Ironjawz: Next Purchase?

[Morpheine]

Good Afternoon!

I have been lurking these forums for a few weeks now, and enjoyed reading up on the awesome theorycrafting, battle reports, and hobby blogs you've all posted!

I'm a long-time 40k player who has recently decided to take the plunge into AoS since it's finally starting to catch on in my area. I'm always absolutely enthralled by applying some nice bright green skin to my ork models, so of course I had to jump headfirst into an AoS orruk army with the release of Ironjawz. I'm hoping to compete in the Summer Global AoS campaign that's happening now, and I was hoping you guys might be able to offer some advice on the next steps towards building my army? There are a lot of Order (Sylvaneth&Sigmarine) and Chaos players at my GW store that I have to watch out for. I'm not looking to powergame, but I'm just looking for advice on how to be competitive with this game system.

Models I currently own:

• Gordrakk
• 5x Brutes
• 15x Ardboyz

One issue that I fear with the Ironjawz is their lack of ranged abilities, so I was considering grabbing a Thundertusk or the like to make up for that. I've also read mixed reviews on the other models I was considering à la: Weirdnob Shaman, Warchanter, Gore-Gruntas & Rogue Idol; and was hoping someone could let me know if they live up to their hype? I'm not committed to exclusively Ironjawz nor am I afraid to pick up Bonesplitterz, or other assorted Ogor/Grot kits. 

I know it's a lot to ask, but any advice you guys might be willing to give would be greatly appreciated!

[Dez]

I'd pick up the Start Collecting: Ironjawz. The Warchanter is such a great component, way better than it looks like on paper. Arboys are good for bulking out the numbers. The Megaboss also goes great with Brutes, I'd get some more Brutes too. They can MURDER once they get into combat, you just need to be careful of Battleshock. Being babysat by a Warchanter and Megaboss, a unit of 10 will just chew through units.

In order of priority:

Warchanter

Megaboss

Brutes

More Ardboyz are great, and I also had great luck pinning down units with just a 3 strong unit of Gore-gruntaz. So more is more betta, amirite? Buff them with the Warchanter before they go shooting across the board and they do really well!

[Malicth]

I can agree with @Dez here. Get the start collecting Ironjawz box as it will get what you need which is the warchanter and the gore-gruntas as well as the 10 ard boyz. Gore-gruntas are great for quickly moving up and taking objectives or tying up enemy units due to having 5 wounds a model and a good 4+ save. I also agree, and highly recommend, the megaboss on foot and at least 1 more box of brutes to make them into 10 brutes with hackas. remember, hackas for 10+, choppas for 5. The extra range is huge to get all of them to be able to attack. Run the brutes with the Megaboss and the Warchanter and they will just cut down anything they see.

I would run the Ironfist formation as it will help you with your lack of speed. It also stacks with the Destruction battle trait which when used properly and together will give most of your units and extra 2d6 movement in the hero phase plus your regular movement and then charge. You won't need ranged attacks with that kind of movement.

My 1000 point list is usually something like this:

Megaboss

Warchanter

10 brutes- boss w/ smasha and claw, 2 gore-choppas, 7 hackas

5 brutes- boss w/ smasha and claw, 1 gore-choppa, 3 choppas

5 brutes- boss w/ smasha and claw, 1 gore-choppa, 3 choppas

Ironfist formation

 

I sometimes switch out one of the units of 5 brutes for gore-gruntas with choppas when necessary. 

 

Welcome to the Waagh! good sir and I hope you have plenty of fun with your new force.

[Morpheine]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and advide, guys!

I was considering that Start Collecting box, since it's $100 CAD and the Gore-Gruntas alone are $95, meaning it's basically a free Warchanter at the very least if I don't end up running 25 Arrdboyz.

From your experience, are the 700 points soaked up by Gordrakk worth it, or does the AoS system benefit from a mob-based Orruk army? 

@Malicth I'm curious about the Ironfist. It can be any 3-5 units and is taken in addition to your previously mentioned units, correct?

[Dez]

The Ironfist is great, it can be made up of Ardoyz, Brutes and Gore-gruntaz. I highly recommend it.

Gordrakk looks to be an absolute beast, I haven't finished assembling mine to use it (I am on Saturday). 

Ironjawz isn't really a mob army, the numbers just aren't there for the most part. This will make objective games a bit tough...unless your opponent doesn't have an army left. Which is what Ironjawz ARE good at  With the proper buff auras (Megaboss, Warchanter) near Brutes or other units they are a wrecking ball with good saves that will stick around if you give them Inspiring Presence. The Cabbage (Mawkrusha) is a super powered wrecking ball, and Gordrakk can charge and kill pretty much anything in the game on average. 

[Morpheine]

That's awesome! Thanks so much for all of the info. It looks like I have some building ahead! I tried my cabbage in a small friendly game and it are everything, so have fun with him! Looking forward to hearing how it goes  

[jsewell]

On paper, I really like the gore-gruntas.  I'd love to have an Ironjawz army  with Gordrakk and a ton of Gore Gruntas in the batallion that gives them the 15" move in your first hero phase.    With most board setups, that should be a turn 1 charge by using Gordrakks ability, gaining +2 attacks for all  their weapons and the boars tusks, which will also be doing d3 damage instead of 1.  

[Morpheine]

10 hours ago, jsewell said:

15" move in your first hero phase.    With most board setups, that should be a turn 1 charge by using Gordrakks ability, gaining +2 attacks for all  their weapons and the boars tusks, which will also be doing d3 damage instead of 1.  

Yeah, I am a HUGE fan of high mobility or long-range armies. It's why in 40k I use a lot of vehicles. Gore-Gruntas are certainly on the radar for me!

[Dez]

I'm thinking of getting 2 of the Start Collection boxes just so I can add the Gore-gruntaz formation to my army. More Warchantaz to convert as well as Ardboyz will be a nice bonus.

[Morpheine]

At that point, you're basically getting a bunch of Ardboyz bits for conversions for next to nothing!  I believe it was your warchanter conversion with the drum kit I saw recently? I loved that idea and would like to do something similar.

[Dez]

Very cool! I'm planning on doing a full band

[mrstimpson38]

Very cool! I'm planning on doing a full band [emoji4]

If you're not planning on staying with Orruks for the band, I've always thought this guy should be painted up like KISS, and holding a guitar.

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[Dez]

I've got one of those built for Silver Tower...now the compulsion to paint him as Paul Stanley the Starchild is strong!

[Chris Tomlin]

The Start Collecting box is clearly going to be a great addition as advised almost unanimously above!

Even for us Ironjawz players with full existing armies, I think it's still gonna get picked up in multiples. I'll be getting two as it'll round out my army with 3 units of Ardboyz and Gore-gruntas. Will also give me the second Warchanter I need.

As an aside, if you don't want or need the box, but are keen on an extra Warchanter, I think you'll start see them going up on eBay for a bit cheaper more often now. Worth keeping an eye out there.

I will just issue a word of warning on Gore-gruntas. They are an amazing kit and look awesome on the table. They are super fun and I love doing inward death metal pig screams when moving mine around! That said, they are actually pretty rubbish and easily the worst Ironjawz unit by my money. It's a shame they miss out on the special weapons of the Brutes and also that the big pigs themselves are so horrendously underwhelming.

The D3 damage bonus is a joke, it should be if you roll over 8" on your charge dice (regardless of actual distance moved), rather than physically needing to charge that far. Makes it completely irrelevant as with all the extra move tricks available you can always get much closer. Even with Gordrakk's 3D6, I still think you'd be positioning them closer than 8" most of the time. I am interested to try the Gorefist Battalion though.

Anyway, bit of a tangent for you there!  

[Carnelian]

Here's a thought - might be a bit gamey but goregruntas neEd the help - but you don't have to move in a straight line when you are charging. You can charge around to get to the side/back of units etc. So as long as you roll the 8 on the dice there should be a way of moving them 8 

[Chris Tomlin]

15 minutes ago, Carnelian said:

Here's a thought - might be a bit gamey but goregruntas neEd the help - but you don't have to move in a straight line when you are charging. You can charge around to get to the side/back of units etc. So as long as you roll the 8 on the dice there should be a way of moving them 8 

Nice idea, but unfortunately that's not quite how it works. You specifically have to measure to the nearest unit beforehand and that unit needs to be 8" for the bonus to trigger.

Pretty rubbish really!!

[Carnelian]

Lame! Even worse that you might be charging an enemy unit that is more than 8" away but the effect doesn't trigger if there is a closer unit!

[Chris Tomlin]

@Carnelian

Yup, it's just rubbish I'm afraid!! I'm not sure if the intent was anything different from that, unfortunately it's quite clear in the rules though  

Tanking and holding objectives is about all they are ok (not good!) for. Don't expect much (read; anything!) in terms of damage output.

 

[Morpheine]

@Chris Tomlin that's interesting. You're the first person I've read that mentioned the Goregruntas felt underpowered. 

 

In your experience, are more Brutes the way to go? I'll probably still pick up a Start Playing box just to have more options of bodies to field to start with, but more brutes as well couldn't hurt. 

[Chris Tomlin]

@Morpheine

As I say, I think they are awesome models and super cool, so I will pretty much always field some.

They also add a different element for our army on the table, both aesthetically and also in terms of giving us a bit more speed. Whilst the rest of the units do get around the table pretty well (with Rampaging Destroyers and the Ironfist battalion), the superior movement statline on the Gore-gruntas does allow for more positional play as opposed to a "push it straight forward" approach. So I do like them for that it has to be said.

I would like to field a whole bunch with their Gorefist battalion at some point to be honest.

Brutes are great, what they lack in manoeuvrability they make up for in raw power. The extra weapons from the Boss and Gore-Choppa(s) really adds some punch with multi damage etc. They are more susceptible to Battleshock than the Grunta's though, which is why you'll see people talking about the Gore-gruntas holding objectives.

All in all, we have very few units by way of variety, so I would definitely recommend getting some of everything!

[Dez]

I may have ordered 2 Start Collecting Ironjawz boxes yesterday...

[Morpheine]

@Dez 'Atta boy! Can't wait to see your finished force 

[Dotification]

7 hours ago, Chris Tomlin said:

@Morpheine

As I say, I think they are awesome models and super cool, so I will pretty much always field some.

They also add a different element for our army on the table, both aesthetically and also in terms of giving us a bit more speed. Whilst the rest of the units do get around the table pretty well (with Rampaging Destroyers and the Ironfist battalion), the superior movement statline on the Gore-gruntas does allow for more positional play as opposed to a "push it straight forward" approach. So I do like them for that it has to be said.

I would like to field a whole bunch with their Gorefist battalion at some point to be honest.

Brutes are great, what they lack in manoeuvrability they make up for in raw power. The extra weapons from the Boss and Gore-Choppa(s) really adds some punch with multi damage etc. They are more susceptible to Battleshock than the Grunta's though, which is why you'll see people talking about the Gore-gruntas holding objectives.

All in all, we have very few units by way of variety, so I would definitely recommend getting some of everything!

Heh, Chris, I was just talking/typing in a related thread about how underwhelmed I am with G-G's stat-line, & will only ever buy them as part of the Start Collecting box, and field, just to have something other than the MegaBosses, Brutes, & 'Ardboyz trinity present & accounted for.  

And as a hobbyist, Mitzy makes their massive boars look so fun to paint, I just need to decide between turquoise pig-armor or pig fur, but how damn it's my fav color!!

It is pretty weird how restrictive they are about the G-G Charge ability, considering the 'Jawz riding them are so pillow-fisted; they only have Rend 1/Damage 1 weapons, the Jagged Gore-hacka doesn't even get a charge bonus, & there's no command options for them.  I guess Khornates feel the same way about their Juggernaut-riders??

Brutes sell a ton better I'm thinking, which is why they aren't in the SC box, while the G-G's are . . . but I still want to support their continued efforts to roll out more SC boxes (support it the only way that counts, w/ my wallet, natch) & then I'm not paying $25 for a WarChanter, and I get more Black Orc shields & bits.

[Trokair]

Good day all

I am in a similar position to Morpheine, thinking about starting Ironjaws and need some advice.

I am thinking of going with two Starter Collecting boxes, one Maw Krusha and one Brute boxes. The second Warchanter will probably find himself converted into a Megaboss with spare bits from the Maw Krusha kit.

So I will have to play with

 Maw Krusha (is Gordrack any good?)

Warchanter

Meggaboss on foot

20 Ardboys (one big unit or 2 x10?)

6 Gore Gruntas

5 Brutes

 

I gather that Gore Gruntas are not that great so would it be better to skip the second starter box and buy a second box of brutes, cut the converted Warchanter/meggaboss and 10 ardboys?

I don’t have the book so no idea what battalions there are and what would be sensible to go for.

[Dez]

 Gordrakk, he's killy as it gets. Warboss on Mawkrusha is no slouch either...I've been thinking of using both

I'd go for 2 Start Collecting boxes, but I wouldn't convert the Warchanter as multiples of them are really good. So if you convert it, just make it a different looking Warchanter   Buy a Megaboss too, they are really great in conjunction with the Brutes who I'd also recommend bumping up to 10.

Interesting proposition taking a unit of 20 Ardboyz, especially with Shields. They'd be pretty hard to move off of an objective and would have great board control. I think 2 units of Goregruntaz can be viable in differen situations, my new thought is I like them going for distant objectives because they have lots of staying power in a unit of 6. Something to ponder.

The Ironfist Formation will be our mandatory choice. 3-5 units get an extra D6 move in the hero phase for 60 points.

If you haven't seen it yet, the Warscroll Builder is a great tool to start thinking about how you want to build your army http://scrollbuilder.com/