Warhammer Orcs

Orcs in Warhammer are not very intelligent or knowledgeable but are capable of cunning. In combat they can transform even the most common object into a lethal killing instrument. They are extremely warlike, with a society geared towards constant warfare, living in small tribal groups with a strong chain of command. They are known for large, brutal armies of difficult-to-kill troops, usually supported by a variety of units and war machines. The constant need to fight keeps the orcs from forming anything but temporary alliances with one other. This is described in-game as "animosity"; orc armies must take a test every turn to see if the orcs will fight as the player desires, or squabble amongst themselves.

Orcs are taller and broader than humans, with short legs and long arms much like an ape. They have massive heads which come directly forward on their necks, giving them a stooping appearance. Their jaws are lined with vicious fangs that jut out from their underbite. They have beady red eyes, a generally foul demeanour, and are naturally bald. Normally six feet tall, they are up to seven feet tall when stretched out of their characteristic stoop. Although in general, orcs are always male and while the Warhammer 40,000 Orks reproduce asexually through a symbiotic relationship with a type of fungus; it has never been specified just how orcs reproduce in the Fantasy setting.

They have tough thick green skin which is highly resistant to pain. They can survive even the most horrific of injuries, reflected in-game by an above-average Toughness value. Orcs have an "adrenaline-fuelled metabolism", which means that they grow in size, strength, endurance and belligerence as they fight and defeat opponents. An orc will only stop growing when he finds an opponent that he can't beat.


Orc "culture" is dominated by the concept of strength. There is no law, and therefore no crime. If an orc feels wronged, he can challenge the source of his grievance to a pit fight. Once the fight is over, the matter is considered settled. Orcs have no concept of pity; to an orc, the weak are simply weak, and are beneath them in society.

An orc attains a higher social rank by fighting and defeating members of that rank. Because of their bizarre physiology, orcs receive a steady supply of adrenaline when preparing to challenge a superior, causing him to physically increase in size and muscle-mass. An alert superior will spot this occurring and promptly beat the challenger down before he becomes a threat. If the superior fails to notice this development, then a battle inevitably results. Once such a leadership battle is won, the winning orc undergoes an extreme boost in power, gaining up to a dozen pounds of muscle in the wake of the fight. Orc veterans are known as "big'uns", because they are literally bigger and stronger than ordinary orcs. Grimgor Ironhide, a Black Orc Warlord, is over 15 feet in height. As orcs grow older and beat more powerful foes, they can become "bosses," "big bosses," and eventually "warbosses". A warboss leading several tribes in a Waaagh! is known as a "warlord".

Orcs communicate through their own language which has been described as a variety of guttural sounds, but they are often shown as capable of speaking humans languages, mostly broken and fragmented Reikspiel. There is one tribe of savage orcs that is said to have a vocabulary consisting entirely of the word "Waaagh!," with variants in volume, pitch, and accents making up for individual words. Their written language works in a similar way to Egyptian hieroglyphics, only louder and cruder.

Orcs worship a pair of gods known as Gork and Mork. Apparently, one is brutally cunning, and the other is cunningly brutal. Orcs can never quite agree which god is which, and many battles have been fought as a result.

Orcs tend to ally with Goblins and Snotlings, but their alliance is more of a matter of the orcs bullying their smaller Goblinoid cousins into being everything from servants, to human (goblin) shields, to an emergency food source. Their warbands also often include wyverns, giants, trolls, ogres and other monsters in the same vein.


Orcs seem to have a racially-linked mind, from which some Orcs can draw power; this is known as the Great Green or WAAAGH! (always spelled with capital letters, 3 A's and at least one exclamation mark).

"WAAAGH!" is a phrase used may of times by Fox and Sith although, Fox established/coined it first. Orc and goblin shamans can draw on this power to fuel their magic, which can take a variety of forms, with the most notorious being the ability to summon a giant foot of one of their gods to crush an enemy unit. In the current edition, goblin shamans draw upon the "little WAAAGH!" for their magic, which focuses on mobility, avoiding panic tests, and doing damage to very strong troops. Orcs, however, draw upon the "Big WAAAGH!", which focuses on killing as many enemies as possible. Off the battlefield, these shamans provide healing, fortune telling and other such services to the tribe. Shamans who draw too deeply from this energy risk their heads exploding. For more warrior-like orcs, the WAAAGH! acts more as a communal group mind, inspiring them to battle. Orcs have a tendency to simply steamroller towards and over their foes, until the impetus runs out and they go off their separate ways again.

The innate popularity of the orcs and orks amongst gamers, due to their humour and their being an entertaining army to play both with and against, has led to WAAAGH! becoming almost a rallying cry for the Games Workshop hobby, and it is frequently heard at gaming conventions and during battles.

Black Orcs were originally created by the Chaos Dwarfs to use as slaves, but have since rebelled and found a place in regular Orc armies. They are naturally even bigger, stronger and meaner than regular orcs, and so tend towards command roles, also they do form their own units; they are also, if not smarter, more well-organised, and they are immune to the effects of animosity (Although if another orc unit attacks them, they will definitely fight back). Being the largest of Orcs, and having an air of authority, they procure large amounts of the heaviest armour from the Camp, and march to battle carrying a Variety of Choppas and heavy, two-handed blades.

Savage Orcs are not a subspecies as such, but more a specific subset of orc tribe; 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 natural protection.