Warhammer Underworlds: New Alliances Introduced – Mix-and-Match Warbands
Warhammer Underworlds just got a whole lot more complicated. With a new, free download Grand Avatars are changing the game.
If you were looking for a way to spice up your Warhammer Underworlds Warband then Games Workshop has a new toy for you to try out. The Grand Avatar system allows for a new way to play – and allows for you to construct your own Warband.
“Grand Avatars is the latest game mode for Warhammer Underworlds. It enables you to assemble a new warband, built around the four Grand Alliances of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
All of the rules to play Grand Avatars are available in this free PDF. Download it now and start planning your dream warband.”
Grand Avatar Warhammer Underworlds Rules
The five page document is an entirely new way to build your own warbands. There are some restrictions so let’s take a look at the rules.
This is really the first instance we’ve seen of GW hinting at any sort of Warband customization beyond the deckbuilding aspects of Warhammer Underworlds. There are a few rules to follow when you’re mixing your warbands together.
To start, you need to pick your Grand Alliance – Order, Chaos, Death, or Destruction. Then you’ve got some additional restrictions to follow:
1 – Warband can only have fighters from your Grand Alliance
2 – Warband must have a total value of 9 or less
3 – May only include each fighter once (exceptions for Chainrasps and Petitioners)
4 – May only have 1 and only 1 leader
5 – Minimum of 3 fighters, max of 7
6 – Must include fighters from at least two warbands
It’s not just list building that has restrictions. There are also some more rules for your deckbuilding. The two key parts to remember:
- All power cards with warband symbol are restricted to fighters from that warband.
- Allied fighters are not considered to be friendly OR enemy fighters – they are allied fighters. That means specific card effects that trigger on friendly fighters do NOT apply to allied fighters.
If you’re going to play this mode, you’re certainly going to want to make sure you read and understand the rules for how the deckbuilding and warband building work. Furthermore, this is not your typical Underworlds match. The goal of the match is the be the last one standing with your Grand Avatar.
Each faction has their own Grand Avatar as well:
From the way these rules read, you could totally play a multiplayer game using the Grand Avatar rules as well. It’s just an alternate way to play the game and seems like a fun way to include different members of warbands together in a single list. While this doesn’t appear to apply to the “normal” Warhammer Underworlds matches (ie Competitive Tournament play) it does seem like a great way to get in some alternate games with different restrictions.
On top of that, based on the points values, we might be looking at a launching point for GW to come up with custom warband rules at a later date. The doors are wide open for Warhammer Underworlds. With a new season coming soon, anything is possible for this competitive arena game.
What warbands are looking forward to mixing-and-matching with the new Grand Avatar system?
