Battle report: Ironjawz v. Vanguard
SCENARIO.
Better Part of Valour (2019)
MY ARMY.
- Ironjawz/Ironsunz/Aqshy
- Maw-Krusha (general), Gore-hacka and Choppa, Right Fist of Dakkbad, Sunzblessed Armour, Weird ‘Un
- Megaboss on foot, Quickduff Amulet
- 2 Warchanters, Fixin’ Beat and Killa Beat
- Fungoid Cave-Shaman (allied) with Ravenak’s Gnashing Jawz (endless)
- 10 Brutes with Jagged Gore-hackas and 2 Gore Choppas
- 2x5 Brutes with Brute Choppas and 1 Gore Choppa
- 2x5 Gore-gruntas with Pig-iron Choppas
- Ironfist
Design notes: All of my Ardboys are still either on the painting table or building table due to the warscroll being updated and me not owning a single model with shields. As such, I don’t currently have a full unit of Ardboys ready to field, and had to scramble with what I had (hence the inclusion of the foot-boss and the Brutes-only setup.) I decided to give the Quickduff Amulet a run over Destroyer, and the Fungoid over the Weirdo, using the game as a chance to test out various tech solutions with a sub-par list.

HIS ARMY.
- Stormcast Eternals/Anvils of the Heldenhammer/Ghur
- Lord-Aquilor (general), Deathly Aura, Soulthief, Aethereal Stalker
- Lord-Exorcist, Azerite Halo
- Lord-Celestant on Stardrake, Celestine Hammer, Shardfist Pelt, Thunderlord
- 3x5 Vanguard-Hunters, Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes
- 6 Castigators
- 3 Castigators
- 6 Vanguard-Raptors, Longstrike Crossbows
- Celestar Ballista
- Soulstrike Brotherhood
TURN ONE.
He outdropped me and made me go first, so I calmly positioned myself in a defensive line around mid-table, moving my pigs and cabbage into a position to either screen or countercharge. On his turn, he began teleporting around and taking hero phase shots, allowing me to move around a little with Mad As Hell, pushing my screens forward to box his dragon into his own deployment zone with pigs. Shooting phase saw him killing the shaman and a few Brutes here and there, and putting a single wound onto the cabbage, which promptly moved closer towards the nearest Hunters and charged them in the following phase using the Ironsunz command ability, wiping them out and setting up for turn two.
TURN TWO.
I won priority and went first, using my Mighty Destroyers to charge a set of Brutes into a units of Hunters that had popped up behind my lines. My big unit of Brutes were buffed up by a Warchanter and then teleported onto the opposite table edge by the Quickduff, and the pigs kept moving into positions to take keep his deployment boxed in, separating his army as best I could. Shooting, charge and combat saw me make a pretty glaring mistake in charges as I charged my frontmost pigs into the dragon, only for the teleported Brutes to fail their charge against the Exorcist. Had I done the Brutes first and they’d still failed, I could and congalined the pigs between the dragon and Exorcist and tied them both up, but for now, the caster was home free. The cabbage made quick work of the second hunters, allowing the Brutes to Smash and Bash the final Hunter unit, unfortunately leaving the Champion alive with one wound. The dragon wasted no time in killing a pig and stuffing 4 wounds onto the next, taking only a measly 4 wounds in return, while the footboss killed three Castigators in my own zone.
On his turn, the shooting showed up in full force, cleaning out the footboss, a Warchanter, a pig, four brutes in the unit tied up in combat with the lone Hunter. The pigs and the dragon kept standing at a stalemate, chipping wounds off each other. While the Brutes finished off the last Hunter, the last man standing also ran off to battleshock. At this point, it was pretty even on objectives, with a small edge to him due to having more points upon the ones he already held, but none were burnt this turn.
TURN THREE.
Priority roll is a four and a two, and he double-turns me. Using his command ability, the Aquilor brings the Raports up my flank to start chipping at the Brutes sitting at my home objective. He the drops the Celestar and final three Castigators smack into the middle of my deployment zone, making quick work of the first Warchanter. The dragon finally cleans off the last of the pigs, and my army is dow to half size at this point.
On my turn, I realise I can go middle in his deployment zone and grab an uprotected objective if the cabbage stays OUT of combat. The large unit of Brutes use a combination of Mighty Destroyers and regular move to get within 3” of the dragon, ensuring a successful charge and dropping a whopping 10 wounds into it, before a combination of mortal wounds from saves and battleshock wipes them out. The Brutes back home charge the Aquilor, but whiffs spectacularly even with the Warchanter buff.
Objectives at this point is interesting: he holds my center one at 2 points value, and his own left corner one at 3 point value. I hold my own left and right corners at 3 points value each, his right corner at 2 points value, and the recently captured center one at 1 point value. Burning all of these, I score 9 points total and put myself in a mathematically very advantageous position.
TURN FOUR.
Priority roll seals the deal for me — I go first. With four models left on the table, I charge the cabbage into the dragon, dealing the necessary two wounds to destroy it. This allows me to not only charge again into the Exorcist and killing him off, but putting me within range of the final objective in his zone, capping it at 1 point value. The pigs charge the Aquilor but whiffs, as does the final Warchanter. I burn the final objective to put my points up to 10, sealing the victory.
His turn sees the end of my pigs to shooting, but the Warchanter miraculously lives on, keeping the Aquilor and Raptors locked in combat.
TURN FIVE.
I win priority again, and use Mighty Destroyers and regular movement to zoom the cabbage 24” across the table, into charging range of his Celestar sitting on the final objective. Unfortunately, I forget to fire his Innard-Bursting Bellows, and the Destructive Bulk is one mortal wound shy of destroying the war machine, leaving the final objective in his possession. The Warchanter finally dies a hero’s death in combat.
He spends this turn chipping off the Maw-krusha, managing to get a total of nine wounds into it, before burning the final objective to make the final score 10–4. A resounding victory for the kunnin’ orcs!

TEN THOUGHTS.
1. Brutes are trash. There’s no other way of saying it. Their bravery is sorely lacking, they have no charge bonus to speak of outside of the army-wide +1, their bonus to hit is highly situational and their damage output at the unit-wide Rend -1 is just not good enough. Once I get my Ardboys painted, these models will see the inside of the display cabinet until their points are either lowered to 100 points per five, or they get a warscroll update.
2. Weird ‘Un is a double-edged sword. While it provides good protection against damage, I find that Mad As Hell is a deterrent in itself to people even applying out-of-combat damage in the first place. I’m tempted to experiment with Fast ‘Un and Heavy ‘Un instead, as the damage output is already enough for Mean ‘Un to be little more than “win more” in most cases.
3. The idea of dropping ten Brutes in the backline with Quickduff was a good one, until they needed a natural 8 on the roll to make their charge. The teleport does offer great value though, and I seriously consider taking the Weirdnob with Great Green Visions in place of the Fungoid to do some more testing with Hand of Gork (even if it’s far less reliable.)
4. Speaking of the Quickduff Amulet — I wasn’t actually eligible to use this last night. It’s a Bloodtoofs only artifact, and I played Ironsunz. The error occured in the list-making, as both Scrollbuilder and AoS Reminders allowed me to take it and I thought, “Cool, I wanna try that” and I didn’t check if I actually could. While a friendly game at the club, the artifact played a role in the outcome of the game, and as such, I’ve already apologised to my opponent and a rematch is on the table.
5. Ironsunz are so damn good. The -1 to hit turn one neutered the Vanguard shooting significantly, and I would never have has as much manpower to dominate the table without it. Similarly, the counter-charge ability set in motion the chain of events that directly led to me grabbing all his three home objectives, and the free command point at the start of the game made up for the lack of an Aetherquartz Brooch and the early death of the Fungoid.
6. Speaking of command points — this army drinks it. I see several people already claiming the Aetherquartz is mandatory, and while I see why, I disagree. It certainly helps, and with some lucky bounces, you can set off entire congalines of Mighty Destroyers. I was never above three command points at any given time in this game, and still, I didn’t feel starved (and occasionally even felt like I wasted them on not-really-necessary abilities). Playing stingy with command points certainly isn’t optimal, but I think there’s a case to be made for it if it can open up other tech with your artifacts.
7. Which brings us to the Fungoid. I love this little guy, he gives me free command points, he has a REALLY good shrug, he’s cheap as chips, he theoretically gives me access to mortal wounds and board control via Scuttletide. While the Weirdnob with the Great Green Visions gives me the same command point generation and access to the Hand of Gork, in addition to having the Ironjawz keyword, you give up an artifact for something a cheaper model does for free. If you’re going to drop an artifact into command point generation, I think the Aetherquartz is going to be better over the course of a game.
8. The cabbage is for real. After years of feeling kind of “meh”, it really feels like the powerhouse it looks like now, and I love it. Still hesitant to try out Gordrakk, the points hike seems just a smidge too steep, but overall, seeing the Maw-krusha finally join the Monster Elite of Age of Sigmar feels good.
9. Warchanters are flat out the best force multiplier in the game. For my Brutes to still have +1 damage on the opposite side of the table at the end of being double-turned is insane, but real. I cannot even imagine building a list without two, unless it’s Da Choppas (and even then, I’d still take two.)
10. Ironfist is borderline mandatory. While I see some value in the Weirdfist and Ardfist for very specific builds, the fact that Ironfist covers all of your battleline and offers value equal to a command point each turn is immense.
