The constant din of battle in the Embergard tunnels has attracted the attention of the followers of the Blood God – which means it’s time for a new Warhammer Underworlds warband and an accompanying Rivals deck.
Kamandora’s Blades worship Khorne, but they are no front-line warriors. These scavengers skulk in the bloodstained wastelands left by the vast armies of Khorne, hunting survivors through harried raids and slowly letting their blood before the hulking Throkk uses that massive axe to – you guessed it – chop off their heads.
Kamandora, Mother of Hate, and her followers Ghalista and Antro Krast do not covet these trophies for themselves – they plan to huck them onto the vast pyramid of skulls where Korghos Khul attained daemonhood. It helps to have a purpose in life, even one as macabre as this.
Their long years spent picking through the lands desecrated by the Blades of Khorne have seen them twist slowly into savage new shapes, with strange mutations and ragged maws hungry for blood.
An aggressive Strike warband, Kamandora’s Blades want to single out one opponent and hack them to bits as a team. They select an enemy fighter to be A Worthy Skull each battle round, and then pour all their frenzied attention onto them – slaughterbombing they call it.
A Worthy Skull
Kamandora’s mind is wracked by visions from Khorne, the Lord of Battles, that guide her to the skulls she must see added to his throne.
At the start of the first Action step in each battle round, if there are any enemy fighters on the battlefield, you must pick an enemy fighter to be the worthy skull until the end of the
battle round.
Slaughterous Pilgrimage
Kamandora’s Blades burn with zeal and see the taking of skulls as their holy purpose.
Immediately after you pick an enemy fighter to be the worthy skull, you must push each friendly fighter 1 hex closer to the enemy worthy skull.
Unlike the other, more muscular warriors of Khorne, Kamandora and her comrades rely on their cruel serrated weapons – Slashing at foes with a series of strikes, meaning any exertion will cause the fighter to bleed profusely. As is frequently stated, Khorne doesn’t care how you get that blood.
Blood for Khorne!
While they lack the sheer bulk of Khorne’s favoured warriors, Kamandora and her followers are whipcord-fast and capable of whittling down their foes with vicious bleeding strikes.
Slashing: When a weapon with this Weapon ability inflicts damage on an enemy fighter, give the target a bleed token.
If an enemy fighter with any bleed tokens uses a Core ability, inflict 1 damage on that fighter after resolving that ability, and then remove that fighter’s bleed tokens. Otherwise, remove all bleed tokens from enemy fighters immediately after your opponent’s Power step or at the end of the battle round.
Expect some extra movement shenanigans from these rangy fighters and their hound, Kannat, and a slightly more technical take on the often one-dimensional approach of Khorne’s followers.
Raging Slayers is the new Rivals deck released alongside Kamandora’s Blades. The key mechanic is Rage. Whenever you Charge a fighter you can give them a Rage token, enhancing their combat abilities with a re-roll to their Attack dice – though with a cost, as their fury puts them on a Poor Footing and enables foes to shove them off balance.
Rivals Deck
Raging Slayers
While using this Rivals deck, you can use the following abilities:
Raging Charge: Immediately after picking a friendly fighter to charge, you can give that fighter a Rage token. Fighters with any Rage tokens are enraged.
Raging Strike: After you make an Attack roll as part of a melee Attack for an enraged friendly fighter, you can immediately re-roll 1 Attack dice in that Attack roll.
Poor Footing: You must use this immediately after an enraged friendly fighter was Attacked if that fighter was not driven back or grappled. Push the target 1 hex away from the attacker. Your opponent chooses the direction of that push.
Remove all Rage tokens from enraged friendly fighters at the end of the battle round.
Many of the Power cards in Raging Slayers key off this enraged status, empowering their abilities, letting them heal, or allowing them to vent their rage in one almighty swing. Similarly, scoring your Objective cards will require careful management of your enraged fighters – it really is the thinking berserker’s deck.
Overwhelming Presence (2)
Score this in an end phase if each friendly fighter is enraged and there are no fighters holding treasure tokens.
Long dead though they were, when the Sons of Velmorn gazed upon the raging beast before them, fear still thrilled through their bones.
Venting Strike
Play this immediately after you pick a melee weapon as part of an Attack made by an enraged friendly fighter. That weapon has +1 Attack dice for that Attack. Immediately after that Attack, remove that fighter’s Rage tokens.
Anger often must be focused to be released.
What Pain?
Pick up to 2 enraged friendly fighters. Heal those fighters. Then, remove their Rage tokens and give them a Stagger token.
‘Morathi-Khaine’s boiling blood, where do I even begin to stab this thing?’ – Retaria, the Entangler
This deck makes a fine pairing with Kamandora’s Blades, but, as with all Rivals decks, it can be used with any warband. Both warband and deck will be available to pre-order soon, so you’ll be able to flood the tunnels of Embergard with even more blood.
