Warhammer Underworlds
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Warhammer Underworlds is a new Specialist game released by Games Workshop, situated in the shadowy city of Shadespire, where warbands battle in the streets for glory or to gain "shadeglass", a substance that can confer eternal life. It combines the easy-to-pick-up nature and deck-building from X-Wing with the setting of Age of Sigmar, an unholy fusion of the two most addictive hobbies to grace nerddom. Geedubs are banking on this being a competitive tournament game, with contests already being planned even before all the factions have been released. You can bet that the min-max crowd are gonna be over this like sloppy T-Rexes over carrion.
The starter pack comes with Stormcast Eternals and Khorne Bloodbound (where have I seen this before...) with all the bitz needed to play the game. Ironjaw Orrukz and Skellingtons have been released since with their own decks, and now we’re awaiting a Skaven and Dwarfs Fyreslayers Warbands as well. If the game does well, it can be expected that Underworlds will be expanded with additional Warbands and settings.
The Setting
At the edge of the Desert of Bones in Shyish, the Realm of Death was a great city called Shadespire. The people living in it had managed to create some sort of magical mirror-like substance called "Shadeglass", which let the souls of their dead live on in mirrors put up everywhere around the city, keeping their knowledge and powers safe for future generations to use for the city’s betterment. Naturally, this didn't sit too well with Nagash, who wasn't fond of once again be cheated of his tithe of death. So, to get back at those arrogant Shadespirers, he threw the entire fucking city out between the Realm of Shadow and Light in the endless void, trapping everyone inside to live out an eternity of kinda-torment until they petition themselves to him voluntarily. An unliving husk is left of Shadespire in Shyish, but the actual city, now out in the nothingness, has become impossibly vast, but fragmented and all messed up, so you never know if you can find that favorite In-And-Out Burger you love so much after you leave it.
To the surprise of no one, the destruction of Shadespire inspired legions of looters to ransack the physical ruins for Shadeglass and other riches. Unfortunately, anyone who goes just a bit too far into the city will find themselves with a one-way ticket to Shadespire for an eternity of bloodshed. With nothing better to do, the different Warbands caught in Shadespire fight it out to the bloody death for kicks - they can't die permanently anyway, as the city resurrects them within days.
While the setting and the idea of "Warbands" might cause a few of you Mordheim players to awake from your eternal slumber, be warned that the Warbands aren't customizable at all. These guys are not your dudes, they are unique characters with names and such, so if you wanted to make your own guys, this isn't your game.
The Game
The game is played between two players (with a possibility for up to four players) on hex-grid boards, with the goal of gaining as many Victory Glory Points as possible before the end of the game. You gain Glory Points by either killing enemy models or by achieving Objective Cards, which you draw before the game starts. This means that you can win a game even if your entire Warband is killed off. The only thing that matters is gaining more Glory Points than the opponent.
A game is three turns of four activations each, for a total of twelve activation per person. If this sounds quick, it's because it fucking is: two players who know the rules can easily play a full game in twenty minutes or less. In tournaments, a match is almost sure to be three games in a row and tournaments are intended to be best of 3.
At the start of every turn, the players roll off and the winner chooses how to place the first hex-board, with the second player placing the other board in such a way that the hexes connects properly and at least three hexes are connected. Board placement can have a drastic effect on the game, as each board side has its own starting positions and such. Then the players roll off again, the first player placing their models on the starting positions on their own board side first.
The players take turns doing Activations; four Activations each per Turn. An Activation lets you do one of these Actions:
- Move a model. Each model can only move once per Turn. There are tokens to indicate which models have moved.
- Attack an enemy model within reach. For each friendly model in base contact with the enemy model apart from the attacking model, the attacker hits easier (presumably as his bud holds the enemy down to the curb while your attacking models winds up his stompin’ boot). Ranged attacks go through models, but not terrain, which can make certain models a real fucking pain in the ass when they get Inspired and have Supporters on their attacks.
- Charge an enemy model, which is a Move followed by an Attack. Models cannot be activated after Charging, and you can only Charge with three models a turn, so spend them well. There's also little tokens to indicate what models have charged.
- Guard with a Friendly model. This allows your model to use both Dodge and Block on the Defence die, which can help a lot if your’re a fucking human with 2 Wounds and one Dodge, which is like half the Khorne Warband. Models lose Guard if they charge in the same turn.
- Draw a Power Card. Generally don't use this; you get new Power Cards each Turn and your Activations are precious.
- Discard and draw an Objective Card. Again, don't do this unless you're boned. Still, this is remarkably more useful than the other Draw option, since you can't replace your Objective Cards ever, and they win you the game if you have the proper set.
After each of your Activations you may play Power Cards which come in different flavours:
Ploys, which are free and do all sorts of interesting shit after playing them, like moving guys around or stealing the enemy's Glory Points. The other Power Card type are Upgrades, which cost Glory Points (put doesn't remove them - They still count as "Victory Points" even if used to buy an Upgrade), and are permanent upgrades to your models. Ploys make or break the game; have as many Ploys as you can (up to half of your deck) in the Power Deck and choose them very carefully. After you have played a Power Card, your opponent may do the same, then you can play one and so on, until both calls. With this, the opposing player gets to Activate.
Some cards are also Reactions which are played like magic the gathering as a counter or response to certain enemy actions, their power cards or things that have happened to your dudes.
Each model is unqiue and have an INSPIRED MOOOOODE! When the model's Inspire requirement is met, you flip the card and use the profile on the other side which usually includes new attacks and better stats. For some Warbands this is just a nice little bonus, but for others, like the Reavers, it's their entire thing and what you should build your decks around.
Deck-Building
So that's pretty simple, but this is where Warbands and deck-building comes into it.
Each player has two decks; a Power Deck of 20 cards (or more) and an Objective Deck of exactly 12. A large amount of the cards available are Neutral and usable by everyone, but there's a good amount of Faction Cards that only the specific Warband can use.
The Objective Deck is the one that will win you the game, since it has the collection of cards that will award you Glory Points. Your choice of Objective Cards is crucial for your gameplan, and ideally you should have a combination of high-risk, five Glory Points cards and the easy-to-claim one Glory Point cards to tackle those situations where RNG fucked you over.
The Power Deck is the one where your Ploys (aforementioned God-cards of Awesome, dagger symbol) and Upgrades (eh, gear symbols) goes. They should help you achieve your Objectives obviously, but some are just so good that they should be in all decks if you can make them fit. Cards like Confusion (switch two models in base contact) and Sidestep (Friendly model moves one Hex) are awesome to help you get into bashing range without using Activations on Move Actions. Generally, anything that gives some additional movement fucking rocks. Only half of your deck can be Ploys.
Warbands
The game is slated to get at least eight Warbands. The two first Warbands can be found in the starter pack, with the rest being released over time.
Steelheart's Champions
The Stormcast Eternal Warband and the smallest group currently in the game. Liberator-Prime Steelheart and his two roadtrip buds went to Shadespire to find a cure to the increasing hollowness that plagues Stormcasts when they get reforged, and they're not even gonna try to get out of the city before they have it!
Stormcast are among the tougher and slower Warbands, and all their attacks hits fairly easily and hits like a bullet train. Their Inspire comes into play when they successfully roll a Shield or Critical on defense, which causes them to gain Nurgle-like toughness and additional attacks... But you'll need to strike a precarious balance because before that, even your four Wound won't save you from attacks; and with only three models, each casualty will severely hurt your board presence and ability to gain Glory Points. Another issue is that Steelheart McLanternjaw, the leader of the Warband, ironically is the least useful model, with no specific role to fill in.
The SC cards are pretty simple - Not bad, just simple. Your opponent will often know what your decks are about the moment you place just one set of gold-plated buttcheeks on the board, but that might necessarily be that much of an issue. It just means that the Champions are a very steady Warband that can take a beating and still work towards their goals.
They are tough, but slow, and warbands like the Orruks, Orcs, Orkz, DA BOYZ with access to a lot of cleave can cause a lot of trouble.
Garrek's Reavers
No Stormcasts without the cannibals in red! They don’t even say why they’re there; maybe Bloodbound just appear spontanously where Stormbois go, like a really sick sort of intestinal disease that usually follows a McDonalds menu? The Reavers is widely considered one of, if not the most difficult Warband to pilot currently in the game... But when they get rolling, they get fucking *rolling*!
The Reavers have five models, varying from pretty okay to absolutely awful. They’re all pretty fast and get faster yet when Inspired, and has a model for every situation - the issue is, they fall like flies to even the slightest attack, with two of the Reavers literally having 2 Wounds and 1 Dodge (which is the worst defense in the game), and the others are only marginally better. However, this is also the Reavers’ trump card, because when any three models in the game are taken Out of Action, *all* Reavers become Inspired, which turns them into some of the most dangerous models in the game! Saek and Garrek himself gets particularly nasty, with very powerful attacks and high movement. When this is combined with the frankly fantastic Reaver Upgrades and Ploys, this Warband goes from weedy to scary in no time. There's a mixed bag included Axe-Chain-Man with the power of axes on a chain allowing ranged melee attacks and Stabbins McGee who can make lots of attacks. By having 5 Speedy Khornezales grabbing objectives is easy, but they drop like flies.
Reaver Decks
- Aggro Reavers: How a warband of Khorne-worshipping mortals who come back to life should play - Fast and hard! Aggro Reavers aims to start the game by attempting to kill as many enemy models as possible before Arnulf and Targor eventually dies by a stiff breeze, which should allow you to become Inspired. Then you pile on the upgrades on Saek, Garrek and Karsus and go to town. These builds are meant to burn like crazy, with loads of easy-to-use reactionary Ploys and great Upgrades that allow your golden boys to reave havoc; most games you'll end with an empty Power Deck! This is not an easy deck to run however, as it requires you to way the sacrifices you are going to have to make to be Inspired - if you're not careful, you'll just bloody yourself, like punching yourself in the nose.
- Karsus Unleashed: A variant of the Aggro Reavers that puts most of their Upgrades on Karsus. He's got a Range 2 attack as well as an "attack-everything-within-Range-1" attack, both which benefit massively by Upgrades like Great Strength (+1 Damage to all attacks). Place him somewhere were he gets support from the other models and let him go to town from a safe distance.
- Objective Reavers: Believe it or not, Khorne cultists play a fairly strong Objective game. The Reavers are fast and have quite a few models with allows you to cove most of the board quickly. With the addition of the Move buff from Inspired and Ploys like Sidestep (Move a friendly model one Hex) or Sprint (Next Move is doubled), the Khorne guys are among the fastest Warbands in the game. Only issue is that they aren't very tough compared to other Objective decks, so more bashy Warbands can ruin your day by throwing your bare-torsoed-ass around.
Ironskull's Boyz
The 'Ardboyz representing green power. These guys have been stuck in the city for a while(decades) after a looting spree gone wrong. At first the leader, Gurzag ironskull, did not like it one bit but after the years has grown rather fond of the place. What with an endless cycle of battle and bloodshed.
These guys are one of the simpler teams to play and is great for beginners. They are tough as hell, have alright movement and hard hitting power from 2 of the 4 members. They inspire simply by taking damage which is rather easy as only a few combos can one-shot these monsters of melee. Most of their unique Ploys are made to essentially break the game; making extra moves and attacks, making moves after attacking or attacking after moves and so on and so forth. Combining these Ploys in one Activation can cause you to play an entire Turn in a single Activation, clutching a win from defeat at lightning speed! Almost all their objectives focus on them hitting enemies, so don't include all of them in one deck. The orcs aren't suited for Objective play either; they just don't have the movement to claim a lot of Objectives in time.
Their main weakness is Hakka and Basha, who's damage sucks up to several colors of chode, even after they're Inspired. However, with some clever use of Upgrades they can get alright. They are also very predictable to play against, predictable in their unpredictability in a sense. While their Ploys can mess up the game, that's what they have to play with mostly. This isn't the that bad though; you've still got 17 Wounds with good Defense, so whatever the enemy can throw at you, you can probably take it in stride.
Orruk Decks
- Grind-Out Orruks: With four tough-as-nails boyz that actually likes to take damage, you've got no reason not to throw them into the fire and let them roast. The main difference between you and most Warbands is that you can take it; they usually can't! This deck-type needs a keen eye for opportunities and openings to exploit, as well as a tactican's mind to utilize your Ploys and Upgrades well. For example, don't burn Power Cards on a dude who's probably gonna die soon, and never think that even Basha or Hakka can't do their share; even a single Wound of Damage can make a great difference. This deck uses Brutal but Kunnin' (Make a Move after an Attack), Kunnin' but Brutal (Take a guess), 'Avin' A Good Time (50/50 chance of making an extra attack) to squeeze the most value out of each dude, as well as upgrades like Daemonic Weapon (Dude gets a nasty-ass attack) and 'Ard Head (Hakka or Basha takes a permanent -1 Damage) to boost Basha and Hakka to true killyness.
- "You On Da List?": Also called Board Orcs or Bouncer Orcs, this is a deck based on three Objective Cards that can give fucking 8 Glory Points by the end of the game, with the same requirements basically! These three are Denial (Enemy models didn't end on your board), Contained (Enemy models ended in their Board entirely) and Conquerors (All your models ended in the enemy board), which, as you can imagine, can win you almost any game immediately. Here's the issue - Almost all players who've lost to this before will do everything they can to stop you, Sprinting to the end of your board side to ruin your life. This is why you'll want to make like Blood Bowl and wall the fuck up at the No-Mans Land between the boards, hopefully stopping any intruders. Your deck should also be filled up by defensive and supportive Ploys and Upgrades like Great Toughness (+1 Wound), Unkillable (When Gurzag is killed, 50/50 chance he lives), Healing Potion (Heal 1 or 2 Wounds) and 'Ard Head (Hakka or Basha takes -1 Wounds) to increase your staying power.
Sepulchral Guard
The Skellington Skwad weighs in with no less than 7 dudesmen. There's Spear McGiblets the leader who, despite the cool models armor and spear, needs to hide like a bitch boss at the back because only he can resurrect your dead undead. Did we mention that re-animating a two skellymans makes him Inspired. (Which begs the question - had they never been resurrected before this battle?) Put simply if you play this band you will activate Boss Skellington most of the 12 actions; and striking the right balance between moving your squishy guys forward to let them get krumped, bringing them back in their more powerful form and actually activate them to have them do shit will win or lose you the game.
There's 2 hero guys, basically skeleton warriors - a mace dude (The Prince) and the sword dude (The Champ) - these guys can actually get shit done and benefit from the better upgrades. They can be resurrected by Spear McGiblets which as is normal (for animated necromantic skeletons) Inspires them. Then there's the remains of Farmer Maggot with his kick ass scythe. This can hit all adjacent foes giving you some area of attack. Finally there's 3 petitioners which at the moment are the worst models in the game - move 2, piss poor attacks. In fact most of your dudes attacks and defence are rubbish, however the upgrades let you take extra attacks or let you get support on actions even if you don't have the models in the right place.
By having 7 models combined with McGiblets' ability to move 2 other skeletons allows you to zerg your opponent and capture objectives. Just be aware that the skeletons are pretty squishy and most warbands won't have much trouble smashing through them - just as well they get back up! Building your deck with the right mix of upgrades and reactions and knowing when to play what to get the most mileage out of your bonebags isn't easy but is really satisfying when it does work.
The Chosen Axes
Dwarfs Fyreslayers - expect 4 short, choppy bastards mixed with fire as well as typical stunty grumbling about painting orange. Fyreslayers are supposed to be similar to the Stormcast Eternals but with the ability to specialise in either offense or defense. They are very slow but get inspired from holding objectives. Oddly enough, the massive axe does not count as a ranged weapon, and can only reach one hex...
Spiteclaw's Swarm
Skaven - a mini-swarm of 5 ratbois. Expect speed and trickyness but to die easier than the skellybones. There'll be ranged attacks and bonuses for ournumbering or supporting against single models.
They get inspired whenever a ploy is used on them. They have two named characters, while the remaining three are more expandable. If they die, one of the three can automatically be brought back a turn (and a ploy allows for another to come back as well in that same turn.)
The Farstriders
Sparklier Stormcast. Probably an offensive version of the Stormboyz.
Magore's Fiends
The Stormcast version of the Reavers - choppy and armoured. And with a fleshound to boot