The Book of Grok Riders

[spiteofthedice]

The Book of Grok Riders

Defenders of Kinsland - Collection 8 - "Marro Cavalry"

If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Hasbro's Unit Page for stats and special powers, plus
"character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: Murky waters stir. Bitter wind knifes through skin and gnaws at bone. Yellow burning eyes glow like embers in the water's shallow depth. Decay lingers in the air.
Out of the primordial slime they rise. Their hideous weapons flailing, the clicking snarls of their grinning mounts clamoring, their empty eyes glaring.
A wave of death, they pour around their warlord and wash over the field of battle. Rushing, thundering, crashing. Murderous, chittering howls of soulless laughter. Devastation. (Hasbro)


(photos courtesy of Truth )
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

MARRO WARLORD BONDING : Warlord vs. Warwitch
Is the classification "Warwitch" (Kee-Mo-Shi) equivalent to the classification "Warlord," necessary for Marro Warlord Bonding?
No. The classification "Warlord" must be explicitly stated on the army card of the bonding figure. The two current Marro Warlords are Ne-Gok-Sa (RotV) and Me-Burq-Sa (Wave 2).

MARK OF THE WARLORD : Stacking
If the target of a Grok Rider's attack is adjacent to more than 1 Marro Warlord, does the Grok Rider receive +2 Attack dice for each adjacent Warlord?
No. The card states that a Grok Rider benefits from Mark of the Warlord when the target of his attack is adjacent to "any Marro Warlord you control." The use of the word "any" implies that the opposing figure needs to be adjacent to at least 1 Marro Warlord for MotW to take effect.

GROK TRAINING : Negation
If the Grok Riders are "Negated" by Morsbane's Rod of Negation,
are they then able to be cloned by Marro Hive?
No. Morsbane's Rod of Negation only works on Unique figures. The Grok Riders are a common squad.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received

- ME-BURQ-SA / Ne-Gok-Sa : Mark of the Warlord
As Marro Warlords, Me-Burq-Sa and Ne-Gok-Sa may aid the
Grok Riders with the MARK OF THE WARLORD attack enhancement.

Synergy Benefits Offered

MARRO WARLORD BONDING: Marro Warlords:
* Me-Burq-Sa
* Ne-Gok-Sa

Synergy Benefits Revoked

- MARRO REBIRTH : Marro Hive
(GROK RIDERS : Grok Training)
*The Book of Marro Hive

C3V and SoV Custom Synergies

Spoiler Alert!

Synergy Benefits Offered

Synergy Benefits Received

ARKTOS : HUNTER ATTACK ENHANCEMENT
As Hunters, Grok Riders adjacent to Arktos may receive an additional attack die.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• - TBA

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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Grok Riders

Army Ideas
Training Negation?
...and Kee-Mo-Shi
In Comparison with EI and Templar Knights
Preliminary Discussion

Power Rankings

Jexik: Grok Riders- I don't Grok the Groks. C-

OEAO: C-

Cleon: Tier 1 (203/208)

dok (VC inclusive): C-

Unit Strategy Review

TBA

[Soul Shackle]

These guys are fun to play, but they could REALLY use another Marro Warlord to bond with. Ne-Gok-Sa works out wonderfully, since he's a tank and can take punishment while the Riders lay down the hammer.

Me-Burq-Sa, however, is a ranged assassin. He doesn't help much with their Mark of the Warlord power, which is a shame.

I will say that it is awesome that the figures the Groks can affect with Mark of the Warlord are not dependant at all on their being adjacent to said Warlord. Most enhancement powers like this require your figures to be adjacent to the figure "granting" the power. Not the case here, and it can really come in handy. It would even allow them to avoid Kee-Mo-Shi's toxic skin, but that's just wishful thinking.

[Tai-Pan]

These guys are a blast to play. I like to use Ne-Gok-Sa to take out strong heroes, because he will last longer and can potentially mindshackle them. Me-Burq-Sa is better for attacking groups of squad figures because he can engage more (because he is double-hexed) and can usually kill one. In both cases, the Warlord can usually do a bit of damage before the Groks charge in. I've used both of these strategies, with quite a bit of success if you can get the first attack. Groks don't hold up very well if they're being attacked.

[cosmosis]

Originally Posted by Soul Shackle

Not the case here, and it can really come in handy. It would even allow them to avoid Kee-Mo-Shi's toxic skin, but that's just wishful thinking.

Do we have an official ruling as to whether or not Kee-Mo-Shi's warwitchness counts as warlordness? I didn't bother to search because it's late and I'm about to head to bed and I wanted to respond to the other posts anyway, so sorry for being lazy here.

Originally Posted by Elf_Archer

I would love to have these guys negated by Morsbane if they could be. No more bonding and attack bonnuses, but they could rebirth. Same applies to all figures with negative abilities like the Obsidian Guard's water weakness.

Yeah too bad Morsbane only can negate uniques, like you said. But that's probably one of the reasons why Morsbane can affect only uniques, since it would be too powerful to negate all of someone's commons.

Originally Posted by Tai-Pan

These guys are a blast to play. I like to use Ne-Gok-Sa to take out strong heroes, because he will last longer and can potentially mindshackle them. Me-Burq-Sa is better for attacking groups of squad figures because he can engage more (because he is double-hexed) and can usually kill one. In both cases, the Warlord can usually do a bit of damage before the Groks charge in. I've used both of these strategies, with quite a bit of success if you can get the first attack. Groks don't hold up very well if they're being attacked.

Yeah, I agree and love this idea. Me-Burq-Sa is a ranged assassin sure, but if you are willing to take the risk of sending MBS out to engage figures that your opponent advanced too fast, then you should be able to kill them off with MBS/3x Grok Riders, which will hopefully keep MBS from taking major damage. And if you're running multiple Grok Rider squads, then you could retreat with MBS/slowly bring up Ne-Gok-Sa as the initial Grok Riders would die eventually and you'd have to bring up the rest anyway.

[StoneScorpion]

These guys are alright. Its a new angle on the marro, and warlords get some teeth. They are kinda squishy, but I agree with using both warlords, as described above. In comparison to other units, the bonding is nice, but they just seem to fold under ranged fire. The calvary units aren't 100% impressing me, but i am very interested to see how einar/ullar/vydar calvary units, if they are coming, will turn out. Great for the marro them armies, the groks get a C+ in my book

[Snotwalker 8000]

Hmm, not too many thoughts here on the Groks yet...

In my wave 8 battles, I've yet to play or seen played the Grok Riders. As such, I have no first-hand experienced opinions on these guys, but I'm really curious as to the opinions of those who've played them.

Any love for our Grok friends? These guys are next on my list to take for a spin, and I think they'll be fun to play, with tactically maneuvering them for best advantage between NGS and MBS... but just how have they fared in battle so far?

At 130pts a pop, and 3 defense, we seem to be in a dilema... I'm a big fan of multiple commons to account for attrition, yet still being able to fight at full strength through a few losses, but a 260pt investment in these guys is rather steep.

What's the experienced consensus so far? 1 squad of Groks a worthy investment, perhaps with Roman Legos in support for a cheaper, earlier bonding option to get NGS into better position, followed up by charging in the Groks with their 7 move? Or 2 squads of Groks with NGS and MBS as the core of your army, at a 400pt investment, with 100-200pts left for ranged support?

1 squad or 2 squads? How have they fared?

SW8K

[Jexik]

I saw two squads of them take down a bunch of elf wizards in an 800 point game where the elves were distracted by a third player. Me-Burq-Sa was helping to lead the charge with his high movement and larger base for engagements.

But with the same base stats as Armoc Vipers and twice the cost, I don't see them faring well in tournaments, no matter how many squads you take (unless that number is zero). I really love their sinister sculpts though, and they seem to do well against hero-heavy armies.

[Revdyer]

The two times, so far, that we have played them, they crashed mightily into the enemy, doing great damage, and then died. They reminded me of the Einar Imperium in many ways, including the "died" part.

[Dredd Stev]

I absolutely LOVE these guys!

Now granted I'm not much of a 'competitive player' so my love of units has a lot more to do with theme and sculpt than actual game-play-ability... BUT:

1)At long last the marrow warlords don't need those meat-bag Romans for some hot bonding
2)Have you SEEN those skull flails? That’s just too freekin' sweet.
3)As is the case with the high-cost-low-defense melee figs (Temps and EI come instantly to mind) I think lots of people are too hung up on their perceived 'frailty' and not focusing on the potential offensive pop these guys can bring.

Seriously an attack and mind shackle from NGS, THEN 3 attacks with a base of 5? That is some real power! In my first (and only) game with them I used this one-two punch to POUND a q9-q10 combo army... granted I lost all but one grok, but once both majors had fallen to the mark of the warlord they had done their job anyway.

I think I've inspired myself to write an article on these 'offense first' figures...

[Soul Shackle]

Originally Posted by Dredd Stev

I absolutely LOVE these guys!

Now granted I'm not much of a 'competitive player'...

It think that sums up the Groks pretty well.

Don't worry, I think they're awesome, too.

[Aldin]

The Groks are great around the edges. I haven't had any real success with Groks and NGS up the middle. I have had success with my opponent focused on my four member ranged squad getting whittled away around the edges by Groks with MBS. If you're not using the eight move, you lose a lot of the value.

~Aldin, pleasantly surprised by the Venoc spine-wielding baddies

[LilMoochie]

I wouldn't draft them unless you get at least 2 squads and Ne Gok Sa. Together that's 350 points- kind of a tall order in most games since it doesn't leave much room left for anybody else. Me Burq Sa is of marginal usefullness with them since he's so weak and won't last long enough to reap the benefits of Mark of the Warlord.

These guys live and die by their Marro Warlord. When I played them their usefulness dropped precipitously once the Warlord was dead. At that point I'd rather have Marro Hounds or Deathstalkers. At only 3 defense they also die quick enough that you need (I think) at least 2 squads to make sure your activations remain efficient.

However- against a strong unique figure, you'd have to consider 3 groks and Ne Gok Sa to be a serious threat.