31 Dec 2009

Progress Update

Filed under: News

This site is still under construction, although lots of the grunt work is now done.
Currently the main road-block to progress is all these celebrations – Christmas, New Year and the associated parties and bank holidays.

Yeah, that sounds pretty lame but it’s a very real issue in this case as we’ve got several pieces of half-finished terrain that can’t be finished until some more spray paint arrives. Irritatingly the company we used to buy from has stopped selling most paint, instead launching its own line. That’s all well and good, but seeing as they don’t sell black, they’re useless. Who doesn’t sell black?!

Without black paint we can’t easily undercoat big pieces of terrain, but we’ve ordered some now from Monster Colors so with any luck it’ll be with us soon enough. Once that’s done we can put up some articles about making terrain. Also, with those pieces out of the way we should have space to start on some fresh stuff and get rolling with creating stuff for the site.

We’ve been working on some ideas for new factions for Gorkamorka. Currently playable factions are as follows: Freebootaz, Diggas, Gorkers, Morkers, Muties, and Rebel Grots. That’s six, including the expansion pack, Digganob, and the mob listing in Gubbinz, which might not sound too many, but consider that Necromunda had six gangs in its basic rule book, Mordheim had eight.

This is why we are attempting to add additional factions, although we don’t want to introduce any that require significant re-writing of the background text. We’re not planning on trying to shoe-horn in Space Marines, for example. Currently favoured factions are an additional ork faction, bringing the number up to four. Given that the game is primarily focused on orks, we don’t feel this is too daft.

To provide a middle ground between the hilarity of Gorkamorka and the more tactical play of Necromunda we are attempting to craft a human faction who play significantly differently from the Diggas.

In terms of where we’re up to at the moment, the background for the factions is in the early stages, the general mob structure is starting to take shape, and the models for each are becoming clearer.
When we eventually get things finished we’d like to release the rules, an example listing or two, and a modelling guide for each faction. Whilst the listing alone would be enough, we want to do a thorough job and give players a feel for each faction.

Included with that lot we hope to have some artwork and maybe a little bit of fiction to go with them. These will make up one component of the planned expansion “Da Skid”.

Who will play Da Skid? We honestly don’t know, other than ourselves. But given that Gorkamorka is one of our favourite games of all time, we would like to make sure that there is some decent fan-made content out there for it.

Our only concern is that GW will try to hassle us, which doesn’t seem that unlikely, given their reputation. Maybe we’ll not have any problems, we’ll see how it goes.

Here’s some rules written by Tim “Majere” Peers, found here originally. We’ve not playtested them ourselves but feel free to give them a shot and let us know how it goes!

Update: You can now get these rules as a PDF here.

 

Snorta Nob

Cost to recruit: 16 teef

M
WS
BS
S
T
W
I
A
LD
Snorta Nob
7
4
4
3
4
1
3
2
7(8)

Weapons: You may arm the Nob with weapons and equipment from the Hand-to-Hand Weapons, Armour and Stikkbombz lists.

Leadership: Your leader only becomes a fully fledged Nob once he has won a battle. His Leadership then rises to 8 automatically. Until he becomes a Nob your leader cannot attempt to buy custom jobs as the Meks refuse to deal with someone of such low status. Once he is a Nob other Orks make way for him in the street and don’t gob on him so much.

Herderz
Cost to recruit: 10 teef

M
WS
BS
S
T
W
I
A
LD
Herder
7
3
3
3
4
1
2
2
7

Weapons: You may arm the Herder with weapons and equipment from the Hand-to-Hand Weapons, Gunz, Armour and Stikkbombz lists. They may also use any Slaverz stuff except for the Grabba Stikk (not much good on boarz…)

Special: Herderz are responsible for training and looking after the ferocious and bad-tempered war boarz. Every Herder in your mob allows you to have three other Snortas (so with one Herder you may have a total of four gang members including the Herder himself). Herderz are exceptionally good at controlling their boarz, and so they are allowed to fire Gunz whilst riding. (see special rules for Snortas)

Snorta Boyz
Cost to recruit: 9 teef

M
WS
BS
S
T
W
I
A
LD
Snorta Boy
7
3
3
3
4
1
2
2
7

Weapons: You may arm your Boyz with weapons and equipment from the Hand-to-Hand Weapons, Armour and Stikkbombz lists.

Snorta Yoofs
Cost to recruit: 6 teef

M
WS
BS
S
T
W
I
A
LD
Snorta Yoof
7
2
2
3
3(4)
1
2
2
7

Weapons: You may arm your Yoofs with weapons and equipment from the Hand-to-Hand Weapons, Armour and Stikkbombz lists.

Toughness: Snorta Yoofs gain +1 Toughness when they get enough experience to become a Boy, just like other Yoofs.

(Pale) Green Rider: Controlling a boar is difficult even for a full-fledged Snorta Boy- for a lowly Yoof it’s almost impossible! If the Yoof fires a shot from a pistol, or if a Stikkbomb goes off within 4″ of the Yoof, then roll 2D6. If the total is greater than the Yoof’s Leadership, then his boar will Run Amok! (See special rules) When he becomes a Boy, the Ork is no longer affected by this rule.

 

Snorta Special Rules

Boarz: All members of a Snorta Mob ride ferocious War Boarz. Exactly where these unpleasant porkers came from isn’t clear, but just like Squigs they always seem to turn up wherever Orks do.

Movement: An Ork riding a War Boar moves at 7″. Snortas can charge and gallop in exactly the same way as muties, but since Boarz are considerably less co-operative than Mutie Beasts, Snortas cannot usually fire on the gallop, or set Overwatch. Snortas cannot hide.

Shooting from a Boar: Snortas have a 90 degree fire arc to the front just like a footer. It usually takes an Ork at least one hand to keep his Boar going in vaguely the right direction, so Gunz may not be used from a Boar, except by Herderz.

Shooting at Snortas: Shooting at a Snorta follows the same procedure as normal. If the Snorta moves at over 10″, there is an additional -1 to hit modifier due to the speed (and dustcloud!) Snortas are not driven off by enemy fire like Muties are.

Close Combat: Snortas gain +1 Attack in close combat due to the viciousness of the Boar. (this is included in their profile) The close combat is otherwise worked out as normal.

Saving Throws: A Snorta gains +1 to his saving throw (giving a save of 6+ if no armour is worn)

Picking up and carrying Scrap Counters: Snortas must stop for a turn to pick up Scrap just like Muties, they suffer no movement penalty for carrying it and may only carry one counter.

Attacking Vehicles: Snortas do not dismount in battle. When they attack a vehicle they test initiative as normal, but do not board the vehicle. A Snorta who successfully attacks a vehicle fights a crew member as normal, but the crewman will only fall off his vehicle if he goes down, and the Snorta is simply moved out of contact with the vehicle if he loses, in addition to any wounds he may take. The vehicle may move away from the Snorta in its next movement phase as normal, but may not sideswipe the Snorta.

Snortas and Forts: Snortas cannot climb fort walls, and therefore will need to destroy the gate of the fort to get in. Snortas count as footers when trying to get through holes in the gate.

Boar Amok! Boarz don’t like being ridden, they don’t like Orks and they don’t like each other. They’re not that fond of Muties, Grots, Diggers, rocks or Trukks either. In fact, about the only thing Boarz do like is running about biting things. Should something happen to sever the bond between Ork and Boar (in other words, should the Ork let go of the Boarz ‘urtybitz) then the boar will Run Amok. The following things cause this amusing event:
Rider goes down: A Boar automatically Runs Amok if its rider goes Down. If the rider goes Out of Action, the Boar runs away- remove the model as usual.
Gets Bitten: Amok Boarz bite everything in sight, including other boarz. If an Amok Boar moves within 1″ of another Boar, then the rider must pass a Leadership test or his Boar runs Amok as well!
Gets Rammed: Any attempt to Sideswipe or Run Over a Snorta will not be taken well. Once the attack has been resolved, the rider must pass a Leadership test to control his Boar, even if the attack missed or did no damage.
Grabbin’ Scrap: Grabbing a Scrap counter means letting go of the Boar. Oops. The rider must test his Ld after digging up some scrap. If he fails, the Boar runs Amok, but the Scrap is still collected.

Amok Boarz: An Amok Boar moves D6″ in a random direction at the start of each of its movement phases. If the rider is still active, he may not shoot- he’s too busy hanging on, shouting and hitting the Boar on the head! In the recovery phase, the rider may make a Leadership test, and if he passes then the Boar comes back under control and may move normally from then on. If an Amok Boar moves into an enemy model then the Snorta counts as charging and the Boar immediately comes back under control- it’s found something to bite! Amok Boarz also recover and fight normally if charged by the enemy. If an Amok Boar moves into the enemy whilst its rider is Down, then the rider is taken Out of Action and the model is removed. Amok Boarz will never attack vehicles- if its movement would move the Boar into a vehicle or other obstacle the Boar stops 1″ away.

 

Snortas in Campaigns

Snorta Scenarios: Snortas are treated exactly like a normal Ork mob when deciding which scenario to play. Whenever a scenario allows the use of a vehicle, the Snortas get two warriors instead, plus any extra warriors allowed. If attacking in Da Trap, the Snortas deploy in the same way as Muties.

Serious injuries: Snortas take Serious inuries as normal, and may visit the Docs as normal. The only exception is with a Leg Wound- the Snorta is not slowed down because he’s riding a Boar, but he does suffer -1 Ld per Leg Wound when trying to stop his Boar running Amok- he can’t kick it quite as hard anymore..

Kustom Legs: Kustom Legs have the following effect on Snortas:

  • Peg Leg: -1 Ld when testing to control a Boar
  • De-Lux Kicking Leg: The warrior does not gain the Kick attack, but he does receive +1 Ld to control his Boar. (Kop dis, piggy!) This may take his leadership for the test above 9! The warrior also gains an extra 1″ movement in any Boar Race he takes part in.
  • Telescopic Legs: The warrior’s movement is unchanged, but he can use his extra long legs to climb Fort walls (Boar and all!) or board vehicles like a normal footer if he wishes! Understandably, this upsets his Boar, and he must test to control it if he does not end his move in close combat.
  • Gyro-Stabilised Monowheel/Tracks/Wheels: The warrior is no longer able to ride his Boar! He is subect to all the normal rules for the bitz, but loses all bonuses from the Boar. (Including one Attack) He is allowed to use Gunz now, however.

Death of a Herder: If a Snorta mob ends up with too few Herderz, it’s bad news all round. The Boars won’t get fed or looked after properly, and that makes them mad! Until the mob has enough Herders again, every member of the mob except for any remaining Herders suffer from the Pale Green Rider rule like Yoofs!

Leadership Challenges: The only sort of infighting a Snorta Mob can suffer from is a Leadership challenge. Herderz never challenge for leadership- they’re far to busy keeping the Boars in line. Being Snortas, the Boyz don’t settle the argument in the traditional way in Mektown. Instead, roll on the following table:

1-2: Boar Race
3-4: Mounted Fight
5-6: Bucking Boar Riding

Boar Race: Who can ride fastest on a Boar? The Boyz set out across the desert to find out! Put the two Snortas side by side, and mark a finish point 48 ” away. Both Snortas move D6″ plus their Toughness towards the point simultaneously- first one there wins! If both Snortas arrive during the same move, then the whole thing degenerates into a Mounted Fight!

Mounted Fight: The Boyz fight it out in close combat with all their ususual weapons and equipment. Neither side counts as charging. The Snortas gain experience for wounding hits as normal.

Bucking Boar Riding: The Boyz are each lowered onto the biggest, meanest Boar the mob has, and someone gives it a hefty whack! Both Boyz struggle to hang on longer than the other one. Roll 5D6 for each Boy in the challenge, and count how many are equal to or less than the Boy’s strength. Whoever scores the most wins! If the result is a tie, then both Boyz pick themselves up and start the contest again.

 

Snorta Advances

The maximum profile for a Snorta is as follows:

M
WS
BS
S
T
W
I
A
Ld
SuperSnorta!
7
6
6
4
5
3
5
4
9

Note that the bonuses for riding a Boar are included.

Snortas gain experience exactly like other Ork Mobz, although they get slightly different skills:

Gorkasnortas

Muscle
Ferocity
Riding
Cunnin’
Dakka
Odd
Nob
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Herder
Y
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Boy
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N
Yoof
Y
Y
N
N
N
N

Morkasnortas

Muscle
Ferocity
Riding
Cunnin’
Dakka
Odd
Nob
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Herder
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Boy
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
Yoof
N
N
Y
Y
N
N

Skills Notes

Snortas benefit from skills in the same way as other mobs, and have access to Riding skills instead of Driving. The following skills are affected:

Gotcha! (Ferocity Skill) Re-roll this skill.
Duck N’ Weave: (Cunnin’ Skill) Works as normal as if the Snorta was on foot.
Play Dead: (CunninSkill) Re-roll this skill (Boars can’t act!)
Tinkerer: (Odd Skill) Re-roll this skill.
Fixer: (Odd Skill) Re-roll this skill.
Back Seat Driver: (Odd Skill) The warrior has an exceptionally loud voice and intimidates Boars any chance he gets. Any Snortas within 6″ of the Snorta with this skill may use his leadership when trying to control their Boar.
Expert Aim: (Riding Skill) Treat this skill as if it was Hipshoota (Dakka Skill)- the warrior may fire while galloping at -1 to hit. If the warrior has both Expert Aim and Hipshoota, he may fire at the gallop with no penalty.

 

Going to Mektown

Snortas go to Mektown just like other Orks to get weapons Kustmised and warriors patched up. Snortas have no vehicles to Kustomise, but particularly brave Snortas may decide to take a Boar to the Doc in the hopes of creating one of the legendary Cyboars!

Docs and Boars
A single Boar may only ever visit the Doc once, since Docs refuse to mess with each other’s work. The procedure is risky at best, but there are plenty of Boars to spare, so no-one gets too upset if the Doc makes a real hash of it. Replacement Boars cost 4 teef, and the rider suffers from the Pale Green Rider rule for the next game whilst he gets used to the new Boar.
If you decide to take a Boar to the Doc, roll on Porky’s Day In:

Porky’s Day In Table

D6
Result
1-2
Does E’ do that often? The Doc has messed up badly. The Boar is so much spare ribs. The Doc has the decency not to ask for any teef for his work, but a new Boar will cost 4 teef.
3
Down Boy! The Doc performs the Serjery and everything goes well, but the Boar wakes up before the Doc expected and goes berserk! Roll on the Kustom Boar table to see what happens to the Boar. The Doc demands D6 teef for the work, plus D6 more for the damage to the workshop.
5-6
Job’s a Good ‘Un.. Waaagh da Doc! The Boar wakes up bang on schedule, and a new Cyboar is born. Roll on the Kustom Boar table to see what happens next….

Assuming all goes well, roll on the Kustom Boar table to see what happens next.

Kustom Boar Table

D6
Result
1
Frankenboar! The Doc had some bits lying around, and used them. Then he borrowed some from the Mek next door. Then he took a few bits out….. The result is a deeply weird Boar! Add D6-3″ to the Movement of the warrior riding the Boar (this may reduce his movement) Re-roll this modifier before each game. The warrior gains +1 to his saving throw due to all the metal bits. Unfortunately the Boar has lost his edge a bit- the rider must pass a Leadership test to make the Boar gallop or charge. On the plus side, this Boar will never Run Amok.
2
‘Eavy legs. The Doc tinkers about with some De-Lux kicking legs to see what he can come up with. The resulting metal-limbed monster loses 1″ of movement, but gives the warrior riding it another extra close combat attack!
3
Bikeboar! Vroom! The Doc has replaced the Boar’s rear legs with a Bike wheel, and added a hefty gas engine connected to the Boar’s digestive system. The resulting Boar lives in mortal fear of running itself over! The Boar gains +2 to its Movement, but may only cross difficult terrain at half speed. The rider suffers -1 to his Leadership when trying to control the Boar.
4
Iron Head. The head of the Boar is totally rebuilt out of metal, making it look even more vicious than before. The Doc adds to the effect by ‘accidentally’ re-plumbing the Boars digestive system so it breathes smoke and hisses nastily. The resulting beast looks so evil that not only does it cause fear, but its owner must pass a fear test before each game to pluck up the courage to ride it! If the warrior fails his test, he may try again at the start of each of his side’s turns- when he finally passes he arrives on a random table edge. If the warrior is part of a reinforcement group he will arrive with the rest of his group if he passes his fear test in time.
5
Fuel-Injection Implant. Delving deep into the Ork racial memory, the Doc fits a big, red button just between the Boar’s ears, connected to an extensive Fungus fuel system. The warrior riding the Boar can press the button at the start of any turn. The implant increases the Boar’s movement by 2″ and gives the rider an extra attack. Whenever the button is pressed, roll a D6. On a 2+ the Boar is fine and the implant works normally. On a roll of 1 the Boar gives a shrill squeal and dashes off over the horizon, carrying the hapless rider with it. The Snorta is removed as if he had gone out of action, and will suffer a serious injury on a roll of 4+.
6
Total Rebuild! The Doc’s really done it this time. He’s only gone and completely rebuilt the Boar! The result is possibly one of the only War Boars on Gorkamorka with wing mirrors.. The rider gains an additional +1 save modifier for all the tough metal plating, and +1 Leadership because the whole thing looks so impressive. There’s also enough space between the ears of the Boar to mount a single Kannon or Shoota (which can be fired by the rider instead of other shooting, and may be Kustomised), although this has to be bought seperately. Unfortunately, the thing doesn’t always, er, start. Roll a D6 before each game- on a roll of 1 the Boar isn’t working today, and its rider must stay at home.

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This document was written by Tim Peers. It’s licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

20 Dec 2009

A little about the site

Filed under: News

This site is under construction, as can clearly be seen. We don’t mean it as in the old pages one used to see, forever under construction, what we mean is that our theme is still not finished and the general structure of the site is half-done right now. It should be decently finished within the next few days, depending how much Christmas stuff takes up everyone’s concentration time.

Back in October (2009) GeoCities closed its doors, taking many sites with it. Sure, some can be had via Archive.org, but if you can’t easily search for them, sooner or later they disappear. This site may disappear one day too, but hopefully not any time soon.

We’re not on free hosting and the domain is not a free one or a subdomain. We say this to try to indicate a little about our love of Gorkamorka, a game that is very dear to us. Many of us encountered it when we were young and for some it was our first miniatures game. It saddened us to see how Games Workshop treated it and how rapidly it was killed off. More than that, its existence was practically denied until recently. Many of the models were shovelled into WH40K, but it was strangely absent from official websites. “Strangely” because Necromunda, Bloodbowl, and Mordheim all survived this purge.

IMG_2138Gorkamorka isn’t the only game this has happened to, it’s true, but the other games aren’t important to us personally. Looking online, the amount of Gorkamorka content out there is pretty slim. There’s a few sites, but few dedicated ones, fewer still that feel alive.

However, now is actually a great time to start playing Gorkamorka. Back when Gorkamorka came out a whole raft of models were released. Some were pretty good (some of the ork nobz) and others were not so good (some of the metal ork boyz).

A little while after Gorkamorka was released, third edition WH40K came out, some time later the ork codex was released and a chunk of miniatures to boot.

Over the course of fourth and fifth edition, more arrived. The big difference being both the size (aha, big difference, how droll..ugh) and the style. If you’ve seen the original orks from first and second edition WH40K, they look significantly rounder, smaller and, well, un-orky.

Gorkamorka improved this, but the revamp after that really nailed it. Now they’re as big as they should be, as chunky and savage and all the sculpting is a lot better. Our apologies if we offended any sculptors, we just really love the “new” style!

These days you can get a decent sized trukk, far better than the old one. Also available are boxes of boyz (with a nob model thrown in). For £30 you can have a decent mob with room for expansion, not bad.

Even better than that – these days the internet makes other resources much easier to obtain. These days we use Vallejo paints, they come in the same colours, have better pots and come in 17ml pots rather than 12ml Citadel ones. They’re also a hell of a lot cheaper, check this blog post Flamekebab wrote a while ago for a side-by-side comparison.

Also, with the popularity of the internet and wargaming, resources like plasticard and tools can be had for a pittance. For lots of us plasticard was a mythical material in the late 1990s. These days one can order a stack of it from eBay and have it in a couple of days.

Enough of that though, we’ll put a list in a future entry on the site perhaps.

20 Dec 2009

Hunt Da Dread

Filed under: Experimental, Scenarios

hunt-da-dread

We were hunting around for Gorkamorka related stuff online and came across this. It’s from WD 216, January 1998, which also featured two other scenarios which we’ve been unable to find. On the plus side, we’re trying to get a copy of the magazine on eBay.

HUNT DA DREAD

An industrious Mek and his Spanners uncovered an old Ork war machine in the wreckage of the Hulk. Dragging it back to his workshop, the Mek set about fixin’ it up. However, after loading all its guns, filling up its fuel tank and pressing the big ON button something went seriously wrong. Once activated the machine went on the rampage, killing the Mek and destroying the workshop! It is up to the Orks in the vicinity to destroy the marauding Dread and put an end to its destructive onslaught.

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18 Dec 2009

Sand, Nothing But Sand..

Filed under: Terrain

sand-nothing-but-sand

Here’s an old WD article from WD 219, April 1998, written by Adrian Wood. It’s not particularly great, but worth a look if you’re just starting out building terrain.

No game of Gorkamorka is complete without terrain to fight over. The Gorkamorka boxed game itself has lots of card models inside to get you started from the amazing card fort to the plastic sprues which contain oil drums, barricades and fuel cans. But have you ever though about making some of your own Gorkamorka terrain to go alongside it? Grand Warlord Adrian Wood has a go…

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