Ork Killa Cans

Killa Kan

"Yar! Oose 'da biggest and da baddest now, eh? I'll show you, I'll show you everything! Just try and stop me!"

— Grabthroat Shinkicka, pilot of Killa Kan

A killa kan is a cybernetic orc walker.

Killa Kans are small, bipedal walkers consisting of a rickety, lightly armored "Kan" perched on a pair of piston-powered legs and armed with an assortment of ranged and melee weapons. Relatively primitive and weak by Orc standards, they are nonetheless fast and incredibly dangerous for their size, and one or two can outmatch more than an Astra Militarum Sentinel Walker.

As for the operator inside, Killa Kans aren't so much piloted as inhabited by a particularly cranky Gretchin. Fielding a Killa Kan requires the skills of both a Mekboy and a Painboy, first building the vehicle itself and then hooking a volunteer Grot directly into the control systems.

This painful process is not dissimilar to the technology used in the manufacture of Space Marine dreadnoughts, although it is considerably cruder and messier. Not only is the procedure excruciatingly painful, but implanting a grot into a Killa Kan often increases the creature's aggression and brutal ferocity to an inordinate degree.

Killa Kanz bear many similarities to Deff Dreads, with their sharp claws, chugging heavy weapons, and chunky metal hulls. Though individually smaller than a Deff Dread, Killa Kans charge toward enemy lines in jostling mobs of riveted iron and roaring sawblades.

The Killa Kans' grot pilots make good use of their relative firearms skills, blowing the Zug out of anything unlucky enough to cross their path. Though Killa-Kan pilots are hardwired into a ten-foot killing machine, they still retain a good measure of Gretchin cowardice.

As a result, they still believe in safety in numbers and have a bad habit of freaking out under fire. It's not uncommon for Killa Kans to waddle around in circles or freeze completely at the first sign of danger.

tactical role

Orc war bosses see Killa Kans as handy and fully disposable shock units. They are well armored enough to run in and lead the charge, and are armed with common armament of a single melee type, outfitted with a massive shearing blade, circular saw, or hammer, and armed on the other arm with a heavy melee weapon of a kind they're usually better at shoot than their impatient orc cousins.

Killa Kanz can deal significant damage to even strong resistance. An added bonus is that any Kanz that is destroyed or blown to pieces can then be easily salvaged and recycled into more Killa Kanz - after all, there's never a shortage of volunteer pilots.

The downside of Killa Kanz is that even a massive, armored, piston-powered grot is unfortunately still a grot at heart, despite his newfound power, and grots can often prove to be cowardly, moody, and easily distracted without becoming psychotic and often suicidal his sense of invulnerability that most Orcs succumb to once connected to a Deff Dread.

To overcome this, Mekboyz wisely tend to set them up in small mobz to bolster their courage - all Grots instinctively cling to safety in numbers (and the possible chance of betraying your friends to escape), but still Some Killa Kanz have been known to stagger in panic when shot at, or try to hide when push comes to shove.

Conversely, grots' natural malevolence comes out when confronted by an overpowered enemy or an enemy in disarray, and these overpowered little sadists take great delight in gunning down, burning, crushing and slicing anything with their backs to them .