How I choose a Warhammer Underworlds warband for a tournament

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Playing in Warhammer Underworlds: First Edition Tournaments

I've been playing Warhammer Underworlds competitively for a couple of years now. I've had a bit of success. I generally finish within the top 8 of any event I attend, and I even won a small Rivals tournament.

During the first edition of Underworlds, I used a range of warbands including Magore’s Fiends, Xandire’s Truthseekers, and Lady Harrow’s Mournflight. I always wanted the Truthseekers to perform better, but they never had the glory ceiling to be truly competitive. As a result, I switched to Lady Harrow’s Mournflight, partly because I have a large Nighthaunt force, and partly because I liked their faction cards and played with them for a full tournament season.

The Truthseekers were the warband I first learned to play competitively with. They taught me about the importance of glory ceilings, the reliability of different playstyles, and how you can be "winning" through kills while still losing in Objective glory.

My Truthseekers

When I switched to Lady Harrow’s Mournflight, I had a much clearer understanding of what was required to compete. I became intimately familiar with my warband. I knew what they could do, when attacks were likely to succeed, and how each fighter’s abilities worked. With them, I also began learning about deck design, such as selecting Objectives that could reliably generate seed glory, and mixing in stretch goals that, while harder to score, raised my overall glory ceiling.


Starting Second Edition: Embergard

Then the second edition of Warhammer Underworlds dropped: Embergard. Before I could even get hold of the new starter box, GW announced the re-release of 16 warbands. No Mournflight, no Truthseekers. Then another 13 were announced, and still no Mournflight or Truthseekers. I knew I’d have to find a new warband.


Once the new core set arrived, I got to work building and painting the miniatures. It was a few weeks before I could dive into gameplay. Eventually, I linked up with Harry (aka Slippy) and we got several games in. I experimented with various warbands to get a feel for the new rules before settling on The Emberwatch, paired with Blazing Assault and Reckless Fury. My logic was simple. They were similar to the Truthseekers, and since I’d first learned with them, starting second edition with more Stormcast felt right.

My Emberwatch


Having played with the Emberwatch for a while I started experimenting with other warbands and found Cyreni's Razors. This warband played a lot like my Mournflight of old and I really enjoyed my games with them.

In February 2025, I attended my first second edition event: a Rivals tournament. I brought Cyreni’s Razors with Countdown to Cataclysm and I won.


Encouraged, I continued experimenting with different warbands. I eventually picked up Daggok’s Stab-ladz, played a few games, and took them to my next event: Agents Clash in April 2025. I had a good day, but my lack of practice with the warband and deck showed. I finished eighth, which wasn’t bad considering the tough field.


Where Are My Thoughts Now?

I’ve got another tournament coming up in June and likely more later in the year, so it’s time I settled on a warband to commit to for the rest of the year.

I want to be more competitive, but not just for the sake of winning, but also to learn more about the game. I’m not necessarily going to pick the most powerful warband. I might choose them for other reasons, but raw power alone won’t be the deciding factor.


My Goals

  • Learn the playstyle of my chosen warband

  • Master their warscroll abilities and know when to use them for maximum impact

  • Understand what each fighter can reliably achieve

  • Explore potential Nemesis deck pairings, identifying key cards for victory and seed glory


What Am I Looking for in a Warband?

  • Do I like the faction?

  • Do I like the miniatures?

  • What is their designated playstyle?

  • Do I like the fighter characteristics?

  • Do I like their warscroll abilities?



Which faction?

I won’t play a warband I have no affinity for. My collection includes decades' worth of armies including undead, humans (Old World’s Empire), dwarves, chaos (especially Nurgle), and Ogors. More recently, I’ve built Gloomspite Gitz, Nighthaunt, and Maggotkin forces.

I’ve never wanted to play Skaven, despite liking their aesthetic. They’ve always been my nemesis (this is 'tournament-trauma' from Warhammer Fantasy Battle), so I prefer beating them to using them.

I decided early on to try a warband from the Order Grand Alliance. I fancy playing the "good guys" for a while. That gives me access to Aelves, Humans, Duardin, Seraphon, and Stormcast.


Miniature Aesthetic

I only play with painted miniatures. In fact, aside from the Knives of the Crone (still on pre-order as of 15 May 2025), I’ve painted every Underworlds warband that has been released.

I’m not a fan of the Kharadron Overlords aesthetic, so Thundrik’s Profiteers are out. The Jaws of Itzl look nice enough (I took some time before I even got them out of the box) but don’t inspire me to play them, so they’re out too. Ironsoul’s Condemnors are out. I prefer the newer Stormstrike look over the older Sacrosanct aesthetic.

My Condemnors


Here are the warbands I am interested in:

  • Ylthari’s Guardians — my first Underworlds love

  • Myari’s Purifiers — my go-to Direchasm warband

  • Cyreni’s Razors — similar playstyle to first edition Lady Harrows!

  • Hexbane’s Hunters — cool witch hunters

  • Brethren of the Bolt — love the unique vibe

  • Farstriders — my favorite online warband

  • The Emberwatch — my current Stormcast go-to

That narrows it down to seven warbands.


Preferred Playstyles

Let’s break down the playstyles of these warbands:

  • Strike: Emberwatch, Farstriders, Hexbane’s Hunters (theoretically), Ylthari’s Guardians

  • Flex: Myari’s Purifiers, Cyreni’s Razors

  • Mastery: Brethren of the Bolt

This fits well with my goal. I don’t want a Take and Hold warband. I’m leaning toward Strike, with some ability to flex.

Since I’ve already played Myari and the Emberwatch, I’m ready to set both aside and move forward with a fresh challenge. In addition, I played with the Emberwatch at a recent club, and even though the games went well, I did not enjoy playing them as much as I would have liked.


Fighter Characteristics

With five warbands remaining, it's time to look at each warband's rules.

I love the look of Hexbane's Hunters, and the idea of using Witch-Hunters is just plain cool. However, their fighters appear underpowered. Of the six fighters in this warband, five deal only 1 damage, and four have just 2 Health. While it might take an opponent at least six activations to chew through the warband, I can't see how I'm going to do any meaningful damage in return. Unfortunately, I think I’ll have to reject Hexbane.

My Hunters


Next, we have the Brethren of the Bolt, a five-fighter warband. I like that the leader, Pater Filius, has 5 Health, making him tough to bring down. However, two fighters have only 3 Health, and another two have just 2 Health. While these fighters start inspired and have decent weapon stats, their uninspired profiles are not very good, both low in accuracy and in damage output. Their Saves are also often just 1 Dodge. This feels like another warband I’ll have to reject.

Ylthari’s Guardians are a standard four-fighter warband with all the usual stats I’ve enjoyed in Aelven warbands over the years: decent attack profiles, good overall Saves, and a nice balance across the board. I also really like the look of the warband.

Cyreni's Razors are another four-fighter warband with similar stats to the Guardians. This warband has good accurate attacks, with access to Range 2, decent speed. They do, however, lack a little in Saves. They are a good example of an Aelven 'glass hammer'.

Next, we have the remaining Stormcast warband: the Farstriders. The stats for this warband are fairly similar to the Emberwatch being slightly less resilient but hitting harder.

So, I’m now down to my last three warbands.


Warscrolls

First up, Ylthari’s Guardians. They have a reliable Inspire mechanic, which also includes a built-in card draw ability, a really nice feature. The warband has a choice of four unique abilities, one of which can be used each round. Overall, it’s a clean and functional warscroll, even though it’s a bit text-heavy. Definitely a possible choice.

My Guardians

Next are Cyreni's Razors. They also have a reliable and easy Inspire mechanic that grants significant benefits, with boosts to saves and attack accuracy, which is a major plus. Their warscroll offers a great set of passive abilities, including a reusable ping, built in weapon ability buffs and push tech following enemy failed attacks, and some card draw tech. All of this makes the Razors a strong contender.

Finally, we have the Farstriders. Their Inspire mechanic is straightforward but more difficult to achieve than the Emberwatch’s. Their warscroll abilities are decent but quite situational, often requiring you to be in or moving into enemy territory, because of this, I think I’ll reject the Farstriders as well.

So, I’m now left with two warbands: Ylthari’s Guardians and Cyreni's Razors.


Final Decision

I suppose the final decision comes down to which warband draws my attention the most. 

The simple answer is I like playing with Cyreni's Razors. They play like my old Mournflight and think I want to play them some more.

My Razors

Next time, I will start to explore the decks to take with this warband and discuss any games I have had with them.

Thank you for reading and I hope you pop back for the next installment.

Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.

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Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon in the Underworlds.


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