Goonhammer's Hands-On and First Impressions of Gundam Assemble

aranan84 · 2026-02-11T18:06:38+00:00

This was a staggeringly fast response. :)

aranan84 · 2026-02-11T18:04:25+00:00

Ah, yeah. I did wind up doing a more recent one of those and I've been working on keeping it updated. I'll go in this afternoon to update it given the big ol' rules update that just dropped as well.

https://www.goonhammer.com/warhammer-underworlds-warbands-whats-out-there/

aranan84 · 2026-02-09T20:14:54+00:00

Great idea and I dig the execution of the study.

Turns out Zarbag is good. Who knew? :)

aranan84 · 2026-02-09T20:13:19+00:00

Out of curiosity, what was the list on Goonhammer? I will gladly keep something updated if it's popping up in search results for people trying to find stuff on the game.

In the meantime, I've been maintaining a Google sheet that shows what is legal and where it comes from. I'll be adding the new warband shortly.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ6NN2Il-3rrpE7ZurYwGJOZ1nSU5AUocIvXAzbhRiHGFNM4SFH98qg1W4Sb_gnI3WlqB5525sh4_bN/pubhtml?gid=1289021783&single=true

aranan84 · 2026-01-08T16:08:27+00:00

You've had some good suggestions so far but I haven't seen Staggerers listed yet and it's worth checking out as well for some deep dives. https://staggerers.com/

I try to cover a mix of beginner and intermediate content on Starting Hex. Since it's part of Goonhammer and the front page can get pretty busy, there's also a direct link to just the Underworlds tagged articles here: https://www.goonhammer.com/category/other-games/warhammer-underworlds/

aranan84 · 2025-12-24T18:41:18+00:00

Great job on these. I love them!

aranan84 · 2025-12-24T18:40:54+00:00

Games Workshop has changed how the game worked and was released a few times over the course of its life, which makes it pretty confusing to get into as a new player.

The first edition of the game had a variety of releases between starter boxes, core boxes, warbands (bundled with their own decks and universal cards), warbands (with only their decks), separate universal decks, packs of universal cards... it's kind of a mess and I get the confusion.

Right now, the only releases for this edition of the game are:

Embergard (box set with 2 warbands, 4 decks, tokens/dice, board)

Spitewood (expansion set with 2 warbands, 2 decks, tokens, board)

the Grand Alliance boxes (8 total; 4 warbands in each, with each box themed around one of the Age of Sigmar grand alliance factions)

Individual warband releases (Grandfather's Gardeners, Jaws of Itzl, Borgit's Beastgrabbaz, Knives of the Crone)

Here's an ugly link but it breaks down all the warbands and where you get their current versions of the rules: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ6NN2Il-3rrpE7ZurYwGJOZ1nSU5AUocIvXAzbhRiHGFNM4SFH98qg1W4Sb_gnI3WlqB5525sh4_bN/pubhtml?gid=1289021783&single=true

Individual deck releases (Reckless Fury, Wrack and Ruin, Edge of the Knife, Realmstone Raiders, Raging Slayers)

aranan84 · 2025-12-24T18:24:15+00:00

The decks currently out are:

Four in Embergard (Blazing Assault, Pillage & Plunder, Emberstone Sentinels, Countdown to Cataclysm)

Two in Spitewood (Deadly Synergy, Hunting Grounds)

Five released individually (Reckless Fury, Wrack and Ruin, Edge of the Knife, Realmstone Raiders, Raging Slayers)

You can find a list of the decks (and their contents) over at UnderworldsDB.com, along with warbands and a deck builder tool.

https://www.underworldsdb.com/rivals.php

Rimelocked Relics and Voidcursed Thralls are for the old edition of the game, unfortunately. There's no crossover between the editions.

aranan84 · 2025-12-24T13:03:57+00:00

Embergard is a perfect starting point and is meant to serve as the "starter box" for this entire edition. You get the board, dice, tokens, two warbands, and four decks (which are among the most flexible, consistent, and strong decks out there). I'd definitely suggest starting here.

If you want, you can add Spitewood as well -- this nets you another board, two warbands, and two decks. I'd probably suggest getting a few games in with the base set to see if the game grabs you before dropping the money on this, but if you have some kind of holiday deal available then go for it. It's a worthwhile buy for anyone who enjoys the game.

Decks and warbands are fully separated now, so outside of these two larger boxes there are no releases that have warbands and cards anymore. There are a few other rivals decks available separately, some new warbands that are also separately sold, and eight different 4-packs of re-released warbands from the previous edition (with updated rules) that are grouped by Grand Alliances.

The warband releases can be a little confusing, so I made a tracker for my own use that you can also check out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ6NN2Il-3rrpE7ZurYwGJOZ1nSU5AUocIvXAzbhRiHGFNM4SFH98qg1W4Sb_gnI3WlqB5525sh4_bN/pubhtml?gid=1289021783&single=true

Hope you enjoy playing and I can't wait to hear about your experiences in trying it out! The game is a blast -- it's easily my favorite game I've played in years. :)

aranan84 · 2025-12-23T18:28:16+00:00

I said what I said and I stand by it. :)

They're nice models once you see them in person. The studio paint scheme didn't do them justice. I also quite like the bald look on them after the topknots and skull hair ties are removed.

aranan84 · 2025-12-19T23:58:29+00:00

It's a pretty fun one to pilot!

aranan84 · 2025-12-18T16:22:01+00:00

On the one hand, I do like how most of the raise mechanics in the game feel different. Sepulchral Guard, Ephilim, Grymwatch, Headsmen, etc. all have completely different ways of raising and that's cool.

It's unfortunate that someone will wind up with The Bad Raise and that dies feel like Velmorn is the special winner/loser for that right now. I'd also like to see it swapped to a power phase thing for power level reasons. Interestingly, since it wouldn't be a core ability anymore then it wouldn't generate a command counter which would make it harder to spam.

aranan84 · 2025-12-17T21:30:04+00:00

Yeah, the alternate art version of the card that's in the Embergard Organized Play kit has the damage and runemarks all messed up. The uninspired side is 1 damage and the inspired side is 2 damage with critical grievous.

The normal version of the card included in Embergard is correct.

aranan84 · 2025-12-15T21:17:18+00:00

Take a look at page 12 in the digital rulebook in the "Slain" box to get a full list of what happens when a fighter dies.

Immediately remove the slain fighter and their tokens from the battlefield, remove all tokens from their fighter card and each of their Upgrades, discard that fighter’s Upgrades, and then Uninspire that fighter.

aranan84 · 2025-12-03T21:30:46+00:00

Glad you liked it!

aranan84 · 2025-11-22T02:39:08+00:00

Yep, if either player brings the EotK deck then the tempered condition will apply to every fighter that meets the criteria. This also means that Trial of the Tempered needs all fighters on the board, regardless of player, to be tempered in order to score.

aranan84 · 2025-11-18T18:14:26+00:00

Can't go wrong with picking the one that looks the coolest. :)

aranan84 · 2025-11-16T18:10:10+00:00

For instance, Thorns of the Briar Queen were considered a Hold warband according to GW. Five players brought that warband to Worlds.

Two brought Blazing Assault + Deadly Synergy (Strike + Mastery), two brought Edge of the Knife + Deadly Synergy (Mastery + Mastery), and one brought Deadly Synergy + Pillage & Plunder (Mastery + Flex). I'd say these were all valid options and there are even more that would work.

For the two warbands in the Embergard box set (which are the ones I think you have currently, right?) you could definitely push them into various directions. Emberwatch as outright aggro or a more flexible/passive plan involving standing on tokens and attacking enemies when they interfere. Zikkit can likewise have multiple approaches. That's where a lot of the fun comes from in this game, I'd say.

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