Orruks are coming in strong with a new Battletome linking Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz together. Check out the latest details from the next AoS battletome.
Warhammer Community gave us a deeper look inside the Orruk Warclans showing just how special the new book is. Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz have two totally different outlooks on who Gorkamorka really are. However, they’ve decided to band together and bring a great Waaagh! to the realms.
Iron Jawz & Bonesplitterz Rules Previewed for Orruk Warclans
Battletome: Orruk Warclans isn’t just one battletome – it’s a twin-headed monster akin to Gorkamorka himself! In this book, you’ll find absolutely everything you need to field an Ironjawz or Bonesplitterz army, with both factions receiving improved allegiance abilities, their own spell lores, command traits, mount traits, artefacts, and all the good stuff you’d expect from a contemporary Warhammer Age of Sigmar army. Both forces are free to ally with one another, or join forces as part of the Big Waaagh!
Playing With the IronJawz
Playing as the Ironjawz, your key goal is to get down the board in hacking range and proceed to blend things in combat. However, if you go against shooty forces like Stormcast, this Battle Trait will speed up the death of your enemy. Mad as Hell gives you a free D6 inch movement if any Ironjawz in your army took a wound or mortal wound! Yep you can even game it on yourself!
There aren’t just the vanilla Ironjawz in the book. There are different tribes of Ironjawz with their own unique rules, command traits, etc. Looking at the Ironsunz, they’ll have a bit of protection in the first battle round making them -1 to hit across the board. This can be a pretty big deal if your opponent makes you go first-effectively letting them get the charge off if you’re too aggressive.
Playing With the Bonesplitterz
Being that the Bonesplitterz sole existence is to hunt monsters between the realms they have an ability called Tireless Trackers. They’re glass cannons but deceptively fast. Before the game starts, you can pick half of your force and get a free 5″ move. This is huge as you can turtle up a bit if you ended up not going first. Or you can just charge straight ahead and charge turn 1.
Warpaint is still the same making up for your army’s lack of an armor save. You get a free FNP on each unit which is always nice.
You can also bully enemy monsters in combat with Monster Hunters. You now get to pick which rule you want to activate instead of rolling randomly. If you do manage to kill the monster, the unit that killed it also becomes immune to battleshock.
Bonesplitterz Subfaction Rules Previewed
Just like the Ironjawz, the Bonesplitterz also have their subfactions of tribes. These all come with different rules and ideas on how to wage war.
For the Drakfoot units, they ignore the (basically) 4++ invuln that Nighthaunt armies have. These guys will melt spirits.
For the Bonegrinz, they can taunt the enemy if they’re close enough forcing them to charge in and fight. Plus, they can never retreat once there. You want to keep your Bonegrinz meaty and ready to take a beating because they DEFINITELY will.
Combining Armies for a Big Waaagh!
If you combine Ironjawz with Bonesplitterz, you’ll get some bonus rules showing off the effects of a Waaagh! in-game. Similar to the summoning points Daemons, Seraphon, and other factions get, the Orruks will generate Waaagh! points.
With this army, you’ll generate Waaagh! points every turn, representing the savage energies of Gorkamorka that crackle around such massive gatherings of Orruks. This powerful and unpredictable resource can be generated in several ways. Warchanters, Wardokks and Wurrgog Prophets all provide Waaagh! points, while particularly Orruk-y play will reward you with even more as you charge foes and get stuck in with your Heroes.
Spending your points, you’ll be able to give powerful combat bonuses to your units in a pinch. While Smash’em and Bash ’em are powerful, there’s one that’s unparalleled.
If you’ve got a whopping 24 Waaagh! points, you can launch Da Big Waaagh! giving everybody in your entire army an extra attack. This should be enough to turn the tides of war when you’re even clinging on to the last few units in your army. However, this power comes at a hefty price. You have to roll to see how many Waaagh! points it really costs. It could drop you down to 0, half your points, or cost you completely nothing! Just remember the magic number to use this ability is 24.
With another hefty rules preview under our belt what do you think about the Orruk Warclans? Do you think there will be a surprising bit of finesse needed for this army? Or is it just a smash and bash one-trick faction? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter (with discount coupon codes) each morning as well!
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
