Warhammer Underworlds Nethermaze is the new core box for this latest season of the game available for pre-order as of today and you can check out our video review and unboxing below or read on for the full review below.

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Thank you to Games Workshop for sending Sprues and Brews a copy of the new Warhammer Underworlds Nethermaze for us to review.

Nethermaze is the latest season of the Warhammer Underworlds board game set once again in the deep oceans of Ulgu and from a lore perspective, continues from where the story left off in Harrowdeep. There is some really interesting narrative included in the 52 page rulebook which tells of Shadowy creatures, exiled Queens and other strange and intriguing secrets.

Alongside the full rulebook you’ll also find all the usual stuff, tokens, dice, two gaming boards, a bunch of cards and of course the two new warbands – Skittershank’s Clawpack and the Shadeborn!

The models for the new warbands themselves are very detailed ‘push fit’ kits on a brown and dark blue/purple sprue respectively. The aelven warband is very reminisce of the Khainite Shadowstalker warband from Warcry however I think the it’s the new Skaven models that steal the show with some very detailed and dynamic sculpts!

Both Warbands get a preconstructed ‘Rivals’ format deck of 32 cards containing a number of Gambit, Upgrade and Objective cards which, as we’ve said before, is a great way for new players to pick up and learn the game, allowing them to pick up a Warband and start using it straight out of the box without having to create a deck first. With a few games under their belt players can then crack open the set of 48 Universal cards and the new 36 Grand Alliance cards also included in the box and start tweaking their deck.

The Shadeborn are a four member warband featuring a singler Wizard with access to a nice spell which deals damage to enemy fighters in cover (you’ll soon see that cover is a bit of an important mechanic for this warband). The inspire mechanic for the Shadeborn is quite straightforward and required only that you make an attack action against a wounded enemy. The warband itself is quite fast, with an all round movement of 4 hexes and has access to a mixture of ranged and melee attack actions which is cool. I mentioned cover earlier, most of the warband has gains some bonus whilst either in cover (re-rolling defence rolls for example) or attacking a model from cover or even in cover. To further exploit these benefits they also have access to cards such as “Abyssal Summoning” which can hand out ‘shadow counters’ to models which means they treat the hex they are on as cover (in addition to it’s existing type). There are other interactions with cover scattered through their deck too. “Rippling Darkness” causes damage to fighters on a cover hex and “Gloomweb Hex” applies a debuff to enemy fighters, reducing the amount of dice they roll for their Attack Actions which is reduced further still if that fighter is on a cover hex. “Shadow Binding” can be used to heal fighters, the amount they heal increases if they are on a cover hex…are you noticing a theme yet? In addition to those mentioned you’ll find cards that let you teleport between cover hexes and exchange locations with fighters on cover hexes. It’s a cool theme and very fitting for these Shadowstalkers!

Skittershank’s Clawpack is a five-ratman warband consisting of a couple of Minions and Assassins. They’re all very fast with a movement of 5 with a nice selection of abilities across the cards. The leader, Slynk Skittershank himself gains some bonuses when targetting enemy leaders, and if you can take such a fight down the entire warband will inspire. A lot of their cards grant the ‘Push’ efftect, targetting members of the Warband or in some cases the opponent’s leader. This should mean the warband is very mobile and able to position different fighters as efficiently and optimally as possible. They also have access to some interesting defensive cards such as “Redirected Attack” and “Skittering Blur” which can be used to keep your Assassins around and foil your opponent’s plans. This warband also has plenty of ways to dish out the Stagger effect, making it even trickier for your opponent to fend off attacks from these pesky Skaven!

Like Harrowdeep, Nerthermaze also has a price tag of £65. For those looking to get into the game I think this is not a bad price, you get everything you need for two players to start playing a game, with a bunch of extra cards to start tweaking your decks with once you have a few games under your belt. If you can find a friend to share the contents with I think you’re getting good value for money. On the other hand if you’re a long time Underworlds fan looking to pick up each of the releases it means you’re now having to spend £65 only six months after purchasing essentially the same rulebook with the Harrowdeep set, itself costing £65 – it may be worth waiting a few months to see if Games Workshop release the warbands separately (as they have for the original Harrowdeep warbands).

Thanks again to Games Workshop for sending Sprues and Brews a copy of the new Warhammer Underworlds Nethermaze for us to .review

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