Well doesn’t time fly!
It only feels like last week since we were doing this.
The Wurmspat have dropped with an audible splat, and it’s now up to us to pick through the grisly remains like an overly fussy soothsayer.
As normal, this is a Gitz focussed review. Amazingly enough, because this means we’re reviewing only universal cards, a lot of them will be have as good or perhaps greater utility in other warbands, but my focus will be on the little green chaps.
Broadly speaking I feel that there’s lots of power here, if
you’re willing to invest. Where the universals in the Mantrappers were a bit
more overt in their application, the ones here are a bit subtler, and need a
bit more malice-aforethought to bring out their potential. That said, Nightmare
in The Shadows (why couldn’t you have called it Shove GW? Think of
the bloggers next time) is ridiculous, and Perfect Match might have singlehandedly
resuscitated aggro (heck, it might even enable Aggro Gitz!)
Read on!
Awesome Resilience
Read on!
Awesome Resilience
Awesome Resilience? In my Goblins? It's more common than you might think
Wait… what?
When you’ve got the life-expectancy of a block of fudge on a scorching highway, resilience isn’t typically in your vocabulary*, but this, bizarrely, could be a reasonably easy score. When not actively Calculating Risks our fighters tend to be binary: Living – Dead. On – Off. Unless you’re playing against Profiteers or Guardians (and in the future, the Wurmspat themselves), the numbers of Gitz who survive a successful attack are quite few and far between.
When you’ve got the life-expectancy of a block of fudge on a scorching highway, resilience isn’t typically in your vocabulary*, but this, bizarrely, could be a reasonably easy score. When not actively Calculating Risks our fighters tend to be binary: Living – Dead. On – Off. Unless you’re playing against Profiteers or Guardians (and in the future, the Wurmspat themselves), the numbers of Gitz who survive a successful attack are quite few and far between.
*In the case of goblins, neither is ‘vocabulary’
That said, if the unthinkable does happen, you might be forced into either hoping the opponent finishes the job, killing off your own goblin or having the card stick in the hand for a round. Like Sophie’s Choice, except you don’t love them, and you want them to die… Putin’s Choice?
If you go down this route, bring Martyred for extra pity glory.
Master of Many Paths
Zarbag graduated from the School of Hard Knocks in absentia;
having quickly discovered that there was little incentive to actually attend
classes*. Despite this he qualified as
both a leader and a wizard.
*They knock you, hard, after all.
If only he had taken the outdoors electives…
Currently, I would not play this card, but if an upgrade comes along that has a playable effect and makes you a Hunter, this becomes a very easy score for doing nothing except keeping your leader alive.
Currently, I would not play this card, but if an upgrade comes along that has a playable effect and makes you a Hunter, this becomes a very easy score for doing nothing except keeping your leader alive.
Perfect Match
First up, props to whomever named this card, because you
basically do have to play the perfect match to score this. Secondly, I’m really glad they printed this.
This is the boost aggro warbands needed to compete again, as it allows them to
take a basket of low-hanging fruit for an objective deck. A deck comprised of one-glory
objectives and Perfect Match would have a low-but-competitive glory cap
of 15. Add a few kills and a glory upgrade or two and even the Magoreiest deck
could still score 20 glory.
As far as we are concerned, I’m in two minds. In The Beforetime*, my Tomes build would regularly score most if not all its objectives, but this is a third-end-phase objective in all but name, and I can’t justify playing two. Moreover, Supremacy and Mad Scurry are occasionally tricky scores, and having either brick makes Perfect Match a that much more difficult. I’ll try it, and let you know how I get on.
*Before Keep Them Guessing ascended…
As far as we are concerned, I’m in two minds. In The Beforetime*, my Tomes build would regularly score most if not all its objectives, but this is a third-end-phase objective in all but name, and I can’t justify playing two. Moreover, Supremacy and Mad Scurry are occasionally tricky scores, and having either brick makes Perfect Match a that much more difficult. I’ll try it, and let you know how I get on.
*Before Keep Them Guessing ascended…
Nightmare in the Shadows
 |
Well.
I am a bit lost for words. A second Distraction.
I am a bit lost for words. A second Distraction.
I often felt that one of the things that made Distraction
so interesting was that there were so many opportunities to use it. Holding
it in my hand was enough to burn my brain with possibilities – do I hold it to
stop the opponent scoring Path to Victory? Do I push Aleson into that
lethal hex to prevent Calculated Risk? Do I move a fighter adjacent to
Snirk? Do I push a fighter out of charge range of Zarbag? So
many great options!!
Now, GW have provided the answer to the age old conundrum of whether to have a cake or eat it: Have two cakes.
I expect we’ll see a Great Strength/ Incredible Strength thing here, where one will be restricted. The cynic in me suggests that it will be Distraction that will be stamped with the big red R.
Now, GW have provided the answer to the age old conundrum of whether to have a cake or eat it: Have two cakes.
I expect we’ll see a Great Strength/ Incredible Strength thing here, where one will be restricted. The cynic in me suggests that it will be Distraction that will be stamped with the big red R.
You need to play this. As Michael Carlin (still the greatest
living Carlin) said: ‘If you’re not playing Distraction, you need to re-think
what you’re doing.’ Playing either
is essential; playing both is advisable. If you’re not playing both, you need
to have a good reason why.
Amberbone Dagger
I mulled this over during my lunchbreak and I now feel that the Dagger could be the way to go. After all, you take Amberbone weapons for the kill; and at this, Dagger is better than Spear. With a 50/50 chance for a crit per attack, and there in gaining Cleave, Amberbone Dagger becomes Amberbone Lockpick* for target with a Shield defence statistic.
*Excellent at unpicking that extra glory, via the target’s
face
Spear has greater utility with its increased range
however, and both are excellent choices, begging the question… why not both?
It's time to get angry....
I’m not sure whether this works, but it looks interesting. Lethal Repertoire is a card I have
liked for some time, being very easy to score with a little forward planning
(see what I did there?). Supremacy does
stick out a bit, but given that we can brick one with Perfect Match, its upside makes it worth including.
Lucky Escape
At first blush, Lucky Escape doesn't seem like much, but looks can be deceiving.
Remember how Rebound? Remember how often people would say that it didn't do anything 2/3 of the time? Well Lucky Escape won't suffer that fate. It will ALWAYS do something. The most obvious application for this card is to prevent a successful one-damage attack. And that's certainly a valid use, but aside from ranged attacks, one-damage attacks aren't super common, but other ways of receiving one damage are. If you have Lucky Escape in your hand, Pit Trap and Snare are so much worthless cardboard. Sphere of Aqshy is wasted cardboard AND a wasted restricted slot. Lethal Hexes can be overcome with a price, and possibly most importantly for us Snirk now has a deployable airbag. Happy days.
Lucky Escape is also worth its weight in denied objectives. Unexpected Pitfall, Sorcerous Scouring, Death from Afar, Concerted Effort, and many others will be stymied by Lucky Escape.
I'm not saying it's an auto-include, but it's certainly worth testing.
I'm not saying it's an auto-include, but it's certainly worth testing.
The Scattered Tome
When is a tome not a tome? The
Scattered Tome is a curious beasty, with a built in paradox: You want to
stack your upgrade slots with Lost Pages to gain maxium value from it; but as
it’s an upgrade, you’ve got one less slot to play with. In this way it’s
similar Gathering Momentum, which does the same thing with Surge
objectives. It’s funny, gaming is one of the few fields were making something
more annoying is considered *good* design.
I’ve been saying for a while
that Lost Pages would only become relevant once this card came out.
Now that it’s here, I feel that certain warbands will have a field-day with it (looking at you Cursebreakers). For us Gitz, it does enable a divestment from the increasingly needy Acoltye of the Katrophranes build, but we’d be putting a massive weight on Zarbag’s rather scrawny shoulders. Iara’s Instant Shield is mandatory in this case. If you do decide to use this, I’d be very tempted to include Tome of Vitality to keep Z-bags alive a bit longer. Speaking of ways to keep people alive longer…
Prey’s Cunning
Now that it’s here, I feel that certain warbands will have a field-day with it (looking at you Cursebreakers). For us Gitz, it does enable a divestment from the increasingly needy Acoltye of the Katrophranes build, but we’d be putting a massive weight on Zarbag’s rather scrawny shoulders. Iara’s Instant Shield is mandatory in this case. If you do decide to use this, I’d be very tempted to include Tome of Vitality to keep Z-bags alive a bit longer. Speaking of ways to keep people alive longer…
Prey’s Cunning
It’s Cloaked in Shadow
on a stick! A very strong ability some of the time, but a mediocre one at other
times. It’s worth pointing out unlike Cloaked in Shadow, Prey’s
Cunning still allows the fighter to be targeted by gambits, just not
damaged. Leadstone Dust, Distraction, Madness Dart, Confusion et al
could still wreck your day.
If your meta features a lot
of Cursebreakers, Guardians, or Snare wielding Hunters, this could be
worth a look, otherwise, pass.
So that’s a wrap.
It’s funny, I thought that the Wurmspat expansion began and ended with Nightmare in The Shadows, but upon writing this, I think that there’s a healthy number of new options for the metagame. A couple of very strong cards (one auto-include), and a number of cards either on the bubble or poised delicately to swoop into the as yet unfilled design space, like an unusually patient bird of prey with an penchant for gaming.
As ever, I'd love to hear your feedback, feel free to drop me a line on Facebook.
Cheers
It’s funny, I thought that the Wurmspat expansion began and ended with Nightmare in The Shadows, but upon writing this, I think that there’s a healthy number of new options for the metagame. A couple of very strong cards (one auto-include), and a number of cards either on the bubble or poised delicately to swoop into the as yet unfilled design space, like an unusually patient bird of prey with an penchant for gaming.
As ever, I'd love to hear your feedback, feel free to drop me a line on Facebook.
Cheers
Rowan
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