Tips for Making Grayle Work?

I know Grayle has Tactition [Wolf Sworn], but don't feel forced to play the theme. White Mane, Lord of the Feast, and Night Witch are great Storm Rager targets.

Nice list but you can drop the shifting stones for 2x more war wolves. The shifting stones aren't need here for anything they do. The extra war wolves though give you some serious punch when you start to trigger gang on the sic'em charge.

As another alternative you can put in the reeve hunter solo which can dash through your front line to kill jamming models and then sprint back through to safety. Its awesome when it works. If you do go this route then you can also drop the gallows for a second war wolf.

This is how I personally like to run Grayle in Wild Hunt:

Circle Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] The Wild Hunt



(Grayle 1) Grayle the Farstrider [+29]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
- Wild Argus [7]
Reeve Hunter [4]
War Wolf [2]
War Wolf [2]
War Wolf [2]
Wolf Lord Morraig [8]
Reeves of Orboros (max) [16]
- Reeve of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [0(4)]
Warpborn Skinwalkers (max) [15]
- Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha [0(4)]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
- Wolves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [0(4)]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
- Wolves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [4]


Alternative if you're feeling like going outside of wild hunt:


Circle Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Devourer's Host

(Grayle 1) Grayle the Farstrider [+29]
- Argus Moonhound [6]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
Bloodweaver Night Witch [0(4)]
Tharn Ravager Shaman [0(5)]
Tharn Ravager White Mane [0(5)]
Tharn Ravager White Mane [5]
Tharn Blood Pack (max) [18]
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [16]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [16]
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain [5]

In this list there are a few reasons

The first is pathfinder

Secondly they remove the need for primal to do damage. Native P+S 18 without the buff is pretty not bad.

Thirdly having the ability to keep your entire battle group stealthed (except the moon hound who will be up front spotting for the bloodpack anyway) to preserve them for late game helps a lot. It allows you to use Grayle's feat offensively rather than defensively.

The last reason is sprint. Having sprint on Grayle and the two beasts he's working with allows the battle group to function as a more cohesive unit as they can move in similar fashions. Tharn really excel at clearing infantry and applying initial chip damage to heavies. When your battle group can dart in and finish something then sprint out it begins to synergize better with the strengths of the rest of the list.

This is just how I play though. I don't think that a feral / pureblood build is bad but it does change how the battle group would play during the game. If that was the intent I would probably go with wolf riders or a second unit of ravagers instead of the blood pack.

Druid's dice has used Grayle and Brennos to good effect to really restrict shooting. Then a Feral to primal and even Brennos can put out some scary damage with his blessed weapon.

Since MK3 dropped I've wanted to work out Grayle's puzzling situation against shooting and jack heavy meta. But I've just not spent the time on it. If you want to play him then play him to your hearts content. The "pick a different caster" type of stuff is just from meta-heavy tournament focused people. Casual games, anything is viable.

Nowhere do I say that this list is optimal and I haven't put that one on the table yet (I have played the wild hunt version 3 times).

Pow 13 bows do damage, especially to low / med armor heavies.  Think neraphs/seraphs, circle beasts or cryx jacks.  Remember that in this list I'm not looking for the kill with them just chip damage so that the stalkers or Grayle can reliably finish the model and then sprint back.  Wold stalkers, reeves or wyrds do it better but this is a theme list and I do want the other components of the theme.  Free heart tokens, extra points and snacking.

A ranged unit that can also perform in melee is interesting. If they can do work I feel like this is the place for them. I'll never take them without the moon hound though as they have so few shots that they have to connect and the moon hound makes that happen. I'm inclined to try them out as I watched 2 games at the Southern Ontario Open where somebody was running them and they did an awesome job of first whittling down a flank and then holding it in melee. They didn't outright win the engagement but they did what the player wanted them to do.

So lets just say I see potential. If I put that list on the table and get results I'll let you know. Currently on a Protectorate kick though.

Edit:  I think one of the main points people forget about the bloodpack is that they actually do what they are designed to do which is be a hybrid unit.  Their problem is that they pay for that versatility by being outshone in both capacities (melee and ranged) by other more specialized units.  Grayle himself has always been a combined anti ranged list while also being a strong melee list.  The combination of what the feat does with the presence of wind blast and stormrager are just a weird mishmash of rules that doesn't really push you in any direction with list building.  This is why I feel like a hybrid unit like the bloodpack fits in here as the list needs to be able to adapt to whatever the enemy brings.  Hybridization allows it this flexibility.  The opponent better also hope that there aren't a lot of forests on the table or he's gonna get wrecked!

Abilities that don't pan out are a shame but it doesn't mean that unit as a whole doesn't work, which is the only point I'm driving at.

I just look at heart eater on them as a bonus and not the main plan. PP really does need to put the pack through CID testing though. Would be really nice if the weavers, wolf rider solo and LotF joined them.