Have you ever wondered what it’s like to play something so shocking that nobody would believe it? Do you think it;s an electrifying experience to ender a worlds-ticketed event with a ‘bottom-tier’ warband? What if I told you that Andy did, and even managed to earn a ticket to the World Championships with none other than the Brethren of the Bolt?

Today’s article is part of the Love Letters Series, where readers discuss the warbands and pairings that they enjoy the most, and Davy has a lot to say about how best to use DKK in the current meta. When the warband first released, it was pretty well undercooked, and even after the rules update improving the warscroll a touch, most people continued to write it off as a lost cause.

Sadly, Andy is unable to attend worlds as he has other commitments, but I simply had to know – I HAD TO KNOW – how he pulled it off. Qualifying for worlds is not easy in any event, but especially in Canada where they grow them extra tough. And to do it with a warband nobody else has figured out?

There’s only one voice that could possibly teach us how it’s done, and it sure ain’t mine. Let’s listen in on Andy’s sermon.

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Brethren of the Bolt – An Electrifying Experience 

Upfront warning: excessive puns ahead.

TLDR:

I went to the Vancouver World Championship of Warhammer Qualifier, Minis & Mayhem, hosted at Richmond Reroll a few days ago and came in 3rd to once again qualify for WCW! It was… a BLAST! I walked away with a podium finish (3rd place), best in faction (best of Order), best painted, and was shocked to also win the door prize raffle! The light of Sigmar shines upon me! The thing I was most proud of was that I was able to do so with the Brethren of the Bolt, a less represented warband in our current meta. I walked away from this most blessed day with a 3-1 record (4 best-of-3 games). It was a long day of great gaming. I declined the World Championship ticket due to personal scheduling conflicts (as Arcus says, “I am needed elsewhere”), but am electrified with my results.

I want to share a little bit about my approach and interpretation of this warband. 

The Inspiration:

II played Hexbane Hunters a fair bit in 1st edition, and grew an affinity for Cities of Sigmar. I like the ‘normal folks surviving in an extraordinary world’ perspective. When the Brethren of the Bolt was introduced, I thought they looked a bit too wacky, but really liked how thematic their rivals deck played. Naturally, when the second edition was launched, I was glad to see this warband conducted its way onto a fairly interesting warscroll. However, after various testing to see if I can bring them to Worlds, I concluded that their health and defensive stats were just too weak to stand a competitive chance.

Fast forward to summer 2025, in preparation for the Minis & Mayhem tournament (Sep 7, 2025 with 2 WCW Qualifier Tickets), I was really unsure of what to play – but I know I wanted to play something different and less represented. The recent errata reinvigorated me to take another look at the Brethren.

A Good Jolt:

With Brethern’s latest indirect buff, their hymn ability persists until they have less than 2 fighters alive. Their ping also got FAQ’d to work even off uninspired fighters. If you don’t drive back the target, this is a guaranteed +1 damage. That’s not bad!

However, what ultimately cemented the decision to bring this warband was reading Spent Glory’s article: “In Defense of Playing for Fun and NOT Playing the Meta”. Now that the divine mandate has been manifested, what decks do I bring?

Wrack and Ruin & Countdown to Cataclysm:

Deck Link

Aside from having a fun and albeit gimmicky ability to inspire/uninspire, in my opinion, the Brethren’s best ability is that they’re accurate (hammers with stagger) and have a relatively consistent ability to hit for 2 damage. To help them live long enough to reinspire/be a conductor, I need decks that help with survivability and scoring glory without committing too many fighters into enemy territory. The Brethrens perform the best when they’re clustered together in order to channel through each other to increase range and to reinspire. Some might say this is a ‘counter-punch’ build, but I’d like to think of them as a more ‘passive’ / ‘positioning-centric’ approach to playing Underworlds. If my fighters can collectively survive 2 hits in the first phase, I am really cooking, sparks and all!

Hymn Playlist:

In most situations, the first hymn we sing is almost always Faithful Dynamos. I want that Stagger early to improve accuracy. The exception is when playing into Zarbags. In that situation, I’d pick Charged Aura. The ability to not be flanked is very helpful against Zarbags.

For survivability:

• Fireproof
• Driven by Pain
• Utter Conviction
• Great Fortitude
• Desperate Defence
• Unstoppable

For damage output (Fry, you Filth! Fry!):

• Total Collapse
• Sunder the Realm
• Improvised Attack (can conduct, but not inspire)
• Damned if you Do
• Desperate Rage
• Rock-Splitting Tread

A few cards to call out:

Improvised Attack: Notably, Brethren’s inspire condition only happens if a fighter conducts during an action step, so Improvised Attack does not reinspire a friendly fighter. You can, however, conduct to further the range of this out of sequence attack, hopefully with support and stagger.

Violent Blast: This card is very useful and is still one of my favorite cards in the second edition! Being able to push an enemy fighter out of an edge hex and/or closer to range is very useful.

Do or Die: I vividly remember playing this card mid-tournament, and Graham who was playing another game next to me said “Do or Die?! Who plays that card?!”. Well, the Brethren do! It was a last minute addition. When I really need that added accuracy or extra damage, throw this on. This works best in the third round. For this warband, this would be more appropriately named “Do then Die”, as after they hit, they will be uninspired.

Viscous Intent: even better with Brethren as most attacks are Melee, even when conducting.

Henchman: when Brethren fighters are conducting, they usually have a flanked friendly fighter. Putting this on the attacking fighter will guarantee a success in an attack roll; especially important if they are attacking while uninspired

Barge: I wanted to make this card work, and playing into fighters holding on guard or pushing an enemy fighter adjacent to a fighter to ping with Heaven’s Charge, it becomes very useful.

Unsafe Ground: this surge can be scored with Heaven’s Charge!

Wreckers: it was either this or Set Explosives to up my Glory potential. I tried Set Explosives, but noticed that I was already focused on getting my fighters in position for conducting, having to stand on 2 treasure tokens pulled my fighters out of position. Wreckers is a bit of an odd pick, but W&R’s and Brethren’s ability to ping makes this a viable option for round 1 and 2 into elites. I also took it as I think it’s a good balance against Zarbags. I will have a high chance to score Wreckers when playing against hordes, or score Spread Havoc for 2 when playing against elites. There was an incident where I had to use Heaven’s Charge on the third elite fighter in order to score Wreckers in the first round. Even though it didn’t kill fighters, I think that was a worthwhile use of that precious ability to guarantee 2 glory.

Alone in the Dark: didn’t I just say I want my fighters to be clustered together? Yes, that is true. Playing Brethren is a game of positioning AND attrition. Are there times when I drew into this card mid-phase and cannot score it due to my fighters being together? Yes. Are there times when I drew this card closer to the end of the game, when there are barely any fighters left, and scored it? Also yes. Brethren’s built in Crackling Burst ability also helps with scoring this from time to time. W&R’s push/ping ploys also help with this. This 2 glory end phase is needed to raise my glory ceiling as well as place additional mental burden for my opponent. 

More on cards below when I talk about combos!

Fighter Setup:

Dangle Tazat, protect Galvic (he’s worth 2 bounty and has the most accurate 2 dmg attack while uninspired), and park Arcus in the back to reinspire other fighters with his range 2 attack. Pay special attention when facing enemy fighters that start with 3 damage and try not to get Galvic one-shot’d in the first few activations.

The Martyr:

Dear Tazat: Your 1 dodge, 3 health stat, with 1 bounty is something nothing to write home about, but your ability to tank at least 2 hits (or one rare 3 DMG attack) makes you the best dangle-sis in all the lands. Every time an enemy fighter takes a swing at you and whiff (or deals only 2 DMG), I’m smiling as you have done your job.

“Give thy first life and thy second may abide.”

Master of Conducting Combos:

There are a few striking combos in this nemesis pairing. Combos don’t always come out, but when they do, it is a Thunderous Blast!

Rock Splitting Tread & Heaven’s Charge:

Combine this with Crackling Burst, you can move fighter A with Rock Splitting Tread in power step adjacent to target before your last activation, charge with fighter B in next activation, hopefully hit for 2 DMG, with support from fighter A, “Rock Split” for 1 damage, and Heaven’s Charge fighter A for another damage for a 4 DMG output combo. Or, if an enemy fighter is out of reach, you can Crackling Burst in power step, and move again for a range 6, 2 DMG combo.

Vulnerable fighter with Desperate Rage, Reckless Abandon, and Unstoppable:

Unlimited charge for 2-3 hammer, 3 damage attack, hopefully on a staggered target. Kill, repeat, rampage.

Summary of the Tournament:

The Lay of the Land:

2 Zarbag’s, 2 Thricefold, 2 Jaws, 1 of Zikkit, Brethren of the Bolt, Thundrik, Emberwatch, Borgit Beastgrabaz, and Gorechosen

Results and Matchups:

Round 1 VS Neel, Jaws of Itzl paired with Raging Slayers and Pillage & Plunder 

22-13 Andy v Neel

19-14 Andy v Neel

This was a nailbiter and felt really good to win. I took advantage of Raging Slayers plot ability to ‘push’ enemy fighters away after they were attacked to minimize a charged dino from attacking again. This meant it was harder to use Heaven’s charge. There was also seldom any bite backs as my attacks were fairly accurate. Thank you Neel for the matches!

Round 2 VS Max, Zarbags Gits with Pillage & Plunder and Countdown to Cataclysm

17-24 Andy v Max

9-17 Andy v Max

I really wanted to win this one, but alas Zarbags is very consistent without much engagement. I admit I made a huge mistake of forgetting to deny Strip the Realms in game 1. The Desperate Rage/Reckless Abandon/Unstoppable combo did come out in this game on Arcus, but it wasn’t enough to harvest enough bounty to outscore Zarbags. Max eventually went to win 1st place in the tournament – well played Max!

Round 3 VS Ken, The Emberwatch with Blazing Assault and Wrack and Ruin

18-11 Andy v Ken 

16-11 Andy v Ken

I have played a ton of Emberwatch since the release of the second edition, so I was able to play around this matchup quite comfortably. That said, at 5 wounds each and ability to teleport around/behind my fighters can really mess up my positioning. After some careful play, I was able to take this one 2-0. Thank you Ken!

Round 4 VS Tristan, Gorechosen of Dromm with Raging Slayers and Wrack and Ruin

17-13 Andy vs Tristan

19-12 Andy vs Tristan

I was fortunate to practice against Tristan’s Dromm build in preparation for the tournament, and can attest to the fact that nerfed Dromm can still slam. I drew Wreckers in my opening hand and managed to score it in the first round AND score Spread Havoc for 2 later in our matches. Tough moments in this match up is Final Frenzy keeping Gorehulk around for a few more activations. Ultimately, Tristan’s dice didn’t do him any favours, despite the raging slayer rerolls. Therefore, I won this matchup 2-0 as well.

Final Spark:

In the end, Max won first place with Zarbags, Graham placed second with Tricefold Discord, and I tied with Josh’s Thricefold Discord but inched my way to third place on glory differentials (Josh had a much higher strength of schedule though!) Max is already prequalified from his excellent 2024 WCW performance, Graham secured his WCW Qualifier Ticket (!!!), and the second WCW Qualifier Ticket went to me! 

To my surprise and delight, my ‘cell shaded’ / ‘comic book style’ Brethren won Best Painted, and I outperformed 2 Jaws of Itzl, 1 Emberwatch, and 1 Thundrik to win Best of Order!

My main takeaways from this day is that this build has a good chance against elites, and I did fairly well against them. I need to practice more into Hordes/Zarbags to figure out the optimal way to play those matchups. Perhaps I need to be more aggressive with Pater up front. Most importantly, Brethren’s is a hella fun to play! I am still really enjoying this warband and pairing and recommend you to give it a fry! I am also looking forward to the new Spitewood deck that focuses on positioning with the Brethren (if they don’t rotate out). I welcome others’ feedback once they’ve had the chance to play this deck and add their own twists to it!

Special thanks to Damian for TO-ing our event, Richmond Reroll for hosting, and my beloved Vancouver Underworlds crew for your commanderie and positive spirit on this wonderful game.

I will not be attending WCW this year – instead, I will be cheering on all participants for bringing their own unique take on the game – especially a fellow Brethren!!!

Wrap

What a run. Props to Andy for taking what he loves despite the uphill battle he faced and bringing home the bacon despite a murderer’s row of competitors. They don’t call it the Pacific NorthBEST for nothing! Too bad he managed to knock down a BA/Wrack Emberwatch too, since I was pretty proud of that pairing when I brought it to Tacoma.

Here’s Andy’s best painted montage, which also did quite well when he originally painted them for the Rain City Thunderworlds ‘A Brush with Death’ painting contest last year.

While there are a few 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 the warband you love, a couple friends, and Spend some Glory!