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: 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

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