GH2017 - Bonesplitterz Discussion

[bonzai]

4 hours ago, svnvaldez said:

Same! really smart add. Since that model only casts once do you find yourself hurting spending a turn getting the balewind up?

In the Balewind rules it says that casting the Balewind doesn't count against your normal casting limits per turn.

[Kanamorf]

14 hours ago, nicky said:

 Dont under estimate the power of 10 boys they are great blockers for protecting your characters from a rear charge, and a turn 5 cap on a game winning objective  fly fly charge

I hope you were not using HOG in the command phase move, it doubles your move and makes you fly in the movement phase.......

[svnvaldez]

6 hours ago, Kanamorf said:

I hope you were not using HOG in the command phase move, it doubles your move and makes you fly in the movement phase.......

 

Very interesting, first bullet point of the movements phase FAQ as well confirms this. I had assumed you could double both hero and movement phase moves. "Read the rules!" 

There goes my turn 1 screen... unit of 20 Savage Boarboy Maniaks here I come! In all seriousness then going off the Bonegrinz list I would swap a 30 of Arrowz to a 30 of Boyz with chompas (wow! I thought they were choppas, either this pdf has a typo or I have been saying it wrong, I swear they were choppas in 8th), place IP, hand of gork (cast from the Maniak Weirdnob so you can reroll if needed), mystical shield, kunnin beast spirits, maybe even the ritual dance, and brutal beast spirits on them.  

Your looking at a turn 1 charge of 6 on the dice: 5 inch rukk move, 10 inch normal move, and charge +3 from the drum and brutal beast spirits (24 - 5 -10 - 3 = 6). I would literally deploy on the 12 inch line 1 inch apart across the board.

Your looking at lets say 30 models in base, 30 attacks, 20 hits, 13.3 wounds. Honestly that's not a ton of damage but whats really going on is you have locked up their army like Jack's Vanguardwing and you have moved your arrowboyz on to objectives and shooting range.  Opponent is looking at grinding through 60 wounds with 5up or 4up save and rerolling 6s to hit, and Immune to battle shock.

I really think the meta is going to shift (if it hasn't already) to every army having flyers, counter deployment popups, or teleporters. A tactic like this will be mandatory for all armies. If you don't have something like this and your opponent does its auto loss in say 3 of the 6 missions. 

I wouldn't just turn 1 charge every game thou. You really have to look at the match up, the mission, and if your opponent can get out of the screen. My buddy was talking to Rob Symes and I loved what Rob said. "We are not in #hordemeta, we are in #movementmeta"

 

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Savage Big Boss (120)
- General
- Stonecleava 
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
Wardokk (100)
Wardokk (100)

Battleline
30 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (360)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
30 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (360)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
10 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (120)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
30 x Savage Orruks (300)

Battalions
Kunnin' Rukk (160)
Bonegrinz Warclan (140)

Reinforcement Points (0)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400

[Pedro_L]

Hey all,

Thought I would bump this thread up by posting this question: what allies are people using with their BS and how are they working out? 

I was originally thinking about a Rogue Idol (due to the awesome model) but the prospect of two Gargants (also fantastic models) is also appealing. I like the idea of two giants who believe they're large Savage Orruks (owing to their famous stupidity) and have joined the Savage Waaaaghhh with appropriate warpaint etc. The Araknarok spider is also mighty tempting - I can imagine it piloted by Orruks ready to sacrifice it to Gork on the frontlines of battle. 

Will these options give me the 'punch' my list needs? I don't run Kunnin Rukk and instead rely on Maniaks and (probably going forward) large units of Morboyz. And can anyone tell me if the Morboyz +1 to hit when a Monster dies would stack with multiple monsters? (Makes two Gargants an interesting plan)

 

[broche]

On 08/11/2017 at 4:02 PM, Pedro_L said:

 

Will these options give me the 'punch' my list needs? I don't run Kunnin Rukk and instead rely on Maniaks and (probably going forward) large units of Morboyz. And can anyone tell me if the Morboyz +1 to hit when a Monster dies would stack with multiple monsters? (Makes two Gargants an interesting plan)

 

It does not stack

[bonzai]

On 11/8/2017 at 3:02 PM, Pedro_L said:

Hey all,

Thought I would bump this thread up by posting this question: what allies are people using with their BS and how are they working out? 

I was originally thinking about a Rogue Idol (due to the awesome model) but the prospect of two Gargants (also fantastic models) is also appealing. I like the idea of two giants who believe they're large Savage Orruks (owing to their famous stupidity) and have joined the Savage Waaaaghhh with appropriate warpaint etc. The Araknarok spider is also mighty tempting - I can imagine it piloted by Orruks ready to sacrifice it to Gork on the frontlines of battle. 

Will these options give me the 'punch' my list needs? I don't run Kunnin Rukk and instead rely on Maniaks and (probably going forward) large units of Morboyz. And can anyone tell me if the Morboyz +1 to hit when a Monster dies would stack with multiple monsters? (Makes two Gargants an interesting plan)

 

Rogue Idol in a Drakkfoot. The bonuses to cast, leadership, and potential damage output make it a no brainer.

Incarnate Elemental of Beasts in a Drakkfoot. It doesn't have to be allied, Drakkfoot is about the only thing that can actually summon one.

Orruk Wierdnob Shaman + Balewind in a Kunnin Rukk. It doesn't matter that your not Ironjaws, he just needs orc bodies around him. Once your arrow boys are situated, you cast Balewind and then foot of Gork with a 36 inch range and +3 cast. Adds a nice ranged mortal wound element to your standard range.

Orruk Warboss with boar & banner in an icebone warclan. The banner is a nice buff that synergizes well with the list. Its a shame you can't use his command ability.  Hmm there may be something there for a mixed destruction force. 

Any monster that you want to run in, deal damage, and then die plus moreboys. It will buff the morboys when it dies.

Other options that don't offer specific synergies:

Troll hag is a nice all round unit. Its spell is great. 

Troggoths can act as a heavy infantry unit.

Thats about all I have been toying with.

[meet.the.doctor]

Maybe a stupid question but what size should be the Big Stabbas base?

[Thostos]

For allies,,ive been trying alot of different stuff lately in our Firestorm campaign.The battles are lower points though,1200 to 1600 usually.Ive been able to fit in a Gargant in a couple of battles and that seems to work well enough,though he does go down pretty fast once in combat.I used an Arachnarok once and it works very well,slow but ignore terrain is huge.

  Overall im finding I really just need more elite troops with better saves that can work well on their own.I need to distract from the Arrer Boyz units and try to keep my opponent from getting his hard hitters facing up on them.Im thinking that a couple of minimum groups of Gore Gruntas may just do the trick.With their new price of 140 for 3 models,,thats 15 wounds behind a 4+ with fair damage output,pretty much immune to battleshock and good mobility,a great deal IMO. 

[Ollie Grimwood]

On 10/11/2017 at 3:44 PM, meet.the.doctor said:

Maybe a stupid question but what size should be the Big Stabbas base?

75mm  by 42mm oval. 

[bonzai]

On 11/19/2017 at 12:46 AM, Thostos said:

For allies,,ive been trying alot of different stuff lately in our Firestorm campaign.The battles are lower points though,1200 to 1600 usually.Ive been able to fit in a Gargant in a couple of battles and that seems to work well enough,though he does go down pretty fast once in combat.I used an Arachnarok once and it works very well,slow but ignore terrain is huge.

  Overall im finding I really just need more elite troops with better saves that can work well on their own.I need to distract from the Arrer Boyz units and try to keep my opponent from getting his hard hitters facing up on them.Im thinking that a couple of minimum groups of Gore Gruntas may just do the trick.With their new price of 140 for 3 models,,thats 15 wounds behind a 4+ with fair damage output,pretty much immune to battleshock and good mobility,a great deal IMO. 

What are your thoughts on the Firestorm campaign?

[meet.the.doctor]

17 hours ago, bonzai said:

What are your thoughts on the Firestorm campaign?

I am going to run one so can let you know in a month. But we use  matched play restrictions for composing army with Muster Points, so no Stoneklaw Allegiance for Bonies in the campaign. Mixed Destro Only.

[SolarBur]

For allies i've also been looking at grot warmachines. 

For 200pts a couple of Rock Lobbers can really lay the hurt on units. And it gives us some no line of sight high rend high damage shots. Same thing can be said about the Spear Chukka's and Doom Divers. Take them in teams and watch them compete against each other to try to rack up the damage. Of course they should be suitable looking for a savage army, none of that weird tech stuff the other races use  

Double Ale Guzzler seems like fun too. Why take one Gargant when you can take two ;p

If you have a more slower moving army, Troggoths can act the role as say Brutes can for Ironjawz. They aren't amazing but they do the job when the Stabba's aren't in range or around. 

I'm really liking the allies we have. Though for me, my thoughts are pretty much keeping to the warmachines and monsters (characterless ones), as a tribe that's intergrated them into their Kulture, I'm having to build my Bonesplitterz from scratch so i've not really played much in terms of games with them before. But i have an idea of what i would like to run and how to run the army. Can't way for the new year and get them stomping across the battlefield ^^

[Thostos]

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 10:25 AM, bonzai said:

What are your thoughts on the Firestorm campaign?

 I just did a right up over in the Narrative room when you seen your responce here..been meaning to do that so thanks for the prompt:)
 

 

[meet.the.doctor]

15 hours ago, SolarBur said:

For allies i've also been looking at grot warmachines. 

For 200pts a couple of Rock Lobbers can really lay the hurt on units. And it gives us some no line of sight high rend high damage shots. Same thing can be said about the Spear Chukka's and Doom Divers. Take them in teams and watch them compete against each other to try to rack up the damage. Of course they should be suitable looking for a savage army, none of that weird tech stuff the other races use  

Double Ale Guzzler seems like fun too. Why take one Gargant when you can take two ;p

If you have a more slower moving army, Troggoths can act the role as say Brutes can for Ironjawz. They aren't amazing but they do the job when the Stabba's aren't in range or around. 

I'm really liking the allies we have. Though for me, my thoughts are pretty much keeping to the warmachines and monsters (characterless ones), as a tribe that's intergrated them into their Kulture, I'm having to build my Bonesplitterz from scratch so i've not really played much in terms of games with them before. But i have an idea of what i would like to run and how to run the army. Can't way for the new year and get them stomping across the battlefield ^^

Unfortunatelly we cannot take grot warmachines as allies for bonesplitterz. Squig Gobba only

[SolarBur]

10 hours ago, meet.the.doctor said:

Unfortunatelly we cannot take grot warmachines as allies for bonesplitterz. Squig Gobba only

My  bad, just misread the allies ^^;;;

I know it was a little while ago about the discussion of Morboys over Savage Orruks. But i thought i might chip in my thoughts. I am a fan on the sword and board orruks, extra bit of armor can come in hand when your running a full block of 30. If i do run Morboys it would probably be only in units of 20 and only if i'm running a monster also. The extra hand weapon is pretty nice, but I feel they only really come into their own when a monster dies. 

[broche]

Played a game yesterday with my kunnin ruk against Fyreslsayer (casual game, tournamen army)

We came to the conclusion that the way Kunnin ruk play actually it's total NPE (for both player). 

However I don't want to by and paint a new army as it's mostly painted (see list below) so I'm toying with alternative (less strong, but more fun). I think i would keep the arrowboys, but not play kunnin ruk (so i still keep some decent shooting) but maybe drop the big boss and use the Wurgog as general, play 6-8 big stabbas (and put the buff on them). Or play small group of stabbas with Teef Ruk (not sure if its worth it). Maybe fit some Boarboys, i dunno!

Any idea?

savage big boss

maniack weirnob

wardok

wurgog prophet

weirnob shaman

10 savage orruk

30 arrowboys

30 morboys

4 big stabbas

3 Gore Gruntas

balewind vortex

kunnin ruk

[bonzai]

On 12/1/2017 at 8:51 AM, broche said:

Played a game yesterday with my kunnin ruk against Fyreslsayer (casual game, tournamen army)

We came to the conclusion that the way Kunnin ruk play actually it's total NPE (for both player). 

However I don't want to by and paint a new army as it's mostly painted (see list below) so I'm toying with alternative (less strong, but more fun). I think i would keep the arrowboys, but not play kunnin ruk (so i still keep some decent shooting) but maybe drop the big boss and use the Wurgog as general, play 6-8 big stabbas (and put the buff on them). Or play small group of stabbas with Teef Ruk (not sure if its worth it). Maybe fit some Boarboys, i dunno!

Any idea?

savage big boss

maniack weirnob

wardok

wurgog prophet

weirnob shaman

10 savage orruk

30 arrowboys

30 morboys

4 big stabbas

3 Gore Gruntas

balewind vortex

kunnin ruk

Yeah, your list would be considered to be on the softer side of Kunning Rukk lists. If it's steam rolling your opponent then I would drop the Rukk altogether.

That' why I run a Drakkfoot warclan. It's a bit friendlier without totally giving up synergies.

[Malakree]

There was a big thread about playing around with rogue idol builds a while ago. That had a pretty silly drakkfoot clan list in it.

Was something like your Wurrgog autocasting any spell below casting value 6 while on a balewind.

[Spiky Norman]

Something along the lines of this, would be pretty fun for a Drakkfoot list:

Quote

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
Wardokk (100)
Wardokk (100)
Wardokk (100)
30 x Savage Orruk Morboys (300)
10 x Savage Boarboyz (240)
5 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (160)
Rogue Idol (400)
- Allies
Drakkfoot Warclan (160)
Kop Rukk (200)
Balewind Vortex (100)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 400 / 400

Alternatively you could build the boys block like this, if you want some Stabbas instead.

Quote

20 x Savage Orruk Morboys (240)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (120)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (120)
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (100)
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (100)

 

[broche]

Thanks for the idea. I thinks i'm settle on something like:

savage big boss

maniack weirnob

wardok x 2

wurgog prophet (General)

10 morboys

30 arrowboys

30 morboys

6 big stabbas 3 gore gruntas 1 giant

No kunin ruk mean a litle more model wich is alway nice, and a shorter hero phase. Using Wurgog as general also lessen the number of die roll. I intend to use more the big boss as a fighting hero. Anyone know if i can activate big boss ability in hero phase if he is chosed with the prophet command?

 

 

[meet.the.doctor]

I have been fine tuning my list for a while and came to some conclusions (based on the meta in my place) and want to share some thoughts with you. 

First the list:

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Savage Big Boss (120)
- General
- Stonecleava 
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint  
- Artefact: Glowin Tattooz  
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
Wardokk (100)
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- Artefact: Mystic Waaagh! Paint  
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (120)
- Allies
Orruk Warboss On Wyvern(240)

Battleline
30 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys(360)
-  Bonesplitterz Battleline
10 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys(120)
-  Bonesplitterz Battleline
10 x Savage Orruk Morboys(120)
-  Bonesplitterz Battleline

Units
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (100)
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (100)
2 x Savage Big Stabbas (100)

Battalions
Kunnin' Rukk (160)

Scenery
Balewind Vortex (100)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 120 / 400
Wounds: 163

Of course the core is the Kunnin Rukk. I hate throwing a bucket of dice but let's face it there is no alternative in this army to that. If we had greenskinz Warboss command abbility than maybe the Maniaks would do something. But we don't so... the Kunnin Rukk. And it works only fully buffed: Bone Spirit, Brutal Beast Spirit and Bosses Command Abbility. Without that I found it useless. Shooting in hero phase happens not more than 2-3 times in a game(2,5h). And sometimes even that cannot do nothing to armies with 3+ save (or less) with re-rolls. But this is best known and people treat it as main threat. So I am looking to fit different synergies as an alternative.

First is the Foot of Gork. Unfortunatelly even with 20 bodies arround and on Vortex it can fail with extra wounds, but is the best oportunity to snipe on 36" inflicting D6+ wounds. I tried as an alternative Wurggog on Vortex, with 2 offensive spells (Arcane Bolt + Squigly Curse), but this combo works on characters only. And often artillery is the main threat (4 Bolt throwers!). Anyway a sniper is always a threat to consider and has to take some distraction from Big Boss+Wurrgog+Maniak (buffing combo).

Another of my recent discoveries are the stabbas - they are brilliant and underestimated. It is our cheapest unit right now and MUCH better then the garbage shield boys. I used it with most efficiency as a kamikaze unit (of 4 so far) combined with Hand of Gork. One thing that I have learned about our army - even if they won't wound (in 60+%) they will definietly die. And when they die it is good to take some of the enemies with you.

But I am thinking of making them a cheap screen against alpha strikers (apart from alpha shooters), therefore dividing them into smaller units, so I won't loose them in battleshock. If placed horizontaly they can take quite a lot of space in front of arrer boyz (they are on 75mm base right?). I am still not sure if to take them in one block or separate units. Battleshock against possibility to throw them with Hand of Gork.

Last combo is monster + morboyz. Unfortunately not many points left. I have tried the combo of giant + Morboyz (20), but Giant didn't do much usually and couldn't get past the middle of the field, and later buffed Morboyz usually won't make it all to combat (on paper melee looks sweet but on the board it is hard to get more than 10 models on 32 mm bases therefore 2+ attacks is a minimum). So I decided to try Warboss on Wyvern (with shield). 3+ save (with mystic shield) with re-rolls and flying can take him quite far making a threat for artillery. And if I put the Kunnin Beast Spirit on him (yes - This is the only spell we can cadt on allies) he can get lucky and fly quite far.But haven't tried that yet. Anyway when it dies Morboyz get closer and buffed. I would take 2 units of them but need another arrowboyz for Kunnin Rukk.

In this case I feel like all of the units have they role and I have no useless chaff ( I hate the shield boyz soooo much- never killed a snotling with them). And apart from that I have a theoretical all of things that can compete:

- mortal wounds (D6+, + D3 magic), 6x D3 on stabbas, and if lucky - wyvern tail, morboys

- 6 heroes (includding one "tough") for taking objectives, and distracting sniping

- bodies to take objectives (not to hold them though - solid save on 6s is not enough anyway)

- 90 re-rolling shooting, though it the buffs fail it is useless

 

any thoughts? Comments?

PS.I have tried to play aggresive on 1-2 drops before - going straight with arrowboyz right away to snipe characters (full buff + hand of gork). This wasn't the solution so I have dropped big battalion.

[broche]

I've settle on something like this:

Wurgog prophet (Prophet of da Waaagh or Squirmy warpaint with hand of gork or squigly curse)

Maniak Weirnob (with Brutal beast spirit )

Maniak Weirnob (With bone krusha and big wurgog mask)

Wardok (with hand of gork/squig curse)

Warboss on Wyvern (allies)

30 arrowboys

10 morboys

10 morboys

6 big stabbas

5 savage boarboys

5 savage boarboys/10 morboys (depending on my motivation to paint)

3 Gore Gruntas (allies)

1. First time i tried the Boarboys this week-end, and they were awesome. Retreat and charge actually won me the game (go from combat to 18 inch away and grab an objective)

2. Wyvern is a good target for arcane shield, she can pin something by herself for a while, and she is very mobile

3. Small squad of Morboys seem to offer more versatility than a big squad of 30 (even with discount)

4. Really liked the big wurgog mask (took the idea from Kanamorf I think?)

Overall, I'm not sure it's weaker than kunnin ruk. You still have the arrowboys threat, but you have lot of other threat even if they die.  It's also much more fun to play

I think a hard Tzeech list would be a hard match-up. A pure kunnin ruk would also be very tough.

[Pedro_L]

Hi all, 

As people are reporting all over Twitter: @Kanamorf has come 2nd in today's GT Heat 1. Congratulations Ian! What better way to bump the thread up than to ask Ian if he could give his reflections on the tournament, his list and why he chose it, and how he tends to use it? I have heard from Nicky Myland on the Bonesplitterz FB group that his list is:

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (General, Squirmy Warpaint)
- Squiggly Curse

Maniak Weirdnob 

- Brutal Beast Spirits

Wardokk 

- Hand of Gork

Wardokk (wearing the big wurrgog mask!)

- Bone Krusha 

 

Units

10 Boarboy Maniaks

10 Boarboy Maniaks

10 Savage Boarboyz

30 Arrowboyz

6 Big Stabbaz

 

[meet.the.doctor]

I hope this won't disapear under heat discussion but anyway I'll try:

Do you have any ideas for alternative Big Stabbas models?

I did my 3rd and 4th using Gargant's tree club (looks better than original) and weapons spiked club.

but right now I am looking for another 2. If like someone posted earlier they are on 75mm oval (I need to rebase as I did on smaller ones), they are a good screen (as I mentioned earlier)

[Kanamorf]

After an awesome weekend of gaming at heat 1 I have been asked to give a breakdown of my army, thoughts and other good stuff and this seems like the perfect place to do this.

First off thanks to Matthew, Rich, Joe, Matt and Nicky my opponents for the weekend.

I have been playing Bonesplitterz now since day one of the battle tome drop 18 months ago. I have been playing orcs for nearly 30 years. I love orcs and I love their silliness, this has influenced my army choice a lot.

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
Wardokk (100)
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (320)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (320)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboyz (240)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline
30 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (360)
- Bonesplitterz Battleline

Units
6 x Savage Big Stabbas (300)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 196

 

When GHB17 dropped I made a conscious decision that I was no longer going to run the Kunnin Rukk and due to points I was struggling to get the balewind into any army that I felt would be strong. I know that the most competitive Bonesplitterz army is a KR with loads of archers, I know I will win more games with that list than with this one, however this one is much more fun to play and I get perverse pleasure out of my opponent’s reaction when a unit of ten loonies on the back of pigs fly over their lines and hit something really hard. I also love playing up to the monster hunter theme of my army, and I have a monster hunter hat to prove it.

Since dropping the KR I have been tinkering with how the list works but the core has always been 2 units of 10 maniacs (I always took them under GHB1 too). They are the core of how I play they are very strong at what they do and the double pile in in my turns can just make a mess of just about anything that is not extremely well armoured. In 18 months the only monster I have never killed on a fully buffed boar boy charge is the Star drake, you have to work harder to kill one of them.

The Big Stabbas unit has grown over time, I used to run 2 units of 2 bases in the Teef Rukk and while they were good they were never quite good enough, so I dropped the Rukk and went with one unit of 6. If you meet a player who has seen these guys before then the stikkas will not survive the first turn otherwise they will at worst create a huge bubble on the table where monsters fear to tread and at best they will go totally bonkers and decimate whatever they are close to.

The unit of 10 normal boar boys was a new addition for Heat 1, I have never run 30 boars before, but thought I would give it a try. I used to have a unit of 5 and for the other 120 points I used to take a unit of 10 archers that acted as a screen for my deployment and were there mostly just to die as slowly as possible. The 10 boars were used as my deployment screen for the weekend, in my head the plan was use them as a screen, they have a good chance of surviving an alpha strike (30 wounds takes a while to get through) and then with their retreat and charge rule I could get the remnants of the unit across the table and into their squishy stuff or sitting on an objective.

30 archers is 30 archers, everyone knows how nasty they can be, everyone knows they need to be dealt with, so I use that to my advantage and in my head the unit of archer is a big target that is almost certainly going to do nothing in the game other than die, if you go in expecting them to do nothing then anything they can do is a bonus. I will nearly always stick inspiring presence on them and just sit them on an objective. I am happy when whole armies spend multiple turns killing the archers.

My character selection is fairly easy, it’s the most characters I can fit in the remaining points. Prophet is great because he can cast twice and on those rare occasions I do not IP the archers his command ability to activate a unit within 15” to pile in and fight in the Hero Phase is nice. I used it a couple of times this weekend to great effect. He has a fair amount of survivability too, his -1 to be hit and 5+ armour save means in Duality of Death he is not auto dead when anything vaguely looks at him. I will usually run him up the board popping off arcane bolt and squiggly curse at any characters I can get at. It is not too far away from average dice rolls to kill a 5 wound character in one turn.

The only reason I have a maniac wierdnob is for his movement. I have suffered in the past with Duality of Death not being able to capture in turn one. So in that mission his job is to run to an objective and try his best not to die when your opponent sneezes in his direction. Other than that he sits 18” away from interesting units casting Brutal Beast Spirits (+1 to hit, run and charge)

Hand of Gork wardokk hides and casts, simple but effective.

Mask Wardokk is much more fun, he has Bone Krusha and the Big Wurgog Mask, he is my mortal wound bomb. All he does is run towards the biggest nastiest thing he can see and goes bang. Either the thing is dead or he is dead, simples. I love Bone Krusha, it is surprising how often a single mortal wound at 24” can make a difference, but the better games when he gets to closer than 6” and is suddenly doing D6 wounds and then is dropping the mask he is just scary. Against Nicky Myland this weekend I took of 18 Eternal Guard in one hero phase with just him, Big Wurgog Mask!! The only reason it was not more was there was nothing left to kill. My current record for the mask is a full unit of 6 Skyfires removed. Most games however he will die on the first try to get the second D3.

 

Game 1 Matthew Bennet

Matthew’s list was Seraphon, Kroak on a Balewind, banner guy with +8” range, a bastiladon and lots of skinks. The mission was Total Conquest.

I have not played Seraphon may times and have traditionally struggled due to their high armour save, the bane of my army. However Matthew’s army was mostly skinks, and their annoying run away from combat mechanic.

I think Matthew made one mistake in his deployment which meant that I had a much easier time of things. He set up Kroak way in the back in one of the board corners. So while his spells still hurt the average dice rolls on Balewind were giving him 28-32” range, this however was only covering 2 of the 4 objectives. This meant I had control of the other 2 for the entire game only really having to deal with 2 units of 10 skinks on that side of the board. The one thing I was worried about was the unit of 40 skinks and their ability to teleport anywhere on the board and then run from combat. With a unit of 20+ auto capturing objectives I had to deal with it. I got a double charge on the skinks in one of my turns with the Big Stikkas and one unit of maniacs. I chose the stikkas 1^st doing a good amount of damage. Matthew, as expected, retreated the skinks, but because of the board edge could only retreat 5” so with the boar’s double pile in I got back into them and reduced them down with battleshock to less than 20.

This was the first time I have played a Kroak list and it was nasty, with a slightly different setup I think it would have been much harder to win however I do tend to do well against armies that put out lots of mortal wounds as all of my models are multi wound and it is surprising how often you roll a 6 for the tattoos.

Matthew was a great opponent and told me he was new to the scene, I am sure with that list he will do well in the future.

Result: Major Win

Game 2 Rich |Morley

I played Rich in the Finals last year and he brought Nagash, which my big stikkas killed so I knew I could not fool him twice. Rich had a very different army this time with a lot more bodies on the table including a unit of 60 zombies.

The mission was scorched earth; this is a mission I traditionally do well at due to my speed. I won the deployment; I have to say 9 drops over 10 makes a big difference in winning the choice of 1^st turn. You’re still going to have to deal with the armies which are designed as low drop but against most other armies you have a good chance of out dropping them.

My first turn could not really have gone any better. I got all of my spells off onto one unit of maniacs, IP, +1hit,run and change, reroll 1 to save, Hand of Gork and a cheeky mystical terrain which I threw across the table into a unit of 6 spirit hosts. Double pile in and suddenly I am holding the objective and able to burn it. I only got one for the burn but that was a massive result for the game as a whole. That unit of maniacs did a stellar job of dying slowly too, slowing Rich down getting to my badly defended objective.

My plan for the rest of the game was to ignore his middle objective with the unit of 60 zombies on it, do the same as my first turn to the other side of the table. I knew this would be a harder job as this flank was better defended. The thing I did not appreciate at this point is #zombiemeta. 60 zombies with a vampire lord buffing for +1 attack hurts like hell when you have no armour. If Rich had realised this earlier he would have won the game hands down. We chatted about it after the game and he told me he had not spotted just how much damage they can put out. He also had mystical on them for the whole game. Speaking to him after the next few games he always commented on how well the zombies did, they took Archeon down to one wound in a turn in one of his games. My second unit of maniacs did a similar job in my second turn on the other flank grabbing the objective and burning it, again for 1 point. However they did not survive anywhere near as long due to the flayers and varguist. The rest of the game was all about me trying desperately to slow down the tide of undead that was shambling towards my objectives. At the end of the game Rich had burned one of my objectives for 3 points, but I had managed to hold onto two.

It was really close game I think I was down to less than 10 archers on my middle objective in the last turn and it could easily have swung Rich’s way if he had been a little luckier with his charge distances. It’s for games like this that I play AoS, the unit that you write off in your mind will come up to bite you, literally.

Result: Major Win

Game 3 Joe Johnson

Joe has a Gnarlroot Wargrove Sylvaneth army. The mission was Knife to the Heart. Sylvaneth are a tough match up for me, even though there are 2 monsters on the table the real power in the army (the kurnoth hunters with scythes) has high saves with rerolls. I think I have said this before but Bonsplitters (well my type of splitters) hate armour saves. Knife to the Heart is a tough mission to win on any day of the week but more so against Sylvaneth.

There is a real case in this match up to play for the minor win, stay back use the archers to pick off a unit and then just keep my own objective. Well I decided I didn’t want to do that and having won 2 games already what’s the worst that could happen?

I was surprised when Joe gave me first turn. I have played against Liam Cook’s Sylvaneth many times and know that they do really well controlling the game by taking turn 1. So no great surprises, I buffed a unit of maniacs and threw them at the trees. In this mission it is a huge risk as you are suiciding 320 points of your army in the hope of making a hole for the rest of your army. If it backfires, which it has on many other occasions, you are 320 points behind when working to a minor. If I played it again I think I would have been slightly less aggressive in turn 1 setting my self up for a better multi unit charge in turn 2. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. Joe’s Treelord Ancient had the magic item that allowed him to teleport once per game to anywhere on the board so I was very cautious about leaving my objective, all my characters except the Mask Wardokk stayed back with the archers to stop him popping over and denying me my objective. I don’t think either of us of a double turn during the game, if we did I know it made no real difference. My second turn saw the other maniacs and the normal boars get stuck into the grinder. My stikkas were not far behind. Joe decided to use his moonstone to teleport in support of his own forces. This took the threat away from my objective so I was then able to push even harder. I got a beautifully lucky 10” charge with my stikkas into Drycha. The result there was, sadly for Drycha, an inevitable tree felling, 3 +D3 wounds on monsters does not take many failed saving throws to remove models. After this piece of luck the rest of the game turned into a grind of orcs vs trees, which the orcs won, however the attrition rate meant I did not have 5 models left to capture his objective.

I really enjoyed this game as I felt I had control of with a decent chance of getting the major, however Joe played very well to deny me.

Result: Minor Win

Game 4: Matt Tullock

Matt has a lovely Karadron Overloads army, lots of basic company, lots of balloon guys with chain swords and an Ironclad. He got one of my favourite army votes for the weekend. The mission we played was Starstrike.

Matt with his two drops took the first turn and used his Hero movement and normal movement to get a huge amount of guns into range of my army. Then the black powder went off. When the dust settled there were 30 less archers on the table, but importantly there were still 4 characters. Matt was so unlucky with his shots at my characters. He left 2 of them on 1 wound.

In this game there were 2 pieces of hard cover terrain on my side of the board, however both were mystical. I had the choice of side and due to the buildings being great for hiding from shooting I had run the risk of the mystical. I had to roll for just about every remaining unit other than characters for mystical and in the 3 turns we played I never failed one.

My big stikkas went mental in this game. With the archers gone and me being in combat already I just used the Prophet’s command ability every turn to massive effect. The stikkas alone took out all 18 balloon guys and the Ironclad in 2 turns, which I got consecutively. Sometimes you get all the luck, and it is brutal to be in the receiving end.

Just to prove I was blessed by Mork, or is it Gork, this game all of the Stars dropped in positions I either already held or we out of reach of Matt’s remaining forces.

Matt took the loss stoically.

Result: Major win

Game 5: Nicky Myland

I have spoke to Nicky at many previous tournaments about our different takes on Bonesplitterz but we have never played each other, and with all due respect I did not want to play him this weekend. His Wanderers army is really strong, ridiculously fast and more shooty than I care to think about. I knew that my characters would not survive turn 1. So thinking hat time. If the last mission had been Duality of Death it would have been auto win for Nicky. He takes first turn teleports the army over kills my characters and then I cannot score. However the last mission was Battle for the Pass. Bullet one dodged.

 Nicky gave me turn one, so I went aggressive. Launched the ordinary boars as far up the table as I could get to be in a position to score the 4 point objective in turn 2, 2 units of maniacs on the 2 side objectives and everything else on my home objective.

Score 5 in turn 1.

Nicky’s first turn saw his whole army teleport over to my side of the table where shooting took off 3 of my 4 characters and 3 of the 6 stikkas. He teleported into combat with one of the units of maniacs on the 2 point objective, but importantly the Sisters of the Thorn buff failed to cast this turn. I was surprised that nothing was left on his home objective to score that, and I think that was an important error from Nicky.

End of round 1 Orcs are winning 5-2

I won the initiative, phew, that really would have been game over if I had lost.

Ordinary boars ran away to capture the 4 point objective, the remaining 5 maniacs ran away to avoid a pointless fight I could not win, the maniacs on the other flank just held position. The remaining 3 big stikkas charged into combat with the eternal guard that were shielding his archers. One of Nicky’s waywatchers had a magic item. Nicky had told me that without that magic item and his general his army was much worse so with my one remaining wizard (mask wardokk) I did a single mortal wound to the waywatcher and then 4 wounds with what shooting could reach him and took him off. I really can’t remember what the item was, or what it did. I just knew I had been told it was an important part of the plan. The rest of the shooting was split between the Eternal guard, and his big unit of 30 archers.

End of my turn 2: Score 12-2 to the orcs.

Nicky spent turn 2 consolidating his hold on the flank he had redeployed to killing most of the ordinary boars and the unit of maniacs on that flank, importantly for me he did not shoot at the archers or the character hiding in the middle of them. The wild riders went back to capture his home objective.

End of round 2 Score 12-5 to the orcs

Again I won the initiative and kept hold of my own objective and the one on the undisputed flank. By the end of my two turns including battleshock I had killed 29 of the 30 archer unit and 12 of the eternal guard.

End of my turn 3: Score 15-5 to the orcs

Nicky’s next turn saw is army start to split up. He knew he had to start scoring big. The main force redeployed to the other flank to get the two points on that side and the eternal guard went into the back of my archers. This was an unlucky turn for Nicky because he captured neither my home objective or the remaining 2 pointer. Again he did not target my remaining wizard.

End of round 3 Score 15-8 to the orcs

If you’re going to be lucky, be lucky and embrace it. I won priority again.

So in the stand out moment of the entire weekend my Mask Wardokk went bang. He was within 6” of the eternal guard (18 left) so in d6 range of Bone Krusha. I then did the normal of rolling dice until either the unit is dead or I am dead. 18 wounds later I am left standing and Nicky is laughing his head off.

The 5 remaining boars on the flank I hold charge into the unit of 20 archers and made mince meat out of them.

End of my turn 4: Score 18-8 to the orcs

So Nicky needed to score 10 points in the last two turns for a minor win (he is way ahead on kill points by now) or 11 and deny me a score for the major win. He was in firm control of all of the objectives except mine for both of his final turns so a definite 10 points. It all came down to my objective.

Importantly I think Nicky had forgotten that this mission allows you to leave objectives and retain control of them until an enemy capture. This meant his wild riders had spent a turn guarding an objective needlessly. They did however start racing towards the archers in turn 4. By the end of his turn I am still holding my objective with about ~20 orcs and a wardokk he gets all of the other objectives.

End of round 4: Score 18-13 to the orcs

Nicky wins priority!

Nothing I can do now other than try to weather the storm. Shooting, magic, combat….. 5 orcs and a Wardokk left, Nicky has 5 wild riders and a wizard too. He has failed to score it. Now I just need to score it in my turn.

End of Nicky’s turn 5: Score 18-18 (Nicky is on Minor due to kill points)

So my last turn. How tense can a game be? Very it turns out.

Hero phase, wardokk, less than 6”, Bone krusha, vs wild riders…….. Roll 2 dice looking for a 6, roll a 4.

Step 1 fail.

Shooting 5 orcs 10 shots, kill two wild riders seems tough but achievable. Result kill 1.

Step 2 not so great

Combat kill one more wild rider with 5 orcs and not loose any more orcs. Result no dead wild riders one dead orc. Objective status 5 models each.

Step 3 not looking promising.

At this point I would like to call out the way that AoS is played in 99% of games I have played. Earlier in turn 4 Nicky had forgotten to cast a spell and had moved on, I let him go back and he killed an orc with arcane bolt. In the madness of my turn 5 I had not spotted that my wardokk was more than 3” away so not in combat and had not charged. Nicky let me roll the charge. I would have been happy if he said no, but have to say thank you. We have a great community; never forget it, even in the closest important games.

So it all comes down to a Wardokk with a stick needing 4 to hit and 3 to wound with no rend. And on the other side a wild rider with one wound. Roll to his (warchief dice be praised) a 6, roll to wound (warchief dice be praised) a 6! Nicky has an armour save to make. I have no idea what number he needs and he rolls a 2! Dead wild rider. I hold the objective 5 models to 4

End of round 5: 19-18 to the orcs. Damn that was close.

 

I had an awesome weekend and whatever the result of the last game I would have been happy.

My army did exactly what I expected of it, I got 4 really lucky draws and 1 tough draw. The 10 ordinary boars were great. They are a keeper. You forget that mystic shield and cover suddenly puts them on a 3+ save in combat. Get a lucky wardokk dance and they are rerolling 1’s, suddenly they are way more survivable. I never usually cast mystic shield, lesson learnt. At this point I am not sure there is anything I would change about my army. I accept it is weak against some armies, in a Bonesplitterz march up vs KR and 90 archers it is almost certain loss for me I think.