It's been 84 years....

 

Hi everyone, and yes, it's been a long time between drinks as they say, but we FINALLY have some new cards to talk about! Yay!

As normal this isn't the place to get in-depth, quality (or) insight into how the two warbands that accompany the new cards play, or even what they do. We're here, as good goblins should, to pick out shiny baubles that Gitz would find useful from the refuse. 

Broadly, these cards are utility in nature. Which is to say there are few here that will dramatically alter your playstyle and few that are "build around" cards that spawn new deck archetypes. But there are a bunch that not only look interesting on their own, but also start to make some older cards, including some recently added to the Restricted list, look increasingly appealing. 


Before I get started, please excuse the random order of the cards. Blogger is a pig to adjust photos on, so apologies, you'll just have to deal with that

Spoil me, like you spoil your French Cards

Amberbone Sword

The 'weapon set' from Beastgrave is complete, and the sword is a quality addition. A three smash attack is nothing to be sneezed at, and two damage is basically average. This is better than the Axe, Hammer and Dagger, putting it in a provisional second behind Spear.  But don't get out the silver medal just yet, as another challenger will be revealed below. 

Amberbone weapons give Gitz both valuable, above average attack options and some pathways to get more glory. Consider them strongly. 

Master of Battle:

Hands up who immediately thought of Snirk when they saw this?  I'm glad, but the depth of utility Snirk can get from this card runs deeper than you know (getting the obligatory Lord of the Rings quote out of the way early this time)

Regular readers will know I've been down on Snirk for a while, but it turns out he is truly a master of battle. Why? Because, at the time of writing, reactions count as actions. Around a year ago, friend of the blog, Keep Them Guessing, was FAQd to prevent reactions from counting as  'an action on a fighter card', but that was a specific change to KTG, not to the base rules, and sure enough, if you check the glossary in the base rules, reactions are specifically noted as a 'special type of action'. 

I could be wildly off base with this, please bear in mind it's early in the morning, but Snirk can

1. Start next to a friendly fighter

2. Scurry (reaction action), move (action)

3. Inspire in the next activation (action). 

4. 3 actions, costing zero activations. Money. 

Stikkit, Dibbz and Redcap can get similar levels of efficiency from a scurry then a shot. 

Consider for the brief window before they FAQ it.

Quick Search

Aka I Can't Believe It's Not Frenzied Search.   If you've ever played Frenzied Search, you'll know there were times where you had to give up a good card to get more. This Sophie's Choice is now extended to the deck construction phase, as Frenzied Search's shiny new Restriction means that you had to give up access to other great cards to even include it.

Don't fret. The prophetically titled Quick Search, gives you the same net gain as Frenzied, but will spare lots of time as you agonise about which card to drop. 

A strong option, particularly if you're running Tomes or Lost Pages.

Glorious Triumph. 


Wow. I did not see this coming. What a fantastic card. This can make Temporary Victory, and its new sidekick (see below) that much easier to score. It also pairs exceptionally well with Path to Victory, but where this card truly shines, is Supremacy. With one successful adjacent Attack (Don't attempt to score this off a long-range shot with Dibbz, or you'll be sad), you can prevent a Distraction from ruining your plans. Glorious indeed

Now this isn't necessarily an auto-include, as sometimes you won't need it, and other times you won't draw it, and still more times you won't kill anybody. While the number of times you'll stare at this card and wish it was a Sidestep are not going to be zero, it's insurance par excellence.

Absolute Stillness

Hands up who's ever said this "Cryptic Companion is good and all, but I just wish it gave a bit more glory". If you have, you're a greedy so-and-so, but I have a card for you. 

Two glory for sitting on an objective, doing nothing? Sign me up. Absolute Stillness is the card I was referring to earlier when I said these releases have made me reconsider older cards.  Finally, after 6 releases, Beastgrave has finally spat out a card that made me want to look through all my cards and see if I can't squeeze in something that makes fighters a Quarry. What a shame they had to Restrict both Survival Instincts and Cryptic Companion. Stoneform and Hidden Presence have some synergy, but I don't know whether either are good enough. 

One to puzzle out for sure. 

Cursed blade

Hand's up who finds the image of handing a cursed artifact of lethal power to a goblin amusing? Hopefully everyone.

Now you can. This is effectively a better version of Possessed Weapon, without the ability to give to Squigs (I always wondered how that worked... possessed teeth?).  A surprise option if you want to counter attack, but bear in mind that the drawback is quite significant, and one that a canny player could exploit terribly. 

Funny, but probably not. 

Amberbone Mace

Wow. What an option.  This is the Amberbone weapon that's better than Sword that I mentioned earler. and perhaps uniquely among Amberbone weapons, one that you might actually get to do some work before attempting to pop it. Being able to re-roll both attack dice is incredible, and one that would need some proper maths to figure out just how much better it is than Sword, but I'm definitely going to be including this in my 20 power cards. 

Unless you've sworn a strict oath of non-violence, try to find room for it.

Ahead of the Hunt

The Other card that makes a Quarry themed deck seem plausible. A hilarious card to play against Hrothgorn, but honestly, I'm struggling to see this as a staple in a deck.  The criteria are pretty straightforward but the payoff is minimal for something that (battles against the big ogre aside) you can't do without intervention from cards.  

Now that Beastgrave warbands are all out there, it makes me sad that no fighter was released with the Quarry keyword attached. It would have been awesome if that had been Fecula, to really ramp up those evil-villain vibes. 

Show of Force

In my current deck, my surges are Calculated Risk, Temporary Victory, Shortcut, Martyred and Swift Capture. Show of Force, was my pick of the bunch from the Morgoth's Crushers release, as it's exceptionally easy to score with Drizgit, and gives the Squigs renewed purpose.

What puts it very much into contention is the alternative option, which comes live in the late game. Stacking three upgrades onto a Git is something I tend to do a bit of, especially in Tomes builds, so for 24 hours, I was sold on this taking the sixth slot, until...

Hidden Purpose

Aka "I Can't Believe It's Not Temporary Victory".   

What an option. Gitz should be able to score this at will on the first activation. I hope this doesn't get restricted, as its upside is quite low, compared to its two glory cousin.  But I don't know what else to say about it. 

To paraphrase venerated cricketer W G Grace: Take this card. If in doubt, think about it, then take this card. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague - then take this card. 

On to resolve my Surge problem raised above, I feel Martyred gets relegated to the bench. Giving me a six of: Calculated Risk, Temporary Victory, Hidden Purpose, Show of Force, Swift Capture and Shortcut. 

Why Shortcut? Because it too got a boost.

Go to Ground.


Hand's up who's ever been envious of Thorns' Sudden Appearance? Most of us at one time or another. Well now we get to live that life, albeit with significant downside.  Again, there's some pull factor for including a Quarry card, and this makes a hilarious combo with Cryptic Companion - Lure some fighters in with you reliable glory clock, then plop your fighter on a different objective, potentially scoring Shortcut to boot. Lovely. 

Your mileage may vary, but I tend to spend a lot of my games in my own territory, so the ability to move a fighter around my zone has some significant appeal. I'll need to test this further to make a firm recommendation, but my initial evaluation is quite favourable. 

Warding Companion

Aka "I Can't Believe it's Not Survival Instincts".

To paraphrase the Orange Embarrassment, Donald Trump, I like goblins who don't get dead. Giving a single support to a fighter with a dodge characteristic doubles their chance of rolling a success; and while setting up defensive supports can be challenging, strapping this to a fighter is not.

Bonus points for being able to be used on Snirk, unlike Survival Instincts. 

Combine with SI for an almost impenetrable defense. 

So there we have it. My pick of cards that I feel Zarbag's Gitz can get best use out of in the new expansions. Overall, I feel that they've done quite well, but I am quite worried about the Bladecoven, and how we deal with them, but that's another article for another time...

I'll hold on, Snirk, I'll never let go

Speaking of which, I am going to make more an attempt to put up regular content here, despite there being no end in sight to the pandemic. Join me next time while I take stock of where we are, and where I believe Gitz fit in the meta.

Cheerio,

Rowan