Warpack Review - The Gift of the Ethereals

Note from me, Asklepios:

This isn't my work, but rather the reviews of some eminent posters here at cardgamedb, kindly collated by Steinerp. All I've done here is copy and paste to post his work, then just do some formatting, and a single editorial decision to excise a comment that some might find offensive.

Please enjoy!


-----


Before I get started I would like to thank Askelpios for using his poster power to share this and add the various images you see. I would also like to thank the reviewers that submitted their initial reviews in an extremely timely fashion,
First a quick summary of the rules: Five reviewers have submitted their opinions regarding each card from the Gift of the Ethereals War pack. One thing to note is that because my fellow reviewers turned in their ratings so quickly and my life is super busy right now, I’m cheating and looking at their reviews and will be limiting my comments to why they are right and wrong and what they missed.

Special Message from Killax:
As expected the newest pack also needs a review and this time I’ll be the one (or one of many) to do it. Since the day I got my first Core set in hands I was instantly hooked on Warhammer Conquest 40.000. Before I dug into this game I played different card games on the highest competitive level possible, MtG, WOWTCG, Pokémon TCG and many more. As such you could say I have a general interest for good card games and I do feel that FFG hit the ball out of the park on this game.

The previous Warpacks have shown us a rise in good cards per pack. Initially (and still am) I was somewhat disappointed by the first Warpack, this however quickly changed with the second one and I feel this one is the best we’ve received so far. As such this one also is a pack worthy to get for any competitive or casual player. Like the previous packs this one holds another powerful Warlord and aims to give all other factions a deserved boost.


Ratings

The rating scale as follows was offered to reviewers:

1- Very poor - Very bad for the foreseeable future, but may become a usable card one day in the meta.
2- Bad - Not a good card to play generally, but may have its role in some very specific deck builds. Not likely to be seen in a tourney winning deck.
3- Average - Will make some tourney winning decks, but not in every deck it is eligible for. Think hard before including.
4- Strong - Almost certainly a strong include for almost every deck that is eligible to include it.
5- Excellent - A definite auto-include of exceptional strength.

For Warlord cards, use other Warlords as point of comparison, and account for their signature cards in their strength.

For Signature cards, rate them in isolation, as if they were a Loyal card you could choose to include or not, but at the fixed number of cards required by the Squad.

Also note, that in terms of multiples included, a card does not have to be a 3x to be a 5/5 auto-include. Some cards are clearly designed to be included fewer times, and cannot be rated less strong because of this.



Synopsis

From the scores, an average score has been developed

The cards, and their rankings were as follows:

Warlock Destructor- 4.8
Honour Blade- 4.6
Aun'shi Sanctum- 4.4
Aun'shi- 3.8
Ethereal wisdom- 3.6
To Arms!- 3.6
Ethereal Envoy- 3.4
Ammo Depot- 3.4
Crushing Blow- 3.4
Rotten Plaguebearers- 3.4
Foretell- 3.2
Goff Big Choppa- 3.2
Mystic Warden- 3.2
White Scars Bikers- 3.2
Sslyth Mercenary- 3
Eldritch Corsair- 2.8
Know No Fear - 2.8
Mekaniak Repair Krew- 2.8
Honorifica Imperialis- 2.4
Nurgling Bomb- 2.4
Despise- 2.2
Throne of Vainglory- 1.2
Overall Pack Rating: 3.84


The Reviews

Aun'shi

4/5 - Killax
Initially after this card was shown I was not a mayor fan of the concept. However as soon as we saw Homing Beacon, Bork’An Recruits and Kauyon Strike I was quickly convinced. This Warlord is very aggressive and while it might not win battle triggers on his own it does allow you to “target and destroy” X/1 and X/2 bodies with ease. When you find the cards needed to keep his aggressive fire burning this card can make a train wreck out of enemy board states fast. His ability also means he’s incredibly hard to get bloodied.
The only downside to this card is when you do not find the pieces mentioned above. The many Tau bodies that will be part of his deck are still rather easy to destroy, forcing Aun’Shi to attack pre-maturely, something no-one likes.

4/5 – Corvus
He slices! He dices! He makes julienne guardsmen!
What's better than an armorbane unit? Having only armorbane units. Leaving your opponent's would-be shield cards stranded in hand for the important first few swings of a fight is huge. This make Aun'shi a big target, but on the plus side he never has to choose between attacking and retreating. His Forced Reaction can certainly be worked into something like an advantage in big fights because of this, but will still be a pain in many other common scenarios. He can't hunt down anything with more than two toughness alone, and he doesn't even get to win a battle if he hunts down a small command unit.

4/5 - Kingsley
Aun'shi is a unique and interesting warlord who is both a tough individual combatant and one who provides great support to the rest of your forces. However, he takes good foresight and planning to play effectively thanks to the potential downside of his Forced Reaction. On the plus side, that same Reaction makes him quite difficult to bloody, and his potential to kill enemy Warlords exceeds that of even Ragnar. I think Aun'shi is a distinct and solid addition to the Tau arsenal, with lots of crazy tricks and complex plays at his disposal. I look forward to seeing how future Aun'shi decks mitigate his weaknesses and maximize his strengths!

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
High profit, high drawback. This warlord is mental, he's going to slay your units into smithereens and then run away like a scared dog the very next moment. He moves around the galaxy with a pack of 4 guy with a fanny looking hat. All as crazy as him.
This guy is really hard to drive. Here the list of why you shouldn't play him:
- You cannot take planets only with him: sad but true, you can aim only to a draw.
- You cannot win a battle against another warlord: unlike other WL with strength 2 you cannot make a game WL vs WL. He's not something to fear like Cato or Kith. He's just 2 damage and bye-bye.
- You are most likely going to lose the very last battle of the game you are playing.
- Control decks are going to eat you alive: do you want a deck that fears suppressive fire?
Why you should play him:
- Armorbane! Hey, do you remember that in this game you can use events or attachments to reduce damage? Well, not today.
- Kayoun strike. Hehe.

4/5- steinerp
My hope is that this guy puts a stop to the “but it has 2 shields so it is a good card” argument. Not only is that false normally, but completely pointless in this matchup. His synergy with ranged units is amazing. His ability to hit and run is at least as much a positive as a negative and there are plenty of ways to get around his negatives.


Ethereal Envoy

4/5 - Killax
A card that is very fitting to Aun’Shi and another piece that has great synergy with the cards that hold great synergy with Aun’Shi. The fact they also have big body for a 1 drop make these cards deadly with Attachments like Ion Rifle or Gun Drones. Like Aun’Shi it’s important to find the right cards for it, but once you do they become extremely hard to punish.
AoE (2), Armorbane and leaving after the attack usually spells death to a lot of units.

4/5 - Corvus
Those are great stats for a 1-cost unit. The forced reaction isn't a huge downside here since this is primarily a command unit, and it does a very good job of being resilient and protecting itself. Having cheap irreproachable command units in the signature squad is also great because it lets you fill out the rest of your deck with whatever combat units you want, and those tend to be more meta-dependent.

3/5 - Kingsley
A one-for-one with an ability that is frequently a downside in a faction that already has two of the best one-for-ones in the game. On the plus side, this card interacts with various Ethereal synergy cards and its 3 HP makes it resilient to pinging effects like Sicarius's Chosen, Ork Kannon, and Dakka Dakka Dakka. However, the Envoy still strikes me as relatively underwhelming.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
This card is so meh. It doesn't do anything. Unlike other signature cards which are really strong this Envoy is so vanilla. Tau has enough small units, they didn't actually needed another one (they can also play allies). This card really does nothing, and they only have a drawback in the text. Cool hats though, Crazy Hatted Envoy.

4/5 - Steinerp
See Killax and Corvus above. This is a very basic card but that’s fine. It is cheap which allows more resources to go to things like stingwings with ion cannons.


Ethereal Wisdom

5/5- Killax
The card that allows you to get even more power out of his important pieces (Voir’La Marksmen, Stingwing Swarm, Kauyon Strike etc.) but also allows for information if that is what you need.

3/5 – Corvus
The +1 attack is a little more useful than it seems, since you'll know exactly how much damage you need to kill a unit whenever you have Armorbane. The trait manipulation mostly matters for Kau'yon Strike and the upcoming Vior'la Warrior Cadre, both of which could be quite significant. Inasmuch as you can individually evaluate signature cards this is probably Aunshi's weakest, but it's far from bad.

4/5 - Kingsley
This is a relatively minor effect that can also act as a combo enabler. Note that it is not a combat action and hence can be used to stall during the Deploy phase. Each individual effect of this card is a little weak, but its overall versatility makes it commendable. I've found it especially comes in handy when you need an extra point of damage to finish someone off or if you want to use Kau'yon Strike to move to a different area and feel like taking another unit along for the ride.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
Again, this card is a signature card not something you can keep on the last shelf of your wardrobe. I would really like to see some love, but game designer have been rough. The effect is inconsistent, though it might combo with other cards. But it's really hard to judge a card that works well only with other cards. There are not many good tricks for now and you might end up using it as shield.

4/5 – Steinerp
I had to go look this card up to remember what it does. As a signature card I want to give this card a two but since it has almost an identical effect to Crushing Blow I have to be consistent (spoiler alert on my Crushing blow rating). The fact that is a preattack action is sad but the ethereal trait does have some benefit so overall it is a wash.


Honour Blade

4/5 - Killax
A piece that works really well with Aun’Shi and a multitude of units. To sum it up this often is Aun’Shi’s lategame plan to make sure control is regained in battle. It’s cost and effect are another piece of work. The downside is that it does not boost Aun’Shi himself, making his commitments more predictable. The cost and ability however still make it an extremely good piece.

4/5 - Corvus
Very exciting in conjunction with Aun'shi. Combining this with Aun'ui prelate means that you can turn a pack of 0 and 1 attack command units into respectable combat units, and turn your heavy hitters like Bor'kan recruits or Ion Rifle wielders into killing machines that can one-shot Warlords.

5/5 - Kingsley
This attachment lets Aun'shi buff all your Tau forces at a planet with an extra ATK in addition to his usual Armorbane. While it's not as individually powerful as some other signature attachments, especially early on, this card provides a great benefit to your army, especially given the large number of good "weenie" units in Tau.

5/5 - FedericoFasullo
This card attached on the WL gives your other units +1 atk and armorbane. Do I really have to say something else?

5/5 – Steinerp
I don’t have anything bad to say about this card, maybe that it can be attached to just ethereals?


Aun'shi Sanctum

5/5 - Killax
Another piece that seems very well designed for Aun’Shi and the Ethereal Envoy but also becomes extremely deadly with anything Ranged at the same planet where Aun’Shi is at. Even moreso as his Attachment this card forces your opponents to think heavy on which battles to prepare for. Essentially this card works extremely well with all other cards Aun’Shi brings to the deck. There is no downside to playing this in the mid to lategame.

3/5 - Corvus
Better than Cato's Stronghold, since it will be easier to trigger and you can ready a unit that arrived exhausted before the first attack. I've had enough experience with Cato to predict that you'll never be thrilled to draw it but you'll usually be willing to deploy it, which makes it the very definition of a middling card.

5/5 - Kingsley
Since Aun'shi himself is an Ethereal, this is a very strong ability that can be used to ready units after they move to planets or to get multiple Armorbane hits, even during ranged skirmishes! A humble Marksman with Ion Rifle is sufficient to bloody the enemy Warlord when this card is in play, tricks aside. Like Honor Blade, this card is weak for Aun'Shi on its own but really shines with strong support elements.

4/5 - FedericoFasullo
Well, we've seen something like that before in the signature of Cato. It's a solid card with a very brutal effect, we already seen it works.

5/5 - Steinerp
This card plus a ion rifle wins, especially if they happen to have ranged. Also as an Eldar player I hate this card as it negates my warlord which is vital given my units.

Ammo Depot

4/5 - Killax
The card that will be played by anyone who’s very willing to play an aggressive deck with Orks, AM or Chaos. It’s effect being an Action only helps to the strategy for finding the right battles to win. Only being held back by the fact you do indeed have to be able to empty your hand.

2/5 - Corvus
Sometimes, despite your best attempts at self-sabotage (i.e. playing Orks), you will find yourself winning command struggles. This will be especially common if you fill your deck with cheap units in order to empty your hand quickly, so even a deck that wants to build around this card will often shoot itself in the foot. There's no telling how good this card could become in the future - maybe Orks will get their hands on some Banshee Power Swords - but for now its upside isn't enough to counteract the times that it will be completely dead.

5/5 - Kingsley
This card is amazingly good. In a deck full of inexpensive plays, this basically gives you one card every turn and stalls deployment to boot. Chaos loves this in particular thanks to all their Cultist cost reduction tricks providing a good way to reduce hand size and get the Depots going. If you're going for a deck with more big units and cards that sit in the hand for a bit, you might want to give this one a miss, but even then the upside is pretty huge.

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
Strong card, especially in this actual meta. Draw effects are always cool, but you can't really abuse of this card unless you are building around it. You could make a deck of only cheap units so you can deploy almost everything but it would be inconsistent. And if you are in card advantage this is a dead draw, so it goes in the bin of the "well balanced card". Playable but not autoincluded.

3/5 - Steinerp
I don’t like orks as a faction (but they are getting some neat tools). This just isn’t one of them. It is playable now with DE choke being fairly strong but this card needs at least 3 turns to turn a profit which you are probably 50/50 at best to get. I won’t mock you for including it but right it gets an inflated 3.


Crushing Blow

2/5 - Killax
The opinions on this card vary, a lot. Personally I am not a fan since I cannot think of cards I’d want to remove from my current competitive Space Marines build. For sure it can be good with Cato’s Chosen or Ragnar’s ability but I am not a fan since the extra damage often isn’t worth the card inclusion in a competitive deck. The card is situational.

2/5 - Corvus
I get the idea behind this card - enemies will often try to shield so units have exactly one hit point left, and this finishes the job. But the effect seems a bit too minor and situational to be worth a deck slot, especially since Space Marines don't lack for strong events.

4/5 - Kingsley
A somewhat weaker but free version of Fury of Sicarius that also works with various card effects instead of just attacks. Given the number of times that units end up one HP away from death in this game, there are many situations where this may well prove better than Fury, and I suspect that most Space Marine decks currently playing No Mercy will want to swap this in instead. It also has strong synergy with Ragnar Blackmane's card text.

4/5 - FedericoFasullo
Every single space marine deck should include this card. I'm not saying you need 3 of it. Just one. One is enough to make people fear every single damage they get. One is the difference between dead or alive in the right moment. This card is something like No mercy; they can turn the battle on your side almost every time but you cannot afford to play them in 3 copies.

5/5 – Steinerp
Federico got it right, this might not be a 3 of but it is very useful.


Despise

2/5 - Killax
A card that hits each player’s Ally unit. Which seems to be the first card actually caring about the trait.
It being a Combat Action however and not an Action means it’s really hard to use in a profitable way as currently most decks run the same amount of Ally units. It might eventually find a place in Chaos as it’s the only faction of the three who have access to it who don’t run a whole lot of Ally units.

1/5 - Corvus
This doesn't kill anything big. Aside from Eldar Survivalist, all allies are 0 or 1 cost. Dark Eldar are running as many or more allies as anyone else, with Void Pirate, Rogue Trader and Murder of Razorwings usually making the cut. If the cardpool grows to the point where Dark Eldar don't need allies for command this might be okay in a choke deck.

2/5 - Kingsley
This card would be much better if this side of the alliance wheel wasn't so reliant on Rogue Trader and Void Pirate-- as it stands it has antisynergy with almost any deck that might play it. The fact that it's a combat action is also unfavorable since it means the opposing unit has likely already taken command.

4/5 - FedericoFasullo
People don't like this card. I really don't get why. For 0 resources you discard an enemy ally. If you have a lot of removals in the deck, this card is the cherry on the cake. May with this card pool is not very effective but I feel this card have a good potential. Chaos and Dark Eldar keep in mind this card.

2/5 – Steinerp
It is free which I like, unfortunately DE use a lot of allies so this is likely to hit them as well making it not free. If it was a regular action, you could stop them from gaining their resource/command from their rogue traders, but you can’t.

Eldritch Corsair

4/5 - Killax
Much like all the other “Warlord groupies” this is another excellent piece to build a more aggressive deck.

3/5 - Corvus
Definitely better for its home faction than White Scars Biker. I'm curious to see if the additional hit point is enough to make him more popular than Iyanden Wraithguard. A well-costed unit that's fine in any deck.

3/5 - Kingsley
Compares unfavorably to Starbane's Council, to Iyanden Wraithguard, to Bork'an Recruits, or to White Scars Bikers (thanks to better SM synergy cards). Still a decent combat unit for the price, though. I suspect it'll see some play.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
Too fat! This card needs a month of diet to fit in a proper deck. Eldars with Tau have access to a cheaper unit (Bor'kan recruits) and for 3 resources this faction has a lot of better units (Wraithguard, Starbane Dudes, Soaring Falcon). I'm not sold.

2/5 - Steinerp
Eldar don’t need a 3 cost fighter, they need 2 and 4 cost fighters. Not a bad card but not needed.


Foretell

4/5 - Killax
Another fantastic Event available to each Eldar, Dark Eldar and Tau deck. The card itself is excellent to use with and against aggressive decks, netting you more board advantages overall. While you do have to be able to exhaust your Warlord, this Event comes at no cost for a great effect. The only thing that keep this card from appearing in each Eldar, Dark Eldar and Tau deck are the other great cards available to the deck who often have more synergy with your overall plan.

3/5 - Corvus
Nullify is great because it's the only thing that lets you interact with enemy events, and with scary events like Fetid Haze being played I don't see Eldar decks parting with it anytime soon. The additional cost on this card competes with Nullify, and you can already shut down battle abilities by winning the battle. Foretell might still be worth it for the disruption it provides, especially if your opponent was counting on an impactful planet ability like moving a friendly unit. Your Warlord is often standing and at HQ when the enemy just won a battle, but when that isn't the case the additional cost will be a nuisance. The design team were right in thinking that this effect isn't worth a card, but it remains to be seen whether it's worth a deck slot.

2/5 - Kingsley
A decent utility ability that replaces itself in your hand. Note that this ability will usually not function if your warlord goes to the same planet as theirs, since you exhaust after retreating or getting bloodied. Dark Eldar can probably make the best use of this card, given their serious weakness to Atrox Prime and Tarrus. That said, it will basically only work if your warlord went to a later planet than theirs, and for this reason I'm a little skeptical as to this card's overall flexibility and potential.

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
Really way too conditional. It's heavy to play along with Nullify (which is better at the moment) and it cancels some effects that most of the time you can absorb without a lot damage (unlike some dreadful events). It's a good card but it probably needs more unique to be useful.

4/5 - Steinerp
This card will get better if a second unique ever comes out for the Eldar. Often warlords are at home and exhausting them isn’t a huge deal, sure you give up nullify but if your warlord is at home you probably don’t need nullify that turn as eldar will usually lose their secondary battle. I can see DE choke using this to stop the 3 card/resource planet or Tau using it to stop the healing planet, but I doubt that. This is primarily an Eldar card for now.


Goff Big Choppa

4/5 - Killax
This card itself is a real game finisher. Unlike the Honorifica Imperialis it’s available to any deck that can ally with Orks and as such will be likely to find a single spot in my competitive AM and Ork deck. Granted it’s a shame a Warlord cannot hold it but this currently is its only downside. +2 ATK and Armorbane means you are able to threaten the kill on any bloodied Warlord during the later stages of the game plus anything with Ranged on it will love to use Goff Big Choppa ammo...

2/5 - Corvus
In a flavour foul for the ages, these would seem to work best on Cadian Mortar Squad. Putting an expensive attachment on an already expensive unit paints a huge target on its back, but maybe the potential payoff of stringing together big Armorbane ranged attacks is worth it.

4/5 - Kingsley
A very strong attachment, especially on a Ranged unit or Nazdreg's Flash Gitz. Just be wary of removal effects!

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
The card itself is good. There's only a problem: attachments kinda sucks in general. Therefore this card is mediocre. Compared to an Ion Rifle this second card is more useful because of its low cost. Ok, Armorbane and +2 atk is insane but having +3 atk is not less bad and it's basically the same thing (do the math). But, Orks are already pretty brutal (not the keyword) even without this attachment and people have a lot of tools to get rid of a single unit. This card is kinda not needed at the moment due to the fragility of the strategy to focus a lot of resources in a single unit.

3/5 - Steinerp
I think the Imp Guard are really orks, putting dozer blades on their planes and axes into their guns. Not a bad card but not great either, especially at 2 cost.


Honorifica Imperialis

3/5 - Killax
A potential Attachment to end the lategame. However it being restricted to AM and only being “active” once an enemy Warlord is around make me less of a fan. For sure it still holds 2 Shields so can hold use during the game. The card itself would have been amazing on Mobile units however but those are not extremely well represented in the allies available to AM.

1/5 - Corvus
Way too expensive. It seems designed to help hunt enemy warlords, but if you really want to do that in AM don't saddle your deck with clunky pricey attachments. Just have a good spread of combat units and surprise him with Preemptive Barrage. Two war packs ago the consensus was that any two-shield card is playable but AM somehow blasted through that doldrum in a hurry, so give this card a pass.

3/5 - Kingsley
This card turns a unit very deadly indeed when the enemy warlord is in town. While it has an amazing combo with various allied units for those final battles (imagine a Daring Assault Squad with AoE 2, Ranged, and Armorbane, or a Burna Boyz unit with Straken hitting the enemy warlord for 6 Armorbane damage prior to normal attacks!) there aren't that many good targets in-faction, and it means effects like Archon's Terror can be extra crushing

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
See Big Choppa. It deserves 1 point less because of its boringness.

3/5 - Steinerp
Ranged Armorbane is a thing to fear. But so is 2 cost on an attachment that only works sometimes.


Know No Fear

3/5 - Killax
A card with a lot of potential if your good at guessing future set ups of your opponent. The cost however comes heavy as tapping a Warlord always is a heavy cost to pay. Nontheless I think this card holds some potential for the future as a mix of Blackmane Sentinels still means you’ll have more un-exhausted bodies available.

4/5 - Corvus
Movement in this game is very restrictive, and anything that gets around that doesn't need much to be good. This card counteracts that annoying 'exhaust your warlord' cost by giving you 3 standing armies that would otherwise commit exhausted. It lets you jump the ship in time if you have initiative and expect a Doom, turn a 'ball of death' from the first few planets into a great command spread if things stop going your way, dodge a fight with an enemy area effect unit... all in all, it seems like a really strong effect that will have some utility in many common game states.

2/5 - Kingsley
Exhausting your warlord during the deploy phase is very expensive, and how often do you have three Space Marine units in HQ that you want to spread out across different planets? While this card can be awesome under the right circumstances, those circumstances are very rare in my experience and difficult to set up effectively. I have seen this card used effectively, but I can't shake the feeling that it's a bit win-more and that there are stronger options when it comes to the late game.

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
This is my most controversial card of the pack. Moving units from HQ to planets is a strong effect that allows you to recover from bad mistakes or gives you a spin to make aggressive assaults on the first planet. Is this card needed? That's the problem: this faction is pretty awesome without it and not having this card in the deck can easily be replaced by just a good way of play. Also space marines have two great warlord and kneeling them is a huge cost.

2/5 - Steinerp
Nice ability that is somewhat mitigated in terms of tapping warlord cost but costs a resource, a card, a warlord command win, the ability of a warlord to run away. I’ll have to pass on this. Was much better when I thought it was just an action.


Mekaniak Repair Krew

3/5 - Killax
A card with a huge “combo” potential for Orks. Currently the windows for its use are not extreme yet but his ability being an Action already will gain you more information. The card itself can also be fantastic with the other great Ork Supports such as Ammo Depot, Ork Kannon, Tellyporta Pad and Kustom Field Generator. Despite it’s awesome potential the card itself still has to fit into your deck offcourse and comes at a fair cost.

2/5 - Corvus
Given that you have take him out of commission to use his ability, I feel like the design team could have given him better stats. He seems too expensive to intentionally commit to a planet where you expect no battle, and too fragile to throw directly into the fray. It's nice to be able to duplicate support effects without committing too much decks pace to supports, but I don't quite think Mekaniak is competitive. He'll be nice if you get several out along with Kraktoof Hall, but much less exciting with other Ork supports.

3/5 - Kingsley
I like this unit as one to send to a later planet while still having its ability available to support early planets. However, I would like that effect more on a cheaper body or one with two icons. I nevertheless expect this to see a fair amount of play given how good Ork supports are becoming.

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
A card good for combo but there are not so many card to combo with. It cost 3 and every use lower its HP. At least it is fluffy: making Orks stuff work fine is one hell of a job. Dangerous sometimes.

3/5 – Steinerp
See everyone else. I gave this a 2 instead of 3 assuming orks will be some another useful support that combos with this. Right now probably not deck worth but give it a little time and it will start popping up.


Mystic Warden

2/5 - Killax
A card that might be useful for certain Warlords who can sacrifice units to gain ATK… But apart from that it isn’t anything to special unless you can “Ambush” it in. On its own it adds little to the factions who have access to it.

3/5 - Corvus
I'm not a big fan of expensive expendable units like Carnivore Squad or Interrogator Acolyte, but a free one is much more interesting. This guy lets you build a deck with more expensive command units while still having some combat presence in the first few turns. He's fine if you instantly sacrifice him and fine if you leave him in a fight hoping he does a little damage before he dies. Note that you can avoid the forced reaction by retreating him before a battle ends, which could be a common scenario since your opponent doesn't really want to attack him.

3/5 - Kingsley
A decent free combatant that goes away at the end of the battle. Note that under some circumstances you can retreat him before the battle ends to avoid sacrifice! I'd prefer to see this card as a Soldier (how cool would it be for this card to be "Last Chancer Squad" instead?), but it's still a solid card for stalling deployment and providing a free body.

4/5 - FedericoFasullo
Brutal. 2/2 for 0 cost is huge. Its potential is 2 free damage. It'll be better with Torquemada but even now it can make some mess. Tip: you can retreat him before the battle ends and continue to cause pain to the opponent.

4/5 - Steinerp
A free 2/2 body, I’ll take it. Sure it might die at the end of the battle (see above) but I’ll happily give up a card draw for a free guy. I would prefer a 1/2/1 but that is just being greedy.


Nurgling Bomb

3/5 -Killax
More power to the Nurgle Trait and Ku’gath always is a good thing. It’s ability is rather good but still allows your opponents to chose which units stay and which units don’t before applying any damage. While its inclusion seems really cool for fluffy decks I do find it hard to make room for this card in a competitive deck. Usually I would rate this one point lower but it does reward Traits which from a fluff standpoint is a good thing.

1/5 –Corvus
A poor man's poor man's Warpstorm. Giving your enemy the option to rout units that would otherwise die is disappointing. Doing 1 damage instead of 2 isn't worth the one-sided effect, and you'd have to pack a lot of lackluster Nurgle units into your deck to make this even remotely one-sided. Honestly, the best use for this card seems to be saving your own units by routing them mid-combat and given the cost that's just sad.

3/5 - Kingsley
Good synergy with Nurgle cards and with Khorne Berzerker, though it's expensive and suffers from the "opponent chooses" problem. Weirdly, it seems to be better for Zarathur than Ku'gath, since Ku'gath wants to be damaged and probably prefers the reliability of Warp Storm (though he also has Nurglings to punish any routs), while Zarathur's ability amps up the damage here. It's conceivable that this card will end up being viewed as simply an inferior Warp Storm, but it has some nuance and potential for advantage that Warp Storm doesn't - for instance, you can rout your Cultist tokens to sacrifice later instead of wiping them out!

3/5 - FedericoFasullo
Chaos has already Warpstorm but this card can be also quite nasty. It works pretty well for both WL at the moment. I'd rather use Warpstorm because you know what is going to happen and you don't offer the opponent a choice and it doesn't suffer mirror match. But like all "events of mass destruction" its effect is not very punchy. Still very scary if you are in the wrong side of the table.

2/5 - Steinerp
Just too expensive for a lackluster effect as opponent can minimize the damage. If opponent could choose to retreat it (and thus be stopped by a priest) it would be much better.

Rotten Plaguebearers

3/5 - Killax
The card Zarathur was waiting for! (Altough it does change his Action into a Combat Action). Apart from that a fair body with a Nurgle Trait.
It holds use for Chaos but is much less interesting for Orks and DE as a result.

3/5 - Corvus
Dealing damage as an action is always nice. This guy is decent as a command unit, since enemy command units won't want to deploy across from him, and okay as a combat unit, especially if Zarathur is at the same planet. He's not the most imposing of 2-cost units but he fills a nice little niche.

4/5 - Kingsley
This is a very solid capping and battle unit in both a Zarathur or a Ku'gath deck, though I think Zarathur has the edge here. While two resources for a 1/1/2 sounds like a bad deal, the extreme versatility of this unit's ability really comes in handy. It's especially good to counter enemy one HP capping units or as a unit that one HP units with two icons can't easily counter. All in all, this seems a strong addition to the Chaos arsenal and may see play in some allied decks as well. Note that this ability can be used against your own units to deny Tarrus or give Ku'gath some damage to move.

4/5 - FedericoFasullo
Beware of this little fella. Few to say about it. He's a solid character for 2 resources. Zarathur is grateful for this gift. He's going to use it a lot.

3/5 - Steinerp
Good solid card. Lots of versatility with a decent but not super power.


Sslyth Mercenary

3/5 - Killax
A very difficult card to rate currently as the meta really decides wheter or not the sub-game this card creates is worth investing in. For the Dark Eldar the card-choke usually means your opponents will have resources available to use this unit against you. For the Eldar this card further improves the already strong Command presence within the deck. For Chaos it’s hard to get back as your often more willing to invest those resources into heavy cost Daemons.
As such I think Eldar might be the one to use this the best (combined with Superiority) but might not need it at all. Nontheless it holds potential and requires some guts to use. The card itself isn’t bad on the start but can pan out very bad for you if you are not able to keep up with its potential Command presence. The way Conquest works is you always will have resources available, which in turn make it much easier to use this against your opponent who has made the true card and resource investment initially.

4/5- Corvus
This guy will pay for himself if you deploy him against a near-broke opponent who won't get to steal him before command resolves. Stealing him is always cost effective, but I suspect that he'll usually end up controlled by the richest player since the poorer player won't want any part of a war of attrition that drains him of all his resources. Can you reliably be the richer player? Sure, if you get great cost-effective command units. Ultimately I think this guy will fit right into Dark Eldar choke and Eldar command-focused strategies.

3/5 - Kingsley
This card seems very good - just one resource to get a very efficient unit - and while your opponent can steal it you're keeping the game small in the event of a stealing war, which Packmaster Kith loves thanks to her Khymera tokens. However, it has a relatively subtle weakness that strikes me as quite threatening. Most choke decks focus on preventing card draw and often leave the opponent with many resources, making the mercenary's card text a huge liability. More testing is needed, but right now I think the potential downside here is significant enough that one should think carefully about running this guy.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
Not a very good card, it's something you cannot take advantage while you are in trouble. That means it could be a potential dead card. You don't want to run something that is useful only if you are already winning.

X/5 – Steinerp
I using my editor prerogative here to not rate this card. It is a card I really want to test but until I see it on the board I can’t really tell who bad the drawback is. If I had to give it a rating (which I fortunately don’t being the editor and all that ) I would give it a 4 for the reasons Corvus laid out.


Throne of Vainglory

2/5 - Killax
This support looks at heavy cost cards to be removed from the top of your deck. Currently this means you get rewarded for discarding the cards you aim to use the Cultists tokens for in the first place (Bloodletters, Fleshhounds, Soul Grinders and Heldrakes). As such I am not a fan of this.

1/5 - Corvus
Will lead to fun times when your opponent has Urien's Oubliette in play. Even more interesting is the total anti-synergy with Murder Cogitator, which lets you check your deck but doesn't let you keep the expensive Chaos demons this card is asking to build around on top.
Anyhow, even if this card was guaranteed to fire every turn the effect would barely be worth a 3 cost support. The requirement to have a huge proportion of expensive cards is just terrible.

1/5 - Kingsley
If expensive cards become much, much better, this card might be OK-- as it stands, it usually just mills you without doing anything, the reward isn't very good (if you hit three times, you get one more effective resource than a Promise of Glory!), and you pay three for the privilege of trying. Not impressive IMO, though I guess it might sometimes work well with Flesh Hounds... if you're lucky? If you're not already running three Promise of Glory, don't even think about it - if you are, you still probably shouldn't think about it.

1/5 - FedericoFasullo
All that glitters is not gold. No, wait. All that smells is not rot. That's better. If you still haven't gotten it this card sucks. Because math's stuff.

1/5 - Steinerp
See everyone else’s comments. (except Federico’s which I don’t understand.)

To Arms!

5/5 - Killax
The card every AM player was waiting for. This card is fantastic for any deck that includes Catachan Outpost but otherwise holds 2 Shields that are always useful. Which means it’s fantastic in the early game as a Shield card and becomes incredible once you’ve got Catachan Outpost on the board.

3/5 - Corvus
At the moment Catachan Outpost is this card's only plausible target. The upcoming Formosan Black Ship will change that. An event that's two shields or sometimes adds two damage to an attack at no cost is fine but boring. It does mess with the enemy's combat math, since a single Outpost can now represent a lot of potential damage.

4/5 - Kingsley
Certainly a better two-shield card than Bodyguard, but the only support it really synergizes well with at present is Catachan Outpost (though you can also use it to ready Imperial Bunker during the deploy phase in order to stall). That said, it's probably the best two-shield card the AM have access to after Preemptive Barrage, and getting another+2 damage from an Outpost at a critical moment is far from bad.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
Will you find space in your deck for this card? If you have a lot of supports that means your space for events shrinks (assuming you cannot cut army units (because it's a dumb idea, yeah)). So, will there be some love for this card? In my opinion people will find better card to play instead.

4/5- Steinerp
I had this at 5/5 but my fellow reviewers convinced me that it isn’t quite there due to a lack of targets and my dislike of giving out points just because of 2 shields. This is a great card that will be common to IG decks for years to come


Warlock Destructor

5/5 - Killax
This card is one of the most (if not the most) powerful card in the Warpack. The fact you have to pay for its ability after the deploy phase begins means you can safely put it on the first planet or the planet where you expect battle to happen. It’s body and Command are well worth the first 2 initial resources and with Gift of Isha you might actually not even care that much about keeping it in play.

4/5 - Corvus
While a unit with a mortgage might sound unappealing, I think this guy's a winner. If he dies on his first turn you got a big unit at a discount. He lets you more reliably deploy lots of units on turn 1 while still having some heavy hitters in your deck. You get to choose when to ditch him, and if you happen to get one of those lopsided games where you're flush with resources he has no real downside.

5/5 - Kingsley
This card greatly helps with Eldar's biggest weakness, a lack of early combat punch. Its own weakness can easily be mitigated and if not you can always sacrifice it once it goes to HQ and is less relevant. I suspect that almost every Eldar deck will be all over this card, and some allies may want to run it as well.

5/5 FedericoFasullo
WOOT! What is this guy? He rocks. He's nuts. Look how bad-ass he is. For a pretty low cost you have a huge fighter. In my humble opinion you have to abuse it and seek the fight with him as many times as you can because you also need him to be dead ASAP, paying 1 resource could be unsustainable in some situation. Best card of the pack.

5/5 Steinerp
Remember what I said bad about the Eldritch Corsairs, that doesn’t apply here as he fills that 2 cost slot very nicely.


White Scars Bikers

4/5 - Killax
Another fantastic Space Marines unit that can come out of a Drop Pod or has synergy with Straken. I am looking very forward to see which card eventually will take over in decks as it does compete more directly with the Blood Angels Veterans.

3/5 - Corvus
I much prefer the 2 cost units in this cycle, but it stands to reason that Marines get an expensive one. The unit is still fine for its cost, but not quite as good as Blood Angels Veterans or Honored Librarian. Maybe a marine deck that really wants to maximize its Drop Pod Assaults will try to squeeze them all in, and the Soldier trait is enough that Straken players should give him a shot

4/5 - Kingsley
This card has one big advantage over its cousin Eldritch Corsair-- it's a Space Marine unit at cost 3, meaning it has great synergy with various strong effects, most notably Drop Pod Assault. I think this card may well replace Blood Angels Veterans in many decks, and will likely see serious play in Straken decks as well, where your warlord's presence makes this an impressive 5/3! However, it does necessitate testing, as Blood Angels Veterans serves a strong role itself.

2/5 - FedericoFasullo
Go away and find a GYM! Oh, God. You and your fat friend Eldritch Corsair are the WORST! Look at your comrade Blood Angels Veteran, he's doing fine, he's healthy, he's doing the same as you but... you know... better. And Bork'an? Oh, don't make me tell about him. Why would the Warlord pick you over them if you don't get in a better shape? I feel bad for you.

3/5- Steinerp
I would much rather have Bork’an Recruits than this guy at 3 but fits in a straken deck and the extra cost doesn’t matter when they drop pod in (Does anyone at FFG even thing about fluff when naming the cards?)