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Grimgor Ironhide
Well, first of all, if you haven't used Grimgor before then do so now, in your next battle (unless you're sure your enemy has faced him before and beaten him or negated his usefulness).
Grimgor is one of the hardest characters in the Warhammer world and you can see why with 7 str 7 attacks that always strike first, an armour save of 1+ and a ward of 5+ !!!
You don't get much better than that, he is a true dragon slayer of a character - field him.
Now, if you want to field another Lord level special character, here's a quick summary of some selection tips:-
Gorbad Ironclaw
Fielding a mainly Orc army ? expecting to be taking on a lot of cavalry ? Need an inspirational general for masses of rank and file ? Gorbad Ironclaw...is your man, err... I mean orc.He rides a boar, always strikes first, and there's no armour saving throw against his attacks which wound. Also, you can forget about black orcs and field loads and loads of Big Uns instead, on foot and/or on boars.
Azhag the Slaughterer
Need to counter a bunch of enemy artillery, want to swoop down on them, terrorise them, make them rout and quickly move onto the next war machine ?
Then field Azhag, he's a fast and hard hitting character ideal for taking out long range enemy weaponry that they think is safely tucked away behind their other forces.
Azhag is also a second level wizard with knowledge of one of the more powerful Lores of magic - Death. This will also come in handy behind enemy lines. Get him up close - fast.
Beware: Azhag is subject to stupidity, he has a leadership of 9 so is unlikely to fall foul of it, but I thought I had better warn you.
Grom the Paunch of Misty Mountain
Grom has heeps of character and he's the most colourful of the characters (if you like that sort of thing).
He is also a great way of supporting the gobbo faction in your army if you're fighting Elves because they are immune to their fear if Grom leads your army into the fray (he must be the general).
Best of all however is that Grom has the Killing blow special ability on a 5+ (rather than 6). With 4 attacks he's likely to get a few chances of delivering a killing axe swing (and let me tell you, his axe is extremely big !)
Don't send him into combat alone though, use him to flank the enemy. He will need backup against quality enemy heroes.
Skarsnik Warlord of the Eight Peaks
Skarsnik is probably the most difficult to present a case for inclusion in your army. He does have some sneaky attributes but you have to either get lucky or tie down your own troops a bit to make sure they pay off.
The Sneaky Schemes rule means that all enemy units are subject to delayed entry onto the field of battle - each has to roll a D6, a roll of 6 they have to enter the board from the table edge. This could be handy to stop some missile/artillery troops firing early on and to slow your enemy by a few inches but it's not a battle winner. You still have to kill your foe !The Tricksy Traps which allows night goblins to rally and move straight away is not a significant bonus.
Gobbla the Cave Squig is quite hard with 4 attacks (ws 5, str 6) and the killing blow ability but your opponent will fight back aginst Skarsnik and he is not so hard !
One more significant quality is Skarsnik's prodder but to use it effectively you need massed ranks of goblin and/or orc units withint 12" and it could disrupt your battle plan and reduce your flexibility. You could however have say 4 units within 12" of skarsnik to give him a 24 inch magic blast of pure waaagh worth 5 str 6 hits with no armour save.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend his use for competitive games, only friendlies to try a new character. On the upside he is quite cheap at 205 points.
Images are © Games Workshop Ltd. All rights reserved. Used without permission.
PS. Don't forget how hard Grimgor is !!!
