Editing Grot (section)

== Battlefield Roles ==

By far the most common battlefield role for Grots is mobs of cannon fodder. [[Runtherd|Runtherds]] gather mobs of up to 30 Gretchin and "direct" them (usually with grot-prods) at minefields, or enemies that need to get bogged down in bodies.

Some Grots serve more specific functions than their brothers, because they possess skills that others don't, or just get lucky when the bosses divide up the work roster.

; Artillery Crew : Grots who misbehave get sent to operate the Big Gunz that support Ork attacks from the rear. One would think that being away from the front lines would appeal to most Grots, but serving on the gun crews is, if anything, more hazardous than their usual duties -- for example, to fire a Zzap gun, a Grot must complete the power circuit with his own body. In any case, Grots who live long enough on the gun crews inevitably go deaf, and so they communicate via "sign language" -- that is, they hold up signs with what they want to say, like Wile E. Coyote.
; Killa Kan : The career to which most Grots aspire is to be hard-wired into the mighty metal shell of a [[Killa Kan]]. Unfortunately, old habits die hard -- Gretchin in Killa Kans are usually just as cowardly as always, despite being nigh-invulnerable to weapons that would have vaporized them before.
; Orderly : Painboyz often "employ" a Grot to carry tools, spare limbs, and to generally be an extra set of hands (sometimes in the most painful sense of the phrase). Considering that their models are removed from the table once they are used, they probably also serve as an involuntary source of donor organs.
; Vehicle crew : Gretchin are better shots than Orks, so they are frequently employed to operate secondary weapons on vehicles. They generally get stuck in the little turrets and sponsons that are ubiquitous to Ork vehicles, and in many cases they are actually welded in to them by their big green brothers, due to their instinct to leg it when things get a bit hairy. This is all well and good until the Orks forget to feed them for a few weeks or so and some git gets stuck hosing out whatever remains. Sometimes, they also act as the pilots of so-called "Grot bomms" (they generally aren't told that the bomms explode on impact with the enemy -- or they ''are'' told, and the Orks take whatever Gretchin are crazy enough to stick around). In other instances, a group of Grots might even pool their resources to make their own small, ramshackle tanks.
; Rigger : Gretchin with an inkling of mechanical aptitude are used as maintenance personnel for vehicles, because their small size lets them squeeze into small spaces where a Mekboy won't fit. Since they don't take up much space, said riggers often get dragged along into battle and made to fix vehicles as they get damaged.
; Oiler : A particularly prized Grot who's good at not-dying may get to be a Mekboy's assistant! In this capacity, the lucky Grot will be assigned to help keep the machinery he's assigned to oiled and perform minor maintenance, because Gretchin are generally better at mechanical tasks than regular orks. Often they'll be applying oil directly to the rickety machines employed by the Orks using an [[Oily_Squig|Oil Squig]].
; Ammo Runt : A Gretchin powder monkey, forced to haul around excessive amounts of ammunition for their master's favourite Shoota, freeing the Ork from the need to reload it themselves so they can get on with the important stuff, like [[Dakka|giving said ammunition to the enemy at high speed]].
; Saddlegitz : Gretchin that are members of the [[Beast Snagga]] are notably considered a smidge braver than most other Gretchin and are affectionately named saddlegitz.
; Distraction: Occasionally, [[Ork Kommando|Kommandos]] will employ grots as [[Grimdark|one-time distractions]] so that the Kommandos won't get hurt. That said however, Distraction Grots that survive get to be Kommando Grots and actually get shit done, using the distraction the Kommando Boyz provide to steal/sabotage/bomb/whatever objectives or sneak into places too small for Orks.