Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault - Ghost-on-Ghost REDUX

 After last weeks game, Amanda suggested we play the same teams - but switch things up. I would playe Lady Harrow's Mournflight and she would play the Thorns of the Briar Queen. I was pretty anxious about this... I mean, my gut feeling was that it was really the teams and decks - that they just weren't a good match-up and that Lady Harrow's Mournflight was just a little over-powered or simply had a vastly superior deck of awesome to play with... But what if it wasn't that...? 

Amanda IS a REALLY GOOD PLAYER - at ALL GAMES - there is no questioning that (and often does seem to have some CrAzY luck at times). But the last few games have really got me wondering if I'm really just THAT BAD of a player... I DO have a lot of problems with certain types of games - especially ones involving planning and sequencing and having lots of "moving parts" - I LOVE playing them... but am just not that good at a lot of them. 

Setting up... I won the roll off for board choice/placement and made Amanda go first. She picked The Mirror Well and I picked Shyishian Stardial - it has blocked hexes, which all of our fighters can pass through... but can't STOP in... so one thought I had might involve hiding behind it and making THEM come SUPER close before shooting out and passing through them and inspiring... I don't know... 

I also won the roll off for set up and had her go first - with her seven to my four, it didn't matter who started setting up first, I would finish first and get the bonus for who goes first in Round One. 

I placed everyone pretty far back... I expected she might try the same strategy I employed in the previous game and wasn't going for it. I was going to make her come to me - which I hoped would split up her horde and not give her too many options for mass inspiring and mutual aid. 

Amanda discarded and drew a new hand of Power Cards as everything she drew in her first hand was upgrades!?

ROUND ONE

I won the roll-off for initiative and let Amanda go first. 

VArlav the Cruel used his special action to push all Chainrasps two hexes... 

Widow Caitha drifted on to Objective #2. 

Amanda moved up the Briar Queen. 

The anguished one wafted over to Objective #3 and I scored One Will (scored immediately if holding one or more even numbered objectives AND one or more odd numbered objectives - +1 Glory for Lady Harrow!)

I also upgraded Lady Harrow with Swooping Dash (+2 Move).

Varclav the Cruel seized Objective #4...

Lady Harrow charged the Chainrasp on Objective #5... and missed... so I played Echoing Spite (allowing me to fight again after an attack that missed) and destroyed the Chainrasp (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow) and I upgraded her with Soul Leach and also she was inspired, because I'd used the extra move from the previous upgrade to pass through the Chainrasp before attacking...

As expected, Chainrasps started swooping in to attack Lady Harrow - I wasn't super concerned as she had at least double the Wounds of the Damage output of the best of them... 

I played Soaring Spite which would double the move of one of my Banshees - but not as part of a charge... so the Screaming Maiden moved up next to Lady Harrow - passing through the adjacent Chainrasp (thus inspiring the Maiden). That ended the Round and I hoped that I'd go first and be able to destroy the Chainrasp next to them before Amanda's next activation - thus preventing it from inspiring (all they had to do to inspire was be standing next to an enemy at the beginning of their own activation. 

At the end of the Round, Amanda scored THREE Objectives: Hold Objective #4, Hold Objective #5 and Take the City (+3 Glory for Briar Queen). I scored two Objectives: Nagash's Tithe and Creeping Dread (+2 Glory for Lady Harrow). 

So... winning... but not by a lot (4-3)... this could easily turn around... 

ROUND TWO

I DID go first and took out that Chainrasp (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow) - then a flurry of Power Cards were played. I played a few upgrades Gravesand Glass to Lady Harrow and Veil of Grief to Widow Caitha. Amanda gave the Briar Queen Inescapable Vengeance 

She also played Drifiting Advance and Sudden Appearance to move some chainrasps around. 

One Chainrasp, that was next to The Screaming Maiden, inspired. Varclav the Cruel used his special action to push the rest of the Chainrasps forward again to swarm the Maiden and then played Spectral Parry to give a Guard Token to the Ever-Hanged.

Well I wasn't about to just sit there and let all those Chainrasps inspire and attack my Banshees... so the Screaming Maiden drifted away from them all and attacked the Briar Queen... and HIT - dealing 3 damage! 

The Briar Queen attacked back and took out the Screaming Maiden! (+1 Glory for the Briar Queen) 

Lady Harrow then charged the Briar Queen and finished her off! (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow) then I scored Spectral Vortex (scored immediately when an enemy fighter is the target of a second or subsequent successful Attack action in this phase, and each Attack action was made by a different friendly fighter. +1 Glory for Lady Harrow) and I upgraded the Anguished one with Hollow Hatred (re-roll one dice in the attack roll of the first Attack action this fighter makes in each round). 

Varclav charged Lady Harrow and dealt her two damage. I played Shared Agony and passed one of those damage tokens back to Varclav (Shared Agony: Choose a friendly fighter with one or more wound tokens and an enemy fighter adjacent to them. Heal (1) the friendly fighter. The enemy fighter is dealt 1 damage). 

The Anguished One charged Varclav (passing through a Chainrasp along the way, to inspire her!) and initially tied on attack roll - both rolling one crit and one success... so I actually used Hollow Hatred  and rerolled the success and gained a second crit (Apparently some of Amanda's luck was still sticking to Lady Harrow's Mournflight from last week!) and dealt two more Damage to Varclav. 

As a Chainrasp and Varclav started Amanda's final activation next to some of my Banshees, the two of them inspired. The Chainrasp attacked the Anguished One (with Varclav's aid) but missed... 

No one scored any Objectives at the end of the round... Still ahead, and gaining a bit more of a lead (7-4) 

ROUND THREE

Varclav Charged The Anguished One - just moving around the other side so that The Anguished One wouldn't gain any aid from Lady Harrow. He missed. Amanda then played Confusion to swap places with one of the Chainrasps to get Varclav out of immediate danger. Then, I played Chilling Scream to prevent Amanda from playing any more Power Cards this Power Step... 

I also upgraded The Anguished One with Maddening Hunger (+1 attack die when charging) 

And so... she charged... Varclav... You can run, but you can't hide! 

The Anguished One took out Varclav (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow )

Amanda played Vengeful Curse, which deal 1 Damage to The Anguished One. Then she upgraded The Ever-Hanged with Great Strength and played Sidestep to move them into contact with The Anguished One

But then charged the Widow Caitha!? Luckily, The Ever-Hanged missed. 

I played Call of the Grave to push one of the Chainrasps into a favourable position... and the Spectral Charge - to give +1 Damage to a charge on my next activation... 

and the Widow Caitha charged... through the Ever-Hanged... Through the Blocked Hex... and Through the Chainrasp that was her target... because I could! The Widow took out the Chainrasp (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow) and I also scored Inescapable Hunger (scored immediately when a friendly fighter makes a Move action through one or more blocked hexes and ends that Move action adjacent to an enemy fighter). (+1 Glory for Lady Harrow!) 

The Last Chainrasp made a run for it and hid behind the blocked Hew with the Ever-Hanged. 

Lady Harrow had enough movement that I COULD have charged the Chainrasp and, if successful, could have taken it out with one shot... but there is no guarantee there, ever... and it would have an activation to attack back if I failed... and I DID have an Objecive card that could be scored if I was on an Objective... and I know Amanda had mroe "Hold Objective #X) cards in her deck and, though both of the Remaining chainrasps moved already, if she had a card that could push her onto one or the other Objectives, that could be points for her... so I swooped in and seized Objective #3... 

As it turned out she DIDN'T have either of the remaining Hold Objective cards (or means to move onto them)... She DID have DENIAL (Scored this in the third end phase if there are no enemy fighters in your territory for +3 GLORY!!!). So that last move gave her three more glory, whereas if I'd just moved onto one of the Objective that were closer I still would have scored mine...and denied her another three... Ah, well... 

For both of our final activations we discarded and drew new Objectives. 

As already mentioned, Amanda scored +3 Glory in the Final End Phase, bringing her total to... Seven Glory... 

I scored Ghostly Torment (scored in an end phase if there are two or more surviving friendly fighters AND two or more surviving fighters each have one or more wound tokens - that was ME - two of my fighters had ONE wound token each! - I'd drawn this in that last activation! +2 Glory) and Nexus of Terror (Scored  in an end phase if your warband holds the most objectives - +2 Glory).

In the end I scored FOURTEEN to Amanda's seven... So... it could be that Lady Harrow's Mournflight IS a little overpowered - or just not a good match-up with the Thorns of the Briar Queen! Amanda DID do a lot better with the Briar Queen against Lady Harrow than I did, though (probably because she IS a better player)... But at least she didn't DESTROY Lady Harrow, which might have utterly destroyed my confidence and self-esteem entirely! 

Just to see if Lady Harrow is universally over-powered, I suggested Amanda play her for the next few games (because I know she enjoyed playing Lady Harrow), and I could throw some of the other heavy-hitters at them - the ones that took down Morgwaeth's (I know at least one of the Orruk Warbands did... the Big 'Uns... Morgok's Krushas...? 

I should probably get painting some of the OTHER warbands!