RED ELF

NORK DEDDOG
OGRYN BODYGUARD

The huge figure shambled towards where the thin and tangled body of Colonel Greiss lay. Luckily the ancient colonel had been thrown free of the carrier as it veered out of control. Now the Chimera perched up-ended in a drainage ditch, steam and smoke pouring from its crew compartment. The force of the explosion had pitched Greiss into a ditch on the other side of the track.

As the massive Ogryn towered over the tiny body he sensed that his master was badly hurt. He looked for a moment at the oddly twisted limbs and blood-soaked uniform and poked the old man a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t fooling. Greiss moaned faintly.

Nork felt a tide of misery well up inside his huge and faithful heart. Greiss was his friend. Greiss had been good to Nork and let him fight by his side. The Ogryn fumbled with his water bottle, breaking off the cap with clumsy hands as he gently proferred the bottle to the man’s lips.

Greiss murmured as the cool water splashed over his face. “Nork,” he whispered. “Stop trying to drown me and fetch the medi-pack.”

“Yus, sarr!” shouted Nork, saluting instinctively with his left hand, then his right hand, then both hands together.

Nork shuffled to his feet and loped back toward the carrier. He picked his way past the crumpled bodies of the crew and the HQ squad, noticing with only passing curiosity the pain in his own legs where numerous shrapnel hits had penetrated his thick hide. Without a second thought he grabbed hold of the Chimera behind its rear track guards and heaved. The weighty vehicle shifted slightly. He heaved again. There was a creak of tortured metal as the carrier pivoted against the soft edge of the ditch and came to rest on its broad tracks.

Colonel Greiss tried to flex his hands. Nothing. He tried to raise his head but as he did so his vision swirled and he lost consciousness. He came round moments later, or minutes, or was it hours, it was hard to tell. His ears were booming from the noise of the explosion. All he could hear was a sound like something large and heavy being slowly dragged over an unyielding surface. His sight seemed to be growing dim and shadowy. Then he realised Nork was standing over him and beside Nork was the wreckage of the Chimera. The Ogryn had dragged the armoured carrier out of the ditch and twenty yards down the road.

“I said fetch the medi-kit, not the carrier, Nork,” whispered Greiss. He was regaining the feeling in his arms and legs and didn’t like it much.

“Da medi-kit is in da carrier, surr,” beamed the Ogryn.

“Good thinking Nork,” grunted the colonel through clenched teeth and mounting pain. “Now bring the medi-kit over here.”

“Yus, surr!” came the loud and snappy response as Nork plunged into the Chimera, remembered he had forgotten to salute, came back, saluted twice for good measure, and busied himself searching for the vehicle’s medical supply chest.

The following Special Character has not been playtested as thoroughly as the ones presented in the army codex and is not necessarily as balanced or fair. Consequently, you must agree with your opponent about whether you can use him or not before the battle begins.

Nork is a legend in his own time, as Ogryn whose fighting abilities were as astonishing as his mental development. By Ogryn standards he was a genius and said to have been able to write his own name, count, and even speak with reasonable fluency. Such precocious development in one of his race inevitably came to the attention of the Commissars and Nork soon found himself pulled out of the main line and placed on special duties.

After extensive training, involving artificial mental enhancement, Nork was assigned to the 2nd Catachan fighting on Balur. The regiment's commander, Colonel Griess, adopted Nork as his personal bodyguard, and the Ogryn accompanied Griess through the four years that the war lasted. During this time the sight of Griess and Nork became a familiar one: the ancient bone thin colonel bawling out his orders whilst shells burst around him and ricocheted off Nork's dense skull. The Ogryn saved the colonel's life on more than one occasion, most famously when he carried the badly wounded commander back from the disaster at Breakback Hill.

You may include Nork Deddog in your Imperial Guard Army as a bodyguard for the most senior ranking Officer. Nork is added to his Command HQ and counts as an extra member of the unit. He must be used exactly as described below and may not be given any extra equipment or wargear. In addition he may only be used in a battle where all players have agreed beforehand to the use of special characters.

Nork Deddog
	Points	WS	BS	S	Т	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Nork	55	5	4	5	4	3	4	2	9	4+

Wargear: Ripper gun, frag grenades, carapace armour (save already modified above).

SPECIAL RULES

Very Loyal: Nork sticks to his commander like glue. So long as the commander is alive Nork must remain within 2" of him if at all possible.

Bodyguard: Nork will do his utmost to protect his master, even going so far as to throw himself in front of enemy fire. To represent this, you may choose to take any shooting hit on the commander on Nork instead if he is within 2". In addition, in the Close Assault phase, after models have moved but before combats are resolved, Nork and his commander may swap places if they are within 2" of each other (ie, Nork will fight whoever the commander was fighting while the commander takes on Nork's foes).