The great mass of Ork ships assailing Armageddon comprise vessels of every conceivable weight and type. As well as the familiar Kill Kroozers and Terror ships, a new class of battlekroozer, designated as the Hammer class, has been encountered in no less than .fteen engagements. Intelligence reports indicate that Hammer class battlekroozers are built on the hulks of wrecked Imperial Capital ships, most speci.cally those which were armed with nova cannon in their previous incarnations.

Hammer class battlekroozers are greatly favoured by powerful Ork warlords as their personal command ships, most notably those from the empire of Great Despot of Dregruk which seems to have produced a large quantity of these vessels for their invasion .eet. The high status of the Hammers’ commanders ensure that they are equipped with the best weapons and krews in the Ork .eet, making them formidable opponents. Most worrying of all, given the Orks predilection for making rapid (if crude) re.ts of damaged vessels, is the fact that the number of Hammer class ships appears to be on the increase as the Orks gain access to numerous hulks left from the fighting in-system.

Notes: A Hammer class battlekroozer may upgrade its turrets from two to three for +10pts. It may be equipped with boarding torpedoes for +5pts (speed 20cm strength D6+2) and torpedo bommerzs for +30pts. Due to its poorly distributed mass, the Hammer class battlekroozer may not use Come to New Heading special orders.

Special Rules: The prow launchas commonly seen on the Hammer were originally invented to satisfy the insane desire of the Tyrant Uzog Armripper to have both torpedoes and big gunz on the front of his ship. Mekaniak Garzog’s ingenious solution was to rig up parts of the nova cannon conduits to big tubular launchas that could either fire torpedoes or heavy bombardment shells. The upshot of this is that a Hammer Klass cruiser can either fire torpedoes or use bombardment kannon in a turn if the launchas are loaded at the time, but the launchas can only be used if they are loaded using the Reload Ordnance special order after each shot. Garzog thus got it half right and Tyrant Uzog only ripped one of his arms off!

Leadership: When Leadership values are generated for the Ork .eet, Hammer class battle cruisers can opt to swap Leadership ratings with a Kill Kroozer or Terror ship to represent the warlord dragooning the best crew in the fleet aboard his vessel.

Famous Ships: During the Third Armageddon War, four particularly monstrous vessels (Kroolboy, Slamblasta, Dethdeala, Gorbag’s Revenge), initially thought by the Imperium to be representatives of the Hammer class came to prominence through their might, infamy and sheer aggression. Far too large to be considered typically as kroozers, these four vessels became collectively known as Ork battleships, though did not represent a single class, but rather four different vessels of varying configuration but comparable size. Although not strictly Hammer class vessels, they are sufficiently similar to be described here alongside it. If you include any of the battleships named under ‘Famous Ships of the Third Armageddon War’ above, they will count against the number of Hammer class kroozers your fleet may contain. See the fleet list for more details.