Rippa's Snarlfang - Warband Review
Rippa's Snarlfang - A Warhammer Underworlds Warband Review
Introduction
The Spitewood loomed ahead, its twisted boughs choking the light into a murky gloom. The air was thick with the scent of loam and fear, a place where even beasts might hesitate.
Rippa Narkbad [1] did not.
With a savage cry, he drove his Snarlfang into the forest, his pack racing at his heels. At his side, Stabbit [2] and Mean-Eye [3] whooped and yelled, urging their mounts onward as the beasts snapped at the undergrowth, noses low as they caught the scent of something worth hunting.
The Spitewood lashed out with clawing branches and shifting roots, but the Snarlfangs bit back, tearing through briar and bramble without pause.
A howl rang out as the pack found a trail. In an instant they surged as one, riders cackling as they gave chase into the deepening gloom.
Rippa grinned wide.
Whatever lurked in the Spitewood, it was prey now.
Fighter Characteristics
Rippa’s Snarlfangs are a three fighter warband with a combined Health pool of 15. Each fighter begins with a Move of 4 and a Save of 1 Block. When inspired, these improve to a Move of 5 and a Save of 2 Dodge. Additionally, the weapon profile on each fighter includes the Snarlfang runemark, which will be discussed further in the warscroll section below.
The leader of the Snarlfangs is Rippa, who has a Bounty of 3. He has a single melee profile with Range 1, 3 Swords for 2 Damage, which improves to 3 Hammers when inspired.
Stabbit and Mean-Eye each have a Bounty of 2. Stabbit has a melee weapon with Range 2, 2 Swords for 1 Damage and the Grapple runemark. Mean-Eye has a ranged attack with Range 3, 2 Swords for 1 Damage and the Ensnare runemark. When these fighters inspire, their attacks change to 3 Swords. This results in an increase in accuracy for Mean-Eye, but a slight decrease for Stabbit.
How do the Snarlfangs inspire?
After a Power step, if a friendly fighter is equipped with 2 or more Upgrades, Inspire that fighter.
After a friendly fighter Attacks again as a result of the Snarlfang’s Jaws Weapon ability, if that Attack is successful, Inspire that fighter.
Firstly, it is definitely worth trying to inspire all of the fighters in order to gain access to Move 5, a 2 Dodge Save, and the increased accuracy of their attacks.
The most reliable method of inspiration is by equipping fighters with upgrades. While this is consistent, it can take time to achieve, especially compared to relying on Snarlfang’s Jaws. In practice, you are unlikely to have enough Glory or upgrades available early on to inspire all of your fighters this way. However, it is still worth using upgrades to inspire Rippa before committing him to the fight. You should also look to include 0 Glory upgrades in your deck, such as Great Speed or Headcase, to help accelerate this process.
The second condition for inspiration is more random, but it can occur early in the game. This relies on successfully hitting with Snarlfang’s Jaws. However, when uninspired, the Jaws only roll a single dice requiring Hammers, so a degree of luck is required. Any power cards or supports that improve your chances should be prioritised to help secure this success.
How do the Snarlfangs compare to other warbands?
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| All ratings out of 5 (What do the stats mean?) |
The Snarlfangs are an elite fighter warband. They have similar durability to other three fighter warbands, but they are fasters. However, they lack the damage output of other elite warbands. This does, however, improve when the Snarlfang attack (more below) is taken into account.
Warscroll Abilities
Multiple use abilities
Snarlfang’s Jaws
If a friendly fighter’s weapon has the Snarlfang runemark,
you have access to the following Weapon ability:
Snarlfang’s Jaws (Reaction): After a successful or
drawn Attack, the attacker can immediately Attack again using the relevant
weapon below. These weapons cannot be modified.
If the attacker is Uninspired, use this weapon:
- Range 1, 1 Hammer for 2 Damage
If the attacker is Inspired, use this weapon:
- Range: 1, 2 Swords for 2 Damage
Secondly, the Snarlfang attack can only be made if the original attack was successful or resulted in a draw. If the original attack fails, the additional attack cannot be used.
Thirdly, there is nothing to state that the Snarlfang’s Jaws must target the original enemy. This means the jaws can be used to attack a different adjacent fighter, which can be very useful for spreading damage or finishing off weakened targets.
This ability is the defining feature of the warband. Earlier, when comparing the characteristics of the Snarlfangs to other elite warbands, they appeared to lack damage output. However, this ability significantly increases their threat level. The leader, Rippa, can potentially deal 4 Damage in a round when combining his attack with that of his Snarlfang, while Stabbit and Mean-Eye can each reach 3 Damage. As a result, Snarlfang’s Jaws turns this warband into a genuine damage-dealing threat.
That said, the main limitation is accuracy, as the Snarlfang’s Jaws attack cannot be modified. It can, however, benefit from re-rolls and support from Flanked and Surrounded. When building your deck pairing, you should look for ways to improve reliability through these mechanics.
One Use Abilites
Pack Tactics
Use this in your Power step. Pick an enemy fighter. Push
each friendly fighter 1 hex closer to that fighter. You can use this ability
once per game.
Push tech is always useful, and this ability allows you to push multiple fighters by 1 hex.
A key point to note is that this ability is used in your Power step. This means it can be used to move fighters out of adjacency with enemy fighters, or to push your own fighters onto Treasure tokens. However, it cannot be used to push a fighter into adjacency for an immediate attack, as you would need to wait until a later turn.
I particularly like the idea of using this ability at the end of a round, after an attack, to reposition the Snarlfangs and deny objective scoring. Whether this is by occupying Treasure tokens, controlling edge hexes, or moving into adjacency to disrupt positioning, there are plenty of strong tactical uses.
Smell Weakness
Use this in a Power step. In the next turn, rolls of Flanked and Surrounded do not count as successes in Attack rolls or Save rolls for enemy fighters adjacent to any friendly fighters. You can only use this ability once per game.
This ability can be used for both offence and defence.
When used offensively, enemy fighters cannot use Flanked or Surrounded results in their Save rolls. This can be particularly valuable when attacking fighters in cover, against opponents using Hidden Aid, or if you need to snipe a fighter from a crowd. In this context, the ability is especially powerful, as it directly reduces the likelihood of your opponent successfully defending. In addition, when used in attacks, the Snarlfang's bite can also benefit.
When used defensively, enemy fighters cannot use Flanked or Surrounded results in their Attack rolls. This makes it much harder for opponents to land successful hits on the Snarlfangs. It is also particularly useful against decks such as Deadly Synergy, where many fighters gain access to Flanked through abilities like United.
In both cases, the effect is similar. When used offensively, it reduces the number of successes in an enemy fighter’s Save roll. When used defensively, it reduces the number of successes in their Attack roll. Although offensively it is effectively used twice.
So, when is this ability best used? If your opponent is only rolling one or two Attack dice, it is often not worth removing their Flanked support. In these situations, it is usually more effective to use the ability offensively when the Snarlfangs attack to reduce an opponent's chance of saving. However, if your opponent is making attacks with three or more dice and has access to Flanked, removing those supports can significantly reduce their chances of success. In some cases, this may be enough for a two Dodge Save, once inspired, to cause the attack to fail entirely.
Duck and Dive
Use this immediately after a friendly fighter is picked to
be the target of an Attack. Save rolls made for that fighter for that Attack
count as having more Critical successes than the Attack roll for the purposes of Stand Fast. You can
only use this ability once per game.
Avoiding driveback can be essential for maintaining control of a Feature token, such as a Treasure token or Aqua Ghyranis. This may be necessary to score your own objectives, or more likely to deny your opponent scoring theirs. Staying on an Aqua Ghyranis token for the additional Glory and healing can make the difference between winning and losing a game. It can also ensure that you maintain Flanked supports going into your next activation, by keeping a fighter adjacent to an opponent's fighter.
The damage reduction is obviously valuable, as it can prevent an opponent from taking a fighter out of action. More importantly, if this reduction is unexpected, it can completely disrupt your opponent’s calculations. What they expected to be a successful kill, gaining Bounty and potentially scoring objectives, suddenly becomes non-lethal damage. This can disrupt their entire round, leaving them with objectives they can no longer score and cards that effectively become dead in hand.
Having played against this ability, I have seen Snarlfangs survive attacks they should not have, only to go on and score Objectives or remove my key fighters. Without this ability, they would have been taken out of action, and their Bounty would have been spent on upgrades instead. Predictability in Underworlds is rare but extremely potent.
Deck Pairings
Rippa’s Snarlfangs are a fast, mobile strike warband. They are looking to close quickly with enemy fighters and bring them down one at a time. The warband really benefits from cards that provide accuracy boosts. To this end, the Objectives and Power cards in Blazing Assault are an excellent fit.
Upgrades such as Accurate and Hidden Aid, along with ploys like Determined Effort, Commanding Stride, and Sidestep, can all find a place in a Snarlfangs deck. The main issue with this pairing is the lack of reliable 2 Glory end phase objective cards.
Raging Slayers and Blazing Assault
Raging Slayers provides the Snarlfangs with access to a powerful plot card that grants fighters Rage tokens. These tokens turn a success into a critical success during attack rolls, increasing the chances of triggering Overrun and denying Stand Fast.
In addition, the Objective deck includes a range of easily scorable 2 Glory end phase cards. The deck also improves durability through healing, such as What Pain?, and defensive rerolls from Agile. Rage tokens even add a small defensive benefit, as the Snarlfangs are driven back after attacking, which can help prevent them from remaining in vulnerable positions.
Reckless Fury and Blazing Assault
Reckless Fury rewards you for having charged fighters with high Bounty characteristics in specific positions on the battlefield. These are conditions that the Snarlfangs can achieve quite easily.
The deck includes a couple of 0 Glory upgrades, which can help inspire Rippa quickly. Headlong Charge, in particular, allows him to reach key targets even from the start of round one. The inclusion of Braced also provides access to Guard, helping your two Dodge fighters survive a little longer.
The main drawback of this pairing is the lack of accuracy support, which is something the Snarlfangs desperately need to perform consistently.
Conclusion
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| My Snarlfangs |
The Snarlfangs are a fast and mobile Strike warband. They lack accuracy, but once inspired and equipped with a few upgrades, they can quickly begin outputting significant amounts of damage. Thanks to the Snarlfangs’ Jaws ability, this damage can either be spread across hordes of fighters or focused onto more elite targets. They really need to inspire, partly to increase their offensive threat, but also to gain access to the 2-dice Dodge save and their impressive Move of 5.
The Snarlfangs should aim to focus down one enemy fighter at a time, and their warscroll abilities all support this approach. They should avoid being exposed to prolonged combat, where enemy fighters can attack them repeatedly. Instead, the warband benefits from a hit-and-run style of play, which fits well with their background.
I really like this warband, even though so far I have only played against them. They feel genuinely threatening, and I am glad their accuracy is limited, because once they start hitting, they can deal out serious damage. Their high Move also makes them difficult to pin down or surround.
What do you think of this warband? Do you use them? If so, what decks do you pair with them?
Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.
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