Following up on our rundown of the new Jaws of Mork rules, it’s time to get busy with the fizzy and crank out some army lists. There’s honestly loads you can do with these guys, depending on how deep you want to draw from the rest of the book, so let’s get into it and have some fun.
The Tech
There are some common threads running through these lists that we can cover in one place. One theme is that they have a very high wound count – on paper. Take that with a slight pinch of salt, because they also have bad armour saves and terrible bravery, so those wounds can evaporate quickly, and what you will have on the table even mid-game might come down to how good you are at rolling those 4+s to regenerate units.
As the old saying goes: Wargamers aren’t superstitious, because it’s bad luck to be superstitious.
So how can I put this without tempting fate? My record on rolling those 4+s is…um…is not an endless string of unmitigated failures. Let’s say I’m happy to ride that rollercoaster.
Next up: Sneaky Snufflers are dynamite. They can buff all keyword Moonclan units with an extra attack on each melee profile, so they’re a true force multiplier for your Boingrots in particular. They do have a wholly within range, but with 10 or 15 models that isn’t too restictive (unlike, say, 60 Grots). Dishing out their buff restricts their own movement, but bear in mind that you can always Hand of Gork them if needs be.
Teleporting Squigs is a thing. They natively reroll charges without needing a Hero nearby, so they are a prime candidate for the Hand of Gork. Put 48 wounds of fangs and blood in their face, annihilate their screens and then say deal with this, buddy, while you move your army into position. This is a classic power move in Gloomspite armies, and it dovetails so well with the new Loonshrine rules: throwing 24 Squigs under the bus turn 1 gives you plenty of chances to bring them back from the dank.
You will see the Moonface Mommet in a lot of these lists. The only hero that can take it is a puny moron, so if your opponent has any kind of reasonable shooting he will be turned into green paste quick-smart. Remember though that not everything is bringing the Dakka; even some trending armies such as Blight King spam will struggle to reach him, and he’s a real asset in those matchups.
If they’re shooting him, they’re not shooting something else, and they can’t shoot everything right? Unless they can, in which case you’re fucked regardless. In any case, you have an abundance of artefacts, so you might as well take a great one.
Finally, Boingrots in the Stampede are a common thread here: these lists in general are not for the faint-hearted, but flying Squigs with rend -2 damage 2 attacks feels like they let a 13-year-old have a go at writing a warscroll, and I want in on it.
The Playstyle
The big battalion gets you moving up the board quickly, but in the lists where I do take that, I don’t see its sole purpose as being the Alpha Strike. The primary use will be too hold a high line and get on centre objectives early, with your hammer units perched in behind.
Although I do of course reserve the right to blow up their chaff with my chaff nice and early if the opportunity presents, especially since my chaff has a good chance of coming back through the Shrine if it dies early. I can get an itchy trigger finger with stuff like this, so it’s nice to have an outlet that isn’t a dead loss.
Boingrots want to charge early and often. They want to charge, charge again and keep on charging some more. This comes back to their warscroll, since they access both Mortal Wounds and stat bonuses when they charge, but also their nature: they are the epitome of a glass hammer, and if they don’t clear house, whatever is left will likely take a big chunk out of them in return. You want to swing once, and make it matter.
The good news is, they fly over screens, including your own. In general, Plan A will be to advance behind a flesh wall, then pounce and blow shit up. You’ll be mercking units but dying in droves, stretching the board with Hand of Gork and taking your opportunities to run + charge, and putting Squigs in places they won’t believe. So you’ll be patient, until you’re not: and then all hell will break loose.
The Narrative Wankery
My Loonboss will be called Squiggy Stardust, and I will paint his face thus:
And believe me, I am well aware that this is Aladdin Sane, rather than Ziggy. I’m doing it anyway.
The Lists
Can I Get A Boing Boing
Let’s start off by leaning into the theme, and seeing what a standard build using both Battalions might look like. We’re going for a cheeky little two-drop, which I personally think is stronger than the one-drop version.
If you really wanted nothing but nothing but Squigs, you can quite easily pull out your Madcap Shammy in favour of bumping up the Squig Hoppers to a 10, landing at 2000 on the nose:
Allegiance: Jaws of Mork
Leaders
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (280)
– General
– Command Trait: Envoy of the Overbounder
– Artefact: The Clammy Cowl
Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig (110)
– Artefact: Syari Screamersquig
Madcap Shaman (80)
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Battleline
24 x Squig Herd (280)
24 x Squig Herd (280)
5 x Squig Hoppers (90)
Units
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
Behemoths
Mangler Squigs (240)
Battalions
Moon-Jumper Stampede (140)
Moon-Biter Squigalanche (90)
Total: 1990 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 180
Overbounder’s Flying Circus
Another one-drop; the same, but stupider. I reckon there’s a fair few classic Finecast Manglers gathering dust out there, who would love to go out for one final spin in an all-bouncing all-stars list:
Allegiance: Jaws of Mork
Leaders
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (280)
– General
– Command Trait: Envoy of the Overbounder
– Artefact: Syari Screamersquig
Battleline
5 x Squig Hoppers (90)
12 x Squig Herd (140)
12 x Squig Herd (140)
Units
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
Behemoths
Mangler Squigs (240)
Mangler Squigs (240)
Mangler Squigs (240)
Battalions
Moon-Jumper Stampede (140)
Moon-Biter Squigalanche (90)
Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 146
A Colossal Headache
This one is a patient list for impatient fuckers (like me). You’ll be moving up behind your lines of chaff, ready to explode at just the right moment:
Allegiance: Jaws of Mork
Leaders
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (280)
– General
– Command Trait: Cunning Plans
– Artefact: Syari Screamersquig
Madcap Shaman (80)
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: Squig Lure
Fungoid Cave-Shaman (90)
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Battleline
24 x Squig Herd (280)
24 x Squig Herd (280)
10 x Squig Hoppers (180)
Units
15 x Boingrot Bounderz (300)
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (70)
Behemoths
Colossal Squig (300)
Battalions
Moon-Jumper Stampede (140)
Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 194
Putting the Colossal Squig on the table will be like saying hello to an old friend, and he’s rarely been in a better spot. As noted in yesterday’s article, he can reroll those mighty 4D6″ under Jaws of Mork allegiance; and the 5 Squigs he craps out when he dies can potentially cycle back as 3 more. Chucking him forward as a missile can be a legit strat, with his little baby Squigs stealing an objective or just forcing your opponent to waste time killing them.
You may or may not also decide to teleport your Squig Herd right up in their business; meanwhile you’re running up the screens and the Snufflers, so that everything is in position for a big Turn 3. Even the Squigs can skirmish, and then your Mangler Boss, Boingrots and Hoppers are ready to step over the top and unleash hell.
Out of all the lists I’ve posted here, I think this might be the most fun to play. It creates a lot of clutch decisions about when to hit the accelerator and with which specific unit. You’ll be attacking in devastating bursts, but your own units will just evaporate in return.
Everything leads you towards a really nail-biting Round 4 and 5, where huge chunks of both armies are gone, you’re desperately scrambling onto Objectives, every single body counts, and those 4+s to regenerate units are as big and exciting as priority rolls.
I’ll be honest, I may have invested in some reinforcements to get this list on the table asap!
The Grotch
Want to use the new rules, but not quite ready to let go of your classic Gloomspite crutches? Well how about instead of leaning in, we lean out, and take Jaws of Mork in a mostly Grots list?
Allegiance: Jaws of Mork
Leaders
Webspinner Shaman on Arachnarok Spider (280)
– General
– Command Trait: Cunning Plans
– Artefact: Syari Screamersquig
– Lore of the Spiderfangs: Sneaky Distraction
Zarbag (160)
– Lore of the Moonclans: Squig Lure
Madcap Shaman (80)
– Artefact: Moonface Mommet
– Lore of the Moonclans: The Hand of Gork
Loonboss (70)
Battleline
40 x Stabbas (260)
– Stabbas & Moon Shields
40 x Stabbas (260)
– Stabbas & Moon Shields
20 x Shootas (120)
Units
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (70)
6 x Sneaky Snufflers (70)
7 x Zarbag’s Gitz (0)
Battalions
Moon-Jumper Stampede (140)
Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (60)
Scuttletide (30)
Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 199
You’ve got 100 Grots on the board, with the Mommet in there to effectively give everything an extra pip of rend, and a splash of negs to hit with Netters, Sneaky D and Geminids. This will play similarly to the classic Grot builds, but with less control and more fightin’.
The list has a couple of tricks up its sleeve too: you can Hand of Gork Zarbag forward to rip Geminids through their army with his buffed casting (a move I’ve enjoyed pulling since Malign Sorcery first dropped), and your Snufflers will switch gears between buffing the Grots early, and the Boingrots mid-game. Then late game it’s back to Grots, as you get your units back from the Loonshrine.
Worth noting is that even a pure Spiderfang army could take Jaws of Mork allegiance. This would give the Arachnarok access to the Command Trait, which doubles up very nicely with his Prophet of the Spider God warscroll ability, the trade-off being that you are forced to take a bad artefact. Worth considering for the Arachnophiles out there.
You could totally do something similar with Skraggy who loses nothing through being General of this army, and I could even see myself shuffling things around to put the Troggoth Hag in there. Dealer’s choice really, although I do think big spider is the one I’d run most often.
So there you have it! That’s what I came up with, but there’s loads more to explore. Ya boy Dalton has already got some interesting lists with allied Orruks, and I know that Donal is working on armies starring the Troggoth Hag, wielding the Syari Screamersquig to mulch Heroes in combat.
One thing I’ve found from writing these lists is that taking the Squigalanche really squeezes what you can fit in, largely due to the compulsory basic Mangler. I personally think that mixed lists using just the Stampede as a torpedo will shake out as more competitive, but a proper Squig army is no joke, and something I’d certainly be happy to take to a one-dayer.
Czech ETC Captain Adam Slovak is taking a proper Squig list to an event this weekend, starring triple Manglers, and with Hoppers and Bounderz all over the shop:
Love it! That’s the spirit.
So let’s all get behind Adam, and for everyone inspired to give Squigs a run out in the near future: May Gork bring you strength, may Mork bring you wisdom.
Plastic Craic 
Awesome, thank you!
LikeLike