In true Warhammer Underworlds fashion, that which is dead does not remain so for long… Rivals of the Mirrored City is available to pre-order on Saturday, and features four warbands returning from the very first edition of the game, set in the Mirrored City – Shadespire. Each warband has had tweaks and changes, resulting in four new Rivals decks that work brilliantly in the current edition of the game. John from the Warhammer Studio is here to give us a whistle-stop tour of how each warband plays and what cards to look out for.
Mollog’s Mob
John: The star of Shadespire returns in fine style. Mollog’s Mob has been a firm fan favourite for many a year, and the makeover – like the titular Troggoth – is a big one.
The main focus of the deck is Mollog and the pronounced impact he has on the mortality rate of your opponent's fighters. But the new version of this deck provides plenty of tricks to go up his warty sleeves. Mollog used to have the same problem every other big fighter did in Warhammer Underworlds: somewhere, somehow, there was always a fighter with a big hammer ready to turn him into jam with one big, fully upgraded, and very lucky hit.
No longer! Now Mollog’s opponent will need to do more than just stack damage upgrades on a character to deal with him. Mollog can no longer be driven back, thanks to the Steadfast rule, and he is too Mighty to be splatted with a single blow. making him an absolute pain to remove – extremely scary! Additionally, each of his Squiggy entourage have their own ways of helping Mollog out.
A Bat Squig constantly flapping around annoys nearby fighters so much they can't be on Guard – and this applies to both friends and foes, so be careful where you put the flappy chappy. The Spiteshroom carries its own set of lethal hexes, augmenting Mollog's already prodigious damage. The Stalagsquig remains its usual immovable self, providing support to adjacent fighters, and threatening enemies with Cleave when Inspired. Their deck is equally full of unique tricks – too many to go into here, but here’s a selection of our favourites.
Zarbag’s Gitz
The Gitz are back, and they’re scurryin' all over the shop. One of the foundations of objective control is having more fighters, and this numerous horde are here to poke, shank, and generally harass their way to victory. They have fairly weedy stats overall, but a few tweaks help them go toe to toe with other warbands. Redkap, Stikkit, and Dibbz have had major glow-ups – formerly the most expendable of your fighters, these cheeky archers can now use Volley which allows all three to shoot for one action! It isn't much of a shot, but throw enough grots at a wall and some of them will surely stikk...
Snirk is now a bit faster when he isn’t Inspired, and now comes with a very meaty attack action – miss with it, and he Inspires, granting access to the Wreck ability, which he can use to bulldoze through enemy warbands
Finally, Zarbag is as close as you can get to a reliable fighter wearing a cowl. As a wizard, there are a few choice spells to choose from, as you'll see below. This warband has even more tricks than ever, and with a strong leaning on objective play, it will be up to your opponent to deal with your endless shenanigans if they can get past the Squiggy wall of teeth, volleys of poorly-aimed arrows, and that deadly spinning ball and chain. While many firm favourites like Jealous Hex have stayed in, we’ve picked out some of the most fun new options from the deck:
Thorns of the Briar Queen
The Queen of Shadespire and her band of gheistly minions return to terrify their way to the top of the spectral ladder. If you enjoy positional play, landing fighters in the perfect spot for maximum damage, and elements of both aggro and control, then this warband will be perfectly suited to your tastes.
The Wave of Terror mechanic is the Briar Queen's new weapon, allowing charging ghiests to provide more aid to their fellow malignants than ever before. The Briar Queen herself has seen little change – after all, can you perfect perfection itself? In addition to a three-dice attack, she provides terrifyingly effective range, solid defensive stats, and powerful magic. Her majordomo, Varclav, will use Solemn March to sneak your troupe of spectral ne'er-do-wells along in short order. Park your nasties on objectives, next to enemy fighters and use this ability to push your fighters to victory.
The Chainrasps are a villain's gallery of unimpressive wretches, though the Ever-hanged has damage output on par with some leaders, and the nifty Throttle reaction to Stagger victims. Given that the warband's Rivals deck comes with many movement tricks, you'll be easily able to get this key fighter wherever you need to. Here are a few cards that demonstrate their ethereal movement:
Spiteclaw’s Swarm
Spiteclaw's Swarm are one of the most popular and long-lived warbands and a staple of the game. A straight stab-'em-and-flee warband, this warband is all about the aggro. Skritch remains the most powerful fighter, but the rest of the Skaven can now share the burden, so you can afford to be a lot more aggressive with Skritch early on.
Krrk the Almost-trusted lives up to his name – he can benefit from Skritch's death with the card draw provided by Krrk Rules Now! He also sports a brand-new range 2 attack action.
The verminous minions are largely just as awful as ever – you just can't find good help these days as a Skaven leader. Luckily, they can still return from death as before – at the cost of a precious activation – and now provide additional support to Skritch and Krrk via Schemer, which grants
Grievous 1. As you'll see from the cards below, you'll find that these are not the only options open to players of the swarm...
Thanks so much for the introduction John! There are plenty more new tactics and ploys to be explored in the Rivals of the Mirrored City as you take them to battle against the many other bloodthirsty warbands descending into the Deathgorge.