Thundrik’s Profiteers

Kharadron Overlords make their mark in the Mirrored City.

It’s a new day and a new warband! Welcome to my Product Review of Thundrik’s Profiteers, including the warband and all accompanying universal cards. As always thanks to Games Workshop for giving me this warband to review for free, it’s always an honour. So without further ado, let’s see what the Profiteers bring to Warhammer Underworlds!

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Narrative

Thundrik and his Profiteers ventured outwards from their home skyport in search of Shadespire and its famed riches. They were not the first of the Kharadron Overlords to venture out for the Mirrored City but Thundrik was determined to be the first successful Duardin to do it. With his prized Skyvessel, they set out fourth across the mortal realms, eventually finding the faint trail of Aether Gold wafting across the Desert of Bones.

Thundrik’s celebrations were short-lived however as their ship was drawn in by the city’s accursed magic and lost to them. Now trapped within Shadespire, Thundrik and his Profiteers fight off the horrors of Shadespire and Nightvault to find their glorious Skyvessel and return home with all the bountiful loot they have plundered. Fairly of course.

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Miniatures

Thundrik’s Profiteers contains 5 miniatures: Aether-Khemist Thundrik, Grundstock Thunderer Lund, Arkanaut Company Ironhail and Alensen with Skywarden Drakkskewer. Each model varies in role and look but together they form the Profiteers of the Kharadron Overlords.

Each miniature is bustling with technical details as befits their natural ingenuity. They may be sky pirates but they’re still Duardin at heart and this posses tools as well as exotic weapons of war. My favourite still has to be Drakkskeweer, held aloft via his Aether-Endrin.

The plastic sprues are marketed as metallic brown but is actually more akin to a light bronze. It’s not easy to capture via pictures but it looks really great and has an additional shimmer effect. Despite looking quite complex the miniatures go together fairly easily with Drakkskewer being the most complicated. It has to be said that he was specifically modeled to get around his need for a flight stand, which just looks really great in the end.

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The Fighters

Thundrik’s Profiteers contain 5 fighters. This makes them middle of the road when it comes to numbers which can be a good or bad thing depending on your outlook. I’ll now look at each fighter in-depth.

Bjorgen Thundrik: The Aether-Khemist extraordinaire. He’s your literal boss. He may seem weak at first but there are 3 key things you need to look at first.Promotion is Thundrik’s most important rule. While he’s alive, every time you score an objective you can choose a friendly fighter to become inspired. This opens so many possibilities and makes your objective deck even more important than it already is. Just like with how Spiteclaw’s Swarm and Godsworn Hunt rely on their ploys and upgrades to inspire, this dual role of the objective deck allows canny plays. I like scoring Headshot with Lund and then immediately inspiring him to change your attack damage to 2.

Next you have Thundrik’s unique reaction. After he’s activated, enemies in the next activation treat adjacent hexes as lethal hexes. Firstly this is protection against range 1 attacks. Secondly you can use this to block off areas of the board if you’re brave. It’s a unique take on control and I love it.

Now we have the inspired profile. Range 3, damage 2, 2 smash with cleave! Amazing. Then he also gains +1 movement, defence dice and wounds! Truly a monstrous threat. Thundrik goes from commanding at the back to a Duardin steampunk beast. Gloryseeker is your friend.

Dead-Eye Lund may be acoustically challenged but he always gets his shots on target. Lund has a big loaded gun and he wants you to know about it. With a range 3, 2 smash, 1 damage attack with cleave, he becomes your reliable damage dealer. He’s fairly durable too. Don’t forget the movement of 2 though.

Inspiring gives Lund damage 2 while also improving his movement and wounds. He’s just awesome. A likely candidate for being inspired first while also helping to get the warband going.

Enrik Ironhail. His special trait is that he decided to bring a massive chaingun to an arena fight. He may seem rather weak but don’t let his characteristics and stature fool you, size isn’t everything as Duardin commonly say. EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO AETHERIC BALLISTIC ENGINEERING. His knockback 1 with range 3 opens up a lot of avenues for positional play, not to mention board control. He makes lethal hexes your friend.

Ironhail goes to 4 fury upon inspiring! Not only does he get more accurate but he becomes your reliable source for Headshot. He also loves Fighter’s Ferocity. This Kharadron Overlord then gains +1 movement, wounds while going from dodge to block. Ain’t he just the best?

Garodd Alensen, the redshirt of the Profiteers. He’s an Arkanaught Company Privateer on the quest for glory. Most fighters wouldn’t charge an inspired Mollog but Alensen would (if he then scored Martyred out of it, ask the better)! His stats are quite average but he becomes a decent threat upon inspiring. I wouldn’t prioritise it however.

Khazgan Drakkskewer is a famed Skywarden. This Duardin has a big spear and he knows how to use it. With his Aether-Endrin, Drakkskewer zooms around the arena with his movement of 4. Not only that but he ignores lethal and blocked hexes which further aids his mobility. With a range 2, 2 smash, damage 2 attack, he’s your best melee fighter too.

3 wounds gets boosted to 4 when inspired whereas his Skypike becomes damage 3. Drakkskewer may seem out-of-place at first but he adds speedy range and close combat output. He even has a pistol for that extra hex of threat range.

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Faction Cards

Now for the meat of the article that you’re all salivating over. For those unaware I’ll be going over faction cards first from objectives to upgrades and then the same with universal cards. All views are my own and may differ from your’s but I do have a lot of competitive experience backing up my opinions on the cards.

Faction Objectives

Collect Bounty: Faction version of Assassinate. It’s alright.

It’s Ours Now: An interesting objective that can be hampered by aggro warbands and the Profiteers’ low movement value.

Sound Finances: A harder to score version of Great Gains. Quite difficult to score early on.

Faction Objectives – Top Picks

Focus Fire: Quite an investment over 3 activations but 4 or greater wound fighters won’t exactly be killed in a single attack by the warband. Not quite as good as Concerted Attack but you can run both in-tandem with each other if desired.

Headshot: This card speaks to my soul. Ironhail has a 42.1% to 51.8% chance of scoring this depending on whether he’s inspired or not. Can you roll a crit?

Live By The Code: I was torn on this, not being able to discard an objective for a guaranteed glory is amazing but very restrictive at the same time. I’m going to lean with good for the moment.

Search the City: Faction version of Our Only Way Out. Great.

Seeking Advancement: Your warband just has to take an enemy fighter out of action who has a wounds characteristic of 4 or more. Pretty darn good and easy to do.

Stake a Claim: Limits yourself to your own territory but if you can keep the opponent out then it’s a solid single glory.

Faction Gambit Ploys

Ambitious Attack: +1 damage is nice, just a shame it’s only for range 1 and 2 attacks.

Atmospheric Isolation: Faction version of No Time, the most situationally powerful card. I guess run both if you want, remember to keep Thundrik alive.

Protect the Boss: Good but quite situational and dependent on where you set up your leader.

Quiet Contemplation: I’m not a fan of draw cards but this does allow you to exchange objectives without needing to waste an activation.

Timed Charge: It’s a 50/50 and requires Drakkskewer to be adjacent to enemy fighters. However if you can pull it off then you’ll be doing 1 damage to multiple enemy fighters. Not really worth the risk however.

Unyielding: Immunity to being driven back for an activation is nice but I’d rather invest in push cards like Sidestep and Quick Advance.

Faction Gambit Ploys – Top Picks

Aetheric Augmentation: Faction Determined Effort. +1 dice is always welcomed.

Prepared Position: Going on guard is great, synergises with Change of Tactics too.

Seek the Skyvessel: It’s soooo good. Use those free moves to your desire. Becomes even better with inspired fighters.

Toxic Gasses: Meet my new favourite card. I already like cards that have 2 effects you need to choose from, now you make your opponent choose either bad option (for them)! Do they want to be moved into a vulnerable position or take 1 damage instead and become easier to kill? The lack of a range restriction makes it even better.

Faction Upgrades

Ancestral Might: A faction Great Strength is usually a welcomed sight for most warbands but only Drakkskewer really wants this.

Punishing Retort: If it was 2 smash or 3 fury I’d probably run it but even then it’s still a big gamble.

Swashbuckler: I mean, if you plan Alensen to survive games and be a pivotal fighter then this is for you.

Faction Upgrades – Top Picks

Ancestral Fortitude: Faction Great Fortitude. Stack with Great Fortitude and Tome of Vitality for extra non-restricted wound goodness.

Augmented Buoyancy: Fear the movement 6 Duardin. Be the speed.

Breath of Grungi: Knockback range 3 is great and this gives you another source of it.

Empowered Aethershot: It’s just because of Ironhail. Knockback, 3 fury, range 3 and cleave all in a single package? Ooooooh yessss.

Magmalt Draught: Faction Potion of Constitution. Really good.Paymaster: Turn Thundrik into a walking Awakened Weapon.

Paymaster: Awakened Weapon but just requiring your leader to be adjacent. Positional but still strong.

Rapid Reload: Ironhail gets to fire twice once per round as a reaction. Amazing. Just remember you can’t use this in an action phase where Ironhail has already shot before having this equipped.

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Universal Cards

Now we take a gander at all those extra tender universal cards available within the Thundrik’s Profiteer’s expansion.

Universal Objectives

Biding Your Time: It’s great for static control players but I strongly dislike cards like this.

Branching Fate: The odds on this aren’t good. Would consider running possibly if it was 2 glory.

Building Momentum: Flawless Strategy reprint. It’s alright.

Every Trick in the Book: I like it but it’s too much of a momentum card to score reliably. Need either 5 ploys in-hand or a decent glory pool.

Tireless Slayer: Very warband dependent. Annihilation is probably a better choice.

Universal Objectives – Top Picks

Calculated Risk: This is sooooooo good. Just move for 1 glory. Downsides are that you’ll have to use a board with lethal hexes and it means a fighter is easier to kill but this is just so easy to score. Amazing especially for Thundrik’s Profiteers, Ironskull’s Boyz and Ylthari’s Guardians. Just remember that fighters who ignore lethal hexes such as Chainrasps cannot score this objective so basically unusable for Thorns of the Briar Queen.

Death from Afar: A fighter has to specifically take a fighter out of action at range 3 or more. Really good for ranged warbands like the Profiteers.

Master of Mayhem: Just for Snirk. Spin to win baby!

Patient Commander: The opposite to Aggressive Commander. I really like it. Punish your opponent for always going first.

Tactical Supremacy 2-5: I’m a big fan of Tactical Supremacy 1-4 so another card in the same vein is an awesome addition.

Versatile Fighter: Shoot then boop. Don’t even need to succeed. Great for the Profiteers but especially the Farstriders or most wizards.

Universal Gambit Spells

Empathic Exchange: I get the idea in principle and being cast on a single channel is but I’d rather run Vital Surge. Having to be adjacent doesn’t help either.

Universal Gambit Spells – Top Picks

Amnesiac Backlash: Can you roll a crit? It’ll entirely shut down an enemy wizard for the entire game. You also damage them too. Tough to cast and matchup dependent but changes the game if it goes off.

Sphere of Aqshy: Just amazing. A magic staple right here.

Universal Gambit Ploys

Black-Powder Sphere: I kinda like it but the problem is the 50/50 aspect of the card coupled with the scatter mechanic. One or the other would be fine but both hamper the card a lot.

Piling On: Basically a universal version of Stab ’em in the Knee. Not a fan of the card outside of Zarbag’s Gitz.

Trading Up: Not a bad card but I’d rather ditch a bad upgrade instead of using it.

Universal Gambit Ploys – Top Picks

Aetherflux: A really powerful and flexible card that be used to punish players relying on channel spells or make those focus spells really easy to cast. It lasts all the way through to the next power step so ittlasts a long time too.

Magical Dearth: Another solid anti-magic card.

Shifting Reflection: So many uses for this. Just imagine swapping the Blue Horror for someone’s leader etc. There’s unlimited range gives you so many options despite both target’s needing to be holding objectives.

Stand and Shoot: Oh yes. Almost as good as Quick Thinker. Remember the charger has to be adjacent which allows some counter-play. Imagine taking 4 damage from Farstrider’s Starfalcon after charging, madness haha.

Universal Upgrades

Crown of Avarice: Useless if your opponent has no unspent glory.

Hunter’s Tenacity: Nice free push but driving back a fighter is usual done to make space so it has a limited use.

Paradox Armour: Better for fighters with multiple defence dice starting on dodges but the loss of crits is too much for my liking.

Tome of Healing: Only really useful for Ylthari’s Guardians. Not a fan otherwise.

Universal Upgrades – Top Picks

Blessing of Hydragos: That juicy 2 hex push in any direction is great. You need to succeed but is especially amazing when combined with ranged fighters.

Earthing Stone: Shut down hold objectives with 1 simple upgrade. Remember it effects you too.

Hammer of Scorn: I like knockback, knockback 2 is even better.

Nullstone Mace: Extremely reliable against the ever-growing popularity of wizards.

Reinforced Armour: Completely negate damage 1 attacks unless your opponent can roll a crit. Very strong against multiple targets. Doesn’t care about range or damage modifiers. Just can you roll a crit?

Voidscepter: Shutdown any persisting ability within range. Abasoth’s Withering? No problem. Gets exceedingly better the more common persisting effects get.

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Decklists

Next we come to the part of the article where I go over example decklists you can use as a starting point to get to grips with the warband. Remember these aren’t necessarily tournament decks but more an all-round foundation. As always I’ll be doing a Nightvault only deck and then a deck with all expansion cards, which means cards from Ylthari’s Guardians too so don’t forget to read that article when it’s out too 😉

Nightvault Only Cards

Playstyle: Flex (Aggro and Control)

This mainly aggro deck with elements of control and slight hold objectives gives you a solid base to start from. Focus Fire is a reliable but lengthy investment yet that’s exactly what you need; Reliable objectives. What Armour? and Get Thee Hence are also easily scored as well as being score immediately objectives. Search the City and Supremacy are nice objectives for when losing boards but you also have the speed of Drakkskewer. Denial is just a solid endgame objective.

You have 3 extra dice cards to make your attacks more reliable while also helping with scoring Headshot. Sidestep and Seek the Skyvessel give you additional mobility while Transfixing Stare helps pin fighters in place. Stand and Shoot just punishes charges and Toxic Gasses is supremely fun. Pit Trap is added extra damage.

Upgrades mainly revolve around dice manipulation. You also have Ancestral Fortitude and Magmalt Draught for extra survivability that you can stack on Thundrik or spread around the warband. Gloryseeker and Fighter’s Ferocity are just great +1 damage upgrades for your ranged weapons.

All Available Cards

Playstyle: Flex (Aggro and Control)

Building off of the Nightvault deck, I’ve made changes to include some more powerful universal cards such as Change of Tactics and Ready for Action. Trap is taken over Pit Trap as the former has a better reaction window. Transfixing Stare is dropped for Distraction to give you more positional control and Awakened Weapon just boosts your accuracy even more.

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Parting Shots

Thundrik’s Profiteers bring the power of ranged Aether gold powered technology to Warhammer Underworlds. Unlike the Farstriders, these fighters are pretty much locked into range combat. This does make them the best ranged warband in the game however. You still have Drakkskewer for dedicated melee fighting so opponents running into will have to remember that.

Like Spiteclaw’s Swarm and the Godsworn Hunt, the Profiteers dedicated themselves to a specific group of cards. Inspiring off of scoring objectives is easy and hard at the same time. Your objective deck matters more than ever as it’s an engine to get your warband going as well as ensuring you score enough glory to win. Added to this is making sure Thundrik stays alive. If you can master all of this then you’re on to a dominating winner.

So would I buy this? Yes, absolutely. Thundrik’s Profiteers offer another unique approach to Warhammer Underworlds. The 5 unique fighters show the true power of Duardin ingenuity. You can’t hide back as well as the Farstriders but why do that when you have pure Duardin power! This expansion also comes with some very useful universal cards no matter your playstyle or warband. If you want to get your hands on a copy then order now direct from Games Workshop here.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Thundrik’s Profiteers, you’ll find it useful no matter your skill level. Tune in next time where I’ll be going over Ylthari’s Guardians! How will the final warband of Nightvault perform? Will their additional kill off the Mirrored City or will it spring life to the endless arena combat? Find out soon. All I’ll say is that there will be a lot of crits!