Warhammer Underworlds - Ironskull's Boyz Enter the Beastgrave

 Friday Night - Game Night!

Last Friday, Amanda and I played another game of Warhammer Underworlds. I tried out Ironskull's Boys (another one of the warbands recently acquired along with Shadespire and a few others). AS with our previous game, this was rather spur-of-the-moment and I basically tried them "right out of the box" - I did have to quickly find three objective cards to add... and while I was looking I found two ploys and two upgrades I thought I'd throw in. 

Ironskull's Boyz look pretty cool. They have four wounds each, which makes it impossible for them to be taken out by a single blow from any of Morgwaeth's fighters. Also their inspire condition is just that they've taken damage... which isn't great... but is easier to do than some of the other warbands! 

THE GAME

Starting things off, we rolled to see who picked first. Amanda won and had ME pick the first board (she's REALLY figured out that, with her warbands superior movement, it really works out if she picks second and can set the boards up end-to-end. I picked the Shade-Cursed Lair board from the the Arena Mortis expansion (which I recently picked up from the Dragon's Den... because it was 75% off!? I mean, how could I NOT!?). Amanda picked the Shrine of the Silent People from the Beastgrave Core Box and, as expected, set it up end-to-end with mine. 

Objective were places, then cards were drawn... 

My first Objective Card hand. Not awesome. Not total crap. And that was two of the three Generic ones I selected. I was excited when I saw Objective #1 was the one deep in Amanda's territory, as she almost always grabs that right away and the Didn't Even Want It scores me one Glory Point in an End Phase if an ENEMY is holding objective one- so that seemed pretty certain. Brawl seemed likely enough, if I could draw a few of her warriors a bit closer - I just had to NOT KILL ANY OUTRIGHT - which didn't seem TOO hard as the damage these guys deal to start off wasn't too bad - and she usually keeps her weaker ones back to hold objectives in her own territory. Wasn't sure if I'd be able to get Morgwaeth in Round One.. 

My first Power Card hand. Also not AWESOME... but also not crap enough to discard. 

We rolled off again to see who sets up first and I won and let Amanda go first - with her larger warband, she would finish setting up last, regardless... so... 

Ironskull's Boyz initial set-up - pacing them all as far forward as possible to get in and start choppin' and smashin'. 

Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven all set up and ready to go. I'm surprised she set up as far forward as she did - there are starting positions even further back! 

ROUND ONE

Rolling off, Amanda won and decided to go first. 

Kyrae jumped onto Objective #3, right behind Morgwaeth and took a shot at Hakka, wounding him with a crit for 1 Damage. Then she played Catechism of Murder, inspiring Khamyss, and Distraction, which pushed Hakka into a Lethal hex causing another point of damage. 

Hakka charged out of that pool of acid (or, whatever it was, and charged Morgwaeth. He missed because Amanda apparently couldn't make a dice roll without rolling at least one crit. 

Khamyss charged Hakka, which is exactly what I expected (or, at least, hoped) she would do - as that would bring her within range of Basha's movement... Unfortunately, I'd hoped Hakka would still be THERE to aid Basha... alas, Khamyss finished off Hakka (with crits... on the first of her two combo attacks..) and that scored Amanda her first Glory Point and She was able to inspire Morgwaeth. 

Totally forgot to use that Last Lunge reaction Power Card - which allows a fighter taken out of a chance to fight one more time... 

Well, Basha went ahead and charged Khamyss, anyway... and missed... because TWO crits... 

Morgwaeth Charged Basha and gave him a good poking with her glaive, causing THREE DAMAGE! 

I finally got to use Scrag 'em - which meant supporting fighters in the next activation counted as TWO! 

Bonekutta charged Morgwaeth... But two supporting fighters don't matter at all if all you can roll is hammers and support and Amanda just keeps rolling crits... 

For Amanda's fourth and final activation for this round, she DIDN'T hop onto Objective #1... she sent Lethyr in to charge Basha and finish him off!? Dammit! So, ANOTHER Glory Point to her and Kyrae was now inspired. 

Gurzag Ironskull had enough of watching his boyz get cut down and decided it was time to show 'em how it was done... well.. the one that was still livin'... 

I rolled my first crit in the game and smashed Morgwaeth pretty hard, causing three damage! Not quite enough to take her out, though. 

Amanda was also able to score Dominant Position for TWO more Glory Points - for holding more objectives than my guys. 

I could no longer score Brawl in the End Phase - as it required at least three fighters to be in contact with enemy to score... and no one was on Objective #1.... and I didn't finish off Morgwaeth... so, at the end of the first round, half of my warband was dead and I was losing 4-0... 

Things did not look great. 

ROUND TWO

Once again Amanda won the roll off and decided to go first. 

Khamyss darted around the Boyz to seize Objective #5. Then Amanda played Jealous Defence, which allows a warrior holding an Objective, that doesn't have a Charge Token, to make an attack. The first of her combo attacks slashed Bonekutta good, causing Two Damage (AGAIN, rolling TWO CRITS!?), her second attack actually missed, saving poor old Bonekutta, because, for once, she didn't actually roll a crit in an attack roll!?

I played confusion and Bonekutta and Morgwaeth Switched places. She was seriously wounded, and if I could even TIE her defence roll, I could at least push her back into the Lethal Hex to finish her off... Also, if Bonekutta did the attack, he would get support from Ironskull and Morgwaeth wouldn't get support (as she would if Ironskull attacked - because Khamyss was next to him) - at this point, Bonekutta and Ironskull's attacks were identical (because Bonekutta was inspired!) 

So Bonekutta made the swing and FINALLY I rolled an actual crit - and Amanda didn't! Bye-bye Morgwaeth! I gained my first Glory point (now making it 4-1 for Amanda) and upgraded Bonekutta with Great Fortitude (+1 wounds) 

Khamyss attacked Gurzag Ironskull... and missed... 

Gurzag attacked back... and missed... 

Amanda played Steadfast Defender - a Surge objective scored  after an Attack action that targets a friendly fighter holding an objective, if that fighter is still holding that objective.... +1 Glory (5-1)

Kyrssa jumped onto Objective #1 (FINALLY!) and Amanda scored Hidden Purpose - another Surge objective scored this after an activation if a warband holds two or more objectives (+1 Glory - 6-1). Amanda then upgraded Kyrssa with the Formless Key and the Tome of Glories. 

Ironskull took ANOTHER swing at Khamyss and rolled two Hammers - which I fully expected Amanda to cancel with a single crit... or two, just for overkill... but she actually failed to roll a single crit - or even a single success!? And that was it for Khamyss... (+1 Glory for me! 6-2!)

Then I played Leading By Example - a reaction ploy I could play this after an Attack action made by Gurzag that takes an enemy fighter out of action and allows another friendly fighter that has not already made a Move or Charge action to make a Charge action. (this is why I didn't move Bonekutta in to help take out Khamyss!) 

Bonekutta charged Lethyr and with one deadly swing of his giant Kutta, Lethyr was cleaved in two. (+1 Glory for me! 6-3 - clawing my way back... sort of...) 

For Amanda's final activation she had Kyrssa use the Tome of Glories (+1 Glory - 7-3), an for my final activation I moved Gurzag - hoping to get him into position to hit someone else in the final round... 

In the end phase I actually scored TWO objective cards: Didn't Even Want It - Scored in an end phase if an enemy fighter is holding objective 1 (+1 Glory) and Get Da Boss - Scored in an end phase if my warband took an enemy leader out of action in the preceding action phase (+1 Glory) - both of which I'd been holding since the beginning of the game! That brought things up to 7-5 for Amanda! 

ROUND THREE

Once again, Amanda won the roll off and went first. 

She figured Kyrssa wasn't long for this world with Gurzag within striking distance, so she has Kyrssa use the Tome of Glories again to gain one more Glory from her -as there was zero chance of her taking out Gurzag (+1 Glory - 8-5).

Then she played Survival Instincts on Kyrssa - making her a quarry, but always On Guard while she is a quarry. She also played Fading Form on Kyrae... because she could...? 

I played 'Eadbutt and Dead 'Ard on Gurzag... because I could... Neither upgrade could possibly play any role in the game... 

Then Amanda played Headlong Fury on Kyrae, which kind of COMPLETELY effed my plan for the round... I'd planned to charge Bonekutta into contact with her (as he could not REACH Kyrssa) and If he got lucky he might kill her... but if he didn't, it didn't really matter, there wasn't much she could do to him AND I had a ploy that would allow him to push two after an attack - which WOULD get him into contact with Kyrssa (to support Gurzag's eventual attack on her) AND I had Objective Card (Punch-Up) that scored TWO Glory if each of my surviving fighters (at least two) made an attack against a different enemy fighter... But Kyrae just moved out of range of everyone. I figured she was heading for a far objective that might allow her to score some other objective... or, realizing there wasn't much else she COULD do, just keep her out of range to deny me a Glory point for killing her... 

AT this point, I figured I was kind of screwed.... No way I was going to catch up... 

So, I moved Gurzag into contact with Kyrssa - not charge, as that would have ended his activations. She couldn't do anything to him, Moving meant he could keep on activating and, potentially, get THREE swings at her, if need be (and the way Amanda was rolling Crits, he MIGHT NEED those three swings!) 

Without anything else to do, Amanda discarded an Objective Card and drew a new one for her activation. 

Gurzag one-shotted Kyrssa (+1 Glory - 8-6) 

I did play Brutal But Kunnin' and pushed Gurzag onto Objective #3... because I could... 

Amanda discarded an Objective Card and drew a new one for her activation, again. Then I did the same as there was little else I could do... 

Then, for her final activation, Kyrae moved onto Objective #5!? She also took a shot at Bonekutta and hit him causing 1 Damage and then played Snare which cause another damage (this, normally would have been enough to take him out now - but I had given him Great Fortitude earlier so he still had one more wound! Woo!) 

So Bonekutta was now in range and could CHARGE for my final activation... and he missed, of course because Amanda and her Crits... but that was a second fighter on my team hitting a different enemy fighter! 

In the End Phase I was able to score Punch-Up after all (+2 Glory) AND Dere's More Of Us - Scored in an end phase if I had more fighters on the battlefield than my opponent (+1 Glory).

Amanda scored Purposeful Strike - scored in an end phase if a friendly fighter with one or more Charge tokens is holding an objective (+1 Glory).

This ended the game at 9-8 for Amanda! SO CLOSE!!!

The Boyz really kind of pulled it out of the fire. I think they could be a really nasty warband to deal with - once I get a chance to go through and edit there deck - canning some of the useless chaff and adding in some stuff that would help them SMASH STUFF! 

(I realized later, that I had gotten out the Primacy token to use - as this is Beastgrave/Direchasm - but forgot to use it... Had I, I would have scored two more Glory points and actually WON... but we didn't use it, so...)

I'd REALLY like to keep playing this at least once a week - so I actually REMEMBER things (like, how to actually play!?) and maybe even get a bit better. There are SO MANY warbands I'd like to try out - including loads that I still have to paint! I have a feeling it maybe be a little while, at least, before I finish any of those up, as I'm pretty distracted by the immanent arrival of the new version of Kill Team! 

Speaking of Kill Team... I'd hoped to be posting pictures of reorganized Kill Teams all this week... but.. life happened... AND I've had to rethink my reorg as I reread the Imperial Guard Kill Team organization and realized that they are only allowed one of each type of trooper (other than the basic Guard with Lasgun) once per KILL TEAM! I'd originally read it as once per FIRE TEAM - of which there are TWO in a Kill Team, thinking I could potentially have two of any particular special weapon... but I can only have one... being able to have up to three per Fire Team, that's potentially six per Kill Team and there are exactly six different specialists: Comms, Gunner with Grenade Launcher, Gunner with Melta Gun, Gunner with Plasma Gun, Gunner with Flamer, and Sniper... 

The problem is most of these Guard Kill Teams I'm trying to put together are made up of the older metal models - Valhallans, Tallarn, and older metal cadians and Catachans - and not all of those collections ever HAD models with all of those options. There are no signallers of troopers with flamers for the Tallarn. Valhallans never had a plasma gunner. (Neither had snipers... but I'd previously converted old Cadian snipers to be Valhallan and Tallarn snipers).

So, I COULD do a bunch of converting.. but I'd hoped to just rebase and touch up some models to have INSTANT Kill Teams ready to go... I COULD just feild teams that have less than the max number of specialist (and just have more guard with lasguns...) BUT, I realized; I don't HAVE to make them REGULAR Guard Kill Teams... I can make them VETERAN Guard Kill Teams - like the Death Corps of Krieg Kill Team that comes in the box! I think there are less troopers in a Veteran Kill Team (10, instead of 14) but there are a LOT more options for specialists that I can take...

So, I will be RE-reorganizing the Guard Kill Teams and hopefully have some guys ready to play as soon as I get the game this weekend! 

Stay tuned for pictures of those - and a few more RPGaDay posts.