[TOW] Infernal Ironsworn

[Valkuk]

Made a post in another forum about this and thought I’d share it here too since this is the capital of all things Drath-Zharr.

I think a lot of people sleep on ironsworn. They used to be massively overpriced in a list where our basic core choice also had full plate but now they are imo our best infantry option (maybe barring black orcs but they are one of the best units in the game and also require a character tax).

Sure ironsworn are expensive but that can also be a good thing. 20 of them with great weapon, shields and the lammasus beard clock in at just over 500.
For this you get a unit that is an absolute nightmare to deal with for basically anything since they have 3+5++ against shooting and magic resistance 2.

Thanks to having 2 weapon options there isn’t a direct counter available in cc either, which helps for a unit with m3 who might not get to pick and choose engagements.
Once they are in combat you basically get to decide if they will be ironbreakers or hammerers and they will always beat the former offensively and the latter defensively (stats wise) thanks to 2A and full plate.

This gets even more ridiculous when you add in all the rules they get.
We are probably the best faction in the entire game when it comes to detachments because all our detachments come with stubborn and shieldwall out of the box. Take 2x10 fireglaives as detachments and slap shields on those badboys. They will hold against almost anything since they only need to have 2 models to ALWAYS give ground the first time they lose combat. If you’ve positioned them correctly you are then free to flank whatever charged them with your 20 man unit of terminators and they tear through absolutely anything no problem.

Now we come back to the issue of cost and like I said, they are crazy expensive on the levels of chosen.
But the way I see it, this is a gift. More than a quarter of your army in a unit that simply won’t die is a good thing. Unless you make a mistake or get unlucky, those points will never be claimed by your opponent.
The rest of the army should be used for things like the iron daemon, bull centaurs or a bale taurus depending on what you like. These go on the flanks to deter anything from sneaking around.
I feel the war machines are mostly all either overpriced, weak or too situational to be of use so those aren’t really needed.

Obviously it’s a bit dependent on match up but that is always going to factor. Ironsworn probably won’t do a thing against wood elves for example but that holds true for a lot of our roster.

No point in trying to save points on these guys. Go big or go home.

[Jasko]

Completely agree, they are an excellent unit! Really went from zero to hero compared to 8th.

Important to remember that a unit needs to use the shields in CC in order to use shieldwall, but at least there’s s no problem to use Fireglaives for Stand & Shoot and then switch to HW&S.

Feel free to add this tactic to the big tactics wiki!

[TOW] Chaos Dwarf Tactics

Flame, Ash & Smoke Tactics Your match is scheduled, your army list is created and you arrived at the table with your models - now what? Here you will find actual battlefield tactics. The Chaos Dwarf Grand Army list offers a varied host of different units that can support almost any playstyle. Let them come! Let’s face it, Dwarfs are slow. But they are also tough and have a lot of firepower. Lean into your strength, don’t try to force charges that you likely wont get. And nothing is worse t…

[Valkuk]

Yep, have to use the shields. But you’d almost always want to anyway since they are meant to hold that one time.

Hmm gladly! Just as a regular reply or how do you mean?

[Jasko]

@Valkuk

But you’d almost always want to anyway since they are meant to hold that one time.

Depends, you might want to use the S5 attacks. But it’s great that units can chose again which weapon to use.

@Valkuk

Just as a regular reply or how do you mean?

Excellent! All posts are wiki posts so they can be edited by anyone. If you want, just edit the posts and include a paragraph about best use for Ironsworn.

[Kharnak]

Do you guys have any tactics around forcing the enemy to engage with this super unit?

I love the aesthetic and the battlefield power of it, but marching 6 inches a turn I’m worried they’ll never get to engage.

If I was across from that I would certainly avoid it lol.

I’m not really up on the new magic. Is there anything there that would help?

[Zoddtheimmortal]

Well as they are drilled you can march 9 at least once. If you could shield them some how 18inch in 2 turns is nice. Plus daemonology has a lovely fly spell for units.
I havent used the unit myself yet but i have one painted up

[Kharnak]

The steed of shadows spells does look like a cool idea.

How does drilled get you extra distance though?

When I looked, it just seemed like it lets you march while near enemies and redress ranks easily.

[Vacationist]

The idea is to start in marching column, allowing for a triple march (9" or even a mind boggling 36" with steed of shadows). Next turn you declare a charge and use drilled to get into a fighting formation before engaging

[Kharnak]

Thank for explaining that, I wasn’t aware of that rule.

[Jasko]

If the target is juicy enough (i.e. costs enough points) your opponent sooner or later has to engage it if he wants the points. You just have to make sure that he cannot pick off all the other stuff in your army one by one before.

Traditionally you would want to combine such a low-movement superunit with lots of ranged threats (heavy on war machines, small arms fire and magic), where you give your opponent only one of two choices: stay away and get shot to pieces or come to your army and face your superunit. Needless to say that this plan is only valid until the game starts But I’d suggest to go all in or don’t do it at all. If your army is “a little bit of everything” and then such a unit, an enemy army with a clear focus will pick you apart.