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When i was younger i bought Gorkamorka, now that i am getting back into the hobby i find it funny that GW has brushed it under the carpet, you have to look quite hard to find anything about it on their website. Its looks like they are a bit embarresed by it.
Seems a bit funny to me, i quite liked the idea behind it. I guess maybe its a little unvaried just having Orks and Mutant humans on the planet.
I assume it wasn't very popular ie didn't sell?

fluffwise, the necrons woke up and ate the (the more recent inhabitants - both the orks and the humans).

It was a game that was still a skirmish level game, when GW became focussed on a more mass-battle mindset and sales policy. You don't need more than 20 models to play it (for both sides), which doesn't generate sales.

It also had its own terrain - so you didn't need to make or buy any more.

chromedog wrote:fluffwise, the necrons woke up and ate the (the more recent inhabitants - both the orks and the humans).

Is that what they said happened? So they completely killed it off.

I actually got PDFs of the books. Me and a friend played a couple of games a few months ago. It's still pretty fun to play.

Barrington wrote:Is that what they said happened? So they completely killed it off.

I hadn't heard this one but it's not like they haven't done this before.

In one of the books a Necron skull is in the foreground of a picture of an ork trukk driving towards some pyramids in the far distance. The pyramids are noted to be a place where things stalk that even the orks are afraid of... and it's not the muties. Around this time they created the Necrons and they were first waking up and making mysterious attacks on imperial outposts, shame there was never a Necron-Gorkamorka scenario actually.

The rules are on the GW site, not easy to find though, they seem to have removed the "out of print games" link from the specialist games section even though the PDFs are still there, had to google this link.
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat1290025&categoryId=1100014§ion=&aId=5300012

I'd grab anything you want from this part of the site now, you don't know when GW's goodwill will run out.


It's a great game, I played it loads of times. What's great about these games like Necromunda and Space Hulk and others is that they are great for an afternoon and a few beers and crisps and a laugh. GW are all about fething massive battles with hundreds of figures now, that just isn't what a lot of gamers want to do for an afternoon for a casual bit of fun. Shame GW don't want to understand that.

It's a Specialist Game.

By virtue of not being one of the Big 3, it gets no love and therefore no resources.

It had quite a lot of humour to it. GW seem to be moving away from that side of the hobby.

it isn't even recieving the love of the other specilists.

they at least still have a section under specilist games, Gorkamorka has been Squatted.

How can you receive less love than "None at all"?

well, GW can deny your ever existing.

I come bearing answers!

Barrington wrote:When i was younger i bought Gorkamorka, now that i am getting back into the hobby i find it funny that GW has brushed it under the carpet, you have to look quite hard to find anything about it on their website. Its looks like they are a bit embarresed by it.
Seems a bit funny to me, i quite liked the idea behind it. I guess maybe its a little unvaried just having Orks and Mutant humans on the planet.
I assume it wasn't very popular ie didn't sell?

I'm not sure if it sold well or not, I've read claims in both directions so it's hard to say. (Okay, I come bearing answers to everything else.)

Iain Compton had the following to say about the matter when we interviewed him:

Iain Compton wrote:Was there any talk/plans of expanding Gorkamorka further in future if it was a commercial success?

Gorkamorka was always intended to be a limited run product. This was the new product strategy that had been in place for a couple of years; there were the core products (WFB and WH40K) which were always in production and then there would be various secondary products – stuff like Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Epic, BFG and so forth. These secondary products had a very specific lifespan, they’d be full retail for a while (long enough for the main box and the expansion to sell properly) then they’d be moved to Mail Order and after that Specialist Games. So Gorkamorka wouldn’t have remained in production for longer than it did because the next secondary system would be waiting to take over, however commercial success would certainly open the possibility of a second edition later on in the rotation of secondary games. Of course if the game continued to do well during its MO/Specialist Games phase then there may have been additional support for it in WD later on although new miniatures or boxed product would be unlikely.

I love Gorkamorka, it was my first game and it upset me a lot that it was killed off so quickly. I was told I wasn't allowed to play it in store even when it was still on the shelves and I was devastated (I was just a kid back then, a kid with a broken arm at that!).

----

Now onto the in-game history stuff, something I know far too much about (I went through it with a fine toothed comb when writing the fluff for the Dust Rats).

Howard A Treesong wrote:In one of the books a Necron skull is in the foreground of a picture of an ork trukk driving towards some pyramids in the far distance. The pyramids are noted to be a place where things stalk that even the orks are afraid of... and it's not the muties.

Here's a timeline of what happened on Angelis. Essentially the Necrons awoke, slaughtered everything and were eventually put down by the Ultramarines after a few false starts.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Around this time they created the Necrons and they were first waking up and making mysterious attacks on imperial outposts, shame there was never a Necron-Gorkamorka scenario actually.

There was one published in Gubbinz written by Andrew Mcaleer, although of course it's not official.

Howard A Treesong wrote:It's a great game, I played it loads of times. What's great about these games like Necromunda and Space Hulk and others is that they are great for an afternoon and a few beers and crisps and a laugh. GW are all about fething massive battles with hundreds of figures now, that just isn't what a lot of gamers want to do for an afternoon for a casual bit of fun. Shame GW don't want to understand that.

Gorkamorka is a great game and is most definitely beer-compatible. I play Necromunda too and love it for different reasons, but it is a game of tactics and serious consequences whereas GoMo is a game of carnage and hilarity. Should your guys get dinged up then you just send them to the dok and cross your fingers!

Gaming can be SERIOUS BUSINESS, but let's be fair, it's a hobby for the majority of us and there should be room for having a laugh.

Howard A Treesong wrote:In one of the books a Necron skull is in the foreground of a picture of an ork trukk driving towards some pyramids in the far distance. The pyramids are noted to be a place where things stalk that even the orks are afraid of... and it's not the muties.

Here's a timeline of what happened on Angelis. Essentially the Necrons awoke, slaughtered everything and were eventually put down by the Ultramarines after a few false starts.

That's a great bit of research in assembling that, loved reading it.

There was one published in Gubbinz written by Andrew Mcaleer, although of course it's not official.

That's a good one, saved it for some future day. I'll have to explore your site a bit more. I wrote a scenario once called "Da Great Ball of Scrap". It was supposed to be a mythical huge ball of scrap out in the desert and several mobs would try to fight over it. The orks would need a trukk to either push or tow the ball of scrap off the board, or make all the other gangs bottle out and run away. It was then worth 6xD6 teef or something. Good times.

Gorkamorka is a great game and is most definitely beer-compatible. I play Necromunda too and love it for different reasons, but it is a game of tactics and serious consequences whereas GoMo is a game of carnage and hilarity. Should your guys get dinged up then you just send them to the dok and cross your fingers!

One thing it did reintroduce were trukks and traks to 40K. Around this time the Orks didn't have any vehicles beyond bikes and buggies. When Gorkamorka arrived they soon produced 40K datafaxes in White Dwarf and reboxed them for 40K. Still had to wait to get a new battlewagon though.

I never got Digganob though, never saw it cheap. Had a few models though, like the larger of the rebel grot vehicles and the snotlings. I see it referenced several times in your historical piece above. For whatever reason GW have not put it onto the specialist games section of their site. Someone I knew in school when to Gamesday in '96 or '97 and got me the Gamesday Nob which was scupted like the Ork on the boxart. I played a lot of Gorkamorka around this time. The figures I regret not buying is the guy in the deffkopter and the poack of bionic bits, which I only saw the once in a GW store.

Howard A Treesong wrote:That's a good one, saved it for some future day. I'll have to explore your site a bit more.

There's quite a lot of content both aggregated from stuff written by others and written by tUGS staff (myself included). At the moment our work is on hold while we find a new equilibrium in our lives (as in graduate university for me, Depiff needs to find new accommodation, Mattz needs to finish his Masters, etc. etc..). There's a lot of content on the cards, as soon as we get our lives back!

Howard A Treesong wrote:I wrote a scenario once called "Da Great Ball of Scrap". It was supposed to be a mythical huge ball of scrap out in the desert and several mobs would try to fight over it. The orks would need a trukk to either push or tow the ball of scrap off the board, or make all the other gangs bottle out and run away. It was then worth 6xD6 teef or something. Good times.

If you find anything written down I'd be more than happy to lay it out as a document and release it on tUGS!

Howard A Treesong wrote:I never got Digganob though, never saw it cheap. Had a few models though, like the larger of the rebel grot vehicles and the snotlings. I see it referenced several times in your historical piece above. For whatever reason GW have not put it onto the specialist games section of their site.

They originally claimed the reason they weren't releasing it was because the models weren't available for Diggas, Muties, and Rebel Grots, although I don't have a confirmed source for that statement. There might be an unofficial PDF available online should one be of the inclination to seek it out; Gubbinz is out there too, I'm told.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Someone I knew in school when to Gamesday in '96 or '97 and got me the Gamesday Nob which was scupted like the Ork on the boxart.

That nob model is worth an arm and a leg these days, much like the Red Gobbo.

Howard A Treesong wrote:The figures I regret not buying is the guy in the deffkopter and the pack of bionic bits, which I only saw the once in a GW store.

You mean Dregmek Blitzkart?

I actually have a spare of him, should you want it for a reasonable sum (a tenner plus postage should do it). I did buy the Bioniks pack myself many years ago and still have most of them sitting around unused, although they're of little use these days except on humans!

Flamekebab wrote:They originally claimed the reason they weren't releasing it was because the models weren't available for Diggas, Muties, and Rebel Grots, although I don't have a confirmed source for that statement. There might be an unofficial PDF available online should one be of the inclination to seek it out; Gubbinz is out there too, I'm told.

Curiosity got the better of me today and I came across a copy and Gubbinz too. While the muties and diggas might be hard to replace, the rebel grots have never been easier what with the current plastics.

If you find anything written down I'd be more than happy to lay it out as a document and release it on tUGS!

As if to demonstrate how old this game now is, I wrote that on my old 486 and it's long gone! It was simple enough though, I could write it up again properly. I also wanted to do my own expansion set on the boiling sea of mud in which all the Orks would sail around in crude boats and rafts between islands dotted around the map, and if they fell over board there was a real risk of death!

Howard A Treesong wrote:Someone I knew in school when to Gamesday in '96 or '97 and got me the Gamesday Nob which was scupted like the Ork on the boxart.

That nob model is worth an arm and a leg these days, much like the Red Gobbo.

I don't understand why the Red Gobbo is so rare, he was fairly common at the time and got discounted when they were shifting the last of the Gorkamorka stuff out the shops. I don't know why I didn't get one, probably already had a heap of other goodies at the time, might be the time I got most of my Dogs of War stuff.

Howard A Treesong wrote:The figures I regret not buying is the guy in the deffkopter and the pack of bionic bits, which I only saw the once in a GW store.

You mean Dregmek Blitzkart?I actually have a spare of him, should you want it for a reasonable sum (a tenner plus postage should do it).

That's a good offer but I can't spring for it at the moment I won't forget though.

I suppose the same thing happened as happened to Necromunda, Mordheim, Warmaster, BFG, Epic (debatable), They're just one off's, Planetstrike, and Cities of death may take the same path (Granted those are different)

Howard A Treesong wrote:While the muties and diggas might be hard to replace, the rebel grots have never been easier what with the current plastics.

The Diggas aren't too difficult to do using Marauders of Chaos and various other bits (I'm planning on using MaxMini Evil Heads). Muties are tricky, but I've successfully kitbashed some using Seekers of Slaanesh:

Howard A Treesong wrote:

If you find anything written down I'd be more than happy to lay it out as a document and release it on tUGS!

As if to demonstrate how old this game now is, I wrote that on my old 486 and it's long gone! It was simple enough though, I could write it up again properly.

That's a shame, although if the mood strikes you we'd be happy to publish it.

Howard A Treesong wrote:I also wanted to do my own expansion set on the boiling sea of mud in which all the Orks would sail around in crude boats and rafts between islands dotted around the map, and if they fell over board there was a real risk of death!

It'd be fairly easy to do that these days using Da Deff Islands as a basis.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

That nob model is worth an arm and a leg these days, much like the Red Gobbo.

I don't understand why the Red Gobbo is so rare, he was fairly common at the time and got discounted when they were shifting the last of the Gorkamorka stuff out the shops. I don't know why I didn't get one, probably already had a heap of other goodies at the time, might be the time I got most of my Dogs of War stuff.

I think it's because it's a great model even without the context of Gorkamorka. I hope to one day get my hands on it, whether real or knock-off. I've got all the other special characters.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Howard A Treesong wrote:The figures I regret not buying is the guy in the deffkopter and the pack of bionic bits, which I only saw the once in a GW store.

You mean Dregmek Blitzkart?I actually have a spare of him, should you want it for a reasonable sum (a tenner plus postage should do it).

That's a good offer but I can't spring for it at the moment I won't forget though.

The offer remains open If anyone else fancies it for that price, I'd be willing to hear them out.

Flamekebab wrote:I'm not sure if it sold well or not, I've read claims in both directions so it's hard to say.

While you probably won't get a solid answer short of breaking into GW HQ and checking their sales records, the fact that it was supported for such a short time (even for one of their 'limited run' games) suggests not. That was certainly my impression at the time.

One of the common complaints at the time was that it wasn't worth buying as it was just Necromunda with vehicles. (Not surprising, since it was based on the same core ruleset) And by then there were already Citadel Journal rules for vehicles in Necromunda. The lure of 'Orkifying' everything just wasn't enough for those who weren't big into Orks. The horrendous plastic Orks released for it certainly didn't help, either.

Having said that, the fact they it was based on the same rules as Necromunda was handy in a different way... It made it possible to mix and match the two games with very little effort.

Another factor worth considering is that it's close to second edition 40K in terms of mechanics but was released shortly before 3rd edition. I would imagine part of the reason it was killed off was for the drastic rules difference between it and their core game.

I have to agree with you, insaniak, the plastic miniatures weren't brilliant, but I did like some of the metal ones a fair bit.