Warhamer Underworlds Rivals of the Mirrored City Review - When It Rains, It Pours

It's common for Warhammer Underworlds to receive frequent expansion content in the form of single Warbands or Rivals Decks. The release of Warhammer Underworlds Rivals of the Mirrored City however will include four new Warbands to quickly expand your collection.

Included in Warhammer Underworlds Rivals of the Mirrored City are the following Warbands:

• Mollog's Mob
• Spiteclaw's Swarm
• Thorns of the Briar Queen
• Zarbag's Gitz

Two of these Warbands operate in a very normal space having four or five members, but the Briar Queen and Zarbag's Gitz Warbands have an impressive number in their ranks. Thorns of the Briar Queen has seven members while Zarbag's Gitz has a whopping nine.

Mollog's Mob Warband Analysis

Mollog's Mob is a Warband of four; Mollog The Mighty, Bat Squig, Spiteshroom, and Stalagsquig. Mollog The Mighty is a Dankhold Troggoth who left their cave in the Desert of Bones after it was overrun by Skaven who ended up finding new refuge in the Mirrored City underneath Shadespire.

Interestingly this Warband, at least according to the story isn't as much a traditional Warband, instead it's a one extremely large creature that has headed out, and those who used to live with him have tagged along.

In terms of Warband abilities there isn't much in terms of synergy. Each of these unique creatures has their own place to be in combat because of it.

Mollog is Steadfast meaning he can't be pushed back and can only take a maximum of three damage at once, Bat Squig's flapping stops enemies from being able to Guard, Spiteshroom gets to release spores that deal damage, and Stalagsquig gets to act like a Stalagmite and not be pushed or make moves.

Stalagsquig is definitely the strangest of the group as "It's Just A Rock" meaning it can't move at all, but the flip side of that is that you can place it anywhere at the beginning of the game and that all hexes adjacent to it are snare hexes.

This simplicity stretches through to the objectives and gambits that you'll be performing running this deck too.

Objectives are a healthy mix of doing damage, holding objectives, and meeting territory requirements. Each goal aligns with playing Warhammer Underworlds at it's base level so for someone getting into the game and wanting more Warbands akin to the Starter Set you'll have a fun time with Mollog.

Spiteclaw's Swarm Warband Analysis

Skritch Spiteclaw is a Skaven Warlord leading Krrk the Almost Trusted, and three minions simply known as The Lurking Skaven, The Hungering Skaven, and The Festering Skaven. This Warband has Skritch acting as a leader sending out his minions and bringing in more Skaven as they're taken out.

As the Rivals Deck story card reveals the Skaven are "seemingly infinite in numbers." While not very powerful each of these fighters also is Inspired after being the target of a Ploy.

The way the minions can get into action, deal damage, be taken Out of Action, new ones are summoned in and the cycle repeats gives an interesting gameplay loop to this Warband that does a lot to highlight how present they are. Even the Leader is not immune to this as after death Krrk will take over as leader from Skritch.

The gambits available in this deck all target one or more of the fighters with simple enough abilities, adding damage or defence but as each of these targeted fighters becomes inspired there's a lot more danger to them. Even if an Inspired fighter is lost another can be summoned to take its place and quickly become inspired itself.

The most terrifying of all of these Gambits is Cautious Skitter that prompts all minions to be pushed one hex, as they're all the target of a Ploy they then all become inspired rewarding them with new attacks, better chances to deal damage, or more damage overall.

For a Warband of five this is an interesting way to recreate a much larger Warband. It's especially interesting when compared to the way that the Thorns of the Briar Queen handle a Warband whose gameplay style is to become an overbearing wave.

Thorns of the Briar Queen Warband Analysis

Thorns of the Briar Queen is a seven person Warband consisting of the titular Briar Queen, Varclav the Cruel, Th Ever-Hanged, The Ironwretch, The Exumed, The Silenced, and The Uncrowned.

Each of these ghostly figures has their own unique look while standing in a wispy form. Compared to some of the bulkier figures in this box like Mollog or Zarbag's Warband there were some tense moments of fear putting these together afraid that the pressure of putting them together would cause pieces to break.

There is a lot of interaction happening between the different parts of this Warband. Every member has the ability "Wave of Terror" that means if that fighter is supporting another fighter while they have a Charge token then the fighter they're supporting gets to act as if there are two supporting fighters.

What makes this ability extremely powerful is that Varclav the Cruel has the ability Solemn March which allows him to push any two members of the Warband aside from himself and The Briar Queen two hexes and give them a charge token.

The strategy among the warband here is to be moving each of the party members with Varclav and set them up to double support each other, or the more powerful characters like Varclav and the Briar Queen herself.

These fighters are also all inspired by starting the Inspire step of your turn adjacent to two or more fighters.

This warband is all about strength in numbers and absolutely barreling over your opponents with overwhelming support amongst the fighters. This throughline is even seen in the gambit cards with cards like Grasping Chains letting each friendly Chainrasp that's supporting count as an additional support, or the Enforcer upgrade that stops friendly fighters from being driven back.

Zarbag's Gitz Warband Analysis

After seeing Spiteclaw's pseudo-infinite Warband and the Briar Queen's wave of minions it's actually Zarbag's Gitz that is the largest Warband in the Rivals of the Mirrored City.

With limited actions to move this many characters there's a large number of interactions that can be made across all of the characters. Making an action or move with one character will likely result in multiple other characters making moves.

An easy example of this would be Drizgit da Squig Herder, who upon placing him at the start of the game gets two Squigs - Bonerakka and Gobbaluk - placed on adjascent tiles. Then on your turn as an action you can move Drizgit and both of his Squigs a full move action. Any of the other Grot fighters in the Warband that are adjacent to Drizgit will then also be able to use their own move action.

Depending on how you've set up your board that's suddenly 4+ fighters all moving at once and in any direction. Because of this it's always smart with any movement to make sure at least two Grot end up next to each other.

Each of the Shootas also have great synergy with one another. Not only can they move as a group but every time one of them takes a Grot Bow attack any of the others within 3 hexes can also make a Grot Bow attack.

The Warband that travels together also Inspires together as six of the fighters inspire when you have three or more Glory points.

The Objectives you can earn capitalize on the fact that you'll have characters everywhere in this game. 'Gitz Everywhere!' is for capturing every Objective in your territory, 'Mad Scurry' is for having five or more friendly fighters with Move or Charge tokens, and 'Stayin' Safe' is obtained by a third or subsequent Range 3+ Attack in the same phase.

Gambits and Upgrades are a mix of standard increases to damage and range but there are also some other abilities that add further synergies like 'Dug In There' that puts the fighter on GUard while within 2 hexes of a Shoota.

Warhammer Underworlds Rivals of the Mirrored City | Final Thoughts

There's a lot of very interesting and unique stuff going on across these four Warbands. Mollog's Mob is the black sheep of the collection featuring only four fighters, one of which can't even move.

The opportunities across the other Warbands to absolutely bowl your opponents over in terms of sheer options and numbers is astounding. Whether you want an infinitely respawning group of Skaven, Ghosts that slowly move together across the battlefield, or Grot that swarm like ants around.

Players who have an eye for fast and dangerous playing should definitely look forward to picking up Warhammer Underworlds Rivals of the Mirrored City.

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