Agent's Clash - February 2026 - Spitewood Smash Up
Spitewood Smash - Agent's Clash - February 2026
The morning of 21st February had arrived, and it was time
for the Agents of Sigmar’s latest tournament. Making the short journey to
Redhill, Surrey, I readied myself for another full day of gaming.
I had brought along Gorlock Blackpowder and his Buccaneers,
a warband I have been enjoying for months now. My deck pairing was Blazing
Assault and Countdown to Cataclysm. It is a classic combination, with an
immensely strong suite of Power cards but a relatively low-scoring set of
Objectives. The Objectives had been worrying me. I can dominate games but still
end up losing because my glory ceiling is quite low. The deck was mainly made
up of 1-Glory cards, with Spread Havoc and Wreckers as the only two 2-Glory
cards, and Wreckers can be tricky to score. Before the tournament, I kept
flip-flopping between taking fourteen Objectives for a 16-Glory ceiling or
thirteen cards for 15 Glory. In the end, I settled on thirteen Objective cards.
I hoped it would be enough.
My deck was as follows.
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| Link to my Deck Library |
The plan was to limit my opponent’s scoring while achieving
my relatively straightforward Objectives. I also wanted to reach any Aqua
Ghyranis tokens I could, ideally camping Shreek or Mange on them. I have had
plenty of practice with the Buccaneers, and I hoped I knew them well enough to
focus more on counterplay than simply piloting my own game.
Game 1
My first game of the day was against Dan Findlay-Robinson,
who was running Daggok’s Stab-Ladz paired with Pillage and Plunder and Wrack and Ruin.
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| My Stab-ladz |
In this game, Dan played his Stab-Ladz cautiously, moving
them in close to my fighters to attempt Krule-stabs so that he could inspire,
while simultaneously making his way around the Treasure tokens to Delve them.
Fortunately for me, his early Krule-stabs failed, preventing the Stab-Ladz from
inspiring. By the end of the first round, I still had all my fighters alive,
which is a very rare occurrence. Shreek had made a beeline across the board to
the Aqua Ghyranis token. Pegz had managed to camp on the Treasure token in
Neutral territory to prevent a potential Strip the Realm, while Kagey was
guarding my own Aqua Ghyranis token. At the end of the first round, I scored
Wreckers, having wounded all of Dan’s fighters, including a cheeky Total
Collapse on Grakk.
In the second round, fully loaded with Swag, I started by
Swag Blasting Jagz at close range, driving him back into a Stagger hex away
from Pegz. This inspired the Buccaneers and scored Perfect Cut and Perfect
Strike. For my second activation, I used Commanding Stride to close with Jagz
and slayed him with a melee attack. For my third activation, I charged Grakk
and killed him. During the round, Dan managed to inspire Daggok before killing
Mange. For the final activation of the round, he used Barge to push Pegz off
his Treasure token, scoring Strip the Realm.
Going into the final round, the game was close. Daggok went
first, charging Kagey and then overrunning onto the Aqua Ghyranis token. I now
needed a cunning plan to prevent the scoring of Stay Close and Spread Out, as I
had not yet seen either card, while also trying to get Daggok off the token. I
first moved within one hex of the board edge and three hexes from Daggok, fired
my gun, and then used Duelist to move into an edge hex. In the final
activation, Pegz charged Daggok so that he was adjacent to Gorlock and used
Determined Effort to kill the leader of the Stab-Ladz; not bad for a gnoblar.
This was a closely fought game, which I won 21 to 17. I may
have found it easier if the Stab-Ladz had played more aggressively. As they
spread out, it made it harder for me to line up attacks with Gorlock. In this
game, I picked up two Glory from Aqua Ghyranis tokens, scored Wreckers in the
first round and had decent luck with dice rolls early on to gain Swag and
inspire.
Game 2
My second game was against Connor Lamb, who was running
Zondara’s Gravebreakers paired with Pillage and Plunder and Deadly Synergy. He
is a very good player who beat me at a previous tournament using the same
warband, and he clearly knows how to pilot them.
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| My Gravebreakers |
In the first round, I had an opening hand of Surges:
Branching Fate, Collateral Damage and Get Stuck In. Connor took the first turn
and immediately moved Toyle forward onto the Treasure token in Neutral
territory before Delving it. I needed to score Glory and start gaining Swag. I
decided to use Pegz to attack Toyle and use his reroll (from the Stagger token)
to try to gain Swag. I hit and drove the zombie back, but due to positioning
and the number of dice, I did not score any Glory.
My second activation saw Mange attack Toyle, grabbing more
Swag, bringing me up to three, which is all I need to inspire. I killed Toyle
and scored both Branching Fate and Get Stuck In. Toyle was then raised straight
away and would go on to be a real nuisance for the rest of the game, mainly by
being in the way and providing supports. Realistically, I needed to avoid him
as he was no longer worth any Glory and I could not afford to waste
activations.
Zondara used her free push to move onto a Treasure token in
the back field. I then charged forward with Shreek to attack another zombie,
putting a point of damage onto it. For my fourth activation, Gorlock charged
forward and fired his Swag Mortar at Zondara. I was aiming to wound her enough
to set up a killing blow next round and score Perfect Cut, while also using up
some Swag to inspire at the start of round two. I hit once but she saved, so I
did not score Perfect Cut and could not put my third upgrade onto Blackpowder.
As a result, I did not score anything in the end phase. I had Loaded for Bear,
Hounds of War and Perfect Cut in hand. I knew I could not afford to discard any
of them, but equally, I needed to cycle my deck. The raised fighter and the save
had put me firmly on the back foot.
Early in round two, Connor was clearly pulling into the lead
and I realised I did not have the capacity in my Objective deck to catch up.
This made decision making harder. Connor moved his fighters into a line,
meaning they were United, but the only fighter Gorlock could attack without
charging was the raised zombie. Gorlock needed to inspire first by using Swag
Shrapnel. By the end of the round, Gorlock had charged Zondara and made her
vulnerable despite Great Fortitude, but Mange and Shreek were dead. Kagey was
guarding my Aqua Ghyranis token and Pegz had moved up to support Gorlock.
Connor won the roll off for the third round and went first,
driving Gorlock back with an attack from a fully supported Zondara. In my Power
step, I upgraded Gorlock with Brawler before using Improvised Attack to score
Critical Effort. I pushed next to Zondara with Duelist and then slew her in my
first activation. Connor used Ferlain to move across the board, out of
Gorlock’s range, killed Kagey and jumped onto the Aqua Ghyranis token. I then
spent the rest of my activations farming Glory from the remaining zombies. I
could not reach Ferlain, so I could not score Wreckers, though I did prevent
Strip the Realm.
I lost this game 15 to 20. My fighters performed well, but I
simply did not have the Objectives to keep pace. Against a warband that can
Raise, I struggled to score Hounds of War and Wreckers, effectively dropping my
Glory ceiling to twelve.
Game 3
My third game was against my friend Harry Miller, also known
as Slippy, who I probably play more than anyone else. We are very evenly
matched, and this was likely to be close. Harry was running the Skinnerkin
paired with Blazing Assault and Deadly Synergy.
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| My Skinnerkin |
In the first round, Harry charged with Gristla and used
Determined Effort to attack Pegz, scoring multiple successes including a crit,
which killed my poor Gnoblar. More importantly, this netted him three Haunch
tokens, inspiring his whole warband at the start of the game. From there, we
traded attacks and scored Glory until the end of round two. By this point,
Gorlock was inspired and was reliably dealing three damage, enough to one shot the
Skinnerkin fighters. Harry was down to Gristla, with Great Fortitude, and
Seddrick. I had Gorlock, Kagey and Shreek, and the score was tied at fifteen
each. In the final Power step of round two, I injured Gristla with Total
Collapse.
At the start of round three, I won the roll off and attacked
Gristla for three damage, leaving her vulnerable. Before she could heal,
Gorlock used Improvised Attack to finish her. Seddrick then killed Kagey. I
charged Seddrick with Shreek before moving Gorlock up the board. Seddrick
attacked Shreek, but Gorlock Counter Charged. The final attack of the game saw
Gorlock kill the last ghoul.
I won 20 to 17. It was close throughout. Gorlock’s reliable
three damage attacks carried the game.
Game 4
My fourth game was against Jon Chambers running Elathain’s Soulraid paired with Blazing Assault and Pillage and Plunder.
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| My Soulraid |
Jon opened with a strong sequence. Tammael charged into my
territory onto a Treasure token, attacked Kagey, who survived with Standfast,
then Delved. He then used Canny Sapper to teleport back into his territory.
Duinclaw and Spinefin had already moved onto Treasure tokens in his territory,
ready to Delve.
My first turn, I charged Pegz into Elathain to try to put
damage on him and gain Swag, but I missed. Pegz was killed, making me the
underdog, which I wanted for easier Swag. Kagey charged onto the Neutral
Treasure token and also missed Furiann. He was then charged and killed by
Duinclaw. I had used Counter Charge to move Gorlock adjacent to Duinclaw, but
Blackpowder missed as well. Jon played Trapped Cache, injuring Gorlock, before
upgrading Fuirann with Gloryseeker. Fuirann charged and dealt three damage to
Blackpowder. I had no Glory, no Swag, and an injured leader. My final
activation saw me attack and injure Fuirann while gaining two Swag.
At the start of round two, Tammael charged and used Twist
the Knife to deal three more damage, leaving Gorlock vulnerable. I needed to
inspire but only had one wound remaining. I charged backwards with Gorlock and
fired a Swag Blast at Fuirann, which failed. Duinclaw then charged and killed
my leader. I spent the remaining activations using Shreek. Eventually, he
reached a waystone token, sat on Guard before pecking Tammael to death.
I lost 13 to 23, which was better than I deserved. Early
missed attacks prevented Swag generation and upgrades, allowing the Soulraid to
attack with impunity. The combination of Objectives and dice made my deck feel
extremely swingy.
Game 5
My final game was against Aaron Melpuss running Kurnoth’s
Heralds paired with Emberstone Sentinels and Countdown to Cataclysm.
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| My Heralds |
The game started similarly. Pegz, then Mange, then Kagey all
charged forward primarily to gain Swag, but all missed. Against other warbands
I would have scored hits, but the Heralds’ ability to ignore flanking in their
territory was crucial. For my final activation of round one, Gorlock charged
forward and used Swag Blast to deal two damage to Ylarin. The damage was
helpful, but I really needed to inspire.
In round two, I eventually gained enough Swag to inspire,
but by then I was trailing 9 to 12. I used Counter Charge to close on Cullen
before Blackpowder killed him. The game became more about positioning than
attacks, with Aaron avoiding Gorlock and picking off the minions.
In round three, I made a successful four dice attack with
rerolls, but picked up the dice before checking if I had scored Branching Fate.
I did not score it and therefore did not draw Hounds of War. I killed Ylarin
but could not score Wreckers.
I lost 15 to 17. Again, early missed attacks and lack of
Swag crippled my early game. Later, my Objective deck prevented me from scoring
enough to win. I would also note how hard it is at the end of a long tournament
to maintain focus, checking rerolls, successes and specific scoring conditions.
If I had scored Branching Fate, I would have won the game.
Final Placing
After a hard day, I finished in 11th place. I was quite disappointed, but my deck choice just wasn't good enough.
Thoughts
Fifteen Glory in a deck is too low, especially when running
Wreckers, which if not seen early is unlikely to be scored. If I fell behind,
it was extremely difficult to catch up.
Several Surges required specific dice results, making the
deck unreliable. When the dice behaved, I gained Swag, inspired and upgraded.
When they did not, the warband stalled. Raised fighters were particularly
disruptive. They prevented my aggro scoring, were rarely worth attacking, yet
continued to hold tokens, provide supports and block space.
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| My Buccaneers |
I still like Blackpowder and want to explore what else I can
do with him. I need a more reliable way to gather Swag and clearly a new deck
pairing. With Nexus of Power now on pre order, perhaps the Buccaneers should
start coveting Treasure tokens.
As usual, I would like to thank the Agents of Sigmar, Pete
and Robin, for organising and running the tournament. Also, yhank you to all
the players for playing in the spirit of the game and the conversations I had
about the game throughout the day. The community spirit is excellent. Finally,
congratulations to Laura Bates for winning the tournament with Blood of the
Bull and to Connor for coming second. Both players now have Golden Tickets to
attend Worlds at the end of the year in Barcelona. I wish them both Good Luck.
I believe the next tournament is in May, if you are
interested in attending, leave me a comment and I will let you know more details.
Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.
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