Skin & Moans

Skin & Moans Grymkin Heavy Warbeast

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Grymkin. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

"A living nightmare of tattered faces that stalks in dark and shadowed places,
this charnel figure treads the land with wicked curving blades in hand."

Towering above its victims, Skin & Moans fells mortals with expert slashes, then slices off their faces to stitch them into its own motley skin, where the dead visages continue to moan and groan. These thin, overlapping whispers eerily herald the monster’s approach."

Basic Info

Skin & Moans
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 5 STR 10 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 13 ARM 16 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 4 THRS 8 HP 28 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 14 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warbeast - All warbeasts share a huge stack of special rules. The short version is they're big, furious, and beat stuff up pretty good. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Bone Picker - When this model destroys a living or undead enemy model with a melee attack, this model gains the destroyed model's corpse token and the destroyed model is removed from play. This model can have up to three corpse tokens at any time.
• Death-Powered - This model gains +1 STR and ARM for each corpse token currently on it.
• Death Feast - During its activation, this model can spend corpse tokens to remove d3 damage points for each token spent.

Weapons

• Butcher's Blade (x2) - 2" reach, P+S 16 melee weapons

Animus

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Lurker	1	SELF	-	-	Turn	No
The spellcaster gains Pathfinder and Bushwhack. Lurker lasts for one turn. Bushwhack - During its activation, this model can make its Combat Action before its Normal Movement. If it does, it must make a full advance as its Normal Movement that activation.

Theme Forces

• Bump in the Night
• Dark Menagerie. In this theme, this model gains +1 corpse token at the start of the game.

Thoughts on the Skin & Moans

Skin & Moans in a nutshell

It's a beatstick heavy that gives you pathfinder-on-a-stick. It gets cranked up to 11 once it has some corpses, so much so that you'd be justified in calling it "corpse-dependent".

Competitive Viability
As of August 2018, Skin & Moans is a very viable, with typically two or three being featured in Dark Menagerie. They pair extremely well with the Cage Rager & the Death Knell in theme, able to push through huge damage spikes as it builds up corpses.

Combos & Synergies

Warlocks

• The Wanderer - The Skin & Moans has decent DEF for a heavy, and The Wanderer can really push that further.
• The Child - The Child is in many ways the perfect caster for Skin & Moans. A fully corpse-fueled Skin & Moans with the The Child can charge for free, P+S 21, Spd 7, all with Pathfinder & the ability to heal up next turn. Coupled with the Sacrifice arcana, and it becomes nigh impossible to recover from an alpha of Skin & Moans charges.

Non-warlocks

• Deathknell - Best way of getting the corpse tokens to Skin & Moans. The ARM buff a corpse fueled Death Knell provides is small, but critical for a Skin & Moans wihout corpses.
• Dread Rots - Second best way of getting corpse tokens to your heavies. As Weapon Masters, Dread Rots aso serve very well as one half of a pincer with Skin & Moans
• Crabit - The Skin & Moans tends to get shot off the board, but the Crabbit can Shield Guard it quite cheaply.
• Cage Rager - Provides a lot of defensive utility and space controling effects, both of which are things a Skin & Moans loves. The Cage Rager's animus is also extremely relevant on your harder hitting Skin & Moans into lists which require a lot of Magical Weapons.
• Gremlin Swarm - Skin & Moans don't have a good way of preventing their opponent from charging. Putting a Gremlin Swarm on one side and a Cage Rager on the other makes it extremely difficult for your opponent to touch your Skin & Moans, as they don't have enough space to place their base and oftern cannot charge the Gremlin Swarm.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Doesn't hit hard without corpses. Struggles to pick its own.
• If there's a prize for "Heavy to be shot first", this guy takes it.
• Underwhelming for points if it doesn't have corpses.
• Relies heavily on other models in Grymkin to reach its full potential.
• Decent DEF aside, it has low ARM and HP, especially for a 15 points heavy

Tricks & Tips

• The Witchwood is ideal to pick off flanking models/solos from the enemy's battle line, and pull it close enough to the Skin&Moans for activating Bone Picker. Turning it around will also solve most of the accuracy issues.
• Sacrifice is an amazing Arcana with a group of Grymkin heavies. It becomes extremely difficult for your opponent to efficiently kill your 'beasts when they have to over-commit to killing each heavy in turn.
• Parking a Cage Rager in front and a Gremlin Swarm on the open side within 1 1/2" of a Skin & Moans makes it nigh unchargable.

Other

Trivia

Released with the Faction release (2017.06)

Other Grymkin models

Grymkin Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup
Warlocks	The Child - The Dreamer - The Heretic - The King of Nothing - The Wanderer - Old Witch 3 Arcana Warlock Attachment: Baron Tonguelick
Warbeasts	Lesser: Crabbit	Light: Frightmare - Gorehound - Rattler
	Heavy: Cage Rager - Clockatrice - Skin & Moans	Gargantuan: Slaughterhouse
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Dread Rots - Hollowmen - Mad Caps - Malady Man - Murder Crows - Neigh Slayers - Piggybacks - Twilight Sisters
Solos	Baron Tonguelick, Lord of Warts - Cask Imp - Defiled Archon - The Four Horseymans - Glimmer Imp - Grave Ghoul - Gremlin Swarm - Isiah, Dread Harvester - Lady Karianna Rose - Lord Longfellow - Trapperkin - Weird Wendell - Witchwood
Battle Engines	Death Knell
Theme Forces		Minions
Dark Menagerie - Bump in the Night		Refer to Category: Grymkin Minion
This index was last updated: 2021.08

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification:  : Warbeast      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

See also the Warbeast page for a recap of the core warbeast rules. Forcing If an ability doesn't specify how much it costs to force, it costs 1. (Infernal Ruling) Animi A single Animus can be on several models at the same time. (Infernal Ruling) Unlike in Mk2, in Mk3 if a model has an animus on it from any source and then another animus is cast on that model, it will lose the first instance of an animus and will be replaced by the second. It does not matter if either the first animus or the second animus is from a warlock or warbeast. (Infernal Ruling) An animi cast by a warlock is an animi and a spell. (Infernal Ruling) Transferring Damage If both the warlock and the warbeast are damaged by the same attack (such as an AOE), then you need to apply the 'normal' damage to the warbeast before the transferred damage. This distinction can be important when you're working out who/what actually destroyed the beast. (Infernal Ruling) Frenzy (Edit) You cannot trigger optional abilities (such as Cleave or Sprint). (Infernal Ruling) You must trigger compulsory abilities (such as Consume) ... except for compulsory abilities that also generate an extra attack (such as Berserk). In that case, you don't get the Berserk attack. (Infernal Ruling) A warbeast may not make an Assault shot as part of a Frenzy activation. If the closest target to a warbeast resolving a Frenzy cannot be charged, then the warbeast will forfeit movement and action (as per the rules of having to charge and not being able to). (Infernal Ruling) If a frenzying warbeast can't reach its charge target (because the charge lane is blocked by terrain, etc) then it will make a failed charge and end its activation. (Locked thread) If a frenzying warbeast has two melee weapons with the same POW, it can choose which one to use. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Bone Picker and/or Bone Pile     (Edit) This model only gets the corpse if it's the closest eligible model. Bone Picker doesn't have the "regardless of proximity of other models" wording like Dark Fire does. This will hardly ever come up, considering the short range of most melee weapons. It'll come up slightly more often for Barnabus2. RFP on Destroyed (Edit) Corpse/Soul generation and collection isn't an ability that you trigger, it just happens the instant a model is destroyed. As such, if an attack RFPs the target on destroyed (such as Bone Picker), it will not stop corpse/souls. (Infernal Ruling) In saying that though, Golab's Carrion Feast ability messes everything up. You can read more about that weird rule interaction here.

Rules Clarification : Death-Powered - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Death Feast      (Edit) You roll a new d3 each time you spend a token. Restrictions on "Any Time" abilities     (Edit)         [Show/Hide] "Any Time" abilities can be used at any time during a model/unit's activation, except: Before any compulsory forfeiture of movement/action. See step 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. After the model with the "Any Time" ability has had their activation end "prematurely". By this I mean you resolved something which includes the phrase "its activation ends". Examples include: Running, failing a charge, or failing a slam. Abilities that include "then its activation ends" (such as Reposition and Teleport). In between declaring your charge target and making your charge movement. (Infernal Ruling) In between completing your charge movement and determining whether it was a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) When you're in the middle of moving. (Note: Impact Attacks count as being in the middle of movement). When you're in the middle of an attack. Which also includes effects that occur "after the attack is resolved". (Although the attack is "resolved" at Step 11, in terms of using an "Any Time" ability the attack is not "finished" until after Step 14. Refer to the first paragraph of Apdx A.) Your opponent interrupted your activation to trigger one of their own abilities (such as Countercharge). Warcasters/warlocks/etc can normally cast a spell or use their feat "At any time". However, there is a core rule saying they cannot do so on the same activation that they run. So, they are subject to all the same restrictions listed above, plus they can't cast/feat before running. Units: See below. In general you can use "Any Time" abilities while you're knocked down or stationary (except Spells and Feats which specify you can't). If you have a gun with a random ROF, you can use an "Any Time" ability inbetween rolling the number of shots and actually making the first attack. (Infernal Ruling) Units with "Any Time" abilities You cannot use an "Any Time" ability before issuing/receiving orders. See step 1 and 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after they run (Infernal Ruling) or fail a charge. Because that makes that specific model's activation to end even though the unit's activation is still ongoing, and you can't use abilities on models that are not active. You can use an "Any Time" ability before running, however. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after anyone in the unit has begun a Reposition move. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Lurker      (Edit) If you lose Lurker halfway through your Combat Action (for example casting another animus between attacks) then you don't get your Normal Movement. (Infernal Ruling) Lurker is not retroactively applied. (You cannot "skip" your movement, make an attack, then cast Lurker, then "get your movement back".) You have to cast it before Movement & Attacks. (Infernal Ruling) Pathfinder (Edit) - Pathfinder does not apply to involuntary movement (pushes & slams). (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : Bushwhack      (Edit) Orders affect unit attachments, even if that attachment doesn't have the order on their card (such as a Soulless Escort benefiting from the Shield Wall order). (Infernal Ruling)