I’ve updated the January AoS stats with a number of tournaments that happened at the end of the month, namely those in bold in the list below. Going forwards from February onwards, I’m only going to include tournaments where more than 16 players attended.
Be wary those, these are for all the one day and two day events that we’ve covered plus two or three more. All armies are at 2,000 points and using the current rules and FAQ’s.
The below list are the tournaments that have been used to populate this data.
Golden Sprue AoS GT 2022 Clash of Swords Tempest Coliseum of Sigmar PSU: March to War Norwegian Masters Kirwans Game Store Monthly AoS Tournament January 8th Metagames 2k Tournament Grudge Hammer LVO Prep Event Atomic Dallas Defenders New Year New Player TTWG Sigmar Bash MOX Age of Sigmar Tournament Forge & Fire 2k Age of Sigmar Viking Games RTT: Realm of Viking Part I Gitmob Charity Brawl 2022 LVO 2022 Warpfire New Year Knockout Knights of the Pond Game Day #7 New Year New Friends Clockwork AoS Monthly Windy City AoS Champion Smash
Most Selected Grand Alliance
Table before LVO Update
Table after LVO update
With an increase of 455 additional armies to the table, the percentages have barely changed, with Order still top at 41.9% of all armies present at tournaments in January. The biggest change is to Death’s representation post the LVO, with their share increasing to 16.3% from 12.5%.
Grand Alliance Win Rates
Before LVO Update
After LVO Update
Order have claimed the top spot from Destruction post the LVO update, with Destruction falling to below 50% win rate overall. Death and Chaos pretty much remain the same.
Cities of Sigmar take over from Idoneth Deepkin to lead the table here with a massive 69.0% win rate over 71 games. With Declan and the Big Waaagh! in second. However, let’s narrow this down to the more popular factions who have played at least 50 games:
A lot more factions in this table now with Cities and Idoneth dominating the win rates. Kruleboyz, Fyreslayers and Skaventide prop the rest up, all with win rates of less that 40% (this doesn’t bode well for my Kruleboyz at Burning Skies next month!).
Top 10 Most Selected Sub-Faction
Before LVO Update
After LVO Update
It’ll probably come as no surprise that the Hammers of Sigmar still lead the table in the most played sub-faction.
Skaventide have dropped completely from the table.
Top 10 Win rates for Sub-Factions with 20+ Games
Cities of Sigmar/Living City now top this table at 75.9% win rate over 29 games. While the Beasts of Chaos who are getting their (much needed) White Dwarf update shortly are sitting at the bottom of the table with just 28% wins from their 25 games.
As Friday fast approaches, I wanted to give a special shout out to The Honest Wargamer and the Stats crew for bringing us loads of information on Age of Sigmar since the release of 3rd edition.
They have gathered information from all over the globe to bring us information on the State of the Meta and allow us Gloomspite players to not feel too bad about a 1-1-3!!
For those who haven’t been over to their site before I urge you to have a look
Welcome back! But the Stats Team have worked through the long nights and given us… Player Stats!!
If you’ve played in a 5 game (no comp) tournament in AOS3 you’ll likely find your name on here… along with paths to victory and how you line up with the other players in your region and get bragging rights for being the best in race – this is a great addition and means that you can be top of the pile even if your army is struggling at the moment. It’s great for those with only one army or those who like to stick to an army throughout a year.
It’s marking is the best 6 tournaments and then points for Win & Draw (which can be slightly higher for larger tournaments) in order to give a score out of 900. This means that even small 5 game tournaments will qualify and can get you loads of points so there’s no need to get to LVO each year!
I must admit to being biased here in that I like stats, and I’m on the list.. so forgive the following screenshots!
Top 16 in the world, with some big names there – many of which will be at AOS Worlds in Prague in May! Specially well done to Toby Meadows in 18th who has got there with only 4 tournament results and no defeats! Wow!!
If categorisations could cause wars, this might be one of them but UK & Ireland is one of the largest player bases in the world, and as we came out of COVID restrictions near to the release of AOS3 there a number of people who have had the opportunity to get to 6 toournaments. Mike is at the top, and is a superb player of Seraphon who is always around the top tables (with 2 5-0s and 3 4-1s out of 6 tournaments). With Owen Jackson (of Honest Wargamer fame), and Matt Mallow taking 2nd and 3rd so far.
Then there is by faction, although Big Waagh! are currently under represented in the Meta due to the love for Ironjawz. However Roger Barker tops it with 2 4-1s.
And you can get more detail on a individual player:
For GDPR purposes, I’ve selected myself… that’s definitely the reason
Which shows the event results from 5 game tournaments attended, as well as Event Path where applicable… where you can see all my losses in game 5!!
The points per tournament are given clearly as well, so you can see how you (or your mate) are doing and battle for the best in your local area.
And the final piece of the puzzle – you can look at player by faction to see how well you are performing within your army. Great for those armies that historically struggle — although as you can see from my 77th with Sons maybe not if you only play 1 tournament with them!
So… a huge Thank You to Rob (The Honest Wargamer) and Stats Team (led by Ziggy) for a great set of data and presenting if so easily!
Here’s to the next 5 months to see who finishes AOS3 on top. Who’s your money on?
We’ve covered a lot of Top 3 lists over the last month, so I thought it would be good to look at some of the stats surrounding them.
Be wary those, these are for all the one day and two day events that we’ve covered plus two or three more. All armies are at 2,000 points and using the current rules and FAQ’s.
The below list are the tournaments that have been used to populate this data.
Golden Sprue AoS GT 2022 Clash of Swords Tempest Coliseum of Sigmar PSU: March to War Norwegian Masters Kirwans Game Store Monthly AoS Tournament January 8th Metagames 2k Tournament Grudge Hammer LVO Prep Event Atomic Dallas Defenders New Year New Player TTWG Sigmar Bash MOX Age of Sigmar Tournament Forge & Fire 2k Age of Sigmar Viking Games RTT: Realm of Viking Part I Gitmob Charity Brawl 2022
Most Selected Grand Alliance
Order tops the table with almost half of all armies being from an Order Battletome.
Grand Alliance Win Rates
The win rate for each Grand Alliance tells a difference story though with Destruction being the most successful and Chaos the least.
Most Selected Faction
Out of those 280 armies that we’ve focused on it’ll be no surprise that the Stormcast Eternals are the most played faction with nearly 20% of the field playing Stormcast. This would mean on average at a five day event you’re likely to play at least one Stormcast army.
Faction Win Rates
Idoneth Deepkin lead the table here with a massive 72.7% win rate over 22 games. However, let’s narrow this down to the more popular factions who have played at least 50 games:
This leaves the five most popular factions, with Ironjawz heading this mini-league with a 57.7% win rate.
Top 10 Most Selected Sub-Faction
It’ll probably come as no surprise that the Hammers of Sigmar lead the table in the most played sub-faction. The appeal of Dragons and Dracothian units is just too great possibly.
Surprisingly for me, Skaventide is in fourth despite having possibly once of the most outdated books?
Top 10 Win rates for Sub-Factions with 20+ Games
Idoneth Deepkin/Fuethan top the charts showing that perhaps they’re the easiest faction to pick up and play? My own beloved Kruleboyz/Big Yellers prop up the rest of the table with a measly 30.3% win rate.
Stormcast Eternals/Hammers of Sigmar Analysis
So who’s their bogey enemy? Who do they lose to most often?
The data set is too small to have a any reliability at the moment, but Legion of the First Prince and Sons of Behemat/Breaker Tribe have had the most success against them.
If we reduce the opposition to Sub-Factions who have played them at least ten times then only the Ironjaws/Bloodtoofs have a favourable win ratio against them.
Ironjaws/Bloodtoofs Analysis
Again, the data set is to small to have any significance.
Tomorrow (January 29th 2022) I’ll be going to my first 1 dayer event this year. I love one dayer events – I get to try out new stuff have a bit of fun and still have Sunday available to be at home and spend some time with my family.
The Nameless King is and event being run by Boards and Swords which is a gaming store based in Derby. They run regular one day events and are only 75 minutes away from me… so a great local tournament.
I have said previously that I would bring Gloomspite Gitz to a one-dayer, but after my success at March to War with the Big Waaagh I want to see whether I can do well in a 20-0 system with them. At March to War I went 4-1 but took a ‘sit-back’ approach, which doesn’t always work for a 20-0 system. Sure, I can win, but can I win by enough?
Without any further ado, the army:
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh! – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Weird ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Power of the Were-boar
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
Units 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Pig-iron Choppas 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)* 2 x Savage Big Stabbas (80)*
Core Battalions *Warlord **Hunters of the Heartlands ***Ironjawz Fist
This is almost the same army as I took to March to War so to get an idea of how it works look here!
All Change…
… or not! The only change here is dropping the Marshcrawler Sloggoth for 2 x 2 Big Stabbas.
2 x 2 Big Stabbas… with a couple of conversions in there!
I raided my Gargants Bitz Box to find two big weapons for my second set of Big Stabbas and I think they work a treat. But… why Big Stabbas? During March to War I found that I reached the +1 to hit threshold a lot earlier than I had anticipated (by turn 2 most of the time). And so I have decided to replace him. I still have only a few Kruleboyz painted and I haven’t settled on a scheme so it was either 2 x 5 Ardboyz, or 2 x 2 Big Stabbas… as it gave me an excuse to get painting I’ve picked the Big Stabbas.
8 wounds for 80 points, 6+/6++ save means that an opponent will need to dedicate resources to killing them, and they can be teleported by Hand of Gork if required. At bravery six, they are unlikely to die to battleshock – they’ll either die or be alive!
During March to War I found my lack of rend a bit of an issue, so 3 attacks, 3+/3+/-2/2 is not a bad damage profile. With a 3″ range they can also hide behind units and still attack if the front unit is charged. Da Final Fling is also a great bonus few damage especially if I have to play a Seraphon monster list or the Sons of Behemat.
My only two other changes were switching out Smelly Un for Weird Un (4+ mortal wound save vs spells) and giving the Wurgogg a spell to slightly boost the movement and charge of the Big Stabbas.
In January (22nd & 23rd 2022) Purple Sparkly Unicorns are presenting March to War. They are a great fun group who can often be seen at tournaments sporting their unmissable club shirts!
It is a VERY sparkly Unicorn
This is my first tournament of the year, and the first since the FAQ drop and points changes, so I was unsure what to take. Regular readers will know I have a ‘reasonable’ collection consisting of most Destruction models. I was very tempted to use Kragnos to see how his new warscroll would work, or I could use an Ogor army and see why the US scene is running 4 Ironblasters…! Unfortunately I didn’t have them painted, and after Kragnos (v1) embarrassed himself at a THWG event last year, I wasn’t sure I trusted him in a two day tournament.
So next on the option list was Gitz… I am fortunate to have some 1 day tournaments booked in for later in the year and the Gitz are likely to make an appearance there… but in a world with Gargants, Sentinels, Krganos inspired Ogors, and Dragons… loads of Dragons … I don’t really want to play 5 games and lose all of them. I do try to avoid wooden spoons!
So that brought me back – in a very round-about-way – to the Warclans book. I had success with on release including a 4-1 at Leicester and temporarily gaining the ‘Best Ironjawz’ tag on Bad Dice Rankings. But I’d played them a lot in 2021, so perhaps something different? I have very few Bonesplitters and – although I have lots of Kruleboyz – I really want to have Hobgrots be good… so I haven’t painted much yet.
So why not Big Waaagh! Well the answer may be in the stats that The Honest Wargamer has given us!
Not taken very often!With only 38 games played, Big Waagh is struggling against most opposition
So there was only one option really… let’s see if I can get them working!
Planning
What would the army include? Well as I have experience of the Ironjawz – and had lots painted – I would use these as a basis… what did that mean? Brutes… lots of Brutes!
Brutes and more Brutes!
The List
Allegiance: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)* – General – Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist – Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh! – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un – Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork Orruk Warchanter (115)* – Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat Wurrgog Prophet (150)* – Artefact: Glowin’ Tattooz – Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka’s War Cry
Battleline 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 10 x Orruk Brutes (320)** – Jagged Gore-hackas – 2x Gore Choppas – Reinforced x 1 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)*** – 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
Units 1 x Marshcrawla Sloggoth (150)* 3 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (170)** – Jagged Gore-hackas
Core Battalions *Warlord **Hunters of the Heartlands ***Ironjawz Fist Additional Enhancements Artefact
It’s another 10 drop… so I’m not going to decide who goes first… and with Big Waaagh I need to survive a few turns. Hopefully I won’t play dragons too often. However the Maw Krusha and Gore Gruntas have a reasonable turn 1 threat range to encourage my opponents to deploy more carefully. Will it work? We will see.
Character 1 – Megaboss on Maw-Krusha
The Megaboss on Maw-Krusha is a great unit, and a fun warscroll and is currently an auto-include in every Ironjawz list I have seen to date. His equipment is easy – a Rip Tooth for a 3+ armour save is this only real option.
I then make his mount a ‘Smelly ‘Un’ which is my go-to option at the moment, as it makes opponents -1 to hit in combat if you don’t charge. Perfect if you plan to alpha strike and then survive an opponent’s turn.
With the change in the Amulet of Destiny I have given him a Arcane Tome to allow my to take Touched by the Waaagh – to get up to +3 to cast – and Hand of Gork – so I can get closer to the enemy for those all important early charges.
Character 2 – Warchanter
I have only taken one this time, and he gives +2 Waaagh points a turn so I’ll need to protect him. If there’s no terrain he’ll hide behind the Maw-Krusha. As he’ll be hiding he’s been given Fixin’ Beat so he can heal anything that the Maw Krusha wounds with Touched by the Waaagh.
Character 3 – Wurrgog Prophet
I fought against 4 of these at Reading and they were great fun to play against. They can cast and dispel 2 spells, give +1 Waaagh Point and have a 4+ ward because of the Glowy Tattoos. But the best thing is his mask – and I hope to be able to stare down the enemy:
I can use this to keep units honest or just blow up the head of a Gargant – sure it requires a bit of luck and I’m rubbish at ‘push your luck’ mechanics but it’ll be fun and the 4+ ward save can be used against these mortal wounds so he has some protection.
Units 1 & 2 – 10 Brutes, 10 Brutes
20 Brutes, 3 wounds at 4+ save and Jagged Gore-Hackas. These guys can push out some serious damage, can stop 1 wound models counting on objectives (looking at Pink Horrors here!) and can be used as a screen if that is what’s needed. Plus they are great models, and who doesn’t love great models. They are definitely significantly better with the Warchanter buff (+1 damage) on them but I also love their movement shenanigans with redeploy and counter charge. They can suddenly be on an objective that your opponent thinks is safe.
They are also both in the War in the Heartlands battalion to stop monsters using their monstrous rampage abilities – this is great to guarantee that they can have the +1 to save (they rarely need the +1 to hit because they get this naturally against 4 wound models and I’ve got a Marshcrawler Troggoth).
If you’re unsure how Brutes work, you’re also in luck, for there’s an article on this very blog on it. Just here.
Units 3,4 & 5 – 5 Ardboys, 5 Ardboys, 5 Ardboys
Screens… lots of screens… and more screens! Also helping with Hold the Line or if I need to leave some objectives with small guards. My intention is to Hand of Gork these units near the enemy and then make a charge against a relatively small unit for the bonus Waaagh points. I’ll get +1 for charging, and an additional 1 if I’m still within 3″ of enemy at the end of the combat phase – so I’ll be wanting to charge weak screens here.
Unit 6 – Marshcrawler Troggoth
My only Kruleboyz unit and one I’ve used before – in my Squig Army at BoBo. He’s not bad, doesn’t count as a Orruk (unfortunately) but gives a huge bubble for +1 to hit. Why would I need him with the Brutes getting a natural +1 often and being able to use All Out Attack? Well he’s super cheap and can reduce the ability of -1 to hit to hurt my army. Plus it’s got Grots of it… and a Troggoth! So it’s like I’m still taking Gitz.
I’ve written further about this in a past article.
Unit 7 – Gore Gruntas
Despite their points increase they are still quick (super quick with Mighty Destroyers) and I’ll use them as a screen or to gain a cheeky +1 Waaagh point if I fail a Hand of Gork on the Ardboyz. Added to this the internet says they are good, so maybe my opponents will spend too much time trying to kill them… please!!
Big Waaagh!Grand Strategy & Triumph
For my Grand Strategy I have gone with Hold the Line – 5 units of tough Orruks are going to be difficult to kill especially as I can Hand of Gork them into corners if need be. There were a few other options, but this is the one I normally use so it is easier to remember!
With 40 points spare I may get a Triumph and so Inspired will allow me to get +1 wound – probably on the Maw Krusha or on a unit of Brutes if I manage to get the Warchanter buff on them.
Finally I have one additional thing to remember on Big Waaagh – there is a Battle Tactic I can do… Wait for it Ladz is successful if you start a turn with 24 Waaagh points and end with at least 30. It means I can’t call the Waaagh (which is +1 attack), but if I get that high it’ll likely be too late to use it effectively anyway. You can also use this when already on 30 so it’s a possible last turn Battle Tactics even if I’ve not got a lot left.
Waaagh Points!
Big Waaagh was very popular in AOS2 under the previous Warclans book, but it’s taken a hit this time with fewer points awarded and fewer rewards for your time… but I think I can make it work. I tend to sit back a little and wait to see what happens (except against those with a lot of range firepower and mobility like Longstrikes, Sentinels & Bow Snakes). So I should be able to accumulate some points.
I’ll get D6+3 each turn all 3 characters are alive, so they’ll be hiding a lot and they trigger at thresholds:
8+
+1 to Run for Orruks
10+
+1 to Charge for Orruks
12+
+1 Cast, Dispel, Unbind
16+
+1 to hit in Melee for Orruks
20+
+1 to wound in Melee for Orruks
24+
Can call Waaagh. +1 attack, lose all points at end of phase
So I think I can get to 12+ with luck by turn 2 and 20+ by turn 3. The real question is whether I can stay alive long enough to crank up the Waaagh Points and get to the good stuff!
And then as a bit of fun I’m going to see if I can get top Big Waaagh player (UK). Currently this is held on 38 points from a pre-book tournament in 2021… This means with 38 players I’ll need to finish 22nd or higher – it’s possible but I may need some luck. I just need to remember that the units I am using are good – even if the allegiance ability is probably a bit weak.
If you’re at the tournament come along and say hi! I love to speak to fellow gamers.
In my summary post of 2021 I promised that we would be posting more tactica and army lists in the coming year. What better way to start that than with a kit I received for Christmas?
So the first question is what should you build? As with all tank kits I personally feel they’re way to expensive to build as a single kit with set loadout so like with all my other kits I will be magnetising the kit to make both the Manticore and the Deathstrike – I’ll post a how to once I’ve figured it out myself! 🙂
Manticore
Courtesy of the GW 40k app and Warhammer+
The Manticore is almost a standard go to unit for competition Militarum lists, with board wide range not needing line of sight and 2D6 shots hitting at S10. You only have four rockets per game, but on average a single rocket can deliver 3 hits and will wound T5 targets on 2+. But you’re probably not going to want to expend your ammo on troops, but the enemies much loved tanks however are a different kettle of fish. This will wound most tanks on 3+ meaning out of your seven shots, two to three will wound on average, with one or two of those likely to get through the targets armour after the -2 AP. With D3 damage per hit which can be improved to a flat 3 damage if you give Tank Aces: Full Payload, this will mean you’re taking on average between two to three wounds off your target in the turn (or 6 with Full Payload).
Target Toughness/Save
Av Shots
Hits
Wounds
Unsaved
T6+ with 3+ Save
7
3.5
2.3
1.5
Up to T5 with 3+ Save
7
3.5
2.9
1.9
Now that doesn’t sound ground-breaking, but remember that’s average, if you’re rolling well and you have Full Payload equipped the tank will do a further three wounds for each unsaved hit, that’s some serious punch.
The drawback is the Militarum ballistic skill, with 4+ only half your shots may hit your targets. You can improve this, firstly with an additional five points you can purchase an Augur array which will allow you to re-roll a single failed hit roll per battle for that Manticore, well worth the points if successful.
For one CP you can also use the Direct Onslaught stratagem from Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good. This allows the Manticore to add 1 to its hit roll if it can see it’s target.
I would take two Manticores in any list where I’m looking to include them. Keep them out of sight and just use them to bombard enemy high toughness targets. You’re taking two for redundancy options as your opponent will soon destroy them once he realises what they can do.
Make sure you include the 5pt Hunter-Killer missile for the single S10 shot that’s AP-2 and can do D6 damage (or flat 6 if you have Full Payload equipped). Worth the points! I then choose the Heavy Flamer and Stubber for defensive purposes in case anyone decides to charge it.
Manticore (160 points) – Augur array – Heavy Flamer – Heavy Stubber – Hunter-Killer missile
Did you know that Woehammer have a Facebook group? Why not head over there and post some pictures of your miniatures, we’ll include them in monthly hobby summary alongside our own.
Note – this article is for Ironjawz in AoS3. We are now in AoS4. Some of the article will still be relevant, but some of the rules may be different
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it.Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
With the Winter FAQ about to drop we wanted to take some time to talk about the new kids of the block, kicking butt and taking names… the Ironjawz! Since the Orruk Warclans book was released the Ironjawz have been climbing the stats and have appeared on tables everywhere in the UK and beyond.
What makes them so popular, and what is driving up this win-rate? We wanted to get the view of a tournament attendee and what better person than the Top Ironjawz player according to Bad Dice Podcast. We searched high and low, vale and dale and all across the UK but wouldn’t you know the person was sat here in Northampton all along!
I was as surprised as all our readers, so I demanded a recount… but blow me if it didn’t come up with my name again… So we’ve asked Declan to write a few words! (and talk about himself in the 3rd person for a bit for some reason).
Screenshot, before it all changes!
Who are the Ironjawz?
The Ironjawz are one of 3 allegiances within the Orruk Warclans book which was recently released. Along with Bonesplitterz and Kruleboyz they make up a book which you can run the allegiances separately (with limited model availability) or run them all in one list called Big Waaagh! Under the previous book Big Waaagh was the most popular list, but this has now pivoted to Ironjawz – although Kruleboyz are likely behind because fewer people have armies painted for them.
What is their playstyle?
Ironjawz love Smashing & Bashing and so they are an army that fights in close combat – none of the sneaky Lumineth shooting shennagins. This means that they will be attacking their opponent quickly and early in the game and hitting hard when they do so. Beware of the speed (up to 36″ + charge with the right Mount Trait) and the damage of their MawKrushas (Wyverns who fly because gravity itself is too scared to stop them).
Their Warchanters add to this damage, whilst the Gore Gruntas charge in with the MawKrushas and the Brutes slowly cross the table, before hitting like a steam train.
This means that they damage and then get damaged if the attacks don’t go as planned. So they are beatable, but as their opponent you do need to be careful.
A bit of everything in this one-drop. Apart from the Shaman… he’s at home!
Ironjawz Abilities
Ironjawz have 3 great abilities:
Smashing & Bashing – If an enemy unit is destroyed in combat by an Ironjawz unit, the Ironjawz player may immediately select another unit to fight
Mighty Destroyers – Hero phase free move if outside 12″ of enemy, pile in if within 3″ (no fighting), or charge otherwise
Waaagh – +1 to charge and -1 Rend
All of these abilities get the Ironjawz closer to the enemy, faster and they are great. A little care is needed with Mighty Destroyers as the 12″ rule for charging is regardless of whether you could make a charge or finish within 0.5″ of an opponent so a clever opponent can throw units forward to prevent the move being used.
Allegiance Abilities
There are 3 allegiance options for the Ironjawz but only two are regularly seeing play at the moment.
Ironsunz is the one I use as it gives a command ability to allow Ironsunz units to charge at the end of an opponent’s charge phase – perfect for counter charges with Brutes.
A small selection of my Brutes – the backbone of the Ironsunz!
Bloodtoofs makes Gore Gruntas battleline, and any Gore Gruntas that fought in a combat phase can make a pile in, move or charge at the end of the charge phase.
Both of these are great for speed, and getting into combat to do the Smashing and Bashing and get enemies killed. Again the Ironjawz do need to be in combat to do damage, but they do a lot whilst they are there and alive.
Megabosses – Command Abilities
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Maw Krushas and Megaboss special abilities (on their warscrolls). The Maw Krusha can issues the same command ability three times, and the Megaboss on Foot can do one twice – all for one command point. I’ve lost count of the number of redeploys I’ve done to stop Broken Ranks (step back one unit, step forward another) or Savage Spearhead (step up to my territory to stop the enemy). Or simply saving 3 units with Inspiring Presense. It’s a great ability – be warned!
Warchanters
The warchanters are the key to the army, although they only have 6 wounds on 4+ armour, but they use Vicious Fury which gives an Ironjawz unit +1 damage. This is critical to the Boars and Brutes and great on the Maw Krushas, but without it the army’s damage is severely reduced. Don’t leave home without 2 of them – and I’ve seen some Ironjawz players run 3!
Army Lists
I’ve run a few army lists that you can find in these articles
I also did well in War in the Heartlands with a similar list to my Carnage list. These are all Ironsunz lists, because I love Brutes and the counter charge ability is very complimentary to my playstyle. (Sit back, take a hit, punch… hard!)
The other army list available at the moment is Bloodtoofs and Gore Gruntas (pigs) massing for a charge. There is a 2 MawKrusha, 2 Warchanter, 24 Pigs list… and it is brutal! This list has done very well into the current meta, but before you start picking up Gore Gruntas wait for the Winter FAQ! Things may be changing.
How do I play them?
As alluded to above and with the lists in the other articles I play with 1 MawKrusha, 2 Warchanters, and lots of units – often being 10 or 11 drop. My favourite unit in the Destruction tomes – Rippa’s Snarlfangs – joins the army for some much needed speed, but you can leave these at home if you are going Bloodtoofs.
I tend to sit back, occasionally throwing the MawKrusha forward to krump, to get my Brutes in range so that I can charge in my opponent’s turn – or at least threaten to. I also make extensive use of Hand of Gork with the following combo (cheer Russ Veal of Facehammer fame for discussing this one):
Megaboss on Foot (you can use a MawKrusha) with Arcane Tome as the general. He then takes the Wizard Command Trait Touched by the Waaagh! This gives the Hand of Gork between +1 and +3 depending on causing D3 mortal wounds within 6″ (even the enemy if they are close enough). This turns a 50/50 spell into something much more likely to come off, and makes my Brutes appear in the strangest of places – exactly where my opponent doesn’t want them. Hand of Gork also forces opponents to stay on objectives in much the same way as a Fast ‘Un Maw Krusha.
How else can they play?
In a word Fast! The Bloodtoofs ability to make Gore Gruntas battleline and bringing 2 MawKrushas gives you a smashing & bashing army that no-one wants to fight. Swapping out a Maw Krusha for a Rogue Idol (Forgeworld, not in the book), means you can have a very powerful and hitty Battle Regiment – 1 drop. So you can decide who goes first. Just don’t face Morathi who can stop this tactic in it’s tracks.
How to beat them?
This being a Destruction book, it is obviously unbeatable (see also Gloomspite Gitz in the same position)… but if you wanted to beat them then you need to survive the alpha strike, and be able to do damage back to them.
Screens are coming back into the game and this is only a good thing although it does stunt the Ironjawz alpha strike capabilities. I bring 2 x Ardboyz and they are great in the mirror match either for holding objectives, or preventing the turn 1 charge by the GoreGruntas doing massive damage.
The Ironjawz are also surprisingly easy to kill – in combat or with shooting. A 4+ armour save (except for the Maw Krushas) means that most armies have something that can kill a Maw Krusha in 2 rounds, so if you can survive a charge (Morathi!) and get a few additional wounds in on the Ironjawz turn, you can be killing a Maw Krusha turn 1!
They also have very poor bravery for their size – just 6 on the Brutes & Gore Gruntas – so causing damage to multiple units can see models flee from battleshock – or means the Ironjawz player has to keep command points for inspiring presence.
Finally, remember that this is an objective game, so go after the objectives (unless your models are 1 wound and there are brutes), and don’t worry if the Ironjawz are ahead in turn 1 and 2 – it really is an alpha strike armour and a glass hammer and it can be stopped and then killed!
Good luck to the Ironjawz players out there – hope the Winter FAQ treats us well.
