We are playing a game of Epic 40K (3rd edition) on Saturday, with armies of 5,600 points apiece. The notes below are for those players who want to put themselves into the story beforehand (I’m looking at you, Dan!). The scenario is adapted from the Rescue scenario in the Epic Battles Book.

Agri-world 966, known to its inhabitants as Arcadia, was already inhabited by primitive Orks when the Imperium first colonised it. The Ork population was small, unusually peaceable and concentrated in the remote western fringes of the main continent, which are unsuitable for human agriculture. After a half-hearted, expensive and unsuccessful campaign to eliminate the indigenous Orks, the planetary Governor decided to live and let live. The two races slowly learned to rub along together, with only the occasional spat in the Western Fringes, quickly suppressed by Imperial forces.

This near harmonious coexistence ended centuries later when an Ork hulk crashed into the Western Fringes, bringing the mightily ambitious Bad Moon Warlord, Tamrine. Disgusted by the unwarlike traits of the native Orks, he decided to whip them into shape and then to wipe the Imperium off the face of the planet. Waagh! Tamrine was born.

Lulled by generations of coexistence with the indigenous Orks, the Arcadian Planetary Governor was slow to recognise the danger posed by Waugh! Tamrine. She reckoned the latest Ork incursion could be dealt with by the Planetary Defece Forces, without seeking help from off-world. This proved a major miscalculation, as Waagh! Tamrine smashed through the Imperial defences and laid waste to thousands of square miles of Arcadian farmland. Realising her error, the Governor begged for assistance from the Sector Council, warning that her forces could not hold out for long unaided.

Fortunately for Arcadia, the Sector Council was able to respond to the governor’s pleas, sending, first, a detachment of Imperial Fists and subsequently, a smaller detachment of Space Wolves to assist the PDF. These reinforcements arrived on Arcadia not a moment too soon.

At the point our game begins, Waugh! Tamrine has driven deep into Imperial territory. In the chaos of the Arcadian retreat, Imperator Titan Tiberius, undergoing a refit at the settlement of Bastion, has been cut off by the Ork advance and is behind the front line. Tiberius is one of only two Imperator Titans on Arcadia and its loss is unthinkable. It is protected by a small detachment of Imperial Guard. Tamrine is as determined to take the Titan as the Imperium is desperate to recover it.

Tiberius is placed in the settlement of Bastion. Deploy up to 1,400 points of Imperial Guard detachments to protect it, within a 60cm square.

The Orks then all deploy in an area 60cm deep, starting 60cm from the nearest defender of Bastion. Exception: up to 3 Ork detachments may begin off table. Place their HQs on any of the three table edges, level with the perimeter of the Imperial garrison. They will enter on turn 1.

Finally, the Imperial players place HQs for the rest of the Imperial army on the short table edge furthest from the Titan. Every HQ must be placed within 15cm of the first HQ placed. Exception: up to 4 HQs may be placed anywhere along the table edge.

The Imperial objective is to keep control of Titan Tiberius. The Ork objective is to capture or destroy it.

Tiberius has enough power to operate its void shields but can neither move nor fire.

Victory conditions. The side that controls the Titan at the end of turn 6 wins the game. Before then, if either side’s morale drops to zero, it loses immediately. The Orks may target the Titan but if they destroy it, they can only win by reducing Imperial morale to zero.

Recently, Nick and I played our first game of Speed Freeks, the Games Workshop game of warring Orks on buggies, bikes and improbable dragsters.
He and Will bought me the game last year, mainly for reasons of nostalgia, since this game is a descendant of the old GW classic, Gorkamorka.

Gorkamorka was our entry game into the GW universe. One day in 1997 we came across a demo of this brand new game in the Games Workshop branch in Staines. We left the shop with the boxed game and that was it. We collected most of the metal figures and later picked up Digganob, which added human, grot and mutie mobs. We loved the random silliness, both of the background and of the rules themselves.

When GW released the 3rd edition of 40K, our Gorkamorka figures became the nucleus of an Ork army. We still have all of our original models, although the plastic boyz on narrow bases were pensioned off when GW released Brian Nelson’s (still) excellent plastics. We played Gorkamorka for a good while before it slowly gave way to 40k.

Anyway. Fast forward to 2018 and we were intrigued to learn about the release of Speed Freeks. I might have dropped a hint or two, so on my next birthday I received the new boxed game.

First impressions
The Speed Freeks box is packed full of models, markers and even a reversible playing board. The models are exquisite and the markers very solid. In comparison, Gorkamorka also had everything we needed to start playing, except for a surface. Of course, the buildings were a mix of coloured card and plastic bulwarks and the models, though quite serviceable, were less elaborate than nowadays. But unlike Speed Freeks, Gorkamorka had figures and rules for dismounted figures and the wartrukk was designed to carry individual foot models. There were even specially designed narrow bases to allow players to cram more figures onto the vehicle. Speed Freeks has no rules or models for figures on foot: in today’s version, every Ork or grot is on a bike or buggy.

The most striking difference I suppose is that Gorkamorka provided an extensive back story and campaign system which was further elaborated in the supplement, Digganob, with several additional mobs and models. The Speed Freeks box provides a bit of backstory for atmosphere and a sort of campaign. It is also possible to buy a few more models to supplement the box contents, but the new game is more of a stand alone game that does not draw the players into its world to the extent that Gorkamorka did.

First Play
Nick and I played our first game using the buggies from the Speed Freeks boxed set, four old 40k bikes and the two wartraks from the Gorkamorka box. At this point we noticed another great difference between the two games: while Gorkamorka’s mechanics were rooted in 2nd edition 40k, Speed Freeks has totally different rules, including special combat dice, which the players distribute in secret at the start of each turn. The rules are quick to learn and give an unpredictable and very enjoyable game. The mechanics owe a lot to X Wing, and even to Wings of War (or Wings of Glory, depending on how old your set is). Movement uses a set of measurement sticks, some of them distinctly curvy. In a challenging twist, there are limits to the number of times the more interesting sticks can be used. This means that a player really has to plan his mob’s actions as a team, since that useful curvy stick might only be usable once in the turn. There is also a good chance that a vehicle will spin at the end of its move, ending up facing completely the wrong way.

Unpredictable Speed Freeks may be, but the players still shape the play, both by the allocation of dice at the start of each turn and the selection of movement sticks.

The rules add up to an unpredictable and atmospheric game, in which buggies and bikes careen around the field, colliding, firing wildly and blowing bits off each other. We had a fine time. Speed Freeks plays fast too and is ideal for filling a free hour. I even think a non-wargamer would enjoy it, although I need to test this theory on some unsuspecting family members.

We will certainly be playing and enjoying this game again, but I doubt we will be starting a campaign. For that, I don’t think Gorkamorka can be beaten.