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So I have read the wikis and codex entries on the Snakebites over and over, but they still dont make sense to me. How do these guys ever get anything done? They seem to be just worse Goffs as they only really do melee, but Goffs are directly stated to be (on average) da biggest and da strongest when it comes to straight up CQC. Also what are there rules on using technology? The codex states they are incredibly primitive, yet they are still using space travel to get to new worlds. So using a standard shoota is a no no, but a space travel is allowed?

I really like the idea behind them and I think they would make a kickass ork sub army (Like how the Space Marines have theirs) due to them being so unique however I just dont understand how they can put up a fight against any real force. If they dont use higher tier tech even their superior physical strength wont cut through tank armor .

Am I missing something with these guys? I mean on one hand I see them being entirely primitive, but on the other I see some pics of them using using shootas along side their choppas. If they are not all that primitive in regards to their use of weapons in war then is the only "odd" thing about them their cultural?

While Snakebites do follow "da old ways", they're not stupid and they're not feral. They'll use handguns if they have to (although they prefer to give them to Gretchin) and artillery. You can also always ram a tank with a Squiggoth!
As for spaceships, it takes many clans joining together to built them.

They have a lot of squigs. All kinds of them. And they are better than squigs in other clans. Also, Snakebites themselves are very resilient.

As for the technology, they understand it as much as every other ork clan, but they choose to use it as minimally as possible.

They use technology for sure, but to a lesser degree than other clans.

Indeed.
Snakebites use LESS technology, but they do use it.

And beside the fact that they are specialists in breeding Squigs and Squiggoths, they also have lots of Weirdboyz, Painboyz (feel-no-pain) and they also have Boarboyz.
Boarboyz are not in the current codex anymore, but these are a lightly armoured version of Thunderwolves, think warbikes that bite ;-)

Snakebites indeed focus less on space ships, but other clas solve that problem for them in a Waaagh or they tellyport and hitchhike on a passing rokk or space hulk.

The best way I can figure it is to look at the Imperium: They've got relatively advanced spaceships, but they don't look like advanced spaceships, because the Imperium prefers the aesthetic of gothic cathedrals. If a Snakebite can do something without resorting to advanced technology they'll do it. If they can't then they'll use it, but they'll slap furs and warpaint all over it to counter its mechanical aesthetic.

I think OP might be mistaking clans for tribes -- a community of Orks is a tribe, whose membership changes all the time. Clans are literally genetic lines (i.e. an Ork is "born" into a clan, and chooses to join a tribe) that share certain "kulture Tendencies", like being technophobes. A Snakebite is a snakebite for life -- not by choice, but by inherited tendencies that cannot be rid of (nor does an Ork care to, for that matter).

Considering the boyz that knows how to build space ships are the Oddboyz, whether the Snakebite clan is technophobic is irrelevant to whether or not a Ork tribe/warband can get things done. A snakebite can join the Broken Teef tribe and fight as foot soldiers that are devastating in melee, while the Evil Sunz uses their Trukks and Loota Tankz to hammer open fortifications and deliver the snakebite boy to its target. The Mekboyz on the other hand make all the tools for war etc.... All in all a very efficient warmongering society, if you ask me.

Even for a Snakebite dominate tribe/warband, as long as it contains at least one Mekboy and a bunch of Grots for the Mekboy to dispose, the tribe will be able to capture a Space Hulk, if it grows large enough, and refit the captured space hulk for spacefaring. And if a tribe that's literally all Snakebites, other tribes will absorb them, and then they will get things done.

Don't forget that orks operate on a lot of "it works because we believe it will work". That gets into their racial psyche and religion and if Snakebites are strong in one area it's the weird boys and connection to Gork and Mork.

I have more experience with fantasy orcs so the vibe I get from Snakebites is that they are the 40k version of Savage Orcs. Savage Orcs use war paint and animal skins and more bows and arrows and spears as opposed to the armor, swords and axes of your standard fantasy orc. That said they're very strong with magic and that war paint works with magic to be as good as the armor used by other fantasy races. I don't know for sure that Snakebites work just like that but I know they have a lot of weird boys so it would make sense.

I also seem to remember reading that occasionally you have "feral orks" that pop out of the ground on planets that the Imperium "exterminated". These orks have no contact with anyone off planet and live like fantasy savage orcs until they are picked up by a WAAAAAAGH! fleet at which point they are most likely to join and feel comfortable with which clan? Snakebites.

.... when your primary enemy is other Orks or some Agri-world PDF, then riding giant boars into battle, a gargantuan Squiggoth or just piling choppa-wielding Boyz into their lines is a perfectly valid, and totally-effective, tactic.

Especially when you outnumber the PDF ten to one.

Oh that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the explanation guys ^_^

Also, Snakebites are the second-sneakiest Ork clan, although their methods are different to the Blood Axes.

I like the DnD comparison.

If Goffs are your Fighters, and Blood Axes are your Rogues, then Snakebites are your Rangers. Not as fighty as a Fighter, not as sneaky as a Rogue, but combining the two along with an animal companion (squig, boar, whatever) to assist.

If you don't know where your enemy is, you have limited resources, and you're in an adverse environment, your Snakebite is your best friend.

Keep in mind that it's what the Klans favour and will have more of then other Orks filling other roles but will still have other kinds of Ork units within the Klan. Deathskulls will tend to have more Lootas and Meks then normally found in other Klans but they'll still have Burnas, Tankbustas, Kommandos etc.. just sprinkled in rather then showing any predominance.

 lcmiracle wrote:
I think OP might be mistaking clans for tribes -- a community of Orks is a tribe, whose membership changes all the time. Clans are literally genetic lines (i.e. an Ork is "born" into a clan, and chooses to join a tribe) that share certain "kulture Tendencies", like being technophobes. A Snakebite is a snakebite for life -- not by choice, but by inherited tendencies that cannot be rid of (nor does an Ork care to, for that matter).

Considering the boyz that knows how to build space ships are the Oddboyz, whether the Snakebite clan is technophobic is irrelevant to whether or not a Ork tribe/warband can get things done. A snakebite can join the Broken Teef tribe and fight as foot soldiers that are devastating in melee, while the Evil Sunz uses their Trukks and Loota Tankz to hammer open fortifications and deliver the snakebite boy to its target. The Mekboyz on the other hand make all the tools for war etc.... All in all a very efficient warmongering society, if you ask me.

Even for a Snakebite dominate tribe/warband, as long as it contains at least one Mekboy and a bunch of Grots for the Mekboy to dispose, the tribe will be able to capture a Space Hulk, if it grows large enough, and refit the captured space hulk for spacefaring. And if a tribe that's literally all Snakebites, other tribes will absorb them, and then they will get things done.

Just Curious on this one. If a tribe of different clans were to come together, would it be abnormal for their color schemes to start blending over time? I ask because I run blue / yellow on my orks as a Deffskull / Badmoon combo but i've never really considered if it was actually fluffy.

Snakebites may use less tech, but they still have some, and in any case, there is usually other orks who build the spaceship so the Snakebites tag along for the ride.

Clearly they just ride a giant space squig when they want to travel between planets!

 Novasetri wrote:

Spoiler:

 lcmiracle wrote:
I think OP might be mistaking clans for tribes -- a community of Orks is a tribe, whose membership changes all the time. Clans are literally genetic lines (i.e. an Ork is "born" into a clan, and chooses to join a tribe) that share certain "kulture Tendencies", like being technophobes. A Snakebite is a snakebite for life -- not by choice, but by inherited tendencies that cannot be rid of (nor does an Ork care to, for that matter).

Considering the boyz that knows how to build space ships are the Oddboyz, whether the Snakebite clan is technophobic is irrelevant to whether or not a Ork tribe/warband can get things done. A snakebite can join the Broken Teef tribe and fight as foot soldiers that are devastating in melee, while the Evil Sunz uses their Trukks and Loota Tankz to hammer open fortifications and deliver the snakebite boy to its target. The Mekboyz on the other hand make all the tools for war etc.... All in all a very efficient warmongering society, if you ask me.

Even for a Snakebite dominate tribe/warband, as long as it contains at least one Mekboy and a bunch of Grots for the Mekboy to dispose, the tribe will be able to capture a Space Hulk, if it grows large enough, and refit the captured space hulk for spacefaring. And if a tribe that's literally all Snakebites, other tribes will absorb them, and then they will get things done.

Just Curious on this one. If a tribe of different clans were to come together, would it be abnormal for their color schemes to start blending over time? I ask because I run blue / yellow on my orks as a Deffskull / Badmoon combo but i've never really considered if it was actually fluffy.

I don't have an exact answer to this; I have the 7E Ork codex and I've gone through it to transcribe bits of it into my 40K "reference sheet" , if you will, docx file. So I have a pretty ... decent understanding of the Orks in the fluff. I am under the impression that a warband or a tribe doesn't have a specific color scheme, at least not a uniform one. To expand on this I'd like to first remind you of how a basic unit in the Ork society is like. Exact quote from the Ork codex:

A tribe is simply all the Orks in a given location, regardless of what kult or clan they may belong to, because in the end an Ork is an Ork and they will always put aside their differences if there is an opportunity to attack a common foe. Each tribe is led by a Warlord whose authority and power holds this loose confederation in check and prevents civil war between the rival elements of the tribe. Tribes can vary in size from a few hundred Orks to a few million, depending on the influence of the war leader at the top of the pile. (Codex: Orks. “Tribes & Clans”. 7th Edition. digital)

Although all Orks belong to a tribe, most also belong to clans such as the Goffs or Evil Sunz. Tribes are constantly breaking apart and reforming in the crucible of battle, but the clans are constant and enduring. A large tribe usually contains many different clans, and each clan has its own distinct character and identity. There are six clans in particular that have spread from one side of the galaxy to the other: the Goffs, the Snakebites, the Bad Moons, the Blood Axes, the Deathskulls and the Evil Sunz. Most warbands will contain representatives of at least one of these clans, each of which has distinct cultural preferences, traits and strengths. (Codex: Orks. “Tribes & Clans”. 7th Edition. digital)

That is to say under no circumstance should a clan be the basis of an Ork community. But that doesn't explain the color scheme of a tribe or clan at all. So a further look into the Goffs Clan in the Ork codex:

The Goffs use a bull's head as their clan emblem, as they feel a kinship with bad-tempered, violent and flatulent beasts. Horned helms are also seen as a symbol of the clan's aggression, and can even make handy weapons, making a head butt or head-first charge even more vicious. They dress predominantly in black, on the basis that dressing up in flashy colours 'is fer wimps and Madboyz.' (Codex: Orks. “Tribes & Clans: Goffs”. 7th Edition. digital)

From the above quote I have to conclude that Ork Clan members do not commonly (note the word "predominately") wear anything other than their clan outfit, as it is due to an innate "kulture" or belief that drives them to dress in those clan colors and carry those strange trinkets. However, I think whoever wrote that description (I mean for all I know both quoted sections could be copy-pasted from the 4th or 3rd eidtion Ork codex and I can't be asked to double-check) deliberately use ambiguous terms to allow players to come up with their own warband/tribe color schemes.

It's also worth remembering that the Snakebites aren't feral orks. They are a long-lived clan, which prefers traditional, orky ways of doing things. Given that the Orks have been around for at least as long as Mankind, that's not necessarily arrows and clubs.

Snakebites have been described as 'tough as old boot leather', as well, so while they don't have the reputation for senseless violence that the Goffs do, they are respected as a notably tough clan.

As a way of thinking about Snakebites, they might be sceptical or scornful of things like Tellyportas, Shokk attack guns, Bubble Chukkas, and Traktor Kannons, and more comfortable around less 'kustom', 'eksperimental' tek, like gas powered engines, gunpowder, and explosives. Not primitives like feral orks, but 'old-fashioned', kind of like Space Wolves (who have, at various points, been described as a bit reluctant to use technology like Teleportation Devices and prone to leave things like Bikes and Jump Packs to the young 'uns. I think that they are rather mistrustful of tech that they can't see working with their own eyes, so trust more in mechanical and chemical solutions than energy weapons, force fields, and the like.

For instance, in my own army, the Snakebites use Buzzer Squig Katapults as Lobbas, a Gorkamorka Digga trukk for their Trukk, and the only Snakebite Dread I have is the old Rogue Trader one with an ork at the controls inside the can, rather than some newfangled wired-up job. These technological deficits are largely alleviated by the presence of multiple Squiggoths, of course.

From what I remember in the old Clan rules they also had Ramshackle vehicles that were cheaper in pts but obviously more.... ramshackled....

I don't think that Goffs are necessarily the best melee guys, I think to the Imperials and other races may view them as the most devastating close combat fighters as they are simply the most numerous, and the Goffs obviously view them selves as "Da Best" but I think Snake Bites are the best fighters thanks to their pure savagery. Aside from being arguably being the best melee fighters Snake Bites are probably immune to poison (I base this solely on their ability to survive venomous snake bites). They are also said to have near endless hordes of Gretchen to compensate for the shortage of ork boys. Combine this with presumably having the best weirdboyz (Still sad they got rid of old Zogwhart) you have a real threat. The clans biggest weakness aside from not embracing tech is their lack of numbers, most orks don't survive the trial by snakes.

Also, and extremely important, noone else does Weirdboyz like Snakebitez, they produce no more weirdboyz than any other clan, but theirs are the tac nukes of weirdboyz, the most powerful shamanic orks there are and the smartest, wizened old bastards out there.

They don't build 'tellyportaz' because their shamans literally open portals into passing space hulks for them, then steer the hulks by force of will. In the background, and never actively retconned, Warp'eadz were weirdboyz who were possessed, however, unlike the possession of a human or eldar, this was not a daemon stealing into and overwhelming the psychic ork, but a daemon making a terrible error, attracted to the bright soul light of the weirdboy's rare psychic power like a moth to a flame and then finding it's self trapped inside a mind it cannot overwhelm, tempt or corrupt, caught like a caged bird by the primitive ork mind to be used to fuel the ork's power and mainly taunted for the ork's amusement... Snake Bite Warp'eads are literally the most powerful raw psykers in the 40k universe.

Snakebitez don't have the pure melee brutality of the Goffs, nor the low cunning and surprising tactical stunts of the Blood Axes, but they do have a true grit about them, they are too 'onery' to die, inured to toxins and pain by their years of exposure to venomous snakes and the primitive brutal tests of their clan's kultcha. They also possess an instinctive wisdom the other clans lack, whereas the Blood Axes have 'taktikz' and the Deff Skulls have low cunning, the snake bitez have 'a feeling' for things and can sense change on the wind.

They would be better represented on the table by choppa boyz than shoota boyz, they would likely use beasts of burden than vehicles (they are noted for being the only ones who breed the really big squiggoths and the orkeasaurus) and less likely to employ 'bionikz' than straightforward hooks or peg legs, but they are no strangers to projectile weapons and 'the old ways' don't rule out taking a gun in order to keep to the golden rule; 'More Killy is Best'.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Also, Snakebites are the second-sneakiest Ork clan, although their methods are different to the Blood Axes.

I like the DnD comparison.

If Goffs are your Fighters, and Blood Axes are your Rogues, then Snakebites are your Rangers. Not as fighty as a Fighter, not as sneaky as a Rogue, but combining the two along with an animal companion (squig, boar, whatever) to assist.

If you don't know where your enemy is, you have limited resources, and you're in an adverse environment, your Snakebite is your best friend.

This is a great comparison. Also i wanted to make some Wolf Riders (as im sick of Orks on Boars) and use them as either counts as Wabikers or Counts as Stormboyz

From what I understood snakebites tend not to travel offworld at least not alone at first. What usually happens is as the ork population/ concentration on a planet grows and reaches a critical point and a Waaagh! Begins to happen they go along with the ofher clans on their crafts because the promise of a good fight is too good to pass up. As far as tech goes they are essentially feral orks that when approached by technologically advanced clans don't really adopt said tech. When they do build gargants instead of using squiggoth they are steam powered somehow. Lastly as stated before they do use guns but tend to givr them to the grots. As the goffs are known for being strong and their large number of boyz, and speed freaks are known for bikes and planes and anything fast, snakebites are known for their animals (not strictly squigs although they are supposedly the best squig breeders) their large numbers of grots, painboys, and wierdboys. Oh and their special caste of docs called pigdocs who are the ones who know the secrets to making the best squggoth feed to make them grow the most.