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.

I've looked it up but can't find anything to really see whats the game like

It's a little hard to describe without some context. What else have you played?

The way models on foot work is nearly identical to Necromunda but with shooting playing a much smaller role (partly due to the available weapons and partly due to far fewer models being affected by pinning).

The vehicle mechanics are rather fun with a fair bit of space needed for movement.

I'm not really sure how else to describe it but I can answer pretty much any question you have about it.

So like Necromunda with vehicles and less important shooting

In terms of raw mechanics, yes. In terms of actual play, no.
I've played both during the same time period and so have a fair bit of experience comparing the two.

Necromunda is setup in such a way as to allow for more tense confrontations. The stakes in any given game are quite high. The ranged weapons are powerful, the terrain unforgiving, and bionics are things found only via Rare Trade.

By contrast most mobs in Gorkamorka have access to healing for Serious Injuries. Vehicles can be patched up too. As long as a warrior isn't outright killed he can probably be salvaged.

To illustrate this I seem to recall that the Serious Injury Table in Necromunda has 11 - 16 as Dead and the in-game injury table has "Flesh Wound" only as a result of a 1. In Gorkamorka 11 - 15 are Dead and 16 is "Multiple Injuries" while the in-game injury table has a Flesh Wound on a 1 - 2.

The vehicles are also not primarily a means of conveyance. They're pretty much an extension of close-combat!

The emphasis in the vehicle rules is on ramming, boarding, and moving fast. In theory there is no limit on how far a vehicle can move in a single turn. Ramming auto-penetrates armour, and fighters who lose a round of close-combat on a vehicle are automatically ejected.

It's pretty fun.

I love both Necromunda and Gorkamorka but it always impresses me how different the two feel.

Both have their styles.

Necromunda- Centered on your gangs moving through cover, and shooting at each other. Pretty much like most modern skirmish games. Shoot, then collecting loot.

Gorkamorka- I can only base this on my experience about 20 yrs ago. I actually played Gorkamorka before I played 3rd ed 40k. It was more close combat focused. Simply because ork shooting is so bad. I'd get frustrated and start ramming stuff with my trukk. And by more close combat oriented, I mean "drive your vehicle up to your opponent, ram and board them". We didn't really use much terrain on board, a few big rock formations cause you needed to stay with your vehicle as long as possible. Gorkamorka was WYSIWYG so your vehicle could carry as many orks as your vehicle could literally carry, which lead to some really funny customizations. (I made a fire trukk with a giant boarding ladder)

I have to agree about the differences on the injury tables. Gorkamorka just seemed more forgiving/resilient to tanking your warband.

WROOOM!!! Skreeeeoooochssss... booom... wroooom ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.... blam... wrooooom... CRASH! CHOP! Splurt..... WAAAAGH!!!!

Like mad max, but instead of max there's an orc and instead of everyone else there's also orks, instead of cars they got trucks and instead of trucks they got cars. So essentially its cars, trucks and orks doing what orks would do with cars and trucks. And bikes! Can't forget the bikes.

It really depends what kind of gaming you enjoy. I was never particularly tactical so this style of game suited me well. It's bonkers!

 Meos wrote:
WROOOM!!! Skreeeeoooochssss... booom... wroooom ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.... blam... wrooooom... CRASH! CHOP! Splurt..... WAAAAGH!!!!

Like mad max, but instead of max there's an orc and instead of everyone else there's also orks, instead of cars they got trucks and instead of trucks they got cars. So essentially its cars, trucks and orks doing what orks would do with cars and trucks. And bikes! Can't forget the bikes.

And Trakks! Wut propa Ork furgets his trakks?

Oh and the "diggas" they were umies who dressed like a propa ork.

It probably goes without saying that Gorkamorka takes itself a lot less seriously than Necromunda does. And it probably makes it a bit more fun than Necromunda that way. Getting shot up in Necromunda is painful; in Gorkamorka more of an excuse to laugh at someone's spectacular or unlucky demise. Or maybe even their spectacularly unlucky death.

I really liked the rolling road scenario in Gorkamorka.

GorkaMorka and Necromunda were based on 40K version 2. Because they were designed to focus on small aspects of the 40K Universe, both had wonderful, imaginative, immersive backstories They didn't need to attempt to justify every 40K race showing up in the same campaign.

On the other hand, neither were designed for one-off games. They could be played that way, but were very limited. What happened between games as mobs and gangs took injuries, earned income, and spent on weapons and gear was more important then what happened during games. So, to get the most (or much) out of either game required a group of 2 or more dedicated to play through campaigns. This was intentional, the games were NOT going to compete with 40K. Great if you had a dedicated group. That wasn't too hard to find when folks only needed to buy a Necro gang, and someone, or a group, or store had Necro terrain. I suspect that a dedicated group of Ork players was much more rare. GM required a gang, AND vehicle's. Most online GM testimonials are from folks who played games with only one other player.

GorkaMorka was all Orks, until the kinda unsuccessful Diggamobs supplement was added. Needed much less terrain. Orks couldn't shoot well. They were tough, and they could not be pinned (which could cost a turn in Necromunda when a model was hit , even if not wounded). Orks were more resilient. So, close combat was the primary means of destruction. Alas, a game that featured nothing but whacky Orks did not prove popular. Neither did trying to modify vehicles to keep up with weapon upgrades and damage. The vehicle rules were just as silly as they were cool. Not much strategy, lot's of smashing and bashing. This also didn't appeal to many. Really not in step with the more serious GrimDark. Really not helped by the fact that even as GM was introduced, 40K Orks were getting a complete makeover that made them much less goofy. Die hard GM fans would disagree, and they have a valid point. But, after a while, GW was giving the game away with White Dwarf subscriptions.

As new rules and human and Gretchen mobs were added, the game got kind of complicated. Another huge drawback was in order to fit Orks on their crummy little vehicles (and the trukks sucked), it required them have smaller, oval shaped bases. These were a pain, the models kept falling over. And, they made the game's Orks incompatible with 40K. For every person who actually played GorkaMorka, there were probably 10 who thought it was a great idea, but never bothered. I have one half of one whole GM game to my credit, and I owned the game! I actually played a lot more Necromunda Ash Waste games with vehicles. . Obviously, my impressions were not favorable. Or, more to the point, I have no good impressions of GM to relate. Just 'explaining why the game never really caught on.

If you weren't too serious, GM was probably fun. I suppose it could translate well with modern Orks and vehicles. But, the basic rules are more than 18 years removed from 40K V3.. If folks could avoid the pitfalls, might be sorta fun. What the heck, I have my old Ork army (ironically, it's theme is Orks that have Gorkamorka). It has modern trukks, and I have a big enough gaming table. Now, If I could only find opponents. Yeah, right.

I had a much more favourable experience but I was probably blessed with a much more flexible gaming group with a good few older players who'd been around the block and weren't taking their gaming too seriously. That said we had competitions and tournaments and a coveted trophy.

Now by way of comparison, the neceomunda campaign for the trophy that we ran featured 10 players and lasted over 2 years. It was a truly epic roller coaster ride. It was meticulously planned, well documented and very hard fought. The plaque on the trophy was bought from a jewellers and engraved with the campaign title, years, winners name and gang name.

Our GorkaMorka tournament on the other hand featured maybe 8 players to begin with, half of them dropped out from lack of interest more than actually being beaten out of the campaign. There were plenty of fun shinnanigans before that point but I think it maybe just didn't have the staying power because it was so daft. In the end there was no grant finale, the winner was declared after the player with the toughest gang had thoroughly trounced all remaining opponents and was clearly the best mob in the game. Now that guy wasn't having much fun beating everyone into green pulp every game so be was happy to call it but another guy in our group loved GorkaMorka so much he just couldn't get enough even though his mob were getting killed at a rediculous rate and his vehicles were total wrecks he just loved the madness. In the end the plaque on the trophy was a shabby bit of welding tin that I engraved the winners name on myself with a sharp tool. Then I painted the other guys name over that because he was the only one that still wanted to play. A fitting end to such a game I think.

The take-away is that it's a short blast of fun. Best enjoyed by maybe four or five players over about a month of weekly gaming. Beyond that it gets tiresome and any less and it's probably not worth the investment.

Miniatures-wise any large ork army with a good few vehicles and bikes could probbably furnish enough minis to kit out a couple of gangs for a game. No need to go cutting up and converting a load of boyz for this if its not really your thing but it is a great opportunity to make some crazy ork creations. I have quite a few daft ork bioniks conversions from manys a good GorkaMorka game.


A couple of my gorkamorka conversions. A boy with a telescopic arm and a grot with telescopic legs.


My Morka Nob RazzNazz and a couple of his boyz on a trakk with extra armour plates and plenty o' dakka.

Competitively I'd say biker gangs might look like fun but they can't stand up to hard hitting ork mobs and the same could be said of grots in the game. For the cost of a slaver and some grots (who serve to make a game more interesting if little else) you're better to invest your teef in some decent ork boyz.

Sorry if I sound negative I really do love GM (I'm a Morker all the way!) but truth be told its a simple game with a few interesting options (ultimately flawed options) but well worth a go if you like the idea of crazy orks in ramshackle vehicles fighting each other for scrap and bragging rights.

 theCrowe wrote:
In the end the plaque on the trophy was a shabby bit of welding tin that I engraved the winners name on myself with a sharp tool. Then I painted the other guys name over that because he was the only one that still wanted to play. A fitting end to such a game I think.

I think this could very well summarize a good answer to the original question posed.

I was always curious about this game, but when our group finally got into post-apoc gaming, we used the "wastelands' rules and a more mad-max'ish setting.

Just so folks know, the rules, supplements, etc for Gorka are all available here:
https://yaktribe.org/community/vault/categories/gorkamorka.11/

Here's a few more snaps of the rest of the ladz

Some more of my vehicles showing some ...enthusiastic conversions. In GM vehicles can be modified between games by sending them to the mek-boys to make them faster, add gubbins for a variety of in game uses, add armour, fix damage etc. The bike pictured here is in total violation of GM rules as a bike. I used it as a trakk in an all biker mob.


You could also send your orks to the doc's surgery for some nifty upgrades. here we have from left to right, a shoota arm, a delux kicking leg, a claw arm and leg replacement tracks.


Last and very much least. Slavers and grots. Not worth the teef you spend on them and certainly not worth buying proper minis for them either. One of these grots has a modified shoota (yes you can send weapons to the mek workshop too) He was a great shot but had a double leg wound that really slowed him down so I gave his shoota extra range.

Go to Specailist Arm site..they have GorMor threads

 Gobbla wrote:
GorkaMorka and Necromunda were based on 40K version 2... I suppose it could translate well with modern Orks and vehicles. But, the basic rules are more than 18 years removed from 40K V3.

To clarify, Gorkamorka was actually the test game for Warhammer 40k 3rd Edition's vehicle rules, so it is a lot closer to 3rd Edition than you might think. I actually tremendously prefer Warhammer 40k 2nd Edition (not just the vehicle rules... everything about the game) so I was a little disappointed with that aspect of Gorkamorka. Nevertheless, it can definitely be a fun game when played with the right spirit. There's also no reason to limit the game to just the Gorkamorka planet (Angelus), which GW wiped out for no better reason than they wanted to end the game (hmm... sounds familiar?). Orks do what Orks do, and there are no doubt wild road-battles all over the millions of Ork Empires scattered amongst the stars (to quote a Titan Legion Ork mission card, Trash Da Burg, "level dis dump so's we can race battlewagons over it!"). Just pick a new planet, paint up some Boyz and go at it!

Hang on... They destroyed Angelus? The GorkaMorka took off from mektown and survived though... right?

licclerich wrote:
Go to Specailist Arm site..they have GorMor threads

Twelve threads in five years and dead since 2014..?

YakTribe is a much better bet:
https://yaktribe.org/community/forums/da-stuff.36/

Galadrin wrote:
There's also no reason to limit the game to just the Gorkamorka planet (Angelus), which GW wiped out for no better reason than they wanted to end the game (hmm... sounds familiar?). Orks do what Orks do, and there are no doubt wild road-battles all over the millions of Ork Empires scattered amongst the stars (to quote a Titan Legion Ork mission card, Trash Da Burg, "level dis dump so's we can race battlewagons over it!"). Just pick a new planet, paint up some Boyz and go at it!

I'm not really sure what the planet's later history matters. 40K games don't all take places in the titular year after all!

 theCrowe wrote:
Hang on... They destroyed Angelus? The GorkaMorka took off from mektown and survived though... right?

Here's a timeline that covers the history of Angelis. It's never made clear what happened, presumably because not specifying makes for a nice blank canvas for players. Maybe though!

Sorry, I meant "Angelis" (I was going from memory about the name). Anyway, yes I like to assume that the Ork hulk (let's just call it "Morkagorka", since we all know Mork is da best) escaped and went on to terrorize the universe in typically Orky fashion.

Looking at that timeline, there's nothing saying the planet - or the Orks, for that matter - isn't still there. I imagine that between Necrons, Deathwatch and Ultramarines showing up, the project has suffered some setbacks, though.

Also, one of the references doesn't make sense; it mentions the 5th edition rulebook, p181 - which is all about Damnos, not Angelis.

The bit that made least sense to me was when double-fist-bumps Calgar showed up. Then I just stopped reading. It had all stopped being about GorkaMorka long before then anyway.

Incidentally I've been writing a story (I'm up to chapter 13 so far) about what became of the GorkaMorka and the orks that built it. Here's a spoiler, they made it off Angelis and didn't get beat by no Krons or Smurfs! Anyway, at the rate I'm writing and editing you can expect to see it appear over on the Fiction page sometime in the next year or so. (I'm working on a long term plan here.) Trust me though its going to be epic!

In the meantime if anyone's interested click the link on my signature for a Novela length Grot story. It's not GrokaMorka fiction though, just normal orks and grots.