The battle still rages in the catacombs below Embergard, and yet another new warband is joining the Warhammer Underworlds roster (alongside a new Rivals deck).
These are Daughters of Khaine – or so they appear. In truth, the Knives of the Crone are followers of Morai-Heg, the Aelven goddess of prophecy, dispatched on secret business by their inscrutable patron.
Long thought dead, Morai-Heg has been appearing in visions to her prophetess Krethusa the Croneseer. The Knives of the Crone are the first dedicated miniatures we’ve seen for aelves inducted into her cult – presumably there’s a groundswell of clandestine religious fervour among the Khainites…
They are led by the seer Kaerna Vix, who reads the viscera of slain foes to glean her deity’s desires. A cadre of killers ensure Vix’s visions come to pass: Tazari is Kaerna’s strong right hand, while Krieta eagerly butchers those who draw her master’s gaze. Finally, the arbalist Azphel stands ready to put a crossbow bolt through distant foes.
This is a Mastery warband that wants to fight, using unique rules that reward successful attacks – making them that little bit tricksier than a straight-up Strike warband.
They work around their Rituals of Prophecy roll, which you make at the start of each turn, and again each time you successfully attack. Roll four dice and consult the table – if your symbols match you might fulfill one or even two prophecies, allowing you to cycle your deck, or boost your attacks or saves.
Prophecy Table
2x Swords
Foretold Slaughter: The next time you pick a melee weapon as part of an Attack this battle round, that weapon has Critical Grievous for that Attack.
2x Hammer
Foretold Wisdom: Look at the top card of your Objective deck. Put that card on the top or bottom of that deck.
2x Flanked/2x Surrounded/ 1x Flanked, 1x Surrounded
Foretold Protection: The next time you make a Save roll this battle round, you can immediately re-roll 1 Save dice in that Save roll.
As you can imagine from aelves, the Knives of the Crone are great at attacking but fragile in defence, so you must choose your attacks wisely. Overstretch in search of revelation, and you might not see your end coming…
Realmstone Raiders
A Mastery warband requires a suitable Rivals Deck to go with it, which is where Realmstone Raiders comes in. It focuses on deck manipulation via the power of Emberstone, the realmstone of Aqshy. As your warband fights, it earns the opportunity to Raid – that is to say, reveal the top card of your deck. If you find one of the Emberstone cards in the deck, you can choose whether to keep it at the top of the deck or send it to the bottom.
Rivals Deck
Realmstone Raiders
While using this Rivals deck, immediately after the first successful friendly melee Attack in an Action step, you can raid a number of times equal to the Bounty characteristic of the target.
Raid: Reveal the top card of your Power deck. That card is raided. If that card is an Emberstone card, you can put that card back on top or on the bottom of your Power deck.
Emberstone cards have the following additional rules:
Emberstone Ploy: You can play this Ploy immediately after it is raided.
Emberstone Upgrade: You can equip this Upgrade immediately after it is raided if you have the required Glory points.
If a raided card is not an Emberstone card, put that card on the bottom of your Power deck.
Most Emberstone cards have an additional ability which can be played when they’re Raided – granting a totally new way to interact with your deck. It’s a powerful mechanic: you can cycle your deck or fire off unexpected instant Ploys and Upgrades, rewarding aggressive play. After all, you have to Attack before you can Raid!
Emberstone Stash
Objective - 1 Glory
Score this in an end phase if you raided 4 or more different Emberstone cards this battle round.
‘All mine, all mine! Err, I mean all ours, Warlock. All ours, yes-yes!’ – Nitch
A Step Ahead
Emberstone Ploy
Pick a friendly fighter in neutral or enemy territory. Push that fighter 1 hex. That push must end closer to an enemy fighter.
‘While foolish mortals dither, the blood-blessed are already on the hunt.’ – Ennias Curseborn
Armour Piercer
Emberstone Upgrade (2)
Breached (Surge): Immediately after a drawn Attack made by this fighter, if the Damage characteristic of the attacker’s weapon is greater than the target’s Save characteristic, inflict 1 damage on the target. Then discard this card.
Of course, the Knives of the Crone can be paired with any Rivals deck, while Realmstone Raiders can mix it up with every warband. The potential for combos is growing – and you’ll be able to hit those combos soon, when these two items go on pre-order.
