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+
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