The new season of Warhammer Underworlds is available to pre-order tomorrow, and it introduces a range of tweaks and additions to ensure that this is the definitive edition of the ultimate competitive miniatures game.
The Setting
The new season of Warhammer Underworlds still takes place in Ghur beneath Beastgrave, the living mountain. As raw, untamed hunger flowed through the mountain’s core, it purged itself of the solid amber that once filled the region known as Direchasm. Fearsome things that once slept there now stir from their rest – dare you enter and face such terrors to claim the untold treasures that await?
The Warbands
The new Direchasm boxed set introduces two new warbands to Warhammer Underworlds. Myari’s Purifiers are a Lumineth Realm-lords warband who seek to calm the hunger of Beastgrave. On the tabletop, they are an excellent flex-style warband that bring a new mechanic into the game based around aetherquartz tokens.
Opposing them are the Hedonites of Slaanesh known as the Dread Pageant. They plan to goad the mountain itself so that they can imbibe its raw emotions to reach a euphoric state. In-game, they’re an aggressive warband who seek to wound their enemies (and even themselves) to make the most of the sensation of pain.
We took a closer look at Myari’s Purifiers and the Dread Pageant earlier in the week, including details of their Inspire mechanics and a complete listing of all of their warband-specific cards. Don’t forget, these are just the first warbands for the new season, and a plethora of amazing new releases are coming next year – check out the Direchasm roadmap for a peek at what's to come.
New Rules
Of course, the new edition has some sweet new rules for every warband!
The Bigger They Are…
The harder they fall. That’s especially true in Warhammer Underworlds now, as taking out a fighter with a Wounds characteristic of 6 or more nets you two glory points instead of just one. It’s the least you deserve for taking out a fighter as durable as Hrothgorn.
A Little Help From Your Friends
The rules around supporting fighters have also been simplified, making it much easier for your warriors to help out their buddies in a tight spot. The attacker still receives support for each friendly fighter adjacent to the target, while the defender gets support from each friendly fighter next to the attacker. However, you no longer need more supporting fighters than your opponent to count the support symbols on your dice as successes!
New Event Types and Formats
Events have always been a big part of Warhammer Underworlds, and the new season sees some new options introduced. Local Clashes are more casual events, while Grand Clashes are the ultimate test for players, with the winners getting an invite to the Grand Masters event to determine the world’s best player.
Grand Brawls use the Arena Mortis rules, while Grand Battles let you take part in a team of three. Finally, there are Grand Skirmish events that feature a single round instead of the best of three format used in Grand Clashes – this is Warhammer Underworlds as it’s played in dark rooms at the back of bars.
As well as the existing Championship format, which features a rota for cards, and the Relic format, which allows cards from across all seasons of Warhammer Underworlds, there is now an Arena Mortis format, and a new Vanguard format.
Vanguard only allows cards from the current season of Warhammer Underworlds, so as new warbands are released, new cards become available and the challenge intensifies. This format is much more accessible for new players, as they are no longer at a disadvantage if they don’t own warbands and cards from previous seasons, while it also provides a challenge for veteran players.
Every format and event type has now been updated on the Warhammer Underworlds website, which is still your one-stop shop for anything related to the ultimate competitive miniatures game.
The Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm boxed set is available to pre-order from Saturday. In the meantime check out the updated Warhammer Underworlds website and join us on Facebook to let us know what you’re most excited about in the coming season.