Remember mailing lists?

I don’t and am still amazed that they exist in 2011, however they apparently still do. There’s a Gorkamorka one over on Yahoo! Groups that has existed since at least 2002, perhaps longer.

It’s been virtually dead for most of the time tUGS has been active, but in June it suddenly woke up again, although it’s still not that active (In 2010 it had 9 messages posted, but in June 2011 it had 12).

If you’re curious, head over here and take a look. You probably need a Yahoo! account or some such, ugh.

Development on the Feral Orks is going well and playtesting is back on track. We’re nearly ready to go open beta with these guys but there’s a few things that need to be tidied up first. Today you can take a look over the mob structure they use.

Creating a Feral Ork Mob

Brute

These monsters are pretty much the peak of Ork physiology. Standing head and shoulders above the average Nob, they’re several dozen kilos of more of muscle and sinew but that is not without its drawbacks. These Orks are by Feral Ork standards quite intelligent, which translates in reality to being dumb as three short planks. They tend to be more assured than the average Nob as no other mob members would question his dominance as long as he’s still bigger than them. While respect isn’t quite the word for what they feel towards the Weirdboyz, they understand that with a Weirdboy in tow they win more battles and they understand that if they club the little runt over the head, horrible green lightning bolts might part their head from their shoulders..

Weirdboy

Technically the brains behind Feral Ork society, these runty little things possess a deep connection into the Waaagh!! which gives them special abilities over Squigs, the Orky mind and occasionally the power to manifest strange and deadly effects. The bigger Feral Orks respect them for the abilities to aid in the capture of dangerous squigs and more recently, their ability to make their enemies stand still and gawp while a choppa comes for their head.

Wild Boyz

These boyz are generally bigger than the average Ork Boy and are often around the size of a new Nob. It seems that generally over time they do become a little brighter than the Fickies that they start out as. They learn from experience, albeit slowly and are generally in charge of keeping a small group of the Fickies focussed on the current beating at hand, lest they begin knocking lumps out of each other.

Fickies

If there was a queue to get their supply of Cunnin’ from Gork (or Mork) in the past, these guys weren’t even near the back of the line. They were still in bed or being fascinated by a shiny piece of metal. Thicker than a space hulk hull and about as quick as frozen molasses, these guys make up the bulk of any Feral Ork mob. They understand a few concepts such as "Hit that" and yummies and a few of the brighter ones even dream of there being more yummies to come and bigger things to hit. These rare souls would be on the fast track to promotion. Except that they often get hit over the head and their yummies taken while they sit contemplating these deep philosophical issues.

Squiggoths

Grown in the higher mountains of Angelis, these massive squigs have been domesticated by some of the more ambitious Feral Orks to help deal with the concept of how to carry as much yummies as possible back to the camp. The reasoning behind this was that if something as big as da Boss can carry this much, then something this big can carry this much back to the camp. Recently, some of them have been fitted with ballistae and other weapons to be carried into battle to help even the odds against the much shootier but runtier Orks of Mektown (Or Da Shiny Camp as the Feral Orks think of it).

Squig Riders

A few Boyz manage to develop a special relationship with some Squigs they meet out in the wilds, in that they manage to get the squig not to eat them on sight. With practice, dedication and the sacrifice of a lot of smaller squigs, these ridin’ squigs have been trained to carry a Wild Boy into battle. With a terrifying roar, a massive mouth full of teeth and the endearing habit of chewing on just about anything put in front of it, these creatures add extra mobility and punch to any mob.

It’s been a while but today we’d like to bring you the last scenario ever published by Games Workshop for Gorkamorka from Citadel Journal 38, July 2000.

Written by Nicholas Piachaud and Dalga Faik, this scenario is based on From Dusk till Dawn, a film many of you are familiar with. As IMDB puts it:

Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in an establishment populated by vampires, with chaotic results.

It’s not quite that simple though, as it is also influenced by Aliens and the like. There’s Tyranid genestealers, genestealer hybrids, and assorted chaos. Designed for mobs with high ratings it’s a toughie and could possibly be classified as mini-campaign, as it’s a two parter. Have a read, give it a go, and let us know what you make of it.

Download PDF

Over on the Waaagh Ryan has got in touch with me to tell me about a new site for awesome looking conversion bits that both myself and Matt feel you should all see, Puppets War.

First off their awesome Gringo Orcs:

Sculpted by Adrian Gawe, they’re available with and without accessories. You can even get the accessories on their own if you’re looking for some six-shootas.

Next up, Red Army Orcs!

Not bad, eh?

I personally think they’re awesome. Apparently there’s more to come too, so keep an eye on their site.

They’ve also got a whole load of different heads for humans and similar, as well as human scaled bionics which might be handy if your Dust Rats get a bit dinged up.

I think I’ll see about getting them added to our side bar. That’s all for today. Lots of work on the Feral Orks still to do!

Well, no, but a bit more at least.

A little more information on the Feral Orks. You might notice their origins story is much shorter than the Dust Rats one I wrote a while back. That’s almost entirely due to Feral Orkz being much simpler to explain than the Dust Rats. They’re Orkz. Just a bit dimmer.

I’m working on a Developers Commentary article for them as well so as more information comes out, you can also see how we arrived at the rules we did.

Oh and don’t go forgetting Buzrag either. I’ve got plans for him in the future. Poor sod.

Today, the Feral Orks are no more advanced technologically than they were around the time they were first spotted. They are however greatly xenophobic and every once in a while, a particularly strong Weirdboy will form a warband that sends raiding parties out in Da Skid looking for better food, people to kill and generally just to have a good hard bash at causing trouble.

While they overtly display a much stronger connection to the Waaagh!! than the Mektown orks, they lack almost all of the genetic knowledge regarding to mechanics and weapons building. However, these orks breed even faster than normal orks, are much bigger to start with thanks to the higher moisture and nutrient rich ashes of the dormant volcanos beneath the Howling Hills and while even thicker than the average concrete bunker take quite well to direction from a suitably large leader. There’s almost none of the backstabbing for control and jostling for position that the Mektown orks have. It’s much simpler than that. Da biggest is also da ‘ardest. He’s da Boss.

Perhaps however these would’ve been the closest to “peaceful” orks ever to spawn, with a simple command structure and no wants or desires beyond the next meal. Until Weirdboy came to town.

Weirdboy probably once had a name of his own but it’s long forgotten. Kicked out of Mektown and refused shelter anywhere near other civilised orks due to his unfortunate habit of making their heads blow up. A nob had gone to the brewhouse one morning to gather his boyz for battle and found them all headless and dead in the bar, with Weirdboy lying in the centre of it all, moaning and clutching his head. Thinking quickly, Buzrag clubbed Weirdboy over his head, threw him on the back of the trukk and drove him out into the desert and dumped him there. As Weirdboy woke up, he heard Buzrag screaming over the engines of his trukk. “ZOGGIN WEIRDBOY!!”.

How long Weirdboy wandered the desert isn’t known. His initial runty size makes it hard to determine how old he is, given that in Mektown he’d still be on the small side. However as he moved farther away from Mektown, his head began to clear and Weirdboy heard it for the first time. The sound was almost like music. It drew him across the desert and into the Howling Hills. And after weeks of wandering he found the Fungus Grove. He was greeted by all the other Weirdboys of the camp. The asked him what his name was and he told them his name was Weirdboy. The orks were stunned. The father of their society had returned. They begged him to tell them what they were to do next, having built the society he modelled. And Weirdboy spoke to them.
“Furst, I wants a good bit of yummies! Then I wants to go break some stuff!!”

As a little more info, a Feral Ork mob can be made up of Brutes, Weirdboyz, Wildboyz and Fickies. In place of vehicles they have Ridin’ Squigz and Squiggoths.  If you want to start considering a Feral Ork mob, think Warhammer Fantasy for the Orkz and you aren’t too far off.

Stay Green folks!