Long ago, in the deep Shadespire past, I was a Farstriders fan. I liked the idea of chipping away at people with range 3 when that sort of thing was a rarity, and tried to play them as somewhat of a counterpunch warband with the ability to dash over the line at the end of a round to inspire if needed. I didn’t have ton of success, but I did have fun. They eventually fell to the wayside for me until their rerelease in the new starter box, but I like many were disappointed in the lack of a real ‘boost’ they got compared to their companion release in the new Sepulchral Guard. I played a couple rivals games with them, sad that they were even more in the ‘you must invade’ approach without the old inspire condition to reward it. Some of their new Objective cards were difficult to score or provided less Glory than their effort would suggest, and after a couple games of struggle I gave up on them and went on to other projects.

Enter Wintermaw, and Rimewyrm’s Bite. On a whim, I thought “this deck has lots of ping that doesn’t need a spellcaster, and I can play them like I used to with the chip damage from crossbow shots. 1+1+1+1 equals good enough, right?” I built a deck on my lunch break just slapping things together without a real plan, and had a few casual games just to take the old dogs out for a spin. I was hooked. The counterpunch thing wasn’t exactly how I ended up making them work except in certain matchups, but the games had plenty of tactical decisions and it felt like there was ‘something here I can work with’.

I decided at that point, a few months out from the 2024 Tacoma Open Grand Clash, that this was probably the pairing I was going to take. I’d had enough of my cohosts over at Underworlds Underground teasing me about being a deviant who doesn’t play Stormcast (love you guys), and it was high time I had a turn at playing the ‘overpowered cheese deck’ instead of trying to make Fearsome Fortress Velmorn or Malevolent Masks Grymwatch turn water into wine.

The more I toyed with the pairing and read through the cards, the more potential I saw. Farstriders have relatively easy access to stagger, and Rimewyrm has a lot of synergy there. They have only 3 models who want to invade anyway, and Rimewyrm rewards that as well. They have a couple good pushes, some stellar Gambits, and plenty of potential overlap. People across the Underworlds scene, myself included, had pretty much slept on the Farstriders since their revamp and I felt like this was something nobody would see coming; maybe, just maybe, I could podium at Tacoma with it. George/Kryos from Path to Glory let the cat out of the bag with this podcast episode, but something this fancy wasn’t going to stay hidden for long. To George’s credit (and he deserves his share) he did help me workshop the deck a bit when I reached out knowing he had the same idea I had. I was stuck between a domain and a hard place and helped me reaffirm some of my choices. I’ll have a second article out soon that details exactly what went down at the TacO, but for now let’s look at my final deck and cover my reasoning for the choices to you can play with it or adjust as you see fit.

First, the Evidence

Not all of these games were played with the same deck composition, as I did a lot of tinkering as I went along. Across 22 tournament practice games, I had a 14-8 record with a net glory differential of 116 – that’s an average of +5.3 glory each game I rack up and a 64% win rate. It has the spike potential of my old Breakneck Arenai while also having more denial and control, and at times feels dirty to play. I can’t imagine it’s great fun to play against, but this was built for a Grand Clash and if I wanted a shot at top ten I had to step on the gas. I lost my share of games in practice to be sure, never by more than 5 and THREE times I lost on tiebreakers. Surely that couldn’t happen a fourth time… right? That said, I did lose three straight games the Friday before the tournament, so that was a real confidence boost for the drive down that evening.

The Deck

++DB link here++

Surge Objectives

• Get Moving – one glory for having all fighters with move tokens or all with charge tokens. What a banger. It even has the Farstriders in the art and flavor text! It can be blocked in round 1 if the opponent is fearful to engage and I have to make a move with somebody and therefore can’t charge, but otherwise it’s easy street.
• Gone Without a Trace – A kill surge, but this card is great in the right situations, possibly surging for two by doing what you wanted to do anyway. Worst case you can kill yourself for one, though some games it bricked for me because I spent my pings before drawing it.
• Subterranean Threat – another kill surge, and one that requires the target have no move or charge tokens. Not ideal, and in some games (especially if you lose the roll-off) it can be tough, but definitely doable.
• Stormforged Vanguard – Everybody’s got a move or charge in enemy territory is a very easy condition unless I’m longboarded in round 1 or tabled.
• The Judgement of Sigmar – a THIRD kill surge (am I stupid?), this time for using a range 3+ attack. Something that is going to happen most games, but you might not have this in hand when it does. Worst case scenario is you have a vulnerable target and you have to choose whether to go for this or Lost Without a Trace, because you can’t do both.
• Veteran Marksman – get a crit hit on a ranged attack. This is going to happen, especially with stagger rerolls and some plus dice help. Dice dependent cards aren’t great, but you’ll have plenty of chances and it doesn’t require kills.

End Phase Objectives

• Corralled Like Sheep – a savvy opponent can stop this by dividing their forces, but a lot of the time my pressure is enough to keep them bottled up. If you get this after you’ve thinned the herd it’s much easier, and if they try to stop this they may not also stop Spread Out.
• Get Out of the Way – I’m going in on enemy territory and killing. If I can outpace them or they are trying to block Corralled Like Sheep, it will happen, but a bit matchup dependent.
• Never Punished – this one is agonizing to me. You need MORE of theirs wounded. I only have three fighters, but I also have a habit of killing one at a time instead of spreading the pain. I kept it in because it is scorable even while I’m tabled, but it often makes me grouchy to see. The number of times I have had the same number of wounded…
• Spread Out – I want in their territory, and non-adjacency is fine by me with ranged attacks. Early on and against hordes it’s not fantastic, but I score it often enough and usually for 2 glory.
• Swift Work – again, the operative maddening word is MORE. Sometimes I seethe after missing my final attack and have only 1 dead in round 1, but sometimes I get two glory for just playing the game. Also a matchup dependent card unfortunately, but I have the damage output to make it happen.
• Without Equal – Two glory for 2 dead and holding an objective. Sometimes no problem, and I usually place one just over the line into enemy territory so I can charge onto it for a chance to score it in round 1.

Gambits

• Deadly Wards – It’s a domain, it pings, it slaps. Unfortunately it vanishes after it tags somebody, but it makes for plenty of opportunities.
• Heaving Ground – Another domain that pings a staggered fighter when they’re driven back. The boltstorm pistols have stagger on a crit (Eagle-eye has it straight up), and I can gain it with Crackling Blade as well. This effectively gives your guns Grievous (or +1 damage for the axe man), and can score you Gone Without a Trace to boot. Beautiful card for Farstriders, and let me tell you it’s hilarious when you’re shooting at the Bane of Heroes.
• Puncturing Ice Shards – this card is wretched. You can engineer situations where their fighters are the only ones eligible to be chosen, maybe even only one fighter. Two ping damage with a single card. Sometimes I don’t even care if I eat one damage to give one damage. This really should be Errata’d to say the opponent MAY choose a fighter, as it’s written it’s simply too good. I couldn’t not take it no matter how dirty it makes me feel.
• Re-Emergence – get a domain back to use again. Fantasy scenario (which happens more than you’d think) is you tag them for 2 with puncturing, then get it back and do it again. Alternatively I can re-use Heaving Ground or Deadly Wards for another shot at Gone Without a Trace or just some fun extra damage/opportunities for my kill surges.
• The Right Bait – yet another ping, though this one requires I be adjacent to the enemy. Still a solid finisher and the stagger effect is nice for setup if needed when possible.
• Ceaseless Volley – it’s a push card, which is already good. It’s also a +1 dice on ranged attacks, which I use about 2/3 of the time which is nice. Ups the odds for Veteran Marksman as well.
• Merciless Assault – After you hit a range 1, you make a ranged attack. The bummer is you have to hit the first attack, but it’s really nice for inspiring your fighters, finishing a guy off, or shooting at somebody else if you want to spread some pain. When it works, it feels so so good. When you miss your rare range 1 opportunity, it hurts worse than usual when you were counting on this card.
• Rangers, Advance – double sidestep, double good. Gets you closer to enemy territory, in rage for melee, away from a Hazard hex, onto an objective, whatever you need. Twice! No positional/directional requirement!
• Rapid Volley – Shoot, shoot again. A chance to hit twice, a chance to crit for Veteran Marksman, a chance to kill for Judgement of Sigmar, a chance to drive back during Heaving Ground twice, a chance to make up for a missed shot that you REALLY needed to hit. Unfortunately you need to target the same fighter both times, but it’s still tasty.
• Raptor Strike – what’s this, another ping, at range 4? I curse the fact that it needs to be from your leader yet is not leader-restricted and therefore not salvageable. My teammates curse the fact that it exists at all.

Upgrades

• Boots of Warding – protects you from ping and lethals your opponent might have, and very conveniently makes you an ineligible target for Puncturing Ice Shards. You’re immune to Deadly Wards and Heaving Ground, so go off, king.
• Earth-Shattering Tread – A beautiful card. Protects you to an extent from being charged, but more importantly creates six Hazard hexes from which to puncture or get the Stagger from The Right Bait. Note that the card reads OTHER fighters treat them as lethals (not the fighter with the upgrade), so you can Puncture without being eligible to be tagged back.
• Inured to Hardship – occasionally this gets a fighter out of kill range and can keep somebody kicking for longer. Sometimes it’s next to worthless. Still, you can do much worse.
• Tough Enough – excellent anti-ping with the benefit of also cutting down on minion attacks and enemy ranged shots. Come at me, bro.
• Crackling Blade – I agonized over this for a while. Grievous on range 1 isn’t great but occasionally can win you a game. Stagger is a nice benefit though with the other stuff in this build.
• Farsighted – Your range 3 is now range 4. Having enemies in range is nice, especially when you’re a little slow. Nice as a surprise application right before your activation when they thought they were safe from a charged out fighter.
• Lone Warrior – this one was almost cut multiple times, but rarely getting a defensive boost can save you. Uninspired it’s less exciting since you’re only on 1 shield, but it’s decent when inspired and helps save you from cleave, and can be used on your last survivor to hopefully make the most of them.
• Overcharged Boltstorm Pistol – another attack profile so you can shoot twice and still inspire. More accurate than their base gun at the cost of losing Stagger, but sometimes can come in clutch.
• Swift Stride – +2 move is nothing to sneeze at when you are 3 or 4 move base and want to invade. It’s also great for making a charge into range 1 attacks against that special fighter they’re trying to hide, or for making that desperate last move onto an objective/out of danger.
• Watchful Advance – reacting into guard is best when inspired for 2 dice, but it could possibly save you especially if they’ve got cleave. Combos well with Lone Warrior, and most usefully keeps you from being driven back when you’re trying to hold an objective score Without Equal or just not get pushed into no-man’s land or your own territory for your other invade cards. Feels pretty bad when they roll multiple successes against an uninspired fighter and you need a crit anyway.

Fiddly Decision Points

My main challenge with adjustments to the deck concerned the Domain count and how much I wanted to lean all the way in on including them and thus the cards that interact with them. If you get things in the right draw order you can score like butter and have some very powerful effects, but if the domains don’t appear when needed you are clunky and across a Grand Clash I felt I needed more consistency, so I went light on Domains. A full-domain-a-palooza could be very powerful in the right scenario though!

There were several cards that spent some time in the deck and were eventually cut, but I could see putting back in.

• Deadly to All – theoretically doable but I honestly scored it only once in 12 games, and that time my opponent did it for me.
• Ruinous Aftermath – a domain needs to be overriden by another to score it. I didn’t include enough to consistently get it, and sometimes you’d be upset choosing between keeping a domain online for its benefits/scoring Gone Without a Trace or scoring this card. Really only best when your opponent cancels your domain for you, but that isn’t guaranteed.
• Brief Emergence – I was told this is a fantastic card. I took it for 8 games and never felt like it was the right time to play it – I didn’t need the push or couldn’t afford to eat the damage. When I choose my last surviving fighter, the opponent can always just choose not to pick a second fighter so the damage is pretty unidirectional. Having drawn and held it for several opportunities, I decided to cut it against the advice of my betters. It is a push! Maybe a double push! Why would I cut this? Farstriders have such killer gambits and this wasn’t a Domain, that’s why.
• Just Pure Luck – One one hand, it negates ping, and could save me! On the other, it doesn’t stop you from dying and you need it in hand at the right time unlike the Upgrades that do the same but better. It was funny once to say nuh-uh though.
• Lightning Blow – rangeless +1 damage was hard to let go of, but it only has one chance to go off and you might miss. I dropped it in favor of Gambits that help me score more reliably but was sad to see it go.
• Master of Disaster – Rangeless stagger or a push for the equipped fighter, but only when domains go away. I didn’t take enough Domains to rely on it, and/or it wasn’t equipped when the Domain was discarded. In the right build this is a great card, but not for my situation.

There also were multiple cards I wanted to find a home for, but ultimately couldn’t justify.

• Blood-Soaked Ice – 2 glory end phase for all enemies dead or wounded. Very hard to score in round 1, and depending on the matchup could be tough in round 3 as well. If I run into an elite-heavy meta this tournament I’ll be sad I left it out, but I do like to focus down and kill fighters rather than spread the pain (which also makes it hard to score Never Punished). It was this card or that one, and I hope I didn’t pick wrong.
• Threatening Rumbles – if my opponent doesn’t want to occupy objective tokens in their own territory, and if I don’t have the ping at the right time, it’s a lost cause. I can run onto one myself and ping myself, but I also took multiple anti-ping pieces and I could block myself out from it.
• Flash of Light – have a guy stand in an edge hex? Easy! only one glory though and if I am down to a single fighter I may not want them hanging out there.
• Lightning Advance – I’m going to be putting all of my fighters into enemy territory anyway, but it’s only 1 glory and harder to score in round 1 if I don’t make it over, and hard in round 3 since I might not have two fighters left.
• Unstable Footing – stagger chargers and damage staggered chargers. Against parasite it’s nice, and since I have ways to hand out stagger it can make them countercharging my shooters more punishing. Unfortunately I want to charge a lot too, and didn’t want the same risks applying to me as well despite it being a persisting Domain
• Fearsome Roar – pushing an opponent is nice. Having to be adjacent makes it less appealing, and it got in the way of pings an Domains so I couldn’t find a home for it.
• Retribution – a free attack! However, you have to survive the hit, have to target your attacker, and if they drive you back, have to shoot instead of punch. IF they miss, it’s a dead card. When it works it’s nasty, but I worried it would be useless too often or eat up hand space across rounds while I prayed for it to go off.
• Like an Avalanche – similar to Master of Disaster, I didn’t have the domains for it and the token removal effect is far less useful at the end of the round. Additionally, I have a few cards that actually want me to have charge tokens, so removing them might slow down a surge.
• Up for a Fight – You know what’s cool? Rangeless +1 dice. You know what’s not? Needing a persisting domain and I only have two, one of which goes away after it pings. In the dream scenario you have this up on Farstrider inspired, dishing out high likelihood of crits on his ranged attack which come with ‘blinding’ – grievous AND stagger, while the domain Heaving Ground is active. Can you smell ‘effectively grievous 2’ with reliability!? I REALLY wanted this one to up the damage output, but if my opponent doesn’t grace me with their own domains it is just too situational to see consistent benefit in my current build. Cry with me.

Wrap

I’ll have the Tacoma Open report out soon so you can see just how it ended up performing under pressure, but the deck feels pretty vicious to me in the end. With the right sequencing of cards, it’s hard to stop – though flaws certainly exist when that sequencing isn’t just right and (no spoilers) we will see some of those issues crop up in live competition. Some of the Surges might not happen every game, and some of the end phases might not happen either, but you’ll be slaying with abandon and it doesn’t hurt so bad to die in the process if it comes to that. Give it a try yourself and let me know how it goes, especially if you included some of those alternate cards – I’d love to hear how it goes for you! Until next time, Get Moving, and don’t forget to Spend that Glory!