Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Some of you dakka guys may think this is a stupid question, but why is there never a Ork book or at lest a book where they show what is happening with the enemy Orks? Personally, I would love to see the stupid thing they do.What are your thoughs.

I would imagine because it's easier to write from a human perspective rather than an alien one especially one as alien as the Orks. The Eldar only recently started getting books written from their point of view and they are arguably one of the ones easier to relate to compared to the Orks and the nature of their society. Prehaps if they built more on the Ork Freebooter characters they could write more but again that's because a Freebooter has more humanish motivations.

They do have cameos in a few books though like 15 hours and some of the cain books as the enemies.

There have been a number of Ork comic books, such as Deff Skwadron and a series of Ork comics in the Damnation Crusade collection. A quick Google search can find a download for the (out of print) former, and the latter might still be around in bookstores. I got it at a Newbury Comics like three years ago.

As for actual novels from an Ork perspective, I think Orky talk could eventually get really grating to read. Plenty of books have Orks as bad guys, and in one of the Space Wolves books they infiltrate an Ork camp and take part in an Ork death race. That was pretty silly, but cool.

But when the flip to the Orks perspective its never fun to read.But thanks for telling about the comics.

I recall a friend showing me a comic "Deff Squadron" or something that was pretty damn funny, told from the Ork's Perspective.

Deff Skwadron was funny. it goes to show they can be portrayed as good guys

Comics would be better for Orks.
i would hate to be the author that drew the short straw at BL to write an Ork novel. Just too much weird stuff for the book to understood by mortals that want to be sane.

Also after reading a little of Deff Squadron, I found out its characters are made Storm Boyz and the other Orks that are smarter and follow orders well.I see no reason there is no comic or short story about the stupid and crazy Orks.Just my thoughts.then again I Chaos so I'm not exactly sane.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also is it just me or does the illustrator of Deff Squadron remind you of the guy that did Calvin and Hobbes?

I actually found it really hard to read Deff Skwadron. Ork speak is silly, but after a hundred pages of it you'd get annoyed at it. I'm an Ork player and I can't even get past the first couple pages of Deff Skwadron.

Other than that, yeah, there's a chunk of (if I'm not mistaken) Blood Claw that involves a few Space Wolves infiltrating an Ork stronghold, where they have a death race with a bunch of other Orks in buggies. It's quite entertaining.

Da rezzin' U hoomie not seein' da orkses in da lidradur uv da black libarray isa 'at alla da bukkz wudda be writtin' in orkses speekz whicha drive alla dem hoomies outta dem little hoomie brainz.

Because Orks can't write lol.

Well they can write WAAAGH.But thanks for giving me to do this afternoon, Dakka dudes.

Imperial glory has a good bit in the end about the birth of an ork boss, how a war band is created, how the feed, there relationship with grotz and whatnot.
Great insight to orkish society !

The older source books have loads of short stories, check out freebootaz and WAAAAAGH The Orks! They offer a fun look at ork society (if you can call it that) and show some great ideas for armies and units that got dropped in newer codexes.

A couple of the Soal Drinkers books deal with orks

I would guess it would not only be annoying to read ork speech for an extended period of time. But immersion breaking if you didn't also have the narritive descriptions in ork speech as well, or it would sound funny if you didn't.

It was with great pride, and a deep mechanical ingenuity that the head engineer among the clan did put together this great contraption of battle. A Deff Dread.

or

Gotsrup was 'appy. 'is thinkin' bitz had been rather thinky lately and he had got da boyz to build a right propa smashin' fing. A Deff Dread.

Ork speak really isn't designed to be able to convey events in the same way our language does, because they don't care to. Can you imagine 3 paragraphs of descriping the insides of a imperial church, which seems to happen in every 40k book at some point, but in ork speak? How many times would they say "pointy and tall"?

Explaining the orks from the view of outsiders is just easier to understand for most people, but hearing them speak is still funny. That's why they've got more comics than books. I don't think i've seen a book yet that was told from the perspective of an orks slave yet though. I imagine a human, or group of humans and other species, would have some interesting insights into the way orks work from the slave pens.

Imperial Armor 8 also tells a pretty good short story from the ork's perspective.

Ailaros wrote:Da rezzin' U hoomie not seein' da orkses in da lidradur uv da black libarray isa 'at alla da bukkz wudda be writtin' in orkses speekz whicha drive alla dem hoomies outta dem little hoomie brainz.

...Quite.

Chaos Cajun wrote: Some of you dakka guys may think this is a stupid question, but why is there never a Ork book or at lest a book where they show what is happening with the enemy Orks? Personally, I would love to see the stupid thing they do.What are your thoughs.

You've got to admit, they're not very promising dramatic material.
What would the book be about? Can you imagine 400 pages of "wot dis? dem humies comin" or "I's in charge cause Im da biggest."
It would be horrible.

I second most of the above, it would be too difficult to write a full length novel from an Orkish perspective.

I did however find Deff Sqwadron absolutely fantastic.... (We had a copy in our school library years ago, I read it a few times ) I need to get me a copy of that...

So many of you guys think it would be hard or annoying to read Ork language.But look at Deff Squadron's Ork dialog isn't so hard to annoying to read.

I beg to differ...

"We'z gonna carry out a tactic perfected by da ancestorz of all Orkz, practiced for generationz...

We gonna legz it good an' proper."

Sorry for the paraphrase, but that was classic, and it defined the sort of humour and almost surprising eloquence the Orks can carry out at times. Also, Killboy is hilarious.

Chaos Cajun wrote:So many of you guys think it would be hard or annoying to read Ork language.But look at Deff Squadron's Ork dialog isn't so hard to annoying to read.

It's also not a 300 page novel.

Brother SRM wrote:

Chaos Cajun wrote:So many of you guys think it would be hard or annoying to read Ork language.But look at Deff Squadron's Ork dialog isn't so hard to annoying to read.

It's also not a 300 page novel.

It's also got most of the action told through pictures, not words. I know someone else mentioned it, but it's either really confusing to read 300 pages of "Da boyz got to da trukk, where dey drove off ta fight some 'umies" or kinda jarring to have things described with normal words and phrases, but all of the protagonists are Orks.

I cannot imagine anything more painful than trying to read ork dialogue. Even the names of their units gives me a headache.

You'd think that if you can invent a tank that goes faster because of the paint job, you'd be able to come up with the letter "s".

Brother SRM wrote:Deff Skwadron

Best. comic. EVAR.

FeindusMaximus wrote:A couple of the Soal Drinkers books deal with orks

Right, I can't remember which one unfortunately, but whole sections are written from the perspective of the warboss (who is obviously above the intelligence of the average orc).

Some of the 2nd edition rule books have stories told from the orc perspective. And of course there are the two old RT books, which have shed-loads of material.

I suppose if you're REALLY hurting for stuff from the Ork perspective, the first Dawn of War novel has one small section written from the perspective of Orkamungus, if I'm not mistaken. But the book was written by C.S. Goto, so read at your own risk.

Imperial Glory has a few chapters worth written from an orks's perspective.