A Couple of Orky Tales from ‘Legends of the Waaagh!’ (Black Library)

 

As a rule, I generally stay away from Warhammer 40k stories that have Orks as main characters. Nothing against them per se; it’s just that as with the Hulk in the MCU, I think Orks make far better antagonists/supporting characters than leads. That’s just me though, feel free to tell me that I’m wrong and point me at something that I should be reading ;o)

Anyway, that’s the reason I’d stayed away from the ‘Legends of the Waaagh!’ collection, until now that is :o) The blurb is there for a reason… I took a look, saw mention of at least one old favourite, and decided to give the book a go after all ;o)

You will always find a few short stories in these collections and I figured I’d start things off with a quick post about those. And it has ended up being an even quicker post than I’d planned as I’ve already spoken about Dan Abnett’s ‘Ork Hunter’ over Here. Which leads me onto a quick rant, hold on…

This is the second time that I’ve come across ‘the same story featured in two separate anthologies’ and I’ve got my fingers crossed that Black Library don’t repeat this in the future. Or if they do, leave it in an ‘Aeldari’ collection that I’m unlikely to read ;o) I get the whole ‘one novel, one short story from each author’ here but are you telling me that Dan Abnett hasn’t written another Ork story that could have been used here instead? And thinking about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitchell’s ‘The Only Good Ork’ has already featured in an old ‘Ciaphas Cain’ collection somewhere. That’s a little more excusable though. Sorry, rant over :o)

Anyway...

Lets take a look at the other two short stories then, Sandy Mitchell’s ‘The Only Good Ork’ and Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s ‘One Hate’.

‘The Only Good Ork’ – Sandy Mitchell

Page Count: 12 Pages

Deployed to the agri world of Frumenta to eradicate a local genestealer cult, Ciaphas Cain shies away from the thick of battle with his trademark sense of discretion. Just his luck, this cunning escape brings him up against an even more dangerous enemy – a feral ork, ready to deliver a proper krumpin'...

It’s been a while since I’ve read a full length ‘Ciaphas Cain’ novel and, thinking about it, I should probably do something about that. In the meantime, a quick dose of ‘Cain’ seemed like a good place to kick things off and while there wasn’t a lot of room for this tale to be anything more than it was (Cain beats the odds by being more clever than his opponents), it was still fun to read. Cain will do anything to save his own skin but this inevitably lands himself in situations where he will do anything to save his own skin. You’d have thought he would have taken the hint, by now, but Mitchell paints an outcome that is funny and action packed, all at the same time. I’ll take that.

‘One Hate’ – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Page Count: 26 Pages

On the planet Syral the Imperial Guard are fighting a losing battle against the ork hordes. A squad of Crimson Fists arrive at what seems like a critical moment, and they look to be Syral's last chance for salvation. However, the Crimson Fists have other motives, and they will not be deterred from their greater goal.

There’s a little more meat on the bones of this story; a follow on (of sorts) from Steve Parker’s ‘Rynn’s World’ and an interesting look at what drives the Crimson Fists in the aftermath of that conflict. I think it’s one of those stories where you’ll get more out of it if you’re a Crimson Fists fan but while I’m not quite that, there was a lot to enjoy here. Quite apart from Astartes fighting Orks (always cool), Dembski-Bowden also brings out a touch of humanity (albeit driven by necessity) in the Crimson Fists squad that makes them stand out as unique(ish) Marines. Not a bad read at all, I need to track down a copy of ‘Rynn’s World’ now.

Extra Note: A little Googling, while I wrote this post, confirmed that ‘The Only Good Ork’ and ‘One Hate’ have also been collected elsewhere. They get a pass though as those collections are a lot older and presumably (given Black Library) more difficult to track down. My blog, my rules ;o)