Warhammer Underworlds: Game Nine - Into the Nightvault

"Lethyr, I've a feeling we're not in Beastgrave anymore."

        - Morgwaeth the Bloodied, upon entering the Nightvault

I changed up the title a bit. Since I was trying out Thorns of the Briar Queen - which came in the Nightvault core set, we decided to actually try out the Nightvault boards. Amanda was still playing her (nearly) undefeated Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven. There does seem to be some sort of connection between the mirrored city of Shadespire and Beastgrave. In the fluff, a number of warbands introduced in Shadespire/Nightvault found their way to Beastgrave through portals of some sort or another... why not have it work the other way around and say Morgwaeth and her followers stumbled into Shadespire and found some of its residents unexcited about their sudden appearance... 

I was really excited to try out the Thorns of the Briar Queen - They're an entirely different sort of warband to play than the others I've played so far. For one, there are SEVEN of them!? They also had a pretty easy inspire condition - compared to that of The Dread Pageant or Khagra's Ravagers - start an activation next to an enemy fighter. Of course, thinking about it a bit further, I realized that might be trickier than it might, at first, seem. four of the seven are unnamed chainrasps with only two wounds and one dodge defence die... They did have a LOT of other tricks up their sleeve. Varclav the Cruel had a special ability that, as an action, could push ALL Chainrasps (including The Ever-Hanged - a named, fifth Chainrasp with 3 wounds) two hexes - which could conceivably put a bunch of them into contact with enemy who couldn't possibly kill ALL of them in the one activation they got before the surviving ones inspired! There were a few other gambit cards that did similar (pushing friendly fighters or ALL Chainrasps!). My other concern was, that with a high number of weak warriors, the warband would bleed glory points to the opposition as they were all slain. A also coudn't count on taking too many of them out as the most damage any of my fighters did was two to start - some only having a single attack die!? But a LOT of my Objective cards involved holding objectives, so I figured I could just try and AVOID the enemy as much as possible and park as many Chainrasps on out-of-the-way objectives as possible! 

THE GAME

I won the first roll off to chose boards and let Amanda go first. For a brief moment immediately afterwards, I thought might have been a mistake as the Thorns of the Briar Queen could really do with a board that concentrates their force and/or LOTS of Lethal Hexes - because the Thorns ignore them, being etherial ghosties! Amanda found one that would have been ideal and then used THE OTHER SIDE... but then I found ANOTHER one with THREE Lethal Hexes - so it all worked out in the end! 

I won the roll-off to set up and had Amanda set up first. I totally wasn't going to finish set up first, regardless, might as well have her think about where to put her stuff while guessing were mine was going to go.... not that she had much of an idea what any of my warriors did... 

Another thing about a warband with seven: you use ALL the start spaces on the board! 

Drawing cards I had two objectives requiring holding specific Objective Markers #2 and #3 - unfortunately BOTH were in Enemy Territory! The other was a Surge/Score Immediately Objective for One Glory after a second Friendly fighter moved THROUGH an enemy fighter (because, that's a thing the Thorns ca do!) 

ROUND ONE

Amanda went first - which I was glad of - though they have some cards and upgrades that can quickly move them about the board, the Thorns all go slow to start - with a move of 3 - and it would be difficult for me to get any up into contact, let along move THROUGH any of them to score the surge Objective. Khamyss started things off by dancing forward onto Objective #3 and lashed out at one of the Chainrasps with her Barbed Whip... and missed. 

The same Chainrasp moved three, passing through Khamyss, and ending next to her and attacking. He actually tied with her - one success each. I was torn - with a tie I could push her off the objective,which I did need cleared off if I wanted to get someone one it to SCORE it... but leaving her where she was would mean the Chainrasp would inspire on the next activation. Ultimately I chose to push - since leaving her there would also give aid to someone else if they moved up to attack the chainrasp... 

Which is exactly what happened on the next activation! Kyrssa moved onto Objective #3 (ugh, seriously... I JUST cleaned that off!?) and stabbed at the chainrasp.... and took it out of action. First Glory Point going to Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven (She also played Carve a Rune which scored her a bonus Glory Point for rolling a crit in the attack and Blood Rite scoring a THIRD Glory Point for taking out an enemy while standing on an Objective - which is what Khamyss had been trying to do in that first activation)... Yeah, I had a bad feeling about how this might go down at this point - murdering all my fighters for piles of points, sitting on objectives denying me the ability to score any objective cards while scoring all of hers... 

She also Inspired Morgwaeth and upgraded her with Tome of Glories. 

And THEN she played Fanatical Faith - effectively denying me the ability to do any real damage in teh following activation as the maximum I could do was 1... Not a particularly useful card against this warband When the most any of them do, to start, is two (if they succeed on the ONE attack die they have!?) 

Ao another Chainrasp moved up, passing through Khyrae. It attacked, because, why not...? It failed to cause any damage. 

I DID, however, get to score Swarming Spirits - Scored immediately if two or more friendly fighters moved through a hex occupied by an enemy fighter in this phase - done and done - One Glory Point for me. I used the Glory Point to upgrade the Briar Queen with Inescapable Vengeance. 

Amanda was a little jealous of my card - it seemed "too easy" to her. Her, the one that already had three glory points to my one... whatevs... 

Morgwaeth reached out with her (Range Two) Glaive and stabby-stabbed the Chainrap, taking it out of action and then played Swift Sacrifice (Scored immediately for One Glory when Morgwaeth r or Kyrae makes a Range 1 or Range 2 Attack action that takes an enemy fighter out of action...). Another TWO Glory Point for Morgwaeth's... and Khamyss got inspired (which is AWFUL - she is just a murder-machine when inspired).

She then played Incredible Agility - a gambit which allows friendly fighters (other than Kyrae), in the next activation, to treat lethal hexes as normal hexes and can move through occupied hexes... normally this would be something she'd play in one of MY Power Steps - to allow her to move her own people over Lethal Hexes or through occupied Hexes as they move... but Amanda's gotten SUPER paranoid about me pushing her into Lethal Hexes and this card would negate me being able to cause damage if I happened to do so....? 

Varclav the Cruel did his special action and pushed all remaining Chainrasps - that put two on the objectives in my own territory and one next to Kyrssa on Objective #3 - having already charged, I knew SHE wasn't going to attack the Chainrasp! 

Amanda was unimpressed by this ability and started suggesting SHE needed better cards... 

On her final activation, Amanda moved Morgwaeth onto Objective #1. 

In my final activation, shit got crazy... AT the start of the activation, the Chainrasp next two Kyrssa inspired! Then, I used the Briar Queens Inescapable Vengeance  - which allows her, when making a Move or Charge action, instead of moving her normally I could place her on ANY starting hex. So I plopped her on a start hex in Enemy Territory next to Objective #2 as part of a Charge action. Her Briar Whip has a range of two, which I used to reach out and attack Kyrssa (with the aid of the Chainrasp standing next to her) and TOOK HER OUT! +1 Glory for me! I used the Glory to inspire the Ever-Hanged - who was hanging out way back in my own territory - with Chill Touch. 

I then used Side Step to push the Briar Queen onto Objective #2... Though I suppose I could just as easily used it to push the Chainrasp onto Objective #3...? 

ROUND ONE - END PHASE

Amanda had nothing to score and I only scored one more point with Hold Objective 2. 

So... She was still winning 5-3... but didn't like the way things were going... 

I think this is where I upgraded Varclav with... I can't remember the card... but it was +1 Move. 

ROUND TWO

Amanda won the roll-off and kicked things off with Khamyss again. She danced back tot he Briar Queen hoping to do her one-two punch with the Barbed Whip-Bladed Buckler combo (which, inspired, could have taken the Briar Queen out of action)... but she missed... and then I ruined her day... 

I played Maddening Cackle -  Played after an enemy fighter's Attack action that fails. That fighter is no longer Inspired, and CANNOT BE Inspired. And the effect persists... OUCH! And THEN I played Treacherous Foe - A Surge/Score Immediately Objective that gave me One Glory simply for playing a reaction... yeah... 

Her second attack, now downgraded to one die and one damage, missed. 

In her power step, I played Sudden Appearance - which allowed me to choose a friendly fighter (Varclav) and place them on ANY starting hex. I placed him next to Morgwaeth. At the beginning of my own activation, both the Briar Queen and Varclav inspired - as they were both standing next two Enemy Fighters.... Varclav did not stay there long! 

I also gave the Briar Queen a Great Fortitude upgrade - using one of my unspent Glory (+1 Wounds) 

He shot across the table and attacked Khamyss. I'd debated whether to attack or just hang out there... attacking mean it was a charge and he'd not be able to do any further actions (including his special Push-All-Chainrasps-Two-Hexes action). Also, if I DID hit her, I'd take her out and then I'd have to find someone else to score one of the Objective Cards I was holding... but in the end the card was only worth one and taking her out was also worth one and then she couldn't kill someone in a later turn... 

I missed anyway... 

Lethyr Charged a Chaiinrasp and also missed. 

The chainrasp then charged Khamyss - scoring Execution (Scored immediately if three or more friendly fighters are adjacent to the same enemy fighter for +1 Glory). The Chainrasp missed, but then I upgraded The Briar Queen with Great Strength (+1 Damage - bringing the damage she dealt to four!) 

Kyrae crossed the board and took a shot at the Chainrasp on Objective #5. She did one damage to it and knocked it back one... I didn't have the Hold Objective 5 card in my hand, so I wasn't concerned about getting the chainrasp back on there anytime soon. Having pushed it back one, it was now out of her range anyway. 

In the Power Step, the Briar Queen cast Howling Vortex - a gambit spell that allowed me to push all enemy fighters on hex. I pushed Lethyr into a Lethal Hex, which did one damage. 

I wanted to get the Briar Queen onto Objective #3 - as I was still holding the Hold Objective #3 card... But Amanda would still have one activation after me and Morgwaeth was in striking distance... and even if she moved up to block my way, the Briar Queen could just float over them!? So... I drew a Power Card. 

Morgwaeth Charged across the table and attacked the Briar Queen. We actually tied. I don't remember if she pushed the Briar Queen back. It didn't matter, as, at that point, I had a move for four. 

Easily enough to get the Briar Queen to Objective #3... and while she was there, she attacked Lethyr and took her out of action! +1 Glory for me and I upgraded Varclav, AGAIN, with Creeping Terror Which would allow him, after  making a Move action, to roll an attack dice for the first enemy fighter they moved through in that action. On a Smash or Crit success, the enemy fighter would suffer 1 damage.

ROUND TWO - END PHASE

Amanda, once again, had nothing to score!? 

I scored Hold Objective #3 and Hold Objective #4 for two more Glory Points 

ROUND THREE

the Briar Queen reached out and attacked Morgwaeth... and took her out of action. That scored me another Glory and with that I upgraded the Ever-Hanged with Strangling Coil. 

Khamyss attacked my inspired Chainrasp and took it out of action. 

The Everhanged charged Kyrae... and missed. 

Khamyss attacked Varlav and did 3 damage (with the aid of Bloodbane Venom) ouch! 

Varclav charged Khamyss - even though he was right next to her - I had him pass through her just so I could try out the Creeping Terror - and it actually worked! I caused one damage with it... Not that it mattered as that didn't take her out and then he missed with his regular attack (which WOULD have taken him out all on it's own, if it had hit!?) 

Khamyss attacked Varclav again and took him out of action (+1 Glory) 

The Briar Queen moved off the Objective she was on to attack Kyrae. There was no real reason to - for the attack - it made no difference as she had range two and the Ever-hanged would provide support regardless. I just wanted her NEXT to Kyrae -in case she missed - so I could use a gambit that would allow the two to switch places (it mattered for Objective Cards I was holding). But I took her out anyway. (+1 Glory) 

Khamyss Charged the Briar Queen - jumping onto Objective #3 and missed... twice... 

ROUND THREE - END PHASE

I scored Execution (+1 Glory for taking Enemy Leader out of action in the previous Round) and DENIAL! (+3 glory for not having any Enemy in my territory at the end of the game!) 

Amanda scored Purposeful Strike. 

So the Thorns of the Briar Queen won 13-8!

I think I have a new favourite warband! 

I think I'm going to have to swithc up a few of the cards. I probably won't get away with some of that same stuff, now that Amanda kind of knows what they can do. 

Amanda, on the other hand, really wants to switch up some of her cards. She says she is tired of them... Even suggested, again, that she might want to have a "look through" some of the Generic ones I have. 

We're planning to play again on Sunday evening (after my Graphic Novel Book Club). I thought I might try out Lady Harrow's Mournflight. They have some similarities to the Thorns of the Briar Queen, but also some big differences. Less fighters, to start... and with less wounds!? But they all have two dodge dice, move faster and they all have 2-3 attack dice and do 2-3 damage. They DO ignore Lethal Hexes and can still move through obstructed or occupied hexes. And their inspire ability is pretty cool - they inspire if, during an activation, they move through a hex occupied by an enemy fighter. Should be fun.