Shadespire is continuing to have a strong (as in number of muscles) showing. So, this week lets focus on the strongest warband in Shadespire, Ironskull’s Boyz.
For a look at the core universal cards Tips & Tactics click here, for Steelhearts Champions click here, and for Garraks Reavers click here.
Ironskull’s Boyz objectives
- “Ard AS Iron (3 Glory): Score this in third end phase if none of your fighters are out of action
- Biggest An’ Da Best (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if your leader took an enemy fighter out of action in the preceding action phase.
- Call of the WAAAGH! (1 Glory): Score this immediately if three or more of your fighters made a charge action this phase.
- Dead Kunnin (1 Glory): Score this immediately if a friendly fighter has two or more supporting fighters then their target when making an attack action.
- Dere’s More of Us (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you have more fighters on the battlefield then your opponent.
- Get Da Boss (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase in your warband took an enemy leader out of action in the preceding action phase.
- Good Scrap (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if three or more fighters were taken out of action in the preceding action phase
- Punch Up (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if each of your surviving fighters (at least 2) made an attack action against different enemy fighter in the proceeding action phase.
- Too Dumb to Die (1 Glory): Score this immediately if a friendly fighter suffers 3 or more damage in a single attack and is not taken out of action
Universal objectives
- Blooded (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if all your surviving fighters (at least 3) have at least 1 wound token.
- Brawl (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if all friendly fighters (at least three) are adjacent to enemy fighters
- Contained (3 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if all surviving enemy fighters are in their territory.
- Divide and Conquer (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if each player has at least one fighter in their own territory and at least one fighter in enemy territory.
- Endless Slaughter (3 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if 5 or more enemy fighters are out of action
- Geared for war (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if each of your surviving fighters (at least 3) has at least 1 upgrade.
- Ploymaster (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you played three or more ploys in the proceeding action phase.
- Scent of Victory (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if all surviving enemy fighters (at least 3) have at least 1 wound token.
- Superior Tactician (3 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if you scored six or more other objective cards.
- Twilight Conqueror (1 Glory): Score in end phase if all your surviving fighters (at least 3) are neither in your territory nor enemy territory.
- Victorious Duel (2 Glory): Score immediately if your leader takes an enemy leader out of action.
For my Boyz I want them to be big and beefy basically marching wherever they please and punching anything in there way. That is why I think you start with grabbing a couple of the objective cards from the core set, then add in contained as your going to be pushing them back out of your territory. Then add some aggressive objectives like Brawl, Blooded, Punch Up, etc. that all deal with being locked in combat. I would stay away from ones like Victorious Duel, Endless Slaughter, and Ploymaster as those rely on luck and your what your opponent chooses to do to score them. Defiantly include some of the instant scores Call of WAAAGH and Too Dumb to Die as chances are you’re going to charge with 3 fighters at some point, and your going to get hit with a hard-hitting weapon.
Ironskull’s Boyz only Upgrades
- ‘Ard Head (Hakka, Basha): When this fighter suffers damage, reduce that damage by 1 to a minimum of 1.
- ‘Eadbutt (Gurzag): Range 1, 2 hammer attack dice, for 2 damage. If this attack succeeds, the target cannot be activated for the rest of the phase
- Aspiring Boss (Hakka): During an Attack action by this fighter that targets an enemy leader and fails, you can re-roll one attack dice.
- Brutal Frenzy (Hakka, Basha): Roll an extra attack dice when this fighter makes a charge action
- Brutal Swing (Bonekutta): Range 1, 3 dual swords attack dice, 2 damage. Targets all adjacent enemy fighters – roll for each
- Crush and Cleave (Gurzag, Bonekutta): This fighter attack actions gain cleave
- Dead ‘Ard (Gurzag, Bonekutta): This fighter can only be driven back by a critical hit
- Headlong Rush (Basha): This fighters Attack actions gain Knockback 1 in a phase in which they make a charge action
- Unkillable (Gurzag) Reaction: During an Attack action or ploy that takes this fighter out of action, roll a defense dice. If you roll a shield or critical they suffer no damage and are not taken out of action, you then discard this upgrade.
- WAAGH!: This fighter’s attack actions with Range 1 or 2 have +1 damage in a phase in which they make a charge action.
Universal Upgrades
- Cursed Artefact: +1 Defense, -1 Wounds
- Daemonic Weapon: Range 1 2 hammer attack dice for 3 damage. Each time this fighter makes an attack action they first suffer 1 damage
- Flickering Image (Reaction): After an Attack action made by this fighter scores a critical hit, you can push them up to two hexes
- Katophrane’s Belt: Cumulative armor that if you have 2 pieces allows you to re roll defense dice. At 3 pieces re-roll attack dice. At 4 pieces After this fighters action you draw two power cards. Finally, at 5 pieces you gain 4 glory points.
- Legendary Swiftness: +1 Move
- Low Blow: Range 1 2 hammers for 1 damage. Both duel swords and hammers are successes for this attack action
- Shadeglass Darts: Range 3 3 duel swords attack dice for 1 damage. One a critical hit, this attack action has +1 damage
- Shardcaller: At the beginning of each action phase, you can switch an objective held by this fighter with any other objective.
- Swift Strike: Range 1 3 duel swords attack dice for 1 damage. Before making this attack action, push this fighter one hex
- The Shadowed Key: If the fighter is holding objective 2 I in the end phase score 2 points.
Starting with the Boyz only upgrades, lets for sure grab “Ard Head and “Eadbutt as the damage reduction fit in perfectly with orcs. Then being able to take away a fighter’s activation is huge, so using ‘Eadbutt early in a phase on a fighter that has not made any actions can be a huge tide turner. Headlong Rush and Unkillable are also two solid choices with the extra damage and the chance at shrugging off a killing blow. In the universal upgrades I would grab Great Speed and Legendary Swiftness to make up for the Orcs main drawback which is low movement. Daemonic Weapon can instantly inspire one of your fighters so that could be a solid weapon upgrade, along with Shardcaller to mess with the objective tokens on the board. With Shardcaller you could go for the shadowed key as well, to gain extra glory at the end phase but that requires some luck in drawing both relatively quickly.
Ironskull’s Boyz Ploys
- ‘Avin’ A Good Time: Choose a fighter and roll an attack dice. If you roll hammers or critical they can make an attack action.
- Brutal But Kunnin’ Reaction: Play this after a friendly fighters attack action. You can push that fighter up to three spaces.
- Deafening Bellow: Choose an enemy fighter adjacent to one of your fighters. Push that fighter one hex.
- Gorkamorka’s Blessing: The first Attack action with Range of 1 or 2 in the next activation has +1 damage.
- Kunnin’ But Brutal Reaction: Play this after a friendly fighter’s Move action. That fighter can make an Attack action. You cannot play this during a Charge action.
- Last Lunge Reaction: Play this during an Attack action or ploy that will take a friendly fighter out of action, before removing them from the board. Roll an attack dice. On a hammer or critical make an attack action with that fighter. It must target the attacker.
- Leadin’ By Example Reaction: Play this after an Attack action made by your leader that takes an enemy fighter out of action. Another friendly fighter that has not made a Move or Charge action can make a charge Action.
- More Choppin’: Roll an extra attack dice for the first Attack activation in the next activation
- Pillage: Remove one objective that you hold from the battlefield
- Scrag ‘ Em: Each friendly fighter that supports the first Attack action in the next activation is considered to be two supporting fighters.
Universal Ploys
- Anticipation: Play this card after the final activation in an action phase. Name an objective card. If an opponent scores that objective in the end phase score a glory point
- Cruel Taunt: Choose an enemy fighter and roll an attack dice. On a hammer or critical they are no longer Inspired, and cannot be Inspired this game
- Daylight Robbery: Roll an attack dice. If you roll a hammer or critical you can take one of your opponents unspent glory points.
- Distraction: Choose an enemy fighter and push them one hex
- Duel Strike: one fighter supporting the first Attack action in the next activation is considered to be two supporting fighters.
- Duel of Wits Reaction: Play this when an opponent plays a ploy. Draw two power cards
- Misdirection Reaction: Play this when a friendly fighter is chosen by a ploy. Choose another friendly fighter that could be chosen by that ploy, That fighter is chosen instead.
- On Your Feet Reaction: Play this during an Attack action or ploy that would take a friendly fighter out of action, when there is a friendly fighter adjacent to them. Roll a defense dice on. On a shield or Critical that fighter does not suffer any damage and is not taken out of action.
- Parry: The first time one of your fighters is targeted in the next activation, roll an extra defense dice. When counting your successes, ignore one of the defense dice.
- Shifting Shards: Move an unheld objective one hex. You cannot move it into a hex that already contains an objective.
For our Boyz there are a couple of must haves in that free attacks and damage is too good to pass up. Grab ‘Avin a Good Time, Gorkamorka’s Blessing, Kunnin But Brutal, Leadin’ By Example, and More Choppin’ to really boost your damage output. From the core set Sprint plus Kunnin But Brutal makes for a very fast orc that gets to swing right away. After that Daylight Robbery is solid in that taking a glory token can help you win the game or get a much-needed upgrade. After that, Dual Strike is a great way to score Dead Kunnin as one of your fighters is considered two. Besides that, a healing potion is a must have from the core set as well, and you could include some of the other board control ploys like shardfall to block off a retreat or confusion to switch fighters around.
There you have it one way to put together your Shadespire Boyz warband. The best part of this expansion is that is really adds onto the core set and makes the other two warbands (core set) much stronger. Which also is a bummer in that for better cards it does indeed look like you will be needing to get more and more expansions as they come out. Though for $30 bucks it is not that bad of a deal, and you can pick and choose what expansions to get as they come out.
Check out more “newbie” tips for the Hobby
