Pillage and Plunder - Deck Review

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NEW VERSION

Pillage and Plunder is a versatile Flex Rivals deck from the Embergard core set. It blends aggressive combat with control elements, rewarding players who can adapt their strategy to the evolving battlefield.


Objectives – Delve and Dominate

This deck’s objectives revolve around the Delve mechanic, encouraging players to flip feature tokens and capitalise on smart positioning. Key objectives include:

  • Claim the Prize: A surge that scores immediately after delving in enemy territory.

  • Broken Prospects: Rewards players for delving multiple Treasure tokens, adding depth to the control aspect of this deck.

  • Share the Load: A surge that scores as soon as a second friendly fighter moves onto a feature token.

  • Hostile Takeover: Scores after making two or more attacks that aren’t part of a Charge. Encourages proactive engagement without overcommitting.

  • Desolate Homeland: Scored if there’s only one Treasure token in your territory. Crucially, this can still be scored even if all your fighters are out of action.

  • Strip the Realm: The deck’s ultimate play: remove all Treasure tokens to score a big haul of glory.

These objectives push players to engage with the board, plan ahead, and weigh up the risk versus reward of when and where to delve.


Ploys – Tactical Manoeuvres

The ploys in Pillage and Plunder offer a balanced mix of positional and offensive and defensive tools:

  • Sidestep: Still one of the best push cards in the game. Key for seizing objectives or repositioning safely.

  • Tunnelling Terror: Teleports a fighter into a Stagger hex. Enables surprise charges or quick escapes.

  • Prideful Duelist: Make an attack in enemy territory, then heal. Great for sustaining aggressive fighters.

  • Crumbling Mine: Flip (but not delve) a Treasure token. Essential for scoring higher-end objectives like Strip the Realm.

  • Wary Delver: Grants Guard to a charged fighter. Excellent defensive tech especially when the fighter is in cover.

  • Brash Scout: Reroll one attack die, with additional bonuses if you’re the Underdog. Ideal for early attacks.


These ploys enhance the deck’s flexibility, allowing you to respond to shifting board states and maintain control over the flow of play.


Upgrades – Enhancing Versatility

Upgrades in this deck focus on keeping your fighters dangerous, mobile, and relevant throughout the game:

  • Canny Sapper: Grants teleportation to Stagger hexes. Great for board control.

  • Gloryseeker: Extra damage against high-wound targets. A solid pick.

  • Frenzy of Greed: Prevents Stagger and offers a defensive boost while on Treasure tokens. Excellent for holding ground.

  • Linebreaker: A weapon upgrade that ignores Flanked and Surrounded. Stops enemies hiding in cover or swarming objectives.

  • Burrowing Strike: A range 2 weapon upgrade, giving reach and options to otherwise low-threat fighters.

  • Impossibly Quick: Ablative defensive tech to keep fragile fighters in the game longer.

These upgrades support both aggressive pushes and objective-focused play, giving you more levers to pull depending on the match-up.


Strengths

  • Adaptability: As a Flex deck, Pillage and Plunder supports both offensive and control strategies, with options to pivot as needed.

  • Board Interaction: Heavy emphasis on positioning and delving makes for engaging, tactical gameplay.

  • Wide Warband Synergy: Works particularly well with horde-style or low-wound warbands that can spread out and control the board state.

  • Resilient Scoring: Many delve-related objectives can still be scored even if the fighter who delved is slain afterwards.


Weaknesses

  • Complexity: Balancing multiple playstyles and managing the delve mechanic can be tricky, particularly for newer players.

  • Delve Reliance: The deck depends heavily on delving to score. Not all warbands are well-suited to this.

  • Stagger Risk: Fighters become Staggered after delving, making them more susceptible to enemy attacks or follow-ups.

  • Objective Glory: You will be relying upon glory scored from Objectives and may miss out on Bounty.


Strategy Tips - The cunning raid

  • Master the Delve Mechanic: Timing your delves is critical. Don’t flip a token just because you can—do it with purpose.

  • Use Ploys for Advantage: Cards like Sidestep or Brash Scout can let you outmanoeuvre your opponent and control key parts of the board.

  • Smart Nemesis Pairings: Use your second deck to enhance your Flex strategy or patch any gaps—whether that’s extra aggression, defence, or objective control.


Nemesis Pairings

Pillage and Plunder works well as a primary deck in Nemesis, offering multiple playstyle paths depending on the secondary deck.


Pillager’s End (with Countdown to Cataclysm)

This pairing builds on the Flex playstyle but adds more complexity and counterplay through Mastery objectives.

Key synergy: You can pivot between aggression and control, and between delving and simply holding Treasure tokens. Cards like Spread Havoc and Wreckers provide big end-phase glory to replace Pillage and Plunders single end-phase cards. The combination excels with horde warbands who can clog the board and generate Cataclysm counters through attrition.

Watch out: More tools also mean more decision points. Learning when not to delve is just as important as learning when to do so.


The Emberstone Raid (with Emberstone Sentinel)

Pairing Pillage and Plunder with Emberstone Sentinel leans hard into a Take and Hold strategy. It’s less about damage and more about positioning.

Key synergy: Both decks reward feature token interaction. Replace 1-glory Pillage objectives with 2-glory Emberstone cards like Supremacy and Iron Grasp to raise your glory ceiling. Emberstone’s ploys and upgrades also boost defence and mobility, which helps your fighters survive long enough to score.

Watch out: This pairing is focused. Lose track of your objectives and your opponent will be the one doing the pillaging.


Final Thoughts

Pillage and Plunder is a brilliant option for players who enjoy strategic flexibility and tactical board play. With a little finesse and a lot of foresight, it can lead to deeply satisfying victories through clever positioning and well-timed aggression.

Are you planning to try it out? Let me know what warband you’re pairing it with!

And don’t forget to check out more of my Warhammer Underworlds articles for deck guides, warband breakdowns, and competitive tips.

Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.

Thank you for reading. Are you intending to use this deck? If so, with which warband?



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