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Another year, another GHB that shakes some things up in the AoS world.

Premise of this thread is to discuss the hows of what changed for some armies and why that makes them superior to their previous years incarnation, and who benefitted the most as a whole.

After a few read throughs and comparing them to last year, I’m feeling good about the changes to Ironjawz. They are my GHB19 Most Improved.

How they changed:

Most obvious is somewhat modest points reductions to 4 of their 9 Warscroll units and all but one of their 8 Warscroll Battalions went down in varying levels of points. Points reductions to the Warscroll units may have been a touch too conservative though, I’m torn on if they could have went a bit deeper on a few. The loss of Ardboyz discounts is a downer.

Mighty Destroyer moving from a Battle Trait to a Command Ability seemed like a subtle nerf at first read, but Mighty Destroyer itself was mega buffed in my opinion. Its automatic now, rather than needing a base 6 with situational modifiers. Costs a command point now, but its no longer a chance. You get what you want out of it.

New command abilities give them some more options, with a focus (appropriately enough) on the All-out Attack command ability. A Maw-Krusha with rerolling ones with its various attacks is extra brutal.

New Spell Lore. Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork is a game changer with Ironjawz. Early game charges will be a thing with Ironjawz now. This spell alone makes the Ironjawz a bigger threat then they were last year. The spell also helps them seize/clear objectives or get a crucial charge late game as well. I think Bash Em Ladz is the second best spell, if only to increase the lethality of surrounding units. The rest of the spells are decent, I suppose, but the Hand is what its all about.

A few of the Command Traits improved, with Ironclad looking like Mystic Shield, getting your Warboss a bit extra survivability, so he can get more Waaghs off.

Why those changes improved them the most, over their counterparts:

The points reductions open up more possibilities with squeezing in another small unit, character, battalion, Endless Spell or using the discounts to purchase the 50 point command point. The reductions aren’t big enough on the Warscroll units that you’ll need to go out and buy 4 more boxes of Ardboyz or anything, but its a definite improvement over last year. The Battalion reductions make fielding them easier, as well as getting you access to more CPs and artefacts, if you desire.

It might end up being situational, but reading the changes to Mighty Destroyers, the new found mobility of Ironjawz will catch some by surprise.

And speaking of mobility, if the only change that GHB19 made to Ironjawz was adding the Hand spell, it would have been a huge boon.

I feel that GHB19 may have made Ironjawz a contender. Maybe not a clear cut Tier 1 army, but now with more options to be a problem for quite a few armies. I’m eager to see how they do in this new year of AoS, even debating starting an Ironjawz. At the least, they seem more fun to play with, and much more dangerous to play against.

Agree/Disagree with any point I raised? Have your own nominee for most improved? Lets hear it.

I agree.

Ironjawz spells are pretty awesome, and moving Mighty Destroyers to a Command Ability is a good move. I wish Destruction would be the same, I never get it when needed. I honestly still can't believe the Hand of Gork spell, it's just so good. Ardboys after the port need only a 6 to charge, which not only opens up the possibility of first turn charge and binding a large portion of the enemy army with 30 boyz, but also objective grabs throughout the game.

The only real contender is Seraphon with their new spell lore, but they were already good. The other allegiances remain largely unchanged, a few wordings changed and a few rules adjusted, maybe 1 or 3 abilities redesiged.

Completely agree and you did a great job explaining why. One exception is I am surprised you did not mention mighty destroyers being used for a hero phase pile-in and attack; that is probably the single biggest buff to Ironjawz out of everything.

 Hanskrampf wrote:

The only real contender is Seraphon with their new spell lore, but they were already good. .

Yeah the original thread I was half done writing was going to be a tie with Seraphon, with a breakdown of why they improved as well, but I don’t know Seraphon as well as Ironjawz and I was sleepy. They definitely got some new weapons, their new anti-horde spell in particular is the first thing that came to mind.

Eager to see how they do this year as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Completely agree and you did a great job explaining why. One exception is I am surprised you did not mention mighty destroyers being used for a hero phase pile-in and attack; that is probably the single biggest buff to Ironjawz out of everything.

Yeah, its definitely powerful. I was going to sing Mighty Destroyers’ praises a bit more, but I was hyped for the Hand of Gork and moved onto its power and implications.

Seraphon didn't improve much because they were already strong. Saurus went down in points but the stronger builds didn't use them and probably still won't. The real win is that saurus based armies are now viable in a casual setting.