As the Warhammer Underworlds World Championship for 2024 begins this week, playing in the new Embergard V2 rules, I decided to make a tier list of the current tournament legal warbands. That way, when I am completely and utterly wrong after Worlds, I can have a good laugh at how the warbands actually performed. I like these exercises because it allows me to set my own baseline and then analyze what I either under or over valued in a warband.
I’m looking at the various warbands through the lens of warscroll abilities, fighter stats, general playstyle and current card pool (core box decks for now). There’s obviously a comparison to be made to other warbands and how they perform in similar roles. Lastly, I have not played many of the warbands so take everything I’m saying with the “way too early” grain of salt.
The Tier Ratings
- S Tier: Super strong warband, near overpowered, potentially dominant in meta.
- A Tier: Strong warband, powerful abilities, good in meta.
- B Tier: Balanced warband, decent abilities, average in meta.
- C Tier: Slightly underpowered warband and abilities, a challenge to perform in meta.
- F Tier: Weak warband, lackluster abilities, will be a large challenge to do well in meta.
The Warband Ratings
The Emberwatch: For a core set warband, I think there’s a lot to love about The Emberwatch. The first experience we’ve got with boosted Stormcast stats, but you’d love a bit more damage on the fighters. Ranged attacks on all fighters is a nice thing to have. These guys shine on the warscroll though; bonus range, teleport and an instant-kill. This is a strong set of tools. Rating: B
Zikkit’s Tunnelpack: New Skaven look like a ton of fun. I think there’s some fun abilities here; a 3 damage kill-wheel, an exploding 0-bounty fighter and some decent stats. Where they fall down hard is in abilities that are lackluster and hard to use. I don’t doubt that a good player can pilot them well, but it’ll be an uphill challenge. Rating: C
The Sepulchral Guard: The guard continue to have some of the same struggles. Inspiration depends on the opponent killing your fighters. Weaker abilities that either take actions or are once per game. The move is always nice, and it’s great that you can raise two at once now. But Prince of Dust, Champion and Harvester are all on two wounds now. It makes them an easier target for inspiration, but they don’t gain much from that. Compared to the other hordes, I think they’re not nearly the same power. Rating: C
The Thricefold Discord: I’d say that these Slaaneshi are a really cool little toolbox. You’ve got varied fighter stats with varied range alongside strong speed for an elite warband. The Evasive fighters are on 4 wounds instead of 5, to balance the damage reduction potential from the ability. You’ve got automatic damage from one fighter after each attack, success or no. And then some little tricks. A dual push, a swap of inspiration and then the ability to discard an opponent’s upgrade. Watch out for them in a skilled player’s hands. Rating: A
The Farstriders: Oh wow, this set of cards is disappointing. Fighter stats are definitely underwhelming. They’ve got the 5 wounds and 3 move of Stormcast, which is to be expected. It’s nice to start on 3 damage with each of them, but the attacks are generally low accuracy. Having all three of them stay on 1 shield inspired or not is a real defensive weakness. Speaking of inspiration, it’s really hard. You’ve got to attack with both weapon profiles in one round. The abilities to push, guard and get a bonus move are all fine, but don’t make up for the profiles. The best part of the warband is Vanguard, with the ability to potentially deal a damage to a fighter within range 3. Rating: F
Brethren of the Bolt: The Brethren haven’t had many changes to their fighter cards or stats, and the fact that they had a plot card in V1, those abilities just ported right over onto their warscroll. Even the stagger from the weapon profiles has become part of Fulminating Hymn. Speaking of the Hymn, the ability to take a damage instead of a charge token can be a super powerful ability to utilize. I think that you’ve got access to a good amount of damage, but slower fighters that are relying on being close to each other. You have to be spot on your positioning, so I see them needing a lot of skill to make things work. Rating: C
Ironsoul’s Condemnors: I had really hoped that Ironsoul would feel a bit different with an update. Seems not. Inspire stays the same with crit-fishing. Being immune to drive back is a nice to have but because it’s only without a move/charge token is quite limiting. Warscroll abilities are really underwhelming, Brodus gets some extra dice, bonus range and remove grievous once per game. Without ranged attacks, easily the weakest of the three Stormcast available. Rating: F
Thorns of the Briar Queen: Thorns have always been strong partially due to Varclav’s push. The change to once per round is a limiter but still allows a ton of mobility. I think the stats have changed in an interesting way. The whole warband starts and stays on two dodge, with all the chainrasps going up to 2 damage on inspire. Some of their best abilities are on the warscroll, being able to swing again, boost accuracy or prevent a charge. They’ll be a strong Take & Hold warband as they were in V1. Rating: A
Zarbag’s Gitz: If Thricefold are a small, well organized toolbox, Gitz are a giant sack filled with tools, weapons and food. With nine fighters, and the inspire condition based on your glory versus the number of surviving fighters, you’ll be in the line of fire. Scurry allows quick motion of your fighters, especially early. You’ll have to ensure you think about adjacencies to trigger it appropriately. They also can output a ton of damage; four fighters start on 2 damage and one with 3. Remember that Snirk damages your fighters and you should place him last upon deployment. Rating: A
Daggok’s Stab Lads: These Kruleboyz are a warband that I don’t see doing anything specifically well. They’ll be more into the Strike or Flex playstyles. What they do well is the consistent ping damage. Krule Stab gives you the 50/50 for a damage anytime an enemy is adjacent to your fighter without a charge token. But that really means that you don’t want to charge, which will make inspiration be a bit counter-intuitive in round one. You’ll have to be stuck in with the enemy after intitial charges to make it work well. Nasty Poison will give a potential battlefield-wide ping for potential killing blows. But Schemin’ Gitz feels like a waste of cards. One ploy for +1 move, would that make it in the deck? Yes, there’s a nice way to ensure that you’ve got some extra range, but what card are you sacrificing? Rating: C
Cyreni’s Razors: I think there’s a lot of interesting things that the Razors can do. You get to have the fighters you need inspired each round (minimum one, maximum three). They don’t get tougher, but you get accuracy and speed. Your leader can ping and stagger at range, which is a great way to whittle down fighters or do that final point of damage. If your opponent misses the thralls, they get a crackback with Cleave and Ensnare the next turn. Don’t forget about the strength of Soul Harvest, with the ability to uninspire an enemy fighter or give you some extra draw. With all four fighters on two damage to start, you’ve got the making of a solid Strike band. Rating: B
Zondara’s Gravebreakers: With this warband, it pairs perfectly with the Pillage and Plunder deck. I think that makes a strong playstyle for you immediately through the fact that you want to be delving. You’ve got a two pronged attack between Zondara and Ferlain, with the minions being about what you’d expect. I think the abilities are interesting with the ability to draw extra cards, or fighter bonuses. Be sure to use Undying Love early if you’re stronger fighters are in trouble. I think in the right hands this warband can be strong. Rating: B
The Skinnerkin: The Haunch is back! Generating the haunch tokens will depend on how you’re prioritizing your attacks. There are a lot of different ways to attack and gain the tokens; succeed with a chef, or use crit fillet. Successful attacks are key with them though. Calloused Hands is the key ability; spend those haunches to automatically Stand Fast and reduce incoming damage. Fighter stats are middling so the key will be to utilize your staying power. Rating: B
Mollog’s Mob: I’ve been critical of Mollog in the past, so it’s nice to see a refreshed rule set. Inspiration happens once Mollog has taken 4 or more damage (which is likely 2-3 enemy attacks). That brings all the squigs up to 2 damage and the troll to his mighty 4 damage (but at range 1 now). The squigs are all at 3 health and weaker defenses than the past, and can actually hold treasure tokens. I think that the Tag Along ability makes it so that you bring the squigs with you (including Stalagsquig!) for a nice flank. The ability to rotate through the Unnatural Hazards to give a variety of bonuses, mostly accuracy but a nice ping damage potential, makes Mollog a positional puzzle like it’s never been. The 4 bounty on Mollog is fitting but would likely require getting up in that troll’s face. Strong as always. Rating: A
Spiteclaw’s Swarm: Note: I am going to review this warband under the understanding that the minions do have the minion runemark because of course they should. Three wound minions are a really nice thing to be raising up, especially with the whole warband on move 5 as we’ve come to understand from these Skaven. Untimely Promotion is a really fun way to make sure the warband still functions when Skritch is down. I think that they can have a strong impact, but they need more damage and weapons to take down enemies, especially given you’ve only got a couple of stronger fighters. There’s no movement effeciencies like other Take & Hold warbands. And I’m skeptical that the minions will be able to be as potent with them losing upgrades and inspiration on Raise. I don’t see them being a powerhouse. Rating: C
Summary
Here’s the chart of the first fifteen warbands based off my ratings. I always like when my initial thoughts match the structure of the chart. I don’t think anything is superpowered, broken or really a no-brainer right now. I think all the warbands (save a couple of lowly Stormcast) are in a good state of balance, with there being obviously stronger warbands, abilities and fighters. I think any of these warbands can be strong with the right pilot, it’ll just take some very good understanding of the nuances of the team and warscroll. But of course, this is a very large thought exercise with little data to back it. I’ll be interested to see what the Worlds event breakdown looks like from both which warbands were taken and how they performed. I’ll do a post-mortem with a comparison to the list after the event.
What did I get wildly wrong? Which warband is too high, too low, or just right? Which one of these is going to win Worlds? 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 when it comes to warband choice!
