There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter.
Billy Connolly
It’s been peppered into the AOS conversation off and on since 3rd Edition: “I just wish Destruction didn’t have to be propped up by Kragnos”. At any point where it’s not true, you can usually say that it has been recently, and will be again soon.
I’ve had very limited success with ol’ Donkey Dick myself, because my regular opponents uncoolly insist on shooting him off the board with Longstrikes and / or KO, but that does nothing to change the fact that he’s a staple in competitive lists around the world and across all Destro factions. As we hit the midway point of AOS4 he still labours under that 4+ save (boo) but he does get faction keywords (yay), so how about we take a look at what synergy each army can offer to the God of Earthquakes and some fun ways you can run him in your armies?
Common Themes
Let’s set out some parameters for what we’re looking for here, and to minimise repetition:
- He loves healing. Any time you’re adding back expensive wounds with a ward, those are disproportionately valuable.
- He loves protection from getting shot off. Cos banging him off the board across a couple of turns is pretty achievable for a lot of armies, and debilitating to any list that brings him.
- Helps people stick charges out of Deepstrike. So any time you can drop in (typically 9″ away), he’ll help your units nail that charge with 3D6.
- “Big Monster supported by Dakka” is a tale as old as time. I had a lot of fun and success running various Magma Dragons and Maw Krushas with Gitmob artillery and archers in earlier editions for example.
- Debuffs from friendly units help him indirectly by reducing what’s coming in. We won’t list every single debuff from every single book, but there might be some needle-movers that are worth factoring in.
So with that established, how about we dive into it?
Kruleboyz
Kruleboyz might sit in the most interesting spot of all for Kraggalicious: the army that does the most for him, and also the army that needs him the least. On the one hand they’ve got loads of efficient units and you want a critical mass of wounds on the table, so he gets squeezed out of a lot of lists. But on the other hand, this exists:
Your opponent charges Kraggy, Kraggy smacks them upsides the head and they lose a prize combat unit on their own turn. Shall we re-rack and start again?
You’ve also got access to conditional Strike Last via the ever-popular Monsta Killaz…
…and some efficient dakka from the Boltboyz and Killbow. So there’s a pretty clear play pattern available where you pepper away with shooting, forcing your opponent to come to you, and when they do you smash them. Is it better or more efficient than doing the same thing with bulk Gutrippaz? I dunno, but what I do know is that Strike First Kraggy feels pretty fuggin’ sweet.
In terms of teleports, yup, KB have got ’em. Kraggy can’t use Sneaky Sneakin’ himself, but he can help those that do to stick a 9″ charge with 3D6. Typically you’d be using this on a unit of Monsta-Killaz to bully a soft enemy unit or charge onto a lightly-guarded backfield objective:
One particularly fun combo is the Vulcha Boss with his old-school Stonehorn-style charge mortals:
And another little combo you can pull off is to teleport a Hobgrot Slittaboss and send him flying in on an assassination run:
What doesn’t work
First thing to note is that Trophy Finga (the Monster subfaction) doesn’t help him, because he doesn’t have Companion attacks:
It’s also going to be hard to get that big base tucked in close enough to terrain for Swamp Shroud to protect him from shooting. I’m afraid that 3″ range is a bit too miserly.
Any debuffs?
This book has loads but the Gutrippaz shield (conditional -1 to hit) and Choking Mist spell are most relevant. The Monsta-killaz can also turn off enemy Rampages, which would be hilarious in the mirror match.
Overall verdict: Kruleboyz are Da Best, Boss
They do loads for Kraggy and Kraggy does loads for them. Strike First is worth the price of admission alone and I’m highly motivated to write a list with Donkey Dick, a Vulcha and a Slittaboss in there.
Sons of Behemat
First thing to note is that the Soggy Kraken-eater is another unit that pops up 9″ away and appreciates a 3D6 charge. Fish Breath is already a fun inclusion in your Sons armies, so it’s a cool combo you can build in.
Brodd’s Prayer is mostly just SOB-keyworded (not Gargant), which means Kraggy benefits from +2″ move and Heal D3, but not the extra rend since his weapons aren’t amongst those listed:
The rarely-seen Rabble Rouser heroic trait can give Kraggy +1 to charge, and perhaps more relevantly, Kraggy can partake in the +1 to hit aura from Mantle:
What doesn’t work
The Battle Trait Rampages are all Keyword locked to various Gargants, and you can’t take him in King Brodd’s Stomp.
Overall verdict: Mainly for the Lulz
There’s an established, competitive build featuring Kraggy, Brodd, one Warstomper and the Big Pigs ROR that has done the hokey-cokey above and below 2000 points in the last couple of updates. That’s the reason Kraggy costs 10 points more in Sons (they wanted to force that list to 2010 points and effectively ban it), but it slipped back in at the last update thanks to -20 points off Brodd.
So that’s the way to run Kraggy competitively in Sons. You can also have a fair bit of fun putting him in a list with a Soggy Kraken, but personally, I prefer 4 Megas in King Brodd’s Stomp and for that reason, Kragnos is not hitting the table too often for me in SOB.
Ironjawz
There’s actually some hard synergy in this book, beyond the whole “Get your combat army into combat” schtick.
Army rules
First up, there’s a couple of good rules that key off hitting 8+ on the charge roll. In Ironjawz Brawl, with 3 dice you’ve got an 84% chance of hitting that 8+ (basically the same as hitting a 2+ on one dice), whereas on 2 dice it would be 60:40 against. So that’s already a huge difference, but it also makes it a lot safer to go fishing for a big number with the reroll because you can’t reroll into a 2 and fail a 3″ charge.
Kraggy technically gets the benefit of Smashin’ and Bashin’, such as it is, but I refuse to expend even the energy required to Ctrl + V that sack of shit. On a more positive note though, Hulking Brute offers similar synergy to Ironjawz Brawl:
You’re reading PC so you’re clearly a smart cookie, which means that you’ll have noticed that the other HTs can offer passive benefits to Kraggy (minimum 4″ Redeploy, +1 to charge). But Hulking Brute is the most fun.
Kraggy also benefits from (and triggers) the Ironjawz Waaagh! ability since he’s an Ironjawz Hero (no Orruk keyword is needed for either Battle Trait).
Key units
We mentioned the Big Pigs ROR up above, and the big factor there is that the Gougers can make an enemy unit Strike Last, so that’s nice. They’re pretty sharply pointed at 200 points and a decent unit in their own right.
Soggy Weirdbrutes offer +1 to hit from their warscroll ability, and again are a neat little unit at 90 points:
And speaking of +1 to hit, Gordrakk’s ability will cover him too:
Other tech
The good news is, Prayers and Spells all cover Kragnos. Firs up he can get Crit 2 Hits from Bash ‘Em Ladz spell:
12/15 attacks benefit from this (including the Dread Mace) and it’ll make you feel like a million dollars when you bash a few Crits on the big hammer. Note that Hand of Gork is not keyword locked at all – so Kraggy can teleport, Regiments of Renown can teleport, everybody can teleport!1. And as always he helps himself and others to stick that 9″ charge afterwards.
The Prayers (via the Warchanter) are all great: Get Em Beat might represent diminishing returns, but Kraggy loves the Healing and he doesn’t exactly hate +1 damage, although a reinforced combat unit might offer more upside in total from that one.
Big Waaagh?
Kraggy is still quite handy in Big Waaagh since he has both keywords, although you do have to choose one (which is honestly fair enough). So he’s still giving you good flexibility in list construction:
The main thing you’re getting from Big Waaagh these days is recycling high-quality units, and in particular endless waves of Brutes feels pretty tempting. They can pop up in Kraggy’s aura and reliably zoom straight into melee:
In terms of the Brutal Kunnin abilities, he will love that Crit 2 Hits, and the +1 to wound isn’t the worst rule in the world:
There’s a fair bit of neg 1 to wound creeping into the game right now, so keeping Kraggy wounding on 2s will have some merit, and it’ll always be good for your Brutes if not.
Verdict: Food for thought
I haven’t played BW in ages, but Kraggy at the centre of an Endless Brutes build does intrigue me. It might just be a bit hard to make it work in practice, when there’s a reasonably big Hero overhead to this AOR, but I’d happily have a dabble at building a list.
Gloomspite
Gits have the deepest roster in the GA. Similar to Ironjawz, Kraggy can be teleported around with the relevant spell and help himself and others hit the charge out of teleport. You can also make him run and charge with the Rabble-Rowza:
The Gobbapalooza can give him the extra rend, and Fellwater vomit can indirectly achieve the same thing.
Buffapalooza
The Clammy Hand HT gets you an enhanced Rally, and old mate loves any extra healing.
If you take the Frazzlegit lore, he gets an extra 2″ movement. And if you don’t think an extra 2″ matters, ask your wife.
Debuffapalooza
The Gobbapalooza switching off enemy Commands clearly benefits Kraggy, as do the sources of Neg 1 to hit in this army (notably Moonclan netters and Droggz).
Overall verdict: Eh why not
Gits don’t need Kraggy2, but they have enough cheap units that they can fit him in without too much pain. In broad terms there’s some half-decent shooting in the army (the underrated Shootas plus the Doom Diver), and it it’s one of the few armies with good screens in 4th Ed (especially cheap sideways-on cavalry).
If you like running Kragnos, there’s worse ways you could do it.
Ogors
At first glance it’s not promising: Kraggy is Keyworded out of the Ogor-centric battle traits, and the hard synergy with charge mortals is gone (though he does still help you stick your charges and trigger the charge mortals). There’s still a bit to enjoy though.
A couple of quick wins are:
- The Soggy Ironblaster offers efficient shooting support
- Your Gorgers want to charge out of deepstrike
- The Gruesome Trophies artefact delivers +1 to hit
- Killing stuff gives Grisly Remains points to Slaughtermasters
Ogors are the kings of stripping enemy wards (via Fang of Ghur artefact + Mage Swallower Big Name) to really help Kraggy get value out of his attacks. You can get Run + Charge from the Keening Gale prayer, and a couple of sources of healing too (Elixir of the Frostwyrm and the Troggoth Guts spell).
Verdict: It’s a tough sell
There’s more going on here than you might think at first, but I just find that in the real world, he’s damn hard to fit into your lists. Your own core building blocks are expensive in Ogors, so it’s hard to make it work in practice.
Regiments of Renown
A few to consider alongside Kragnos are:
- Braggit’s Bottle-Snatchaz for the run and charge
- Big Pigs for the Strike Last
- Big Grikk’s Kruleshots for the shooting support
- One-Eyed Grunnock because I constantly fap over what a bargain that Merc Mega represents
One really interesting bit of tech is that the Skyport Profiteers ROR can be taken in Ogors, then transport a unit like 6 Gluttons or 8 Ironguts across the board, ready to stick that charge on 3D6:
I’ve messed around with these lists myself and they feel pretty light-on (Kraggy and the ROR alone makes up 910 points, and that’s not a lot left for support Butchers and expensive troops). But it’s an intriguing meme list at least.
Manifestation Lores
Two that I would strongly consider in any Kragnos list are Primal Energy (for the Healing), and Forbidden Power (for the Bridge). His own base is <6″ so he can teleport through the Bridge himself.
Plenty of hard and soft synergy there, and let me know if you’ve spotted anything cool that I’ve missed. I’m quite keen to write a Kruleboyz list personally, and maybe take another look at Ironjawz, so let’s see where that goes.
Have a good weekend, nerds. Catch you on the other side.
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