Heavily-muscled, aggressive, eight-foot-tall fungal thugs with a love of warfare, the Orks were a spacefaring peril long before the human Imperium entered the galactic scene. Spread evenly across the galaxy, for the most part they are an irritant to any other inhabitants, like lazy, belligerent neighbours. But occasionally, as a swarm of locusts, the scattered tribes and clans form into a Waaagh! – something between a crusade and a riot – and devastate entire sectors until they run out of things to fight and fall instead into internecine warfare.
Infantry
Ork Boyz are the heart and soul of any warband. They charge into battle in a great mass, crashing into the enemy like a green landslide. The average Ork Boy is mean-tempered and exceptionally tough, more than compensating for his lack of intellect with a talent for violence.
The richest and most battle-hardened nobz can become Meganobz by paying a Mek to build them a suit of mega armour. Though other Orks mock the Meganobz for wearing such armour, only the dullest would do so within earshot. Even a direct hit from a tank is unlikely to do more than knock a Meganob over, worsening his already foul temper.
An Ork Warboss is the strongest, toughest, loudest and most violent Ork in his tribe. These massive greenskins seize the lion’s share of the loot from every fight, meaning they are usually armed and armoured better than any of their followers.
Tankbustas are Orks who have become completely addicted to the thrill of destroying the armoured fighting vehicles of their foes. Their desire to hunt down and slay the biggest, most dangerous tanks they can find echoes the primal instinct of the big game hunter.
Whenever an Ork needs something building, be it a shiny new shoota or the boss’ new ride, they go straight to the Meks. Without Mekboyz, Orks would lack for light, power, transport, and even guns (they lack for sanitation regardless, but that’s another story).
Weirdboyz are the most psychically attuned of all Orks. They are capable of vomiting blasts of Warp energy that can reduce foes to molten goop in seconds.
Often referred to by other Orks as Doks, Painboyz are the greenskin equivalent of both surgeons and dentists. They are driven to perform exploratory surgery on living creatures just as Mekboyz are driven to fiddle with machinery.
Vehicles
Ork Battlewagons rumble to war on a collection of tracks, tyres and massive spiked rollers. Whether lumbering gun-fortresses, bright red speedsters or gaudy rust buckets smeared with Ork glyphs, Battlewagons are massive slabs of motorised junk built to carry big mobs of greenskins into battle.
What they lack in survivability, Warbuggies make up for in speed, numbers and dakka. They encircle the enemy in speeding squadrons, guns blazing wildly while their crew throw their heads back and howl like Madboyz.
The Killa Kans’ grot pilots put their relative skill with firearms to good use, blowing the zog out of anything unlucky enough to cross their path. Despite being hardwired into a ten-foot tall killing machine, Killa Kan pilots still retain a good degree of Gretching cowardice. As a result they still believe in safety and numbers, and have a bad habit of losing their nerve under fire.
Streaking into battle through war-scorched skies, a Dakkajet’s massive thruster leaves an oily contrail of black smoke in its wake even as its guns spit streams of bullets at the foe. Though not as nimble as the aircraft of some other races, Dakkajets are capable of an incredible turn of speed that makes them a fearsome enemy to face in aerial combat. It also helps that Orks fly like complete headcases.
Burna-bommers are the inevitable by-product of the Orks’ love for speed, fire, and the desire to combine these things while killing something. Strapped with as many incendiary bombs and rockets as is physically feasible, Burna-bommers streak low over the battlefield, raining conflagrant death down on tightly-packed enemy infantry.
Deffkoptas buzz across the battlefield, weaving through the sky on a trail of foul-smelling smoke. As they swoop low over the heads of the enemy, the fiendish Ork flying machines fire punishing salvoes of shot, rokkits and bomms into their midst.
The roar of Mek Gunz has heralded the end for many a hapless foe. Spitting out blasts of crackling energy, swatting planes out of the air or crushing their victims in fists of bright green force, these big, clanky field guns have enough dakka to stomp even the toughest target.
Squiggoths are Orkoid monstrosities, towering hulks made of little more than muscle and bad temper. They are distantly related to Squigs and have all savagery and single-mindedness of their smaller cousins, but Squiggoths can grow so large that they dwarf tanks and even buildings.
A Gorkanaut is everything an Ork aspires to be. Massive, tough, loud and destructive, its blocky silhouette looms menacingly over friend and foe alike. From its hulking, orkoid shape to the brutal weapons it wields, a Gorkanaut epitomises the unsubtle brutality of Gork and hi no-nonsense way of war. Every Gorkanaut is essentially a massively overbuilt armoured war suit bristling with dakka and packing an armoured claw the size of a Killa Kan.