What's new for Warhammer Underworlds?

Warhammer Underworlds is back for a new edition! As such, I intend to invest more time into my blog and focus on this new edition.

It has been months since we had any news about Warhammer Underworlds. Today, on the 5th of October, we received an update. At first, I thought I would do a run-down of all the items I picked up from the teaser video, but everyone is doing that. Instead, I want to share my own thoughts.

I'm obviously excited about this new edition—this revamp of the game means it will exist for at least another year or more (GW tends to have plans in the works for over a year). I always get extremely annoyed when a game is discontinued, leaving me with hundreds of pounds worth of miniatures and game components that are basically useless. So, the fact that the game will continue is great news. From the card art images (which are now photographs, more on this later), we can see older warbands like Kainan's Reapers, Brethren of the Bolt, Khagra's Ravagers, the Gnarlspirit Pack, the Gorechosen of Dromm, and Hexbane's Hunters. GW have stated that the old warbands will have rules made available via a free digital rules release (16 of these will have a physical release - I hope this does not mean a lot of unwanted plastic and serious expense!)—a relief for my vast collection of warbands! Also, there will be four new warbands this season, so we will be keeping with Core box release twice a year.

Now, how will these old warbands be reintroduced into the new edition? Following the trend of other GW games, Warscrolls have been introduced into the game. In addition to Warscrolls, there now appear to be four new universal decks. Each deck provides for one playstyle (Mastery = Magic or Control [there are no mgic dice in the core set], Strike = Aggro, Take and Hold = Hold, and finally Flex), which will replace faction decks. Without faction decks and with the use of Warscrolls, this should bring "more balance to the game," as Nick Bayton stated. Each warband, it appears, will choose one of the 'Playstyle' decks along with its Warscroll to play a Rivals format game. Another point to notice, which Bonesy in the Agents of Sigmar Discord channel pointed out, was the Glory for each warband adds up to 7. Further helping to balance the game by preventing glory bleed from horde warbands. 

The teaser trailer also mentioned new Rivals decks (maybe the 'Playstyle' decks are the Rivals decks as per the four in the picture above). I expect these to be similar to the universal Rivals decks we’ve seen over the last few years (Tooth and Claw, Seismic Shock, Toxic Terrors, etc.). Then, as we’ve been doing, these could be combined with the 'Playstyle' deck (or combine two Rivals decks) to create a Nemesis deck, maintaining the deck-building element of the game—an aspect that is much needed, highly desired, and central to the game's success. Additionally, since all the cards have been redesigned, interactions between cards and keyword use will likely have been tightened up.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about what I wanted from a new edition. One of the main things was clearer interactions between older and newer cards. I also wanted a game where I could use my older warbands on a level playing field, even though their objective cards were subpar. It seems like this is what we might be getting. So, what else do I think?

A few days ago, the Agents of Sigmar released a video asking if long boarding should be banned. My thought has always been yes. I’ve never liked playing a game where my warband, which moves only three hexes, gets long-boarded by my opponent, forcing me to spend the first round just moving forward. I don’t get to play that often, so this always annoyed me when it happened. The boards now appear to be square, and only one is needed, not one per player. It looks like one player will choose the board and maybe the orientation, while the other places the 'Treasure Tokens.' This little change in wording from 'Objective tokens' to 'Treasure tokens' is a massive improvement in the use of keywords and will help streamline the rules. Over the last seven years, Warhammer Underworlds has evolved and become an even better game, but the rules did get unwieldy (thinking of reaction windows). Tightening up keywords and steps within a turn can only make the game more accessible. The Treasure Tokens are still numbered, so I expect some Objective play requiring fighters to hold particular values.

Regarding the boards, they seem to have 14 starting hexes, but since they are now single boards, but is there friendly, no-man's, or enemy territory? It appears there is from the Power card, Illusionary Fighter. So, there’s space for two seven-fighter warbands. Interestingly, it seems I can now place my fighters on any starting hex, even among enemy fighters! No longer will I or my opponent be able to sit back—action will likely start more quickly in the Underworlds. Also, lethal and block hexes have remained, but there is no sign (yet) of snare or cover hexes. Maybe these will be in future releases. At this point, I am wondering if Treasure awoken can be flipped?

What else did I notice? Crits have changed. I’ve written before about them being overly powerful. I’m hoping that they now count as successes for any roll, rather than having the overpowering value they used to. Another use for Crits could be to activate abilities like Grevious.  It looks like I am correct with idea. 

Also, the card art is changing to photographs. While I’m not in favour of this change, it will make the game cheaper for GW to produce, which means they need to take in less money to generate a profit. Ultimately, this could help the game more survivable in the long term.

There are also no magic dice. Magic is a fundamental component if the lore in Age of Sigmar, the Realms after all are made of condensed Magic, especially the Realmstones. So, Magic needs to be in the game. It should be powerful but unpredictable. In the first Edition of Underworlds, you could argue, that Magic was too powerful with warbands such as Ephilim's Pandemonium or Stormsire's Cursebreakers dominating the game in their relevant seasons. In part these warbands were powerful because their magic was too predictable. Going forwards, I hope magic attacks become like regular attacks using regular attack dice. Spells should be Power cards with an effect that only happens on particular dice roll. These effects can then be more dramatic that standard Power cards but due to the chance of failure still be balanced across a whole game.

There appears to be a new keyword in the same category as Cleave and Ensnare. This word is Brutal and it appears to cancel out Double Supports. I wonder if there will be a way to cancel Single supports?

The scatter token cannot be seen.

Upgrades are still present in the Power cards, but appear to have a cost for applying them to fighters. The card that can be seen costs 1 Glory, but others may cost more.

There is an Underdog mechanic.

For this new edition, the setting has moved from the icy caves of Wintermaw in Ghur to the city of Emberguard in Aqshy, the Realm of Fire. Here, our warbands will descend into the mines beneath the city to search for realm-stone, Emberstone. The first of the new warbands is a group of three Stormcast, the Emberwatch. I’m quite fond of this warband; they seem like an evolution of Xandire's Truthseekers. The second warband is Zikkit's Tunnelpack, a group of Skaven from Clan Skryre. I’m not a fan of Skaven—they’ve always been my nemesis faction, from back in my Warhammer Fantasy Battle days—but the miniatures are fabulous. I’m excited to see what else is coming.

I’m happy to see a new edition of the game for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above. That said, I do worry about change (damn you, Tzeentch) because I don’t want the game I love to become too different from the one I’ve been playing all these years. Too much change could drive existing players away and damage the community that has been built up. However, the game did need a refresh—a consolidation and tightening of the rules. So, a new edition is here, with new rules and new miniatures. The release is probably imminent, in the next week or two, as it is the format for the World Championship, so players will need time to practise.

"Underworlds is dead! Long live Underworlds!"

Thank you for reading. Please drop a comment below.