Hello Spent Glory Fans, this time we’re back with another of our Love Letters written by the Warhammer Underworlds community. The Love Letter Series was kicked off by this post encouraging people to play the warbands they love and tell others about the experience, inviting readers to contribute their passion to this website. Below is some sweet affection from Bryce Martin (Old Jakes Gang on Discord), who has had Xandire seeking his heart for a while now. He asked me to delay posting this article until after he was able to take the deck to the Cherokee Open, and wouldn’t you know it, he was the Grand Clash winner! Follow your passion, play what you love, and results will follow. He was able to come out undefeated, winning out over a Headkrakka’s Madmob Force of Frost pairing in the final. Meta-conscious readers will recognize this opponent as an A+ warband, with an A+ rivals deck, and a pretty smooth pairing, and STILL Xandire emerged victorious in a testament to the power of love. And we have an American going to Worlds! You love to see it.
Who are you, and where are you from?
My name is Bryce Martin and I am in the Athens, Georgia area. I am the co-host of the Start Your Dungeons Youtube channel, where we cover starter boxes and core products for miniature games and RPGs. We usually try to do a review of every season core box that comes out for Underworlds, so check us out!
How did you get into Underworlds?
I originally got into the game with Shadespire but I sold it early in Nightvault times due to moving a lot for work. When nemesis arrived with Gnarlwood, I picked up that box set to get back into the game as a fun side project and I have been playing and collecting the game ever since. I come from a competitive background with miniature games so this game fit the perfect balance of competitive gameplay and ease of entry.
Do you have a local group you play with, and if so, do they have an online presence to help people find you?
I play with the Georgia Underworlds group, which is predominantly in the northeast of the state. We have a pretty small but dedicated group that has been growing with the introduction of Nemesis. We do have Discord that I will be happy to link people to.
What’s the warband/deck/pairing you love, and how did you two sweethearts meet?
My favorite warband of all time is Xandire’s Truthseekers. I am not a huge fan of Stormcast personally, but I grabbed the Rivals of Harrowdeep box originally to play Da Kunnin’ Krew. However, I started messing with Xandire in some fun Nemesis games with Tooth and Claw and then I started to see how they clicked into place as I played them more. Over time, I started to just always play them when I got the opportunity and they have slowly become my main warband when it comes to competitive play. With the introduction of Breakneck Slaughter, I have slowly shifted to that being my main nemesis pairing with them and the combo of what Breakneck offers with the regular warband deck is something that really surprises a lot of my opponents.
What makes the deck so fun to play in your experience?
This is my deck I settled on after around 30 or so games with the pairing. Really, the combo of Breakneck Speed and Xandire gives us three things: mobility, chaining objective scoring, and access to extra damage and dice. With mobility, one of the weaknesses is two of your main fighters have range 1 attacks combined with only a three hex move. Breakneck allows you to get a lot of +1 or +2 move that allows us to get into the enemy territory and make charges into priority targets. Chaining objective scoring is all about the deck being about two main things: get to your opponent in their zone and kill fighters each round where you can. Cards like Sigmar’s Chosen and Rapid Strike both score at the end phase for the same reason (number of enemy fighters taken out equal to or greater than the round number) and you have surges like Brave the Darkness that also score into Eager for the Fight for you at the end of the round. Finally, access to extra damage and dice is super helpful for Xandire. Xandire is your most accurate with a 3 smash attack and cleave on inspire, but she only puts out 2 damage so having extra damage makes her more scary. Dhoraz on the other hand has a 3 damage attack, but he only has 2 smash and extra dice makes him a scary and more accurate fighter. Also, the potential of the Hurricane Dart combined with Stormrider’s Quick Volley reaction on her inspired side means you can build up her dice with gambits like Breakneck Pace and upgrades like Headlong Sprinter and have multiple large dice poll attacks if you can get a kill or two along with spreading damage. This deck also gets a leg up from a lot of pairing with Xandire due to the high scoring end phases available, which brings Xandire from around 14 or so glory with Tooth and Claw up to 17 glory on objectives alone.
How have you found success and/or fun with the deck?
I have found some really great success with this deck, with some good play into the higher tier warbands in Nemesis that like to turtle back in their zone like Domitan and Ephilim due to the speed and damage output. The deck is able to score pretty effectively and efficiently as I play, with the ability to see most of my objective deck or all of it in every game. I am bringing the deck to the Cherokee Open 2024 world championship qualifier and hoping to take the event with this deck, so stay tuned to see how that turns out.
What advice do you have for other players who might want to try your warband on for size?
I will talk about a few things for how to play this warband: boards, opening hands, placement of fighters on starting hexes, and some tips on gambits and upgrades. In terms of boards, you don’t care about objectives so much with this warband other than stopping opponents who care about them like Starbloods or have Paths of Prophecy as their nemesis pairing, so you usually want to take boards over objectives. The best boards I would recommend are Glacial Tomb (which is my go-to board for game 1), Frost-wracked Ruins, Visceral Coil, and Katophane’s Reliquary. Depending on what board they place, I usually do a small offset that allows me lanes to get into the priority targets and have my fighters as close to no-man’s land as possible. If I am given or take objectives, I place them as far back on my board as possible.
For opening hands, we have both objectives and power cards. For objectives, don’t be afraid to keep a hand with one or no surges. A lot of our end phases require us to get one kill round 1 or be charged out, which can be easier to score depending on the warband you face. The surges I like to see are Brave the Darkness and Gale Force round 1 if I only get access to one. Even our big 3 glory end phase Fastest Around scores round 1 if we can get into the enemy territory and stay there. For power cards, I want to see as many of the following: Breakneck Pace, Devastating Charge, Reckless Charge, Called Strike, and Drilled Efficiency. Most of these can help you survive or score your glory easier. For upgrades, it really depends on the situation. I like Keepsake, Tempered Sigmarite, Battering Ram, and Moving Mark the most early on.
Placement is super key for this warband. With only having four fighters, most warbands will equal or outplace you on the board so going second is preferred to get as much information as possible. Taros is always my first play, close enough to where I am going to put Stormrider so he can tag along near her when she moves. Then I place Stormrider a bit back so she can still charge and shoot something, usually to score me Banish the Dark if I draw it round 1. Then, I place Dhoraz and Xandire as front and center as possible. Depending on if I need damage from Dhoraz or accuracy from Xandire determines who gets closer. Also, the gambits in your hand help determine this, especially if you get Breakneck Pace, Devastating Charge, or Reckless Charge to go in for big damage on the back line. Also, you need to be aware of who you want to die first if possible. Usually, I lose Dhoraz first unless I want his high damage and scything attacks. Xandire and Stormrider are usually my two fighters who get to inspire.
Finally, gambits and upgrades. If you get the kill on your charge into enemy territory round 1 and you are uninspired, I will sometimes put Moving Mark on that fight to make them way more survivable. This makes them have 2 block for defense on their uninspired and it can really mess with an opponent trying to kill them. Once you do inspire, Drilled Efficiency and Sigmarite Wardens are so devastating for your opponent, especially if they have access to Cleave. The bird on guard is honestly rude and I love it when people go crazy trying to get an easy kill on him. Tempered Sigmarite is best saved for an inspired fighter to have more dice and I usually try to keep Unfaltering Stride for my last fighter alive so I can reposition a bit while still trying to take enemies out. For great “gotcha” cards, Roll with the Punches is a great card to catch your opponent off guard, especially if they have spent cards to set up a kill and you just stop that. Also, it can help make it easier for you to play Walk it Off, which can mess up someone’s plan to kill your fighter or leave you vulnerable. Keepsake is a great card to help get your attacks more accurate when you start losing fighters and I usually wait as long as I can before I put it out. Finally, Flight of Darts and Hurricane Dart are in the deck to help you get long range charges so you can put out damage even when you have charged out and don’t have as many movement tricks left.
What threats do you find most challenging to face? Are there any warbands or strategies that others can use to beat this warband or pairing?
Xandire is a counter punch warband in most cases and you want to be aggressive into the opponent’s zone. However, a lot of aggressive enemy warbands like to also get into your zone and make it harder for you to score some cards. Having to chase a fast warband can be very difficult for you with your slow movement. Cleave is also an issue since we rely heavily on our 2 block defense stat when we inspire. Warbands like Madmob, Headsmen, Gnarlspirit, and Soulraid can put the damage out on us.
The other big issue is with warbands that score passive glory well. Warbands like Mournflight, Sepulchral Guard, and warbands that like Paths of Prophecy as their nemesis pairing can be tough for us to beat if we can’t stop their passive glory output. The other potential problem depending on your opening hand is the long board, but cards that buff our movement are helpful and I have been able to do well into most matchups that think the long board will help them win.
Finally, playing into Xandire is all about controlling the warband’s opportunities to charge when you can and also dealing out damage to as many models as possible before the inspire. If I inspire and have damage on my fighters already, my better defense stats still might not help me survive an attack and that means you lose fighters way quicker without getting the opportunity to use their better stats. Also, the order in which you kill them is a big part of it. While Taros can be hard to kill sometimes just due to the nature of rolling two defense dice, killing him doesn’t inspire the team and means I stay uninspired longer. Also, if you kill Stormrider first, Taros won’t inspire and he needs to inspire just to be any assistance for damage output in most cases. Finally, you need to decide the one you need to kill first on the team that is most annoying for you. If you are playing a horde warband or high wound warband, Dhoraz will be the most irritating for you with his 3 damage attack and his scything attack. If you rely on your block defense dice for stopping damage, Xandire will be the most irritating for you. If you play hordes with low wound counts and have few to no range options, Stormrider will be the most irritating for you. Also, try to make the reactions for each fighter dying end up either as a wash or just not very impactful. Xandire heals a fighter for 2 wounds, which is the easiest to stop. Dhoraz can push ANY fighter within 2 hexes up to 2 hexes, which can take you off objectives or out of combat or it can push Xandire next to people so they don’t have to move to attack. Finally, Stormrider can make a Range 3+ attack action, which I have used to kill the fighter who killed Stormrider and messed up an opponent’s game plan.
Anything else you’d like to tell the community?
If you are looking for a warband that is both fun and has some cool tricks while playing an aggressive playstyle, I can highly recommend Xandire and Breakneck Slaughter. While I would not put it in the S-tier warband tier, I think this pairing is at the minimum an A-tier warband in Nemesis and you can really surprise some people with the glory potential and damage output across a deceptive range. I know I am looking to represent both Xandire and Velmorn as my two main warbands in events, so look for me to be playing them any chance I get!
Again, I want to emphasize that Bryce took what he loved against conventional wisdom, got the experience and repetition to really make them shine in his own way, and took that love to a Grand Clash and doggone it he won the whole thing. Don’t let ‘the meta’ or ‘top tier’ discussions discourage you! Bryce is headed to the World Championships of Warhammer this year, and is the first American to earn a ticket for Underworlds in 2024. And he did it with a Love Letter. You can too.
While there are a few more Love Letters in the works, there is always room for more. I’d love to hear your thoughts about an older or lesser or weird warband/pairing, what drove you to fall in love with it, and how you’ve piloted it to success – and especially piloting it to fun. If you have a warband you’d love to wax poetic about and serenade the wider community, let me know! I’m always accepting new submissions at SpentGlory@gmail.com – Until next time, grab your favorite warband, a couple friends, and Spend some Glory!
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