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
waaagh~ Love my Brutes~
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