Meet the Urmeck

Deep beneath the surface of the world, something ancient stirs…

The upcoming Dominion of Ur’Ghaal expansion unleashes the Urmeck, a brand-new Adversary faction, to your games of Maladum. This and two other expansions will be pre-ordered on Gamefound next week – follow the Kingdom of Hyberia project to be notified when they’re available.

Once the heirs of a vast empire, the Urmeck were born from conquest. Their ancestors marched across Enveron in ages past, enslaving kingdoms and toppling empires, before vanishing into the depths of the world. Down there, in darkness and ruin, they turned on each other. Centuries of civil war, betrayal, and bloodshed honed them into the merciless creatures they are today.

Now, the drums of war beat again. The Urmeck rise once more, stronger, crueller, and led by a creature that should have been left forgotten. The Hexweaver, a being older than humanity, practises arcane science that twists the flesh of the Urmeck to its whim. Its influence seeps through the Urmeck ranks, infusing its warriors with an urge to conquer once more. Together, they bring new horrors to the surface world…

This is the first in a series of articles on 2026’s Maladum releases. Check back soon for more on the Hexweaver’s magic and Urmeck gameplay, mounted characters, and two new campaigns!

Who Are the Urmeck?

You’re familiar with the Revenants – a wave of undead terror slowly marching forth and wearing you down. They are relentless, but predictably so. After you’ve played through a campaign or two against the Revenants you’ll be eager for a new challenge, and the Urmeck certainly deliver. These savage, war-forged creatures are unlike anything encountered before. They still operate within Maladum’s simple core mechanics, but each rank within their hierarchy brings new abilities and tactical challenges for Adventurers brave enough to face them.

From swarming vermin to towering juggernauts, the Urmeck embody a relentless, evolving threat. Let’s take a closer look at the forces gathering in the shadows.

Dregs

The lowest of the Urmeck, Dregs are the runts of their brutal society, stunted things no bigger than a human infant. Their small size is deceptive though; what they lack in strength, they make up for in overwhelming numbers and sheer persistence alongside a malign cunning.

Dregs do not attack like ordinary enemies. Instead, a successful attack sees them clamber onto your Adventurers. The Dreg miniatures themselves are used like status counters to hinder your party, biting, clawing, and dragging at their gear.

Dregs are physically weak, and the Insignificant ability limits them to rolling red dice. A single Dreg simply will not affect you; As such, there is a temptation to ignore them at first, and focus on more dangerous foes. However, underestimating them can be your downfall. As more Dregs pile onto your Adventurers, the effects range from limiting your effortless actions to stealing and breaking your equipment until eventually you can’t act at all… that’s when they’ll cut your throat. Even the mightiest warriors like Grogmar or Kaan will find themselves smothered if they fail to deal with the Dregs quickly.

Luckily, Dregs are fragile and their tendency to crowd together is their downfall. Multiple Dregs can occupy a single square, which makes Blast and Cleave attacks devastatingly effective. The expansion introduces new equipment featuring these abilities, giving players much-needed tools to keep the swarms at bay.

Wretches

A step above the Dregs are the Wretches, the Urmeck’s primary foot soldiers. Each one is a cruel mix of muscle, bone, and fury. They are fast, brutal, and constantly on the move.

Their rules may be simple, but unlike the lurching Lamentors or tiny Dregs, Wretches cannot be ignored. With Fast 2 they can cover the gaming area unbelievably quickly. You’ll clear a room of foes only to have a couple of Wretches sprint in from down the hall before you can catch your breath.

Ripclaw Riders

Few things inspire as much terror as the Ripclaw Riders. These massive beasts thunder through the tunnels, ridden by packs of shrieking Dregs. The air itself seems to quake as they rush forward.

Ripclaws use the new Sprint ability (used more widely on other cavalry – check out the Riders of Hyberia preview coming soon!). This works like Fast, increasing their movement speed, but only when moving in a straight line. When unimpeded by walls Ripclaws are the fastest enemy in the Urmeck faction, capable of crossing the gaming area in moments.

Also like other cavalry, they are two characters in one, and your choice of target will determine how an encounter with a Ripclaw unfolds:

• Slay the Ripclaw and a host of Dreg riders will spill to the ground and quickly find themselves a new mount – your Adventurers!
• Slay the riders and the now uncontrolled Ripclaw will attack anything within reach, friend or foe alike. Of course, defeating the riders isn’t as easy as it sounds – each Ripclaw is ridden by an indeterminate number of Dregs, and you may just knock one off while the others ride on!

From a practical perspective, you can recreate this in game – the Ripclaws come with removable saddles, so you can swap out a fully laden saddle for an empty one!

Ripclaws themselves have both Vicious and Sharp, meaning every strike has the potential to wound deeply, and most Ripclaw attacks will result in one of its Dreg riders landing on the target too! Ripclaw Riders are chaos incarnate, mobile, brutal, and unpredictable.

Brutes

The Brutes are the Urmeck’s heavy hitters, towering monsters of sinew and bone that can crush a warrior in a single swing. They’re about as close to a troll as you can get without being one. They roll a mighty three attack dice and come with two new game changing abilities.

Firstly, their weapons are Sundering, shattering their target’s defences on impact. A critical hit from a Sundering attack will destroy one item that protected against the attack, whether a suit of armour, a raised shield, or a sword used to parry. If there is no item to break, the attack simply deals extra damage. Even magical wards strain under a Sundering blow, requiring more power to resist.

Between Sundering blows and Dregs stealing your gear, a well-stocked inventory is no longer the protection it once was!

Defensively, Brutes also introduce a formidable new trait: Stalwart. Similar to the Talos in Core Space First Born, Stalwart characters are incredibly tough to kill. Weak attacks only slow them down, and they can shrug off status counters, so you’ll need to rethink how you attack them. To take them out once and for all you’ll either need to Stun them first, or you’ll need an attack capable of dealing excess damage – not easy when they have an armour value of 2!

The Arboreant

As if the Urmeck ranks were not enough, the expansion also introduces a new Wandering Beast, the Arboreant, a twisted mess of tree roots given life by dark magic. Like all Wandering Beasts it can be incorporated into any game, but it has a specific affinity with the Urmeck and the Hexweaver’s ability to control nature.

The Arboreant’s massive limbs give it a Reach of six squares, allowing it to strike from nearly anywhere. Its attacks are both Entangling and Sundering, turning even brief encounters into desperate struggles.

Fortunately, the Arboreant moves slowly (just two squares per action) allowing careful Adventurers to exploit its sluggish pace. But beware: it has the new Traverse ability, letting it burrow through walls. You can’t stay safe for long!

Prepare for War

The Urmeck bring more than new enemies. They have been designed to force you to play the game differently in more ways than one. We’ve trawled through tons of player feedback, highlighted all the commonly-used tactics, and then used the Urmeck to break them!

Gaming is all about decision making at the end of the day, so we’ve focused on the areas where players aren’t making any decisions – the areas of gameplay where there’s a seemingly obvious solution that everyone chooses. Some players always use the same equipment – but what if you lose access to it? Others always use the same character Classes – but what if a scenario calls for a skill you don’t have? Some players always choose the same actions, skills or spells – but what if there’s a downside to doing so? Maladum has so much interconnected content, and we want to incentivise using more of it.

The Urmeck are also a step up in difficulty, so those players who became complacent towards the end of the Dungeons of Enveron campaign will find just the challenge they’re looking for in Dominion of Ur’Ghaal. You can also take your veteran party and run it straight into the new campaigns (yes, plural!) without needing to start from scratch.

As you’d expect from a new faction, the Urmeck will require you to adapt. From managing Dreg swarms to surviving Brute assaults, no encounter will feel routine. Whether you are a veteran delver or a newcomer to Maladum, the Urmeck promise unforgettable battles.

Stay tuned for our next preview, where we unveil the enigmatic Hexweaver, the strange new Totems, and the mysterious Cauldron that pulses at the heart of the Urmeck’s dark domain.

The surface world has grown complacent. The Urmeck are coming to remind it what fear means…