Theme - Bump in the Night: Difference between revisions
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This mk3 Theme Force has no equivalent in mk4. Nearly the entire Grymkin range was put into their Legacy Prime Army, instead, which is both better and worse in some regards. |
The grymkin are not an organized military force. They do not come to battle in regimented formations; indeed, they attack with scarcely any perceivable order at all. When a mass of motley grymkin lumber to war in the service of their masters, they advance as a haphazard but terrifying horde. Descending upon a viceridden population, they indulge in their unique appetites as they demand their due of wicked humanity.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made use the Bump in the Night theme force can include only the following Grmykin models:
- Grymkin warlocks
- Non-character warbeasts
- Grymkin units
- Baron Tonguelick, Lord of Warts
- Cask Imp solos
- Defiled Archon solos
- Four Horseymans
- Glimmer Imp solos
- Grave Ghoul solos
- Isaiah, Dread Harvester
- Lord Longfellow
- Trapperkin solos
- Weird Wendell, Gremlin Wrangler
- Witchwood solos
- Death Knell battle engines
- You may also include one Minion solo and one Minion unit that will work for Grymkin.
- These models can be included even if they have the Partisan [Grymkin] rule.
- Minion units in this army can include non-Ranking Officer attachments.
Full model list
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point pm either:
- One Malady Man unit
- One Grymkin CA
- Two Trapperkin solos
- One Witchwood solo
- One small- or medium-based Grymkin solo with a point cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Grymkin warrior models in the army gain Rise.
- You can reroll your starting roll for the game. Your starting game roll can only be rerolled once as a result of this special rule.
Thoughts on Bump
Bump in a nutshell
Bump in the Night is an infantry theme with a focus on skirmishing. Typically this takes the form of a block of Dread Rots or Piggybacks, backed up by ambushing Murder Crows and the insane damage potential of Neigh Slayers. Bump opens up the Grymkin support options, with only one support model, Karianna Rose, restricted to Dark Menagerie. Indeed Bump can be played perfectly well as a battlegroup theme plus infantry.
At faction release Bump was in an awkward state. The pieces each worked individually well, but the theme force & its benefits were clunky and the list did not lend itself well to the kind of tactical synergies that define the most competitive lists in the game. This all changed with Grymkin wave 2. Bump is now Grymkin's default list for most matchups, a deep and compelling theme which shows off nearly everything the faction has to offer.
Theme weaknesses
No Gremlins
Gremlin Swarms are one of the best scenario contesting models in the game. This is not a major weakness, due to the wide variety of skrimishing options available in Bump, but it is notable due to how effective these models are at triggering arcana or contesting enemy scoring positions.
- this issue can be slightly sidestepped by the inclusion of Weird Wendell & the Slaughterhouse as both have Escapees as a rule; Taking a 35 point model solely to create a 3 point solo when it dies is however not a great plan on its own.
No Lady
The absence of Lady Karianna Rose leaves you with no fury management outside your warlock. This again is not a major weakness for Bump, due to the strong incentive to include lots of units (or the Death Knell) instead of having a large battlegroup, as well as Grymkin warlocks generally high FURY stat. Letting beasts enrage into chaff such as Dread Rots is also a perfectly viable gameplan for Grymkin, especially if they can gain a positional advantage with the fury investment.
Skirmish Focus
All of the currently released Grymkin units fall into either the Support or Skirmish category. Support units are very useful, but do little work by themselves, existing as they do to enhance other elements of the army. Skirmishers are generally good at occupying space, but not necessarily taking or holding that space. Dread Rots are cheap and hit well above their points thanks to Weapon Master. Hollowmen have Combined Range Attack & Blood Boon via the Lantern Man, giving them a reliable source of both damage and additional bodies for the unit. Neigh Slayers have Armor-Piercing, making them extremely effective at fighting up into large targets with high natural ARM. However all of these units lack for staying power, and can easily be taking off the table by almost every kind of attack in the game. While your troops might be cheap, they die like they are cheap.
Limited Shooting
While Bump does provide access to up to two units of Hollowmen, the lack of any kind of heavier ranged attacks means that the enemy has little to fear when engaging a Bump in the Night army at range. This is a big weakness of Grymkin in general, lessened somewhat by solo options such as Lord Longfellow and the Witchwood which can provide some ranged output to support the Hollowmen.
Odd Corpse Economy
Never-Ending Pile on the Death Knell has helped reduce this but not starting with corpses hurts your heavy-warbeasts. However you do also have a lot more chaff infantry. So while it's an issue your first turn you run into a gunline it usually isn't by the end of the game.
List building tips
Bump in the Night is a very open theme, with five major units (and the Death Knell) to consider as well as numerous support options. The battlegroup is even more diverse thanks to Grymkin's wide variety of unique 'beasts. Like with Dark Menagerie, Bump in the Night lists thus tend to be built around what their warlock provides. Generally speaking Bump will focus on scenario play or attrition, lacking the kind of long range threats or movement shenanigans which make assassination lists work.
- Murder Crows are a good choice, as they gain Ambush from the theme benefit allowing them to get into the enemy army where their combination of Gang & Prey can wreck havoc on larger targets
- Hollowmen are in many ways the signature unit of Bump thanks to their unique role as Grymkin's sole ranged unit. That isn't to say that all Bump lists must include the Hollowmen, indeed it is often better to omit their inclusion to allow you to take another unit which hits harder in melee.
- Neighslayers are extremely hard hitting thanks to Armor-Piercing, able to trade up with little effort into seemingly impregnable targets. Of special note is how they interact with the Heretic's Fury spell, as well as his Prey-like arcana.
- Piggybacks are very resilient thanks to Tough & Impervious Flesh, much more so than their stats would suggest. They were the Grymkin unit most in need of help, which in Grymkin Wave 2 they got with the arrival of the Piggyback Officer. Generally speaking these big boys won't see play without the Officer, though builds which merely make use of the Death Knell do exist.
- Dread Rots are the chaff of Grymkin. Only 1.2 points per model, they are an extremely cheap source of Weapon Master which if delivered can cause disproportionate damage to the enemy. However they do need a delivery mechanism, such as Zevanna Agha's 18" Windstorm.
- Isaiah, Dread Harvester is worth mentioning here because he changes the base unit so much. Once you factor in his cost you can't really call Dread Rot 'cheap' but they hit even harder and more accurately and they can get anywhere on the charge.
- The Death Knell, while a staple of Dark Menagerie, is less so in the theme which can provide it with an overabundance of corpses. The main issue with the battle engine is how long it can take before its defensive aura becomes relevant, and how much longer it can take for their to be extra corpses to pass to a Skin & Moans (or Cage Rager, or Grave Ghoul). The Death Knell is recommended, though not essential, when running lots of Dread Rots or Piggybacks (or both). +2 ARM on the Piggybacks pushes them to 19 (20 if Grymkin Wave 2 changes hold), which with Impervious Flesh makes them immune to unboosted POW 14s.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.04 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
- The Heretic: [+28 WBP]
- Clockatrice: [13 pts]
- Rattler: [8 pts]
- Gorehound: [6 pts]
- Crabbit: [3 pts]
- Glimmer Imp: [3 pts]
- Cask Imps (x2): [1 pt]
- Neigh Slayers (Max unit): [12 pts]
- Command Attachment: [4 pts]
- Mad Caps: [3 pts]
- Malady Man: [Free] Template:Grey
Caster Thoughts
Other
Trivia
Released 2017.09