An old favorite of mine from First Edition, The Grymwatch have been reborn into Embergard as a Take and Hold Horde warband that definitely does not need to play that way if they don’t want to. Remarkably potent in most phases of the game, this warband has what it takes to podium and does with steady frequency in nearly every meta this edition. A recent ITC Meta Analysis Tier List shows that if you dedicate the reps into them, they’re actually the strongest warband in the game. I can confirm that while I have won my Grand Clash matches against them, it has always been close and quite scary to face. What do they do, and how can you win with them? Let’s take a bite out of this juicy warscroll for lack of a better term.
Also, There are a TON of other decks and a considerably detailed competitive analysis of Grymwatch over on the Staggerers blog which you absolutely should read here if you’re interested in taking them to the next level.
Click here to see a Master List of all warbands in the game
Grymwatch: The Lore
You simply must read the Direchasm Anthology from Black Library for any Underworlds lore purposes, but the one about the Grymwatch is particularly good. In either case, these guys are the classic interpretation of Flesh-Eater courts; chivalric knights (of Bretonnia obviously) who haters will say are delusional cannibal ghouls that are barely even human. Queue up ‘Savages’ from Disney’s Pocahontas.
The reality of things is that a noble Duke and his questing retinue are off to defend their homeland and must do whatever is necessary to survive; such as eating the conveniently fresh meat provisions their slain foes were carrying in substantial quantities. For the good of the realm, no doubt. I certainly have no doubts.
Grymwatch: The Warscroll
Inspire
A little wordy, but the short version is ‘count up how much enemy bounty is in your territory in an end phase. That’s how much bounty you don’t get to inspire, otherwise inspire everybody on your team’. Unless your opponent is going hard into invading your territory and you haven’t bothered to slay anything or drive them back into neutral/enemy territory, you should be inspiring a significant portion of your fighters at the end of the first round (and the second as well for any you’ve raised thereafter). You have another way to inspire earlier and on-demand though, which we’ll see in the next ability.
You really appreciate being inspired with this warband. You won’t get more damage output, but pretty much everybody gets at least one extra attack die and everyone gets another defense die.
In the Name of the King!
It took a lot longer than I think it should have, but this ability finally had some errata in the February 2026 rules update. The long and short of it is that you can now only use the ability in your own power step, rather than in any power step, so it has to come after your action. It’s still really strong but doesn’t let you suddenly raise/inspire Gristlewel and then charge him immediately. This change does open up a lot more counterplay as your opponent now always has at least a turn to shut you down.
So what is it that make this so good anyway? Well, you get to bring back a dead friend and do so in ANY edge hex so long as your leader is alive. That’s awesome for scoring cards for a ton of different reasons. It also brings a fighter back in a power step at full (2) health. That’s a solid thing too.
It has a secondary way to be used, you can just pick a fighter and inspire them, simple as. We talked before about how that helps with your defense and accuracy, so if there’s a special fighter who might enjoy that earlier in the round, they can have it.
But wait! You have another little wrinkle where the shine really comes through. If you’re the underdog, you can do both things. Bring back a fighter and inspire another, or if you want, bring back a fighter and inspire them specifically. If you choose the delusion To the Walls!, you get to do it twice in a round, which if you’re the underdog means you get to do two raises and two inspirations in your power step. Huge power spike and board state effects here.
Add in the fact that Underdog got changed to mean ‘you have more dead bounty than your opponent’ and it’s very, very likely you’ll be the underdog when you want to raise somebody. That means you can raise, then inspire them for ‘free’. You used to then be able to charge with them right away, so now at least the opponent gets to see their doom and run away from it first.
This only is available to the Grymwatch player if Crakmarrow is alive, so protecting him will be important for you and slaying him will be a priority for your opponent.
Defenders of the Realm
The first of our three delusions, which are abilities that last all round and can only be chosen once per game and you can only take one per round. Defenders of the Realm grants you a reroll on defense for fighters in friendly territory. There’s some temptation to take this in round 1 to shore up your generally dumpster-level 1 dodge prior to inspiration, but rerolling 1 failure into 1 failure often isn’t the best thing ever. Once you’re inspired and into the beautiful 2 dodge world, a defensive reroll is pretty chill, actually. 2 defense with a reroll and possibly flanking from United, etc can make your 2 health ghoulies quite difficult to shift, so if you feel comfortable saving this for later rounds (assuming you’ll be staying in home territory) that’s where it’s probably best used.
The Royal Hunt
Our second delusion in The Royal Hunt is definitely best saved for rounds 2-3. Here, you get +1 attack dice when targeting a damaged enemy fighter with a melee attack (upgrades included). This is a pretty solid accuracy bump that stacks with other +dice effects, runemarks, rerolls, and more, so if you need to finish something off this delusion will help you get it done. Later in the game, you’ve probably damaged a handful of their fighters and can close in for the kill with the Royal Hunt. Especially tasty on big hitting upgrade weapons like Coordinated Deathblow or Desperate Rage, and even fun utility pieces like Burrowing Strike.
To the Walls!
There’s GOLD in them hills! The round you pick this, you can Use in the Name of the King twice. You already can double up if you’re the Underdog, so play this right and you’ll get to raise two fighters and inspire two fighters in that round. This only works if your leader is alive, so waiting too long is a risk. But play it too early, and maybe you won’t have anybody to raise and it may feel like a dud. I still prefer this as my round 1 delusion (worst case you inspire two of your better fighters earlier) and that way I know I got to use it before Crakmarrow died.
Grymwatch: Fighter Cards
Duke Crakmarrow
The shining leader of our warband has a surprisingly durable opening stat line for hordes with 4 health and 1 shield, which inspires to 2 dodge. Which is good, because you’re going to need it. He’s on your opponent’s most-wanted list as his death means you can’t raise fighters or inspire anybody midround.
This means you must resist the temptation to use his pretty reasonable attack profile. Yes, you’re low on options for 2 damage. No, you do not want to expose him to any degree of risk if you can avoid it. Once he’s inspired you can swing from range 2 and still do something meaningful, but I would still be extra careful about it. He is the fighter who gets all your defense, healing, and health effects.
Gristlewel, Greatsword
One of the things that makes a warband ‘good’ is access to a fighter that does 3 damage, especially if that three damage is available activation 1 and doesn’t need grievous to get to. Our Greatsword has 3 damage flat, and while it’s only on 2 swords, you can add runemarks to get cleave, grievous, what-have-you and make people sad. Gristlewel is your favorite friend for attack ploys and even upgrades despite the fact he dies to a stiff breeze and will then lose them, but that flat 3 at move 4 is really nice. Set up flanks for him, especially if he’s inspired, and swing for that home run. He’s almost always the first inspire choice, and if dead he’s your first to be raised. Then inspired. Then charging again.
Valreek the Tracker
Valreek is our last fighter that can hit 2 damage, and again has some accuracy issues at the start of the game. Think of her similarly to Gristlewel – you’ll need her inspired earlier, brought back more often, and protected a bit if the gameplan involves killing anything.
The Royal Butcher
This guy is nothing to write home about uninspired, but one he does inspire he jumps to 4 swords with cleave, which means he’s your most accurate fighter. Never saw that coming, did ya! It’s only 1 damage, but sometimes you just need to hit. He’s a fine candidate for grievous in a pinch, or as a setup/finisher piece.
Master Talon
Your basement-level stats that become OK for a 1 bounty minion-type guy, Master Talon is best used for pillaging things or as a weapon caddy. He scores objective glory as easily as the next guy, but I would feel bad depending on him to do a lot for me attack-wise without power card support. An excellent candidate for deploying forward and eating at attack that would otherwise slay a more important fighter, or keeping in the back so he’s not in the way of said important fighters, depending on your gameplan.
Night’s Herald
Identical to Master Talon, yet substantially cooler. Grabby hands is my boy.
The Duke’s Harriers
This fighter (ominously named I Predatori in Italian) is actually pretty good! Nice to see after the last two mooks were easy to gloss over. They have fly and start on 3 swords. They can hold treasure and delve like anybody else, which is better than their previous beast iteration from the Beastgrave season. They go to 5 move inspired and gain ensnare. This edition the bats are down to 2 health, but otherwise it’s all coming up Milhouse.
Potential Pairings
This wearband can do a ton of things – they have the ability to missile aggro with endless hordes. They can run around and occupy tokens for delving and more. They can throw ghouls anywhere on the field they need for flexing and mastery type shenanigans. You have tons of options here.
Blazing Assault will always be good for everyone and I won’t waste your time writing more.
Pillage and Plunder is great for them – you have expendable fighters and them getting staggered just means they die faster and you can raise them sooner as the Underdog, which is now in the enemy’s backfield and delving there too.
Countdown to Cataclysm has solid weapon upgrades and pings to help activate The Royal Hunt, plus you love to take tokens for scoring Set Explosives and more. Your guys WILL die to advance your tacker, and The Duke loves +defense from Utter Conviction.
Wrack and Ruin again has some utility in pings as well as a ton of fun things you can do with your little minions, though they have a harder time scoring some of the staple cards. You’ll have to play Wrack a little differently with Grymwatch, which isn’t a bad thing.
Edge of the Knife is phenomenal for them – you only have on guy to Temper on your team, and I promise the enemy will try to do it for you. Your lower damage output isn’t as big of a deal when you only need to do 2 damage to each enemy fighter to score Trial of the Tempered, and the power cards can be insane with that many 2-health friends running around.
Hunting Grounds can be played more effectively by Grymwatch than many other warbands as you have a built-in reason for the enemy to come into your territory – preventing inspiration is pretty important, as is torpedoing the Duke. You also will have a better time enjoying the defensive reroll from Defenders of the Realm in that case.
Deadly Synergy is one of those decks that works really well for some warbands, and the Grymwatch are definitely among them. Dodges effectively become shields, swords effectively become hammers, and your warband suddenly has wild stats. Oh yeah, and the scoring package is super good and should be nerfed. Until then, let the Grymwatch score 25 glory while killing everything!
In Practice
Data from the Nemesis Statistics Project shows the warband has a 54.7% win rate across the entire edition, most notably with PP/CC. Remove the legacy busted warscrolls and it jumps to 55.4%. In the most recent metas, we’re looking at 53%. This warband is straight up good.
Please consider submitting your own games to the project! It’s pretty easy if you click this link.
I personally have played this warband 8 times times with a 5-3 record and an average differential of +3.9 glory. I almost always play them with Edge of the Knife, and have the best results with EK/DS.
If that sparks your fancy, there are better players than me who did really well with that pairing at the World Championships in 2025. Padre got 5th place IN THE DANG WORLD with this Edge/Deadly deck, and James Ellis landed in 12th taking this deck with several different card choices. Nice to see the combo is good for Grymwatch even if you take it in different directions. The pairing even came in Second Place and earned a ticket to the 2026 worlds at the NOVA open literally this weekend when Hexecution/Joseh Lipczynski brought EK/DS Grymwatch to the party.
Graham Mann, a longtime Grymwatch hero, did quite well with this Pillage/Cata deck at the first worlds in second edition of 2024. Note this deck is no longer legal, but is a good jumping off point. For historians out there, you can also read his Rimelocked Relics take on the warband from first edition in our Love Letters series.
Michael K of Staggerers smoked a bunch of Zarbag’s with this PPC/CC build at the world team championships and elsewhere across Europe for a long time. While the meta and the BaR list have changed since then, it’s still a solid foundation for you to play meta cheese
Harry Miller AKA Windy/Slippy and his terrifying Edge of the Knife/Pillage deck did very well at Worlds 2025 and landed in 33rd overall. He was literally one die roll away from taking me down in one of the best matches I have played in years.
This Blazing/Edge deck got 56th at the World Team Championships in 2025, piloted by Mateusz Z of Poland. I faced an identical deck (netdecked, no judgment) at Tacoma in 2025 and it was pretty dang good.
There are a TON of other decks and a considerably detailed competitive analysis of Grymwatch over on the Staggerers blog which you absolutely should read here if you’re interested in taking them to the next level.
Wrap
I love these guys. I just wish they weren’t as strong, to be honest. I played them all the time in some really interesting semi-passive masks builds in first edition and would love to bring them back in that sort of capacity if it didn’t mean winning all the dang time. If incredible competitive potency doesn’t keep you away (or even draws you in), these guys just might do the trick! Whether you’re stomping ghouls or they’re stomping you, I hope you enjoy spending glory with the Grymwatch!
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