Ork
The Orks are a race in Warhammer 40k. Commonly also known as "Greenskins", they're most likely the most numerous race in the entire WH40K setting, or at least at par with the Tyranids. They have a Warhammer Fantasy equivalent, only major differences being the more common spelling of orc with a "c" instead of a "k", and a lower level of technology, related to the setting.
Orks could be considered one of the more successful races of the 41st millennium. Despite their entire lack of structured education or training, they seem to be very proficient with all kinds of technology, which they inevitably utilize for their armaments (of which firearms and vehicles are the most common). This is explained away in the fluff by their origins: they were created by the Old Ones to be a warrior race called the Krork, and some of them (the Mekboyz) were genetically hard-wired to have a proficiency for working with technology. Unfortunately, the Old Ones died before they could finish their little science project; specifically the psychic control mechanism. This means they simply fight everything, everywhere, all the time. In principle, Orks can loot just about anything: the minor greenskins, such as "Grotz" (goblins) can construct several working vehicles and machines out of mere scrap.
The Orks derive much of their success from their reproductive process: Orks are, essentially, ambulatory psychosensitive fungi. One advantage is a shortage of vital organs, making them able to easily survive events such as head transplants and the fact that it's not easy to kill an individual Ork since they could very well survive injuries that would put a human to a crippled state. Another advantage is their ability to grow larger as they win more battles (due to the aforementioned psychosensitivity): an Ork who is winning a fight is enjoying himself, which causes fluctuations in the gestalt field that all Orks generate. These fluctuations supercharge the Ork's physiology, causing the Ork to gain muscle mass. In addition, their fungal physiology allows Orks to reproduce asexually. Though all Orks discharge reproductive spores throughout their lives, the most significant emissions occur when an Ork dies. This means that, for Orks, combat is their principle means of reproduction and genetic exchange, but using flamers will essentially stop them from reproducing. Reproductive spores enter the topsoil and eventually produce lesser Orks: squigs and Grotz. The Grotz cultivate the squigs in preparation for the emergence of the greater Orks, which take longer to develop. Due to this, an Ork infestation is incredibly hard to handle if kept unchecked since it won't take them long to get enough boyz to launch a full-scale Waaagh! To overrun an entire planet.
Orks only have 2 popular combat doctrines: either be choppy, which involves hacking your opponent down with anything capable of busting heads and splitting bodies open, or be shooty, which involves spitting out as much bullets in the general direction of your opponent, the louder and the faster the better since Orks don't really care much about accuracy.
Orks are commonly believed to be stupid and superstitious by the other races of the 40k world, quite an ironic thing to hear coming from any member of the Imperium of Man. HERESY!*SMASH* WHO LET WUNNOVDA HUMIES ON DIS PAGE!!
Ork technology works mainly because the Orks think it does. The official explanation is that the subconscious gestalt psychic field that all Orks generate allows their technology to function; the stronger the field, the more unlikely their technological achievements become. In older versions of the fluff, if you hand an Ork a piece of metal and convince him it's a gun, it WILL fire bullets. In later versions, this has been toned down from "impossible" to merely "unlikely:" if Ork technology is held together by spit, duct tape, and hope, then the Orks' psychic field provides the hope.
For example: a Wartrukk with a mob of Orks in it sputters and dies. Da boyz hop out and have a look. One of da boyz examines the readouts and says to the Nob driver, "Da bloody fing is outta gas!" Said Nob hits the offending Ork in the face so hard that he falls unconscious. "Look 'ere, I'z da boss, and I sez I filled this fing up righ' before we left!" The rest of da boyz look at each other, halfway convinced. He is the biggest Ork among them, and he did just prove it. Maybe he did fill it up right before they left. That's the sort of thing one does when one's in charge. Da boyz begin to file back into the Wartrukk, and with a satisfied nod, the Nob gets in and cranks her up. Because da boyz believe that there is plenty of fuel in the truck, one drop does for ten, and the Wartrukk and da boyz arrive just in time for the next fight.
The purpose for this sort of thing is primarily to compensate for the Orks' technological disadvantage by comparison with races like the Tau, Necrons, or the Eldar. For example, a meat cleaver in the hands of an Ork can tear through the toughest ceramite armor if the Ork believes it will; for anyone BUT an Ork, a power weapon or the equivalent would be required to do so. This tends to work well for them, but not for the other races of the galaxy: Imperial observers note that Ork weapons generally will not function in the hands of a non-Ork.
This said, Orky know-wots DO have a say in stuff that the Orks build. Mekboyz build much of the stuff they do because they have been genetically ingrained with the knowledge on how to make and maintain their technology. While much of their tech runs because they want to, the basis is that the Orks can actually build a conceptually working frame to get all Orky on. This explains how Orks can build such technological wonders as the Shokk Attack Gun, which propels Snotlings through the Warp and into the armor, tanks, and bodies of their enemies. Also, there have been instances of Ork tech working well in the hands of other races, at least for a time. Be careful though, most Ork players have very deep-set opinions on how Orky tech works, and debates between them can generate much RAGE.
Their philosophy of RED WUNZ GO FASTA is both BS and the ultimate truth: because of the aforementioned gestalt field, Ork vehicles painted red will, ultimately, go faster than Ork vehicles that are not painted red.
The WAAAGH! bears some note. Always written in all-caps, with at least three "As" and an exclamation point, the WAAAGH! occurs when an Ork population reaches critical mass and a Boss appears. A Boss is an Ork who is bigger than all the other Orks. Lesser Orks sense the presence of the Boss in the Orks' psychic field and follow him on what is often described as a combination of a pub crawl and a holy crusade, with a dash of genocide. The WAAAGH! accomplishes two things: it weeds out weaker Orks, keeping the species strong; and it facilitates genetic exchange and reproduction as the Orks die and release spores.
The Ork economy is based on teeth (spelled and pronounced "teef" because Orks cannot make a "th" sound). Orks produce teef constantly throughout their lives, and they always have replacements, much like a shark. If an Ork wants more teef, he simply punches a nearby Ork in the face and takes a toof or two. This is a fairly risky proposition unless there is a large difference in size between the two Orks, since an Ork who objects to losing his teef can punch back. Brawls started in this way help keep the Orks collectively strong, since brawls for teef need not be fatal. The consistent difficulty in acquiring teef keeps the currency at a steady value: larger teef are more valuable than smaller teef, so fighting Grotz for their teef is generally unproductive, meaning that Orks must generally take on Orks of their own size or greater to procure enough teef.
Ork religious beliefs also help manage their population. Orks believe in two gods, Gork and Mork. One is the god of cunning brutality and the other is the god of brutal cunning, the difference being that one hits you when you aren't looking and the other hits you harder when you are. Unfortunately, no one can decide which god is which, nor can the Orks decide which is better: cunning brutality or brutal cunning. These differences of opinion tend to lead to Gigantic Brawls, yet another method of keeping the Ork race strong.
Ork society is effectively the perfect society. The economy is steady, as teef rot. All disputes are settled fairly quickly and painfully. Once a Boss is in place, mostly everyone falls into place, and the Orks go and get shit done. If only the Imperium were so perfec-HERESY!*THUMP* WHERE DESE UMIES COMIN' FROM? BOYZ, GET TA SMASHIN'!
Special group of Orks
Apart from the regular Boyz, there are several groups of Orks who specialize in a specific task or doctrine. The most common ones are:
Kult of Speed
Speedfreaks who commonly go into the battlefield on bikes hyped up on dakka and flashy bitz, as their name suggests, they'z like getting faster than fast. On tabletop, they're one of, if not the best, biker unit for any codex, since they're really shooty, fairly cheap and they get a +4 cover save by DOING A FUCKING BURNOUT by default. They field the classic Mobile Ork Army, Which causes loads of Butthurt and Rage when people go up against them.
Mekboys
Meks are Orks who are capable of making the ramshackle yet effective weapons and vehicles the Orks use. They're primarily the ones who makes the warband's wagons, restore salvaged wagons, and create/modify weapons. Orks who lead bands of Mekboys is a "Big Mek", and is a bitch to kill on tabletop if he's kitted out. Five-up cover saves for everyone!
Oddboyz
This category is filled with Orks who express genetic predispositions to certain tasks. Here are your Mekboys (engineers), Painboys (doctors), Weirdoys (psykers), Madboyz (psychos), Slaverz (duh), Brewerz (makers of alcohol retconned), , Rockaz (orks is made'a rockin) and Shoutaz (communications experts).
Lootas
Lootas are Orks who are obsessed with pimping out their shootas by salvaging bitz from their enemies. A loota gets between 1 and 3 strength 7 shots per turn - only that low ballistics skill keeps them from being game breakers. They're also the ones who loots wrecked tanks and vehicles after a battle to use as looted wagons with the help of Mekboys.
Flash Gits
There are another group of shoota-obsessed Orks known as "Flash Gitz," rich, obnoxious Bad Moons gits who buy powerful weapons and upgrades using their large stockpiles of teeth. While they might seem powerful in fluff and are terrifyingly powerful in Dawn of War, they're nigh useless on tabletop, owning to the Orks' low BS and the fact that they're not as numerous as typical Ork boys squads, hence it's unlikely that more than 1-2 boyz in your squad will hit anyone. They would be better if they cost less or picked up one upgrade for free and bought the others. The pre-measuring rule helps though.
Freebooterz
Orks who raid and pillage the galaxy as MOTHERFUCKING PIRATES.
Kommandos
Orks who managed to figure out that charging a gunline isn't always the best option and so, dey'z the sneakiest of da Orks, thus they typically paint themselves purple, which orks believe is the sneakiest color (and because Orks are Orks, purple does in fact make them harder to see...don't ask how the fuck does that work it just does). Kommandos rely on stealth than firepower, and achieve this by using crude camouflage techniques, Speshul Forces equipment such as NVGs, various types of grenades and all those other gubbins. The concept of Orks using tactics beyond drowning their enemies in corpses and bullets is so completely out there that some Imperial commanders do not believe that Kommandos actually exist, but nobody laughed when a Kommando suddenly hi-jacked a Deathstrike Missile Launcher inside Imperial Lines and launched it at the Imperial's front lines, killing thousands including a Baneblade.
Feral Orks
Hidden away in GW fluff are these guys. This is what happens after a Waaagh! is has left your planet. They crop up in wildernesses and form tribes. They don't have technology (like shootas) or any kind of mekboys or even good resources to build junk. They are roughly on par with your fantasy orks, so you can just use your fantasy army in 40k if you can fluff your army right. Not like it matters, it's the same tactic either game. They tend to have Kommandos and Weirdboys coming out of their ears, and ride big squigs. If you don't prune them back to the forest well enough, they might sick buttloads of squiggoths on you. Snakebites love these guys, and if space-born orks pick them up, Feral Orks usually become Snakebites anyway.
See Also
- Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka
- Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter
- Ork Trek
- Deffboss
- "Da Tragedy of Hamlet, boss of Denmark" by Shake-da-boss-pole
- Tactics/Orks
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