Thanks to Games Workshop for sending us these rules and the Skaventide box set for review. Over the coming weeks, we will be having experts provide insight into how they are building and running lists with each faction in Age of Sigmar. For this overview, we’re looking at what stands out for each faction, how much has changed, and how we might approach some key challenges on the tabletop.

While the Orruk Warclan faction pack is both Ironjawz and Kruleboyz combined, they are actually two distinct and separate armies. You cannot mix the units together in the same army (except via Regiment of Renown like any other army) and each has their own set of battle traits, formations, artefacts, spells, etc sharing nothing between the two.

So why play Ironjawz? When you want to just get straight into fighting, not messing around with sneaky tactics or trying to pick fights “correctly” this is going to be the faction for you. You should still be mindful of where you’re sending your units but can pretty effectively full-send an Ironjawz army up the table punch through.

Army Rules

Ironjawz are all about getting to the fight and, well, fighting. Each turn a unit gets a free 3” move in your hero phase which can either start in or out of combat; if it started out of combat it’s allowed to move into combat but if it started in combat it has to end in combat too. It doesn’t have to finish the move in combat with the same enemy unit though, it’s not a pile in move, and being able to tag enemy units in their hero phase before they get a chance to move can be big. Their other trait is a once per game WAAAGH!! giving friendly units wholly within 18” of the hero calling it +1 to charge rolls and +1 attack with melee weapons. This will typically be used early in the game while you still have most of your units on the table for full effect. As a once per game ability though it would have been nice to be table-wide and not just within shouting distance of one orruk.

Battle Formations

Like any other faction there’s four to choose from and each leans a little bit towards one type of Ironjawz list.

Ironjawz Brawl

Whenever one of your non-heroes makes an unmodified charge of 8+ they get +1 to all of their attacks. That’s cool but being unmodified makes it difficult to rely on, nice when it happens but don’t bank on it. If you’re not gaining the benefit from any other with your list then you might as well take it.

Grunta Stamped

For the pig lovers out there your Gore-grunts and Maw-gruntas get +1 to their move for each enemy unit that has been destroyed in the game. You don’t have to keep track of their kills, just kills made by your army. It’s cool but typically by the time you’re gaining any movement you’re already stuck in combat…

Ironfist

During every combat phase the first time one of your units kills an enemy unit the very next Ironjawz unit to fight gets +1 to their attacks. This is going to make you consider your attacks sequencing a little more carefully because it’ll only work once each turn and might put you in a position to fight with a unit you wanted to save until later. It’s fine but not my first pick.

Weirdfist

This is. This is my first pick. All Ironjawz infantry get a 6+ ward while wholly within 12” of an Ironjawz Wizard or Priest. You’re likely already taking two wizards or priests so as long as you’re not going whole-hog on Gruntas then the extra save will be great for your Brutes and Ardboyz.

Brutal Warlords Heroic Traits

Hulking Brute

When the hero charges it inflicts mortal damage equal to the roll on a 2+ on a D3 or if its charge roll was 8+ then you get to roll a D6 instead. It’s a little extra damage but most times will just land 2 mortals, not the best.

An’ Eye for Da Fight

Whenever you Redeploy with a unit within 12” it will always count as having rolled a minimum of 4. That’s pretty great for infantry heavier lists since they’re typically pretty slow. Keeping in mind that in this edition you can Redeploy regardless of enemy unit ranges to your units and then also get to move 3” in your next hero phase giving a guaranteed 7” move (possibly more) before moving in your next turn.

Mega Bossy

After this hero makes a successful charge it gives off an 18” aura for your other units to get +1 charge. Combined with the Waaagh and that’s +2” charges where you need it, a nice little boost but the above trait for redeploying will do you better across your game.

Da Boss’s Hoard

Most factions have mostly, or even only, once-per-game artefacts but these are just passive effects you get all game long!

Trophy Skulls

A very simple +10 to the hero’s control score. That’ll bump a Maw-krusha boss up to 15, or one of the unmounted heroes up to 12 giving you a very nice way to take objectives a bit easier. You win games by taking objectives so don’t pass over this too quickly!

Armour of Gork

Also simple: gain a 6+ ward. Best suited for a Maw-krusha boss to shrug off a few extra wounds throughout the game to keep him in the fight. Since he can’t benefit from the Weirdfist trait it’s a nice way to get most, or all, of your army on a ward.

Amberbone Whetstone

One of the hero’s weapons gets an extra point of rend for the game. It’s alright but most of the time you’ll want one of the other artefacts to take objectives easily or just be able to stick around for an extra fight phase!

Lore of the Weird

Bash ‘em, Ladz!

Casting on a 6+ it’s a solid Unlimited spell giving a friendly unit nearby Crit (2 Hits) on all attacks for the rest of the turn. It’s one of the lower cast Unlimited spells in the game and makes your units hit harder, a solid cast in your opponent’s turn.

Might ‘Eadbutt

Another 6+ cast that deals D3 mortal damage to an enemy unit in 18” or a flat 3 mortal damage if you target a Wizard. Ranged mortal wounds aren’t too prevalent and having a way to clear up some space for your units to move around is great.

Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork

Similar to the Gitz version of the spell, but this one has to be Great and Big because Ironjawz, you pick up a friendly unit wholly within 9” and place it back down wholly within 24” of the caster but still more than 9” away from enemies. It’s a more difficult cast on 7+ but teleports are always powerful to have up your sleeve.

Warbeats

This is your prayer lore for Warchanters and the only one they’re able to choose from, these guys are Priest (1) so can attempt one chant. These all answer on a 4 with their enhanced effect on an 8 instead.

Get ‘Em Beat

A unit wholly within 12” adds 1 to charge rolls, if it’s on the enhanced effect then also add an additional dice to their charge roll. That maxes out at three dice so you can’t combo with Kragnos to get a four dice charge, that would be insane! As the unlimited prayer it’s pretty solid though,  save up those chant points in your own turn and do an intervention in your opponent’s turn for an easy 3D6 turn 2 charge!

Fixin Beat

A nearby unit heals D6 or D3+3 if you rolled the higher value. That’s a decent chunk of healing on a bigger model like a Maw-Krusha to keep them going but is short ranged so not too likely to be used. It’s a good thing to have up your sleeve.

Killa Beat

Easily the best one of the three and I’m not sure when you take the basic effect of Get Em when this is right here. You add 1 the Damage of all melee weapons and if you go for the higher value you can give it to two units instead. Fantastic. Bumping those Ragerz up to 3 damage anti-monster attacks will help them deliver a swift killing blow, or a hoard of Ardboyz up to 2 damage given how easy it is with 3” combat ranges.

Warscroll Spotlight

First up lets look at the Brute Ragerz which only released semi-recently during the last Ironjawz range expansion during third edition and used to have the option between a few different melee weapons. Like many units with multiple weapon options this edition has condensed that to a single “rager weapons” profile meaning you can model them however you like and not feel bad about modelling the “wrong” or “bad” option! These hit with 3 attacks at 4+ hit 2+ wound Rend 1 and Damage 2 with an extra point of Rend against Monsters. They get to run and charge and gain Strike First when they do charge making them both fast and ensures that they get to attack before being hit by something else. If you’re going second in the first turn of the game think about all the movement you could get with these guys with the right mix of traits above: 3” move during opponent Hero Phase, Redeploy 4-6” depending on roll, 3” move during your own Hero phase, auto-run 6” for a 10” move and then a 2D6 charge (with possible bonuses to that roll) getting them 20” down the table (up to 22”) before charging in. Good thing, too, since they only have a 5+ save and 3 wounds each with no ward!

One unit I think most Ironjawz players will want to know about is any one of the Maw-Gruntas and just how their momentum mechanic works now. The mechanic is identical between the three variants: when it Runs it gets two momentum points and one when it charges. It can have up to three at any given time and loses one at the end of each battle round. The Maw-grunta’s Tusks get +1 damage per momentum point on the model when it attacks; five attacks that starts at Damage 2 and can get up to Damage 5 is solid. The boss variant adds a momentum token to itself and up to 3 friendly others within 12” during each charge phase to help keep those numbers up, and the Hakkin Krew version has a rampage to cause mortal wounds and gain two momentum tokens during your own movement phase. So there’s plenty of sources for it for some high damage attacks.

Lastly I want to cover the humble Brute unit. This has been one of my favourite AoS units since they came out early in the first edition of the game and it continues to be the greatest temptation to pick up an Ironjawz army. Like Ragerz and many other units you don’t have to worry about how you model them, except for the 1 in 5 that can take the massive Gore-choppa which you already want to cause it looks incredible. These guys are best suited to getting stuck in with a bunch of Damage 2 attacks with Rend 1 and Anti-Infantry (+1 Rend) making them incredible horde clearers and even elite-infantry monsters. Enemy models within combat range with Health of 1 or 2 also can’t contest objectives either making a big block of rats or goblins suddenly very useless!

Waaaghing around Battle Tactics

If you’re not taking any of the Grunta units then you do have a rather slow army. Fortunately there is a teleport spell and there’s a bunch of movement options between Hero phase moves and using Power Through command on your higher wound models. Also thankfully the Destruction battle tactics focus on fighting stuff, which is what you need to be doing with Ironjawz if you want a chance to win any games.  Set yourself up for some brutal combats and watch the VP flow.

All in a Good Day’s Krumpin’

Overall Ironjawz seem like a lot of fun to toss down on the table, get stuck in, and fight their way to victory. The big thing that players will notice immediately is that almost all of their hit rolls, even with bosses and Maw-Krushas, are on a 4+ roll. Almost all wound rolls are then on a 2+ or at least a 3+ but losing half of your attacks before rolling to wound is going to feel rough. You can improve this through a Battle Formation or using All Out Attack of course but you’ll need to be careful with these choices and really only use it where you’re going to have the most impact. You do get to roll a bunch of dice though and combat ranges being simplified makes it very easy to get big blocks of Brutes or Ardboyz all attacking, so stacking buffs on those blocks will be key. 

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