Grimgor's 'Ardboyz

"'Everfing I see is mine. All da uvver bits are mine too - I just ain't got there yet. When we reach da end of da whole world, we'll turn around and march back.'"
 * - Grimgor Ironhide

Grimgor's 'Ardboyz is a playable subfaction of the Greenskins introduced in Total War: Warhammer. It is led by Grimgor Ironhide and can be found in middle of the the Badlands.

These unruly warriors dwell in the Badlands, mountains and other wild areas and love nothing more than a good fight. From time to time, they will come together in a great “Waaagh!” - an invasion of civilised lands. Greenskins feature masses of poorly-disciplined infantry, alongside boar-riding cavalry and monsters like trolls and giant spiders.

How they play
A summary of Greenskins gameplay:


 * Units: Masses of cheap infantry, combined with cavalry, and large monsters.
 * Regiments of Renown: These are unique, more elite versions of regular Greenskins units, available in a DLC.
 * Vandalism: Greenskins leave behind harmful buildings for the enemy, after sacking or razing a settlement.
 * Unique stances: Use Underway allows Greenskins to traverse impassable terrain, while Raidin' Camp combines raiding and encamp.
 * Savage Orcs: In campaign, Savage Orcs units can only be recruited with the special Savage Orcs resource.
 * Waaagh! In battle, they have the Waaagh! ability, while in campaign they can issue a Call to WAAAGH!

Background
"Stoopid humie gitz – we iz da best!"

Orcs and Goblins are the scourge of the Old World. Collectively known as Greenskins, they are an aggressive and brutal race with an unquenchable love of fighting. For most nations, war is a means to an end - an act of aggression to conquer and dominate an enemy. However, the Greenskins - and the Orcs in particular - revel in battle purely for the sake of it. Orcs are built for violence - brutal, bullying creatures of jutting jaws and hulking appearance. The Goblins, by contrast, are smaller but more cunning as they mob up in greater numbers. This motley cast is supported by a fell menagerie of other creatures from wolves to Trolls, monstrous spiders to lumbering Giants.

Yet it’s the Orcs that dominate - their violent temperament keeping them top of the Greenskin tree. Orc attacks range from raids to mighty Waaaghs! where Greenskins of all stripes congregate in their tens of thousands under a single leader, who they believe has been chosen by Gork (or Mork) - the fickle gods of Orc-dom - to lead the mighty green tide on a rampage across the world. It is the Waaagh! that the other, weaker, races fear the most, as once an Orc Warboss gains enough momentum his horde can only ever be stopped at great cost. The Empire is a common target - having been ravaged countless times by infamous Waaaghs! throughout history. Yet it is the Dwarfs that harbour a special hatred of Orcs and their despicable kin, as the Dawi have lost many of their legendary strongholds to Greenskin incursions.

While the Greenskins have made lairs in ransacked Dwarfen holds, they can be found across the world - the majority residing in the arid Badlands, mainly fighting amongst themselves and occasionally coming together as a greater threat. Now such an occasion is upon us, for Grimgor Ironhide comes south. Goaded by Gorfang Rotgut, the boss of Black Crag, Ironhide marches with his Black Orcs. Once Black Crag is his, surely the Badlands will follow? And then the rest of the Dwarf realms shall fall to his ever-growing Waaagh!, all while the Empire and the other humie realms burn. This is what Gork and Mork demand; please them and ensure the mobs shout the name "GRIMGOR" for the rest of time!

Unit Roster
Grimgor's 'Ardboyz has a diverse unit roster which is not really lacking in any one area. There are many kinds of fairly cheap or expendable infantry, ranged and melee cavalry, heavy infantry such as Black Orcs, warbeasts, chariots, artillery (eg: the Doom Diver) and monstrous units such as Trolls, Arachnarok Spiders, Giants. Their sole flying unit is the Wyvern, available as a mount.

Their generic spellcasters have access to two unique lores of magic: the Lore of the Big Waaagh! and Lore of the Little Waaagh!.

Regiments of Renown
Greenskins have several Regiments of Renown available. These are elite, unique versions of standard Greenskins units. They are available with the King and the Warlord DLC.

Waaagh!
Waaagh! (ability) is an ability available to all Greenskins lords which gives speed, melee attack and charge bonus to all units in their army. Grimgor, like the other Greenskin Legendary Lords, has a unique Waaagh! mechanic.

In the Campaign
Grimgor's 'Ardboyz is a normal, non-horde faction that controls settlements and provinces.

Legendary Lord Choices
Legendary Lords for Grimgor's 'Ardboyz:


 * Grimgor Ironhide - an extremely powerful, durable warrior on foot.

The Underway
The Underway is a network of caverns and tunnels that run under much of the world. Greenskin armies can enter the Use Underway stance to travel underground, avoiding danger. However this carries a chance of being intercepted. Many battle maps take place underground in the underway, see underway for a full list.

Waaaghs!
Call to WAAAGH! Greenskins armies' (battle victories and raiding) increase their reputation level, and can call a Waaagh! when they reach the maximum. Low reputation, however, causes penalties.

Savage Orcs
The special Savage Orcs resource, present in certain settlements, allows a controlling Greenskins faction to recruit Savage Orcs units.

The resource is found in Southern Badlands, and allows construction of the Savage Orc Gathering, which in turn allows the recruitment of the following units:

Savage Orcs (Unit), Savage Orc Big 'Uns, Savage Orc Arrer Boyz, Savage Orc Boar Boyz, Savage Orc Boar Boy Big 'Uns.

Vandalism
Greenskins leave behind vandalism buildings for the enemy, after sacking or razing a settlement.

Inventory

 * Greenskins items
 * Greenskins followers
 * Greenskins banners

Stances
Special stances: Use Underway, Raidin' Camp

Common stances: March, Ambush, Channelling

Post-battle options
Greenskins post-battle options for captives are as follows:
 * Eat Captives (increased casualty replenishment rate)
 * Slaughter Captives (Bonus experience)
 * Ransom Captives (Income)

Settlement options
Greenskins have these settlement options when they have captured a settlement:
 * Occupy
 * Sack
 * Loot and Occupy
 * Raze - also leaves harmful vandalism buildings behind

Commandments
See the article on commandments for a list of Greenskins commandments:

Climate preferences
Grimgor's 'Ardboyz climate preferences for settlements in Total War: Warhammer II:


 * Favorable: Wasteland, Savannah, Mountain
 * Unpleasant: Temperate, Frozen, Desert, Jungle
 * Uninhabitable: Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland, Magical Forest, Island

Regional occupation (Only in Total War: Warhammer I)
Under the regional occupation system of Total War: Warhammer, Greenskins can only occupy mountains and badlands. They cannot occupy temperate lowlands areas which are restricted to the humans and Vampires. Nor can they occupy Norsca.

Start Position


Grimgor's 'Ardboyz starts in the Black Crag region of Death Pass.

Victory Conditions

 * Short Campaign
 * Destroy the following faction(s):
 * Black Venom, Bloody Spearz, Broken Nose, Crooked Moon, Crooked Moon Mutinous Gits, The Bloody Handz, Red Eye, Red Fangs, Scabby Eye, Skullsmasherz, Teef Snatchaz, Top Knotz
 * Occupy, loot, raze or sack 25 different settlements.
 * Destroy the following faction(s):
 * The Empire, Dwarfs
 * Earn 10,000 money from raiding
 * Ensure that Archaon the Everchosen is in a wounded state

The same as the short campaign, with the following additions:
 * Long Campaign
 * Occupy, loot, raze or sack 50 different settlements.
 * Control all of the following Dwarfholds either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies:
 * Barak Varr, Dringorackaz, Karag Dromar, Karak Azul, Karak Hirn, Karak Izor, Karak Kadrin, Karak Norn, Karak Ziflin, Karaz-a-Karak, Khazid Bordkarag, Kradtommen, Kraka Drak, Oakenhammer, Pillars of Grungni, Sjoktraken, Varenka Hills, Zhufbar
 * Earn 20,000 money from raiding.

Diplomatic traits

 * Aggressive - Belligerent and wermongering, their armies reach far with little regard for defence.
 * Unreliable - Agreements hold little sway. This one is not to be trusted.

Strategy

 * Greenskin armies are extremely varied, comprising orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, squigs and spiders. This melting pot excels at adapting to any battlefield circumstance. Combat is what Greenskins live for and unsurprisingly, periods of peace cause major attrition as they start stabbing at each other. Keep everyone on a warpath and the troops will not have to resort to infighting. Speaking of infighting: Internecine warfare makes the Greenskins scattered and individually weak. Settling quarrels between the tribes is the first step to uniting them and creating a Waaagh! that will shake the very foundations of the world.


 * Grimgor's 'Ardboyz is a faction geared towards aggressive gameplay focusing on sacking and raiding thanks to the bonus income received that way; their settlement options and technology trees are limited, not to mention they cannot trade at all, so resources are also largely meaningless. Your primary focus, therefore, is striking deep into enemy territory, aided by your ability to recruit anywhere on the map, aided by a very robust catalogue of units ranging from the cheap, yet easily routed goblins to the stout, aggressive orcs. Flexibility and mobility are the greenskins' distinguishing feature - well, that and the large number of monsters. This makes playing them a bit of a diverse challenge, on the one hand, they are quite forgiving in battle mode, but maintaining fightiness and logistics during the campaign can be a challenge.


 * Fightiness (Warhammer I only) deserves elaboration: Greenskins who don't fight start to tear themselves apart. Those who fight a lot get a chance of spawning a Waaagh!, an AI controlled Greenskin army. Fightiness is what also makes Greenskins a challenge to confront: Trying to disassemble them piecemeal only makes them stronger. Decisive battles work best.

Trivia

 * In the Potion of Speed Update for Total War: Warhammer II the faction received a name change. Previously, they had the generic name "Greenskins", sharing the name of their race and got changed into "Black Crag", reflecting their home province.
 * In the next patch, The Total Waaagh! Update, the name was changed once again, this time into "Grimgor's 'Ardboyz".