We recently revealed the new Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep boxed set and dipped our toe into the new setting. The new season isn’t just about dank, dark dungeons and stunning new models though – it has dramatic, thematic new rules, which even newcomers will be able to pick up in a matter of minutes.
Gloom
The Realm of Shadow will affect how games are played. For instance, the mists and murk of Harrowdeep are reflected by new gloom tokens. If one of your fighters stands on one of these tokens, they are enveloped by the darkness and can count double support rolls as a success on their defence dice. That means that they’re more likely to shrug off any incoming attacks and survive to be able to wreak some terrible revenge on whoever was foolish enough to attack them.
Since all of the feature tokens now begin the game as gloom hex tokens,* there will be lots of potential cover as you sneak your way across the board.
Grand Alliance Cards
Alongside the universal and warband-specific cards that you know and love, Harrowdeep introduces new objectives, ploys, spells, and upgrades that are specific to each of the four Grand Alliances. Only warbands which belong to a particular Grand Alliance can use these cards in their decks. For example, Da Kunnin’ Krew can include Grand Alliance: Destruction cards, along with their warband-specific cards or universal ones. This gives you even more flexibility when creating your decks and makes it easier than ever before to build the glory-filled deck of your dreams.
New Keywords
Harrowdeep introduces a number of new keywords – some just make gameplay clearer, while others add new tactical options. Fighters with a single wound remaining are now vulnerable, and there are new power cards that can help you if your fighter is on their last legs. The Grievous keyword has been added to weapons that do extra damage on a critical hit, while weapons with the Stagger keyword give your target a Stagger token. Not only does this remove the enemy fighter’s Guard tokens but, if you attack that fighter again, you can re-roll one of your attack dice – perfect for whittling down a hardy warrior such as Kainan.
Illusion Upgrades
As any Warhammer Underworlds player knows, upgrades are often the margin between victory and defeat. However, in Harrowdeep not everything is as it seems. The new Illusion upgrades might not cost any glory when you apply them, but if your fighter takes any damage they lose the upgrade. How will you balance that risk/reward?
Rivals Format
Harrowdeep introduces a new format called Rivals, which makes Warhammer Underworlds easier to get into than ever before thanks to its pre-made decks. There’s lots more to tell you about this incredible new way to play, and you’ll be able to learn it all in upcoming Warhammer Community articles.
All of these changes are set to make the new season of Warhammer Underworlds the best one yet. Make sure that you sign up to our newsletter to ensure that you keep up to date with the latest from Harrowdeep.
* You can now flip feature tokens in your power step so you can convert a gloom token into an objective token or vice versa.