It feels like it’s been a little while since we had a Warhammer Underworlds release, which GW have kindly rectified with a brand new warband and Rivals deck. Hailing from the Blades of Khorne faction we have Kamandora’s Blades. Accompanying these Khorne loving hunters is a brand new Strike deck, Raging Slayers.

Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us both the kit and the new deck to unbox and review. These are both up for preorder right now, and you can help us out / save some cash by using our affiliates over at Element Games.

Before we get stuck into the article properly, you can watch me unbox both the warband and cards in the below video:

Right, that’s all the precursor stuff done, onto the review! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Kamandora’s Blades Review

It feels like a very very long time ago since we have a Blades of Khorne warband in Warhammer Underworlds.

Instead of taking the Blood Warrior or Reaver route (which I know has been done before), or even a spin-off of other popular units from the Blades of Khorne Battletomes, they have created a new ‘unit’. These lads and lasses are scavengers, out in the wild hunting whatever they can, normally behind an army of Khorne that have swept aside their foes.

To that end the designers have clearly gone for a scavenger vibe with this warband. And whilst they have, in some degree, hit that brief…with the lack of a full set of teeth and barely any armour to speak of, for me quite simply it results in a boring warband.

Firstly, the warband comes on a bright red sprue (keeping up with the different colour sprues for each warband replacing the immediate need to paint as each warband will be a different colour).

I’ve had some tricky (sometimes tedious) building experiences with Easy-Build kits, of which these (and all Underworlds for that matter) are, however this was probably one of the quickest and painless model assemblies I’ve done in ages. Every part went together with no issues what so ever.

I had hoped to have enough time before the deadline to apply some paint to them, as a different paint scheme may change my overall mind on the warband.

Maybe seeing the fighter’s cards will make me love them…

As you’d imagine, they’ve got good combat prowess, and limited armour. But IMHO nothing to write home about.

I completely get the aesthetic Games Workshop were going for with this one, however what they have created IMO is a dull, uninspiring warband.

Raging Slayers | Rivals Deck Review

With the disappointment out of the way, let’s move swiftly on to the Rivals deck which is also up for preorder.

As mentioned, this is a Strike deck so is aimed towards those warbands that love combat.

I’ve done a few reviews of these decks now, and some of them just seem a little overly complicated. Now…I will say I don’t play a ton of Warhammer Underworlds and I’m not a competitive player AT ALL. It’s all about the fun times in my eye.

As you would imagine the deck concentrates on hitting hard, or at least making your combat more reliable.

It has it’s own mechanic, which you can view below:

It’s a little wordy, for what is basically ‘Charge and you get to re-roll one Attack dice, but will be pushed back immediately when Attacked’.

Its flavoursome, simple yet fun, and suits the deck perfectly.

Let’s check out some of the upgrades and power cards.

There are some really nice cards in here that lean into plenty of smashing. Quite a few play off the Rage mechanic, so it’s important to position your fighters in the best way to ensure it is you doing the charging and not the opposite.

It’s all good slaying your opponents, but to win a game of Underworlds you need Glory, and the best source of Glory is using the Objective cards within your deck. So what challenges does this deck offer?

Again, some decks I have reviewed have contained tricky Objectives, albeit a number of them have bountiful rewards. This however is a low scoring deck, with straight forward objectives. This is great for players who aren’t as experienced, such as myself, however you haven’t got any high scoring cards here (apart from Unrelenting Massacre) so if you start falling behind you could struggle to pull it back.

I actually think this is my favourite deck so far, and it suits how I play Underworlds, and that in itself is one of the reasons why I like Warhammer Underworlds, their is a deck and a warband to suit all.

It’s unsubtle, it’s straightforward and it’s the deck I’m going to be using for the time being! Now…which warband to pair it with…

Our thanks again to Games Workshop for sending us both the kit and deck to unbox and review.