I've finally introduced orks in my game, and the thought occurred to me: Can orks in WH40k see in darkness? According to the Creatures Anathema they do not possess the Dark Sight trait, which is the only darkvision trait in DH rules (unfortunately). In various other Fantasy literature,. they have been known to be able to see in areas of very low light (starlight etc.) or even in total darkness (unlit caves).

So any WH40k enthusiast here that can provide me a fluff answer on it? So far I've presented the orks using torches and other lights during the night and in caves (mostly for the benefit of the Acolytes and the coolness factor), but could they live without light at all?

Tolkien (and therefore also D&D) orcs are cave dwellers and thus have very good "darksight". TSR pretty much flagrantly ignored copyright laws and Wizards of the Coast payed through the nose for the rights.

Warhammer Orks (different spelling for legal reasons) show absolutely no evidence of having night vision any more or less acute than a normal human. This is supported both in the fiction and in the tabletop game. Note that Codex: Orks grants no bonus to rolls for the "nightfighting" general rule, nor to target Tau Stealth Battlesuits or Grey Knights (who use the Nightfight mechanics to represent their vision-occluding techniques). Several Ork vehicle kits from GW come with assorted lamps, headlights and so on. Need your hands free for weapons (they do!)? That is what grots are for! Give one a torch, a lantern, something on fire... whatever... Maybe even set the grot on fire!

Of course since Orks are basically a humanoid fungus infestation with guns and huge axes there is nothing stopping you from coming up with some "mutant tribe" of Orks that evolved from bioluminescent fungi or some horribly irradiated underhive sump if your story calls for it.

Hmmm.... Mutie Orks! Now that just sounds FUN!

Thanks, that settles it for me

Karot Squigs is the answer.

TT rules don't really explain it away though. Even Space Marines (except Space Wolves) don't get bonus's for Night Fighting missions.

Face Eater said:

True. But with the Space Wolves, it's not just vision. It's vision, hearing and scent; all combined into an awesome awareness of things around them... Whether they can properly deduce a threat in all that sensory data of theirs is a matter of experience.

-=Brother Praetus=-

If I remember correctly, in the Black Library Novel 'Ragnar's Claw', a pack of Blood Claws sneaks into a city teeming with orks along with an inquisitorial acolyte, and they don't have any trouble sneaking past the sentries, hijacking a warbuggy, and driving it to the city center. Personally I'd guess that an ork has somewhat worse night vision then an average human, but this is just a guess.

Alanith said:

Well, possibly. But also recall, the orks were partying pretty hard, and there were all sorts of distractions even for the sentries. The warbuggy race was awesome though.

-=Brother Praetus=-

If anyone has read the Ciaphas Cain book Death or Glory, there was a point when they were sneaking through a town overrun by orks. They came upon a buildings they set ablaze as Cain says, purely for the light it afforded. BUT, there is a footnote by the Inquisitor Amberley Vail of the Ordo Xenos saying, and I quote...

"Probably not. Greenskin night vision seems to be superior to that of humans. In all likelihood it was simply a cooking fire that had got out of hand, or an act of wanton destruction perpetrated purely for its own sake"

SEEMS superior, but that could also just be their uncanny knack for fighting. Maybe to the point that they should have the Blind Fighting talent?

I pretty much ignore the Cain books at least as far as accuracy is concerned. I enjoy the hell out of them, granted, but Commisar Cain's relentlessly self-centered accounts are terrible about accurate details, and the author does this deliberately.

"So I was neck-deep in pants-shitting trouble when I realized that the orks did something stupid and I saw the chance to flee like a schola-girl. As I was running through the burning building screaming and weeping and thinking only to save myself, I tripped over one of my dead soldiers and accidentally decapitated the ork warboss. Oh hey, I TOTALLY meant to do that!" Amberly's note: Cain completely fails to mention that 15 ork Gargants were doing battle with Titans of the Legio Imperiallis at this location and that the capital Hive was fully engulfed in flame at the time.

No, it is not a quote from any of the books, but that is the style. Laugh, smile, enjoy and serve with several grains of salt.

Just out of curiousity do you plan for the orks in question to have a Mekboy amongst them? If they do then i'm sure there'd be nothing to stop you from giving them the orkish equivalent of infra-red goggles or photo-visor contacts or alternatively you could arrange it so that the acolytes encounter Kommandos at a later point who could be equipped with the aforementioned items.

blackwell said:

I appologize in advance for the fallowing question, but I just have to ask...

would Infa-red goggles make the Ork's vission go faster? ;-p

I'm pretty sure that belief would only apply to the red paint jobs that they give to their vehicles and spacecraft Graver.

ZillaPrime said:

I totally agree. The Cain books are almost purely there for their comical entertainment value. I do feel that they give the occasional gem of insight into the 40K universe though. For example the Ambulls on an Ice World. Who knew, but now its pretty much cannon. The only reason I thought about bringing it up is for Amberleys foot note. Taking that she is the only reliable source of info in the books and Xenos are her particular specialty, I thought the comment was worth mentioning. But, I far from interpret it that orks have anything near night vision. It could only mean they see a meter further in dark, wowee.

BTW, your rendition of a Cain-esque adventure is quite accurate. Have you thought about writing some Cain fan-fiction?

TBH the same could be said about all 40K novels. That doesn't leave a lot that is considered cannon though. Generally I get the feeling that GW will let you write what ever you want and take whatever sounds right as gospel from then on so it wouldn't surprise me if even the most outlandish story has some bits that are later considered cannon if nothing else contradicts it.

And as for Cain, as Imperial Guard you aren't going to have a lot of sequals without a lot of luck.

Actually the only novel that isn't considered to be canon in the warhammer 40,000 universe would have to be Space Marine by Ian Watson.