40K: Great Orks Of Orkstory
Alright listen up, it’s Orktober and that means it’s time to take a look at Orkstory and see the giants whose shoulders the gitz of the current day are standing upon.
Throughout Orkstory there have been great Orks who have changed the course of the many worlds the green tide has spread to. These kunning thinkers and brilliant takticians that have elevated the Orks from merely dangerous to a deadly unstoppable Waaagh!!! that will krump any git what tries to stand in the way of it. But great war leaders are only part of the equation. There are great thinkers and philosophers as well–let’s take a look at some of the greatest Orks to ever have lived.
Ghazghkull Mag-Uruk Thraka
Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the Waaagh!, known in the Imperium as The Beast of Armageddon, is the Ork Warlord of Waaagh! Ghazghkull and currently the most notorious Warboss of the 41st Millenium. He is infamous for his actions during both the Second and Third Armageddon Wars. Ghazghkull is a particularly megalomaniacal Ork, convinced he is blessed by the Ork gods Gork and Mork. He possesses a considerable measure of cunning, and in battle he tends to focus more on commanding his troops compared to other Warbosses, only engaging in combat himself at critical moments.
He’s among the most successful Warlords of all time, after conquering Armageddon–the place so nice he invaded it Thrice, Ghazghkull has since gotten bigger, beefier, and betterer.
Orkimedes
Orkimedes is one of the most infamous Ork Mek Boyz. Acting as the personal Mek Boy of the even more infamous Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, Orkimedes is perhaps most famous for his tellyporta technology which was used to devastating effect by Ork forces during the Third War for Armageddon.
Orkimedes is a mysterious figure in Ghazghkull’s army, so much so that his exact existence has never been verified. Instead, the Imperium has only encountered his handiwork on Armageddon such as up-gunned Gargants and submarines. Currently, he is one of the most actively sought-out targets by the Officio Assassinorum.
Snikrot
A notorious Ork Kommando, Snikrot was originally the Kommando Boss for Warboss Killzkar, acting as his personal assassin and executioner. When Killzkar’s forces besieged and conquered the mining planet of Dulma’lin, Snikrot led a series of ambushes against the small force of Catachan Jungle Fighters tasked with sabotaging the Ork’s war efforts, eventually coming face to face with their leader, Colonel “Iron Hand” Straken. One of the few to face Colonel Straken and live, probably.
They never found his body. Snikrot is a testament to Ork kunnin. Snikrot and his legendary commandos are the only Orks that the famed Armageddon Ork Hunters fear. In fact the legend of Snikrot is often told as a scary story in Armageddon, for someone with so many legendary deeds and monstrosities attributed to him can surely not be real, can they?
The Arch-Maniac of Calverna
The Arch-Maniac of Calverna rose to power after conquering the forge world of Magnos Majoris, the iron heart of the Calverna system. The wily old Deathskulls Warlord then cemented his power for good by having himself wired into the almighty central processing engine of the forge world, turning himself into the biggest Cybork ever seen. Though this rather drastic step has left the Arch-Maniac all but invincible, the vast data-streams pouring into his tiny brain have also driven him quite mad. So it is that, while the Orks of the Calvernan empire are numerous and well equipped with tanks and guns, their attacks are random and display little in the way of logic or cogent strategy.
Surely the Arch-Maniac will go down in Orkstory as being the smartest Ork to ever have lived. With all the power and knowledge of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the ingenuity of the Orks, there’s no secret that will be beyond the reach of the Orks in due time.
Snagrod
Known as the Arch-Arsonist, Snagrod is the leader of the Ork Empire of Charadon and one of the most powerful Orks in the entire Galaxy. Snagrod rose to prominence after he united the warring Ork factions bordering the Loki Sector and launched a Waaagh! Snagrod, attacking the isolated Imperial Agri-World of Badlanding in 989.M41. Imperial forces noted that although Snagrod was an Ork, the Warlord showed incredible tactical savvy by utilising Imperial tactics, such as elimination of his enemies’ ability to communicate outside their star system by killing the Astropaths who would send the telepathic call for help. It was this particular strategy that allowed Snagrod’s Waaagh! to go undetected until the invasion of the planet of Badlanding, when Imperial Commissar Alhaus Baldur was able to send a desperate plea for help to the Crimson Fists Space Marines Chapter’s homeworld of Rynn’s World in the midst of a last stand.
Snagrod dueled with Pedro Kantor himself and survived. Such was the devastation of his campaign, that many of the worlds of the Loki Sector captured by Waaagh! Snagrod, including Badlanding, are still lost to the Emperor, remaining in Snagrod’s hands to this day.
These are some of the greatest Orks to ever have lived. Who do you think belongs on this list?
