Warcry/Tactics/Iron Golems

"We Create War!" Hailing from the Realm of Metal, these obnoxiously Norwegian-accented warriors are renowned for the quality of their smithing, believing themselves chosen by Archaon himself to forge arms and armor for the Slaves to Darkness. They also have both Duardin and Ogors. They seem to be the most Classically Chaos of the warbands. In the Warcry Anthology, the short story The Iron Promise, follows a small detachment of Iron Golems sent to check up on a missing weapons delivery from a Chaos Duardin.

Something or someone is tearing the duardin’s forge apart from within, and the Iron Golems are sent into the depths on a classic monster hunt, where the monster is something quite different from what you would expect.

It is one of the best stories in the collection, so I won’t spoil it for you, but it showcases how an Iron Golems warband

Faction Overview

The Iron Golems come from the Ferrium Mountains in Chamon, the realm of Metal, and unlike most of the other warbands, their lives are not all about destroying, pillaging and stealing.

They are smiths as well as warriors, and have come to the Bloodwind Spoil to become Archaon’s favorite suppliers of arms and armor.

As warriors, they are also less “chaotic” than the other Chaos warbands. They fight like a well-drilled army, with great discipline and, to a great extent, rather defensively.

They are all about order and control in the service of Chaos. This doesn’t make them the good guys at all, however, as they only respect strength and show no compassion for weakness of any kind.

typically fights:They move in tight ranks, pushing the enemy into a corner and wearing them down with their hammers while withstanding the enemy’s attacks with their armor and shields.

Metal is eternal but flesh is impermanent, unable to reshaped through the sacred foging fires. Enemies who are defeated are taken to the flames, heaped upon great pyres - their armour and weapons melted to become obelisks.They believe that they are chosen to create weapons for Archaon and his numberless hordes, [1a] trading with many Chaos aligned kingdoms who recognise the quality of their work.[1d]

Their ancestors enslaved the Sun Dragon Axrantahos within their mountain and which still is harnessed for its magama blasts that power their forges.

Pros

• Cheap, heavy armour: all your fighters have Toughness 4 and your Iron Legionaries have Toughness 5.
• Respectable damage output. There are a lot of fighters with 2/4 and 2/5 damage lines and a solid number of attacks to back it up.
• Diverse array of abilities with high threat potential.
• Great models.

Cons

• Slow. You have one fighter that has 3" movement and no real access to any movement abilities outside of the universal [Double] Rush.
• Good Damage and Strength comes at a lack of Attacks, which statistically is not a good trade.
• A near total lack of ranged ability. This is a melee warband. [Double] Throw Bolas, while better than nothing, uses an entire ability just to give the Golems a chance to do some level of damage from afar.
• Generally regarded as one of the most underpowered warbands. Which is a shame because the models are so cool.

Abilities Overview

• [Double] Throw Bolas: Pick a visible enemy fighter within 6" of this fighter and roll 2 dice. For each roll of 4-5, allocate 1 damage point to that fighter. For each roll of 6, allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability. (Universal ability)
• [Double] Spine-crushing Blow: Add the value of this ability to the Strength characteristic of the next attack action made by this fighter this activation that has a Range characteristic of 3 or less. (Prefector or Dominar, Brute ability)
• [Double] Lead with Strength: A fighter can use this ability only if an enemy fighter has been taken down by an attack action made by them this activation. This fighter makes a bonus move action or a bonus attack action. (Dominar, Leader ability)
• [Triple] Living Battering Ram: Until the end of this fighter's activation, the next time this fighter finishes a move action within 1" of an enemy fighter, pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter. Allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability. (Ogor Breacher, Destroyer ability)
• [Triple] Stand Defiant: Until the end of the battle round, add 1 to the Toughness characteristic of friendly fighters while they are within 6" of this fighter. (Signifier, Bulwark ability)
• [Quad] Whirlwind of Death: Allocate a number of damage points to all visible enemy fighters within 3" of this fighter equal to the value of this ability. (Drillmaster, Berserker ability)

Fighter's Overview

Leaders

Dominar

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 175 Pts.
  • Rule: Leader, Brute
  • Weapons:
    • Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 5; Damage 2/5
  • Fighter Commentary- You have to take him, and that's ok, because he is pretty good. He is little more than a beat stick, but he is a very capable beat stick at S5 2/5. [Double] Spine-crushing Blow is fine enough, but since you're already S5, there are very few foes in the game that justify its use. [Double] Lead with Strength can make him a very strong threat when fighting multiple enemies at once. Trades 1 Attack for +1 Strength and +1 Crit Damage. In most cases, mathhammer says not a good trade.

Fighters

Iron Legionary

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 5; Wounds 10; 80 Pts.
  • Weapons:
    • Club-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
  • Fighter Commentary- Do not allow the rather meek weapon statline fool you--these are among the best fighters in the warband. Group them up next to a Signifer, activate the Signifier's [Triple] Stand Defiant to put them at Toughness 6, and watch every S3 fighter on the field struggle to get a single wound in edgewise--and there are a lot of S3 fighters in Warcry. Whoever wrote this didn't factor in that S3 fighters still wound T6 fighters on 5+ in Warcry so no and rarely worth it on a triple. These guys are excellent for objective mobbing as a result and with a few lucky six rolls can become threats in their own right quickly.

Iron Legionary with Bolas

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 4 Wounds 10; 65 Pts.
  • Weapons:
    • Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
    • Reach Weapon-Range 3"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
  • Fighter Commentary- While he doesn't seem impressive, and he isn't, the reach weapon can indeed be an important tool to have on the chase. This is not a warband that has any real range game, so even 3" is nice. Newer warbands get Damage 1/3 on such attacks. Overcosted and not effective. Still, you can take him as a points filler.

Iron Legionary with Twin Hammers

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 4; Wounds 10; 70 Pts.
  • Weapons:
    • Club-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
  • Fighter Commentary The best of the Iron Legionary subtypes. If you have the points.

Armator

• Stats: Movement 3"; Toughness 4; Wounds 12; 90 Pts.
  • Weapons:
    • Hammer-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 1/4
  • Fighter Commentary- The Armator has a solid weapon statline, capable of putting out a surprising amount of damage in a turn for a very low cost. It comes with the near-insurmountable downside of three inch movement, though. He is not quick to the party, and by the time he manages to get to the fight, it's probably over. In a game like Warcry that is commonly over in as little as three turns, his potential damage output doesn't make up for the terrible movement and lack of access to any interesting abilities.

Drillmaster

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 15; 125 Pts.
  • Rule: Berserker
  • Weapons:
    • Hammer-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
    • Reach Weapon-Range 3"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 1/2
  • Fighter Commentary- The sideboob is probably the best all-around fighter available to the Iron Golems. With 5" movement, the Drillmaster can get to fights and reposition quickly, making her relevant extremely early. Her four attacks with either available weapon profile combined with S4, 15 wounds, and respectable damage output make her an absolute monster at 125 points. Easily worth taking two. Getting the sheer delight of a [Quad] Whirlwind of Death off is rare, but when it happens at a high die value it can swing fights like you wouldn't believe.

Ogor Breacher

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 5; Wounds 30; 235 Pts.
  • Rule: Destroyer
  • Weapons:
    • Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 6; Damage 4/8
  • Fighter Commentary- This guy is worth every point of his overcosted at 235 points and doesn't feature in competitive lists. His ability not only to put a ludicrously high amount of damage down with his fists (S6 with 4/8 damage well makes up for having two attacks), but to wound the enemy by merely moving near them with his [Triple] Living Battering Ram is absolutely among the best tools the Iron Golems bring to the table. Alternative perspective: Living Battering Ram is ok, but not amazing as the preceding commenter would have you believe. Use a wild die to create a triple the moment you think this guy is going to be able to touch an enemy base for the first time. With 30 wounds, you'll often find your opponent either ignoring him entirely or seriously over-committing resources in order to take him off the board. Use him to solo-hold objectives and bully smaller fighters. It is probably not worth taking two.

Prefector

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 4; Wounds 15; 125 Pts.
  • Rule: Brute
  • Weapons:
    • Hammer-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
  • Fighter Commentary- This is who [Double] Spine-crushing Blow was actually made for. He is a thicc duelist capable of leader-level damage output for a decent price. He suffers a bit when compared to other fighters as he doesn't really bring anything to the table outside of being a lighter version of the Dominar. Again trades an attack for +1 crit damage (not even Stregnth this time). Not worth it. Take Drillmaster over this every time.

Signifier

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 4; Wounds 15; 120 Pts.
  • Rule: Bulwark
  • Weapons:
    • Hammer-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
  • Fighter Commentary- If you are just starting with your very first Iron Golems box, build the Signifier. His synergy with the Iron Legionaries can be extremely oppressive, and he is the major engine behind the Golems exceptional toughness with his [Triple] Stand Defiant. He is no slouch in combat, either, with three S4 2/4 attacks, don't be afraid to put him in the thick of it. Alternative perspective: Again this guy seems to miss that YOU ARE STILL WOUNDED on 5+, making the [Triple] ability rarely worth it and the Drillmaster better every time.

General Tactics

You are good at one thing: being very tough. This means that you actually do play the objective game well, as you can focus one or two objectives and maintain dominance for the rest of the game as you keep buffing your toughness up and backing it up with respectable damage output. [Double] Throw Bolas is your friend and only real ranged option, but it is a respectable ability that can be utilized at nearly every stage of the game. It is particularly good for chasing down fleeing opponents.

You should make use of the best abilities the Golems have. Utilize the Ogor Breacher's [Triple] Living Battering Ram whenever you're able. It's great for applying pressure. Use the Signifier and [Triple] Stand Defiant to weather an alarming amount of punishment, especially if you use them in range of your Iron Legionaries to give them that sweet, sweet toughness 6.

Your most important fighter is probably the Drillmaster. Use her to chase down and finish enemies and make high-aggression plays.

Shield group should probably include the Signifier and Iron Legionaries, perhaps accompanied by a Breacher or Drillmaster. The precise makeup of the hammer and dagger groups aren't as important, but those are also very good places for your Breachers and Drillmasters. There is actually not a bad group to put either of those in.

Example Builds

Warcry Tactics
Grand Alliance: Chaos	Corvus Cabal Cypher Lords Darkoath Savagers Horns of Hashut Iron Golems Rotmire Creed Scions of the Flame Spire Tyrants Splintered Fang Tarantulos Brood The Unmade Untamed Beasts
	Blades of Khorne (Bloodbound Daemons) Disciples of Tzeentch (Arcanites Daemons) Hedonites of Slaanesh (Sybarites Daemons) Maggotkin of Nurgle (Rotbringers Daemons)
	Beasts of Chaos Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Grand Alliance: Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Legions of Nagash Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers
Grand Alliance: Destruction	Bonesplitterz Gloomspite Gitz Ironjawz Kruleboyz Ogor Mawtribes
Grand Alliance: Order	Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Cities of Sigmar Idoneth Deepkin Khainite Shadowstalkers Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Sylvaneth
	Stormcast Eternals (Sacrosanct Chamber Thunderstrike Vanguard Chamber Warrior Chamber)
Monsters & Mercenaries	Chaos Gargant Chaos Spawn Chaos Warhound Chaotic Beasts Cygor Fomoroid Crusher Ghorgon Gotrek Kharibdyss Mindstealer Sphiranx Ogroid Myrmidon Razorgor Skitterstrand Arachnarok Terrorgheist War Hydra Zombie Dragon