This review was completed using a free copy of Battletome: Ogor Mawtribes provided by Games Workshop.

Ogor Mawtribes are…an army that exists with a book that exists. Conceptually. Never really the most popular army, their unit selection is a bit all over the place with some really solid giant Monsters and really not great infantry with some weird stuff in the middle. The army never really came into a coherent whole. They also tended to err toward the lower half of the middle, though Beastclaw Raiders fared better. In short, the book really needed an update. Does it capitalize on this opportunity? Read on.

Why Play Ogor Mawtribes

Ogors excel at aggressive objective play, able to break through lines and take forward objectives off your opponents with a combination of surprisingly good mobility and high objective capturing value (thanks to Might makes Right). The army has a surprising depth to it’s tools as well, with access to durable units, reasonable spellcasting, priests, supplementary shooting and just pure unadulterated damage output.

Best 5 things About the Book

• Foot Ogors Matter – The Gutbuster section suffered from being rather pillow fisted in the previous book, and with increased rend and range almost across the board this has changed in a big way.

• The Best Bits of the Old Book are mostly still here – That means Stonehorns are still great, and very few things have gotten actively worse.

• An Artillery Piece That Matters? – The Ironblaster is going to hit competitive play hard with it’s revamped warscroll.

• Quality of Life Changes – Gulping Bites has now gone from an extraneous stat profile that does nothing to a more dependable and quicker aspect of the book, Huskards are now all priests regardless of mount.

• Monstrous Rampages – Both Beastclaw mounts get a unique Monstrous Rampage, and they both have serious play.

Army Rules

Battle Traits

The Allegiance Abilities are largely the same set as before, but with some fine tuning and improvements in places to help lift the overall power level of the book a little bit. Let’s start with what’s not changed quickly before diving into the stuff that has been revamped – Ravenous Brutes, which still toggles between hungry/eating depending on whether they’re in combat or not, and grants +2 movement or +2 bravery respectively. Still Ogor keyword locked. Grasp of the Everwinter is unchanged, doing chip mortals as before.

Might makes Right is unchanged for Ogors/Monsters being worth 2 or 10 respectively, but now Ogor Heroes that aren’t Monsters are worth 5 on objectives, a nice little boost that makes sense. Speaking of boosts, Trampling Charge has seen a rework that I think is mostly an improvement: You still roll the number of dice equal to the unmodified charge roll and do MWs on 6s, but the modifiers to the roll have been tweaked. Monsters add +2 as before, and Ogor units that have 3 or more models now add +1, rather than 8 or more getting +2. Technically it’s a nerf to sickos running giant glutton stacks, but in real terms it’s an improvement for MSU foot ogre gameplay and even makes 4 man units of Mournfang Cavalry more appealing too.

Everwinter Prayers still exist but are gone as an Allegiance Ability, which makes sense as priests and prayers are just a part of core rules and the wording in the second edition book is a little clumsy in light of the game changing around it. That leaves Gulping Bites, a new allegiance ability that has replaced the incidental bite weapon profile for many Gutbuster units. Rather than rolling a bunch of dice and nothing happening, now at the end of each combat phase you simply roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3” of a Gutbuster Ogor unit, and on a 4+ they take D3 mortal wounds. It’s a simple tweak that reduces pointless dice rolling, is thematic and gives a nice little boost to an underutilised aspect of the book.

Monstrous Rampages

Beastclaw Raider fans rejoice, as the new book brings with it two new Monstrous Rampages for their monsters, one for each of the Stonehorn and Thundertusk. Worth noting that both MR require the unit to have completed a successful charge in the same phase, meaning they’re only useful when aggressive. 

The Stonehorn gets Unstoppable Charge, a spicy little number that let’s the model move 3d6” in any direction, passing over enemy units as if it had flight as long as it ends it’s move within 3” of any enemy units. Then, roll a dice for each unit (friend or foe) it passed across, on a 2+ deal d3 mortal wounds. This is a potentially devastating linebreaker move that can give the Stonehorn some considerable reach, and punish suboptimal screen placement with a slingshot style effect to get to your opponent’s juicy inner centre. The Mortal wounds *on top* of that just makes this thing sing.

The Thundertusk, not wishing to be outdone, has Chill of the Everwinter for it’s Monstrous Rampage. Roll a dice for each enemy unit within 1” of the Thundertusk, on a 3+ that unit has the strike-last effect applied to it until the end of the following combat phase. Not pick 1 unit – *each*. Fantastic.

Command Traits

There’s a total of 9 to choose from, 5 for Gutbusters and 4 for Beastclaw Raiders. That said, a lot of them offer only fringe value and it’s not a particular inspiring section of the book. For Gutbusters, Gastromancer and Killer Reputation return, with the most interesting choice being the new Ex-Mercenary, which unlocks Maneaters as battleline and let’s you roll a dice for each Maneater unit eating at the start of your hero phase, for each 3+ you get a CP that can only be spent on command abilities received by a Maneater unit. The secondary ability is whatever, but fans of the eccentric Maneaters will love.

Moving on to the Beastclaw Raiders side, Touched by the Everwinter returns and is probably the strongest from a utility standpoint, with Voice of the Avalanche changing to simply allow the general to issue commands anywhere on the battlefield and get a once per game issue a CP for free ability. 

Artefacts

Again these are split into two tables, one for each of the two ‘halves’ of the book. For Gutbusters, Splatter-cleaver has moved from a subfaction locked artefact to a generic one here and now works on all Ogor units. Fang of Ghur returns in an unchanged manner, as does Flask of Stonehorn Blood, but now grants a one-phase 3+ ward, improved from a 4+.

For the snowmen, Carvalox Flank returns unchanged, as does Frost-talon Shardbolts. Perhaps most exciting is the new Seat of Alvagr, which stonehorn/thundertusk heroes can take and let’s them use a second monstrous rampage in a row once per game (can’t double dip on a MR already used that phase as normal) – this can unlock some juicy combos like using Unstoppable Charge and Stomp to throw a heap of mortal wounds down, or Chill of the Everwinter could be combined with Roar for some controlling shenanigans. It’s one use, but as the rest of the options here don’t scream excitement it rises to the top of the pile.

Spell Lores

A note before we begin: the Gut and Fire magic lores here are keyword locked to the Butcher and Firebelly respectively, so you can’t slap an Arcane Tome on your Frostlord and gain access to Molten Entrails that way.

First up is Gutmagic. Let’s start on a sadnote: Ribcracker is gone – a -1 save spell that was great before, but it’s loss won’t be mourned too heavily when the book has generally increased rend access anyway. Blood Feast is still here and is unchanged, granting +1 attacks to a non Monster Ogor unit, and Molten Entrails still gives +1 damage to Mount attacks for a Mawtribes Monster, though now has dropped to a CV of 6. Similarly, Greasy Deluge also saw a drop in CV to 6. The one spell here that has seen a rework is Blubbergrub Stench, which now not just makes Rhinox units WW 18” count as Monsters for the purposes of Trampling Charge, but *also* count as Monsters for purposes of contesting objectives and carrying out Monstrous Rampages. While Rhinox’s are not nearly as tough as the Monsters in this book, boosting them up to counting as 10 each on objectives could provide some serious Objective play, and they’re no slouches in melee combat if they’re doing half their charge roll in mortals and get to Stomp/Roar on top of that. 

Then there’s the Lore of the Sun-Eater for Firebellies. All three spells return, with Fiery Whirlwind and Tongues of Flame remaining the same and Billowing Ash dropping down to CV 6, making it a compelling source of durability, granting a cloud of -1 to hit against friendly units wholly within 12” of the caster.

Prayer Scriptures

All three prayers return, all receiving a reduction in answer value by 1 to 3 (from 4). Notably, the Pulverising Hailstorm now does mortal wounds on a 2+, changed from a 3+. An across the board boost in reliability is most welcomed; as Prayers that went off on a 4+ never felt great to use anyway (looking at you Khorne).

Mount Traits

Bit of Consolidation here, as the number of Mount traits has halved, with now only 3 each for Stonehorns and Thundertusks.

Stonehorns retain the ever popular Metalcruncher, though it has taken a notable nerf: it now only works on Warmachines and units with a 3+ save characteristic or better (before it was 4+ or better) – a nasty sting but I don’t believe it’s unfair. Belligerent Charger returns in its classic form, and the final Stonehorn trait is Rockmane Elder – reworked to be a flat -1 to wound the unit: a huge durability boost on an already tough as nails unit. 

For Thundertusks, Fleshgreed returns in a supercharged form, as it now heals d3 if it’s eating (up from 1). Rimefrost Hide has changed to simply grant a 5+ ward, a surprisingly generous Mount Trait that now makes a defensive Thundertusk much more plausible. Matriarch rounds out the traits and is the same as before, granting +1 to charge for friendly Thundertusks WW 12” of this unit.

For Stonehorns, you’ll likely see both Metalcruncher and Rockmane Elder pop up in tournament lists, with Rimefrost Hide being the standout for Thundertusks.

Mawtribes (Subfactions)

As with the other 3rd edition books, all the faction locked nonsense is gone, with all of them consolidated down into one or two core bonus rules – a win for list creativity everywhere.

Meatfist armies get a bonus to their Trampling Charges for Gutbuster units. What kind of bonus? Well how does a +1 modifier to the roll sound? Good? Yeah, I thought so. Now consider that any Ogor units with 3 or more models already get a +1 modifier, and suddenly a basic Glutton unit is doing mortal wounds on 4+ when using Trampling Charges. In effect, Meatfist operates like a Gutbuster themed Scarlet Doom army, and may have serious play.

Bloodgullet retains the boost to spellcasting as before, with all Butchers knowing 1 additional spell from the Gutmagic lore, as well as being able to cast 1 additional spell: still good considering how strong a lore it is.

Underguts used to offer a bonus to range for Leadbelchers, but that bonus has been baked into the Warscroll and instead Underguts offers both Leadbelchers *AND* Ironblasters an extra pip of rend to their missile weapons. Both units are already improved in the new book, and this is a solid choice for those wanting to explore ranged builds.

Boulderhead was a popular Mawtribe in the previous book and will likely remain so now. Why? Well the wound bonus for Thundertusk and Stonehorn units has improved to +2 from +1, though now they can only give mount traits to 3 Beastclaw heroes instead of all. Considering how it’s almost impossible to fit more than 3 Beastclaw heroes into an army anyway, Stonehorn fans have come out ahead in a big way.

Thunderbellies Mawtribe still let’s Mournfang Cavalry run and charge, though it’s now without restriction – not requiring you to be near a board edge.

Winterbite is a tricksy little bastard of a Mawtribe. It still gives your entire army -1 to be hit by missile weapons while WW your own territory… but now it provides a minor additional boost to Frost Sabres, Icebrow Hunters and Icefall Yhetees. These are not visible to enemy models that are more than 12” away, much the same as the Grinning Blades faction trait for Kruleboyz.

In a nice win for the design team, I think they all have at least enough of an incentive to try them, depending on what kind of build you’re looking for. That said, I expect Meatfist and Boulderhead will reign supreme, with the possibility of Underguts being a dark horse contender if an Ogors shooting list has legs.

Battalions

There are four core battalions in this book, but speaking honestly as none of them come with the lucrative Magnificent or Unified abilities, they’re pretty pointless and won’t make it into anyone’s lists.

Grand Strategies

First to discuss is Ready for Plunder, a clone of the GHB 2022 GS Take What’s Theirs and thus useful when the current set of generic GS rotate. Saga of the Monster Hunter requires your general to both kill an enemy Monster and survive till the end of battle… a dubious proposition when you must determine GS during list construction and many armies straight up don’t even have monsters. Oh dear…

The next two are a bit more unique, with On the Mawpath requiring you to complete at least four battle tactics!… from the Ogor specific list – an interesting quirk but locking yourself out of more than one generic battle tactic because you took this seems a bit odd. Finally, Enough Grub for All requires you to empty the pot of your Great Mawpot and then ensure it is full at the end of battle. It’s a fun and thematic GS that is going to be tricky to achieve when your opponent can play around it by simply not going near the Mawpot.

Battle Tactics

You get a set of 6 Battle Tactics to be able to choose each turn when playing matched play games to use alongside the ones in whichever battle pack you’re using. 

Eat your Fill requires all your ogor keyword units to be eating at the beginning of the combat phase, which is situationally very achievable as it scores before combat, not after. A strong start!

Savour the Taste can’t be picked in the first battle round, but scores at the end of your turn if every ogor keyword unit is hungry. Again, very situational but easily scorable for situations where you’re playing the objective game or are very confident you will kill whatever units the Ogors get in combat with.

Avalanche of Flesh scores if you do 10 or more MW with the Trampling Charge battle trait that turn. A bit risky to pick for some lists, but if you’ve leaned into a Meatfist list or Beastclaw big bois, this becomes a lot more realistic as an early pick.

Winter Take Thee is the first stinker of the lot, requiring you to kill a nominated enemy hero or monster with the Grasp of the Everwinter battle trait, which is both hard to set up and also not guaranteed when you do.

Let them Loose is scored if you do 4 or more Monstrous Rampages that turn – at first seeming difficult but an option with the artefact to let you do two with one Monster or if you get the Blubbergrub Stench spell off for your Rhinox.

Boil their Bones is the last and another situational one – pick a hero or monster and make sure it’s dead that turn within 6” of your Mawpot.

Overall, the first three are quite strong situational battle tactics that you may find yourself picking fairly often; with the latter three requiring you to either be lucky or lean into certain strategies. Still, considering some armies struggle to get more than one decent battle tactics, this is a win for team Ogor.

Units

Let’s break it into a couple of categories – Gutbusters, Beastclaw Raiders and Other to make things a bit easier to sift through. First off a note on Kragnos – he’s here, unchanged from the Battlescroll where he got his update.

The general trend here is stuff got better (in some cases a lot better), with the 3rd edition points hike for stuff we’ve come to expect with the other books released. Generally, big Ogors now have 2” range on their weapons up from 1” which is a huge help for some units and just a neat factoid for others. There are very few outright stinkers, and some units have received face lifts beyond simply ‘number go up’ in order to help them find unique niches.

Gutbusters

Tyrant

His statline is unchanged, but his rules have seen a facelift – first up are his names. Some, like Fateseeker, Giantbreaker and Longstrider, are unchanged. Deathcheater saw a significant upgrade, as it’s now just a 5+ ward. Brawlerguts treats the Tyrant as a Monster for the purposes of Trampling Charges. Wallcrusher has been simplified to just be +1 rend if fighting a unit in a Garrison. Deathcheater seems like the clear winner for general use.

The special rules for the Beastskewer Glaive and Thundermace are unchanged, leaving only Bully of the First Degree. This has been changed from a Command Ability to just a special rule, as it now just caps the number of models that flee from a friendly Ogor Mawtribes unit to 1 if they fail their battleshock within 3” of him.

Slaughtermaster and Butcher

Let’s start with the Slaughtermaster, who got a little bit better in combat, his Great Cauldron ability got a little bit better… but his spell got significantly worse. Rockchomper now no longer gives exploding 6s, and instead let’s the targeted unit cause d6 mortal wounds from it’s Gulping Bites on a 4+ instead of D3.

As for the Butcher, the Cleaver now wounds on a 2+ and that’s about it for changes.

Bloodpelt Hunter

The new foot hero to go alongside the book! Is it good? Ehhhhhhhh. It’s a foot Ogor hero with a 5+ save that specialises in shooting enemy Monsters. When used for this purpose, it’s quite impressive, with 2 shots that are damage 3 and 1 shot that is damage 6… but against non-Monsters it downgrades to damage d3 and d6 damage respectively. It hits on 4s with it’s ranged attacks which further complicates the value proposition here, as it isn’t terribly consistent at doing what you brought it to the party to do.

As for special rules, it’s not visible to enemy units if it’s in cover, and it can move at the end of your opponent’s movement phase if it’s more than 9” away from any enemy units which is neat to give it a bit of added mobility or threaten objectives. At 140 points though, it’s getting close to an Ironblaster in points and doesn’t provide a similar kind of output.

Ogor Gluttons

They have rend now! Just a single pip of rend takes them from ‘pillow fisted against tough units’ to ‘somewhat threatening to most things’, which is a huge upgrade when you consider they’re also 2” reach base now as well. Weapon options have been tweaked a bit, with Paired Weapons now just granting +1 attack rather than exploding 6s to hit, which is going to be a straight damage increase from it’s old iteration in all but the most extreme (luckiest) cases.

Their musician no longer subtracts bravery, and instead grants +1 to charges… hooray! We love charge bonuses. They still have two types of standard bearer, but the re-roll charge banner has been replaced by a -1 to wound them in the shooting phase banner. That’s a considerable durability improvement for the dads on tour against one of the banes of their existence – shooting! They went up 15 points for this boost but it’s more than worth it.

Ogor Ironguts

They have rend now! Oh wait, no that’s not right.. They have more rend now! Rend 2 is huge as it finally gives Gutbusters an armour piercing unit that they can take in numbers.

Down to the Ironguts has had a serious revamp, as it’s now simply a once per game fight twice ability, with the second activation being under the ‘strike-last’ phase of combat. It’s not quite as powerful as FEC’s ability to fight twice in a row, but that’s not all! They now have a 3+ bodyguard rule for nearby Tyrants, similar to Spirit Hosts for Nighthaunt. Overall, they feel much improved and should see play, with a 35 points nerf to justify the bounty of buffs they’ve received.

Maneaters

This eccentric bunch of weirdos saw a few tweaks to their special rules. If they choose Crack Shots as their bonus their range is now 18” instead of 12” as opposed to reroll 1s to hit in shooting, Brawlers is now just +1 to wound in melee. Striders and Stubborn remain the same.

To give them just a little something extra, they now have the ‘A Barrel of Meat and the Job’s Done’ command ability. It can only be issued by your general and only received by a Maneaters unit. The effect is that until the end of the turn they now count as 3 models for the purposes of contesting objectives. It’s a minor bonus considering they already count as 2 models, but could be situationally quite powerful and at 170 they’re 10 points cheaper than previous and undeniably betetr.

Gorgers

These ugly dudes gained an extra wound each but their statline is otherwise unchanged. What *has* changed is their Ambushing Hunters rule that now no longer has the turn 1 restriction (though still obviously before round 4 as per the core rules). Insatiable Hunger is gone and has been replaced by Gruesome Devourers – enemy units within 9” of this unit while it’s eating cannot receive the Inspiring Presence or Rally commands. On first read it seems powerful, but the unit must be eating for it to apply (so in combat), and these guys are not really built to last in sustained combat with their 6+ save.

Leadbelchers

Let’s start with some bad news… they lost rend! On their melee, which was always confusing as it’s listed as Bludgeoning blows so those cannons were never going to pierce armour in the first place. Anyway; their base range is now 18” up from 12”, which makes getting them into position to shoot without moving for their 2d3 shots much more realistic over the course of the game. As noted in the subfactions section, you can get the rend boosted to rend 2 on the shooting in Underguts, making them suddenly a seriously potent shooting unit – they even received a 10 points discount!

Ironblaster

And if you want even more potency there’s the Ironblaster. Artillery have been mostly bad for a while now, and GW have sought to fix it once and for all with their magnum opus… a giant cannon strapped to a Rhinox. Let’s dive in.

Their long range shot is now base 30” range, it’s shots have gone from 1 to 2, and it’s damage has been changed from d6 to d3+3 – woah. To elaborate, this takes it from incredibly inconsistent to significantly more reliable (though it still hits on 4s…).

The scatter shot for close range is still only 12”, but it’s damage has doubled from 1 to 2 and it’s shots have gone from 6 to 10. That’s a crazy level of boost to it’s output that makes getting up close to kill it a risky proposition.

Now remember that it gets extra rend in Underguts and suddenly those 2 cannon shells are rend 3, making this a far more effective Monster killer than that wimpy ‘Killbow’ the Kruleboyz lug around. It’s now a beefy 170 points for 1, but you’ll happily pay that.

Gnoblar Scraplauncher

The Gnoblar artillery piece has had a facelift, but more to make it more consistent than appreciably improve it’s potential. It’s now only damage 1, but it’s rend 1 and it’s number of attacks is equal to the number of models in the target unit (up to a cap of 20). It’s hitting on 4s and wounding on 3s, though it can get a free +1 to hit if a unit of Gnoblars is nearby and you can roll under the number of models in said unit with 2d6.

These changes have however made it much worse against anything that *isn’t* a horde unit; so it’s become a fringe pick if your meta is running lots of 20+ model units. It’s now 15 points more expensive and honestly I don’t think it’ll see anything beyond casual play.

Gnoblars

‘Are they battleline?’ I hear one or two sickos out there on the internet ask – No, sorry. Their trapper rule has had a significant rewrite: Nasty Traps and Tricks triggers whenever an enemy unit finishes a move within 6” of any friendly units with this ability. On a 4+ that unit takes d3 mortal wounds. It doesn’t stack with multiple units but at least gives them a bit of damage when used as a screen for your more valuable Ogors.

Beastclaw Raiders

Stonehorns – Frostlord, Huskard & Beastriders

Do they still have a 5+ Ward? You betcha. They also gained 2 wounds across all flavours, making them even tougher to bring down. They also have a revamped Damage table that causes them to degrade more slowly and less punishingly. They’re more expensive now (the Huskard flavour particularly so), but you’ll see why.

Anyway, onto the quirks of the 3 flavours:

Frostlords’ Bellowing Voice is now an always active +1 to charges for Beastclaw Raider units wholly within 12”. Their Frost Spear now has it’s own special rule – if an unmodified wound roll of 6 with it targets a Hero or Monster, subtract 1 from their attacks characteristics until the end of that phase (it does not stack).

Huskards are now Priests when on a Stonehorn! No longer is there a lore implication that the Thundertusk was the priest! They have the same 2 prayers as before, but now have an answer value of 3 instead of 4.The Harpoon launcher is now rend 1 and the Blood Vulture is now just a visible enemy unit on the whole battlefield which is neat. The Linebreakers Command Ability is now gone, but the Chaintrap now has it’s own special rule. If you manage to score a hit with the Chaintrap against a Monster, roll a dice: on a 4+ it’s considered snagged until your next shooting phase and said Monster must obey combat rules whenever it moves (it must always end it’s move at least as close to the Huskard as it started).

As for the Stoneriders, they have the same tweak to the Harpoon Launcer, Blood Vulture and Chaintrap as with the Huskard.

Thundertusks – Frostlord, Huskard & Beastriders

Much like the Stonehorns they’ve gained 2 wounds and degrade more gracefully than their previous incarnation; otherwise the mount is otherwise unchanged from the previous edition. It is worth re-iterating however that their mount traits got a lot better, as you can give one of them a 5+ ward potentially.

As for the 3 flavours, their differences are as above with the Stonehorns. The frostlord got a little bit more expensive, but the other two flavours are actually cheaper than their previous iterations, making their inclusion a more enticing proposition.

Icebrow Hunter

Icy Breath now triggers on a 2+ instead of a 4+, but Mighty Throw is now gone (though likely rarely used anyway). Masters of Ambush is functionally identical to before.. So what’s changed? Lead the Skal is now a Command Ability used at the start of the charge phase and must be issued to a Frost Sabres unit – until the end of the phase, you can change 1 of the dice used for it’s charge roll to a 4. Sounds amazing with it’s +3 to charges right? Well about that…

Frost Sabres

Their Master’s Voice has been changed to just be battleshock immunity while wholly within 12” of an Icebrow Hunter, meaning no +3 to charges out of deep strike when paired with the Icebrow Hunter. It’s not all bad though, as they’ve gained a wound each to 3 and are now no longer visible to enemy units while it is in cover. Thanks to the change to Lead the Skal on the Icebrow Hunter their damage output is not what it once was, though they now make a better tarpit unit which gives it a unique role within the Beastclaw Raiders. At 80 points though they’re no longer quite the budget battleline option they once was.

Mournfang Pack

As with the Gluttons and Ironguts, the riders have gained +1 rend on their melee weapons (so rend 1 on the clubs and hackers, or rend 2 on the gargant hackers). The Tusks are now damage 2 regardless of whether they charged that turn or not, giving them more defensive damage output. On the subject of defence, the new Linebreakers special rule means shooting attacks against them are -1 to wound, and Unleash Hell only scores hits against them on hit rolls of a 6 – a significant boost to their defensive profile and helping ensure their health long enough to see combat.

These changes have taken them from a ‘begrudging inclusion’ in Beastlclaw armies to a unit worthy of building around, as both their offensive and defensive prowess has seen a significant uplift.

 

Icefall Yhetees

Aura of Frost is now a 6+ ward rather than a -1 to hit mallus in melee, which feels like a nerf in general considering a 6+ ward isn’t going to save them from any real shooting threat and works out to be mostly worse in melee. Other than that, their Invigorated by the Blizzard rule had it’s range reduced 1” to 15” and it’s received the 2” reach buff the other foot Ogors got.

Hrothgorn Mantrapper & Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers

His shooting gained 1 rend and the Mantrappers themselves have been working out, gaining a wound each and their incidental melee is slightly more likely to force an armour save. Other than that, they’re mostly the same – the booty trap now works on one dice roll – on a 2+ you do mortal wounds equal to the roll. In effect it just means you’ll never end up doing just 1 MW which is a nice tweak.

Other

Firebelly

Cascading Fire-Cloak now gives a 5+ ward to the caster rather than +1 save if successfully cast and it’s a little easier to cast now at CV 5. Fire Breath has gone from a mortal wound ability to an 8” range shooting attack that hits on 2s, wounds on 3s, no rend 1 damage where the number of attacks is equal to models in target unit up to 10.

Largely, it’s utility in the army is going to hinge on whether you want any of the spells from it’s unique spell lore, as it’s not bringing a whole lot to the table on it’s warscroll alone.

Great Mawpot

Is unchanged!

Blackpowder’s Buccaneers

Is unchanged!

Final Thoughts

So what does it add up to? I think there’s enough here to make a variety of potent and powerful lists that could see success at the tournament table, as well as a lot of variety to make casual list construction a lot more fun. The ‘floor’ of the book has been lifted, with far fewer pillow fisted units that don’t really do anything. The army is more expensive for the most part, yes, but it’s also now significantly tougher and with a whole host of new nasty tricks up it’s sleeve thanks to the inclusion of new Monstrous Rampages and other new wrinkles.

Perhaps most interestingly, the army now has a ranged arsenal not to be sniffed at, and a Gunline control list is no longer a meme gimmick but a serious contender that’s capable of some serious damage, especially against typically tough high save units.