Welcome to the Spitewood! This Strike Warband is more than happy to roll out the red carpet for your arrival. Thing is, that carpet is red for one very grisly reason, and it’s that they don’t take too kindly to anybody setting foot in their precious domain. Fast as the wind and especially potent when staying in their own territory, Kurnoth’s Heralds open up a new playstyle we haven’t seen much in second edition – that of the Counterpunch. Will you dare to step across the line and into their den, or will you be piloting these Elite defensive monsters to their ultimate glory?

So that you’re aware, this warband received some rules updates in the February 2026 Errata. I’ll comment briefly on the changes later in the article.

Thank you to Games Workshop for providing the page with an advance copy of this product for review and content creation.

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Kurnoth’s Heralds: Lore

This warband has been given one task above all others – drive out the pests that plague the Spitewood. Embodiments of nature’s ruthlessness itself, these are no savage and bloodthirsty killers, but dexterous, lithe, and silently coordinated.

Long ago the ancestors of this warband supposedly fought along Kurnoth’s side in ‘the first hunt’, and while their lineage was believed to have been murdered by daemons, that has not been the case. Instead they were waiting, deep within abandoned soulpod groves, biding their time until they were strong enough to face Chaos once more. That time, at last, has come. Whether you would call yourself ally or enemy, Those who trespass upon this sacred grove are liable to be introduced to the business end of a hoof or the edge of a blade, for woe betide those who assume friendship with the guardians of Kurnotheal.

Kurnoth’s Heralds: Warscroll

From the February 2026 Errata:

This is a good change! It gives your archer more options and more ability to contribute, bringing her up to relevance compared to your other two fighters.

Inspire

This inspire condition immediately sets the tone for the warband – you are going to be attacking. You are going to want to hit those attacks, and ideally, you’re going to do it in your own territory. You of course can charge out of your territory and land in enemy or neutral to make your swing, and if it hits, you will still inspire. However, be careful not to miss in this instance or you’ll find yourself out of position to inspire again as your attack must begin that action step in friendly territory.

Swift Sentinels

Your fighters have move 4, which is already pretty good for a 5 health warband. Give them flying while in their territory, and their ability to get where they need to go should be more than good enough in most games. Additionally they can’t be flanked in their own territory, so their somewhat lackluster defense stats might be a little better than they appear on paper. Should you so happen to need to charge into a flanked position in their own territory, these fellas don’t have much to worry about, since this ability works on offense and defense. Careful about getting too exposed though, because you can still be surrounded.

The Endless Hunt

Once per game, after a fighter attacks, you can push that fighter 2 hexes. That’s a very large push range, available immediately. It does have to be after the attack, so you can’t use it to get into range/avoid charging, and it has the be the fighter who just made the attack. However, being able to charge in, thwack somebody, and then get out of retaliation range can be massive. Maybe you loose an arrow with Lenwythe and then shove her over to a feature hex. Maybe you kill with one attack and immediately push to flank your other fighter’s next target for the following activation. Maybe you needed an overrun and you didnt get it, but now have an answer. Maybe you made a range 2 attack from 2 away with Ylarin and want to pseudo-overrun with a 2 hex push.

You can even yo-yo charge; start in your territory and swing. Maybe you missed and don’t inspire and would like to slink back home to try again later. Maybe you did hit, but want to be in your home territory for cards, the “can’t be flanked” bonus, you name it. This ability in the right players’ hands at the right moment will be tremendously useful.

Precision Volley

After Lenwythe shoots a ranged weapon, she can shoot again at a different target once per game. Attacking again is a solid benefit that most warbands would love to have, so we can’t be too upset here.

Another nice wrinkle is that it doesn’t specify her profile weapon. If you give Lenwythe an upgrade attack that has the ranged runemark, she can use that instead should you so desire, but the second attack has to be with that same weapon again. The third nice thing I’ve noticed is that this is also valid in the power step! If you take Countdown to Cataclysm and select her to use Improvised Attack, there is nothing stopping you from then triggering this and throwing that same spear at a second target in the power step as well.

Herald’s Pride

Once per game, your leader can gain cleave and ensnare for a single attack. Bit of a bummer that it’s your leader only, and a bit more of a bummer because all of his weapons already have runemarks so now you’ll need to make a choice. Sometimes his 1-2 damage on his profile attacks will be all you need, and you just want to guarantee the hit and this ability will come in clutch. Other times, you’ll have a weapon upgrade you want to attack with that has no runemarks, and this will be a straight benefit.

The best use I can think of for this ability in most games is on Ylarin’s first attack. You’d really like him to hit, which will allow him to inspire and then become quite potent. Uninspired, his range 2 attack has crit grievous, but only on two dice, so your odds of rolling a crit are only about 1/3, and even then you may miss. Cleave or Ensnare against your target will be useful much more often, boost your odds to inspire, and then you’ll go to 3 hammers with straight grievous on his melee weapon and be quite pleased.

Kurnoth’s Heralds: Fighter Cards

Ylarin, Master of Paths

Move over, Skaeth. The King is here.

Ylarin is the leader of the warband and has the profile to meet expectations. Rocking a 2/2/2 crit grievous profile uninspired, he’s got what you want from a 3 bounty fighter right away. 5 health and 1 shield is pretty good too, and just in case you really want a finisher, need a crit, have a flanking fighter, etc, 4 swords for 1 damage is available too, even coming with Grapple should you require the ability to drag an enemy around.

When he inspires, that main attack is 3 hammers with flat grievous, so you can do some serious work. Put Duelist and Keen Eye on him and watch the bodies fall. Nice to know you can select him for the 2 hex push if needed to keep him swining without the need for a charge, and once a game can swap a runemark for cleave or ensnare when a miss simply won’t do. This fighter is going to be a star, so remember the name.

Cullon, Axe of Kurnoth

Cullon is our other big hitter. Unfortunately living on one dodge in a world where that’s well below average, he will probably take a fair amount of damage in most matchups, especially considering his 3 hammers 3 damage cleave inspired attack is, well, terrifying. If you’re playing a shields warband/elite and facing the Heralds, you may want to focus down Cullon early – but the Heralds player might be just fine with that because it means more freedom for the leader.

Lenwythe, Eye of the Forest

Lenwythe is the ranged fighter in the warband, also regrettably on one dodge, (And per the February 2026 Errata she now inspires to two dodge) but much better able to stay out of danger than Cullon is. She rocks the same horse hoof melee attack the others do, but has a 2 hammer bow with crit stagger, inspiring to 3 hammers with flat stagger. I imagine the best use for her will be making a ranged attack against something you want to soften up, maybe even shooting from a waystone hex to get a reroll. Once you’ve tagged them and hopefully staggered them, you’ll enjoy that reroll on one of the other two as they close in the finish the job, boosting their odds to inspire in turn, and getting off to the races.

She does have the once per game double shot, which may come in handy more than you’d think. If she’s uninspired and hits to inspire but doesn’t get the crit stagger, you can trigger the second shot with her inspired profile should you really want to dish stagger out to somebody. There are lots of ways to make use of her, so don’t let the low damage output fool you.

In Practice

I played one game with these Bambi Brawlers, and had a lot of fun. It was pretty cool to be able to hang back, bait some move actions, and swarm in on the foe when they came to me. Unfortunately I had them matched up against Mollog’s Mob, who effectively Flanks and Surrounds everybody, and since this warband can be surrounded at home, their ability didn’t do a ton. I did appreciate the Emberwatch-esque ‘start an action in a territory’ inspire condition and was glad it was home territory so it was easier to get a valid activation. The need for an attack to be successful, however, really adds a dice-dependency aspect to it that I could imagine would be super frustrating if you get cascading disappointments of no hit, no surge, no inspire, etc.

I really enjoyed Ylarin, and found him to be a cool piece that was very effective for me all game. Cullon surprisingly felt underwhelming – you’d imagine that big axe and 3 damage (going to cleave!) would be more impactful, but he missed more than I would like and his being on 1 dodge forever was stressful and a bummer. Generally I would be throwing defensive cards on the leader, and that leaves the other two easy pickings.

Regardless, very fun to play and I can see people really having a great time with this warband, especially in a friendlier matchup than Mollog.

Potential Pairings

The obvious neon flashing sign is Hunting Grounds, released alongside this warband in Spitewood. You want to be in home territory but doing Strike things, and so does the deck.

You’ll also have a great time with Blazing Assault – getting several boosts to damage and accuracy will be a boon to this warband, help them inspire and reposition, and they really enjoy both Duelist and Illusory Fighter.

Countdown to Cataclysm is another nice option because of the defensive benefits, staggers, repositioning, and a scoring package that will help encourage people to risk walking into your territory. For similar reasons, you could also try for Emberstone Sentinels.

It might be too many eggs in one basket, but their decent accuracy and ability to dish out several melee attacks should Ylarin stay healthy give them an angle for Realmstone Raiders. You would have to sacrifice some of the home territory benefits, but Raging Slayers will also up your accuracy and damage output. Finally, Reckless Fury is an option that you could enjoy, especially if you don’t lean too heavily into the Enemy Territory components.

Wrap

First things first – I’m really glad this warband looks thoughtfully designed to be approachable for beginners. It has strong yet simple mechanics, a consistent gameplan, and a rivals deck tailor-made for it right in the same box. While this is an expansion and not a core box, loads of people are going to have Spitewood be their entry point into Warhammer Underworlds, and getting that ‘first play experience’ right is going to go a long way to growing our player base. For that, I’m super grateful.

Secondly, I’m very glad to have a Strike warband that isn’t “charge into enemy lines and then ping extra damage and then make amazing attacks with unkillable fighters and auto-win” or “everything you do is one damage and will also miss but you have to spam attacks anyway because you’re strike”. They struck a fine balance of counter-punch with real heft behind it, yet not too much, and I expect this one to be a staple at tables for a long time coming. They’re beatable, but they can win. They’re fun to play, pair with most decks, and I’m betting they’ll be fun to play against. Plus, they look gorgeous.

Whether you’ll be harrying invaders with these centaurs or bowling them over with black-souled dwarves, I hope you enjoy Spending your Glory in the Spitewood!

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Thanks again to Games Workshop for providing me with this product so that I can produce this review content.