Warhammer Underworlds: STILL MORE on Satuday

On Saturday, 29 June, for the FIFTH day in a row, Amanda and i played a few games of Warhammer Underworlds in preparation for the Tournament on Sunday! 

Saturday evening, while Finnegan was running his role-playing game in the Game Room downstairs, we set up on the kitchen table (like fucking PEASANTS!?) and played a few games of Warhammer Worlds.

I'd played Sean the day before and he was using Ironsoul's Condemnors and did pretty okay with them and suggested they were probably the easiest, most straightforward warband to play in Rivals, so I'd suggested it to Amanda for the tournament. She'd tried them out the night before and done better with them than she'd done with Morgwaeth's...

So she wanted to practice with Ironsoul's Condemnors a bit more... and I wanted to have another go at playing Thudrik's Profiteers. 

Poor Enrik Ironhail... I don't think I've activated him ONCE in four games. Always killed in the first round before he even gets to do something!? 

Having learned a little bit from the night before, I set up quite a bit closer... but forgot about getting OBJECTIVE TOKENS in No One's Territory within two hexes of my most forward starting hexes... doh!? 

Setting up that close did put me in "pew-pew range"...

But it also put me in charge range... 

The Condemnors just took the Profiteers apart, one-by-one... 

Despite setting up closer to No-One's and Enemy territory... I STILL couldn't score Objectives... 

Because EVERYONE DIED too quickly... 

I did WORSE than the previous game with this match up... previous game had been a loss at 10-7... this game I lost 14-4!?

WTF!? I was feeling pretty discouraged about Thundrik's Profiteers... if you can get lucky and score a few objectives early on... and inspire the fighters, they can do okay... but it requires excellent card draws and some really good dice rolls all through the first round... otherwise, they are kind of fucked... 

We played a second game, but Amanda wanted to so something different and wanted try out The Dread Pageant. I probably should have played Thundrik's against these - just to try them against something different... but I was feeling pretty down at this point.... So I played Skabbik's Plaguepack... 

All ready to go, Amanda let me have the first turn. 

In the first activation, Poxlix charged up the board, hit Hadzu, dealing one damage and pushing him back into the lethal hex and killing him... BOOM!!!

In the Power Step, Amanda pushed Slakeslash through a lethal hex, purposely injuring them (a normal tactic for the Dread Pageant as they inspire when there are 6 wound tokens on fighter cards - any fighter cards - and Slakeslash has 5 wounds so he can usually be counted on to take a few for the team - and he does have a method of healing after the warband inspires. 

On her first activation, Slakeslash attacked Rikkit, and MISSED!?

On my second activation Rabidius charged up behind Rikkit and attacked Slakeslash, HIT them, dealing three wounds and pushing them back into a lethal hex for a fifth wound taking them out of action... 

On my second activation...

Amanda was not pleased.... 

I suggested we just reset. 

So we reset with the same board and all the same objective tokens... but Amanda didn't put Hadzu between a lethal hex and an Objective token. 

This game went less well for me... 

I forgot to continue taking pictures... but the Dread Pageant murdered all but one of my little rats... 

At this point I was really conflicted about what warband I should even take to the tournament... Stick with the ORIGINAL PLAN and take Thundrik's Profiteers...?! Take something completely different..?! Skabbik's..? Dread Pageant!? 

Stay tuned for the Tournament Report, in the next day or two... after a few post about some miniatures I finished over the last few days! 

Warhammer Underworlds - FOUR on Friday!?

Wow... i played FOUR games of Warhammer Underworlds on Friday!?

First I make the 22km round trip (by bicycle) out to the Warhammer Store and played a couple of games with Sean with his Ironsoul's Condemnors warband... 

GAME ONE

For our first game I played Skabbik's Plaguepack.

In the first activation, Gwynne Ironsoul killed Poxlix... which, I mean... that's to be expected... 

It was a target rich environment... I tried to set up far enough back that they couldn't charge too many of my fighters... 

In his second activation, Brodus Blightbane charged Skabbik Plagueseeker, my leader, and killed HIM with one shot... 

Ouch... that... that hurt, losing a leader in the second activation... it rendered half the cards in my hand useless.. 

But, y'know, I kept at it... the rats got a LOT of tricks up their grimy sleeves... 

Itchitt, the back-stabbing little git,  even took one out neat the end of the game! 

I was tabled by the end of the game, but despite that, it was a VERY CLOSE GAME! I lost by one Glory Point - 11-10. For a brief moment I was ahead and thought I might win... but then Sean scored an objective or two in the final end phase and just squeaked past!

So.... I can lose a leader in the opponents second activation with Skabbik's Plaguepack and STILL do not-too-bad... 

GAME TWO

For game two, I decided to switch it up and play Grinkrak's Looncourt. 

Once again, Gwynne Ironsoul started things off by charging and just destroying one of my goblins. 

Tavian of Sarnasus followed on killing Skolko and Pronk... 

Grib, da Wonky Lance, charged gored Brodus Blightbane with his squig's horn - on a charge it's +1 damage - dealing three - then I played Stick in the Boot which allows a fighter, after their activation, to deal one damage to an adjacent fighter that is Vulnerable (i.e. one wound left!) to finish him off! Yay! 

I think this was the end of Round One... mostly me running away, trying to score objective that don't require being neat the big scary Stormcast! 

They cought up with me eventually, because I can't move EVERYONE... 

Grinkrak was the last one standing of the Looncourt... I can't remember if he survived... 

Again, a super fun and fairly close game - 16-14!!

GAME THREE

When I got home from the Warhammer Store Amanda suggested a game and I suggested trying out Ironsoul's Condemnors. Sean spoke very highly of them as a fairly easy warband to understand and play - and obviously did pretty good with them against me earlier. 

Amanda, not entirely convinced this was going to work out - especially after she'd played a Stormcast Eternals warband last night... and that one had three PLUS a pretty mean Gryph-hound! 

I took Skabbik's Plaguepack against them, to see how different it worked out in the same match-up, but with Amanda playing! 

Itchitt moved up... Rabidius got pushed back, they all ended up in a line. 

Stormcast charged and murdered rats. 

Rats ran around trying to avoid them and score objectives and BEFOUL territories! 

I did score a few objectives... including one worth three for having three areas corrupted in the first (or second?) round?

They did, at some point, gang up on Tavian of Sarnassus and took him down! 

In the end I won this one... 12-4... So Amanda wasn't totally happy, but I DID point out that she did better than either of the games the previous evening... and that despite me suggesting she READ THE CARDS BEFORE WE PLAYED while I was making supper, she decided to do some work emails and only looked at the cards as they were drawn in her first game!? So, of COURSE she wasn't going to do well... 

GAME FOUR

She decided to give them another chance... 

I decided to switch things up again and brought out Thundrik's Profiteers... Which I'm probably taking to the tournament on Sunday... even though it would be way more sensible to take something like Skabbik's Plaguepack... 

Because all but one of my fighters start with only two or three wounds... and one defence... and all of Amanda's fighters start with a 2-Smash attack dealing either two or three damage... I was pretty sure it was going to go like the other games where they just start killing things on their first activation!

So I set up as far back as I could, with as many as possible out of charge range... 

So, on the first round, Gwynne Ironsoul charged and killed Enrik Ironhail... (I swear, that dude is the first to die EVERY GAME!)

Then Brodus Blightbane charged Thundrik and dealt him 3 damage! OUCH! 

Drakkskewer charged into enemy territory and stabbed Tavian of Sarnassus. 

Drakkskewer got in on the action and poked Blightbane, but then Amanda healed him!?

At some point I took out Tavian... and Amanda took out most of my warband. 

At the end of the game, we each had two left - both thundrik and Gwynne Ironsoul had increased their wounds score to five and had both taken damage that left them vulnerable... but neither were taken out of action!

Rather than taking one more swing at Thundrik (which would have scored 2 Glory, if successful), Ironsoul moved on to an Objective to ensure she'd score one. 

It briefly looked like I might squeak by with another victory... but then Amanda scored FOUR Glory Points in the final End Phase and beat me 10-7... 

My biggest mistake here was forgetting that SO MANY of my objective cards REQUIRE that the fighters have to be in ENEMY TERRITORY... and, for fear of the Hard-Hitting ability ot one-shot most of my warriors, I set up as far back as I could, out of range of their charging... but ultimately was too far back for anyone to get TO Enemy Territory?! 

Lesson learned. Accept that warriors will die. Get them moving forward to score all those IN ENEMY TERRITORY Objectives... 

Hopefully we'll get in a few more games on Saturday. I'm not sure Amanda is fully convinced that Ironsoul's is for them and was suggesting trying Magore's fiends with Tooth and Claw - or The Dread Pageant!?

I'm fairly certain I'm bringing Thundrik's... "for the memes" as the cool kids apparently say...!?

Warhammer Underworlds: Two Games on Thursday Night!

Thursday evening Amanda and I played TWO MORE games of Warhammer Underworlds! We're still trying out options for what we're going to play on Sunday! I'm pretty much settled... Amanda's not so sure... After these games (and the game on Wednesday... and the game on Tuesday... AND the game on Sunday, though that wasn't with Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven) she was in pretty low spirits and not even sure if she wants to go on Sunday.... 

GAME ONE

In our first game Amanda was still trying to find a Rivals deck that might work with Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven and decided to try out Rimewyrm's Bite - one of the newer decks that came out with Warhammer Underworlds: Wintermaw. A lot of people have been raving about the deck. I know Nic's been doing well with it (as a Nemesis pairing!).

I tired out Grimkrak's Looncourt. They're really FUN, but I've had... mixed results with them. I'm pretty sure the only game I won was a multi-player game where no one was paying attention to me and I did my own thing and scored a bunch of cards and won!? I came close a second time - tied for first with Glory, but lost on the tie-breaker. The other games I lost by a LOT!? But they're FUN, so I wanted to give them a try!? 

Amanda won the board placement and decided to long-board me... She used to do this all the time when she used to play Morgwaeth regularly - because it really benefitted her in the style of play she use with her old Relic deck... 

And it was a smart choice considering the opponent was a horde with seven, I would have to occupy EVERY starting location on the board leaving a significant portion deep in my territory where they would likely not be able to do much at all in the game - considering their move of 3.... (Moonface Nagz is so far back, I didn't even capture them in the picture!?) 

Morgwaeth's set-up.

Amanda was pretty frustrated by her initial draws as it wasn't immediately intuitive how to play the deck... 

In her first move he move up Lethyr... then used some gambit card that staggered Skolko and Pronk and then played the Dominion card that made all Starting hexes and Objective hexes into LETHAL hexes... which is, generally speaking, not a bad thing to do... it would stop me from immediately jumping on an Objectives... 

But then Skolko and Pronk launched a Squig at Morgwaeth - who happened to be within 4 hexes... hit and dealt 2 damage... and drove her back onto the Objective hex dealing another point of damage... 

Yikes... 

Khamyss charged Skolko and Pronk, but only hit them with her second attack, dealing one damage. 

Grib, da Wonky Lance, charged in... and missed... 

Morgwaeth charged in and attacked Skolko and Pronk - they tied, so Skolko and Pronk were driven back... 

But then Grinkrak charged Morgwaeth... and finished her off, scoring me two Glory (because I had an Objective card - Meanest Of All - which gave me a point if my leader took someone out of action!) 

I think this was the situation at the end of Round One and I don't even remember what happened in the last activations... 

In the first activation of Round Two, Grinkrack charged Khamyss and took her out of action. I think Kyrae just shot at someone with her bow...? 

Them Grib, da Wonky Lance, charged Lethyr and took her out of action.

Amanda used a gambit to retrieve the Dominion card that dealt damage to anyone that moved onto a Starting hex or Objective hex... 

So, Snorbo, using a card that gave them extra move, charged across the table and shot spores at Kyrae... pushing her back into an Objective hex, which dealt her another damage...

that's only two... and she has three wounds... so she must have taken damage somewhere else... Maybe Skolko and Pronk had hit her and she only had one left and snorbo tied and pushed her back dealing the final wound...? I don't know... But she was pretty upset that her card worked AGAINST her TWICE!?

Then everyone dog-piled on Kyrssa and that was the end of the game. 

Yiiiiikes... I tabled the Blade-Coven without a single loss and scored most of my cards. It was nuts. 

At this point, I think Amanda gave up on the idea of playing Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven with a generic Rivals deck for the Event on Sunday... 

GAME TWO

In our second game, Amanda decided to try out Storm of Celestus, thinking a smaller more elite warband might be easier - less fighters to keep track of, they all have four wounds (except the Gryph-hound who had three) and more or less do the same thing (shoot great bow, deal damage, inspire!) 

I dug out Thundrik's Profiteers again, as I was pretty sure, at this point, I wanted to bring them to the tournament. I was pretty sure that's what I wanted to do since I finished painting them... because I thought they look cool, and no one around here has ever played them so it would be a bit of a surprise. On paper they don't look great, stat-wise, and that meant if I LOST every game (which is very much a possibility!) I could blame it on a crappy old warband... But went through the motions of trying out other warbands... 

In the first round I drew some Objectives that looked like they were going to be pretty difficult for me to do...One required being on an objective in enemy territory and taking out an enemy... Considering most of her warband had 4 wounds... and all but ONE of mine deal only ONE damage with any of their attacks... to score that, would require an insane 3 activation combo where  Thundrik had to shoot Drakan Celestus - who had jumped on an objective in Enemy Territory. That worked! One damage dealt, and Drakan pushed off objective! then Dead-Eye Lund had to successfully shoot him again. That also happened. THEN Khazgan Drakkskewer had to charge onto the objective and stab Celestus with his Skypike and dealing two more damage!? And THAT WORKED... 

It so totally shouldn't have.. usually Amanda rolls a crit defence at least once a round and didn't... she also didn't mess with any of this with her other fighters.  

Instead she's busied herself killing Enrik Ironhail and trying to kill Garodd Alensen (but luckily didn't!) 

In the next round Thundrik had charged onto an objective in No-One's Territory Sleek Charged Dead-Eye Lund and shot at Aphus the Brave (I think...?). Drakkskewer charged onto an objective deeper in enemy territory... and stabbed... SOMEONE with the Skypike... 

I don't really remember the exact order of things now... There was some shuffling around most of the Profiteers took shots at Aphus or Sleek. Sleek charged Lund.... 

The unrelenting hail of fire eventually took out Sleek and Aphus... 

Melisan and Garodd Alensen kept trying to kill each other

In the end Melisan Star-Sighted was the only Stormcast still alive at the end of the battle... 

I scored TWENTY Glory, somehow... like these guys just went off and I got stupid lucky and scored nearly my whole damned Objective deck?! This just happened to coincide with Amanda having a very unlucky day and not being able to score a SINGLE objective!? (This may have been due to frustration build up over the last few days and just not being able to read and understand the TOTALLY-NEW-TO-HER cards and figure out HOW to score them - which happens to me ALL THE TIME!?)

Amanda was feeling pretty disheartened after this game (and, the last few games) and was feeling like she had no idea what she was doing and was wondering if she should even go out to the tournament at all... 

I'm still thinking about what warband to bring... 

I've been thinking Thundrik's Profiteers all along, for the most part. Largely because I like the models and the idea of playing them in the tournament - because they'll be a bit of a surprise. As far as I know, no one around here even has a copy, other than me, and certainly no one I know has ever brought them out to play a game... 

On paper, stat-wise, especially uninspired, they are NOT GREAT!! 2 move, 2-3 wounds, one defence, all of them only deal ONE DAMAGE to start, except for Drakkskewer... BUT, with Rimelocked Relics, IF I happen to draw cards that work well together, AND they make successful attack actions (which, in theory, they SHOULD - because most are hitting with 2 Smash dice - 75% of the time they should score at least ONE success)... if all those things align, they can do pretty okay (as evidenced in the last two games I played...)... but I feel like any one of those things can easily go wrong - poor draw, miss a few dice rolls, things could go sideways REALLY FAST!?

I also like Skabbik's Plaguepack and Grinkrak's Looncourt - because they're fun and silly and I like the models. Grinkrak's feels a bit trickier to play, and with Skabbik's I get to make lots of jokes about farting and vomiting and noxious fumes and other bodily fluids... So probably leaning towards Skabbik out of those two... 

I also like the idea of Zondara's - i like the models, i LOVE the theme and the fact that the cards are built around that them and they're relatively easy to play and do pretty okay with.. 

I also like the idea of playing the Dread Pageant. They're an older warband, so their faction deck isn't awesome and they can be a bit tricksy to play too... a couple of bad rolls and the warband can be wiped out!?  

So... looking at our last seven practice games... 

1. Thundrik's Profiteers - WIN! - 20-1
2. Grinkrak's Looncourt - WIN! - 16-0
3. Dread Pageant - WIN! - 13-5
4. Skabbik's Plague Pack - WIN! - 15-9
5. Wurmspat - WIN! - 9-5
6. Thundrik's Profiteers vs Zondara's Gravebreakers - WIN! - 18-11
7. Zondara's Gravebreakers vs Da Kunnin Krew - LOSS - 6-11

Thudrick's Profiteers seems like the obvious choice. It's worked out against the few games I played against Amanda... Will it work out this weekend...? Well... No, I'm absolutely NOT expecting them to do that good on Sunday. But again... fun... surprise... 

From these last seven games, it kind of looks like I know what I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure my success was largely because in each of these games Amanda was trying out a completely new (to her) warband - or at least one that she was not very familiar with - OR was trying out a completely new Rivals deck which she had not looked at before playing... 

Looking at ALL THE OTHER one-on-one games over the last six month, though paints a less rosy picture for me.. 

Before this last series of seven games, I played 24 one-on-one games. I had 9 wins, 14 losses and 1 draw - with a point differential of -65!! (65 more points were scored against me than I scored in all those games...)

Even just looking at the games I played against Amanda, we'd played 9 games before this last set. Of those, I won 4 and lost 5 and the point differential was -13 - so when she won, she won by considerably more than I would... This last week has been a REALLY OFF WEEK for her!

Including this last series, we've played 16, one-on-one games together this year. I've now won 11 and she's won 7 and the point differential is now +42... which seems like a LOT... but that was just made up in the last three games, where she got frustrated by not knowing at all how to play the deck, and kind of gave up within the first two turns of the game... 

The plan is to play a few more game Friday and Saturday. I'll probably be practicing some more with Thundrik... and maybe Skabbik... 

For Amanda...? Maybe something like Magore's Fiends with Tooth and Claw...? Something simple like "GO HIT STUFF!"