Force analysis: Whitetusk's Howlas

@death_of_a_rubricist

***

Both were hunched over and quiet, but neither could concentrate on their work. The rumours, weeks old now, were unsettling. Enderby swallowed, his throat dry.

‘Heard the latest about those lights in the northern sky?' 

Innos tried to tell himself the twisting in his gut was excitement – nothing more than harmless gossip, right? Just a break from his mundane life in the Infernus habs, monitoring sorting and shipping. He laid down his silverpoint carefully, placing his hands deliberately on the cool desk. He looked to his left and right, then leaned in.

'Emmers – y'know, the Cold Train driver, her – she says they’ve been transporting something to the airfields these past few weeks.’

‘Classified, wasn't it? Supplies, you think? Or aid, maybe. Makes you wonder why they were doing that, if Von Strab's right.' 

Enderby looked away, alone with his thoughts. Innos broke the silence.

'Still, whatever’s landed up there, I'm glad the jungle's in the way. They could never cross the jungles.’

The two looked at each other across the drafting table; both seeking reassurance.

‘Could they?’

***

Fourth Goff Ork Horde – Whitetusk's Howlas

Goranhuwl Whitetusk (right of image), posited overall commander of the Howlas. Also pictured is his banna-wava, Skabby.
@death_of_a_rubricist

[Tactical assessment] 

 

Imperial Stratego-ikon

• Offensive capabilities extensive
• Defensive capabilities considerable
• Mobility limited. 
• Numbers estimated at ca. 200,000 primary combatants; 150,000 secondary/support.
• Armour and artillery present in small numbers
• Force incapable of mechanised deployment.
• Threat level designation: Secondary.

[Strategic Designation] – The fourth Goff Horde.

[Theatre] – Armageddon Secundus

[Disposition] – Polar east of the Palidus mountains [unconfirmed]

The Palidus mountain range, from which Infernus draws much of its mineral wealth, is impassable. At the orders of Governor Von Strab, six great fortified bastions had recently been established on the occidental banks of the Chaeron and Styx rivers – running north and south respectively. Visible here is Chaeron-Primary (top of image) and Styx Primary (lower centre). Supply-glyphs indicate the likely position of the fourth Goff Horde.

[Notes]

Prior to the invasion of Armageddon, Warlord Ghazghkull had spent nearly a decade gathering forces, first on his homeworld of Urk, and – following his successful campaign to colonise and clear space hulk designate Alveus Alpha Alpha Sextus (Alv.α–α–VI) – in the surrounding systems. 

Success attracts success in orkish culture; and many of his lieutenants and the sub-commanders of his field armies had been established local threats in their own right. Such was the case with the Howlas, who had achieved a level of notoriety in the local shipping lanes before pledging their loyalty to Ghazghkull as his powerbase continued to build.

Ghazghkull inspired seemingly total loyalty amongst the orks who came under his sphere of influence, and it was his singular dark charisma that ensured the internecine warfare so common to the greenskins was kept (mostly) under control. This characteristic was what made him one of the rare and dangerous individuals who was able to amass sufficient force to launch one of the ork's holy wars – the 'Waaagh'.

The Howlas are believed to have flocked to Ghazghkull's banner early on – it is likely that they took part in the assaults that took Alv.α–α–VI. Indeed, they even boasted that Ghazghkull had first been a boy in their own ranks – though given the warband did not hail from Urk, this is typical of the badly thought-through propaganda and self-aggrandisement of most orks. 

Gonna kill 'em; gonna krump 'em; gonna burn their world to da ground. An' we're gonna howl down the sky while we're at it.

[Attributed to Goranhuwl Whitetusk]

[Commanders] – Goranhuwl Whitetusk [unconfirmed]

Warboss Goranhuwl Whitetusk, Overlord of da Howlas
@death_of_a_rubricist

The master of the Howlas was Goranhuwl, more commonly known as Whitetusk. Having wrested command of the warband in a pitfight, Gorahuwl's future seemed limited to continuing the itinerant piracy of his predecessors, as – while a powerful combatant and respectable tactician – he lacked the fundamental vision and nous of a truly great threat to the Imperium. 

Adaptable and surprisingly willing to compromise – for an ork, at least – Goranhuwl was quick to see which way the winds of fate were blowing when word came of a Waaagh gathering force in a nearby region. The inevitable personal confrontation between the two Goff warbosses saw Ghazghkull nearly sever Goranhuwl's left leg, leaving him unable to climb out of the pit – a canny decision on Ghazghkull's part that allowed the smaller warboss to save face while putting him firmly into a position of subservience. 

He and his orks served with distinction in the months following, particularly his success in carving out a substantial tract of territory in the space hulk Alv.α–α–VI. 

Goranhuwl long claimed his moniker 'Whitetusk' was owing to his prowess with his bare hands – that is, without having to use his jaws – though whispers imply the epithet in fact stemmed from a comment from Ghazghkull's personal physician, Grotsnik, on how many teef the warboss had to pay to have his leg re-attached.

***

Skarboyz moving through the supposedly impregnable Equatorial Jungle between the continents of Armageddon Prime and Armageddon Secundus.
@death_of_a_rubricist

[Insignia and appearance] – The Howlas can be identified by their severe black and white clothing. Unlike many Goff-dominated tribes, the Howlas use few or no additional colours, limiting the decoration to traditional dags and chequers.

This traditionalism – arguably tribal fundamentalism –  may have been present prior to the warband's supplication to Ghazghkull; but it is likely that the tendency was accelerated and heightened by the Howlas' desire to deepen and emphasise their clan affiliation with Ghazghkull the Overlord.

Unknown ork boy brandishing a maul and crude pistol. Note preponderance of black and white markings and improvised carapace plate.
@death_of_a_rubricist

As with all the warbands under Ghazghkull's command, the identification of the Howlas as a 'Goff Horde' is largely an Imperial nicety, rather than reflecting the orks' own understanding. Vanishingly few ork armies are genuinely monolithic in their cultural affiliation: nearly all include representatives of the other principal ork clans. 

While the Howlas were undoubtedly heavily dominated by the Goff clan, this horde included subsidiary forces from clans such as the Bad moons and Evil Suns – substantial enough to be able to mount independent assaults in their own right. Such personal initiative on the part of subsidiary nobz is not unusual, though it is an unwise warboss that does not take steps to ensure he is credited with any success or profit of such a raid...

Ork boyz of Whitetusk's Howlas

The Howlas were experienced, long-serving veterans of Ghazghkull's Waaa! by the time of the invasion of Armageddon. As such, a substantial proportion of the primary combatants were hulking, burly skarboyz. The warband can perhaps best be summarised as reliable heavy infantry – the archetypical ork warband of the Imperial Guardsman's understanding. 

As with the note on clan affiliation above, it should be noted that the horde was not merely a mass of ork boyz. The Imperial designation reflects its balanced nature: thousands of Gretchin, Stormboyz and Wildboyz made up its secondary and support elements – and it is their presence, and the thinner strata of genuine elite Nobz and specialists than other ork forces that means they are classified by Imperial Strategy as a 'Goff Horde', rather than – say – the sort of second-line threat designated 'Gretchin', which would likewise be far more than a literal sea of the greenskins slave-caste; or the highly dangerous warbands of hardened and specialist elites designated 'Nobz' by the Imperium.

In truth, little of substance distinguishes the fourth Goff Horde from the sort of ork force that might raid any other Imperial planet – though their unsettling ululating warcry, seemingly performed with the deliberate intention of unsettling and unnerving their enemy, is perhaps a point of difference. 

***

A sizeable mob of Whitetusk's Howlaz march through the wastelands.
@johnpaints

The force was formally identified as Waaa-Ghazghkull's forces emerged from the Equatorial Jungles and gathered in the wastelands west of the Chaeron and Styx rivers. As the clan of Warlord Ghazghkull himself, the Goff tribe took a typically straightforward position in the centre of the ork front, flanked by the Bad Moons and Evil Suns.

The fourth Goff Horde was set up to form part of the assault across the river Styx; and Imperial Command estimated they and their allies were poised to overwhelm the Styx Primary fortifications and its ill-starred defenders in short order. 

Belligerent, numerous and buoyed with excellent morale; the so-called 'Howlas' were a prototypical example of the Warbands that Ghazghkull had gathered to his unholy cause.
@death_of_a_rubricist

From here, only the wastelands and ash waste spoils left by millennia of industry would protect Infernus Hive – unless the Imperial Guard armies could be scrambled into position in time...

Unsubtle, tenacious and capable of terrifying violence, the fourth Goff Horde emerged from the equatorial jungles to bring warfare and woe to Armageddon. Time alone would tell how they fared.

***