The Exiled Dead - Warband Review

The Exiled Dead: A Warhammer Underworlds Warband Review

The Spitewood lay ahead, its twisted boughs knotted together to form a dark canopy. Deintalos needed supplies of Aqua Ghyranis to further his experiments with the Force Dynamic. With a silent gesture of his stave, the archwalkers lurched into the gloom of the forest.

The Necrarch drifted forward at the centre of his macabre procession. Arcs of pale electricity crackled intermittently around his gaunt form, crawling across his staff and snapping through the air before fading into the shadows. Behind him clattered the Exiled Dead, each animated corpse bound to his command through the precise manipulation of the Force Dynamic. Limbs jerked and straightened as unseen energies tugged at bone and sinew, guiding their awkward strides across the forest floor. Archwalkers lurched between the trees, their unnatural gait scraping bark and snapping brittle branches as they obeyed their master’s silent instructions.

Somewhere within the Spitewood, streams of Aqua Ghyranis were said to gather in hidden pools where the life magic of Ghyran flowed strongest. To the races of the Kurnotheal it was sacred water. To Deintalos it was a reagent, a chemical substance that could push his experiments with the Force Dynamic further than ever before.

At another motion of his stave, the Exiled Dead spread deeper into the forest. Archwalkers staggered beneath the oppressive canopy, searching among root and shadow while their master glided patiently behind them. Pale lightning continued to arc around Deintalos as if drawn to his presence, crackling softly in the gloom.

The Spitewood was ancient and hostile, but its secrets would not remain hidden for long.

Fighter Characteristics

The Exiled Dead are a warband made up of 7 fighters for a total of 17 wounds, each of which gives up 1 Bounty when slain. The warband is broken up into three main groups: the Master, the Apprentice and his puppet, and the Zombies.

The master, Deintalos [1], is the leader of the Exiled Dead. He has a Move of 3, 4 Health and a Save of 1 Shield. He also has two weapon profiles: a melee attack with Range 2, 2 Hammers and 2 damage with Stagger, and a ranged attack with Range 3, 2 Hammers and 1 damage with Cleave. Deintalos starts the game uninspired. When he inspires his Save improves to 2 Shields and both attacks increase in accuracy to 3 Hammers. This is a great bonus for inspiration, especially the boost to his Save.

When I initially started to play against the Exiled Dead, I thought Deintalos would be the priority target for the warband. However, while he is worth pressurising early, a player should not overextend their own fighters to reach him. Also, as you will see below, I think there are more valuable targets, which will present themselves more easily.

Next we have the Apprentice, Marcov [2], and his puppet, Regulus [3]. Having played against this warband, these two are the real threat. Later I will explain how the two fighters work together. For now we will start with Marcov.

Marcov has Move 3, a Save of 2 Dodge and 3 Health. He has a single melee weapon profile with Range 1, 2 Hammers and 1 damage with Grievous, which effectively makes it 2 damage. When inspired, Marcov’s damage increases to 2 while still retaining Grievous, giving him a total of 3 damage.

Regulus is a minion (not, he is not conductive) who starts the game Inspired. He has Move 3, a Save of 1 Shield and 2 Health. He has a single melee weapon with Range 1, 2 Hammers and 2 damage with Stagger. When uninspired, Regulus loses accuracy, dropping to 2 Swords.

For me, the key to taking down this warband is to remove the threat of Marcov and Regulus. First, I believe it is necessary to take out Regulus as a priority. This will severely weaken the Puppeteer (more on this later) ability. Next it is worth removing Marcov, as once inspired he is the warband’s main 3 damage threat. Removing Marcov also prevents Regulus from returning to the board.

The Zombies, Bault [4], Coyle [5], Ione [6] and Vlash [7], are all minions. They are Conductive, which will be explained later, and they start the game Inspired. They all have Move 3, 2 Health and a Save of 1 Shield. Each has a single melee weapon profile with Range 1, 2 Swords and 2 damage. Three of the four Zombies have the weapon ability Crit Stagger, whereas Vlash has Cleave.

When uninspired, their Move drops to 2 and their damage drops to 1. The exception is Coyle, who remains at 2 damage, presumably because of his massive arm. The three Zombies with Crit Stagger lose that weapon ability when uninspired, as they are no longer electrified. How do they become uninspired? Basically, they are slain and the Raised , but more on that later.

All ratings out of 5 (What do the stats mean?)

The Exiled Dead are among the more durable swarm-style warbands. Even before factoring in their warscroll abilities, they already have respectable durability and an average movement speed. Where they really stand out, however, is their damage potential compared to other swarm warbands, again, even before their warscroll abilities come into play

How Does the Warband Inspire?

All friendly minions start the game Inspired. If they are slain and later Raised, they return uninspired and there is no way to Inspire them again.

After an enemy fighter is slain by a friendly minion, Inspire Deintalos and Marcov.

Warscroll Abilities

The first three abilities, Dynamic Enhancer, Overload and Dynamic Surge, are all used by the four Zombies: Bault, Vlash, Ione and Coyle.

Dynamic Enhancer

Friendly Conductive fighters, the four Zombies, have +X Move, where X is the number of slain Conductive fighters.

At first glance this ability does not seem particularly impressive. However, once one or two Zombies are slain, the remaining fighters can cover large distances across the board. This allows them to Charge, block Treasure tokens, or generally make a nuisance of themselves. The zombies might not be able to hold tokens but they can block them and prevent enemy fighters holding them.

In Underworlds, battlefield position often trumps accuracy and damage output. If you are not in the correct position, it does not matter how strong your attack is if you cannot make it.

Overload

Friendly Conductive fighters cannot Hold Treasure tokens or Delve. Friendly Conductive fighters’ melee weapons, excluding Upgrades, have Grievous if the target has any Stagger tokens.

Firstly, we are not going to see Zombies scoring from Treasure tokens. However, be aware of Regulus, as he is not Conductive.

Grievous attacks against Staggered targets are terrifying. I am not fond of facing an aggressive swarm that can apply Crit Stagger and then gain Grievous (making each inspired zombie cause 3-Damage!) on the following attack. When using this warband, you will often want to attack first with one Zombie to apply Stagger before following up with another attack that benefits from Grievous.

If a fighter is Staggered they are already easier to hit, so this ability snowballs quickly. It really does feel like this warband is overloaded with abilities.

Dynamic Surge

You can reroll 1 Attack dice in an attack roll for a friendly Conductive fighter while another friendly Conductive fighter is adjacent to the attacker.

A free reroll as long as one Zombie stands next to another is extremely powerful. It increases the chance of hitting, but also improves the chance of rolling critical successes, which helps trigger Grievous damage.

Puppeteer

Pick Marcov to use this ability if he has no Move or Charge tokens. Choose one of the following options.

That fighter and a friendly Regulus can each use a Core ability that they are eligible to use.

If a friendly Regulus is slain, Raise them and place them in an empty hex adjacent to that fighter.

This ability can only be used once per battle round.

This is the first ability that increases the action economy of the warband. Of the two options, the ability to use a Core ability with both Marcov and Regulus in the same turn is extremely powerful.

This allows two Charges in a single turn, either against the same target or two separate fighters. Together they can potentially deal 5 damage in one activation without any upgrades, provided they are both inspired. That is a huge amount of damage.

This ability effectively gives the warband an additional activation each battle round. That dramatically increases the power level of the warband. The extra activation allows the Exiled Dead to react faster than almost any other warband in the game.

When I have played against this warband I found this ability to be game changing. Even elite fighters struggle to survive the amount of damage that can be delivered in a single activation.

My personal feeling is that the key to defeating this warband is removing at least one of these two fighters as quickly as possible.

If Regulus is slain, Marcov can use the second option to Raise him. However, this requires an entire activation, which means it will rarely be used. When Regulus is raised with this ability, he returns uninspired.

Removing Regulus appears to create the first reliable method of weakening the warband.

Danse Dynamic

Pick your leader to use this ability if they have no Move or Charge tokens. Choose either the Move ability or the Attack ability. Each friendly Conductive fighter can use that ability.

Then you may choose a slain friendly Conductive fighter. Raise that fighter, place them in an empty hex adjacent to your leader and inflict 1 damage on them.

This is the second ability that improves action economy. With this ability Deintalos can cause all four Zombies to Move or Attack (not a mixture of both).

This allows the Zombies to reposition across the battlefield or attack all at once. If all four attacks succeed, and taking Overload into account, the warband could deal up to 12 damage in a single turn.

On top of that, a slain Zombie can be raised adjacent to Deintalos. For me this is the most powerful aspect of the ability. The Raise occurs in addition to an already powerful effect. It does not require any resources and does not consume extra time. It simply happens while the rest of the Zombies perform their grim dance.

The ability can also be used multiple times in a game.

I have found that when I am using aggressive strike warbands I often struggle to clear the Zombies efficiently.

When facing this warband it often feels pointless attacking the Zombies directly. In my opinion you should largely ignore them until Deintalos and Marcov have been slain. After that you can begin farming Bounty from the Zombies.

It is also worth trying to pressure Deintalos into moving. Once he has a Move or Charge token he can no longer lead the Danse Dynamic.

Decks

The Exiled Dead work best as an aggressive swarm where fighters support one another. As such, Deadly Synergy is clearly the primary deck choice for the warband. The United status interacts well with Dynamic Surge and Puppeteer providing both scoring opportunities as well as interactions with the warscroll.

After that there are several strong secondary options.

Deadly Slayers

(Raging Slayers and Deadly Synergy)

Raging Slayers can be useful for accessing more critical hits. This helps the Zombies apply Stagger, which then interacts with Overload to gain Grievous.

This combination turns the Zombies into highly efficient attackers and makes the deck combination strongly strike focused.

Deadly Plunderers

(Deadly Synergy and Pillage and Plunder)

This combination might appear strange, as Zombies cannot Delve. However, they can move quickly to block Feature tokens and prevent opponents from claiming them. This can allow the warband to score Strip the Realm if opponents cannot reach Treasure tokens.

The deck also provides useful ranged weapon upgrades that could increase the number of times the  Zombie attack.

Do not forget that Marcov, Regulus and Deintalos can all Delve, allowing you to score Pillage and Plunder surges safely behind your wall of undead fighters.

Final Thoughts

My Exiled Dead

This warband is clearly one of the more powerful forces in Warhammer Underworlds. I would place it alongside Zarbag’s Gitz in terms of overall strength.

They have a large number of fighters, which already makes them difficult to remove from the battlefield. Even when you manage to slay them, their constant Raise mechanics allow them to return again and again.

Their action economy is exceptional. They can perform in a single turn what other warbands require an entire round to achieve. Moving four fighters or attacking with four fighters in a single activation is extraordinary.

Even if we ignore Danse Dynamic and Puppeteer, the rest of the warscroll abilities are excellent. Free rerolls for standing next to another Conductive fighter, access to Grievous for multiple fighters, and bonus speed when friendly fighters are slain.

These abilities would form the core of most warscrolls. In this warband they are simply additions to the main action economy engines.

When playing the Exiled Dead you must protect Deintalos, Marcov and Regulus. The more multiple activations you generate the stronger the warband becomes.

However, do not be afraid to make a single Charge with a Zombie when the opportunity arises.

 

So, what do you think? Will you be using the Exiled Dead? If so, what decks will you take with them? I look forward to hearing from you.

Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.

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