Let's Chat: Grashrak's Despoilers

[Requizen]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/09/17/warband-focus-grashraks-despoilersgw-homepage-post-2/

Beasts of Chaos in Underworlds! Or, Brayherd, at least. 

I'm very excited for this warband, I tend to prefer warbands with good tricks and flexibility, and here we seem to have that in spades. The Faction cards in particular are extremely solid, which I think makes up for the overall mediocre stats. 

What are your thoughts? Will you be playing these guys or the Kurnothi?

[Soulsmith]

Definitely more interested in these mostly from the aesthetic (always choose ones I like the minis then make decks that work). Curious as to what to build them with from what we know (nightvault cards). Hoping their more hybrid nature doesn't mean they end up like the EotN. 

[Requizen]

5 hours ago, Soulsmith said:

Definitely more interested in these mostly from the aesthetic (always choose ones I like the minis then make decks that work). Curious as to what to build them with from what we know (nightvault cards). Hoping their more hybrid nature doesn't mean they end up like the EotN. 

Wondering that myself. 6 models of course encourages at least some sort of objective play, as does Despoilers, which is extremely powerful. However, they don't have multi-move capabilities like Ghosts, Gitz, or Guard, and only one multi push ploy, so they can't swarm as effectively.

For combat, Draknar is very solid, even uninspired. Fellhoof is alright, and Murghoth is reasonable once inspired, but overall they are a pretty damage low faction. However, with some ranged poke and good speed, they might end up being a faction that racks up glory and then runs a lot of damage/weapon upgrades to move in for the kill.

They do remind me a bit of Eyes, but with more fighters overall and different tricks. I think they're closer to Godsworn Hunt, but I need some games under my belt. 

[riddlesworth]

Despite some of the underwhelming fighter stats, there's some really strong faction specific cards, which helps.

 

There's some objectives I think instantly should be considered for the cut - martyred, warning shot, shortcut (the only warband that can score this card without the use of a gambit makes it STRONG for them), supremacy - because 6 fighters, movement and the new board placement rules - and keep them guessing because of the on card action.

 

I think they're going to do well with a flex defensive/aggro build - passive glory gen based on positioning and movement and filling their upgrade slots with aggro cards like potion of rage, gloryseeker etc.

 

I do think given the inspire condition, you're going to want to look at regal vision/blazing soul for Grashnak or Draknar. Grashnak if you intend to cast any spells and Drakner to make use of the innate fury and to get access to cleave, although like many guardians players, you may decide that inspiration just isnt worth it

Edited September 24, 2019 by riddlesworth

[Intrinsic]

4 hours ago, riddlesworth said:

Despite some of the underwhelming fighter stats, there's some really strong faction specific cards, which helps.

 

There's some objectives I think instantly should be considered for the cut - martyred, warning shot, shortcut (the only warband that can score this card without the use of a gambit makes it STRONG for them), supremacy - because 6 fighters, movement and the new board placement rules - and keep them guessing because of the on card action.

 

I think they're going to do well with a flex defensive/aggro build - passive glory gen based on positioning and movement and filling their upgrade slots with aggro cards like potion of rage, gloryseeker etc.

 

I do think given the inspire condition, you're going to want to look at regal vision/blazing soul for Grashnak or Draknar. Grashnak if you intend to cast any spells and Drakner to make use of the innate fury and to get access to cleave, although like many guardians players, you may decide that inspiration just isnt worth it

Lady Harrow's Mournflight can also score shortcut without a gambit. 

Talking about the warband however, I'm surprised Despoilers are in the starter box. It seems a bold move to put a high skill floor warband in the starter, rather than super easy to play beginner friendly warbands like Thorns and Cursebreakers. Looking forward to them myself as I love playing Flex. A surge Our Only Way Out mixed with a 2 fighter push card that doesn't give move tokens is super fun. And the models look great too! 

[Requizen]

5 hours ago, riddlesworth said:

Despite some of the underwhelming fighter stats, there's some really strong faction specific cards, which helps.

 

There's some objectives I think instantly should be considered for the cut - martyred, warning shot, shortcut (the only warband that can score this card without the use of a gambit makes it STRONG for them), supremacy - because 6 fighters, movement and the new board placement rules - and keep them guessing because of the on card action.

 

I think they're going to do well with a flex defensive/aggro build - passive glory gen based on positioning and movement and filling their upgrade slots with aggro cards like potion of rage, gloryseeker etc.

 

I do think given the inspire condition, you're going to want to look at regal vision/blazing soul for Grashnak or Draknar. Grashnak if you intend to cast any spells and Drakner to make use of the innate fury and to get access to cleave, although like many guardians players, you may decide that inspiration just isnt worth it

I overall agree, except for perhaps Supremacy. Being a large model count and fast warband (as well as the one Ungor able to teleport to an edge-hex-Objective), it seems obvious for them (alongside their faction 3 objective Surge), but with minimal faction pushes and no way to multimove nor rez, I can see Supremacy being quite unreliable once the opponent starts planning around it. I think it's a reasonable pick, but I'll personally be playing around with it to see if it's worth.

37 minutes ago, Intrinsic said:

Lady Harrow's Mournflight can also score shortcut without a gambit. 

Talking about the warband however, I'm surprised Despoilers are in the starter box. It seems a bold move to put a high skill floor warband in the starter, rather than super easy to play beginner friendly warbands like Thorns and Cursebreakers. Looking forward to them myself as I love playing Flex. A surge Our Only Way Out mixed with a 2 fighter push card that doesn't give move tokens is super fun. And the models look great too! 

Reavers were a high-skill warband, I would argue. While their surface level strats were easy, to actually play them to a win you needed to build around it a bit. One could argue that Thorns were also fairly high skill, but they also had really powerful tricks that weren't too hard to pull off. I would agree, though, that Despoilers are by far the least intuitive warband from a starter set.

[Anthony225]

I like this band a lot. It seems like it can be full of different options and tricks. I actually like the idea of not really having to worry about their inspire condition. It's one less thing to think about. And if you're able to take out 2 enemy fighters, it will be that much easier to win. Grashrack i wouldn't even bother trying to inspire to use spells. Besides level 2 he only gains cleave, which I don't think is worth using cards to help inspire. Even Draknar only gains cleave and 3 swords instead of 2 hammers. Which, again, isn't enough to warrant using cards to help inspire. Also, let's say you end up quickly killing 2 models, now your inspire cards are dead cards. I say just ignore inspiring as they have good stats out of the gate. 

Another great thing about this band is they have many accuracy options. right off the bat you have Grashrak who can give a reroll on an attack roll. I can see Draknar charging in first activation with a reroll being a strong play. You also have access to Blood Taunt, Haymaker, Marked, Upper Hand, Potion of Rage, Spirit Bond and even Challenge Seeker potentially for some serious accuracy. Throw in some damage buffs like Pit Trap, Snare, Encroaching Shadow, Great Strength and Glory Seeker for some real damage. 

I agree with some here that suggest the beastmen will be a high skill set war band which may be difficult to use at first glance. But they do seem to have some great tools that could make them dangerous in the right hands. 

Really the only thing I dislike about the band is the ungor's bare bottoms. It just looks like they are wearing thongs. Might have to sculpt some cloth on there or something

[Biboune]

11 hours ago, Anthony225 said:

I like this band a lot. It seems like it can be full of different options and tricks. I actually like the idea of not really having to worry about their inspire condition. It's one less thing to think about. And if you're able to take out 2 enemy fighters, it will be that much easier to win. Grashrack i wouldn't even bother trying to inspire to use spells. Besides level 2 he only gains cleave, which I don't think is worth using cards to help inspire. Even Draknar only gains cleave and 3 swords instead of 2 hammers. Which, again, isn't enough to warrant using cards to help inspire. Also, let's say you end up quickly killing 2 models, now your inspire cards are dead cards. I say just ignore inspiring as they have good stats out of the gate. 

 

I won't totaly agree about inspiring Drakhnar not been very useful: he gets more chances to get critics, cleave and the opportunity to use the ploy giving innate swords on a charge (plus the reroll granted be Grashrak, like everyone). He has andspecial upgrade giving 1 more glory point when he kills something (Trophy Taker). This is almost the only card releated to gain glory throught killing the band has no Surge objective like "kill with your leader" or "during a charge", only Killing Blow and most of the time Draknar will score it.

The Godsworn Hunt has acces to almost all the ploys you named and are more fit to play aggro: as fast, better attacks for the most of them, can get inspired easier and and have acces to more Objective cards releated to killing.

I think, most of the time, Grashrak's Despoilers will need to earned glory points avoiding fighting (exept to score Warning Shot and Stampede), upgrade Draknar (Trophy Taker, Tome of Offering, +1 strenght mostly), try to minimize the glory gap the opponent will gain by killing your weaker models (Martyred, Crow of Avarice, Survival of the Fittest).

It is quite like playing the Eyes of the Nines focusing on spells but loosing Draknar too early won't doom you like loosing Vortemis (but Vortemis has acces to cards like Bound by Fate or Deceitful Step)

 

 

Edit: This is a deck I'll try: https://www.underworldsdb.com/shared.php?deck=0,B21,B6,B10,B17,B18,B32,B28,B14,B4,B7,B11,N504,B15,P32,P36,N529,N446,N550,B5,B1,N340,N342,B329,N432,N436,N441,P49,B397,B398,N503,N489,N302

I did not take Matyried because I had 4 restricted cards so i took Calculated Risk. Calculated Risk, Keep Them Guessing, Loner, Shortcut, Warning Shot can be scored without having to choose between them. Conquerors and Swarm the Battlefield can be try in the same time. Despoiler need some ploys (helping for Bestial Cunning) to be scored without have to make 3 or 2 moves.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Biboune

[PJetski]

+Draknar is a great beatstick
+Has a wizard
+Some pretty good cards (Vile Invaders, Trophy Taker, Skirmisher, Blood Taunt, Bull Charge, Stampede, Killing Blow, Despoilers, Bestial Cunning)
+Basic dudes have Range 3 attacks
+Really easy to score Keep Them Guessing
+Built in Hidden Paths (a little bit worse, but doesnt cost a card)
+Ritual is a very strong mechanic
+whole warband inspires at the same time
+2 guys gain cleave on inspire

-Bad inspire condition in current meta
-6 fighters
-3 fighters are basically free glory for your opponent
-Lots of fighters but no way to move multiple fighters at once like Thorns/Guard
-Weak fighters with no way to respawn like Skeletons/Skaven

Feels very similar to Garreks Reavers but with an additional fighter and access to a wizard. 

[riddlesworth]

22 hours ago, PJetski said:

Feels very similar to Garreks Reavers but with an additional fighter and access to a wizard. 

I think they do passive scoring better than Garrek (easy keep them guessing, shortcut. especially now cover ground and spectral wings are gone) but Garrek's have better stats for the fight (garrek, saek and karsus)

[Anthony225]

1 hour ago, riddlesworth said:

I think they do passive scoring better than Garrek (easy keep them guessing, shortcut. especially now cover ground and spectral wings are gone) but Garrek's have better stats for the fight (garrek, saek and karsus)

Garrek and Saek have essentially identical stats compared to Grashrak and Draknar (uninspired). But Karsus is definitely a better fighter than the rest of the Despoilers. 
yes those passive objectives are trivial to score with this warband. 

[Biboune]

It feels like a mixe beetwen Garreck's Reavers and the Eyes of the Nine.

A point I noticed: Garrek's and Grashrak's bands can both use one of their ploy (Blood Offering and Blood Taunt) to sacrifice a 1 wound left model (the one witch scored Calculated Risk for example) to trigger the Crown of Avarice (the FAQ already gave a big up to this card). I won't do it all the time as the 2 dices bonus is nice, but some time... if it can trigger Matyred in the same time... well each cards are good on their own and it can be a 2/3 glory points combo.

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Biboune

[KoganStyle]

No love for the Hoof bois?

I really like them atm, but they are so fragile I'm not sure its even worth trying to bolster that with upgrades. My main tactic has been to grab objectives rather than hold objectives (so looking at cards like swift capture and path to victory, not so much dug in or supremacy) since they don't have the toughness needed to sit on an objective unless you have them tucked away safely in your half.

I try to only kill one or two of the enemy when I need it for an objective, since you have to commit one or more of the Ungor to do it, or have Draknar charge in and then watch him get taken out. Grashrak just sits at the back with a Ritual token because I don't like warping my gambit deck just to make more use out of a 1 dice spell caster. 

Faced the Briar Queen twice and won 17 - 13 and 24 - 7, but have also lost to the Profiteers 9 - 7. I'm hoping with more releases they will continue to evolve (and more objective moving cards YES PLEASE! KORSH LOVE 'EMS)

 

 

 

 

[Anthony225]

Riiiiise!!!

I just wanted to post some thoughts on these guys. They seem like a really good Jack-of-all-trades type warband. I think if you build they right deck they can be more of an aggro warband, but have the tools to work on passive objectives while they attack. Calculated risk, Gathered Momentum, Despoilers, Shortcut, cover ground, opening gambit, solid gains, martyred, and combination strike all seem trivial to score. With objectives like martyred and survival of the fittest, you don't care so much about fighters dying and almost welcome it. By adding a few damage upgrades like Great Strength, Glory Seeker, and Sting of the Ur-Grub, and weapons like Amberbone Dagger, you can make any fighter deadly. 

Barb-laden Net is a control type upgrade I thought would be fun and work well to help shut down key fighters. Charging in with a lowly ungor and giving Mollog or Fjul a charge token seems very fun. 

Lastly I think the Leader's reroll ability is gold! You have so many options with it. Even if you end up with no power cards to help with hitting, you still have a free reroll that Draknar can use from your first turn. I think the reroll ability is very important and makes them more of an aggro warband than people may think. The ability makes them very accurate. Even if you come up against a 3 fighter warband where it will be difficult to kill their fighters, a single reroll is still good.