Zarbag's Gitz
Welcome to our rundown of new Zarbag’s Gitz! We’ll be celebrating this giant release of new Underworlds content with a whole week of content! That’s right, you’ll be getting a podcast episode every day for six days until we’ve covered it all! And to kick it all off, below are links to each of our card-by-card rundowns for your perusing pleasure.
Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.
Introduction
[P]HIL & [B]RIAN
B: Ahh a return to my roots. As my first warband I played with them during the Championship only times, and particularly in the Hold Objective era of Beastgrave when Grymwatch were the big bad meta top dog. Once Nemesis format came about it quickly became clear how dysfunctional their original deck was as a cohesive strategy. The warband has the Scurry reaction as their primary mechanic to achieve holding objectives via multiple moves with careful planning.
Historical Intrigue
If you’d like to reference their previous cards, here’s an Underworlds DB link pre-loaded with all their cards. Click the [Fighter cards] button above the deck list to gain quick access to those as well.
Uninspired
P: Mostly the same zarbags but he has been working on his little waaagh magic to gain a ranged spell attack. I really like that to lend some flexibility to him as a fighter. Since scurry is printed here, it is worth noting that it can now be used with a single move token already where before it required the fighter have no move or charge tokens. That's a decent amount of utility.
B: Love the change to Scurry here. Feels appropriate with the current move and charged out rules in the core rulebook. Also excited to see their inspiration nerf errata has been reverted back to their original requirement of only three glory to inspire the grots here.
Inspired
P: Still inspiring for their three glory inspiration, zarbags only difference from his old card is the eye attack which now picks up grievous.
B: Having that innate spell is huge towards synergizing with spell casting objectives. Excellent added tool.
Uninspired
P: Oh boy, big change here. He is faster and more accurate but has to miss and attack to inspire, which means he needs to be put in danger to get his utility going.
B: Snirk was notorious for being a massive problem once he got spinning. Previously his inspire was so easy the opponent only had a rolloff chance to go first and get one attempt at a 3 damage attack to kill him before he could switch on and menace the both players with random chance scattering. They've chosen a clever narrative way to make that much less automatic, while giving him the additional move and accuracy to make it a fair trade in my opinion. Well played!
Inspired
P: Once inspired he is the same old spinning menace. I think this is a pretty substantial nerf and I'm not sure it was justified.
B: My plan will be to charge with him uninspired ideally onto a objective. Either he misses and switches on, or he smacks for 3 damage! But the true intent is he'll trigger a Scurry with an adjacent grot. ALWAYS be positioning with Gitz!
Uninspired
P: No changes for ol’ drizgit here. Just herding squigs and minding his own business.
B: Similar to Snirk, Drizgit will lead off a Scurry chain for me. Herd Squigs to move both squigs FIRST to block lanes for the opponent to invade or get onto objectives. THEN move Drizgit ideally onto an objective, or as an easy target to get killed and inspire the squigs. Which then you can Scurry react with a Grot who was adjacent to Drizgit. Sequencing matters a lot as the reaction chain must be sequential and down a chain. You can't leapfrog around a line, it must travel down a line. Its kinda the opposite of Kainen's Reaper's ability Mortek Advance.
Inspired
P: Just herding, nothing to see here folks.
B: FYI on prioritizing targets among this heard trio. Drizgit holds objectives, which matters most to you(assuming a hold objective strategy). The opponent fears the inspired squig's attacks, as they should. If they target the squigs, fret not. That is preferred as the Gitz player because they are not attacking your Grots. Just make it as difficult as you can for them(minimally don't line your forces up for scything). If they kill Drizgit first, then have fun punishing them with the Squig's attacks. You should only be attacking with the squigs once you've got your Grots in place for scoring objectives.
Uninspired
P: Weird change for prog. Goes up to range three but then instead of lowering attack dice with his net he just provides ensnare while supporting, which won't likely come up as much because he is ranged now?
B: Love these changes. His net ability before was just too niche and limited in scope.
Inspired
P: Oh ouch, less defense than he used to have and less accuracy because he just picks up ensnare rather than going to three smash.
B: Yeah each grot not going up to two dodge inspired will hurt a lot. I think this was a narrative choice as two dodge seems to be Elf stat territory, rightfully so.
Uninspired
P: Oh I like this, if all the shootas are close to each other they can all shoot together to maybe land a shot. Feels very grot like.
B: Love. This. Lots of tactical play with objective placement now with Give Em A Volley Ladz. Life goal, Sit these three Grots on three homefield objectives and menace any invaders.
Inspired
P: Oh no, another grot that now just stays at one dodge. That is really rough for a hold objective focused band.
B: Monkey’s Hex - Blog Entry <- Required reading for Gitz players.
Uninspired
P: Volley action is the only change which appears to be present on all the shootas.
B: During placements, I usually "Stikkit in da rear".
Inspired
P: The pattern of not being two dodge continues...
B: 3 fury accuracy boost would have been nice. But again, I think narrative holds them back as they shouldn't be as accurate as most ranged fighters.
Uninspired
P: Yup we finish up all the shootas getting the volley.
B: At least they are all consistent stat-wise among the 3 archers. Tracking small differences would have been more annoying in my opinion.
Inspired
P: Yup, the whole trifecta.
B: I seem to be more optimistic than Phil, but he's not wrong. One dodge is going to hurt.
Uninspired
P: The bouncing squigs now have flying, thematic if not that important most of the time. I could see getting these guys to specific targets a bit easier now but that's about it.
B: LOVE flying being added. Not an massive buff, but mobility is never bad, and it's oh so flavorful.
Inspired
P: No additional changes in the inspired side. Just a very nice bite attack.
B: Opponents will fear this inspired attack as they should. You wont get to use it often because they usually target the uninspired squigs first. This is fine.
Uninspired
P: Same as his friend bonekrakka, not much change.
B: If you are running an aggro Gitz build, you'll want to hold the squigs back in deployment, and run Drizgit into the enemy's jaws. They may still ignore him and hunt down the squigs, not great, but you could leverage their focus against them.
Inspired
B: Tussle Truffles is my new favorite term for Squigs. Shout-out Rogue Hobbies(on youtube), thanks for that!
Objectives
P: Pretty sure this art came from an old universal but I can't remember which. Anyway, this is fine. You only have two squigs, and while they have decent attacks, this surge could brick pretty quickly if they are charging forward.
B: With how sacrificially I treat the squigs, I'll leave this at home. Not a bad card, but you're most likely to score this once they're inspired, but you cant guarantee your opponent will target Drizgit when you want.
P: This is so much better than infestation! Hold all in your territory is what you want to be doing anyway. Then add flexible conditions for more glory? Say no more, I'm sold.
B: LOVE IT. Much improved and going in every one of my Hold builds. What a flagship card.
P: Stole the art from vicious killers but is now, yet another, supremacy with an extra condition for less glory... Difficult to score end phase cards that are then made harder to score should not award less glory. I'd be pretty hard pressed to run this.
B: I'm in, lets do this! I have embodied grot sacrifices, so I am not deterred. Hold Objective build pairing with Seismic Shock is calling my name. Championship HO build is going to be insane level glory ceiling.
P: Almost the same card as before but conveniently is now just looking for the tokens rather than checking for move actions. It probably won't come up much but having ways to hand out move and charge tokens in the power step could make this easier.
B: Was a card I was fond of before. Now with the new version of Scurry and core rules allowing multiple moves, this is even better.
P: Exactly the same card and I think I'd still stay away from it. The payoff is really nice but getting kills with gitz isn't reliable enough to be a game plan let alone needing to kill an upgraded fighter.
B: Relying on your opponent to stack two upgrades on one fighter, then killing them is a tall order in Round one, which is where I want surges to be scorable. Still wont be taking this regularly. But an aggro focus build...
P: I don't get this. A surge for killing the hardest to kill fighter on the board, or in a weird situation, having your own fighter die... in certain matchups this is just get a kill which is fine but many warbands have one fighter with more wounds. Feels thematic to be sure but I don't see this card being played and it is one of the new ones so I would have expected those to pretty much guaranteed be playable.
B: Thematic, kinda cute, but not great. No thanks.
P: Neat that this can score without using snirks scatter ability now, but with snirk being harder to use in general I think this got nerfed regardless.
B: Better than it's previous iteration, but Snirk is more vulnerable as he's not reliably inspiring. Still gonna try it out.
P: Still not easy but much better than scragged which this is updating. Not needing a kill makes this pretty simple if you can line up the double support
B: Excellent in an aggro build with a Scurry horde charge. LOL would love to see this concept rival Exiled Dead for swarming aggro. I don't think they'll win due to attrition, but boy would that be wild. Flying squigs could really threaten Deintalos...
P: Same as dank haven but with flexibility to score in any end phase for less glory. Denial isn't really an easy end phase but it can work out if your opponent isn't aggressive, which I'm not sure why you wouldn't be against squishy gitz.
B: Only see this working in that hoard aggro build where you're literally blocking your opponent from invading lol. I'm starting to like that silly idea.
P: Same art as flash finale but way better. Just making three range three attacks, especially with the archer updates, is a pretty easy surge.
B: Very solid. Probably an ol'faithful card here.
P: Essentially the same as call that a win from the old deck but with added flexibility to be able to score in any end phase for less glory. Pretty solid if you can get the two glory but fine to pick up the one and move on if you have this in an early hand.
B: I just love these variable glory cards. Always love contingencies.
P: Probably pretty easy to set up with scurry but I'm not sure it is worth the risk to leave multiple Gitz next to an enemy fighter.
B: That silly aggro build keeps calling. To be clear, its a terrible idea since this co-releases with Mollog the scything monster.
Gambits
P: Pretty nice update here. Easier to cast and more flexible to ping, even if it is random. This punishes high defense mostly but two defense has become so common that this has a good chance of being unlimited range ping.
B: No range restriction, just needs line of sight, excellent. Back to the much more sane strategy of HO spellcasty Seismic Shock.
P: Big change from madcap mushroom. From giving innates to your next spell at the cost of riskier backlash to a defensive ploy that might replace itself or stagger someone. I think I like this new card but it couldn't be much more different.
B: This new version is a lot of wacky fun, but I'm prioritizing Hold tech, then spell tech. Guard could qualify this for Hold purposes, may be a regular 11th card.
P: Same card, new wording. I don't think this type of card usually makes the cut but you are almost guaranteed to lose some grots so maybe it's worth it.
B: Same card, always prioritized hold/push tech over this and still will. Aggo build tho, solid ping option...
P: Some subtle changes here. Only range one instead of one and two and only counts supporting grots but starts applying bonus damage with the first support. Overall I think this is better but there are not that many range one attacks in this warband.
B: That aggro build tho...
P: Interesting change here. Making it so a fighter in a risky spot will, guaranteed, live one more round is quite nice for a hold strategy.
B: Snirk will love this if his attack hits lol, but only protects him for one activation.
P: No changes, but an interesting card option. Kind of another ping, but super limited in who it can hit .
B: Another rangeless spell, excellent casting option.
P: No changes.
B: Not making it into my Hold builds.
B: No changes, still solid.
P: Solid, but didn't make it into my Championship builds previously. Maybe there's room in Nemesis.
P: No changes. I miss in-faction Sidestep...
B: Ol' faithful
P: Changing up Sneaky Stabbin’ from a spell (totally forgot how many spells these guys had) to a ploy and making it a pretty powerful debuf rather than a solid accuracy boost is quite the shift. I am not sure how to set this up but I like the effect quite a lot.
B: I'll take this just for the defense help alone.
Upgrades
P: So we see the old volleycaller art but because that card is effectively just part of the bow grotz now we get this new hold tech. I can imagine having this fight hang out in the middle of a couple objectives to give guard to the holders.
B: Maaaaaaaybe
P: No changes.
B: Still a no from me dawg.
P: Letting this trigger earlier and for only holding an objective rather than being in enemy territory is really good. Having it be random is less nice but at roughly 67% chance I'd take the risk.
B: Love the changes here. Any glory to help raise that ceiling and mitigate the bounty bleed is welcomed!
P: Big upgrade from endless whirl. A range unrestricted +1 dice is always good, even at the cost of -1 defense. Stick this on one of your fighters that is in a safe spot or that is essentially a cruise missile anyway and watch them do work. Great with weapon upgrades as well.
B: Chuck this on anyone except Zarbag or Snirk. Inspired Squig would be nuts! lol but at a significant reduction in their defense.
P: No changes.
B: All the same concerns about sacrificial squigs. But in that aggro build this is nasty, and salvageable in a bad day.
P: Making this range two compared to nasty stabbas range one is a really important boost. Having it be grievous instead of a flat 2 damage is less nice, but it shouldn't be too hard to have the support setup to have this become a fairly reliable weapon. A little sad that they have multiple cards that care about range one that this spear can't benefit from though.
B: What a fun change!
P: Weird that this got the art from grizzled survivor. A teleport action is nice, but having to end up in an edge hex is a bummer since nabbing an objective with this would have been amazing.
B: Can't be mad with an in faction teleport as a tool in the deck. Limited best case scenarios, but this card would be too powerful if it had less restrictions.
P: You can see how this started as lurker but quickly changed for the better. A flat defense boost and what is essentially one portion of quickening greaves is a really nice option in a hold strategy.
B: An in-faction Quickening Greaves!!! this is an auto-take in any Hold build.
P: With vindictive glare making its way onto zarbags card by default the art got recycled for this utility upgrade. I think this won't come up a ton but the times it does might win you a game so I like it. Last second repositioning for hold objective cards will be really satisfying.
B: Fantastic option for even more mobility. Limited in it's use, but massive potential for big plays!
P: Since the squigs have flying by default this now adds some speed. An okay upgrade but generally plus one move isn't quite enough to make the cut on its own.
B: Meh.
Summary
B: Ultimately the warband fighters were given some great tools, Zarbag's spell, improved Scurry, Volley of Arrows. They did have to pay quite a lot in losing two defense on most of the grots. The biggest improvements are in the deck and specifically their objective deck. I see many opportunities for them in the future with Hold Objective builds, and even some whacky aggro builds. Gitz is back in a big way me thinks!
Week of Warhammer Underworlds
Zarbag’s Gitz will return to your ears… Wednesday, March 20th.