Since the dawn of the Age of the Beast and the appearance of strange fissures with teeth and tongues, the deformed Gorgers started to gather in more organised groups giving form to the Gorger Mawpacks.
Gorgers are cursed Ogors constantly starving and never able to satisfy their hunger, outcasts despised by the rest of the Ogor society.
Background and Lore of the Gorger Mawpack Warband
No one knows how an Ogor gets afflicted by the Empty Belly curse. Some say it’s because they displeased their god, the Gulping God, for who the constant act of eating is as essential as the fight to obtain the next meal. To forsake either, means incurring in his ire.
Whatever the reason behind, those afflicted by this curse become ravenous beasts, not only constantly hungry but also unable to taste the food they ingest as it becomes ash and bile as soon as they devour it. They are also incapable to grow the huge bellies that are a matter of pride to all Ogors making them outcasts that live at the margin of the main Ogor encampments and often avoided.
Since the dawn of the Age of the Beast, and the return of the Earthquake God, Kragnos, earthquakes started to shake the ground in all realms, and in the Gnarlwood sinking holes appeared armed with teeth and tongues, able to digest almost anything unfortunate enough to fall in their maws. These are the Mawpits, considered by the Ogors to be the manifestation of their god.
It is not known when they appeared and what is their link with the Gorgers, but entire groups of these creatures gather around these maws feeding them with the captives of their raids, sustaining them in the hope that their god would forgive them and lift the curse. Ogor Butchers and Slaughermasters study the primitive rituals the Gorgers prepare and approve their actions knowing that their god is not happy with the amount of food Ogors are currently eating.
While usually primitive beings with no organisation, recently Gorgers have been seen structured in specific hierarchies, with the biggest one claiming leadership over the group, while wearing rudimental equipment to mimic Ogor Tyrants. These Clawbacks wield giant clubs to smash their enemies and lead the Mawpacks to the hunt in search of their next meal or sacrifice to bring to the Mawpits.
Cave howlers seem to represent the priestly caste of these primitive gatherings, howling unintelligible words and feared by the other Gorgers as conduits of the Gulping God. While their exact role is unclear, it has been witnessed that the magic channelled in those howls can force the most battle hardened veterans in a cannibalistic frenzy turning against their previous companions.
Gorgers can be primitive beings, but their strength should not be underestimated, especially now that they seem capable to arm themselves with clubs crudely fabricated or taken from fallen Ogors and wield them efficiently to tenderize their opponent.
But how do Gorgers organise themselves in a Mawpack? Let’s find out.
Fighters in the Gorger Mawpack Warband
Note: if you haven’t read the basic rules for Warcry before reading this article, it might be helpful to know that the game’s abilities are activated by using 6 dice that you roll at the start of your turn.
If two of the dice show the same value, they can be used to activate a Double ability. If three show the same value, they can be used for a Triple ability, and so on.
So, when this article refers to an ability being a Double, a Triple or a Quad, it refers to this system. It might sound a bit confusing, but takes no time to get used to when you start playing
The Gorger Mawpack warband is made of 5 different fighters, of which 1 is the leader.
Clawback: 235 points
The Clawback is the leader of the Mawpack. Interestingly enough, he is the only one who is not a Beast meaning he is the only one who can open doors, carry treasures and so on. Unless he uses the warband Quad, Starving Rampage, that transforms him in a Beast for a turn but provides a free attack action against all enemies within 1″ of range.
The Clawback has also a profile worth of an Ogor with 35 wounds but a Toughness of 3, compensated by a Movement of 5″ higher than average. 4 attacks at Strength 5 for 3/6 damage can be extremely devastating, so despite his apparent fragility, if he hits first, he is going to get rid of the opposition.
Apart from the Quad, he shares with the rest of the warband the reaction that challenges an opponent to attack them and if they can’t score a critical, they receive straight 6 damage back (in melee). This is particularly useful if you have an extremely high Toughness against, or if you are going to be killed (as written the damage occurs also if the reacting fighter is slain), not much against low Toughness guys.
5″ movement is already enough, but if you really want to be first in the fray, or reposition yourself mid-battle, the Double Bounding Leaps allows you a bonus move towards the closest visible enemy fighter as long as it is within 6″. Remember you can’t disengage, but the other Double available to the Clawback adds +1 damage to both hits and critical hits for the entire activation. So, depending on the situation, you can get a free move to attack your opponent with 4 attacks at 3/6 damage, or maul them down with 8 attacks (assuming you are already engaged) at 4/7 damage…
Cave Howler: 220 points
The Cave Howler is the first of our Beasts, whose main characteristic is his Triple ability, Agonising Roar, that prevents disengage action on a 4+ to each enemy within 6″. It’s a Triple, it’s situational, and has a 50% chance to not work, but in the right moment can be extremely useful.
For the rest he has the same base profile of a Gorger (5″ movement, Toughness 3, 30 wounds) and strong attacks (5 attacks at Strength 4 and same damage as the Clawback) meaning that he is also a good target for the warband Quad.
Gorger: 180 points
The Gorger is the base profile for this warband. It starts from the original profile of same-name fighter from the Ogor warband, but there are few differences. The most notable, as a Beast, it has some limitations that you may never encounter in most battles. However, if you really need to open a door or steal a treasure, for a Double, all Beasts in the warband can restore their sanity, even if just for a turn and forget about that runemark.
In addition, he has a strong melee profile with 4 attacks at Strength 4 and 3/5 damage.
Gorger with Club: 175 points
What happens when a Gorger gets his hands on a Club? Well he hits less often but harder, with 3 attacks but at Strength 5 (and a damage of 6 on critical hits) that creates an interesting compromise between the standard Gorger and the next profile.
Gorger with Great Club: 185 points
The Gorger with Great Club is your heavy hitter: only 2 hits per attack but at a 2″ range and a whooping Strength 6. Even the base damage is the highest in the warband (4/8), meaning that if he is surrounded by weak enemies and can activate the warband Quad, there will be lots of people flying around!
However, the best trait he has is the Triple ability Maddened Blows that triggers the critical hits on rolls of 5 in addition to the 6. With damage on critical hit of 8 points, rolling for attacks will make your opponent sweat considerably.
Abilities for the Gorger Mawpack Warband
- Bounding Leaps (Double, everyone): A bonus move action towards the closest enemy within 6″.
- Glimmer of Consciousness (Double, everyone except the Clawback): The fighter is considered not a Beast until the next round.
- Unnatural Force (Double, Clawback): +1 damage on hits and critical hits of melee attacks.
- Agonising Roar (Triple, Cave Howler): Every enemy fighter within 6″ rolls a dice, on a 4+ cannot disengage for the rest of the round.
- Maddened Blows (Triple, Gorger with Great Club): Critical hits are scored with a roll of 5+.
- Starving Rampage (Quad, everyone): A bonus attack against each opponent within 1″ but the fighter is considered a Beast until the end of the round.
Reaction for the Gorger Mawpack Warband
Introduced in the new season of Warcry, Reactions are things that can be done in certain circumstances, but always during the enemy turn. They cost one action, so they can be used only by fighters that have not activated yet or are waiting. There are 3 universal reactions and one specific to each warband:
Rending Bite (Everyone)
- When: During an enemy melee attack action but before hit rolls.
- What: If none of the attacks score a critical hit, the attacker receives 6 damage points.
Battle Trait for the Gorger Mawpack Warband
The battle trait is an addition introduced in Briar and Bone which adds an extra optional rule that affects all characters with the same runemark, without using any ability dice. Each faction has its own but the Grand Alliance one can be used instead:
- Order – Courageous Defenders: When using Take Cover reaction the critical hit becomes normal hit on a 3+ instead of 4+.
- Chaos – Aspire to Glory: Once per battle round, add 1 to the first critical hit from a melee attack from a fighter whose cost is 125 points or less.
- Death- Deathless Minions: Once per battle round, a critical hit to a Minion from a shooting attack is counted as a normal hit instead.
- Destruction – Relentless Destroyers: During melee attacks the target cannot claim the +1 Toughness bonus from cover.
Ravenous Gorging: When a friendly fighter kills an enemy with a melee attack, they heal D3 wounds.
Strategy and Tactics for the Gorger Mawpack Warband
The Gorger Mawpack warband is a low-count warband (5 at most) that can cover quite some territory with their 5″ movement. The low Toughness (only 3) is compensated by a high wounds count (30 or 35 for the leader) that guarantees a decent survivability.
The mobility problem can also be toned down by the generic Double, Bounding Leaps, that allows a free movement towards the nearest enemy within 6″. Opportunely placed means being able to move to the next objective but the opponent can restrict your movements by placing its models accordingly.
Despite this, anything you encounter will have a really short life-span with the average 3 minimum damage on a normal hit. And if you are close to death and still have a reaction to spare, the one from this warband can be an interesting gamble. On average, you will do more damage with a single attack action, but if you are going down, why not taking your opponent with you? It works best with high Toughness opponents with low number of attacks.
The interesting twist in this warband, is that everyone except the Leader, is a Beast. Most games you may never notice this, but if you play with treasures or in city-based environments with doors blocking passageways, then you will struggle a bit more, and that’s where the Double Glimmer of Consciousness helps by temporarily ignoring (for an activation) the Beast runemark so that you can progress as normal. In all other situations, it’s more of a narrative thing than an actual hinder.
The warband has little variety, and suffers from complete absence of ranged damage, with the 2″ of the Great Club the longest reach available. They hit hard, but need to get close in melee. With Toughness 3, they also suffer from most ranged options in the game, so be careful and take that in consideration.
The Gorger has the most balanced melee profile, with the Club providing a bit more Strength, and the Great Club going all-in with the “few but powerful” blows. Normally we would recommend the balanced profile, but a Great Club for a Triple can use its damage on critical hit on a 5+ that greatly shifts the weight towards the high damage of the massive weapon.
If you need to prevent certain enemy fighters from running away, the Cave Howler Triple may help you (50% chance to work and a 6″ range).
Despite this, that’s basically all the warband has to offer: massive damage, above average movement, and a decent pool of wounds but the low-model count and modest Toughness mean that they need to be positioned accurately to avoid being surrounded too early in the match (save your wild dice for a good Quad!).
Pros and Cons of the Gorger Mawpack Warband
Pros:
+ High-damage units
+ Above average movement
+ Interesting narrative interpretation
Cons:
– Low Toughness
– No ranged options
Some thematic warbands for the Gorger Mawpack
Just for fun here we present few thematic warbands, meant more for fun or narrative context than for competitive play. Note that in narrative play you need to complete a quest that allows you to recruit a Hero before being able to add him to your roster.
Out of the box: 1 Clawback, 1 Cave Howler, 1 Gorger, 1 Gorger with Club, 1 Gorger with Great Club.
How to buy a Gorger Mawpack Warband
At the moment the warband is available only in the box set Hunter and the Hunted, but it should be soon released individually. If you are an Ogor fan and play Age of Sigmar, this may be your best chance to get new Gorgers and the new Ogor terrain in a single box, and sell out the Cities half.
The sprues inside allow to build:
- 1 Clawback
- 1 Cave Howler
- 1 Gorger or Gorger with Great Club
- 2 Gorgers or Gorgers with Club
Tips on painting a Gorger Mawpack Warband for Warcry
The Gorgers have been in the Ogor Mawtribes army for a long time, but it was not the best model in the range. As such, there’s not many old tutorials online to paint them but one we liked a lot that covers the new warband, is from Warhipster and uses contrast paints for a “quicker” job.
From Warhammer Community you can find inspiration for pale looking guys from other models of the range, for example the first part of this video introducing 4 different skin tones for Sons of Behemat.