As of the newest Rules Update for Warhammer Underworlds, players can now create Nemesis decks that combine any two rivals decks and are not limited to only a single plot card. This brought the number of viable deck pairings up by a decent percentage and has opened up several new interactions. I’ve spent the past few weeks exploring this space myself at game nights, and am excited to keep chipping away at it! Let’s look at what new deck combos now exist, which warbands might benefit, and what new card interactions you can enjoy.

Whether these nemesis combos sound cool, or you still favor the more traditional ones, don’t forget to head to this google form to vote on the most fun nemesis pairings! There’s still a few days left to vote in the most recent ‘avin’ a good time.

Countdown to Cataclysm & Edge of the Knife

This one was a classic that we never got to explore, yet so many of us wanted to. A deck that rewards little guys being in risky positions, and a deck that rewards your guys dying? Like peanut butter and jelly. These days you can do all kinds of wacky things with Thorns, Gitz, and Grymwatch, but also potentially any horde that starts with a handful of tempered fighters, especially if they have incentives to invade enemy territory and/or have movement/push shenanigans. I haven’t tried it yet, but Thorns is first on my list because of their positional potency to help score Edge objectives as well as occupy tokens for some Cataclysm scoring.

That said, there is another flavor of strategy that can make use of this combination, though it may be an uphill battle; Dread Pageant are calling to me with their siren song once again. The warband already loves taking and dealing damage, and while nobody is tempered it’s part of the game plan and cata can help damage your own guys as needed to score Trial of the Tempered. I already enjoyed Sunder the Realm and hitting my own fighters to unlock their warscroll/inspire, and now I can be working towards an objective at the same time.

Finally, you can also take Cata/Edge with elite aggro bands, in the same vein as the Blazing/Edge approach we’ve seen before. You give up some power card support but access some good consistency in scoring from Cataclysm. Classic enjoyers of that scheme such as Ironsoul’s Condemnors, Morgok’s Krushas, and so on will likely be able to leverage a bit of it here as well. Heck, you could even try Grandfather’s Gardeners. And what about Brethren of the Bolt?

Countdown to Cataclysm & Realmstone Raiders

Raiders of the Lost Cataclysm, you say? Seems like a silly pairing at the outset, but a lot of that is due to the generally undercooked nature of RR. The biggest weakness that you run into with Raiders in most games is the need to hit melee attacks to score, but with multiple access to accuracy in the power deck, Cataclysm can help with that to an extent, as well as providing decent Objectives to offset RR’s unreliable ones. The power cards in Cataclysm aren’t so good that you need to get them though, so bottom decking them when they’re raided often won’t hurt as much – and might even help in some cases since drawing them early when your cataclysm value often makes them bad to have.

If I was to be taking this deck pairing with any warband, it would need to be somebody with built in melee accuracy and/or a flex designation. This would allow you to play into the Hold aspects of both decks (getting Set Explosives, Shocking Assault, and Hoarder’s Hovel would be sweet) while also doing some punching. While I haven’t given it a go, things that are top of mind for me would be Mollog, Ironsoul, Ylthari, Wurmspat, Shadeborn, Zikkit’s Tunnelpack, or Crimson Court.

Two other groups to consider are Borgit’s Beastgrabbaz and Blood of the Bull, as they have good accuracy but also since their inbuilt delving incentives mean they might still benefit from Roused Violence in this pairing.

Countdown to Cataclysm & Raging Slayers

What’s CtC’s biggest strength? The Objectives, most certainly. What’s RS’s biggest weakness? The Objectives, of course! In this pairing, I imagine you would want to play a crash aggro strategy that benefits from things like Countercharge and Violent Blast that can help bring your enraged fighters back into the fray/melee range so you can score some of those harder RS objectives. Trying to play the token strategy with Cataclysm will be real tough considering the RS plot card.

The pairing gives you access to a couple of decent weapon upgrades and accuracy boosts, so hordes are an option, but I would likely lean into this with 3-4 fighter warbands, especially if they have range 2 attacks. RS enjoyers typically include things like Gorechosen of Dromm (who will love the pings in cata for blood tithe and can force a charge for Unrelenting Massacre), Morgok’s Krushas, and Ironsoul’s, but I can also see things like Wurmspat,Gnarlspirit, or even Skittershank laughing all the way to the bank with this. You might even be able to figure out something with the Emberwatch.

It’s hard to make RS a competitive deck outside of Blazing Assault or maybe Reckless Fury, but at least we have more options to try now.

Countdown to Cataclysm & Deadly Synergy

The coolest new toy on the block: Synergy. The most well-worn toy in our childhood box: Cataclysm. How could you not want to put them together? I don’t know that they really mesh super well, but let’s see if there’s something there.

Synergy wants your fighters bunched up, which can potentially score you Too Close for Comfort. Countercharge gives you some free Unity once per game, and Violent Blast can situationally set you up for more. You also have a legitimate use case for Driven by Pain at last, since people really want to drive you back and break your Unity chains, but now might have to accept that they’re healing you in the process. DS gives you flanking accuracy to help score Wreckers if you’re wild enough to take it, and Cataclysm pings can soften things up to let your united fighters finish them off. Just be careful not to do it the other way around, since you want the United melee attacks to do the hitting/killing for your DS cards!

I’ll be honest, I have no idea who this pairing fits with best. Exiled Dead, Skinnerkin, Thorns, Kamandora’s Blades, Hexbane’s Hunters, Spiteclaw’s Swarm, and Kainan’s Reapers sound like reasonable starting points. You want warbands who have an easier time getting into Unity and making melee attacks, but also benefit from pings, flanking benefits, and/or will have your own fighters die quickly.

Edge of the Knife & Realmstone Raiders

Our two worst plot cards, and neither one particularly benefitting the other. Oh well, I’ve committed to reviewing all the new options, so let’s dive in.

I see two general approaches here: Take a tempered horde who is interested in making melee attacks for Raiding purposes, or take some high-accuracy elites and just trust you’ll get Tempered along the way. The first strategy will lean more into Edge scoring, and might pick up a little bit of overlap in token occupancy objectives. The second is going to have to rely on Raiding objectives, and will really suffer when they Raid and have to bottom deck cards like Dark Horse or Running Riot. Either strategy will be quite pleased to have Mobbed, the hordes will be happy to see Emberstone Edge, and the elites will be happy to see Fortune Faded as it advances Trial of the Tempered.

While I doubt this approach will ever be highly competitive, it could be fun in the casino dice kind of way. Horde options include Grymwatch, Thorns, and Zarbag, and maybe Grinkrak or Hexbane. Elite options look like Ironsoul’s, Jaws, Dromm, and Morgok.

There’s also an angle for Starblood Stalkers since their accuracy is actually pretty good, and they love their tempered little guys scurrying onto tokens to inspire, score Edge stuff, and Hoarder’s hovel while you’re at it. If you’re bonkers, try it with Thricefold so you can temper in either direction with Temptation Dice, or Wurmspat if you’re willing to risk your damage reduction slowing down your own tempering.

Edge of the Knife & Raging Slayers

While this one might not be that strong, it does look like a ton of fun! The goal is probably pretty simple – launch yourself into as many enemies as you can and temper them all, enjoying the Enrage reroll along the way. Unfortunately, the guaranteed enrage driveback will make some of Edge’s positional scoring more difficult. There’s a silver lining though! Calm Before the Storm might score a little easier since they have to drive the wounded guy away, or make sure they attack from the right angle to push them closer to another wounded fighter.

RS generally likes 3-4 fighter warbands, but Edge generally prefers 6-7 fighter warbands. This means you can choose a lot of different things but none of them will flow very well. Jaws of Itzl look like a premiere choice since they get a tempered friend but otherwise have the elite appearance. You could also make use of this with Dread Pageant who appreciate the spreading of damage, but it might be a tough ask.

I think if I were to try this one out, I’m taking the approach of expendable tempered fighter single-use charge missiles, and that screams Grymwatch or Gitz to me. A less-solid but still silly fun option would be Sons of Velmorn. You’ve also got the option to play Blackpowder – a big boy who will eventually be tempered, alongside four tempered minions who really like that reroll for Swag collection purposes. His mortar being able to do 2 damage at range occasionally will help with tempering the other team while you’re at it, and score some of the leader-centric business at the same time.

Edge of the Knife & Deadly Synergy

Of the newly-available double plot options, I actually think this one might be our most competitive choice. I’ve played it with Kainan’s Reapers once and Hexbane’s Hunters twice and had serious fun both times. I also played against it was Worlds when Sam brought it along with Thorns of the Briar Queen. One of my locals has been jamming this with Hexbane for a while too. It’s been winning more often than not, despite the warband’s problems!

The overlap is pretty solid for the horde approach. Take your tempered fighters and get them all into Unity, then start making melee attacks, especially if you can occupy some tokens and slay things – particularly the enemy leader if you’re brave enough to take Hemmed In and/or Usurper. Your hordes of tempered guys really, really appreciate the weapon upgrades that Deadly Synergy has to offer, and in general also appreciate the accuracy and defensive flanking help that United status provides.

Warbands to consider include the battle-proven Hexbane, Kainan, and Thorns as specified above. You could also give it a try with Zarbag’s Gitz, Exiled Dead and maybe even Da Kunnin’ Krew or Grymwatch. I wouldn’t but I imagine there’s a world where The Sepulchral Guard make a (small) splash with it too. And let’s not forget our old pals The Sons of Velmorn!

Realmstone Raiders & Raging Slayers

Here are two plot cards than might actually help one another. RR says ‘please hit melee attacks’. RS says ‘enjoy this reroll on melee attacks’. Did they just become best friends? We’re off to a better plot-related start than most pairings, so let’s explore what our options are.

Generally speaking, your leader will be one of your higher accuracy fighters, and their leader will be one of their higher bounty fighters. This means making your leader do work and piling on their leader will score you cards in both decks. You have damage reduction in Manipulated Fate, healing in What Pain, Gifted Vitality, and Brightstone Vigor, and extra health in Great Fortitude, so your leader can keep swinging with impunity. Raider’s Premonition is better than average here because sequencing of RS objectives actually matters a lot, and you can more reliably ditch a bad one early game and get it again late game when you might actually score it.

I played this combination once as Crimson Court and did win, but it was something of a challenge. Their accuracy and high speed combined with the reroll from Enrage make raiding a little more reliable, and some of the cooler card art in RR features Crimson Court so that’s always a plus. Gnarlspirit Pack has a similar niche of a four-fighter fast accurate invading force, and has a few warscroll tricks to help out as well. I imagine Ylthari’s Guardians, Shadeborn, Soulraid, Zikkit’s Tunnelpack, and even Myari’s Purifiers could make something work with this combo.

Worst case? This is a situation where Knives of the Crone have a chance to do something unique. They will appreciate the RS reroll for hitting their warscroll prophecy too, which can potentially help inspire their fighters AND make use of their objective deck manipulation to put garbage cards on the bottom of the deck – something this pairing will unfortunately have to deal with pretty often.

Realmstone Raiders & Deadly Synergy

Here’s a pairing that is pretty interesting. Raiders really, really needs you to hit melee attacks. Deadly Synergy would like you to do that as well, and also helps you pull it off with United offering flanking. RR has a push ploy and a guard ploy for maintaining Unity, as well as Manipulated Fate for increasing survival AND preventing driveback.

Staggerers also thinks Skinnerkin can pull this combo off this since their sword attacks benefit from Unity much more than usual, and they have a warscroll reroll. I also know from firsthand experience that they really appreciate flanking for haunch generation.

I’m going to take a different approach and recommend Mollog’s Mob as the frontrunner for this pairing. They’re easily the most accurate warband in the game with flanking and surrounding minions, but they also have Tag-Along to force some unity, and you can resurrect a minion whenever you well please to plop them into a united spot. Their ability to unite is higher than usual, and their accuracy for Realmstone Raiders is too. You’ll hit and kill things to score DS things, and will also hit and raid things for RR things. You have minions who are happy to take the weapon upgrades, and a beater in Mollog with range 2 to maintain unity while swinging wild.

If neither of those float your boat, maybe give Kamandora’s Blades a try? They get to re-unite to open each round and really like the flanking benefit, are incentivized to make melee attacks, and if you select the Worthy Skull to be their highest bounty fighter, you can work on two things at once. You could also try Skittershank, Elathain’s Soulraid, Thorns, Gitz, or even Kurnoth’s Heralds, why not?!

Raging Slayers & Deadly Synergy

At the very end of our list, we reach the promised land. Here are two plot cards that actually have in-game benefits no matter what warband or card you’re using. Instead of a finnicky scoring mechanic or keyword that does nothing, we now have access to a reroll on melee attack when charging AND the benefit of flanking on attack and defense when well-positioned. Do you like to hit attacks and kill things? This just might be what you’ve been looking for, at least in double-plot land.

One great upside of the pairing, besides the raw offensive potency of the plots in tandem, is the fact that DS has a very usable Objective package, which makes up for the fact that RS totally does not. The only real downside you’ll have to manage is the guaranteed ‘poor footing’ push from being Enraged will mandate breaking of United in many cases, so make sure to leapfrog your charges, take some push tech, and bring along every card you can that removes your Enraged status like What Pain, Knife to the Heart, and Venting Strike, or even Stubborn to the Bone in order to reduce the disunity risk.

Spinnerite, the leader of the world’s largest Underworlds Discord server, has been proselytizing this deck combo all the time since the plot lock was removed, especially with Rippa’s Snarlfangs. While I haven’t given it a spin(nerite) myself, it does make some sense. Rippa’s biggest weakness is the need to hit a wolf bite that also requires a successful attack beforehand with a runemark. What makes this way more useful (and does NOT count as modifying the bite itself) is getting the benefit of flanking from Unity as well as a reroll from Enrage. In order to score cards, you’ll need to try and stay united, but the warscroll comes with a ‘push everybody’ effect and a ‘guaranteed standfast’ option too.

You could also try Skittershank’s Clawpack: according to Staggerers, since it makes them very accurate and helps slay leaders – though you’ll have to be very careful not to let Skittershank himself die too early as RS needs your leader alive and doing things.

This pairing was also taken to worlds with Gnarlspirit Pack by friend of the page Derek/Kaptain Murder, and he came away in 32nd place as well as Best in Faction which ain’t too shabby. Gnarlspirit has guard tech and pushes in the warscroll, solid damage output, a good leader, and plenty of play lines available to them.

Realistically though, you could take this pairing with any warband that has good speed, good damage, a good leader and/or good unity-assisting tools in their scroll, especially if they would benefit from the accuracy boost. Things that swim into focus for me include Gorechosen of Dromm, Jaws of Itzl, Morgok’s Krushas, and the Wurmspat. Psychopaths could consider Headsmen’s Curse, Kainan’s Reapers, Xandire’s (you fools) or even Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers (watch out for your own trap though!)

Extra special shout-out to Kamandora’s Blades, who are lots of fun and get to do some mass-united stuff every round. People say the warband is not competitive, but I’ve won 5 of my last 6 games with them…

Wrap

Well, they finally did it, and it’s not that bad at all! Erasing the plot lock has granted us several new combinations to experiment with while also not necessarily breaking the game open and creating competitive imbalance. I have played with a handful of the above and generally had fun doing so, with plans to brew up something for a few more.

Whether these nemesis combos sound cool, or you still favor the more traditional ones, don’t forget to head to this google form to vote on the most fun nemesis pairings! There’s still a few days left to vote in the most recent ‘avin’ a good time.

What combinations are you most interested in? What have you tried out already, and how did it go? Let me know by commenting wherever you found this, or by emailing SpentGlory@gmail.com and whatever plots you’re plotting with, I hope you enjoy Spending your Glory!