According to this Savage Goblin – Gitzit – his former tribe, the **Wildwood Tribe**, used to have over two thousand Greenskins in total, making them a dominant force in the eastern edge of the Badlands.
Hearing that his tribe had more Orcs than his own handful of Goblins, Marcus was stunned for a second.
He even briefly thought about killing Gitzit after he finished talking and burying him in the fungus field for spores.
Fortunately, there was more.
This savage tribe had been living very comfortably in the Eastern Badlands.
They spent their days eating, sleeping, and hunting Skaven, occasionally hunting Beastmen for variety.
The Skaven of the Eastern Badlands suffered terribly.
Fortunately, those rats breed like fungus and their tunnels were too small for the Wildwood’s giant beasts – **Squiggoths**, not Skull – to enter, so they could turtle in their burrows and avoid being wiped out.
The Beastmen fared even worse.
Their camps were simple – wood and stone sheep pens, tents of hides, weapons of bone.
The Savage Orcs just needed to ride their Boars and Squiggoths around Beastmen territory once, roaring, and within two days the Beastmen would carry their Herdstones and move on.
However, fate is fickle.
While Marcus’s Ironhead old boss went to Grom’s WAAAGH!, the Wildwood boss also got the news.
Then, after hearing how powerful the Empire to the north was – cities of stone, shiny knights – the Wildwood leader, **Azguz Kuttfang**, a huge Savage Orc Warboss riding a Squiggoth, got excited.
Savage Orcs who had long had no worthy opponents in the region began to stir.
Azguz, riding his Squiggoth **Big Toof**, led about 80% of his Orcs, leaving only 50 Orcs and about 300 Goblins to guard the caves, and went north to **Blackfire Pass** to join Grom’s WAAAGH!
The outcome was predictable.
Anyone who knows Warhammer history knows what happened at Blackfire Pass.
Grom the Paunch’s WAAAGH!
– tens of thousands of Greenskins – was met by Emperor **Karl Franz** himself, leading the Imperial army with Reiksguard Knights, Greatswords, and Dwarf allies.
At Blackfire Pass, the narrow pass where Grom tried to invade the Empire, Karl Franz smashed the WAAAGH!
The Greenskin army was severely wounded, Grom himself was wounded by Elven magic and forced to flee to the sea, sailing eventually to Ulthuan.
The Wildwood tribe, who were the most reckless front-line chargers, suffered the worst.
Savage Orcs are perfect suicide squads – they never retreat.
After the defeat, some went to sea with Grom, some died, and a small band ran back to the Eastern Badlands with news.
When those Orcs returned, they got worse news: their tribe had been burned to the ground.
The younger Goblins who stayed behind said that when the chief left, the Skaven and Beastmen made a deal.
The Skaven – specifically **Clan Rictus** from Crookback Mountain – provided the Beastmen with iron weapons and rusty chainmail in exchange for the Beastmen attacking the Wildwood caves.
The Skaven and Beastmen had both suffered under Wildwood for years, so the deal was quick.
Not long after the Orcs left, the Beastmen, equipped with iron axes and wearing stolen armor, gathered over two thousand Gors and Ungors and launched a night raid on Wildwood.
The Orcs left behind, led by the tribe’s Savage Shaman who stayed, fought the Beastmen.
The fighting lasted from midnight till dawn, both sides exhausted.
The Greenskins’ mushroom fields were largely burned by Beastmen.
Both sides were ready to fight to the death that day.
Just then, a force of at least 3,000 Skaven arrived from the tunnels.
Besides providing weapons, the Skaven had spent a huge sum hiring a clawpack of **Stormvermin** from Clan Rictus.
The Skaven plan was classic Skaven: wait until Beastmen and Greenskins were both weak, then profit and take the caves for themselves.
Seeing this, the Beastmen realized they had been tricked and immediately retreated, abandoning the fight.
The Greenskins, however, didn’t care.
Seeing Beastmen retreat and a swarm of Skaven arrive, the enraged Orcs, without thinking, charged the Skaven – those trembling creatures who only cower in burrows.
Greenskin morale is undeniable.
After a night of fighting, less than a hundred Orcs and six hundred Goblins remained, yet they could still launch a WAAAGH!
charge.
The Skaven, who thought victory was assured, were stunned.
“Dis is not Skaven-way!
Shouldn’t dese Greenskins run when they see many-many of us, yes-yes?”
Then another fierce battle.
The Beastmen, having been outmaneuvered, grew furious, fearing that after Skaven slaughtered Greenskins, Skaven would turn on them.
Seeing fierce fighting between Skaven and Greenskins, and Greenskins about to be annihilated, the Beastmen turned around and circled back, attacking the Skaven from the rear.
Skaven morale collapsed immediately after being ambushed from behind.
Several squads of Skavenslaves threw down weapons and fled, followed by more and more, leaving only a few Stormvermin holding on, squeaking orders.
Seeing situation dire, the Skaven Warlord led his Stormvermin to retreat into tunnels.
After a fierce battle, everyone was exhausted, yet strangely a three-way standoff formed.
Actually, two-way now, because one side kept switching.
The Greenskins, with only fifty Orcs and forty Goblins left, still wanted to fight.
In eyes of Skaven and Beastmen, Greenskins had suffered heavy losses, their Shaman killed by a Warpstone throwing star.
But in eyes of Orcs, this was exhilarating.
“Help me up, I can still fight!”
Fortunately, Goblins are smarter than Orcs, and quickly dissuaded the Orcs from charging to death.
The three sides remained deadlocked for a long time before Skaven and Beastmen finally withdrew, but both left spies near the caves.
This Savage Goblin Gitzit was a scout sent by his broken tribe.
The Eastern Badlands were no longer suitable – too many enemies knew where their caves were.
So these guys planned to move east, towards Ironhead valley, and return once they had enough boyz.
This Savage Goblin had also participated in the siege of Blackfire Pass, and after Grom’s WAAAGH!
failed, he stole a Wolf and ran back.
He was an elite Goblin who had fought in the Empire, seen Knights, seen Karl Franz’s Griffon.
No wonder he was so arrogant.
“No wonder he acts like big shot.
He actually has seen big WAAAGH!”
Marcus couldn’t help but admire talent, so he untied him and tried to persuade:
“Why you not join my tribe?
You join, you name conditions, I agree.”
Gitzit was unsure how to handle this Orc who could change tune so easily, fearing he’d anger him and get beaten again.
He could only say tentatively: “I only follow powerful Greenskins.
If you want me as underling, you have to beat our boss first.
Our boss Azguz still alive!
He is bigger than you!
He rides Squiggoth!”
Marcus tried to reason for long time, but Gitzit remained unmoved, same story: I’ll be your underling, but only if you can beat our boss first.
That’s Savage Orc law – biggest is boss.
Marcus looked east.
A Savage Orc Warboss on a Squiggoth, with fifty Orcs left.
If he could beat him and absorb his tribe…
That would double Ironhead’s strength overnight.
From one Orc to fifty.
But if he lost, Ironhead would be absorbed.
High risk, high reward.
Very Greenskin.
“Alright,” Marcus grinned, picking up his choppa, still stained with bear blood.
“Take me to your boss.
We will see who is bigger.”
WAAAGH!
was calling again.