Web Highlights from June 2025

Featured this month is this electric paintjob on the Brethren of the Bolt by CeltikPainting! Seafoam colored lightning with OSL and an otherwise darklight scheme fits the aesthetic of the rimewyrm caverns almost exactly as I had imagined them. The feet are even frostbitten! These would look right at home in your favorite video game. Hats off, honestly.

Check out Web Highlights from previous months here, or dive in by category below!

Content Creators

RHeaven90 continues to be a community resource hero, and has created updated warscolls following last month’s balance update. Check them out!

PODCASTS

What the Hex had two good episodes this month – one was a long discussion of the most recent Balance Update, looking at every change and having a roundtable on each point. Second, they had a recap of the Canadian Tabletop Championship, where two of their crew hit the podium (and stole back some tickets for the good ole US of A)

Path to Glory continued their Second Edition tier list, this episode working through the warbands in the B Tier. Great discussion even if the balance update changed a few things, and still informative if you’re looking to compete.

YOUTUBE

Critical Focus Channel dropped a really interesting video discussing whether or not warbands might ‘rotate out’ and if any old warbands should ‘rotate back in’. Always a hot topic! Gimme Velmorn please. He also shared his thoughts on what he likes and dislikes in second edition compared to the original game, and it’s a nice thoughtful assessment.

Fingers, Fits, and Fumbs ran a solo-play tournament called Contest Aethyrmatika, randomly pairing warbands and rivals decks and working through a bracket to determine a champion. Here’s a link to the first episode!

Agents of Sigmar went on a tear this month, posting a bunch of videos. My three favorites are the following:

What do you need to take to an Underworlds tournament? Great watch for newer players who are headed to their first competitive event

What changes would we make to Embergard? This one floated a REALLY interesting idea of an official tier list of 0, 1, and 2 which determines how many restricted cards you’re allowed to take in Nemesis. Kind of reminds me of inducements in Blood Bowl, giving an advantage to the team with lower value to even the playing field a bit. I’d love to see something like this implemented.

And the coolest thing they’re doing is a “Battle of the Bads” tournament– playing each other in nemesis with the loser advancing, rather than the winner. In the end, they’ll have crowned a ‘worst pairing’ – you can check out one of their first episodes here, and if you subscribe to their Patreon, you can see all of them now! Definitely worth a watch to see some less-prominent warbands, as well as some really well-done overlaid graphics. These two continue to up their game!

BLOGS

The Staggerers team has put together a very comprehensive look at the three plot card decks following the balance update, comparing their relative strengths and which might be the best choice. Great read for competitive deckbuilders.

I missed it last month, but Vincent Knotley has an alternate paint scheme guide for Knives of the Crone. These models are really evocative in person, and it’s nice to see other colors bring them to life in a way the original promo material didn’t succeed at as well.

Path to Glory posted a discussion on Player Archetypes, borrowing some terminology from Magic: the Gathering. Give it a read and see if you’re more of a Timmy, Johnny, or Spike, and get some insight into what parts of the game and what environments you might enjoy the most.

Borni of the Stats project released an early intra-meta report that shows how things have started to shape up immediately before and following the balance update. Too early to be definitive, but intriguing to see that Gitz PPCC and Jaws BACC are still having very positive results despite the theoretical nerfing. As more post-balance data comes in, will we see them dethroned?

Goonhammer posted up a review of the fun to be had at the Madtown Throwdown in Madison, Wisconsin

Events/Organized Play

June 1st was the finale of the Underworlds Italia event in Milan. This was the very first event using the new FaR and Balance Update, and in a surprising finish Flavio came away the winner with Blackpowder’s Buccaneers and BA/PP! Glad the see the meta unseated so quickly by the recent changes.

June First also saw The Mines of Alost 2 in Belgium. It was won in the end by Tomsche Murrath using Cyreni’s Razors with a deck built from Wrack & Ruin together with Countdown to Cataclysm

June 7th saw the Poznań Grand Clash, a 7-round event. 22 players fought it out, and in the end Zarbag’s Gits with PP/CC took both first and second place, congrats to Przemek Kotliński for coming away with the win.

15 June 2025 in the Netherlands hosted the Benelux Clash put on by Straight Outta Shadespire and the Rotterdam White Scars. In the end, Kevin van Ravenswaaij took home the golden ticket after winning it all with Emberwatch using Emberstone Sentinels and Realmstone Raiders

June 21st was the Madtown Throwdown Q2 event in Wisconsin, hosted by the What the Hex crew. The winner was Davy with his Dread Pageant CC/WnR (be still, my heart), and he’s headed to Worlds again this year, but not as a commentator! Here’s a review from the perspective of Jake from Goonhammer

June 22nd, an event called “Rivals Arena, Path to Nemesis” was held in Manila as a prep for the local community to transition to deckbuilding. Glad to see them continue to grow and add new players!

June 28 in Redhill, the Agents of Sigmar held an event with 28 players which was won in the end by Imogen Lidbetter using Thricefold Discord, going undefeated across 5 rounds.

June 29th, A Golden Ticket was awarded in Guadalajara, México, with the win going to a Zarbag’s Gitz player with Pillage and Cataclysm

UPCOMING

July 5-6th is the WHU World Team Championship (WTC) in Vienna. Austria. Teams of 5 competitors from multiple countries are facing off over 7 rounds to determine the annual world champions – it’s always a packed competitive roster, and duplications on a given team are not allowed to create strategic matchup decisions from each team. Check out the selections made by the competitors this year across 70 players for a snapshot of the current metagame!

July 6th will feature the Goonhammer Open in Maryland and will be run by Jake of Starting Hex. Register here and have some fun, and maybe even take home a Golden Ticket!

July 19-20 will be the Tacoma Open, where you can fight for a Golden Ticket, meet me and some of my locals, get some TacO themed socks, and hang out for a weekend of good times in the Pacific Northwest. You might be surprised by what tomfoolery I’m bringing for my pairing too.

August 30-31 is the NOVA Open in Washington, DC, and will feature a 2-day Nemesis event (and a Sunday Skirmish for those not qualifying for Top Cut). Check it out, and party with the Battle Mallet squad while you’re at it!

October 18th, George/Kyros of Path to Glory is hosting the NYO WHU event with a Golden Ticket on the line in New York USA. Grab your ticket here!

October 18th-19th will be an Underworlds World Championship Qualifier at Kipper’s Melee in Nanaimo, BC Canada. Tickets here!

Painting/Hobby

Maria W. from Ace of Paints has cooked up these awesome Barbie-themed Knives of the Crone. Such a unique spin on the warband that I can’t get enough of.

For a COMPLETELY different take on Knives of the Crone, check out Martin Higham’s maximum grimdark conversion

Killer blending and transitions in a muted multicolor take on Grinkrak’s Looncourt by Mike “Shades” Schaefer

Gorgeous Borgit and co by 61 painting with ruddy noses and an overall grimy appearance. The skin is just so good

A cool take on Knives of the Crone by Master-Barracuda-707 which have a cool wintry mountain backdrop. The hair pops, the base rims have a great offsetting effect on the sandstone basing, and the cloaks have serious drip. Check it out!

Toofdagga from Headkrakka’s Madmob by Lukas

Redheaded Knives of the Crone by friend of the page Wedrall. The sickly skin and hard eyeliner really jive with the aesthetic and I’m super impressed by the face on Azphel in particular

The Grymwatch painted like the orcs from Lord of the Rings by HriMiller, complete with the White Hand of Saruman

The Skinnerkin in a beautiful deep turquoise by oscovb. Captures the look from the first edition card art almost perfectly

Ghulgoch the Butcher in a gritty and muted style by RepresentativeOk697. You gotta believe this kit will be re-released at some point, as these models are just so good in a skilled painter’s hands.

Fjul-Grimnir with some glowing runes and a blazing latchkey axe by MaulerMania

Stormsire’s Cursebreakers in a dark bidirectional OSL by Similar-Salt-6171. Brings me right back to the Nightvault days

Borgit’s Beastgrabbaz by WarpriderAD which feature, among other joys, a star-studded Sorcerer’s Apprentice cloth theme. Loads of detail in this whole paintjob!

“The Rootwatch” by Colette_du_Bois which feature an alternate timeline take on the Emberwatch. If the prohecy reversed, and Embergard stood while Verdigris fell, how might our core box warband look? This might not be far off from the truth. Great idea!

Brydget Axwold by HomunculiV – this is about the best her face has ever looked

Zikkit’s Tunnelpack in a cool red and turquoise scheme that pairs quite well with the copper metallics. Nice job, goodwind99!

A particularly nice Crimson Court by dungeon_child with glowing eyes and vivid cloth. The copper armor is great, and Ennias looks especially spooky with the underlighting

Always a classic, Ylthari’s guardians in a seasonal theme by 20Kudasai

Well-highlighted Kainan’s Reapers by Kelvin EP

Popping colors on Grandfather’s Gardeners by infected_butter

The Gnarlwood core box done up in speedpaints with some fancy cinematic photo backdrops by Perno – here’s the Sons of Velmorn, and here are the Gnarlspirit Pack.

Really nice Borgit’s Beastgrabbaz with incredibly vivid cloaks by PeterPaintsWHU

For the World of Warcraft fans out there, these Myari’s Blood Elves by shreedder should scratch your itch

Multicolor Jaws of Itzl by Dan Knight with really cool line-art on the jade segments

Ice blue Myari’s Purifiers by Tom Murrath

Bonekrakka by Duncan/DTrainMinis

Ghulgoch the Butcher by MrPapercuts683. Neat blue skin tone!

The original Gangster, Blooded Saek, living up to the name. Nice work by dedgecko

Miscellaneous

Check out this collage of first edition card art! Really neat idea by ScooloV on Discord, and it has me wondering whether I should cut up my old cards and do the same.

Gorsworngamer and Leathanam on Discord have determined that it is in fact possible to have a mutated frog with eyes inside of their mouth. Maybe that IS what we were seeing with Uglug after all…

This custom built modular underworlds board by ak_blvd is a phenomenal idea, and can also help to mix up board layouts for casual games. Super cool to see

Ventris and friends have already tested out the Multiplayer Custom Rules and had a lot of fun with the Stagger Tunnel mechanic. Glad to see people having fun in a three-player setting!

Finally, a ‘leaked’ Chaos Dwarves cavalry model using our newest BullDog from Kamandora’ Blades. Good laughs from BananaFeeling