Warhammer Underworlds: Thanatek's Tithe review - "The new Ossiarch Bonereapers warband has some fiddly rules – but I love the miniatures"

I dunno what it is, but I've never quite gelled with the Ossiarch Bonereapers. There's something about the theme and design that just doesn't really resonate with me. So it was a genuine surprise to me when the latest Underworlds warband landed at GamesRadar+ Towers and my immediate response was, "Oh damn, these are cool!"

It was the quirkiness of the design of the Bone Brothers (not their actual name), with their twin heads and built-in display cabinets that immediately appealed. These are Mornial caste Retainers and their job is to collect "truebone" (hush now) and store it in their caskets, like really horrible bees. They're backed up by a pair of Mortis Reapers, undead assassins and also very nicely-designed miniatures. So nice, in fact, that their fellows were enough to turn our heads and reconsider an army we struggled with beforehand.

The new warband also comes with a new Rivals deck, Nexus of Power (sold separately). This isn't required to field Thanatek's Tithe, but it's definitely a complimentary release, so I'll touch on it a little in this review.

Warhammer Underworlds: Thanatek's Tithe features & design

• Cool models with nice, clean design
• A five man warband
• A Flex-style warband, suitable for different play styles

The first thing I noticed about the new models is their comparative simplicity. There's a cleanness to the designs that immediately sells what each fighter is about in a way that I've not always found with the rest of the Ossiarch range.

The two Mortis Reapers (Tukhar and Sekhmor) are just dripping with menace: all knives, cloaks and sinister smiles. There's a slight goofiness to the two Retainers (Xar-Tamok and Medeb-Ahk), but I like that. They look fun and were very quick to paint. The gang is led by Thanatek. For all his extra bling, I find this miniature a bit less distinctive than his pals, but still: cool warband!

For those who are interested, here's my painting recipe: all Citadel paints, with a couple of exceptions that I'll note. My aim with these models was to get them game ready quickly and not sweat too much about making them perfect.

I primed all the models with coats of Wight Bone from Colourforge (it's an equivalent to Citadel's Wraithbone, which will work just as well). I then gave all the bone parts a coat of Morghast Bone. I shaded this with a slightly thinned (with Lahmium Medium) coat of Targor Rageshade. I am absolutely obsessed with this shade at the moment. It gives such a nice, subtle red/brown tone and is really versatile. I then picked a few highlights out with Morghast Bone, followed by brighter highlights of Ushabti Bone.

The box art shows the Reapers in a range of different bone tones (fun to say!), but as speed was my imperative here I just gave the bits I wanted to look darker a quick coat of Garaghak's Sewer and left it at that.

I painted the robes with Night Lords Blue, shaded with Nuln Oil, then highlighted with Calgar Blue. I used Canoptek Alloy for the metal of the Retainers' caskets, again washed with Targor Rageshade. I used Vallejo Game Color Dead White, very thinned with water, for all bits of the models I wanted to glow and then painted those with Hexwraith Flame. And that was basically it. Quick, easy, and certainly good enough for gaming. I'm gonna come back and punch them up a bit at some point – especially Thanatek himself, who, as the leader, deserves a bit more love than I've given him so far.

Warhammer Underworlds: Thanatek's Tithe gameplay

• Cadaver tokens inspire fighters
• You'll want to Inspire fighters quickly for better stats
• Some cool, thematically appropriate special rules

In terms of the game itself, Thanatek's Tithe is a Flex-style warband, meaning they're pretty good all-rounders – at least in theory.

In truth, their regular stats are nothing too exciting: Thanatek and the Retainers can move 3 hexes, with the Mortis Reapers able to move 4. The Retainers have Damage 2 weapons, but everyone else – even Thanatek – is Damage 1. The Retainers and the Reapers all have 3 Health, with Thanatek only 4.

Luckily, the warband has some decent rules that elevate these stats. Let's start with the Inspire mechanic. This works in conjunction with the Morbid Retainers rule. To Inspire, a fighter needs to make a successful attack when its target is adjacent to one of the two Retainer models. Doing so will gain you a cadaver token, which you can use to Inspire fighters equal to their Bounty characteristic (so 1 for everyone except Thanatek, who has a Bounty of 3).

The Retainers are also at the heart of the Soul-Linked Constructs rule. This is a fun one as it lets you make non-upgrade melee attacks with Thanatek's weapons profiles through Xar-Tamok and Medeb-Ahk. That's a great way to take advantage of Thanatek's abilities, while keeping him out of harm's way – a good thing, given how fragile he is.

Elusive Mirages is a handy buff for when opponents target your Mortis Reapers. If the save roll contains any successes then the targeted Mortis Reaper can use the Stand Fast rule, which reduces the damage by 1 and stops the model from being driven back. Unwilling Donors, meanwhile, works alongside the Morbid Retainers rule. It allows you to choose an enemy fighter to be a "possessor". Immediately after that fighter sustains damage as part of a friendly attack, each Retainer can be pushed a hex closer to the possessor. It's a smart way of making the quest to get cadaver tokens a little easier.

Endless Duty can only be used once per battle round, but it allows you to spend a cadaver token to bring any slain Mortis Reapers back to un-life if you roll a hammer or a crit. Obviously a useful tool to have in your arsenal, though it's possible that you may want to save your cadaver tokens to inspire your remaining fighters instead.

Finally, Necromantic Pulse is a once-per-game attack that eats up your cadaver tokens and hits enemy fighters adjacent to your Retainers. For each enemy, roll a number of attack dice equal to the cadaver tokens used. Crossed swords and crits inflict 1 damage on that fighter. If you don't roll any of the above then the pulse knocks out Guard tokens and Staggers the enemy instead.

Should you buy Thanatek's Tithe?

Thanatek's Tithe is an interesting warband to play and, as noted above, I'm a big fan of the models so they're a win on that level.

I do have issues with the Inspire and cadaver token system, however. It's quite surprising that none of the five fighters here can deal more than Damage 1 in their un-inspired state. That would suggest that getting them Inspired is your initial priority, but doing so is a bit fiddly. You really have to work for your cadaver tokens!

As I mentioned at the top, the warband has been released alongside a new Rivals deck titled Nexus of Power, which we'll touch on briefly here.

This is a Take and Hold deck with a Plot card. This introduces a new rule: Covetous, which comes into effect when a fighter is within one hex of a treasure token. This gives them a handy boost, making range 1 melee weapons range 2 while they are still in proximity to the treasure token. This is really useful when used with the Mortis Reapers, who are the only range 1 fighters in the warband (the Retainers are range 2, while Thanatek has a range 3 weapon).

It has one other, slightly strange rule: After the numbered side of the feature tokens has been revealed at the start of the game, your opponent can flip up to two treasure tokens back to their unrevealed state. This appears to be to balance things out a little and makes sense given how strongly focused on treasure tokens both the deck's Objective and Power cards are.

Thanatek's Tithe feel like quite a technical warband with some fiddly rules that will take a while to fully get to grips with – and yes, this is a euphemism for, "I lost the early games I played with them." I really do love the miniatures, though, and that's certainly enough for me to recommend picking them up. While they're not the punchiest or most efficient warband in the game, I can see them becoming somebody's favorite with time and more practice – and perhaps even mine.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...