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As amusing as the idea might be, it occurs to me that since the Orks reproduce asexually, their biodiversity must not exactly be top-knotch.

Thus, just as genetically similar crops can all be withered by just one virus strain, would a great deal of Orks be susceptible to some Imperial-manufactured disease?

The Imperials used mutagens on Tarsis Ultra, so I was wondering if Ork susceptibility to disease/mutagens/whatever has been covered in the fluff before?

Perhaps the Orks could end up like the Korgan in Mass Effect? ;P

Yes, Orks can be vulnerable.

The SLow Death of Graegus 345.M37
Personally capturing a musclebound Ork Nob, Malys instructs her Lhamaean poisoners to create a surprise for the greenskins upon Graegus. Lady Malys'Kabal makes planetfall weeks later, fighting their way into the centre of the ORk capital city and impaling their barely-living captive upon a half-built Gargant before melting away into the night. The corpse begins to shhed millions of spores into the air each of which bears a cargo of terrible wasting toxins. As the infected spores corrupt the Orkoid reproductive cycle, the population of Graegus grows weaker and weaker. When Malys returns it is a simple matter to slaughter the survivors. p. 21, Dark Eldar Codex

Orks reproduce through the use of magical spores, so who knows how they deal with genetic purity The old Virus Outbreak card always used to murder them, so it would be safe to conclude that some kind of genetically modified virus would be effective in some way.

But I suppose that you couldn't make some mega virus to wipe out the entire galactic population because of variation between the Orks on the different planets?

Venomthrope toxins definitely affect Orks, so the point of killing them.

Orks are like a really virulent athletes foot, hit em with Lamisil.

Nurgle seems to be able to corrupt them with his toxins.

If the Orks were to be wiped out it would tip the balance of the Galactic conflict most likely resulting in a win for the Tyrannids.

Zoom in and eat up the biomass.

The (pseudo)science behind Warhammer 40,000 is stacked in such a way as to leave straightforward battle as the most efficient method of settling grievances, rather than safe bio-weapon bombardment from orbit, or stealthy poisoning of their squig stew. Presumably therefore, a viral agent capable of annihilating an Ork population (and only the Orks - not exterminatus) would carry some significant drawbacks, such as the virus too-easily mutating to affect humans or simply the Orks' weird fungal constitutions adapting too swiftly to resist it. Otherwise, why would anybody ever need to fight them?

Ork physiology is so redundant and durable that something like this is not likely to have widespread success.

This is a species, afterall, for which decapitation can be only a temporary inconvenience.

Virus bombs etc should work on the Orks. Problem is the Imperium often wants to preserve the worlds that the Orks are overrunning and putting the entire galaxy to viruses would be extremely dangerous and against what the Imperium is all about: colonizing the galaxy for mankind.

Moreover the Orks would properly innately develop bio-protection capabilities if it became a big enough threat. Gas Masks, protection suits, antidotes, etc.. I can see the Old Ones having built a fail-safe genetic defense system in Painboyz that lets them develop such things if they're faced with it.

Orks, though very robust, should be susceptible to germ warfare (as evidenced by the old Virus Bomb strategem).


On the other hand, orks shed a huge amount of spores normally, and shed them en masse after death. Just like a antibiotic will kill 99% of germs, there will still be spores which are unaffected or less affected. Those spores will generate new orkoids (perhaps not orks, but squigs, etc.), most of which will retain that resistance to the germ warfare. Therefore, while the germ warfare itself will be relatively effective to defeat a particular group of orks, it will not, by itself, be sufficient to remove the threat of future ork infestations. You would need a biological agent strong enough to affect the orks (and not any populace you wanted to protect), and you'd still have to burn the corpses and cleanse the area of spores (which, for all I know, can hang around like brine shrimp larvae).

So, while it may be an effective 'one-off' strategy, bombing the green blighters and burning them afterwards tends to work about as well, and doesn't necessitate buying a new supply of bombs for the next wave.

Burn them and you don't have to worry about their spores coming back to bite you in the ass.