Will you get your points worth from Grimnak?

[Marro Divider #4]

First off, please tell me if it is a good idea to start a "Get your points worth out of..." series. I would do a few every once in a while, and maybe recruit a guild to help write these.

Example-

Grimnak is 120 points. Most players use him as a bonding hero in an Orc army. His main ability is chomp. (going on about special attacks, survivability, other things)

Grimnak relies on Chomp to earn him points. Chomp should be used on heroes that cost a lot of points and have a high life. Grimnak works as a great counter-draft to these figures (Jotun, Tor-Kul-Na, Charos, so on), because he can easily one-shot them. I think that a huge part of Heroscape is intimidation. I love to draft scary counters to the main chunk of an opponent's army. Grimnak is one of those counters. I have seen a lot of armies made with just Tor-Kul-Na, Su-Bak-Na, and Nagrubs (sometimes with stingers mixed in). I draft Grimnak, and put a few order markers on him and move him close to one of the Marro Heroes. They get intimidated and move away from Grimnak, and (played well) away from my other figures.

Grimnak also works very well against over-priced (or good but expensive) common squads. He can mow through these squads and earn a lot of points while doing so.

In conclusion, Grimnak works mainly as intimidation to protect lower-defense figures weak to large-point figures. Grimnak gets his points worth by destroying these figures, or by sitting in place with an X on him just to keep away your opponent's figures while you can earn pooints with yours.

[Anitar]

Originally Posted by Marro Divider #4

Grimnak works as a great counter-draft to these figures (Jotun, Tor-Kul-Na, Charos, so on), because he can easily one-shot them.

Grimmy can't chomp any of them because they're not

Originally Posted by Grimnak's card

small or medium

[airdroppers]

Jotun: CHOMP ME!?

I remember when I just had the first master set and the Zettians were decent, I used Grimnak to chomp them Nothin' like chompin' a 7 defense robot with 9 range (original pod;Dw9k)



EDIT: Maybe my Zettians got chomped... It was so long ago I can't remember. I think I used to use Zettians... wait but why would I?

[MegaSilver]

Sounds like a very rough draft for Unit Strategy Guide, IMO.

But what do I know? Maybe this is meant to take a different approach?

It's a nice idea, don't get me wrong, but it seems to emulate USG too much to me...

MegaSilver

[Clarissimus]

Chomp should be used on heroes that cost a lot of points and have a high life

On the contrary, chomp should be used on squad figures, especially when you can bypass annoying defensive powers like Deathreavers' scatter or Samurai's counterstrike.

Let your gruts do the attacking of the heroes. Chomp against heroes is pretty cool when it works, and you might as well try it if there are no squads around, but rolling a 16 is just not very reliable, particularly when compared to Heroscape's only guaranteed insta-kill ability.

[Aldin]

MD4,

I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but your guide isn't matching up much with my experience in playing Grimnak. As others have noted, you don't seem to understand which figures are legitimate targets of Chomp. You've also missed one of Grimnak's primary abilities - boosting Orc Warriors.

Getting your maximum value from Grimnak usually involves both having Orc Warriors for him to boost and a defense booster (Nerak or Raelin) to help keep him alive. Personally, I also prefer to have some range to force my opponent to approach my melee troops (Marro Warriors are good in this role, Krav Maga or Syvarris are better).

Truth be told, Grimnak has a huge target on his back and will in all likelihood be the first casualty you suffer from ranged figures in the other army. The good news is that his bullet magnet ability means your Orc Warriors will live long enough to come into engagement with those sissy ranged figures and exact their revenge. In most games I play that is where Grimnak's true value lies.

~Aldin, who got trounced once by a Raelin/Nerak/Grimnak/Heavy Gruts army

[Devil's Advocate]

It is pretty situation dependent. If I am adjacent to Cyprien and some squads members too I might try to chomp Cyprien since it could be game ending if I autokill him. Even factoring in the Probability, often you have a higher expected point gain trying for the Hero over a cheap squad member. I think a lot comes down to whether or not you are a risk taker or not

[dok]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

It is pretty situation dependent. If I am adjacent to Cyprien and some squads members too I might try to chomp Cyprien since it could be game ending if I autokill him. Even factoring in the Probability, often you have a higher expected point gain trying for the Hero over a cheap squad member.

It's a good point. The 20% chance to autokill Cyprien is worth 30 points - that's higher than the fractional card value of any squad figure short of the 90+ point squads.

Of course Cyprien is one of the highest value medium heroes in the game - the decision is much dicier with most heroes.

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

I think a lot comes down to whether or not you are a risk taker or not

Well, a bit, I guess. I don't really consider myself one or the other when it comes to the game.

I'd be more likely to take the low-variance route and chomp a knight in stead of Gilbert if I were winning. Even though that costs me 3.5 points of expected value, when you're winning you want to push down the variance and bring the game reliably toward a conclusion. Conversely, if I were losing I might opt to chomp Crixus in stead of a Capuan Gladiator, even though in that case the squaddie is actually the smart play points-wise. A good roll on the chomp could turn the game back around.

The other thing to consider, of course, is that card point values are not precisely the same as in-game value, unless the game is going to be called on time at the end of your turn. If, for instance, chomping the squaddie is going to reduce the number of attacks your opponent can muster on their turn, that should be a big factor in your decision.

[Devil's Advocate]

Originally Posted by dok

The 20% chance to autokill Cyprien is worth 30 points - that's higher than the fractional card value of any squad figure short of the 90+ point squads.

Of course Cyprien is one of the highest value medium heroes in the game - the decision is much dicier with most heroes.

Technically it is a 25% chance not 20%

[dok]

Ah, was thinking it was 17+ for some reason. Guess who doesn't have Heavy Gruts...

[Devil's Advocate]

Many Confuse Grimnak's 16 with Sudema's and Braxas' 17

[Toad Rocket]

I think a lot of it on how you define 'getting your points worth'? Are you asking 'Will Grimnak kill 120 points worth of the enemy'? Or are you asking if the the benefit of having Grimnak worth 120 points?
Factoring the bonding and Orc Buffs is tricky at best. Factoring the distraction/intimidation factor is also not easy. He is fairly tough and will absorb a few shots before going down thus saving your orc gruts. Having Grimnak bonding with your orcs is likely going to change how your opponent plays his units.

It is sort of like asking 'Will you get your points worth out of Raelin?'. This a bit more extreme of an example, but Raelin will not be killing 80 points during the majority of the games she is in. However, she will keep your figures alive longer thus allowing you to keep board control and take shots away from your other figures and alter your oppenents tactics.