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.