Chapter 2: The Truth About Orkoid Physiology

“Skills seem to be genetically engineered into Orkoids. Their physicians, scientists and other specialists have their knowledge inherent in them. Think of the possibilities for training our own fighting forces if we could alter their genetic makeup so that they instinctively knew how to strip and clean a weapon, fight in close melee and had a rudimentary knowledge of strategy and tactics. Even with the genetically engineered Adeptus Astartes, it takes almost ten years of intensive therapy and physical alteration to perfect what an Ork knows instinctively! Bellator Natus.” (3rd Edition Ork Codex pg.47)

It is probably one of the most debated subjects in all of Orkdom: the nature of the beast. Many theories are espoused, dismissed, and otherwise argued over concerning the nature of our green-skinned gorillas. They are of course, green, right?

It’s a good question, and I’d say the answer is yes, or no. Certainly the fluff is clear on why Ork skin is green. The fluff describes Ork skin as being green due to a symbiotic green algae contained in their skin cells. This endows the skin with a natural polymer (plastic) and gives it a tough, rubbery skin, and thus endows it with significant properties of strength and resilience. Greenness is something deliberately encoded into the Ork genetic, structure, well, one of the two genetic structures that Orkoids have.

The trouble is that the fluff has never said “Ork skin is always green”, even if at times it has alluded to the possibility that this maxim is true. However the problem with that is that Orks are always in a constant state of change. It is part of their very nature that they adapt, evolve and change in order to survive. Orks are flexible in every single way, philosophically, physically, and biologically.

Thus one cannot rule out the possibility that some Orks somewhere, for whatever reason develop a different skin colour. It could be a mutation brought on by necessity by the sporing process, or some change brought on by a shift in Ork Resonance (more on that in the next 3 chapters). Generally speaking however, it’s safe to assume that most Orks are definitely green. Although Squigs are Orkoids, and aren’t always green. Thus we can see from the Squigs that Orkoids are perfectly capable of selective mutation. The trouble is finding the right kind of Ork mentality to trigger it, but more on that in a future chapter.

The secret to Ork Physiology is symbiosis. They are two different creatures at the same time. Orks have two genetic structures, one of which is “animal” and one of which is “fungal”. The “animal” part is the Orkoid beast; which sub-species they are (be they Ork, Gretchin, Snotling or Squig) and their status in Ork society (predetermined by their standard “animal” gene-strand). The “fungal” (and part algal) part is the key behind their resilience and also how they procreate (plus many other things, determined by their second gene-strand in their algal/fungal base).

The second, algal/fungal gene-spiral is the most interesting. The algal part is what allows Ork bodies to be resilient and adaptive (such as advanced clotting to avoid bleeding to death, healing over wounds and not rejecting surgical intervention, prosthetics or organ donations), produces a natural polymer for their skin (plastic), contains all the genetic information on all Orkoids, and periodically releases microscopic airborne cells that contain the information. These are called Spores.

Spores are the key to how Orkoids replicate. They are shed (like dead skin) subconsciously by all Orkoids, floating into the air and can be propelled quite a ways by wind dispersal. They are used in a few ways, one of which is that they can be detected by the sensitive nasal organs, conveying a variety of information, such as age, species and social status. It also helps Orkoids to locate other Orkoids, over quite a distance.

Its primary role however is the sporing process. When settled in the correct conditions (moist, shaded, dark and dank like other fungus), the spore will grow downwards, with tiny rootlets searching for moisture, and then will eventually Orkoid cells will generate and grow, eventually emerging as an Orkoid, be it Snotling, Squig, Gretchin or Ork.

Most spores don’t actually develop into anything more complicated than fungus, something the Orkoids will often farm for food. Many will fail simply because they’re not in the right conditions, and even if they are, some factors prevent it. One such factor is the proximity of Ork settlement. Spores don’t gestate in or near Ork settlements. Wouldn’t want an Ork popping out of your sofa, would you?

Spores also seldom develop individually, at least at the initial stage of sporing. Spores tend to wait around a while until others have matured equally to them, and they emerge simultaneously (presumably this is a case of the ancient survival technique of living and fictional creatures everywhere: the importance of teamwork. The more of you there is, the less likely that it is you that comes out of it badly). The Black Library book Xenology even adds to this, stating that any spore can regress its development into a less complicated or more complicated Orkoid as is required.

The more complex the organism, the longer it takes to develop and emerge, taking proportionally longer for the larger Orkoids in the system (Gretchin and Orks in particular). The order is fixed, as it helps the sporing process work. Squigs emerge first, providing the vital societal base (mostly as a food source, specialising comes later); followed swiftly by the Snotlings, who start preparing the area; then the Gretchin who prepare for the Ork’s arrival; before finally the Orks arriving in their usual style: grumpy, violent and bossy.

The first major misconception that is commonly made about Orkoid physiology is to somehow assume Orks are unique in this process, or even the most important part of it. The cycle of Orkoid life works in a particular way because all of it is vital. The Squigs will be utilised to form a living foundation upon the society, fulfilling so many roles it’s unbelievable: from providing food to growing to become the gigantic Squiggoths and Orkeosauruses. Pretty much every beast Orks use is a Squig in some shape or form. Despite the Squigs mostly resembling the ones from the fantasy range, they vary vastly. In fact the most common Squig model you’ll see is on your Ork models – those bits of hair are hair squigs.

Snotlings are the least known quantity of the whole Orkoid race, but there is a fair bit to go on. Firstly (although this will be dealt with in a later chapter in Part 2), don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise: Snotlings are the Brainboyz, or at least what is left of them. The question is what this means for the origins of the Orks, but whichever interpretation you buy (and unless Ward screwed it up there is only one currently that makes the most sense) the Snotlings’ origin doesn’t change. As it stands now, it seems they are vital in the sporing process, managing the Squigs, and the Fungus as childlike shepherds.

Gretchin? Well they build everything. Everything. The reason Orks have a society at all is because of the Gretchin, and they build most of it without being “encouraged” to do so. Of course the society will function and look far better once the Gretchin start getting “encouraged” into doing a better job, but Orks live for war, and can be pretty short-sighted and forgetful about everything else. That’s what the Grots are for (only the Meks will aid improvements of Ork society with their gizmos and know-wats). When the Orks finally arrive, their society is waiting for them, and the Orks guide the whole species’ destiny; usually in the direction of war with whatever is closest at hand, whatever it is, even if it’s other Orkoids.

Orkoids themselves have tough skin (plastic, as mentioned earlier), and an immune system and internal organs that essentially exist mostly to enable Orks to avoid most unpleasant situations. Orkoids are likely to survive and thrive from any treatment they receive, and are unlikely to die of any wounds if they survive the initial shock. They are very unlikely to find their bodies refusing prosthetics or transplants (even if a Squig is used instead of the vital organ) and generally they’ll make a full recovery from almost every injury.

They also have many, many stomachs (including one of their two hearts which also does a bit of digestion when needed), which allows Orkoids to eat things that most species would consider absolutely inedible. For this reason, one can assume is the main reason why most Squigs are considered edible. So bad is it with Orks, that Squigs probably could have evolved some form of defence against eating, and most of them (aside of the Spiny Squig and a few others) obviously didn’t bother, because Orks will eat anything. Orkoids also have very little in the way of sensory abilities. They derive pleasure from mostly obvious and brutal bouts of violence, although Gretchin are noted in the fluff as being rather good cooks. So presumably Orks have some (but likely limited) taste.

How the complicated bits work is down to genetic memory. Pretty much every aspect of Ork society is contained within their DNA, which is contained within the genetic structure of every single Orkoid. Before they’re even spored, the nature of that Orkoid is usually predetermined. Meks, Doks, Runtherds are born with a natural and subconscious knowledge and talent for their specific field. Many of them will get better at it (something oft overlooked) through learning and experience, but their basis of knowledge is inherently already there in their DNA.

All Orks are born with the knowledge of how to fight, clean and strip a weapon, and a rudimentary knowledge of strategy and tactics. Likewise, much of what makes Snotlings and Gretchin what they are is owing to their DNA. Dim also thinks there is more knowledge in the other “lesser” Orkoids that remains as yet untapped (or just not mentioned, what with the emphasis on Orks), waiting for the right moment to surface (but more on that in another chapter).

Before I move on, there is one bit left to mention. Orks get bigger as they get more aggressive and belligerent (there are also other societal benefits as well). It’s worth noting at this stage that all Orkoids get these (warfare based) perks, it’s just more pronounced with Orks. Orks physically get bigger the more that they fight, survive and succeed. Their body essentially rewards their success by toughening them up, so the bigger an Ork is, the more powerful they are. You can derive social status from it, so the biggest Ork will be a warlord. The main exception however, is that potential rivals will quickly grow larger and toughen up. If a Warboss is shrewd, they will notice this change, and take swift measures to deal with it pre-emptively.

Pretty much everything I’ve mentioned comes from two primary sources. The first is the fabled Anzion Article, the entirety of which can be read in the 3rd Edition Ork Codex, and the Gorkamorka Uvver Book (although sadly not the one GW had on its website). The other source is Xenology, which adds a little bit more, but I’ve summed up the main gist of a fair bit of it, and once we’ve had some time to discuss the bits of Resonance, we’ll have covered virtually everything within it.

There are 4 primary Latin phrases mentioned in the two sources. In Xenology there is one: “Nos sto in umerous giganticus”. The Latin is not perfect, but it roughly translates as “We stand upon large (or giant/gigantic) shoulders”. In the Anzion Article, there are 3. The first is “Ferire cum ultio”, which I’ve translated as roughly the best translation being “Slay (Kill or Purge) with vengeance”. The second is “Unus creare omnis”, which I translate to mean, “One sires (or creates) all”. Finally, there is “Bellator Natus” (featured in this chapter’s quote), which can either mean "Warrior Born" (literally) or "Born Warrior". I prefer the latter. "Natus" can also mean “son”, but I think “born” fits so much better it’s not even worth considering.

Ork Physiology leads us very well towards Psychic Resonance. In truth, the things are so inherently linked, that any time we discuss Orks, in some way we’re dealing with Orkoid Resonance. Much of what the Orks are is not quite as new as you think, either. A massive misconception to end on, is the idea that much of what “Modern” Orks are, owes its existence to a massive ret-con in the 3rd Edition Codex.

It’s actually not the case at all. For a start, the Anzion Article itself is originally from Gorkamorka, and is pretty much the only bit of fluff (aside of Rebel Grots somewhat) that is strictly relevant to Orks, and if you exclude the Rebel Grots as well, the Anzion article is the only thing that represents all or most Orks in normal circumstances. Secondly, not much of it is actually that new. Waaargh The Orks! (the first Ork book ever) is ancient compared to 3rd Ed, but it contains pretty much everything that is recognisable to modern Ork players, and for that reason I’d argue most of it is still relevant.


The only major difference is the Ork Reproductive cycle, which has changed drastically. Sporing is, believe me, far better than Old Orks getting randy and wandering off into the woods. The term "The Wild Ones" has remained, but is now used to describe primitive Ork Societies (Feral Orks, basically) rather than anything that "creepy". Perhaps that's where Bork went...

[It's worth noting, although I'm not done completely with Ere We Go or Freebootas yet, but I've seen no mention of Bork anywhere]

Psychic Resonance is certainly a new idea, but given Andy Chamber’s involvement pretty much from the very beginning, I’d be willing to bet that the Resonance stuff was ingrained in the Orks from the very beginning. Certainly the best example of how resonance works (Red Wunz Go Fasta), has existed since the very start, and is mentioned in Waaagh! The Orks. In fact the term Waaagh! although at the time called “Waa Ork” has always been imbued with the idea of psychic energy, and it is from Waaagh! the Orks that comes the single greatest quote in the history of Orkdom (and I absolutely guarantee it), and if you don’t believe me, just wait until Chapter 3!

Waaagh! Da Orks: An Introduction

Well, now is most likely a good time to return to the Orks. This is something I have been planning as part of a wider plot for some time, but I figure now is as good a time as any to get into it, before Warhammer 40,000 under the helm of Captain Matthew "Pugwash" Ward steers the whole ship into a reef the size of a continent.

Waaagh! Da Orks is a series of articles, designed to encourage discussion and debate about the subject of the Orks in Warhammer 40,000. Hopefully it will be informative, in some instances amusing or at least give some interesting food for thought that might help you get more out of the Ork background aspect of the hobby. Although they are certainly not the last word on the Orks, they are intended to argue and debate concepts, some of which are not wholly agreed in the Warhammer 40,000 community.

Particularly for that reason, the first part of this series will look at common misconceptions about the Orks. Some of it is limited to those viewing Orks from the outside, but it is also something subject to the Ork players themselves, particularly if they have not read all of the background resources that feature the Orks.

Part 1: Orkish Misconceptions

Chapter 1: The Orks - Stupid, Crude or Misunderstood?

“The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their turn. And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn’t even bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.” Uthan the Perverse

There are many misconceptions about the Orks. Some are because the Orks aren’t as straightforward as they look, and some because we’re even convinced that they’re straightforward at all. This particular subject is mostly limited to (but not exclusively) Non-Ork players. It goes without saying that if most of the people who only have a passing notice of them call them stupid, green, crude, and talk like Sloth from The Goonies on Ritalin, there’s bound to be a few inaccuracies.

Let’s face it, if you’ve spent any amount of time in this hobby as an Ork player, you’ve encountered players who say Orks are stupid, and shouldn’t be so utterly awesome. Perhaps they say they are out of place in this GrimDark Univer… sorry, Universe that was until recently called GrimDark. Usually said people tend to have just recently watched their shiny Beakies, Pansee or other Unproppa army get a severe kicking from some Orks: probably yours.

Unfortunately a decent segment of the fluff doesn’t help. Particularly the Ork way of speaking, which doesn’t come across too well. Partly however that is because you force a race to speak in a tongue that not only isn’t theirs, but also uses a completely different system of language. There are real life parallels. Do we call the North American Indian depiction in Hollywood films as they speak English “Him over there…” as stupid?

It is itself a fictional writing device (a trope), which itself is partly the point. The struggle to use a language we understand is supposed to be jarring. Perhaps we people who consume this are the ones who are stupid and crude? After all we don’t go to the effort of learning all the languages of the world (or can’t be bothered to read subtitles) of modernity and antiquity, nor to we go to the effort of learning fictional languages (well, 99% of us don’t). So, you have a choice. Either you understand what is said, or like the vast majority of Rammstein’s Non-German fanbase, you enjoy the sound of it and make a guess as to what it means (and with Rammstein, I doubt your guess will be anywhere near).

Of course the Orks themselves are rather uncomplicated. But, as the quote at the start of this article states, they don’t need to be. Orks certainly aren’t stupid though, that is based on factors we attribute to ourselves, or at least the outward values we expect to see. An intellectual usually has a advanced diction (although trust me, no grasp of grammar whatsoever), uses long words, conveys complex meanings and such. But an Ork doesn’t really need that. Orks are warriors, and in that regard they are devastatingly efficient. Every battle is a victory in some way. They don’t angst, they fight viciously and confidently, they don’t particularly fear death, and they have a philosophy that wholly supports their outlook.

If you contrast it with the fictional representation of humans (i.e. the Imperium) in 40k, you have humans blindly accepting a religious dictatorial theocracy that outright insists on deliberate ignorance of anything that doesn’t support their religious views. Orks do deliberately ignore things too, but only those things that don’t actually matter. Orks clearly have the ability to use tactics, and are depicted as the ultimate survivor, adapting to any situation in order to survive. Whereas we have fluff of the Imperial Higher Ups dismissing and punishing soldiers for suggesting that the Orks are anything other than stupid green berserkers.

Sure you have the likes of Pansee and such who seem more sophisticated, but they did create a Chaos God during certain events, which most likely made Roman Emperor Caligula blush in his grave. You do however have the above quote, Uthan is a Pansee, leading to either the conclusion that the Pansee know how efficient the Orks are, or that Uthan is in the minority, which is often argued by the Pro Orks=dumb argument.

It does however overlook one important fact about the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. The smart ones are either dead, about to be (probably self-inflicted) or running very quickly away from pretty much anything they come across. Either way, being smart in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe isn’t a good idea, something that has been explored to marvellous effect in the Ciaphas Cain novels.

Orks are ultimately deeply misunderstood, and what makes them so interesting is either overlooked or underplayed. Unfortunately a great deal of 40k geeks don’t seem to be able to understand the difference between canon and personal taste, which leads to a great deal of dismissive comments based mostly on the fact that people don’t like and/or get what the Orks are about.

It’s certainly true that to an extent, Orks have been dumbed down for a younger audience. However if you look close enough, Orks are still as deep and interesting as they always have been, and there is a wonderful simplicity to the Orks that is actually astonishingly interesting, and excellent fiction. Over the course of this part of the series, I hope to address a few of these misconceptions, and I encourage debate over what the Orks are, what (little there is) lies in the future for Orkdom. Hopefully by the end of it, Orks will be a lot more interesting.

The next chapter in this series will be about Ork Physiology.

Wargaming Aesthetics: Or Why Companies Think Gamers Buy Books By Scanning The Covers

There are a number of phrases in the English language that run the full gamut of one's life, whereas there are others that you will hear and you'll never find a use for again. A phrase that should stick with you is the adage: "Never Judge A Book By Its Cover". It is invariably true and of considerable wisdom, yet it seems in the modern world as if we never bother heeding it.

Ironically the nature of the phrase has changed. In the old days it was about not being put off by a crummy, boring cover with no special design. A book that was of artistic worth was not one that could necessarily fork out for a grand and fancy cover. But these days the methods to make one are very accessible. Go into your nearest bookstore, and look to the bestselling paperbacks. You can tell the genre just by the design on the book. Lesser known writers who write for a popular genre (in order to cash in) will often use similar designs on their books, so "Dark Fantasy" will look not entirely unlike Twilight; A Historical Mystery novel will look disturbingly similar to the cover of the De Vinci Code, etc.

The aesthetic is something modern society finds very easy to produce. It's cheap, anyone with Photoshop and 4 hours spare time can do it, and you don't actually require an awful lot of talent to produce it. Obviously, when people are preparing to buy things, they are likely to look at it for a matter of seconds, or perhaps minutes, before handing money over. So the moral of the story there is to make sure they like what they see, or at least like what they see for the amount of time it takes for them to hand their money over; even if they don't actually understand why it looks that way...

This leads me aimlessly to Games Workshop. I'm not going to deny that without Games Workshop, we probably still wouldn't have a wargaming industry, let alone one that looks so impressive, but it seems the biggest wargaming company in the history of the universe is now so big and arrogant that the aesthetic is the only thing they actually bother to get right.

The above picture shows this particular effort rather well, and we've already discussed it previously, alongside "Finecast", and GW's propensity for Gimmicks, which also appeal to that aesthetic. Even the writing is about maintaining a very simple (but quite rubbish) aesthetic. What it spawns from is something very simple. GW want to get as much money out of you as possible, for the bare minimum effort required, but costed at a premium price that suggests the opposite. Essentially they want you to think they are artisans, when really they're something significantly less than that.

Hard-backing army books is completely unnecessary. Its singular purpose is to increase the "value" that they attach to their own produce. In other words, they want it to be more expensive. Will it last longer? It might do, but it only has to last 5 years at most, and if you manage to mangle a paperback in that amount of time, you'll mangle a hard-back just as quickly.

Marketing resin as a quality product, rather than a cheap alternative to metal is similarly an effort of saving money on their part. An awful lot, as it turns out. Made doubly worse by the fact that they're trying to save said money on a new material, based on the possibility that the previous material might get more expensive. Not only are they saving money, they decided to fool the gaming community into concluding it offers better detail and thus can charge you even more for a material that is incredibly brittle and fragile.

There's then to consider that GW hire the likes of Matthew Ward to do their writing. The guy who writes like how a staffer is trained to sell you things. It certainly isn't artistic, or even good. But it doesn't need to be. It is GW's aesthetic for 40k which is best summed up by the phrase "OMG OMG! ZOMG THIS IS AWESOMES! HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE THE AWESOMES! ITS AWESOMES!"

The point is that ultimately it is easier for GW (and more profitable) for them to sell you something that is fundamentally flawed, but appealing enough that you are willing to put up with it, than it is to try and make a very high quality product. I might be inclined to say "good luck to them" if they did anything other than charge a premium price for a mediocre service, but that is precisely what they do.

Still, there must be something about the aesthetic, right? Something about it surely matters? Well of course it does. It's actually more important than the gaming companies even realise. It is also a bit more temperamental than they realise. Some gimmicks actually fail, not because they are ugly, but because they try to oversell the aesthetic.

I've already discussed how Rackham did this previously, with Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok, that took completely aesthetic changes that alienated its customers. Charging people more for something they will do anyway (i.e. assemble and paint their miniatures) is a particularly bad move, and the move was so bad that Rackham, a company with some promise, ultimately folded.

Still, before they did, Rackham made some of the most beautiful miniatures in the entire industry. My Top 16 Wargaming Miniatures sports 3 examples from one system. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that the majority of gamers are in it for the pretty miniatures. I'm not going to call them toy soldiers. They fundamentally are, in the same way that the Mona Lisa is a college art project.

Aesthetics are wonderful things. They are the visuals that attract. But a hobby needs to be far more than that, because it encompasses the talent and hard work of the people who support it, so you need to keep up with those people. No matter how big you think your company is, you ignore them at your peril. Because they're going to make your job more rewarding, but considerably harder:

Every release you work on, they will expand in the time that you work on other things. Every story you write, they will fold out into a saga. Every miniature you make, they will make it look better. Every rule you write, will be analysed, re-written and stream-lined. Every faction you create, they will develop them a hundred-fold. If you think they need your help to remotely be creative, you might find you've blinked and found yourself out of your depth.

Chaos: Or why you shouldn't bother converting

Sigh. I keep neglecting this blog. But not to worry, I'm going to keep going. So I thought it would be nice to start with a controversial one, whilst I'm still in a suitably irritated mood.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Chaos players are living in a dream world. Not that this is a bad thing, considering that if you didn't, you'd be like me, an Ex-Chaos player. Because if you work hard enough, you can convince not only yourself, but also other people that Chaos are a really cool faction in 40k.

This is what gets me, because if you read the current Codex, you'd be forgiven for wondering why.

It isn't just as the demotivator above says; the Chaos Codex isn't just outdated, it was pretty terrible when it was first released. It had a few competitive things within it, such as the Lash, Daemon Princes remain fairly nasty, and some units got much needed improved stats (Plague Marines and Berzerkers to name two). But ultimately what is missing from the Chaos Codex is the whole, umm, Chaos bit.

It was particularly obvious back then, when the new Codex came out, replacing the previous one that offered tonnes of options in the way that 4th Edition Codexes did at the time. 4th Ed Chaos may well have been the best Codex of that edition; offering tonnes of options, themes and at the same time, making a lot of the myriad legions of chaos possible and attractive as an army choice.

The previous Codex had a section devoted purely to God Specific wargear, god-specific army builds (that rewarded you for being true to your favourite god) and also legion specific rules, allowing you to build the likes of Iron Warriors, Word Bearers, etc. Considering the fluff has always stated that the Chaos Gods are supposed to hate each other, one-god forces are supposed to be fairly practical, you'd think.

The wargear was considerable and varied. They were noticeably Chaotic, setting themselves aside from other factions (such as marines) to a considerable extent. It was possibly too good, because it offered such potential, in spite of having a pretty mediocre existing miniatures range, that much like the Old Orks, it really encouraged the modelling and converting that Chaos soon became famous for.

It was also around this time that pretty much every Chaos player rocked an absolutely awesome Chaos lord, with their own character and abilities. When the new Chaos Codex rolled along, Chaos players found their options drastically reduced, the loss of Daemons (anyone telling you that page of generic "Summoned Daemons" are actually Daemons are lying) and an extreme overuse of Special Characters and gimmicks throughout the codex, and space marines.

Space Marines are to be expected, sure, but the problem is that's all the current Codex actually is. This is 5th Edition after all. We have grown to expect the gimmicks, because that's what 5th is all about, the same goes for the over-prominence of Special Characters. But you have to try very, very hard to make bland Space Marines. Which was proven when every other power armoured Codex that has rolled along since has made Chaos' "Marked Units" look so utterly quaint and pointless.

Marked Units were essentially GW's way of adding "Chaos" to the Codex, aside of the Lash and Special Characters. Take away those and you pretty much have a very generic and unimaginative Space Marines Codex. But although Chaos Space Marines are Space Marines, they used to be so much more than that. For a start, you could actually tell the difference, you could manifest the fruits of that schism on the tabletop.

Putting it simply, we had the Axes of Khorne, Kai Guns, interesting Daemon Weapons, Daemonic upgrades, special powers, and actual Chaos vehicle upgrades. What do we have now? Regular Space Marine options. Power Weapons, Lightning Claws, Power Fists. For vehicles, it's Dozer Blades, Extra Armour, Smoke Launchers etc. Fine, that's cool and everything, but if I wanted just those things I could take them very easily in a loyalist Marine force. Even the 3rd Edition Dark Angels, Black Templars and Blood Angels Codexes managed to do that whilst adding in a few unique things. The current Codex offers the Lash, and the rather disappointing Daemon Weapon.

Back in 4th Ed, pretty much every other Chaos player had a Possessed Dreadnought. I had one with the Khornate vehicle upgrade (Destroyer), and it cost me an awful lot of money to make it (see the results above, cost me about £60-70 at the time). Now you can possess tanks, but not Dreadnoughts. Why? The worst of it is that Marines followed fairly swiftly after the rules change and the loyalists got 3 different types of Dreadnought, all cooler than the Chaos version.

Independent Characters also suffered. In my time as a Chaos player, I made no fewer than 10 Chaos Lord/Lieutenant models. Of those models, a pathetic two of them remained WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) when the new Codex came out, due to awkward upgrade and options placement, and the removal of any sanity with regards to allotting wargear in any Codex in the whole of 5th Edition, and as 6th Edition rears its disgusting face it shows no signs of returning.

It highlighted a fundamental problem with the new options layout: it was far too dogmatic, making some fairly logical and popular weapon options completely impossible. Being forced to take a gun of some form has caused many 40k players who remember 40k before 5th Edition to pull their hair out and chuck their lavishly built and converted models against the walls of GW "Hobby Centres".

What made that pill so difficult to swallow was that there are a few Chaos Special Characters that have two close combat weapons, or at least weapons that were impossible to even get close to with the current options. There's Abaddon of course, but the worst offender is the new Red Corsairs character Huron Blackheart. His weapon options are incredibly cool, but in contrast to the regular Chaos Lord, he's offensively cool.

The options for building Chaos Lords is barely any different to that of any Space Marine Hero. This becomes even worse when you consider that he usually ends up being more expensive for a lot less advantages. Aside of marks, the only option of difference is the Daemon Weapon, which is a problematic, occasionally useful upgrade at best. The Khorne Variation is slightly more practical than the previous Berserker Glaive, but very likely to do absolutely nothing when you need it more than ever.

What the current codex made me realise is that Chaos just isn't Chaos without oodles of interesting rules and wargear. The Chaos Codex as it stands lacks both. It has a handful of gimmicks to make up for it, such restrictive options as to be offensive to anyone who takes the effort to model unique Chaos Models for their army, and highlights a fundamental problem that GW has only exacerbated in recent years.

Warhammer 40,000 is changing in tone. There was a time, when Loyalist Space Marines were depicted as usually on the receiving end of bitter defeat. Most of their endings were bittersweet, being pyrrhic victories at best. It was common to show Space Marines facing death, bravely, but facing a ultimately (and usually subtle) futile outcome. This vision has been slowly changing, most likely as an effort by GW to simplify 40k for their rather youthful target audience (despite the fact that this target audience has loved 40k as it was for at least a decade or so anyway), and give clear messages about good guys and bad guys.

The dark and depressing future is being replaced with one where Space Marines are ridiculously awesome. Grey Knights barely registering a shrug, before easily resisting the taint of chaos and rendering it asunder as if they're a badly scripted 80s B-Movie action hero. Now personally, I'd rather have the bleak and depressing side. It is to many 40k fans (the actual fans, not those arseholes who like winning more than getting laid) its best feature.

Chaos has suffered from this for a while, usually being utilised as the designated bad guy of choice, and doing pretty much every villain cliché in the book. Abaddon takes it to the extremes, with the Black Crusade campaign being almost as disastrous as an exercise as the Warhammer Fantasy Storm of Magic campaign, for pretty much the same reasons: bad writing.

[Side Rant: You know GW hands out a lot of bad writing, when fans of 40k talk endlessly about how awesome Dan Abnett is. He is indeed a good writer, but he is being horrendously overrated. It isn't his fault, its the rest of the company that he's being compared to. With the likes of Matt Ward writing Codex fluff, Dan Abnett could be the reincarnation of Shakespeare by comparison. As it stands, he's a fairly consistent and solid writer. GW has one. Him. That's pretty much all there is to it.]

During the campaign, Abaddon managed to fit in some pretty bad Dick Dastardly-esque cackles of villain-ness, and then manage to fail rather spectacularly, being upstaged by the Deceiver, who's force of origin (Necrons) most likely played very little part in the actual campaign.

Chaos used to be particularly deep, with lots of very interesting depth and disturbingness. Now they seem to be pretty much "We're mean because we are", and I'm sure one could be led to wonder why they worship those Chaos Gods, because it makes bugger all difference. Unless of course you're a Daemon. But you can thank Matt Ward for that. I still haven't forgiven him, but at least now, looking back at all those people who said I was over-reacting and that Ward would turn out to be a boon for the company, that I was mostly right. He's been a boon alright. Managed to doom the company in the long run though.

I would like to demonstrate this decay of Chaos with a singular example: Khorne. There is more to it, but Khorne shows it off far more easily, and as a long-suffering ex-servant of the Blood God, I happen to have noticed the change very distinctively.

In the game, we have lost a lot of distinctiveness. The Axe of Khorne has disappeared. It was essentially a power weapon, but it was different enough to be interesting. If it is more or less just a regular power weapon, then all your Chaos Champion or Lord is becomes little more than a palette swap of a loyalist marine. Likewise there is no God specific vehicle upgrade (the Destroyer) so all you can really do is paint it red and make it look nasty, but there are vehicles in loyalist marine books that have actual character to them and a uniqueness. The Chaos offering in the current Codex was never even remotely distinct as a "Chaos" vehicle.

This is the issue, Chaos are Chaos in name only.

In balance, I should add that Berserkers have a unique statline that is far more suitable to what they should be, but it came at the cost of a lot of interesting and unique (if obvious) wargear options. Berserkers are still a popular choice, but there became no reason to take more than a unit of them. To the cynically inclined, one can begin to wonder if the Chaos Codex (like the Daemon one after it) was an exercise in dissuading One-God forces and encouraging players to take multiple-god forces, which are usually a particularly bad looking colour scheme concept, and a good reason why Chaos of any kind is seldom seen on the gaming table.

But by far the worst affect on Khorne (and Chaos in general) was the degradation of the background fluff from deep, disturbing and interesting to simplified, trite and cliché. The best example of this is how Kharne the Destroyer managed to help shape the stereotypical representation of Khorne, through the deterioration of vocabulary.

Chaos used to have some particularly fine quotes and interesting arguments in the old days. Such as this quote from page 77 of the 2nd Edition Codex Imperialis:

"Though the gates that stand between the mortal world and the immortal Realm of Chaos are now closed to me, still I would rather die having glimpsed eternity than never to have stirred from the cold furrow of mortal life. I embrace death without regret as I embraced life without fear." Kargos Bloodspitter, Champion of Khorne

If we contrast this with those who follow Khorne in the newer books:

"UH DURR... BLOOD FOR BLOOD GOD!!!!11111" Kharne the Copycat, random Berzerker

Kharne used to be an exception. Granted, all Khorne followers (especially Berzerkers) are homicidal lunatics, but it was only really Kharne who was that batshit mental. He added to Chaos decay by making sure his epithet was doubly suitable by dooming his entire brethren to 1-sentence vocabularies. Whilst a blood-crazed loon sensing blood in a soon unfolding battle has a certain poetic charm, applying it entirely to every follower of Khorne (or at least every World Eater) is a little much, really.

Chaos used to be so interesting and diverse, before they all became clichés of themselves. The best story I ever read about Chaos is still the one from pages 78-80 of the 2nd Edition Wargear book entitled Dark Communion. The story is merely about a Chaos lord using a technique for storing his favourite memories, but it is a mix of good sci-fantasy writing and actually being incredibly interesting. It was written by one of GW's old writers called Bill King. Memories of his work is one of the main reasons why I wonder why everyone loves Abnett so much.

Ultimately, the state of Chaos makes me question why anyone but the most ardent of fans would actually bother with Chaos. It's doubly sad because people do, because Chaos are awesome simply by conception and basic aesthetic alone, so it truly highlights how poor GW's writing is that they can completely and utterly fail to do the merest of fan expectation justice. It isn't a question of how Chaos got screwed up, but more of how GW actually managed to. Given that lots of Chaos players still stick with their forces and continue to make amazing models shows that they totally deserve to get something resembling an amount of effort on the part of GW's writing team (I'm still both surprised and disappointed that this Codex was written by both Gav Thorpe and Alessio Cavatore. They really were phoning this in).

It depresses me to conclude, much in the way of the Orks when they finally received an update, that it will be something short of a miracle if it even comes close to justifying the hard work and continued determination of Chaos players, and even if it does manage to do some of this, it will massively fall short, much like the Ork Codex did, and that's your best case scenario, from a better time, and more talented writers. Considering that was 4th Ed, one can view Phil Kelly in much the same way as Abnett. You'll spot a rose in a dung pile easy enough.

Games and Gameplay Innovation: Part 4: To Refine or Expand

Introduction

It must be one of the biggest clichés in the Wargaming world, but change occurs on a regular, sometimes constant basis through two particular mediums. The first, which of the two is the least frequent, is refining; the taking of something which exists and tweaking of it to suit whatever needs are required of it. The second, which is far and away the most frequent, is expansion; the adding of new material to an existing work. Both of these are things we all see in many Wargames, and it is most likely the two things we keep the most track of.

There are many reasons for this, but ultimately in the gaming world, not taking notice of such change tends to have negative consequences. It is also hard to miss when a rules system changes, or a new shiny faction comes out, or is reinvented. It affects the entire gaming community, especially if you play GW games.

The contrast between the two is worth noting, as they both have a massive impact on the games we play, and most games vary as to which of the two they do best, if either of them at all. Through the course of this particular post, I'd like to discuss some of what I feel are the successes and failures of games with regards to refining and expanding.

Expansion

It is probably wise to start with expansion, as of the two it is virtually a constant. The way most games are means that you are more likely to see something new than see something existing being fiddled with. Usually, as has been discussed before, new things are often introduced as a sweetener to justify change. GW are particularly infamous for this, relying on new gimmicks to justify a rehash of a old system.

Expansion is something we are used to seeing. Privateer Press even themed whole releases and new books around the concept, with names such as "Escalation" and "Superiority", and introducing "Epic" versions of their Warcaster characters. The reason is as blatant as the naming, most companies up the ante. A lot of Wargaming is built upon tension, and if you keep that aspect building, so too should interest.

Plus, we all get bored, and we want to see our factions improve, evolve and change. Expansion is a common factor, something a wargamer expects. If you are playing a game using miniatures, you expect to see more of them. In Historical wargaming, you can have massive wars to cover, so many different regiments, types of tanks, new innovations and warmachines etc.

Besides, it isn't just miniatures that are expanded upon, but so too are rulesets. New rules come out of playing, new expanded concepts, rules to cover new issues or developments, new scenarios and battle types, new ideas, campaign rules, new unit rules, and so much more.

There was a time when the best example of this was actually Games Workshop. All of their games, WHFB, 40k, LOTR, and all the specialist games would get new rules and expanded ideas that were frequently published in magazines. Some were submitted by fans, but others were developed. This occurred to such an extent that people started actively hating White Dwarf because it no longer featured new rules, or any article that was remotely doing anything other than excusing the White Dwarf from being a catalogue that you pay for.

GW had a golden age that they no longer explore. The trouble with expansion, of course, is that it leads to imbalance within rulesets, especially if you don't develop all factions equally. Privateer Press has for a time, managed to avoid this, but trying to expand on the number of factions may bring a detriment to this.

By far the worst example of excess that I can think of is Confrontation. That was a game that swelled to the very edges with a massive excess amount of rules, which it tried to manage in an incredibly complex fashion. There was no way you could remember the 7 or so pages of abilities within the book, let alone the myriad of incredibly complex turn aspects.

Refining

Mentioning confrontation leads me to refining. A Wargaming producer's constant struggle is that of managing everything into a cohesive and balanced system (apart from GW, who just want you to know what edition it is). What keeps people playing games is the challenge, and the social interaction. The best way to facilitate both is to make sure your system runs smoothly.

Refining is what makes the difference between a good game and a great game. Some games try to bypass this with gimmicks (40k, WHFB) or polish (Confrontation, 40k, WHFB) but the mark of a really good system is the ability to make things work within a well-defined system.

Privateer Press have even being struggling with this of late, but for me, Warmachine and Hordes represents a very good example of a refined system. PP knows what works, and what their game is. Anyone who plays it can be under no illusions of what the game is about, or how it is played. I learnt more or less the entirety of how to play Warmachine the first time I played it. I am still learning about Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 every single day that goes by.

The difference is the strength of the ruleset. Warmachine and Hordes has a very well-defined system. Other rules adhere to the existing rules. So whilst a rule or unit might be new to you, how it interacts with the system is something you are most likely familiar with. In contrast, with the likes of 40k, you don't know, because so many rules contradict, or outright re-write the core rules, so you are often faced with the question of what is intended, without being able to logically determine it. Pretty much all of GW's FAQ documents are far too short, and will never be full enough for their fans. If they had refined the system into one where all rules share a unified concept, they wouldn't have to.

Even a refined system needs explaining, but the difference is one of confidence. If your system does its job, the rules are interpreted more smoothly, and people have more time to enjoy playing a game.

To Refine or Expand

Related to this is how one decides to expand or refine. In rules terms, you need to be able to decide when to add more, simplify, or to completely redefine. You also need to know when is the right time to apply either of those three (for an example of how not to do this, compare two editions of any GW game). Rules that are clunky need either to be simplified or redefined. You certainly shouldn't expand on such a concept if the original concept doesn't really work.

You could be easily led to the question of which is more important, and the answer is that they are all equally important. You should always refine and expand. You should never be afraid to add too much to a system, merely too little. People know what they want out of a game, so additional optional rules should always be welcome; the only issue is finding an appropriate place to introduce them. GW books such as Cityfight, Planetstrike, Apocalypse and the recent Storm of Magic are all very good examples of how to appropriately add more potential options to a game. GW most likely peaked with the Specialist Games website, and Fantasy's General's Compendium.

People are always looking to try new things and add more to their experience. In that situation refining becomes increasingly difficult. But ultimately if you know what requires refining, it isn't as difficult as it seems. It is the integrity of the fundamental core system, and the balance of individual factions that requires refining. Expansion beyond that will always attract the audience that wants it, and trust me, they will make such things work.

The biggest travesty to any Wargame is to take away expanded ideas, and an even bigger travesty is to not even refine what aught to be refined. If you want the best example of this, seek out your nearest Games Workshop. You'll find 3 particularly horrific examples.

TWC's Top 16 All-Time Favourite Wargaming Miniatures

Every now and then people tell you they wargame because of the game. The system, they say, is what they play for; which of course is wargaming shorthand for “I can make brutal lists and always win”. You ignore these people, if you’re not one of them, anyway. If you’re anything like me, the main reason you wargame is that you like pretty toy soldiers.

Of course, what you do with them when you get them varies, not everyone made VROOM VROOM noises when they played Krash or Dark Future, but everybody knew that the games wouldn’t be much without the toy cars to push around. Although with those games you tended to need better-looking cars. Then you needed to train your voice so that your V8 Interceptor sounded better than your riveted Cadillac...

Wargaming Miniatures (which of course is wargaming shorthand for “Toy Soldiers, pew, pew, pew! BANG! Argh!”) are a massive appeal, and over the many decades that they have existed, there have been lots of very aesthetically pleasing ones. Let’s face it; it’s the main attraction, really. The only reason I bought the board game Descent is so I could unpack and categorise all the goodies in the box.

Below is my Top 16 list (I couldn’t get it down to 15, never mind 10). It is a summarised version of my Top 25 “short-list” (that’s one thing it isn’t), which was shortened from a list of over 50 miniatures. I should note this is my list of “favourites”, or as close as I can get to it from games I have played in my time, and is limited (with a couple of exceptions) to miniatures I own or have owned. Some were eliminated from the list because I don’t own them, or because I wanted a fairly equal spread. Once I start up a few other games, the list would most likely change, so the reason it is a Top 16 is so I can at least mention Dystopian Wars and Malifaux.

On some occasions I’ve cheated, mentioning multiple models, but we’re not all perfect are we, and that’s your problem, and you’ll have to deal with it. ;)

They are of course, in descending order of preference, or audacity, I can’t remember which.

[Yes, I have been reading Cracked recently.]

16. beakie Tactical Squad [Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition, Games Workshop]



Let’s start with something I think could actually make a place in a list of the best miniatures of all time. As a 26 year old Wargamer who has been gaming for about 17 years; I’ve had about 17 years too much exposure to beakies. But as someone who was first introduced to 40k during 2nd Edition, I had a number of beakie units, and I hated assembling them all. Every time someone complains about how annoying current GW miniatures are to assemble, I immediately think of those sodding plastic arms that you somehow had to attach bolters to, or metal heavy weapons, in such a way that they actually looked good.

I failed constantly.

Still, I was rather fond of them, but when 3rd Edition rolled along, and I saw the new plastic tactical squad, I (and probably every other gamer my age) completely forgot about every single beakie model I had seen before that. Compared to the previous ones, they were absolutely amazing, and to this day I still have no idea how GW came up with them at that time.

Ironically I only ever had one box of them. But that was the thing; I didn’t need them. My beakie army swiftly became combat orientated. The reason for that was the absolute avenue of choice that was opened up, based upon a foundation that was set by that one squad, from which all Beakies pretty much to this day originate.

I know we often blame the kiddies for beakie’s popularity, but GW really couldn’t have helped it, I don’t think. The whole of 3rd Edition made 40k a resounding success and a household name, and I think that one Tactical Squad was mostly responsible for it. It certainly killed any chance of Dark panzee doing well. Let’s face it, the Tactical Squad was selling 40k Boxed Sets single-handedly. The Landspeeder was pretty much a mess, and Dark panzee were massively unpopular (although only having the warriors in the boxed set sealed their fate).

Although the Tactical Squad box has since been refined, and added to (and had stuff removed if my friend speaks the truth), it hasn’t quite had the impact it had back then. These days we take for granted that Beakies could be put together and easily look awesome. In 2nd Ed the only thing that looked impressive was the bits of your finger stuck to the godawful “cupped hand of uselessness”. What the hell was he supposed to hold in it, a bag of frikkin’ marbles?

So there you have it, don’t blame little timmies for the popularity of the beakies – blame the beakies.


15. Aenur, Sword of Twilight [Mordheim, Games Workshop]



Aside of being the only Non-Dark Elf GW has produced that I have ever liked (without converting it first), it could be argued that Aenur is likely the most-painted wargaming miniature of all time. Those of you youths out there will wonder, “Why, were they giving it away?”

Well, yes, more or less, they were.

UK White Dwarf 228 had it as a free miniature. That’s right, a free metal miniature. Naturally, you could still buy it, although these days it is rather pricey. Not surprising actually, because it is bloody gorgeous. The Sword in particular is magnificent yet understated, and that cloak, which I don’t think GW has ever topped.

If you search the Internet, you’ll find lots of versions of it painted, as naturally it is the sort of miniature you just paint, you just do.

I think part of the reason is you can tell a whole story based upon that miniature from a single glance. I still view it as Mordheim’s swansong, as I desperately try to remove the visage of the Shadow Warriors and Carnival Chaos from my mind... with a rusty razor.


14. The Atlanteans [Dystopian Wars, Spartan Games]



I have been looking very eagerly at Dystopian Wars, ever since I heard about it. As will become obvious throughout this article, I love steampunk. I’ve been reading Victorian literature since I was in my early teens for pleasure and educational purposes, so Steampunk wasn’t a huge jump for me. I even listen to Steampunk music, because it is awesome.

I also vaguely flirted with Battlefleet Gothic, but found it flawed. I’ve been waiting for a game that actually did the whole Epic and BFG thing properly, and it looks like my prayers have been answered. At the very least those miniatures are absolutely stunning, truly showing off the power of CAD sculpting. Not only does this game have a cool aesthetic, its success likely means that Spartan Games’ other game Firestorm Armada will eventually look as nice, meaning if you did want spaceship battles, you can actually enjoy it without selling your kidneys for it, and then having to watch the panzee or tin'eads urinate on your fleet.

I’ve liked parts of most of the factions on display for Dystopian Wars, even some of the American things (they have a massive walker called the John Henry. Yeah), but up until now I’ve mostly only warmed to the Prussians (I love airships and pointy objects) and then I saw the Atlanteans…

The concept is just so damn original. I mean sure, it’s based on Verne in particular, but they look so different, yet recognisable at the same time. I truly have to thank the Podcast All Along The Watchtower for getting me even more interested in the game, and for alerting me to the incoming Atlanteans. As they said in the podcast, the drones do look a bit like penises, but if you avoid skin tones for your colour scheme you should be all right.

I could go on for ages about Dystopian Wars as a concept, but the obvious thing to discuss is the ridiculously amazing detail, in resin, at a reasonable cost. Just take a look at that GW. [i]That’s how you actually do it[/i].

13. The Red Gobbo [Gorkamorka, Games Workshop]



Well, as obvious choices go, this is right up there. If anyone actually wondered why the artwork for the Red Gobbo is in my avatar, I would have hoped it would be obvious, really.

Those who know me well know I have a bit of an affinity for Grots. It comes mostly from the fact that I loved Gorkamorka, and loved the idea of the Rebels. Any self-respecting Rebel player has that model (or at least did in the 90s) and it is, as far as I’m concerned, the single most stunning Gretchin model ever sculpted. The fact they discontinued it, the bile I could utter about that travesty wouldn’t begin to cover the sheer horrendous crime against grotdom that it is. At least they had the wit to keep it longer than the rest of the Rebel Grot range (apart from the regular Grots).

The Red Gobbo is from a past age, when the effort plunged into all of GW’s games was positively monumental. You might not have liked the results, but you knew they tried. A Specialist Games enthusiast can most likely tell you based upon miniatures (or an entire redux in Necromunda: Underhive) when GW stopped giving a crap. Unfortunately Gorkamorka never succeeded enough to reach that stage of ultimate failure, and as a result most of the range that was left behind is actually as collectable as most of the Necromunda range.

A honourable mention goes to the entire Rebel range, particularly the vehicles. The metal Grots were so good the new plastics were made to fit in with them. Those were all from Gorkamorka, and they still look amazing. The vehicles, the Big Lugga and the Cutta are iconic in concept, and the ship-like motif is something I’ve expanded on for that Rebel Grot Codex I’ve been writing for Blakkreaper’s Clanz Projekt.

The only downside to the Gobbo was his staff. Although great looking, it always snaps off. Although oddly enough I have found both of the ones I lost for both my Red Gobbo models. Unfortunately one of the two is converted, ones is for GoMo (on GoMo bases, not 40k ones), so I lack one for 40k. Until I buy some instant mould ;)

Viva Da Revulushun, ya Gitz!

12. Skaven Doomwheel [Warhammer, Games Workshop]



Well, I was actually on about the one from 5th Edition, but as the new one is also very pretty, and I want one (plus finding a picture of the old one was a sodding pain), so it’s not too bad of a violation of the rules I made for myself now, is it.

There are miniatures that can say a lot about you, about what kind of person, or gamer you are. Some of it is your taste, but some of it is also a little more sophisticated than that. If you played Warhammer fantasy at any point, the miniatures you had in your army was essentially a sliding scale of images that ranged from Cheddar to Stilton. Or baby-eating if you’re a Dwarf player.

If you took a Doomwheel in 5th Edition fantasy, it informed the opposing player that they should be very scared of you. Because then they instantly knew that you were above it all, that you didn’t care whether you won or lost, you had a Doomwheel, and it was going to kill things. Probably Skaven models, but your opponents always dreaded the day that the Engineer on the top wiped his goggles, because when he did, your opponent could have had all the best parts of the magic deck, the cheesy magic items, and Chaos Warriors he liked, he was still doomed.

Models like the Doomwheel represent pure insanity. They represent the exact opposite of the things I love to hate about this hobby: mathshammer, statistics, reliable/effective/viable units. The Doomwheel is the sort of thing you take when your hobby is mostly about beating your opponent to killing your own army. I’ll race you to defeatism…

You win.

There’s just something about Skaven. Their machinations, like they are in the fluff are absolutely better than everything else in the world that they exist, if only they didn’t have treacherous tendencies. I’m the kind of person who watched Wacky Races and concluded that Dick Dastardly won anyway.

Also, monowheels are cool. Crazed contraptions are better, and crazed rats riding crazed contraptions really resonates complete coolness.

11. The Orks of 2nd Edition [Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop]



I have a confession to make. People often wonder why I have an army of Grots. It’s because I’m not really a big fan of modern Orks. I’m a 2nd Edition Ork fanboy. From then on, with the minor fluff exception of Andy Chamber’s absolutely awesome Anzion articles (although actually most of them are technically from Gorkamorka, not the 3rd Ed Codex), it has all been pretty downhill from there, really.

I still really love Orks, but I was never a big fan of the added crudity and angry-beast syndrome that overly simplified the Orks and made 40k revolve around They Shall Know No Fear and Fearless rules for about twenty billion editions. Even the models, they are still characterful, but when you contrast them with the character of the old Orks, they look positively monochrome.

My favourite model is Zodgrod Wortsnagga, the model most people know as “That cool Slaver/Runtherd model”. It is the kind of model that makes me cry inside. I look at what the Orks were, and what they have become, and know that when I come to use it, and to finally finish my Madboyz army with all the greenstuffed hair and crazed hats, expressions and demented things, I’m going to get comments in real life, and on this forum about how Orks don’t look like that and are bald, and can only have topknots.

Every time I see a RT/2nd Ed Ork army in the Mek’s Garage or Trophy Rack, I seethe with envy. I would love to have that many awesome looking Orks. Still, I have most of my favourites, Ghazghkull and Makari, the Goff Rockers, Zodgrod, the old SAG (somewhere) and recently, 2 of the 3 Tinboyz. I plan to use most of them, and I’m already working on making more Tinboyz and Rockers.

10. Wyrd Miniatures [Malifaux, Wyrd Miniatures]



I liked Wyrd Miniatures before Malifaux was out, and I am currently cursing my horrendous poverty that I can’t buy absolutely every flipping thing they’ve made. I haven’t wanted pretty much every model in an entire range since Rackham still had stuff that was actually worth buying.

As mentioned earlier, I love Steampunk, and anything a little bit off the wall, especially if it twists popular, cultural, historical or mythological images into something vaguely different. Wyrd does this, it seems, on a daily basis. They are also the only company, since GW in the 90s to realistically get the idea of what Terrain is supposed to do, and how to design it so people can realistically, you know, use it, with wargaming bloody miniatures.

The first models to grab my attention were the Witchling Stalkers, but so much of the range is actually collectable, as well as amazingly being fit into an interesting system. Characters such as Pandora, the Mad Hatter, War, and Death, are amazing, twisted, and, well, Wyrd. There is much promise in this company, if it keeps going at this rate. And, of course, it uses proppa metal. Not cheap, overpriced resin.

9. Varghar, Limited Edition Wolfen [Confrontation 3, Rackham]



The first Rackham entry, it was only really a matter of time. It should be noted in my first list of over 50 miniatures, about half of them were Rackham models, and I hadn’t even included the Rackham models I never got a chance to actually own. So if you ever wondered why every Confrontation player in the entire planet spends most of their time in a GW store going “Meh” you are about find out a small amount about why this is.

Wolves. Ah yes, now there’s an image that can resonate. I’ve seen lots of Wolfy things in popular culture over the years, not least the actual Space Wolves, but I’ve not quite seen anything as impressive as the Rackham Wolfen.

I’m sure most of us have some kind of monstrously large creatures in our collection, things from troll/ogre size to the odd dragon and such. Rackham is the only company I have ever known to devote the detail you would expect from a tiny character model into a 55mm+ figure, and still be vaguely affordable, or designed to actually use in wargames. The Wolfen are Ogre sized, and you’re not wanting for detail, not at all.

There are of course a few really nice massive ones, their Cynwall Dragon, Midnor Daemon Tower, and the absolutely massive and disgustingly beautiful Ogre Cyclops (all of which can be easily googled), which were fairly expensive, but utterly beautiful, and I would have happily bought all of them if I had the money. They are the kind of models that, after being in a GW where some Staffer is trying to hype me into loving the Storm of Magic monsters, his face rather drops a bit when I mention the lack of detail, and the typically make-or-break GW paintwork cover-up attempt to hide it. He may wonder why this is. The one-worded answer is "Rackham".

Varghar is one of many beautiful Wolfen (Onyx, the Prowler and Predators of Blood in particular) and was a limited edition model, based on the front cover artwork of the Confrontation 3 rulebook, and managed to be more beautiful than the artwork. Only the French could pull that off. They don’t always, mind you, because Rackham’s artwork also tends to be outstanding, to the point that I bought Griffin’s Garrell the Redeemer based on his artwork picture, and was deeply disappointed.

I don’t know why I wrote so much, just look at the picture.

8. VASA Viper Wings [Void 1.1, I-Kore]



I miss Void. Mostly because I don’t remember much about it, other than me and a few friends mercilessly looting a lot of their models to use in our own systems, although we did play a bit of Void from time to time.

I-kore were the first company I encountered that produced miniatures for bikes that didn’t look like they were bricks with wheels, and made me realise that bike models could actually look extremely nice. The riders were a little bland in style, and those bikes ALWAYS fell over, but they were just utterly beautiful, and the riders didn't distract you from the appealing lines of the bikes. Of all the original Void range, they still stick out to me as the most beautiful ones.

It was a shame about Void really, because there were lots of beautiful models in that range, the Syntha and VASA tended to be the main ones, but I-kore succeeded, in the 90s, in making absolutely stunning and interesting sci-fi miniatures. These days, I actually wish I’d spent my money on Void miniatures rather than all that money I wasted on GW. I’d actually be happy to still have those models. I’ve not looked at my Beakies, or my Chaos, since I shoved them in a corner to collect dust.

Gaming truly isn’t everything.

7. Legion of Everblight Carnivean [Hordes, Privateer Press]



The first time I saw Everblight, I knew I’d get them. They looked like a Dragon and Daemon had shagged for a fortnight. Nothing else could be quite as awesome as that mental image.

...

Just me? Okay then...

The first time I saw the Carnivean, my jaw was sore for about 3 months afterwards. I have two of them, and they are as awesome in the game as they look. Any doubts I may have had about Hordes at the time were put to rest with a handful of models. The Carnivean is so awesome; that the Everblight range still hasn’t topped it, and it’s the one you get in the Everblight starter set.

A name I often horrendously misspell (and probably have done so again) is to thank for this beauty. One Felix Paniagua, you know, the guy responsible for Avatars of War. Yeah, him. Now you know why it looks so damn awesome.

I play Everblight mostly to put that model on the table, and I do so with horrific amounts of glee.


6. Lanyssa Ryssyll, Nyss Sorceress [Iron Kingdoms, Privateer Press]



I’m sure we all have at least one model in our model collections that we bought just because we saw it and we wanted it so bad we simply had to have it. I get the sensation a lot, but I still get blown away by the beauty of this model. I do have a soft spot for Elves with a Darker ilk to it (especially Drow) but I must sadly report that I believe this is the only Elf model that PP has made that is any good.

You can now use the model in Hordes, if you’re an American, but I have still yet to decide if the best of Privateer Press is behind them. Even though I collect Everblight, I am quite disappointed with PP’s Elves since Lanyssa, and well, the models I feel, aren’t as good as they were, and the rules, questionable. Still, PP is worthy enough to be giving Games Workshop some serious competition, and one hopes they at least learn from [i]some[/i] of GW’s pitfalls.

5. Ira Tenebrae [Confrontation 3, Rackham]



Every now and then you find models that simply strike a chord with you, and they have potentially life-changing (or wallet emptying) consequences. The Ira Tenebrae got me into Confrontation single-handedly. Aside of the fact that I love Latin; I bought a blister of 3 of the most stunning models I have ever seen for £9. For the three. No, really. At the same time, you could buy that bloody Captain Corteaz model for the same price. [i]There’s some perspective for you[/i].

I suggest googling these models. See if you can find some pictures of the back of them, because a look at the front alone does not do them justice. At the back, they have cloaks, or wings, something like that, [i]of skulls[/i]. It’s absolute insane detail. The kind of thing that makes me laugh every time I hear the pitch for “Finecast”.

In Confrontation, they are Elementals of Darkness, which requires for them to be summoned into the game, which means using the divinity rules. They didn’t get much play, let’s put it that way. But if I had to pick a model that to me had the most lasting impression, I’d pick my favourite of the 3 Ira Tenebrae. I’ve liked one in particular the most since I first saw them. Guess which one.

4. Cryx Harrower Helljack [Warmachine, Privateer Press]



The Harrower is by far my favourite Warjack in the entirety of Warmachine. When I started Warmachine, I loved the Leviathan Helljack (Cryx call their large Warjacks Helljacks, and the Light Warjacks are Bonejacks), but found it rather understated compared to the other Helljacks. The Harrower resolutely solved my problem. It is wonderfully overstated, with a BFG and a claw that can put out your own eye, not to mention models on the table.

Never before have I actually loved a model for being a pain to transport, and being a Cryx player, it isn’t as rare a complaint as you might think. Ever since I bought it, I’ve always used it. It’s not the best Helljack out there, but it just radiates awesomeness, and cuts through troops like they’re not there, and a turn later they usually aren’t.

Cryx Warjacks tend to radiate a purely evil and unsavoury aesthetic. Honourable mentions include the Nightmare (which only just failed to get on the 25 shortlist), the Leviathan, the Slayer, and Reaper. Even the smaller “Bone Chickens” Bonejacks are cool looking, although PP ruined the Helldiver with rubbish rules, and to spite them it doesn’t rate in my Top million. Damn you PP. Your Removecontinuouseffectsdiver thing is no Helldiver.

3. Cryx Mechanithralls [Warmachine, Privateer Press]



Mechanithralls are almost my favourite unit in the entirety of wargaming. Steampunk Zombies with Power Fists. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “You are already dead”.

I simply love the aesthetic of them, and again, with Warmachine you buy awesome models, and almost always they actually [i]are[/i] awesome. People say Warmachine is only about Warjacks and doesn’t hold a candle to 40k, but in Warmachine, units actually do something other than die. They are all good, and they can all hurt everything else. The amount of Warjacks my 20 mechanithralls have ripped through is simply hilarious.

Plus, for a gamers’ game, Warmachine and Hordes models are really quite stunning. Sure they are getting pretty damn expensive, but unlike 40k you’re not paying a premium without getting something for it. PP’s models look good, and they tend to work very well, in a system that is well written. That makes the models even more attractive. Even in Mk.2.

Warmachine is something that is very much dominated by taste. If none of the limited factions appeal to your tastes, most likely you wont pick it up, but if you do like the aesthetic, chances are you’ll love the game, and adore the models.

If I had but one complaint regarding Mechanithralls, is that there are too few poses. Still, it doesn’t make them any less awesome.

2. Hive Primus and Its Inhabitants [Necromunda, Games Workshop]




This is cheating isn’t it? I know, and I don’t care.

Top X lists need to get bigger and better, so I opted for an entire hive. Because let’s face it, Necromunda is a game of awesome models, at least until some utterly cheap and annoying twerp turns up with plastic guard, and then says something about how he wants to use them as Van Saars because they all have Lasguns, but he has ordered 50 plasma guns on ebay. Then I kill him.

Anyway, Necromunda has always been about cool models. Even before it was called Necromunda, when it was called (ironically in this context) Confrontation, there were lots of interesting models that explored a completely different style and theme within the 40k universe.

Necromunda has many beautiful models, especially the first few waves of gangs and hired guns. The later models although still usually nice enough looking, lacked the depth and scope of the original ones. Don’t get me started on the Redemption and the Ratskins, or GW’s “Sneak Peak” of the Spyrers that they never f***ing changed anyway.

Ultimately though, the best models were actually the terrain. People played Necromunda for the same reason that people played Bloodbowl over the cores. They were complete games, ones that could be set up, enjoyed, and were simple and different enough to keep the thing running to a defined outcome. And they weren’t that pretentious enough to say: “for a good game you need fancy plastic terrain that requires a second mortgage to pay for it”.

If you wanted more variation in your games, you bought more starter sets. It was that simple, and the terrain was interesting enough, and some wonderful features were chucked in by the Outlanders supplement. More to the point, Necromunda is a game you can add to, and if you had no terrain, you could play Ash Wastes instead.

Necromunda just got it right, where Inquisitor was ambitious but rubbish, and Mordheim had massive promise and a great ruleset, but the terrain just failed to live up to it. Seriously, there was better buildings in the MG “Dark Age: Village of Fear” and “Dark Age” board games, and I used them for my Mordheim games. They cost me a lot less than the 40 quid GW were charging for their boxed set at the time.

All attempts to modernise the specialist games failed and I think all non-cores these days are built to fail in the long run, as they inevitably will.

Despite this, I could write a list of favourite miniatures into the hundreds, and I’d be more likely to mention Specialist Games miniatures (mostly Necromunda ones) before 40k, LOTR or Fantasy crept in at any significant quantity.

Particular favourites of mine include the entire range of Delaques (except for the Gang leader with hair), most of the Pit Slaves, the original Scavvy range (Scalies, Karloth Valois and Plague Zombies in particular),all the Wyrd models, the creatures such as the Milliasaurs and rippa jacks, the old Redemption, both ranges of Golaiths, both ranges of Orlocks, and, well the Escher are positively iconic.

Also, did you know the Spyrers were the first introduction of fish'ead (well, their tech) into 40k? Bet ya didn’t know dat one.

1. Sentinels of Danakil [Confrontation 3, Rackham]


Yes well, put simply, I have never seen anything that comes close to these models. They blew my mind away when I saw them, and I still get blown away when I look at them. I have absolutely no criticism for these models. They are as good as gaming models get, and are closer to pure art than anything else, and yet like any fantasy gaming miniature, they are based on a purely awesome concept.

That concept is Sword Axes. That pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it.

It’s models like this that made pretty much the entirety of the Confrontation fanbase stop playing Confrontation when Age of Ragnarok came out, with its plastic, overpriced, boring, pre-painted miniatures. The only thing that was good about them was seeing rackham models with paint on them for a change, as I dare not, because I am to the painting fraternity of Wargaming what Matt Ward is to the fraternity of wargaming writers. In other words, I put far too much crap onto models with no particular skill, flair or ability. Just like he does.

If you want the last word on Rackham’s legacy, it can’t hurt to find it on Coolminiornot.com. Rackham metals are the painter’s miniature of choice for showing off ridiculous skill. It isn’t surprising to see why, when you look at the canvass you’re painting on. You just bought a Finecast miniature didn’t you? Kept the receipt did you?

You’ll notice there are no current 40k or fantasy non-plastic miniatures in my top 16, nor are there any in my Top 25, nor my Top 50. Because they just don’t cut it any more, Finecast doesn’t matter, and if it does, it does so for all the wrong reasons.

GW presents Finecast: Because You're Worthless!

Okay well, everyone else has had something to say on the matter, so why don't I just beat the dead horse for a bit? I was trying to avoid it, but with a blog title called "The Wargaming Cynic" if I allowed the biggest mistake in Wargaming history since Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok to pass me by without even a passing mention in this blog, any hope of ever making this blog actually worth something would be completely pointless.

I've seen many pictures on the internet, and I've seen actual ones in the flesh. Judging from what I've seen, any conclusion taken from it is that at best, Finecast has been horrifically rushed and poorly handled. At worst it is the biggest insult to miniature collectors and gamers in the history of the hobby.

The first alarm bells rang when I saw the name. "Finecast". I already knew GW were moving to resin, but it doesn't matter what you know about GW's "special recipe", resin is cheaper than metal. My first gut reaction was to think how typical it is of Games Workshop to spin their measure (along with their collective ego) out of all proportions.

The public understanding is that resin is a cheaper alternative to metal, and indeed it is. GW would have stuck with metal if this "finecast" endeavour was going to cost them more money. Unfortunately, GW clearly doesn't care if it costs the consumer more money. They like it that way, judging from the unnecessary move to hard-backed WHFB army books (which no doubt will be moved to 40k when 6th Ed comes out).

GW does seem to get off on this idea of adding aesthetic "improvements". The sad thing is, I really don't think the consumer ever asked for them. They are essentially tacked on as a "we want more money from you" tax. There has been an argument that GW just happened to increase prices alongside the move to Finecast. Whether you believe that or not just depends on whether you think GW are scheming greedy bastards or incompetent greedy bastards.

I'm not going to compare models. I really don't need to, because there are many already across the internet. I have bought one Finecast model, and it didn't make it out of the shop. Having read a number of separate cases of horrendous moulding errors and an apparent lack of any quality control, I immediately checked my Tomb Kings Liche Priest (which I was planning on converting for use in Necromunda). I found several bubbles and errors.

I immediately sought a replacement, however the staff member told me how I could easily rectify this. I responded with a question: "Why should I need to?". That had him going for a while, until the responses about how the first wave of castings is bound to run with errors that are still easily fixed. I responded by invoking the name of this abomination: "Your company should have thought about that, before it called something Finecast, and priced it accordingly." He got defensive, and I got quite vociferous, during which time my quest for a replacement became a successful quest for a refund. It had a lot to do with the new customers entering the shop at that time.

It is an important point, but the pill is just too hard to swallow. You have a gimmicky name that is so egotistical and blatantly hiding a quick cost-saving cop-out, that is also the herald of, if not part of a price hike at the same time, yet you have a record amount of "poorly cast" miniatures being marketed at a massive mark-up as "Finecast". No wonder the internet is bursting to the seams with unfavourable references to this product with the pet name of "Fail Cast".

Of course, fanboys have been rushing to defend it lately. Lots of inferences about how GW are still miles ahead of the competition in miniature quality. Hardly. Most of the other companies haven't exactly had the 30 years practice and time to establish and fund their brand, yet by comparison, I don't quite think the comparative time reflects poorly on the other companies, who to some are just as good, if not better. GW's models are certainly nice, but there's a good reason for that. They rip their customers off horrendously.

Especially now that a cheaper material is being marketed as a premium product. The trouble with offering a premium service is that people expect one. You charge more money, and they want the service that comes with it. Do companies think people will view High Definition televisions in the same way as they view other old televisions? Do you think people are going to be happy when those things break? Not on your nelly. The more sophisticated you make it, the more people take notice, and because it cost more, they expect more.

It is at this point that you may be thinking: "But what about Forge World? They produce things in resin at a massive mark-up!", but there are a few issues with that. Firstly, Finecast is mass-produced, Forge World miniatures are cast by hand. Secondly, their quality control is pretty exceptional, and needs to be at such a price range. Thirdly, they produce things that are far greater in detail and quality than what GW usually has to offer.

This is another issue. The apparent "better detail". It is utter rubbish. If there is even a slight of bit of truth to it, it seems a minute difference for such a drastic name change and horrendous price increase. From what I've seen it gives the appearance of more detail by being crisper, and that is all. Having been a Confrontation player for many years now, this claim that resin holds detail any better than resin is a load of hogwash. I've seen better detail on a rackham model than the best forgeworld has to offer. I don't think the material makes a lot of difference with regards to detail.

A greater issue is the quality of the material itself. It seems counter-productive to me, that GW would start introducing hard-backed books, boasting additional resilience, yet move something like 25-50% of their miniature range in a more brittle and less hard-wearing material and then increase prices as well. There's already a few claims about GW's "special resin" (or as the rest of the world knows it: "resin") melting, snapping, and numerous casting issues that you just don't get with metal.

Metal models chip easily when they're dropped, this is true, but resin shatters when it is dropped. Metal models are less flexible, but unlike resin, they don't snap. The difference in painting? Questionable. Certainly you're supposed to clean resin before painting on it. despite this apparently not being needed with GW's finecast range, I'm expecting issues to crop up from time to time for people who don't clean them. Not that you even needed to worry about that with metal.

Resin should offer a saving, either to allow GW to make more money at the same rate or to give their customers a saving. GW opted for neither of those, taking double profit anyway (despite the switch to a cheaper material), so quality drops and the price rises. How predictable are GW? Very. There are other companies making the switch to resin who are offering savings, or in a few cases, extra models for the same price.

What "Finecast" ultimately is, is a cheap piece of optimistic marketing. It is a massive mistake of a horrendous nature, ill-timed amidst other GW issues, such as putting trading restrictions on non-EU countries, and calling internet-based companies "freeloaders". This is from a company that sells cheap, resin miniatures as if they were the greatest advance in gaming history, when they're just cheap models with a gimmicky label, to go with their gimmicky and poorly written games.

As I said, the quality control has been appalling, or else we wouldn't have such a frequency of complaints. The fact that they insist on making ridiculous amounts of cash from countries with their own currency, don't check their new and experimental range for poor quality casts, made from a material that can bubble and melt, and has the nerve to call other companies for offering a competitive service just gives you an indication of the kind of company that GW is.

Games Workshop is a company that doesn't care. All they care about is making loads of money, and they hope their customers are gullible enough to "make do" with an inferior product sold at a premium price. Do yourself a favour. Don't buy it.

And if you absolutely must, don't "make do" with something that isn't justifiably "finely cast" make sure you send it back, for a proper replacement, or a refund. Because GW doesn't deserve your money if they don't even bother trying to earn it.

'Ere We Go! An Introduction

Well, I thought I'd begin by trumping out the Blogger cliché: Hello again, and I'm back after a brief hiatus. I'd like to continue this cliché by issuing yet another one of my already numerous thread sections. This time I'd like to centre it around my favourite gaming subject: Orks.

A recent comment in the It's a Hard Fluff Life section has caught my interest. I suppose it is fair to say that Orks are my main interest when it comes to Warhammer 40,000. I find them the most dynamic and interesting race in the entire of the 40k canon. There is just something about them, something very visceral and interesting.

Firstly, there's the over-trumped Grimdark setting in which 40k inhabits. Orks sit awkwardly to one side. I've heard arguments how Orks are a parody of themselves, but I find this is something 40k does to itself. Taking things too far, going over the top, is something that you find in 40k, and then there's the friggin' space marines. Who evidently can count to 12, which is one more than 11.

40k itself started as a parody of the Grimdark style, and at some point, both its writers and fans started playing this straight. Throughout it, the Orks have never changed their tune, and have always remained resolutely the same beast, with a crude and simplistic, but workable ethic, and a vicious, but quite affable honesty.

In a wargame, this is such a refreshing approach. In a setting of grim and twisted machinations, one can find the greatest contrast in Orks. It is actually quite funny, because for a setting that sets up not only that war is bad, but that it is also a constant, most other factions are depicted carrying out over-elaborate gambits, ploys and machinations which invariably fail.

Yet of these, the most memorable is the one the Orks created, that of the second and third Armageddon Wars. What we have discovered from this is that Ghaz is using this essentially as practice, and trying his luck against the Imperials. One can get the impression from reading the fluff that Ghazghkull hasn't quite gone all out yet. If you contrast this with Abaddon's Eye of Terror campaign, it is Ghaz who comes across as the sophisticated warlord, and Abaddon who is the redundant B-Movie super-villain.

Orks are an army one cannot completely take seriously, which is both a boon and a bust for Ork players. Generally speaking it means that Orks are often dismissed, or deeply disliked, as not fitting into the grand scale of things, and dismissed as stupid, random and crude. Yet at the same time, your average 40k player even now, despite how powerful the current codex is, deeply underestimate and dislike Orks. Which helps a lot when they think their fancy power armour can do all that much against simple brute force and sheer force of numbers.

The true irony of this as far as the background goes, is that Orks actually work in a dysfunctional universe by nature of their simplistic view. All the other factions are deeply divided by in-fighting or internal politics, yet the Orks just get those out of the way and get on with it. This idea that Orks are too silly for the setting is ridiculous, when you realise the situation IS already silly, and that the situation is a unhealthy setting, and what sets Orks apart is that they alone have the healthy attitude to the setting.

Orks are a hard race to champion. There's always some group who hate them, but then that is true of most 40k races, as invariably, a poor balanced game has an insecure fanbase. However Orks get it just for being stupid. I find this hard to swallow, because there is a big difference between crude, and stupid. You'll find the primary difference is that crude can still work. If you haven't been tabled by an Ork player yet, most likely there's no Ork player where you game. Lucky you.

I love the Orks. In a game that doesn't know what it is any more, that is consumed by power-gaming, poor balancing, horrendously overpriced models, and some of the worst reputations for poor sportsmanship, painting and modelling abilities in a vastly wide-ranging hobby, with a system so bad even the FAQs need FAQing, sometimes you just want everything to shut up for 30 minutes so you can roll some dice, and have fun.

I am yet to find a faction in any wargaming system that does that as well as Orks. Skaven used to, but then 8th Edition arrived. GW obviously don't like it when you have fun. They'll have to try very hard to drill that into Ork players. Orks makes 40k better. We give it more rivets, paint it red and say job's a gud un, and generally you'll find a lot of begrudging GW "fans" who can only endure their crap because they love their greenskins.

Over the course of the next month or so, I'm going to try and write some articles about Orks, greenskins and such. I might even put up some pictures of my models! First however, I'd like to discuss a issue close to my heart, Orks in Fluff. At the same time, I'll unveil my most recent Ork Fluff project: Wurrgitz!