Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave – Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers

Following up on the Wurmspat, we have the second Beastgrave warband for this week. This time from the Ogor Mawtribes, Hrothgorn's Mantrappers.

Hrothgorn's Mantrappers and the Wurmspat are the penultimate warband wave for the Beastgrave season. With the introduction of Beastgrave, the price tag went up a bit from 22.50 EUR to 25 EUR. This warband covers 6 models, Hrothgorn the Ogor himself, four gnoblars on three bases, a trap and frost sabre. The models are spread across two grey-blue sprues, along with a card deck and assembly instructions. It seems that with Beastgrave the sprues aren't offered anymore as kits without the underworlds content, the warband boxes are listed among the entries of each army.

The card deck covers 64 cards, 5 cards cover the profiles, 32 are unique cards for the Ogor warband and 27 universal cards (split across objectives, upgrades, a spell and ploys) to be used with any Warhammer Underworlds warband.

This warband comes with a variety of base sizes. 1x 40mm base for the Ogor Icebrow Hunter, 4x 25mm bases for the gnoblars and an oval base for the hunters pet. Underworlds warbands come with pre-sculpted bases, in this case they went for a cracked ground look. As for the cast itself I was quite amazed as the whole sprue had next to no mould lines. I really only had to clean the areas where the bits connect to the sprue. That was impressive.

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.

Hrothgorn Mantrapper, the man or better said Ogor, who gives the whole warband its name, is obviously the leader of the hunters pack. He is not alone on his hunt for prey (Quarry), but has a retinue of Gnoblars and even a Frost Sabre as a hunting pet. The whole warband is build around him, he is the one triggering the inspiration condition, as an enemy fighter in an adjacent hex of him has to be taken out of action. All other models of the warband are activated at that point, along with Hrothgorn. Therefore they literally work as one team.

Hrothgorn is armed with a trap launcher, a mobile bolt thrower that shoots traps connected to a chain, so he can pull his prey closer to him. Working towards his inspiring condition. The others support these actions, for example by making the trap launcher more efficient or moving enemies closer to Hrothgorn.

He has a rugged, outdoor look, yet not travelled like the old Maneaters, but less wild than the other Icebrow Hunter. Along with the cloak and the bag, he has everything that he needs for his hunt.

Thrafnir is a hunter, fast but unable to claim mission objectives or to receive upgrades. Straight forward build and a very logic and fitting addition to this warband. What would a hunter be without his trusty hunting animal.

But those two are not all of it, there is a bunch of Gnoblars around as well. Helping Hrothgorn to find something to eat, before he eats them. Quiv, who is as the name suggest the ammunition grot of the warband, carrying a harpoon bolt as a spare for Hrothgorn and makeshift close combat weapon, as well as Luggit & Thwak, who have a huge bat and will happily whack everyone over the head who doesn't get out of the way quick enough.

The Gnoblars become quicker and add a dice to their attacks once they are inspired.

Unlike Luggit & Thwak, two models that are one base, Bushwakka is one model that is played with two bases. He has the ability to place a trap on the board. And Bushwakka is the only one, who not only gets quicker but has it easier to evade attacks.

Assembly went very well with these, and as said above, the casting was superb and I was amazed that I didn't have to remove barely any mould lines. I have seen low amounts, but never that low / none. The composition of this warband is very well done and fitting to the idea / theme.

As for the size, Ogors are among the tallest miniatures within Beastgrave / Underworlds, so Hrothgorn is probably only towered by Mollog. To give you an idea of the size within the Ogre range, the brief comparison with an old mid 90s Ogre Mercenary, one of the first plastic Ogres from the Ogre Kingdom, and a Bullgryn from 40k. Thafnir isn't the only animal in service in Underworlds or Warcry, so here he is in the middle of two others.

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. And on top further notes by the designer how the warband was intended and suggestions on their game play.

Hrothgorn Mantrappers surely aim for the role that Mollog's Mob play so far. It is strongly focused around the main character and from the fluff that covers that role in a proper way. Even the way the designer explained how the inspiration worked, that as soon as Hrothgorn guzzles down an enemy fighter, he is strengthened and the others are relieved that he didn't eat them.

Hrothgorn has a range of 3, which is quite the punch in combination with his stats and the fact that his retinue isn't slow or only a few either. You can really hunt down your enemy or pick one out to achieve your inspiration goal.

The composition of the warband makes a perfect generic Skirmisher, for Warcry you're lacking the regular grunts to actually play ogor mawtribes.

Conclusion
Hrothgorn's Mantrappers are what I expect from an Underworlds warband - an actual small warband, which has a story to tell. They are diverse, the miniatures are really nice to look at and the casting quality is very convincing (as I said above, I was amazed, because I don't think I ever had a cast, that caused to little work to prepare).

The price tag of 25 EUR is absolute on point for this one, a regular Ogor character is already 32,50 EUR, so more than the box incl. the Underground card decks. The few gnoblars would easily be comparable to the old trappers, that were a 20 EUR blister I think, and the Frost Sabre is around 7 EUR. Quite the deal.

And this Ogre + Retinue setup is a proper choice for gaming beyond Beastgrave. Not so much for Warcry, for the reasons mentioned above, but for Skirmishers in general. I could see these as a themed warband for setups like Frostgrave (due to the frosty design not a far stretch). You could add one of the frost sabre blisters and as far as you find them, the old trappers and have a really nice small army project.

Warhammer Underworlds is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.