The Book of Grok Riders

[fetelgeuse]

My experience with the groks has been so, so. Like Rev said, they seem to be a crash and burn unit; they do a lot of damage when they crash into enemy lines, but when attacked they burn up faster than a pack of Pall Malls in Kurt Vonnegut's pocket.

On another note, is anyone else feeling that the grok's themselves (not so much the riders) look kind of funny? Both of the packs I've gotten, the blue bodies are way too bright, and the teeth have no definition whatsoever.

[MechaBeast]

I've been using the Groks differently than I normally use bonding squads. Knights, Macdirks, and Orcs I use the heroes and squads in unison and they usually stick together. The Groks, I use a bit different. I guess the best way to describe it is that I use Groks like one would use Kato and use them to order around Negoksa and Me-burq-sa. If the 2 warlords need more help to take someone down then I might charge in a Grok or 2 to help out but rarely are all the groks in the same place at the same time.

Doing this does take away from the ability to run in and smash a couple targets with 3 big attacks but doing that does leave you wide open to counter attacks. I only use 1 squad of groks when doing this.

[cosmosis]

MechaBeast, kind of like the arrow gruts ordering around Mimring and Krug.

[MechaBeast]

Originally Posted by cosmosis

MechaBeast, kind of like the arrow gruts ordering around Mimring and Krug.

Ahh yes I might have came to that conclusion if I owned any arrow gruts *stupid impossible to find wave 1+2*

[cosmosis]

Originally Posted by MechaBeast

Ahh yes I might have came to that conclusion if I owned any arrow gruts *stupid impossible to find wave 1+2*

Haha, yeah my friend always takes FOREVER to place his Order Markers. So he started doing that with the arrow gruts and not worry about Order Markers. We have yet to use Kato Katsuro, so maybe he'd like him too (as well as the Grok Riders).

Anyway, good luck to your search for Waves 1 & 2. Maybe WOTC will get them re-released hopefully, similar in fashion to Wave 3.

[manger]

Does anyone else find it odd that they included Grok Training to negate marrow rebirth from the Hive? On the hive card it says Small or Medium and the Groks are large so it kind of seems like a waste of writing, it could've been a cool ability.

[manger]

Well upon closer inspection of the Marrow Hive card I guess you just can't take a turn with large, or huge common marrow but you could potentially rebirth any sized common marrow figures. Sorry, ignore my last post.

[spiteofthedice]

Finally tried the Groks last night (and with that, have tried everything in 8 and 8.5). I know that there are two camps- those who think they are too frail and those who think that bonding/3 5-Attacks makes up for their frailty.

I'm going to go ahead and align myself with the first camp. I am not drafting the Groks again until another (better) Marro Warlord is released. They would be alright at 100-pts-a-squad. But with only NGS to be their front man (I'll get to MBS in one moment), they simply don't have enough opportunities to work their way in for the attacks. I wound up using them as 3A-3D melee squads for most of the game.

The fact that they bond with MBS is a complete waste, since the Groks and MBS work in opposition to one another. MBS is a very frail hero who operates by staying out of melee. He bonds with a squad that only becomes worthwhile if he is engaged. And if you get him engaged, move in your groks, and fail to kill whatever figure you've engaged, you just turned 180 pts of your army into sitting ducks. So basically, the only way to use MBS and the Groks together is defensively (shoot with MBS until opponents find him, then move in Groks to defend Warlord). Unfortunately, that means a lot of potential attacks will go to waste.

I also found that, about 50% of the time, I was not getting all three attacks, because there wasn't room for the 3rd Grok to get into position. Double-spaced squads are not maneuverable enough to be worth 130 pts apiece. Our battlefield was a large map that had plenty of level ground available. The groks often simply cannot maneuver themselves into position around the target, considering you need 5 figures in place just to make use of them.

Sorry to go on- just really disappointed. Looking forward to a Marro Warlord to make these guys better than pathetic.

[Dredd Stev]

Originally Posted by Spite

Sorry to go on- just really disappointed. Looking forward to a Marro Warlord to make these guys better than pathetic.

While you are entitled to your opinion (God knows I've been in camp #2 since the EI were released), I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of these heavy hitters as 'pathetic'.

NGS is a great warlord to lead out with, and since he's slower it gives you the chance to deploy the grocks a little better before NGS puts his mark on a target. Getting free shackles is nothing to skoff at, and that 6def/5life means that ol’ Gok can go round-for-round with some of the biggest hitters in the game.

I'll agree that MBS shouldn't just run around engaging enemies, but a free turn with him isn't as useless as you seem to imply. If NGS is already marking a target (say with height) then rather than use him to attack, you can zip around behind the front lines and rip off a shot. Any ability that can bypass defense is a good thing, and getting to use it for free is even better!

I would also argue that ONE game is insufficient to fully understand how best to play this new bonding option, and that more games on more maps with more builds are in order before you so readily abandon the grocks.

[spiteofthedice]

Originally Posted by Dredd Stev

I would also argue that ONE game is insufficient to fully understand how best to play this new bonding option, and that more games on more maps with more builds are in order before you so readily abandon the grocks.

I'll concede. Admittedly, my dice luck was not especially good either (go figure ). I was rolling Defense well enough to keep them alive and Attacks poorly enough that I was keeping them alive for no reason. I still think that they need a warlord designed with them in mind.

And I didn't mean to imply that they were useless. Its more along the lines of: "It feels like there will always be better ways to spend 260 pts than on 6 Groks."

[Dr. Weirdscaper]

[fetelgeuse]

I would like to echo the need for another Marro warlord for these guys. NGS is tough enough to hang in the melee battles, but his low move puts him at a serious disadvantage once you are past the first wave of your opponents attackers. MBS needs to stay out of the fray or he goes down like a paper doll in a hailstorm. With a warlord with the right combination of mobility and toughness though, these guys could turn into some serious BAMFs.