, if the site goes down again, don’t panic, we’ll be back.