A Monster Hunter's romp through AoS 2

[Kanamorf]

I have been putting my first few games in AoS 2 in the Bonesplitterz thread but I want to do a @Chris Tomlin and try to keep a better record of the games I am playing. This post is my version.

 

I have pulled my first few games out of the Bonesplitterz thread and reposted them here so apologies if you have read all of this before.

[Kanamorf]

Game 1

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Orruk Warboss (140)
- Great Waaagh Banner
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Artefact: Da Great Zappa Squiq 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (320)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (320)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (120)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (240)

Units
4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200)
4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200)

Battalions
Teef Rukk (90)

Total: 2090 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 175
 

With the new points this works out at 2000pts 

 

I was playing vs  Soulblight

Allegiance: Death

Leaders
Prince Vhordrai (480)
- General
Coven Throne (260)

Battleline

Units
5 x Blood Knights (260)
5 x Blood Knights (260)
5 x Blood Knights (260)
6 x Fell Bats (160)
6 x Vargheists (320)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 113
 

We played Escallation from the Core Rules.

I managed to get the win by 1 victory point.

I have to say I like command points although getting your characters in position is way more important than it was before. I was half an inch out of range to use the prophet's command ability on one turn and 2" out for a hero to save a unit having to take a bravery test.

Starting with the batallion and having an extra CP was nice, and I did end up using all the points I had available over the game, the second artifact I took was not great, however I am looking forward to the rewording of the mystic cloak. Hopefully it is +6" range with +1 as this will be a default take for my general if it is.

10 maniacs with the warboss' waargh droped on them is really nice on the charge. The boars have 2 weapon profiles so +1 attack on each was fun.

I theoretically could drop the wardokk who has the mask and take some endless spells but I am not sure endless spells can do as much damage as the wardokk can over a game. I will have to have a play about and see.

I am sure that there are games when I am going to miss the extra 10 archers, however they did their job this game of being 20 bodies to stand on an objective and have a bit of range to pick away at targets. 

[Kanamorf]

Game 2
On 6/25/2018 at 2:07 PM, Izikail said:

Quote

 

@Kanamorf i think your list is only geting 40pts cheeper and dosnt fit

100 saving on bore boys

40 more on archers

20 more on batalion

So 2050

 

You are quite correct I did overspend, battalion is 10 points more though so 2040.

 

I played again last night with the same list but took out the Teef Rukk so I was 60 points under giving me the command point, it also ment I could put the stabbas back into one unit of 8.

I was playing against SCE

Lord-Arcarnum

Lord Celestant on Stardrake

Drakesword Templar

Heraldor

4x5 Liberators

2 Fulminators

 

We played Starstrike from GHB17.

The two star drakes were a pain, as expected, and the Lord-Arcarnum's ability to keep them alive is impressive. The Big Stabbas were up to the job though, with my prophet nice and close for the Hero Phase pile in. I did have to kill the drakes a total of 5 times though.

I ended up getting the win on the scenario as the stars dropped nicely for me.

The Warboss was not so good in this game as double Rain of Stars took him out quickly, amazing how much difference not rolling your 6+ vs mortal wounds can make, the 2 5 wound Wardokks lasted an extra turn compared to the Orruk Warboss.

The 20 archers did their job of standing on an objective shooting at stuff that gets close, but in 20's they are much weaker. I doubt very much I will go back to 30 as I feel the points can be better spent elsewhere. 

The next thing to try are some Endless spells. Roll on Saturday for the next game where I think I will drop the Orruk Warboss and take 5 more boars and 40 pts od spells or just 140 pts of spells

[Kanamorf]

I played 3 more games this weekend with the Bonesplitterz

Game 3

Daughters of Khane (1000pts)

Prophet (General), Squiggly Curse (140)
Wardokk (Mask), Hand of Gork (100)
10 Maniacs (280)
10 Boars (200)
10 Archers (140)
2 Big Stabbas (100)
(960)

Cauldron of Blood
Medusa
Hag Qeen
20 Witch Elves (Shields)
10 Witch Elves
5 Kanaeri
Endless Spell (Swords)

We played Relocation Orb, and while it looks like a scary scenario when you 1st look at it, it turned out to be great fun. We failed at reading and set up our forces in the wrong place, but thats why you play practice games.

The game turned out to be me chasing the objective around the board as it kept moving to places where the DoK were already, however high numbers of attacks with no rend do well when your opponent has little or no armour, so my forces prevailed and I won quite convincingly.
I love the mechanic in this game where you score 1 point if you went first but 3 if you go second in a turn. It really makes you think about the turn order.

Game 4

Tzeench (2000pts)

Prophet (General), Squiggly Curse (140)
Orruk Warboss, Boar, War banner (140)
Maniak Wierdnob, Brutal Beast Spirits (120)
Wardokk (Mask), Bone Krusha (100)
Wardokk, Hand of Gork (100)
10 Maniacs (280)
10 Maniacs (280)
5   Boars (100)
20 Archers (280)
8 Big Stabbas (400)
(1940) (Extra CP)

Lord of Change
Ogroid Shaman
Gaunt Summoner
Shaman on Disk
10 Pink
10 Pink
3 Enlightened
40 Arcenites
Pendulum (Endless Spell)
Burning Head (Endless Spell)
Spell Portal (Endless Spell)
Gemenids (Endless Spell)

We played Total Commitment, again another nice little tweek to the scenario where units are not allowed to be deployed off the board. This is going to make some people have to think about army choice for a tournament. Is this one going to be there and how does my army play when I can not just turn up anywhere?

I have traditionally done ok against Tzeench as the mortal spam is not as bad as some armies, I get a save against every wound and I have a lot of wounds to soak it up. 
Over the game the endless spells did more damage to the Tzeench army than they did to me, I suspect that is more to do with not having used them before rather than them being bad, but I was happy when I moved the 2 Gemenids over a unit of 6 Pinks and killed them all.
Summoning is gong to be very strong, in killing the 20 pinks and the 10 he got back with battleshock using desitny dice to make it a 1 he had 60 blue horror points. The counter to this is to preasure his heroes. I was in his face all game so when new units were being placed they were almost on his back line or in some place where they were of less use. We discusses afterwards and he needs to be more agressive with his heroes and get them up the board a bit.

New personal record for me in this game, I dropped the Warboss' Waargh on the turn the 8 big stabbas charges the LoC. he failed 10 armour saves for a total of  49 wounds.

I won this game as Tzeench never really got out of his own deployment zone, I have played Matt a couple of times in the past and he has done well killing from the back line and then moving up. The combination of scenario and new rules made this much harder for him.

Game 5

Beasclaw Raiders (1000pts)

Prophet (General), Squiggly Curse (140)
Wardokk (Mask), Hand of Gork (100)
10 Maniacs (280)
10 Boars (200)
10 Archers (140)
2 Big Stabbas (100)
(960)

Huskard on Stonehorn
Hunter
12 Sabre cats
6 Sabre cats
(Batallion of some sort)

We played 3 places of arcane power. In this scenario again there was a subtle but important change to the objective capture rules that will make army choice for a tournament interesting. Only wizards or heros with an artifact can capture the objectives. For us it made no difference, I had 2 wizards, he had 2 artifacts.

His battalion allowed him to set up the cats and hunter off the field so I was left facing just the stonehorn at the start of the game. He took first turn and brought the cats in while dropping the hunter on one of the objectives. The only mistake he made all game was to drop on the wrong side of me into the ordinary boars who were there just to absorb the charge. This left me free to retreat and charge the the cats every turn and slowly whittle them down.

Pete was up for the first couple of turns with hard to shift characters on both, I managed to kill the stonehorn over 3 turns with magic, shooting and Big Stabbas.

So I won 3 games on #newaos day and am fairly happy with where Bonesplitterz are in this edition. I have yet to face some of my traditional tough armies but with the changes to mystic shield this list of enemies got a little smaller. 

I loved all of the new scenarios, they are more than the slight tweeks we had between ghb16 and ghb17 and will add some real thought points when you  are writing a list for tournaments.

I do wonder about Batallions, are they worth the points now? Lower drops, extra artifact, more command points, and more scoring heroes in some scenarios. For the Bonesplitterz I am not yet convinced. I keep playing with lists to make the Teef Rukk fit but I am never quite happy with how the army looks on paper. Snagga rukk might be an option as I take most of the required units anyway but 170 points is a lot to spend.

I know the Kunnin Rukk fans will just take it as its what makes their army good, but outside that I struggle to see the value for us.

[Kanamorf]

Game 6

My first game against Nighthaunt. I would attempt to write a list but I am not 100% sure what was in the list as they all look so similar. Guess I will have to learn the names of things.

What I do know was in the list

Lady Olynder
Mounted Knight of Shrouds
A Guardian of Souls
A Spirit Torment (General with the Lens)

4 Myrmourn banshees
40 Chainrasp Horde
10 Glavewraith Stalkers
10 Grimghast Reapers
6 Spirit Host
Another 10 of one of the types of ghost

Prophet (General), Squiggly Curse (140)
Orruk Warboss, Boar, War banner (140)
Maniak Wierdnob, Brutal Beast Spirits (120)
Wardokk (Mask), Bone Krusha (100)
Wardokk, Hand of Gork (100)
10 Maniacs (280)
10 Maniacs (280)
5   Boars (100)
20 Archers (280)
8 Big Stabbas (400)
(1940) (Extra CP)

We played Total Commitment.

This was Sedge's first game with the Nighthaunt. I felt fairly confident as I am sure one of the main things nighthaunt can't cope with is high volumes of no rend attacks.

Sedge finished deployment first and gave me first turn. I think this was a mistake. After buffing the Maniacs with everything including one CP of Waargh I sent them across the table into the chainrasps, I wanted the big unit of 40 gone so I was then just having to deal with units of 10 or less for capturing objectives. This worked, mostly, after both pile in attacks there were 6 chainwrasps left and I had killed the Banshees too. I didnt score the objective but I was happy with how things had gone. Sedge forgot his additional
6+ save when near a hero so there may have been a few more had he remembered. (The joy of learning a new set of army rules)

This is an interesting scenario for the nighthaunt as one of their main tactics is to pop up out of the ground, No Reserves obviously stops this. So they are left to walk across the table slowly. His first turn was reacting to the boars near one of his objectives and trying some long charges to threaten one of my objectives on the other side of the table.
He didnt make the long charges but did kill off the boars but he had committed one of his units backwards to do this.

I won the priority into turn 2.

Another disadvantage to new models is sometimes you place things badly. He had placed his general directly behind one of his units and that unit was within a move and easy charge of my big stabbas.

I got the charge with these guys and reached over the unit and nicely stabbed his general to death. This removed the last of his movement tricks. The other unit of maniacs went in to threaten the same objective as the first turn and the normal boars went to challenge the other of his objectives with archer support.

I scored one of his objectives and both of mine and was significantly up on VP with Sedge down to very few models. So Sedge took the loss and we re-racked for a second game.

Game 7

Same lists

Playing 3 places of Arcane power.

I think I was over confident after the first game and deployed really badly. Everything that went well for me in the first game and badly for Sedge got flipped on its head.

Sedge took the first turn this time and dropped 2 units of 10 and 2 heroes 9" away from my front line. For some reason that escapes me I had not bubble wrapped my army in preparation for the alpha strike so when his 2 units made their charges and one made a 10+ roll for a free pile in and attack in the charge phase things went badly. I lost one unit of maniacs to this and most of the archers.

To compound my poor deployment I had placed my fast moving wizard too far away from the objective so that even if I had burned a CP to get a 6" run I was 1" away from capturing it on turn 1.

Sedge won the priority into turn 2.

He did the teleport thing with his general to bring the 40 chainrasp into play, they however failed the charge. My general died to the Grimghast reapers after another 10" charge free combat round and all thing being equal I was going to need some kind of miracle to rescue this game.

I played out my next turn but it was obvious where the game was going. Bad deployment, aggressive nighthaunt and some great 10" charging and I was done.

Lessons learnt from this:
Deploy better

I like the Orruk Warboss and his waargh, however I am not sure its worth 140 points, command stacking is a thing when I am writing this and yes I could have stacked Waargh more times and had more attacksbut I am hoping that this goes away when the FAQ drops as it is too easy to buff the boars up to do in excess of 400 attacks in the first turn. The reason I dont play kunnin rukk is rolling that many dice is not good for the interaction with your opponent.

I love my Big Stabbas however in a world where I suspect there will be a lot of nighthaunt at a tournament one of their best things (rend) is ignored, so is a unit of 6 better than a unit of 8?
I am currently thinking that with the points from the warboss, 2 less stabbas and the left over points I can have a 3rd unit of 10 maniacs and the spectral shackles endless spell.

With an additional 30 fast moving wounds I think I will do better in the games where it becomes a grind.

On the whole an great evening of gaming and I got to play 2 games rather than one.

[PlasticCraic]

Excellent thread Ian, thanks for the insights!  Good to see the Boneys off to a flying start.  I remember watching Sedge's exploits with Bonesplitterz in the first "televised" event and cheering him on, so it did make me smile to see him getting done over by them!  

Just on the Big Stabbas, yes we'll see a lot of Nighthaunt (no doubt), but don't you think we'll also see a lot of Stormcast around?  Their saves are just as obnoxious as ever (maybe moreso).  There haven't been as many around over the last few months but I could well imagine a lot of players who have SC and something else, and have been playing the something else, dusting off their collections to give the new book a spin?

[broche]

So it seem you like the no batallion army? I'm working on something similar based on  my pre-AoS 2 List that i had good success:

Wurrog

Maniak Weirnob x 2

Wardock

Warboss on Wyvern

2 x 10 morboys

2 x 5 regular boar

30 arrowboys

6 big stabbas.

That 1880, still toying with the other 120. I'm considering some endless spell (Umbral portal and geminid). Maybe replace a  Maniak Weirnob with Ironjawz weirnob for better dispel power.

Anyway, nice report quite interesting!

 

[Kanamorf]

7 hours ago, PlasticCraic said:

Excellent thread Ian, thanks for the insights!  Good to see the Boneys off to a flying start.  I remember watching Sedge's exploits with Bonesplitterz in the first "televised" event and cheering him on, so it did make me smile to see him getting done over by them!  

Just on the Big Stabbas, yes we'll see a lot of Nighthaunt (no doubt), but don't you think we'll also see a lot of Stormcast around?  Their saves are just as obnoxious as ever (maybe moreso).  There haven't been as many around over the last few months but I could well imagine a lot of players who have SC and something else, and have been playing the something else, dusting off their collections to give the new book a spin?

Thanks, I am in the "lucky" position to be in the same club as Sedge so get to play him fairly often and he is my nemesis! In 3 years I have beaten him twice, and once was on Monday. Great way to get better at the game, play people who are better than you.

You're right about the Stormcast and that is why I still have 6 Stabbas, I ran 6 through most of the year of GHB17 and they did great, one of two things happened:  people did not know what they do (Even after I told them) and ignored them or had no tools to remove them or people knew and huge effort was put into killing them.

In many cases I am happy with either result as the Stabbas are not the only threat in the army so if they are being killed something else is not. 

Staunch defender got a nice adjustment which will result in some Stormcast players setting up in a huddle to gain the benefit at which point our speed wins us games or they spread out and suddenly Maniacs are more effective against their normal saves. 

Bad news for me Sedge is taking his Splitters to BOBO next weekend so I am going to have to work hard to be best Bonesplitter at that tournament never mind best destruction, and he is taking inspiration from my list :)

[Kanamorf]

7 hours ago, broche said:

So it seem you like the no batallion army? I'm working on something similar based on  my pre-AoS 2 List that i had good success:

Wurrog

Maniak Weirnob x 2

Wardock

Warboss on Wyvern

2 x 10 morboys

2 x 5 regular boar

30 arrowboys

6 big stabbas.

That 1880, still toying with the other 120. I'm considering some endless spell (Umbral portal and geminid). Maybe replace a  Maniak Weirnob with Ironjawz weirnob for better dispel power.

Anyway, nice report quite interesting!

 

I have thought a lot about batallions in the last few weeks. I still think they are too expensive even when you take the 50pt free command point into account (the only one I think is not is the Teef Rukk at 100pts).

If you are using them from drop reduction and going whole hog to one drop then maybe but I then start looking at what the 300+ points can get you (6 big stabbas, 10 maniacs and a CP etc) and just end up taking more troops.

Bonesplitters are in the marvelous position that they can control the game no mater if you get first or second turn. It just takes practice. Your movement and ability to put huge units of wounds in annoying places mean that a first turn can set up the play for the whole game. It takes a single minded, good opponent to ignore 10 maniacs in their own lines making a mess. As long as you choose the right target.

If you get the second turn great you can be just as aggressive and play for the double.

So I have come to the conclusion that taking batallions as a drop reducer is not for me, and as for the additional rules, I don't think any of them are game changing except for Kunnin Rukk, and I am not gonna be archer spam guy (personal choice here).

I have also looked at using some endless spells, and the only two I think have a place in the way I play are the Gemenids (who would not want that spell and the shackles)

I have faith that when the Bonesplitters FAQ hits and they fix the Mystic Waaargh Cloak then Maniac Wierdnobs will be better dispellers than the Ironjaws version, and I still get the lore spells. I suspect that if the cloak is worded the way I hope it will be then the cloak becomes a better pick than the mask, which then opens up a whole new can of worms about what to do the with 100pts I spend on the Wardokk with the mask.

My next game is against @Sangfroid next Monday against the Ghostwolfs, to once and for always determine who is the better Orruk. I have a few ideas I want to try out in that game which may end up in me painting another 10 Maniacs in a week for a BOBO the following week :)

[Sedge]

10 more Maniacs! Damn that’s a lot of attacks. 

Yes it was great to play against the splitters again. Really cemented my army for Bobo. Got them painted so may as well use them.  This gives me time to paint the ghosts at my leisure. 

[PlasticCraic]

@Sedge great to see you still have the Splitters as your profile picture!  I have fond memories of watching you pulling Terry Pike's pants down on YouTube.   Get back on here and let us know how you go!

[AlmGandix3]

I played arround with the idea of using the chronomatig cogs and a kop rukk, to increase the speed of the morboys. With the Orruk warboss with banner you can get your morboys (when a monster died) to 2 attacks 2+ 2+(rerolling 1s) and 2 attacks 2+ 3+(rerolling 1s). The +2 casting buff for the wardokks is also realy nice so you get the spells off consistently. Do you think it is a good idea or is a maniak and stabba centered list rightout better? I also thought about using a troggoth hag to reduce the save of key targets.

 

I realy like your thread so keep it up.

[PlasticCraic]

PS @Sedge although I do like to see the boys in green represented....did you take that photo on a Nokia 3310?  Sort it out lad!

[Kanamorf]

9 hours ago, AlmGandix3 said:

I played arround with the idea of using the chronomatig cogs and a kop rukk, to increase the speed of the morboys. With the Orruk warboss with banner you can get your morboys (when a monster died) to 2 attacks 2+ 2+(rerolling 1s) and 2 attacks 2+ 3+(rerolling 1s). The +2 casting buff for the wardokks is also realy nice so you get the spells off consistently. Do you think it is a good idea or is a maniak and stabba centered list rightout better? I also thought about using a troggoth hag to reduce the save of key targets.

 

I realy like your thread so keep it up.

I have 2 main issues with Morboys

They have a 32mm base and a 1" reach so it is really hard to get large units into effective combat, you more often than not have boys milling around in the back making up the numbers. 

Their two weapons have different profiles so are a pain in the ass to roll for (lazy I know) I much prefer big handfulls of dice rather than 2 smaller sets. Put the same Orruk on a boar and his attacks suddenly match 

Due to this I usually see them as a big bag of wounds that can go stand somewhere annoying rather than an offensive force. I appreciate that this is a mindset thing.

Having said all of this I have been thinking about using a unit of 30 as 60 wounds for 300 points seems a bargain. I am not going to even attempt to worry about their monster specials as it is too situational, if it happens great, if not well no worries.

[heromaster]

@Sedge @Kanamorf What lists are you guys thinking of taking to BOBO? Im currently trying to put together a list to play at my local store where the guys are very beardy with their nighthaunts and maggotkin, was looking for some sort of inspiration! 

[Kanamorf]

27 minutes ago, heromaster said:

@Sedge @Kanamorf What lists are you guys thinking of taking to BOBO? Im currently trying to put together a list to play at my local store where the guys are very beardy with their nighthaunts and maggotkin, was looking for some sort of inspiration! 

I have 3 ideas running around in my head at the moment:

Ultra aggressive list in the early turns, suffers late game if it turns into a grind:

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Orruk Warboss (140)
- Boss Choppas
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (100)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (280)

Units
8 x Savage Big Stabbas (400)

Total: 1940 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 175
 

Not quite as aggressive in turn 1, stronger in turns 2 and 3:

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (100)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)

Units
6 x Savage Big Stabbas (300)

Total: 1980 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 191
 

Less agressive but better in the grind:

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (100)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (280)
30 x Savage Orruk Morboys (300)

Units
6 x Savage Big Stabbas (300)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 221
 

[heromaster]

@Kanamorf I really like the look of the 2nd list. How do you plan to deal with a big 40 man unit of chainrasps or plaguebearers? 

[Kanamorf]

Vs maggotkin You are up against the bane of bonesplitters, lots of good armour saves, so I would be tempted with more big stabbas as it can feel a little soul destroying to roll loads of dice and nothing happens.

Against nighthaunt it is almost the opposite. You want lots and lots of attacks so he fails his saves.

40 man units is just a case of loads of attacks as quickly as possible and charging in from the right place. Maniacs can actually have a really small frontage to get maximum benefit if you can get in from the side, so dont charge the unit straight into the front. This minimises the attacks coming back. I always have one wizard who's primary unbind job is to try and stop the spell that brings back the models in the big unit. It won't work all of the time but theoretically it will 50% of the time. I am sure mathshammer experts will prove me wrong

In the game vs @Sedge's nighthaunt one unit of maniacs with 1 waargh took the unit from 40 to 8 in one battle round, where he had to spend a CP to stop the unit vanishing to battleshok. He got unlucky and failed to cast the heal but I was in range to unbind if it had cast.

[heromaster]

@Kanamorf how did you get on today? Many bonesplitterz turn up? Come up against anything rough? 

[Kanamorf]

On 7/14/2018 at 6:46 PM, heromaster said:

@Kanamorf how did you get on today? Many bonesplitterz turn up? Come up against anything rough? 

BOBO is in 2 weeks not 1 as I mistakenly thought, that just means mor time to think about what to do. I am playing @Sangfroid tonight at the club though and very much looking forward to another face off against the Ironjawz

[Sangfroid]

Never beaten you with Da Ghostwulfz but your Bonesniffers iz gonna get it this time!

[Kanamorf]

Game 8

It is always a pleasure to play @Sangfroid. The last couple of times we have played it has been against his Stormcast, but last night was back to a real army. His Ironjawz.

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Orruk Warboss (140)
- Boss Choppas
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
5 x Savage Boarboyz (100)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (280)

Units
8 x Savage Big Stabbas (400)

Total: 1940 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400

vs (I think)

Allegiance: Ironjawz
Mortal Realm: Ghyran

Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (440)
- General
Orruk Megaboss (140)
- Artefact: Jade Diadem 
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (120)

Battleline
3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140)
3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140)
10 x Orruk Brutes (360)
5 x Orruk Brutes (180)
5 x Orruk Brutes (180)

Battalions
Bloodtoofs (120)
Ironfist (180)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 117
 

We played Border Patrol from GHB16

I set up very deep in my own deployment zone knowing that Ironjawz can easily alpha strike and cause me much pain.

@Sangfroid gave me first turn and after much thought I did nothing, prefering to react to him rather than put myself in a position where I was going to get rolled over.

In his first turn the mawcrusha came racing across the table and was ~8" away from my lines waiting for a charge, one unit of Gore Gruntas also moved up to be in a position to threaten my badly placed wardokk with Hand of Gork. I had placed the wardokk for arcane scenery bonus, but with hindsight he was way to far forward.

Luckily the mawcrusha failed his charge (we both failed charges in the game and forgot about CP rerolls). However the GG charged and killed the wardokk.

Round 1 Bonesplitters 1 - Ironjawz 5

I won the priority into round 2.

With the mawcrucha so close it would be criminal to not drop the mask on it, so thats what I did. Some lucky dice rolls later and the Mawcrusha is dead.

The units of boars charged the 2 units of GG on one side I killed them all with the help of a Waargh and on the other I killed 1. It did however leave me in controll of both flanking objectives. I scored 5

The brutes came racing forwards one unit of 5 into a unit of maniacs, one unit of 5 into the 5 normal boars. Importantly one boar survived

Round 2 Bonesplitters 6 - Ironjawz 8

I won the priority for turn 3

This turn was mostly retreating for me, the normal boar ran away and scored the 4 point objective and the 2 units of maniacs used their superior numbers to run away and hold onto the two 2 point objectives. The only real combat this turn was the 8 stabbas into the two units of 5 brutes (one had taken some magic damage). Both units were removed withthe help of a friendly Waargh. I scored 9.

The big unit of 10 brutes came crashing into the unit of archer and characters that I had defending my home objective and blended 8 of them forcing me to spend a command point to avoid a bravery check. Combats on the two 2 point objectives continued but my superior numbers held on. The Ironjawz failed to score this turn. 
 

Bonesplitters 15 - Ironjawz 8

I won the priority into turn 4 (there is a theme here)

Another turn of me retreating for tactical gain ( I am denying I was runnign away, but I was running away) saw no combats and little effect from magic so I scored 3 points.

The Ironjawz reduced the archers further but importantly with the supporting heroes I stopped him getting the 4 points. The Ironjaws shaman also failed to capture their home objective leaving one wound on the boar boy so that he could contest it. The Ironjaws again failed to score.
The Ironjaws finally won a priority into turn 5

While my grip being so slim on all of the objectives it was inevitable that they cleared off the remaining models from all 4 objectives and scored 9.

My final turn was me running the unit of 8 big stabbas over the table with the Command Point 6" to capture his 4 point objective.

 

At the end of the game it was Bonesplitters 19 - Ironjaws 17

Another victory for tactical fleeing. How unOrruky of me,

 

 

[heromaster]

Loving these battle reports dude! im pretty new to bonesplitterz so its great to see how you use each unit! (or not use and run away)

[Sangfroid]

Was a great battle Ian and as expected your boys were more interested in sniffing each other’s bones rather than have a proppa fight ?? I think I scored the 4 point objective the second time and then T4 got 7 instead of 9 and you have missed off 2 points for yourself somewhere making the final score 23-21 but its the same gap so the result is all that the history books will remember! 

(For your readers benefit) my MK had jade diadem, footboss Ghyrstrike and weirdnob  Da Boss Skewer. The Wurgog mask once again showed why I need to take some mortal wound protection on the MK but I feel it difficult to do so because that’s in Asqy and Hysh (Da Ghostwulfz are Ghur/Ghyran) so will be trying out Asqy items next game me thinks ? 

so close the last two times I’ll get you next time!

[Kanamorf]

Well its BOBO this weekend and I have finally settled on a list (I think).

With the mystic waargh cloak being fixed in the FAQ I think it is a strong enough artifact to change up my list. The first couple of iterations on using it were just a straight swap taking the mask out and putting the cloak in.  However in some games the mask is just too good, and if someone has faced it before they spend so much effort trying to kill it it again is worth the points.

So I am now back to Batallions. Ignoring the Kunnin Rukk none of the batallion rules are a must have in a list:

Snagga Rukk: Charge in the command phase, I used to take this batallion a lot in GHB 1. The amount of times I ever got to charge in the command phase I could count on one hand. Rerolling charges is nice to have but not worth spending the points on.

Kop Rukk: I think this has a place in a good Bonesplitterz list but does not fit the way I play the game, and it is very expensive (4 Big Stabbas)

Brutal Rukk: This is the worst of the batallions in my mind and is not worth the points, plus the units required are not ones I take.

Teef Rukk: I love the rules on this batallion, it is situational as hell, and totally useless against lists with no monsters, but when it works it makes me smile. 6" pile in from 6" away against monsters with the unit that is going to ruin a monster's day, what could be better? And for only 100 points 50 of which I was saving for a Command Point, making it 50 points and you get a second artifact, thats me sold, nearly..... It means I have to split the big unit of stabbas into 2 smaller units, there are advantages to MSU in that bravery fails are not quite so bad, you can stand on more objectives, you have a bigger threat range on the table. However one big unit of 8 benefits more from Brutal Beast Spirits (current record for 8 big stabbas is 49 wounds to a LoC in one round of combat). 

So on the whole I think the Teef Rukk is the right way to go, CP, second artifact, situationally excellent rule.

I have played a few games witht he Orruk Warboss now and have come to a conclusion I don't think I am going to keep using him (the FAQ not stopping him stacking his ability is bad). His command ability is strong but has turned out to be quite situational. Ss you have to be within 12" in the combat phase even with him on a boar I found it hard to put him in  the right place and still have the protection necessary to stop him getting killed. Also 140 points can be spent elsewhere.

The other reason for not taking the Orruk Warboss is not enough CP. One of the important parts about my army is how slowly it dies. It has a lot of wounds to chew through, on multi wound models. If you have those guys running away then it hurts. I would rather save the CP to stop bravery issues than to make my offensive army more offensive. It takes 2 CP per turn to mimic the old Inspiring Presence so spending some of them on extra attacks seems excessive.

After all that rambling onto the list I am taking

 

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

Leaders
Wurrgog Prophet (140)
- General
- Trait: Squirmy Warpaint 
- Artefact: Mystic Waaagh! Paint 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Squiggly Curse
Maniak Weirdnob (120)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Brutal Beast Spirits
Wardokk (100)
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Hand of Gork or Mork
Wardokk (100)
- Artefact: Big Wurrgog Mask 
- Lore of the Savage Waaagh: Bone Krusha

Battleline
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboy Maniaks (280)
10 x Savage Boarboyz (200)
20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (280)

Units
4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200)
4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200)

Battalions
Teef Rukk (100)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 184