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

• Template:Warbeast

Abilities

• Template:Amphibious
• Template:Carapace
• Template:Retaliatory Strike

Weapons

Spit Blast
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			4			14
Template:Corrosion Damage Template:Continuous Corrosion
Bite
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				15
Claw (x2)
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				3				13
Template:Open Fist

Animus

{{Category: Template:Counterblast }}[[Category: Template:Counterblast ]]

Theme Forces

• Minions
  • Template:Blindwater
  • Template:Will Work for Food

• Other Factions
  • Skorne players can use this warbeast in the Template: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.

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)