Eyes of the Nine and Zarbag's Gitz Preview - Warhammer Underworlds Nightvault Warbands

Published: October 13, 2018 2:00 PM /

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The first warband expansions for Warhammer Underworlds Nightvault have been released. The Eyes of the Nine and Zarbag's Gitz allow players to bring Goblins and the magical forces of Tzeentch to their Warhammer Underworlds games. Both expansions include the miniatures for the warband, their unit cards, cards specific for the warbands and also universal cards that can be used by any warbands. In this article we're going to look at both new warbands and some of our favourite cards from both expansions.

Both expansions require a copy of either Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire or Warhammer Underworlds Nightvault to play, but if you want to play Warhammer Underworlds competitively, then you will also want to look at picking up all the previous Warhammer Underworlds warbands. For full details of how Warhammer Underworlds works, check out the reviews linked above.

Zarbag's Gitz

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The full contents of the Warhammer Underworlds Nightvault Zarbag's Gitz expansion.

Zarbag's Gitz warband includes nine warriors, the largest warband so far. Zarbag  himself is a Night Goblin sorcerer and he's joined by a Squig Hearder, two squigs a huge ball and chain wielding fanatic, three night goblin archers and one armed with a net. With nine fighters, activating them all could be an issue, but with most of the warband having the Scurry reaction, which lets them make a move action after an adjacent fighter makes a move action, means that with the right positioning, a small chain of movement actions could occur. Drizgit has an action that allows him to move his two Squigs with him, and  the two squigs inspire if Drizgit is taken out of action. The rest of the warband inspire as soon as you have three glory points, which gives them all an extra movement point along with boosting a few of the goblin's defence values. With that in mind, some score immediately objectives would find a lot of use in a Zarbag's Gitz deck. Snirk the fanatic can become inspired after an activation, which means that from then on, he can only activate by scattering, dealing damage to other warriors as he travels through hexes. This can be especially deadly if playing on boards with lethal hexes.

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Zarbag's Gitz cards from the warband expansion.

Our favorite Zarbag's Gitz cards from the warband expansion are, Curse of Da Bad Moon, Jealous Hex, Little Waaagh!, Make Some Noise, Endless Whirl, Lurker and Volley Caller.

  • Curse of Da Bad Moon requires two of the same spell icon to cast, but with the right innate to boost the chance of casting you can deal one damage to a warrior within five hexes (as you can deal the damage to an adjacent hex to the spell's target). Five hexes is a pretty decent range to be able to snipe the last wound off a target.
  • Jealous Hex is a safe bet for the Goblins as once cast, the character with the highest wounds characteristic gets -1 wounds. With 3 or 2 wounds across the board, this will rarely be the Gitz and with only 1 icon required to cast, taking that last wound of a tanking character could be the key to victory.
  • Little Waagh! is one of my favourite cards in the warband expansion just for theme. The goblins can be just as vicious as their larger Orruk brethren and adding one dice to the next attack action can put some umfph in your attack.
  • Make Some Noise is a great card for smashing your squigs up the board and getting them into combat faster. Just make sure you catch up with Drizgit to make the most of his movement ability.
  • Endless Whirl allows Snirk to damage all adjacent fighters as an action, once inspired. This could be huge with some good positioning in previous activations.
  • Lurker is a fun card if your enemy is trying to get away from you, or even to push your own fighters along together.
  • Volley Caller is an upgrade that allows you to make to Grot Bow attack actions if this upgrade is on one of them and they are adjacent to each other, doubling up their firepower every activation.
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Zarbag's Gitz Objective cards from the warband expansion.

Our favorite Zarbag's Gitz Objetives are Call that a Win, Flash Finale, Mad Scurry and Obliterated.

  • Call that a Win allows you to grab two glory if you still have five remaining fighters at the end of the game. Keeping them alive could be interesting, but their ability to move together could keep them all out of range and ake objective capturing a solid tactic.
  • Flash Finale is a great score immediately card that is acheived if you take an enemy out with a spell. Could be an easy glory point if you aim for low health enemies with long range spells.
  • Mad Scurry only requires you to move five fighters. Drizgit can move three in one action so these two glory points aren't a stretch.
  • Obliterated just requires Snirk to remove an enemy from play. A score immediately two glory objective for Snirk doing what he does will find a place in most Gitz decks.
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Universal cards from the Zarbag's Gitz warband expansion.

The universal cards from the Zarbag's Gitz warbands expansion that we like the most are, Absoth's Unmaking, Arcane Shield, Mirror Move and Mutating Maul.

  • Absoth's Unmaking allows you to remove an objective from the battlefield. It's a powerful card against objective decks, which is very meta dependent, but can be incredible with the right timing.
  • Arcane Shield is a two symbol persisting spell that stops the first point of damage from all sources on the caster, which is huge when you consider the activation currency of the game. It forces your opponent to go for this character with high damage dealing warriors rather than chipping away with low damage dealing methods.
  • Mirror Move is a great way to follow an enemy fighter trying to get away from you, great for late game pushes for board control.
  • Mutating Maul is a solid two dice/two damage upgrade that lets you chose Cleave or Pushback for a fighter.
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Universal objective cards from the Zarbag's Gitz warband expansion.

Our favourite universal Objective Cards are Arcane Torrent, Catching Up, Master of Terrain and Sorcerous Scouring.

  • Arcane Torrent is a an easy score immediately glory point if you're using a warband with a magic user and your crit rolling ability is high.
  • Catching Up is a cheap way to gain a glory against high glory warbands. It might not be enough to win you the game, but it's a cheap easy score.
  • Master of Terrain is here because we like the inclusion of the Lethal Hexes in objectives that appeared in the boards that you can purchase separately for Warhammer Underworlds.
  • Sorcerous Scouring is a solid score immediately objective for magic using warbands for taking a warrior out with a spell. This will be a in a lot of decks for the new warbands.

Eyes of the Nine

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The full contents of the Eyes of the Nine warband expansion.

The Eyes of the Nine warband expansion brings the sorcerous ways of the great changer, Tzeentch to the Underworlds. There are six miniatures included, but only 4 are put on the board during set up. The Blue Horror is summoned by Vortemis as an action and the Brimestone Horrors replace the Blue Horror if they're removed. Vortemis can summon the Blue Horror as an action, only if there are no friendly Horrors on the battlefield, and they keep upgrades even after changing or being taken out of action, so putting upgrades on them is a very safe move. Vortemis himself only needs to cast his Bolt of Change to inspire, which gives him an extra defence dice and adds one damage to his Bolt of Change. Turosh and Narvia's inspire condition is the same, casting their Sorcerous Bolt inspires them and K'Charik, who is the muscle of the warband inspires if a spell is successfully cast by an adjacent fighter (friendly or not). The Eyes look like a very interesting warband with a few options. Seeing how they fit in the meta will be interesting, especially as the first Nightvault warbands haven't been out long.

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The Eyes of the Nine cards from the warband expansion.

Our favorite Eyes of the Nine cards from their warband expansion are, Blessings of Tzeentch, Deceitful Step, Ravenous Flame, Empowered Sorcery, Piercing Bolt and Sorcerous Adept.

  • Blessings of Tzeentch gives an innate ability boost for the next spell cast. Which in a spell heavy deck could be incredible.
  • Deceitful Step gives you a 50% chance to go to a starting hex and a 50% chance for any objective token. Either way, it's a free and possibly gaming changing move in terms of positioning or Objective Card winning.
  • Ravenous Flame is a great chain damage spell that could be used to great effect against the larger warbands, especially against the Grots who benefit form being adjacent to each other for movement.
  • Empowered Sorcery is an upgrade that boosts Vortemis' spell attacks by one, which in a spell heavy deck could be a solid advantage. Even just on the Bolt of Change it takes it straight up to three damage.
  • Piercing Bolt is a three range spell upgrade that only does one damage, with the Channel symbol so it's more likely than Vortemis' Bolt of Change, and it has Cleave. It might not see a lot of play over other cards, but against high defence decks is could be useful.
  • Sorcerous Adept gives Vortemis' an innate spell symbol that makes his spell casting ability even more likely.
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The Eyes of the Nine objective cards from the warband expansion.

The Eyes of the Nine Objective cards we've chosen to preview are Agents of Change, Chosen by Destiny, Master of Magic and Summoner.

  • Agents of Change requires you to successfully cast four spells in one phase. Very likely late game with some upgrades on Vortemis but will require spell casting on every turn and failing one will fluff the objective.
  • Chosen by Destiny is an incredibly thematic card. You can score it if one of either Turosh or Narvia is out of action and the other is still on the battlefield. So very Tzeentch.
  • Maser of Magic is a one glory score immediately objective for successfully casting two spells in one phase phase, which ties in very well if you are working towards the Agents of Change objective.
  • Summoner is another one glory score immediately objective that is scored after summoning a Blue Horror for the second time. This does require the Blue Horror to be taken out once, as well as the Brimstone Horror, but it means that you can use them very aggressively knowing you will score the objective later.
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The universal cards from the Eyes of the Nine warband.

The universal cards from the Eyes of the Nine warband expansions we've selected as our favorites are, Arcane Smothering, Confusing Reflection, Countercharge, Power Surge, Arcane Familiar.

  • Arcane Smothering is a spell that can be used to remove a persisting spell. Only useful in a warband with a magic user and will become more valuable as more and more spells appear in the set.
  • Confusing Reflection allows you to control the scatter of a spell. Will become more and more prevalent as magic increases in the meta.
  • Countercharge is an incredible card that effectively allows you to position a fighter adjacent to an enemy fighter that charged if they are within 3 hexes. In the aggressive warbands this provides an incredible boost for fighter positioning.
  • Power Surge is another great counter magic gambit card that allows you to add one crit to a wizards spell roll, damaging them if they already rolled a crit.
  • Arcane Familiar is an upgrade that allows you to change one of the dice to the channel symbol, possibly saving your wizard from rolling two crits and taking damage. A must for any magic warband.
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The universal objective cards from the Eyes of the Nine warband.

The universal objective cards we've chosen from the Eyes of the Nine Warband expansion are Fired Up, Sorcerous Retort, Great Gains and On a Roll.

  • Fired Up is a straight-forward way of scoring one glory, simply by having an inspired fighter.
  • Sorcerous Retort is a one glory score immediately  objective is you successfully cast a spell as a reaction. As more and more spell cards appear in the set, this will become an auto-include for wizard warbands.
  • Great Gains and On a Roll are both incredible for high glory objective decks that allow them to surge ahead with their glory score and can be used together for great effect.
 

Are you excited for the new warbands? Have you got them already? What are your favorite cards from the set? Have you built decks for the Eyes or Gitz already? Let us know in the comments below.

These copies of the Eyes of the Nine and Zarbag's Gitz warband expansions were provided by Goblin Gaming.

You can buy your copies of the warbands and all other Warhammer Underworlds accessories and sets from them at 20% off RRP.

Goblin Gaming

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A Potts TechRaptor
| Senior Tabletop Writer

Adam is a Tabletop Specialist for TechRaptor. He started writing for TechRaptor in 2017 and took over as Tabletop Editor in 2019 and has since stood down… More about Adam