Orcs and Goblins
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| Orcs & Goblins | |
|---|---|
 Seventh edition |
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| Author | Matthew Ward, et al. |
| Cover artist | Alex Boyd |
| Series | Warhammer Armies |
| Genre(s) | Wargaming |
| Publisher | Games Workshop |
| Publication date | 2006 |
| ISBN | 1841547859 |
Orcs & Goblins is a supplemental book for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle tabletop game. The phrase "orcs & goblins" also refers collectively to all of the races that are described in this book, which includes other "greenskins" as well. The book includes background information, illustrations, and game rules for these races. The Orcs and Goblins represent a generic Dark Ages warband army with little internal cohesion and discipline, and relying on the ferocious charge and individual fighting skills rather than organized generalship.
Contents |
[edit] Stories
Orcs & Goblins contains a number of short stories that provide an illustrative history of the Orcs. These stories center around the formation of Waaagh!s and the resulting campaigns.
[edit] Gorbad Ironclaw
Gorbad Ironclaw, atop his vicious boar Gnarla, was the mightiest Warlord that ever lived (in the warhammer fantasy universe). Gorbad Ironclaw and his tribe, the Ironclaw Orcs, absorb the Broken Tooth tribe along with the local Goblin and Night Goblin tribes, to create a massive force of Greenskin warriors. The tribe marches through Black Fire Pass to attack the Empire under the Emperor Sigismund. Gorbad's army conquers the territories of Solland and Wissenland, but Gorbad himself is wounded in the fighting. At the fortress of Altdorf, the Waaagh! is kept at bay outside the city walls. Gorbad unleashes Wyverns upon the city, who throw the defenders into disarray but are ultimately repelled without achieving their main function, which was to destroy the city gates. Eventually, the lack of progress and Gorbad's injury take their toll on morale, and the tribe subsides and disbands. The remnants of Gorbad's tribe are ambushed and defeated on their way home by a Dwarf army under the King Karaz-a-Karak. It is not known if Gorbad survived the encounter.
[edit] Azhag the Slaughterer
An already powerful warlord who ruled over a great many tribes in the Badlands, Azhag's tale truly began after he unearthed an ancient magic crown in the ruined city of Todtheim. But this was no ordinary crown: this was the Crown of Sorcery, an ancient artifact of the Great Necromancer, Nagash, and the ancient Liche's insidious spirit still clung to the artifact. When Azhag put the crown on, Nagash's spirit began to dominate the Orc's crude, uncomplicated psyche, and from then on, Azhag's primal power was combined with Nagash's tactical genius and arcane fury.
The power of the Crown allowed Azhag to destroy the rival Warbosses and ensure the loyalty of his followers. Prior to battle, Azhag would lay out his plan of attack, speaking in a decidedly un-Orcy voice heavy with the weight of centuries, then bellow at his ladz to get moving. However, Azhag's continued victories ensured the support of his greenskin followers: they didn't care that he 'talked funny', only that he showed them 'where da fighting wuz!'
Armed with Nagash's tactical skill and sorcerous might, which granted Azhag impressive magical skill, and mounted on the back of his pet wyvern Skullmuncha, Azhag's uncannily organised and tactically skilled WAAGH! invaded the Empire, laying waste to the eastern province of Ostland. They ravaged the province for many long months before Azhag's force was finally defeated at the Battle of Osterwald. In the ferocious fighting, Werner von Kriegstadt, Grand Master of the Knights Panther, killed Azhag in single combat and recovered the Crown of Sorcery. Without his tactical mind and force of will to lead them, the Orcs that had followed Azhag fled into the forests and hills of Ostland. As for the Crown of Sorcery, after much debate between those who wanted it preserved and studied, and those who wanted it destroyed so its evil could pose no more threat, the Grand Theogonist took it back to Altdorf and sealed it in the Imperial Vaults, where it would remain for all eternity.
[edit] Grimgor Ironhide
Grimgor Ironhide is the most violent Black Orc Warboss ever to exist. He leads tribes of vicious Orcs to lay waste all across the Old World. His personal bodyguard of Black Orcs are known as "Da Immortulz" and they are almost as dangerous as him. Grimgor is a fearsome fighter who is more than capable of turning an enemy regiment into a heap of offal.
[edit] Orcs
Orcs are large creatures with long arms and short legs, huge slabs of muscle move under tough green skin, and their jaws are lined with vicious fangs that jut out from their underbite. They have beady red eyes, a generally foul demeanor, and are naturally bald. Normally six feet tall, they are up to seven feet tall when stretched out of their characteristic stoop. They respect power and strength, and naturally tend towards becoming bigger and stronger as they rise through their society. While they lack the education of more advanced races, Orcs possess immense cunning and are quick learners, but rarely adopt new tactics to replace their fondness for close quarters brutality.
Black Orcs were originally created by the Chaos Dwarves to use as slaves, but have since rebelled and found a place in regular Orc armies. They are even bigger, stronger and meaner than regular Orcs, and so tend towards command roles. They are not above forming their own units though. Though other Orcs tend to look down on Black Orc intelligence, Black Orcs are, if not smarter, at the very least more well-organized. They are above the petty infighting (called Animosity in-game) that happens in most tribes and settle their differences with other Greenskins with orderly head-butting contests. Being the largest of Orcs and having an air of authority, Black Orcs confiscate large amounts of the heaviest armour from the camp and march to battle carrying a variety of weapons.
Savage Orcs are a different culture of orcs; their tribes have a stone-age level of development, and are even more shamanistic and savage than their regular Orc cousins. They are most well known for riding giant boars into combat, and paint their bodies with magical tribal designs which provide them with some level of supernatural protection. In game, this gives them a 6+ Ward saving throw on a six sided die.
[edit] Goblins
Goblins are much smaller and skinnier than the Orcs and have long, pointed noses. They are between 4 and 5 feet high, seldom reaching the height of a man. Goblins are more common than orcs, and deceitful to a fault. They prefer attacking their opponents in the back or from a safe distance. When pressed into battle Goblins seek safety in numbers, attacking in large mobs. They are afraid of Elves because they "stink funny."
Goblins tend to be bossed around by orcs because they are smaller and weaker, but the Goblins outsmart their larger cousins when trading scavenged goods.
- Common Goblins - are, like the common Orcs, the most numerous of the Goblin kind
- Night Goblins - inhabit underground places and hate to go out during the day
- Forest Goblins - are a goblinoid group at a primitive level like Savage Orcs, living in the Southlands
Hobgoblins are a race of large goblins living out on the Eastern Steppes where they are ruled by Khans and fight in huge wolf-mounted hordes. They are so underhanded that normal Greenskins refuse to have dealings with them but are used by the Chaos Dwarfs.
[edit] Snotlings
Snotlings are smaller and weaker than goblins; about half their height, although there is no set point where a large snotling becomes a small goblin, or vice versa. They are far less intelligent than goblins and can do little except in imitation of others. They congregate on the edges of greenskin villages,hunting(and being hunted by) squigs, although they are often too terrified to approach these strange creatures. In battle, they usually gather in large swarms that are too stupid to know when they're beaten. Sometimes they manage to cobble together examples of the infamous snotling pump wagon; a gigantic, uncontrollable wrecking machine. To Orcs, as long as they're smaller than themselves, they're all just weedy little "grotz" to be bossed around.
[edit] Gnoblars
Gnoblars were not well known to the Old World until expeditions from the Ogre Kingdoms became commonplace. They serve as "pets" who are used to scavenge battlefields and carry luggage. Gnoblars are between normal goblins and snotlings in size and hence hierarchy.
[edit] Beasts
Accompanying the greenskin hordes are a variety of unusual non-greenskinned creatures. Squigs are strange two legged creatures slightly larger than a goblin. They can be very colourful and have spikes and large teeth. They are captured and then goaded or ridden into battle by goblins. A sub breed of squig is the much larger cave squig. Cave squigs are physically similar to regular squigs except that they are much larger. They are found in caves and are much more ferocious than their smaller cousins. They feed off of dwarves they run into or night goblins who fail to capture them. Trolls are large dimwitted creatures with immense strength and toughness. They can also regurgitate recently eaten meals in the form of highly corrosive acid which is a very useful offensive ability. Trolls also have they ability to regenenerate. There are two sub-breeds of trolls: the river and stone trolls. River trolls are slightly more agile than the other breeds. Stone trolls have hard scales covering parts of their body as well as a resistance to magic. Both sub-breeds of troll are considered better than the average troll but are also much rarer. Giants are extremely huge and consider anything smaller than themselves as food. In some rare cases they can be persuaded (with shiny gifts)into joining an orc warband. Some giants will join these warbands of their own choosing. Usually because they are hungry or just bored. Wyverns can be captured, broken and used as powerful (if reluctant) steeds for Orc Warbosses in battle.
[edit] Machines
The greenskins have invented or stolen many contraptions over time. These includewar machines such as: catapults, spear chukkas(bolt throwers). The most interesting inventions are the pump wagon and the doom diver catapult. The pump wagon is a large wagon ridden by snotlings. The snotlings on the pump wagon will often insult and throw rocks at any foes surrounding them but the real damage is done by the wagon itself. Ramming blocks of enemy soldiers it cuts and squishes thoses before it with large rotating blades. The Doom Diver catapult is an oversized sling that launches goblins covered in explosives towards the enemy troops.
[edit] Reproduction
Little is known about how orcs and goblins reproduce. No females are mentioned in the main orc background texts; though this is not uncommon across the armies described in Warhammer, there are no female orc models in the current range of miniatures. In the Blood Bowl game, Orc cheerleaders appear to be female, but Blood Bowl's style is a largely tongue-in-cheek and the game is considerred non-canonical[citation needed].
One possibility is that the Orcs and Goblins reproduce in the same way as the Orks in Warhammer 40,000- this hypothesis is supported by the description in the Warhammer Rulebook of the Orcs and Goblins coming to the Warhammer World by means of their "insidious spores".
Games Workshop has refused to comment on any speculation about similarities between Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000. The ambiguity surrounding greenskin reproduction can therefore be considered the "official" position, and any speculation remains simply that.
[edit] See also
According to podcasts, and Question and Answer Forums made during the production of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning; it is stated by one of the creators that Orcs and Goblins are created from spores which look like mushrooms that originate from outer space.
[edit] External links
- Official Orcs & Goblins site
- Orc and Goblin Warpath site (Including Thriving Community)
- Interview with author Mat Ward
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