Rivals is a new format that has recently been introduced for Warhammer Underworlds, which essentially allows you to play the game without needing to build a deck. You simply use one of the pre constructed warband decks that are found in every warband box. Games Workshop have also released a couple of “Rivals Deck” packs that contain a pre constructed list that can be used with any current or existing warband!

Deadly Depths is the latest Rivals Deck and is up for pre order today! In this post we will be taking a look at the cards contained within and seeing what fun stuff you can do with them!

Massive thanks to Games Workshop who sent us a free review copy a little ahead of time to check out for this post! If you would like to support the site then why not order your copy through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself 20%?

I have also filmed a full unboxing where you can check out all the cards, which you can see below or over on YouTube

So let’s jump into the Deadly Depths and see what cards are included

Gambit Cards

You get 10 new gambit cards in the deck:

A Hungry Darkness is a handy one that allows you to push a feature card 1 hex closer to an enemy fighter.

Amphibious Ambush adds Cleave and Grievous to a range 1 attack targetting a fighter on a feature token

Blazing Light flips all feature tokens that are not an objective with 2 hexes of a chosen fighter.

Knives in the Dark adds 1 damage to an attack targeting a feature token

Murderous tides gives +1 dice to the first attack made by someone with support

Seeking the Deep Truths is a nice way of getting glory from a ploy – you do up to 3 damage to a friendly fighter and roll a number of magic dice equal to the result – you gain glory for each swirl you roll! Really nice if you have a way of negating this damage too

Shadowed Refuge gives you +1 Defence to friendly fighters in cover hexes

The Walls are Closing In deals 1 damage to each enemy fighter on an edge hex – potentially a little too situational for regular usage

Waist Deep is nice in that everyone not on a feature token has their movement reduced to 2!

We Must Go Deeper allows you to push 2 friendly fighters, however they have to end on a cover hex or in enemy territory

Upgrade Cards

Like with the gambits we get 10 new upgrades:

Cursed Boarding Axe is an ace weapon with 4 dice, cleave and 2 damage – however there is a downside in that you only get glory if you kill someone on a feature token

Darkwater Anchor reduces damage from range 3+ attacks and stops the user from being pushed

Dredge Line allows you to pull an enemy fighter off a feature token 2 hexes closer to you, and then is broken

Gallows Humour is a decent card that allows the wielder to be pushed after every activation step in which a fighter was taken out of action

Lurking Horror gives you an extra dice, but you have to remove a dice from the rolled attack pool, and also allows you to push the fighter if they are in a cover hex

Marked by the Dark gives a fighter flying and their attacks now ensnare

Mask of Shadows stops the wielder from being attacked unless the attacker is adjacent, but is broken when they are targeted by a gambit or dealt damage

Tantalising Map Fragment is a nice way of recycling glory, you flip an objective token and then flip a spent glory back to the unspent side, however you also get a charge token

The Life Line allows you to swap the position of 2 friendly fighters in the 3rd round

Umbral Stigmata allows you to take 1 damage to one of your fighters in exchange for 1 damage on an enemy on a feature token

Objective Cards

Finally, the pack contains 12 Objective cards:

A War in the Shadows (1 glory) is scored if one or more enemy fighters are taken out of action and 2 friendly fighters are in cover

Blood in the Deeps (1) is scored if one or more enemy fighters are taken out and one or more friendly fighters are within 1 hex of a feature token

Call of the Dark (3) is scored if 4 or more fighters are in cover hexes, however when you score it one of your fighters in cover takes 1 damage

Crushing Then Wholesale (2) is scored if there are more friendly fighters than enemy fighters and the enemy leader is out of action

Dark Judgement (1) is scored when a friendly fighter is taken out of action and either the attacker or defender are in cover in enemy territory

Desperate Triumph (2) is scored when your leader is vulnerable and on a feature token in enemy territory

Duskbringers (1) is scored if 1 or more friendly fighters are on a feature token in enemy territory that was an objective token at the start of the round

Looting the Realms (1) is scored if two or more enemies out of action have 2 or more upgrades

Lost Together (3) is scored if 2 or more surviving friendly fighters are all on an objective token in the same territory

Plumbing the Depths (2) is scored if you have 1 or more friendly fighters on a cover hex, a feature token and a lethal hex

Purging the Abyss (1) is scored if more enemy fighters were taken out of action than there are objective tokens on the battlefield

Surging Darkness (1) is scored immediately if 2 or more friendly fighters on feature tokens have charge tokens

Summary

I love the Rivals Deck concept for Warhammer Underworlds, and this deck sees a nice set of cards that can work with any warband. Like with the other Rivals Decks there’s a large focus on interacting with feature tokens, and I hope that we see a shift away from this in the next season if only to give some variety, as we have seen a lot of cards along those lines recently. What’s great about this set though is that even if you have an older Underworlds warband that all you need to do is pick up this deck and jump straight into the Nethermaze without having to dedicate a lot of time to deck building – something I think that Underworlds should fully embrace as an optional playstyle going forwards

Warhammer Underworlds Nethermaze Deadly Depths is up for pre order today and is released Saturday 17th September

Games Workshop provided Sprues & Brews with a free copy for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

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