Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review

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A new season of Warhammer Underworlds is on the horizon, and with it comes a drastic drop in temperature. Venture into the Deathgorge, located in Ghur’s southern continent, and brave the grasp of the Everwinter. Find out more in our Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review.

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Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – Summary

Warhammer Underwords boxed games always set a very high bar for themselves. Often filled with a selection superb miniatures as well as a plethora of good-quality gaming gear, these sets are frequently staple collector’s items amongst both gamers and miniature painters. Happily, Deathgorge lifts the torch held high by its predecessors – such as Wyrdhollow, Nerthermaze, Harrowdeep, and the most recent Warhammer Underworlds: 2023 Starter Set – and proves that Underworlds is a product line worthy of just as much respect as any other Games Workshop IP.

Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – Introduction

As terrifying as it is to say, we’re entering the closing stages of 2023. Another year has/is in the process of flying by – but to lesser the pain of knowing the sands of this year’s hourglass are falling at a frantic rate, Games Workshop have unleashed a new season of their popular Warhammer Underworlds game. Woohoo!

The ever-popular deck building, dice spinning tabletop skirmish game is back and means business. Leaving the twisted, cursed depths of the Wyrdhollow for the freezing cold climes of the Deathgorge, it’s safe to say that this won’t be a holiday for your favourite Underworlds warband.

As ever, we’d like to say a huge thanks to the good folks at Games Workshop for furnishing us with this box so we could write this review.

Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – What’s New?

Although we’re not predominantly gamers here at FauxHammer.com, we like to try and provide a brief run-down of all the major changes that come with each of these new seasons. And this time around, there’s not much.

As per its announcement back during Warhammer’s NOVA Open Preview, there are only some “slightly updated rules” this time around – nothing huge that threaten to rework the fundamentals of the game. In fact, if you’re a casual-at-best player (like yours truly) you probably won’t even notice them.

Usually, before any new edition of Underworlds, if there are any significant rules changes coming with the new season, these are broadcast in advance. This time, however, there’s been radio silence from the folks at GW. Either the changes are so minor they don’t warrant any detailed correspondence (likely), or they’re leaving it up to the players to pick them out.

Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – Contents

The new Underworlds season kicks off with two new warbands going head-to-head in a new setting. The Idoneth Deepkin of Cyreni’s Razors face off against the twisted Slaaneshi of the Thricefold Discord. Their struggle is, of course, illustrated in all its glory on the front of the new box.

And yes, there is an octopus in this box. In fact, there’s quite a lot of things in this box. In all, this core set contains:

The Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Rulebook

A set of Warhammer Underworlds dice
4 x new decks
- Cyreni’s Razors fighter cards and Rivals Deck
- Thricefold Discord fighter cards and Rivals Deck
- Breakneck Slaughter Rivals Deck
- Force of Frost Rivals Deck

A heap of tokens
- 38 x Glory Point tokens
- 8 x Activation tokens
- 24 x Wound counter/generic markers
- 6 x Raise tokens
- 13 x Move/Charge tokens
- 13 x Guard/Stagger tokens
- 2 x Double-sided blocked/cover feature tokens
- 1 x double-sided scatter token
- 9 x Double-sided objective/cover feature tokens representing the reasures lost within Dethgorge and frozen fortifications
2 x double-sided gaming boards
2 x new warbands; 7 miniatures
- 4 x Cyreni’s Razors miniatures
- 3 x Thricefold Discord miniatures

We’ll have a look at all of this in more detail now.

Wargear

Here’s everything up for grabs in the box, minus the miniatures which we’ll have a closer look at in a moment.

Whilst veteran Underworlds collectors will know, these new season boxes are always flush with loads of gaming pieces and other goodies. There’s a veritable avalanche of tokens and cards, as well as colour-themed dice bearing the appropriate Underworlds iconography. These are all of decent quality (and there seems to be more tokens in this box than there have been previously – but maybe that’s just my imagination). The only criticism here is that there’s no dedicated storage for these, so one you’ve punched them out of their boards, unless you have your own small boxes, zip-lock baggies or whatever you’d rather use, you’ll likely have to have these rattling around loose in the box.

Underworlds’ Rulebook dances across the line between being a beginner’s resource and a veteran player’s handbook with a surprising amount of success. In the past, and particularly with a lot of other Games Workshop games, there’s often a significant disconnect between beginner’s resources and complete boxes (consider, for example the Warhammer 40,000 Starter Sets versus the various battleboxes that are released throughout a year). Underworlds’ Rulebook, however, contains everything both experienced and new players need to start playing.

There are sections dedicated to introducing new players to Underworlds’ rules with plenty of illustrated examples. There are also more complete explorations of rules, and more concise references that players more familiar with the system will find useful for a quick grab-and-go during a game. It’s a good resource to have – even if you’re not playing with the Underworld Warbands in this box.

There are also, as always, a pair of double-sided terrain boards adorned with new artwork and different objective and terrain features on both sides. There’s a lot more going on here than just style: choosing a board and which side you wish to play, as well as its orientation, forms a crucial part of any Underworlds game, as it offers players a chance to set up their warband to their advantage.

Warhammer Underworlds Deathgorge Boards 2

Warhammer Underworlds Deathgorge Boards 1

Crucially, there are four new decks in Deathgorge: one for Cyreni’s Razors, another for the Thricefold Discord, and then two other universal decks that can be used with any warband: Force of Frost and Breakneck Slaughter. Depending on your play style – and warband of choice – you’ll want to explore what these decks do and don’t offer you.

As you’d expect, though, they’re lovely cards. Replete with themed artwork on every card as well as concise, easy-to-follow rules. There are also clear cards detailing the stats for each new figure in this box, so you’ll be able to get straight to playing as soon as your models are built.

Miniatures

Finally, we arrive at the miniatures in this set – and they’re an interesting lot this time around.

If you were to ask a lot of hobbyists which Age of Sigmar factions are their least favourites, you’d likely get Idoneth Deepkin and Slaanesh featuring fairly commonly amongst your answers. Whatever your reasons may (or may not), there’s no hiding from the fact that Age of Sigmar’s deep-sea aelves don’t have quite the command (or range) compared to its other factions, and whilst Slaaneshi units have been around as long as Warhammer, they’ve never quite commanded the same level of awe as those dedicated to the other Dark Gods.

As such, it’s odd that Games Workshop would choose to include both Deepkin and Slaanesh units in the same box. You’d perhaps expect to see each warband in its own release with one of the bigger hitters – Stormcast Eternals, Orruks, Nurgle, that sort of thing.

That’s a point. New Nurgle Warband when?

Anyway, setting that aside, here are some minis – starting with Cyreni’s Razors.

Warhammer Underworlds Deathgorge Cyreni’s Razors

These miniatures are absolutely superb. Like all Underworlds warbands, they’re push-fit, so there’s no need to glue any of the components together which is superb for beginners (though if you’re wanting to ensure they’re all together flush, you’ll likely want to use a little glue to make sure everything’s in the right place). They also look great for the most part – the titular Cyreni, replete with both Tactical Rock and some Tactical Squids, oozes the command you’d want for a figure of their stature. The octopus – called Cephanyr – alkso looks phenomenal, coming on a slightly larger base to make up for his sprawling size.

By comparison, the two thralls – called Renglaith and Alathyrr – are a bit humdrum. Largely the same model but in different poses and with the addition of a lantern-like bauble for Renglaith, they don’t have quite the same level of command and uniqueness you might expect from an Underworlds warband. This isn’t to say they’re bad models – they still look great and have plenty of details and character – they’re just not quite as all that as the others in this set.

Perhaps the two similar thrall models look a bit dull due to the Slaanesh warband they are packaged with. Each figure in the Thricefold Discord is its own unique blend of nightmarish features: bloated stomachs, claws, arm-blades, tentacles, snake-legs, you name it – and as a result, each model is an exceptionally unique character.

Warhammer Underworlds Deathgorge The Thricefold Discord

Whilst I’m not a fan of Slaanesh models by and large, it’s easy to appreciate the character and detail on each of these models. Underworlds Warbands are known for overflowing with characterful models, each of which could be their own hero miniature in an army – and this is certainly the case of the Thricefold Discord. Each model is wonderfully unique, each bringing a different malign energy to the group.

They are not, however, as straightforward to build as the Razors. With the various coiling tails, tentacles, and everything else that is sported by this warband, there are a few parts that are more difficult to assemble and are generally more fragile than on the Deepkin warband. That’s not to say these are difficult, though: they’re no Necron Flayed Ones. Just have care as you assemble them so you don’t snap off any of the thinner parts by mistake.

Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – Price and Availability

Deathgorge will cost you a fairly reasonable £65.00GBP/$95.00USD/€80.00EUR, which was the price of the last new edition box. This is a fair good deal, and a price Underworlds fans will be happy to pay. As a general rule, Underworlds Warbands tend to clock in at the £26.00GBP/$42.00USD/€34.00EUR mark. As you get two Warbands in this box, that’s already £52.00GBP/$84.00USD/€68.00EUR worth of value in the box. Add in the boards, tokens, book, and everything else, and whilst you might not be getting an exact saving, you’re likely getting value for your money – well, we think so at least.

If you’re after something a little cheaper, you might want to check out the Warhammer Underworlds: Starter Set. Interested? Check out our Warhammer Underworlds: Starter Set Review.

Warhammer Underworlds: Deathgorge Review – Final Thoughts

The Good	The Bad
Excellent selection of weird and wonderful minis – and an octopus Shines a light on two frequently side-lined and overlooked Warhammer factions Good-quality gaming boards, pieces and dice Excellent rulebook that’ll be useful for both beginners and veteran players.	Whilst the set puts Idoneth Deepkin and the Slaaneshi into the limelight, these models might lack the appeal of some other factions.

Deathgorge is undoubtedly another solid entry into the ever-expanding Underworlds range. Whilst its models might lack the universal appeal of some other available Warband sets, they are nonetheless largely fantastic figures – and, more importantly, are part of a cohesive, high-quality boxed game that will appeal to both newcomers to Underworlds and tried-and-tested veterans of the system.

There is a lot to like here, and this is definitely a purchase anyone with so much as a passing interest in Underworlds should consider.

★★★★