Ephilim’s Pandaemonium Review

Intro

Now it’s time for what I find to be the most exciting aspect of this release (though there is plenty to be excited about), the Ephilim’s Pandaemonium review! It’s about time we had a Tzeentch redo and wow, did they do it right. This checks all my boxes as far as cool mechanics, great sculpts, and just overall good design. As a long-time Eyes enjoyer, I have to say it’s a huge breath of fresh air to get a warband that actually looks consistently functional. Once again, I feel like they’ve done a great job making the warband unique and distinct from their predecessors too. Can’t wait to get these guys on the table! Another reminder, but I have updated my ranking system and included the new criteria below. Let’s get started!

Fighters

Unlike the Stormcoven, this warband does have a single leader, and of course it’s Ephilim the Unknowable. They are a level 1 wizard who starts with a base physical profile of 3 Move, 2 Dodge, 4 Wounds, which is a pretty typical leader profile for a fighter with this much range. Speaking of, the two attack profiles are a basic 2R/2H/2D melee attack and 4R/*S/2D spell attack. On a level 1 wizard, this might seem quite rough for a spell attack profile, but their Power Leech ability means that, with proper Changer placement, they should at least start the game a level 2 wizard. In that scenario, they probably have access to the best spell attack action in the game, as Range 4 is a huge boon for keeping them out of harm’s way. They inspire when you have 2 or more inspired friendly fighters, which ideally would happen at the beginning of the second round. I think this will be a key point for anyone facing off against the warband, as killing whichever Changer is inspired in the first round would be extremely disruptive to the Pandaemonium player. When inspired, they jump up to a level 2 wizard, but retain their Power Leech, meaning you could very well have access to a level 3 wizard at some point in the game. Their Range 2 attack also gains an additional die, leaving them super accurate with their beatstick too. They also gain the Warpgorge ability, allowing you to draw a power card each time a friendly Changer is taken out of action. This is a nice offset for losing fighters, granting you some more resources to use with those you have remaining. Additional deck cycling is always a welcome bonus, so getting it for free is certainly nothing to complain about! Getting the most mileage out of this fighter (and the warband as a whole) definitely revolves around doing your best to make sure they inspire as early as possible to really unlock your spellcasting and deck cycling potential.

Our next fighter is Spawnmaw, our first Changer. He starts out on 5 Move, 1 Dodge, and 3 Wounds, so he’s got some excellent mobility right off the bat. He has a decent enough attack profile at 1R/3S/2D with the Chomp! keyword, which grants +1 Damage if the target is Large. On top of that, he gets his own 3R/2S/1D spell attack, which is fine, but definitely not the ideal use of his activations. When inspired, he gains 1 defence die, converts his Range 1 from swords to hammers, and gains an additional die on his spell attack. This is quite a bit to gain and definitely makes him a solid early choice for inspiration. Who cares if he can’t take attack action upgrades, he’s got two pretty good ones right there! I don’t think you’ll just default to always picking the same fighter for inspiration in the first round, but the ability to both pressure Large fighters and clean up 2-Wounders with ease means many games this is going to be your best option.

Next up, we have Kindlefinger, a hilarious little amalgamation of arms and an eyeball. He’s a nasty little bugger, who starts out at 3 Move, 2 Dodge, and 2 Wounds. Since he is the only Changer starting on 2 Dodge, this is a great candidate for that initial guard token. His spell attack is not too much to write home about at 3R/2S/1D, but at least it does do +1 Damage if adjacent. His Capering Fiend ability makes him truly frustrating to deal with, reducing damage by 1 (to a minimum of 1), which really multiplies any +Wound boosters you can slap on him. When inspired, he only gains accuracy on his spell attack, changing from swirlies to lightning. Since he gains so little, I don’t think I would actively use an inspiration on him, just wait until the rest of the warband inspires and he can inspire that way as well. That being said, his innate defensive capability should make him a pretty big nuisance for your opponent. I like the idea of treating him in line with the Blue Horror as the fighter you are willing to put a bit more at-risk, especially if you can pair him up with a card like [Ephemeral Fortitude].

Flamespooler is the ping king of the Changers. He starts at 4 Move, 1 Dodge, and 3 Wounds with a 3R/2S/1D spell attack with the Warpsplash ability. After dealing damage with his spell attack, this hands out counters to every fighter within 1 hex of the target (including the target itself) that will deal 1 damage to them at the start of the round before being discarded. While the damage is not instant, it, at minimum, means his spell attack is going to do 2 Damage to the target, even though you’ll need to wait a bit for the second to proc. Additionally, horde warbands are likely to have a lot of trouble spreading out enough to prevent you from spreading even more damage with this guy. When inspired, he gains an additional defence die and his attack swaps from swirlies to lightning for some improved accuracy. Against warbands like Reapers or Exiled Dead who like to cluster up their fighters in the midboard, his ability to spread additional damage makes him an intriguing candidate for early inspiration, especially given the added survivability of that extra defence die. Using him and Ephilim as your main turrets, you should be able to pew-pew for quite a bit of damage, especially after factoring in gambit spells.

Lastly, we have Apo’trax, the Starefysh (say that three times fast). He starts off at a pretty weak physical profile of 3 Move (with the Flying trait), 1 Dodge, and 2 Wounds, a problem exacerbated by the fact that he is the only fighter without a spell attack he can shoot off at range. Instead, he has a 1R/2H/2D profile with the Lamprey keyword, which allows him to deal +1 Damage if he has no Move or Charge tokens. Given that the warband has several ways to drag enemy fighters around into adjacency with friendlies, it is definitely possible you could see this guy swinging for 3 Damage in-game. This is further supported by the fact that he has access to the Hypnotise ability, which allows you to push an enemy fighter up to 2 hexes at the end of the round so that they are adjacent to him. This is a valuable tool to have in your pocket against opposing HO warbands, as being able to drag them off tokens will deny some of their end phase scoring. While I’m not sure I’d inspire him off the rip (he only gains one defence die and goes from 2H to 3S on his attack), his fragility is definitely of concern if you want him up in the action to do his business. One way to use this fighter that I think would be intriguing, given all the mid-board HO in the game right now, would be to protect him with Shyishan Stardial’s blocked hexes, have him eat the stagger at the beginning of the round from the Change sequence, then use your final activation to swing him out from behind the wall to disrupt your opponent’s end phase. Obviously, this is a bit more of a dangerous proposition if you went first in the round, but it could potentially prove majorly disruptive for your opponent. Not to cheat ahead too much, but the warband also has some neat repositioning/resurrection tricks you could use to get Apo’trax in position to be maximally disruptive at the end of the round. I think this Hypnotise ability has been a bit overlooked and mastery over this fighter will actually be pretty key to getting the most out of the warband.

As a unit, I love what they’ve done with this warband. Each fighter fills a different role and each of those roles will be of importance throughout the match. There are a lot of moving parts, but I think that should make them very interesting and engaging to play both with and against.

Warband Rivals Deck

Card Grading Criteria

Power Ceiling – Power output when drawn and/or played at the opportune moment(s) of a game

• 1 = Effect of card is minimal. Most other cards will provide more value in the same game state.
• 2 = Effect of card is average. Will provide decent utility, but it doesn’t do quite as much as the top dogs.
• 3 = Effect of card is significantly above average or even overpowered. Game state is significantly altered by its effect.

Consistency – Frequency with which a card is expected to provide value at or near its power ceiling

• 1 = Power level is highly dependent on game state and draw sequencing. Card will work infrequently and/or has a wide variety of expected outcomes.
• 2 = Power level is somewhat dependent on game state and draw sequencing. Card has a narrower range of expected outcomes, but is not a guarantee.
• 3 = Power level is relatively independent of game state and draw sequencing. Card will almost always work as desired.

Universality – General appeal and ubiquity (does not apply to Warband-specific cards)

• 1 = Card is situational and designed to be played only by very specific playstyles/warband choices (if any).
• 2 = Card could potentially find its way into any deck, but returns more value on a handful of playstyles/warband choices.
• 3 = Card value is relatively independent of playstyle or warband choice.

Plot Card

I hinted at it a bit in the earlier portion of the review, but for the first time since Madmob (where primacy wasn’t even exclusive to them at the time), we have a warband plot card, and this one is a doozy. At the beginning of each round, you follow the “Change” sequence for all of your fighters with the Changer keyword (everyone but the leader), as shown on the card. It also specifically calls out that your fighters with this keyword cannot be given attack action upgrades, although I would say their base profiles are decent enough that they likely don’t need them either. Anyway, the change sequence goes Inspire>Stagger>Guard>Push. In the first round, this obviously gives you a wealth of permutations and options, depending on the matchup and board setup. If you’re facing a warband with Large fighters, maybe you start by inspiring Spawnmaw. Maybe you need the splash damage against a horde and need to inspire Flamespooler instead. Maybe you need the disruption potential, so you start with Apo’trax, or maybe you start with Kindlefinger just to actively use him as a massive thorn in your opponent’s backside. There’s just so much flexibility with the decision-making process, and I don’t expect there will be a case of “always inspire that one, always stagger this one,” etc. In any case, inspiration is definitely the most important part of the sequence, as who you inspire first will have a big impact on how the game plays out, and not even just in terms of the individual bonuses each Changer gets. If you want to be working with a mostly inspired warband at some point in the game, you will want to make sure your inspiration choice makes it until the beginning of the second round. If not, you’re going to have a hard time inspiring your leader (and therefore the rest of your warband) before round 3, if at all. The rest of the sequence plops down some risk and some reward. Staggering is obviously a big danger to the chosen fighter, but at the price of putting another on guard and pushing yet another, it is definitely worth it in the first round. The unfortunate part here is that you are certainly going to lose your fighters along the way, meaning that odds are you don’t see the push and guard bonuses outside of the first round too frequently. Since you’re likely to only take advantage of those once, I suggest you make the most out of them! I love this plot card and I am excited to see it in action.

Objectives

I love the art on An Awful End and the flavor text is just spot-on. This is a kill surge for a friendly Changer’s attack action taking an enemy fighter out of action. My concern here is that a lot of you kills will come through indirect means. You might yoink some fighters into lethals, ping others to death with gambit spells, zap them from range with Ephilim, and even Flamespooler will probably more often kill fighters with his warping counters instead of his actual attack action. While this warband is not “leader or bust” like Eyes were, I’m still not trying to rely on this exact type of kill too often outside of Spawnmaw and maybe Apo’trax.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 1

Arcane Mastery is your classic “do something you were going to do anyway for the second or subsequent time” surge. In this case, that’s casting your second or subsequent spell in the phase, which should be pretty trivial given how many spell attack actions the warband has, on top of all the solid gambit spells you can include at the same time. This is definitely a staple surge for the warband, it’s going in every Pandaemonium deck. It could be rough if your leader dies, but at least you’ve got backup plans with the Changers to potentially bail you out.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Callous Manipulator is a fantastically dependable surge. Shades of [Martyred] and [Everything to Prove] in the card, it’s one of those that you get to score just because you opponent did something. Giving it a hybrid condition makes it even more reliable, especially since you already have a staggered Changer at the beginning of the round. One barge or delve and you get one glory! If there are going to be restricted cards for this warband (and I think we might see one or two at some point), this has to be up there (though buckle up, because there are some doozies here).

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

In-faction [Temporary Victory] too?! We already know that 2 glory for holding 3 is a restriction-worthy objective and it should be quite strong here as well. While you are piloting a fairly small, relatively fragile warband to be trying to score something like this, there’s enough push tech in the game that this still seems worth the risk. It is important to note, however, that you do have to meet the condition after an opponent’s power step, so they at least have some chance to try and deny you. Still, a very strong card that feels worth the risk of drawing it too late.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 2

Glorious Change is a 2-glory hybrid for either two or more Changers each having one or more upgrades or two or more enemy fighters each having two or more wound counters and/or being out of action. This has a real feeling of power creep to me, as we’ve seen plenty of cards like [Cold-blooded Killers] reward only 1 glory for two enemies being out of action. The enemy fighters condition in this case is even easier than that and has a fairly easy hybrid condition for 2 glory. I feel like this really should’ve been a dual, it seems a bit too automatic in rounds 2 or 3 while still being plenty scoreable in the first.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Ineffable Capering is a bit of a weird one in that it requires you to play a couple different modes of the warband. Casting one spell in a round should be relatively simple, but you actually don’t have much in the way of Range 1 fighters. If Spawnmaw misses his attack, Apo’trax is not a great fallback to rely on. Since you can’t take attack action upgrades on the Changers, you can’t even use those as a means to improve the reliability of this. In rounds 2 and 3, who’s to say you even have a fighter left who can make that Range 1 attack? It’s a weird one to rate because it can technically be fairly trivial, but I think it will fail you more often than not.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 1

Might of the Great Changer is a surge for dealing damage to a second or subsequent enemy fighter in a round. This will often be as easy as zapping one fighter in your activation, then using a ping card in the power step (of which you should have plenty). You do run into some danger later in the game if your opponent no longer has two fighters remaining, but damn if this isn’t trivial in the early game. If you can’t meet this condition in Round 1 or 2, you’re probably getting absolutely dumpstered anyway, but in most game states, this should be really easy money.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 2

Nine Fates is one of the more thematic scores in the deck, rewarding you 2 glory if the objectives you hold add up exactly to 9, with an additional glory point awarded if you also hold three objectives. At base, this is basically a Tactical Supremacy 4-5, but the potential to balloon to a 3-glory score is very intriguing. However, having to hit exactly 9 will often be pretty out of your control, especially since wanting to hold 3 objectives can often clash with the exact math here. There is some serious bank to be made here if the stars align, but I don’t think it’s reliable enough to slot in.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 1

Next up is Rampant Spellcasting another 2-glory hybrid end phase for either casting 3 or more spells in the preceding phase or having no cards in your hand with 3 or more gambits in your discard. I think you’ll probably want to take a good number of spells anyway, but the second condition seems the really attractive option here. Unless you have some bad draw/mulligan luck, odds are you’ll have the 3 gambits in the first round, so then it’s just a matter of clearing those upgrades from your hand, which you should be able to manage with the great surge pool this warband has access to. Kind of weird you can actually score this card without casting any spells but this strikes me as a dangerously powerful passive score, I think it’s really good.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Scornful is your classic in-faction [Magical Mark], scoring for 1 glory in the end phase if your leader is holding an objective. With the 4-hex range on their spell, it should be relatively easy to keep Ephilim deep in your territory holding an objective while absolutely bombarding any intruding fighters with spells as they enter. It’s a good thing that we know there are some anti-HO cards in the meta with this release, because you’ll at least be able to do something to counter this if you know the matchup.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Spreading Mutation is a 1-glory version of [Dominant Position]. The latter was already a fairly matchup dependent thing while it was in rotation, as encountering warbands such as Gitz could really screw with your ability to score it. However, the 2-glory payoff made it worth investing the time. This warband wants to be holding objectives anyway, so you’ll probably stumble into this condition pretty frequently just from playing the game, but the lesser payoff here keeps the power level down low enough that I don’t think it’s worth risking the matchups where you’ll struggle to hold more. Perfectly fine in a Nemesis deck where you might not have better options, but I don’t think it’s likely to make my Championship build.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Our final objective card is Violent Change, a kill surge for taking an enemy fighter out of action through a spell attack action or warping counter. Similar to our first, it is fine as a kill surge, but with so many better options (both in-faction and in the universal pool), I don’t think you really need to take any kill surges with this warband, even in Nemesis. This one should remain in the box for the constructed decks.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 1

Our Favorites:

• Mark: Callous Manipulator
• Aman: Arcane Mastery
  
• Zach: Closing the Circle
  

Gambits

Remember when I said the going rate for a spell that deals ping damage was one swirly? Apparently, that’s not the case. Casting on a single lightning, Bolt of Tzeentch allows you to choose a single enemy fighter within 4 hexes, deal 1 damage to and stagger that fighter. I suppose they felt they had to build in failsafes for what happens if your wizard is only level 1, but wow is this way too easy to cast. This should’ve at least been a swirly cast, if not even double lightning due to the increased range and stagger effect. This has to be one of the best pings in the game right now, easy autoinclude.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Extra Teeth is a slightly beefed-up [Determined Effort] limited to only Range 1 and 2. As we discussed earlier, the warband actually doesn’t have that many close-range attack profiles. +1 Dice and cleave is a very good effect, but only 3 of your 5 fighters can actually make use of it. I could see this ending up as an 11^th gambit in a lot of cases. It’s fine for what it does, but I’m not sure it’s really the kind of card the warband needs to build around.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Field of Change suffers again from the same issue as Bolt of Tzeentch, I think it should have cast on a single swirly. Granting the defensive re-roll to your whole warband on what will likely be a level 2+ casting attempt should come with a bit more risk. This is also a fantastic way to mitigate the overall fragility of the warband by increasing their odds to crit defend. Not quite as ridiculous as their first spell, but another really good card, hard to see leaving it at home.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 3

Grand Scheming staggers every fighter (enemy and friendly) with one or more charge tokens. Since you have so much range, the idea here seems to be that your opponent is more likely to have charge tokens than you will, but there’s of course the synergy with Callous Manipulator too. The additional accuracy can definitely open up the pew-pew aspect of the warband, but I think it’s generally a bit too low power output given how many strong gambits we have access to now. Furthermore, the risk that you might need to set up one or more of your fighters for a thrashing with this is probably not a great idea, given the fragility of the warband.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 2

Latching Tendrils is a 2-hex [Distraction] that must result in the enemy fighter landing adjacent to a friendly Changer. The most obvious synergy here is with activating the +1 Damage ability on Apo’trax, but the overall disruption potential of a push like this is fantastic. Speaking of Apo’trax, if you do it right, you could make a charge with him at the end of a round into the midst of an enemy 3-objective triangle, knock a fighter off one token, pull another off with this, and then pull the 3^rd off with his Hypnotise ability. Despite the apparent focus on holding objectives for themselves, the warband has a remarkable number of control tools that can also be used to deny enemy HO. Y’all know I’m always interested in a good disruption card, I like this quite a bit. The adjacency to a Changer was a nice way to balance the card out though to limit the range and provide you with some risk-reward.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 2

Mutative Siphon grants your leader +2 Range on their next spell attack action at the cost of both damaging and staggering a friendly Changer within two hexes. I am struggling to think of a situation where this could ever really be worth it. Maybe if your leader got slapped by a Freezing Venom when you intended to make a charge with them? Even then, this is pretty punishing, I just don’t think it’s worth it for how meager the upside is.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 2

Shared Mutations is some more fantastic artwork and flavor text, this time on a gambit spell that allows you to deal 1 damage to each fighter adjacent to one or more friendly fighters. While a bit tough to cast at 2 lightning, it does have some potential to boom. This could be a nice way to dish out some spread ping by throwing a Changer to the wolves, but you also have some tech that allows you to drag enemy fighters into adjacency with your own. I think this will probably only be 1 ping damage more often than not, so I’m not sure I’m trying to take this in my deck.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 1

Sudden Warp-Portal is a reprint of [Bound by Fate] that Eyes had access to. That one never really made your deck though, partly, I think, because you didn’t really have fighters that fulfilled such varied roles as this one. You couldn’t, for example, poof Apo’trax into range of his disruption tech or benefit from his Lamprey. Similarly, you couldn’t do something like rearrange your configuration of fighters to make sure Ephilim gets that +1 wizard level. That being said, I’m still not entirely sure it will make the cut given how many powerful gambits are competing for your attention right now. This is especially true given that swapping the position of fighters is not necessarily something you’d need to do that often anyway if you’ve been managing your positioning well throughout the round. I think it probably slides into a Nemesis build, but it’s going to have a tough time pushing its way into Championship.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Summoned Abomination is a gambit spell that casts on a lightning that allows you to return a friendly Changer to the battlefield on a starting hex in your territory. Resurrection is always a nice thing to have access to on a horde HO warband, especially one with so many fragile fighters. It also allows you to play a bit more aggressive to with a Changer to pull off a big play, score your Callous Manipulator when they die, then bring them back to continue adding value. I think the casting value is fair enough here and maybe this didn’t even need to be a spell, as is the case with most resurrection tech. Most resurrection cards are leader-restricted anyway, so you’re already running the risk that the card won’t work if your leader dies, but having it cast on a lightning is a fair enough trade-off.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 3

If you thought [Dark Inversion] was good, get a load of The Will of the Architect! This is basically the same card except with the added benefit of being able to swap occupied feature tokens around too. Your opponent might think they’re holding that key objective 5 for Stockpile or whatever, then you just slide them a Fearsome Fortress cover hex instead and take that objective for yourself. Great support for the end phases which care about numbers of tokens, good for disruption of opposing hold, or even for just making sure you have easier access to objective tokens for instances where you need to hold them. One small thing here too is, if you think the game is coming down to tiebreaker, with the rule change you can use this card to make sure you get to have objective 5 and win the tiebreaker. Another fun thing you can do is sit in cover on a token all round, even if staggered, then still pull in an objective without needing to delve. This card is super good and, unlike [Dark Inversion], doesn’t need to be drawn early or used first to provide maximum value. In fact, it is probably better to hold onto it until later in the round in most cases.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Our Favorites:

• Mark: The Will of the Architect
• Aman: Summoned Abomination
  
• Zach: Bolt of Tzeentch
  

Upgrades

Aether Tether is an illusion upgrade restricted to Changers that enforces -1 Dice on all attack actions (no Range limit) which target them for the round. The effect is unquestionably solid, especially given the relative fragility of the warband. Having illusions in the deck can also help with scoring Rampant Spellcasting, since they are easier to cycle out of your hand. However, there are so many good choose and ping cards in the meta right now that I have a hard time relying on defensive illusion upgrades.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 1

Arch-Sorcerer is a leader-restricted upgrade that allows you to re-roll one die in casting rolls. This is massive for this warband. While you are likely to have Ephilim at least sitting on level 2 more often than not, the ability to still make consistent use of your gambit spells even when you are level 1 is a huge deal. Similarly, when you are level 2 or 3, the re-roll can help maintain your casting consistency without exposing you to the same risk of taking backlash. On top of the increased gambit dependability, the overall accuracy upgrade for such a power ranged spell attack action is just fantastic, as re-rolls are about the best upgrade accuracy bonus you could hope to get at Range 3+ anyway. Sure, it’s limited to your leader, but they seem so key to making the warband function that I’m not sure you want to think about what happens if they bite the dust early anyway.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

Aura of Mutability is another leader-restricted upgrade, this time providing your Changers +1 Dice when they make an attack from within 2 hexes of your leader. I think Flamespooler is probably the main beneficiary of this since he will likely be sitting toward your back line with Ephilim. There will definitely be a bit of a dance throughout the game of maneuvering your leader around your Changers to keep that +1 wizard level online, but that weirdly may not always mean your Changers will be making their attacks from within 2 hexes of your leader, especially because two of them attack at Range 1. I think this is probably the more borderline card that needs the most testing to see how it does, I’m just not convinced it’s going to work more often than not.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 2

Boundless Change is the kind of card that reads as pretty absurd initially, but then you recall that most of your Changer attacks are spell actions, not basic attacks. While Spawnmaw and Apo’trax both have the potential to throw out a lot of damage and this can be a nice accuracy bonus for them, I’m not trying to take such a restrictive upgrade on this warband, especially if it doesn’t lean into the more sit back and pew-pew playstyle I think I want to be playing.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 1

Nefarious Defences is a bit like an upgrade version of [Shared Pain]. It allows you to shuttle 1 damage of an attack action from one fighter to a friendly Changer within 2 hexes. It’s not restricted to any particular fighter, which adds a lot of flexibility here. Plus, the fighters you are shuttling the damage to will largely die in 1 hit anyway, so there’s really not that much of a downside. From that perspective, I think the obvious fighter to give this to is Ephilim, but at least you can situationally audible into using it on your other fighters, if needed. It does, of course, increase your reliance on that “within 2 hexes” positioning, but that’s something you need to be paying close attention to anyway.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 2

Skittering Terror is yet another instance of a fantastic art/flavor text combo! It’s pretty simple, granting +2 Move on a Charge to your Changers. This doesn’t strike me as the kind of warband that really needs to focus on moving up the board into enemy territory, so I’m not so sure about this one. Spawnmaw already has Move 5 and you’ve got so much range in the warband, that I just don’t think you need the threat range.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 2

Spiteful Mouths is yet another Changer-restricted card. It offers some disincentive to your opponent for beating down your little guys by punishing them with ping damage for attacking at close range. It’s nice that they made it so you only have to roll a success (or critical success), not actually have to succeed on the Defence roll. I could see using it on Apo’trax to try and deter attacks on him while he does his disruption business. However, if I am packing deterrent tech, I think I want to put most of it on Ephilim so I can keep the spell engine churning.

Power Ceiling: 1, Consistency: 2

The Fires of Change is an attack action upgrade for your leader at 4R/3S/2D, with a reaction to either drop some splash damage or heals on every fighter within 1 hex of the target after the deal damage step. This will apply to both friendly and enemy alike but, if I’m reading it correctly, you get to choose heal or ping for each fighter individually, not as a group. Obviously, if a fighter is undamaged, you will have to select ping, but the potential here is huge. Use it to heal friendly wounded fighters, spread ping to a whole mass of zombies, or even just flat out do 3 Damage to the target you just zapped. It’s also a nice backup if your Changers happen to die and you can no longer rely on your spell attack. It might not be quite the strongest upgrade in the package, but I like the versatility and potential damage spike. Kind of random, but one funny interaction would be to use the heal on the target to leave them vulnerable from an attack that would otherwise kill them, then finish them off with a gambit ping for [Sudden Demise]. Super-niche, but very funny.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Too Many Maws is your standard grievous upgrade, but restricted to Changers. Being range-unlocked is quite nice and can definitely allow you to do some crit fishing to pump out extra damage. I mentioned this in the Stormcoven article as well, but the fact that [Fighter’s Ferocity] is restricted now definitely opens the door for this type of card to provide value. It makes sense they put Spawnmaw on the art, as that seems to be the best fighter to try and use this on due to the fact that, when inspired, he rolls 3 Dice on both attack profiles. Pair this with some of the other +Dice tech in the deck and you can definitely start hitting this spike damage more consistently. Seems like a nice way to boost your damage output without having to burn the restricted slot, especially since, as I mentioned earlier, I expect this warband to get slapped with a few restricted cards of their own at some point. Not a mandatory inclusion, but one of the earlier options you’d turn to if you felt you weren’t quite pumping out as much damage as you’d like with the warband.

Power Ceiling: 2, Consistency: 2

Writhing Tentacles is our last upgrade, but they may have actually saved the best for last in this case. After an activation or power step in which the equipped fighter takes damage, you can either heal them or push them 1 hex. This looks super good to me, especially when you start combining it with some of their other faction cards. I’m just imagining this and Nefarious Defences on Ephilim, reducing damage, then healing another, or reducing the damage and then, if the Changer has it equipped, healing that off. It could be similarly annoying on Kindlefinger as well. On top of just attack actions, it can help minimize the effect of gambit pings as well, which is great in this meta, and even includes gambit pings you’ve dealt to yourself! And that’s just looking at the healing end of the card! Depending on the situation, that push could feel just as valuable for setting up scores, attacks, etc.

Power Ceiling: 3, Consistency: 3

• Mark: Writhing Tentacles
• Aman: Arch-Sorcerer
  
• Zach: Aether-Tether
  

Conclusions

I know I felt like Stormcoven was going to be good, but these guys might honestly be better. I struggle to find a specific weakness in the warband. They are perhaps a bit leader dependent, but they have very good objectives, plus solid power cards in both the gambit and upgrade pools. Their uninspired stats are still competitive when backed up by their innate abilities too. They must have one of the most flexible tool kits of a Rivals deck we’ve seen in a while. They can disrupt, they can play passive, they can pick up kills it kind of seems like they can do it all. That being said, they’re definitely going to require some mastery, it’s not a straightforward warband to just pick up and go full ABC with. However, the players dedicated enough to learn the positioning and play patterns should be able to squeeze a lot out of this warband. I’m personally very excited to pick these guys up and start learning myself!

Thanks again for reading and best of luck on YOUR Path to Glory!

____________________

Thank you to Games Workshop for providing us with the free preview copy. If you’d like to read the new Wyrdhollow rules, the PTG team has uploaded them here.

If you think this warband would make an excellent addition to your collection, be sure to head on down to your local Warhammer Store or FLGS to order yourself a copy of the Wyrdhollow box set. If you prefer to shop online, check them out here this Saturday (later today at time of posting).