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Age of Sigmar, Chaos, Disciples of Tzeentch, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey, Meta Analysis, Order, Seraphon

Chaos vs. Order – Magic in an (anti?) Magic Meta

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With the new GHB having a magic focus and with two magic focused armies on my shelves, Seraphon and Tzeentch, I got thinking about which one is on top.

For the purposes of this article, when I say Seraphon, I am referring to Starborne, as opposed to their Coalesced Cousins as magic is more of a buff to them rather than the bread and butter of Starborne.  In addition, because both factions have access to them, I am only commenting on Endless Spells if there is something more impactful for Seraphon than Tzeentch or vice-versa.

Spell Lore/Warscroll Spells

Damage Spells

Seraphon

The choices for Seraphon here are much better for sustained D3 damage on a variety of units, with Comet’s Call being a staple, along with Kroak’s Warscroll spell, Celestial Deliverance. However, if all of these go off, then 5D3 damage to 3 units is more into the burst damage category than the sustained. There are two other spells that are quite similar, one for Slann and the other for Skinks: Stellar Tempest and Cosmic Crush. They are both roll a number of dice equal to number of models spells, with Tempest better into pure chaff as it is an unmodified roll of a 5+ that does a mortal wound, with Crush being better into units with a higher armour save – 20 Chaos Warriors would likely take 10+ mortal wounds with this spell. And of course, Seraphon also have access to Merciless Blizzard… Most Endless Spells are equally effective in Tzeentch or Seraphon, but a special mention must be made for Malevolent Maelstrom as the Astrolith allows the Maelstrom to be placed 14” away initially and the Drain Magic spell could potentially be used to set off the D3 AoE early instead of waiting for the number of spells/models killed to tick up to 6.

Tzeentch

Tzeentch is much more focused on single-target damage than spraying mortals everywhere like Seraphon. Starting with Warscroll spells we have Kairos’ and Lords of Changes’ Infernal Gateway that, at top bracket, does MWs on a 3+ with 9 dice being rolled. The odds say that a 6 wound character without a ward should be popped every time with this spell, so is very powerful. The Fluxmaster has a similar spell, with the effect only being on 5+s, but with the added bonus of every MW caused gives an extra Fate Point, that is, if you roll 3 5+, the spell does 3 damage, but generated 4 Fate points. Sticking with single-target for the time being, the Ogroid Thaumaturge has a D6 damage spell and both types of Magister have a D3 damage spell that, if it kills a model, can create a spawn. The Gaunt Summoner (again, both types) have their own version of Stellar Tempest, doing mortals on a 5+, with the added mention that a monster counts as 5 models. Into the spell lores, there’s lots of damage dealing here too. Bolt of Tzeentch is a D6 mortal wounds spell; Treason of Tzeentch is a ‘number of models’ spell that also debuffs the enemy if mortal wounds are caused; Tzeentch’s Firestorm does D3 MWs for every 6 that is rolled from 9 dice (sounds horrific, but actually not that good as you’ll probably only get 2 MWs from this!); Unchecked Mutation can cause D3 and, if a model is killed, on a 3+, another D3 is caused (good for the last few chaff models in a unit). As with Seraphon, Tzeentch also have access to Merciless Blizzard with the additional consideration that, using the command ability Cult Demagogue, the Tzeentch player can use any double that is not a miscast to auto-cast it and prevent it from being unbound. Finally, Tzeentch also have a couple of damage dealing Endless Spells, but these are both quite expensive for not a huge number of mortal wounds.

The winner is…Seraphon.

It’s very close between these two, especially as one has the ability to position for Blizzard really well and the other has the ability to guarantee it goes off. The deciding factor was Kroak’s warscroll spell, combined with the Astrolith Bearer, which is just too strong to not give Seraphon the win here. However, if the Tzeentch player took Spellportal and put Infernal Gateway into the Astrolith Bearer…much closer!

Debuff Spells

Seraphon

Some excellent debuff spells are available that can blunt even the most determined of attacks by a hammer unit. Mystical Unforging from the Slann reduces rend to ‘-‘, the Oracle can shut down run or retreat near a terrain feature or objective, the Starseer can shut down wards and the Starpriest can give -1 to hit to a specific unit.

Tzeentch

The notable Tzeentch debuff spell is Arcane Suggestion, with a choice of 3 debuffs: cannot issue or receive commands; -1 to hit and wound for ALL attacks; -1 save. It’s a great spell, but that’s about it for debuffs, apart from Treason of Tzeentch’s -1 to hit secondary spell effect. The spawn effect of Burning Sigil of Tzeentch could be seen as a debuff in certain match ups. For example, if a unit of 30 Bloodletters in poised to make a charge, but by popping a nearby Bloodreaver, a spawn could shut down that charge and the imminent death accompanying it, although not for the spawn, which is about to be thoroughly murderised.

The winner is…Tzeentch.

Although only one spell, the three effects of Arcane Suggestion are so powerful and flexible to the match up and the game state, that it has to go to Tzeentch for this one.

Both of the above types can be ignored by Khorne on a 5+ initially while also providing Blood Tithe points that can be used for summoning or even to improving the spell ignore to a 4+ then a 3+ and even a 2+ by turn 4. On top of this, Null Myriad can ignore spells within 9” of a Mortisan Hero on a 2+. Therefore, the above range of spells is awesome, but in specific matchups, they will get shut down hard.

Buffing Spells

Seraphon

Buffing spells, however, go on your own unit and therefore are not affected by spell ignores of any kind. Tepok’s Beneficence is a great start from the Slann discipline, with a Skink unit being -1 to wound. If you can add in Mystic Shield and then Blazing Starlight from a Starpriest, you could have a Skink unit (probably Chargers give best efficiency for this combo) on a 4+ save, ignoring rend -1, -1 to wound and with -1 to be hit IF the unit chosen for Blazing Starlight is attacking them. Speed of Huanchi is another spell that Chargers love, giving them a free move in the hero phase. Before you send them off into the beyond, however, having the option of giving them Rend -3 with Hoarfrost is a great one too. The Slann Starmaster has a couple of tricks in the buff category too, with Celestial Equilibrium giving +1 to casting rolls for everyone but himself, with the potential for Drain Magic from the Slann spell lore giving -1 to unbinds for an effective +2 swing.

Tzeentch

Tzeentch Warscroll spells are all about damage, except for the strange case of Ephilim the Unknowable (Vortemis can get in the sea!) who has an extremely conditional teleport spell. The restrictions are considerable and it’s expensive at 190pts, but if you need to teleport someone in Tzeentch and have the teleport complete in the hero phase, this is the way to go. Of course, Seraphon just have this as a heroic action…. Other buffing spells include Fold Reality, which enables you to bring back a number of daemon models to a unit equal to the roll of a D6, with a 1 destroying the unit. Note: this can only be used on Horrors when they are brimstones, but could be useful if you need a few more bodies contesting an objective. Its main utility is with Screamers of Tzeentch. A unit of 6 or 9 can be quite survivable as long as they aren’t trying to fight 10 Chosen on their own or similar, so being able to then bring back up to 6, while they are still in combat, is very strong. The strongest overall is probably Shield of Fate, which gives ward saves and spell ignores based on the number of Destiny Dice you have remaining. More often than not, this will be a 5+ ward. Throw this on 10 or even 20 Pinks, have a Daemon character within range to cause -1 to hit and also debuff the attacking unit with Arcane Suggestion, and watch as that Pink unit stays around a lot longer than your opponent wants. There is also a spell for passing off wounds to a mortal (probably Kairic) unit, +1 to hit and wound, which is particularly helpful with the Curseling’s shooting attack as well and then a buff of sorts is Glimpse the Future, which gives an extra Destiny Dice. As with Seraphon, there is always Hoarfrost and a unit of basic Tzaangors is not a bad target for this spell, taking their 30 paired blades attacks up to rend -3.

The winner is…Seraphon.

This one again was very close, but came down to the units available to put Hoarfrost on. For Seraphon, any one of Raptadon Chargers, Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek, Saurus Warriors, Saurus Guard, Kroxigor or Aggradons can make use of Hoarfrost well. For Tzeentch, it’s Tzaangor, Tzaangor Enlightened and Screamers. If Screamers could be summoned in units of 6, this would probably be a tie, but otherwise, Seraphon take this one as well.

Casting

Seraphon

In order of plusses to cast through warscrolls and abilities, Kroak has +2, Slann have +1, the Astrolith adds 1 within 12”, Celestial Equilibrium can add +1 and Drain Magic can -1 from enemy unbinds. At maximum efficiency, this makes Kroak +5, Slann +3, other casters +2. Rolling 2D6 makes the average cast for Kroak 12, Slann 10, other casters 9. In addition, numerous Seraphon spells are only successfully cast on 5s or 6s, making casting very successful on average. Finally, the heroic action to teleport a Seraphon unit when wholly within 12” of a Slann means that a caster can potentially be moved out of unbind range before casting, making these spells even more likely to go off.

Tzeentch

Both Kairos and Lords of Change have the Tzeentch Master of Magic ability that allows the lowest dice to change to the highest dice in the original cast (Primals can be added as modifiers, but they do not interact with the Master of Magic rule), giving an average cast of 9.9 after considering the Beacon of Sorcery bonus that each of these units also give out. Gaunt Summoners have +1 on their warscroll, combined with the +1 from Beacon makes an average cast of 9. So far, Tzeentch slightly behind Seraphon. However, with the nerf to Cogs, re-rolls to cast are extremely rare and often once per battle when they do exist. Tzeentch can take the Daemon artefact Nine-eyed Tome for full re-rolls, which could be good for a Lord of Change or Gaunt Summoner (particularly a Gaunt Summoner with an extra cast for going second in this GHB) and/or the Endless Spell Tome of Eyes for re-rolls to cast only. Tzeentch also have the Cult Demagogue command ability to make a spell auto-cast on a double and not be able to be unbound and there’s always Destiny Dice to guarantee a cast, though these are the final modified result of the cast and, as such, are not affected by Primal dice. The final consideration for Tzeentch is if Kairos rolls a single six on a cast (and with Tome of Eyes, he might have two chances at this), the use of any Primal dice makes it a Primal Super-cast that cannot be unbound – just remember that it will be the last spell you’ll cast in that hero phase!

The winner is…Tzeentch.

While Kroak’s spells are so low as to almost be auto-casts, Tzeentch have several ways of auto-casting and can really exploit Primal dice with Master of Magic. Combine the fact that there are two ways of getting full casting re-rolls gives Tzeentch the edge.

Unbinding

Seraphon

If you are taking Kroak and a Slann (and, let’s be honest, with Starborne, you are) you will have 7 unbinds anywhere on the table that get +2 and +1 respectively to the unbind roll – the Astrolith only helps with casting. Add Primal dice in where necessary and a couple of back up unbinds from a Skink wizard and that’s a lot of unbinds. Not only that, but as the Order side of the Magic Doms, Seraphon get summoning points for unbinding their opponent’s spells, with the Slann potentially getting 2 Cosmic Power Points with the appropriate Command Trait. Tzeentch As with casting, Kairos and Lords of Change can combine Master of Magic and Beacon of Sorcery to have an average unbind of 10. The Nine-eyed Tome allows re-rolls to unbinds as does the warscroll of the Curseling, who has two unbinds. A fairly standard combination of Kairos, Curseling and Gaunt Summoner with the Nine-eyed Tome could have, on average, 3 unbinds of 10, 2 re-rollable unbinds of 9 and 2 re-rollable unbinds of 8 and then there’s always Destiny Dice that can be used – but all need to be 30” away.

The winner is…Seraphon.

As it probably should be, lore-wise, Seraphon win the unbinding battle as despite not having access to re-rolls, being able to unbind anywhere on the table is immensely powerful and shuts down , or at least makes them think twice, anyone planning on using Magical Dominance (cast a spell and not be unbound anywhere) as a T1 battle tactic.

Summoning

Seraphon

Seraphon have a great range of summoning options that don’t cost much: 8 points for Skinks, 22 points for 10 Saurus Guard or, my preference, 16 points for Raptadon Chargers. Combined with the fact that Seraphon get Cosmic Power Points for just existing – one for each wizard, each Astrolith and one for a Realmshaper, then it is very easy to summon every turn. A list with Kroak, Slann with the Lord of Celestial Resonance trait (2 CPP every time instead of one), an Astrolith and a Starseer – the standard load out – can have up to 17 CPP if they go first, with the potential to go much higher if they go second and have the chance to get some unbinds too. The Slann will more than likely also have the Spacefolder’s Stave too, which means that the first unit summoned can be positioned 7” away from an enemy instead of 9”.

Tzeentch

Tzeentch get Fate Points from every spell that is cast, friendly or enemy, and can give themselves a bit of a headstart with the Daemonspark Command trait giving 3 Fate Points. This option would lock you out of the Cult Demagogue auto-cast option though. Going first, in combination with Daemonspark and having a successful magic phase, Tzeentch should be able to expect 10 Blue horrors for 10 Fate Points. 10 Pinks are 20 Fate Points and can be a real hammer blow to an opponent who may have taken a couple of turns clearing Pinks away. Summoning options are almost always going to one of these two, unless you go with Guild of Summoners, which can only summon Lords of Change, with the first being at the bargain price of 9 Fate Points. Subsequent Lords of Change are 18 Fate Points instead of 30 like with non-Guild of Summoners sub-factions.

The winner is…Seraphon.

This is the first one where it’s not even close. Seraphon summoning is significantly superior to Tzeentch in every way possible: easier to generate points; key units are cheaper; greater variety of units; can be deployed closer to the enemy.

Plan B

Plan B is how do these armies react when they get matched up into Khorne or OBR Null Myriad in particular or even another army set up to shut down magic – Gobsprakk + Primal dice in Kruleboyz/ Big Waaagh anyone? In other words, if magic is not going to win you the game directly, what have you got?

Seraphon

The best Plan B for Seraphon in my opinion is two-fold. Firstly, make sure you have some Chargers in your list, pour all the buffs possible into them, hoping for -3 rend on Hoarfrost, and hurl them at the enemy like an Endless Spell that can claim objectives. Your aim is to try and take out or cripple a major enemy unit or the source of spell ignores/magic resistance. In addition, pinning your opponent in can allow you to score on the Primary while scoring more movement based battle tactics such as Surround and Destroy or Intimidate Invaders. Once you get to 16 Cosmic Power Points, you have a decision – would 5 more Chargers finish off the main obstacle to winning, or would D6 mortal wounds from each wizard or Astrolith bearer and Realmshaper do it? Each unit can only be affected once, but D6 wounds plus D3 from the Realmshaper’s ability that are not spells can be a really sneaky way of getting around spell ignores, hopefully crippling your enemy and making it easier to assert magical dominance again.

Tzeentch

The best Plan B for Tzeentch is to ignore killing the enemy and to score battle tactics instead, using your casts to generate Fate Points to try and summon enough to slow your opponent down. Intimidate the Invaders, Magical Dominance, Surround and Destroy, Tides of Anarchy and Call for Change (if taking Guild of Summoners) are 5 battle tactics that don’t need to have a single wound caused to an enemy to score. Add in a Grand Strategy that requires you to be able to count to 9 for another 3, then that’s 13 points that are pretty safe from the outset. Spend the rest of the game playing keep-away while scoring at least two objectives and you’ve got a shot against any opponent. The more interesting Plan B might be a unit of 6 Tzaangor Enlightened on Foot, that, while only 6” movement, have a threat range of 18” with Destiny Dice and can seriously do work with either hitting on 2s with spears or rend -3 on them as they shut down command abilities in combat. Combine this with -1 save from Arcane Suggestion and the fact that they can fight in a line of 6 due to coherency changes, then that’s a punchy unit.

The winner is…Tzeentch.

If you can keep your discipline and your opponent is not super aggressive or deadly, the range of easy battle tactics and Grand Strategy for Tzeentch should be enough of a Plan B. Just need to not either over-extend and lose too much too early or under-extend and get pinned back in your own territory, unable to score Primary objectives.

Overall

Round 1 – Damage Spells: Seraphon

Round 2 – Debuff Spells: Tzeentch

Round 3 – Buff Spells: Seraphon

Round 4 – Casting: Tzeentch

Round 5 – Unbinding: Seraphon

Round 6 – Summoning: Seraphon

Round 7 – Plan B: Tzeentch

Final Score:

Seraphon 4 – Tzeentch 3

A very narrow win for the dinosaurs that really went back and forth. Tzeentch having a better Plan B kept it close as a 5-2 victory for Seraphon would have been quite convincing, which is appropriate as when not facing Spell Ignores, having 2 battle tactics for killing something with magic is a huge boon for Seraphon. In a head-to-head battle pre-Trog Bomb nerf, if would be Seraphon all day, but with that change, it’s much closer. With Starborne Seraphon likely to be more of a focus for any other nerfs in Seraphon due to the more uninteractive nature of mortal wound spam instead of a combat unit that puts out 30 damage, but at least you get to roll saves for, the gap is likely to get even more wafer thin. Both armies are great fun to play and look great on the tabletop and despite Primal dice maybe giving an edge to anti-magic, what better GHB to start one of these two powerhouses of magic.

Are any armies missing from this comparison? How would Lumineth Realm Lords fare, for example? How do Arkhan the Black and his boss, Nagash, fit into this conversation? And, for the Destruction Bros out there, is this the GHB of Gobsprakk? Please comment below.

Age of Sigmar, Big Waaagh!, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey, Orruk Warclans, Reviews

Orruk Warclans Battletome Review: Big Waaagh

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Allegiance Abilities

Woehammer Winner:
The Power of the Waaagh! is the undisputed champion in this slot and is one of the reasons that Big Waaagh! army that is Ironjawz + Wurrgog is arguably stronger that pure Ironjawz. At eight different points in a battle round, your army can earn Waaagh! points:

  • D6pts at the start of your hero phase
  • 2pts at the start of your hero phase if a friendly Warchanter is on the battlefield
  • 1pt at the start of your hero phase if a friendly Bonesplitterz Wizard (i.e. probably a Wurrgog Prophet) is on the battlefield
  • 1-5pts as a heroic action in your hero phase
  • 1pt in your charge phase for each friendly Orruk unit that finishes a charge move
  • 1pt at the end of your combat phase for each friendly Orruk unit that is within 3” of an enemy unit
  • 1-5pts as a heroic action in your opponent’s hero phase
  • 1pt at the end of your combat phase for each friendly Orruk unit that is within 3” of an enemy unit

Arguably I’ve duplicated those last two, but I think it’s worth it to point out that if you lean into it, the points can mount up quickly. As for what you get for these points, they start at 8pts for +1 to run rolls; 10pts for +1 to charge rolls; 12pts for +1 to cast, dispel and unbind; 16pts for +1 to hit in melee; 20pts for +1 to wound. And here’s the magic: they are cumulative, so you get ALL the buffs at 20pts. At 24pts, you can release the Power of the Waaagh! which you should NEVER IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO! The reason for this is that your Waaagh! points revert to zero for the pathetic buff of +1 to attacks characteristics for ONE combat phase. Hitting and wounding on 2s is better than having one extra attack that hits and wounds on 3s. In addition, there is a battle tactic that requires you to have at least 24 Waaagh! points at the start of the turn and then have at least 30 by the end of the turn. If you release the Power of the Waaagh!, you give away one of the easiest, if not the easiest battle tactic in Age of Sigmar.

Honourable Mention:
Although you don’t get the full benefits from each sub-faction when you include them as part of Big Waaagh!, you do get some of the juicy rules with Kunnin’, Brutal and Savage. Namely, you get Venom Encrusted Weapons for any Kruleboyz units (see Part 1 for more details); Mighty Destroyers for any Ironjawz units (see Part 2 for more details); Warpaint for any Bonesplitterz units (6+ Ward). This helps to give a little extra flavour and efficiency to each of these units, which is important as…

Warclans

…you don’t get any! The point of Big Waaagh! is that all the Orruks come together from many Warclans so there aren’t any rules for separate Warclans.

Command Traits

Woehammer Winner:
There are lots of command traits available for your Big Waaagh! general, but it does depend on which sub-faction (Kruleboyz, Ironjawz or Bonesplitterz) your general comes from. Who your general is probably depends on what else your army is trying to do, so there are a few ways you could go here. Assuming that we’re going with either an Ironjawz Warchanter or even a Megaboss on Mawkrusha, Touched by the Waaagh! not only has Waaagh! in the name (so it must be good), but also allows an Ironjawz Wizard (thanks Arcane Tome!) to do D3 wounds to a unit within 6” of itself and add that to the cast roll. Once you’ve got to 12 Waaagh! points then that’s D3+1, allowing a relatively straightforward cast of your key spell: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork.

Honourable Mention:
Maybe you have Chronomantic Cogs to help with spells going off or maybe you want to go full aggro, but an honourable mention is Supa Sneaky from the Kruleboyz part of the tome, probably put on a Mirebrute Troggoth with Fast ‘Un. Just as with Kruleboyz, this means you can put this very angry trog 9” away from the enemy and then move them 5” forward for an almost guaranteed charge. You can potentially combo this with Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork and Mighty Destroyers to start movement phase one with the Mirebrute and six Gore Gruntas 4” or less from your opponent’s front lines, possibly with a Mawkrusha about to move an extra 12” to be able to absolutely decimate your enemy. The caveat with this combo is Big Waaagh! lists often want to have multiple artefacts and/or mount traits so you may not have the option of who goes first, which puts your general at a disadvantage if you do Supa Sneaky him. However, if you stick with just one artefact (Glowin’ Tattooz), take a Weirdnob Shaman for Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork in place of Arcane Tome and the other options listed above, you can get to a double battle regiment, two-drop list.

Artefacts

Woehammer Winner:
If you’re taking the Wurrgog then you need to take Glowin’ Tattooz to improve the Ward save of a hero to 4+ instead of 6+. For your opponent, this takes the Wurrgog Prophet from a threat to an absolute nightmare to get within 12” of, knowing that it can kill absolutely anything in the game.

Honourable Mention:
Almost every Big Waaagh! list will feature Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork and almost none of them will feature a Weirdnob Shaman to cast it. Instead, the Arcane Tome fills in, allowing a Warchanter or Megaboss to ping any Orruk unit (i.e. not just Ironjawz) 9” away from the enemy.

Mount Traits

Woehammer Winner:
By this point, you can probably guess what’s coming…that’s right, it’s Fast ‘Un! One of the reasons for going Big Waaagh! vs. Ironjawz is to be able to take the Wurrgog Prophet, but almost as compelling is the ability to take the Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. And as Glowin’ Tattooz is practically compulsory on a Prophet, Fast ‘Un is practically compulsory on a Mirebrute. It’s obviously also amazing on a Mawkrusha and even a Sludgeraker as a budget version of the Mawkrusha.

Honourable Mention:
As command traits are at an absolute premium and you won’t be taking Hulking Brute over the options above, the next best option is Smelly ‘Un for that extra survivability on (likely) your Mawkrusha. With a 3+ save base, add in -1 to hit when not charging, +1 to saves from Their Finest Hour, All out Defence for an extra +1 and even Mystic Shield, that Mawkrusha is not going down short of getting in trouble with Kragnos and it will hit back tremendously hard, possibly clearing the unit that had the temerity of attacking it, ready to move on to some fresh victims!

Spell Lore

Woehammer Winner:
It has been mentioned several times already, but Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork is the first spell that should be on your army list. Mawkrushas and Gore Gruntas are relatively quick without it, but practically everything else you’ll be taking in Big Waaagh is slow. Add in the combination explained in Part 2 of these reviews where you Hand of Gork Gore Gruntas 12.1” away from an enemy and then Mighty Destroyers it 9” in the hero phase, circumventing Redeploy, then you’ve got a winning combo. It also works on anything with the Orruk keyword, not just Ironjawz, so throw those Boltboyz in danger-close or even some Big Stabbas.

Honourable Mention:
There is a very strong case for Nasty Hex taking this slot, particularly in the current meta with lots of ghosts and gross flies wafting around the place. But you do need to either take a Swampcalla Shaman to access it or put the Arcane Tome on a Kruleboyz character. It is much more likely that you’re going to have access to a Bonesplitterz wizard as the Wurrgog is also a wizard when there’s nothing to stare to death within 12” at the start of the hero phase. The spell you’d go for in this case, would probably be Gorkamorka’s War Cry in order to make an enemy unit fight at the end of the phase. Losing out on the Kruleboyz Waaagh! and Smashing and Bashing means that the fight phase is not in your control as you would ideally like. War Cry goes some way to redressing this balance in the favour of the Orruk player.

Grand Strategies

Woehammer Winner:
Applying the same logic as I did with the Command Traits, then Waaagh! has to be the option here and it’s definitely worth considering if your general is a Mawkrusha and/or you have taken a big unit of Brutes that can be dropped in by Gork. In almost all games, your Mawkrusha (if you take one) will be wanting to do work in your opponent’s territory and even on foot, Brutes (or even 15 Ardboyz) should be able to make it across the battlefield in five turns!

Honourable Mention:
With the manoeuvrability of Big Waaagh! then an honourable mention is No Place for the Weak, particularly if you have included either a Warlord or Command Entourage battalion because then you’re not winning the drop game and you may as well also make the Gore Gruntas you take (and you will want at least six) to be bounty hunters. With a Warchanter buff on them, that’s 3 damage vs. Galletian Veterans, making those battleline units disappear very quickly. Alternatively, if you’re playing a bit more cagey in the first couple of turns with a Mawkrusha, then by turn three, anything that is a genuine threat to your big angry cabbage might already be dead, allowing him to roam the board, chewing up and spitting out any battleline he can find.

Battle Tactics

Woehammer Winner:
As alluded to earlier, Big Waaagh! have a book battle tactic that is ridiculously easy to pull off with Wait For It, Ladz. You need to fulfil the following to conditions: have at least 24 Waaagh! points at the start of the turn; have at least 30 Waaagh! points at the end of the turn. It is very likely that you will be at 24 Waaagh! points by the start of battle round 4 and it’s practically guaranteed to be there by battle round 5. If you ever start a battle round with 30 Waaagh! points, then it’s already scored…even if you are tabled!

Honourable Mention:
With Wait For It Ladz being our likely turn 5 battle tactic, Barge Through Enemy Lines is a great choice for turn 4 as Big Waaagh! is a melee-centric faction with the buffs from the Power of the Waaagh. Therefore you probably have one Galletian Veterans unit relatively close to enemy territory by this turn and a sneaky Hand of Gork could pop another one in, scoring not only the battle tactic, but the bonus point too.

Warscrolls

Woehammer Winner:
The core of your Big Waaagh! list will most likely be Ironjawz as they have the best battleline and Gore Gruntas are great. The warscrolls we’re going to focus on are the two warscrolls that are the most common non-Ironjawz units chosen: Wurrgog Prophet and Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. Please check out Part 3 of the Orruk Warclans book for more information about what the Wurrgog does and why he’s so fun, but I’m going to give you an example of what he can do with Big Waaagh! If you also have a Mawkrusha in your list, then it is a high-value target that your opponent will want to take out, but sufficiently tanky that something quite substantial needs to be committed to remove it from the board. If you have a Wurrgog Prophet within 12” of your Mawkrusha, your opponent can still charge, but then you’re perfectly placed to ‘Hard Stare’ that unit out of existence if they succeed with the Mawkrusha. You could even point this out to your opponent to check to see if they really want to take that risk. If they choose not to charge, you win. If they choose to charge and the Mawkrusha destroys them, you win. If the Mawkrusha dies, then you win as you then get to play ‘Whose head will blow up first?’, which is fun whichever head pops first! Just don’t try this with Morathi as she ruins all our fun.

Honourable Mention:
The other unit is the Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth. You’re not going to find a much more efficient way of delivering up to five damage 2 attacks and ten (!) damage 3 attacks than the Mirebrute. With the Supa Sneaky or Hand of Gork + Fast ‘Un combo, you’re almost guaranteed to get into combat and then he can do some severe damage. In your opponent’s turn, popping Their Finest Hour and All out Defence can make him hang around longer than he really should and if (when) he dies, who cares! He was only 180pts and he probably wiped a fairly premium unit and held your opponent up a turn while potentially a Mawkrusha and Gore Gruntas hammered the other flank.

Final Thoughts

Big Waaagh! is what you choose if you like Ironjawz, but want a few more techy options; or if you like Kruleboyz but want to be a bit tougher and faster; or if you like Bonesplitterz but fancy having a big monster run around the place. It’s also a really fun army from a hobby perspective as you can take all these disparate sculpts and bring them together as a cohesive whole with which to stomp the enemy with. It’s also quite a rare army to see out in the wild, so if you have a few Ironjawz, half a Dominion box and some Savage Orcs from Warhammer Fantasy Battle, then maybe give them a try.

This is the last part of the Orruk Warclans Battletome Review. Is there anything that we missed? Any combos not mentioned? Are any of our choices just plain wrong?! Please leave a comment below, in the Woehammer Discord or even contact me at @yeliabnoreik on Twitter. There’s just one thing left to say and that’s: WAAAGH!

Age of Sigmar, Bonesplitterz, Destruction, Drakkfoot, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Icebone, Kieron Bailey, Orruk Warclans, Reviews

Battletome Review – Orruk Warclans Part 3: Bonesplitterz

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Allegiance Abilities

Woehammer Winner:
We’ll get to Warclans and Warscrolls later, but anyone who has been following the Bonesplitterzance recently will be expecting to see at least some Savage Big Stabbas in the list. The allegiance ability that helps to maximise their output is Spirit of Gorkamorka. Each melee attack that hits on a 6 scores 2 hits, so with a unit of two Big Stabbas, it’s reasonable to expect at least one of these to go off each combat, if not two, especially if All out Attack is also ordered. In real terms, this means that you should be expecting 5 rend -2 damage 2 attacks to get to the wound roll.

Honourable Mention:
I’m going to steer clear of the Rules as Written (RAW) vs Rules as Intended (RAI) debate on this one, but Tireless Trackers is key either way it is played. After deployment but before the first battle round starts, half the units in the army (rounding up) can move up to 5”. With minimum sized unit (MSU) Big Stabbas being quite popular, this can be a lot of movement that can be used to get on objectives early or, as some people argue, repeatedly move a Wurrgog Prophet right into ‘Hard Stare’ range. It’s also worth noting that units can move 5” backwards too, encouraging ranged units to deploy so they can pepper your Savage Orruks at range, only to step just outside of their threat range.

Warclans

Woehammer Winner:
In what is a theme running throughout the whole Orruk book, there are two good ones that have strengths and weaknesses and then one that everyone forgets about and you’ll hardly ever see. The winner is the more common choice and the more successful one that is hovering around mid-60% for the current GHB as per the Honest Wargamer Stats: Drakkfoot. Drakkfoot is fantastic in the current meta that has a high number of Nighthaunt and Nurgle armies as it ignores Ward saves. To put this in context, your Big Stabbas will put a Pusgoyle Blightlord to a 6+ save and prevents the 5+ Ward save Nurgle is famed (and cursed!) for. Throw in a Purple Sun nearby…any damage goes straight through.

Honourable Mention:
My personal favourite is second and is perfect if you’d like to re-enact the charge of the Rohan at Pelennor Fields from Lord of the Rings, but put the greenskins on the cavalry! Icebone has a toned-down version of Venom Encrusted Weapons from Kruleboyz in as much as if the wound roll is a 6, that wound is converted to mortal wounds and the attack sequence ends. But the key draw form Icebone is that Boarboyz are Battleline in an Icebone army. Not only does this avoid giving up an Galletian Veterans related points, but means that practically your whole army can be mounted with a 12” move for over 50 hunks of bacon going forward at high speed. Those few characters you don’t have on boarback can take advantage of Tireless Trackers to get a bit of a head start getting stuck in.

Command Traits

Woehammer Winner:
Easy one for the winner here as it synergises well with several strategies mentioned above and that is Great Hunter. What this allows a Bonesplitterz army led by a general with this command ability to do is to add 3” to the Tireless Tracker battle trait so that it’s an 8” move before the first turn begins. If you want to go full Riders of Porkhan then this means that the few characters you have on foot can actually be 1” further up the board than your 12” mounts, positioning them well to join the charge turn 2.

Honourable Mention:
It’s boring, but probably the next best one here would be Master of Magic to help with some of the buffs available to your casters as the other options for Bonesplitterz don’t really do much for them.

Artefacts

Woehammer Winner:
Really simple one for the winner and it’s Glowin’ Tattooz to improve the Ward save of a hero to 4+ instead of 6+. This is decent on its own, but it’s when you put it on the Wurrgog Prophet that it truly shines, or should that be glows? We’ll get to the best mini-game in AoS in a moment, but suffice to say Glowin’ Tattooz lets your Wurrgog play the game of chicken longer and practically double the threat caused by this single character.

Honourable Mention:
There’s a meme-able option with Mork’s Boney Bitz to potentially be up to +10 to cast vs. Adam Mumford’s (in)famous Cockatrice list, but the second best option is Dokk Juice to heal D6 wounds in the hero phase. What is great is that there aren’t the restrictions of being outside of 3” to this heal as there is to Heroic Recovery. Great on any character, but a fantastic back up for a second Wurrgog Prophet who couldn’t get their tattooz ready for the battle!

Mount Traits

Woehammer Winner:
A somewhat of a restricted list due to the restricted number of units that can take a mount trait, but the winner (again!) is Fast ‘Un – it’s almost like movement is really important in Age of Sigmar! Really handy to get a Maniak Weirdnob where they need to be for a subsequent hero phase or to sneak round and grab an objective.

Honourable Mention:
However, with only a 6+ save and Ward on your Weirdnob and a very economical 6 wounds, if they find themselves in combat after not charging then Smelly ‘Un might help them make it through to be able to attack back or even survive until the next turn. Maybe.

Spell Lore

Woehammer Winner:
If you’ve gone Icebone with lots of mounts with lots of tusks and hooves flying everywhere then the first spell out of the Lore of the Savage Beast you want your wizards to be learning is Glowy Green Tusks. This spell gives Rend -2 to the mounts only of one unit of boarboyz, which is great. One of the big draws of Big Stabbas is that it gives you the rend that this army so lacks, so a spell that gives you that is a big deal and it only casts on a 5 as well.

Honourable Mention:
There are shooting options in Bonesplitterz, but since losing access to Curse and the mortal wounds associated with it in the new 3rd edition book, Bonesplitterz are a melee army. Managing the flow of the combat is something that Ironjawz can do with Smashing and Bashing; Kruleboyz can do with their Waaagh and Bonesplitterz can do with Gorkamorka’s War Cry. Although a tricky cast with a short range, if successfully cast, an enemy unit has to fight at the end of the phase, allowing all your boyz to have a go at taking down whatever they’re fighting before getting hit back, enabling you to hang on to the Bonesplitterz Waaagh of a 4+ Ward for a combat phase for a whole extra turn.

Grand Strategies

Woehammer Winner:
Waaagh again would not be a bad pick, but because of the fact there are restrictions associated with who scores it, Get Dem Bones! is also a decent choice. To succeed with this Grand Strategy you just have to control a nominated terrain feature wholly within enemy territory at the end of the battle. Potentially this could be one to avoid if Realmstone Cache is in the mission pack as the territory for that battleplan might mean there isn’t terrain wholly within, but usually you should be okay and it can be scored by your Maniak Weirdnob late game with their 12” hero phase Fast ‘Un move, followed by another 12” move and then an auto-run of 6”.

Honourable Mention:
Just as with Ironjaws, Take What’s Theirs is your GHB only best-pick as you’re going forward anyway.

Battle Tactics

Woehammer Winner:
With the new GHB, gone are the points for killing monsters…unless you’re a Bonesplitterz general. They have access to Kill Da Big ‘Un if an enemy monster that you choose is killed by any attacks by a friendly Bonesplitterz unit, meaning it could be melee, ranged or magic…or even a ‘Hard Stare’ from a Wurrgog. It might seem a bit of a risk as the Wurrgog, as we’ll see shortly, can be swingy, but due to the wording of the Wurrgog’s ability, there is a work-around. The Wurrgog ability must be used at the beginning of the hero phase, which rules out any shenanigans in Big Waaagh of teleporting the Wurrgog into ‘Hard Stare’ range. However, in Bonesplitterz (and Big Waaagh, though to less utility) it means that you can do the attacks with the Wurrgog before you choose a battle tactic. If the monster’s dead, you pick this tactic and score it; if not, you can evaluate whether or not to go ahead. There is an argument to make the Wurrgog your general to take advantage of this sequence to guarantee This One’s Mine.

(UPDATE: Thanks to Calvin from AoS Coach who has rightly pointed out that because the Wurrgog’s Laser Eyes are an ability and not an attack, sadly means that you cannot score either of Kill Da Big ‘Un or This One’s Mine. Thanks Calvin! Potentially you can still use the work around of ‘stare first; battle tactic later’ with Outmuscle, Gaining Momentum, Eye for an Eye or Against the Odds as these don’t specify attacks. Realistically, you probably don’t need out-of-sequence jank in these circumstances though.)

Honourable Mention:
Returning to the Orruk book, we have Time to Get Stuck In! that synergises really well with Icebone and their speedy boarboyz as you score it if all models are within (not wholly within) an enemy unit at the end of the turn. The only restriction is that this needs to be scored in the first or second turn only. If book tactics aren’t being used, then Barge Through Enemy Lines is similar in its philosophy and should be doable with some of your mounted troops.

Warscrolls

Woehammer Winner:
The most famous of all Bonesplitterz units and the one that plays a large part in a good proportion of Big Waaagh lists being Ironjawz plus one Bonesplitter is the Wurrgog Prophet. Firstly, though quite an old sculpt, the model is awesome and really conveys the glee of this crazy Orruk dancing around before and during the battle. Where things get real is with the Wurrgog Mask mini-game. Instead of casting, you can pick 1 unit with 12” of the Wurrgog and visible to it. On a 3+, that enemy suffers D3 mortal wounds. So far, so alright. However, you can then choose to play again and go for another 3+ roll. If you make it, another D3 mortal wounds are coming your opponent’s way; if you roll a 1 or a 2, then the Wurrgog takes D6 mortal wounds – this is where Glowin’ Tattooz comes in to ignore half of those. You can keep playing this mini-game until one of three things happens:
The Wurrgog stops staring
The enemy unit is destroyed
The Wurrgog blows his own head off
Fortunately, the Wurrgog starts with 7 wounds, so you can gamble at least once. It is very swingy and it does take some skilful positioning to get the Prophet in range, but if you do, you can kill anything in the game that can die, regardless of what other layers of protection they have. As mentioned above, you can also stare before you choose a battle tactic, allowing some Kruleboyz-esque sneakiness to creep in.

Honourable Mention:
While I’m very much Team Icebone, we can’t not mention the Savage Big Stabbas. They come in units of two, giving you an 8 wound unit with 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on 3s with Rend -2 for 2 damage. Any hits of a 6 explode into 2 hits and each time on of these is killed in melee, they do D3 mortal wounds to a unit within 3” on a 4+. If this is a monster, it’s a 2+. And then there’s the points cost…80 points. They’re an absolute steal and can set up some great ambushes where a unit is screening 2” in front of one or several Big Stabbas. The screening unit may or may not survive, but the Stabbas can’t be touched by the charging enemy unit…but the Stabbas can certainly hit them back with the 3” range on the weapon!

Final Thoughts

Bonesplitterz are in a really interesting place. Their meta representation is pretty tiny, in the bottom 5 overall, but their win rate is 63%, which is top 5 (thanks again to the Honest Wargamer Stats team of Rob and Ziggy for this info). There’s a good chance that you may not see Bonesplitterz in action much, but they have been seen on Season of War, with Michael Simeon running them, so check out that battle report if you want to deep-dive everything boney in the Orruks’ book.

The final part of the series, Part 4 of 4 will be Big Waaagh, the pick ‘n mix of the battletome, where the best bits of all three allegiances come together for a good old ruck and features a battle tactic that even Daughters of Khaine players would look down upon for being too easy!

Age of Sigmar, Bloodtoofs, Da Choppas, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Ironjawz, Ironsunz, Kieron Bailey, Orruk Warclans, Reviews

Orruk Warclans Battletome Review Part 2: Ironjawz

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Peter: Kieron has had parts 1 through 4 written for a good while now and it’s only my own schedule that’s prevented me from posting these for him. For those who enjoyed Part 1: Kruleboyz and have been waiting for the others, I can only apologise. Part 3: Bonesplitterz will be posted this time next week. With the final part: Big Waaagh! Coming a week later. If you want to read them earlier they’ll be available on our Patreon site

Allegiance Abilities

Woehammer Winner:
How can Ironjawz reliably get three turn 1 charges off, even when their opponent is hiding back in their territory? The defining battle trait Mighty Destroyers is the answer. This amazing ability allows a unit that receives this command to make a normal move if they are outside of 12” of an enemy; attempt a charge if they are within 12” of an enemy unit; or pile in 3” if already in engagement range. Combine that with a Megaboss on Mawkrusha, who can issue the command to three different units and you could have two units of Gore Gruntas moving 18” and then charging. That is to say nothing of the Mawkrusha itself who can also receive the command, moving 12” due to Mighty Destroyers, 12” if they have the Fast ‘Un mount trait followed by a move of 12” and then a charge of up to 12”! Just a casual 48” threat range then on this monster! If your opponent doesn’t screen well, the heart of their army can be ripped out before they can respond, especially when considering…

Honourable Mention:
…Smashing and Bashing. This ability means that if the first unit activated in the combat phase kills and enemy unit, instead of your opponent being able to hit back, you choose a second unit to activate. If that unit wipes out an enemy, the Ironjawz fight again and so on until either there are no units in combat or an enemy is not destroyed. Combined with Mighty Destroyers, it is not unusual for an army facing the Ironjawz to be at least three units down while doing no damage in return AND to be pinned in their own territory.

Warclans

Woehammer Winner:
This is incredibly close and depends what sort of army composition you are planning. If you want to lean into speed and mobility while avoiding fielding any Galletian Veterans then you are probably wanting to take Gore Gruntas as battleline and Bloodtoofs lets you do that. In addition, if a Gore Gruntas unit is still in engagement range at the end of the combat phase then they can pile in an additional 3”. Even better is that Gore Gruntas that fought but are not within engagement range can either make a normal move or attempt a charge, further increasing the range of these now turbo-charged pigs who may have moved 9” in the hero phase, 9” in the movement phase, 12” in the charge phase, piled in 3” and then charged an additional 12” for a mindboggling 45” or five times the movement characteristic on their Warscroll.

Honourable Mention:
If you are looking to include mostly Ardboyz and Brutes in your army, then Ironsunz is probably the one you want to go for. Their clan trait is that you can charge at the end of your opponent’s charge phase as long as you are not already engaged in combat. Nurgle players know and love this ability (called Blightkrieg on The Glottkin’s Warscroll) but Ironjawz had it first and it’s free for all units to use, including your Mawkrusha. With Ardboyz and Brutes moving a frankly sedentary 4” each, anything that can give them extra movement is helpful, so having twice the number of charge phases helps get your Orruks across the board and where they want to be: in combat.

Command Traits

Woehammer Winner:
Whereas Kruleboyz players probably want to take at least two if not all three of their versions, the Ironjawz ones are somewhat lacklustre in comparison. The winner is definitely Mighty Waaagh! Leader, which allows you to re-reroll charges for Ironjawz that are wholly within 12”, which is quite big area once you factor in the Mawkrusha’s huge base. With the Waaagh adding 1 to charges and adding a much needed pip of rend to weapons, the last thing you want it for charges to fall short and for this once per battle ability to have gone to waste.

Honourable Mention:
There is a possible combo with the Arcane Tome as an artefact and either Touched by the Weird and Master of Magic to help a spell (Hand of Gork – see below) be cast, but I’m going to stick within the book for this one and go with Hulking Brute. Hulking Brute adds D3 mortal wounds once the general has completed a charge on a 2+ to one enemy unit. While not incredibly inspiring on its own, if the general on Mawkrusha also takes Mean ‘Un as a mount trait, then Stomp goes to D6 instead of D3 and there are no more pesky Hunters of the Heartlands left to stop you! Add in the Warscroll ability Destructive Bulk and not only are another 3 mortal wounds (at top bracket) added to the damage, but if a unit is then destroyed, the Mawkrusha can immediately pile in D6” and Stomp again for another D6+3 mortal wounds. Add in the impact hits from Gore Gruntas who are probably fighting alongside the Mawkrusha, ten wound screens are at serious risk of just making charges shorter and not actually achieving any screening at all.

Artefacts

Woehammer Winner:
As mentioned above, there is a combo with Arcane Tome available, but I’m going to stick to the Ironjawz Artefacts of Power here with Armour of Gork being the winner of the three. Armour of Gork gives a 6+ ward and adds 1 to hit rolls, but with a penalty of 2” from the model’s movement characteristic. On a Megaboss on foot this results in a hilariously bad 2” move, but on the Mawkrusha, that’s still a 10” move that can get up to 20” once per battle with Fast ‘Un. A 6+ ward also makes the Megaboss effectively 21 wounds rather than 18 and offers some measure of protection against mortal wound spells and shooting.

Honourable Mention:
A close second and probably the one you’d give to a Megaboss on foot (though see why this might be different for Big Waaagh in Part 4) is Destroyer for a once per battle +3 damage to the bearer’s melee weapons. Combine with the Warchanter’s +1 damage buff for between seven and eight 6 damage attacks depending on which flavour of Megaboss is carrying this artefact.

Mount Traits

Woehammer Winner:
To give the option of a first turn angry Orruk cabbage charge, there can only be one: Fast ‘Un. The base that the Mawkrusha sits on is huge and while this can be a good thing, it can also make manoeuvring difficult, meaning that an extra move can be really helpful to get in exactly the right place for that charge, be it on the first turn or not. It’s also a great combo with Armour of Gork to offset the movement penalty that comes with this artefact.

Honourable Mention:
As referenced above, taking Mean ‘Un can maximise the damage done on the charge and through stomps by your Mawkrusha, making it your second choice. Double Mawkrusha lists have taken down many events in the past (and have done so even in 2022-23 Season 1) so Mean ‘Un could be a choice for a second mount trait if you go down the Warlord/Command Entourage Battalion route. Then you need to ask whether the D6 damage vs. D3 damage on the Stomp every turn is worth more than Destroyer as a second artefact? Probably not, but it’s quite a fun option.

Spell Lore

Woehammer Winner:
If you are not using herds of Gore Gruntas and Mawkrushas to get across the board, then the mobility of your foot troops is one of the biggest challenges as an Ironjawz general. Step up Da Great Big Hand of Gork to solve all those problems. For a mere casting value of 7, a unit that is not in combat and is wholly within 12” can be redeployed any where on the battlefield 9” from the enemy, but cannot move in the following movement phase. At this point, if Gork is throwing Brutes across the board, you can then Mighty Destroyers the Brutes to get them to attempt a 9” charge, with another two attempts possible in the charge phase if you don’t make it first time. However, if you want to channel that other Orruk god, Mork and be cunningly brutal, you can use Da Great Big Hand of Gork on a unit of Gore Gruntas and then place them outside of 12” (that is, 12.1” away). When Mighty Destroyers in then used, they can make their normal move of 9”, ending up with a 3” charge away from the enemy, getting around the restriction on moving after using Hand of Gork as it’s out of phase and preventing enemy redeploys for the same reason. (You could use the same trick with Brutes too, especially if you plan on calling the Waaagh that turn to get +1 to charge rolls in the charge phase, making it effectively a 7” charge.)

Honourable Mention:
While Foot of Gork is hilarious, potentially causing enough wounds to one-shot a fully tricked out Gargant, second place goes to Bash ‘Em Ladz! It is quite tricky to get off, with a casting value of 8, but Touched by the Waaagh! can help with that and it gives a buff of +1 to wound for ALL Ironjawz units wholly within 16” of the caster. Bonuses to hit are fairly commonplace, but there’s a reason that Inspired is the best Triumph you can pick – often there’s no other way to get this buff. Now imagine this on a Mawkrusha and two units of 6 Gore Gruntas…Destruction Grand Alliance indeed!

Grand Strategies

Woehammer Winner:
More so than with Kruleboyz, Waaagh is a fantastic Grand Strategy for Ironjawz by virtue of the fact that your general is probably flying around the place and looking to stomp enemies in their own territory anyway and, if you chose the Bloodtoofs Warclan, then a single Gore Grunta can score this for you.

Honourable Mention:
For the second choice, if you are going GHB only, the Ironjawz best pick is the opposite to Kruleboyz with Take What’s Theirs as your whole battleplan involves getting right in your opponent’s face and killing their army in their own territory and this Grand Strategy plays right into these strengths.

Battle Tactics

Woehammer Winner:
Continuing the theme of Battle Tactics with interesting spellings (or should that be spellinz?), Ironjawz have access to Squish Da Puny Gitz. There needs to be at least one Battleline unit left on the battlefield and there needs to be none left at the end of the turn. With the amount of output possible from Ironjawz, particularly Bounty Hunter Gore Gruntas doing up to 3 damage per attack against Galletian Veterans, this should a fairly straightforward one to get.

Honourable Mention:
With such an absolute beat-stick as a Megaboss on Mawkrusha as your general, This One’s Mine is a total no-brainer. Find it. Kill it. Score points. ‘Nuff said.

Warscrolls

Woehammer Winner:
This unit has been mentioned repeatedly throughout this review, so it has to be the Megaboss on Mawkrusha. Not only does he allow three uses of Mighty Destroyer a turn and have a huge base for sharing this command and other buffs (e.g. re-reroll charges), but he can be absolutely devastating in combat too. With the Warchanter buff and if the Destroyer relic is taken, he should do between 5-10 mortal wounds before even fighting and then, with All out Attack and Finest Hour (aka Best Day Ever) and the Ironjawz Waaagh, seven attacks that hit and wounds on 2+ at Rend -2 for 6 damage each followed by eight attacks from his mount that hit and wound on 2+ at Rend -3 with the Waaagh for 3 damage each. Add all those up and it’s a potential of 70+ wounds in a single combat from a unit that may have started over 50” away from you. You can close your jaw now.

Honourable Mention:
A very important unit to Ironjawz is the Warchanter, but based on a lot of the combos discussed so far, I’m going to go for Gore Gruntas. They’re significantly faster than other troop options available and movement is absolutely key to this edition of AoS. They also hit pretty hard – not quite Fulminator hard – but plenty hard enough to clean up Battleline in short order and push more elite units too, particularly with the chip mortal wound damage they can do to help make any attack back pretty inconsequential.

Final Thoughts

Ironjawz are a really fun army and a pretty good first army to pick up as they’re relatively forgiving with their tough armour and relatively straightforward gameplay, resulting in quite a high skill floor for new players. There is still plenty of nuance in this army though, with Mork-like sneaky plays with Mighty Destroyers and the Hand of Gork and just because you can charge everything turn 1, it doesn’t mean that you should. Jiwan Noah Singh is a great American Ironjawz player who can be found on streams playing a more considered approach. The thinking being that if you can hold the Mawkrusha back a couple of turns then by the time it is committed, there’s nothing left that can meaningfully threaten it, allowing it to rampage around the board, destroying all it touches.
Next up will be Part 3 of 4 of the Orruks book, the weird cousins of both Kruleboyz and Ironjawz that live on a commune to be in touch with nature, usually touching them with a massive stone spear: Bonesplitters.

Age of Sigmar, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey, Kruleboyz, Orruk Warclans, Reviews

Orruk Warclans Battletome Review Part 1: Kruleboyz

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Allegiance Abilities

Woehammer Winner:
No question here, it has to be the faction-defining ability that is Venom Encrusted Weapons. If the unmodified hit roll of an attack is 6, that attack does a number of mortal wounds equal to the damage characteristic of the weapon. A Shaman can change the unmodified hit roll to a 5 and if a unit is wholly within 12” of a Sludgeraker, then 6s (not 5s) are an extra mortal wound on top. If you lean as hard as possible into this with 9 Big Yellers Boltboyz then with your 19 shots, you can expect 15 mortal wounds straight off before you even get to the damage stage.

Honourable Mention:
Synergising well with Venom Encrusted Weapons is the Kruleboyz Waaagh. For all the output that this army has, it cannot take a punch at all with Gutrippas only having a 5+ save and Boltboyz only having a 6+. This is where the Kruleboyz Waaagh can help as you can call it once per game when you general is chosen to fight and two other friendly units can fight with your general in the order of your choice. Potentially this means that you can move towards your enemy, fire off a volley with two units of Boltboyz that are getting buffs on the Venom Encrusted Weapons from the Shaman and the Sludgeraker and then charge these two units along with the Sludgeraker. Even in combat, 6 Boltboyz have 12 attacks that should do 6 more mortal wounds on top of whatever they did in shooting. Add in the pretty great combat of the Sludgeraker on top and topping 30 mortal wounds from those three units in two phases is very realistic.

Warclans

Woehammer Winner:
A few months ago, the winner would have been Big Yellers by a mile, but the simple deletion of the five words, “During the first battle round…” in the Grinnin’ Blades Warclan ability to take it from okay to great. It’s a total game-changer as it means that the Boltboyz can’t be sniped out by the enemy before getting to shoot. Now, with good screening, Boltboyz will be able to shoot back at (and probably cripple) anything moving close enough to attack the screen.

Honourable Mention:
In second place is Skulbugz…not really, they’re hopeless. Before Grinnin’ Blades, Big Yellers was the Big Dog due to two main features: Boltboyz can be battleline, removing the Troops tax of 540 points that Kruleboyz generals had to pay and, therefore, allowing Boltboyz to be taken in units of 9 so as to maximise the effectiveness of, for example, Unleash Hell. If there’s no shooting in your meta, then maybe Big Yellers is still the way to go, but with Daughters of Khaine Bowsnakes, Idoneth Turtles and Sharks and with Lumineth and Tzeentch coming shortly as of writing, my vote still goes with Grinnin’ Blades.

Command Traits

Woehammer Winner:


It’s a shame you can only take one command trait as all three of the Kruleboyz ones are pretty decent, with the winner being Supa Sneaky. Supa Sneaky allows you to infiltrate one Kruleboyz unit 9” away from an enemy unit immediately before determining who has first turn. A great combo with this command trait is a Breakaboss on Mirebrute Troggoth with the Fast ‘Un mount trait as you can place the Breakaboss 9” away and then move 5” in the hero phase (so no redeploy is possible) and smash face T1. This works best if you can outdrop your opponent, obviously, but even placing a screening unit of Hobgrots in your enemy’s face can really mess with their plans, especially to scupper plans of using Ironjawz Mighty Destroyer command ability (see below). Final point to make is that you can infiltrate but you don’t have to. Sometimes it’s best just to stay in your castle.

Honourable Mention:
A close second for command traits is Egomaniak, which allows the general to pass off wounds to a friendly unit on a 4+. While having quite a bit of output, the Sludgeraker isn’t the most robust hero ever, so being able to pass off wounds can help him last a bit longer, especially with the Smelly ‘Un mount trait to make him harder to hit. The recipient of these wounds can be any friendly unit, be it Hobgrots, Shootas allied in from Gitz or, for extra jank, into an Incarnate who will just soak those wounds up.

Artefacts

Woehammer Winner:
Sadly, it’s the Arcane Tome. Not only does this give an extra deny in a meta with lots of (Endless) spells, but the utility of a mystic shield on the Sludgeraker or the cast of Choking Mist to slow down your opponent can be key. You can even give it to the Breakaboss to put on Flaming Weapons on their clubs (this has been FAQd to be allowed).

Honourable Mention:
If you are going to take a faction-specific artefact, you’re probably taking Mork’s Eye Pebble for the once per game (really, GW?!) 5+ ward against shooting only for units wholly with 12” for the phase. With Grinnin’ Blades on the rise, this is less useful that what it was but if you’re taking a Mirebrute in a Command Entourage or a Warlord detachment (as you’re definitely taking a Sludgeraker in the commander slot of a Battle Regiment) then you may as well.

Mount Traits

Woehammer Winner:
With how slow the rest of the army is, Fast ‘Un is a great choice of mount trait, particularly in conjunction with your Sludgeraker moving into position for This One’s Mine as it is a hero phase move that prevents redeploys from your opponent. If you combine Fast ‘Un with Sneaky Miasma then that’s a 16” move in the hero phase that gives a threat range of 36” when considering the movement phase and charges. The only issue may be that your screens might be blocking your hero phase moves if you’ve gone with a Sludgeraker, so a Vulcha can get around this by flying over it.

Honourable Mention:
Smelly ‘Un is not only very appropriate from a lore perspective, but also combos very well with the command trait Egomaniak. If you manage to get off the Skareshields debuff from Gutrippas as well, add in Mystic Shield, Their Finest Hour and All out Defense, a pretty flimsy character is now -1 to hit from Smelly ‘Un and -1 to hit from Skareshields, meaning that All out Attack does nothing. They are on a 3+ save, ignoring up to Rend -2 due to the +3 to saves and anything that does go through can be passed off to a nearby unit on a 4+. If you really want to, you could also throw in an Amulet of Destiny for a 6+ ward as well before wounds are passed off.

Spell Lore

Woehammer Winner:


There are five good options for Kruleboyz, which is frustrating as most of the time it’s more efficient for Shamans to be giving out poison rather than casting and there are no casting bonuses available without making too big of a concession elsewhere. The winner is Sneaky Miasma, which allows a Kruleboyz monster (probably a Sludgeraker and/or a Rogue Idol) to move in the hero phase. Combined with Fast ‘Un and a normal move, even the relatively sedate Sludgeraker can move 24” and then charge another 12” or run another 6”. With the Grand Strategy picks below, this speed can be useful. If you go for a KillaBoss on Vulcha, this could be a whopping 42” before charging or running!

Honourable Mention:
With Nighthaunt on the rise and Daughters of Khaine being able to get to a 5+ ward then Nasty Hex is very handy. It can be particularly useful by the time a Shaman or a unit that would receive a buff is in combat as poisons or elixirs can’t be given out or received by units in combat. While the output if lower than with poison, taking away that ward save mostly balances that out.

Grand Strategies

Woehammer Winner:
If book Strategies and Battle Tactics are being used, then Waaagh! can be a potential winner as you just need to have your general or a friendly Battleline unit in your enemy’s territory at the end of the game. If you have Fast ‘Un on your general and Sneaky Miasma on a caster, one command point for auto-run can result in a 30” move by a Sludgeraker, which should be more than enough to cover the distance needed.

Honourable Mention:
If it’s GHB only for Strategies and Battle Tactics then Defend What’s Ours is a good choice as Kruleboyz are a castle army, even if you do need to be, to some extent, a (slow) mobile castle. Some battleplans are harder to do this with than others but at least half are do-able and your enemy can’t be in your territory if they’re dead!

Battle Tactics

Woehammer Winner:
Again, there is one good option in the book, which is Take Dat, Ya Suckers! This is achieved if you force your opponent to allocate 10 wounds or mortal wounds (i.e. after ward saves) and you allocate fewer than 10. If you’re not in combat and you have Boltboyz, this should be relatively straight forward and is a good choice for one of the first three rounds along with Against The Odds and Desecrate Lands.

Honourable Mention:
If you have chosen Big Yellers, then Boltboyz will be Battleline and Galletian Veterans, making Head-to-Head fairly straightforward, but assuming you’ve taken my advice and chosen Grinnin’ Blades, then Gaining Momentum is a good choice. Not only is killing a unit relatively straightforward with all of your output, the need to control more objectives will help encourage you forward as it’s very easy to hold back, stay in the castle, table your opponent…and lose as you only took objectives turn 4 or 5.

Warscrolls

Woehammer Winner:

There is only one winner here and it’s not Boltboyz but the Swamp Donkey Derek himself, the Sludgeraker. From a combat perspective, the Sludgeraker is the gift that keeps on giving, with my opponents often looking aghast as the pile of mortal wounds builds up. If you double-down on the combat potential and give the Sludgeraker the Shaman poison buff then he’ll really go off. You can probably expect 10 mortal wounds across the attacks, with typical Kruleboyz spikes doing up to 15 mortal wounds from the first three attacks (if Flaming Weapons is also used). Some lists have been successful with 3 Sludgerakers and an Incarnate for literally monstrous output. However, on top of that, the Sludgeraker adds one to the number of mortal wounds caused on 6s whenever a unit attacks wholly within 12”, making it an auto-take for every Kruleboyz army.

Honourable Mention:
This is going to be Boltboyz isn’t it? Actually not! Maybe I’m being a little obtuse here as Boltboyz are really key units, but the next most important unit for winning games (not necessarily for killing your enemy) are Hobgrots. At 80 points each for ten grenades that hit on 4s, wound on 3s have rend -1 for 1 damage, they’re a bargain. They even roll a huge amount of dice in combat, even if they don’t end up doing much more than a wound on most occasions. The reason they are so good is that they die cheaply. Yes, Gutrippas have 2 wounds each and a 5+ save compared to 1 wound and a 6+ save, but on the table, two units of Hobgrots for 160 points are much more of a speed bump to an enemy that a single unit of Gutrippas for 180 points. They can also be in more places at once for scoring objectives.

Final Thoughts

At the time of writing, Kruleboyz are among the lowest performing three factions in the game with the other two (Gitz and Ogor Mawtribes) both due a 3rd edition book relatively soon. It does feel like there’s more to the model and unit range to come, e.g. where’s the light cavalry harassment unit that would fit well with the lore and what the hell is with Gutrippas being 180 points when Phoenix Guard are 170?! However, they do have a lot of tricks and are fun to play, particularly when the stars (or should that be swamps?) align and you spike the 6s with your Boltboyz, removing threats like Nagash or Alarielle or even Archaon in one phase or even one activation.

Next up will be Part 2 of 4 of the Orruks book, Kruleboyz bigger, meaner and more successful older brothers: Ironjawz.

Age of Sigmar, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Grinnin' Blades, Kieron Bailey, Kruleboyz, Orruk Warclans, Tournaments

Tournament Review – Quest of Champions Heat 4

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Article by Kieron Bailey

I attended the Warrior Lodge Quest of Champions Heat 4 on August 6th/7th. Heat 2 had been my first ever AoS tournament so I knew it would be a great bunch of people and some beautiful armies. The venue, The Sanctuary in Sutton-in-Ashfield, is a great venue with plenty of space, nice and cool in the summer months and has epic doughnuts for sale! It also has the Quest of Champions signature feature: a wheel that is spun each round to decide the battleplan. More on that later.

My aim for the weekend was to definitely get one win, aim for two and hopefully get three to put me in with a shot of qualifying for the Quest of Champions Finals in October.

My List

Army Faction: Orruk Warclans
– Army Type: Kruleboyz
– Subfaction: Grinnin’ Blades
– Grand Strategy: Defend What’s Ours
– Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (315)**
– General
– Command Traits: Master of Magic
– Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome
– Mount Traits: Fast ’Un
– Spells: Choking Mist
Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)**
– Spells: Sneaky Miasma
Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)**
– Spells: Nasty Hex
Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)***
– Spells: Da Black Pit

BATTLELINE
Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
– Scrap Totem Bearer
– Noise-maker
– Hobgrot Boss
Hobgrot Slittaz (80)*
– Scrap Totem Bearer
– Noise-maker
– Hobgrot Boss
Gutrippaz (180)**
– Gutrippa Banner Bearer
– Gutrippa Drummer
– Gutrippa Boss
– Wicked Hacka
Gutrippaz (180)**
– Gutrippa Banner Bearer
– Gutrippa Drummer
– Gutrippa Boss
– Wicked Hacka

OTHER
Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
– Boltboy Boss
Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
– Boltboy Boss
Man-skewer Boltboyz (240)**
– Boltboy Boss
Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)***

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Soulsnare Shackles (50)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Expert Conquerors
**Battle Regiment
***Vanguard

TOTAL POINTS: 1990/2000

Game 1: Nidus Paths – Archaon and Varanguard

A fun, interesting game to begin with, against an army I’d not faced before, Archaon and Hosts of the Everchosen. It was my first encounter with the ‘priority in a cup’ mechanic, though it’s not too mysterious when Archaon advances at you Turn 1!

What Went Well
I had planned my screening very carefully to try and negate my opponent’s numerous opportunities to pile in and fight twice and while there were a couple of times when he did fight twice, it was always into the same screen not two different ones.

Even Better If
I redeployed a unit of 6 Boltboyz to better Unleash Hell, but then a Sorcerer charged first instead of the Varanguard, taking 20 mortal wounds that would have eliminated the Varanguard. Instead, I had moved two units close enough together that they could both be attacked by the same unit, losing both.

Clutch Play
Coming into Turn 4, I had two tactics that I could achieve, Barge Through and This One’s Mine. I could also really do with getting on a third objective for Hold More. I managed to get Sneaky Miasma off on my Sludgeraker and the once per battle hero phase move from Fast ‘Un to be 4″ away from some Cultists who the Sludgeraker dealt with quite easily, once he’d closed the distance.

Result: 25-21 Win

Game 2: In The Presence of Idols – Sentinels and Foxes

I was not looking forward to this one as it was an army that I had not faced, with mortal wound shooting that is a) longer ranged than my own and b) could ignore cover and therefore my Grinnin’ Blades sub-faction ability. In addition, 3 Foxes can easily get within 12″ to shoot whatever they like. My plan was to try and rush the Sentinels by running at them, hoping for the double and going from there.

What Went Well
My initial plan didn’t come off at all because the Sentinels were untouched all game, however, several other things did go well. Firstly, as I’d forced him to take first even though I didn’t have priority through placement of the Boltboyz, I managed to get Sevireth T1. In addition, I could make the centre point a Proving Ground, allowing one Expert Conqueror Hobgrot to steal the objective from 2 Foxes and a Warden.

Even Better If
I’m really struggling with this one. I’m sure I didn’t play a perfect game but nothing stands out as being a poor choice that cost me points.

Clutch Play
Sevireth going down to only 3 Boltboyz was big but there was also an exciting cameo from some Hobgrots who had been hiding all game in the furthest corner from the battle. His Grand Strategy was to kill my battleline and my Grand Strategy was to have no enemy in my territory. The last remaining Fox, with one wound left, charged the Hobgrots…who Unleashed Hell, chipping that last one off, scoring my Grand Strategy and denying his for a 6 point swing.

Result: 26-17 Win

Game 3: Head-to-Head – Nagash and Scarlet Doom Nighthaunt

Spoiler alert: this one still hurts days later. Had a real chance to go 3-0 the first day with Kruleboyz and that doesn’t happen often and, long story short, I fluffed it.

What Went Well
Target priority into the Nighthaunt totally removed 2 units before attempts could be made to bring a significant number back and screening mostly was successful.

Even Better If
Screening wasn’t totally effective and let Nagash in and it was only through some luck that he didn’t tear apart my army. Poor choices made T4/5 combined with some swingy dice rolls against me and in favour of my opponent threw the game away.

Clutch Play(s)
1) Forgot to use the Sludgeraker to ‘eat’ the Spirit Torment who went on to score 6 points on his own in T5.
2) Chose to claim the enemy objective for 4 points instead of killing 2 chainghasts off the middle objective. Claiming the middle would have scored the 4 points anyway as my opponent could not have scored it AND denied a battle tactic for Barge Through.
3) Even after all this, if I had moved my Boltboyz and Shaman 2″ onto the objective, my opponent can’t claim my objective T5, a 4 point swing. I didn’t move them as I wanted to avoid a redeploy, but it was the wrong decision.

Result: 28-26 Loss

Game 4: The Mighty and The Cunning – Nurgle Flies/Beast of Nurgle with no Galletian Veterans…

So was looking for try and bounce back after my most painful defeat and, while Nurgle is a top army, I had a plan of what I could do…Then the Wheel of Doom that is the unique part of Warrior Lodge events spun up The Mighty and The Cunning. For those of you who don’t know, what this meant was that my list composition gave up 12 bonus points vs. 0 bonus points that my opponent gave up. Essentially, my opponent could fail all of his battle tactics and still win. I understand that the Warrior Lodge wants to keep their unique wheel and I’m more than happy for them too…just don’t include The Mighty and The Cunning! It’s just too much of a skew against a list where there are some strong armies that can avoid Gallet Vets entirely (Nurgle, IDK and Sylvaneth) and some already very weak armies that can’t avoid them, including in this case, Kruleboyz.

What Went Well
I did try and play for the win rather than just limiting the scale of defeat and the first turn went as I wanted, scoring objectives with Shamans, stopping running with Choking Mist and making charges from deepstriking flies 10″ instead of 9″ and screening my Galletian Veterans with my Boltboyz…

Even Better If
…Which was probably a bad idea! It wasn’t disastrous, but sticking with my game plan of a nornal mission and just seeing how things went was probably the better option, despite the 12 bonus points available. Also put some Hobgrots on an objective to score Hold More, only for them to promptly be killed on an objective for a Bonus point! Better off screening better with that unit rather than trying for an extra point.

Clutch Play
The Wheel choosing The Mighty and The Cunning.

Result: 39-14 Loss

Game 5: The Realmstone Cache – Cities of Sigmar Phoenix Guard

So from 2-0 to 2-2 vs 60 wounds of 4+ ward vs Mortal Wounds being run by one of the most prolific and successful CoS players in the country! I was outdropped again so I played to force the first turn again successfully and hoped for the double.

What Went Well
I did get to go second T1, allowing me to dictate the Proving Ground, choose Outmuscle as a battle tactic and to have the chance of a double…

Even Better If
I had not pushed up so aggressively for the double and stayed out of 2″ of the front line that the Phoenix Guard can attack from.

Clutch Play
Priority into T2 was massive. If I had won that, I could have finished off the rest of a damaged Phoenix Guard unit, wiped out an undamaged one and reset my screens.

Result: 26-8 Loss

Final Result: 2-3

Overall Reflections

Before the tournament started, if you would have offered me 2-3, being on stream for the first time and really making a member of the Team Wales AoS team (and eventual winner) sweat quite a bit, I would have taken it. However, where I ended up after the first 14 turns is a real heartbreaker and I’ll remember this one for a long time. The match up I would have had in the next round was significantly more favourable to me if I had just held on in Game 3 and then being 4-0 going into Game 5, anything could have happened!

Key Lessons Learned
The games I won and lost came down to screening, so if I can focus on that more, more wins should come. Similarly, I need to be more mindful of what my opponent can score in their turn when considering my scoring. My list is going to change slightly, adding in more Hobgrots and going for only one battleline squad of Hobgrots so that I’m only giving up 9 points on The Mighty and The Cunning.

It’s over a month now until my next tournament, so I’m going to try and get more reps in with the new list on TTS to try and maximise the lessons learned here. It can’t come soon enough for me to take another shot at breaking 4 wins with Kruleboyz or even going all the way.

If anyone is up for a game online at all, please feel free to contact me on Twitter @yeliabnoreik or to leave a comment below.

Age of Sigmar, Authors, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kieron Bailey, Tournaments

Bringing a Man-Skewer Crossbow to a Gunfight (Sticking with an Underperforming Army)

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2022 was the year that I hung up my inferno combi-bolters (at least for the time being) and decided to give AoS a go. I found an army I liked the aesthetic of, a way of painting them that worked for me (thank you Slap-chop) and got some tournaments booked in.

As I learned more about AoS, I discovered that my chosen army, Kruleboyz, were not exactly setting things alight on the tournament scene, but I had already got cracking on the painting and had most of the army I needed, so I decided to persevere.

This short blog is about the benefits of sticking with an underperforming army, aka bringing a Man-skewer Crossbow to a gunfight.

1) Lots of cheap models on eBay! While there may not be a start collecting box for Kruleboyz, I managed to pick up lots of models extremely cheaply on eBay, despite the sculpts being great (should have wondered more about that in retrospect!).

10 Gutrippaz can be found on eBay for just £6.50

2) You can never be called ‘That Guy’ with an underperforming army. It can make the social interaction of pickup games and/or tournaments quite straightforward if your opponent is less nervous as they know they aren’t about to be ROFLstomped by the latest hotness.

3) You can catch your opponent unawares. I’m not talking gotcha moments here, but people tend not to build towards defeating your underpowered army because a) their meta representation is quite low and b) to be frank, they probably don’t have to! This can mean that sometimes you’ll have a shot against someone who expects to beat you as soon as they pair into you.

4) Knowing your army. This goes for all armies really, but while the temptation might be strong to switch (and Big Waaagh has been buying me drinks all night), sticking with your army means you know how to get the most out of it.

5) The pressure is off in tournaments. If your army is languishing in the 30% win range, 2 wins in a 5 round tournament is you over-achieving! Well done, you! The same number of wins for an army at the absolute top of the meta, however, might be disappointing.

So there we have it: five reasons for sticking with an army that can seem to be hard work at times. And remember, once you’ve hit bottom, there’s only one way up and just imagine how match-fit you’ll be after receiving a balance update or White Dwarf glow-up!

Any more reasons for sticking with a struggling army? Pop them in the comments below.