Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw Review - Cannibals and Cultists Everywhere

The ever-raging conflicts of Warhammer Underworlds are continuing across this world. This time the fight between the Skinnerkin and the Brethren of the Bolt extend to the deepest reaches of the Deathgorge to a location known as the Wintermaw.

What is the Warhammer Underworld's Wintermaw?

As the Gnarlwood hid the Wyrdhollow underneath it's roots so does the Deathgorge hold a secret. As portions of the Deathgorge, a location within Bjarl already rife with dangers, crack open Warbands seek to plunder the Rimewyrm hatcheries.

"With each passing season, jaws of ice yawn open in the Deathgorge's deepest recesses and a new generation of Rimewyrm eggs begins to crack. These chasms are now known as the Wintermaw: A warning of the bitter cold's voracity."

These areas are meant to be filled with treasure, either trapped within walls of ice or still hung around the necks of fallen prey.

The two warbands include in the Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw set are The Skinnerkin, a group of zealot cannibals looking for fresh meat for their tables, and the Brethren of the Bolt, a sect of the Cults Unberogen who worship Sigmar.

What's in the Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw Box?

Contained within this box is everything you need to get started playing Warhammer Underworlds with a friend. You'll find:

• 2x Miniatures Sprues - One for the Skinnerkin and another for the Brethren of the Bolt
• 1x Miniature assembly instructions
• 2x Reversible Game Boards
• 2x Token Boards to punch out
• A Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw Rulebook
• 11x Themed dice for gameplay
• 4x Decks of cards - One for each Warband, and two that can be used universally with any warband.

There have been some good improvements to the packaging for Rivals Decks that I first noticed with the release of the Rivals of the Mirrored City. Instead of being separately packaged decks with paper bands around them they now come in their own flip open box.

This is great not only for the protection of the cards inside but also so that there's less moving around in the box along with your assembled miniatures. That being said there was some strange wear and damage on the corners of my deck box, but the cards themselves showed no sign of damage.

There was also some damage on one of the models, opening the box the tips of the wings of The Carnskyr were broken off and other parts of the wing weren't still attached to the sprue. It seems like the supports not maintaining then led to further damage in transit.

The Skinnerkin Warband and Rivals Deck Analysys

The Skinnerkin are a Warband of five. Led by Gristla Tenderhooke this group of cannibals includes Young Master Kretch, Flensemaster Pewdrig, Seddrik The Chain, and The Carnskyr.

In terms of abilities the main focus of the fighters in this Warband are to activate abilities that allow for the collection of Haunch Counters, after obtaining three all of your Warband will become inspired. 

For Gristla a Haunch Counter could be obtained by a successful ranged attack, Pewdrig might have a harder time gathering one as it requires the falling of an enemy fighter within an adjacent tile.

Strangely Seddrik The Chain is the only member of this Warband with no way to obtain a Haunch Token. Instead, his ability lets him give an additional dice to a Range 1 Attack that he's supporting. Luckily this means any of his allies can benefit from this ability, paired with Gristla and Kretch also helps to facilitate a more consistent Haunch.

Haunch tokens are also a key part of the Gambits that you'll get to play. Aspiring Artisan gains additional abilities based on Haunch Tokens, Quick Bite lets you discard Haunches for cannibal health, and The King Hungers! Gives you a better chance to hit if you don't have any Haunches.

It's a fun deck to read through as you understand the ways that meat is a driving factor for this Warband. Much like the love story of Zondara and Ferlain as part of Zondara's Gravebreakers this is another fun Warband that doubles down on their own narrative.

In terms of play this Warband is all about running over the battlefield, obtaining meat, and powering themselves up. As you build up this resource and spend it you'll have to think carefully about the correct time to use these different abilities.

Brethren of the Bolt Warband and Rivals Deck Analysis

The Brethren of the Bolt is another Warband that perfectly meshes story and mechanics to create a unique experience. Each of the five members of the Brethren of the Bolt begins the game in an Inspired state. This is to be interpreted as these divine fighters being filled with the power of their God.

Each of these Fighters will uninspire at the end of a turn where that fighter made an attack action, before you get upset about how easy it is to lose these fighters will regain inspiration by supporting a fighter who is attacking while they're also adjacent to the target.

Like chain lightning these fighters power themselves and others up as they storm through the battleground. Each of these fighters has no other ability, making for a simple to understand Warband as long as you remember to keep them grouped up.

Armed with a relic that once belonged to a Stormcast Eternal and held aloft by his adopted son, Filius, to bring him closer to Azyr, Pater leads the Brethren of the Bolt with shocking zeal.
- Pater Filius's Fighter Card lore entry

The majority of the Gambit cards that come into play all have to do with attacking others, being attacked, or have some verbiage about being Inspired or becoming Inspired. This does lead to a number of interesting situations where cards may or may not be valid.

Ultimate Resistor lets you take one less damage but it will only activate when your fighter is Inspired. The effect of the Artefact Azyr Upgrade is powerful, allowing for a heal of a friendly fighter but it is only activated in the Inspire step following the Upgraded fighters activation, where one or more other friendly fighters were Inspired, and that point of healing can only go to one of the newly Inspired fighters.

Interestingly while there are a few Objectives related to being Inspired a lot of them have a focus on holding objectives, or performing multiple actions in a row.

Rimewyrm's Bite Rivals Deck Analysis

The Rimewyrm's Bite Rivals Deck empowers Warbands with weapons granted to them by learning to adapt to the quakes of the Rimewyrms moving through the Wintermaw.

While a Rivals Deck is normally a new spin on an existing Warband with a focus on traps, Objectives, and Domain abilities when using the Rimewyrm's Bite you're playing as the arena as much as you are playing as one of the Warbands.

There are five different Domain's that once active alter the field permanently, one Gambit even allows you to regain one of these Domains from your discard pile to have it come up again. Playing as the terrain also isn't going to guarantee that your own Warband is safe from damage.

"Here It Comes!" is a Domain where both players will roll off against one another. The winner picks a territory and each fighter in that Territory will take one damage until the end of next round or if a new Domain comes into play. For an early Gambit this could do irreparable damage to your opponent's Warband.

Battles with the Rimewyrm's Bite will be a bloodbath with many of the Objectives expecting it. A lot of these rely on there being more of your Warband surviving, outnumbering your foes in territories, or if fighters are Out of Action.

In terms of high-risk Rivals Decks, this is certainly up there.

Hungering Parasite Rivals Deck Analysis

The Rimewyrm's and bitter cold aren't the only thing to be cautious of. Strange amber globules thought to be a portion of the body of Drakatoa The Living Avalanch have been found among the ice.

The Amber has been found to seek out anyone it can get to and absorb their essence till they're left with nothing. While it might be terrifying to come across, it can also be directed at others as a powerful weapon it of itself.

The Plot of Hungering Parasite is that at the start of the game a fighter is given the Bane of Heroes Upgrade, this could be one of your fighters or an opponents. This card means that fighters will be Staggered while within 1 hex of this fighter, the fighter can't be inspired, and at the end of the Action phase the player picks another fighter within 1 hex of the Bane of Heroes and deals one damage to them.

The Bane of Heroes will break and go to the discard pile if the fighter equipped with it is taken out of action, but it will be attached to a different fighter during the Inspire step if it is.

As you'd expect the Objectives are filled with a focus on the Bane of Heroes. Whether it's on a friendly fighter in enemy territory, if the Bane of Heroes has attacked, or even if your opponent leader is Upgraded with it.

The same can be said for the Gambit cards as each has a different ability that can either only interact with the Bane of Heroes or is altered by who is wearing the Bane of Heroes. With a number of cards that also specifically Break the Bane of Heroes it also allows for the upgrade to be cycled around the battlefield quickly.

Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw Review | Final Thoughts

As we descend into a more terrifying and harsher environment than the Deathgorge already was it's great to see that level of intensity and ferocity continue. The Skinnerkin and Brethren of the Bolt are two incredibly interesting Warbands to add to any collection.

I really loved the way that the Skinnerkin use Haunches as a new currency, building it up and spending it constantly shifting the tides of battle. Similarly, the arcing lightning charging up the Brethren of the Bolt keeps the dynamic constantly shifting as fighters are becoming more and less powerful.

The copy of Warhammer Underworlds Wintermaw used to produce this review was provided by the Publisher. All photos were taken by the reviewer over the course of the review.