Army Briefing: Black Skull Raiders

Tangrus III is completely annihilated.  Orks rove the plains, hunting horrific tyranid beasts that remain after the invasion of Hive Fleet Mahnunnah a few years previous.  Two massive tribes had always vied for power on this world, which is known by its inhabitants simply as “Nokk”.  The Evil Sunz tribe long held an enclave here, but the great Black Skull Goffs have ruled this part of the sector for thousands of years. Now, something has happened on Nokk that will require the immediate attention of the Imperial war machine.

A great warlord has emerged from the warring tribes of Nokk after the invasion of the tyranids.  When it seemed the six legged monsters would annihilate everything, an Evil Sunz warlord (named, naturally – Nokk) managed to convince the Black Skulls to join his Waaagh!! – and the newly formed horde pushed almost all other creatures off their world.  No humans have lived on Nokk for some time, and since the Tyranid War the necrons and eldar have taken their battle elsewhere.  Tangrus III, now known as Nokk – is ruled by orks. 

Though Nokk rules the horde, his native Evil Sunz were in the minority compared to the other orks on the planet.  There were many more Black Skulls, but their warlord on Nokk was hemmed into their communities and the tyranid monsters laid siege to them.  The mobile Evil Sunz roaming the ash wastes of Nokk were more maneuverable, and Warlord Nokk of the Evil Sunz was suddenly inspired.  He broke the sieges of the Goff city states, and one by one they pledged to his Waaagh!!

The other clan was not truly receptive of the Evil Sunz ways, but slowly acclimated and ceded that they would not be fighting and winning if it wasn’t for the Speed Freeks.  The roving horde soon had a new vibe – Goff with a dash of Kult of Speed.  They were now the Raiders, and they literally raided hive ships.  As disgusting and unlikely as it sounds, it’s almost certain a great many feasts were held wherein the main course at the orky festival had six legs.

Mekboyz have become prevalent in the horde since the joining of the tribes.  Now, huge fleets of battlewagons, looted Imperial tanks, ork trukks and deffkoptas have been built, and are congregated around the construction site of Warlord Nokk’s most inspired project yet – a great ship that seems to be warp capable on launch.  It took many months of warring and scrounging the wastes and broken cities of Tangrus III, but in the end the Warlord’s vision was accomplished.  The Black Skull Raiders had formed from the ashes of Tangrus III, conquered their world, and built an interstellar transport from the warp cores of salvaged Imperial ships.

Building a war fleet has long been Nokk’s agenda.  After corralling all the mekboyz he could find or coerce, he set them to building more and bigger weapons and vehicles for his horde.  However, there were few system ships available to the orkz on Tangrus III, and those were quickly subsumed into Nokk’s horde.  This limited space flight capability allowed the horde to strip several Imperial ships in orbit and use the critical portions of the engines in building The Dumstah, the Warlord’s new flagship.

The great ship was built in the middle of the Dust Plains, where it quickly grew to a size that rivaled the far off mountains.  Free roaming ork bands that wandered the lands around could see the giant edifice from miles around, and made a pilgrimage to the mighty edifice of the ork gods.  In this way, the horde grew to an mind boggling size.  Soon, plans began to emerge of actually leaving the planet on a conquest, and that’s when the comet appeared in the sky above Nokk.

It was a great green ball, and passed very close to the planet.  Strange portents awoke the weirdboyz, and all the greenskins looked upon the green light in the sky and knew that their faith in their Warlord was not misplaced.  For nearly a month, the light of the comet shone at night and the orks took this as a sign of their god’s favor.  The horde labored feverishly, preparing for their foretold conquest of the stars.

Many smaller ships were built for the horde, and every Imperial system ship was refitted to suit their orky delight.  Fighters, bombers and escort craft were built both on the ground and in the Imperial orbital installations the orks had overtaken.  In the end, the flotilla that launched from the Tangrus system numbered nearly forty warp capable ships, and innumerable smaller ones in those holds.

Joined in space by several small Freebooter parties, the ork fleet has grown.  Naograssa subsector is rife with xenos pirates and orks from the greater Black Skull Empire in the neighboring Magnum Sierra subsector.  Some of these bands possessed ships equivalent to a battle-cruiser, and joined the Waaagh! for the same reason many ork bands do – for a fight, for (what passes for) treasure and (the strange ork notion of) glory.

The Black Skull Raiders focus on speed and firepower, and salvage whatever they destroy into more weapons to use in their never ending conquest.  There are a great number of small flying craft accompanying the boyz when they hit the ground, noisily chugging alongside the great battlewagons carrying the horde into battle.  A great Waaagh! has come forth once more from the southeast quadrant – and the Imperial citizens of the Mardannon Sector pray that this will be the only one…