The Diggaz of Ghorok Complete (for now)

It took several years of work, but I've finally finished 2000 points / 100 power level of Diggaz. Many of the infantry in this army were donated by kind individuals and I want to thank them deeply for providing so many of these incredible vintage models. This isn't exactly the army I could bring to a Games Workshop official event as there are several third party models in here including ones from Victoria Miniatures. I have no regrets about this as I love how this army looks.

I will provide the Reader's Digest version of the lore for this army and save the full details for a future episode of the podcast.

These humans were once citizens of an Imperial world overthrown by the Orks who later renamed the world "Ghorok". Of course, most of the population was either decimated or enslaved. The Diggaz of Ghorok, under the leadership of "Commissar" Neela Holt, managed to survive on the outskirts of Ork society. They asserted their dominance over the many Gretchin tribes among the scrap piles of Ghorok and managed to subsist on trade with the Orks, finding whatever worky bits the greenskins needed for their many inventions. The Orks repaid them by allowing them to live, at least some of the time.

After Doc Drillteef left Ghorok on his crusade through the Ultima Segmentum, the less enlightened elements of Ork kulture crept into Ghorok society until the world was fully under the rule of the Goff clan. By that time, the Cicatrix Maledictum had also faded into view in the deep sky. Even this far away, its influence had a deliterious effect on the people of Ghorok.

Commissar Holt had smelled change on the wind and had gathered whatever human souls remained on Ghorok and erected an impressive defensive position in one of the planet's many mountainous scrapyards. When the inevitable Ork assault finally came, the Diggaz fought like cornered grox. They slew hundreds of orks with booby traps that would never have tricked their former Deffskullz allies. Fortunately, the thick-skulled Goffs pushed forward into the teeth of their guns, tripping explosives and more rudimentary traps as they did so.

The Orks eventually, at great length, pushed into the Diggaz sanctum. Holt, who really was no Commissar (she had found the hat on the ground one day and simply declared herself in charge), stood face to face with Warboss Slagfang. Despite her long years of hardship and advanced age, Holt moved with incredible grace. The Warboss wasn't ponderous, though. It wasn't long before Holt had to deflect one blow, then another with her power sword. The sword held, but the shock of the strike numbed her arms and forced her back. As the beast bore down on her, she cycled her plasma pistol to full charge and squeezed the trigger. Both the Commissar and Slagfang were bathed in superheated particles, melting their faces and chewing through their chests.

As the warlords collapsed in bubbling fusion, engines could be heard descending from the sky. Dozens of Skitarii bulk haulers sprayed the green tide with an incredible fusillade of anti-infantry fire, driving them back. Most of the transports moved on to the Manufatrora, but one landed in the midst of the Diggaz and dropped its loading ramp.

In this way, the Diggaz of Ghorok were welcomed back into the Imperial fold. Certainly, they were an eccentric bunch, having spent over a generation amongst the Orks. All that mattered to the General in charge of the Ghorok assault was that they were damn good at fighting greenskins and did so with gusto.

After Ghorok was returned to the hands of the Mechanicus, the Diggaz were assigned a small cadre of Cadians who would do their best to bring the strange soldiers back into the light of the Emperor. The Diggaz surprisingly took well to these ministrations, but it had less to do with the small coterie of priests assigned to the unit or the soldiers of Cadia, but their Commissar, Moira Wrathberg.

Commissar Nela Holt and Commissar Moira Wrathberg

Commanders Manos and Grip

Command Squad with Medicae, Company Standard, Voxcaster, and Sniper Rifle

Special Weapons Team with Grenade Launchers (The Hunting Party)

Kay, the Tech Priest (currently mostly unaugmented) and Gluzz the Unblind

Bullgryn!

Ogrynn

More Bullgryn

One example of five almost identical infantry squads. They all currently have a Lascannon and Grenade Launcher. The Sergeants (Digga Nobz) all have Bolters. This unit has a Voxcaster (the droid).