We don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the Orks from Warhammer 40k – and particularly the style of Orks pioneered in the late 1990s by master sculptor Brian Nelson – that resonates deep in the bones of wargamers. Silly, violent, robust, belligerent, block-headed, cunning, sneaky, and above all – funny. No surprise then that esteemed indie designer Mike Hutchinson has created an original indie wargame, Space Gits, all about boozed-up greenskin layabouts creating an absolute ruckus.
This is a miniature agnostic wargame, so you can use any miniatures you want – though the Warhammer 40k Ork range will work a treat, and one box of Ork Boyz will have enough figures for two players.
If you’re not into Warhammer 40k but want something very similar, Kromlech has a big range of Space Orcs, and is offering an exclusive miniature for the Kickstarter campaign. All the press photos we’ve used in this article show Kromlech minis, painted and photographed by Billion Dollar Clown Farm. For something a little more civilized, there’s the Marauders from Mantic Games’ Firefight.
You can download the quick start rules and the most recent playtest document for Space Gits from the game’s Kickstarter page. A digital version of the 128 page rulebook is available for $26 (£20), or $45 (£35) for a hardback, plus shipping and tariffs.
Those rules are intentionally very, very silly, because you’re playing a gaggle of Orks – sorry, Space Orcs, they’re entirely legally distinct from the popular Warhammer 40k faction – who are uncontrolled hooligans at the best of times. In this game, they’re also drunk out of their heads.
Your goal, loosely, is to grab the most loot – represented by beer bottle caps or any other doodad you can find – from a ruined Orc city. “To move, you roll dice into the play area and move directly towards the dice, wherever they land”, in a drunken and unsteady stagger. Shooting works more or less the same, “rolling dice and spraying bullets towards them, hoping someone is in the way”.
Fighting? That’s a variant of rock, paper, scissors. Your models even have a little pile of dice beside them that represents their ability to stand upright. That dice tower has to stay with them, and if it ever tips over, the Orc is flat out on their back until one of their mates can kick them awake.
That doesn’t sound like enough to fill 128 pages of rulebook, but Mike Hutchinson is a proven designer. There’s further rules for guns and gear, vehicles and drunk driving, campaigns with tables for loot, injuries, “and your criminal record”, even factions!
Hutchinson has also released the game’s dice system under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Anyone can use the game’s rules, modify them, and create commercial products from them, provided they acknowledge their creator.
We haven’t tested Space Gits yet, but not only does this look like a fun game about drunk Orcs, it looks like a fun game for drunk Orcs. It supports up to five players and “can be played as a drinking game”. Frankly, we’re tempted to test this just to see if it warrants a place on our guide to the best drinking games. You can see the Universal Order of Gamers’ playtest in the YouTube video below, and it is very silly:
If you thought the Orks Warhammer 40k codex was altogether too serious, this looks like the game for you. You have until 12 noon PT / 3pm ET / 8pm BST on May 10 to back the campaign.
Have you played the beta for Space Gits? Do you have a favorite tabletop game to play with your drinking buddies? Come and tell us about it on the official Wargamer Discord server!
Source: Wargamer
