GUY HALEY'S SPEED FREEKS

Many would argue that an Ork army (either Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000) offers great scope for customising your models. Guy Haley is certainly one such gamer who likes to ensure his army is unique. Introducing, Waaagh Duffsnik!

Guy: Looking at these pictures, you won't be surprised to learn that my house is full of Orks. I suppose my girlfriend could blame my dad. He's the chap who got me into all this wargaming business in the first place. It's only natural I suppose, he is a toy soldier dealer. But he's into that genuine military stuff, and that is not my cup of tea. Or fungus beer, I should say. It was only when the very first edition of Warhammer came out (we're talking 20 years ago, easy) that I found my niche. Now I could play those big battles I'd drooled over when I read The Lord of The Rings for the first time! When you're young everyone wants to be the good guys. More than a few these days start off with Space Marines- I've seen you, getting in the way of my zimmer frame when I pop into the local Games Workshop store! I was different. When I was knee high to a Grot everyone wanted to be Elves. Not me - I wanted to be the bad guys. So Orks I bought and Orks I still play, in both their Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 guises. Warhammer 40,000 Orks are the classic antagonists - they'll fight anybody. Even each other. All they care about is fighting. Not philosophy, not town planning, not poetry. Just fighting. With big guns.

Guy's Speed Freeks - click on the image for close-up shots of the different units.

It wasn't until the new plastic warbikes came out that my imagination really caught fire, the roar of a thousand engines echoing in my not so little ears. What's cooler than an Ork? An Ork on a motorbike! Or maybe 'Ard Boys in a trukk or a Warboss with his own Battlewagon. After two footslogging forces, my third edition Ork horde is mounted all in or on something huge, wheeled noisy and unsubtle. No waiting for the bus for these Greenskins. They're at the forefront of every invasion. Always the first in the scrap, often the first to get creamed. But hey - who cares about winning when you're having so much fun?

I'm an Ork player. It's the fighting that counts. My Warboss 'Razgrod Duffsnik' has been panned by Hive Fleet Leviathan so many times he's developed entemoophobia, but he's always back for more! He has every bionik bit the Meks can make and the Doks can fit. We don't play campaigns often, but putting together and modifying your army in light of recent games really tells a story. Like the Tyranid Warrior head added to my trukk, in my regular opponent's colours of course, after the string of defeats turned to a string of victories. Even an Ork can learn! Or maybe it's his shiny new tin head that's making him smarter.

Ork armies are extremely characterful, a modeller's delight. You can really customise Orks, so a huge bits box comes in very handy (you may notice an original Battlewagon amongst the horde). With Freeks though you have the added benefits of speed and the fact that they can actually shoot straight thanks to a lot of twin-linked weapons. What more could any self-respecting Greenskin ask for?

Next: Speed Freek Tactics.