Category Warhammer Underworlds

Shadeborn take on an assassin themed Skaven Clawpack in the latest Warhammer Underworlds title- Nethermaze!

Bellow Harrowdeep is the Nethermaze, a location that is essentially an eldritch labyrinth and the home to forbidden treasures. Both warbands are centered around sneaking, killing and are probably the closest alike warbands that aren’t part of the same faction. Games Workshop claims that this box contains the tightest ruleset they’ve released thus far, honed across multiple seasons of the game.

Games can be quite dynamic and almost cinematic. Nearly every turn is full of action and can turn the tide of the fight by just using the right abilities at the right time. The additional cards included for each of the Grand Alliances are a welcome addition as well and each new warband expands on that further. I would love to see some sort of hybrid game that combines the ability card deck building with the classic army battles of Age of Sigmar. As it stands this is a welcome addition to the Underworlds family, not to mention the new models. These are by far the best Skaven models we’ve received in decades.

The Other Warbands:

Mixing necromancy and mad science is the Exiled Dead. Oddly though this warband was advertised as part of Nethermaze but on the box is listed as part of Harrowdeep. Regardless of which edition of Underworlds they are tied to they are a welcome addition to the growing range.

Hexbane’s Hunters add new Witch Hunters to the world of Age of Sigmar and the first Witch Hunter themed warband in Underworlds. They also mark the first warband to be branded with the Nethermaze logo on their boxart that weren’t part of the starter itself. Check out our unboxing of them, they are some great models.

Little is known about Skullgrinder Herax but he is a member of the Gorechosen of Dromm, a Khorne themed warband entering the depths of the maze itself. He looks like a perfect fit for the Scions of the Flame, I think I see some “counts as” playing in my future.

Thondian Strongpoint is the first Realmscape box for the current edition of Age of Sigmar but will it be the last?

It’s not unusual for Games Workshop to release or even release a set of terrain following a current theme. Realmscape: Thondian Strongpoint is no different. What makes this box standout is not the fact that it brings back some of the recent Realmscape Expansion pieces but it adds some brilliant terrain you can’t get anywhere else, at least for now. Beyond these terrain pieces we also get a single model, an Endless Spell that EATS other Endless Spells- the Krondspine Incarnate. In a recent event where Alarielle completed her Rite of Life the Incarnates were created, further proving the realms themselves are alive. The Krondspine Incarnate itself is the spirit of Ghur and the Realm of Beasts is hungry.

At $220 USD this box got a lot of negative attention from the community because most that wanted it only wanted the Incarnate and for a single model Endless Spell that price is quite excessive. Kitbashing is always an option for those players but this is a bad ass model as it is. Despite how awesome the model looks this brings me to my real complaint with the box- the Incarnate. For an Endless Spell it looks fantastic but other than the head of it, nothing really screams “Realm of Beasts” about it. I feel like the spirit of Ghur should be some sort of massive beast, like a Mawcrusha or even the Hell Pit Abomination. Both of which would be a better fit as the spirit of Ghur. What I would have preferred would have been a living version of the giant skeleton that came with this box, a massive serpent monster would have been the perfect Krondspine Incarnate. This model itself looks like it would be a better fit as the spirit of Shyish.

Time will tell if we see other Realmscape boxes and I sincerely hope we see more as we expand into the other realms but I doubt we will see it happen at least until next year at the earliest. The reason is because of all of the Ghur themed terrain coming for Warcry over the next year. When we see them expand into other realms I hope we see more awoken Incarnates.

It feels like ages ago that Games Workshop announced Bladeborn, a game that appeared to mix Underworlds with Warcry but did they deliver the goods?

Games Workshop shared a copy of Bladeborn with us and almost immediately asked us to hold onto any recordings we made for a while due to the misprinting of some of the cards. At the time we were lucky enough to have been behind on our recording schedule and hadn’t recorded anything yet on this game. Once the replacement cards had arrived we finally got down to recording and shortly after playing. The link to that video is at the bottom of the article.

Before we get into gameplay I must admit that in the video below I made some mistakes. Specifically I felt that the quality of the minis were of a lower quality than their counterparts from Warhammer Underworlds. I was so wrong on this. About a month later I revisited the models along with their counterparts and the quality was exactly the same so I apologize my words that were so wrong. I hope this didn’t affect anyone and their decision in picking this game up.

If you have ever played Warcry and Underworlds will love this game because it truly is the daemonic love-child of them both. Combat is very much like Warcry (of the two games this is the better system so a huge win) and movement feels more akin to Underworlds. Even better it gives you cards for ALL of the Chaos Warbands from Underworlds released so far. Best yet is that these cards can also be used in Warcry! If you are a fan of Warcry or Underworlds this game will be a great addition to your library and is easier to learn. This means it is a great starting point for new players as well.

Without further adieu here is our official unboxing video of Bladeborn :

Warhammer Underworlds returns for another season with Harrowdeep and this time you take the fight under the waves.

Taking place in the Realm of Shadows, Harrowdeep takes players to a maze beneath the sea. Xandire’s Truthseekers face off against the Da Kunnin Krew but will later be joined by others. Take your existing warband or one of these new ones under the Shadowsea for a competitive experience like no other (with the exception of previous iterations of Warhammer Underworlds). With the original announcement we also learned that there will be two core sets released each year going forward, two additional warband releases and with them a new rivals format to the game.

Here is the official roadmap for Harrowdeep (hint the first warband is pirates):

As mentioned above the Q1 warband is a pirate themed Destruction warband and nothing officially is known about the Q2 warband. If the image is anything to go on I suspect whatever faction they are will have lightning based abilities. The obvious answer is likely another Stormcast Eternals warband but I think we will see something more unique, perhaps a Tzeentch warband or even better would be a Cities of Sigmar warband with a wizard of some sort (with a lightning spell or two).

What is Rivals?

Rivals is a new way of playing the game without all the deck building mechanics. Essentially this is to allow players to dive right in with their new warbands immediately after they are built using a predefined deck. The focus is to allow newer players to jump in without having to search for years of cards to build their decks. Personally I’ve always played this way because when reviewing I play the game with the prebuilt decks in the box. Those that play in the Championship format will still be able to build their decks as they did before, just not as part of the Rivals style of the game.

Overall thoughts:

To start with I must admit this box was provided to us by Games Workshop for the purpose of this review but their generosity has no bearing on our opinion. With the somewhat recent release of Dominion I have learned to really enjoy the Stormcast Eternals faction and absolutely love Kruelboyz. The sculpts in this box are fantastic for both factions and the box is worth picking up for those alone. Additionally the new map boards are gorgeous. Gameplay has been tweaked slightly for the new realm and the double support rolls on defense dice when standing in a Gloom token means that you will have a better chance of survival with the weaker warbands. The addition of Grand Alliance cards is a HUGE bonus for those with other warbands and making some of the upgrades leave upon injury adds further complexity to the game. Personally I can’t wait for my next game as I plan on trying out either my Soulblight Gravelord Vampires or my Slaves to Darkness warband in the new setting. The only thing I am disappointed in with this release is that this is the first that did not have an accompanying novel from Black Library. Time will tell if we will see one over the next year but I sincerely hope we do.

Warhammer Underworlds returns with Direchasm! Will the Realmlords survive the return of Hedonites of Slaanesh?

The Hedonites have returned with their own warband for Warhammer Underworlds and face off in Direchasm against the Lumineth Realmlords. This pairing of forces is a huge plus by itself for me. Back in the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy many elves, now called Aelves, followed the Chaos god Slaanesh, known as the God of Excess and it’s followers were some of the most perverse. Eventually it splintered the elven people into two primary factions High Elves and Dark Elves. The Dark Elves were the group that followed Slaanesh and eventually stopped and moved to follow Khaine, the god of murder. Now the two forces are facing each other once again and have brought along some of the finest sculpts the franchise has released to date.

One of the biggest changes between versions of this game is models that now have a 6+ Wound characteristic and are defeated you will earn 2 Victory Points instead of the customary 1. Another change is that the Support mechanic is slightly modified. Basically before any models adjacent to the one attacking would support but you would subtract your support from the opponent’s support. Whomever had more support remaining receives the bonus. Now you simply take the support regardless and each support roll counts as a success instead.

As a starting box is concerned this iteration of Underworlds can be a bit overwhelming with some of the cards specifically. Previous versions a majority of the cards were more simplistic but allowed a bit of room for interpretation. The cards in this box give much longer descriptions but there is little room for interpretation. Everything is laid out exactly how they will work but the amount of wording can overwhelm newer players. For seasoned gamers though this will provide a dynamic experience in the realms of Warhammer Underworlds with some amazing models that would be fantastic starters for a Slaanesh or Realmlord based army. If you are a fan of Chaos armies or the Underworlds franchise then you will love this box.