Kruleboyz Warband Warcry Guide, Overview and Tactics

The Kruleboyz is a warband for the Age of Sigmar skirmish game Warcry. You can find all the cards and abilities needed to play the warband on the Warhammer Community site here or in the Tome of Champions 2021.

As their name suggests, the Kruleboyz might not be as big as their Ironjawz cousins in the Orruk Warclans, but they make up for it with venoms, ambushes and a cruelty unmatched among the followers of Kragnos, the new champion of Destruction in Age of Sigmar 3.0 – and now they’re available in Warcry as well!

They’re the first truly new warband since Age of Sigmar 3.0 came out, and they’re a great choice for beginners, since you can get their models very cheaply from various starter sets – especially if you have a friend who wants to play the Stormcast side from those starter sets.

You can find all of our Warcry content here.

What changed in the new edition for the Kruleboyz Warband?

Kruleboyz saw overall point decreases to face some profiles downgrades, particularly the Boltboyz whose range went to 6″-15″and the Hobgrots to 3″-5″. The Killaboss on foot profile has been split in two different fighters and the Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof saw a massive spike on its price complemented by a more offensive profile.

Their abilities had smaller changes, read on to see the new take on this warband.

Briar and Bone added an optional battle trait.

Background and Lore of the Kruleboyz Warband

The Kruleboyz are the latest, greatest threat to civilization in Ghur, the Realm of Beasts. They’re a faction of swamp-dwelling, clever Orruks with a serious mean streak. While the larger Ironjawz Orruks are brutal and fight out in the open, and the Bonesplitterz travel the Realms to take out the biggest foes they can find, the Kruleboyz are all about traps, deception, poisons and ambushes.

Kruleboyz warriors worship the recently unveiled Kragnos, The End of Empires, who they see as Destruction Incarnate, and their banners and iconography mimic his terrifying countenance.

In battle, the Kruleboyz fight with venom-encrusted weapons and shields designed to look like horrifying caricatures of their bearers, ambushing much stronger armies by closing in under the cover of the mists of their boggy homelands to overwhelm their foes with spears, crossbow bolts, hatchets and daggers.

Let’s have a look at their fighters and abilities.

Overview and Points for the Fighters in the Kruleboyz Warband

Note: if you haven’t read the basic rules for Warcry before reading this article, it might be helpful to know that the game’s abilities are activated by using 6 dice that you roll at the start of your turn.

If two of the dice show the same value, they can be used to activate a Double ability. If three show the same value, they can be used for a Triple ability, and so on.

So, when this article refers to an ability being a Double, a Triple or a Quad, it refers to this system. It might sound a bit confusing, but takes no time to get used to when you start playing

There has been no point changes in Tome of Champions 2021.

There are 6 different Leaders and 8 fighter types in the Kruleboyz warband roster, and they fall into the following categories:

Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof

• Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof: 330 points
• Killaboss with Boss-hacka and Skareshield: 180 points
• Killaboss with Boss-hacka and Rusting Flail: 190 points

The Killabosses come in two variants: the regular Killaboss with 2 weapon profiles and the mounted Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof. They are the strongest combatants you can choose as Leaders for Kruleboyz warbands.

The Killaboss on Gnashtoof has extremely high wounds, Toughness 5 and 8″ Movement with access to the Bone-Crushing Bite Double ability, which does damage to a nearby enemy fighter based on dice rolls. Despite his extremely strong weapon profile (5 attacks for 3/5 damage), since being mounted is already a bit of a disadvantage on more vertical Warcry battlefields, and the fact that the mounted Killaboss is a pretty big model doesn’t help either, it’s a bit difficult to recommend as your Leader choice, especially at his incredibly high cost.

The regular Killabosses do most of what the mounted version does well, and while they don’t have access to Bone-Crushing Bite, it can pair up with a Stab-Grot to use the Double ability You Hold ‘Em Off which lets the Killaboss grant a bonus move or attack action to a nearby Stab-Grot.

The main difference between the two weapon loadouts is that the Killaboss with Boss-hacka and Skareshield has higher Toughness (5) at the cost of less attacks (4 for 2/4 damage), while the Killaboss with Boss-hacka and Rusting Flail returns to Toughness 4 but adds an extra attack and more damage (5 for 2/5 damage) making them pretty good melee Leader in terms of stats, but since their unique Leader ability only affects the pretty awful Stab-Grot, you’re better off with one of the more specialized Leader types described below.

Murknob with Belcha-Banna: 145 points

The Murknob with Belcha-Banna has a slightly worse weapon profile than the Killabosses, as well as lower Wounds and Toughness, but it does have a unique Triple ability that works pretty well with how the warband plays: Breath of the Mire-drake lets you roll a dice for each enemy fighter within an aura around the Murknob and do damage to each one depending on your dice roll and the value of the dice used for the Triple roll – up to 6 damage if everything is rolled optimally.

The ability can be good in itself, but is even better if you can follow up with the universal Quad Leader ability Kunnin’ Attack in the next batte round, which gives you bonus attack or move actions to all Kruleboyz fighters with the Warrior runemark within an aura around the caster if you have more of those fighters than there are enemy fighters within that aura.

This can make the Kruleboyz really good at ganging up on strong opponents or large concentrations of enemy fighters – you only have to have one more Warrior fighter than your opponent has fighters to make the whole combo go off, and all your Leaders, Gutrippas and Boltboyz are Warriors.

Swampcalla Shaman (165 points)

The Swampcalla Shaman has the same defensive statistics as the Murknob, but it has two weapon profiles: a 3″-7″ ranged attack with the highest critical damage in the warband (3/6), and a 2″ range melee attack with low normal damage but otherwise decent statistics.

Having range on attacks is generally very good, but it doesn’t synergize all that well with the Shaman’s unique ability, which works best if he’s in the middle of the fighting: Summon Boggy Mist for a Triple decreases the Attacks characteristic of all enemy fighters within an aura around the Shaman. This works for an entire battle round, so if you’re in a fight with a bunch of enemy fighters (which you probably are, given the abilities and fighter types available to you), this can really help tip the scales in your favour.

Generally, taking the Swampcall Shaman as your Leader and the Murknob as your Hero (or vice versa) gives you a nice toolbox of abilities for fighting in big, multi-fighter melees.

Gutrippas

• Gutrippa Boss with Wicked Stikka: 145 points
• Gutrippa Boss with Mace and Sword: 140 points
• Gutrippa with Wicked Stikka: 75 points
• Gutrippa with Wicked Hakka: 75 points

The Gutrippas are one of two categories of melee infantry fighter types for the Kruleboyz warband, and they come in two variants: Gutrippa with Wicked Stikka and Gutrippa with Wicked Hakka. Both variants have a Leader version as well: Gutrippa Boss with Wicked Stikka and, for the Hakka version, Gutrippa Boss with Mace and Sword.

They all have Toughness 4 and 15 Wounds (a bit more the Bosses) so what differentiates them is the weapon profile with the Stikka providing the coveted 2″ range, a bit more damage on critical hit (1/4) but less attacks. The Hacka is more balanced, with 3 attacks and statistically can do more damage, but the 2″ range combined with the different Kruleboyz abilities, means they have more chances to perform an attack where it hurts.

The bosses follow the same trend and represent some good melee leaders alternative to the Killbosses with similar damage output but at a much cheaper cost.

Boltboyz

• Boltboy Boss: 170 points
• Man-Skewer Boltboy: 120 points

The Boltboyz come in a standard version, the Man-Skewer Boltboy, and a Leader version, the Boltboy Boss.

The Man-Skewer Boltboy is an elite ranged fighter type with a pretty good ranged weapon profile, and the same melee profile as a Gutrippa with Wicked Hakka on top.

Having a long range option for the warband is pretty great (especially for a Destruction warband), and it really becomes worthwhile to take in your warband when you consider its unique ability, the Double Aimed Shot which, if you haven’t moved before using the ability, lets you do critical hits on any roll of 4 or more. This is a good ability, especially since the Boltboyz’ normal damage is only 1, but their critical damage is 4. Beware that this only counts for your next attack action, so it can’t be combined with any bonus attack actions or anything like that.

Another problem they have is that the missile attack can only be used above the 6″ range (up to 15″).

The Boltboy Boss is a significantly buffed-up version of the standard Boltboy, with better weapon profiles in both melee and ranged, but since you have much better options for your Leader and Hero slots, he can’t really be recommended.

Hobgrots

• Hobgrot Boss: 750 points
• Hobgrot Slitta: 70 points

The Hobgrots are like a micro-warband within your Kruleboyz warband: they have two fighter types, the Hobgrot Slitta and the Hobgrot Boss, but the Hobgrot Boss is not a Leader. He completely works like one in terms of synergies, though with his unique Triple ability called Stab ‘Em Good, which increases the Attacks characteristic of melee attacks for all Hobgrots within 6″. And the Stab Grot gets this bonus as well.

The standard Hobgrot Slitta is pretty weak in combat without the Stab ‘Em Good, and it’s defence statistics are also pretty low, but it has a 3″-5″ ranged attack with few Attacks but good damage.

The “grenade”-like ranged attacks of the Hobgrots is a pretty good source of critical damage for your warband, and with the Stab ‘Em Good buff you could make a case for having one of your battle groups be full of Hobgrots, but keep in mind that they don’t have the Warrior runemark, which means they can’t benefit from the warband’s big flashy Quad ability, Kunnin’ Attack.

Stab-Grot: 45 points

The Stab-Grot is mostly in the warband for comic relief: he’s a tiny grot cosplaying as a Killaboss, and neither his offensive nor defensive statistics are impressive. If you’re running a Killaboss as your Leader, you should definitely bring the Stab-Grot along to be able to use your unique ability, but while the Stab-Grot is pretty cheap, fielding many of them is quite expensive as there’s only one for each Killaboss box.

As a side effect of the Hobgrot Stab ‘Em Good ability, he can also increase his attack and benefit from the Killaboss free action, if you really want to use this way your Doubles…

Pot-Grot: 45 points

The Pot-Grot is really, really useful for its points cost – there’s simply no reason not to bring it in your warband. It has a unique Triple ability called Brewed Elixir which lets you roll a number of dice for a chance to heal 3 damage points on a friendly fighter for each 4+. With a bit of luck you can restore to full health your Leader every time you have a triple, making this fighter essential in any warband.

His melee profile is however completely forgettable.

Da Kunnin’ Krew (495 points)

• Mannok Da Kunnin’: 185 points
• Torka Tuffskul: 125 points
• Krookgrin: 80 points
• Gikkit: 50 points
• Shank: 55 points

Da Kunnin’ Krew is a Bladeborn warband from Warhammer Underworlds Season 5.

• Gang Up (Double, Krookgrin, Gikkit and Shank): activate another one of them within range immediately after.
• Master of Murk (Double, Mannok): as long as Mannok stays within 1″ of an obstance, cannot be targeted by attacks 8″ or further away.
• Sneaky Snares (Double, Torfa and Shank): a great chance to prevent move or disengage actions to a close-by enemy.

Mannok is a Killaboss with a slightly better profile thanks to the 2″ range even if that means losing 1 attack (4 at Strength 4 for 2/5 damage). As a Kruleboy, he has access to the various abilities including increasing his damage by 1 with a Double, and the Quad that allows a bonus move or attack action to all Kruleboyz Orruks within 6″ if they are more than the enemy in the same range. His Bladeborn ability protects him from ranged damage as long as he is near an obstacle, but only shooting attacks 8″ or further away, meaning that he is protected by few snipers in game, as long as they don’t get under the 7″ distance to snipe him anyway.

Torka is also an Orruk, and his ability, shared with Shank, allows, on a 2+, to prevent an enemy within 2″ from moving or disengaging until the end of the round. The 2″ distance is great because Torka has exactly a 2″ based attack (Strength 4, 2/4 damage) that allows to hit without retaliation if the ability works. The rest of the profile is that of a Gutrippa Boss but without the Leader runemark and at a cheaper price.

Krookgrin is an Hobgrot Boss with the same profile and ability to give other Hobgrot an extra attack for a Triple, but with a better melee profile (3 attacks for 2/4 damage). As all minions in this warband (including Gikkit and Shank), for a Double they can chain-activate one after the other.

Gikkit and Shank have the same identical profile of a Stab-grot (as they are grots) but for some reason they are also minions, meaning they can be bossed around by Krookgrin and Gikkit is a Warrior, giving him access to the Orruk abilities, while Shank has the runemark that allows the use of Sneaky Snares, the same as Torka, to prevent an enemy move or disengage.

Daggok’s Stab-Ladz (470 points)

• Daggok Finksteala: 175 points
• Grakk Da Hook: 130 points
• Jagz Da Bleeda: 90 points
• Hurrk Da Howla: 75 points

Daggok’s Stab-Ladz is a Bladeborn warband from Warhammer Underworlds Season 9 (Deathgorge), whose rules are available in White Dwarf 499.

• Leave Ya Bleedin’ (Double, Jagz): after wounding an opponent with an attack, at the end of the battle round roll as many dice as the wounds allocated that round and allocate an extra damage on each 4+.
• Hooking’ Your Guts (Double, Grakk): anytime an enemy within 3″ disengages, it receives D6 damage.
• Roar of Kragnos (Triple, Hurrk): add +1 to melee attacks of all friendly fighters within 6″.
• Stealin’ Your Finks (Quad, Daggok): after killing an enemy with this fighter obtain up to 6 wild dice and perform a bonus move.

Daggok Finksteala has the profile of a Gutrippa Boss without shield but with more wounds (25) and the 2″ range weapon which is great for keeping distance considering also his Toughness 4. His ability, Stealin’ Your Finks, costs a Quad but if he kills an opponent then he can perform a bonus move and obtain as many wild dice as the ability’s value which is… wild!

Grakk Da Hook has another 2″ weapon, this time for 3 attacks at Strength 5 for 3/4 damage which makes him an extremely valuable fighter. Unfortunately, his Toughness 3 will make him an easy target as well. His ability costs a Double and allows to do D6 damage to any enemy disengaging within 3″, so it’s extremely situational and he may never live to use it.

Jagz da Bleeda returns to Toughness 4, with more attacks (4) but less damage (1/5). However, his ability, which also costs a Double, allows to allocate extra damage at the end of the battle round: for each wound allocated, on a 4+ it does an extra damage. Works only at the end of the turn, so it’s not reliable, but it’s quite thematic.

Finally, Hurrk Da Howla has the exact same profile as a Gutrippa with Wicked Hacka (3 attacks at Strength 3 for 1/3 damage and Toughness 4) but he characterises himself thanks to his Triple, Roar of Kragnos. This adds 1 to the melee Attack characteristic of all friendly fighters within 6″, not just those with the Stab-Ladz runemark, meaning he is a great addition in any Kruleboyz warband (following the Bladeborn rules).

As Kruleboyz, all of them can benefit from the Double Venom-encrusted Weapons which adds 1 extra damage for each hit an critical hit.

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Abilities for the Kruleboyz Warband

• Venom-Encrusted Weapons (Double, everyone except all Hobgrots, Stab-grot and Pot-grot): Increase by 1 the damage for all attacks that activation.
• Aimed Shot (Double, all Boltboys): If the fighter does not move, critical hits are scored on a 4+.
• Bone-Crushing Bite (Double, Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof): A chance to do up to 18 damage to an engaged enemy.
• You Hold ‘Em Off (Double, both Killaboss): Give a bonus move or attack action to a nearby Stab-Grot.
• Stab ‘Em Good (Triple, Hobgrot Boss): Improve the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons used by Minions (Hobgrots and Stab-grot) around this fighter for one battle round.
• Brewed Elixir (Triple, Pot-Grot): Heal a nearby fighter based on a dice roll.
• Summon Boggy Mist (Triple, Swampcalla Shaman): Decrease the Attacks characteristic of enemy fighters nearby the Shaman.
• Breath of the Mire-drake (Triple, Murknob with Belcha-Banna): A chance to do up to 6 damage to all enemy fighters nearby.
• Kunnin’ Attack (Quad, all Leaders): If there are more friendly fighters with the Warrior runemark close to the fighter using this ability than enemy fighters, those friendly fighters all make a bonus move or attack action.

Reaction for the Kruleboyz Warband

Introduced in the new season of Warcry, Reactions are things that can be done in certain circumstances, but always during the enemy turn. They cost one action, so they can be used only by fighters that have not activated yet or are waiting. There are 3 universal reactions and one specific to each warband:

Kunnin’ Trap (Everyone)

• When: After an enemy finishes a move within 3″.
• What: A bonus attack for another friendly fighter within 3″ that needs to target the enemy fighter that moved.

Battle Trait for the Kruleboyz Warband

Stick ‘Em Good and Quick: Once per battle round select a friendly fighter, after they allocate at least 1 damage with a melee attack, they can allocate an extra D3 damage to the same opponent.

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Strategy and Tactics for the Kruleboyz warband

The Kruleboyz warband is pretty versatile for a Destruction warband, especially in terms of ranged attack options. In addition to that, several of the warband’s abilities encourage you to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers in melee while buffing your fighters and debuffing the enemy fighters inside that melee fight. This is nice for players new to Warcry, since you have a clear blueprint for setting up your warband and playing a game.

If you bring the Swampcalla Shaman and Murknob with Belcha-Banna as suggested in this guide, you have a nice array of options to push melee combat in your favour: you can debuff enemy Attacks, do area damage or increase the Attacks of your fighters. To achieve the numbers advantage you need for Kunnin’ Attack, Gutrippa with Wicked Stikka is your best option due to it’s 2″ range weapon and inexpensive point cost.

Another way to use your low-cost models is to keep them as screen for Man-Skewer Boltboys so that if an enemy gets too close, you can use the low-cost fighter reaction to get a free shoot from the Boltboy. It works also with melee weapons, another reason for having 2″ range weapons that allow for free attacks when you have a compact line and force your enemy to trigger your free attacks.

If one of your battle groups is your buffing Leader/Hero and Gutrippas, another battle group should include at least one Man-Skewer Boltboy for the good range and chance to do a good amount of critical damage. What else you bring in the warband is up to you, but apart from the auto-include of a Pot-Grot for healing, you’re stuck with pretty sub-optimal options: a group of Hobgrot Slittas and a Hobgrot Boss can make for an alternative wrecking ball of attacks, but they don’t synergize with the rest of your army, and all the melee Leaders you have access to are strong enough, and they can still cast Kunnin’ Attack, but why not have the extra abilities you get from Shaman and Murknob?

Whatever you do, make sure to have as high a model count as you can, since the Kruleboyz lack really high critical damage or elite fighters with a ton of wounds, so you need to bring up your damage output and survivability through having as many activations as possible.

Pros and Cons of the Kruleboyz Warband

Pros:

+ A strong Quad ability that doesn’t require a high Quad roll
+ Good access to ranged and 2″ range weapons
+ Good synergies
+ Clearly communicated playstyle that’s good for beginners

Cons:

– Strong melee Leaders lack synergies with the rest of the army

Some fun thematic warbands for the Kruleboyz

Here’s a few ideas for warbands that are both fun to play and embody the character and style of the Kruleboyz warbands. They aren’t competitive win-all lists, mind.

Veterans of the Starter Sets

This isn’t the best list in the world, but it has the advantage of being very, very cheap: you can build it from the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set, which means that if you can get someone else to buy the Stormcast half of that box, the warband will cost you around the same as a trip to the movies.

Leader: 1 Killaboss with Boss-hacka and Rusting Flail

Hero: Gutrippa Boss with Wicked Stikka

Stab-Grot

Gutrippa with Wicked Stikka x 8

Different build options and how to buy the Kruleboyz warband

Most of the warband can be purchased in Age of Sigmar starter sets:

• The Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dominion limited box set, if you can find it, lets you build 10 Gutrippas with Wicked Stikka (including up to two Gutrippa Bosses with Wicked Stikka), but beware that these are easy to build miniatures that do not have the option to be built as Gutrippas with Wicked Hakka or a Gutrippa Boss with Mace and Sword. It also lets you build 20 Hobgrot Slittas (including a Hobgrot Boss), 3 Man-Skewer Boltboyz (including a Boltboy Boss), a Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof, a Killaboss (either weapon is available), a Swampcalla Shaman, a Murknob with Belcha-Banna, a Stab-Grot and a Pot-Grot.
• The Age of Sigmar Extremis Starter Set and the Age of Sigmar Harbinger Starter set both let you build the same 10 Gutrippas as the Dominion box, 10 of the same Hobgrots (so half the amount, but it’s still the same sculpts), a Pot-Grot and a Swampcalla Shaman. The Extremis set just includes a bunch of terrain as well, so if you’ve already got that covered, you can save some money and just buy the Harbinger set.
• The Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set lets you build the same 10 Gutrippas as the Dominion box, a Stab-Grot and a Killaboss.

The rest of the warband can be found in individual boxes and in the Kruleboys Boss-Krew that contains the only part of the Dominion box that was previously not available in the starter sets or separately.

Tips on painting the Kruleboyz warband

There are plenty of painting guides out there for Kruleboyz, since they are one of the poster factions for Age of Sigmar’s third edition, but a good basic one is this Battle Ready painting tutorial from Games Workshop themselves.