The Black Sunz - Ironjawz - Update 28/02 - PICS! Whole new army painted!!

[Mitzy]

11 minutes ago, Chris Tomlin said:

*now....the kicker here is that I am not actually finished. Despite three really late nights in a row, I have yet to finish my Gore-gruntas. It's so disappointing and feels like abject failure given how much time I've put in. They are useable, but not up to standard. I will be taking them, plus my paints with me today and may try some hotel painting. It means sacrificing getting drunk and hanging out, worse still I might not even finish which would really suck. I'll also be shattered for tomorrow. Other options are to run with an 1800 point list, or to just field them anyway and let them bring my army down (the worst option imo). *Sigh*

 

Don't feel despondent @Chris Tomlin all the work has paid off over the last 5 weeks your army looks the business. I can vouch for how long it takes to paint the Gore Gruntas, painting up 6 for Alliance felt like a never ending task, but the end product and satisfaction when they were wiped off the table in turn 2 of game 1 by a Stormcast Eternals army was immeasurable...    

[Chris Tomlin]

1 hour ago, Mitzy said:

Don't feel despondent @Chris Tomlin all the work has paid off over the last 5 weeks your army looks the business. I can vouch for how long it takes to paint the Gore Gruntas, painting up 6 for Alliance felt like a never ending task, but the end product and satisfaction when they were wiped off the table in turn 2 of game 1 by a Stormcast Eternals army was immeasurable...    

Thanks brother, means a lot from a fellow Megaboss of renown such as yourself. I have 6 more Gore-gruntas on the sprue. Dunno if I'll ever face painting them haha!!

If nothing else, the last part of your post brought a smile to my tired, bleary eyed face!

[Nico]

Could you just get a character model instead to fill up the points? Quicker to paint?

[Chris Tomlin]

11 minutes ago, Nico said:

Could you just get a character model instead to fill up the points? Quicker to paint?

Bit late now, but mid week I did consider switching to a pair of Warchanters (probably a better choice full stop tbh!!) as I have a couple sat around, however I want to convert them so didn't want to rush it.

An idea @Forestreveries gave me is rather than batch painting them to try and complete one at a time to standard and then use whatever I do finish as an "understrength unit". I quite like this.

[Dez]

That's a good idea!

Megawarboss Groggo da Kegsmasha is raising a barrel of Ghur's finest in honor of Da Smashin' Krunk and da Black Sunz iz gonna do tomorrow!

[Chris Tomlin]

Good afternoon all,

Back from The Warlords and on my way to recovery after a heavy weekend. Before we can get onto the painted models you haven't seen yet and my reports of the fantastic weekend just got, we need to finish up with Brothers of Sigmar (finally). So game 4 today, and game 5 tomorrow. These will be brief reports now but I hope you enjoy regardless.

Game 9 - Brothers of Sigmar Round 4 - vs Matt Clarke @Gmac2610 (Order) & Amy Clarke (Order)

So for game four we were drawn against my good friend Matt Clarke and his lovely wife Amy. This one was interesting as rather than two individual 1,000 point armies, they had cleverly split down Matt's regular 2,000 point Stormcast list to be legal in two parts. It worked pretty well IMO. The list included (off memory...this is some time ago now. You can still check the lists using the link above); Drakesworn Templar, Celestant on Dracoth, Castellant, Relictor, Mistweaver, Liberators (some), Judicators (some), 4 Fulminators and I want to say Paladins of some description, possibly a Celestant on foot. Sorry, this is going to be pretty vague.
First off the bat I gotta say, without meaning to sound at all patronising, I was really impressed with Amy's grasp and knowledge of the game considering Matt had given her just 3 learning games before the event. Having a new player didn't slow the game down whatsoever, it flowed perfectly so yeh, all good!

This battleplan was totally in our favour if I'm honest. It was played using a "battle for the pass" (lengthways) deployment. The space around the tables at this event was great and made what can be an awkward deployment method super playable. There were 4 objectives spaced like the ones in the SCGT stormfront battleplan - ie two on each players deployment line, spaced evenly from the long edges of the table.
Basically the objective was hold the most of these (and you needed 5 wounds worth of models to do so)...however there was a juicy kicker in that every model that counted towards capturing the objective needed to roll a dice at the end of your turn, on a 6 they are slain outright!! This meant you couldn't just have 5 single wound models hanging out at the back as even just one 6 would see you unable to score. Very interesting I thought.

Now for my Ironjawz alone, this would've been undoubtably a super hard battleplan as it was for the Stormcast with their limited numbers. However, Paddy, with his two units of 40 Grots was looking pretty good for this one.

Deployment wise we didn't intermingle our units much and just took a side of the table and one objective each. I figured the Ardboyz were my best bet at objective holding in this one. Being two wounds each I only needed 3, however I tended to keep around 5-6 near it at any given time to mitigate the potential of rolling a couple of sixes. Everything else went forward with the large Brute unit eyeing up the Stardrake, although that didn't go particularly well. Amy's ability to roll well for the cavernous draws stripped away my Gore-choppas straight away (luckily the unit leader becomes a Big Boss in the battalion so gets 5 wounds!) and in general made a mess of that unit. My retaliation was poor as Matt rolled some solid saves on Amy's behalf.
On the other side of the table Paddy was advancing, making some beautiful patterns across the table with his deluge of Grots. He overwhelmed the Stormcast objective opposite him and beat down on the Liberators (and maybe Paladins) protecting it. The Fanatics got released and saw off some Judicators, before getting into the Stardrake and taking that off.

Poor Matt was having a torrid time with his objective, losing 4/5 Liberators to 6's over a couple of turns! Krunk and 5 Brutes got into the Fulminators and the mighty Megaboss alone slew 2 in a single round. After Matt's pile in he also had to test for one Fulminator on his objective and...of course, rolled a 6!! Ouch. Krunk then went down to some shooting. Boooo!!

Whilst I think the Clarkes played well, especially winging the Stardrake at us and making a right mess (I should also note Rain of Stars killed the Warchanter & both Grot leaders), the battleplan was always gonna be tough for them whoever they played. Conversely, I think it was always going to be a good one for us, purely down to Paddy's list.
Overall it was a great fun game with plenty of banter. Matt and Amy got our favourite opponent votes I believe.

Again, apologies for the vagueness. At this stage I'm just keen to get a record of the games up and a brief description. I have so many tournaments coming up I want to keep on top of it. When thing die down a bit I hope to be able to do fuller reports on club games etc.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed regardless.

Oh...we learnt that morning the Secondary Objective was worth points...I think we got one over the weekend and I think it was this game? Dunno that might be a horrible lie!! We won the game though.

Result - Win (30TPs), Secondary Objective succeeded (5TPs)

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by Chris Tomlin

[Gmac2610]

It was a good fun game. One thing you left out was Amy taking the Quicksiler potion on her Drakesworn Templar and using it to eat a unit of fanatics to your dismay ( as you and Paddy forgot she had taken it) :-) 

It was really nice to play you both. 

[Chris Tomlin]

12 hours ago, Gmac2610 said:

It was a good fun game. One thing you left out was Amy taking the Quicksiler potion on her Drakesworn Templar and using it to eat a unit of fanatics to your dismay ( as you and Paddy forgot she had taken it) :-) 

It was really nice to play you both. 

Oh sh*t yeh! That was amazing, what a move haha!! That really threw us. Thanks for reminding me.

Glad you enjoyed the game  

[Chris Tomlin]

So we are finally here, over 3 weeks after the event finished, with the last battle report!
Apologies it has taken so long, although to be honest, with all the painting I've been doing recently I haven't been playing outside of events, so drip feeding the reports has kept the thread active with new content if nothing else!

Following this, you can expect the following content over the coming weeks;

• Photos - lots of photos! I have done so much that isn't depicted in this thread and that I want to share. I think that it's photos that people like most (as opposed to walls of texts) so hopefully that will ignite some interest.
• Thoughts/ideas - As well as what I have painted, there is already so much more I want to do. I have loads of plans and ideas I'd love to share with you guys.
• Battle Reports / Tournament coverage - I have 6 games from the Warlords last weekend to report on already. Obviously I will be talking about my list following that and what I may look to change etc. I also have Facehammer GT on 24/25th of this month and then Cheltenham Warchiefs the following week 1st/2nd October! Madness.

If you enjoy my updates, thoughts, pics etc etc (you sicko!), as well as this thread, you can follow me on Twitter @the_black_sun - all #miniaturemonday pics (well, Ironjawz ones!) will end up in this thread, but I also do a short 2 minute video exclusively on Twitter every #wipwednesday just showing what I'm up to. Considering moving into YouTube in the coming months. Finally, there is The Black Sun podcast (iTunes or www.theblacksun.co.uk). This is for over 18's as the language and/or content isn't always suitable for yoofs! There will be a new episode out this Sunday which is essentially just going to be me talking about my recent Ironjawz experiences. So even if you're not keen in general, might be worth checking that one out.

But...I digress. Self promotion over, lets crack on with that last doubles report shall we?

Game 10 - Brothers of Sigmar Round 5 - vs James Perrin @The Blightking (Destruction) & William Morriss (Destruction)

Another pure Destruction off! This time we were up on the heady heights of Table 2 in a pretty fruity battleplan. Essentially there were 4 objectives (2 on each side) that could only be claimed by characters, needing the majority to win. As we as this there was a very jazzy D6 table to be rolled on at the start of each player turn. This could grant various buffs, but also if you rolled a dreaded 1 you'd find D3 of your units unable to do ANYTHING that turn. Ouch!
Their armies were pretty tasty tbh, William was rocking the standard 1k Ironjawz list (like myself); Megaboss, Warchanter, 4 units + Ironfist. He'd opted for 3x 5 Brutes (interestingly had the Big Choppas on the Bosses) and 3 Gore-gruntas.
James had a Huskard on Stonehorn (which he admitted was an error as it couldn't use one of its abilties I believe, however - character on a Stonehorn, pretty tasty, especially in this game), Tyrant, Ironguts, Ogors.

As seemed pretty standard in these games we kinda just deployed where we were stood opposite one player. So think 2x 1,000 point games side by side. I'm sure the better players would've intermingled more, but hey - we were lazy!!
For my sins I was up against the Ogor filth, which I knew was going to be tough. Luckily, they popped a "1" on the table turn 1, so we nominated the Stonehorn to remain pinned in place. Unlke the previous Destruction off there was no hesitation here and they push everything forwards at us. Victory here would surely see one team find their way onto the Podium, so all to play for!
I couldn't really see how I was going to get round into the backfield to claim their objective. I decided to leave mine unguarded and also pushed forward, charging the 10 Brutes into the Ironguts and Megaboss Krunk into the Ogors. I had moved the Ardboyz up to try and block off the Stonehorn from getting around my side or into my characters. In combat, the Brutes deleted the Ironguts, which was expected but a relief nonetheless. In relaliation, 3 Ogors attacked and, in a shocking turn of events, outright killed Krunk! Disaster, terrible rolling. I was not expecting this and it put me in the rather rubbish position of needing my Warchanter to save the game!

Oh, I have just remembered a very key part of this game - Paddy's 4 wound Grot heroes were unable to score!! Better planning could've seen us give the General "big and brutish" for +1 wound, meaning he at least could have done. So already we were pretty sure we'd lost. We had to hold off the entire Ironjawz/Ogor force, whilst somehow getting the Warchanter to one of their objectives if we were to get the win. Hmmm, mission impossible much?

It didn't get much better to be honest, although it was clear that Paddy's objective was not in danger as he was doing a fine job vs William's Ironjawz. So much so in fact they began to drift towards my side of the table, knowing that Paddy's diminutive heroes could not score his objective. As soon as the Stonehorn became free it barrelled into the Ardboyz, killing all 10 in a single round. Urgh. In revenge of their Megaboss, 5 Brutes went to town on the Tyrant, taking him down in a oner.

They then made the decision to not wreck my army with the Stonehorn, instead running it onto my objective and surrounding theirs with the remaining Ogors, using William's Brutes to tie up mine and create a blockade so that there was no way of my Warchanter getting through.
Good play and essentially game over!!

FYI, we actually got our secondary mission in this game and not against @Gmac2610 and Amy.

This was a great fun game, which could've been amazing had Paddy's heroes been able to score as we would've had a much more tactical game on our hands. Still, we were glad to see James and William up on the podium representing Destruction well. Great lads. Me and Paddy came in 4th place overall out of the 16 teams. Not bad! As previously mentioned I also scooped Best Painted so all in all it was a successful weekend. Great to team up with @Paddy O'Sullivan and learn to appreciate the wonder of Moonclan! Thanks to @jonwarmington for putting on a great event.

Result - Loss (5TPs), Secondary Objective failed (0TPs)

Overall Tournament Record; 3 Wins / 1 Draw / 1 Loss / 1 Secondary Objective. Overall Position: 4th (out of 16 teams)

I won't actually talk about my list this time round because, ya know, 1,000 points of Ironjawz is what it is!!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading.
Looking forward to sharing some photos and more reports with you soon.

Megaboss Chris x

 

[Dez]

KRUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!! Sounds like you had a great time and showing at this event!

I've just started dabbling in YouTube (and twitter) myself. I've been having fun making videos, and I think I'm finally over being sick so I can ramp up production.

[Bjarni St.]

Quote

[Scenario] could grant various buffs, but also if you rolled a dreaded 1 you'd find D3 of your units unable to do ANYTHING that turn. Ouch!

Sounds like playing previous edition Orcs Dark Elves!

[Chris Tomlin]

19 hours ago, Dez said:

KRUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!! Sounds like you had a great time and showing at this event!

I've just started dabbling in YouTube (and twitter) myself. I've been having fun making videos, and I think I'm finally over being sick so I can ramp up production.

 

Yeh, it went well...though tbh I would genuinely put our success on the table down to @Paddy O'Sullivan's Moonclan. They really are good. After my Warlords report you'll see that my appreciation has grown further haha!!

What's your YouTube channel, I have to check it out.

After I finished my Infinity league game at club last night I got in a 1k game of Warhammer vs @#SteveJames. I will probably just do a quick report on that this afternoon whilst it's fresh and then come back to Warlords.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Chris Tomlin

[Dez]

@Chris Tomlin I took your advice and joined twitter @dakkadez

My budding YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeQT7IuU1LmGOjgLU8cu18w

[Chris Tomlin]

20 minutes ago, Dez said:

@Chris Tomlin I took your advice and joined twitter @dakkadez

My budding YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeQT7IuU1LmGOjgLU8cu18w

Cool, I'll give you a follow and check out your channel tomorrow - tonight I will be out on the battle brew, 2 swigs at a time!

Thought I'd super quickly do a report of my 1k game from last night...technically not game 11, but whatever, but to keep it in order here;

Game 11 - vs Steve Phillips @#SteveJames - Bloodbound

So after me and Steve finished our Infinity League game, we decided there was time for a 1,000 point game of Warhammer. I was looking for some revenge after he handily beat me at Infinity. This was a fine idea until he whipped out his army...Bloodbound, urgh, potentially a rough match up for obvious reasons (more on this in my Warlords coverage). I don't think Steve is the most experienced player however and is just getting to grips with the army. His list looked terrifying; Aspiring Deathbringer, Bloodstoker, Bloodsecrator, Slaughterpriest, 10 Blood Warriors, 3x 20 Blood Reavers in the Dark Feast battalion. Loads of models!! He had the command trait to give Unpredictable Destruction on a 5+ and 2 Crowns of Command. My army was the same as above pretty much;

• Megaboss Krunk - Ravager, Battle Brew
• Da Kurlzz, Orruk Warchanter - Talisman of Protection
• Ironfist
• 10 Brutes - Klaw & Smasha, 2 Gore-choppas, Jagged-hackas
• 5 Brutes - Klaw & Smasha, Gore-choppa, Choppas
• 10 Ardboyz - 9 Uge Choppas, 1 Shield

Nothing exciting there tbh! We rolled up Border War (GHOUL PATROL!), which is good as its pretty much my fav battleplan. I dropped my army first due to fewer characters so took the first turn and did my usual strategy of moving up onto the two middle objectives, giving me a 5-0 lead. Nice. In Steve's turn he was equally aggressive, buffing and charging 20 Blood Reavers into my 5 Brutes and Ardboyz that sat on the objectives. The Slaughterpriest also did 4 mortal wounds on the Ardboyz. In combat, the megabuffed unit rolled 50 attacks at my Brutes and whilst they were in cover, he still killed 3. However, this did not deter me and the 2 remaining Brutes (Boss & Gore-choppa) managed to pass battleshock and kill all 20 Blood Reavers dead over a couple of rounds - that's straight kills as he was immune to battleshock. In the interim though, the larger number of bodies did mean Steve took that objective, though the Ardboyz stood firm against the other unit for one round, but next turn he took that one as well.

Now being new to the army, he did make a couple of errors IMO (not that I'm the oracle!) - not leaving characters within 10" for Unpredictable Destruction, which he did keep getting whenever he could!! He also left his Bloodsecrator on the objective in his deployment zone after tagging it, when he could've sat off it a bit. This meant my unit of 10 Brutes could move up twice in the hero phase, again in the move phase and get a simple charge, not only killing the important buffing character but also meaning I scored his objective for 4 points. The Slaughterpiest killed the Warchanter with his prayer which was annoying, but Krunk had his number...there were 12 Blood Reavers in the way...they were smashed to mush in on round of combat against the monstrous Megaboss, before he got to the Slaughterpriest, giving him a similar treatment.

I could not avoid the Blood Warriors charging the 10 Brutes and this is a pretty dicey combat. Luckily over a couple of rounds it went my way and they went down for the loss of 5 Brutes, I'll take that...could go much worse tbh.

The two remaining Brutes over the other side got charged by the 3rd unit of 20 Reavers, and whilst the Gore-choppa went down, the Boss managed to finish them off to a man!!! Again, no battleshock, pure kills! Mental!

The game finished with Krunk fighting off against the Aspiring Deathbringer...it was not the epic clash I'd hoped for. I think he needs to aspire higher as he was dispatched with complete ease by the Megaboss.

So....a tabling, without loss of a single VP and a 30-10 win on the objective. Not bad, though I do think if that Bloodsecrator had moved and he'd been more aggressive with the Blood Warriors it could've been different.

It was a super fun game though, we drank quite a lot and @#SteveJames was getting into the spirit of things, renaming most of his models weapons to something suitably phallic. I do hope he took away a couple of pointers and next time I think it could be a tough match. It's a nice 1,000 point core he has there and I'm interested to see how it grows out to 2,000 points for @Paddy O'Sullivan's event in December.

Result - Major Victory (30-10)

That will have to do for now guys!

Enjoy, Warlords report to follow. Have a great weekend...

[Dez]

2 swigs at a time, I love it!

Brutes and the Megaboss are indeed mental, both of mine just chewed their way through a Mortal Chaos army that had 360 points on me. 

[Chris Tomlin]

19 minutes ago, Dez said:

Brutes and the Megaboss are indeed mental, both of mine just chewed their way through a Mortal Chaos army that had 360 points on me. 

Brutes are great at dishing it out, but you'll need a bit of luck with the battleshock tests when taking it back.

The Megaboss is just great post General's Handbook (movement + traits + brew). Before its release I was on the verge of dropping him from my lists, now I'm planning a conversion for my second; Krunk's brother from another mother!

[Dez]

That's why I try to put Inspiring Presence on them when I can. I wish we had a Crown of Command! 

MWB 2 Battle Brew Boogaloo has to happen! I'm thinking of using the Mawkrusha one converted for a bit of variance.

[Chris Tomlin]

26 minutes ago, Dez said:

That's why I try to put Inspiring Presence on them when I can. I wish we had a Crown of Command! 

MWB 2 Battle Brew Boogaloo has to happen! I'm thinking of using the Mawkrusha one converted for a bit of variance.

Correct choice! Inspiring Presence is a Brutes best friend. Lets not be greedy though, our artefacts are solid. I do have a plan though!

I don't want to rip off @Mitzy's sweet Megaboss, but am planning something a bit different. Maw-krusha one is a good shout.

[Chris Tomlin]

Afternoon Ardboyz!

Hope you had a good weekend?
For me it was nice to neglect my geekside for the first time in weeks and actually just have a chilled weekend, without endless hours of painting or podcast editing! It's needed as I am away the next two weekends for Tournaments. Luckily I have a very understanding lady (either that or she's just happy to be rid of me!!)

One thing I have managed to get done is complete a test Savage Orruk.. or Waaaghboyz Yoof, aspiring Ardboy as they will be in my army. I'll upload a few poor photographs of him later. Not entirely sold, but it's a model intended for use in units rather than a standout character etc, so with that in mind I will commit to finishing 10 before making judgement.
I do still need to take and post decent photos of the 2,000 point army I took to Warlords, which includes an Ardnob, 5 Brutes and 3 Gore-gruntas yet to be seen on this forum since completion. So that's something to look forward to.

Over the weekend I did do a bit of @Snoopdom style hobby - I ordered some more bits. Another couple of boxes of Brutes to be specific!! Whilst I have now painted 2,000 points, my unpainted pile of destruction is growing...

• Weirdnob Shaman (my opinions on this guy should be clear by now, but he's a great sculpt and I would like to try the Weirdfist some time)
• 2 Warchanters (need conversions)
• 10 Brutes (to be assembled as another unit of 10 with Jagged-hackas)
• 6 Gore-gruntas (*sigh* these are so bad in game, but I have a real soft spot for the models. Running a Gorefist is something every Megaboss needs to do at least once, right?)
• 20 Ardboyz (well, actually its 25 as I've bought a box by themselves and then 2 SC boxes. I will only assemble 20 more by the spare bits from the other 5 should help. I want to go mostly shields on these)
• 29 Savage Orruks (included the one painted one I mentioned above, this will be 3 units of 10 to fulfil generic Destruction battleline. Plenty of small conversions/kitbashes on these. Will have 2 spare as well)
• 4 Big Stabbas (as above. Basically I've bought two boxes of Savages, so I get my battleline then can make these. I actually think they are pretty great as well)
• Idol of Gork (big conversion here. Really want it done for Clash of Swords in October. We'll see)

 
Also scouting out parts for a second Megaboss and keeping my eyes open for suitable Grots - either armoured ones or using 40k Grots (of which I have a bunch half painted and really like!).
I guess once I have the Savages done (if I decide to do them, will depend on that first 10) I will find my options vastly opened across all of Destruction. However, part of me just wants to stay pure Ironjawz. Though I think as long as I make all my additions mathc aesthetically, I'll be fine with it.

So not sure that is of any interest to anyone bar me! What you may be more keen to hear about is The Warlords at Warhammer World that took place just over a week ago?
I guess as good a place to start as any is my list. Unfortunately us Ironjawz players don't have too much in the way of variety at the moment, with most lists (on the table, not in theory) looking the same as people have finally finished painting all the stuff they bought on release! I think going forwards we will see some diversity with some different looking builds appearing on this forum (though again, people seem to be thinking the same!). Anyway, here's mine;

Da Black Sunz - 2,000 points - Ironjawz (Destruction) - The Warlords

Megaboss Krunk - General, Ravager, Battle Brew (140)
The Warmaster on Red Cabbage - Talisman of Preservation (520)
The Ardnob, Ironjawz Big Boss - Slaughta-choppa (100)
Da Kurlzz, Orruk Warchanter (80)

10 Brutes - Klaw & Smasha, 2 Gore-choppas, Jagged-hackas (360)
5 Brutes - Klaw & Smasha, Gore-choppa, Choppas (180)
5 Brutes - Klaw & Smasha, Gore-choppa, Choppas (180)
10 Ardboyz - 9 'Uge Choppas, 1 Shield (180)
3 Gore-gruntas - Choppas (180)

Ironfist (60)

Total; 1,980 points

I guess the only thing of interest might be the addition of the Compendium Black Orc Big Boss. This purely comes from my disdain towards the Shaman. He's a nice little can opener tbh and leaves me on 1,980 which gives a Triumph some of the time that I will remember none of the time!
It's pretty similar to the list I've used throughout, certainly since General's Handbook and this blog started (my game # count only starts from GH, I discounted what came before), which in theory meant I'd be well versed with what it does. Unfortunately I hadn't played a 2,000 point game in the 5 weeks leading up to this event as I was solidly painting to get done in time. I was a bit worried this would leave me rusty, but it seemed ok on the day.
So on the topic of painting, I think I've made it clear in this thread the sort of hours I've been putting in and how it'd pretty much consumed me. In the week leading up to this event I'd had a 1.30am finish following by two 2.30am finishes. By finishes I mean I was up until that time painting, then getting up for work at 7.30am. Fun times!

On the Friday itself, I was picked up from work on a half day by @Paul Buckler. We went back via mine to get my gear and then straight to pick up @Andy Talbot. We stopped off in Tesco for some sandwiches and it was at this point I had my first hard decision to make.
You see, I hadn't actually finished painting my army at this time. Despite the late nights I was not yet complete. 3 Gore-gruntas were at a more than acceptable standard, however I was keen to get them matching the rest of the force in the hope of getting a Best Army nomination. With this in mind I had pack a bunch of painting gear with the intention of doing something I'd never done in all my years of tournaments; hotel room painting! Urgh. So, with my sensible head on, I managed to resist (well, kinda) the lure of my favourite vice and only picked up a 4 pack of beers for the road!
Unfortunately it was a pretty long journey and I really had to slow play my drinking to make it last! Upon arriving at the hotel in Nottingham, the 3 of us went over to the adjoining pub/restaurant. We had a few pints and a bite to eat. At this point I was really on the verge of sacking off the painting a just getting drunk, I even put out a twitter poll on the matter!

The thing is that after putting in so much time up until that point and neglecting so many other aspects of my life, it would've felt like an abject failure to not put the Gruntas on the table. So, I switched up to Diet Coke to finish off the meal and headed back to the hotel room. Man, times have changed!
Paul and Andy popped over to a local convenience store and picked up some beers. We all chilled in the hotel room, chatted some Warhammer, listened to the new A Day to Remember and Of Mice & Men albums (both good!) and drank beers whilst I painted. I'd predicted I needed about 6 hours and unfortunately I wasn't far wrong. I think I did end up feeling a bit drunk and the lighting was poor, but they got completed to a standard I was happy with (though I do have some improvements to make for Facehammer, just to really make them pop). In the end I switched up to Podcasts and Andy fell asleep listening to his own voice as he wouldn't let me listen to Facehammer - @Russ Veal makes him fell uneasy!!

It was 3.30am when I called time. Pretty ridiculous. Still, not as bad as Byron Orde who I was texting until about the same time as he was painting as well. The downside for Byron was he had a 2 hour drive in the morning as well!!!

Saturday morning, well actual morning...when it's light and everything, I didn't feel too bad for the most part, but did keep almost phasing out. Pounded a bunch of water and a coffee and started to feel alive. I had my cut off Ironjawz tee and Megaboss snapback on, so was looking pretty 'ard for a white guy (as opposed to a green one! :P)! Neeeeeerrrrrrrrrdddd!!
We were talking the night before about who we'd like to play, despite not knowing half the field (bumped into so many people in the morning I didn't know were there). I suggested I'd like to play someone like Adam Hall - someone I know and like a lot, but haven't had a chance to play Age of Sigmar with.

So I rocked up to my allocated table, to find myself opposite the mighty Russ Veal! What a draw. Me and Russ get on super well and haven't played Age of Sigmar, so despite this clearly being a tough draw I was really happy as I knew I'd have fun and be able to have a few beers with my opponent.

Ok, so we'll leave it there for now, thats the preamble out of the way. I'll come back later/tomorrow and crack on with the reports...

Chris

[Chris Tomlin]

WITNESS ME!!

Here are a few pics of my test Orruk Yoof. Will be Savages in game but wanted them to fit in with my Ironjawz. I've removed some bone, added armour plates + weapon. 

Dunno if the chrome mouth works in practice. I love the idea and the Mad Max homage, in theory it works especially well as they are trying to be literally iron jaws. 

Its not meant as a single miniature so I'll finish a unit of 10 and see what I think. 

Let me know your thoughts!

[Dez]

You know, I wasn't convinced when I saw the conversion. Painted up, I think he's spot on and want to see more!

Haha Russ Veal first round, eh? SHOW DEM DA CHOPPA!!!

[Chris Tomlin]

19 hours ago, Dez said:

You know, I wasn't convinced when I saw the conversion. Painted up, I think he's spot on and want to see more!

Haha Russ Veal first round, eh? SHOW DEM DA CHOPPA!!!

Cheers man, appreciate you taking the time to check him out! I think the conversion works, I'm happy with that, it's purely whether the shiny & chrome mouth does. I've begun work on converting up another 9 Yoofs to join him. Once they are all finished and painted we can judge them as a unit and see how it looks.

Disappointed at the lack of comments tbh haha. Perhaps I'll need to keep a track of views to see if it's worth the effort to continue updating this thread? Though looking at the Destruction forum overall the posts have slowed down a bit, which is fine. At present I'm as guilty as anyone of not replying to all the topics (due to being busier at work).

Edited September 20, 2016 by Chris Tomlin

[Sangfroid]

Warcraft legion Chris that's where I suspect most of us have been, at least that's where I have been when not dying of man flu or working  !

the painting looks great as always Chris but ditch the boners they have no place in a proppa megaboss list I really do think that the ironjawz become so much more as a single allegiance. I have toyed with lists and I find I may add in say 10 brutes then a megaboss maybe a warchanter and some gorepigs and an ironfist (they are Amazing I don't know why they aren't working for you) and what's left then doesn't really synergize so I end up back where I started. By fleshing out the ironfist. I know deep down its not the most competitive choice (in the current meta) but when you experience the joys of the ironjawz when the stars align and they smash all before them it's hard to walk away :-)

[Chris Tomlin]

Warcraft! You bunch of nerds!!  

Good post though @Sangfroid and I do agree that Ironjawz shine within their own alliance for sure, you lose a lot from mixing them with Bonesplitterz (and likewise, lose a lot from the Bonesplitterz too). I just want to do an expanded Destruction force that looks cohesive really and have some ideas for that. Don't worry, no pure Bonesplitterz army or anything here!!

I honestly can't believe you think Gore-gruntas are good though?! They are not amazing (well, they look amazing) and I cant see how they work for anyone haha!!  In all seriousness 5 Brutes / 10 Ardboyz > 3 Gore Gruntas. Hahaha

Anyway, lets get the ball rolling with this then...

Game 12 - The Warlords - Round One vs @Russ Veal (Chaos)

So Mr Facehammer himself first game, tough draw much? But in all honesty I was pleased with the draw. Feeling a bit tired it was nice to be perked up by a friendly face and some familiar chat (not to mention a few beers). Whilst I always say you shouldn't go into games against top players like Russ fearing them and expecting to lose, you do need to be realistic. What I mean by that really is to play your game plan and don't be put off by the name, but let's be honest you're probably still going to lose!  
This battleplan was Gifts from the Heavens, a favourite of many players and for good reason - it's super fun. Russ had his trademark Bloodbound army (all the characters, Blood Warriors, Reavers, Skullreapers and Wrathmongers) and in an effort to ramp it up a gear had added a brace of Warp Lightning Cannons and a Lord of Change. Now, I think Bloodbound is a tough match up for Ironjawz regardless - they fight you, they kill you. You fight them, you kill them, then they kill you or you kill yourself. The complete inability for my army to reach out at range makes this really tricky indeed. This is before we take into account the additions Russ has added, which are so efficient and allow him to pick off my support pieces without retaliation. It also doesn't take into account the void between me and Russ in terms of ability. It's easy to say his army is far superior (which it is, far far!), but lets be honest he is just a better player as well. Which is all fine.

What this makes for, however, is a very tricky game! It's nice to be tested like this now and again, but it was rough, real rough. Russ picked the Command Trait giving me -1 to hit in the first turn. This is huge and something I really really hoped he wouldn't do. What it means is that I can't give him first turn, as if I do he will push up with no fear of my counter charge. Therefore I have to take first turn, put up any buffs and maybe redress my ranks a little. Other than that I'm passing the turn and playing a 4 turn game. Not ideal but I honestly don't know what else to do in that situation.
Russ was then able to move up cautiously, win priority T2, buff up the Bloodreavers to 4 attacks (with -1 rend weapons) and throw 120 points of pure glass hammer at me, making a right mess. He was also able to take off Krunk with WLC's or Gateway (can't remember)...cue me putting on the shades, gameface on! ...Or I was covering up the tears, you decide.
This put me in a right predicament as I could counter the Reavers, but would then be left wide open to the force of his army. Man, it was so tough. I kinda feel I played a little too cagey, but anything else would've been reckless.
Russ has his objective drop centrally and behind some terrain, I was never getting there. Mine was out to my left and potentially wasn't the easiest for him to get to - however he simply had to. The scoring was a little whack at this event in that Minor Victories were essentially just tie breaks. 1 Major Victory and 5 Losses would see you finish higher than someone on 6 Minors, which is a little strange I think.
To cut a long story of pain short, Russ got the Major Victory, able to push through and claim my objective. I eventually got stuck in and picked up some points (you don't want to walk away from these sorts of games with a Hard L and no VPs!!). There was one turn I won priority and passed it to Russ, purely playing on the hope I would double turn him back. Russ considered that a mistake and as I didn't double turn it did appear he was right. Had I got it, it may have seemed a better choice (wouldn't have changed much I don't think, could've killed more stuff for less loss perhaps).

The point being that throughout the game I felt I was forced to make really difficult decisions where neither option was ideal, so even the "correct" choices felt wrong...I can't really recall many other games of AoS that pushed me so hard that way. I would say the match up played some part in that, but clearly it's also a testiment to the ability Russ has. Incidentally, I would actually love to switch armies and see what Russ could do with mine in that situation.

Result - Loss

Apologies that perhaps doesn't go into a great deal of detail, but you get the idea haha!!
It was a great game, just tough. I don't mind games like that whatsoever as long as they are played in the right spirit, which this 100% was.

Stayed tune for Round Two!

[Nico]

Sounds like a truly dreadful match up, but a fun game.

The only thing I can think of would be to take advantage of your superior mobility. Maybe move everything sideways to one flank turn one, then wait until you might get a double turn, then advance and focus fire. Stay out of Gateway range. The reason this can work is that the Khorne body fest starts getting in its own way if it has to move diagonally. The unit at the front rolls a low run and blocks the whole convoy, the Wrathbros fall behind the front line etc.. Here you don't have objectives to worry about immediately either.

It's still a long shot as his combat buffs are just plain better.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Nico