Warhammer Underworlds - The Chaos Gargant Hunt!

I recently finished up my Stand-In Chaos Gargant, so of course we needed to try out the Chaos Gargant scenario from the December 2018 edition of White Dwarf! 

The scenario pits multiple Warhammer Underworlds warbands against a Chaos Gargant! In the scenario Objective decks are not used, instead Glory is only gained from dealing damage to the Gargant or taking out Enemy Fighters - so, good to play a hard-hitting murder-y warband! Until the Gargant is at half wounds, warbands get One Glory for EACH POINT of Damage dealt! After it's down to half wounds warbands recieve One Glory each time they deal damage to the Gargant, regardless of how much damage they dealt. 

The Gargant itself is treated as an additional player which always goes first each round. Each turn, the players roll-off to see who controls the Gargant. On it's first turn each round, the Gargant goes on Guard. Thereafter the Gargant moves (if it can't move it does a Furious Bellow action - dealing One Damage to EVERY fighter on the table). Then it kicks an adjacent fighter, dealing one damage and pushing it one hex. Then it does one of it's attacks - Smashing someone adjacent, or throwing a boulder at someone up to 3 hexes away! 

Instead of playing three rounds, up to four rounds are played. If the Gargant is dead at the beginning of any End Phase the scenario ends and whoever has the most Glory Points wins. If the Gargant is still alive at the beginning of the fourth End Phase, the players ALL LOSE!!

I'd mentioned planning to play the scenario on Reddit and someone mentioned they'd played the scenario and it was fun... but they rarely made it past TWO ROUNDS! Modern Warbands are much more powerful than the warbands of the Shadespire/Nightvault era - when the scenario was written. 

Because the rules were written BEFORE Stagger was a thing, we just said that the Gargant could not be Staggered (otherwise it would just be two easy if Cyreni's Razors showed up. Cyreni's Hammertide action would just BREAK the Gargant's AI)

(I think maybe after the first turn or two, we forgot to 

Nic and Orion joined us to try out the Gargant Scenario. Orion brought she super-deadly Hexbane's Hunters. Nic decided to try out Ephilim's Pandaemonium. Amanda decided to try Storm of Celestus - because it's a shooty warband and they wouldn't have to get that close! I rolled out with Magore's Fiends! 

Just because of the way the boards worked out and where the Gargant was in relation to my starting hexes - I started with Zharkus the Bloodsighted adjacent to the Gargant. As the Gargant spent it's first turn going on Guard, I figured I'd get to hit it first and deal some damage and not even have to charge... 

Zharkus missed... 

Fighters started moving in - mostly shooting the first few activations

Conveniently, I controlled the Gargant the first turn it did things and I moved it forward, Kicked Apo'trax and chucked a boulder at Flamespooler. I was a little concerned that flamespooler might just start throwing it's flamsplash attack every turn - which splashes all adjacent fighters with warpfire... which deals a damage to each at the end of the round (I did not realize at the time, it just deals ONE damage, regardless of how many warping counters are on the affected fighters... still...) 

It was kind of funny watching all these fighers that would normally be fighting each other chasing after the Gargant, side-by-side trying to bring it down. 

Hexbane got thumped good at this point - but survived! 

Started getting a little crowded... when Orion blocked my path to the Gargant with Aemos and a dog... I just starting hitting who ever I could get to!

Once Aemos was in there, Orion started racking up the Glory! 

SMASH FLAMESPOOLER! 

Once the Gargant has taken damage equal to half it's health it inspires and gets MEANER... 

We probably COULD have ended it by the end of Round Two... but I think Nic had snuck just ahead of Orion for points.... 

So pretty much everyone that was NOT WINNING just started hitting other fighters to keep the Gargant from dying off, giving us all another round to get points from the Gargant - AND taking out a few fighters... 

We did finish off the Gargant in the third round.... Actually I think it finished itself off, by backing into a hazard hex and dealing itself one last point of damage 

The last few activations were spent trying to finish each other off for a few more points... but no one really had any chance of catching up to Orion at that point... Maybe Nic could have, but the Pandaemonium wasn't really positioned to strike at anyone they could potentially kill... 

Orion ended with 13 Glory points! Nic wasn't too far behind with 11 (which was pretty amazing, considering they were playing the warband for the first time without ever having looked at the cards - and playing with a Rivals deck!). I had 7... and Amanda only scored 4!? She just could not get fighters positioned to shoot and the few times she attack, she just missed (also she was playing with a Warband she'd never played before and their rivals deck that she'd never even looked at - and there weren't a lot of Power Cards that were particularly helpful - most were for positioning to get the warband onto Objectives and help them hold them - which are useless in this scenario)! 

It was a super fun scenario to play, though!! Definitely looking forward to trying it again. I really want to get my Gen-u-ine Games Workshop Chaos Gargant finished up and take it out to the Warhammer Store to play on a Friday - as I think it would be a fun one to play as a four-player game there! 

Warhammer Underworlds - Crimson Court (B)eats EVERYTHING!?

 Tuesday evening Orion came over for a few one-on-one games of Warhammer Underworlds! We ended up getting in THREE games! 

GAME ONE 

Crimson Court vs Blackpowder's Buccaneers

Because I am a masochist, apparently, and feel like I need to play all the warbands a few times to get a sense of whether they're ever going to be good (because the THREE PREVIOUS BEATDOWNS were apparently not enough!?) I rolled out with Blackpowder's Buccaneers...

(Okay, technically I didn't lose all three of those previous games... I only lost one... but I do also have to acknowledge that the ONLY reason I won the first two was a clever combination of extreme luck with cards draws and insane luck with dice rolls AND Amanda not really knowing how to play the Dread Pageant for the first few matches...)

All set up for Game One... I think Orion won all three rolls for board placement and had me go first each time. This time I chose The Stricken Swamp board and then Orion took The Iceswirl Maw and set them up with long edges adjoining. 

Straight off, Gorath swooped into my territory and smashed poor little Peggz... 

Kagey ran off into enemy territory, along with Mange the monkey, and, I think successfully pinged Prince Duvall for one damage and scored a swag token (which later allowed Blackpowder to fire his Gunderbuss TWICE in the first round, scoring me one Glory... and also inspiring him) 

Prince Duvall killed the little monkey and before getting to inspire, Blackpowder was attacked by Vellas and then Ennias... 

At the beginning of Round Two Blackpowder was inspired, for what it was worth...

But was quickly mobbed by the vampires and taken down. He went down swinging... but, like, swinging and missing... Maybe it's NOT just Amanda... maybe it's ANYONE that plays me... I'd roll three successes, Orion rolled a single crit... I'd roll a Crit, Orion rolled a Crit and a success, I rolled a crit and a success, Orion rolled two Crits... I just COULD! NOT! HIT! ANYTHING!?

And that left poor little Kagey, who tried to hide in the corner... 

But those vampires move fast! 

Kagey did manage to dodge Gorath's initial attack... 

But could not dodge Vellas von Faine... 

So... what now...? we spent the last two activations cycling through objective cards... I drew nothing useful... 

But Orion scored a few more... Ha! Look at that! I made her run out of her fancy acrylic token and made her start using CARDBOARD ONES.... yay...!?

I lost this one 21-4... wow... 

Am I DONE with Blackpowder yet? Hell no!! I'll probably try to figure out SOMETHING with a Nemesis deck and maybe just get rid of all the cards having to do with Swag and the Gunderbuss and just focus on the maneuverability they have with the monkey and birbs reactions and Blackpowders GREAT BIG CUTLASS!? 

Honestly, sometimes I feel a little like Bruce McCulloch in that Kids in the Hall sketch where he picks a fight and just won't stop... 

GAME TWO

Crimson Court vs Ephilim's Pandaemonium

I thought I'd try something different in Game Two and pulled out Ephilim's Pandaemonium, which I'd just finished painting the day before... They can't be that bad... the tabled the Thricefold Discord in teh second round when I played against them! Mind you, my opponent had not only read their cards beforehand, had played with them before and had a Nemesis deck built around them... I had done none of these things, so.... 

Again I lost the board set up roll and took Frost-wracked Ruins from the Deathgorge Core Box. Orion took The Seamsplit Folly from Wyrdhollow... 

Prince Duvall killed Apo'Trax on the first activation. I had a spell that could bring back one of my Changers (the little daemon friends are all called "Changers")... which I actually successfully cast and brought right back... only for Ennais to swoop in and kill again in the very next activation... Those Glory were enought to equip Gorath with... enough upgrades to swoop in a kill Ephilim... which kind of destroyed any chance of this not being at total disaster... 

Flame spooler hit Ennais with his magic flame attack, which spilled over onto Price Duvall - which was enough to take him out at the beginning of Round Two (as he had been bitten by Apo'Trax!) 

Ennais was also taken out, largely with Damage from Flamespooler. Spawnmaw managed to CHOMP Gorath... but, again, less than half of my attacks succeeded because ALL THE CRITS?!

And they were totally wiped out by the beginning of the Third Round.

Aye-yi-yi.... I lost this one 22-6... not sure if that better...? 

GAME THREE

Crimson Court vs Magore's Fiends

I decided maybe I needed something... EASIER to play... It doesn't get much easier than the CHARGE! KILL! tactics of Magore's Fiends!? And Amanda had put together a Nemesis deck for them with Tooth and Claw, so.... 

It played fast and furious - I didn't even remember to take a picture until part way through the first round, by which time ALL of the fighters were engaged in a bit brawl in the middle of the battlefield! 

The Blood Warriors took down Vellas, but lost Ghartok. They took down Gorath, but then lost Magore... Riptooth shredded Ennias.. 

And that left Prince Duvall facing Zharkus the Bloodsighted and Riptooth... But Zharkus couldn't hit anything... 

And Prince Duvall finished him off and successfully dodged teh last of Riptooth's attacks... 

Ah well... I didn't lose this one quite as badly. Orion only doubled my Glory total at 14-7. So, there's that... 

Yeah... I don't know what to DO about these vampires... they are NASTY!? I thought Hexbane's Hunters were bad!? But these guys just start scoring objectives on the first turn and just keep scoring them all throughout the game... and then equip with so many crazy upgrades which make them simultaneously way deadlier and also way harder to kill!? 

I don't hear about them dominating the competitive scene... (one player did make it to the finals at the Las Vegas Open this year with them, I think... but didn't win!?)  So there must be some way to beat them. Roll better dice, I guess!? 

Warhammer Underworlds: Ephilim's Pandaemonium

I do love my Chaos warbands... and... this might be my new favourite, based on the figures alone!! (I head they're actually pretty good in the game, too... I mean, THEY HANDED ME MY ASS a few weeks back!). I've been joking with Orion, who has a copy of the old Eyes of Nine warband, that she needs to finish painting them us SOON, so we can have a "religious debate" on the best way to know and serve and love Tzeentch!

Ephilim's Pandaemonium

Ephilim the Unknowable

Spawnmaw

Flamespooler

Kindlefinger

Apo'Trax

These took a LONG time to paint. I love them, but there were so many fiddly details and bits and it wasn't just physically painting them, it was deciding HOW to paint each of those fiddly bits. It's not like painting a unit of fourty guys that are all essentially the same colour for a unit in a big battalion where, if you miss one buckle, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!?!?

Glad they're done. Pretty happy with how they turned out. Looking forward to trying them out! 

Work-in-Progress Wednesday - 28 February 2024

 Well my birthday weekend started early on Friday when this arrived:

And the weekend continued on with playing a LOT of Warhammer Underworlds!

The deck above was taped to the box and when I took the tape off, it tore the top part of the..  sleeve..?  that the Beastbound Assault Rivals Deck came in. Not a worry, as that just gets pitched away anyway! This adds there more Generic Rivals Decks to the collection giving me a few more to play around with... 

That adds NINE more 28mm miniatures to my acquisitions total for the year, brining it to 35... and I've still only painted 12!? 

I have since assembled and primed both warbands... 

Sons of Velmorn - These look fun... and maybe fairly quick and easy to paint up..?

Gnarlspirit Pack. At first I didn't care for these... but I didn't care for Wurmspat at first either... Seeing some possibilities here. Maybe they will be the grody to the max chaos warband I'd always hoped Wurmspat could have been... We shall see... 

What I've been working on most recently are the two Idoneth Deepkin warbands that Amanda is keep to try out... 

Elathain's Soulraid

Cyreni's Razors

I'm not over-excited about how they've turned out so far... might go so far as to say Not loving it... I was going to dry-brush on some more silver to tone down the blue a bit, hopefully that will help! 

I did do some base coats on a few of the Squigs in the Squigherd... but not much else... 

Ephilim's Pandaemonium is still in a prominent position on the workbench... but I don't think I've worked on any of them in the last week... Still keen to get them done and try them out..  I do really LOVE the look of them - which is always THE primary motivating factor for what I'm playing... but I never like feeling like I am (or being perceived that I am) jumping on a bandwagon because something is really good right now in the game right now... which is silly, I know... but I think it's possible that that's possibly a reason I'm not making much headway on these... 

Speaking of almost done but stagnating... Blackpowder's Buccaneers remain the closest to being done... but I STILL haven't done a THING on them to just finish them up!? 

Thundrik's Profiteers have worked their way onto the workbench again (along with a fellow Kharadron that, I think, came with one of the Warhammer Quest boxes... not sure if it's mine - Cursed City - or one of Finnegans...).

I feel like they'll be very handy for the Adventure I want to run for Soulbound... 

As I mentioned in the Warhammer Underworlds Birthday Weekend Shenanigans post...

I did also acquire another copy of the Exiled Dead... but I'll be taking them back later this week to trade in for something else... So not even adding these onto the official acquisitions list...