Ironback Spitter
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Ironback Spitter |
The ironback spitter is a reptilian monstrosity from the deepest reaches of western Immoren’s swamps and marshes. A towering, turtle-like creature, the ironback is armed with a fearsome beak and two mighty claws, each capable of rending flesh, bone, and even steel. Its most dangerous attack, however, is a blast of corrosive venom that can reduce enemies to bubbling pools of noxious slime in a matter of seconds.
Basic Info
Ironback Spitter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- Warbeast - All warbeasts share a huge stack of special rules. The short version is they're big, furious, and beat stuff up pretty good. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.
Abilities
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Amphibious
- Carapace - This model gains +4 ARM against ranged attack damage rolls.
- Retaliatory Strike - If this model is hit by a melee attack made by an enemy model during your opponent's turn, after that attack is resolved this model can immediately make one basic melee attack against that model. This model can make only one Retaliatory Strike per turn.
Weapons
- Spit Blast - 12" range, 4" AOE, POW 14 gun
- Bite - Range 1, 15 P+S melee weapon.
- Claw (x2) - 1" reach, P+S 13 melee weapons. Very low P+S for a heavy.
Animus
COST | RNG | AOE | POW | DUR | OFF | ||
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Counterblast
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1 | SELF | - | - | Round | No | |
When an enemy model advances and ends its movement within the spellcaster's command range, the spellcaster can make one basic melee or ranged attack targeting that model, then Counterblast expires. Counterblast lasts for one round. |
Theme Forces
- Other Factions
- Skorne players can use this warbeast in the Disciples of Agony theme.
- Also, if taken by a Gatorman Lesser Warlock (ie Wrong Eye or Underchief Mire), it can be in dozens of theme forces. Omitted here for brevity.
Recent Changes
2021. 10 (Rebalancepocalypse): -2 points
Thoughts on Ironback Spitter
Ironback Spitter in a nutshell
The Ironback Spitter is a solid ranged heavy. A medium AoE doing continuous corrosion gives it a good game against infantry while against heavies it has a solid POW, and a Carapace to deal with return fire.
It’s painfully slow but it’s still a very capable beast.
Combos & Synergies
- Blackhide Wrastler - its melee game needs beefing up, and the Wrastler does just that. Unfortunately if deploying in waves you don't necessarily want the wrastler to dive in after the Spitter.
- Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer. She wants a warbeast within 3" to trigger her Battle Host ARM buff, and the Ironback is the only Minion warbeast who likes to hang back and shoot and give her the buff. Also the mass benefit from Signs & Portents goes some way to fixing its notable weaknesses.
- Calaban the Gravewalker likes ranged attacks; they combo well with Parasite.
- Croak Raiders are immune to its shooting so you can use them as 'targeting beacons' to clip otherwise untargetable enemies, or just use the Ironback to clear out whoever the Raiders jammed up.
- The Gatorman Posse may not be immune to its shooting, but if they are under the AoE they have 8 wounds - and it does dice-9 damage to them with corrosion only being a single point. The Spitter can therefore unjam them pretty safely.
- Bloody Barnabas-Pop N Drop lets it threaten just about anything. Warpath can help it to sneak into some otherwise unexpected firing lines.
- Targ can give him an extra shot each turn with ancillary attack- it's pretty good, but whether that's worth forgoing the utility of the Gatorman Soul Slave is debatable, boiling down to which warlock you take.
- Paingiver Beast Handlers in the Skorne Disciples of Agony theme force are ubiqitous. Even +2 STR plus free charges makes it only mediocre in melee against an enemy heavy but it's still a significant improvement.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Slow and therefore only an average threat range.
- Easy to kill in melee at DEF 10 ARM 18. Especially by models with reach who can ignore retaliatory strike.
- Mediocre in melee offensively. With only basic reach it won't mulch much infantry. And P+S 15 is on average dice-4 damage vs an enemy heavy
- While not commonplace lots of models have corrosion Immunity, weaken it’s gun. Crucible Guard especially is a poor match up for the turtle.
- The slow+long range/carapace combination just encourages the enemy to shoot something nearer the enemy guns.
Tricks & Tips
- With Counterblast affordable you can now play a bit more forward, behind your skirmish screen, and expect to get counterblast off for two shots in a turn.
- Conversely you can also keep him parked near your caster where counterblast and his native combat skills will scare away most missile solos looking for a shot at assassination.
- Corrosion against single-wounds is mean enough and your spitter's AOE big enough that you can try to scatter into blobbed infantry seemingly beyond your range. Half damage won't outright kill much, but getting corrosion on the better chunk of a unit is enough to cause it lasting problems.
- Like almost all ranged warjacks/warbeasts, despite an excellent gun, it actually hits most foes harder in melee. Its Mat is higher than its Rat, the P+S of its bite is higher than the Pow of its spit, and it can make multiple attacks. And three basic attacks and the ability to buy more makes up for the AoE against most foes (not including e.g. bunched up shield walls).
Other
Trivia
- Despite the big shell and the rule Carapace, he gets no protection against attacks originating in his back arc.
- Released in Forces of Hordes: Minions (2011)
Who can take this warbeast?
With the way Minion battlegroups work, this warbeast can't simply be taken by any Minion warlock, and instead it must be controlled by one of the following:
Gatorman Warlocks (Edit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warlocks | Barnabas1 - Barnabas2 - Calaban1 - Jaga-Jaga1 - Maelok1 - Rask1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lesser Warlocks |
Alternatively, a Skorne warlock can take this warbeast in the Disciples of Agony theme.
Other Minion models
Rules Clarifications
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Rules Clarification: : Warbeast (Edit) |
See also the Warbeast page for a recap of the core warbeast rules.
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Rules Clarification : Amphibious - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Carapace - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Retaliatory Strike (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Counterblast (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Corrosion (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Corrosion (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Open Fist (aka, Power Attack Throw) (Edit)
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