Today, I wanted to go through a list of some of my favourite warscroll abilities from Warhammer Underworlds 2nd Edition. I think there are some fun, thematic, powerful and crazy things that the warbands can do and I wanted to talk about the ones I’m the most excited about. This isn’t a ranking list or a showcase of the most powerful things; it’s just a number of abilities I love. Let’s get to it!
Chaos
Let’s start with a fun one from Ephilim’s Pandemonium. Shared Mutations can do a lot of damage into an enemy warband. With four minions on the board, you can be adjacent to a number of enemy fighters. I love the ability to spread a bunch of damage over the field all at once. It’s a great way to turn a missed attack into at least some damage on a fighter. My favourite combo for this ability is using Countdown to Cataclysm. Wreckers is potentially an auto-scored 2 glory as the opponent can’t dodge this damage. Running into a mid-board horde and using this alongside Sunder the Realm has the potential to take out multiple enemy fighters all at once! The fact that this was a spell that used to take two channel results to cast (44% chance to succeed on two dice) to free once per game is amazingly cool.
This ability from the generic warscroll of Chaos: Slayers shows me an example of a really well thought out ability. Personally, I love the ability to have a charged fighter make a surprise extra charge. I think that in my ideal world, this is exactly how I would change Gorechosen’s Enrage for a balance perspective. It’s a core action, so it takes one of your twelve actions (and isn’t a thirteenth charge in the power step). There’s a damage cost to it, which I think is amazing for Dromm as it would generate Blood Tithe for them. I like all this as a risk/reward. Get that extra charge, even on a fighter that may be doomed next turn anyway, and cause some self-damage. Love it when you have Healing Potion in hand.
Evasive is a fun one to me from the Thricefold Discord. In the vein of chaos warbands reducing damage like the Wurmspat, this is a nice way to mess with the math of the enemy fighter. For a two damage, average attack to be reduced to a single, ping damage is a bit of a feel bad. Would you make the charge if it was a one damage profile? Most time, you’re looking to hit that two or more threshold to make the action worth it. It’s a really clever way to boost a couple of fighters’ defences without altering health value or save dice.
Death
Here’s another generic warscroll ability, this time from Death: Necromancy. I think it’s really cool to explode one of your fighters at the enemy. Yes, this is similar to Kaboom! from Zikkit’s Tunnelpack, but doesn’t require a roll and isn’t a core action. I talked above around the power of a multi-fighter ping. The power in this one is that death warbands (and this specific warscroll) are able to raise a fighter! Make a charge with a vulnerable fighter and then blow them up. If they’ve already been raised, then you’ll give no bounty away. Or bring them right back and have another threat to your opponent. I honestly wish that Sepulchral Guard had this ability instead of Bone Shrapnel. Plus it’s like I’m playing Diablo II…
“They found each other, to the ruin of their foes.” Awwwwwww. This one is dripping with flavour, showing us the love between Zondara and Ferlain. Yes, it’s a one time ability instead of an each round upgrade but it’s a really powerful lever to pull. You’ve got a three hex push (like a less limited Commanding Stride) at the same time as a heal. It’s a powerful reposition, a good way to gain flanking bonuses, an alter of the opponent’s math. Love it so much and I’m glad it’s still around.
Destruction
Hee hee! I love this one. It’s a super fun ability from the Mollog’s Mob warscroll that gives a ton of life and personality to the squigs. I mean, most of the time, it’ll be an accuracy boost, either through surrounded or stagger tokens. I love that Nasty Critters gives each squig a much stronger save roll against range one charges. Watch Out, They Bite! is also an ability to punish those range one charges. It’s a fun part of this warscroll that makes you consider the board position, using your pushes to take advantage of whichever ability you’ve picked for the round.
For Da Kunnin’ Krew, this ability brings such a weird mini-game to the table. You get a weird little shell game going, where your opponent effectively makes a 50/50 call, with some information from your board on how many ploys and upgrades they see. With three cards down, they choose one that you’ve selected. If the opponent gets it right, you draw a power card. If they’re wrong, you get to set the results of one dice roll! This is such a weird ability with such a strong payoff.
To be able to just decide fate is absolutely insane. And it’s either player’s roll. Guarantee yourself a Branching Fate or Perfect Strike? Deny your opponent their Determined Effort/Twist the Knife attack? In practice, you’re likely to use this when you need to hit an attack. I’d like to go with the attack roll if you’ve got more dice than the opponent, so no matter what they roll, you prevent Stand Fast or a draw. If you’ve got less or equal dice to your opponent, it’s likely better to ensure they get no successes in defence. It’s a better ability early in the round, when you’ve got a fistful of cards. Lose the roll-off, get your extra card and ensure that the opponent can’t get the kill on that first activation!
Order
Starting off the last grand alliance, we’ve got one more generic ability, from Order: Crusaders. Zealous Resolve is a really powerful tool to tap into. We’ve got the first part of this in Hold the Line!, alongside multiple other effects that prevent drive back. That isn’t what’s special about this. Friendly fighters cannot be pushed. This is such a lock to ensure your end phase objectives can score, if you are trying to hold treasures or keep specific positioning. Where this ability truly shines is when you’ve gone first in the round, and on your last activation you get into your end of round positioning and then pop this. Your opponent can’t use Lure of Battle in the rest of that power step as well as in the next power step. Due to the timing, you prevent all pushes for the rest of your turn and the full enemy turn. Remember, it’s all pushes, so use your Sidestep first!
Cyreni’s Razors have an ability that I’ve really enjoyed in the games I’ve had with the warband. I love giving my opponent a bad choice. Either let me draw some cards and replenish my hand, or lose a focused advantage. Usually you’ll be waiting to use this until the second round (at least), due to actually having inspired enemies and to take better advantage of the card draw. It’s nice to get a shot in the arm halfway through the game with new options in hand or denying a fighter some damage, accuracy or defense. Lessons I have learned include not using this on passive inspiration conditions, as it doesn’t prevent that fighter being inspired again. If there’s more than 8 blood tithe, it’s dead against Gorechosen. If Zondara and Ferlain are both alive, it’s useless. And it’s actually unplayable into Gitz.
The Emberwatch have a really powerful reposition baked into their warscroll and it’s a really intelligent design. They get a teleport on any fighter, with no restriction, and they can move to any edge hex. Being able to be anywhere on the battlefield gives tons of strategic flexibility. Given that it synergizes perfectly with their inspire condition of taking a core action in enemy territory, it’s so ideal for them. I also appreciate that it’s not overly powerful, as you have to let your opponent take a turn before you can activate that fighter. It’s a show of amazing design in my mind.
Our last one for today is from the Jaws of Itzl. This is an ability that can go a bit nuclear, with the right conditions and a lot of luck. I like these hail mary options that can cement a game either way. Imagine being flanked by a couple of enemies and having one or two health left. The ability to potentially (very, very unlikely though) take out both fighters with this ability is massive. The easy combo is with Scream of Anger, giving yourself a couple of damage, removing the charge token, using Savage Mauling and then making your final charge as you’re likely to die after that. If you play it in your opponent’s turn, you also inspire a fighter. Dinos smash!
The End Phase
My biggest surprise in doing this article was to find out how much I enjoyed the generic warscroll abilities. There were even a couple more I considered. As much as they aren’t tournament legal, and I largely ignored the generic based on tournament legality, I think they show some really great design space that I hope Games Workshop continues to explore in the new warbands in the future.
What are your favourites? How do you like to use the abilities above? Are you a mad fiend like me just looking to blow up your own fighters? Let me know your thoughts. I’m on the Discords as Matt ~ Set The Tempo, or reach out to me at [email protected]. And make sure to set your own tempo, by using your abilities at the right time!
