Warhammer Underworlds: Battles in Shadespire and the Beastgrave

Once again Orion and Nick joined us for a couple of games of Warhammer Underworlds on the first Sunday in April.

We started off with a game set in Shadespire (only using boards from Shadespire/Nightvault) 

I wanted to try out the freshly painted Sons of Velmorn with their own Rivals Deck and selected Katophrane's Reliquary board. Amanda wanted to keep playing Elathain's Soulraid, still just using their own Rivals Deck and took The Cursed Oubliette board). Nic was playing Grashrack's Despoilers with a Nemesis deck using Break Neck Slaughter on The Ruptured Seal. Orion was playing the Sepulchral Guard with a Nemesis deck using Rimlocked Relics on The Cursed Oubliette.

Starting things off, Nic charged in with Draknar, smashing Helmar the Hewer to bits... 

Draknar did not get to celebrate that victory long as Sir Jedran stepped up and cleaved the beast in twain! 

Um... and then everyone ran away from me and over to the Sepulchral Guards side of the battlefield!? 

Deepking and Beastmen and skeletons all mixing it up! 

More beastmans and skeletons... 

Um....? I only have three move over here!? Wait for me!!!

Grashrak Fellhoof charged the Sepulchral Warden... it did not go well for Mr. Fellhoof... 

I did have a card that brought Helmar the Hewer back... in my own territory... 

As the Sons of Velmorn moved up, it drew the attention of Elathain's Soulraid and Tammael charged Sir Jedran. 

Marchal Faulk moved up and despatched Tammael...

Elathain moved up and with a pair of nasty blows, took down Sir Jedran and with the stolen soul, revived his harpoon chucking thrall, Tammael! 

So, I killed Tammael, to release Sir Jedran's soul... 

Amanda had given Elathain, like five or six upgrades... reducing damage, reducing attack dice of foes... there was no way I was going to take them down... so I focused on scoring a few hold objectives... 

And tried to chase down Fuirann!? I hit and dealt 3 damage - which SHOULD have taken her out... but Amanda had given her an upgrade blessing her with +1 wounds... So one of Orions rotten little skeletons stepped in a finished her off! FIE!!!

Orion, once again, just trashed all of us, scoring 23 Glory Points!? I did... okay... scoring 15, Amanda wasn't too far behing me with 12, and Nic (who was tabled in the second round) only managed to score 9 Glory. 

For our second game we played in the Beastgrave

I decided to change things up and broke out Wurmspat with a Nemesis Deck using Break Neck Slaughter Nemesis Deck and chose the  Pool of Fangs board. Amanda continued with the Idonth Deepkin but switched to Cyreni's Razors, just using their own Rivals Deck on the Hive of Sacrifice. Nic tried out Sons of Velmorn with own Rivals Deck on Ravaged Hall. And Orion continued to use Sepulchral Guard with the Rimlocked Relics Nemesis Deck (on Abandoned Lair)

I took Wurmspat because I knew there was a fair chance I'd have to duck out a bit early to get to my book club. I thought I'd just suicide charge them at... whoever... thinking I'd try and score as many points as I could before dying, quickly... But the, after the first round, it looked more like Amanda's warband might get wiped out (by ME!?), so I suggested she could play my warband when I had to leave. 

First activation, Ghulough charging Cyreni! 

Amanda has sent Alathyrr across the table, deep into the Sepulchral Warden's territory, hoping to take out the warden and STOP them from raising over and over and over... 

But Renglaith stuck around to try and defend Cyreni - gave Gulough a good poke! Then Sepsimus also charged in... 

Fecula would also charge in and... I think I took out Cyreni... and then for my fourth activation I could have scored an easy point moving Fecula onto an objective... but decided to attack Renglaith again, hoping to finish him off before he got to finish off Gulough in the next round (and score the same amount of glory!?) ... and I missed...

So at the beginning of the second round Renglaith finished off Gulough... I had a new plan, though, based on the cards I drew. I had an upgrade card that I gave to Fecula, that allowed allowed her to move from any edge hex to any other edge hex. 

So, Sepsimus ran off and killed Cephanyr the squid... 

and then started trying to bonk the sons of Velmorn. 

Fecula charged to the nearest edge hex and flung a curse off at Renglaith, hoping to finish him off... and MISSED!?!? 

So I think The Prince stepped in a finished off Renglaith... (those fucking sepulchral Guard always stealing my kills!) 

BY the time I left only Fecula Flyblown was still alive... and one of Amanda's Thralls, Alathyrr - who was wounded... and standing next to two of the Sepulchral Guard - including the Warden... I thought for sure the Thrall was doomed and she'd just be playing Fecula... (albeit with a COMPLETELY unfamiliar deck!?) I gave her a few pointers about what I'd been planning and ran off to my book club! 

Later Amanda reported to me that both her Thrall AND Fecula survived to the end... but, again, Orion scored 23 Glory... Nic scored 10, Amanda scored 9 and the Wurmspat scored only 7... 

I'm sure Wurmspat had 6 or 7 when I left!? So I'm guessing Amanda didn't really DO much with Fecula and just concentrated to doing stuff with Alathyrr...? Ah, well...   

I had been pretty stoked about trying to knock out Zondara's Gravebreakers, but I think Zarbag's Gitz might be the next warband I finish up!? (along with the Squigherd I'd picked up earlier this year...) 

Warhammer Underworlds: Last Game in March!

Yesterday, the last Sunday in March, Nic and Orion came over to play some more Warhammer Underworlds. 

In our first game I rolled out with my new Skabbik's Plague Pack. They had not done well in their first game against Amanda playing Elathain's Soulraid. 

Amanda was playing Elathain's Soulraid again, Nic played Cyreni's Razors, and Orion was playing the Crimson Court. 

Cyreni's starrted off the bullying of the rats by charging in with THE SQUID and killing poor Poxlix... 

Vellas charged in to attack Tammael. 

And quicly found herself surrounded by Elathain's entire warband!? 

I'd had a plan that mostly involved maneuvering and trying to score objective cards... but then Cyreni, herself, came after my warband... 

Grand Melee in the middle of the board. 

Skabbik... maneuvering and scoring objective cards. 

Cyreni made the mistake of NOT killing rats at the beginning of the next round and she was just too tempting a target for Rabidius - and if he DIDN'T do something, she'd be killing rats... so Rabidius took her out! 

but then the SQUID came for Rabidius! 

Elsewhere, Skabbik, just doing his move around the board and score points thing, hoping no one would notice! 

And maneuvering back to befoul multiple territories again at the end of round two ... AND score MORE objectives!? 

Beginning of round three, I had no more passive objective cards or need to maneuver rats around to befoul territories... so we went on the attack! 

Rikit moved up and... hit someone..? 

Gah, I missed a few opportunities for pictures... there was a BIG mess of fighters here in the middle... this is the aftermath. the rats took out Fuirann and made Count Duval afraid enough that he actually ran away! 

I ended up winning this game with 20 Glory points! This was largely because it was a multi-player game and I had a few Objective cards that scored for "X Enemy Fighter out of action AND..." and all I had to do was the "AND..." because it does not matter WHO killed the enemy fighters, just that there are that many out of action! So all I had to do was concentrate on getting my rats to the places they needed to be, and hope that not too many tried to pick on the all too easy targets that they are! There is no way I'd be able to take out that many fighters myself, AND do the other things. Those cards probably have to go... 

I'm still not super sure how to PLAY these. I read some suggestions on Reddit - where someone else asked for tips on how to play. At least one, possibly more, had suggested as using them as "Suicide Aggro" - just charging them into enemy territory to kill things, knowing they are going to die, but hopefully score enough Glory before doing so... 

I never seem to have much luck with Aggro... because it is so reliant on rolling at least average rolls... and... that doesn't seem to work out for me!?

For Game Two I switched it op and pulled out Mollog's Mob to play with the new cards from the Rivals of the Mirrored City box, I'd bought the day before. 

Orion stuck with the Crimson Court, but Amanda decided to try out the new cards for the Thorns of the Briar Queen and Nic switched things up as well and played Grashrak's Despoilers. 

Tried to move up and bonk... and missed... 

See... aggro just don't work so well for me... 

Mollog chasing down Grashrak.

Orion had split his warband and half of them savaged the Thorns of the Briar Queen. and the other half went and killed half of Grashrak's Desppoilers... 

and when there was no more of them they turned on poor little Spiteshroom!?

Chasing down Grashrak! 

Orion did AMAZING. Crimson Court ended up scoring TWENTY FIVE glory in this game. 

I like Mollog's new cards... better than the previous set, but still needs some editing. I've heard some good things about pairing it with the Voidcursed Thralls rivals deck, to make a Nemesis deck! Too many things I want to play with. I'd also like to play more with Skabbik's Plaguepack and make a Nemesis deck for them... of course, as soon as I'm done the other new warbands, I'm going to want to play with THEM!?!?

Maybe I'll just be playing a new warband each week until I'm done them all in September... and THEN I'll start picking a few to try and learn to play really well!? 

Warhammer Underworlds - Vampires, Gobins, Beastmens, and Murder Aelves

With enough of the snow cleared away Orion and Nic were back for another Sunday of Warhammer Underworlds! 

(between my birthday and the following Sunday over 55cm of snow was dumped on Saskatoon by a pair of winter storms... the first dump slowed things down, the second, LARGER dump, last weekend, pretty much shut the city DOWN for a few days!) 

Normally we play in the afternoon, but Amanda had a meeting in the middle of the afternoon. Not wanting to miss out, She suggested they come by earlier... but it turned out they were in Regina for a show and would be driving back Sunday morning and probably wouldn't be back in time to do something earlier... 

So Amanda suggested they come by later in the afternoon when they get back... play a three-player game.. stay for pizza... and then play a four-player AFTER supper, when Amanda was home! This was agreed to... but then Nic and Orion didn't get back into town until after 4pm... 

but they still came for PIZZA! 

While they were in Regina they visited game stores and found this Beastgrave era carry case - which hey got for me as a late birthday present?! They said they got it because it was poop brown and therefore perfect for Wurmspat.... (they know me so well! It was quite touching...) 

and conveniently it perfectly fits Wurmspat and has space for cards and my assorted poo-coloured dice (from the Gnarlwood and Wyrdhollow boxes - which now belong to the Wurmspat!) and tokens - everything you'd need to take with you to play... 

After pizza we did set up for a four-player game of Warhammer underworlds. Nic decided to play Grashrak's Despoilers (with just their Rivals deck) on A Root-Hall Bleed board. Otion brought The Crimson Court (Also with just their Rivals deck!) and chose the Soul Refractor board. Amanda was back to playing Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven with her Paths of Prophecy Nemesis deck - on The Cursed Oubliette. I decided to take a break from Wurmspat and dug out Grinkrak's Looncourt - and just played with their Rivals on The Stricken Swamp board.

I was feeling a little picked on, right from the start, when Gorath the Enforcer charged Pointy Burke! Burke Survived, though! (for this round...) 

I pushed all my goblins towards the nearest enemy (thanks to a plot card!) and Pokin' Snark was able to take a bite out of Gorath with his Squig-on-a-Stick! 

This actually inspired Pointy Burke as they'd been given a Quest-Surge-Objective that scored and inspired him if he attacked while supported or supported an attack against an adjacent fighter! 

Burk's inpiration was short-lived, however, as Ennias Curse-Born swooped in on the very next activation and killed poor Burk... 

Elsewhere Beasts were moving and shooting arrows at Goblins. Kyrae made some "Hail Morathi" play dashing across the table to take an objective right amongst ALL THE BEASTMEN. 

She died. 

Amanda said she knew it was a HUGE risk, but if Draknar had missed, she would have scored 3 Glory... As it was she scored NOTHING in the entire first round!? 

For a brief moment, it looked like the Vampires might not ALL dog-pile on my warband and slaugher them all before the end of the second round, when Vellas von Faine went wandering over into the Daughters of Khaine area and murdered Kyrssa - OUCH! 

In response, though, Morgwaeth stabbed von Faine and dealt some damage and then one of the Beastmans charged in and finished her off... Then Morgwaeth killed the beastman... 

Then I forgot to take pictures for a few turns... I did finish off Gorath - but failed to do it with Grinkrak the Great (which would have gotten me a bonus Glory - for an objective card where my leader had to finish someone off... I'm thinking that would have to go when I build a Nemesis deck... It was too much fussing around to try and arrange it so Grinkrak could deal the final blow... and then missed... all trying to get ONE extra Glory - when I could have killed Gorath a turn earlier with a plot card!?)

Grinkrak was seriously wounded... I THINK by one of the Beastmen...? Luckily I'd upgraded him with something that gave him +1 Wounds! 

At the beginning of Round Two I started off with Pokin Snark and Grinkrak running off into the Vampires territory to scored an objective, have more of my fighters in their territory than their fighters... Which was totally possible, now that two were out of action! I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out how to get a third in there by the end of the round and remain alive... but then Ennias LEFT their territory and all I needed in there was Grinkrak and Pokin' Snark! 

So I scored it, but then Grinkrak was promptly murdered by... someone...?

and then Prince Duvall started casting a reaction spell that allowed him to draw fighters to him... and then he would kill them... That was the end of Pokin' Snark... 

He ended up doing this to THREE of my fighters!? 

A big melee and the intersection of the Goblins, Vampires, and Beasts territory.. Moonface Nagx had been present, briefly... Gib, Da Wonky Lance got in a few swings before going down... 

And then it was Snorbo and Skolko and Pronk going into the third round... 

Snorbo got killed... but Skolko and Pronk made a dash for freedom and managed to score a few points for me at the Third End Phase. 

Skolko and Pronkwere quite tooled up, but the end of things... didn't really NEED all those upgrades, the last two were pretty much useless... 

In the end Orion's Crimson Court scored SEVENTEEN Glory Points!!! (Mind you, I think six of them were for killing two wound goblins - which she could just NOT not hit and killed each with a single blow!?). Amanda, despite the rough start, very nearly caught up with FIFTEEN Glory Points!! She did it by sticking to THE PLAN and trying to score all her SIEZE OBJECTIVE Objective cards (while everyone else was trying to murder my poor little goblinses!). In the end I managed to catch up to Nic and tied for last at ten Glory Points! 

By that point it was a bit late and we didn't have time for a second game... Still, lots of fun just playing one.. 

I'm not sure what to do next... work on building Nemesis decks for the Looncourt...? Or finish up one of the OTHER warbands that are currently crowding my workbench!?

This same day it was announced that Zondra's Gravebreakers and a new Rivals deck (Rimelocked Relics) would be available for pre-order this coming Saturday and in stores the following Saturday. I kind of expected Zondra's and a new Relic deck at some point this month - looking at the schedule of releases for the last few years... However, they ALSO announced that the Rivals of the Mirrored City set was going to be released at the SAME TIME!? GAH!?!? THAT I was NOT expecting.. I wondered if they'd be released in the summer - around the same time the latest "Two-Player Starter" was released last summer... 

I'd discussed things with Amanda and decided I'd probably pick up the two core boxes that will likely come out this year - one probably in April/May and being set in Deathgorge, and another in October set in a new location. There would probably be Warbands and Rivals in March, August, and December, which I may or may not buy, I'll probably pick up the Rivals decks... but only get the Warbands that I'm really interested in at that point. 

And then there was the recently announced "Rivals of the Mirrored City" - Four previously released warbands with all new Rivals decks - like they did with the the Farstriders and Sepulchral guard in the 2023 Starter Set - to make them more playable - and AVAILABLE. The set includes two that I would have liked to track down - Zarbag’s Gitz and Spiteclaw’s Swarm - but it also includes Thorns of the Briar Queen and  Mollog’s Mob,... which I really don't NEED... I have the models... but they do come with the new decks - which won't be available anywhere else (other than on eBay...) 

Of course, if GW is releasing THESE now... what other stuff was I not considering that they might end up releasing in the summer?! 

I guess I'll have to see how much it costs... If it's close to $200CAD - the cost of four regular warbands... I don't know... if it's like other big box sets and sells them for a significant discount - like, $120-150CAD - I'll probably end up getting them!? 

I need to get painting the next two weeks, though, to justify getting those now!