Orruk Warclans: Savage Boarboy Maniaks GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The crazed Ridaz of Da Waaagh! The Savage Boarboy Maniaks embody the impetuous nature of all the orruks. Barely contained fury that gives them the strength to hunt down prey. 

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these bad boys come in at 140 pts  for 5 and Battleline only in Bonesplitterz The package comes with the ability to create 10 Savage Boarboy Maniaks or 10 Savage Boarboys equipped either with Chompas and Bone Shields or Stikkas and Shields. Once again, Games Workshop created a box that you could buy and buy and buy and still be satisfied with your purchased. 

THE WARSCROLL:

At first glance the Stat Wheel and weapon profile is actually pretty decent. Very fast, 3" faster than they were in the last book. This movement can be modified several ways. 1st is Tireless Trackers for the free 5" movement before the game starts. The unit's musician, the Boar Thumper adds 2 to the charge rolls. Which frankly is needed on a unit that is extremely fragile. Breath of Gorkamorka would be a good choice to cast on the Savage Boarboy Maniaks. On 6+ you will double their movement to 24" and give them FLY. On a successful cast that is doubles, you will triple their movement to 36". Fantastic! No longer do you have to worry about terrain or chaff screens before hitting those lone heroes or fragile missile units. 3 wounds is good on a mounted unit. 3 Wounds is good for a mounted unit on a 60x35mm base. The wound count makes it tempting to heal with a Wardokk's Grimdokk Dance. A 6+ save is as terrible as it gets. If you use them in a Bonesplitterz army, you do get your Warpaint save for another 6+ save but don't expect them to stick around. The only way to modify this is to a Wardokk's Glyphdokk Dance or by being in cover. Bravery of a 6 is pretty poor and you won't be fielding this unit in large enough numbers to really benefit from those Bravery bonuses. The Bone Totem Bearer does add 1 to your Bravery, bringing your the unit's Bravery to 7. Defense isn't where Savage Boarboy Maniaks shine, its offense. So let's take a look. 

Savage Boarboy Maniaks are all armed with a Pair of Chompas and their boars are armed with Tusks and Hooves. A whopping 4 attacks each! Each hitting on 4+ and then 3+. But combined with Maniak Fury, in units of 5 or more, they get an additional attack on their Pair of Chompas. 5! Combined with the boars attacks that's 7 without any other buffs. 

The boar mounts are no slouches either. Hitting and wounding on 4+ with 2 attacks. And on the charge they get a bonus +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound due to the Tusker Charge rule. Brutal Beast Spirits would be great when cast on a unit of 10 Savage Boarboy Maniaks, on the charge they would be dealing 51 attacks 3+ 3+ No Rend 1 damage and THEN 20 more attacks at 2+ 3+ No Rend, that's averaging 34 saves that your opponent has to make.

FACTIONS:

The Savage Boarboy Maniaks work great in any Bonesplitterz Warclan. They can be absolute missiles.

Icebone clan is the boar clan. -1 Rend for Wound rolls of a 6 is pretty useful, especially considering how many attacks these Savage Boarboy Maniaks throw out in one turn. The Icebone command ability Freeze and Run would let your Maniaks retreat at the end of the combat phase if their are wholly within 18" of an Icebone hero. This could be used to absolutely devastate a chaff screen, anvil unit in the enemies' deployment zone and then activate to steal an objective 12" or more away. Extremely useful in those battle plans. The clan artefact, Kattanak Pelt is useful for armies fielding many units of Savage Boarboy Maniaks. This will bring the units Bravery to 8 or even 9 if within 18" of a Rogue Idol. That's a serious improvement and will certainly mean that the Maniaks will be sticking around to wreck enough havoc, 

Drakkfoot clan is great. Strength of Purpose allowing you to ignore the effects of Ethereal but without rend on the Savage Boarboy Maniaks it doesn't matter much but the second part is much more useful. No save-after-saves can be taken against attacks from Drakkfoot units. There are several armies that you will face in tournament that will give you a hard time even if you play right. Many of these "scary" armies depend on the ability to shrug off wounds and keep killing. That won't happen against Drakkfoot units. Blocks of Hearthguard, Witch Aelves, any Death unit, Phoenix Guard, all lose those save-after-saves. Additionally when facing magic heavy armies,The command ability, Shout Down Da Magic can be useful to prevent any debuffs about to be cast on your precious boarbois by allowing you attempt a dispel. You won't be getting a +1 for 20 or more models, that would cost at least 560 pts.

Big Waaagh armies will most likely avoid Savage Boarboy Maniaks as they lose their Battleline status. You could create a characterful and fun force of just pigs. Using 3 units of Goregruntas as your Battleline, but now you have a problem generating Waaagh points and out-pacing your Warchanters and general to generate those points. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Fun to Paint

+ Fast 

+ Lost of attacks

- Fragile

- Low Bravery

- 1" Range

BATTALIONS:

Snaga Rukk - 120 pts. Battalion units wholly within 12" of the Maniak Weirdnob can re-roll charge rolls. I'd pass unless I was taking 4 units of Savage Boarboy Maniaks. The Maniaks move fast enough, can be buffed in the Hero phase with additional movement, can move an extra 5" before the game starts, and get a bonus on the charge rolls that this really isn't necessary. You can still re-roll for a command point but save 120 pts. 

WRAP UP:

If you're looking for a fast kickass unit that will cause chaos before exploding, you'll find nothing better than Savage Boarboy Maniaks. Sure they have low Bravery and a terrible Save, but they can chop up anything with 5+ save in one combat phase.  Two units of 10 work great as a hammer to the anvil of 2 blocks of 30 Savage Orruks. 

GRADE: B

Orruk Warclans: Rogue Idol GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 this big boi comes in at 400 points of pure awesome and counts as a Behemoth. This big beautiful bastard has all of the keywords that we care about when it comes to buffing; ORRUK, BONESPLITTERZ, IRONJAWZ and GREENSKINZ.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel is good for how expensive he is. 10" Movement is great. With Breath of Gorkamorka this earth and dung elemental can be flying 20" to 30" in a turn. If included in a Bonesplitterz army, he can also use the Tireless Trackers ability to move 5" before the game starts. If included in an Ironjawz list he can benefit from Mad As Hell, allowing him to move D6" each phase in which he took any wounds or mortal wounds. If included into a Big Waaagh! army, the first Waaagh! ability unlocked is Zog 'Em, which allows the same thing, D6" movement if you took wounds or mortal wounds in a phase. He can even be selected for Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork from the Ironjawz spell lore.

16 wounds and a 4+ save is fantastic. He also comes with Da Big 'Un special rule, which allows you to shrug off wounds on a 5+. Of course this can be buffed further in this book since we have so many ways to layer our defenses. If you take the Rogue Idol in a Bonesplitterz army, it gets another 6+ after-save. The Wardokk can use either Glyphdokk Dance to give the Rogue Idol a 3+ Save or use Grimdokk Dance to heal the Idol D3 Wounds. You can even get to a 2+ Save if you also cast Kunnin' Beast Spirits on the idol. Combined this makes the Rogue Idol extremely hard to remove, even against mortal wounds, which he would have a 5+ then 6+ to save against them.  

Bravery 10 doesn't matter much on a single model but it's actually Bravery 11 due to the Livin' Idol affecting itself.

The Rogue Idols has 2 attacks with its Boulder Fists has a Range of 3"! hitting on 3+ wound on 2+ (degrading) -2 Rend and D6 Damage. This is comparable to any dragon's bite. The Boulder Fists stay reliable until the Rogue Idol has suffered 14 wounds and by that time, the game is over or your line has moved up to support the big guy. The Stompin' Feet has a range of 2" with 10 attacks (degrading) hitting on 3+ wounding on 3+ -2 Rend and 2 Damage each. That's a lot of damage!  That's about 10.8 Damage against a 4+ Save unit. 

Since the Rogue Idol has both the Ironjawz keyword and Bonesplitterz keyword lets see what kind of nasty shit we can come up with. Any ability to allow exploding 6s to Hit will work well with the 12 attacks the Idol can throw out.  That includes the Savage Big Boss's command ability Savage Attack, the Maniak Weirdnob's warscoll spell Bone Spirit and the Bonegrinz warclan command ability Feel Da Spirit! The Damage on the Boulder Fists can be increased to D6+1 and Stompin' Feet can be increased to 3 Damage by the Warchanter's Violent Fury ability. The Rogue Idol has the Spirit of the Waaagh! ability on his warscroll that allows him to reroll Hit rolls of 1 if he made a charge that turn. With the movement of this thing, you usually won't be on the receiving end of charges. 

There are several ways to give this guy +1 to Hit. Smash 'Em from the Big Waaagh!'s 16 Waaagh! point ability. For Ironjawz armies, the Megaboss on Mawkrusha or Megaboss on foot can use a command point for Go on Ladz, Get Stuck In!. Or you can use Killa Beat from the Warchanter to tack this on the enemy unit that is about to be beat into the ground.  Bonesplitterz player can cast Brutal Beast Spirits for the +1 to run, charge and Hit rolls. '

To get +1 to Wound. You will need to get 20 Waaagh points in a Big Waaagh! army. Ironjawz casters can cast Bash 'Em Ladz! to get a bubble of +1 to Wound around the caster. The Orruk Warboss with Great Waaagh! Banner which allows reroll of 1s to Wound if the idol is within 16" of the Warboss in the combat phase.

Livin' Idol is probably one of the most needed buffs in any Orruk army. The ability states that Orruk (and Grot) Wizards within 6" add 1 to their casting rolls. This is extremely useful for Bonesplitterz casters and for those lone Ironjawz casters. The Livin' Idol ability ALSO gives Orruk (and Grot) units that are wholly within 18" +1 to Bravery. This is incredible! This shores up two deficiencies in most Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz lists. 

 

FACTIONS:

Rogue Idols can fit in any army, Ironjawz, Bonesplitterz or Big Waaagh! but some better than others.

Bonesplitterz - If you choose a certain warclan or not you'll get a few things that could be useful for the Rogue Idol. Tireless Tracker, that allows him to move 5" before the game starts. Great for setting up the Rogue Idol for a first turn charge or to protect him from receiving the charge. Monster Hunters is a great rule for the Rogue Idol if you remember that he also gets it. +1 to Hit other Monsters (2+) is absolutely fantastic. As far as the math breaks down, you gain about a 50% increase in damage dealt if you charge a Monster and choose Stab! Stab! Stab!. And of course we've already spoke about Warpaint,  another chance albeit a 6+, to ignore mortal wounds or normal wounds is always helpful.

Bonegrinz-  The warclan trait, Bring It On can get your enemy's units in a bad match up against the Rogue Idol, but he'd be taking the charge. Being unable to retreat once in combat, is great if you're fighting armies that like to flee and charge later like Skaven. The command ability, Feel Da Spirit! will net you an average of 2 extra hits, which can make a big difference.

Icebone -  The warclan trait, Freezing Strike can be good against those Ossiarch Bonereapers, Seraphon or Stormcast Eternals players that love their high Saves; -3 Rend will do work. The command ability doesn't affect the Rogue Idol. The warclan artifact, Kattanak Pelt likewise doesn't really matter to the Rogue Idol. Pass. 

Drakkfoot -  The warclan trait, Freezing Strike really comes into play with a Rogue Idol... or two. -2 Rend vs Ethereal models means that they only get a 6+ Save and no Deathless Minions 6+ Save. Goodbye Hearthguard Berserkers, Witch Aelves, Phoenix Guard! The warclan command ability to Shout Down Da Magic doesn't really help a whole lot since the Rogue Idol won't be getting the +1 to dispel. 

Ironjawz- If you choose to pick a major Ironjawz warclan or not, there are a few benefits for big daddy rock elemental. Mad As Hell, as discussed before can be used to move the Rogue Idol in any phase in which he suffered any wounds or mortal wounds. It's great for closing the distance or making enemy charges harder. Eager for Battle, gives your big guy +1 to charge, which is always useful. Mighty Destroyer being used on Rogue Idol can be a true nightmare for your opponent. Fighting in the Hero phase is a great way to take care of those units with a few stragglers so you can move onto stomping other units or setting yourself up to trigger Smashin' and Bashin' in the combat phase. Smashin' and Bashin'! One of the best abilities in the entire game and our thiccboi gets it. Kill a unit and fight somewhere else immediately. With the amount of attacks and the damage coming from the Rogue Idol natively, you can easily start a Smashin' and Bashin' train to victory.  

Ironsunz - If you Mighty Destroyers your Rogue Idol on turn 1, then absolutely yes. You'll be able to take advantage of the warclan trait of -1 to Hit for as long as possible and be able to punch your enemy in the face. Good thing you get an extra command point for the mandatory general trait. The warclan ability to counter charge can be useful but I always find it better as a deterrent on my opponent's turn and using Mighty Destroyers on my turn.

Bloodtoofs - MOAR SPEEED! YES. The warclan trait combined with Eager for Battle means this big guy gets +2 to charge. The warclan artifact, the Quickduff Amulet is more useful on a large unit of Ardboyz or a unit of 10 Brutes. Get to Da Realmgate! could be useful to get more movement, onto an objective since not much will survive long against a creature with chariot sized fists.

Da Choppas -  The warclan command ability doesn't effect you. The rerolling charges when near a terrain feature in enemy territory does. Which can be very useful. The warclan artifact doesn't really apply those this single model unit already with bravery 11.

Big Waaagh -  Imagine all the buffs in the book. Now back to me. Now imagine all those buffs on the Rogue Idol. Now back to me. I'm happy. Look at you. You're happy. Big Waaagh allows the Rogue Idol to truly have it all. Another after save, moving after being damaged,  +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound.  You also have the opportunity to mix those faction specific buffs such as the Wardokk and Warchanter. The only problem is that you lose a lot of boyz. 400 pts is a lot boyz. And that is the fuel that Big Waaagh needs to burn the realms down.

PROS & CONS:

+ Killy

+ Resilent w/After Save

+ Fast for a foot monster

+ Lost of attacks

+ Can take ALL the buffs

- A huge target

- Difficult to put together

- $112 USD

BATTALIONS:

NONE! But who cares!

WRAP UP:

In Bonesplitterz armies, the Rogue Idol is definitely a MUST INCLUDE item. With a major source of Rend on a thicc boi with 16 wounds and saves out the ass, its hard to argue. But then he gives +1 to cast on all your needed spells and gives you +1 Bravery to all those Savage Orruks and Arrowboys you're taking. In Ironjawz, I can see instead taking a Megaboss on Mawkrusha

GRADE: A

Orruk Warclans: Savage Orruks GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The wild fury made manifest. Waaagh Energy incarnate. The Savage Orruks of the Bonesplitterz are nothing less of a natural fury, like the wild places of the realm grew legs and battered aside all civilizations that were unlucky enough to fall in its path. Innumerable beyond counting. Crazed beyond reason. Reckless without abandon.  

The Savage Orruks are the stereotypical orruk left out to bake in the sun. Only the raw Waaagh to cloth him, and anything solid in his hands to protect him. He is the true embodiment of Gorkamorka's will to destroy.

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these bad boys come in at 120 pts  for 10, with a horde discount at 30 Savage Orruks for 300 pts. Fantastic value. Battleline in Bonesplitterz or Big Waaagh! armies. The package comes with the ability to create 20 Savage Orruks armed with either Chompas and Shields, Stikkas and Shields, a Chompa and a Tooth Shiv or Bows. 4 of the Savage Orruks can instead be equipped with a Big Stabba. This box is honestly one of the best values you will get from Games Workshop.  Being able to create Savage Orruks, Morboys, Arrowboys and/or Big Stabbas is fantastic. Not only that, but none of those units are bad, or feel like a tax for battalion. Games Workshop really put in the effort to fix the old Bonesplitterz and bring them into a new age. The Time of the Orruk.

THE WARSCROLL:

Well, the Warscroll is underwhelming. But let's see what we are working with here. 5" Move is average for non-aelf infantry battleline. Remember that if you are going Big Waaagh! you will be getting Zog 'Em as the first Waaagh Power, this ability allows you to move D6" every phase in which that unit took damage. Alternatively, in Bonesplitterz you can pick a big block of Savage Orruks to use the Tireless Trackers allegiance rule to move 5" at the start of the game.  The Skull Thumper, the musician of the unit, adds 2 to this unit's charge roll, which amazing. Never failing 3" charges is a life-saver. 2 wounds is fantastic for the price point on these units, usually doubling the amount of similarly priced units. Keep in mind that Wardokks do have a healing dance if you really need to save that one boy, but I'd save the healing for Rogue Idols. 5 Bravery is absolutely terrible, but average for non-Death, non-Daemon Battleline units. This is augmented by the Bone Totem Bearer for +1. If you get a large unit of 30 (which I highly recommend) you'll end up at Bravery 9, hitting Bravery 10 if there is a Rogue Idol nearby (which I also highly recommend). 

At first glance it seems like the Warboss has a real choice between Chompas and Savage Stikkas. In reality, sorry, its not the case. In ever scenario Chompas are outperformed by Savage Stikkas. The simple fact is that when you are taking 20-30 Orruks you really want them to fight in two ranks. If you want a small unit of boyz, just take Morboys. A quick look at Spirit of Gorkamorka gives you reason enough to always take blocks of 20-30 Savage Orruks. Getting +1 Attack to the melee weapons of the unit, while that unit has 15 or more models. Devastating! Large blocks of Savage Orruks with Savage Stikkas can have 91 attacks with only their warscroll buffs. If you are so inclined you can always cast Brutal Beasts Spirits on the orruks to give a +1 to Hit. The amount of attacks that this block of orruks can deal will shred chaff. If a MONSTER decides to enter the fray, you will average about 7.7 mortal wounds before any saves are made if you choose Berserk Strength from the Monster Hunters trait. The Savage Big Boss, which often accompanies large blocks of Savage Orruks, has a great ability called Let Me at 'Em, which would allow a unit of Savage Orruks wholly within 12" to fight right after the Savage Big Boss fights. Which is amazing and adds a tool in our tool box to fight in the Activation Wars. The Savage Big Boss also can use his command ability, Savage Attack on the unit. This will make any 6s to Hit in the combat phase count as 2 hits instead 1. Lastly the Maniak Weirdnob can cast his spell, Bone Spirit, which lasts until your next Hero phase (this is longer than Savage Attack) and does the same thing, 6s to Hit count as 2 hits instead of 1. Interestingly enough, the book states that these two types of effects can stack, so if both are on the Savage Orruks, each hit of a 6 deals 3 hits. I assume you can still use the Bonegrinz warclan for 4 hits!

The 6+ Save is terrible. This can be augmented several ways. Bone Shields lets your Savage Orruks have a 5+ Save in melee instead of 6+. Not great but it turns a shit save to an average save. Let's stop here for a second before moving on.Combined with the 6+ Save-after-Save from either the Bonesplitterz Warpaint allegiance ability or the Big Waaagh! Laugh at 'Em Waaagh ability, this takes our Savage Orruks into a solid ANVIL territory. 60 wounds, 5+ Save and a 6+ Warpaint save is very good. Very few units will be able to chew through your Savage Orruks blocks before being ground down. Additionally, the Wardokk's Glyphdokk Dance will improve this Save to 4+ on a 3+. Solid. The Wardokk can cast Kunnin' Beast Spirits on them. Give them another +1. Taking what on the surface is a fragile unit to at 3+ Save 6+ after Save nightmare.

FACTIONS:

The Savage Orruks work great in any Bonesplitterz Warclan and can fit into some Big Waaagh! armies. 

The Bonegrinz Trait, Bring It On! which makes it impossible for enemies to retreat from you, and enemies within 12" MUST declare a charge if able; is absolutely crazy for board control. Armies that have precise battle strategies, layers of chaff and close support structures for abilities lose all of that if they get too close to this giant tarpit of a unit. Bonegrinz has a fantastically useful command ability, Feel Da Spirit, which gives causes a 6 to hit to deal 2 hits instead of 1, which on a 30 Savage Orruk block gives 15 extra hits.

Icebone clan is a hit or miss for the Savage Orruks and sometimes I feel like its a trap when I'm in the middle of a game and rolling dice. The clan trait is useful in both melee and shooting; but in the end the -1 to Rend on a wound roll of 6, just adds time to the game without much benefit. Of course when you are rolling hot and score those magic 6s you feel great, but that's not likely.  The Icebone command ability Freeze and Run doesn't affect Savage Orruk units. The clan artefact, Kattanak Pelt is useful for small units of Savage Orruks, but with the larger blocks its a bit redundant. 

Drakkfoot clan is my favorite. Is the clan trait, Strength of Purpose, always useful? No, but when it is, you thank Gorkamorka you made the right decision. Ignoring the effects of Ethereal doesn't help much with the footsloggin' Savage Orruks who have no Rend at all, but no save-after-saves can be taken against attacks from Drakkfoot units. There are several armies that you will face in tournament that will give you a hard time even if you play right. Many of these "scary" armies depend on the ability to shrug off wounds and keep killing. That won't happen against Drakkfoot units. Blocks of Hearthguard, Witch Aelves, any Death unit, Phoenix Guard, all lose those save-after-saves. Additionally when facing magic heavy armies, you can Shout Down Da Magic by using this command ability. Best of all, those large blocks of Savage Orruks get +1 to that dispel attempt. 

Big Waaagh armies might use Savage Orruks as screening units or cheap Waaagh energy batteries. However I think that in those lists its better to have large units of Ard Boyz instead. Too much is lost when taking the Savage Orruks out of Bonesplitterz.

PROS & CONS:

+ Easy to Paint

+ Cheap blocks 

+ Solid anvil

+ Lost of attacks

+ In built mortal wounds

- Fragile to shooting

- Really only one choice for weaponry

BATTALIONS:

Brutal Rukk - 140 pts. Battalion units wholly within 12" of the Savage Big Boss can run and charge. This can be fantastic and a great way to get the first turn charge. 5" movement before the game starts from Tireless Trackers, 5" for movement, average 3 for running, with an average charge of 9" due to the Skull Thumper. Let Me At 'Em is great for when you get to melee but needs some precise aura management.

Kunnin Rukk - 140 pts. Still fantastic but no so much for Savage Orruks. Max of 20 Savage Orruks in the battalion but you can still use the Savage Big Boss to strike right after he strikes in melee due to his Let Me At 'Em. The free movement in the Hero phase is great but you'd be using that alternate to that ability to shoot in the Hero phase instead. 

WRAP UP:

The Savage Orruks really made a huge transformation from its previous book to Age of Sigmar 2.0. 3x the attacks. Better saves. A lot more synergies. There is really nothing that this unit can't do. Movement tricks? Yep. Stick on an objective through the whole game? Yep. Kill a Monster? Yep. Grind through chaff? Yep. Kill Gotrek? YEP! Seriously, they can do anything you want, the best 300 points you'll ever spend. 

GRADE: A

Orruk Warclans: Gore-Gruntas GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The wild vanguard. The tip of the jagged spear. The thundering destruction. The Goregrunta is the armored knights of the Ironjawz faction. Riding giant boars straight into the fray, the brutes on top reap a terrible toll on whatever unfortunate souls are caught in their charge. 

OVERVIEW:

The Gore-Gruntas play an interesting role in the Ironjawz army. Fast enough to careen into the enemy first turn, tough enough to slug it out with heavy hitters but unable to capture most objectives. Slow enough to be unable to catch those truly fast units. Not good enough to trample through chaff but strong enough to not be ignored by the enemy.

THE WARSCROLL:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these bad boys come in at 160 pts (up from 140 pts) for 3. Battleline in both Ironjawz armies and Big Waaagh! armies. I find Goregruntas to be most effective in units of 6 which will run you 320 points and 30 wounds. They gained +1 Attack from the last book, which seems to be why they went up in points.

The Stat Wheel seems pretty good. Average movement for a mounted unit at 9", which can be augmented by Mad As Hell and Mighty Destroyer. No flying. No other movement tricks save the teleport. 

Weaponry will be the big question for Warbosses choosing to field Gore-Gruntas. If you're using Ironjawz faction, I'd use Jagged Gore-Hackas. If you're using the Gore-Gruntas in a Big Waaagh! list, I'd use Pig Iron Choppas. The bonus on the charge is lost after getting 20 Waaagh Points. 

A huge problem with the Gore-Gruntas is that there are no inherent buffs such as +1 Bravery or +1 to charge. However the Bravery is one more than Brutes and is native on the warscroll. 

 

Gore-Grunta Charge got better since the last book. No more will you have to make those long charges in hopes of dealing D3 Damage instead of 1 on the Tusks and Hooves. Now we have a vastly more useful ability. +1 to Hit and +1 to wound will also be useful. Especially when buffed with Violent Frenzy from the Warchanter or further improved upon by Go On Ladz, Get Stuck In! or Waaagh Point buffs. 

Rolling a D6 after the charge move for each model within 1" sounds good but in the best case scenario is only going to amount to 3 mortal wounds. Yes, some mortal wounds are better than none, but at what cost? However, the ability says "after a charge move", so this applies when you use Mighty Destroyer in the Hero phase to charge in or in the enemy charge phase if you use the Ironsunz command ability.

Gore-Gruntas are best used in two of the Ironjawz warclans. Ironsunz and Bloodtoofs. Da Choppas is not really a viable choice for Gore-grunta heavy lists. The warclan ability will still work for the re-rolling charge rolls but the Bravery boost from the Aretefact is wasted and the command ability can not affect Gore-Gruntas.

Ironsunz will let you capitalize on the -1 to Hit debuff your enemy is suffering 1st turn. Combined with a Gorefist, and getting first turn will allow you to take the most advantage of the debuff. 

Bloodtoofs allows the Gore-Gruntas to capitalize on their speed. The +1 to run and charges is a great addition to a unit that loves to charge. Combined with the native Ironjawz buff, that's +2 to charge. If you get lucky you might be able to trigger Get to da Realmgate! after destroying a small unit of chaff and sit on an objective.

PROS & CONS:

+ Fun to Paint

+ Cheap on eBay

+ Potential to kill anything

+ High Bravery

+ Lost of attacks

+ In built mortal wounds

- Charge dependent 

- Weapons decide your faction

- The ears! THE EARS!!!

- Expensive per Model

BATTALIONS:

Ironfist - A unit of 6 Gore-Gruntas is a great choice for the Big Boss of an Ironfist. With the high movement value and killing power, Mighty Destroyer will never be wasted. 

Gorefist - Gorefist has changed wordings but functionally stayed the same in this book. Gorefist + Gordrakk used to be the winning combination for an Alpha Strike that even Gorkamorka would respect.  Now, we just have a better option in the Ironfist. Unless you really need all of your units of Gore-gruntas charging, you'd be better served with fighting in the Hero phase in later turns.

WRAP UP:

Let's be honest and realistic for a minute here.  A fully buffed unit of Gore-Gruntas is going to destroy pretty much anything it touches. A partial buffed unit can destroy most things in the game. A non buffed unit can slug it out and waste 2 combats. You make 2 gambles with this unit, once for the weapon choice, and again on the charge. Whichever way you choose, you will feel like you chose wrong. Will they under-perform for their points? No. Will they deliver the battle on their own? No. Does it feel like Christmas when you wipe a unit out with 6 models? HELL YEAH. If you don't want to gamble with a huge potential pay-off, why even play Orruk Warclans. Tough, fast, killy. What's not to love. Just remember to buff em before they move to far away. 

GRADE: B

Orruk Warclans: Ardboyz GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The iron host, the horde, the green tide, the great green menace. When you think of orruks, you think of the unending tide of green skin, heaving muscles, barbaric rage surging across the landscape to burn and pillage everything they can touch. The pinnacle of Gorkamorka's fury is found in the Ardboyz. 

OVERVIEW:

The Ardboyz are the heart and soul of the Ironjawz, of the orruks and I would go even as far as saying as the whole Destruction allegiance.  Everything about the Ironjawz is concentrated into the Ardboyz. Tough and killy and just cunnin' enough to sucker punch the enemy when he's not lookin'. One of the best units in Ironjawz even among the star-studded list. Competitive in both Ironjawz exclusive lists and Big Waaagh lists. You'll ask me "Chaos Spawn, are you telling me that Ardboyz can do everything?" and that answer would be YES, yes they can. 

THE WARSCROLL:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these bad boys come in at 90 pts for 5. Only becoming Battleline for Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz in units sizes of 10 or more. That's perfectly fine. I take them in 10-15 and usually 40-60 in every list. Seriously. Unless it's a niche-list like a Gorefist, I take as many as I can. 

The Stat Wheel isn't impressive. Slow. Average save at a 4+, average wounds (2). Low Bravery (6). The attack profile is quite good for a cheap(ish) Battleline unit. Stuck on 32mm, and 1" Range weapons means you'll only ever get 1 rank into combat at a time. But that will be enough to grind through the opponent. 

The first hint of flavor we taste from the Ardboyz is that their unit composition is COMPLICATED. In the best circumstance of 10 Ardboyz you will have 1 Ardboy Boss, 1 Waaagh! Drummer, 1 Gorkamorka Banner Bearer, 1 Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer 4 Ardboyz with Orruk-forged Shields and 2 with regular Ardboy Choppas. 

 

The Ardboy Boss is the king among unit champions. Having 2 EXTRA attacks is phenomenal and multiplicative with the Violent Frenzy buff from the Warchanter. The Waaagh Drummer is another great addition the a normally slow unit by adding 2 to the charge rolls. In any army that loves to be stuck in combat, you'll have no problem getting your units of Ardboyz across the table to krump the enemy. The Gorkamorka Banner Bearer is a must-have, if you want to only include one banner in your units, take this one. Granting +2 Bravery is a god-send for this elite infantry unit. No longer in danger of losing models when one Ardboy falls means they will stick around until far longer. The Gorkamorka Glyph Bearer is a nice-to-have. Bravery in most armies is not even a thought, but when you start to do that damage, another model fleeing can make the difference between securing an objective or losing it. 

All of these extra components are worth it and are worth making sure you have the right bits in each unit. So be mindful of where each Ardboy is when you remove causalities or you might just screw yourself out of 2 points of Bravery or extra charge range.

The last ability on this lovely warscroll is the Orruk-forged Shield. Not as nice as many other shield abilities, but its better than nothing. From last edition, its more of a nerf. Each Ardboy could equip a shield instead of 2 out of 5 now. Keep in mind that this rule does not affect MORTAL WOUNDS, as wounds and mortal wounds are different. This is just effective enough to make yourself add shields onto your Ardboyz, but little enough to make you think you might be wasting your time. 

The Ardboyz are just cheap enough, just tough enough, just killy enough where you will feel confident throwing them at the enemy buffed or not. If they die, so what, it was a cheap unit and absorbed lots of damage. Maybe you threw Go On Ladz, Get Stuck In! or Killa Beat and a Violent Frenzy on a unit of 10. Well they can now reliably deal 16 wounds AFTER saving throws. 

One Ironjawz warclan really stand out for the Ardboyz-centric warboss. DA CHOPPAS. They have a fantastic relic to help buff those Bravery numbers and a Command Ability that makes Violent Frenzy affect D3 Ardboyz units instead of 1. 

Big Waaagh is also a great place for the Ardboy hordes. The large unit sizes and amount of boyz you can fit within 18" means that you can maximize on how many Waaagh points you can get each turn. Taking units of 10+ will allow you to claim them as Battleline and also gather more Waaagh points when you make those charge and activate in combat. Once you get to the hallowed level of 20 Waaagh Points, your Ardboyz are now on 2+/2+. A true threat. 

 

PROS & CONS:

+ Cheap

+ After Save

+ Buff Sponge

+ Cheap on eBay

- Love it or Hate it model

- Terrible to Paint

- Requires Buffs to really shine

Painting the hordes and hordes of Ardboyz is probably the worst part.

BATTALIONS:

Ironfist - which can fit 4 units of Ardboyz and 1 unit of either Goregruntas or Brutes and still be completely competitive. A free fight in the Hero phase or move, can help you screen an objective or slaughter those last few survivors to get to the next big fight.

Ardfist - made for those madladz like me who love hordes and hordes of Ardboyz. Allowing you to attempt to bring back units of slain Ardboyz on a 4+. You'll be taking Warchanters if you are taking Ardboyz anyways. Ardfist is particularly good in Big Waaagh since those new units are affected by Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em Waaagh abilities, making them immediate and dangerous threats on the table edges. 

Moggorz's Rekrootin' Krew - From the White Dwarf. Gives your Ardboys immunity to battleshock. Not too useful. Your Ardboyz are almost immune already considering the bravery buff, unit size buff, Rogue Idol buff and possible auto-pass with a CP. 

WRAP UP:

While needing a little love in the buff department, the Ardboyz can really do and be anything for the warboss who fields them. Always herded into battle by a Warchanter, they can take on anything. 'Ard as Nails and absolutely cunningly brutal. A true Testament of Gorkamorka's finest. 

GRADE: A

Orruk Warclans: Megaboss GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

When you hear the sound of the WAAAGH, you often imagine a huge hulking greenskin bellowing as his underlings surge past him. This is the warboss, the chieftain, the clan leader, the Megaboss. In Orruk Warclans we have such a creature.

OVERVIEW:

The Megaboss is an iconic figure in every Greenskins army in Age of Sigmar. He is often the best fighter, the most cunning and of course the most brutal. At least in the lore. On tabletop, it can be a bit different but that's always how things go. This monster of a foot-character can punch up, killing characters twice his points or be stuck footslogging with the rest of the horde. So lets dive in and take a look at the Megaboss.

THE WARSCROLL:

As of General's Handbook 2019 this bad boy comes in at only 150 pts. Which is an absolute steal when you take a look at what you get.

Taking a cursory look at his Stat Wheel you can gather that this is a slow moving but tough foot Hero. The movement can be overcome by the Thermalrider Cloak if you are trying to keep up with Goregruntas but the 4" is on par with all the other Ironjawz infantry. Keep in mine that if you're going Ironjawz allegiance you will be move from Mad As Hell and from using the Mighty Destroyer command ability. 

Melee is where all Ironjawz shine and the Megaboss stand head and shoulders (literally) above the others.  6 attacks at 3+ 3+ -1 and 2 Damage is great for only 150 pts but when combined with Realm artifacts or Ironjawz artefacts, he can chew through just about anything in a turn or two. While many heroes, including melee specialized heroes only have 3 attacks at 3+ 3+ -1 D3 damage, the Megaboss is throwing double or quadruple that in combat. 

The Rip-Toof Fist used to be a weapon with a shit profile that didn't really do much. Now its always on, and always worth watching for. Dealing a few mortal wounds back to a Hero during a crucial combat phase can turn the tide of the whole game. But it is easy to forget in the haze of dice rolling. 

Strength from Victory is probably the coolest improvement to the Megaboss and Megaboss on Mawkrusha in the whole Orruk Warclans book. Instead of just relying on killing a Hero specifically with the Choppa, now it works no matter who the Megaboss is fighting. Plowing through skeletons, you're getting more wounds and attacks. Plowing through human sized Heroes, more wounds and attacks and triggering Smashin' and Bashin'.

The Megaboss lost the 5" reroll 1s to Hit buff to Brutes and kept the same Go on Ladz, Get Stuck In! command ability that he had before. Thankfully it has been updated for AoS 2.0 with the new wordings of wholly within. Also the ability can only be triggered at the start of the combat phase and only lasts until the END OF THAT phase. It does not last until YOUR NEXT phase like many other buffs do. Like the Warchanter Violent Frenzy. Note, that this CANNOT work with Mighty Destroyers that trigger in the Hero phase. While this ability is okay in my book, I rather use my command points on as many Mighty Destroyer extra fights in the Hero phase as I possibly can. Unlike the Violent Frenzy, you also can use this before teleporting your large group of Ard Boyz in front of the enemy.  

While the Megaboss doesn't have a great command ability, he can use the Mighty Destroyer ability as well as the Ironjawz/Great Waaagh Waaagh ability. 

Mighty Destroyers for those new to the Ironjawz game, is probably the most powerful ability the Greenskins have. It allows a unit around the Hero to do one of 3 things depending on distance away from the closest enemy unit. That unit can move if outside 12", charge if within 12" or pile in and attack if within 3". If you are interested in going in depth into the Ironjawz faction abilities, check out the article. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Sturdy

+ Self Heal

+ Great attack profile

+ Good value

- Poor warscroll command ability

- No after saves 

- Pivotal model that is easy to snipe

- Lost Brute buff

BATTALIONS:

He's not need for any Matched Play battalion save the Bossfist from White Dwarf. In that battalion, the Megaboss are actually a tax.

ARTIFACTS:

While the Megaboss doesn't really need an artifact to bust heads, he can certainly shove a shiny sword up the ass of a Stardrake. With the prevalence of mortal wounds, he might not even make it combat. 

Thermalrider Cloak - +4 movement and fly is amazing for such a slow model. Not only does this give you an excuse to make a Megaboss riding a goregrunta but it works well with the extra movement from Mighty Destroyers. This will allow that slow Megaboss to keep pace with the Goregruntas or a Gorefist or to snipe those weedy support heroes behind the main lines.

Metalrippers Claw - This give the Boss Choppa -3 Rend instead of -1. This is certainly better than -1 but its not only that. There are many units in the game now that reduce or ignore -1 Rend altogether. This pretty much guarentees whatever the Megaboss touches will be taking wounds. Just watch out for those ghosty-bois. 

Gryphfeather Charm - +1 Movement and -1 to Hit. Very good at keeping your Megaboss general alive. Especially useful in Ironsunz for -2 in the first turn. In lower point games (1000 or under) this is basically a must. It makes your wholly within ranges more manageable with the 1" leeway in movement.  

Ethereal Amulet - Reserved for Megaboss on Mawkrusha. If you're trying to keep your Megaboss alive, go with the Gryphfeather Charm. 

WRAP UP:

While this model certainly had a place last book, it doesn't really have one this time around. For 300 more points I can have a Mawkrusha that kills 3 times as much in a turn. While he is pretty cheap, I also always cut him first in favor of another Warchanter.

GRADE: C