Saturday 22 April 2017

Any Old Iron: Ironjawz vs Disciples of Tzeentch

Bulla, Megaboss of Da Flat Iron Clan and warlord of Da Wasted Plains, gave a hard stare to the stone icon, then headbutted it. He didn't like the way that vulture head was looking at him, so he smashed his forehead into it for a second time. The stone was starting to crumble. Good, he thought. Gork damn him if he was going to take any cheek from a statue.

"Dey are coming for it," said his Warchanter, Groll, tapping out his two stikks while he spoke. They had not reached the ear-bursting beat of battle, but the gods-infused stikks were knocking out an impatient tempo. Every heartbeat brought them closer to slaughter.

"Da humies?" Bulla asked. His outriders had seen a large mob of chaos-worshippers drawing close, dragging a large casket of loot behind them.

Groll nodded at the cracked icon. "Dey want dis one, and the one on the uvver side of town."

Bulla thumped his meaty fist against his breastplate. A shower of rust flaked away, but there were still many inches of pig-iron covering several more inches of thick Orruk muscle. "Get da ladz. We'll pull 'em into our jawz, den crush 'em."

The Warchanter gave both Gorkskikk and Morkstikk a determined bash, igniting the green Waaagh! power within. "It's gonna be an 'ard day's night."


Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Melt down the ferrite!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!


The Ark of Alternatives campaign continues apace (that pace being once a month). This time, I Stylus, will be bringing a new faction to play, hastily painted up during the bank holiday: the Ironjawz!

We're using the Take and Hold battleplan from the General's Handbook. It requires you to control an objective (5+ friendly models around it), while seizing the objective on the enemy side. If you have both objectives by Turn 3, you win. If they are still unclaimed by the end of Turn 5, you count the points of destroyed units for a minor victory.

Forces

Da Flat Iron Bullies - Orruk Ironjawz

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.
  • Ferrous Bulla, Orruk Megaboss, General, Bellowing Tyrant, Battle Brew
  • Groll, Warchanter
  • 5 x Brutes, Big Boss with Boss Choppa, Jagged Gore-hacka, Gore-choppa
  • 5 x Brutes, Brute Boss with Boss Klaw and Brute Smasha, Brute Choppas, Gore-choppa
  • 3 x Gore Gruntas, Pig-iron Choppa
  • 10 x Ardboys, Boss, Orruck Banner, Waaagh! Drummer, 5 x Pair of Choppas, 2 x Choppa/Shield, 3 x Big Choppas
  • [Battalion: Ironfist]
A sneak preview of the latest army I've been working on: the Ironjawz! I've only blogged about half of them, but rest assured, the remainder are tournament-legal, needing only a fiddling amount of chequerboard patterns to be finished.

The army choice was dictated by what I had, and with a mere 25 figures for 1,000pts, this army is certainly economical in both cost and painting time. Two units of Brutes, with a variety of weapon choices, to act as the fists of the army, supported by the combat monster that is the Megaboss. A unit of Gore-Gruntas for a bit of flanking action (either grabbing the enemy objective, or reinforcing my own), and a mob of Ardboyz, who should make very solid objective guards.

I would have liked to include a Wierdnob Shaman, but he just wasn't painted in time, so we went with the Warchanter (to hang around at the back and buff the ladz), and the 'Ironfist' battalion. Between that and my Destruction trait, the units should be able to speed across the battlefield (adding 2D6" to their paltry 4" move) and put some early pressure on the enemy objective.

The Choir of Change - Disciples of Tzeentch

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.
  • Enchantron Glazaar, Lord of Chaos, Cunning Deceiver, Favour of the Gods, Mark of Tzeentch 
  • Flickerdeath Doublejabber, Herald of Tzeentch, Staff of Change
  • 5 x Chaos Chosen, Mark of Tzeentch
  • 10 x Chaos Warriors, Hand Weapon & Shield, Mark of Tzeentch
  • 1 x Chaos Warshrine, Mark of Tzeentch
  • 40 x Chaos Mauraders, tribal Banner, Flails and Shields, Mark of Tzeentch

Kraken here, and surprise surprise, I'm leading the forces of Chaos into battle. Actually, although this started with the intention of being a narrative campaign, we've actually been switching back and forth between command of the protagonists, the Tzeentchians with their Ark. Luckily this still gives our heroes a chance of winning the campaign, as my track record of victories has been extremely slight. None so far, in fact, which might make the outcome rather predictable. 

This army list was inspired by a comment on a website somewhere else, that mentioned how viable large hordes of rubbish troops can be in AoS. Well, there's nothing more rubbish than a big heap of Marauders! So I took forty of them, backed them up with the mobile shield generator that is the Warshrine, took some Warriors and Chosen as linebackers and quarterbacks respectively, and the relatively standard Lord and Wizard leader combo. 

The Marauders can hit reasonably hard, especially if their numbers bonus triggers. This is more likely with their numbers, and with a bit of extra shielding from either the wizard, the warshrine or the Lord (who can all improve their saves or grant rerolls), they should be quite a nasty tarpit unit. So should the Lord, who comes back as a Spawn if he dies! 

Having marked them all with Tzeentch for Fluff reasons, Stylus pointed out as the battle began that I could then use the Destiny Dice ability. I wish I'd thought of that, then I'd have looked like a keen-eyed ruleshound rather than a lucky chancer. Still, that's Tzeentch for you. 

Terrain and Deployment

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Reading the rules of the 'Take and Hold' battleplan, I'm immediately aware of a weakness in the Ironjawz: I have no cheap, expendable troops to hold my objective. If I want to go for the big win (and of course I do), I'm going to have to sacrifice one of my combat unit to sit at the back.

I choose the Ardboyz, and decide to go straight up the centre with my two Brute units, supported by the two characters. The Gore-Gruntas go on the right flank, able to encircle or add their numbers to the melee.

I'm not really afraid of anything the chaos army has in close-combat, although a wizard that can spit out mortal wounds is concerning, as I have no counter to that (other than bashing him over the head). The plan is to get in quick, and get stuck in!

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

I have a simple plan (I'm a simple man). My army is fairly slow, so I'm going to need to weather the incoming storm as best I can. The Chosen are going up front to try and blunt the advance of whatever orky menace smashes into me first, as well as maybe try and trigger their bonus for letting first blood. The heroes guard the flanks, the Marauders will pour over and through whatever they can with the Warshrine protecting them, and the Chaos Warriors stay at the back to hold my objective. 

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Either I break through to the other side and hope the rearguard can hold out for a win, or (more likely) I can fight off the ork attackers with enough troops left for a lesser triumph. 

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.


Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Disciples of Tzeentch - Turn 1

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

They sang as they marched forward. Soaring hymns to the splendour of Tzeentch, weird half-rhymes that jarred on the ear as much as they delighted with their feverish rhythm. Atop the Warshrine-Organ, the Keeper played complex melodies that conjured spurts of devilish fire from the outward facing pipes. The ground reverberated to the beat of their heels. 

Fifty strong, they were. The Warriors droned in bass support from the rear, with the Marauder cultists singing calls and responses in two sections. Once their song echoed between the two Resonance Idols, the interference pattern would unlock the final tumblers of the Ark of Alternatives, and then the last rituals could begin. 

Ahead, the Chosen Castrati shrilled eerily high warning notes. The enemy was ahead, the primitive tribes who infested these ruins. "Allegro!" Glazaar called, and the warchoir gave a single, dissonant "Ha!" as they obeyed. 

Doublejabber, the daemonic herald that accompanied them, warbled weirdly, and a shimmering shield of power began to manifest over the Castrati. Glazaar sang an atonal Tenor aria to support them, and felt joy surge through him as they answered in whistling antiphones. Even if the Orruk assault broke their bodies, their morale wouldn't fail them, not in the middle of such a glorious concert.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Ironjawz - Turn 1

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"Get movin', yer lazy gits!" Bulla shouted at his lads, pushing the two mobs of Brutes directly forward, while the Gore-Gruntas trotted along by their flank.

"Except you!" Bulla spun around and pointed at the Ardboyz with his boss choppa. "You stay put, yer restless gitz!"

The Ironjawz closed around the mass of humies like a fist. Drummed on by the Warchanter, they would fall upon them from three sides, crushing them.

"Dey iz gathered in da middle of da town," Groll reported. "Da big sqaure wiv all da little round stones."

"Cobbles," Bulla corrected him.

"Nah, really boss, dey are."

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Ironjawz - Turn 2

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"Waaagh!" Momentum was with the Ironjawz, and Bulla wasn't about to let the humies react to their sudden onslaught. He drove his greenskins forward until they were within spitting distance of the enemy, and then charged.

Rusty iron met ensorcelled steel, and the Brutes closest to him hacked down three of the leading chaos chosen, who could only answer with a flesh wound against Bulla himself.

On the right flank, the Chaos Lord struck first, unleashing the daemon in his weapon and calling upon the Great Architect to favour his odds. Two of the charging Gore-Gruntas were immediately slain by the attack, with the sole survivor too shocked to trample back.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

On the left flank, the Orruks enjoyed better favour, surrounding the Herald of Tzeentch and pummelling him to gristle.

The Ironjaw attack had struck hard, although Bulla could now count an awful lot of humies massing to counterattack. This was going to be fun. "I can see paradise by da warshrine light."

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Disciples of Tzeentch - Turn 2

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

They sang as they marched, before. Now, they sang as they fought. 

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

A terrible refrain that almost drowned out the vulgar chanting and pounding of the Orruks. As the choir exploded outward from the Warshrine, they beat a dolorous madrigal with their spiked flails. Individually, they were no match for an Orruk. Indeed, the huge Brutes smashed several choristers aside effortlessly. 

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

But together? Together, they were implacable. Glazaar strode nonchalently away from the corpses of the Orruk cavalry, yodelling an improvised tarantella gleefully. His choir sang and fought as one, the Warriors rushing in to support the right flank and hacking an Orruk apart. Many of them died, of course, but it never stopped the music. Even the towering monster that led the Orruks seemed off key, dropping his guard long enough for the last Castrati standing to slam him with his axe.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Only the Warshrine failed to add to the ensemble. The Keeper was building slowly up to some magnificent crescendo. Or at least Glazaar hoped he was, it was mostly just twiddles and noise at this stage. 

"Sing!" he sang. "Sing while you're winning!"

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Ironjaws - Turn 3

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"Done, done, on to da next one!" Bulla shouted in frustration, "Gorks tusks - 'ow many more of dem are there?" He felled the last chosen with a well-time headbutt, then lashed back and forth with his Rip-Tooth Fist, sending broken bodies flying in all directions.

No matter how many of these humies were killed, there were always more of them, and they never seemed to take fright, as their breed usually did. And their numbers were taking a toll on his Brutes. Some had even run away, the cowardly gits. Some had even been dragged under, which was even more cowardly.

Only a couple of Brutes remained, swinging gamely as the fur-clad and steel-clad warriors respectively. It was at that moment Groll chose to enter the fray, smashing his Gorkstikk ineffectively into the marauders.

"You idiot!" Bulla bellowed. "Oo's goin' ter fetch da Ardboyz now?"

Even as he fended off blows from the furious humies, Bulla could see his reserve forces, still waiting at the far end of the town, picking their tusks and generally not getting involved. If he got out of this, he resolved, there would be some heads that wanted knocking together.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Disciples of Tzeentch - Turn 3

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"O great Tzeentch!" Glazaar sang. "Thank you for the music! This song we're singing!"

"Thanks for all the blood we're spilling!" the choir picked up, changing to the more upbeat tempo without missing a beating. Two more Orruks fell, then another. A third ran from the field, clutching his ears.

"Who could live without it, we ask in all honesty?" rumbled the basses.

"Probably me," sputtered the writhing corpse of Doublejabber, underfoot.

Thunderous organ music swelled up from the Warshrine, and the robed figures bearing it hefted it towards the nearest Orruks. A few spouts of flame puttered forth, but nothing climactic. Glazaar could see the Keeper desperately pulling stops and trampling pedals.

Glazaar could see the Megaboss now, through the gap that the monster had hacked in the choir. Only ten or so of them stood now, but they wouldn't stop until the music had to.

"Without a sword or a blade, what are we?" Glazaar asked his foe, and prepared to charge.


Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Ironjaws - Turn 4

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

The last Brute disappeared under a storm of chaos swords, his great choppa left buried in the chestplate of his last adversary.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Bulla stamped down on yet more humies. He was getting bored of such easy pickings and, if he was going back to the Gorkamorka, he wanted to end on a proper fight.

"Oi you!" he shouted at the boss humie who had single-handedly killed his Gore-Gruntas. "Take on me!"

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.


Disciples of Tzeentch - Turn 4

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"So I say thank you for this Warboss, for giving him to me!" soloed Glazaar as he closed the gap to the Orruk leader. 

Clad in iron plates of terrible thickness, Glazaar feared for a moment that he wouldn't be able to hurt his foe. But as he got close, he realised his fear was foolish - the Megaboss was already badly hurt. His armour was cracked from half a dozen flail blows, and there was a sharpened tuning warfork impaled in his thigh. 

Glazaar hammered on the titan's armour like a steel drum, hitting it in a perfect storm of tympanic battery. Ominous vibrations shuddered through the Megaboss's frame, and it staggered backwards, clutching its chest and moaning. 

The organ solo finally let rip. 

The wave of sound ripped the Megaboss apart like a tin shed in a typhoon. And the reverberating echoes of its demise didn't die away. Instead, they built up, reforming the music to something newer, something more glorious. Glazaar felt it rising up in him like dawn.

"Ch...ch...chh..." he choked, his song stilling for an instant. "Changes!" 

And he ascended to Daemonhood.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Disciples of Tzeentch - Turn 5

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"Turn and face the strange!" Glazaar commanded, thrusting his warpike towards the last remaining Orruk, their drumless drummer boy. 

The hapless musician clearly thought about turning his pa-rumpapump-rump to the foe for a second, but his Orruky nature got the better of him. Glazaar shrugged off the blows from the club-like sticks, his new Daemonic frame too powerful to feel them, A quick riff of blows from his axe, and the Orruk was wrong-footed, staggering away. 

Behind him, the choir still sang. They were greatly diminished, a mere handful. But they were enough. The Orruks would more than pay for their deaths when the new world began. 

"These children that you spit on as they try to change these worlds," he told the Orruk, "are immune to your... consultations!"

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Ironjaws - Turn 5


Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

Groll could hear the iron-shod approach of the Ardboyz behind him. Better late than never, he thought, although maybe Bulla wouldn't have agreed with that.

The Warchanter took a few steps back from the deamonic titan that had erupted from the boss humie. It's not that he was scared, Groll wasn't scared of any humie, but sometimes it was better to change the tempo from brutal to kunnin'.

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

The Ardboyz charged into the space he had vacated, chopping away at the deamon prince with the frustration of having missed most of the scrap. After exchanging a couple of good blows, Groll could see it was useless, and beat the retreat.

Let the humies have their trophies. "We gotta get out of dis place!" They were probably rubbish anyway. "If it's da last fing we ever do!"

Age of Sigmar battle report: 'Take And Hold' between Orruk Ironjawz and Disciples of Tzeentch.

"Time may change me! But I can't trace time!" Glazaar sang to the backs of the retreating Ironjaws. 

With a rebel yell, the idols were theirs. The Ark would soon be open, and the last ritual before the Day of Change could begin.

Result - Minor Victory to Disciples of Tzeentch!


Locker Room

Defeated! And it was all going so well. I had seized the initiative and secured the double turn, and yet I managed to stuff that up.

I think my fatal error was not getting in my first attacks against the Chaos Lord - with their charge bonus, I'm pretty sure the Gore-Gruntas could have killed him outright, but I was more concerned about the Chosen's attacks against my own general and wanted to reduce their numbers.

(and kudos for Kraken for using four of his Destiny Dice to ensure his Lord's one-shot ability hit, wounded and did 12 points of damage - that's some pretty lethal synergy between Slaves to Darkness and Tzeentch and it's nice that the old units can benefit just as much from the new rules)

Hoo boy, yeah, that was a good round. I'd been hoping to save it for the Megaboss, but staring into the Gore-Grunta charge, it was definitely a case of use it or lose it. 

In fairness, they probably could have killed, or severely weakened, my Megaboss, but in the big picture, Kraken needed the Inspiring Presence more that I did. The Marauders would have melted away if only they had taken Battleshock tests, but they never had to and remained a strong bulwark to tie me down and chip away wounds.

Yeah. There was one whiffy round, but otherwise the Orruks were easily killing off ten or so Marauders a turn. With a lowly Bravery of 6 (including banner bonus), they wouldn't have been hanging about long.

I might have been able to push on to victory despite that, were it not for my other mistake: not bringing up the Ardboyz sooner, or even right away. In retrospect, I could not afford to leave 20% of my army guarding the objective, so a major victory was really unlikely. I needed to hit the Chaos bunker with overwhelming force, and they could have helped plug the gaps. As it was, deprived of both their Battalion and Allegiance move bonus, it turns out Ironjawz are pretty damn slow.

Although, when they do have both those bonuses, Ironjawz are pretty damn fast. I was almost within charge range in Turn 1, and was certainty set up favourably even if I didn't win the Initiative roll. I'd like to see what they could do in a more fluid battle (this one did degenerate into a giant melee).

My guys pretty much performed as I wanted them too. This in itself is unusual (I had a plan? And it worked?), but not as unusual as seeing Marauders beat back a line of elite killers plus an enemy general. I was lucky that any of them survived the encounter, frankly, but they absolutely did their job. And the Warshrine certainly helped - the second save it gave them all was invaluable. In the end, I only lost it because the Marauder unit was too small to be within range any more.

In terms of the new units: the Warchanter is good for buffs, and while fairly hopeless in combat, is more durable than average. The Megaboss didn't really find his swing until halfway through the battle (although I was forgetting to swing his Battle Brew), but could dispense some good buffs. I did waste his command ability (there were never enough units to guarantee a Waaagh!, and I lost a couple of Brutes through Battleshock, so he should have stuck to Inspiring Presence). It's a shame he was worn down by the Marauders, or he might have given the Chaos Lord a run for his money.

I love this Chaos Lord (strictly speaking a Lord of Chaos). Even if he dies, he lives on as a Spawn. What's not to love about that? His Daemon Weapon thing is a nice touch, although without the certainty of Destiny Dice I wouldn't expect much out of it. Two 1-in-three chances to miss is too many in my book.

I really liked the Brutes. Their ability against high-wound targets makes them great character-killers (especially if that is a lowly wizard) and they are generally as tough and choppy as you'd expect them to be. I wasn't expecting to like the Jagged Gore-hackas (the polearms), but they do allow a concentration of attacks in a narrow area, which is useful with this big bases.

Both the Chosen and the Warshrine didn't really get much of a look in, in the end. The Warshrine's save bubble is great, but it's very hey-ho in combat. It also kept failing to activate its ability. Rerolling all failed armour saves could have been great (especially in combination with the bonus save), but I never saw it happen. And the Chosen are clearly pretty decent in combat, but died too fast to shine, even if the sole survivor took three of the Megaboss's wounds all by himself. 

The Gore-Gruntas didn't get much of a chance to shine, which was my fault, but I think they are better used on the flank, to pick off characters or seize objectives. They don't seem to generate a lot of hitting power to be used on a frontal charge,

Just a Weirdnob Shaman to add now (I'll save the Maw-Crusha for my Christmas list), and it will be useful to have the ability to buff up their already-considerable armour, or throw out some ranged attacks.

And I've definitely got some strong ideas about my Woffboot list after this!

2 comments:

  1. I think I was caught out by my own proxying. If the Lord of Chaos actually looked like a scary combat hero, and not a Kairic champion (that cunning deceiver), I might have taken him more seriously.

    Note to self: buy and paint a Lord of Chaos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Note to self: buy and paint one of everything you have

    ReplyDelete