Bonesplitterz: Killer Combos 2021

  Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

Let's all be honest. A talking head on the interwebs means nothing. Take everything below with more than a grain of salt. These are just some standout combos I saw and will be using in my games of AoS 3.0 with Bonesplitterz. I am not including any specific warclan in these examples. These opinions were formed from the leaks and may change with the upcoming FAQ and official release of the 2021 Orruk Warclans book.

Savage Big Boss w/Great Hunter & Glowing Tattoos

The humble Savage Big Boss hasn't really changed for the better in the 2021 Orruk Warclans book. He lost his use command ability to give exploding hits to a friendly Bonesplitterz unit that use melee weapons. Well, now that's a Bonesplitterz trait and command abilities went the way of the Squats. For 65 pts, yes that's right, down from 110 pts. You get a foot slogging hero wearing a loincloth as armor. But! Yes I hear you. His butt is beautiful and plump, you thirsty boyz! But his dumptruck is SO fragile. Agreed? Agreed. S,o lets give him some Glowing Tattoos. This will give the big thicc-boi a zoggin' 4+ ward save normally and a 2+ ward save when calling a Bonesplitterz Waaagh!. 

Right den. So why take the lad? 2 reasons. The first, Great Hunter. This makes Tireless Trackers (1/2 your Bonesplitterz units can pre-game move 5") and gives them a 8" move instead.  Matched Play battleplans like Burn and Pillage and Rising Power start off the two sides 18" away from each other. This lets your footslogger blocks grab an objective early on and screen out any unit looking to steal it or gives you the option to charge in first turn since you'll only be about 5" away. 

The second reason: Let Me at Em. This ability basically stated the same. After this unit fights (the Savage Big Boss) another friendly Bonesplitterz unit in melee that hasn't fought yet, can be elected to fight out of turn. This like before, is a great way to output some damage without having to take any in turn. 

All of this happens without the use of a command ability, but you can always use All Out Attack on the block of nearby Savage Orruks to let them hit on 3+s and wound on 3" (thanks to Primal Surge).

Glowing Green Tusks + Bone Spirits + Power of the Wereboar + Charging Maniaks

Maniaks were good. Maniaks are still good! They lost some things and picked up others. A focus on charging is a thematic change, instead of imagining the boyz trying to count their own dudes to see if they now can punch more. The Maniaks now get a +1 Attack for the Chompas if you charged in that turn and the Tusks from the mounts get +1 to Hit and +1 to wound taking them to 3+/3+. With no FAQ out yet for the Orruk Warclans, the boar mounts still get the exploding hits on 6s and the mortal wounds on wound rolls of 6 (if you choose Icebone). When a unit of 10 Maniaks charge, thats 70 attacks! Dealing on average 17.22 damage to a 4+ Save. 

A few interactions we should discuss: You can only apply a net +1 to hit or wound rolls. So charging with the boars attacks basically nullifies Bone Spirits and/or Power of the Wereboar. The example below is based on 10 Maniaks.

Vs 4+ Save

Base: 17.22 

Bone Spirits or Power of the Wereboar: 19.44

Glowing Green Tusks: 22.78

Both Bone Spirit & Power of the Wereboar: 22.22

All 3 spells: 27.78

Vs 4+ Save in Icebone

Base: 21.53 

Bone Spirits or Power of the Wereboar: 23.75/24.31

Glowing Green Tusks: 25.69

Both Bone Spirit & Power of the Wereboar: 27.08

All 3 spells: 31.25

So obviously if you can stack all 3 spells you're gonna do some significant damage but what about likelihood of the spells going off in the first place. Below are the casting values required to spell.

Bone Spirits: 7 = 58% 

Glowing Green Tusks: 5 = 83%

Power of the Wereboar: 6 = 72%

Wurggog Prophet with Arcane Tome & One Wiv Da Beast

This is a simple combination to get the most bang out of a magic general, the Wurrgog Prophet. Bonesplitterz have 3 great spells and some useful warscrolls spells so lets capitalize off that. Wurrgog Prophet is a sturdy 2 cast/2 deny footslogging wizard with great mortal wound spell in the Foot of Gork. Casting value of 5, pick an enemy unit within range and visible, roll a d6 for each enemy model in the unit on a 6 they take a mortal wound, if you cast the spell on 10+ they take mortals on a 4+. Super useful when fighting other horde armies but horde armies got a little nerfed with the reinforcement points. The Arcane Tome give the prophet an extra spell to cast and One Wiv Da Beast lets the prophet know another spell. I'd probably choose Glowing Green Tusks and  Power of the Were-Boar to get all the buffing spells although Levitate from the Universal Spell list would be nice to have FLYING again for Bonesplitterz. 

 

Wardokk + Brick of 20 Savage Orruks 

The good ol' Dokk and boyz. Still good, still solid and hard to shift. My Wardokks will almost always be dancing instead of casting. Always. The combo is gonna run you 330+85 = 415 pts . But the jist is to Grimdokk dance for +1 to Save and sit on any objective with your 4+ Save and 6+ Ward or 4+ Save and 4+ Ward on a turn you call the Waaaagh! With 40-60 wounds at 4+6+ that unit isn't going to give up an objective easily.

Stats referenced in this article were found using AoS Statshammer at https://aos-statshammer.herokuapp.com/

Dice probability calculator provided by https://www.omnicalculator.com/statistics/dice