Ironjawz: Megaboss Focus 2021

 Written by Benjamin Lolmaugh

Ah, the humble Megaboss. The Megaboss is the epitome of the bestial fury and GorkaMorka's divine vessel on the battlefield. Powered by brutality, a degree of low cunning and of-course an un-safe amount of Waaagh! Energy this maniac wreaks havoc in every battle he joins. But should you take him in your horde?

Dis 'ere iz Kaptn Krunch 'n he does two fings! Smashin' (and sometimes Bashin') 'n Lootin'!. 

The Warscroll

Well this guy certainly got A LOT better from AoS 2.0 to 3.0. From a Matched Play point of view, the Megaboss dropped from 20 points 160 points to 140 points. I DID NOT see that coming. At 160 points he was worth the investment and at 140 pts he is definitely in all of my 1000 point lists and many of my 2000 pts All Brutes lists.

OLD

NEW

A 33% increase in raw damage is FANTASTIC. And CHEAPER?! 

Gone is the Go on Ladz Get Stuck In! command ability and that has been replaced with the universal command ability of All Out Attack. An important note here is that the range was actually increased. If the Megaboss was on foot, the range of Go on Ladz, Get Stuck In! was 12". Since the Megaboss now has the Totem keyword, that range is increased to 18". All in all this is a straight wash without considering command ability stacking that you could achieve in 2.0.

The Rip-Tooth Fist ability is gone. The old ability allowed your Megaboss to dish out a mortal wound to an attacker on an unmodified save roll of 6.  We kept Strength From Victory which for me, often times felt unfair to my opponent. Granted I play a lot more narrative games than tournament games. The imagery of the Megaboss slaying an enemy Hero one after another, growing in size and strength is just so awesome. It makes my Megaboss feel like a badass. 

Ear-Splitting Bellow one of the most useful abilities we have in Ironjawz. It will take its place among the legends of Smashin and Bashin, Mighty Destroyers and Violent Frenzy. When you pick this big mean green asshole to issue a command, he directs 2 friendly units instead of one. One thing to note here is that this doesn't have the Ironjawz keyword. So your Megaboss can command those Bonesplittaz and Kruleboyz units in a Big Waaagh! army. 

Dead Fighty is an awesome new ability that gives the Megaboss a chance to kill something when it dies, assuming it hasn't attacked already. 

Artefacts & Traits

We lost some good Artefacts of Power. Notably Metalrippa's Klaw and The Golden Toof. -3 Rend from Metalrippa's Klaw is going to be sorely missed. But running the math shows a surprising result, at least for me.

The universal Artefact of Power, Vial of Manticore Venom deals equal damage or MORE to all enemies except those on a 2+ Save. Well I really was not expecting that at all. So don't fret my Metalrippin' friends, we can still slay in combat. The Golden Toof is a complete loss. The best I can say is maybe Ear Splitting Bellow can be used with Inspiring Presence and his 18" range (thanks to the Totem keyword) to skip those bad Battleshock tests.

Ironclad is missed, which gave +1 to save rolls but the pseudo replacement is the Armor of Gork. Which I WOULD NOT put on a Megaboss! A Move of 2! GTFO!  The Armor of Gork is good and bad. 6+ Ward Save, good. +1 to hit on the melee weapons of the wielder (not the mount). Great. Yes yes. -2 Move... No, thats bad. Cant run. Super bad! Even with the extra movements from Mighty Destroyers you're not getting anywhere important.

Destroyer is exactly the same! And still fantastic! Thanks to the increase of attacks, you're looking at 3 additional damage, from 8.9 to 11.9 vs a 4+ Save. 

Remember to use All Out Attack or Finest Hour when you pop The Destroyer for when you have to absolute slay every mothafucka in the unit. 

Hulking Brute is functionally the same as Hulking Muscle Bound Brute. So if you can charge like 3-4 times a game this can really dish out D3 mortal wounds for you on a 2+.

Mega Bossy is kinda the runty version of Brutish Cunning that we all took. Instead of a free use of Mighty Destroyers, you can issue the command again (still cost a command point). Remember, with Ear Splitting Bellow you'll be selecting 2 units instead of 1 this time. Mighty Waaagh Leader will be useful in exactly one Charge phase but with the reroll to charges and lack of bonuses it may be worth it. But for me, its not. I'm a gambling man, I'll live and die by the dice, thank you!  

I think the universal command trait of Skilled Leader is where it's at. On a 5+ get a command point. Do I like to roll dice? Yes! Do I like command points? Also Yes!  Command points are always useful and the free command point can be used by any character or eligible unit, such as a unit of Ardboyz that needs to use Rally for that sweet 4+ respawn. Really the possibilities are endless here and Big Waaagh and Ironjawz players alike jumped at the chance to grab a command point on a 4+, wasting 90+ points doing so. No more points investment and on a unit that can certainly make those 140 points back.

The Arcane Tome stands out to me for the Megaboss. Channel your inner Azhag the Slaughterer and have a boss that can scrap and cast! Need defense, cast Mystic Shield. Need to buff yourself, use Flaming Weapon for +1 Damage. Need to give off a +1 to Wound bubble aura to help your other units? Cast Bash Em Lads (you'll need Master of Magic trait at least). 

Builds

Below are three builds inspired by classic Orc champions:

Borgut Facebeater

Command Trait: Battle Lust

Artefact: Destroyer

Really hate that one model you're friend always brings? Wanna kill it?! Battle Lust lets you re-roll runs and charges. Great for getting where you need to be. Alternatively you could take Hulking Brute to squeeze out a little damage, but I want to make sure my big man is hitting home. Destroyer lets you deal about 15 damage with Finest Hour and/or All Out Attack active. If you die, you die. You can still fight and take that bastard with you. 

Azhag the Slaughterer

Command Trait: Master of Magic

Artefact: Arcane Tome

Spell: Bash Em Lads

Show dem stoopid pointy earz ya know how to do da magic trickz! Use the reroll from Master of Magic to get two shots at the casting value of 8 for Bash Em Lads. What's best is when they try to stop the casting by getting close, their gonna have to eat about 7 damage if they can even kill the Megaboss in one go. If you want to go Big Brain, maybe choose Levitate from the Universal Spells for some sweet flying Pigs action. Coupled with Bloodtoofs' Warclan ability and Mighty Destroyers you could fly over a screen to charge a support hero and charge off to another support hero.

 

Gorbad Ironclaw

Command Trait: Skilled Leader

Artefact: Arcane Tome

Spell: Flaming Weapon (any)

The orc, the myth, The Legend. Just throw Mystic Shield on a nearby unit of 10 Brutes and call it a day. Farm your Command points and kill what comes close. What more could a Megaboss want? Out of Finest Hour and need to tank some shots? Mystic Shield!  You could really choose any other spell, but Bash Em Lads is hard to get off hur hur hur and sometimes you need to be a bit more killy. Flaming Weapon is only a Casting Value of 4, so that's a good shot on 2d6. And what Orruk Megaboss would'nt want a flaming weapon? It's like carrying lunch with you at all times!

Kapn Krunch loves his flamin' sabre!

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/d

Percentage Change Calculator https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percent-change-calculator.php