Faeit 212: Beastgrave Warband: Grashrak’s Despoilers

Focusing on the Warbands for Beastgrave, Grashrak's Despoilers are up first.

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

Well, it’d hardly be Beastgrave without some beastmen, would it? In today’s Warband Focus, we’re looking at one of Warhammer Underworlds’ latest warbands – Grashrak’s Despoilers! Read on for tactical tips, a look at their play style and a tantalising peek at some shiny new cards…

Who Are Grashrak’s Despoilers?

Loathsome, unruly and driven by a savage thirst to destroy anything pure, Grashrak’s Despoilers are a brutal warband of gor-kin who would turn on each other in a moment if they weren’t already busy hating everyone else even more. To them, Beastgrave is no mystical marvel or store of hidden treasure, it’s simply another hunting ground where they can prove their deadly might and find new victims to tear asunder.

The Fighters

Grashrak Fellhoof is the leader of Grashrak’s Despoilers and a tactical lynchpin for any play style. As a Wizard, he’s capable of providing magical support, while his solid attacking stats and great movement make him a decent front-line fighter too. He really comes in handy with his unique Reaction, allowing you easy access to re-rolls that are crucial for your warband. This ensures that fighters like Draknar can make the most of their aggressive abilities, so once you start carving up the enemy you’re very, very hard to stop.

Fast and unbelievably deadly in close combat, Draknar is a crucial fighter for his warband. It’s tempting to use Draknar as an initiator at the top of the round, but he’s best saved for your last couple of activations, rushing in to finish a fighter that one of your ungors has weakened. Gaining Cleave when inspired, he’s a great counter to your enemy’s toughest fighters.

The rest of Grashrak’s Despoilers are made up of a motley cadre of ungors, fast and fragile fighters that play a crucial role in harrying enemies. All of these fighters also have the Hunter keyword – while this doesn’t provide any advantages on its own it does make these fighters eligible to benefit from some of the new edition’s best ploys and upgrades. Some cards allow you to attach the Hunter keyword to your chosen fighters during the course of the game, but starting with it gives these ungor a crucial advantage.

Gnarl and Ushkor are armed with long-ranged bows, allowing them to take key objectives and attack at the same time, offering you lots of flexibility when it comes to play style. While Gnarl doesn’t change significantly when he inspires, Ushkor gains Ensnare on his ranged attack – a nifty new keyword that allows you to ignore enemy Dodge rolls in the same way Cleave lets you ignore Blocks – perfect for finally finishing off particularly slippery fighters.

Murghoth is an easy fighter for your enemies to underestimate, but he possesses pretty solid offensive characteristics, dealing a respectable 2 Damage when Inspired. Combined with a couple of well-placed gambits, your opponent could be in for a nasty shock when Severin Steelheart is downed by a mere ungor!

As you’d guess from the name, Korsh ‘The Sneak’ is a tricksy fighter whose main use comes from his ability to pop up unexpectedly on a board edge – a perfect tactic for securing an objective out of nowhere, or pouncing on a fighter your opponent thought was safe!

The Tactics

Grashrak’s Despoilers is a flexible warband that generally rewards a “hybrid” play style, focusing on a mix of non-combat and combat-based objectives. The warband’s Inspire condition triggers when two enemy fighters have been slain – combined with a strong suite of Upgrade cards and Grashrak’s reaction, once you’ve started gathering momentum, you’re nearly unstoppable.

During the early activations of the game, you’ll want to play cagily, using your ungor to attack the enemy at a distance and only risking Draknar or Grashrak when you can guarantee a kill. Using Korsh or Murghoth as “bait” can be highly effective – while you might end up conceding a glory point, the advantage you pick up from a counter-attack could be well worth it.

Key Gambits

Grashrak’s Despoilers have a versatile selection of gambits that allow them to deal explosive damage and push fighters across the board. Combined, you’ll be able to make some deadly plays out of nowhere. We’d recommend taking Vile Invaders in every deck for the sheer amount of free movement it provides, while Weight of Numbers can even turn an ungor into a deadly fighter. Throw in Baying Hatred, and you’ll be able to threaten even the most powerful enemies!

Key Upgrades

For upgrades, Grashrak’s Despoilers have a few options. Sorcerous Trinket is a brilliant choice for Grashrak himself, letting you cast spells with greater reliability, while Trophy Taker is a nifty way to generate some extra glory. Our favourite, however, has to be Bloodcrazed; it’s a cracking source of even more extra damage that’s perfect for boosting a wounded fighter or finishing off an injured enemy.

Key Objectives

Grashrak’s Despoilers objectives are designed to let you keep up a steady trickle of glory throughout the game, rather than providing a single vast bounty at the end. An excellent selection of Surge objectives are perfect for securing some early glory and grabbing key upgrades, with Despoilers being a particularly useful option. Likewise, Bestial Cunning is essentially “free” glory, rewarding you for using as many ploys as possible! For those of you wondering what Surge means – don’t worry! Several objectives with similar wording (like “score this immediately”) are now defined by common keywords for the sake of maximum rules clarity.

The non-Surge objectives available to the warband may not reward much glory but they are generally simple to score, with Survival of the Fittest making for a solid option in pretty much any deck.