Games Workshop previewed plenty of upcoming releases over the weekend. The first was for The Mortal Realms and a new edition of their miniature/board/card game, Warhammer Underworlds. Your warbands will be heading beneath Embergard during the Skaven invasion!

Embergard Core Set // Warhammer Underworlds

The Dawnbringer City of Embergard was destroyed during the frothing Vermindoom that surged over The Mortal Realms but beneath it, the mines still hold precious emberstone that must be protected at all costs. With that in mind, the Stormcast Eternals of the Emberwatch have been sent to stop Zikkit's Tunnelpack of Clan Skryre. There's no telling what they could do when combining emberstone with warpstone!

The Emberwatch represent the Vanguard Chamber of the Stormcast Eternals. Ardorn Flamerunner leads them, backed up by Farasa Twice-Risen and Yurik Velzaine. They are quick and deadly; Sigmar's hunters.

The Emberwatch // Warhammer Underworlds

It's nice to see the new miniature designs which bring them in line with the Thunderstrike Armour of the rest of the new Stormcast Eternals. Whilst they have been painted here as the Hammers Of Sigmar, they could work well as Astral Templars given their Vanguard leaning.

As well as the Emberwatch, you have Zikkit's Tunnelpack. These Clan Skryre followers are looking to scout the mine for emberstone that would help fuel their experiments and the war effort.

Zikkit's Tunnelpack // Warhammer Underworlds

Zikkit leads this pack of technologically enhanced Skaven. Two minions follow him into the tunnels, Krittatok and Nitch Singe-snout and you also have Rittak Verm who will be storming around in their Kill-wheel. That is a lot of speed for the small skirmishes of Warhammer Underworlds. The Skaven also get Tik Tik, a blast-vermin who can rush into the enemy warband and explode, doing damage based on the round number and inspiring fellow Skaven. Just be careful as that bomb does not care who it blows up!

New Edition

As well as the new miniatures, this new Core Set works as a reset for Warhammer Underworlds but is also the entry point for the new edition. It will contain everything that you need to get playing including the cards, dice, boards and rules.

Warbands & Rivals Decks // Warhammer Underworlds

Warbands in the new edition will feature their profile cards but also a warscroll which will cover not only special abilities for your warband to use but also the way that they inspire (flip their profile cards to a more powerful side). Gone are the faction-specific decks of the past as well and now any warband can make use of Rivals Decks (pictured above) that have been designed to work in different ways based on particular styles of play.

This should mean fewer cards needed for your collection as you'll just need to get the warband and their warscroll and then choose a deck that works for your playstyle. You could play a heavily defensive Emberwatch warband for example or switch it up and try them with a more tricksy deck that is all about tripping up your opponent. Each Rivals Deck should work with whatever warband you like but some will favour a particular style of play.

Warhammer Underworlds: Embergard - First Look

The rulebook has also been refined and slimmed down by all accounts to make it easier for you to dive in and start playing the game. Considering that Warhammer Underworlds hasn't seen a change in seven years, much like any other card game, it has become a little dense to get into!

That does mean that your current Warhammer Underworlds collection will become "obsolete" which is a shame for collectors. Your actual miniatures should cycle into the new edition, however...

"This does mean that your old cards and boards won’t be compatible with the new edition, but all of your miniatures still will be. There will be rules for every current Warhammer Underworlds warband – all 58 of them. Most warbands will have free digital rules at launch, but 16 will be released physically shortly afterwards. Two brand new warbands will also arrive, for a total of 20 warbands players can buy just to start with."

So, free digital rules for pretty much all of the warbands and then physical releases for sixteen of them. I would imagine that Warhammer Underworlds will see a rotation of warbands throughout the new edition much like Kill Team.

There's no reason to dump all your old cards and boards though. If you like playing the game with your friends as it is, just keep diving into Rivals and other modes of play. You'll certainly have more options before the new edition really beds in.

As someone who has been on the fringes of Warhammer Underworlds and quite enjoyed it in the past, I like the idea of a more streamlined game when it comes to warbands and decks but I thought the Rivals format worked rather nicely for that already. I'm also not a fan of them getting rid of the artwork on cards and replacing it with miniature photography. A money-saving venture and a way for them to speed up production. I will be trying Embergard when it lands though; what about you?

Drop your thoughts below...