Warmachine Gravediggers Command Starter and Battlegroup Box Review

Warmachine, a tabletop wargame that initially came to life to focus on balanced and competitive gameplay, has been around since 2003 under Privateer Press, until last year when Steamforged Games announced that they had bought the IP. Warmachine had recently moved into a new edition of the rules, and SFG has continued to run with that, kicking off a roadmap of new and exciting releases. These releases started with a brand new 2-player starter set, which we reviewed here. In this article, we'll have a detailed look at a brand new force for Cygnar, the Gravediggers, with their first releases, the Gravediggers Command Starter and Battlegroup Box.

From The Skies!

The Gravediggers are a new army under the Cygnar faction for Warmachine, and can trace their history back to the early days of Warmachine in 2003. The Gravediggers come from a group known as the Trenchers, who were a theme army in the original Warmachine and grew and developed through the various editions of the game. Now, under Steamforged Games, the Gravediggers bring the Trenchers back with a unique twist: they can airdrop weapons, supplies, and even Warjacks into the battlefield, letting them react to the changing landscape and keep your opponents on their toes.

There's a roadmap of releases planned for them, but they begin with the Gravediggers Command Starter, which features a perfect 30-point army to jump straight into games with them, and follows those starter forces from the 2-Player Starter Set and Shadows and Scum and provides players with one of each unit type. Releasing alongside the Command Starter is the Gravediggers Battlegroup Box, which features a Warcaster and 2 Warjacks to expand your Command Starter, or start playing at lower model count games. Both of these sets feature crates and items that make use of their Airdrop rules, and we'll go into details of both sets and their rules below.

Watch Out For Buck

The Gravediggers Command Starter Set is a great introduction to how the Gravediggers like to play, which is sneaky and devastating. This box is led by Captain Buck Hasker, who has Prowl, which gives him stealth if he has concealment, protecting him from attacks more than 5 inches away. He also passes this on to his Warjack, which means that every unit in this box has Prowl. Buck likes to leap from concealment and chain attacks with Killing Spree, which lets him make an additional attack if he removes an enemy model in melee. His close combat weapon, Fang, which stops the use of Tough, makes doing that a lot easier. His feat allows him to place 3 mine tokens within his control range, which deal damage and knock down any enemies coming within 3 inches of them. This is great for protecting him while he gets some wet work done, effectively locking him into an area with his target.

Buck's Warjack, Plugger, is an absolute beast of a heavy Warjack. Operating like Buck, moving to engage its target, and if destroyed, making a full advance back into hiding. Plugger comes with Stealth (not Prowl), which means he doesn't have to be in concealment to gain the benefits of Stealth. Plugger comes armed with dual trench rippers and a metal storm cannon to get the job done.

Buck and Plugger are backed up by Sergeant Brunaugh "Bruno" Ramjaw and the Rowdies, who all have Prowl and Advanced Deployment, to get them closer to the action and harder to target. Ramjaw uses a backpack-fed minigun to knock infantry troops back. The Rowdies give each other overlapping buffs while they're still on the field. Killing Spree, Reposition, and Precision Fire are all granted to each other, and they all come with Smoke Bombs as standard to make them difficult to target, which is helpful as they're all fairly short ranged.

This box also comes with an Ammo Crate and Medical Crate miniature, which can be taken as command cards and allows you to drop the crate within 1 inch of the activating unit. The Ammo Crate lets a nearby friendly unit gain Magical to its attacks and by dealing 1 damage to the crate, boost the range or power of their ranged attack by 2. The Medical Crate allows nearby friendly units to deal one damage to the crate, to either remove a damage from a model with Tough that is disabled nearby, or remove D3+2 damage from a living model, or return a Grunt to a unit.

Like Father, Like Daughter

The Gravediggers Battle Box works a little differently to the Command Starter in that it includes a Warcaster and 2 Warjacks, and doesn't make a clean 30-point force. It can create a 30-point force, but the Warjacks have a variety of weapon options, so you'll have to do some planning before you build them. The set is great if you want to play a 30-point game with a smaller number of units, or perfect if you want to expand beyond the Command Starter.

The Gravediggers Battle Box includes Captain Cynthia 'Cyn' Rosko, who is the daughter of the famous Allister Caine we covered in the 2-Player Starter Set review. Rosko has inherited her father's affinity to magic and comes armed with the Witch Hammer rocket launcher, which allows her to ignore cloud effects and stealth to strike her target if she aims. Her feat grants all models in her battleground and control range to make an additional ranged or melee attack that turn, which can mean an absolutely insane gunline attack for 1 turn. 

Both of the Warjacks in this set, the Valient (Heavy Warjack) and the Patriot (Light Warjack), come with build options for their heads and weapons. The head options give different abilities, which for the Valiant, means choosing between being faster and able to charge without spending a focus point, moving after being hit with an attack, a free move if it didn't run during the turn, and free move and attack if a friendly unit is taken out nearby. The Patriot also has 4 weapon options for each arm, which vary in point costs and types. Personally I'm a fan of the Volley Gun/Shield and Heavy Mortar loadout to rain down fire on anyone threatening the rest of the Gravediggers as they close the distance on their enemies.

The Patriot also has 4 head options, an arc node that allows casters to channel through it, the ability to move after taking out an enemy, a free move if it didn't run during the turn, or can bodyguard a nearby friendly unit. As with the Valiant, the Patriot comes with 4 weapon options for each arm, and how you want to use your Warjacks will determine how you arm them, including getting the best use of the rest of your force's buffs and your Warcaster's feat. Personally I'm a fan of the Sniper Cannon and Blaster/Shield combo to lay down fire at rage and boost your Warjack's armor.

Also in the Gravediggers Battle Box is a heavy weapons crate which works with the Heavy Airdrop Command Card. This card allows you to drop a Blocker or a Skirmisher Warjack onto the battlefield, or a Heavy Weapons Crate, which the Valiant Warjack can interact with to gain a Heavy Flamethrower, Howitzer, or Rocket Pod. It also gains +1 armor for the rest of the game, and a bonus focus point for the turn it interacts with the crate. This adaptability is one of the Gravedigger's greatest strengths, and your opponent will never be sure if you're about to get another Warjack, or your Valient is about to gain an extra weapon and go to town on their forces.

Warmachine Gravediggers Command Starter and Battlegroup Box Final Thoughts?

I'm so glad that the release of the Gravediggers coincided with me getting back into Warmachine, as they feel like a faction perfectly suited to my style of play. I love that they're a hard as nails combat force, but they're also super sneaky and insanely adaptable to the changing battlefield. These 2 boxes offer a dual style of entry. The clean Command Starter, with its fixed armaments and full roster of unit types, or the smaller Battle Box that still shows what the Gravediggers are all about, and has customization options for the Warjacks' loadouts. Their paratrooper/special forces feel sits well with me, and their theme is captured extremely well in their mechanics. 

As with previous Warmachine releases, these set are just miniatures, as the rules and stats are all available for free on the Warmachine app and you will have to add a couple of accessories (dice, measuring tool, and tokens) to get playing, but once you have those, getting started with the Gravediggers is easy.

The copies of the Warmachine Gravediggers Command Starter and Battlegroup Box used to produce this review were provided by Steamforged Games.