Love Gobbos, and want to see more of them in Age of Sigmar? Why not start with the Goblin faction for Nightvault first? Here’s how they play!
The goblins have worked their way towards the Nightvault. And these mushroom eating, squig herding, good-looking fellows have a couple of tricks up their sleeves.
This warband consists of a whopping 9 models which is the most of any warband released so far. All the goblins (minus Snirk Sourtongue) become inspired when you have 3 or more glory points, while the Squigs become inspired if Drizgit da Squig Herder is taken out of action.
Special Rules:
- All the goblins (not the squigs) have a scurry reaction: After a friendly fighter other than a Squig makes a Move action if that move began in an adjacent hex, this fighter makes a Move action. They cannot do this if they have any Move or Charge tokens.
- The Squigs are set up when you place Drizgit and are set up in the closest hexes to him that are not lethal, blocked, or a starting hex. They cannot be given attack action upgrades or hold objectives.
- Drizgit can use an action to make a Move action for himself and two adjacent Squigs, they cannot take this action if they have a Move or Charge token.
- Prog Da Netter: If his attack action is successful, reduce the dice characteristic of the targets Attack actions by 1 (to a minimum of 1) in the next activation.
- Snirk Sourtongue becomes inspired after an activation.
As with when we cover expansion individually, I only build decks using the seasons’ core set and the expansion cards themselves.
- Zarbag (Level 2 Wizard): Move 3, 2 Dodge Defense, 3 Wounds. (Becomes 4 Move when Inspired). Sickle Attack: Range 1, 3 Duel Swords Dice, for 2 Damage.
- Drizgit Da Squig Herder: Move 3, 1 Shield Defense, 3 Wounds. (Becomes 4 Move when Inspired). Squig Brand Attack: Range 1, 2 Hammers Dice, 2 Damage. (Becomes 3 hammers when Inspired)
- Squigs (both of them): Move 3, 1 Dodge Defense Dice, 2 Wounds. Jaw Attack: Range 1, 2 Hammers Dice, 2 Damage. (Becomes 3 Hammers with Cleave when Inspired)
- Prog Da Netter: Move 3, 1 Defense Dice, 2 Wounds. (When Inspired becomes 4 Move, 2 Dodge Defense Dice). Barbed Net Attack: Range 1, 2 Hammer Dice, 1 Damage. (Becomes 3 Hammers, and reduces the Attack actions by 2 Dice rather than 1 when Inspired)
- Snirk Sourtongue: Move 2, 1 Dodge Defense Dice, 3 Wounds. (His move drops to 0 and 3 Dodge Defense Dice when he becomes Inspired). He has a Ball and Chain Attack: Range 1, 1 Duel Sword, 3 Damage. (When Inspired he loses that attack and gains the following action) Scatter 4 and push Sourtongue 3 hexes along the chain. If he would be pushed into an occupied hex, before he is pushed the fighter in that hex suffers 1 damage and is pushed 1 hex. If Sourtongue would be pushed into a hex that is blocked, incomplete, or occupied hex with a fighter that cannot be pushed his move ends and Sourtounge suffers 1 Damage. (Along with the fighter that cannot be pushed) Sourtongue Inspired also cannot make Move, Charge, or Attack actions and cannot go on Guard.
- Goblin Archers (3 of them): Move 3, 1 Dodge Defense Dice, 2 Wounds. (When Inspired becomes 4 Move, 2 Dodge Defense Dice). Grot Bow Attack: Range 3, 2 Duel Swords Dice, 1 Damage.
A very versatile and diverse warband, though somewhat weak when you see each one has 2-3 wounds. This makes a lot of them easy to kill with even none special characters and so you need to make sure you place your troops well on the board and do not over commit. They will not win a one on one fight with most things.
Objectives (Zarbag’s Gitz Only):
- Call that a Win (2 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if there are five or more surviving friendly fighters.
- Dank Haven (2 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if there are no enemy fighters in your territory.
- Flash Finale (1 Glory): Score this immediately if an enemy fighter is taken out of action by a spell cast by your warband.
- Infestation (5 Gory): Score this in an end phase if you hold every objective.
- Mad Scurry (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if at least five of your surviving fighters made a Move action in the preceding action phase.
- Malicious Kill (2 Glory): Score this immediately if your warband takes an enemy fighter with two or more upgrades out of action
- Obliterated (2 Glory): Score this immediately if a friendly Snirk Sourtongue is Inspired and takes an enemy fighter out of action.
- Scragged (1 Glory): Score this immediately if an enemy fighter is taken out of action while adjacent to three or more friendly fighters.
- Vicious Killers (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if two or more friendly fighters made successful Attack actions that targeted the same fighter, and that fighter was taken out of action, in the preceding action phase.
Objectives (Universal):
- Arcane Torrent (1 Glory): Score this immediately if a friendly fighter successfully casts a spell and there are two or more “critical rolls” in the casting roll.
- Catching Up (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you have fewer glory points than an opponent.
- Extreme Flank (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if there is a friendly fighter on an edge hex and another friendly fighter on an edge hex on the opposite edge of the battlefield to the first fighter. Where there is more than one opposite edge, it must be the furthest of these edges.
- Interdiction (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if your warband took an enemy wizard out of action in the preceding action phase.
- Keep Them Guessing (2 Glory): Score this in an end phase if your warband made at least four different actions from the following list in the preceding action phase. Move (other than as part of a charge), Attack (other than as part of a charge), Charge, Guard, another action on a fighter card.
- Magical Void (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if an opponent’s warband attempted to cast at least one spell and did not successfully cast any spells in the preceding phase.
- Master of Terrain (1 Glory): Score this immediately if an enemy fighter is taken out of action by a lethal hex.
- Nowhere to Go (1 Glory): Score this immediately if each hex adjacent to an enemy fighter is either occupied, blocked or lethal.
- Solid Gains (1 Glory): Score this in an end phase if you gained at least 3 Glory this round.
- Sorcerous Scouring (1 Glory): Score this immediately if your warband takes an enemy fighter out of action with a spell.
- With Our Bare Hands (3 Glory): Score this in the third end phase if there are at least three surviving friendly fighters, and no surviving fighter has an upgrade.
With a warband this large I think it makes for a great defensive objective holding warband, which means we are going to be taking all the Hold Objective Cards from the core set. After that it leaves us with 7 more cards to take and I really like playing a Defensive game with these guys. So, we will shoot for Denial (core set), Call that a Win, Dank Haven, Infestation, Mad Scurry, Keep them Guessing, and Sorcerous Scouring to round out our objective cards.
Gambits (Ploys and Spells) Zarbag’s Gitz:
- Curse of da Mad Moon (Spell): “2 Swirl Spell” If this spell is cast, choose a hex within four hexes of the caster. Any fighter in that hex or any hex adjacent to it suffers 1 damage.
- Fungal Blessing (Ploy): Reaction: Plat this after an enemy fighter’s Attack action that takes an adjacent friendly fighter out of action. Their attacker suffers 1 damage.
- Jealous Hex (Spell): “1 Swirl Spell”: If this spell is cast, choose a fighter that has the highest wounds characteristic on the battlefield. That fighter has -1 Wounds (to a minimum of 1). This spell persists until that fighter is out of action.
- Little Waaagh! (Ploy): +1 Dice to the first Attack action made by a friendly fighter in the next activation
- ‘Orrible Leer (Spell): “1 Swirl Spell”: If this spell is cast, push each enemy fighter adjacent to the caster up to one hex
- Madcap Mushroom (Ploy): Innate “lightning bolt and swirl” for the nest spell your warband attempts to cast. The fighter casting the spell suffers 1 damage if there are any “critical rolls” in the casting roll rather than if there are 2.
- Make some Noise (Ploy): Choose up to two friendly Squigs and push each of them up to two hexes.
- Sneaky Stabbin’ (Spell): “2 Lightning Bolt Spell”: If this spell is cast, +1 Dice and Cleave to the first Attack action with Range of 1 or 2 made by a friendly fighter in the next activation.
- Sneaky Step (Ploy): Choose a friendly fighter and push them one hex.
- Stab ‘em in the Knee (Ploy): If the first Attack action in the next activation has a Range of 1 or 2, it has +1 Damage for each supporting fighter after the first.
Gambits (Ploys and Spells) Universal:
- Abasoth’s Unmaking (Spell): “1 Lighting Bolt Spell”: If this spell is cast, choose an objective token within four hexes of the caster. Remove it from the battlefield.
- Arcane Shield (Spell): “2 Swirls Spell”: If this spell is cast reduce all damage suffered by the caster by 1, to a minimum of 1. This spell persists until the caster is out of action.
- Encroaching Shadow (Ploy): Choose an enemy fighter in an edge hex. They suffer 1 Damage.
- Healing Pulse (Spell): “1 Swirl Spell”: If this spell is cast, choose a friendly fighter within four hexes of the caster. Remove up to one wound token from that fighters card at the beginning of each round, before the first activation. This spell persists until that fighter is out of action.
- Infinite Riches (Spell): “2 Lighting Bolt Spell”: If this spell is cast, choose one upgrade from your power discard pile and add it to your hand.
- Levitation (Spell): “1 Lightning Bolt Spell”: If this spell is cast, the caster treats lethal hexes as normal hexes. This spell persists until the caster is out of action or the end of the phase, whichever happens first.
- Mirror Move (Ploy): Reaction: Play this after an opponent pushed a fighter. Choose a different fighter and push them the same number of hexes.
- One Step Ahead (Ploy): You can only play this card in the final power step of a round. Choose an opponent and name an objective, then roll an attack dice. On a roll of a “Hammer” or “Critical”, they cannot score that objective in the subsequent end phase.
- Pit Trap (Ploy): Reaction: Play this after an Attack action that drives an enemy fighter back. They suffer 1 Damage.
- Sphere of Shyish (Spell): “1 Lightning Bolt Spell”: If this spell is cast, choose an enemy fighter within three hexes of the caster. Round tokens cannot be removed from that fighter’s card. This spell persists until that fighter is out of action.
I like Abasoth’s Unmaking and Pit Trap from the universal cards for this deck and then Curse of da Bad Moon, Fungal Blessing, Jealous Hex, Little Waagh!, Madcap Mushroom, Make some Noise, Sneaky Step and Stab ‘em in the Knee from Zarbag’s only cards. I think this gives you a good mix of damage boosting, spells, and battlefield control cards to have.
Upgrades (Zarbag’s Gitz):
- Endless Whirl (Snirk Sourtongue): Action: Each adjacent fighter suffers 1 damage. Use this action only if this fighter is Inspired.
- Extra Bouncy (Squigs): When this fighter makes a Move or Charge action they can move through other fighters, but their move must end in an empty hex.
- Fiery Brand (Drizgit): On a critical hit, this fighter’s Attack actions with a Range of 1 have +1 Damage.
- Grizzled Survivor (Drizgit): +1 Defense
- Lurker: Reaction: After a fighter is pushed a number of hexes, if that fighter was adjacent to this fighter before the push, push this fighter up to the same number of hexes. This fighter must end the push adjacent to the other fighter.
- Nasty Stabba: Range 1, 2 Hammer Dice, 2 Damage. This attack action has +2 Dice if a friendly Prog is supporting this fighter.
- Ravenous (Squigs): +1 Damage to this fighter’s Attack actions with a Range of 1.
- Sniffer Spite (Zarbag): If this fighter is in enemy territory in the third end phase, gain 1 glory point.
- Vindictive Glare (Zarbag): Range 3, “Lightning Bolt”, 1 Damage. On a critical hit, this Attack action has +1 Damage.
- Volley Caller (Goblin Archers): Reaction: After this fighter makes a Grot Bow Attack action, an adjacent friendly figher makes their Grot Bow Attack action.
Upgrades (Universal):
- Chained Spite: Action: Scatter 3 from this fighter’s hex. Choose one fighter standing in a hex in the chain. They suffer 1 Damage.
- Faneway Crystal: When this fighter makes a Move action, they do not move normally. Instead, place them on any objective token, then discard this card. It is still considered to be a Move action.
- Fighter’s Ferocity: If you score a critical hit when making an Attack action with this fighter, that Attack action has +1 Damage.
- Low Cunning: Fighters supported by this fighter have +1 Damage on their Attack actions with a Range of 1 or 2.
- Mutating Maul: Range 1, 2 Hammer Dice, 2 Damage. When a fighter makes this Attack action, choose Cleave or Knockback 1. This Attack action has that rule in this activation.
- Nullstone Axe: Range 1, 2 Hammer Dice, 2 Damage or Range 3, 2 Hammer Dice, 1 Damage. If you choose the range 3 attack discard this card after the attack action. If the target is a wizard you can re-roll 1 dice for either attack.
- Parrying Blade: Range 1, 2 Hammer Dice 1 Damage. Reaction: During an Attack action that targets this fighter and fails, this fighter cannot be pushed back and you make this Attack action.
- Potion of Rage: Reaction: During this fighter’s Attack action, before any dice are rolled, discard this card. The Attack action has +2 Dice until the action is resolved.
- Spiteful Charm: Reaction: After an enemy fighter’s Attack action that damages this fighter, discard this card. Choose one of the enemy fighter’s upgrades. That card is discarded.
- Tome of Incantations (Wizard Only): Each time this fighter attempts to cast a spell, after the casting roll, you can change one of the symbols rolled to a “lightning bolt”.
For our merry goblin band, we are going to start with Zarbag’s Only upgrades and grab Endless Whirl, Fiery Brand, Grizzled Survivor, Nasty Stabber, Vindictive Glare, and Volley Caller. From the Universal Cards, we want to snag Faneway Crystal, Fighter’s Ferocity, Potion of Rage, and Tome of Incantations. This will allow us to focus on ranged attacks pelting away at our opponents’ fighters as they rush into our territory. By using the Faneway Crystal at the end of the game it will hopefully let us complete the Infestation objective and nab 5 Glory.
What I love about this expansion is a lot of Zarbag’s only cards are used by this warband freeing up a lot of very useful universal cards for the rest of your warbands. By playing these guys defensively I think you can ping away at your opponent while scouring your own objectives. Don’t be afraid to lose one or two guys, but just do not over commit otherwise you will end up losing most one on one fights.
*Also note if you have not been keeping up on your Age of Sigmar teasers, GW released a video teasing at a new destruction force made up of mostly night goblins, click here to check out that video.
For other Warhammer Underworlds Season 2 Coverage check out the links below!
