Bestiary

"Amp squigs are cybernetically altered to allow for the amplification of sound."

Not sure if this is really a different variety of squig, or just an example of how Ork like to use them (kind of like the bomb squig).

In battle, the larger, most ferocious Squigs are used by the Orks in many ways. One of the most common is the Attack Squig. This creature is nothing more than a fanged mouth and a bad attitude that is unleashed on the enemies of its Ork master. There are many varieties of Attack Squig and breeding them is a favourite pastime of all manner of Orks. The most common type is known as the Ravenous Face-Biter, though others are growing in popularity amongst the Freebooterz of the Expanse including the Insatiable Armripper, the Gut-Growler, and the Large-Eyed Legsnapper. Other less well known, but no less vicious, varieties include the Drooling Snapjaw and the Pig–eyed Gouger.

An Attack Squig is mostly mouth, which in turn is mostly teeth. Most Squigs are short, fat, stubby creatures, little more than two to three feet in length, propelled along in a mixture of leaps and lurches by two powerful legs. They all, without exception, have ravenous appetites and stomachs that can hold improbable quantities of food.

This type of Squig has a large, gaping mouth and a bag-like body that is almost entirely stomach. The stomach functions secondarily as a pouch that allows the Squig to survive by slowly digesting food it stores up inside its body. If the Squig is dried out, it can be made into a flask for drinks. If it is tanned like leather, it makes a useful bag or belt pouch.

There is an unlucky little creature known as a Ball Squig that has the great misfortune of looking exactly like a standard Blood Bowl ball. Often prone to hibernation, these balls are brought onto the pitch by accident and awakened by the kick off when an unobservant player punts its backside halfway up the pitch. Once landed the semi-conscious and understandably frightened Ball Squig makes a run for it.

Often also called a Limpin' Squig due to the Orc habit of cutting off one of its legs to prevent it from running away too fast.

Bat Squigs descend upon their victims in a flurry of gnashing jaws and spattering guano.

Part of Mollog’s Mob, a warband from the Warhammer Underworld.

Bile squigs comprise any breed the crew can get hold of that squirt, spray or vomit harmful fluids. Typically launched by the handful, these disgusting creatures squeal and thrash while madly jetting acids, lubricants, poisons and flammable bio-slop in every direction. The foe are drenched in disgusting – and often harmful – slime, leading to much hilarity amongst the Rukkatrukk crew as their victims slip, skid, scream in pain, burst into flames, dissolve or worse.

Bitey squigs include any squiggly beast with sufficient jaws, claws and stingers to savage the target and anything stood close by. Launched gnashing and snarling into the enemy, they latch onto the first thing they hit and do not stop chewing until they are bludgeoned, stomped or shot to death

Many squigs have a natural tendency to chase after anything that moves. Enterprising Ork Tankbustas take advantage of this trait by strapping the aptly named bomb squigs with contact-mines and explosives before loosing them towards the enemy’s vehicles. The creature will yap and roar delightedly as it bounces across the battlefield towards the closest moving target. Once it nips at a vehicle’s wheels or tank tracks, the short-fused dynamite and ticking time-bombs strapped to its flanks ensure it greets its new playthings with an explosion violent enough to flip over a Rhino.

The boom squig is infamous for its defence mechanism of violently exploding at the slightest provocation ‘to warn off predators’. Typically triggered by direct physical contact or surprising loud noises – or sometimes even by its own bouts of indigestion – boom squigs detonate with such force that they kill or maim anything unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. Needless to say, these creatures not only make for excellent ammunition, but they are also dropped by the crew as living landmines, and are favourite props when it comes to greenskin practical jokes. Nothing provokes greater amusement amongst a Rukkatrukk crew than hiding a boom squig under their driver’s seat, though this can prove inconvenient for everyone if it happens to trigger while the buggy is in full motion.

Also known as a Soopa-squig [Warhammer Total War]

These are small snack-sized creatures that, when eaten, give the greenskins a surge of energy that exceeds even their usual maniacal levels.

Not to be confused with Buzzing or Buzzer Squigs

Buzzer squigs are hideous, wasp-like creatures, each the size of a human head. Sometimes they are trapped and kept in special pots by enterprising Gretchin. The pots are made from sun-baked mud drilled with tiny holes to allow the squigs inside to breathe. The top of the vessel is corked shut and sealed with more mud once a good number of squigs have been trapped inside. Normally the squigs must feed regularly by burrowing into other larger squigs or small animals, so when they are captured they soon get ravenously hungry. They can be kept without food in the pot for many weeks, getting angrier and more savage all the time. Once the swarm is angry enough it will be used in battle, either as ammunition for the Squig Katapults so beloved of the Snakebite clan, or as a primitive form of stikkbomb. Either way the pot will crack open once it hits the ground, releasing a swarm of berserk buzzer squigs that will attack anything nearby in a stinging, stabbing, flesh-burrowing frenzy. Though this may not cause as much direct harm as conventional ordnance, the buzzer squigs will keep swarming and attacking until they are either so gorged they cannot move, or there are no more foes to eat. 

Native to Grogabrog IX, these squigs are highly sort after by the Bloodaxe clan due to their natural camouflage ability. 

Another variant of Gob Squig is the Chewin' Squig. An Ork can pop this sort of Squig into his mouth and chew on it while he sits and thinks (or sits and enjoys not thinking).

Coffin-Crawlers consume fresh corpses and grow in bulk until they are ready to return to the Norn-Queen, carrying their swollen bodies back to feed the Norn-Queen.

Genetic material in the form of captive creatures and corpse scavengers called Coffin-Crawlers is fed into the great maws located at the top of the Norn-Queen and synthesised by its genetic shredder organs. The dissembled DNA structures form a gene-bank which provides the raw material from which new creatures called bio-constructs are created.Once a type of bio-construct has been designed more identical creatures can be cloned by the Norn-Queens.

Colossal Squigs are enormous, improbable and quite insane. These fungoid beasts possess insatiable appetites and boundless energy which, coupled with their mountainous size, means they can unleash untold havoc in battle! Their impossibly large, fleshy mouths can messily devour swathes of foes in an instant, while their rush to eat usually means anything that escapes their grisly jaws is squashed flat by the beast as it careens headlong towards its next meal.

Virtually all Squigs are edible, but some taste better than others. Some Squigs have other uses and are not usually eaten, but there are others that are really only good for food. Squigs can be eaten raw or cooked, though Orks tend to prefer them cooked. Gretchin are quite adept at cooking Squig, and have a number of methods: kebabed, marinated in fungus wine, stuffed with fungus and herbs, roasted on a spit, deep fried with fungus chips, or griddled over a campfire. Orks will eat Squigs raw if there are no Gretchin around to cook them, or if they are too famished to wait for a proper meal. The really vicious Face-Eater Squigs are kept for special Squig-gobbling contests.

In order to increase their wealth, some Orks breed large, ferocious beasts known as Flesheaters. The Flesheater has a great, gaping mouth like a crocodile, full of rows of sharp fangs that are similar to an Ork's canine teeth. Flesheaters continually shed and replace their teeth, and all the Orks have to do is send a Gretchin in to fetch the old ones. Needless to say, the Gretchin aren't overly keen on this duty.

Like Ork teeth, Flesheater teeth also deteriorate after a few years. Flesheaters are extremely long-lived, but rarely breed in captivity, making them even more valuable. Most Orks who own Flesheaters are either already Nobz, or become Nobz on account of the wealth. Not surprisingly, impoverished Orks sometimes attempt to steal a Flesheater, or even raid rival settlements to capture them.

"It's got Bad Gas which makes enemies weaker in weird ways and it duz Goop Shootin all over everything around it."

Gob Squigs are small enough to be put into an Ork's mouth and left there for the rest of the day (or the next few days, if the Ork forgets about it). The Squig cleans the Ork's mouth out by rooting round the teeth and eating the juicy bits of food that are stuck between them. 

Glow Squig [gdub]

"Glow squigs whose bright chemical light provides illumination"

"The meadow-foliage-covered Grass Squigs menace the cattle of Averland and unwary Halflings along the Blue Reach River."

The natural ferocity and toughness of these obnoxious beasts is also often augmented by crude armour plating, bolted and nailed to the Squig’s thick hide. In battle it is common for one of a Warboss’s underlings to be given a tattered, filthy and terribly ostentatious battle standard.

The body and head of the Hairy Squig (which are essentially the same on any Squig) are small, and consist mainly of tiny claws and a mouth of spiny teeth. The tail is a long tuft of hair, often of spectacular colour. These Squigs are harvested in vast numbers to provide the naturally hairless Orks with their mops and mohawks. The Ork gets his Gretchin servants to put the Squigs on his bald head, where they latch on, digging in with their teeth and claws. The Squigs can live their indefinitely, drawing nutrients from the skin of the Ork. Each Squig makes a tuft of hair, and hundreds need to be plugged in to make a whole head of hair. Sine Hairy Squigs come in a wide variety of forms and colours, and can be trimmed or dyed, the Orks can choose from a range of styles to differentiate between clans or express their individuality.

Hair squigs can be worn on the lower jaw and known as "Chin Squigs"

Herd Squigs have been specially bred and developed by Runtherds for the purpose of herding and controlling the herds of Runtz. They are related to the many varieties of pet Squigs, but have been selectively bred for their speed, intelligence, ferocity and endurance. Their long, sensitive snouts and keen ears enable them to track down errant Snotlings and Gretchin wherever they might hide. Herd Squigs are excellent tracking beasts, and can follow trails which are days old. Runtherds who own good herd Squigs are often hired by local Nobs to track down missing or lost items of equipment, though it is virtually a foregone conclusion that the trail leads to the nearest mob of Deathskulls.

Their powerful legs and low-slung body enable the ferd Squig to move fast and surely over the roughest terrain. They are tireless workers, constantly running in circles round the runtz, nipping the heels of the ones that drop behind, and chasing the ones that stray back to the herd.

Runtherds control their herd Squigs with a combination of calls and whistles. A herd squig’s training starts early in it’s life, and the repertoire of commands it can understand and obey increase as it matures. The relation between a herd Squig and its master is very close, and at times their communication seems almost empathic. The command system used by each Runtherd is unique, and it would be impossible for one Runtherd to command the herd Squigs trained by another Ork.

"Dis iz a melee Squig, stronger den basic Squig. iz strong against physical attacks, but weak against magic ... Dis Squig can also knock down enemies wif his Head Butt and Gore enemies gud wif its horn! (Da horn also make good soup!) "

The best eating Squigs live at the very bottom of the drop, and are not only rare, but difficult to find and bring up from the depths. Since these Squigs are seldom caught by the Gretchin and Snotlings, they often grow quite large and become even tastier as they get older. This type of Squig is best cooked by expert Gretchin servants, and are usually offered only to gourmet Nobz who can appreciate the finer aspects of Ork Kultur.

If a shaman needs extra magical clout, he will make use of his ju-ju squig. Odd creatures, they are one of the many kinds of squiggly beast that follow the Bonesplitterz. It is believed that the power of the Waaagh! draws them to the orruks, but it might be that the little beasts are just hunting for leftovers. Perched upon shoulders or staffs,ju-ju squigs absorb the roiling green magic of their Weirdnob, until the orruk takes the creature in his fist and gives it a good squeeze, using the resultant surge of pent-up energies to fuel his spells.

Wizzbang the Power Squig [o&g6] 

Having overrun the sky-port of Barak-Khazzar and renamed it Da Moon City. The grots raided the duardin laboratories, grafting unstable weapon prototypes onto squigs, producing 'Moon City Klankasquigs' which they sell to the highest bidder.

"I've heard tell of green 'Leafy Squigs' that roam through the perpetual darkness of the older forests"

- Waldemarr, Scholar of Nuln

Marsh squigs are bred by "Bog Grots" who live in the sewers beneath the city of Greywater Fastness (in the region of Ghyran) and the surrounding swampland.

Medical Squigs [ewg]

Many kinds of squig have medicinal uses, and some varieties, such as the Syringe Squigs, are used exclusively for this purpose. Medical squigs have natural properties which the Painboyz find useful in their craft of patching together battle-damaged Orks. Syringe squigs, for example, exude a soporific venom which makes a fine anaesthetic.

Probably the most common of these squigs is the Hair Squig which is used to stitch or staple patients together. The Swab Squig is a type of Hair Squig, but unlike the trailing hair of its cousins, its round body is covered with short, fluffy fur. Orks use Swab Squigs to mop up during operations, and they come in handy for emergency handkerchiefs too. Other squigs are killed and preserved and used to make medicines. Painboyz sometimes rear squigs in cages or bottles, but more often they dig special latrines and cultivate the various strange creatures inside.

These latrines have to be specially guarded by the Painboy’s orderlies - both to prevent the squigs being stolen by rivals and to prevent any innocent Orks accidentally using a latrine without realising. It is not unknown for unsuspecting Orks to be struck by a syringe squig while using a Painboy’s latrine with the result that they are overcome by the anesthetic and fall inside the pit and disappear forever. Fortunately, many of the smaller squigs can be raised inside jars or tanks.

Every Painboy raises his own strain of squigs and takes considerable pride in their potency. Painboyz are always trying to create new types of medical squig or to adapt familiar squigs to medicinal uses. Attempts to use face-eater squigs to amputate a patients limbs have not proven very successful as they tend to bite off the orderlies’ arms and legs or even the Painboy’s finger’s.

The Painboyz have discovered medicinal uses for some Squigs - in particular the Hairy Squig.  The Painboy simply applies it to the open wound, which it holds closed with its tiny, needle-like teeth. The Painboy then twists its tail off, leaving the head embedded in the flesh, repeating the process until the wound is "riveted up." Alternatively, only one Squig is used and its tail is threaded through a needle to sew the wound up. The Hairy Squig then feeds off blood oozing from the wound, thus keeping it clean and free from infection. The Squig can live like this for years, if necessary. By the time it shrivels and drops off, the wound has usually healed, leaving a row of tiny holes on each side of the scar. Stitched wounds are prized by the Orks as battle scars and decorative adornments.

Mimic [w]

The chaos corruption at Karak Azgal has been known to cause mutation amongst the squigs that inhabit thereTTT. Some grow to enormous size, around three times the size of a normal squig and often have more legs to support their weight. They are known for their "Gaping Maw" with which they often swallow their victims whole, and their "Blood-curdling roar" which causes terror in all that hear it.

The yellow eye night goblin tribe have a Monstrous Squig named "Bonk" defending their lair. Five times the size of a regular squig, with metallic skin, bizarre colouration and a spiked tail.

A great delicacy is the Nut squig which is sweet and crunchy, and makes a pitiful squeaking noise as an Ork crunches great handfuls of them.

This small, vividly colored Squig excretes powerful dyes that are used as warpaint. These paints are also used by Gretchin artists as pigments for wall paintings and decorative banners. Many Paint Squigs have tufts of hair on their trails, which allows the artist to use the Squig as both a brush and tube of paint simultaneously. The shells of Edible Squigs are also used by Gretchin artists as paint pots and palettes.

"Klonk" - Rockbrow squig to Zoggrok Anvilsmasha

"Klonk joins Zoggrok in both fights and the forge, using its hardened, scale-plated, curiously-shaped skull to ram foes... or provide an impromptu anvil."

A squig so tough that Orks coins the phrase "though as a rok squig" possibly a another name for the Stalagsquig? 

"Snakebite crews have been known to fire everything from buzzer-squig pots and bellow-lunged screech-squigs to the truly revolting and panic-inducing bowel-torrent squigs"

Diet amongst the Kruleboyz consists of bog toads, swamp hoppers, slobber squigs, cold crawfish, spine-ridged mug worms, alongside human flesh.

Bipedal wrecking balls that charge ahead of the Ork lines, Smasha Squigs live in a state of near permanent concussion thanks to their tendency to headbutt everything. Only the surliest and most aggressive Orks can wrangle them towards enemy lines, but the resulting impact of a charging unit of Squighog Boyz is worth it as they crumple metal, flesh, and bone alike.

These curious Squigs are the first to scent the growing looncap mushrooms that herald the Bad Moon’s arrival, and on the battlefield, the looncaps they harvest can intoxicate even the lowliest Moonclan warriors into fearsome fighters… though it might cost them their lives. Not only are they handy in a fight, but they’re also glorious sucker-snouted beauties, adding even more flavour to the Squig family. 

This type of squig is covered with spines which shoot out at any threatening creature rather like a porcupine. These spines inflict a poisonous sting on anyone struck by them. Squigs of this kind are used in some bionik arms fitted with cages and a quick release system, so they can be used as a close combat weapon.

Gretchin are naturally reluctant to be sent looking for spiky squigs, but the effect of poison on Orkish flesh is not as drastic as it is on other races. These squigs are usually quite safe until agitated, when they shoot spines as an instinctive reaction.

The incessant high-pitched shrieking and shrill idiot ditties of this weird creature can distract even the most veteran warrior. 

Part of Mollog’s Mob, a warband from the Warhammer Underworld.

"...as well as 'Spitter Squigs' who plague the rivers that come down from the mountains."

- Waldemarr, Scholar of Nuln

This unusual subspecies of legless Squig possesses multiple stomachs, each containing a thick broth of unstable digestive chemicals. When agitated, usually though violent shaking, the 'Sploding Squig's digestive juices combine into a combustible liquid, causing the Squig to explode in a shower of meat, teeth, and bone fragments. While typically thrown in combat, 'Sploding Squigs are also often buried and used as mines. Orks are known to force-feed 'Sploding Squigs a meal of scrap metal before battle in an effort to enhance their lethality. 

Spore squig belches clouds of thick spores to hide from foes. 

The Squig Gobba is a fearsome sight amongst the Orc & Goblin hordes. Dragged and prodded onto the battlefield by its malevolent Goblin tenders, it is a huge beast with an oversized gaping maw, a set of extremely powerful lungs and a ravenous appetite to rival even that of a Troll! With the Squig Gobba heavily chained into position to prevent it bounding off after the first tasty morsel it spies, its tenders start dragging lesser squigs from the cages surrounding them as battle is joined, slicking these vicious beasts with foul-tasting noxious liquids. This not only renders the creatures senseless for a short time, but also prevents the Squig Gobba from immediately swallowing them as the stunned squigs are unceremoniously stuffed into its jaws!

Soon the Squig Gobba’s mouth will be full to bursting point, with thick globs of frothing acidic saliva dribbling constantly forth. Then it is only a matter of time before one of two things happen: either the Squig Gobba will vomit forth its mouthful of now monumentally furious lesser kin, causing chaos and panic on a grand (and thoroughly disgusting) scale amongst the enemy army’s ranks; or the great beast itself will explode in a blazing fireball, as the Goblin ‘concoctions’ that the squigs were coated in react spectacularly with the Squig Gobba’s stomach juices.

A Squigadon is the Warhammer fantasy (or Age of Sigma) version of the Squiggoth. 

A mighty beast from the Mountains of Mourn.

"Loonboss Wyngle of the Boomsplatta tribe, for example, favours bombarding the enemy with exploding fungi and pots of buzzing squigglebees before the attack begins."

Possibly another name for buzzer or buzzing squigs?

The elephantine Squiggoths that thunder and stomp around the edge of Ork camps are the most pig-headed and violent of all their kind. Ranging in size from huge to truly gargantuan, Squiggoths have massive jutting tusks that allow them to bowl over enemy battle tanks or smash through portcullis gates with a swipe of their blunt heads. With a thick scaly hide and a nervous system so rudimentary they are all but impervious to pain, some Squiggoths have been known to keep fighting well past the point of death, their tiny brains admitting defeat only when their body runs out of momentum. Evil-smelling and bad-tempered, the Squiggoth is something of a totem creature to many primitive Orks, especially those of the Snakebite clan. Those who feel a kinship with such a beast will often ride to war in a jury-rigged howdah, strapped to the beast’s back when it is asleep and festooned with heavy weapons so the boyz can loose off a bit of dakka as their prized beast storms through the enemy lines. 

Generic name frequently used for a domesticated squig. Often used interchangeably to mean Growler, Guard Squig or Herd Squig.

Also the name of the pet of the infamous Gubbinz the Jester: 

"Growler the Squig Hound - A horrible howl announces the arrival of a creature from the Warriors' worst nightmares. To the unwary (actually, even to the most wary) Growler is a terrible sight to behold, a bounding ball of razor fangs and beady, evil eyes."

There are few loftier achievements for a Beast Snagga Ork than the taming of a squigosaur. These bad-tempered creatures eat everything they come across and are nearly impervious to gunfire. Instead, Beastbosses must beat them to within an inch of their lives to earn the right to ride them. The result of this scrappy housebreaking is an uneasy respect between both squigosaur and Ork, which proves invaluable in battle. 

Big Chompa [wc-2021]

Known to inhabit open waters on certain Ork worlds

Being coated in a solid rocky hide, the Stalagsquig is as likely to break an enemy’s blade as to be harmed itself.

Part of Mollog’s Mob, a warband from the Warhammer Underworld.

This rare breed of squig screams incessantly when exposed to light, startling even the most resolute warriors and leaving them vulnerable to a sneaky shivving.

Syringe Squigs have a long needle-sharp proboscis with which they inject venom into their prey. This venom is not deadly to Orks but can knock them out for anything up to three days at a time. Painboys use syringe squigs for administering anaesthetic, simply sticking the proboscis into the Ork’s flesh and squeezing the squig to release the venom. The venom can also be extracted and used in the big brass syringes favoured by some Painboyz - especially useful if a larger dose of venom is required. Syringe squigs come in several different sizes depending on the strength of dose required (there are three main sizes - 'small', 'big' and 'urty'). The biggest syringe squigs - the sort that have thick 18 inch needles on them - are especially favoured by Freebooter Painboyz known as ‘Bad Docs’, notorious for using the ‘urtyest syringe squigs they can find.

"The shaman likes to summon swarms of minuscule tapewyrm squigs in the guts of his opponents, disrupting their spellcasting and sometimes even causing them to explode in an eruption of Waaagh! energy. "

Quite how the Squigs on the shoulders of some Flash Gitz make them more accurate is a mystery. Perhaps they whisper encouraging grunts in the ear of their companions, or perhaps it has something to do with the targeting reticule in their eye. 

“Sometimes when you open up a tomb, you find this pale white fungus growing in it. If you do, watch out—nine times out of ten there’ll be Tomb Squigs nearby. I’ve found them in Dwarf tombs, an ancient barrow, and even a graveyard in Bretonnia. Anywhere you find the dead, you might find Tomb Squigs. Oddly enough, what you aren’t likely to find with them are Undead. Ghouls are competition for food, and Zombies and Skeletons are food, so it’s one or the other. In any case, don’t underestimate them. They’re dumber than a dead Ogre but amazingly fast and have a powerful bite. I saw one chomp clear through the arm of a Bretonnian knight, including his plate and mail. They are also surprisingly tough. They may look like a big white puffball, but I hit one dead centre with a heavy crossbow, and it didn’t even slow him down.”

Heinrich Johannes, procurer of ancient artefacts

“There is clearly a relationship between Tomb Squigs and those found in the possession of Orc and Goblin clans. Tomb Squig infestations tend to be found in areas where Goblins had previously been active, sometimes years after the Goblins have been exterminated or moved on. How the Squigs gain access to the tombs and how they avoid notice for so long remains a mystery, though Dwarfen engineers I have discussed the matter with insist ensuring a tomb or sarcophagus is completely airtight keeps them out. Another curiosity is that I have found no reports of Tomb Squigs travelling with Orc or Goblin clans, they have only ever been found in the resting places of the dead, usually long after the Greenskins have moved on.”

Professor Eliot Denheim, adventuring scholar

The first sign of a Tomb Squig infestation is usually the white fungus and mushrooms found growing nearby. Tomb Squigs feed upon the remains of the dead, finding bones particularly appetising. Often found in Dwarfen tombs that have been broken open and looted, they are sometimes also found in graveyards, where they burrow through the soft soil, going from corpse to corpse. Slightly smaller than regular Squigs, they are pasty white or pale grey in colour and have small, blood red eyes. They possess amazingly powerful jaws, which they use to break open stone sarcophagi and to bite through the ceremonial armour Dwarfs often bury their dead in. Tomb Squigs can really ruin a tomb robber’s day - not only do they present a threat to life and limb, they can also destroy valuable weapons and armour hidden in the tomb.

The Vampire Squig is a blood-sucking creature with long sharp fangs, used by Painboyz to bleed the patient and suck bad blood and pus from septic wounds. The Squig doesn’t seem to mind what the blood is like so long as it gets a regular and plentiful supply.

When times are hard (that is when there's not much fighting) the Painboyz have to find other ways of keeping their pets alive - which they do by extolling the benefits of regular bleeding to otherwise healthy Orks.