Who said the Stormcast Eternals get all the good toys? The Waaagh! is back with a vengeance later this month, when a new battletome for the Orruk Warclans is released. And with three great subfactions – the kunnin’ Bonesplitterz, the brutal Ironjaws, and the brutally kunnin’ Kruleboyz – it’s got loads of great ways to build effective, varied, and thematic armies.
We’ve come up with three such armies from the new battletome that mix and match the warclans’ talents to produce fighting forces that don’t always involve rushing headlong into the enemy.
Monsta Huntaz!
Monsters are a big deal in the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and what’s more glorious to an orruk than a horrible death met while trying to kill something ten times their size?
If you suspect that your opponent might be about to field an army full of gargant-sized monstrosities, first flood the battlefield with Battleline Savage Orruks armed with chompas. This provides a respectable 10 Bonesplitterz per unit, for a total of 20 Attacks, wounding on a 2+ if you charge – and even if you don’t topple your foe, you might injure a Monster enough to reduce its attack profile, softening them up for your most devastating units.
Next, convince some Savage Big Stabbas to join your army – their mighty Gorktoof spears bring serious pain, and in death the Big Stabbas hurl their huge spear one last time, dealing D3 mortal wounds on a roll of 2+ to enemies with the Monster keyword.
Finally, bring along some Kruleboyz to finish the job from afar.
The Kruleboyz’ new Beast-skewer Killbows are perfect for bringing down the juiciest quarry. When you roll for damage, you roll a die for each Wound the target has. With a bit of luck they can take a big chunk out of a Mega-Gargant or stop a raging Bloodthirster in the middle of its killing spree.
As you can see, a mixed orruk army works very well when you build it around a clear theme. Running them as a Big Waaagh! gives you all sorts of bonuses over time that allows even basic units to threaten Monsters (and everything else for that matter).
It works like this – you bring together a grand coalition of different greenskins, who then egg each other on to feets of violence and savagery and build up Waaagh! points throughout the game. Once you hit certain thresholds, things get silly in the best possible way.
Brave Shootaz!
Fightin’ from far away is still fightin’, right? Faithful readers will remember that we’ve discussed the orruks’ talents at range once before. The Kruleboyz have solid new options for long-ranged firepower – surprise your opponent by making them run across the battlefield into withering crossbow fire for a change.
Man-skewer Boltboyz and Beast-skewer Killbows both have a range of 24”, and they hit on a 2+ if you don’t move. If you choose the Big Yellers warclan, you get to add 3” to that range. Not bad at all, especially when you consider that Boltboyz are Battleline units in a Big Yellers army. Go wild!And don’t forget that even meagre Hobgrots can strike at range with their sulphuric scrap-grenades. If the unit’s Noise-maker is still alive, Hobgrot Slittaz can hurl grenades after running. That more than makes up for the 8” range (they only have small arms to throw with, after all).
If you want to add in some Bonesplitterz, you can always let the Bonegrinz warclan darken the sky with (poorly aimed) arrows.
That gives your Arrowboys 3 Attacks each. A few units of these unlikely archers will make your opponents think twice about sending in all but the hardest units.
Spell Slingaz!
With three distinct factions in the Battletome, you get a wide variety of shamans and three separate spell lores. If you mix your Wizards together in a Big Waaagh!, you’ll get one bonus Waaagh! point if you have any Bonesplitterz Wizards on the field, so you can rack up those points even more quickly.
Kruleboyz Wizards have access to the all-new Lore of the Swamp, with sneaky spells that will put a damper on your opponent’s plans, like Choking Mist.
Ironjawz Wizards use the Lore of the Weird, drawing on the energy of nearby orruks to drive them into a killing frenzy, among other things.
The Lore of the Savage Beast is available to all Bonesplitterz Wizards, allowing them to possess their kin with atavistic wrath.
While most orruk spellcasters are great in support roles, you can fit quite a few into your army for a twist on the usual formula. They’re all pretty good in a scrap, with loads of spells that add directly to your already impressive damage output.
No matter how you ultimately decide to play your Orruk Warclans, the new battletome gives you all kinds of fun and powerful options to use your collection. You’ll have to keep a watchful eye on the Warhammer Community website for news about when the book will go up for pre-order. If you prefer, you can always sign up for our email newsletter, and we’ll send the news straight to your inbox.