In order to seal the Beastgrave, the Lumineth Realm-Lords flash into the Direchasm!
Welcome to another warband review, this time of Myari’s Purifiers. This warband makes up 2 of the teams found in the Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm core set. As always thanks to Games Workshop for providing these to review for free. Still, I always aim to be impartial and honest. With that all out-of-the-way, back to the article at hand.
As an extra note, this warband review is part of my main review of the Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm core set which you can find here.
Narrative
Myari’s Purifiers entered the Beastgrave in full knowledge of its effects as they had a mission to seal it forever, knowing they had the mental strength to resist the Beastgrave’s visions and urges. Their plan is to act early and strike swift, for if they do nothing then they fear the spread of the Katophrane Curse out of the Beastgrave, infecting Ghur and then Hysh itself. They delve ever deeper into the Direchasm in order to complete their mission. Their Aetherquartz gems giving them the needed power to continue on with their quest of order and balance.
Miniatures
Myari’s Purifiers are a 4 fighter warband consisting of: Myari Lightcaller, Bahannar, Ailenn the Midn’s Edge and Senaela. Each miniature is a highly detailed warrior of the Lumineth Realm-Lords, featuring their regal and orderly designs as associated with the Aelves from the realm of Hysh. My favourite fighter from the warband is Bahannar. While a lot of people dislike his head, I’m indifferent on it and generally like the overall pose of this stoic warrior of the mountain. Watching the battle patiently, waiting for the right time to strike swiftly and strongly. Overall the poses of the rest of the warband aren’t that appealing to me which is what I feel is their main problem but it’s not enough to turn me off of Myari’s Purifiers.
The miniatures come in an off-white/light great coloured plastic. It’s unique and fits their light theme. The miniatures are quite fragile as befits spindly Aeleves so always take care with construction. Bases don’t have fused feet to the models so painting in subassemblies without the bases is easy and a must due to all those robes and folds. There are also a lot of plastic plants to attach which are a little annoying. Building these miniatures was not fun and Bahannar is incredibly fiddly/difficult to construct, I fear how new players will fare. Definitely the worst warband I’ve had to put together. Otherwise they still pack lots of detail and show how far Games Workshop have advanced even more with their miniature building technology.
The Fighters
Myari’s Purifiers are a 4 fighter warband which puts them closer towards the elite spectrum of warband size. As a 4 fighter warband, Myari’s Purifiers occupies a great space in terms of defensive and offensive deployment while also helping you use your activations more efficiently (1 activation per fighter each round). The warband shares a movement characteristic of 4 and wounds characteristic of 3, which puts them at being mobile while still quite fragile. Their inspire mechanic is when a fighter’s attack, defence (or casting rolls for Myari) only contains successes. This is a very unique inspiration mechanic which reflects the Lumineth Realm-Lords’ drive for perfection. It’s not easy and can be slow so you’ll have to keep that in-mind as you play.
Each fighter starts the game with an aetherquart counter which gives them the ability to, once per game, remove an aetherquartz counter to grant a single re-roll to an attack, defence or casting roll. It helps trade-off their fragility and rather tough inspire mechanic.
Myari Lightcaller
Myari Lightcaller is the leader of Myari’s Purifiers and is also a level 2 wizard. Their boss and mage combined. He’s armed with the Staff of Enlightenment which is range 2, 1 smash and 2 damage. It seems not great at first but this attack action being 1 smash makes inspiring really easy for Myari. He also is armed with Searing Beams which are range 3, hits on focus and is 1 damage which make it a standard range magical attack. He has a dodge characteristic 2 for some decent defence. Myari has a unique ability which gives all friendly fighters an aetherquart counter at the start of the game.
Myari Inspired
Myari Inspired has his Staff of Enlightenment increase to 2 smash and his Searing Beams increase to 2 damage. It’s not much but makes him more efficient at dealing damage.
Bahannar
Bahannar (not Ba-na-na) is the guy with the hammer. He has a super threatening Stone Mallet which is range 2, 2 smash and 2 damage. He packs 2 block and can’t be driven back while he has no move or charge tokens, which is a nice representation of his power of THE BOULD- MOUNTAIN. He is the only fighter in the warband with a movement characteristic of 3 but his range of 2 helps to mitigate that.
Bahannar Inspired
Bahannar inspired has his Stone Mallet increase to 3 damage. He hits it really hard. Outside of that, he remains unchanged. Inspiration is just a nice damage boost.
Ailenn, the Mind’s Edge
Ailenn, the Mind’s Edge (Shaka, when the walls fell. Okay, I’ll stop.) is the swordswoman of the group. She is armed with the Greatsword which is range 1, 2 smash and 2 damage. She has an ability which allows her to re-roll all defence dice against range 3+ attack actions. Watch her parry bullets. Either way, she’s a nice fast and reliable fighter.
Ailenn Inspired
Ailenn Inspired has her Greatsword increase to 3 smash and gain Cleave. This coupled with her increased defence characteristic of 2 block makes her more durable while also being more reliable at making successful attacks. It’s a great buff.
Senaela
Senaela is a Hunter and is the archer. She is armed with her Auralan Bow. (Lofted) mode is range 4, 2 smash and 1 damage while (Aimed) mode is range 2, 2 smash, 1 damage and Cleave with the ability to do +1 damage on the roll of a crit. Mmmmm. She’s great at tagging opponents from afar or hunting block defence fighters while also having the chance of doing 2 damage at range.
Senaela Inspired
Senaela Inspired has her (Lofted) mode go to a mighty range 5 and has her dodge characteristic increase to 2. It’s a nice buff but not necessary for her to function with.
Faction Cards
Now we’re at the card part of the review! As always faction cards then universals. An interesting thing to point out is that Myari’s Purifiers have their own unique keyword of cards, being Elemental cards which revolve around alternate ways of using their Aetherquartz counters for different effects. There are only 4 of these new cards but I’ll cover each individually in the following card reviews.
Faction Objectives
Diamond-Bright Souls is a Dual objective which is 2 glory if you have 3 or more surviving fighters and each one is inspired. Considering how unreliable it is to inspire Myari’s Purifiers consistently, I wouldn’t really run this. It’s appropriately tough to score but just too tough for my liking.
Haughty Exemplars is a weird objective to rank. Score 2 glory if you have more surviving friendly fighters than enemy fighters. It’s very matchup dependent but also difficult to score late-game due to the warband’s general wounds characteristic of 3. Good in a solid control build but really hard to play around with outside of that.
Patience of the Mountain is a Surge which scores you 1 glory when each surviving friendly fighter has 1 guard token. It’s…alright but is better when you have less fighters. Still, it’s not idea and can be a waste of activations and card investment to score for 1 glory. It’s reliable but just not ideal.
Vaunted Speed scores 1 glory in the end phase if a surviving friendly fighter has the highest movement characteristic over every other surviving fighter. For 1 glory and only a max movement of 4 base, this is actually really hard to score. Especially with how fast most warbands are nowadays. Just too much effort for 1 glory.
Faction Objectives – Top Picks
Elemental Blessing is a Surge and Hybrid objective which grants you 1 glory when you remove and Aetherquartz counter after resolving an Elemental ploy or when your warband casts its second or subsequent spell that phase. It’s easy, reliable and fast glory. No reason not to take.
Force of the Avalanche is a Surge which gives 1 glory when a friendly attack action deals damage equal to or greater than the enemy fighter’s wounds characteristic. It’s like Precise Use of Force but more like Precise Overuse of Force. Really flexible and a great aggro card.
Perfect Formation is faction Temporary Victory. 2 glory for holding 3 or more objectives as a Surge. With only 3 fighters at movement 4, 1 at movement 3 and a general wounds characteristic of 3, I find this alright for Myari’s Purifiers. It’s still an amazing objective but there’s a lot of risk when you don’t draw into it early and/or only have 2 objectives in your board. Just hope you’re not playing against hard and fast aggro.
Perfectionists scores 1 glory in the end phase if no surviving fighters have Aetherquartz counters. You can quickly burn through them for 1 glory. It’s minimal but reliable and there’s not much your opponent can do to stop you scoring it.
Purifying Light scores you 1 glory in the end phase when your Leader is holding an objective. Another great way to score 1 glory while having your leader sitting back safely away from the risk of taking damage.
Pursuit of Excellence grants 2 glory when 1 or more surviving friendly fighters have 3 or more upgrades. Really easy to score and once again there’s not much your opponent can do to stop it. Stack with some reliable Surge objectives to get your glory train rolling.
Seal the Beastgrave is faction Supremacy. Hold 3 objectives for 3 glory. Basically play hold objectives with this warband. PLAY HOLD OBJECTIVES. Remember you still only have 4 fighters with 3 wounds each.
Unsullied Hands is faction Death From Afar with slightly better wording. Score 1 glory as a Surge when you take an enemy fighter out of action with a range 3+ attack action. Score it with Myari or Senaela.
Faction Gambits
Channel the Mountain is an Elemental card. It either gives the chosen friendly fighter a Guard token or you can remove that fighter’s Aetherquartz counter to given and all adjacent friendly fighters a Guard token. Good for Patience of the Mountain but it’s not really an efficient gambit to run in your deck.
Flicker of Light is another interesting damage negation card. You play this reaction after the determine success step of an attack action if it would do enough damage to take your friendly fighter out of action. Remove their Aetherquartz counter, roll a magic dice, on the roll of a channel the combat sequence immediately ends. 50/50 to stop damage and prevent any cards that trigger off of failed attack actions to attack again. Flicker of Light is an amazing defensive card but I just don’t like running 50/50 cards.
Lambent Light is a gambit spell which is cast on 2 channel symbols. If cast, you can Choose one enemy fighter within 4 hexes of the caster and you can re-roll 1 attack dice with friendly fighter attack actions until the end of the round or when the target is taken out of action. It’s a really interesting and strong effect but that double channel makes it a pain to cast.
Untouchable Pride makes you Choose a friendly fighter. If they have an Aetherquartz counter, you can give them a Guard token but if they do not then you just Heal 1 that fighter. If you like going on guard, then Untouchable Pride is for you. The healing is a bit moot with 3 wound fighters and once again this is a situational card.
Faction Gambits – Top Picks
Channel the River is another Elemental card. Choose a friendly fighter, push them 1 hex or remove their Aetherquartz counter to push them up to 3 hexes instead. It’s an amazing push card, either another Sidestep or a super Sidestep. Essential for staying on objectives tokens.
Channel the Wind is also an Elemental card. Deal 1 damage to an enemy fighter within 2 hexes or remove that chosen friendly fighter’s Aetherquartz counter to Deal 1 damage to up to 2 enemy fighters within 2 hexes instead. Do a free point of damage or ping 2 enemy fighters for 1 damage. Helps get you those kills quickly against tough foes of putting weak fighters down to 1 wound so Myari can snipe them with his magic.
Channel the Zenith is the 4th Elemental card. Choose a friendly fighter and inspire them until the end of the round or remove their Aetherquartz counter to inspire permanently. It’s not an essential card but Channel the Zenith is great for getting a key inspire when needed. An interesting thing to note is that if you choose the option of not using the Aetherquartz counter, your fighter won’t inspire again even if they roll all successes during that round. However, you’ll still be inspired during the end phase for scoring objectives and it’s useful for the 3rd action phase, especially if said fighter has already burned their Aetherquartz counter already.
Dazzling Light blinds your opponent with BLOOM! It imposes a -1 dice modifier to enemy fighter attack actions in the next activation. It takes prediction for best use but an interesting point is that it will de-buff each attack from a Scything attack action. Even if your opponent doesn’t attack when you play it, stalling an opponent for a turn again with your fragile fighters is ideal.
Surety of Purpose is a gambit which grants +1 damage to the first attack action made as a charge action by a friendly fighter in the next activation. I’m generally not a fan of +1 damage gambits that aren’t reliable but it works on any charge action and of any range which can be quite powerful with Senaela and her piercing shot or even Myari’s Searing Beams. Flexible and reliable in terms of implementation.
Tectonic Force is limited to Bahannar and gives you 2 choices: push an enemy fighter 1 hex away from Bahannar or push Bahannar 1 hex towards an enemy fighter. This is a super flexible gambit that you can either use for enemy disruption, setting up charges or ensuring Bahannar stays on an objective token. It does mean you have to play quite cautiously with him but the flexibility this card offers can’t really be ignored.
Faction Upgrades
Mountain Stance is restricted to Bahannar which grants him +1 damage if he has no move or charge tokens. It has a nice effect and isn’t too bad if you’re focussing on making Bahannar a key player.
Mountain’s Gift puts your fighter on Guard if they have an Aertherquartz counter. Otherwise gain a Guard token each time this fighter takes an enemy fighter out of action. It’s alright but you want to burn through Aetherquartz counters and there are better sources of Guard like Tight Defence and Survival Instincts.
Scryowl Familiar is restricted to Myari and gives him line of sight to each other fighter, friend or foe. Great for magical sniping and buffing your own fighters but still situational, even in a magic-dedicated build.
Vanari Dagger is a range 1, 3 smash, damage 1 attack action which does +2 damage on the roll of a crit. Mmmmm yeahhhh. A 42.1% chance to roll a crit for 3 damage on 3 smash. Unless you’re me though, you’re probably going to pass on this card as it’s restricted to Senaela.
Faction Upgrades – Top Picks
Balanced Soul is for Myari and lets him re-roll 1 magic dice in casting rolls and spell attack actions. I really like it if you’re aiming for a more magic-focussed build with Myari’s Purifiers. It also helps him speed up inspiring.
Heartstone Amulet reduces damage dealt to the equipped fighter by 1 to a minimum of 1. Pretty much essential in order to keep your fragile fighters alive.
Heightened Reflexes grants +1 move. It has a reaction which lets you remove an Aetherquartz counter after an enemy fighter’s attack action to attack that same enemy fighter and then discard this upgrade. This is a really nice defensive card while also giving you a movement buff. Makes your opponent especially cautious when attacking your fighters that have range 2 or greater attack actions.
Heightened Senses is an interesting twist on Awakened Weapon. It has a reaction where during your attack action you can remove an Aetherquartz counter to gain Cleave and Ensnare until the end of the attack action and then discard the upgrade. It’s pretty much an essential upgrade with a nice burn option to make a guaranteed attack. It also works on any range of attack!
Magical Boost is an upgrade restricted to wizards (Myari). The equipped fighter becomes immune to Backlash and you can use a reaction during casting roll to remove an Aetherquartz counter to roll an additional magic dice then discard this upgrade. Once again not great in general but essential for magic builds focussing on Myari.
Speed of Hysh grants +1 movement or +2 if the equipped fighter has 1 or more Aetherquartz counters. Additional movement, regardless of the value, is nice. With the warband having a general movement of 4, going to movement 6 is another great boost to mobility. However, the fighter you’re equipping this too is basically going to be hanging onto their Aetherquartz counters until they’re in the face of the enemy.
Decks
Now to the deck section! Once again these are sample decks to get you going and build off of. They’re not super competitive but designed to be optimal and fun, a great way to get you going with games if you don’t want to run faction card only decks. First I’ll do a deck with only Direchasm cards (Vanguard Format) and then a deck for Championship Format which contains all the currently available universal cards.
Vanguard Format
Playstyle: Flex (Hold Objectives and Control)
This deck builds to the strength of Myari’s Purifiers, quickly scoring glory with needing to be near the opponent and via holding objectives. Perfect Formation and Seal the Beastgrave are your big scorers but you have a nice collection of objectives that net you 1 glory for simple actions such as your leader holding an objective or charging 6 hexes. Treasure Hunter isn’t ideal but it’s there to fill space due to the current card pool and can be scored now and again depending on the matchup.
Gambits help support this with the many powerful faction gambits available by either keeping you on objectives or disrupting the opponent. The universal spells found in the Direchasm core set, like Dauntless Aspect, help Myari inspire quickly while scoring objectives for you too like Elemental Blessing. Hungry Aspect, while being a Hunger card, is a good push universal card to keep you on objectives while Hypnotic Aspect pushes away enemies on objectives you want. Slickrock is just mad good objective disruption.
Upgrades, once again, are populated by faction cards. Interestingly I’ve included a lot of universal cards which impose a -1 attack dice modifier such as Formidable Defence and Preyskin Mask. Each makes it easier to inspire when attacking while also making your Aelves more durable by making them either 2 to 3 defence depending on the equipped fighter. Preyskin Mask is particularly great here, it helps you inspire and then passes onto your opponent if they attack you.
Championship Format
Playstyle: Flex (Hold Objectives and Control)
The Championship format deck builds on the Vanguard format deck by now being bolstered by the universal cards available in Beastgrave. Hidden Purpose and Temporary Victory add more strength to your hold objective element of the deck, at the cost of 2 restricted card slots. Path to Victory also bolsters this but then suffers due to speed by not being a Surge objective. Sidestep and Restless Prize are more reliable ways to stay on objectives and remove your opponent from them. Upgrades see Great Strength and Great Fortitude added for more reliable durability and damage.
Warband Overview
Myari’s Purifers are another interesting core set warband. They’re once again an elite warband that’s very fragile with no fighter having a wounds characteristic greater than 3. They also generally have a movement characteristic of 4 max but also have enough ranged fighters to make up for that. Their inspiration mechanic is tough and not reliable. Myari’s Purifiers generally aim to control the board and objectives while quickly scoring glory. Bahannar helps by acting as your counterattack piece to punish opponents who charge in early. Still you have to be smart, maximising and planning out your plays appropriately.
Pros:
- Strong faction cards such as Perfect Formation
- Very good threat range due to have 3 fighters with range 2+ attack actions
- Aetherquartz counters from the start of the game help with key re-rolls when needed
- Reliable attacks which all hit on smash symbols outside of Myari’s Searing Beams
- Don’t need to inspire to perform well
Cons:
- Low overall wounds characteristic of 3 per fighter meaning that it’s fairly easy to be wiped out by the opponent
- Low damage output averaging out at 2 damage until Bahannar inspires
- Difficult and unreliable inspire mechanic
In summary Myari’s Purifiers are a decent warband with exploitable flaws. They’ll either grab glory quickly or be set on by the enemy if poorly deployed. They want to hold objectives but don’t have the wounds or number of bodies to do so reliably. Once again this is not ideal for new players to Warhammer Underworlds but experienced players should find them more than playable. Inspiration isn’t necessary but you always want to inspire Bahannar if you can, Myari inspires fairly easily due to his 1 smash Staff of Enlightenment. You must be careful with positioning and attacking but can perform rewarding plays when timed and planned correctly.
So would I recommend getting Myari’s Purifiers? Well if you’ve bought the Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm core set then you technically already have them. Still, I would recommend them overall. Myari’s Purifiers force you to play fast and cautiously, fitting of the Lumineth Realm-Lords. However, they decently powerful faction cards and consistently score glory. Tough for new players but rewarding once the effort has been put in and universal cards have been added.
If you want to buy Myari’s Purifiers you can get them in the Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm core set via the direct link to Games Workshop here or via my affiliate link to Element Games here which will net you a minimum 15% discount (20% during pre-order week) while helping to support my content, all at no additional cost to you.
Closing Crit
Now we come to the end of this warband review of Myari’s Purifiers, our first look at what Direchasm has to offer us. Time will tell how well Myari’s Purifiers ages once the whole Direchasm card set has been released. I hope you enjoyed the review, don’t forget to check out my Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm core set review to get the full picture of the new core set and Myari’s Purifiers.
Until we delve deeper into the Direchasm, we must seal it and the Beastgrave to prevent its foul energies from spreading. Even crits can be blocked.
Can You Roll A Crit? 
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