Hi everyone, Aman here! Due to some unforeseen circumstances in my personal life, I asked fellow community member, and friend, Bartosz Kratochwil (Gorah) to give me a helping hand! Gorah was kind enough to review the cards that come with Myari’s Purifiers on my behalf. However, I won’t let him have ALL the fun! I’ll be covering the inspire and the fighter cards. Furthermore whenever I have a comment to add, I will add them in bold below Gorah’s individual card analysis.
It will look like this: Aman: Insert terrible pun here.
For more information on the contents of the Direchasm box and the season in general, check out our other articles here:
- Product Review: Direchasm Box Set
- Direchasm Season Update: Rules, Mechanics, and Formats
- Universal Card Review: Direchasm Universals
- Warband Review: The Dread Pageant
I would like to give a big thank you to Games Workshop for sending me this review copy. So without further ado, let’s get into the warband review – shine bright like a diamond!
_______________________
Myari’s Purifiers, the new aelven hotness on the block, enter the Underworlds with the release of Direchasm. This troupe of Lumineth Realm lords is seeking to calm the volatile mountain that is Beastgrave… and maybe eliminate some foul chaos worshippers along the way. They are a four fighter warband with a unique mechanic that interacts with aetherquartz tokens. At the start of the game every member of the Purifiers will receive this token and it can be spent during the game to re-roll one die in any attack, defense or casting roll.
Inspire Mechanic:
Speaking of rolling dice, in order to inspire one of the Purifiers, you have to make an attack, defense, or casting roll that includes only successes. That’s right, these guys are too proud to miss. The important thing to note is that the attack or defense doesn’t have to succeed – it’s just the dice results that matter! All of the members of this warband’s non-magical attacks hit on Smash and are rolling 1-2 dice. Theoretically, this doesn’t seem like a tall order but it’s actually quite deceptive. When most natural attacks in this game hit on roughly a 50/50, this inspire can seem quite daunting. This is where the aetherquartz token can come in clutch but I do think they are better spent on some of the gambits below…most of the time.
Gorah mentioned he has a love-hate relationship with Steady Aim, a surge objective from Thundrik’s Profiteers that score by rolling only success during an attack, citing he would have trouble scoring it even after multiple attack rolls. I feel like this inspiration is going to feel the same way. There are going to be games where you inspire your warband fairly quickly and then they are going to be some games where you don’t inspire a fighter at all.
[Jonathan: Math time! Rolling 2 dice is a 25%, 1 dice is a 50%. If you only roll one out of two successes, using the aetherquartz is a 50/50 to succeed. Of course, supports help this math, but +Dice actually hurt it!]
With the changes to how support affects rolls this season, it may behoove you to position your fighters close to one another. After all, the more supports a fighter has, the more likely they are to roll a success.
_______________________
The Fighters:
Myari Lightcaller:
Myari Lightcaller is the leader of the warband and also a level 2 wizard. Like most of his kind, he’s quick on his feet with a movement of 4 and two dodge. He’s also rocking two attacks as well. His staff has a range of 2 and deals 2 damage on a single smash. You can also go for some good ‘ole magic and try to cast Searing Beams – a range 3, 2 focus, 1 damage attack. Lightcaller is very reminiscent of some caster/leaders from Nightvault in that he’s got the range 2 staff and a magic attack. A strong comparison can be made to Ylthari whom he also shares a weakness with – 3 wounds. While it is more worthwhile to go for the magic attack, you’ve got a 50/50 on the staff attack to get your boss aelf inspired. Question is, is it worth it?
Kind of. When inspired, Myari’s staff gains an additional die and his ranged attack bumps up to 2 damage. It’s nothing crazy but respectable enough to where you’ll be pleased when it does go off. As someone who enjoys magic in this game quite a bit, there is a possibility you could make Myari the lynchpin of your magical desires. The challenge is that 3 wounds. If you can protect him, and get him inspired (perhaps via gambit spells instead of attacks), I think Myari can be a force to be reckoned with. Also, he’s got an awesome bird. Super tempted to call him Hedwig.
Bahannar:
Bahannar is taking the name Warhammer a bit too literally and as such he’s sporting a giant hammer. Visually, he looks like the brawns of the operation and his card doesn’t disappoint in that regard. His attack hits on 2 smash and deals a respectable 2 damage. The caveat is that he is the slowest of his group with a movement characteristic of 3. I suppose it makes sense though, given how large that hammer is. Plus, he’s also heavily armored and this is represented by a very nice defense profile of 2 blocks off the bat. He also comes with a special rule which says he cannot be driven back when he does not have a move or charge token. It’s a nice way to get around lethals during deployment and hopefully apply constant pressure to your opponent’s warband. I just wish it worked when he at least moved.
If you manage to inspire him, which you should more often than not since he’s your frontline brawler, then you’ll be happy to see his damage bump up to 3. Overall he’s a solid fighter but for someone who is supposed to be your tank, he does seem a bit flimsy. When you do decide to commit Bahannar to the frey he’s going to do some great things but don’t expect him to last too long. 2 block is fantastic but one bad roll and he bites the dust. The range 2 hammer does help with that, though.
Ailenn, The Mind’s Edge:
I think Aileen is my favorite miniature of the bunch, aside from Hedwig of course. Not only does she look like she’ll kick your butt, she also exudes the old Swordmaster of Hoeth vibe from the World that Was. Like her likely inspirational source, this aelf is a nimble blade mistress who hits on 2 smashes and deals a solid 2 damage. The movement of 4 is nice while the single block is a nice touch. 3 wounds makes sense and keeps her in theme with her compatriots, too.
The coolest part about her is that she’s got this special rule where she can re-roll any number of defense dice when attacked with a range 3+ attack. Not only is that super thematic and cool to visualize, it’s also a nice way to keep her alive when it comes up as she races towards her foes.
When she inspires, her attack becomes a lot more accurate as it goes to 3 dice and gains cleave. The damage doesn’t improve at all but she’s a reliable hitter and is a threat your opponent cannot ignore for long. Once she starts piling on upgrades, she’s going to give your opponent’s mind on edge. Get it? The two block is also a huge boost, especially if she manages to get on guard as well. She’s got the same problem as the rest of her kin though – one bad defensive roll and it’s bye-bye Charlie.
Senaela: 
Now that’s a big bow. Senaela is the resident archer of the group and when she’s not pin-cushioning her opponents with arrows, she also plays the harp. The archer has two different types of shots she can take – aimed and lofted. The is a range 3 attack that hits on 2 smashes (gotta love that aelven accuracy) with cleave. If you roll a critical success, it does a second point of damage. The latter increases the range of the attack to 4 but it still takes 2 smash to hit and deals a single point of damage. Personally, I like the options but I’ll probably go with aimed shot more often than not when un-inspired.
Senaela’s got a moment of 4, 1 dodge, and 3 wounds – a pretty typical aelf stat line. When she inspires, she jumps up to 2 dodge and adds a scope to her bow as her lofted attack action has a massive 5 range. That’s a threat range of 9…that’s insane. This allows the marksman to ping enemy fighter, and perhaps even finish them off, from relative safety. And, if you really need that extra point of damage, there’s a decent chance she can do 2 damage from a distance. Very cool.
_______________________
Faction Objectives:
From here on out, Gorah will be the one leading the way. If I have something additional to add, I’ll mention it in bold with my name next to it. Let’s dig into their faction cards.
Note: As per my previous articles, we’ll be using the following rating system.
A score of “A” means that the card is very powerful and should almost always be included in your deck builds. “B” means that the card is strong and will usually be included, but not always. A score of “C” means that card can be good in certain situations but will usually require extra support. Lastly, a score of “D” means the card is on the weaker side of things. It doesn’t mean that it is inherently bad but perhaps can be considered hard to use or counter intuitive to your game plan.
Diamond-Bright Souls: Inspiring all of the fighters while keeping at least three of them alive is no small task. Especially when 3 out of 4 fighters have to engage into combat to achieve this. 2 glory is nice, but this is not an easy objective unless dice gods smile upon you.
Rating: D
Elemental Blessing: There are at least 2 good candidates to remove an aetherquartz counter among elemental ploys. The alternative option to cast 2 spells is also fairly feasible (and might be even easier depending on what spells will be released in this season). Very nice surge.
Rating: A
Force of the Avalanche: This is an improved version of Precise use of Force. Solid card.
Rating: B
Haughty Exemplars: Purifiers are a fairly fragile warband. This however has potential to work in more defensive setups or if drawn against an elite team before the bloodshed has begun.
Rating: C
Patience of the Mountains: This can potentially be scored fairly easily later in the game when you’ve lost some of your fighters. But even then it usually will require some support. [Aman: Unfortunately, it’s just hard to score objectives that rely on x number of fighters needing to have guard tokens.]
Rating: D
Perfect Formation: Oh boy, here we go again with Temporary Victory. A good card, but not the best warband for it. [Aman: To be fair, I think you want to be quite aggressive with this warband and this might slow them down. Plus 3 objectives is hard with 4 fighters and so many pushes from BG.]
Rating: B
Perfectionists: Another very easy objective to score card. The only factor determining when you’ll score is the pace at which you’ll want to spend your counters. This means that quite possibly you’ll not score it in round 1 unless you’ll go all out with your counter consumption. Still you have a great deal of control over scoring it and it’s down to your decision making, which makes it a very interesting design. [Aman: I find this card to be quite fascinating. Blowing the counters early can help score this for sure but it could also negate the use of some cards in your deck.]
Rating: A
Purifying Light: This is a fairly easy objective that can works well with cards like like Bold Conquest or Hidden Purpose. [Aman: It is nice see a bit of emphasis on leader specific scoring. I am concerned that people will want to target him first anyways because he’s the leader and wizard. If he goes down early, not only are you down a fighter, you also lose out on this objective. 3 wounds make its dicey.]
Rating: B
Pursuit of Excellence: An excellent card. Very easy to score and depending on your chosen game plan, the candidates are fairly decent enough as upgrade caddies. Rippa’s with Loaded with Plunder has already proven how solid this objective is.
Rating: A
Seal the Beastgrave: Faction version of Supremacy. Might require too many resources to score this. It’s also a bit of a wasted slot – it’s hard to find a warband that will reliably pack in both versions of supremacy so it’s unlikely it will ever see the play.
Rating: D
Unsullied Hands: Having Myari and Senaela in your warband makes this surge worth considering. It’s very likely you’ll kill someone from the distance.
Rating: B
Vaunted Speed: With a bit of help this can be fairly easy to score. Can become a dead card when facing faster warbands like Rippa’s though. [Aman: Which is quite likely given their recent dominance.]
Rating: C
_______________________
Faction Gambits:
Channel the Mountain: Elemental ploy that is a Guard token dispenser. Can be useful, but it’s not often you’ll be in a position where you will want it and be able to spend aetherquartz to dish out multiple Guard tokens.
Rating: C
Channel the River: A great Elemental ploy. It’s a Sidestep that can be boosted up to 3 hexes by trading in an Aetherquartz. Great at repositioning your fighters, however the cost is a bit steep.
Rating: B
Channel the Wind: Another Elemental ploy. Deal 1 damage to a fighter within 2 hexes of your fighter. If you spend your aetherquartz you can ping at two fighters instead. A very solid ping damage option, although limited in range. This gives the Purifiers much needed extra damage.
Rating: A
Channel the Zenith: First of the Elemental ploys. Inspire your fighter for a round. Or permanently if you spend your aetherquartz counter. Inspiration effects are among the most powerful in the game and this is a great card with a decent cost to it. [Aman: I think spending the counter to inspire is 100% worth it’s value. I’d do it every time.]
Rating: A
Dazzling Light: -1 attack dice for your opponent can change the outcome. It can be easily played around though. [Aman: Also, it is only for the next activation. Not enough value to make the 20 cards in your power deck.]
Rating: C
Flicker of Light: Spend aetherquartz to have 50% chance to keep your fighter alive? While I don’t like cards that can fail resolving its effect I will take it. [Aman: It’s a poor man’s version of Last Chance. As much as I hated playing against that card, cheating death on 50/50 chance seems pretty decent.] [Jonathan: Not dying is worth an Aetherquartz every time, and not dying is this warband’s biggest problem!]
Rating: B
Lambent Light: Mark an enemy fighter and allowing all attacks against it in this round to re-roll one dice? That’s a pretty decent effect. Unlikely to cast it without innates at this point though.
Rating: C
Surety of Purpose: +1 damage to the first attack made during charge. Can help push in that extra bit of damage needed. But since it’s a ploy and requires you to perform a charge it’s not that good in general.
Rating: C
Tectonic Force: This can essentially work as another Distraction as it has unlimited range (with some limitations as to where you can push) or a Sidestep for Bahannar. Very interesting card that can disrupt your opponent.
Rating: B
Untouchable Pride: Another Guard token dispenser that is worse than Channel the Mountain as it requires aetherquartz counter to be present. Otherwise it heals 1 wound. That’s not a whole lot and you have limited control on which effect you’re receiving.
Rating: D
_______________________
Faction Upgrades:
Balanced Soul: Re-roll on magic dice for any spell casts? It’s great value for your leader if you want to actively use him for attacking and casting gambit spells. [Aman: Seems like a nice way to help with the inspire, too!]
Rating: B
Heartstone Amulet: This is just wow. Damage reduction upgrade that you can apply to any fighter in your warband? That’s amazing. [Jonathan: It’s good, but I think their low health means you want to combo it with +Wounds to really see it’s value compared to a warband like Krushas.]
Rating: A
Heightened Reflexes: Permanent +1 move is nice. Being able to burn counters and discard this upgrade for an extra attack action is a very interesting option. Out-of-turn attacks are very powerful effects, though this one is a bit limited.
Rating: B
Heightened Senses: A great passive re-roll card by itself, with a questionable way to spend an Aetherquartz counter. When to spend the counter is probably the tricky part of this card, but because you get to react after all dice are rolled and re-rolled, you can save it for when you really think you need to add cleave/ensnare to your result.
Rating: A
Magical Boost: Backlash protection is a very nice thing. And is the better the more dice your wizard is able to use. This can also be used to turn aetherquartz counter into an extra magic dice. This is nice – can help cast a spell or score some surges.
Rating: C
Mountain Stance: This helps Bahannar be a tank. Cleave doesn’t work against him and he gets extra damage if attacking without having move or charge tokens. This might be good if cleave will be widely used in the meta. Otherwise it’s pretty poor unless you have him in the thick of things.
Rating: C
Mountain’s Gift: This is amazing, IF you have an Aetherquartz. Then it’s okay. It’s a variation on Survival Instincts. Very good card seeing how powerful guard tokens are. Provides significant boost to your leader’s survivability, but you have to decide if you think holding onto the Aetherquartz is worth it.
Rating: B
Scryowl Familiar: This card is cool, but bad.
Rating: D
Speed of Hysh: This is an interesting upgrade gaining more power as long as your fighter has aetherquartz on it. +1 move is nice, +2 move is great.
Rating: C
Vanari Dagger: 40% chance to deal 3 damage on 3 Smashes is not bad at all. However, Senaela is a fighter that you’ll want to keep out of situations where you’d make use of that upgrade.
Rating: D
_______________________
Final thoughts:
Gorah: Myari’s Purifiers are an interesting warband. Their fighters are very similar to Ylthari’s Guardians. They do have a bit less damage potential on their fighter cards, but they do bring in a very interesting tech in their power deck. They’ll most likely be flex warband that will be looking at controlling the battlefield while scoring glory from surgical attacks. They feel like a mix of hold objectives and magic. Uninspired and without upgrades their damage is on a low end, but they have solid attack and defence stats other than their wounds. They’ve got only a single hunter who is an archer so they don’t pose a huge threat to more beefy fighters right away. They can get very accurate though and with a few upgrades they can become devastating. They have a very nice mix of ranged and melee units, and Senaela can help control the battlefield with those long range shots.
Their power cards are also very interesting and have a fresh approach to providing benefits at the cost of aetherquartz. There is however a downside to them – the amount of aetherquartz spenders are vast but their faction cards offer no ways of replenishing those counters. This means that the amount of the things you can do with their faction cards is severely limited. You’ve got 4 counters in total: one per fighter. And some of the best ploys and upgrades require you to have or spend that counter. It will be a major decision point on how many of those aetherquartz fuelled cards will you take in your deck. And it will be a major factor to see when and how you will spend your precious counters. Careful positioning and ability to optimally spend your counters will be essential to achieve success with this warband.
Overall I find them very interesting and it will be a fun challenge to play them. They do have a lot of potential, but can also fall quickly to some dedicated aggro strategies. Personally, I think this is great, if not. easy to play, choice for the control play style.
_______________________
Thanks Gorah for helping me out with this one! If you all have any feedback, comments, etc. – please let us know. I’ll be back on point for the warband review articles moving forward.
If you would like to pre-order, head on down to your local Warhammer Store or gaming store. If you prefer to shop online, check this out here. I hope you enjoy your experimenting with these cards over the coming weeks. Look out for more content coming out in regards to them over the next couple days.
Cheers,
Aman
