Thin Lizzies - A Starblood Stalkers Review

Thin* Lizzies

(*One is thicc)

Hello! I’m not dead, I’ve just been doing other things* for a while. But I’m back, and this time it’s a bit of a different article.  I promise I’ll get around to doing the backlog of Gitz related Universal Card Reviews, and the boards review from the Direchasm and Beastgrave Boxes (I turn my back on the Arena Mortis ones, with their sinful, non adjacent starting hexes).

* Adeptus Titanicus, and Star Wars Legion things mostly, also work when I can’t help it.

Today however. I’m going to talk about dinosaurs; how they differ from the mushroom-men I love so dearly; and why they’ve turned my head a little (Okay, a lot, but don’t let Drizgit hear that)

The Starblood Stalkers are the (*counts on fingers*) fourth warband for Direchasm, and the first to really pique my interest. Having played a bunch of Magores and Wurmspat, I don’t hate the Ravagers, but they’re a tad generic, and finishing deployment with 3 starting hexes exposed to the elements just feels… ungrateful. As the largest warband to date (if you don’t count the fat-suit skeletons previewed recently), I’d kept an eye on the Seraphon, but I must confess I was surprised by how different the warband is, now that I’ve had an opportunity to see their rules. I really feel that while there are some overarching similarities with the Gitz (small, androgenous fighters who are bad at fisticuffs, who enjoy long walks away from danger, and standing on hexagonal pieces of cardboard) there’s some HUGE differences, and I’ll start my quasi-review/ramble from there

Built Different

Okay, so lets talk about how they’re different to the Gitz.

1. Pronouns.Ah, I bet you didn’t see that coming! A very small change, but I love how we now have neutral pronoun characters in GW canon, and it deserves credit. It might not affect some of you, but for others, it will be really affirming. Hopefully one day soon we can have a non-binary Human character.

2. Klaq-Trok. The slamming sound you just heard isn’t another bigot rage quitting because of number 1, but the sound of Klaq-Trok’s majestic thighs clapping.  What a heckin’ chonker. Holy moly. This fighter’s presence dramatically shifts the playstyle of the Stalkers, and gives genuine counter attacking power. Their (Klaq-Trok’s) inspire condition is ridiculously easy and tells you exactly how you should play them. Once inspired, they just get insane – two block defence, 4 move, a bite that can actually hit something (one does wonder how Klaq-Trok eats before they get inspired). An extra wound would have been lovely, but from the perspective of Gitz, an inspired Klaq-Trok already resembles the battleship Yamato*.

 *Somewhat playable now that the latest FAR banned the Aircraft Carrier + Incomparable Industrialisation combo

3. Skittish. Skittish is really interesting. Scurry is better, and that’s a hill I’ll die on, but Skittish does open up some very unique options. Obviously, the ability to get out of dodge is very useful for fighters as solid as a prawn cracker, but there are other uses too.

One that leaps out to me is the opportunity to deploy close to an enemy fighter for a free backward push – a risk/reward play, but one that could open up the possibility of a one activation Hidden Porpoise (or Temporary Victory if you’ve got some push tech on hand).

Here Toq can use Skittish to get away from Drizgit and his Squigs. Assuming they didn’t eat him first. I don't know this needed a graphic, but I just wanted give props to Pool of Fangs - the best board in Direchasm. Love it.

Skittish also enables skinks with equipped weapons to make late round charges against targets with charge tokens that won’t leave them exposed at the beginning of the following round. Range 2 weapons are particularly nasty in this regard.  There’s a lot of potential interactions with Skittish, and I think it is going to take a very good player to properly be alive to all opportunities, but it strikes me as the kind of effect that could win games.

Be aware, as Skittish is a reaction, you’ll only get to skitter (Skit? Ski?) one Skink per power step.

4. Flip it, flip it good…  Not only do they boast a statline to make Zarbag turn green(er) with envy, Tixi-Taka also has some super cool tricks. For one, they’ve got a solid range 3 attack, and one of the best fighter card actions in the game. Being able to ping someone up to 4 hexes away is awesome and all, but it pales into comparison to the other half of that ability. Being able to flip a feature token on a whim is amazing.  The game currently has enough flip cards to make counterplay something that nags at me whenever I’m constructing am objective token-focused deck, a feeling I inevitably ignore, and just hope to The Bad Moon I don’t run into anyone with those cards.  The Stalkers don’t have that issue, which, considering they’re basically locked into holding objectives due to their inspire mechanic, is a good thing.

Flipping things on their head (see what I did there?) there’s also some opportunity to use Tixi’s ability strategically instead of tactically. Between Coveted Spoils, Uncontested, Astromatrix Alignment, Dominant Position, Balance the Cosmic Equation, Guardians of the Way, Change of Fortunes, Master of Hazards and Seeking the Heart, you could very easily make a deck focused on objective denial and control. It could even look something like this.

Whether or not that’s actually good or not is something I’m not qualified to say, but it does seem like a bit of fun, and may actually have an edge in certain matchups (just imagine giving a Feed The Beastgrave deck fits as you flip a solitary objective to deny FTB and score Coveted Spoils!)

5. Karma Chameleon If you have hands down the best name in Warhammer Underwords, and a decent claim to having the best Range 3 attack in the game (certainly in the top 5), and one of the best defense stats in the game, then it’s safe to say you’re pretty good. If you’re arguably the third most important fighter in your warband, that says your warband is pretty dang good too.  Oh, you want more? How about interacting with all hunter and quarry cards off the bat? Still not enough? How about having enough movement to score Gathered Momentum on a whim when inspired. More? Yo dawg, I heard you liked threat ranges, so I gave your movement 5 fighter a range 3 attack. You’re STILL not satisfied?? How about a miniature that LITERALLY HAS A CURLY TAIL!

“I don’t think the frog venom has kicked in yet dude, but are you digging my blowpipe? I mean feel it, it’s like the smoothest thing ever, like do you ever wonder how you know that you can feel stuff like that man, like what if I’m not actually feeling it, but what If I’m just imaging that I’m feeling my blowpipe being this smooth? I love feeling things man,  I mean can you imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t feel things you were touching, but you just kind of heard it man? Wouldn’t that be crazy? Oh man, I love you so much…”

The only person more excited about Otapatl than me is Otapatl themself. Look at their fighter card, have you ever seen someone more in love with life?  In terms of what Otapatl brings to the table, aside from enough joie de vivre to make Pharrell Williams look like James Dean, is a remarkable control tool that does everything from capping Goblins and Chainrasps one shot, to potentially stopping Mollog literally in his tracks (Note: Mollog’s special movement ignores either a movement or a charge token, not two of either or a combination of both).

Otapatl’s attack isn’t foolproof, but there are ways to mitigate. Granted, crits are hard to find when you really need them (not like when don’t need them, and you’re trying to score Warning Shot, Dibbz!), but you can still get successes via supports; which can be relatively easy to get via push tech (special shoutout to Blindside, as it combos beautifully with Instinctive Tactics). Other ways to maximize Otapatl’s chances to hit include re-rolls or extra dice (Hunter’s Talisman is fantastic, as is the newly released Eagle Eye, while Sitting Target just feels rude).

In practice, I feel Otapatl is going to be somewhat like Snirk, because he'll be a big target in that you’ll need to protect them in the early game, at least until your team is inspired. The unique ploy card that works solely with Otapatl, Invisible Hunter, could assist in this way, but I feel that it’s a tad too narrow to justify the ploy slot. I could be wrong about that. It’s certainly worth testing.

6. Their faction cards are actually good. This is just axiomatic. Outside of Sneaky Step, Mad Scurry and Petty Vindication, Gitz’ faction cards are …poor. This is certainly not the case for the Stalkers, and you should be looking closely at that, as one of the most significant advantages a warband can have over the field is a strong faction pool. Personally I think that (very) good fighter cards can overcome any deficiencies here (looking at you, Mollog), but in general a solid faction pool is going to take a warband a long way in a competitive meta.  Ideally you’ll have both, which, as I’ve explained above, 3/6 Stalkers have.

7. Come With Us Now On A Journey Through Time and Space…

From an objective deck standpoint, Lords of Space and Time may be the best ploy released since Season One. I honestly can’t articulate how good it is. It’s simultaneously a get-out-of-dodge card, and an objective grabber. It makes Swift Capture an absolute doddle, and can enable Temporary Victory/Hidden Porpoise*. Lords of Space and Time’s best use is to enable inspiration, however. Imagine holding two objectives, then dropping Otapatl on an objective, generously donating a move token to a friendly fighter, and then inspiring for a cool three dodge. Rude.

*No, I’m not going to stop doing that.

Remember too, that unlike Hidden Paths/Beast Trail etc, there’s no restrictions on what sort of tokens the target has, so if you’re in a jam and Klaq-Trok is out of position after a charge, you use Lords as an end of round reset button, and start Round 2-3 with an angry Oldblood in your opponent’s backfield, and an inspired spawning of skinks.

We’re not so different, you and I

Now that we have the differences out of the way, I feel we should acknowledge the shared traits of The Stalkers and The Gitz.

1. Spindly legs and weedy necks. With the exception of Klaq-Trok, both warbands are very low on individual fighters’ wounds, and as such can ship a bit of glory. In this new fangled aged of Primacy, that’s been doubled-down upon. With the last Goblin or Skink killed in a round likely to yield two glory (unless Klaq-Trok can do work), it’s vital you protect the squishier targets. On face the face of it, Skitter should help in that regard, but likely only if the Skink can survive. Blindside, Warding Companion and Buried Instinct are all staples in my Gitz decks, but the Skinks (except Toq) don’t get the extra dice that really makes those cards pop.

2. Stay on Target. Both Gitz and Stalkers are objective focused warbands. For Gitz this is mostly by dint of the synergy with Scurry and their defensive advantages. For Stalkers, it’s basically baked in. Your objective deck should reflect this. Even if you’re not trying the Coveted Spoils game, I’d consider Uncontested, and Path to Victory should be a lock (loq?). Coming from a Gitz perspective, 6 fighters gives me the sweats a little, but the difference in warbands in overall numbers looks significant (9 being better than 6*) remember that the Squigs can’t score, so we’re effectively comparing 6 and 7. So, while a difference of one is still significant**, the fact that they’ve got 2 fewer squishy targets to ship glory (and possibly primacy) means the Gitz’ advantage isn’t as strict as it might seem.

* except in the cases such as number of ex-wives, gunshot wounds and COVID outbreaks

 **especially in the case of ex-wives, gunshot wounds or COVID outbreaks

3. Push it to the limit. I feel that to utilize Stalkers to somewhere approaching their ceiling will involve including Klaq-Trok in the objective game, at least until you've inspired your team. To that end, push cards will be vital; in particular, look opportunities for a charge onto an objective (Slickrock be damned!), and ensure you’ve got a good suite of push tech - I’ve already mentioned Blindside, but also their in-faction push Burst From The Shadows is awesome. Fun fact there, if you can get a Hunter keyword onto Klaq-Trok or Tixi, they’ll be able to benefit from the push too, which could catch an opponent unawares. Because you’re playing Warhammer Underworlds, you’ll be playing Distraction, but I would also strongly consider Huanchi’s Device, which is 90% of the time a clone of Distraction and 10% of the time a hilariously one-sided Mischievous Spirits.  Finally, look for I-Can’t-Believe-They’re-Not-Pushes such as Confusion and the new Living Land too.

 

Putting it all together

I feel like the Stalkers are an exceptionally interesting warband that may well be higher up the tier tree than Gitz, or at least somewhere comparable. Their unique fighter card attributes, strong in-faction cards, and very achievable inspire conditions, make the Stalkers a warband that you need to pay attention to.


I’m going to have a bit of a play with them and see how they grab me. For now, I’m thinking something along the lines of this. It's probably terrible, but I’ll let you know how I get on.

All the best, and stay safe 

Rowan