Zarbag’s Gitz

Oi, get ready for sum little green stabbin’

My second warband review this week is on Zarbag’s Gitz (who I purchased), the biggest warband in the game! Can such a team be too unwieldy to play? How reliable is the fanatic? Are the Squigs truly adorable? Read on to find out.

Narrative

Like all Grotz, Zarbag and his gits had been looting the Mirrored City for anything they thought was of value since finding themselves there. Upon one of their loot quests, Zarbag sensed to tantalising aroma of fungal spores drifting up from the depths of Shadespire. They began to dig but soon feel through a massive sink hole.

Finally landing, the Grotz found themselves in the Thanatological Garden of the Katophranes. Instead of lush plantations and flowers, they had now been replaced choking fungus fields and towers of bunched up fungi. The perfect prize! Now Zarbag seeks to spread this toxic fungus across Shadespire and beyond, attracting more Grotz with every passing day.

Miniatures

Zarbag’s Gitz contain a whopping 9 miniatures. While these are on the small size, they still pack tons of detail. You get 7 Grotz and 2 Squigs which are all in colour yellowed plastic as befits the Moonclan. People are saying this is softer than normal Games Workshop plastic but I found no difference myself.

While most of the miniatures aren’t new, we get updated Squigs, Shaman, Fanatic, Moonclan Grotz and a brand new Squig Herder! They all look stunning while also being hugely characterful, putting themselves as one of the best looking warbands in the game.

They also go together fairly easily with allow the arrow gits being single pieces. The most complicated fighter to build is the Fanatic but just be gentle with his chain. There are minimal mould lines and only a small percentage of visible gaps that need to be filled. Other than that, these miniatures go together really well.

Fighters

Zarbag is another leader wizard who lacks any in-built spell. Instead he has the scurry rule which all Grotz have. At 3 wounds he is the weakest leader in the game, having a 2 damage attack that only gains cleave when he inspires. Starting off with 2 dodge is great and going up to movement 4 when inspired is nice too.

The problem is he does very little for the warband outside of being bait and casting spells. He’s not your typical leader so will take some time to use effectively.

Snirk is one of the best fighters in the game. At 3 wounds and a single dodge, he seems weak until you realise he can inspire after any activation. Then he loses his movement but gains 3 dodge and his special unique action. When inspired, he moves via scatter with 4 attack dice and choosing the 3 you want to use. Not only that but any enemy fighters in the way take 1 damage each time he passes into their hex. With enough luck, he can kill any fighter on 3 wounds.

He takes a lot of skill (and luck) to use effectively but is very rewarding when done so. The deadliest killer in the game.

As a helpful tip I learned, place the scatter token with the smash symbol pointing where you want to go in order to have some control over the random movement.

Drizgit is your only block fighter and 3rd with 3 wounds. He has Scurry as a unique action as well as allowing up to 2 adjacent Squigs to move up with him. While he lacks hitting power, his real strength comes from those little beasts.

With decent attack profiles, they gain an additional smash and cleave when inspired which unfortunately involves the death of Drizgit.

What is awesome about them is when you deploy Drizgit, you deploy these 2 adjacent to him. Use this to protect your most important fighter; Snirk. When he is placed next to a blocked hex, Drizgit and the Squigs effectively hide him from any range 1 charges in phase 1.

Apart from that they are decent distractions. Just remember that they cannot hold objectives or be equipped with attack action upgrades.

Lastly we have Prog Da Netter and 3 arrer gitz. Prog has a 1 damage net that reduces enemy attack action dice by 1 (2 when inspired) in the next activation. Not amazing but not terrible either. Then the 3 archers stay the same when inspired but all have range 3 attacks.

The whole warband inspires via attaining 3 glory at any point in the game (except the Squigs and Snirk) which gives them +1 move and dodge. A very interesting mechanic that can be pulled off with a single successful kill.

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The Cards

As in my previous review, I’ll be going from the cards I’m not a huge fan of to those I consider good starting with the faction specific cards. Once again these are just my personal views and opinions on the cards based upon my long experience with the game as well as how I approach it. This isn’t the gospel truth and could change in time.

Faction Objectives

Dank Haven: Memes aside, it’s a worse Denial.

Call That A Win: Grotz die fast but this could be doable, albeit difficult, in a control format.

Mad Scurry: It’s not bad as your whole warband doesn’t need to move to score it but 5 fighters can be a lot if poorly positioned.

Infestation: Claim the City reprint. Run both for the super bold and brave.

Malicious Kill: An improved Tempting Target but not scorable when you’re in the lead or in the first action phase.

Vicious Killers: Would have preferred it being an instant or 2 glory. 1 is too little reward for all that effort.

Scragged: Doable but difficult due to the low damage of the warband. Have to use on a charged target otherwise they’ll just move away unless in Scurry range.

Faction Objectives – Top Picks

Obliterated: 2 glory for killing someone with Snirk? Yes! So good and stackable.

Flash Finale: A reprint of Sorcerous Scouring. Very good with the magical output of the warband.

Faction Gambit Spells

Curse of da Bad Moon: 2 focus is very hard to get off consistently. Still, great range with good area of effect damage.

Sneaky Stabbin’: 2 channel is workable but +1 damage would he preferred over cleave.

‘Orrible Leer: Easy to cast with a single focus but your leader being adjacent to multiple enemy fighters is usually a death sentence for him to begin with.

Faction Gambit Spells – Top Picks

Jealous Hex: A single focus for a great debuff. Remember it targets any fighter with the highest wounds characteristic so do it before playing any of your wound upgrades. Combine with Abasoth’s Withering for maximum debuffs. 3 wound Gurzag? 2 wound Sevrin? Get ’em, lads!

Faction Gambit Ploys

Little Waaagh!: Determined Effort reprint. It’s alright.

Fungal Blessing: A reprint of Death Throes. Not bad but I don’t like cards that focus on your own fighters dying.

Faction Gambit Ploys – Top Picks

Sneaky Step: Sidestep reprint, awesome.

Stab ’em the Knee: *slaps card* This baby is overpowered in the hands of The Honest Wargamer. Use Scurry for extra damage to make Roblins everywhere proud.

Make Some Noise: Choose 2 Squigs and push them up to 2 hexes is amazing. So much mobility in 1 card.

Madcap Mushrooms: The first focus/channel innate but take a single damage if you can roll a crit. Still, so versatile and amazing for those 2 focus gambit spells.

Faction Upgrades

Extra Bouncy: If Squigs had more than 3 movement I’d be tempted but it doesn’t even ignore blocked hexes.

Sniffer Spite: Nice but A Destiny to Meet exists as well as the Slumbering Key.

Nasty Stabba: A card that requires Prog as a supporting fighter for the full effect. 4 smash is nice but it’s just 2 damage.

Lurker: Nice for push abusing but not that great in my eyes.

Grizzled Survivor: Not a fan of fighter specific +1 defence upgrades.

Fiery Brand: Concealed Weapon but worse.

Faction Upgrades – Top Picks

Endless Whirl: Great when stuck in the middle of foes.

Vindictive Glare: A decent ranged attack with 2 damage on a crit. A more accurate Shadeglass Darts.

Volley Caller: Have 2 archers fire in a single activation. Destroy all those who mocked your little green archers.

Ravenous: +1 damage is always good in my books, especially for the reliable Squigs.

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Now it’s time to look at all the neutral cards that come with the warband.

Neutral Objectives

Magical Void: Relying on your opponent to cast no spells successfully with a minimum of 1 is a very strange and difficult to score objective.

Nowhere to Go: Instant makes it nice but not easy to score at all.

With Our Bare Hands: An interesting requirement but no upgrades is very hard to do.

Arcane Torrent: Do you love crits? Then maybe this card is for you. And those who like damaging their wizards.

Solid Gains: A +1 glory win more card. Not a huge fan.

Interdiction: Should have been a score immediately objective.

Catching Up: It’s not bad but it’s not good either.

Neutral Objectives – Top Picks

Keep Them Guessing: A very well-designed card. Every warband can score this but ones with more mechanics do this far easier, namely Sepulchral Guard and the Nightvault warbands. Amazing.

Extreme Flanks: It’s too good. Way too good. Should have been 1 glory.

Sorcerous Scouring: Instantly reward yourself for blowing people up with magic.

Master of Terrain: A score immediate that works off of lethal hexes. Rewards great positioning so I love this card.

Neutral Gambit Spells

Sphere of Shyish: It’s easy enough to cast with a single channel but I’d rather instantly kill something over preventing it from being healed.

Healing Purge: It’s like the Regeneration upgrade. Just pass.

Levitation: Ignoring lethal hexes is alright but none of the casters really have the movement to take full advantage of this or the need.

Neutral Gambit Spells – Top Picks

Infinite Riches: 2 channel is far easier to pull of and getting cards back like Soul Trap is amazing.

Abasoth’s Unmaking: I like cards that remove objectives and this one is a neutral. Make Claim the City easier to score or shutdown people counting on their own Supremacy.

Arcane Shield: 2 focus is hard but then persistently reduce damage by 1 to a minimum of 1.

Neutral Gambit Ploys

One Step Ahead: Like Anticipation but far worse.

Neutral Gambit Ploys – Top Picks

Encroaching Shadow: Punish people scoring Extreme Flanks or push someone into a wall and hit them with this.

Mirror Move: While reliant on your opponent, it is very abusable. Use after some plays My Turn to push your fighter out of range etc.

Pit Trap: We didn’t need this. Twist the Knife and Trap are borderline broken. Now you can play all 3 together to kill everyone in 1 hit.

Neutral Upgrades

Chained Sprite: It’s a decent scatter for 1 damage but not great.

Fighter’s Ferocity: Great with Farstriders only. Have that damn bird do up to 3 damage.

Nullstone Axe: Shadeglass Axe is just better. Much better. The ranged profile should have been damage 2.

Parrying Blade: You can only use it as a reaction for maybe 1 damage.

Spiteful Charm: Interesting but more than likely said fighter will die in the trade. Has potential though.

Neutral Upgrades – Top Picks

Tome of Incantations: With Arcane Familiar, you can get double channels easily or prevent double crit death. Still really good.

Faneway Crystal: One of the best upgrades in the game. Use with Quick Thinker or when charging. So many possibilities.

Low Cunning: Great for the Gitz or any warband with multiple push cards.

Mutating Maul: Another really well designed card. Either have knockback or cleave depending on the foe. Let down by Shadeglass Hammer and Dagger.

Potion of Rage: +2 dice is very strong and doesn’t compete with gambit space. Use for spells or Shadeglass weapons.

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Decklist – Nightvault Only Cards

Before going into the deck building section, please read my article on the subject: here. It’s how I approach deck building and will give you a solid basis to start from.

Objectives (12)
N90 – Flash Finale
N92 – Mad Scurry
N94 – Obliterated
N95 – Scragged
N310 – Denial
N317 – Extreme Flank
N319 – Fired Up
N321 – Ganging Up
N340 – Keep Them Guessing
N347 – Martyred
N374 – Supremacy
N376 – Tactical Supremacy 1-4

Gambits (10)
N97 – Curse of da Bad Moon
N99 – Jealous Hex
N101 – Madcap Mushroom
N102 – Make Some Noise
N105 – Sneaky Step
N106 – Stab ’em in the Knee
N389 – Abasoth’s Withering
N400 – Centre of Attention
N404 – Countercharge
N436 – Pit Trap

Upgrades (10)
N107 – Endless Whirl
N113 – Ravenous
N115 – Vindictive Glare
N116 – Volley Caller
N473 – Arcane Familiar
N486 – Champion’s Fortitude
N499 – Faneway Crystal
N506 – Great Strength
N514 – Mutating Maul
N543 – Sudden Growth

The main tactic is keeping the enemy out of your board and swarming anyone who enters your board. Use cards like Countercharge to get Snirk in range as well as sticking Sudden Growth on him. Faneway Crystal is for boosted mobility and objective grabbing while you still have enough damaging upgrades to make your fighters a threat.

Decklist – Shadespire and Nightvault Cards

Objectives (12)

234 – Advancing Strike

243 – Change of Tactics

252 – Defensive Strike

257 – Escalation

278 – Our Only Way Out

282 – Ploymaster

284 – Precise Use of Force

292 – Supremacy

N92 – Mad Scurry

N94 – Obliterated

N317 – Extreme Flank

N340 – Keep Them Guessing

Gambits (10)

329 – Great Concussion

347 – Quick Thinker

372 – Twist the Knife

N99 – Jealous Hex

N101 – Madcap Mushroom

N102 – Make Some Noise

N105 – Sneaky Step

N106 – Stab ’em in the Knee

N389 – Abasoth’s Withering

N400 – Centre of Attention

Upgrades (10)

373 – A Destiny to Meet

374 – Acrobatic

376 – Awakened Weapon

384 – Deathly Fortitude

391 – Great Strength

395 – Incredible Strength

410 – Shadeglass Dagger

412 – Shadeglass Hammer

N107 – Endless Whirl

N543 – Sudden Growth

This is more of an aggressive focus. With the Shadeglass weapons, you now have extra hitting power as well as staples like Great Concussion and Quick Thinker. You can also make a 7 wound 4 dodge Snirk! Make enemies weak and stab ’em in the knee!

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Final Thoughts

Zarbag’s Gitz are a tough warband to approach, especially when new to the game. They have so many gameplay mechanics that it can be overwhelming as they have so much choice. Focus on learning the warband and refining your movement and position. Get familiar with how the scatter mechanic work as well as how Scurry interacts with the game.

Despite being 9 fighters, you can use Scurry to move multiple Grotz at once, just don’t get determined on moving all the Grotz in a single activation. Instead move 2 or 3 at a time or just 1, you don’t have to use Scurry after all. Use Drizgit and the Squigs as your wall to protect Snirk or other fighters that are crucial to you. Your leader is just needed for magic support, keep Zarbag away from combat.

Overall they’re a fun but erratic warband that take time to use effectively. There is no doubt that you will have fun using them however.

With that, I’d highly recommend buying Zarbag’s Gitz. They’re a super characterful and warband which also contain some amazing cards, what’s not to love? They even love rolling crits!