WHU in other countries | shadespire.blog

Warhammer Underworlds in New Zealand

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Rob Zayin

It is time to take a look on how WHU is doing in ~~Middle-Earth~~ New Zealand. Bryn Jones shares his insights with us:

In which country/region/city are you mainly playing WHU?

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, you know the place they made the Lord of the Rings, (we’ll probably never let that one go). [Red.: Me neither!]

Do you have access to all warbands? How easy/fast can you obtain WHU supplies?

It’s a mixed bag that one… It’s very easy to buy all the different official Warhammer Underworlds products. We have two great GW stores in the immediate region, together with ‘Mighty Ape’ the NZ version of Amazon, if you don’t mind waiting a few days to get a 10-15% off the prices.

However… The prices in New Zealand are the most expensive in the world for GW products, and it does limit what people are necessarily able to spend, making what is a pretty affordable game in other parts of the world somewhat less accessible.

Is there a competitive scene? Who organises events: players, Games Workshops, Local Gaming Stores?

The local GW stores run leagues that usually last six weeks, usually timed with the release of the new war bands and the quarterly organised play kits. That’s about the limit of the scene currently competitively.

How many players attend these events and how often do they happen?

There are about ten active participants across both stores and it is usually a combined league for the region as both stores are within twenty minutes drive of each other.

If you should summarise your regional meta, how would you describe it?

The meta is pretty casual! People play what they enjoy and the whole thing is pretty small fry in the global scene. A couple of the players (including me) have jumped on the Profiteers, and we have had a few people playing Mollog’s Mob recently. The vast majority of the better performing decks are aggro based. There is very little defensive play; people just seem to like going at each other and chucking dice.

Is your regional community influenced by the “global” meta (e.g. by Grand Clashes in the UK, Europe, USA, etc. or perhaps from facebook groups)?

I imagine so, it is hard to know what other people do, but I certainly try and follow what is going on.

Is WHU growing or declining in your region?

Probably remaining about constant currently.

WHU: Online – Yes or no?

I would love to be able to use it to practice the game, or play against people online, but for me it will most likely be down to how they manage the release of universal cards. I expect to have to pay for each warband separately (after whatever is included in the base game) but I would rather not have to pay for all the warbands again to get access to all the universal cards – just to be able to replicate the decks I already play (unless of course the cost is small enough to be negligible).

I fully expect it will be done the same way as in the physical game though to drive sales, so at that point it will depend on price I guess.

Thank you, Bryn! I already heard shocking nightmare tales about the GW pricing in Australia and New Zealand. Glad you guys still manage to stay in the game and I hope to visit Wellington again in the future to join you for some roll-offs.

Thundrik’s Profiteers will go for the glass on June 29th. Read you then!

Warhammer Underworlds in USA / SoCal

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Rob Zayin

David Cutts send in his thoughts about the WHU-scene in SoCal, USA. From my perspective the community over there always looked thriving so I was really curious about the following answers.

In which country/region/city are you mainly playing WHU?

I play in Southern California, specifically the Inland Empire.

Do you have access to all warbands? How easy/fast can you obtain WHU supplies?

Yes we have access to all the warbands, and we get them as soon as they are released from all the local game stores.

Is there a competitive scene? Who organises events: players, Games Workshops, Local Gaming Stores?

There is a great scene, mostly organised by local game stores, but a few GW stores have held events. We have 4-6 tournaments a month.

How many players attend these events and how often do they happen?

It depends on the location and whether or not there is a store kit on the line, but we have seen from as few as 4 player to as many as 16 at a local event. We can get to 4-6 events a month if you are willing to drive 70 plus miles. This year we are having a “local” Grand Clash at The SoCal Open, October 26th and 27th. Come check it out!

If you should summarise your regional meta, how would you describe it?

We have got some great players who are looking creatively at the game and the meta. As a whole some of us took the game a little to seriously mid to late season one, and that may have driven a few players away, but we have self corrected, and shied away from crushing souls.

Is your regional community influenced by the “global” meta (e.g. by Grand Clashes in the UK, Europe, USA, etc. or perhaps from facebook groups)?

It is impossible not to be! We all read the Facebook pages and blogs and listen to podcasts.

Is WHU growing or declining in your region?

I fear we are entering a dark time, season three should kick start Warhammer Underworlds again.

WHU: Online – Yes or no?

F*** yeah.

Thank you, David! I hope season three will bring even more players to the SoCal WHU-community.

Upcoming on shadespire.blog: I am going for the glass with Thundrik’s Profiteers and throw some Contrast on my inspired leaders!

Warhammer Underworlds in China

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Rob Zayin

The next destination on our journey around the globe brings us to China! More specifically we are speaking with players in Southern Mainland China. Two nice fellows answered the questions which I hope to meet during my next stay in China: Alf and Laurent. Thank you, guys!

I combined their answers to the questions for a convenient read:

In which country/region/city are you mainly playing WHU?

Alf is from France but living in Shenzhen and plays WHU since it release in places all over China. Laurent is mainly playing in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

WHU kicked off with what we used to call the “shadies night” in a known bar once per week, it was a great excuse to get some beers and games going with friends, which ultimately started to spread.

Alf is also the creator of one of the biggest miniature painting groups in China and people were coming to visit Shenzhen and catch the virus, spreading it even further.

Do you have access to all warbands? How easy/fast can you obtain WHU supplies?

Yes of course, but it had ups and downs. In order to understand why, one must be familiar with things like taobao (added by red.: Chinese online sales platform). The continuous struggle with the customs, translation check ups in order to verify it doesn’t disturb the integrity of the party, or even simply if you are located in Shanghai/Shenzhen/Hong Kong due to the fact those cities own a GW store vs the rest of the territory.

Even something like Chinese New year had some terrible impact on the release pace of some warbands like Spiteclaw’s Swarm and the Chosen Axes.

At some point, GW also decided not to stock English products any longer, which ultimately led to a certain backlash from the community.
Now that it is solely produced in china, most problems got solved, and we can expect the products on release day, although in limited quantity still when it comes to English.

Direct orders from local gaming stores take 3-4 weeks leadtime.

Casual three player match of WHU at a local pub in China (picture by Alf)

Is there a competitive scene? Who organises events: players, Games Workshops, Local Gaming Stores?

There is indeed a competitive scene, mostly in Hong Kong and Shanghai, while Shenzhen is still far behind.
There’s very few LGS in China due to the fact it remains a very young hobby, it’s mainly organised by the different GW stores in those cities.

Laurent pointed out that some local clubs run their own events as well.

How many players attend these events and how often do they happen?

There were events with 20 players, yet some others with only 4. It’s a bit difficult to quantify since China is so big.
On average there are two or three events per store yearly. In some place they run tournaments once per quarter.

If you should summarise your regional meta, how would you describe it?

Alf points out that mainly the games in China are friendly. In Shenzhen they do not play it so much anymore sadly. Having personal issues made it hard for me to keep the interest going, “shadies nights” (now called the “undies nights”) kind of died end of 2018. Our local GW tried to keep people motivated, but it turns out to be too competitive, and loses the friendly and chill set up.

Laurent describes the meta as mixed with everything included from very casual to competitive. There really is a large range of ages and skills.

Another casual WHU play at the pub in China (picture by Alf)

Is your regional community influenced by the “global” meta (e.g. by Grand Clashes in the UK, Europe, USA, etc. or perhaps from facebook groups)?

Many people tried to copy paste some decks found on internet; without a clue on how to play them. Most of the time it didn’t go well against the more experienced players we have around. Other than that, there’s a lot of experimenting. Competition should not exclude the fun!

Is WHU growing or declining in your region?

A bit of both. There is renewed interest to finally just crumble back down as everyone is busy with their own lives. It is truly up to people to get organised. On the large scale it could be described as growing Laurent added.

WHU: Online – Yes or no?

Both Alf and Laurent agree on “Yes!”. TTS was already a great way to remotely play, but an official game is even better. Alf’s main contern is that the game might be cluttered in over-priced DLC.

I have been writing with Alf on WeChat (In a nutshell a Chinese version of WhatsApp – please don’t beat me to it) for a while and he mentioned that there are two groups of communities in China: the international one and the Chinese one which is much bigger. Oddly both worlds rarely mix together due to the language barrier.

I hope to get some insights from the Chinese community in the future as well!

That’s it from China (for now!). Thank you both for taking your time to get through these questions. Next up: USA (South California)

Warhammer Underworlds in Canada

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Rob Zayin

We are kicking off the new series of short articles about “WHU around the world” with a spotlight on Canada. Today’s guest author is Carl Hubes from Toronto, Ontario.

In which country/region/city are you mainly playing WHU?

I am based in Southern Ontario (mainly playing in Toronto).

Do you have access to all warbands? How easy/fast can you obtain WHU supplies?

It is fairly easy to obtain the warbands. A fair number of players have all the warbands. All of the stores carry Nightvault.

Is there a competitive scene? Who organises events: players, Games Workshops, Local Gaming Stores?

There is a healthy competitive scene that is organised by both players and GW stores.

How many players attend these events and how often do they happen?

The events are highly variable in player numbers. There are a few dedicated players who attend most of the tournaments and others who attend tournaments that are closer in geography to them.

Largest tournament I’ve attended in Southern Ontario had 21, but most tournaments are held with 8-12 players. When a new Organized Play kit is released there’s a tournament almost each week for a month or two then it becomes one tournament per month till the release of the next kit.

If you should summarise your regional meta, how would you describe it?

The meta is highly competitive. Players take warbands that are known to have higher win percentages. All players have a desire to win and thus put together competitive decks. We’ve also had players who have placed in the top three during Grand Clashes come to play at our local tournaments and have had a tough run.

Is your regional community influenced by the “global” meta (e.g. by Grand Clashes in the UK, Europe, USA, etc. or perhaps from facebook groups)?

Yes, I personally see many Grand Clash decks in my local meta as well as experimental decks that have been theorycrafted by local players (e.g. Godsworn Katophrane).

Is WHU growing or declining in your region?

The number of players was the highest with the release of Season 1 and dwindled until the release of Season 2. There aren’t as many players as the start but the ones who play are highly dedicated to the game.

WHU: Online – Yes or no?

Definitely yes in regards to WHU online. There are players who play WHU on tabletop simulator to practice and perfect decks.

Thank you Carl and all the players from Canada for these insights!
Up next is the article from our friends in China.

Warhammer Underworlds around the world

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Rob Zayin

Shadespire.Blog will launch a series of guest articles written by fellow players from around the world. All of them will answer the same set of questions giving us insights into the local meta and competitive scene in their region.

These are the questions:

In which country/region/city are you mainly playing WHU?
Do you have access to all warbands? How easy/fast can you obtain WHU supplies?
Is there a competitive scene? Who organises events: players, Games Workshops, Local Gaming Stores?
How many players attend these events and how often do they happen?
If you should summarise your regional meta, how would you describe it?
Is your regional community influenced by the “global” meta (e.g. by Grand Clashes in the UK, Europe, USA, etc. or perhaps from facebook groups)?
Is WHU growing or declining in your region?
WHU: Online – Yes or no?

If you would like to write a guest article about your region, drop me an email to rob@shadespire.blog
Would be great to add some pictures which can be published along with the article (no faces of other people though – you must hold the right to publish the picture).

Looking forward to seeing how WHU is played elsewhere!