Warhammer Underworlds: Battle Royale (Game 14)

Well if that crazy massacre Friday evening wasn't enough - we were back at it Saturday afternoon! Finnegan's D&D game was cancelled because everyone else was busy - I was a little surprised since the current Public Health Order is "suggesting" people NOT travel or get together with extended family this long weekend... but... I guess they were all doing SOMETHING. Maybe it was just family together time within their "household pod"? 

Having just destroyed Morgwaeth's Blad-Coven, that Amanda was playing, with the Morgok's Krushas the night before, I wasn't actually interested in playing with them again. So I decided to try out Stormsire's Cursebreakers - one of the three Stormcast Eternal Warbands for Warhammer Underworlds I'd finished up this past week. I quickly made up a new deck for them as the one they came with seemed like a hot mess of stuff that wouldn't actually work together. They are ALL wizards and inspire by successfully casting a spell, so I replaced all but one of the gambits with gambit-spells - and easy ones requiring only one particular symbol. The one other gambit was one that gave the next casting attempt a boost. I also ditched a few of the Objectives and Upgrades to find a few that might work better together. 

Finnegan chose to play Khagra's Ravagers. He just played with the deck I had put together for the last time I played with them. (Or... maybe it was the second last time I played with them...?)

Amanda even swapped out a couple of the Objective cards that had definitely not been working for her. 

It's been a while since Finnegan last played - and he's never played Khagra's Ravagers - so it took him a bit to read through the cards and familiarize himself with them. 

I LOST the first roll-off and had to pick the first board. I went with the Soul Refractor from the Nightvault core set. 

Amanda and Finnegan rolled off again and this time Finnegan lost and had to spend some time looking at his options. 

Eventually he chose The Arcane Nexus from the Shattered City Board Pack, and placed it side by side with mine.

Amanda picked The Cursed Oubliette from the Nightvault Core Box and placed it, off-set against my edge, opposite Finnegan's board - creating a nice little bottle neck into her own territory and pinching me between her and Finnegan's warband. This was looking bad already. 

I had suggested trying the "alternative, fixed-format, suggested layout", but Amanda said we should try out the rules as written and just set them up willy-nilly... it would be more fun, she said... 

having selected the first board, I at least got to place the first Objective counter. We play with seven in a three player and that meant I got to play one more than the others. I placed first objective hex in Amanda's territory in an area to effectively block her from placing objectives any DEEPER into her territory. That was probably a mistake as she got to place two others of her own and BOTH were fully in her territory, behind that awful little bottleneck. It probably would have been better off putting all of the ones I had in or as close to Finnegan's territory as possible - for FORCE her to come out and take objectives OUTSIDE her own territory and come to me and potentially have to mix it up with the Chaos warriors! 

Initial Objectrive Card draw... not ideal... I almost discarded it and drew another. But then I had a look at my Power Cards. 

I did, at least, have three spells... and IF I could cast those and one of the two wizards with spells printed on their cards could pull one off, I COULD potentially meet the Magical Storm objective... and Objective 7 was in my area... and if everyone tried for the Magical Storm - anyone who DID successfully cast one would be inspired...? 

So I kept the Objective cards and went for it. 

I started setting up, which also meant I was first to finish

All ready to go! 

ROUND ONE

I won the roll off, but didn't really want to go first, so I made Finnegan go first. 

Razek Godblessed went first and sauntered onto Objective #6.

In the Power Step Averon Stormsire cast Dauntless Aspect - giving Amis Dawnguard a Guard token - and inspiring himself (having successfully cast a spell. He also tried to cast Terrifying Visage, but failed. 

Khamyss somersaulted onto Objective #5 and Amanda played Regal Vision, inspiring her. 

Amis Dawnguard Cast Empower (a spell ability printed on her card - along with Rastus). This isn't Amis Dawnguard's actual miniature we're looking at. I got them mixed up. It's the one I was thinking was Amis Dawnguard. Later when I realized my mistake, I swapped the miniatures. 

Having successfully case Empower, Amis was inspired. Just finished my first activation and two of three fighters were inspired... I mean, I guess things weren't going TOO badly... 

Dour Cragan shuffled onto Objective #1

Kyrssa moved onto Objective #2

Amis Dawnguard moved onto Objective #7

Zarshia Bittersoul moved up and cast her Spite-Tongued Curse and did one damage. Luckily, being on Guard, Amis was not forced back! 

Morgwaeth moved onto Objective #3. 

Stornmsire moved one to get a view of Khamyss and cast Hypnotic Aspect, pushing Khamyss off the objective and into the Lethal Hex (+1 Damage) 

Khagra moved up and shook her mace menacingly at Amis. 

Kyrae charged onto Objective #5 and took a shot at Stormsire, but missed. 

Finally Rastus The Charmed cast Empower, and inspired himself. 

AT the end of the activation Phase, Razek and Cragan desecrated the Objectives they were sitting on.

ROUND ONE - END PHASE

How things looked at the end of Round One. 

Amanda scored Dominant Position - for holding more objectives than any other warband - gaining two Glory. She then upgraded Morgwaeth with Champions Fortitude and Kyrssa with the Tome of Glories. 

I scored Hold Objective # 2 (which, in a 3-player game, can also be used if holding Objective #7) and Magical Storm (for successfully casting FOUR spells!) for a total of three Glory! 

So... AT the end of Round One, I was winning with three Glory and all of my warriors were inspired... Maybe things weren't going to go so badly after all...? I was also able to Upgrade Stormsire and Rastus with the two Upgrades I'd initially drawn giving them Great Fortitude and Great Strength, respectively. 

I ditched the third Objective card I'd initially drawn - Conquest.  It would have been easy enough to score, but didn't score until the Third End Phase and would just be taking up space in my hand until then. I ditched it in favour of hopefully picking up something that could be scored more immediately.  

Wizard holding an Objective. Leader holding an objective in Enemy Territory. My leader IS a wizard, so I just had to get him onto an objective in Enemy Territory. Objective #3 was in enemy territory, but there was no way Stormsire could get to it... 

Some handy new gambits and Upgrades that I drew. 

ROUND TWO

Finnegan went first, again, and starting things off, Khagra charged Amis Dawnguard. Dawnguard dodged her blows, though. 

Amanda played Catechism of Murder, upgrading Morgwaeth. I upgraded Stormsire with Hurricane step - which would help get me onto an objective if I managed to kill or shove the current occupant off. 

Then Amana played Drilled to Perfection giving both Khamyss and Kyrae Guard Tokens... I guess I was going to have to KILL Kyrae to get Stormsire onto that Objective... except she had 3 wounds and Stormsire only deal 2 damage... Might need Rastus to get in there...? or if I got lucky with the Chain Lightning spell...? 

Lethyr then moved up to support. 

But I also had a fight at the other end. If I didn't move Amis Dawnguard, and, ideally deal with Zarshia Bittersoul, she would certainly be charging Dawnguard and have support from Khagra... so Dawnguard charged Zarshia and took her out of action! (+1 Glory for me!) I upgraded Dawnguard with a Lightning whip. It was a little ridiculous to do so. She wouldn't be using it THIS turn... having already charged... but I figured Id' already given Rastus something, so... 

Razek moved up. 

Kyrssa used the Tome of Glories to score a Glory point. 

Rastus should have just charged at this point... but I wasted an activation trying to cast Empower - which would have allowed him to re-roll one attack die when he DID attack. As General George Patton once said - A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week... He failed to cast the spell. Like I said, wasted activation. 

Finnegan spent his activation drawing a power card... and actually drew something he could use! He played Wrack the Land, which allowed Khagra to desecrate an adjacent, empty Objective Marker. This put the total number of desecrated Objectives to three and that inspired his whole warband... damn... 

Amanda Used Headlong Fury to bring Morgwaeth off the Objective she was holding and a bit close to the action. 

Khamyss charged Stormsire, doing two damage with one of her attacks. 

In the Power Step, Stormsire successfully cast Chain Lightning which finished off Khamyss (+1 glory for me!) 

As I'm writing this I noticed that Khamyss and Kyrae no longer have guard tokens they were given earlier in the round... I'm not 100% sure what happened there, but there were a number of interruptions as we played through the second round, and I think Amanda may have thought they were placed in Round One and she'd forgotten to take them off... Khamyss would have lost hers anyway, when she charged, but Kyrae should still have had one... 

Dour Cragan, now having a move of FOUR, charged Rastus and did two damage! 

Morgwaeth then stabbed Rastus in the back, finishing him off! (+1 Glory for Amanda). 

So much for Rastus helping out with the removal of Kyrae... or making use of that Great Strength... 

Stormsire charged Kyrae - trying to keep his distance from Morgwaeth's range 2 attacks should this fail. He successfully attacked Kyrae and did two damage... and drove her back... which, I'm now realizing I shouldn't have been able to do... DOH!!! 

He was then able to use the Hurricane Step and move onto Objective #5.... 

Now... had I actually kept all this straight in my head... I could have just attacked Kyrae and used the Hurricane step to move AWAY from Kyrae and towards for Objective #3 - hoping score all three of the objectives I was holding at the end of the third End Phase... Ah well... could have - would have - should have... 

ROUND TWO -END PHASE

Amanda was able to score Purposeful Strike - for having a fighter with a charge token on an Objective... though she gained it through the action of using the Tome of Glories... ah well... +1 more Glory for her! 

I did score Plant a Standard and Magical Mark for another two Glory. 

Things were not looking great... I had only the two fighters left. 

Stormsire was wounded and surrounded by murder elves and within range of Morgwaeth's attacks... which have cleave... and could very easily kill him dead. Amanda was keeping pace with the Glory Points - only two behind my seven, at five. 

Amis Dawnguard was likewise In a dire situation with Khagra and Razek closing in... 

And then I drew new Objective cards... nope, those weren't going to happen... 

Entropic Curse, I realized what useless at this point -  causing damage only at the beginning of rounds - there would be no move beginning of rounds by the time I could cast it. Amis and Stormsire were too far from each other for Empathic Conduction to be of much use... Great Speed might get me to an objective, though...? Or, at least, away from others...? 

ROUND THREE

Cragan started things off by stepping onto Objective #4. 

In the following Power Step I used Gather the storm and Sphere of Aqshy to finish off Kyrae (+1 Glory for me!) 

The Morgwaeth went and cut down Stormsire... 

Amis Dawnguard cast Empower, just in case someone charged her and DIDN'T take her out, she might ba able to hit back... 

But no one charged. Razek moved in between Cragen and Khagra and then he scored his first Glory point in the game with Scrum!? With that Glory point he upgraded Kharga with Bolstered by Hate. 

Morgwaeth stepped onto an objective and Scored Hidden Purpose (holding two objectives) +1 Glory. 

Amis Dawnguard made a run for it. my plan was to get as far away as possible and the discard and draw Objectives hoping I might, at least, get Conquest... COMPLETELY FORGETTING that I'd ALREADY HAD IT in the first Round and had DISCARDED it!? 

Finnegan also discarded a useless objective and drew a new one. 

Lethyr moved onto an objective... I had a bad feeling I knew what was coming... 

I discarded and drew a new objective (dammit, not Conquest!) 

(such a moron...) 

Khagra then charged Amis.. and killed her +1 glory For Finnegan. 

Amanda used her final activation to use the Tome of Glories action to score another Glory Point. 

I can't even remember if I bothered to discard and draw... I was pretty sure there was nothing that was going to help me much anyway... 

ROUND THREE - END PHASE

In the end phase Finnegan actually scored Glorious Slaughter and Absolute Desecration for SIX MORE Glory, bringing his total to eight - tying with me (though I really shouldn't have scored two of those points... I now realize)

Amanda scored Ritualized Formation and Supremacy both giving three points for holding three objectives.. bringing her total to FOURTEEN!!!! 

Wow... 

Well... I got to play a game. So I guess that was fun. I don't mind losing games. I'm not really excited about games that I feel like I lost it when I lost the first roll-off to determine who places a board first.

We followed the rules of board placement for a multi-player game. They're just the same as the rules as the two played - boards can be set up end to end or side to side - or offset along the long sides as long as three hexes are completed. 

it even shows an example of a willy-nilly board layout in the rules. 

I think for a four-player game that might not be TOO bad. My feeling is that it would devolve into two one-on-one games that happen to be taking place in, more or less, the same space....? 

(the images immediately above and below are from the Warhammer Underworlds rulebooks and ©Games Workshop)

There is an "alternative" fixed-format that can be used, and I think it would work MUCH better for three player games. 

This is not to take anything away from Amanda's victory. She played a solid game from the word go. Her board placement wasn't a "dick move" - it was a smart choice based on her experience with the game and knowledge of her own warband and their strengths and weaknesses. 

We'll probably play another game today - stay tuned for another report tomorrow! Amanda had suggested another three-player game this afternoon. Finnegan has gotten exited about the game again and expressed he'd like to try out Khagra's Ravagers in a one-on-one game (even started talking about buying HIS OWN warband... of course, I'd probably have to be the one that would have to paint it FOR him, so I tired to encourage him to cool his jets and try playing ALL the ones I already have!) 

In other news... 

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City went up for pre-order yesterday and sold out in 30 minutes, I am told. I'd asked my FLGS to get one for me... I really hope he gets enough and I actually get one of them! I know he's been shorted on things in the past. Fingers crossed! (toes too!)