Unit Strategy Review: How to use Grimnak

[Taeblewalker]

If you would like to write a strategy guide like this one and join our writing circle, please contact us here. We ask that you don't use this format without permission to preserve the high quality of the strategy guides and avoid confusion. Thanks!



Unit Strategy Review
Unit: Grimnak
Author: Taeblewalker (with thanks to my sewing circle)

Oh, for the days of the Chomp and Mindshackle thread on Heroscape.net! Grimnak is both powerhouse and weakling, asset and liability. Against squads and medium or small heroes, he cuts a swathe of destruction without equal. Against large or huge figures, his attack of 2 is almost pitiful. With his huge hit zone, he is a big target – but in an orc army, he can reign supreme even against large and huge enemies. In these heady days of stealth flying, 10 point heroes, many fast moving units, and many large and huge units, why spend 120 points on Grimnak? We will explore some excellent reasons for doing so.

Let us begin with Grimnak’s stats.

Vital Statistics
Cost – 120 – Knight Class Unit
Size – Huge – Safe/Highly Visible
Life – 5 –Average
Move – 5 – Average
Range – 1 – Melee
Attack – 2 – Poor
Defense – 4 – Average
Tournament Readiness- High
Chomp – 25% - sub-reliant vs. heroes, automatic vs. squads
Orc Warrior Enhancement – requires adjacency; medium tactical advantage.

In-Depth Analysis
We shall now look carefully at the Grimnak’s statistics, and draw strategies from our conclusions. Let us start with cost. Below is an explanation of Agatagary's cost classification:

Pawn class (expendable, units that can be useful, but are not worth enormous trouble to protect)
Bishop class (more useful than a pawn, but still somewhat expendable)
Knight class (units that are interestingly powerful and can have a significant impact on the game in of themselves. It is advisable that they be kept alive, but if absolutely necessary they may be sacrificed)
Rook class (units that almost inevitably have a significant impact on the game, and whose death should be avoided as much as possible)
Queen class (devastatingly powerful or important units that should be protected at all costs)

Class:
Let us begin with an analysis of Grimnak’s size and cost. Grimnak is a Knight Class unit, in light of the Grut squads. His point cost is 120. He is no longer one of the most expensive units in the game, and with the larger army sizes people use these days, you can usually afford him.

To examine Grimnak’s core stats, we will break them up into two categories—offensive ability and survivability.

Offense:
Grimnak has two main offensive abilities, Chomp and Orc Warrior Enhancement. Don’t overlook his Attack of 2, however, as it can take out the occasional low defense squad unit or infict a wound on a low defense hero. Understand up front that if your opponent has not invested many points in squads or medium to small heroes, you will be using Grimnak primarily for his ability to boost your orc army. Between your orcs and Grimnak (normal attack plus Chomp), you will get to make up to 6 attacks per order marker! The other unit and unit combos that can equal or exceed this are:
1) Aubrien Archers, Elite Onyx Vipers and Venoc Vipers (Frenzy)
2) Einar Imperium (Double Attack x3)
3-4) Knights of Weston or MacDirk Warriors if they bond with Alastair MacDirk or Eldgrim who then Overextends
5) Marro Drones when you activate at least two squads of them, which happens 40% of the time, or 45% or 50% with Su-Bak-Na and/or Glyph of Lodin
6) Shades of Bleakwoode (Soul Devour before movement applies to all Shades you control, not merely those you activate)
7) Kato Katsuro when he activates both an Ashigaru Harquebus and Ashigaru Yari squad
8) Laglor, Major Q9 and DW8K all get (potentially) multiple shots in
9) Runa
10) Marrden Hounds and Kee-Mo-Shi, depending on adjacency
11) Units with area Specials, like Jotun, Mimring, DW7K, DW9K, Airborne Elite, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan, James Murphy
12) Tor-Kul-Na with Trample Stomp
13) Shaolin Monks, Master Win Chiu Woo and the new Raelin with attacks against all adjacent figures
14) Firestorm - Kurrok the Elementalist with three Fire Elementals including Searing Intensity.
15) Ornak Bomb of two Fen Hydras or (on very lucky rolls) two Frost Giants of Morh.

His threat range, which is his Move over flat terrain plus his range, is 6. However, Grimnak's height of 11 will allow him to attack and Chomp opponents on higher ground, even on castle walls if no battlements are present. If Grimnak can stand on a minor elevation then even battlements won't save them!

Survivability:
Grimnak has a defense of 4 – higher than that of several other huge figures with Life 5, such as Mimring and Su-Bak-Na. This gives him a better chance of avoiding damage and staying alive long enough to be useful. Based on stats alone, his survivability is decent, but he will be taken down by concentrated effort.
He will be a target, especially in an all orc army. Like all useful units, he will take his share of attacks, but if you play it right, your Gruts and other support units can be threatening enough on their own to keep your opponent’s attacks trained on them, leaving Grimnak a little breathing room. This will be covered more in the strategy guide below.

One more point about survivability: If you have Nerak in your army, and you can spare the activations, keep him close -- he'll give you an extra defese die.

Tournament Readiness (High): Grimnak plus one squad of Heavy Gruts costs 190 points; replace the heavies with two squads of Blade Gruts and they cost 200. This is a very good core for your army, and you still have plenty of points left. The latter choice leaves you 14 spaces left in your start zone - plenty left to employ a few more Orc Champions, or perhaps the complementary Bonding group of one or two squads of Arrow Gruts and a few Beasts such as Mimring or Krug. If you have points left after those choices, you can still probably fit in a cheerleader unit such as Raelin the Kyrie Warrior to round things out.

GENERAL STRATEGY:

Grimnak’s Entourage

Before even considering the inevitable Chomp strategies, a word needs to be said about how Grimnak travels. In each subsection of General Strategy, we will consider him as a lone figure first, then with a Grut (Blade or Heavy) squad accompanying him. Grimnak must also be considered as a force in his own right, in case the Grut squads are dead or if he gets summoned away by the Glyph of Erland. That having been said, you will probably use the squads if you have any points to spare. With that in mind, let us discuss the general merits of having each type of Grut melee squad moving along with Grimnak, before we consider their presence or absence in each particular strategy.

The main points worth mentioning in common for both Blade Gruts and Heavy Gruts are Orc Champion Bonding and their single-base movement contrasted with Grimnak’s double-base movement.

Be careful of Dund, who can destroy your bonding strategy. You should also be careful of when your Grut numbers are very low, as the loss of your last Grut means none of your order markers on them will be of any use. Try to place order markers on Grimnak if you are down to one or two Gruts, or if you are certain Dund will get a crack at your Gruts.

Now for double-space movement. Your Blade Gruts can outrun Grimnak, and even your Heavy Gruts can maneuver better on varied land terrain, but when it comes to crossing single space water, Grimnak will be able to step over it faster. When moving Gruts in lock-step with Grimnak, take the terrain into account, and plan ahead. You may wish to run those Move 6 Blade Gruts toward the water, even if they outpace Grimnak for a turn, knowing that they will have to stop and that Grimnak will be able to step past them onto dry land.

With Orc Champion Bonding and multiple Orc Champions in your army, you can keep your opponent guessing as to when you will use Grimnak, and you have the luxury of choosing on the fly when to take turns with him. Ornak gives similar flexibility, though his activation only occurs at Order Marker 1. (What a great bluff it is, though, to put an X on him, then to have your 1 on the Blade Gruts or Heavy Gruts! Your opponent might assume you are taking a turn with two different non-Orc heroes on your first order marker, and not see Grimnak coming).

Chomp

Almighty Chomp! There are many reasons to use it, and we will break down the different categories of units against which it is best used. We will discuss categories of Chompable targets.

Sleeping Units
Units with no order marker on them are perfect targets for Grimnak and his Chomp ability. This is extremely valuable for units that are normally dangerous to Grimnak. Do not hesitate to leave the Grut Orcs behind, with Tornak or alone, to snack on these sleeping units. Use this strategy also if you think you know that your opponent has placed X Order Marker on his most dangerous squad.

Heroes of Great Value to Your Opponent
The following heroes are not weak combatants, but if you take them out, you cripple or weaken your enemy’s army, as they are great support units: Alastair MacDirk, Concan, Marcus, Raelin, Saylind, Taelord, Venoc Warlord.

With the advent of D&D-scape, many figures are prime chomping targets. Eltahale, Mica Connour, Siege, Rhogar Dragonspine, Sharwin Wildborn, Pelloth, Brandis Skyhunter, Tandros Kreel, Ana Karithon, and the like can all be pinned down with Gruts while Chompy does his thing. The killer stats (Attack 4 / Defense 4) of the Heavy Gruts when adjacent to Grimnak make this and especially good tactic to employ, as the lone hero will be busy dealing with the squad and be vulnerable to Chomp.

Weak Heroes
The following figures have weak stats or low life and are not too risky to take on in melee, even if Chomp fails: Isamu, Iskra Eisenwein, Kelda the Kyrie Warrior (low attack), Khosumet the Darklord, Kyntela Gwyn, and Sonja Eisenwien. Syvarris is a bit trickier as he gets a double attack, but his Life of 4 and Defense of 2 make him vulnerable to a few swipes from Grimnak’s halberd.

Heroes with Automatic Destruction Powers of their own
We will consider Cyprien Eisenwein, Dead-eye Dan, Morsbane and Sudema in this category. Obviously, Grimnak will need to be adjacent to any figure he Chomps.

Some of these figures have a range to their Destroy powers. Fortunately, the two figures with a range higher than Grimnak’s Move of 5 – Dead-eye Dan’s Sharpshooter ability with range 10 and Morsbane’s Rod of Negation with range 6 – are longshot powers. You should be able to get Grimnak within range to Chomp these two figures before they are likely to kill him even if they take turns as he approaches, but just to be sure, try to time your approach to when they are 'sleeping'.

Your chances of Chomping a hero, while sub-reliant, are better than the instant destroy powers of these figures. Not only is Chomp at least marginally better than each of these abilities, but Grimnak’s Attack of 2 is enough to take a crack at doing damage to these targets in case Chomp doesn’t work. Grimak’s decent defense will protect him from all normal attacks except Cyprien. The table below compares some stats of these figures with Grimnak’s.

His average of 1 skull per attack is equal to or higher than the average shields rolled by Dead-eye Dan, Morsbane, Runa or Sudema, giving him a chance to wound them if his Chomp fails. The average skulls of these four figures are all less than Grimnak’s average shields rolled, so he can take their punishment. Recall that Dead-eye Dan can only use his Sharpshooter power on non-adjacent targets! The 6 Life of Morsbane can be difficult to overcome, but the benefits of successfully using Chomp on him can be worth the risk.

Braxas is of course left out of this table due to her size (she cannot be Chomped).

Unit             Life   Attack   Defense      Average       Average   Chance of 
                                              Skulls        Shields     Instant 
                                              per Roll      per Roll    Destroy 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Grimnak            5      2         4           1             1.67          25% 
Cyprien            6      3         4           1.5           1.34       5%/15% 
Dead-eye Dan       3      1         2           0.5           0.67          10% 
Kee-Mo-Shi         4      4         4           2             1.34          10% 
Morsbane           6      3         2           1.5           0.67           5% † 
Ne-Gok-Sa          5      3         6           1.5           2              5% 
Runa               5      3         3           1.5           1              5% 
Sudema             4      2         3           1             1             20% ‡

†Negation has a 20% chance, and can still hurt Grimnak. His combined 25% chance of getting an
effect with his Rod of Negation is still not at deadly as Chomp, and he is almost equal to Grimnak in
points (100 vs. Grimnak’s 120), so is a nice figure to take out to justify Grimnak’s cost.
‡Recall that Grimnak is a hero, so a 17 or higher is needed.

Your chances are worse against Cyprien, Kee-Mo-Shi and Ne-Gok-Sa. Against them, you should really bring Gruts along to help in case Chomp is unsuccessful. Cyprien can kill Grimnak with a lesser roll than 20 (18 with Sonya) with his Chilling Touch if he is wounded (13-15 does 1 wound, 16-19 does three). Kee-Mo-Shi has a 20% chance to roll a free wound for Toxic Skin. On the other hand, the wound you might inflict with your Attack of 2 could make the difference against Cyprie or Kee-Mo-Shi if you also attack with Gruts. Ne-Gok-Sa has a Defense of 6, so your only real chance of taking him out with Grimnak is with Chomp or counting on the Gruts' own attacks, bolstered by Grimnak's enhancement but not really aided by his Attack.

The Shades of Bleakwoode are tricky, as they won't likely wound Grimnak but each have a 10% chance to control him. This gives them a 27.1% chance of a single success per 3 rolls! The Shades can be dangerous if they are near Grimnak, so your best best is to bring Gruts along to help.

Ranged Squads
You will need to move adjacent to any figures you wish to Chomp. With Grimnak’s move of 5, this may take a while. Grimnak’s survivability is decent, but too many ranged attacks will stop him in his tracks. Don’t send Grimnak alone against ranged attackers on higher ground, unless their Attack is only 1. Don't hesitate to send him alone against melee squads or low Attack melee squads (but beware the Frenzy power of the Aubrien Archers!).

If you have Gruts to bond with him, send them ahead to tie up any ranged enemy units that could otherwise take Grimnak out of the fight. Venoc Vipers and Deathstalkers can also fill this role.

Dangerous Melee Squads (excluding Samurai who are detailed below)
Dangerous melee squads are those that can easily cut Grimnak down if he gets too close. The Einer Imperium and Minions of Utgar are prime examples, although Frenzying Venoc Vipers or Elite Onyx Vipers can prove just as deadly. MacDirk Warriors with a highly wounded Champion have a high Attack as well, plus they may bring a Human Champion along for the party. Knights of Weston often come packaged the same way. Tarn Viking Warriors and Warriors of Ashra are also squads with sufficient stats to make Grimnak sorry he got too close while they were activated.

Grimnak, alone, should really stay away from dangerous squad figures who are likely to be activated later that round unless you can catch one separated from the others. If you can bring help, especially the Heavy Gruts, then even the Einar Imperium could lose the two figures you don’t Chomp immediately. You can afford to be bolder about approaching these dangerous squads with such friends nearby.

Samurai Squads
Grimnak can immediately destroy any Samurai without fear of Counterstrike. The Izumi Samurai are easily taken out as their attacks are likely to bounce off Grimnak’s Defense of 4. Having Gruts along will only help make an easy job easier.

The Tagawa Samurai are a little tougher, especially if they have made any kills. Still, their Defense of 5 means that you should not attack them with Grimnak’s normal attack. If their Attack is still 3, you might risk taking them on with Grimnak alone.

Otherwise, when you go after Tagawa Samurai you should probably bring Heavy Gruts along to help you take the Tagawa out with the Heavy Gruts’ enhanced Attack of 4. Your Blade Gruts will be more at risk of Counterstrike in this gambit with their lower enhanced Attack of 3, but if you have enough of them, you can try risking a few attacks against the more expensive Tagawa Samurai, hoping to take out one Samurai for every one or two Blade Gruts lost. Each Tagawa Samurai (120 points / 3 figures) cost four times as much as each Blade Grut (40points / 4 figures), so even at two Blade Gruts lost to Counterstrike for every one Tagawa Samurai taken out, you come out ahead.

As for the Kozuke Samurai, their Attack of 5 can quickly take Grimnak down, probably in two turns. The up side is that your Attack of 2 has a chance against their Defense of 3, especially if you can get higher ground. The moral? Don’t let he Kozuke Samurai take the fight to you (if possible, given their extra Move when coming to engage). Use terrain to force them to stop just short of reaching you on their turn. Water helps, as does elevation. Tying them up with other units of the swarming variety, including Gruts, is another way to stop them.

Assuming you manage to reach them first and you have only Grimnak without his entourage, don’t be afraid to attack this one Samurai squad with Grimnak’s normal attack. The chance to take an extra Kozuke Samurai out (after Chomping the first one) is worth the risk of a Counterstrike wound from Defense 3, as the alternative is to let that Samurai and his remaining buddy attack you on the next round with an Attack of 5. Even if you miss, you almost certainly won’t take more than one wound from Counterstrike with three Defense dice to your two attack dice.

Gruts, in any case, simply make the job easier, especially since the Kozuke Defense is so low for a Counterstriking unit.

Easy Pickings Squads
If your opponent has the following in his army, they are easy to take out either because A) they have a very poor attack and can’t really penetrate Grimnak’s Defense of 4 while he Chomps them one at a time or B) because their Defense is low enough that Grimnak can use his normal attack against a second figure in one turn: Arrow Gruts, Blade Gruts, Gorillinators, Roman Archers (break up their arrow volley), a single squad of Venoc Vipers (beware ofwading into multiple squads of them!), the Zettian Guards.

Marvel Units
If you can, take the opportunity to Chomp a Marvel unit. Captain America, Dr. Doom and Red Skull are often the cornerstones of your opponent's strategy. The other Marvel units are all rather expensive, especially Thanos and the Hulk. Your opponent will be loathe to allow you to use Grimnak to catch any of his Marvel units sleeping. Grimnak's presence on the battlefield can dictate the actions of your opponent if all of his Marvel units are melee units, and even ranged Marvel units will feel obligated to shoot at him, rather than at your other units, when he comes close to them. Thanks to all the newer squads, like the Marro Stingers, who are pretty good at taking out Marvel units, Grimnak might even be considered a sort of decoy! Iron Man must choose between shooting the big lug and avoiding Chomp, or taking out those high Attack Stingers that will be looking for his blood.

Units to Avoid:
Large or Huge units when Grimnak is alone. If Grimnak is not boosting his Blade Gruts or Heavy Gruts, he is offensively very poor. His survivability will only last so long against figures with Attack of at least 3 and Defense of at least 4. Don’t go after these units without help!

Ranged Units who can’t be easily reached: Following the advice above, stay away from situations where Grimnak will be under fire from multiple ranged figures that can shoot for several turns before he can get there.

Also, don’t move Grimnak around too long within range of Dead-eye Dan, Morsbane and Sudema. The strategy section suggests how to approach them for Chomp or normal attack. Don’t let your opponent distract you with Chompable cheap squad figures while Grimnak moves around as if in a shooting gallery. Either stay out of range of these instant destroy figures, or close in for the kill.


For additional information see the Book of Grimnak

[teekay]

Great read, Taeblewalker. Grimnak is definately a support unit with a great offensive ability. It is obvious he should only be drafted in a themed (Grut) army, he still gets drafted regularly and continues to see play even after 7 waves of expansions. (At least in our games.)

The breakdown of who Grimnak should attack will also come in handy. Thanks.

[scorpiusx]

Another great article. However, the new hero (having trouble with his name) that allows you to activate both Ashigaru squads should be included in the "6 or more attacks per turn" section.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by scorpiusx

Another great article. However, the new hero (having trouble with his name) that allows you to activate both Ashigaru squads should be included in the "6 or more attacks per turn" section.

Edited!

Originally Posted by teekay

Great read, Taeblewalker. Grimnak is definately a support unit with a great offensive ability. It is obvious he should only be drafted in a themed (Grut) army, he still gets drafted regularly and continues to see play even after 7 waves of expansions. (At least in our games.)

The breakdown of who Grimnak should attack will also come in handy. Thanks.

Glad I could help. I know Grimnak wasn't in the queue of hardly used units clamoring for a write-up, but I looked at that Attack of 2 and all the Large and Huge figures coming out, and I wanted to answer, "How can Grimnak still be as scary as he was three years ago?" With a lot of help from the other writers, I believe I succeeded.

[Matthias Maccabeus]

Grimnak plus gruts are also a great counter to the ever annoying rats. Chompy auto's one of them while the orcs can disengage just like the rats and choose who they want to attack.

[Aldin]

Nifty article again. I just love these

The 6+ attack thing is tricky. You should at the very least add the Marrden Hounds (same reason as Shades) and Q9 (up to nine single die attacks). You might also add units like Laglor, Brunak and DW8k that potentially have up to eight or more attacks. Explosive units like DW9k and the AE can hit 6+. Finally, Runa can at least roll against 6+ whether or not you would really consider that an attack I don't know.

~Aldin, who hadn't thought of using water as a means of speeding up a Grimnak army - clever

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Aldin

Nifty article again. I just love these

The 6+ attack thing is tricky. You should at the very least add the Marrden Hounds (same reason as Shades) and Q9 (up to nine single die attacks). You might also add units like Laglor, Brunak and DW8k that potentially have up to eight or more attacks. Explosive units like DW9k and the AE can hit 6+. Finally, Runa can at least roll against 6+ whether or not you would really consider that an attack I don't know.

~Aldin, who hadn't thought of using water as a means of speeding up a Grimnak army - clever

I give up! Great observations, Aldin!

EDIT: I added those and some more!

[ICOOLDUDE]

Originally Posted by Taeblewalker

Ornak gives similar flexibility, though his activation only occurs at Order Marker 1.

What if you had the order marker #1 already activated? It would still be on Ornak's card.

[Kroz]

Dead eye Dan CAN use his normal attack at 10 range not 1 like it says.

Recall that Dead-eye Dan can only use his normal attack on adjacent targets!

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Kroz

Dead eye Dan CAN use his normal attack at 10 range not 1 like it says.

Here is what I meant to say:

Recall that Dead-eye Dan can only use his Sharpshooter power on non-adjacent targets!

Don't ask how it got through as it was!

[ManTrainChooChoo]

I like the article but my experience with Grimnak has him more at the Rook class or even the Queen class in some games. He's the only reason why I consider Heavy Gruts or Blade Gruts to be competitive.... and when he dies you lose attack/defense/auto-kills and so forth.

[rai12]

sorry about the 6+ attack mess T. I was going for the fact that you have 6 guaranteed attacks assuming you have 4 Orcs alive and a squad figure to chomp.