Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Nine - Grombrindal's Hunt

Amanda noticed the Grombrindal card in the box after our last game on Wednesday and wondered what that was about. 

The Grombrindal miniature was released in 2024 in conjunction with the 500th issue of White Dwarf.... and in that issue there were rules and cards for including Grombrindal in games of Warhammer Underworlds, Warcry, Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer Quest! 

And so, the very next evening, while Finnegan was out playing D&D at a friends and Amanda wasn't teaching yoga (which she normally does on Thursdays with one of the Community Associations) we played through ANOTHER game of Warhammer Quest Cursed City... With Amanda playing Grombrindal, the White Dwarf! 

Grombrindal is a BEAST in melee and can throw his axe around. As a 6+ action he can throw his axe at EVERY VISIBLE HOSTILE!? (it bounces around the room, destroying eveything in sight!?). Also, whenever a hostile attacks and does zero damage (because it missed or Grombrindal successfully saved) Grombrindal gets either a free weapon action or a free recuperate action!?

While Grombrindal got his bearings, Watch Captain Halgrim stalked closer on his left... 

... and on his right a swarm of bats swooped towards him. 

He threw his axe at the bats and knocked enough of them out of the sky that the rest departed. 

He moved against Watch Captain Halgrim, and was attacked by a zombie that just kind of showed up!? The Zombie missed and Grombrindal stove it's head in... 

The Halgrim and one of the Ulfenwatch that had arrived attacked Grombrindal. And... these were successful... and Grombrindal ended up with TWO Grievous Wounds! 

And that was when he gained his first point of inspiration! 

Amanda wondered if Grombrindal was about to just die on the second turn... 

The it was Grombrindals turn and he just destroyed Watch Captain Halgrim with two swings of his axe and then swung around and clobbered the Ulfenwatch! 

And still had some activation dice to try and recover... and with a Vitality of 2d12... he recovers from just about anything VERY QUICKLY!! 

By the end of this round, it was clear, there wasn't much that was going to stop Grombrindal... 

Next Grombrindal made his way to the other end of the neighbourhood to take on Gorslave the Gravekeeper! He threw his axe at Gorslav a few times and that was it for him... 

Then Grombrindal went on to try and clear away a Corpse Rat infestation. I think Amanda was hoping one or two bites might get through... because one of Grombrindals special rules is that he cannot be given Conditions (like Disease!) and when he would be given a Condition, he instead gains a bonus Inspiration Point?!

Amanda tried out the 6+ action where he got to throw his axe at every thing in sight - taking out Corpse Rats and Skeletons at the entryways at either end of the square he was in!? 

Finishing off the Corpse Rats, Grombrindal decided to hand out in this corner and let the hostiles come to him. 

A Vyrkos Blood-Born Vampire shot past the approaching Ulfenwatch. 

Grombrindal cut him down with two mighty swings of his axe... 

and that gave him a third Inspiration Point... and Grombrindal flipped over to the inspired side... 

If you think any of the special rules I've described already seem a bit OP... his ispired side was just GROSS... His weapon actions became 2d12+2d6... his Viality became 3d12 and the Throw-the-Axe-and-Hit-Everyone-in-the-Room action became a 5+ action!? Oh, AND he reduced all damage by one... AND he got the free weapon action or free recuperate action any time a Hostile attacked and dealt one or less damage... 

I mean, keep in mind it's ONE DUDE instead of FOUR that normally go on these missions... they kind of NEEDED to make him kind of BAD-ASS!!!

Chopping dowm more Ulftenwatch... 

Throwing Axes at bats... 

On one round he was first in the initiative sequence and ALL THE HOSTILES were dead and he would have to wait for new encounters to arrive on the far side of the neighbourhood... so he went out searching for treasure and explored one Mysterious Object... 

And then another... 

And then some Zombies appeared... which he smashed apart... 

Then more appeared and he smashed THEM apart... 

SO MANY ZOMBIES... 

He made for the final Mysterious Object... and the undead just kept coming... 

At this point I think Night had fallen... and Grombrindal had maybe killed the ten Champions he needed to succeed in the mission... and then he just started getting cocky... 

Instead of searching the Mysterious Object, he stepped out of the room to throw his axe at the three Skeletons aproaching in the next square... 

But a lot of undead move quicker after dark... and when he stepped into the room again to search the Mysterious Object... He was suddenly overwhelmed by undead... and a few actually landed some hits and dealt damage (because they also deal MORE DAMAGE after nightfall!) 

and then a Kosargi Nightguard showed up... 

the chaff were quickly cleared away...  

But undead Ogors after nightfall have a d12+d6 attack and deal SIX damage... 

And for a brief moment, again, Grombrindal looked like he might be in a spot of bother! (look at the card in the background - yeah, that's three Grievous Wounds!) 

But Grombrindal gets to use ALL the Destiny Dice and those wounds were quickly cleared away and with a 2d12+2d6 attack dealing 6 or 7 damage when rolling critical successes... it takes two swings of the axe to take down a Kosargi Nightguard! 

MORE swarms of rats and bats! 

Most were killed simply by free weapon actions after the attacking rats and bats failed to deal damage! 

Having cleared off the bats, Grombindal turns to search the last Mysterious Object and finds a TRAP... and then ANOTHER TRAP... and then some Realmstone! 

One more trio of Zombies was cleared away by throwing his axe and ricocheting it off of walls and zombies to kill everything in the square.. 

This time instead of screwing around and showing off, Grombrindal made his way to the Extraction point and escaped, frustrating a Vyrkos Blood-Born that was hot on his tail and oh so very hungry! 

Normally the "Army of One" type scenarios are meant to be one-offs that don't count towards any campaigns... (there are other heroes you can take on similar missions... Gotrek Gurnisson - another Duardin of Legend, the Light of Eltharion - the avenging spirit- ancestor of the Lumineth , Gardus Steelsoul -  Lord-Celestant of the Hallowed Knights Stormcast Eternals)... but I thought narratively it would be fun to say that while the rest of the heroes were still celebrating their success, that Grombrindal could slip into the city and deal a blow against the cities tyrranical regime for them... 

Also, the "Army of One" rules generally don't allow for spending realmstone or gaining experience or anything... which is weird, because there are places on their Fighter Cards FOR Traits and Upgrades!? So I said he got dressed up in his red hat and cloak and stole aboard The Adamant to deliver a Grombrindalmas Day present to one of the Heroes on his "nice list"... 

It was a fun little game to play through. Very reminiscent of that time Keiran and I ran their Harlequin Solitaire through a mission in Blackstone Fortress! Very over-the-top cinematic action! 

Warhammer Underworlds - Last Few Weeks at the Warhammer Store!

Getting a bit behind on Game Reports... So these might be short and quick... 

For the last three Fridays I've been heading out to the Warhammer store to play Warhammer Underworlds at Skirmish Game "Night" 

On the last Friday in May I rolled out to the Warhammer Store for Skirmish Game Night to play a few games of Warhammer Underworlds!

No one else was there yet, so I set up a game against John, the store manager. I'd recently finished painting Grombrindal, the White Dwarf, and suggested trying out the Grombrindal scenario! John agreed and dug out his recently painted Stab-Ladz!

The scenario is played a little differently than regular games of Warhammer Underworlds in that the winner isn't determined by how many Glory you've scored during the game (unlike the Chaos Gargant scenario, the Non-Grombrindal player still uses an Objective Deck, but Glory is really just to spend and equip fighters with Upgrades!) but whether Grombrindal is still alive at the end of the game. 

If Grombrindal is alive, Grombrindal wins. 

If Grombrindal is not alive, Grombrindal does not win... 

I set up to the rear so as not to be overrun too quickly in the game. 

But then on my first activation moved up and started chucking axes! 

I'd thought I was safe there for a bit, but it turns out Stab-Ladz have a Range 2 Stabby Spear! Ouch! 

Grombrindal killed half the warband before being killed... although... I realized afterwards that until cards are removed from the game (By Grombrindal raiding the opponents discard pile for cards and using them) Grombirndal reduces all damage to ONE!? So... I would have only taken three damage (instead of the six that took him out!). Ah well... it was a fun game, regardless! 

By the time we were finished, Orion and Sean had showed up and started a game. 

John introduced a new player to the game. 

And I finally got to play a game with Dan! 

Dan played the Skinnerkin and I played Zondara's Gravebreakers! 

I think this was my third game with Zondara's - so I was just figuring them out still, but doing pretty okay with them (but had not figured out how they can be seriously threatened!). I've not played the Skinnerkin, so wasn't really able help out Dan, who was playing them for the first time. 

At the end of first Round, I'd positioned Zondara and Ferlain adjacent to his leader, Gristla Tenderhooke... 

...and went first at the beginning of the second round and took her out! 

From there I think the game went downhill for Dan. Fun game. Great guy to play against! 

The next Friday (7 June 2024) I was out there again and happened to arrive around the same time as Orion, Nic, and Sean.

So the four of us set up a four-player game! 

Sean had never played a four-player game and so quickly looked up the rules and... it was at that moment that we realized that we've been playing four-player games TOTALLY WRONG!? I'll need to check previous edition's rules, but in the current edition (Wintermaw) in three player games you play one less turn each round and in four-player games you only play TWO ROUNDS!? 

I get these provisions are meant to make the games last about the same amount of time as a regular one-on-one game... but how are you supposed to get anything done in so few activations!? 

We ignored these rules and played the way we've been playing all along - three rounds with four turns each! 

I played Grinkrak's Looncourt, Sean Played Mollog's Mob (with Hungering Parasite), Nic played Cyreni's Razors (with Rimewyrm's Bite), and Orion played the Sepulchral Guard (with Rimlocked Relics).

Ugh... I really need to figure out some Nemesis decks...  

Pokin' Snark pokin at Alathyrr....? 

Snorbo shooting spores at one of the Skeletons. 

I scored a few cards... but had a hard time getting TO places I needed to be... 

It was mostly a big rumble between the other three in Orion's territory - completley opposite my own territory. 

I really need to pick ONE (or two) warbands and JUST PLAY THOSE for a bit and really learn the cards... so I can plan in advance and not have to come up with a new plan every turn trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with the cards I've drawn!?

This past Friday (14 June 2024) I rolled out there again, and no one else showed up... 

So I set up a game with John. I loaned him my copy of Zondara's Gravebreakers to try out, as I knew he was interested in them. 

I played with Skabbik's Plaguepack.

After drawing my first hand I realized I was playing with a Nemesis deck I'd tried to put together a number of weeks ago using Paths of Prophecy?! So not only was I having a hard time remembering what cards were in Skabbik's deck... I was trying to remember what had been removed and what had been added and what THE PLAN was for using it. 

I'm pretty sure the idea was to lean into the flex-HOLD nature of Skabbik's - and, indeed, the very nature of Skaven themselves - stealing stuff and cowardly avoiding contact, unless cornered! 

That meant focusing on holding objectives and mostly ignoring the opponent, when I could! 

This worked out very well against Zondara's because they kind of want to ignore the enemy and just dig up objectives to get good upgrades and bring back the few zombies I did kill. 

At one point, I had killed two of the zombies (mostly by charging onto objectives that were adjacent to Zombies - who had just done the Gravebreak reation and thus had an Objective next to them -  and hitting them... and killing them!?) and, looking back, probably could have focused on killing the third, which makes it WAY harder to bring any of them back! But I stuck to the plan of trying to score Objective Cards and that meant holding objectives and ignoring Zombies

Yikes! this was a bit scary - moving Skabbik onto an objective right next two Zandara and Ferlain - who had their Salvaged Intelligence upgrade in play and could double-team Skabbik! But he survived! AND Scored objectives! AND killed Ferlain!!!

The Skabbik retreated away to hold an objective back in my own territory and Itchitt replaced him on that Objective. 

By the end of the game, John had all of his zombies back... but ultimately lost. 

For playing with a Rivals deck... that he'd never looked at.... against an opponent who had some idea what both warbands were trying to do... and had a nemesis deck that just happened to work really well against the particular warband it was facing... John did pretty good - scoring 9 to my 14. 

Certainly better than I did with with Zondara's the previous weekend when I played a one-on-one game against her with the Da Kunnin' Krew - which she had not ever played or even looked at the deck -  and still beat me 11-6?! Not sure if I'm going to get around to posting that game report... Maybe... we'll see... 

Anyway, it has been good fun heading out to the Warhammer store on Fridays. I'll be heading out there again tomorrow and every Friday for the foreseeable future!