One of the main draws of the Living Card Game format is the slowly growing and ever expanding card pool that is released. At regular intervals new cards are introduced that change the meta of the game and expand on existing cards. Because of this it is always important to re-evaluate previously released cards and think about how their standing has changed. We’ve now seen all the cards in the Warlord cycle released and the dust has begun to settle. Now is a great time to look back and re-consider the cards that came in each pack. Today I’m going to look at the cards we received in the very first War Pack, The Howl of Blackmane.
Space Marines
Starting with Ragnar Blackmane (The Howl of Blackmane, 1) and his signature squad. In our original review of Ragnar the Tactical Squad believed he would be a strong assassination threat and would be able to bully opposing warlords. This has been pretty on point. Ragnar’s high health coupled with his Reaction ability allows him to throw his weight around, pressing the advantage against players who make poor commit choices and can even add a lot of attrition against opponents on top of their game. Later units released in Astra Militarum have filled out the cost curve for a Ragnar deck, making fielding a balanced force much more affordable.
His signature army unit, Blackmane Sentinel (The Howl of Blackmane, 2), further benefit his ability to command the board state. This unit allows for a dynamic response to many situations, ideally setting up to contest command, but being able to also assist in combat or help bully enemy warlords if the opportunity presents itself. For 2 cost the sentinels are a steal for the upside they provide.
Blackmane’s Hunt (The Howl of Blackmane, 5) adds even more maneuverability to the squad. The only negative thing I can say about this card is that your are limited to two copies.
Moving onto Ragnar’s signature attachment, we get Frostfang (The Howl of Blackmane, 3). This is an excellent attachment playing into his assassination potential. Unfortunately, you can only have one relic in play at a time and many times you may want to save this for the shields and play Iron Halo (Core Set, 28) instead.
Finally the signature squad has one copy of Ragnar’s Warcamp (The Howl of Blackmane, 4), the signature support. This card is too expensive for the limited benefit it provides. All told, Ragnar’s signature squad rates very highly among the warlords released in the game to date.
Astra Militarum
When The Howl of Blackmane first came out it seemed like Astra Militarum would benefit a lot from the cards they received, unfortunately it seems we overestimated the value of what they were given.
After some reflection, Interrogator Acolyte (The Howl of Blackmane, 6) seems too expensive for the benefit provided. While it does benefit from the abilities of both Colonel Straken (Core Set, 2) and Torquemada Coteaz (The Threat Beyond, 89) there are just too many other cards that offer greater benefit for 3 resources.
Muster the Guard (The Howl of Blackmane, 7) appeared to be an auto include for all Astra Militarum decks when it first came out. Now it is a rare sight. Most Militarum decks include too many out of faction units to benefit from this ability as much as we originally predicted. Beyond that it has become more apparent that exhausting your warlord during deployment is a very steep cost, sacrificing his command presence and putting your warlord at risk of being bloodied.
Finally, AM received a direct damage card in Noble Deed (The Howl of Blackmane, 8) that also combos with the many “leaves play” abilities found throughout the faction’s army units. This card has its uses, but many Astra Militarum players get too eager to sacrifice units to trigger the “leaves play” abilities in their deck instead of allowing them to trigger through the natural attrition of battle.
Ork
Next in the pack are the Ork cards, which the Squad also seemed to have overestimated in our original review of the pack. The first card, Deathskull Lootas (The Howl of Blackmane, 9), seemed to have a very powerful ability that would benefit both Astra Militarum and Orks but after playtesting has seen minimal use. Though the ability seemed very good on paper the ATK of 2 is too low to consistently cause damage and as a result doesn’t fire very often. Combine this with the unit’s cost of 4 and we are left with an army that doesn’t deliver.
The second card Orks received in the War Pack is Smash n’ Bash (The Howl of Blackmane, 10). This card suffers from one major restriction; it only works at a battle without an enemy warlord present, a condition that is difficult into. Even if you do find yourself in a battle where the opposing warlord isn’t present you will likely outclass your opponent so much that this effect is overkill, or be so outclassed that the damage it causes to all your units won’t make the extra attacks worthwhile.
Chaos
During my original look at The Howl of Blackmane I really
underestimated the utility of the Heretek Inventor (The Howl of Blackmane, 12). This card has become a staple in most Chaos decks. I’ve come to see that 1 cost for 1 command icon is always good and this card is no exception. Heretek Inventor provides a solid command unit with good combat stats with a drawback that can be very frequently played around. It can have the added benefit of mentally taxing your opponent.
The other card received by Chaos, Death Guard Infantry (The Howl of Blackmane, 11), hasn’t ended up seeing any help and is still outclassed by Khorne Berserker (Core Set, 84) and Xavaes Split-Tongue (Core Set, 92).
Dark Eldar
Next up is Dark Eldar. They were the likely winners of the pack. Archon’s Palace (The Howl of Blackmane, 15) and Visions of Agony (The Howl of Blackmane, 14) have proven to be everything we hoped and expected when to be we first saw them.
The pack also included Uber Grotesque (The Howl of Blackmane, 13) for DE, a card that ended up being much less exciting than I originally thought. Dark Eldar have shown that big units aren’t necessary for their game plan and while we did receive a torture focused warlord with Urien Rakarth (Descendants of Isha,116), the Grotesque feels too expensive for the value offered and just doesn’t fit in his deck.
Eldar
Eldar only ended up receiving one card in the Howl of Blackmane that they really benefited from. Empower (The Howl of Blackmane, 17) has to some degree become a staple for the faction. Due primarily to its double shield icons. Its ability is definitely powerful and is of use often enough to warrant including a couple copies in your deck. Butthe number of out of faction units commonly found in Eldar decks and Empower’s cost of 3 means that it is not an auto include and players rarely sleeve 3 copies in most decks when it is played.
The other cards in the pack, Starcannon (The Howl of Blackmane, 18) and Vaulting Harlequin (The Howl of Blackmane, 16) haven’t seen much play, which is in line with our initial expectations.
Tau
The last faction to receive cards in the the War Pack is Tau. Aun’ui Prelate (The Howl of Blackmane, 20) has definitely made a bigger splash than I expected. The army unit does a large amount of work in Aun’shi (Gift of the Ethereals, 45) decks; not only magnifying the hitting power of the units you control at a planet but also acting as a 4 ATK Armorbane unit.
Homing Beacon (The Howl of Blackmane, 21), which I expected to be a key card in the Ethereal archetype, hasn’t seen much play. With slots for support cards being limited in most decks Homing Beacon just isn’t up to snuff compared more powerful supports are available for Tau.
And lastly, Piranha Hunter (The Howl of Blackmane, 19) has turned out to be a complete dud.
Neutral
The Howl of Blackmane includes one neutral event, Calamity (The Howl of Blackmane, 22). When this card was released we talked on the podcast about its potential use as a combo card with different cheap units, particularly in Astra Militarum and Dark Eldar. Unfortunately, the cost and awkwardness of those combos is a nut that no one seems to have cracked yet. . The card’s remaining use as a board wipe has also gone mostly unrealized, though with the meta of the game trending toward lower costs units now might be the time to try splashing a copy or two in some decks.
It’s coming up on nine months since we saw The Howl of Blackmane first released. Since then the whole of the Warlord cycle has passed and we’ve begun seeing cards for the first deluxe expansion, The Great Devourer and the second cycle of the game, Planetfall. With the knowledge we have now this pack if far less exciting than it was on release. It no longer stands up as a staple really only benefiting players interested in Dark Eldar and Space Marines.
Pack Rating
SM * AM 0/5 Ork 0/5 Chaos 1.5/7
Dark Eldar 2/6 Eldar 1.5/7 Tau 1/6
ratings based on power cards out of the faction and ally cards received in the pack
* = signature squad