Welcome back!
In part 2, the plan is to quickly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the Ironskull’s Boys ready for building power and objective decks. I have previously said that I’m looking at the warband as a brute force, attrition based warband. I think they have some real efficacy in that area.
Da Gud:
- The Boss!
Gurzag is one of the biggest strengths of Ironskull’s boys, as he is an absolute beast, and in my mind technically borders on the ‘big guy’ category that Mollog and Hrothgorn occupy, especially since the changes to gaining glory for kills. Only a single +1 wound makes him worth 2 glory, and he is worth keeping alive!
A 3 damage attack straight out of the gate with 2 smash is very unusual for an uninspired fighter and 5 health is really good. making him very scary on round one, and a good way of scoring kills before the upgrades start rolling in. He is good for scoring primacy by one shotting things. Boss choppas make him pretty accurate when he inspires, but I dont think he needs to inspire to start Krumpin’.
- Health.
The Ironskulls boyz have 17 health between them, which is high for a non-horde warband and allows them to keep grinding away in a war of attrition against other warbands.
- Easy Inspire Condition.
Taking damage, any damage, this goes along with the previous point, that you aren’t super worried about chip damage as most of your fighters get better when they Inspire. Notably, Bonecutta inspires to have the same attack profile as Gurzag, which can be a real surprise to your opponent, especially if they focus down the big guy first.
- Unique Ploys.
Kunnin’ but Brutal and Brutal but Kunnin’ are cards they share with Morgok’s crushas, but are still really good in terms of Direchasm Meta, or at least as I understand it, being able to make a charge and only gain a move token, and the ability to push up to three spaces after any attack action (even if it wasnt sucessful!) are really good and allow the ‘ardboys to generate extra action economy, and being able to make extra attacks in a round is always good, especially in a war of atrittion. These two are also reactions, and take place during the activation, so I dont think they count towards scoring frantic exchange.
‘Avin a good time is another example of this, letting you attack again in the power step. It is sad that keep chopping has rotated out, but there is likely to be a similar card or a reprint appear soon, even if it isn’t seen for the next 12 months.
Der Bad:
- Speed.
The whole warband is speed 3, and remains that way even when inspired. As the seasons have progressed, this means that the relative speed of the Boyz has gone from being ‘average’ to ‘slow’. This can cause problems against warbands that want to deploy away from you and score passive glory or cash in on objective tokens. You can also find yourself fighting on two fronts if faster warbands can skirt around your meatballs (Orcballs?) deep into your half and plonk themselves on a feature token. Without power cards, the Orcs have no ability to damage anything more than 4 hexes away. This is probably the most important thing to keep in mind when building decks, as a slow aggro warband is really gonna need help getting into close range and punching people.
- Hakka and Basha.
These two can be problematic for both you and your opponent. I’m listing this as a weakness, because they need investment to really be able to stand up and be counted. Uninspired, their attack profiles are the same as the un-named members of some warbands. They have as much punch as petitioner #1-3, chainrasp #2+3, and the Bat Squig. Inspired, they are slightly more dangerous, going up to 3 fury and 2 damage, but still lagging behind when compared to fighers in more ‘modern’ warbands. Working around this is surprisingly easy though, as almost any attack upgrade card is better than what they have as standard, and so an Amberbone Sword or larval lance can make them infinitely more threatening and blindside your opponent. Even the new Soultooth Bow is a better weapon than either of them has as standard and can turn one of the two dolts into an archer as accurate as Gurzag, but with a much greater threat range.
- Defenses.
1 Block across the warband gives you a 50/50 chance of scoring a sucess each time you are attacked, regardless of what else is going on, but it never gets any better. This can really hurt, as most attcks will be odds-on to hit you (54% for 2 smash and 55% for 3 fury) and there isnt very much you can do about it, as going on guard doesnt adffect the odds by very much, and your really want to be moving agressively rather than sitting on guard.
This does mean that the -Defence upgrade cards in Direchasm are of great value for the warband, as there is no negative effect for using them.
- Old Cards and limited upgrades.
Out of the 10 warband-specific upgrades that the Ironskull’s boys have access to, 9 of them are limited to one or two fighters, and some of them are quite strong, but others are very conditional and/or situational. this leads to higher chances of them not being useful, and a reliance on universal cards. This is true for the objectives and ploys that they have as well, but I will be discussing this in greater depths in parts 2, 3 and 4.
‘An Da Ugly:
As pointed out in the Warband Review: Episode 4 With Tim Grieves on the path to glory podcast, the warband is considered old, and underpowered when compared to more recent releases, but they do have some cards with effects that are very similar to those considered favouribly even in the Direchasm release reviews. The way Heartstone Amulet and ‘Ard Head work is the same, even if one is only avaliable to Hakka and Basha.
It is possible that opponents will underestimate the older Orc warband, as they are often grouped in a B or C tier of warbands, now this can open up extra opportunities in games. Unfortunately, they have a reputation for a reason, you may not have the tools avaliable to capitalise on these opportunities. If you get the chance though, get to scoring! Attack every turn you can, keep hitting them, keep scoring your objective cards, and make sure you disrupt as many positional plays your opponent makes as you can.
Next time, I plan on looking at the faction and championship legal universal ploys avaliable to the Ironskull’s Boys. Im gonna be putting forward the first part of my power deck for the Direchasm release Meta aggro deck and explaining my choices. I have just downloaded and installed the Underworlds mod for Vassal, so I hope to get some playtesting done over the next few weeks/months.
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Maybe next time eh?
