Intro
Welcome back to another Path to Glory warband review! In this article I will be covering the first (and so far only) Lumineth warband to make it into Warhammer Underworlds, Myari’s Purifiers. Previously release in the Direchasm Expansion, they make an strong comeback in the “Heroes and Hunters” box, returning to competitive legality (and hopefully as this weekend will demonstrate, viability!)
Warscroll
Inspire
As may be familiar to some of us, the inspiration condition for Myari’s Purifiers is a thematic requirement for achieving ‘perfection.’ Making a roll which only contains successes can be generally difficult or unreliable, but as we will see when we cover the fighter cards there are a number of ways to ‘game’ this for yourself. In a vacuum of course, this condition is nice because your opponent has to consider the fact that by attacking you they may only succeed in making you stronger.
Aetherquartz Reserve
Another familiar mechanic for veterans of the game, each of Myari’s fighters begins the game with a single precious aetherquartz token. These counters confer a specific benefit to each of your 4 fighters, but may also be spent for a last-ditch effort or in a single burst of power.
Heightened Senses
Each of your fighters may, once per game, sacrifice the benefits of your aetherquartz counter to re-roll any or all dice in a single one of their attack or defence rolls. In general I think you will use this ability to save your fighters from near-certain death, although when an attack is make or break you may also want to spend your aetherquartz. Careful use of this precious resource will be a key differentiator among Myari players. The four fighter-specific benefits conferred by aetherquartz tokens are best discussed in the context of that fighter’s stats and fighter card, so we will move on.
Fighters
Leading the warband is the eponymous Myari. While his uninspired stats are unexciting on first glance (only 1 hammer attack dice? Only a single dodge for his save?), a deeper look reveals great potential. The benefit of having a single attack die for his range 2 melee attack means he can take a 50% chance to inspire, which goes up to 62.5% if the enemy is flanked or even 75% if you gain a re-roll. Notably, even uninspired his range 2 melee attack deals 2 damage, which is impressive in this edition. Lastly, the warscroll ability Blinding Corona bumps him up to a respectable 2 save dice while he hangs onto his token. Once inspired, his attack becomes a much more reasonable 2 dice, and his ranged attack jumps up to 4 swords, a hefty boost from the initial 2 hammers. With a bounty characteristic of 2 you do want to be careful with him but decent range and a solid save characteristic while he has aetherquartz (as well as the back-up of the re-roll from Heightened Senses and 4 health) means he’s not the easiest target.
Next up is Bahannar – while Myari might be the guiding light of the warband, Bahannar is the true star of the show. Rocking 4 health as well and a save characteristic of 1 block, he also has a respectable melee attack of range 1, 2 hammers, 2 damage, and a 1 damage version with a range of 2. The warscroll ability Enduring as Rock gives Bahannar something truly unique among fighters in this edition so far – he is completely unpushable by any enemy effect so long as he keeps his aetherquartz. While it may be harder to inspire him, you have a 50% chance of doing so on every attack targeting him (that doesn’t have cleave, anyway) as well as a 25% on every attack he makes. Once Inspired, he becomes a true force, gaining Grievous on both his range 1 and range 2 attacks, as well as an additional save dice. While he is by no means invincible, his immovability will frequently prove a boon for securing strong surge or end phase objectives that require you to hold treasure tokens or be in a certain position. Like Myari, Bahannar has a bounty of 2, so it is costly to lose him, but he is relatively tanky once inpsired and his unpushability and help protect him from enemy ploys that would increase accuracy or let them attack him without charging.
The third fighter of the warband is Senaela, a potent archer who stands out among the warband both for her superior range – 4 while uninspired – as well as her inferior defences, with only 3 health and a save characteristic of a single dodge. She only deals 1 damage with her ranged attack, hitting on 2 hammers, but has an extremely subpar melee attack that is unlikely to see much, if any, use. Her warscroll ability is Impeccable Aim, granting both Brutal and Ensnare to all her ranged weapons while she still has aetherquartz. She is the hardest of the warband to inspire, with only a 25% chance to inspire while attacking with her ranged weapon and a 33% chance to inspire when attacked by enemies without Ensnare. However, once inspired, her ranged weapon gains both an attack die and an additional range, making her currently the longest-ranged fighter in the game! Her fragility is balanced by the fact that she is the least valuable target to enemies, both as the only fighter in the warband without access to a base of 2 damage and the only fighter in the warband worth just a single glory point.
Last but not least we have Ailenn, continuing the trend of 4 health, with the same uninspired defences as Bahannar and an identical range 1 melee attack, but no range 2. Her warscroll ability is Masterful Stroke, treating enemies she attacks with a melee weapon as Flanked so long as she has her aetherquartz. Besides simply being a great increase of accuracy, this also improves her odds to inspire by attacking (or score a surge for the same requirement) to 44%. And, much like Bahannar, she will inspire 50% of the time when attacked by enemies without Cleave. Once inspired, she gains an additional attack die and Cleave, substantially improving her accuracy even further.
Conclusion
While this warband may look deceptively simple, or even bland, as their warscroll only offers a single ‘active’ ability that you choose to use, they have access to some very solid stats, and the baseline quality of your fighters is very high. A full re-roll once per game per fighter is also quite valuable, and picking the right moment to use it will be very important. Lastly, amongst all the warscroll abilities, Bahannar’s unique resistance to enemy pushes is incredibly valuable for a number of deck archetypes, and I feel that he is certainly the main fighter and ability to build around in this warband. I feel that despite the innate simplicity of the design here there is room for a surprising amount of depth, and as more decks come out we will see more and more creative uses for this warband.
