Gorechosen of Dromm
Wow, another warband in what feels like almost no time! Welcome back everyone to another card review for Dromm's Gorechosen. If you want to get a feel for some deckbuilding options with these guys make sure to check out our podcast episode as we prepare to rend the realm asunder.
For coverage of the other cards in this release, follow these links:
First Impressions
[D]AVY & [P]HIL
Three fighters, tons of wounds, some pretty juicy attack profiles, is this a reskin of Morgok's Krushas? Maybe at first glance but you will see there is a lot more to this warband than meets the eye. Let's start with the fighter cards for these apoplectic apostles:
Lookin’ real fly Dromm.
P: Our first fighter to have the priest keyword printed. A range 2 2 damage attack is always very nice, though speed three and 1 block means this fighter is never really safe despite being large with 5 wounds. His action to use blood tithe is very interesting. Forcing a charge on an enemy fighter never really seems great, but enhanced charges for your fighters seems great! Question is does a fighter have "vision" to itself? I'd guess not but I don't think we have seen that keyword before. Might as well cover the inspire mechanic here, it seems tough to get three tokens on this guy since he wants to use them but if you want to get super risky and hurt your own fighters there might be a quick path to extra tithe.
P: I also think on his inspired side he might have the best range 2 attack in the game? 3 fury 2 dmg grievous! That's spicy.
D: Inspired Warden wants to know if he's a joke to you. Don't answer that.
P: Ha! Poor Warden, forgot he went up to 3 dmg...
D: I'm pretty interested in Enrage. There are late game situations where this will be super clutch in low fighter situations. (Although, I guess this costs 3 tithe in R3, so...) Go first, force a charge, then wail away for your next four activations. Force a crappy fighter to charge off an objective (come at me petitioner).
Part mortal, part khorgorath, all man.
P: Very reminiscent of ardskull. 3 move, 1 block, 5 wounds. R1 2 fury 3 dmg. Nothing to sneeze at! Especially when you can make him charge with Dromm for an extra dice. His second attack might be where the juice is on this first side. A reasonably accurate stagger attack that can give move tokens and an extra damage after the hit? Yes please! Inspired this guy is a terror! Extra speed, extra wound, extra accuracy? What's not to love.
D: This might be your priority to inspire. But also hardest to do that with, given R1 and M3 to start.
Flame backpacks are a uniquely helpful piece of equipment in Nethermaze.
P: Similar to his fellow gorechosen but strangely faster? (D: Wasn’t expecting a lot of cardio with this body type, but books and covers, y’know?) I suppose being on fire might get you moving? His attack is pretty average, though having the option to burn tithe for extra range is decent.
P: Strangely the smallest fighter of the bunch? Still makes for a pretty hefty bunch with 14 wounds to start for the whole band. An extra dmg is nice but nothing to chase since, again, getting three tithe may take some work.
Objectives
Before we get too deep in to the cards, I want to reiterate our reminder: It’s important to remember these cards are also looking to be balanced for Rivals and (maybe?) Rivals plus formats. So if every card isn’t a Championship banger, that’s ok. That’s why there’s universals and deck building.
P: This is fine, it's definitely going to happen so it is probably a slightly above average kill surge but I generally don't rate kill surges all that highly.
D: About as good as kill surges can get, overshadowed by a certain universal that dropped simultaneously.
Dromm has a very daring reimagining of Hamlet.
P: Same as the last, this will probably happen but it still requires kills which isn't fantastic. It probably bears mentioning that this does say enemy taken out of action, doesn't actually care how. (D: So this scores off of pings too, which may be relevant in a build that prioritizes those).
I really get the feeling that Gorehulk used more damage than necessary on this one.
P: Another kill surge?! This one is probably the worst of the bunch too since it has to be exact dmg. Definitely gets a lower grade here.
D: I dunno. I remember Precise Use of Force getting plenty of play in Shadespire days. If they didn't already have other decent kill surges coupled with slow speed, I'd be higher on this one.
That’s an awkward looking swing you got there, Aemos.
P: Seems fine? Should be easy enough to accomplish and that's what you want in a single glory end phase. Round one this is almost guaranteed. Probably gets much harder as the game goes on.
D: I think they probably want some super reliable early end phases with their low speed. I’m kinda high on this one.
P: Okay... Probably pretty easy by placing objectives right across the line during deployment but is it worth trying to hold with a three fighter warband?
D: Maybe- again, this is a way to score on your way past the mid-line.
P: This feels pretty tough, especially in the current meta where holding is pretty common. I don't think this will be very good as it will be tough to control.
D: Terrible in championship. Going to be casually stopped by many warbands.
I like that Herax looks like he’s got a sweet anime wig on in this one.
P: This feels rough only because the gorechosen only have 3 fighters. Making sure there is an enemy with a charge counter isn't impossible, and is even pretty likely, but I think there could be times where a savy opponent can play around this. In round three this can become tough as well if you have lost 2 fighters.
D: I... kinda like this one. I think it'll be experimented with in a bunch of decks. Two glory makes it pretty attractive.
Gorehulk does seem pretty satisfied here.
P: If i'm reading this correctly it would be very difficult to pull off on the second criteria. Pretty much this is rivers a blood but reworked to be better. With a bit of ping and some self wound stuff this might be doable but it is always better to just kill opposing fighters in my opinion. This will be tempting at 3 glory though... might be a trap.
D: Man, that's a big score. Certainly something to work for in R+. Might be a tough ask in Championship. Tempting.
P: Pretty decent. Important to note that the attacks have to be during your activations so no out of activation attacks to trigger this. Still pretty reliable I think.
D: Your main problem is going to be getting many swings early in the game. If your opponent sits back, could be a little tough early which reduces its value a bit.
P: Might be a trap as well... almost guaranteed to score round one but if you lose a fighter you then need to do some weird work to make this happen.
D: This is friendly or enemy. Seems pretty easy.
Wish I could see Blackpowder’s face in this one.
P: looks good to me! most fighters will survive one hit so this should be an easy surge
D: Yeah! Scoring a surge in enemy activations is great.
P: These guys seem to really like being near the middle of the board. This is probably doable though and for 2 glory that is nice.
D: I really like this as a way to get a good early score. I just don't know if late game troubles will make this need to get pulled.
Gambits
I was going to say this was a bad hair day for Ennias, but it’s kind of a bad everything day.
P: This is interesting since it is nice ping but being restricted to dromm might make it a bit too unreliable
D: Get used to that text on the bottom of the card.
P: So I think the idea here is to get a free blood tithe to spend out of this, but juicing an ability may be clutch as well. I think this really only helps for getting extra uses out of dromms ability, or using an ability when someone is tapped out.
D: Maybe this is more interesting if you're running objectives that need more blood tithe.
Look at the shnozz on this guy.
P: Similar to whetted blades with the very important distinction that there is no range restriction. Cleave is situationally useful and a single reroll is similar to +1 dice so that is good. and, when you really need both you have that option which is very solid. I like this.
D: If you play this, then follow it up with Phantom Darts, you’ve got yourself a decent ranged attack.
What… is Senaela holding here? Did she swap her bow for a spear?
P: Wow, this is crazy. a double push is good. a double distraction is amazing. having the option to pick an choose and maybe juice the push to 2 hexes?! maybe best card these guys have. The restriction to require dromm be alive is a nice limiter but I don't think it will matter a ton. This feels like an auto-include.
D: Yas plz. I thought about just making our review of this “Excited Andy Dwyer.gif”, but here’s some boring words instead.
D: Man, you could close a gap of three spaces by picking a friendly and an enemy and spending tithe. I guess you could remove enemy tithe in the mirror.
P: Stopping drive back is nice when you want it, but I'm not sure how often these guys will want it? I think the ability to extend the effect here is cute but probably doesn't come up that much.
P: Didn't we just look at this card? oh wait, the art is just that similar. This will almost certainly cause misplays lol. Forcing moves to end in suboptimal positions feels good in theory but I'm not sure how much it actually plays out well? Another one that needs play testing I think. The extra duration may matter more here.
D: Misplays because of card art? I would never.
P: I feel like i've been here before, lol. This effect would be brutal if it said that a player had to make charge actions if they could, but if a fighter can't charge they can be activated normally. Boo. This can probably be played around fairly easily and unless you use the tithe to make it last the whole round it probably just stalls an activation.
D: This will be tough for ranged warbands. Can really mess with R2+ fighters that want to activate multiple times. Affects your own dudes, too. Though you could break it with another domain.
Could have been called Gorehulk Smash. And it will be, I’m sure.
P: So this is kind of interesting but ultimately too easy to play around? fighters with charge tokens are probably just taking 2 from this though, unless they can be pushed away.
D: Make ‘em charge with Dromm! Have Gorehulk smash! Good god, a 3 damage ping! Love!
P: This is pretty solid I think. This will catch people out and because it persists they can't very easily wait it out, they will need to just deal with their attack being at -1 dmg. Much more balanced than an upgrade to reduce damage.
D: Death’s soldier’s but more reasonable. Tasty.
P: I think this is good. a pretty reasonable ping given how much of the board is within 1 hex of no-one's territory. If you happen to have dromm on 1 tithe this is also brutal if it can hit a bunch of fighters. Zombies probably do not like this.
D: More interested in this if you’re running some of the objectives that want lots of damage spread out.
Upgrades
P: strange, but maybe good? there are plenty of reasons to not want to be driven back but I think not being able to drive enemy fighters back is a petty big downside...
D: Situationally good- keeps you in range for Retaliation (the card or, just in general). Or Overhead Smash.
P: I think on average this is 1 extra tithe to 1 fighter per game. that might be worth it on Dromm but I'm not sure if it is on anyone else?
D: These “start of each round” cards are rarely, rarely good.
P: Except a zombie wall gorehulk, lol, they will stop you. However, +2 move on the charge is solid so this may be needed since multiple fighters start at speed 3.
D: When some speed boosts rotate out, it may get more attractive.
P: This is pretty amazing! if this comes out in round three it probably feels reaaaally bad. But really, any fighter that just keeps to go on is a huge threat, especially if they have ranged attacks.
D: Timing can be weird for it. And you can’t put it on a fighter a round early, cause it’ll straight up kill you even if you weren’t going to die. Someone is going to lose a Gorehulk because Peggz “lightfingered this off”.
P:Hmmm yeah don't play against black powder... I think I still like getting to do some pretty crazy stuff with a fighter for a round without risk of them getting blown up
Do you get +1 Defence because no one wants to get near the nasty garbage you tied to your wrist?
P: This is probably decent because it can turn tithe into cards. The heal might end up being clutch in some games but overall I think this is going to just be a few cards? Not bad but not great.
D: That’s pretty flexible, just too bad you’re spending before knowing if you were successful or not. Might be more attractive when we bid a fair adieu to Silent Ring.
P: Even with 2 tithe this is pretty good. however, I don't know how often you will just be stacking tithe. I think ultimately this ends up not being very impactful.
D: This actually increases support range even on one tithe, because you might just be adjacent to the attacker.
Jokes on you, Gorehulk, Toofdagga’s head doesn’t contain vital organs.
P: This is good. Especially because on dromm the range 2 allows him to crack back other range 2 fighters. If i'm not mistaken this also happens before drive back so after this attack your fighter can still be driven back.
D: You’re not mistaken. Nice find.
I like how much this warband just goes for the punch.
P: This is fine, but there are much better options that don't use up your blood tithe. If you could choose a reroll instead of knockback I think this would be amazing but probably too good?
D: That would seem fine.
P: My initial instinct was this was bad and seeing the rest of the band hasn't changed my mind. This could be situationally useful but how often will you be able to get more than 1 damage out of this? Ghosts will also laugh at Herax's fire.
P: This is decent. +1 move and +1 damage on a single upgrade is solid but it takes a while to get there. Most often when this comes down it is going to be stop drive back and +1 move which is just okay. Also something about this art feels weird to me...
D: It’s his giant head, dude.
Summary
Probably not what anyone was expecting, but there is a lot to work with here and I think creative and skilled players will make the most of these guys. We will be trying them out ourselves soon so stay tuned for a podcast bat rep to see how our deck fares on the table top. That's it for today! Let us know what you think of the Gorechosen and their cards and if you disagree with any of our takes. There will likely be some surprises once the dice hit the table so we would love to know which things are playing well for you.