Ironback Spitter

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Ironback Spitter Minion Gatorman Heavy Warbeast

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
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 4 STR 10 MAT 6 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 10 ARM 18 CMD 6 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 3 THRS 9 HP 29 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 12 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

• 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

• 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
  • Damage Type: Corrosion
  • Continuous Corrosion
• Bite - Range 1, 15 P+S melee weapon.
• Claw (x2) - 1" reach, P+S 13 melee weapons. Very low P+S for a heavy.
  • Open Fist

Animus

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Counterblast	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

• Minions
  • The Blindwater Congregation
  • Will Work for Food

• 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	Barnabas0 - Underchief Mire - Wrong Eye

Alternatively, a Skorne warlock can take this warbeast in the Disciples of Agony theme.

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification:  : Warbeast      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

See also the Warbeast page for a recap of the core warbeast rules. Forcing If an ability doesn't specify how much it costs to force, it costs 1. (Infernal Ruling) Animi A single Animus can be on several models at the same time. (Infernal Ruling) Unlike in Mk2, in Mk3 if a model has an animus on it from any source and then another animus is cast on that model, it will lose the first instance of an animus and will be replaced by the second. It does not matter if either the first animus or the second animus is from a warlock or warbeast. (Infernal Ruling) An animi cast by a warlock is an animi and a spell. (Infernal Ruling) Transferring Damage If both the warlock and the warbeast are damaged by the same attack (such as an AOE), then you need to apply the 'normal' damage to the warbeast before the transferred damage. This distinction can be important when you're working out who/what actually destroyed the beast. (Infernal Ruling) Frenzy (Edit) You cannot trigger optional abilities (such as Cleave or Sprint). (Infernal Ruling) You must trigger compulsory abilities (such as Consume) ... except for compulsory abilities that also generate an extra attack (such as Berserk). In that case, you don't get the Berserk attack. (Infernal Ruling) A warbeast may not make an Assault shot as part of a Frenzy activation. If the closest target to a warbeast resolving a Frenzy cannot be charged, then the warbeast will forfeit movement and action (as per the rules of having to charge and not being able to). (Infernal Ruling) If a frenzying warbeast can't reach its charge target (because the charge lane is blocked by terrain, etc) then it will make a failed charge and end its activation. (Locked thread) If a frenzying warbeast has two melee weapons with the same POW, it can choose which one to use. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Amphibious - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Carapace - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Retaliatory Strike      (Edit) "Basic melee attack" also includes Mount Attacks. Refer to the definition of 'Basic Attack' in the rulebook. You can't make Retaliatory Strikes vs free strikes, because the free striker is defined to be in your back arc (regardless of the actual model's facings) and thus you don't have LOS to it. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Counterblast      (Edit) What does trigger Counterblast Counterblast triggers off any advance, not just in-activation stuff. You can trigger Counterblast during your own turn, if your opponent has an ability to move during your turn (such as Admonition). Standing still but changing facing is an advance. What doesn't trigger Counterblast Aiming, or forfeiting your movement, is not advancing. If a model doesn't move, doesn't change facing, doesn't aim ... does nothing but skips straight ahead to its Combat Action, this is not an advance. (Infernal Ruling) Being placed (such as Teleport) is not an advance. Involuntary movement (being slammed, thrown, or pushed) is not an advance. Models can trigger this by walking into your back arc or out of LOS, but you still need LOS to make your attack. Unless you have something like Ghost Shot.

Rules Clarification : Corrosion      (Edit) If you deploy in corrosion hazard terrain (Acid Pool), then you get corroded before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. A weapon can inflict continuous corrosion without itself being a corrosion damage weapon (for example, the Acidic Touch animus). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity: Corrosion it just won't apply the continuous effect.

Rules Clarification : Corrosion      (Edit) If you deploy in corrosion hazard terrain (Acid Pool), then you get corroded before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. A weapon can inflict continuous corrosion without itself being a corrosion damage weapon (for example, the Acidic Touch animus). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity: Corrosion it just won't apply the continuous effect.

Rules Clarification : Open Fist  (aka, Power Attack Throw)     (Edit) Throw ( Edit ) See also the Throw article for a recap of the core Throw rules. If a model is somehow thrown at itself (which can happen with Durst1's feat) it would not move, it would be knocked down, and it would take a standard power attack damage roll but it would not take an additional die for colliding with itself. (Infernal Ruling) Because you move the target model between the attack roll and the damage roll, you can get different buffs applied to the two rolls. For instance, if you throw the target in or out of a Flanking model's melee range. Incorporeal vs Slammed/Thrown models ( Edit ) Incorporeal models cannot be moved by someone trying to slam them. Slammed models can move through Incorporeal models. If they have enough movement to get past them, no dramas. If they land on them, you move the Incorporeal model out of the way as per the Rule of Least Disturbance. If the Incorporeal model cannot be moved (i.e. it's a flag) then you move the slammed model out of the way, also by the rule of Least Disturbance. For the purposes of Collateral Damage, only the model(s) you contacted before you applied the rule of Least Disturbance count as contacted. The same logic applies to Throws. Collateral Damage Collateral damage cannot be boosted and is not considered damage from an attack or model. Refer page 33 of the 2021.08 version of the rules pdf. As a result: It doesn't trigger stuff that relies on being hit by an enemy (such as Shock Field) or damaged by an enemy (such as Vengeance). It doesn't get bonus damage from stuff that adds to a model's damage roll (such as Signs & Portents or Prey). It doesn't matter if the attacker has crippled weapon systems or aspects. Throw - Power Attack When you make a Throw Power Attack, no other abilities of the Fist weapon (such as Chain Strike) are applied unless they specifically mention Throws. (Locked Thread) If you do a Power Attack Throw and you choose to throw the target directly away, no deviation is rolled to determine the final position of the model. (Locked thread) A model that cannot be targeted by melee attacks (such as Una2's feat) cannot have models thrown at them, either. (Infernal Ruling) Since throwing Model [A] at Model [B] involves making a melee attack roll vs Model [B] which is out of your melee range, it technically breaks a whole bunch of core rules. (Infernal Checking) Even though you make a "melee attack roll" vs Model [B] you don't actually make a melee attack vs it. Also, the damage it suffers is from Collateral damage, not from the original attack. So you can't trigger stuff like Snacking from damage you did to Model B.