PlasticCraic

So I had the pleasure of getting the big girl on the table for the first time two nights ago...WOW! There are a LOT of D6 damage rolls with this lovely lady, and I aced all of them! When this girl is hot, she's really, really hot. I played a Khorne list with my Mixed Destruction at 1500 points (Total Conquest), and it was one of those where everything went my way. It was beers 'n' pretzels stuff but a whole heap of fun. What really struck both me and my opponent was how slowly this girl degrades. Moving 16" base is amazing, and you have to put 9 wounds on her before she loses her rend -3...she has to be on death's door before she loses her rend -2. Ask me again when I've rolled a heap of 1s and 2s on the damage rolls (and whiffed her dragon breath), but I had a ball using her. Who knows what 2nd ed means for her...I was originally hoping they'd remove the "Realm of Fire" stipulation and just give her one of the two as a normal rule (mainly to save having to explain that yes we are playing in a Realm so let's roll off for it), but now that Realms look like becoming more of a thing I doubt that. We were joking that the wayt things are going, she's more likely to get renamed to a Celestial Dragon and given the Stormcast keyword...

This is the blackened fire one I like the look of...I should point out that mine will look nowhere near as good! But it does say "Magma" to me at least: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/194288171404442906

@Melcavuk yours look awesome, I gotta say

So the big fella arrived on Friday, and I modelled him up on Saturday. In all honesty it's not the easiest model in the world to put together - you know what it's like trying to put three separate pieces together with superglue, and the "leap of faith" where you just hope you've glued something together at the right angle! A fair amount of green stuff was used but it's now in decent shape. One tip I would definitely have for anyone is to buy the Citadel saw. It's invaluable for taking resin off the sprue - it's one of those where you could never go back to not having one! My next question is colour schemes, what would people suggest? One thought I've had is something like the black Magmadroth colour scheme? What are people's thoughts? https://www.games-workshop.com/en-AU/Auric-Runesmiter-on-Magmadroth @Chris Tomlin do you have any photos of yours you'd be willing to share please?

Whoop there it is! Resin incoming! I will be giving that list I posted above a try, I think it will be good fun. Weathering powders added to trigger the free delivery

Deeply impressive mate! Could I interest you in posting these up on the Gutbusters AOS group on Facebook too? It's a very positive group.

Just spotted this in the gallery, check it out!

So with that said - it's kind of hard to build a list that specifically maximises the Magma Dragon, but I've built this one that I think is semi-coherent and would be good fun. Because what's more fun for your opponent that a massive FW monster, a gunline and a bajillion Grots? That's right: all of the above plus a Maw Krusha I've had some success at 1k points with a list built around a Fungoid Cave Shaman: I’m not sure how well that army would scale up to 2k, but the Magma Dragon being a very modular piece is probably as good a way as any. Also it gives the opportunity to expand your batteline slightly, to something actually kinda useful. What I like about it is that the key damage pieces are all very flexible - they have heavy rend and / or mortal wounds for hard to shift units, but also artefacts or bonuses against large units. You have output across all phases. And you are taking the Harbringer and actually using him - so for that reason, if I was going to an event that used Malign Portents rules (like SCGT in the UK) I'd give it strong consideration. What I don’t like is that the army has a million drops, and in some ways feels a little bit "Collection of Models" (although it does have its own tricks). Also at 1k I didn’t care about Battleshock, whereas here you have to choose between using the CA on the Maw Krusha and using Inspiring on the Grots, as the situation dictates. I do think you’d be able to achieve mid tables with it though. What does everyone think? Anybody else got any Magma Dragon lists?

Thinking about this one over the weekend, and what if anything the Magma Dragon synergises with. I can't think of any direct synergies as such, although obviously in terms of building a coherent list, this would be a highly mobile ass-kicker and source of a few mortal wounds and heavy rend, so you'd want to accompany it with some objective grabbers. The only one I can think of would be the standard Gordrakk ability, but with only 2 melee profiles and no batallions it can be a part of, I don't think it would be a great use of that Command Ability. But that in turn got me thinking...I'd love to see a warscroll batallion for a Destruction army (maybe another Ironjawz batallion in GH18, or a Gutbusters one in there?) that allows you to take "Any One Destruction Monster", kinda similar to how Gnarlroot can take any Order wizard. I think GW are really nervous about Gordrakk being in a batallion (understandably), so you could maybe limit it to Monsters without the Hero keyword for example. That being said, even with Gordrakk in a batallion, I don't think it would be any worse that a lot of the stuff that's already out there now.

Haha Yeah, sorry if that came across like a rant! It was intended as a comment specifically on the prospect of Destruction getting a nerf in GH18, which is surely unlikely. I just really hope we get some tools to work with. I'm still loving my orcs and goblins, still loving AOS, and still officially #GeeDubs4Life ?

I think the thing that's really hurting Destruction at the moment is that when GH17 (rightly imo) rebalanced away from Mixed GA armies, Destruction got so, so little in return. Other than making the Ironjawz battletome slightly less obsolete, there was nothing in there (or since) but nerf upon nerf. If GH17 had given some Allegiance Abilities to armies like Moonclan and Gutbusters, you have something to work with. As it is, it feels like no give and all take. So assuming no Moonclan battletome in the next few months, I would hope for a decent selection of Allegiance Abilities for Destruction in GH18, and some leeway on the Battleline options. As well as an updated FAQ on things like the Weirdnob Shaman. Thanks for the FB link, that's a good and practical suggestion.

There's nothing left to take. They made Destruction softer hitting, slower and easier to kill. They eviscerated the GA Allegiance Abilities, and replaced it with nothing. They took the GA with the worst Battleline options by far and made it significantly worse. Other than nerf Kunnin Rukk properly this time, the only way is up.

What do we think about his "Realm of Fire" stuff...not a thing in Matched Play?

Phukk it I'm gonna buy one, let's be Magma Bros! I am a sucker for the Destruction monsters, that's my favourite thing about the faction. This could be a cool model in a monster mash list as you pointed out @BunkhouseBuster Run it alongside the Dread Maw and two "guest star" Behemoth spots. Zero synergy, just a rabble coming at you! Proper Friday night Beerhammer stuff.

That's all just theory hammer of course, like I said I've never seen one on the table I do like the aesthetic too, it's not "just another dragon". It really is a cool model.

You know, I've never heard of anybody running one. I was looking at it for a GA Destruction list, but I went with a Dread Maw instead (purely because it looks redonkulous). The Magma Dragon does look cool though, and on paper it looks like a decent competitive choice. I guess the downsides are that it seems to be priced quite stiffly (as you said), and it can only be fielded in GA Destruction, with the associated allegiance ability and battleline problems. Personally, I reckon you could make it the centrepiece of a fun mid-table army?

I'd be taking Earthquake for Orruks personally. It can be a hard counter to Objective warbands - in particular nudging three Chosen Axes off their objectives in your 4th Activation to stop them inspiring. You also need it to undo an opponent's Earthquake. I personally see it as a must have. There are a few cards that are good if you're going Full Aggro. Ready for Action is universally useful. Similarly Fuelled by Fury is a nice agro card - there are also no Rules of One in this game, so you can reroll a reroll with Gurzag for example. And Trap is a good damage ploy to finish off a stronger enemy model. Rebound can be helfpul - at first glance it might look like a card that swarms use against elite warbands to turn their heavy hitting on them. But as well as being good in the mirror match, even weaker opposition fighters can seriously hurt themselves - even though they don't tend to hit as hard, they also tend to have fewer wounds. e.g. all Skaven will leave themselves on 1 wound with Rebound, and then even the Orruk goobers uninspired (or a damage ploy) can finish them off. Finally Spoils of Battle is always a good one. Gives you an opportunity to the Gurzag Train rolling early if your opponent is denying you opportunities to gain glory. Those are the ones from the new kits that I'd be looking at.

Not an expert, but I would think that "pay a subscription and maybe win prizes" would be at risk of falling under anti-gambling laws? As a minimum you'd probably need licences etc. My own vote would be for ads, with an optional monthly sub to turn them off. Which I would totally pay.

That's an unfair generalisation. I was more than happy with both the Bonesplitterz and Beastclaw releases, and bought into both armies. I'd love to see the Destruction as a GA get a reboot like Death has.

Agree with every word in this post, well said! With the production capacity, they literally can't make the stuff fast enough right now - we all want the new models but if that's not going to happen in the foreseeable, let's see the books instead.

That's sad to hear, can I ask whether it is personal or gaming reasons? Not trying to pry into your personal life at all btw...If it’s non-gaming related that’s the end of, no need to go into detail! I'm thinking it's more likely personal, because you don't seem to be completely "down" on where competitive AOS in general (and Ironjawz in particular) is at right now? I’m just interested to know if it's for gaming reasons (as a community leader and one of the top Destruction players I’m always interested to hear your thoughts on the state of the game and of our factions), and also for my own selfish reasons (I love reading and listening to your batreps and advice, so I will always want more not less!)

@Chris Tomlin they're amazing! Very thematic, I love it

100% scratch buildable! My mate has basically glued the catapult thing that nobody uses from the Arachnarok kit onto the correct-sized oval bases. Hey presto, Spider Lobbas! Very easy to make. I'd thought about maybe making "Git Lobbas", with Greenskin "volunteers" as the ammunition...emphasizing that Greenskinz are to Ironjawz, what Grots are to Greenskinz.

Man, you get so much when you drop the Ironfist! I just can't let go of that crutch.