Deathgorge Review 1: Rulebook, Cyreni's Razors, Thricefold Discord, Breakneck Slaughter, & Force of Frost

October 07, 2023

Deathgorge Review 1: Rulebook, Cyreni's Razors, Thricefold Discord, Breakneck Slaughter, & Force of Frost

Other Rivals reviews are available in previous articles!

Thanks go to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of Deathgorge to make this possible! Want to see all the cards? Check here: https://www.battle-mallet.com/deathgorge-gallery

In this blog, we give our review of the Deathgorge season box: the rules updates, both Warbands and both decks. Decks are available here (jumps to underworldsdb.com) https://www.underworldsdb.com/rivals.php.

Podcast: https://podcast.battle-mallet.com/e/episode-54-deathgorge-review

Unboxing Video!

Rules Updates

Page 15 - Available feature tokens are now Blocked/Cover tokens!
Page 25 - Sequencing is much earlier in the rulebook
Page 26 - You cannot flip a token while a fighter is on it if it will become a blocked hex.
Page 31 - Move/Charge Tokens now match the updated Starter Sets.
Page 35 - Fighters with a Wound characteristic of 1 cannot be vulnerable.
Page 36 - Plunder allows you to place any available feature token, not just objective feature tokens.
Page 37 - Superactions are not actions.
Page 39 - Fighters with Charge tokens can continue to activate if all friendly fighters have Charge tokens. The only restriction now is that they cannot take superactions (meaning you can Move with a Charge token!).
Page 42 - You cannot delve a token if it would become a blocked hex.
Page 42 - Each player can only Delve once per power step.
Page 48 - They've added a Reaction chain diagram.
Page 50 - At the end of the End Phase, remove all Move, Charge, Guard, and Stagger tokens AND remove any blocked hex feature tokens.
Page 51 - In the event of tied glory points and both warbands having surviving fighters, whoever is holding the highest combined value of objectives wins.
Page 53 - Championship is listed as a supported format.

Cyreni's Razors

Our second Idoneth Deepkin warband, Cyreni is in the Deathgorge to retrieve the souls frozen by the Everwinter's Curse. A four-fighter (mostly) Aelf warband. You can view the fighter cards below. Their inspire condition is still reminiscent of the Aethertide, where you'll end up with 1 inspired activation in Round 1, 2 inspired activations in Round 2, and 3 inspired activations in Round 3.

Cyreni of the Abyss

The leader of the warband, Cyreni's standout features are the Range 2 Spell Attack action and here Hammertide Action. The first of its kind, this ability is going to disrupt objective placement and deployment like no other ability has before.

Alathyrr & Renglaith

Alathyrr and Renglaith are Cyreni's two Namarti Thralls, soulless warriors who are both fast and relatively accurate. The key is the fact that they're Range 2, giving them an impressive threat range. When inspired, Alathyrr gains Cleave and a Scything attack, Renglaith gains Crit Grievous 1, and both fighters count dodges as successes in their defense rolls.

Cephanyr

Arguably the star of the warband, this absolute unit of a cephalopod also has a unique ability, Phase Ink. Cephanyr can react whenever he is targeted by an Attack, stagger any visible enemy fighter within 2 hexes and then jump away! What's more, Cephanyr isn't a beast, so they can hold objectives AND use attack action upgrades.

Key Cards (What do we want to see early?)

Objectives

Crashing Crescendo - Three charges are easy to do, but you want this early so you're sure you have enough fighters.
Inexplicable Dread - Scoring one to hold an objective is easy enough, especially when your squid can teleport onto the objective is awesome!
Mind Erosion - Between Hammertide and Cephanyr, this is easy enough to line up.

Gambits

Lurking Presence - We love push cards and this one lets you push 2 hexes!
Momentary Vortex - Yes it's a spell, but the target has no range restriction and you can choose any fighter, really giving you the opportunity to disrupt your opponent's positioning.
Surging Stream - +1 Damage is super valuable. We want this early as it gives you the most opportunities with an un-inspired fighter.

Upgrades

Incredible Dexterity - for a warband that relies on positioning, being able to apply a Guard token after any activation is really strong.

Savage Ferocity - An accuracy boost with no drawbacks is always welcome!
Soulsiphon Mantle - We love +1 Wounds cards, and you can even Salvage this one if both your Thralls are dead.

Playstyle

Midefield Aggro. This warband doesn't need to invade as hard as Elathain's Soulraid, but they are certainly aggressive. You'll find them fighting near the midfield.
Boards

You'll want mid-board starting hexes. From Deathgorge, we like the Glacial Tomb.
Playing Against Them

As much as you want to take out the threat of Cephanyr early, it feels like the Thralls will actually do a lot of the heavy lifting for the warband, so target them first.
Nemesis Pairings

Fearsome Fortress (for the midfield play), Force of Frost, and possibly Voidcursed Thralls.
New Player Rating

Silver+ - This warband has a pretty decent deck, but the positional nature of the warband plus 2 3-Wound fighters mean that they'll take a little work to master. Between them and the Thricefold Discord, we recommend Cyreni for a new player.

Thricefold Discord

The Thricefold Discord is a 3-fighter Slaanesh warband of competing, discordant daemons. Each inspires when their rival rolls no successes (or is taken out of action). They each have a Locus, which impacts their play and feel.

Vexmor

Vexmor is the bruiser Leader of the warband, a level 1 Wizard, and has a delicious Range 2, 3 Damage attack. The single smash isn't the best, but it will help Lascivyr inspire. He also has the Locus of Indolence, which will reduce the damage of an attack by one whenever he rolls no successes. This actually has better odds of reducing damage than either The Wurmspat or Gryselle's Arenai!

Vashtiss, the Coiled

Vashtiss, as a level 2 Wizard, is the sorceress of the warband. Fairly resilient with 2 Dodge and decent attacks, it's unlikely that Vexmor will inspire until Vashtiss is out of action. You'll want to use Vashtiss to cast your spells. Her Locus means that her enemies are just as easy to hit, even if they'd normally be supported.

Lascivyr, the Blessed Blade

Lascivyr is the assassin of the warband, and they certainly earn that role. Vexmor's failures will let them inspire (that's what that 1 Smash attack is for), but even uninspired, they have 5 move and are as accurate as a 3 Smash attack (thanks to their Locus counting them as having an additional supporting fighter). Inspired, we see them getting more accurate and gaining Crit Grievous 1. They are relatively easy to kill, though, with only one defense die and 3 Wounds.

Key Cards (What do we want to see early?)

Objectives

Born of Damnation - We love the temptations, and they have the chance to really change the game early, so having two and this card early is the dream!
Escalating Screams - Lascivyr's Locus means they'll score this as soon as they land a successful attack.
Violent Excess - The warband doesn't pump out a lot of damage, so targeting a 3+ Wound fighter twice fits right in the plan.

Gambits

Heart's Desire - Our first Temptation: either I get to push one of your fighters two hexes, or I get to stagger each fighter within 3 hexes of my warband. Do I get to drastically alter the board state? Or do I get better chances to damage your fighters?
Irresistible Feast - Our next Temptation: Do I damage all fighters adjacent to any other fighter (this has to include one of mine)? Or do I get to damage 1 of your fighters (with no consequence to my own)?
Sublime Harmonies - Extra support for accuracy or defense from 3 away? Lascivyr only misses on one symbol now!

Upgrades

Helm of Insight - Our first False Gift (you can choose to give this to an enemy fighter). Slap this onto any enemy fighter that relies on keeping distant (looking at you Ephilim, the Changers, Deintalos). Or give Lascivyr a nice defense boost!
Icon of Excess - An amazing Spell Action, but note that you take the damage whether the spell is successfully cast or not, definitely a risk, but the ability to have your entire warband attack multiple times is just so good.
Sadistic Epitome - +1 Damage upgrades are great, though this one has a condition to be met, Lashtiss can ping (or you can ping with a gambit) and then get the extra damage.

Playstyle

True Control - This warband and deck are a lot more concerned about disrupting what their opponent is doing than any other warband before, and they have the tools to do it.
Boards

You want a board with a good spot for Vexmor. Lashtiss's ranged attack and Lascivyr's Move 5 give them a bit more flexibility. From Deathgorge, we like the Frost-Wracked Ruin.
Playing Against Them

You'll want to target Lascivyr early (before they get upgraded to much). Vexmor is also a good target, thanks to the 2 Glory bounty for being large. Be prepared to make the best of bad choices.
Nemesis Pairings

Our initial thoughts are Daring Delvers, Force of Frost, and possibly Seismic Shock BUT we recommend playing just the rivals to get a feel for which Temptations and False Gifts are the best and then finding a deck that matches what those cards open up.
New Player Rating

Silver. There's a lot going on and with a deck that damages your own fighters (and even rewards you for doing so), it won't be as straightforward as other warbands that have gotten the Gold rating.

Breakneck Slaughter

Plot Card

The Impetus ability at first seems pretty rough. If you have an elite warband that doesn't care as much about where you end up after your activation, this is probably worth it.

Key Cards (What do we want to see early?)

Objectives

Eager for the Fight - The coveted 2 Glory end phase card. Easy enough to make sure each of your fighters has a Charge token!
Gale Force - Three attack actions that don't have to be successful? A cheeky early Scything attack could land you this. Otherwise, you can use the movement boost to get you where you need to go.
Need for Speed - Each fighter has a Move or Charge token? You're already looking to score Eager for the Fight, so why not double down on it?

Gambits

Devastating Charge - We love +1 Damage; who cares about the momentum counters?!
Reckless Charge - We love +1 Dice cards; who cares about the momentum counter?!
Roll with the Punches - a blanket damage reduction (you don't have to choose a fighter) seems pretty potent!

Upgrades

Battering Ram - [My boy, Jedran! - Jerod] +1 Move plus the ability to pass off your momentum counters?! Awesome.
Hurricane Darts - Range 4 for 2 Damage?! And depending the Gambits and Upgraades, this could be insanely accurate.
Moving Mark - Change your defense characteristic to 2 Shields just for moving is pretty nice.

Playstyle

Aggro all day

Boards

Dependent on the warband, but you'll want starting hexes that let you get into the opponent early.

Playing Against

Use the Impetus ability to your advantage. Consider taking a board with lethal hex(es).

Warband Recommendations

Thinking about Warbands that would benefit from the Movement boost: Khagra's Ravagers and Morgok's Krushas. More recently, Cyreni's Razors and Skabbik's Plaguepack.

New Player Rating

Silver - The Impetus ability will take time to get used to playing around.

Force of Frost

Plot Card

There isn't one!
Key Cards

Objectives
Biting Wind - a decent end phase, but much easier early in the game

Cold-Blooded - One of the better surges, and you have a better chance of taking someone out in enemy territory early in the game

Glacial Cool - Fairly good surge without being broken (or requiring dice)

Gambits
Frozen to the Spot - either prevent an enemy fighter from moving or guarantee a damage

Icy Foreboding - Not a great choice for your opponent.

Time Freeze - A complex-seeming card, but it basically boils down to you getting two guard tokens in the power step, losing an activation, and then getting two activations at the end of the round. If you play this after your second activation (and you're going second), this means you get the last two activations of a round.

Upgrades
Blizzard Darts - We love a good ranged attack action upgrade. The fact that this one gives you Ice counters is icing on the cake!

Frostwyrm Cloak - -1 Damage is arguably better than +1 Wounds!

Icy Glare - Forcing your opponent to discard cards seems pretty good to us!

Playstyle

Control & Casting
Boards

Whatever works with your warband, though some cards key off of blocked hexes.
Playing Against

Kill the wizards and fighters with Ice counters.
Warband Recommendations

Any Warband with 2 or more fighters (use the Everwinter Staff to create a "Tri-Wizard Tournament")

New Player Rating

Silver - Everything works well, but some of the objectives are tougher or more situational. The deck can also be disrupted by other warbands that place feature tokens.