The Iron Claw

It’s been a minute since I have composed something for the blog.  But I am still here putting together decks for Stormcast like a mad scientist gleefully blowing things up in his laboratory.  I consider this article an evolution of what I previously created for Truth and Claw, the Xandire’s deck build.  

Why Ironsoul’s?

Honestly, I got tired of missing attacks with Dhoraz.  Ironsoul’s gives me two fighters that start on three hammers and one that has the same attack profile as Dhoraz.  That extra hammer on two of the Ironsoul’s means they both hit like Xandire and are upgradeable.  Plus, the fact that they inspire on a crit means I have three chances per attack to inspire.  I like those odds.

Why Not Ironsoul’s?

Well let’s face it, they are unpopular for a reason.  If one of them gets taken out of action you lose a significant amount of choices.  If two go down you really have to work to be efficient.  And while 4 wounds will save them at times, they can simply go down in two activations.  In fact, this is why I originally didn’t play them.  I had a few games where they were just removed from the board by mid round two.  It is an awful feeling and caused me to store them in the foam for a while.  Punishing them like Alexei Navalny.  Also, they are very slow.  There are times I can’t get across the center line.  And if someone throws freezing venom on my fighter I am in trouble.

So… Why Ironsoul’s?

Really it comes down to three things.  1.  I like making dismissed warbands sing.  2. Their rivals card suite is actually pretty good!  3.  The reverse of the above paragraph is true, IE when they are rolling hot and their defense tech kicks-in they can be almost unkillable.  It is a big risk, big reward style of play.  This means I can get tabled to the same opponent I can table the following game.  It’s exciting!  It maximizes the effect of crits (or lack thereof).  This was initially off-putting to me, but now I really enjoy it.

What is my expectation of success?

I think they can surprise people who think they are just another lame Stormcast warband, giving me early victories.  I think they will typically lose to the powerhouse warbands captained by powerhouse players even with the tech in this deck.  So, I wouldn’t say they are inherently better than GSP, Ephilim’s or Headman’s Curse.  But I will say that Ironsoul’s can beat them if I get the right dice rolls and the right card draw.

Meta Choices

In a way they are counter-meta.  Hold play is back and back big (I’m looking at you Ephilim, Myari, Grymwatch, Domitan, even Blackpowder).  Therefore, the ability land attacks and knock people off objectives is very important (and knockback attacks keep them away).  However, the best warbands to do that are fast aggro warbands.  Ironsoul’s Condemnors are not fast.  I do buff out their speed with my Nemesis deck picks, but now I am relying heavily on my card draw to make them work.  When they work though, it’s pretty spectacular.

Deck List

Here is the deck list.  However, I have had multiple iterations of a few upgrades.  I keep getting hung up on Spirit Flask, Soul-hardened Shield and Consecrated Pendant.  Allow me to explain why.  

Spirit Flask

A heal 2 or a ping damage to an adjacent fighter???  This is incredible, oh, except, it takes an action…. A WHOLE FREAKING ACTION.  This card should be a reaction.  It’s not.  So now it limits it’s use.  But I have still found it useful.  One of it’s uses is that at the end of the game I will sometimes find my remaining fighter out of reach of my enemies and subject to their ranged attacks.  It’s just a matter of time until he is removed from the board.  Healing 2 could keep him alive until the end of the game potentially scoring me some of my objectives.  So that’s good.  The second use that I have discovered is once my fighters are hitting they are often doing 3 damage.  Many enemies have 4 wounds.  Not having to roll and attack and just pinging for one when no other ping is available is a life saver.  So, it has it’s uses, but they are more limited than at first glance.

Consecrated Pendant

The large fighter tax when I only give up 3 glory in kills is brutal.  But if I can put one of my fighters out of kill range for just a turn it could completely change the game.  So it is clutch at times but not something I am looking for early.

Soul-hardened Shield

Useless if I am going to charge.  Phenomenal if I am going to use Spirit Flask, swing with my hammer, or just move.  This is a great card.  But again, useless on the charge and when will I be moving without charging?  Only early game when I have no glory.  

These are the dilemmas for me.  For this tournament I am going with Soul-hardened shield.

Objectives

Forceful Banishment

If I am going up against heavy monsters like Mollog or Gorechosen this gives me a way to score glory without taking them out of action.  If I am going up against more easily killed fighters, I may not score this.  But it’s a nice surge hedge for my deck.  I score this maybe 50% of the time.  Not great for a surge but the hedge effect is nice.

Martial Prowess

For two glory and with the accuracy of the attacks I am throwing out, this is worth it.   I also have accuracy support and vengeful strike and improvised blow to help score this.  This is one of my key objectives. 

Wrathful Blow

When you are in there mixing it up and with the amount of healing tech I have, I can usually keep people alive and swinging even with wound tokens.  Its a kill surge, but killing is usually not a problem for them.

Embraced Savagery

With Ironsoul’s this is particularly powerful because it’s a surge I can score in round one before the end of the round guaranteed.  This will allow me to cycle through my objective deck.  If I lose a fighter I am scoring this midround usually.  With internal surrender I can score it even quicker.  Or if I heal with Savage Season I score this instantly.

Paragon of Ferocity

One of my few kill surges.  But I will be killing people in their territory, so I am not worried about scoring it.

Toyed With

This is again allowing me to score glory swinging at big fighters.  If my attack isn’t enough to take them down, I am still scoring glory.  A 3 damage attack from Brodus or Ironsoul on a four wound fighter scores this.  Then I pop dark command and get the kill anyways.  It’s a great card.

Strength in Unity

Just a super reliable end phase score to keep the train moving.  Nothing fancy on this and a good card from the Rival’s deck.

Vengence Satisfied

I score this a lot actually.  It’s greedy and I love it.  There are only a few warbands that have the defensive tech to deny this, or the resurrection mechanic.  In those games I just discard it and farm glory off the minions.

Vindicated Arrogance

Again, with the heal tech, this is scoring quite a bit.  Another reliable end phase score.  Ironsoul has to be alive.  So I could lock myself out of this.  Something to be aware of but not overly concerned about.  This is only 1 glory after all.  

Focal Point

I am looking for an early draw on this.  But with Ironsoul’s ability to heal and stick around and get rerolls on defense, she tends to be where she wants to be after the 8^th activation to score this.  Sometimes I lose her and I can’t score this.  But at this point it’s scored about 75% of the time.

Hurricane Force 

I have never not scored this.  This is an anti-hold meta pick.  The trickiest thing about this so far is keeping my Stormcast in an opponents zone.

Move or Die

Same scoring conditions as embraced savagery and strength in unity.  Another super reliable endphase to keep the glory coming.  

All in all it’s a 17 glory deck with some greedy cards.  It is a very reasonable objective scoring deck.

Gambits

Fulminating Blast

Enemy pushes are getting more and more rare.  This is simple, effective and can bring my opponent in range when they think they are safe.  I love it.  One of the best cards in their deck.

Improvised Blow

This will help me score martial prowess.  But also, with a three fighter warband and this card, they can function at times like a four fighter warband.  And the extra attack really catches people out.  Great card.

Outflank

At move 3 I will take all the pushes I can get.  This is an easy push 2.  There is some set up here, but it’s not hard at all.  Another great card from their rivals deck.

Unyielding Resolve

Heal 2 on a warband where your opponent really has to work to do damage.  This card can be absolutely devastating for your opponent.

Vengeful Strike

A chance to attack back.  Not great, but another out of activation attack.  For that reason I included it.

Call to Heel

The master of all pushes.  Yes, there are some qualifications, but none that I have found overly prohibitive.  I can always stagger a fighter before their activiation if I need them savage.  Even with this card in circulation people don’t anticipate a four hex push, or an enemy push off of a token.

Dark Command

Ping.

Internal Surrender

I really wrestled with this card as I rely on my two shields to keep me fighting.  However, in practice giving this to Brodus is just too dang good.  It makes him savage and swing three hammers for three damage.  

Reckless Haste

More extra movement to offset my move three.  Who cares if I am staggered if I just removed an opponent’s model from the table deep in their lines.  This card is awesome.

Savage Season

Heal one for everyone to stack on top of the other defense and healing in the deck.  It’s a great card for this deck, not so great for others.

Upgrades

Aetherically Charged Weapon

Reroll on an upgrade.  Not a bad use of glory.  Especially in a hammer swinging warband.

Soul Hardened Shield

Activating and getting a free guard token is great.  But very situational in it’s use.

Hallowed Aura

A chance at a heal.  I find this is more about discouraging the attack on a particular fighter.  I can’t even remember when the heal has worked.

Sanctified Armour

A classic reduce damage upgrade.  This has saved me multiple times and made my opponent inefficient.  This is one of the best upgrades I have.

Feral Instincts

+1 damage on a warband that already deals big damage.  This upgrade puts many enemy fighters in one shot territory.  And with Ironsoul’s already great accuracy, it’s a real problem for your opponent. 

Gifted Ferocity

Reaction activated upgrade for +1 dice.  This takes the Condemnors over the edge into ridiculous accuracy.

Natural Hunter

A late addition to my deck I added as both an anti-meta pick and some extra speed.  The anti-meta is that the most popular warbands right now have dodge as their defense characteristic (think Ephilim, Arenai, Clawpack, Headsman’s Curse, etc etc).  It also combos nicely with punishing blow giving me a cleave and ensnare attack for four damage.  Who cares if people are on guard?

Stubborn to the Bone

Rerolling a defense die looking for a crit or to keep me survivable is a great use of an upgrade.  The no push is just a bonus.

Aetherically Charged Shield

See above.

Punishing Blow

This is the card of cards.  Who cares that it is only one attack.  Slap internal surrender and Natural Hunter on here and you have one of the most accurate and devastating attacks in the game.

Boards

I have landed on Ultimatum Engines and Chamber of Genesis.  If my opponent picks his board first and I line them up, I choose Chamber of Genesis for the 3 forward thrusted starting hexes.  If my opponent make sme place first I choose Ultimatum Engines.  No matter how they align, longboard or wide, there are plenty of starting hexes available for my warband to be front and center.  This is at the slight cost of risking being knocked into a lethal.  That is a risk I will take if I have to.  

General Comments

You can almost count on going first in most games.  With the exception of a few other three fighter warbands, you will be finishing your deployment first.  This is a tactical advantage and allows me to risk my fighters assuming I am going first. 

Don’t play passive at all.  These Stormcast need to be hitting and getting hit.  Reach out and hit someone and if that doesn’t work, reach out and get hit.  You have to be mixing it up.  

I have played approximately 15-20 test matches with them. I have only lost once but I need to take them to tournament to know what I have for sure. I can tell you my opponents hate playing against them, which is usually a good sign!

For part 2 of this blog I will be doing a tournament report on a local tournament.  SPOILER ALERT: I have already played the tournament and will finish the write up soon.