Scurvydog

I might be completely wrong, but from what we know about these guys so far and about Nagash, well Nagash does not really jam with any symbolism or ideologies besides his own. This is why I think it would be fitting if the carrion birds were just being kept around as being sort of practical, picking bones clean. Maybe some of them even got enough soul stuff in them to feel some kind of attachment to the birds, like pets? Or perhaps some kinship in their task of hunting down bones and carcasses (where these are you can find the birs circling above). It will be fun to see, considering there are birds everywhere, the catapults got a bird perched on it, the harvester can be built with one, where we see some extra arms fighting with a bird over a bone. Bird on the horsemen banner and also multiple birds on the Katakros model, one larger one sitting on his shield, but also one of his retainers with a bird skullmask, appears to handle a cage with a bird on it, possibly a messenger of sorts, which also leads me to believe they have some kind of symbiosis going on.

They have carrion birds all over the place, which are handy if you want bones where all that annoying fleshly bits are still attached.

Only a box set for bonereapers with ogors? I already just got 2 morghasts to keep busy (as GW suggested in every article!) until release and the only way to get them is in a dual set? That is so weird and frustrating and feels like a slap in the face. I was so looking forward to the release and this is what they do...

What we can only preorder a dual box, terrain and book next week??? What kind of new army release is that

Da choppas have a good command ability and will also quite often provide charge rerolls, as there will often be some terrain even partially within enemy territory within 12" of your guys. The forced artifact is just for the first weirdnob to get an artifact, so you can account for that as you wish. The trait is for any general, but the +2 bravery aura is quite decent, I prefer it over any of the other warclan traits actually. Not to say I think the choppas and spamming brutes/ardboyz is the best option, but is certainly interesting enough and this clan would be the way to run it.

"When a unit shoots or fights, it makes attacks with the weapons it is armed with. A unit attacks with all the weapons it is armed with, including any used by its mount." The warchanter ability adds 1 to the damage of all weapons in the unit, it is pretty clear cut. In fact the only time mounts are pointed out as having any rules impact by itself (in the core rules) is for heroes on mounts and artifacts affecting a specific weapon. Battletomes has some extra mentions about heroes on mounts, such as certain command traits etc. For Gore Gruntas for example it has no effect at all and might as well just be considered 1 big thing with 2 weapons. The pigs also get +1 attack from Waaagh, they are no different than if the rider just had 2 weapons instead rules wise 99% of the time.

Remember you can only bring 1 mount trait per battalion. The setup will probably be hilariously good in some battleplans and an absolute trainwreck in others, but if you went and bought 3 MKs then they are meant to be used!

After having played a few games with the Ironjawz in the new book my primary take aways so far are: Mighty Destroyers is the most important tool, it is so good that I find a general with the brutal cunning trait more important than the warclans, especially in below 2k games and without the ironfist battalion. The combo of doom is basically 2 warchanters buffing up a unit of 6 gruntas and a MK, then both due to mighty destroyers have a HUGE threat range nearly nobody are able to deal with, and both hit so incredibly hard, you can usually target units in a way to wreck 1 and instantly fight with your other unit right after. It takes careful screening by your opponent to mitigate this in any way and thanks to +1 damage lasting to next hero phase, they are still dangerous to fight. The weirdnob is hardly worth it if not getting 100% attention as a general in a big waagh with the trait to know and cast 2 spells and +cast artifacts and access to +to cast from waaagh zap. In pure Ironjawz I dobut I will use this guy much unfortunately, as him being the general also sacrifices the ability to use Waaagh, but this could be a worthwhile tradeof for example in Ironsunz, to get around the horrid megaboss trait and artifacts. Yes you can't Waagh, but you get a 2 spell caster with +1 to cast, which greatly increases his usefulness and chance to get anything of. This would also be the perfect time to use Gordrakk as your Mawkrusha boss. Warchanters are absolute beasts and makes any unit an absolute terror and you should always bring at least 1 for every 1k points. Warbeats are just happy coincidences though, don't plan for that 4+... I prefer fixin beat, due to the above doom combo, the warchanters have a hard time to keep up and be in range for the 2 others in the first couple of rounds. Everyone seems to be hating on brutes, I know where they are coming from and perhaps this depends on the local meta, but if you face just a bit of units with 4+ wounds, then their damage is by far the best for their points, so having at least a unit of these guys to chase some big stuff is worth it and cant be ignored by your opponent. Again maximize the use of mighty destroyers, this is proabably the best command ability in the game if you could only chose 1. Seriously consider your available CP and if a warclan is worth it compared to Brutal Cunning to use this for free one more time each round.

The warchanter is far better, just for the +1 damage buff alone will increase the output if your hammer unit by 100%, if you use mighty destroyers your gruntas can move up to 18" a turn so you should not need hand of gork at all. Against Gitz you will most likely have the lowest drops as well and decide to have him go first, it should be no issue to charge turn 1 with the gruntas with mighty destroyers and buffed with +1 damage. The shaman is unreliable and the Gitz got a lot of good casters, so you will both have to cast a 7+ spell and not have it dispelled, if under the bad moon you will even get minus to your casts. In a 750 game you should be playing on a 48x48 board, so with 18" moving gore gruntas with also most likely rerolling charges, no teleporting needed.

All units in Da Choppas can reroll charges if within 12" of terrain which is fully or partially in enemy territory. It is only the command ability which allows the warchanter to buff up to 3 units of ardboyz and brutes which excludes gruntas.

The warchanter is unable to take any artifacts from the Warclans book, there is only a table for megabosses and for weirdnobs for some reason. You can choose an artifact from the Malign Sorceries book instead, if in doubt you can always go with the aetherquartz brooch, as that is never a bad idea to have, and you will want to use mighty destroyers as much as possible. For that reason I might recommend merging the gruntas to 1 unit with 6 and give them spears, it is much better value with your 1 warchanter to buff that unit and also use mighty destroyers on them. You can then buff all 6 with +1 dmg and mighty destroyers to move 2x9" and then most likely reroll their charge if playing da choppas. With spears the riders are at 2+/2+ as well, especially in a 750 game that big super fast unit will squish just about anything, although expect your opponent to become a tad salty

Correct so you will be unable to get that with your armylist but any general is forced to take the horrible trait, which you can not use, as a Megaboss general is needed to use Waaagh at all. Not a big loss as the warchanter has no available traits anyway. The list is probably stronger by sacrificing Waagh and a command trait though at only 750 pts to get more wounds on the board. With your list I would recommend a look at Da Choppas instead, this is also the only way to give a warchanter a command trait, as it just states the general must have it, not which type of model. Rerolling charges will happen a lot most likely. The command ability is only mildly useful in your list, as you will at best be able to buff the ardboyz and brutes, but that could win a game still with +1 damage to both.

You miss out on Waaagh though, +1-2 attacks in a combat phase can be a pretty big deal. Not having a Megaboss you also miss out on his command ability, and +1 to hit for a unit at the right time is also important. CP begin losing value when you miss out and the command abilties to actually use them on after all. But it is entirely an option of course and might be worthwhile in some cases. If I chose a shaman as my general however, I would probably always go for +1 to cast or two spells/two casts traits instead. Then possibly the CP on 4+ artifact instead.

One thing is power creep another and competetive tournament power. Another is just the internal balancing of the book and the options available. Even without considering any other armies or powercreep, the NH book is rather boring and lacks a lot of the element defining all the other 2.0 books, such as "stormhost" equivalents. The book mentions all these unique flavors of ghosts. Something like the Legion of Grief should really have been in the NH book along with some other variations focusing on different aspects, so it was possible to tailor more interesting lists with specific strengths. My favourite expamples so far come from the Fyreslayers book, where they have made some really interesting twists on the standard lineup of models, like a lodge allowing a small group of heroes to fight at the same time and take more artifacts, and another giving access to more magmadroths and mount traits, now that is thoughtful design. The Flesh Eaters also have some cool options even with their limited roster. I hope Bonereapers follows that format, I love being able to do multiple things with the same models. The sheer scope of the lineup we have seen so far at least will help with meaningful varitation from warscroll options alone, but if we get the "stormhost" stuff as well, then I will be a happy construct boy.

I prefer the Ironfist over the gorefist, evne with only GGs to use 3 man units for objectives and support and the 6 man unit as a hammer. If they are in combat the next turn the ability to fight in the hero phase can be a huge deal and all in all opens more options down the line, as long as the boss is kept alive. If the opponent has good deployment and screening turn 1, moving 3 GG units forwards wont help all that much, while another model using MD opens all kinds of plays. Running Ironsunz with a Weirdnob general is a hard sell, the warclan tax is pretty steep in that regard, as the traits are all very poor compared to the non clan traits. Yes I do like MD so much, that the Brutal Cunning trait alone is a game changer in my eyes, at least as much as any benefits the warclans bring. The Ironsunz command ability is the only thing I really have my eye on to reconsider. Especially in smaller games like 1k games, Brutal Cunning and an impactful artifact will be much more important.

I fell into the NH trap myself, but this army looks much better defined, and the NH book has been the only really bad book in AoS 2.0, as it looked like a prototype of better things to come for other armies. All units for th Bonereapers seem to fit into proper battlefield roles, like cavalry, mounted commanders, wizards, infantry with 3 different equipment options, tanky elites on foot, punchy elites on foot, flying elites, ranged artellery etc etc. While nighthaunt is basically a huge bunch of 1 wound ghosts doing slight variations of the same thing. The nighthaunt tome seemed to have been changed or gone wrong somehow, with odd kits being released, strangely with named heroes on the boxes being standard heroes, and unit types only available in hero boxes and such. I suspect this new model line is vastly improved to that mess.

I like the construct theme and that they are not just skeletons. The Soul Wars story describes a scene where Nagash breaks himself apart and then reforms his body in another place by pulling on all the dead things and bones in the sorroundings and I like that mental image when thinking of the construction of these things. I for one enjoy the greepy/goofy facemasks, they are a stark contrast to the stoic stormcast masks and is a fun way to show how these constructs of death show more emotion than Sigmars counterparts. The Stormcasts are becoming less and less, their souls diminishing, while the soldiers of Nagash are stuffed with souls, even multiple souls, as a cruel mirror of arrogance and superiority complex, I love it. I would also have been completely on board with the entire army formed like their mortach, with bone shaping the "perfect" body, an army of statues of perfection bringing nothing but death and horror would also have been a cool theme, but what we got is interesting and varied as well and keeps Katakros very distinguished. Got some Morghasts on the way already, as they seem to be the only flying options in the army and having access to flying is just about always useful. I will lurk on youtube on preorder day, as the reviews usually pop up early saturday for new preorders, so it should be possible to get a rough idea of what I want to make first, starting with a rough 1k list to begin with.

With Bonesplitterz I can see it working without Gordrakk as so many points are based around big units and numbers, which Ironjawz do not have, so anything but warchanter and the d6 points would be based almost purely on engagements/charges. Ardfist would be ok if it was not a 4+ or used a CP, but using a CP for only a 50/50 chance is impossible to rely on for anything and makes the average cost for each unit coming in 100 points worth of CP. If it did not cost a CP or was 100% sure to work, even with a 5 man unit, then I might consider it. I think Big Whaagh gives more to Bonesplitterz, as all the first abilities Ironjawz already have and Ironjawz also has ample access to +1 to hit effects already, so the +1 to wound is the major thing. I would consider a Wardokk actually, but I think I would go for Gorkamorkas warcry. The activation wars is where the game is at these days and without Smashin and Bashin from Ironjawz, this spell is the only way to influence the flow of combat in your favor in a Big Waaagh

I would only run Big Waaagh with Gordrakk and 2 warchanters, I do not feel it nearly worth it, unless you get the +1 hit and wound by turn 2 for sure. Ardfist cost the same as 10 ardboyz in itself, so you will have units of 5 not really doing anything, and if they get killed, can 50/50 come in as a 10 man unit from the edge... with a 4" move unit. That seems both bad and terribly unreliable and I would honestly just ignore them if I was the opponent. All you need to do to win is to focus on the mawkrusha and warchanter and the rest of the army will be no threat at all. I would love to hear some experiences with the ardfist, but I simply can't see the value as is.

Interesting take aways from the article from a lore perspective is that they are called Warrior Monarchs and also the mission of the "purification of Shyish". Obviously there can be no monarchs without kingdoms, this might of course mean they were monarchs in life now generals in death, but that is not made entirely clear. This is more interesting with the mission of the purification of Shyish, if Nagash is creating kingdoms entirely for the dead. I really do hope this will create something interesting with the Soulblight vampires, as I can't see them being too happy about giving up all their living thralls. Sitting in kingdoms of nothing but the dead is bad for business for those who feed on the living.

Was it not mentioned in the stream preview that the Rogue Idol would get an update? wondering when...

1. No, having access to that for all heroes is related to the Ironjawz allegiance. See above regarding the discussion about the Ironfist battalion being able to use it in the Big Whaagh (I would say it can, as it seems all the battalions are made for both IJ and Big Waaagh allegiances). 2. Yes. The only one to really consider in my opinion is the Prophet, but all in all you would probably be better served with all ironjawz then, as there is sadly just about no synergy between Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz, they do not even fill out any niche roles other than maybe arrow boyz for the ironjawz, but without the other bonesplitterz buffs, they are a bit lacking I think.

So thinking about a 2k list using the Great Whaagh allegiance while running pure Ironjawz: Gordrakk - Mean un mount trait 2x warchanters - 1 with the aetherquartz brooch. Get em beat and Fixem beat Weirdnob Shaman - general, 2 spells/2 casts trait, skullcape +1 to cast artefact Ironfist battalion 10 x brutes - boss of the ironfist 15 x ardboyz 5 x ardboyz (sit on obj) 3 x Gore gruntas - choppas 3 X Gore gruntas - choppas This is a 5 drop army, the idea is to let the opponent go first if possible. With Gordrakk and 2 warchanters you should be able to stack up 20 points minimum by turn 2, so everything has +1 hit and wound, 6++ and so on. Battalion help especially the Brute unit be much more dangerous and when they get +1 to everything, all hell is lose. In a great Whaagh you also need a battalion to take more than 1 warbeat for a warchanter. Merging the Gore Gruntas is an option as well, to make them easier to buff with a warchanter. Great hand and wrath of gork on the warchanter, with +1 to cast it is much more likely to get them of. Teleporting the 15 ardboyz for an offensive play with a warchanter buff is good, but placing the 5 guys on an objective right away can also be the right play. A lot of brute force here and I look forward to see if the 6++ save and +1 to hit and wound is better than having warclan command abilities and mighty destroyers + smashing and bashing. It is quite some handy tools being lost in favor of pure dice power, although the ironfist helps a little bit here.

If you bring a weirdnob shaman for ironsunz always make him the general, even if you take the trait for d3 command points, it is still vastly superior to a megaboss general just getting that 1 CP trait. I think for Ironsunz that alone makes me always take a shaman for that clan for this reason, probably giving him the trait to cast 2 spells and know 2 spells and giving him the +1 cast relic in smaller games without more artifacts. Now you have a rather potent caster general with 2 spells + puke all with +1 to cast, not too bad. The Ironsunz armor on a megaboss is not a terrible artifact though, but not the best use of an artifact either.

Let us take a moment to appreciate we have reached page 1337... ... ... Now that feels better, back to rumours.