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.
