"...Gonna burn dis burg to da ground, an' kill anyfing dat fights. Yous all gonna be slaves 'an when we done ya gonna say 'than yoo boss'..."
- — Warlord Snagrod
The Ork Warlord Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon and his retinue of Nobz.
The Ork Warlord Snagrod, also known as the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, united the warring Ork factions bordering the Loki Sector and launched the largest WAAAGH! the Peryton 163 Cluster had seen since the Great Crusade, attacking the isolated Imperial Agri-World of Badlanding in mid-989.M41. Imperial forces noted that although Snagrod was an Ork, the Warlord showed incredible tactical savvy by utilising Imperial tactics. One such tactic would be the elimination of his enemies' ability to communicate outside their star system by killing the Astropaths who would send the telepathic call for help. It was this particular strategy that allowed Snagrod's WAAAGH! to go undetected until the invasion of the planet of Badlanding, when Imperial Commissar Alhaus Baldur was able to send a desperate plea for help to the Crimson Fists Space Marines Chapter's homeworld of Rynn's World in the midst of a last stand.
Confident that he had the world in his grasp, Snagrod put out incessant, ranting Vox broadcasts, boasting that his next conquest would be Rynn's World itself, which lay only a few weeks Warp travel from Badlanding. Chapter Master Pedro Kantor dispatched the 3rd Company of the Crimson Fists under Captain Ashor Drakken to Badlanding to stall the Ork WAAAGH! and determine its strength. The endeavour turned sour when a brash Scout Marine sniper failed in an assassination attempt against Snagrod. The Ork forces were immediately alerted to the 3rd Company's presence and in the ensuing battle, Captain Ashor was killed by Snagrod and only twenty-eight out of eighty-four Space Marines were able to return to Rynn's World. When the WAAAGH! Snagrod hit Rynn's World, it was with a force unparalleled by any other Ork invasion since the assaults on the Hive World of Armageddon.
To his advantage, a malfunctioning plasma missile from the Space Marines’ surface-to-space planetary defence system impacted the Crimson Fists’ fortress-monastery in the opening stages of the invasion. The conflict became drawn out and even more costly as province by province, the Orks maimed citizens and raped the beauty of the planet. At the climax of the conflict, Snagrod issued a challenge to Chapter Master Pedro Kantor at New Rynn Spaceport. Although the Chapter Master was able to destroy a shielding device that protected the Warlord and deliver an incredible amount of punishment, Snagrod escaped at the last moment. The Ork invasion proved costly. All of the planet's cities were destroyed with the exception of New Rynn City, the capital and seat of the world's government, before the planet was brought back under Imperial control by the Crimson Fists years later. Many of the worlds of the Loki Sector captured by WAAAGH! Snagrod, including Badlanding, are still lost to the Emperor, remaining in Ork hands to this day.
Sources
- Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 40, 85
- Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 29
- Codex: Orks (3rd Edition)
- Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 90
- White Dwarf 236 (US), "Bloodied Fist - The Rynn's World Incident" by Andy Chambers, pp. 57-62