Hello again! This is part 2/4 of my Wyrdhollow core box review! In case you missed it, here is my review of Domitan’s Stormcoven, as well as the intro for this ‘series’. Since I already explained everything last time, I will jump right in!
Edit from last time: Apparently Harrowdeep is staying with us till Autumn! That’s good to know, and the last article isn’t affected by it that much.
FIGHTERS & PLOT CARD
I will put the Plot card here for now, but I will review it after I read all the fighters. I would recommend reading it now, since it is pretty important to the warband!
Ephilim the Unknowable is a weird alien-like follower of Tzeentch and the warband’s leader. He has a decent profile, with 3 Move, 2 Dodge, and 4 Move while uninspired. He also has 2 attacks, one of which is a Range 2, 2 Smash, and 2 Damage attack, which is the average attack an uninspired leader has. However, he also has a Range 4, 2 Damage attack, which hits on swirly-wirlies (Focus)! This is the first non-upgrade, 2 Damage, Range 4 attack I can remember! Ephilim is a level 1 wizard, which might make the attack seem not excellent. However, with his Power Leech ability, he gains +1 wizard level for being within 3 hexes of 2 or more friendly changers (who are literally everyone other than him). This makes the attack equivalent to 2 hammers! His inspire condition is pretty difficult, forcing him to hide his inspired changer at the back and try to keep another one alive to inspire in Round 2. When he does inspire, he gains +1 dice on his Warpstaff (Range 2 attack) and +1 Wizard level, allowing him to be the only level 3 wizard in the game without upgrades (if you use his Power Leech ability)! He also gains an ability, Warpgorge, allowing you to draw a power card whenever someone dies. This is a pretty nice ability, allowing you to draw at most 5 cards per game (assuming you revive one fighter and all of them die). Overall, Ephilim seems pretty powerful but reliant on his warband to get him to his full potential.
Grade: A-
Spawnmaw is the first changer of the warband. His profile is pretty nice, having 5 move, 1 dodge, and 3 wounds. This makes him rather frail, but blazing fast, especially when you consider his Range 3 attack. He has 2 attacks, a Range 1, 3 Swords, 2 Damage attack with an ability allowing it to do 3 damage if the target is large. He also has a Range 3 spell attack casting on 2 Focus and doing 1 Damage, which gives him a staggering 8 hex threat range! When inspired, he gains +1 defense, +1 dice on his spell attack, and his melee attack turns into hammers. This makes him a pretty big threat, and I would recommend inspiring this guy or Flamespooler first. Overall, Spawnmaw is a decent attacker with accurate attacks when inspired; however when uninspired he poses little to no threat at a distance and is quite frail.
Grade: B+
Kindlefinger is a weird eye thing. He has a meh profile, having 3 Move, 2 Dodge (the only good thing about it), and 2 Wounds. He also has a meh-attack, with 3 Range, 2 Focus, and 1 Damage. And then you look at his abilities, which turn him from meh to AH. First of all, he takes -1 Damage from ALL attacks that target him. He will become tough to kill when you give him Great Fortitude and similar upgrades. This ability and his 2 dodge make him my nomination for the Guard token of the plot card. His second ability applies to his attack action, allowing it to deal 2 damage if the target is adjacent. Not a bad ability; however, his 3 move makes it slightly challenging to get close. When he inspires, the only thing which changes is his attack now hits on lightning bolts (Channel) instead of swirly-wirlies (Focus). This is not a significant change, and I recommend inspiring him as one of the last fighters. Overall, Kindlefinger is a surprisingly bulky fighter, especially in Round 1 with a guard token. He is not a strong attacker but can stand his ground pretty well compared to other changers, making him valuable as ‘bait.’
Grade: B
Flamespooler is a bird-like thing. He has a ok profile, with 4 Move, 1 Dodge, and 3 Wounds. Not very tanky, but he can take 1 hit. His attack is a Range 3, 2 Focus, 1 Damage attack with an ability Warpslash. While the attack itself isn’t eye-opening, the Warpslash ability makes it very good. Very basically, it is a ranged Scything. Once you hit someone with the attack, you give everyone within one hex of your target (including the target) a warping counter. At the start of the round you deal 1 damage to everyone with one of those, and then remove them. This makes this ability a literal bomb and can prove fatal when combined with a couple of pings against swarm warbands, I can bet watching your opponent frantically draw cards looking for Great Fortitude to save their upgraded fighter from being blown up by this counter will look hilarious. While this ability is pretty ‘tame’ when used on one fighter, when playing against someone who needs to stick together like aggro Exiled Dead, that extra one damage on everyone will be really annoying for your opponent. When inspired, Flamespooler gets +1 Dodge, and his attack changes to lightning. This is why I would recommend inspiring him second, as he is the only other 3 wound fighter in the warband, not counting Spawnmaw, so the extra defense would be excellent. It also makes him more accurate. Overall, Flamespooler might not last long but will probably be some of your opponent’s biggest fear, especially against swarm warbands! He has the potential to cause a lot of disruption.
Grade: B+
Apo’trax is a Starefysh. He has one of the most underwhelming profiles of the warband, with 3 Move, 1 Dodge, and 2 Wounds. He only has a Range 1 attack, making him have the least threat range. The attack is 2 Smash and 2 Damage with an ability Lamprey, which allows him to do +1 damage if he does not have any move or charge tokens. This might seem bad, since it will be very rare to end up adjacent to an enemy with no move or charge tokens, but he has a second ability to help with that called Hypnotise. After the last power step in a round, he can push an enemy fighter up to 2 hexes, as long as that fighter ends adjacent to Starefysh. That’s a pretty good ability! It can be used to yoink some people off objectives, or just get them closer for Lamprey, or even to potentially deny something like Conquest or Hurricane Force! When inspired, he gains +1 Defense, +1 Dice, and his attack turns to Swords. Plot card wise, I would say he would be the candidate for the push, to get himself into position to maybe hit someone with a Lamprey attack in Round 1. Overall, Apo’trax is a medium attacker who is very frail, but can disrupt the enemies positioning!
Grade: B
Plot card time! First of all, it states that changers cannot be given Attack Action upgrades. Most of the changers already have a decent attack, so this is not that bad, but it would be nice to have been able to give a changer Cursed Boarding Pike. Next, the Change sequence. This is how you inspire fighters. What happens is, before the first activation in a round, you have to follow all the steps in order. First, you inspire a changer. Then, you stagger a changer who was not chosen before yet. Then, you can put one on guard, and finally you can push one. If you cannot carry out a step at any point, the sequence ends. Here are my personal opinions on who to choose when (in Round 1):
Inspire – Preferably Spawnmaw, but leave him at the back as he needs to survive the round so you can inspire someone else at the start of the next one.
Stagger – Apo’trax or Flamespooler, match-up dependent.
Guard – Kindlefinger all the way, it makes him very hard to kill with his 2 dodge base!
Push – The one you didn’t stagger.
Then again, this all depends on the matchup and each game. For example, if Spawnmaw is within reach of an objective you need for a push, you push him and inspire someone else. Always adapt to the game!
Overall, this plot card gives a major head start to the Pandaemonium. First of all, you get to immediately get a fighter on guard. Second, you can push your fighters in and out of range. While you do stagger someone (and that comes before everything but inspiring) the benefits outweigh the negatives by a bunch!
Grade (comparing to the 2 other faction Plot cards in the game): A-
OBJECTIVES
An Awful End – Score this when a changer kills someone. Some of your changers might actually be able to get decently strong; for example, Spawnmaw’s Range 1 attack is really accurate and can do 3-4 damage with just Great Strength. If you are planning to go aggro, I would run this as your leader will not be doing all the work, but there is going to be another card later in the review, which is really similar to this, and which might be a bit better.
Grade: B
Arcane Mastery – Have a fighter cast their second or subsequent spell in the same phase. Since all your fighters but Apo’trax have a spell attack, this can be done by having one of them go off twice. Alternatively, you can get a couple gambit spells and use them in combination with your leader’s spell attack, as your leader can get to Level 3 when inspired! Another reason I would run this is this is one of the best ways to get glory in Round 1, since you need to sit at the back to wait for a couple changers and your leader to inspire or else they aren’t really as strong. A big downside I see is it is luck dependent, but your luck can’t be THAT bad. Right?
Grade: B+
Callous Manipulator – A GREAT card. Score this after an activation or power step when if a changer died, or if 2 or more changers are staggered. First of all, your changers are tempting targets since they aren’t that bulky, meaning you get rewarded for them dying (if your leader is inspired you also get to draw a power card). The second condition is also easy and doesn’t yield glory to your opponent since one of your changers can get staggered through your plot card, and the other one can just delve since that staggers you (or Barge, with the new rules).
Grade: A
Closing the Circle – Faction Temporary Victory, 2 glory for holding 3 objectives after an opponent’s power step. In Round 1 this is really easy as your plot card lets you push yourself around to get onto objectives faster. An issue I see with this is your changers dying later into the game, making it hard to have 3 fighters on an objective at once. This is also another way to generate glory while waiting for your leader to inspire. It is possible but hard, and is quite rewarding. It’s just pretty easy to deny.
Grade: B
Glorious Change – An excellent Hybrid end phase, which gives you 2 glory for either having 2 or more changers with an upgrade or having 2 or more enemies with either 2 wounds and/or out of action. Since in Direchasm ‘2 enemy fighters out of action’ objectives like Aggressive Display and Cold Blooded Killers were one glory, I think this is a great deal, especially since there is a lot of ways to score this. The only issue is that it is a bit slow in Round 1 due to not having a lot of inspired fighters who can do the damage.
Grade: A
Ineffable Capering – Another 2 glory objective, this time a Dual. You must have made a successful spell cast and a successful Range 1 attack to score this. I think it is challenging, especially since only 2 of your fighters have a Range 1 attack, one of which is pretty inaccurate. The issue with Range 1 attacks is you have to get close to do them, putting your fragile fighters in a tough spot. The spell part is OK, in Round 2 especially, once you have a lot of inspired fighters with accurate spell attacks and Ephilim with his wizard level 3. I just find it hard to make both in one round successfully is pretty tricky.
Grade: C+
Might of the Great Changer – Deal damage to a second or subsequent enemy in the same phase. No, this isn’t the same as Ineffable Capering. First, it’s a surge, and second, it does not specify with what you have to deal the damage. Ploys, gambit spells, attacks, Reflecting Mask… the list goes on. Keep in mind, it has to be 2 different fighters!
Grade: A
Nine Fates – Hold objectives equal to the number 9, and gain one extra glory if you hold 3 objectives. For 2-3 glory I don’t think it’s worth it for the amount of work you have to do. At first, it just seems like a better/worse Stockpile, but the fact that the objectives have to add up to 9 precisely makes it difficult. In a single player game, the only combos you can hold are: 1-3-5, 2-3-4, 4-5, and 1-2-4-5. Four possible combinations! This means that you have to first devote your fighters to holding the objectives, and second, you have to get lucky with the positioning of the numbers. Too much work, even for 2-3 glory. It also forces you to ignore other hold objectives objectives if you are running something like Supremacy, since you would need to hold one of the 2 possible combos for it to add up to 9, and any more or less you need to hold for other cards will cancel this card. In 4 player games, where objective 9 is an actual thing, however…
Grade: D
Rampant Spellcasting – Either cast 3 or more spells in the last action phase, or have no power cards in hand and 3 gambit spells in your discard pile. The second condition is really nice, especially in late game, and the third condition is doable as well if you load up on gambit spells since all your fighters have a spell attack that contributes to this. If you are willing to devote your deck to spells, go for this card, however it is pretty difficult even for 2 glory. If you are running 1-2 gambit spells just because they are a must if your warband has wizards, and are more into normal attacks, I would pass on this.
Grade: B-
Scornful Stance – Your leader holds an objective for 1 glory. Pretty simple, since your leader isn’t disabled like most fighters on an objective due to his Range 4 attack and his ability to hurl gambit spells on everyone. It does require beforehand planning, though, and it is 1 glory which isn’ tempting since this warband has plenty of good 2 glory options available.
Grade: B+
Spreading Mutation – The less dominant Dominant Position. Hold most objectives for 1 glory. If you are running a hold objective build, there are probably going to be much more rewarding options. If you cannot find one of those, then run this, but even then, there are better 1 glory objectives such as Gifts of the Gods (since it is a Hybrid and is arguably easier to score). Additionally, unlike The Dread Pageant’s Excess of Avidity, opponents won’t be as worried about denying this card since Avidity is 2 glory while this is only 1.
Grade: C
Violent Change – Remember at the VERY start, that card called An Awful End? This is the better alternative I talked about. First of all, your leader can score it, and he has arguably the most accurate attack of the warband at his full potential (tied with both of Spawnmaw’s attacks). Second, you can score this without having to get close like you must with Violent Change since most changer’s attacks that do decent damage are Range 1. Finally, warping counters can score this as well. Overall, if you are leaning into a changer-based build, for example glass-cannon aggro, run An Awful End. Otherwise I would stick with this (or run both and get 3 glory from a single kill?).
Grade: B
POWER CARDS
Bolt of Tzeentch – A standard spell ping. Right around the time of writing this I found out Harrowdeep isn’t getting rotated, so I would also recommend running Agonizing Bolt alongside this for a Sudden Demise build. Overall, Bolt of Tzeentch is better since it staggers the target, but Agonizing Bolt has the potential to do 2 damage. Both of them are also easy to cast!
Grade: A-
Extra Teeth – The better Determined Effort/King of the Deeps/Having a Brawl. Since all of those cards don’t affect spell attacks, this card is going to outclass them for the Pandaemonium since all of their Range 3 attacks are spell attacks anyway. That being said, I don’t know if it’s worth running this anyway since most of the time you don’t want the enemy close as they will massacre your changers. On the other hand, a counterpunch with this card can be fatal for the enemy. If you need extra accuracy or are going for a non-spell attack build, run this. Otherwise I would pass on it and run some kind of wizard buffing card they now have in the new Seismic Shock deck.
Grade: B
Field of Change – A really nice defense buff for the warband. It’s cast on one channel which is really easy to do, especially since your leader can get to 3 dice, and then gives all friendly fighters a re-roll in defense for the ENTIRE ROUND. The only downside is that it’s a spell, meaning it has the chance to not go off!
Grade: A
Grand Scheming – Stagger each FIGHTER, both enemy and friendly, with one or more charge tokens. In my opinion, there are better stagger alternatives than this, since, first of all, this staggers all fighters without exception with a charge token (and yours are already frail), and second there is a chance that the guy you want to kill still has not charged. If you like accuracy, I would recommend some +1 dice ploys like King of the Deeps. However, they don’t affect spells, while stagger does, in which case I would recommend Unfair Fight (great stagger ploy) or Makeshift Bombardment since you choose who to stagger, and they have no side effects.
Grade: C
Latching Tendrils – Push an enemy fighter 2 hexes to get them adjacent to you, kind of like Starefysh’s ability. I don’t know if it’s a great card since you need to end the push adjacent to friendly fighters, but I can see the uses. For example, getting Apo’trax or Kindlefinger closer since their attacks do more damage when they are adjacent/have no move tokens. Or, use it to push someone off an objective. The biggest downside I see is its range. However, 3 hexes would be too powerful.
Grade: B-
Mutative Siphon – Deal 1 damage and stagger a changer within 2 hexes of your leader, and then gain +2 Range on your next spell attack. +2 Range is excellent, getting him to a staggering 6 Range, but the changer you chose will probably not last very long after choosing them. Second, there is a card invalidating this one completely: Arcane Reach. It gives the same bonuses but does not affect friendly changers.
Grade: D-
Shared Mutations – A gambit spell cast on 2 lighting bolts, which deals 1 damage to each enemy adjacent to a friendly fighter (unfortunately not stacking… you could have gotten 5 damage if you put all your fighters adjacent to one). This is pretty situational and is hard to cast so I wouldn’t recommend running it. However, for Sudden Demise builds, this card just might work with the ability to ping more than one person at the same time, and not deal damage to your own fighters back like The Walls Are Closing In would.
Grade: C+
Sudden Warp Portal – Confusion+++! Switch 2 friendly fighters within 3 hexes of each other. This is a really fun card, just I don’t see it having much use except to maybe swap a fighter out of danger, or get a fighter in range, since one can’t reach but the other can, or maybe swap a fighter with a move token onto an objective that holds a fighter without one so they could take another objective. Come to think of it there are actually a lot of uses. I just think that it won’t have a good use more often than not, but time will tell.
Grade: B
Summoned Abomination – Revive a changer! Casts on one lighting! This is a great spell, with the downside of it being a spell (can fail). You can bring back a stacked changer you gave lots of upgrades that died, you can revive a changer near your leader to gain support, or you can just bring one back to deny certain objectives like Red Ruin (Crimson Court). There are multiple uses and the best part is there is almost no downside!
Grade: A
The Will of the Architect – Literally Dark Inversion. I can see this being used when running it alongside Nine Fates and Stockpile, or even Tactical Supremacy! You can also switch objectives with the Fearsome Fortress token when playing against Fearsome Fortress, and deny a bunch of hold objective objectives by delving and sending that token to your opponent as a gift. There are lots of uses, but a lot of them are only useful when playing hold objective or against it. However, considering that Fearsome Fortress is getting a lot of popularity recently, this might be worth running soon!
Grade: B-
Aether-Tether – The first upgrade, and it’s an Illusion restricted to changers that subtracts one dice from enemy fighter’s attacks that target the changer. All I’m saying putting it on Kindlefinger with a guard token while playing against your friend might have a side effect of losing a friend. It’s biggest claim to fame over similar upgrades is that it has no Range restriction, meaning Hexbane players are affected as well (I don’t have anything against Hexbane, but they have the most powerful Range 3 attacks so I use him as an example). Plus, all your changers are already pretty dodgy when inspired, so this would just make them more annoying to hit. Also, I just realized these guys are Chaos Grand Alliance so Weighty Blessing + Gifted Bulk + Guard Token + this on Kindlefinger might be considered a war crime. This card’s biggest downside is that it’s an illusion and breaks at the end of the phase.
Grade: A
Arch-Sorcerer – A nice upgrade for Ephilim, giving him a re-roll when casting spells. This is a significant accuracy buff to his spell attack, and your spells are more likely to go off, so I don’t see a reason not to run this, especially with Salvage being around in Wyrdhollow, meaning if Ephilim dies, you can always switch this card out!
Grade: A+
Aura of Mutability – Gives +1 dice to friendly changer’s attacks while they are within 2 hexes of your leader. This is a decent card, as SilverSabbath on the Vassal discord pointed out (thanks again!) that the changer’s spell attacks DO get affected by this card. While my initial analysis stated that this was not good for that, this card might be worth running in an aggro environment (if that ever returns to the state it was before Fearsome Fortress), since you can play an effective counterpunch. Right now, it isn’t as bad either!
Grade: B-
Boundless Change – Restricted to changers, this upgrade causes each friendly fighter within 3 hexes to support their attacks. This is a really good accuracy buff since you will usually happen to have 2 fighters within 3 hexes to consistently have double supports. The downside is, once again, only 2 of your changers have attacks that use dice that can roll supports. The rest are magic dice. Also, the changer with this upgrade probably won’t last very long, so it might not be a great investment giving this to someone for one attack. Just run +1 dice ploys or Unexpected Ally instead!
Grade: C+
Nefarious Defenses – A nice defense buff, allowing you to transfer one damage from an attack to a changer within 2 hexes. I know I was scolding the last 2 cards for having a really low range/forcing your changers to be close to each other or your leader, but considering how vital your leader is, I would say running this card is justifiable since it causes you to take -1 damage from all attacks, meaning it will take longer to kill him, maximizing his use, since this card can be given to Ephilim. And then again, your changers already have to be close for Power Leech! Just remember, 2 hexes of range on this is deceptively short.
Grade: B
Skittering Terror – Restricted to changers, gives them +2 move when they are charging. I don’t like how it’s restricted only to changers, who are meant to be expendable, but I do like the card. This lets Spawnmaw go to a staggering 10 hex threat range! That, or it can be used to reach people who thought they were safe, since they are a couple hexes out of your threat range. If you are into aggro, this is great. If you are into hold objective, run Shadow Mover. However, most of your fighters don’t have threat range problems, meaning this card is solving a problem that isn’t problematic.
Grade: B-
Spiteful Mouths – This card cannot have the ‘changers are expendable’ argument applied to it, so I have to say this is good. Whenever the changer this is attached to gets attacked, and they rolled one or more successes in their roll, before taking damage, they can do one damage to the attacker if they are within 2 hexes. Hexbane is laughing now, but others aren’t. This card can screw up a really important charge for an opponent, by killing the person who is doing the charge, or just bringing them to low wounds. Another good thing about this is mind games, since your opponent might not charge the fighter with this because they are scared of the damage! Overall, a really great card, with the only downside being that it’s restricted to changers (which is reasonable).
Grade: A-
The Fires of Change – This is a pretty good card, restricted to wizards (your leader). It’s an attack acton with 4 Range, 3 Swords, 2 Damage, and a reaction that allows you to deal or heal 1 damage to each fighter adjacent to your target. This affects both friendlies and enemies! This is a pretty good attack, made worse by your leader already having a pretty good Range 4 attack. This is a really good card early game and against swarm warbands, who pile up together, though! Run this if you feel you need more damage or don’t like grouping your changers and leader for his Power Leech ability. Otherwise, I would pass.
Grade: B
Too Many Maws – The ONLY way Great Strength is worse than this is because Great Strength doesn’t affect Range 3 attacks, while this has no range restriction. This card is restricted only to changers, and it gives all of their attacks Grievous 1. Great Strength is better because a) it can be given to your leader to make him have a powerful Range 2 attack, b) it gives a guaranteed +1 damage, unlike Grievous here. However, Great Strength does not affect Range 3 attacks which most of your changers have. Most of your Range 3 attacks have only 2 dice, making it tough to roll a crit to proc the Grievous. Unless you REALLY like the Range 3 attacks, I would just run Great Strength instead (or both?).
Grade: C+
Writhing Tentacles – Cannot be given to a large fighter, and whenever an activation or power happens in which the fighter with this upgrade takes damage, they can either be pushed one hex or healed 1. This is a GREAT card, either allowing you to ignore being driven back when taking damage (cause of the push, just push yourself back on to where you were) or make all attacks that won’t otherwise kill you do 1 less damage. Technically, you can negate pings as well, but only once per power step. The best part is it isn’t restricted to your changers, and can be given to your leader (I don’t have the models yet, but last I checked the card art Ephilim didn’t have any tentacles?).
Grade: A+
And that’s it! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this! If you have any feedback, you can contact me on Twitter or Discord (VintroV2#0001)! Be on the lookout for the next 2 articles in this series, the Seismic Shock and Toxic Terrors rivals decks (hopefully I finish them both by next week or else it won’t make sense writing them), and I hope to see you again soon!
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