Today, I have a Mawtribes tactics article combining the knowledge of three excellent Mawtribes generals, Doom & Darkness, Adam Burt & HeyWoah Twitch!
Michael of Doom & Darkness has done the hard yards and written the piece and you can also check out his full Mawtribes review.
Mawtribes Tactics: Tyrants of Legend
Adam Burt
The first Tyrant is Adam Burt from the Heralds of War Podcast. Adam recently went 5-1 (five wins, one loss) at the Call to Glory tournament at Cancon 2020.
I approached Adam to ask if he had any advice for Mawtribes players looking to be competitive.
“You may have heard of a tactic called Hammer and the Anvil, this is an age-old tactic that requires two units be used in conjunction with one another. It invariably consists of a tough-as-nails unit (the anvil) that can take some punishment. While the hammer is a unit that may not be tough, but hits like a freight train, in Age of Sigmar hammers could be Exalted Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh, Flamers of Tzeentch, Evocators or even a monster like a Maw Krusha.
Well with Mawtribes you can forget this tactic because your anvils are your hammers and your hammers are also your anvils! It is two for the price of one! Here are three great examples of units from the Mawtribes book that will take this role for you on the battlefield.
* 12 Ogor Gluttons – 48 wounds of fleshy goodness, for 400 points a unit of these big boys also pumps out 37 attacks, with 6s becoming two hits. They may not have rend, but at two damage per attack and possibly combined with some spell support from a Butcher or Slaughtermaster they will make work of even the hardiest opponent.
* Frostlord on Stonehorn – 13 wounds, a 3+ save, and 5+ Stone Skeleton “aftersave” gives the Stonehorn great survivability. Don’t discount the 5+ Stone Skeleton either, this provides the Stonehorn with 17 effective wounds… combine this with a whopping potential of 57 damage on the charge and this bad boy will give your opponent something to worry about for only 400 points.
*8 Ironguts – your opponent will only make the mistake of underestimating Ironguts once. A unit of 8 has 32 wounds with a 4+ save, in cover this would give them a 3+ save and because of their two-inch reach, they can all attack with a small frontage of only four models (which makes fitting them all in terrain that little bit easier). Then, when they do attack, they throw out three attacks each that have rend -1 and three damage! Units of four of these guys will mince a Mortarch in a turn (not Katakros), let alone a unit of 8!”
HeyWoah Twitch
Next up we have Joe Alane from Wisconsin, also known as Heywoah Twitch. Joe has been a champion of the Beastclaw Raiders component of the Mawtribes since he first got into the hobby. Joe recently went 4-1 with his Stonehorn heavy list (four Stonehorns!) at WAAAGH! Paca 2020 in the US. Let’s hear what advice Joe has to give.
“Might Makes Right is a potent tool which makes your Ogors count as two models to capture objectives but more importantly your Stonehorns count as 10! Being three or fewer drops is the most critical requirement for Mawtribes competitive play. Focus on your strengths and play Boulderhead Jorlbad or Eurlbad with two Frostlords on Stonehorns. Give your opponent the first turn and go for the double.
In the current Meta, 10-model capturing Stonehorns with a powerful initial hit and a consistent chance at a double turn allows you to steal wins from armies that should by all rights beat you on paper. When using a Stonehorn heavy army almost everything in your opponent’s army is a nail. Luckily you have lots of hammers to hit them with!
Capturing objectives wins games, but so does positioning and tempo. Reduce variance as much as possible. If you can’t beat it, find a way to reduce its impact on the game. Understand that the majority of what decides a game of Warhammer Age of Sigmar happens before the first turn begins.”
Mawtribes tactics: Which tribe should I take?
Right now, there are two different Mawtribes tribes at the top of matched play – Bloodgullet and Boulderhead. This is not to write off the other tribes completely, but there has been a strong preference for these two tribes.
Bloodgullet
The Bloodgullet tribe herald from the realm of fire, Aqshy. Slaughtermasters and Butchers from this tribe are infused with the power of blood magic drained from their enemies. On the tabletop, this means your Slaughtermasters and Butchers can cast two spells instead of one.
The real power, however, comes from combining the command trait Nice Drop of the Red Stuff and the command ability Bloodbath.
- Nice Drop of the Red Stuff: friendly units wholly within 12″ can pile in an extra 3″;
- Bloodbath: your Gluttons wholly within 12 of a BLOODGULLET BUTCHER can reroll wound rolls.
This combination of abilities makes a unit of 12 Ogor Gluttons #deadliertthanever….but wait…there is still more!
Gormand battalion
A Slaughtermaster will often lead a Bloodgullet army in a Gormand battalion which contains many of the units you would normally want to take anyways (Slaughtermaster, Gluttons,Ironguts and Leadbelchers).
This battalion allows you to reduce the number of drops in your army to normally between three to five, often allowing you to dictate who has the first turn.
The battalion also allows your Slaughtermaster to use the Great Cauldron ability twice. With this ability we are fishing for a roll on a d6 of three or four to get the Spinemarrow buff off. This makes Ogor Gluttons now hit on a 2+ instead of 3+.
The Mawtribes spell lore has many great spells, but in particular, we want to try and get either Blood Feast or Ribcracker off in support of our Gluttons or Ironguts.
So let us bring it together, 12 Ogor Gluttons with Paired Clubs supported by a Blood Gullet Slaughtermaster in a Gormand battalion buffed with the great cauldron and Blood Feast means that 12 Ogor Gluttons are making 48 attacks, hitting on 2+s with exploding sixes and wounding on 3+s with rerolls. If that’s not enough then the follow up 24 Gulping Bites hitting on 2+ and wounding on 3+s with rerolls will likely finish off whatever is left!
While buffed Ogor Gluttons can hit hard, they can unfortunately also get hit very hard if they do not get to attack first. The unit has 48 wounds which are enough to take a hit in a lot of instances. However, have no doubts that units like a Megaboss on Maw-Krusha, Flamers of Tzeentch or buffed up Ardboys will blow through a unit of 12 Ogor Gluttons in one round of combat.
Make sure if you don’t have control of the initiative or are too far away from your enemy to reliably get the charge on them that you have a screen up to protect your Gluttons. A line of Gnoblars or Frost Sabres in front of your units could save you from losing your strongest unit in one turn.
Boulderhead
The second tribe we see commonly selected for competitive play is The Boulderhead tribe. This tribe once fought a brutal and gruelling civil war against the Blood Fists tribe to try and establish dominance over all Ogor tribes.
Stonehorns of a Fearsome Breed lead the charge in this tribe, increasing the number of wounds of your Stonehorns from 13 to 14 and allowing Frost Lords on Stonehorn and Huskards on Stonehorn to use the Dig Deep Your Heels command ability. This allows the unit to use the top row on the unit’s damage table regardless of how many wounds it has taken, preserving its effectiveness for longer. This not only has useful implications for the combat phase but also the movement phase.
Games are often won in turns four and five and suddenly restoring your Stonehorns’ movement to full, may be the difference between getting him onto that critical objective where he counts as ten models to win the game. Knowing that your Stonehorn can always fight at full strength if you have a CP available can also force some difficult combat activation decisions onto your opponent.
Jorlbad/Eurlbad
If you’re running Boulderhead then you might find yourself taking a Jorlbad or Eurlbad which, excluding the battalion’s abilities, allows you to reduce the number of drops in your army hopefully enabling you to dictate who takes the first turn. In addition, it will also give you access to that critical second artefact.
Artefact choices
Typical builds for Boulderhead Stonehorn include combining the Brand of the Svard artefact and Black Clatterhorn mount trait to ensure both your Stonehorn’s horns and hooves hit on 2+ so you can deliver that critical killing blow when required.
Alternatively, you can take an Ethereal Amulet artefact from the realm of Shyish and combine it with the Metalcruncher mount trait to make a super resilient Stonehorn who can go toe to toe with almost any monster/hero in the game.
You are, however, not restricted to one or the other and typically you will see two Frostlords on Stonehorn in a competitive Boulderhead list. If you wish to spread the + 1 to hit love around a little bit more, then put the Brand of the Svard on one Stonehorn and Black Clatterhorn on the other, and now they are both hitting on 3+ with those high damage horns.
Facing off against up to five Stonehorns can be very intimidating for your opponents and poses quite the problem for your opponent when it comes to target priority!
Underguts
Now I can’t write an article about the competitiveness of the different Ogor Mawtribes without giving an honourable mention to the Underguts. This tribe specialises in shooting, and while we have not seen it float to the top of a tournament yet, that does not mean it won’t.
Unfortunately, the firepower brought to the table with Underguts Ironblasters is very erratic. While being capable of blowing soft targets like Keepers of Secrets off the table, heaven forbid you find yourself opposite an ethereal Megaboss on Mawkrusha or Petrifex Elite Nagash.
Mawtribes tactics: What else does your list need?
Now to finish off the Mawtribes tactics article I want to talk about one of the most important components of many armies, and that is screens. “What’s a screen you might ask?” well a screen is a cheap disposable unit that is placed in front of your larger expensive and more critical units to block an enemy charge.
One thing about Ogors is that they have no save after save and no real “always strikes first” mechanic. The majority of your units have a 4+ or 5+ save and what this means is if your opponent charges you and attacks first then you are going to take a significant amount of damage before you ever get to strike.
A simple 100-point, 20 strong unit of Gnoblars in a line in front of your Ironguts or Ogors Gluttons for the most part will prevent this from occurring in your opponent’s turn. If you find that Gnoblars are sometimes too slow or restricting your own army’s movement, try switching to small units of Frost Sabres and play them sideways, they are faster and can screen almost as well!
Unfortunately, I need to wrap this up, but this article is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ogor Mawtribes tactics. To all the Tyrants out there keep up the good fight and remember to show your enemies why two clubs are better than one and why Ogors are the best!
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