It’s news recap time!
Welcome to this month in Warhammer Underworlds for June 2021. This is your one stop shop for everything Warhammer Underworlds related, recapping everything that has happened in the past month and once again there has been a lot of news for our favourite competitive arena combat game.
I’ve also done this on YouTube for those interested:
Elathain’s Soulraid Released
June saw the release of the final Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm warband: Elathain’s Soulraid. This is an odd warband consisting of 3 Idoneth Deepkin Aelves, a fish and a crab! It is a warband with 5 fighters that can deploy as 4. Elathain’s Soulraid has a lot of tricks and rules, making it a struggle to keep track of stuff but they give a lot of options to the player. A lack of 3 damage is problematic too, especially with fragile fighters across the board. The warband does well manipulating Poison gambits at the moment but rotation may mean death for these fishy Aelves. Still, they always have crab. Believe in crab, trust crab to win.
If you want a more thorough review, check out my reviews on the warband via my blog or YouTube channel!
Attack of the Tier Lists
There were a lot of tier lists in June for Warhammer Underworlds. Almost too many. I dropped my own quarter 2 tier list for Warhammer Underworlds along with Aman and his own from Path to Glory in his regular series too. There were other tier lists as well but it was funny seeing so many drop in such a short space of time together. Still, even the tier lists from less competitive sources offered an interesting viewpoint on how people see the Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm meta.
June 2020 FAQ Turns 1 Year Old
As I covered in my article on why Warhammer Underworlds needs a new FAQ, the June 2020 FAQ turned 1 year old. 1 year without an update is depressing as there are a lot of rules that need answering. I’m highlighting this just to spread the issues people have in regards to rules questions for the game as there are huge disagreements on stuff such as the timing of when the Primacy token is scored after an activation as well as other rules interactions. While this did not bring any community consensus, it did show there are a lot of rules questions that desperately need answering for clearer gameplay.
New FAR List and Errata
In a shocking turn of events, Games Workshop dropped as new Forsaken and Restricted (FAR) List towards the end of June. This saw a massive update to the FAR list with 23 cards being hit along with new erratas and an update to the Championship Format document. From the 23, 1 card was forsaken (Ferocious Resistance) and 22 other cards restricted.
The first of the erratas saw Mollog having his inspired side changed to no longer allowing him to make superactions while he has a charge token, meaning no double charging. Khagra’s Ravagers had their inspire condition reduced to needing 2 Desecration tokens instead of 3. While nice, it doesn’t fix the big problem of being unable to hold friendly objectives that have been Desecrated.
After playing a few games, I’ve found that only really Mollog and range 1 aggro has been hit the most. The speed package (movement cards like Outrun Death, Savage Speed, Gathered Momentum, etc) is basically untouched even with Cover Ground restricted. Hold objective play is a lot more viable now but aggro is still king. Not to mention Drepur’s Wraithcreepers are absolutely broken now.
An odd take was the lack of update fo
r the Vanguard document, resulting it having no FAR list but also no allowance of the Essential Card pack or Starter Set warbands.
WUO News
Warhammer Underworlds Online had a big free week to keep during the Skulls event in June. This meant if you downloaded the game during that week, you kept it forever for free. The game went up to 782 players peak, bigger than even at launch. However, after the free week it has dropped to 40 players peak meaning a loss of players at about 95%. This is a huge drop. However, as my friend pointed out, the game has gone from 13 players peak to 40 so that’s a big win.
Outside of that, Garrek’s Reavers were also released. Finally. They’re a good warband but get absolutely torn apart by the newer DLC warbands which aren’t from Shadespire. It’s a shame as the warband would have done really well if dropped much earlier in Warhammer Underworld Online’s lifespan.
Podcast Corner
For Podcast Corner in June, Path to Glory kicks things off with 3 episodes. The first 2 cover the cards and review for Elathain’s Soulraid. The last episode covers the new changes to balance with the new FAR and errata.
What the Hex released 3 episodes themselves. The first covers favourite Direchasm universal cards, Tommy Conboy joins them to talk about Kainan’s Reapers and lastly they go over the new FAR.
Battle for Salvation returns! For June they have 3 episodes. The first goes over the universal cards found in Khagra’s Ravagers warband expansion. Next they have me on as we do a deep dive into the Starblood Stalkers, the gem of Direchasm. We go over a in-depth guide for their usage along with decklists and tactics. Finally they have a 3rd episode dedicated to the universal cards from the Starblood stalkers.
The Burning-Crow Wargamer Podcast have 1 episode on YouTube dedicated to Elathain’s Soulraid.
Finally there is me with Crit ! Cast Episode 12: Warhammer Underworlds Balance and the Right to Respond. Me and Rob G. reflect over the balance of Warhammer Underworlds since Shadespire, covering commonly hit cards and playstyles as well the important concept of having the Right to Respond in games.
Tournaments and Events
Tournaments and events for June kicks of with the Straight Outta Shadespire Webcam Tournament. This 4 round, best of 1 tournament had 10 players. In the end, G won with his Crimson Court. It was a standard Championship Format event with no custom FAR list and before the new FAR list was released.
Next was the June Vassal Clash. This was another 2 day, best of 3 online tournament. Out of 28 players, Tommy Conboy managed to win again after beating out the King of Kanada in a Thorns of the Briar Queen vs Kainan’s Reapers showdown!
Summary of my June Content
For the summary of my June: I had my Elathain’s Soulraid review, my previously mention quarter 2 tier list for Warhammer Underworlds, the Age of Sigmar Dominion boxed set review, my celebration of the Underworlds FAQ turning 1 years old, an article comparing Hunger and Primacy, my overview of the new FAR and erratas, then finally Crit ! Cast Episode 12 along with my usual slew of batreps on YouTube!
Closing Crit
June was a rather big month, not so much on releases but more so on updates for Warhammer Underworlds. Now we enter the summer lull for the game. Not many events are happening so all we can do is wait and hope for an announcement of season 5. Maybe even Spacespire.
Eltahain’s Soulraid has lurked into the Direchasm. Mollog has now been sent reeling by balance and lives in shame. What is left for the future of Warhammer Underworlds? Only crits!
Can You Roll A Crit? 