Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave – The Grymwatch

The first of the warband supplements for Beastgrave, the third season of Warhammer Underworlds is a Flesh-Eater Court warband, the Grymwatch.

The Grymwatch is an undead warband supplement for Warhammer Underworlds and costs 25.00 EUR. So these got a small price increase from the former 22.50 RRP price tag. There are 6 ghouls and a bat swarm in this warband, spread across two grey-green sprues, along with a card deck and assembly instructions. The former warbands were available as easy-to-build kits without the Underworlds content, the Grymwatch isn't offered in that way (yet).

The card deck covers 66 cards, 7 cards cover the profiles, 32 are unique cards for the ghoul warband and 29 universal cards (split across objectives, upgrades, a spell and ploys) to be used with any Warhammer Underworlds warband.

The assumption on the other warbands, based on the cards artwork is further strengthened, with more cards depicting Maggotkin and Savage Orruks.

The sprues cover sculpted bases as usual, 5x 25mm and 2x 32mm bases in this case. The bases show slain corpses, fitting the theme of the undead's victims. Casting is well done, with only a few mould lines, but very crisp details. All the Underworlds miniatures are push-fit, so you do not need glue to assemble them. With some of the tighter fits, it might be a good idea to use plastic glue any way.

The Grymwatch is lead by Duke Crakmarrow. Unfitting name for a wild ghoul? That has a reason. The Flesh-Eater Court lives under the impression that they are noblemen, honoured knights and their peasants. The rags on their bodies are fine garments, the crude bone weapons master-crafted swords and the well-prepared feasts is the meat of their enemies. In reality they are cannibal cults, driven further into their delusions by their vile vampire masters, who believe their twisted version of reality themself.

By that the whole warband is under the impression to be a noble duke with his retinue. The motivation of the Grymwatch to fight around the Beastgrave is that they have to protect their realm against evil monsters, that live in the heart of the mountain, posing as a threat against the peasants working the fields and land, and their yield.

Duke Crakmarrow isn't able to cast spells, none of the warriors of the Grymwatch are. He has a halberd that gives him a bit of a range, and he is certainly the heart of the warband, as he has the Ghoul Call, which enables him to bring a fallen ghoul back on the board. Once inspired he is faster and more likely to dodge an attack. One of the companions with the Grymwatch are the loyal Duke's Harriers, that are actually a swarm of bats. A fast moving soldier, that is very likely to deal their damage. It is not high, but with an enemy, on their last wound, with have its troubles to outrun the bats.

The whole warband has the same conditions to be inspired, that they are if at the end of the action phase less than two enemy fighters are in their territory.

The court has its own butcher and greatsword among the retinue. Both have very similar profiles, with Gristlewel having a wound more, but the Butcher having the keyword Crypt Ghoul, by that being able to be "resurrected" by the Crakmarrow's Ghoul Call. Gristlewel wields a mighty club, that deals the most damage along with Crakmarrow's halberd within the warband. Please note, that the instructions on Gristlewel are unclear and the head can not be glued / put in place before the shoulders, but at the same time, interlocking eachother not to block them from moving in place.

Both get faster and roll more dice once they are inspired.

Among the simple warriors, are further servants of the Duke. Master Talon takes care of the harriers and benefits from the Crypt Ghoul keyword in the same way as the Night's Herald. Both have simple weapons, that deal low damage and being inspired makes them a bit faster and gives them more dice for their attacks. A bit of a special role is Valreek the Tracker, who is not a Crypt Ghoul, but a huntress. She has a wound more and deals more damage.

Beside the one mistake with Gristlewel, the miniatures are easily assembled. Due to their nakedness and lack of armour, the designers weren't able to cover up the gaps inbetween the parts. So this will take a bit of work, with liquid green stuff or putty to fill in, as they are noticeable.

Even with their hunched poses, the Crypt Ghouls are not too small. It is interesting how the undead range and especially the design of the ghouls have changed of the time. I only had a Blood Bowl Ghoul around, but it is basically the same miniature just with pads.

The Grymwatch is well-balanced model wise and certainly fits the story they tell, of a low-royal court on their "adventures". The bats were part of the undead range for decades and as such are a good addition to bring even more speed to the warband.

Games Workshop not only updated the Deck Builder with the current cards, but gave the whole warband quite the insight on their tactics, along with key features to play on Warhammer Community.

Bringing back the (un)dead is certainly something that this warband relies upon, as the Crypt Ghouls have only two wounds each and as such are prone to die fast. With their rather low amount of damage, they have to team up on an enemy, with the exception of Crakmarrow and Gristlewel. The inspiring condition seem to be easy, if you get the first turn.

The warband could be used as a base for a Warcry warband, as you have a solid and rather cheap access to the warband, but missing the stronger Crypt Horrors.

Conclusion
The Flesh-Eater Court has an interesting lore, keeping some parts of the (lost) Bretonnian kingdom within the Age of Sigmar. With that being said, that would be something, that might have been an interesting upgrade or design choice for the warband, to have make them look more like overdrawn caricatures of their delusions. Give them some rags, beaten up armour. I am aware, that that is not true to the lore, as those parts are purely imagened by the Crypt Ghouls, but with a "closed" unit like a Underworlds warband, it would be an interesting choice.

Never the less, the miniatures are well made, capture the cannibal nature of the ghouls very well and are quite stable. As mentioned above, the gaps between the individual parts are unfortunately quite present, so you might need to put a bit more work into this warband compared with others. But that is due to the naked, unarmoured nature of the miniatures and by such difficult to hide. This box can be used for multiple games, for Beastgrave as shown, for the Age of Sigmar skirmish and for Warcry - if you're able to get your hands on a set of cards.

They might not have access to magic, and not be the heaviest hitters (unbuffed / without upgrades), but the idea fits the lore of Beastgrave incredibly well. Even with the price increase the value is still solid. Yes the box of Crypt Ghouls covers 20 miniatures for 35 EUR, but the poses are very close to eachother in that multipart kit and there are no present characters or HQ bits in there, to make a leader pop. So by that, this kit would make a good starting point for one of the lower nobles among the court.

Warhammer Underworlds is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.