Heavy Gruts = Heavy Hitters!

[Snotwalker 8000]

With all the attention being given to the other Wave 6 Squadies, I wanted to share the love with my precious orcssesss.

Like most, I was initially disappointed with the Heavy Gruts when I first saw their stats/abilities... Mostly because I was looking forward to new abilities (range 2 attack with halberds, perhaps?)... but after the initial disappointment wore off, I began to see the light.

having a squad of 4 bonding 3/3 figures with disengage ain't something to sneeze at! But 70 points still seemed steep for orcs... Until you see them on the battlefield escorting Grimmy or Tornak as 4/4 bodyguards. As someone else had pointed out earlier in a different post, they essentially become a squad of 4 Dumatef Guards when bonding/moving with Grim/Tornak! That's 70 points of sweetness! Heck, throw in Nerak's 1 Defense aura and they're now a squad of 4/5 Orcs!

I need more playtesting before making a final determination, but so far I think I'd rather have 8 Heavy Gruts in my army at 140pts than 12 Blade Gruts at 120pts. They ain't fancy. They ain't groundbreaking. But they are solid and add a nice new army building option for us Orc lovers!

SW8K

[Su_Nan]

How about getting one of them adjacent to both Grimnak and Tornak with Nerak. Thats a guy with 5 attack and 6 defense. They aren't flashy but in an orc army that can boost attack and defense like the orc heroes can its not too bad.

[markwars]

Grimnak - 120
Tornak - 100
Nerak - 50
Heavy Gruts x 2 - 140
Arrow Gruts - 40
Swog Rider x 2 - 50

Total - 500

There's a build that has heavy hitters, a bit of ranged support, and a ton of bonding.

[Snotwalker 8000]

Nice 500 pointer Markwars!

Another great benefit of the Heavy Gruts that I expect to see happen is a complete revitalization of Tornak! He has often been overlooked in previous games when compared to Grimmy, but now that he can plow into enemy lines with his attack of 4, along with his Heavy Grut Groupies slugging it out with possibly 4 more attacks of 4 strength, he will be a nasty threat to face!

[Jonathan]

Good to see the grutties are rocking some socks! Now if they'd only come to Houston...

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Good to see the grutties are rocking some socks! Now if they'd only come to Houston...

and Martinez...

~Aldin, whiny

[kenjib]

Originally Posted by Snotwalker 8000

I need more playtesting before making a final determination, but so far I think I'd rather have 8 Heavy Gruts in my army at 140pts than 12 Blade Gruts at 120pts. They ain't fancy. They ain't groundbreaking. But they are solid and add a nice new army building option for us Orc lovers!

However, 16 blade gruts vs. 8 heavy gruts is altogether a different story. I think which to pick depends on how many points you have with the other stuff you add in. The old blade gruts are more likely to exactly fill your point total due to the lower cost.

[gamjuven]

yea it's a tough call, i'm still debating on whether to use regular gruts or the hvy variety. it's a debate btw 1 squad of hvy gruts with grimnak, or 2 squads of regulars with grimnak. they are my end-units. i think the hvy gruts will last longer even tho the regulars have twice as many in number. i still; need to playtest it more

[Adam]

i wish i had them. i love orc armies and marro armies. i usually use the marro army as a ranged support for the orc armies, seing as how theres only one ranged squad for orcs, and the marros have Burqy and warriors.

Coloration goes as follows:
Red: I have all i need for it
Blue: I have some, need more to get all i need
Orange: I need to get it, I have none

My dream army:
Ornak: 100
Grimnak: 120
Tornak: 100
Nerak: 50
Heavy gruts X 2: 140
Blade gruts X 3: 120
Arrow gruts X 3: 120
Swog rider x 4: 100

Total points: 850

bit too spensive for a tourney, but probably really good for seige.

[gamjuven]

adam, are u talking abotu a castle siege army? cause i don't think a grut army would be very good at all at attacking a castle, or even defending a castle really. but that army would rule on any other map. i love the grut armies

[dragonfire]

not an orc lover personly but they do look cool. If i had a choice between orcs or marros id pick marros. I hardly draft orcs but these guys will get used moore frequently than other orc squads.

[markwars]

At the 2/05 DFW tourney we had 400 point armies. Here's the army I brought:

Nerak - 50
Blade Gruts x 3 - 120
Krug - 120
Arrow Gruts x 2 - 80
Swog Rider - 25

Total - 395

That army went 2-2 that day and frankly wasn't very well played by me.

At the 10/05 DFW tourney I kept some fhat and built this 400 point army:

Krug - 120
Arrow Gruts x 2 - 80
Swog Rider x 2 - 50
Me Burq Sa - 50
Krav Maga - 100

Total - 400

That army went 5-2 that day and held its own fairly well.

Now that we are looking at 500 points as the standardized number I've been revisiting the idea of fielding an all Orc army. The main problem I see with that type of army is defending against range. I can tell you from personal experience and too many sad test games to count that Orcs will die in droves under a hail of 4th Mass fire. Nerak can only go so far to protect you, and after that your options are limited. I was really hoping that Ornak would have included a defensive aura for Orcs, but that was not to be.