Here we are, back at second edition’s most notable Horde Take and Hold Warband. When the warband was released as a digital download at the launch of Embergard, they quickly rose to become one of the most prominent warbands in the competitive scene, winning the lion’s share of tournaments and being a constant presence in competitive circuits. They’re back, this time in the Warbands of Spitewood Grand Alliance: Destruction box.

EDIT/UPDATE

This warband had released to serious criticism from the community, as it got better than its already busted good previous version. I’ve my initial notes below, and here’s the new warscroll. It’s still pretty good, but FAR more reasonable. You can only inspire one guy at a time, don’t get a handful of free pings every time your fighters die, and you can’t snag tokens AND hold them/delve them for free with squigs.

They also got an update in the February 2026 Errata which makes the squigs both worth 1 bounty. The warband now gives up 9 bounty if tabled

Please, PLEASE use this warscroll and not the printed one that comes in the box. This is the only one valid for competitive play, and the only one that will let your friends want to play against you again.

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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Zarbag’s Gitz: Lore

Once upon a time, a Moonclan warband led by the Madcap Shaman Zarbag were digging around in the ruins of Shadespire when they smelled some tasty fungus down a sinkhole, yelled Geronimo, and found lots of really cool mushrooms down there. It was everything Zarbag had hoped for, and more. That of course doesn’t stop them from continuing their original goal of pillaging and plundering everything they can get their gittish mitts on! While the go about nabbing shiny gubbins, he also managed to cage a sniffing sprite to help find more fungal blooms.

Drizgit da Squig Herder is as tough as old boots, so they say, and wears plate armor to protect him from the squigs (Bonekrakka and Gobbaluk) that he herds, as well as toting around a bed of coals to heat his shrooms on. The two extra bouncy squigs do his bidding, at least nominally, but his bidding is usually “go bite dat fing” so they might just be acting on impulse regardless.

Snirk Sourtongue is a (Night Goblin) Fanatic who chugs fungal concoctions, gets all berserk, and spins around whacking anybody, friend or foe, dumb enough to come near. Prog da Netter theoretically nets stuff so the others can stick it and they’ll get some grub. Stikkit, Redkap, and Dibbz are a trio of archers who, while effectively useless on their own, work together in a vicious pack to rain cruel volleys down on their foes.

Zarbag, ever the goblin leader, is excessively cruel and often gives his gang da mean-eye so they hop to and get fings done ‘fore he gives ’em what’s coming.

Zarbag’s Gitz: Warscroll

Inspire

The warband now inspires when they gain SIX or more glory. No longer do they have to exceed the number of surviving gitz, but the cap is reasonably high. Gitz players will want to focus on easy Surge Objectives and/or early kill bounty to get rolling, and their opponents will have to have a strong counterplay game. When you get your sixth or subsequent glory, you inspire ONE fighter of your choice, and which fighter you choose is going to be a huge point of skill expression for the gitz player.

Squig Herder

After you drop Drizgit, you drop the two squigs adjacent to him, which is how you get 9 fighters with only 7 starting hexes. They can’t land on a feature token, but they CAN go in a Waystone hex as those are not features. Additionally, the squigs can hold treasure and delve again, so watch out!

Spinnin’

Snirk has a mandatory ping for anybody – friend or foe – who goes next to him for any reason (though not if he is driven back adjacent to them). Both warbands will want to be very aware of where he is and stay far away until they are ready to make a decisive action. He also still can’t go on guard for any reason – but he starts on 2 dodge and inspires to 3, so he may not need it.

Volley

If your 3 archers, bearing the volley runemark, choose to attack with the volley runemark and hits their attack, another archer can also make a shot. However, you can only use the ability once per turn. This as I understand it means you can only choose to use the runemark once per turn, so you wouldn’t get to shoot with the third archer should the second one also hit.

This has no range/proximity limitation, so this is pretty potent and remarkably even more powerful than the previous rendition of this ability. Sigh

Potentially shooting twice in an activation (one of which could have been with a charge) is a lot of action efficiency, so expect to see this played to great effect by skilled players.

Slippery Gitz

If two grots start adjacent to each other, when one moves, the other can too if they have no move or charge tokens. I could be wrong, but I believe this can trigger during the move component of a charge. This means you can charge with one grot, and then move their neighbor to support the attack. It also means you can move one guy, scuttle another to another spot adjacent to another grot, then next turn pick that fighter to move (since you can move with a move) and then also move that third. Chain your activations right and you could be moving several times a round, and will have gitz everywhere.

Gitz opponents should try to break up adjacency wherever possible to slow this down, or dish out move and charge tokens where you can with abilities and cards.

Fungal Burst

Immediately after a grot is slain by an adjacent fighter, once per game you can stagger that fighter. Decent for increasing attack reliability against a key target, so save this for when you can put it on something that matters early enough in the round for it to be impactful.

Gang Up

In a power step, once per game, you can add +1 dice to your next attack if you get a flanking fighter, or +2, 3, etc if you have them surrounded and pile on. You want to ensure you hit a big surrounded attack? Charge a fighter, Slippery Gitz an adjacent friend along for the ride into a flanking position, and get an extra attack die (or more, depending on the board state). potentially insanely powerful with no cap on the +dice.

Snirk still does 3 damage. In case you weren’t worried about fighting gitz already.

Make Some Noise

Once a game, you can push BOTH squigs up to 2 hexes. a double-double-sidestep is a tremendously powerful and flexible ability. Now that the squigs can hold treasure and delve again, this can be used to score SUPER easily. Or just close in on a target and munch them. Please note that per the Errata, the squigs cannot delve or hold for the rest of the round after this ability is used. Still beneficial for positioning, but less flexible on that front.

This warscroll is cracked. Let’s hope the fighter stats aren’t. At least the Squigs don’t contribute to +dice on Gang Up.

Zarbag’s Gitz: Fighter Cards

Zarbag

Solid attack profiles that get really accurate when inspired, especially considerign he’s only 1 bounty. 2 dodge immediately. 3 health. He does work.

Snirk Sourtongue

Snirk has the special benefit of his ping bubble, but he also has 3 damage from the rip. While two swords isn’t great, remember your warscroll gives you easy ways to flank or surround and can even access extra dice once a game. He’s going to obliterate people like he has been all edition. 2 dodge 3 health inspiring to 3 dodge means he’s hard to put down too. And, if you have to do so while adjacent, you’ll get pinged when you charge in, and then get pinged again when he dies with Fungal Burst.

Excuse me while I go dry heave, as I think I got second hand ‘shroom poisoning.

Drizgit da Squig Herder

This boy also has a great profile for a one bounty fighter. There’s not much else to say. Things are looking bad for the ‘this update will fix the gitz’ crowd.

Bonekrakka

Please note per the February 2026 Errata these squigs are now worth 1 bounty. You still want to kill them, as they have solid accuracy and have the free push, but man, what a letdown. They even fly. At least they’re only one dodge 2 health and stay on 3 move.

Gobbaluk

This guy is the same except objectively uglier. Please note per the February 2026 Errata these squigs are now worth 1 bounty.

Prog da Netta

Finally a reasonably statted 1-glory fighter. Upon inspiring he only picks up ensnare, but still, 2 hammers for a damage is gonna hit sometimes. remaining on one dodge inspired is nice though.

Redkap

Here’s your Volley captain. These stats are again reasonable for 1 bounty, and I would try to inspire them before gambling too much on the volley shenanigans.

Dibbz

Dibbz is a clone of the other two archers.

Stikkit

Stikkit is also the same. They’ll hold tokens for you just fine.

Potential Pairings

Look, dude, you don’t need my help here. This warband has it all. Accuracy, damage, free moves, infinite ping, nine fighters, trivial inspiration. You can play anything you want and you’ll win.

Pillage and Plunder and Countdown to Cataclysm were their best pairing last version, and it likely remains so.

You score Edge of the Knife objectives without trying.

These guys have no problem with even the most inane things in Deadly Synergy.

Outside of Raging Slayers and Reckless Fury, just pick a deck and watch it score. Oh, and table your opponent too.

Wrap

Please note the following was my emotional reaction to the original warscroll that comes in the box: please use the updated one from the Errata

I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

Actually, I am mad. This is a cool team and it should have been printed in a way that made it fun to play and fun to play against. Now I’ll feel bad playing it and it will sit on my shelf for months. And every time I have to fight it I’m going to hate it.

Their old warscroll was too good, even post-rules update and FAQ, as well as the hits to Pillage/Cata. The fighter stats have hardly changed – it’s much easier to inspire them now, and while the squigs, netter, and archers being permanently 1 dodge is nice, it’s not close to enough, and their attack profiles which were way too good haven’t been changed at all. Add that the the fact that the squigs are zero bounty, and that this new warscroll is in many ways the same and in several ways even better, the Zarbag nightmare will continue for some time to come.

I am going to choose the most generous possible interpretation of how and why this happened:

The lead time on production for these things is probably several months or even years. The rules updates that did things like making the squigs unable to hold or delve, and the removal of Barely Worth It to make the warband give up 9 bounty probably happened after this went to print. I strongly believe those changes were not enough to bring this warband into line, and at least for the time being we are going to have to deal with a Zarbag’s Gitz that is going to be extremely powerful.

If anybody at GW is reading this: I hope for the sake of the game and the sake of our playerbase than a rules update/FAQ comes swiftly on the heels of Spitewood and takes a very heavy approach to nerfing this team.

If not/until then, try to be a cool person and play something else. This warband isn’t even in the realm of fair as it is currently written.

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