Gloomspite Gitz: Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig GHB2020

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The dukes and marquis of the Under-Dank. These regal and brave nobles lead their knights and squires into battle atop mighty steeds girded for battle. When you hear the thunderous bouncing and look to the horizon, what do you see leading the horde? THE LOONBOSS ON GIANT CAVE SQUIG!

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig will run you 110 points. Games Workshop sells a few sculpts of the these little brave or crazy gobbos in Plastic, Finecast or Forgeworld. The newer plastic Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig goes for about $35 USD, while the resin Forgeworld one sells for about $58 USD. Both sculpts look great the one with the shield is a little dated but who cares. 

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel - The Move is random but you get to FLY. 2D6" but will most likely be 7+3" using the command ability Let's Get Bouncing! Frankly it's fun once you get used to the randomness of the whole army in general. So don't get discourged by it if you're new to Gloomspite and the grot/goblin shenanigans. Wounds of 6 is standard for a human sized mounted Hero. 4+ Save is average too. Bravery 6 is a little low but it doesn't really matter in Age of Sigmar for the majority of cases. So everything is looking good so far. 

The Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig only has melee weapons and that makes sense. I imagine it would be hard to shoot a bow or a handgun while bouncing all over the place. When you pick this Loonboss, you need to pick if the rider has a Moon-cutta or Moonclan Stabba. One is a sword or sickle and the other is a spear or lance. At bare value the two are statistically the same. Once you start adding buffs to wound, like we regularly get from the Loonboss on Mangler Squigs' command ability Bite Da Moon! the math slightly moves in the favor of the Moon-Cutta but that disregards the Range benefit given to the Moonclan Stabba. All in all, it really doesn't matter much its only about 0.8 wounds inflicted on a 4+ Save model. The damage comes from the Giant Cave Squig, DUH! The squig fights with a Massive Fang-filled Gob. This attack profile is approximately what is on every other 100 point foot Hero in Age of Sigmar. 4 Attacks, hitting on 4+, wounding on 3+ with -1 Rend, dealing D3 Damage. That's about 1.8 damage for a grand total of almost 3 damage per combat round without buffs. With just Bite Da Moon!you're little guy is dealing about 3.4 wounds vs 4+ Save. Remember there is a definitive lack of +1 to Hit in the whole army, the only way to get it is from the Anvil of Apotheosis. Not too shabby for a gobbo that's used to living in filth and wearing dirty rags.  

The Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig does have access to rerolls once per game with the Redcap Mushrooms ability. You get to reroll hit and wounds for the Loonboss's weapons only, not the mount. It feels good to remember to use but in the end it doesn't end up doing much damage. It's nice to think that the gobbo attached to the giant bouncing squig is getting high while fighting desperately for his little life. The real reason you take this guy in a squig heavy list is the Command Ability. The Loonboss' command ability is called Let's Get Bouncing! and in so many words it basically says that the SQUIG units wholly within range get +3" to their movement. This is great news for an army full of random movement. This works on all sorts of units, Squig Hoppers, Mangler Squigs including the Loonboss on Mangler Squigs, Squig Herds, Boingrot Bounderz, the Squig Gobbla and the beautiful yet dangerous Colossal Squig. This does NOT affect some units that have squigs in or on them such as the Fungoid Cave Shaman, Sneaky Snufflers, Zarbag's Gitz or Loonboss WITH Giant Cave Squig. 

   

BATTALIONS:

Squigalanche (Super battalion) - 90 pts. 760 pts Minimum. 

COMMAND TRAITS:

Most of the time, this beautiful bastard will not be your general but in those smaller games where you aren't taking a Loonboss on Mangler Squigs, he's not a bad choice.

Tough n Leathery - +2 Wounds. Not bad at all. Your Loonboss's Wounds goes to 8 which is good for the type of character that he is. He doesn't need to shy away from combat, but you still don't want to throw him in the middle of a clusterfuck like you would with a Mawkrusha or Loonboss on Mangler Squigs. Its a great choice if you find that you have enough Command Points or CP generation or your meta has a lot of character sniping abilities such as magic mortal wound spam or shooting from KO (Kharadron Overlords) or LRL (Lumineth Realm Lords) or Seraphon.

Deady Shouty - You can use your command ability for free once per battle round. You'll definitely be using the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig's command ability to let your squigs within range to get +3" movement in the first and second turn. After that though, maybe on the 5th turn Bad Moon-willing for those late game objective captures. Certainly the best choice out of the bunch! 

ARTIFACTS:

The Trogodytic Treasures are pretty useless for a Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig. Only one really seems useful but I take it every time... but not on this guy

The Clammy Cowl  -  This gives your little guy -1 to be Hit. It's great... on a Loonboss on Mangler Squigs. It will be useful for the Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig if you're playing with one or if you're playing a smaller game. Combined with Tough N Leathery, this makes a truly tanky Git!  

PROS & CONS:

+ Cheap-ish

+ Fantastic models

+ Useful Command ability

- Random-ish Movement

- Easy to snipe

- Feels like a tax

- Only fits in Squigalanche Super battalion 

WRAP UP:

This guy has A LOT of drawbacks... He is relatively fragile for a melee Hero, doesn't care an artifact well, and has random movement. BUT... BUT he has a lot of attacks, some with Rend and D3 Damage AND one of the best Command Abilities in the whole faction with Let's Get Bouncing! 

GRADE: B

Orruk Warclans: Wardokk GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The fledgling shaman of the warring clans of savage greenskins. The Wardokks help goad the furious horde into battle while casting terrible spells at the enemy or enhancing their fellow orruks with their fell magics. Superb, NAY! GIFTED dancers. The wardokks shake shake shake what their mommas gave 'em to entice the horde into heightened levels of frenzy. 

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020, the Wardokk will run you a lean 80 points. One of the cheapest Leader/Hero units in all of Age of Sigmar but probably way more useful than similarly priced models. The Wardokk is also one of the cheapest casters in all of Age of Sigmar too, tied with the Madcap Shaman of the Gloomspite Gitz, who we will get to eventually. The model itself will run you about $15 USD from Games Workshop themselves. A strange little PRIEST WIZARD but Priest doesn't do anything in the Orruk Warclans book. 

THE WARSCROLL:

Well, the Stat Wheel is terrible but you're expecting it by now with Bonesplitterz units. 5" Move is average for a foot Hero. He's not going anywhere  Of course if he's in Big Waaagh! he can use Zog 'Em. This may be more useful to get the Wardokk further embedded into your own lines rather than run after whatever unit hurt him that phase. D6" could get him out of range of further fire or lengthen a charge move. Wardokks in Bonesplitterz armies can pick him for the Tireless Trackers allegiance ability which allows them to move 5" before the game actually starts. Unless you missed placed him in the first place, he shouldn't be moved. Just make sure he is properly bubble-wrapped and is wholly within 12" of his power-pair Bonesplitterz unit.  5 wounds is about average for human sized, low tier heroes. Just above weedy little grots. The 6+ for the Save is super bad but at least you'll have a Warpaint after-save of a 6+ if you're going Bonesplitterz or a 6+ after-save Laugh At 'Em if you're going for Big Waaagh! I know, you're not impressed just yet. We haven't got to the dance moves yet. 

If I told you that the Wardokk was a combat monster that you're opponent should fear, I would be lying to you. And while that is a lot of fun, I'll give it to you straight this one time. With only 1 attack at Range of 1" hitting on 4+ and wounding on 3+ with No Rend is absolutely terrible. Epic levels of terrible. Gorkamorka weeps about the amount of suck in combat this guy does. At least you can do D3 if you jump through all the hoops. Oh, and don't worry about Monster Hunters Bonesplitterz faction ability, this little dancer is facing up against a Keeper or Terrorgheist or frankly anything with the MONSTER keyword, its D-E-D dead.  

The true POWER of the Wardokk lies in these paragraphs. The paragraphs on the warscroll, not my paragraphs. These paragraphs are garbage. Chances are that I'm writing these words while listening to Lo-Fi on my headphones in the dark with no pants on. Yeah, a great image. Ritual Dance basically tells you how you can dance to give buffs, just like a priest but with your tough green sweaty body. At the start of your hero phase, you can say that this model is performing one of the dances. The problem in here is the timing with other "start of the hero phase" shit. But most people don't care while you're going through your Hero phase, checking that you cast all your abilities and such. On a 3+, the dance is "successful" I guess we'll call it. The dance was a good 'un? The 3 current dances are: Grimdokk Dance. Glyphdokk Dance or Weirddokk Dance. 

Grimdokk Dance - Heal D3 wounds allocated to a friendly BONESPLITTERZ model within range. Not a Mawkrusha unfortunately. But you can heal a Rogue Idol and you should. Note that this says model not unit, so just the model has to be within range, not the whole unit, if you're healing Boarboys or Savage Orruks or a Big Boss. 

Glyphdokk Dance - The best one! Pick a friendly BONESPLITTERZ unit wholly within range. +1 to  save rolls for attacks that target that unit UNTIL YOUR NEXT HERO PHASE. Fan-fucking-tastic! This works against normal combat attack BUT also against shooting attacks, hero phase fighting of Ironjawz AND charge phase fighting from Nighthaunt. This is part 1 of 2 to make your Savage Orruks secretly tanky. Part 2 will surprise you.

Weirddokk Dance - Pick a friendly BONESPLITTERZ WIZARD wholly within range get +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls. Great for when all your Savage Orruks are out of range and you want to get some casting going. This gives the army an easy way to get +1 to cast. Note that this bonus is not stackable with itself but is stackable with Arcane terrain, Master of the Weird command trait, Mork's Boney Bitz artifact, Squiggly Curse's 1/100 odds or The one and only ROGUE IDOL. So if you play for it, you can get a +6 or +7 to cast.   

SPELLS:

What spells to take with your Wardokk? He's a single caster after all but doesn't come with a Warscroll spell.

Brutal Beast Spirits - Casting Value of 6. The casting value is super low considering how many sources of +1 we have. Pick 1 friendly BONESPLITTERZ unit wholly with 24". +1 to hit, charge and run rolls until your next hero phase. If you roll doubles, pick 2 units. Its great. Easy to cast. Wide range. A needed buff all around. Any unit can benefit from this including Arrowboys.   

Gorkamorka's Warcry - Casting Value of 7. It's relatively reliable to cast as long as you have some bonuses. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18", deal D3 mortals and that unit fights at the end of the combat phase. Excellent. This gives Bonesplitterz a chance to play in the Activation Wars. Also a great spell to have in a Big Waaagh! army as another combat trick to screw your opponent.

Kunnin' Beast Spirits - Casting Value of 6. Friendly BONESPLITTERZ  unit wholly within 24" gets +1 to save for attacks that target that unit until your next Hero phase. Part 2 of 2 to make your Savage Orruks into 3+ Save, 6+ after-save anvil monsters, so what if they're naked orruks. Yes you're right, you could always throw this and Glyphdokk Dance on a Rogue Idol for his 2+ Save, 5+ after-save. No, you're not a bad person for doing that. 

FACTIONS:

The Wardokk really fits in any army that has Bonesplitterz units in it but one sticks in my mind as extra useful.

Drakkfoot - The command ability substitutes all your WIZARDs  Arcane Bolt with Fireball. Which has a Casting Value of 5. Super reliable. You pick 1 enemy unit within 18", it suffers 1 MW if it has 1 model, D3 mortals if it has 2-9 models or D6!!!!! if it has 10+ models in the unit. This is great for weakening those units before the tidal wave of Savage Orruks comes crashing down. It's a Nice-to-Have for a WIZARD with no warscroll spell. 

BATTALIONS:

Kop Rukk - 140 pts. Minimum unit 540 pts. Actually usable at 780 pts. 2-5 Wardokks, 2-5 Morboyz. One of the battalion Wardokks wholly within  18" of 2 or more units of 10+ from the battalion can attempt to cast Fist of Gork from the Wurrgog Prophet warscroll card for FREE. It's the horde killer spell. For reference that is a Casting Value of 5. Super reliable. Pick an enemy unit within 24". Roll a dice for each model in that unit. (Not within range like most horde killer spells). On a roll of a 6, that unit suffers 1 mortal wound. If you cast it on a 10+ (doable) inflict a mortal wound on a 4+ instead. Well that's a great spell right there. If you want to spew out mortal wounds, which is doable in a Drakkfoot Bonesplitterz army, then this is a good option. MORBOYZ are really good, you can find an article about them in this blog. You have to jump through some hoops but when you do and hit that 10+, I'm sure it would be worth it.    

COMMAND TRAITS:

Master of the Weird - +1 to casting, unbinding and dispelling. Super solid and very useful. 

Fueled by the Spirits - +1 spell and you can cast an additional spell. Note that this does not mean you can dispel or unbind an additional spell though. This is usally my go-to Command Trait when I'm not taking Drakkfoot. Getting out an extra spell is worth the price of a command trait.

ARTIFACTS:

Mork's Boney Bitz - +1 to cast. +2 instead if there are 2+ MONSTERS within 24". Always great to have +1 to cast. +2 on very rare occasions and I'm sure you'll forget every time anyways. 

Big Wurrgog Mask - In your Hero phase, pick an enemy unit with 12" and roll 3 dice. Each 2+ deals D3 mortals. Each 1 deals D3 mortals back to the bearer. I absolutely love taking this artifact, I just never get a chance to use. Either the enemy is too far way in my Hero phase or my Wardokk is dead. Its orruk gambling at its best!

Mystic Waaagh! Paint - Start of your Hero phase, roll a d6 and the WIZARD can attempt to cast that spell from the Lore of the Savage Beast for free. This is the artifact for the person who always wants to have their book handy. 2/6 of the time this item will be useless. Most other times you'll find a use for it. Fun, but make sure you take it in a friendly game, you don't want to be called out for slow-playing by checking your spell book every Hero phase. 

PROS & CONS:

+ Great Dance Moves/Prayer

+ Cheap

+ Caster

- Fragile 

WRAP UP:

With all the drawbacks of being fragile. The Wardokk truly brings a tremendous amount of buffs to Bonesplitterz units. Whether its through sexy sweaty dancing or more mundane castings, the Wardokk always has a job to do and does it well. Your opponents will surely be GREEN(!) when they find out how much he can really do. For only 80 pts, I always take 2, every time. Cheap buffs, a Hero to walk around with my blocks of Savage Orruks. Ready to dance for defense, cast for offense, dispel when I can and using Inspiring Presence when needed.   

GRADE: A+

Orruk Warclans: Savage Orruk Arrowboys 2020

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

The Savage hunters of the Bonesplitterz marauding tribes of orruks. They use a special type of Kunnin' to bring down larger prey. They stab 'em.... from afar.

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2020 these kunnin' boys come in at 120 pts  for 10, with no horde discount. I'd imagine most players will be fielding them in groups of 20. Savage Orruk Arrowboys are considered a Battleline unit for Bonesplitterz or Big Waaagh! armies. The box contains enough bits and bobs to make 20 Arrowboys. It is one of the great boxes created by Games Workshop that can also great Savage Orruks with Stikkas or with Chompas or Morboyz or Big Stabbas. It's a great kit!

THE WARSCROLL:

Well, the Stat Wheel is looks pretty bad. But who doesn't like a naked crazed orruk. 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 unit of Arrowboys for the Tireless Trackers allegiance abilty which allows them to move 5" at the start of the game. This is great for position for triggering Kunnin' Rukk in your first Hero phase! Just make sure you bring your Savage Orruks screen with you. The Skull Thumper, the musician of the unit, adds 2 to this unit's charge roll, but you shouldn't be charge unless you need to get in range of an objective and can take the hit back from the enemy you're tying up. 5 Bravery is absolutely terrible but the Bone Totem Bearer gives +1. If you get a large unit of 20 you'll end up at Bravery 8. And Bravery 9 if you take a Rogue Idol... or two. 6+ for the Save is terrible too but who cares, you don't want them taking damage in the first place, but at least you get an after-save from Warpaint if you're going Bonesplitterz or Laugh At 'Em if you're going for Big Waaagh!. At least you have 2 wounds for 12 points a model.

The true power of the Arrowboys lies surprisingly in the shooting phase. The base Stinga Bow is 2 attacks that are hitting on 5+s and wounding on 4+ with no rend. With Loadsa Arrows, this gives a unit of 15 or more +1 attack with their Stinga Bows so now a unit of 20-30 boys is spitting out 60-90 shots! You're only hitting on 5+ though but you can cast Brutal Beasts Spirits on them and take it to 4+. If you have a Maniak Weirdnob you can cast Bone Spirit on them to have exploding 6s to Hit to score 2 hits instead of 1. Let's skip the melee, you have plenty of other options for that and the Arrowboys are sub-par but not completely ineffective as other ranged units might be. Aim Fer Its Eyes is great! Improve the Rend characteristic with Stinga Bow by 1 if the target is a MONSTER. for taking out those general-monsters like Ghoul King on Terrorgheist or Keeper of Secrets, taking their 4+ Save to a 5+ Save or 6+ Save if you're going Icebone warclan and with a little luck. Much more useful on every monster/hero hybrid now that Ethereal Amulet is gone. 

That's about it for mechanics. The book mostly provides buffs to melee weapons and the reason you take the Arrowboys is for the ranged weapon. Good thing though that the writers added a few easy ways to buff the missile weapons. 

FACTIONS:

The Arrowboys really only get a buff in two warclans in Bonesplitterz Warclan and almost no useful buffs in Big Waaagh army. 

Icebone  - This warclan is a pretty damn good for an Arrowboys heavy armies. The command ability is useless on them, sooooo SKIP. The clan artefact, Kattanak Pelt is pretty useful for the +1 Bravery within 18". Wound rolls, INCLUDING with missile weapons of 6, are at -1 Rend. Which is good for how many shots you can put out in a unit of 20 Arrowboys.... or 2 Kunnin' Rukks. 

Drakkfoot - Strength of Purpose works on the Stinga Bows of the Arrowboys so its a great way to soften up Heathguard Berserkers or some Daughters of Khaine Witch Aelves. Additionally when facing magic heavy armies, you can Shout Down Da Magic by using this command ability. Since you'll have at least 20 Arrowboys you'll get rolling to dispel enemy spells at a +1. 

BATTALIONS:

Kunnin Rukk - 140 pts. Kunnin' Rukk got a nerf, yes. But it's still worth taking. You get both a decent screen and anvil in the Savage Orruks and the ranged power of 120 shots over a Hero phase and a Shooting phase. Like always, you need to keep your Savage Big Boss alive, but hey its worth it. Doubling your output for almost half the cost, an extra CP and an extra artifact is worth the 140. Now I can hear you, Chaos Spawn, well I should just take 2. And this is where I say...

Yep. Take 2 Kunnin' Rukks. With all the changes from GHB2020 and the FAQs that followed, why not. Facing Petrifex Elite Mortek Guard? Shot em, shot em twice. They can't reroll the 1s from shooting and they are only 4+ Save now. Relive that scene from 300 when the Persians blot out the sun with arrow fire. 

WRAP UP:

The humble Arrowboy. A simple orruk with inhuman strength and agression but sub-human intelligence and emotional awareness. The Bonesplitterz only have a few ways to reach out and touch support characters that love to sit behind chaff-walls and buff. They live and breath the Stalin quote of "Quantity has a quality all its own". Throw enough dice at a 5 wound hero and they'll die just like the Spartans did in 300... like pin-cushions. Add a few layers on top them like a Kunnin' Rukk and Icebone's Rend, and your orruks will start projecting power far across the board.

PROS & CONS:

+ Lots of wounds

+ Lots of attacks

+ Access to Rend

- Fragile 

- Needs Kunnin Rukk to be good

GRADE: A

Orruk Warclans: Ironjawz Brutes GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 the iconic Brutes are 140 pts for 5 models on 40mm bases. Not much has changed for the Brutes since the Ironjawz stand-alone book. The Boss Klaw has changed to lose its trick and the combined into a faster, easier to use profile. The Brutes also lost re-rolling to Hits against 4+ wound models to get a +1 to Hit. It's a straight nerf as a +1 is a 16.7% increase while a re-roll is almost always better

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel looks pretty good. For 28 pts a model, its not too bad.

Movement - The 4" Move is one of the biggest problems on this Stat Wheel. Luckily for both Ironjawz players and Big Waaagh! players this can be augmented. Mad As Hell and Zog 'Em will allow you to move in any phase in which you take any wounds or mortal wounds. Mighty Destroyers also can be used from either a nearby character of by the unit themselves if selected as Brute Boss in an Ironfist battalion. Which is absolutely crucial to get to combat or to close that distance to an objective. The Weirdnob Shaman or a character in an Ironjawz Bloodtoofs army with the Quickduff Amulet can cast the Ironjawz spell, a Great Big Green Hand of Gork to teleport a large unit of Brutes directly to the front lines (or back lines) of the enemy. Please note that if the unit took damage in that Hero phase from any source (:wink:wink: Green Puke :wink:wink:) is eligible to still move due to the wording on both Zog 'Em and Mad As Hell. The last option for extra movement I can think of is the Bloodtoof warclan command ability  Breakthrough Da Line, which allows you to "At the end of the combat phase, pick a friendly unit that's already fought wholly within 24": of a hero, that unit can make a normal move but can't retreat or run". 

Wounds - 

Bravery - The Bravery is the other big hurdle you're going to need to overcome when fielding a Brute heavy list. I have not a clue why Brutes on a Goregrunta are braver than a Brute on foot, but there you go. The Brutes is at a middling Bravery of 6. There are no options of a standard bearer for +2 or +1 Bravery. None. Besides using a CP to auto-pass a Bravery check there are a few Ironjawz artifacts that could help. The first being The Golden Toof. This makes your Ironjawz boys auto pass all Bravery checks as long as that unit is wholly wtihin 12". A little hard to do with a missile like the Megaboss on Mawkrusha, but much more manageable with a foot Megaboss. The other artifact is The Boss Skewer. This artifact gives off +1 Bravery to friendly Ironjawz units wholly within 18" and -1 Bravery to any enemy units within 12". It can certainly be useful now that we have to shy away from Realm Artifacts. The last option isn't a good one, but you should know all the options. A Ironjawz Megaboss general can take the Command Trait, Bestial Charisma, which allows you to once per battle round, use Inspiring Presence command ability without spending 1 command point. Now none of these options are ideal to be completely honest. The Boss Skewer can be generally useful and has a large range, so I can see that on the table. Chances are you'll just have to take an Ironfist and Brutish Cunning and keeping your CP for an Inspiring Presence when you need it. Lastly, you can always include a Rogue Idol. The Rogue Idol is a great monster! An absolute unit, an anvil and hammer all in one with two useful buffs. The one we are looking for is called Livin' Idol. Livin' Idol gives all units wholly within 18" +1 Bravery. Nice. Exactly what we need. With The Boss Skewer and the Idol you can have these guys run around at Bravery 8 to 9 depending on the size. 

Weaponry -  Just how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, the weaponry is the powerhouse of the Brute. 3 in every 5 Brutes you are taking is going to be either wielding a Pair of Brute Choppas or a Jagged Gore-Hackas. The Pair of Brute Choppas is swinging in at 4! attacks each, 4!. That's incredible! Hitting on 3+s, yes please, and Wounding on 3+s, yes please, and with -1 Rend. Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic for 140 points, for 15 wounds at 4+, that can fight in the Hero phase. Jagged Gore-Hackas are great too. Don't get me wrong. In a unit of 10, these Brutes can sit behind a screen and play defensively or Rip and Tear! into any enemy. Brutes have the volume of attacks and the Rend necessary to take down most threats.

Choosing to build Brutes. You'll have to answer 2 questions. 1st Question is: Pair of Brute Choppas or  Jagged Gore Hackas? In units of 5, Definitely the Brute Choppas. In unit sizes of 10, what if I told you the math is basically the same for both the Jagged Gore Hacka and Brute Choppas if you make sure you're fighting 6 brutes wide. It doesn't matter what you take for it. If you take the pauldrons off the Brute and give him the Jagged Gore-Hacka, he makes a great Bonesplitterz themed Brute. 

The second question is :Boss Choppa or Boss Klaw and Brute Smasha?  The basic math is essentially the same. an average of 1.8 damage against a 4+ Save. Against a Big Thing, the Boss Klaw and Brute Smash wins out by  0.01 wounds. So really, it doesn't matter. Just make sure he fights, because you know who else is gonna show those runty gits if not da boss. 

In either case, make sure you have 1 Gore-Choppa for each 5 Brutes. These always increase your overall damage per activation and have a range of 2". It's a no-brainer. Plus they look soooo cool!

If I remember correctly Duff Up da Big Thing used to be re-roll Hit rolls against a unit with a Wounds characteristic of 4 or more, a little nerf with the new book but better for the speed of the game. Duff Up da Big Thing gives the Brutes unit +1 Hit for attack against 4+ Wound units. So, the big shit that every player has access to, you get a buff, not only a buff, a great buff and not only that, its within the warscroll and doesn't require a character to schlep around babysitting them. 

Now that we have all that information rattling in our orruk skull, this is big brain time.

We can slap just about any buff we have onto these killers and come out on time but we'll highlight just two. The first and second (cuz I'm kunnin') is the Big Waaagh powers Smash "Em and Bash 'Em. You can get these by turn 2 if you build for it. The +1 to Hit and the +1 to Wound will almost completely double the your damage out. Versus a 4+ a unit goes from 12.9 wounds to 20.8. That's a complete unit wiped from the board, a huge monster just *poof* gone. Getting the Warchanter buff of Violent Frenzy also almost doubles the damage out to 23.6! Again fantastic. Not much can stand up to that. Combined, Smash Em + Bash Em + Warchanter Violent Frenzy dishes out a grand total of 37.8 wounds. Nothing in the game can survive that. 10 Brutes, 280 points plus a Warchanter in Big Waaagh is all you need.

SUB-FACTIONS:

Ironsunz - Ironsunz Kunnin' is very useful for to keep your brutes alive through an alpha strike and if you can shuffle them forward fast enough, into combat with a definitive advantage with the -1 to Hit. The Ironsunz command ability, Alright - Get 'Em! is useful to make some really terrible match-ups or trades for your opponent. If you keep a CP handy, it may also keep your opponent from even trying to charge. Keep in mind that the Brutefist's mortal wounds would also tick off in this pseudo-charge phase as the battalion only specifies it deals mortal wounds after you make a CHARGE MOVE. 

Bloodtoofs - This warclan really helps mitigate a lot of the mobility losses of the Brutes warscroll. The Warclan trait, Hunt and Crush is great with Brutes because they don't have any native movement buffs save the Eager for Battle for being Ironjawz. Having +2 to charge is great those long bomb charges and the +1 to run can help get into position early game or for grabbing late game objectives. Breakthrough Da Line, which is a command ability for Bloodtoof characters allows a unit to move at the end of the combat phase if they fought in that same phase. So this is the 3rd way that a unit could move in an Ironjawz army. Once in Hero phase from Mighty Destroyers, another in the regular Movement phase and a third at the end of the combat phase. That's not counting and charges! The Quickduff Amulet is a great artifact especially for the slow thicc bois. Having a free, and unstoppable deep strike with a large unit of Brutes will absolutely wreck an opponent's battle plan. 

Da Choppas - Da Choppas is a great warclan to take a load of Brutes on foot. The warclan trait, Vandal Hordes allows you to re-roll charge rolls if within 12" of a terrain feature 1/2 way on enemy territory. A weird hoop to jump through but great when you remember. But we all know why you're here. It's for Rabble Rouser, a command ability, possibly one of the most powerful command abilities in the game but often overlooked due to Mighty Destroyer spam. Rabble Rouser allows you to use a CP to apply Violent Frenzy on 3! YES 3! DIFFERENT FRIENDLY Choppa Brutes unit instead of 1. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Yes please. Is this better than Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em of Big Waaagh, maybe. But it's damn close if it's not. So many times you'll have to pick and choose which unit will benefit from Violent Frenzy. NO MORE, I say. NO MORE!. Anyways, let's move on. Da Choppaz have a fantastic Command Trait in Checked Out. This gives a +2 Bravery to all friendly Choppas units wholly within 18". This shores ups the other weakness of the Brutes. So combined with a Rogue Idol your Brutes are looking pretty at a Bravery of 9. Ignore the artifact, just don't take a Weirdnob Shaman, he's shit anyways.  

Big Waaagh - For my money, Big Waaagh! is the best place for Brutes. Not only does Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em Waaagh powers double (!) the effects, but the Brutes gain the much needed after-save, albeit a 6+ from Laugh At 'Em. Zog 'Em and Get 'Em help mitigate some of the movement problems of the normally slow Brutes. Zog 'Em let's you move D6" in a phase in which you took wounds or mortal wounds, aka Ironjawz Mad as Hell. Get 'Em is the replacement for Ironjawz Eager for Battle, which gives +1 to charges. It literally has everything that you want for the Brutes if you take The Golden Toof or The Boss Skewer and a Rogue Idol.

PROS & CONS:

+ Fantastic Sculpts

+ Cheap for 3 wounds

+ Lots of damage

+ A solid Self Buff

- Low Bravery

- Low Model Count

- Slow

- No after-saves if in Ironjawz

BATTALIONS:

Ironfist - 160 pts -  I'd say a must have in any list. It's so useful and so powerful that it can really swing a game in your favor. This gives your Brute Boss +2 wounds, which is great too. What is useful, is that you can take this a Big Waaagh! army and I would every. goddamn. time. Every time. Say it with me. EVERY TIME.  Getting Mighty Destroyers in an army while having +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound turns your orruks into Super Saiyans. You're already taking these units, just take the 160 pts and say thank you.

Brutefist -  120 pts - Your Brute Boss gets +2 Wounds again. When you charge your brutes, roll a dice for each brute that ends their charge move within 1" of an enemy model. On a 4+ they deal a mortal wound. Meh. Better in Ironsunz because of the out of sequence charge but you're not taking Ironfist then and that's frankly a waste. 

Weirdfist - 140 pts - Honestly the Weirdnob Shaman feels like a tax by now, with being a single caster for 110 pts (the same as the more useful Warchanter). Anyways, about the battalion. It has 2 big restrictions on here that make it almost unusable. 2 or more units of 10+ from the battalion have to be wholly within 18" of the Weirdnob Shaman. If you jump through all those hoops, you get something spectacular.... wait you dont?... nope you can do his warscoll spell for free again! And it's still a random distance of 2D6". Not worth the points. Not worth the Gorkamorka forsaken tax of a shit-caster. Avoid.  

Da Bossfist - 220 pts -  300 pts of tax in the Megabosses on foot. 60 pts over costed. But, BUT if you want to take this you get some nice bonuses. Great for a narrative game. +1 attack to all your melee weapons, included mounts. The 4+ to gain a CP is a nice touch too. Great if it was fixed and would give Ironfist a run for its money. The forced subfaction to Ironsunz and the forced command ability is not cool because this would be fantastic with Da Choppas and maybe worth the points. 

Moggorz's Rekrootin' Krew  - 150 pts - 150 pts tax in the Megaboss on foot. Da Rekrootin' Krew js your Brutes unit. All you get to do is ignore battleshock for aspirant units. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. Sike. That's it. Oh, and you have to take Ironsunz and the aspirant units don't benefit from Ironsunz Kunnin'. Extra terri-bad. Just forget this information, its not worth the memory space. 

WRAP UP:

The Brutes can be amazing and get back their points, yes. Can they be duds and feel like a waste, yes. The Ironjawz Brutes are probably the most controversial unit in the Ironjawz army. While Ardboyz can absorb the same buffs, have an in-built after-save in the Orruk-forged Shields, and have a better Bravery due to the Gorkamorka Banner Bearer. But nothing FEELS as Ironjawz as a Brutes unit. These thicc bois will slice there way through an army and make it out on the other side. But you need to be aware and plan for the worst of it, the Bravery and the low model count. If you can compensate for that, you'll love field blocks of these murderous armored hulks. (just take them in Big Waaagh!)

GRADE: B

Orruk Warclan: Savage Big Boss GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these bad boys come in at 100 pts and a Leader selection for Bonesplitterz and Big Waaagh. One of the cheapest Heroes and Leaders for Bonesplitterz or Big Waaagh. Also one of the cheapest in terms of purchasing at your FLGS, coming in at $15. The tip of the foot is fused with the rock on the square base, but with some careful trimming and a little GreenStuff you can fix it no problem. No only do you need this guy for several useful battalions, once he starts getting into the thick of the enemy, he won't feel like the tax he was before.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel is pretty bad of a combat foot hero to be honest. 5" is standard for non-aleves. He can be moved before the game starts with Tireless Tracker which may have to happen if you aren't careful setting up within range for Kunnin Rukk or Brutal Rukk. So lets call that a plus. Of course you could cast Spirit of Gorkamorka on him, but unless you have a specific plan, like battle plans that require Heroes on objectives, you will probably have something better to cast it on. 6 Wounds is pretty good for a non-mounted Hero on a 32mm. Opponents will have a hard time one-shoting him with D6 Damage weapons considering you also get your Warpaint after-save. 6+ Save is absolutely terrible, but that comes with the territory of being a muscle-bound, naked Orruk Chad. You could use the Wardokk's Glyphdokk Dance, but it would be a waste. The Bravery characteristic of 7 doesn't really matter too much except when facing those Bravery-Bomb armies such as Legion of Grief. The only modifier you can get is being near a Rogue Idol to get a Bravery of 8.

The Savage Big Boss is armed with a Boss Chompa. Range 1" is fine, he just needs to squeeze into a gap. 6 Attacks hitting on 3+ wounding on a 3+ at -1 Rend for 2 Damage. Is fantastic at 100 pts. Its the same profile as the Ironjawz Megaboss, who is 150 pts. This model is begging to wield the Sword of Judgement! Having so many attacks, and an in-built +1 to Hit from Monster Hunters Stab! Stab! Stab! ability means you can average 7 mortal wounds onto a Monster or Hero Monster. If you decide to cast Brutal Beast Spirits, you'll average 10.5 mortal wounds! That's before normal damage from the other attacks. You'll find out soon enough that a Savage Big Boss can put a Terrorgheist, a Stegadon or a Spirit of Durthu down no problem. Just don't rub it in when it happens...

Let Me At 'Em is a terrific ability and often overlooked. After this model has attacked, a Bonesplitterz unit (NOT IRONJAWZ or ORRUK) that hasn't fought yet, immediately fights. NEVER forget to use this ability when you can. This will catch a lot of people off guard. Not only that, the Savage Big Boss has a useful command ability in Savage Attack. This can only be put on a Bonesplitterz unit (NOT IRONJAWZ or ORRUK). This allows any 6s to Hit in the following combat phase deal 2 hits instead of just 1. There is a little designer's note in the Orruk Warclans book by the Bonegrinz warclan entry that states that abilities like this CAN stack.

So all that for only 100 pts. Not too shabby. 

FACTIONS:

The Savage Orruks work great in any Bonesplitterz Warclan and is often mandatory is many lists. Big Waaagh armies with Kunnin Rukks will need one too.

Bonegrinz  has another stackable ability in the command ability, Feel Da Spirit, which gives causes a 6 to hit to deal 2 hits instead of 1. You could give the Savage Big Boss the warclan artifact, Maw-Krusha Beast Totem for a shitty shooting attack but if you give him any artifact, Sword of Judgement is the way to go. 

Icebone clan is okay for the Savage Big Boss. Allowing him to do -2 Rend on wound rolls of 6. This can be useful for those high Save armies such as Petrifex Bonereapers or Stormcast Eternals but can't be relied upon. The clan artifact, Kattanak Pelt can find a place with the Savage Big Boss as he will most likely be travelling the middle of the horde giving out that +1 Bravery bottle. A good runner up for warclan selection.

Drakkfoot clan is great for the Savage Big Boss. With his Rend the clan trait, Strength of Purpose, is always useful. Since it now can reduce the Save of Ethereal units. The second part of Strength of Purpose that allows you to negate any after-saves is especially useful on a Savage Big Boss with Sword of Judgement. Many Heroes and Heroes riding Monsters have after-saves or will be buffed to have an after-save or several after-saves. Looking at you Ghoul King on Terrorgheist and Frostlord on Stonehorn. Well they don't get ANY of that. All that protect is just gone against a Drakkfoot Savage Big Boss. Even if you only put a 8-10 wounds on a monster like that, Let Me At 'Em kicks in and your Savage Orruks can kill whats left.

Big Waaagh armies might use a Savage Big Boss and it's because they are taking a Kunnin' Rukk. That's completely reasonable. In this case your Big Boss will have to stay between the two units in the battalion. I'd pass on any artifacts unless you can't find anyone better like a Mawkrusha to carry one.

PROS & CONS:

+ Cheap in points

+ Only $15 USD 

+ Lost of 2 Damage attacks

+ Great abilities

- Fragile

- Will be targeted 

BATTALIONS:

Brutal Rukk - 140 pts. 840 pts at optimal size. Battalion units wholly within 12" of the Savage Big Boss can run and charge. This can be fantastic! Let Me At 'Em will definitely get its uses in when your units smash into the enemy lines. Please note that there is no unit cap on the units in this battalion so this battalion is a great opportunity to grab 2 units of 30 Savage Orruks. 840 pts and 124 wounds, thundering towards the enemy lines with wild abandon.

Kunnin Rukk - 140 pts. 720 pts at optimal size. Absolutely in 99% of my Bonesplitterz and Big Waaagh! lists. This battalion is too useful not to use and the Savage Big Boss is crucial. The Savage Big Boss will have to play to father to each unit and its a bit of a juggling game. Staying wholly within 18" of the Arrowboys to let your Arrowboys sling 60 arrows in the Hero phase and wholly within 12" of the Savage Orruks in the combat phase for the Savage Attack command ability.  

Teef Rukk - 140 pts.  640 pts at optimal size. Give +1 Attack to anything is great. Giving +1 Attack to attacks with -2 Rend and D3 Damage weapons, its amazing. If you're fielding 2 or more units of 4 Big Stabbas you need to be taking this battalion. 140 points, that's an extra artifact, an extra Command Point and 8 extra attacks at 3+/3+/-2 Rend D3 Damage. That's another 6 Damage on a 4+ unit or 10.5 on a Monster. DO NOT FORGET that the wording on the battalion ability gives the Savage Big Boss an extra attack, bring him to 7 attacks at 3+/3+/-1 Rend 2 Damage. A great opportunity to use that extra artifact for Sword of Judgement! 

WRAP UP:

Just As Deadly as a Ironjawz Megaboss, as cheap as a Freeguild General and as characterful as a Squig and ONLY 100 points. The Savage Big Boss can fight if given the right artifact, can buff any Bonesplitterz unit and has a fantastic ability to jump activation in combat. I'd say he's an always include but if you're taking a Brutal Rukk or a Kunnin' Ruff or a Teef Rukk you have to take him anyways. He just is not longer the tax he was before.

GRADE: A

Orruk Warclans: Savage Orruk Morboys GHB2019

Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

OVERVIEW:

As of General's Handbook 2019 these "elite" Savage Orruks come in 120 pts for 10 dudes with no Horde discount available to them. That's okay, you aren't going to take them in units of 30 anyways. The Morboys were a staple unit in the previous book and make a fantastic warrior in Warcy but with the re-balance that came with the Orruk Warclans book, its time to revisit this maniac menace.

THE WARSCROLL:

The Stat Wheel is actually okay for the amount that we are paying. 6 Bravery is pretty great for an orruk to be completely honest. This goes up to 7 with the Bone Totem Bearer which is quite respectable. This can obviously be augmented by the rank bonus but I wouldn't go up to 30. If you're taking a Rogue Idol, and you always should in a Bonesplitterz army, the Rogue Idol's ability Livin' Idol will also give +1 Bravery if the unit is wholly within 18". So all in all, in a unit of 20, you're looking at 10 Bravery and that's excellent.  The movement on the Savage Orruk Morboys is bog standard for a non-aelf at 5". This can be augmented by doubling or tripling the Movement value and adding the ability to FLY  with Breath of Gorkamorka. The Bonesplitterz ability Tireless Trackers would let this unit move 5" before the start of the game. Fantastic! If you're in Big Waaagh, in which Morboys are not Battleline, you can use Zog 'Em in any phase in which the unit took damage, and move D6". The Skull Thumper, the musician of the unit, adds 2 to the charge rolls. When combined with Brutal Beast Spirits, you can get up to +3 in Bonesplitterz or +4 with the Big Waaagh! Get 'Em trait.  6+ Save is absolutely terrible and the true drawback of the Morboys; but you're Bonesplitterz, you're used to the heaving masses of naked sweaty Savage Orruk booty running headlong into the enemy lines.  This can be augmented in two way if you're into that kind of thing, you might not be that kind of orruk. The Wardokk's Glyphdokk Dance will give the Morboys +1 to Saves on a 3+. Great, but better on a Rogue Idol or a 30 Savage Orruk blob. The second, is Kunnin'  Beast Spirits, which is cast on a 6+. This also give another +1 to Saves. So all of this will get you into the 4+ save with a 6+ Warpaint save, not too bad for a naked orruk.  Combined with 2 wounds each, for the points that's pretty efficient.

The Chompa and Toof Shiv, no longer the two profiles which were tedious to always look back at your book before rolling the dice to make sure you weren't cheating. It's all been moved to one profile. A great change. The range of 1" on a 32mm guy is bad, but they have enough attacks to make it worth it. The Chompa and Toof Shiv have 3 attacks if you have less 14 or less orruks left in the unit. If you have 15 or more (buy the units in 20s) you will have 4  due to the Spirit of Gorkamorka ability. 4! attacks from one orruk with no outside buffs. That's amazing! Hitting on 4+, which can be augmented a few ways. The first way we can improve this is by killing a enemy Monster and triggering Power of the Beast Spirit; this will give the unit a permanent +1 to Hit for the rest of the battle. Useful in the late game against some armies. A few armies you might be able to trigger this on first on second turn. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Seraphon, Beasts of Chaos and Beastclaw Raiders heavy Ogor Mawtribes armies. Brutal Beast Spirits is a Bonesplitterz spell that is cast on a 6+. This is give the Morboys +1 to Hit and if you cast it on a double you can pick 2 units instead of 1. If you're running a Big Waaagh army with Morboys and get to 16 points, you'll unlock the Smash 'Em trait, giving a +1 to Hit. Lastly, if you're fighting a Monster, you can choose to use STAB!STAB!STAB! to get another +1 to Hit. Lots of ways. There is only one way to get a +1 to wound that I could find in the book. That being in a Big Waaagh! army and getting to 20 Waaagh! points for Bash 'Em. Turning your 12 point model into an absolute blender!

The Savage Orruk Morboys have lots of attacks, that's indisputable. That means that the exploding attack abilities and spells that we have access to do more for us. This includes Bonegrinz Warclan command ability, Feel Da Spirit!, the Maniak Weirdnob's warscroll spell, Bone Spirit and the Savage Big Boss's command ability Savage Attack. Please not that Savage Attack and Feel Da Spirit! only last that one combat phase and that the Bone Spirit spell lasts until your NEXT hero phase. 

MORBOYS VERSUS ARDBOYZ

After all that, Mathhammer is something I use to validate my choices for army composition. If you need pointers for Mathhammer, Paul Conti does a great job on his channel on Youtube at Radio Free Hammerfall. Saying that, Morboys are actually more points effecient in wounds and attacks that our mighty Ardboyz in the Ironjawz half of the Orruk Warclans book. One Morboy will deal approximately 0.67 wounds to a 4+ Save enemy while the Ardboy deals 0.60. You might say that that might just be a small margin, but it's not, its more than 10%.. Even buffed by Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em in a Big Waaagh army, the Morboy deals 1.13 wounds at 12 points per model; while the Ardboy deals 0.95 wounds for 18 points per model. 

SUB-FACTIONS:

Bonegrinz - We've already discussed that Feel Da Spirit! command ability can be very useful on a unit of Morboys. The Bring It On! warclan ability is very useful in disrupting those complex battle lines. The Morboys will have trouble taking the punch from a true offensive powerhouse unit, but for how cheap a unit of 20 is, it may be worth it.  Bring It On! also prevents those same units from retreating from your maniac beast slayers once they get to grips. 

Icebone - With the large amount of attacks that the Morboys throw out, you will definitely see some return for Freezing Strike. Adding 1 Rend to attacks with a Wound roll of a 6, can be useful in a faction mostly without it.  In reality, you're looking at about an 8% increase in damage across the board. Kattanak Pelt will also help the Morboys with the age old Greenskinz problem of leadership and Bravery. Adding 1 to friendly Icebone units wholly within 18" of the bearer. Not as good as Checked Out in Da Choppas but a base Bravery of 8 is fantastic!

Drakkfoot - My favorite clan. Strength of Purpose's first sentence doesn't help with our Rend "-" Morboys.What does help is the second sentence that allows these green nutters to negate any after-saves. Shout Down da Magic! can also be useful against the current magic heavy meta. For 1 CP you can attempt to dispel an enemy spell with a unit of 10 or more Morboys. Since your Morboys should run 20 orruks-strong, you'll even get +1 to the dispel.

Big Waaagh - Not a Battleline unit in Big Waaagh but can certainly make a mark among the big boys. After Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em are in effect you will be rolling tons and tons of dice looking for 3+s to Hit and 2+!s to Wound.  

PROS & CONS:

+ Cheap in points

+ Comes in a great multipurpose box

+ Loads of Attacks

+ Good Bravery

- Fragile without buffs

- 1" Range

- No good battalions

BATTALIONS:

Kop Rukk - 140 pts. 780 pts at optimal size. At the start of your Hero phase, you pick 1 Wardokk (you need at least 2 in the battalion) that is wholly within 18" of 2 or more units from the battalion with 10 or more models (so the two units need to have 10 within 18"). That Wardokk can attempt to cast the Fist of Gork spell from the Wurrgog Prophet warscroll in that phase in ADDITION to any other spells it can cast. That's pretty good. The Fist of Gork spell is cast on a 5! You pick an enemy unit with 24" and roll a D6 for each model in that unit. On a 6 that unit suffers 1 mortal wound. If you cast that on a 10+, you inflict the mortal wound on a 4+. Absolutely fantastic. Easy to cast, with casting modifiers everywhere in the army. It can be an absolute horde killer and a real source of mortal wounds, that you get to cast FOR FREE. But come on, Kunnin' Rukk is where it's at. 

WRAP UP:

Although I love the Ardboyz and have for a long time, I feel like my love for Morboys is slowly overtaking them. In a Bonesplitterz army, they are fast, can have tons of buff potential from Wardokks and Savage Big Bosses and can shred anything it touches including those signature rock-hard units like Hearthguard Berserkers and Witch Aleves due to Drakkfoot (you're always taking Drakkfoot ,right?!). Even if you love to play Big Waaagh with a Mawkrusha and all the Goregruntas and such, the Smash 'Em and Bash 'Em will take the Morboys' damage output into the stratosphere. I know, I hear you,  Ardboyz lovers, I was once one of you but its time to let Gorkamorka into your heart and accept your home within the Morboys Mob.

GRADE: B