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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!

Eyes of the Nine Tournament Win – Decklist and Strategy

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Rob Zayin

I was back at the Battlezone Dubai (they run WHU evenings every Tuesday now) for another tournament. Since the last event I worked on an Eyes of the Nine deck. I changed it every single day without even playing it once.

Eventually I came up with this decklist. It main purpose is gathering base glory (check Tony’s article on “base glory” in case you missed out) while shooting with Vortemis and the Blue Horror. Since both do not deal lots of damage most of my gambit cards will deal additional damage.

This article contains both the decklist as well as a shortened tournament report.

The objectives

Easy to score: Well-Guarded, Keep them Guessing, Change of Tactics, Calculated Risk, Eyes of the Master

All these objectives can be accomplished without rolling dice (or at least it does not matter if your rolls succeed or not). Keep them Guessing is easy to score with The Eyes of Nine escpecially when the Blue Horror has not been summoned yet. Well-Guarded is attractive as I would try to place Vortemis and K’charik adjacent to each other due to their inspiring condition. Eyes of the Master turned out to be less easy to score, but mainly because I always had better ones to score. I would still keep it in my deck.

Holding objectives: Supremacy, Our Only Way Out, Bind the City

The Blue Horror is actually one of the best characters in game to hold objectives. Why? You spawn him anywhere so he can even reach the other edge of the board. When he is on an objective and someone tries to hit him down this is what usually happens: it dies and you turn around the card to spawn the Brimstone Horrors. The great thing: they will not be not pushed, which means the objective is still being held.

Reason enough for me to put the three high scoring objectives into my deck (and it worked just fine).

Shooty objectives: Master of Magic, Rising Inferno, Death from Afar, Sorcerous Scouring

I figured if I made attacks in the games to come it would mainly be spells cast by Vortemis or fireballs shot by the Blue Horror. Turned out these are really easy to score! I kept away from the objectives which require four or more successful spells per round though.

Gambits

Did someone say “one damage”?: Reflected Injury, Shardgale, Trap, Abasoth’s Withering, Encroaching Shadow, Pit Trap, Sphere of Aqshy, Stand and Shoot

These are a lot of cards which spit out single damage points. Keep reading to see how a single wound attack killed a full-grown Stormcast Eternal.

The other two: Transfixing Stare, Haymaker

Haymaker is simply wonderful especially when used with the last activation. As it does not specify “attack-dice” it can be used with Vortemis as well. Transfixing Stare is a good counter if most of your warbands can attack from range 2. I only used it once in my games though and might replace it with another damage dealing spell.

Upgrades

Staying alive: Acrobatic, Deathly Fortitude, Champion’s Fortitude, Sudden Growth

I used two restricted slots to make sure Vortemis and the Blue Horror pull through all three rounds. Acrobatic and Champion’s Fortitude would support this task.

Giving +2 health to the Blue Horror creates a mollogesque 7 wounds monster (as both sides of its card get +2 wounds). I did not dare to give him +4…

We need more damage: Empowered Sorcery, Gloryseeker, Blessing of Argentine, Archer’s Focus, Well of Power

While Empowered Sorcery and Gloryseeker add one damage to your damage dealt, Archer’s Focus and Well of Power make sure you hit in the first place.

Blessing of Argentine is a wonderful card and one of my favourites in Nightvault in general. It might look useless against characters using ranged weapons, but that is not 100% true. If you charge them first and stay adjacent they can a) attack you and take the damage, b) do not attack you or c) move away before attacking. Which makes the blessing a strong card for board controll. This especially works fine with cards like Shardgale, Reflected Injury, Encroaching Shadow, etc. Against characters with range 1 this card is bonkers.

You might ignore a model with Argentine’s Blessing, but not if it is the one holding the only objective in your range which will score the opponent objectives like Supremacy.

For the LOLs: Duellist’s Speed

Well… I understand that this card is not considered strong by many players. But given the fact that 4 out of 5 characted in Eyes of the Nine have a range 3 attack and many warbands in WHU have characters with movement 3 (or even below), this card gives you the possibility to shoot and move out of range. Or shoot and move into range for the next target (I used both ways during the tournament).

Apart of that it is a lovely combination with Stand and Shoot (David Hayes called it “Poor man’s Quick Thinker“! I liked the idea a lot and had to steal it!). I had a dream about combining Haymaker with Stand and Shoot and Duellist’s Speed. Never happened though.

Running the Deck

To summarise the weekend tournament: my deck left without a loss thanks to the many damage dropping gambits.

My board choice was Forbidden Chambers and I placed Vortemis adjacent to two other fighters. He has a great threat range to attack if required (4 movement + 3 range) and from there it is almost impossible to escape him. On the other side he can not be easily charged by multiple characters. That being said: if you are up against Mollog or other aggro warbands you might take him to the back of your board.

I used to drop Shardgale as early as possible before summoning the Blue Horror deep in opponent’s territory and holding one of the objectives there.

During the first match I encountered Skaven and Shardgale worked like a blessing against them. Each gambit card used resulted in a kill and a glory to a point I felt bad about what was going on.

3D boards for Warhammer Underworlds with Eyes of the Nine & Spiteclaw's Swarm

Eyes of the Nine fight Spiteclaw’s Swarm

In the final I was up against defensive Stormcast Eternals and it turns out the deck copes with defensive play quite well. I closed the second round with a combination of Shardgale, Reflected Injury, a three crits ranged attack by Senior Le Bleu for one damage and Encroaching Shadow killing Brightshield in full health. For the record: It was the first time I rolled 3/3 crits.

It was a wonderful afternoon at the Battlezone and I look forward to the next tournament and Tuesday’s WHU nights. Not sure yet which warband I will take up now, but I might choose something with beards. Stay tuned!

Blue Horror holding objetive against Spiteclaw's Swarm

Blue Horror vs Skritch Spiteclaw in WHU

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.

Forbidden Chambers Board Pack for WHU (Nightvault)

Forbidden Chambers Board Pack – Part II

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Rob Zayin

A few days ago I published part one of the Forbidden Chambers Board Pack review. No it is time to turn the board and take a look at the other side of the board pack.

Board with adjacent starting hexes for Warhammer Underworlds — Forbidden Chambers Board with three adjacent starting hexes

How to use this board?

From my personal perspective there is exactly one strong point about this board: 3 adjacent starting hexes.

Until end of season 2 (Nightvault) several warbands have been released which benefit from placing multiple characters adjacent to each other.

These are mainly:

Zarbag’s Gitz
Stormsire’s Cursebreakers
Steelheart’s Champions
Farstriders
The Eyes of the Nine

Three gits can move at the same time when placed on the three adjacent starting hexes. All sigmarine warbands can be played in a turtle formation and score easy passive objectives. Starting adjacent to each other might save them activations or ploys. K’charik from the Eyes of the Nine would only inspire if an adjacent mage successfully casts a spell. Starting adjacent is a given for this warband. As Vortemis needs to be protected placing Turosh or Narvia next to him is no bad deal.

Let us check some simple examples on how the good old Sigmarines synergise with this board.

There are three objectives which can only be used if the condition is met that three fighters / all remaining fighters stand adjacent to each other. Obviously hese are best to be used with the Sigmarines.

Unbroken Wall
Well-Guarded
United

They are more or less triggered by the same condition as long as your warband consists of three fighters. While all of them only provide one glory they can be combined with other objectives such as

Perfect Planning
Hold What We Have

You will be rewarded for not spending activations on movement enabling you to draw cards, cast spells or shoot from afar instead. There are also ploys supporting the Stormcasts while being placed adjacent to each other.

Sigmarite Wall
On Your Feet

This is only one example on how to make use of the board. Other warbands can draw profit from this opening as well. Playing Skaven? Place Skritch in between two fellow skaven for a free charge with Momentary Boldness.

Which synergies do you see or use with this board?

Next time I am back with my Eyes of the Nine decklist. Read you soon!

Forbidden Chambers Board Pack – Part I

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Rob Zayin

Today I am taking a quick look at the Forbidden Chambers Board Pack released by GW in Spring 2019. Both sides of this board pack have interesting features.

This first article focuses on the side with the three lethal hexes. Let me take a brief moment to appreciate the fabulous work of Terres D’Exil who designed the customised 3D version for shadespire.blog (as seen in the featured image). Thank you, Vincent!

Forbidden Chambers Board with three lethal hexes. — Forbidden Chambers Board with three lethal hexes

How to use this board?

This board is very strong when you win the roll for board placement and be allowed to rotate boards. If you have to place first your opponent could ruin your match by forcing you into bad starting positions. I believe there are better options for the first placement.

If you won the role-off however there are two extremely powerful ways of placing this board.

Aggressively
As we have three starting hexes on one of the long edges you could decide to place this long edge adjacent to the opponent’s board (see picture below) not leaving a spot to hide for your opponent. This board is the only one with three starting hexes on one board edge!
Defensively
Rotate the board 180° compared to the aggressive placement so the three starting hexes are as far away from your opponent. Then shove the two board until only three connecting hexes are left next to the lethal hexes. I am calling this placement “The Gandalf”.

It is obviously less defensive than connecting the short edges, but it leaves only a small corridor for your opponent which can be blocked easily and now and then will allow you to push ~~the balrog~~ characters into the lethal hexes.

I would recommend this placement for warbands with a mix of strong characters who want to get into a brawl midgame and weaker characters who need to stay back and be saved (e.g. to hold objectives). Good examples would be Spiteclaw’s Swarm or Eyes of the Nine. Imagine a Blue Horror with a grey beard screaming at Mollog “You shall not pass!”.

That’s it for now. Part II will examine the other side of the board pack. Stay tuned for the next article!

WHU: Online – Ask the Developer

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Rob Zayin

A few days ago a bomb was dropped on our community. Steel Sky Productions is developing a digital port of our beloved Warhammer Underworlds and a playable demo will be available at Warhammer Fest 2019.

The feedback of players so far was mainly positive and most of us look forward to spending even more time with WHU in the near future. However we also fail to get rid of some fears swinging along with Warhammer Underworlds: Online.

Will it kill the miniature game on the run while players focus on the digital version? Can we do four player matches online? How is this single player mode going to happen?

So many questions circling in my head right now – and I had to get them out. So I contacted Steel Sky Productions and was allowed to send in questions for an interview (Thank you!).

Now this is your chance to ask the questions puzzling you about WHU: Online.

The poll will be open for one day only, so be quick!

Thorns of the Briar Queen won a Shadeglass trophy in Dubai

Dubai Spring Tournament – Thorns of the Briar Queen

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Rob Zayin

In my last article I gave insights into my Hold Objectives/ Controll deck for my Thorns of the Briar Queen. At the Dubai Spring Tournament (Battlezone Dubai) it successfully brought in my next Shadeglass Trophy.

Beef #1: Thorns of the Briar Queen VS Ironskull’s Boyz

I played against Terry’s well painted Orruks – a match-up which I have quite a lot of experience with. We played two rounds in which both I was able to do the board placement. My best chance for this (but the most frustrating for an Orruk player) was playing long corridor.

As it was the first round of the tournament Terry was not aware what kind of evil witchcraft my Queen was going to pull out of the hat and he placed the objectives as far behind as possible (one on the edge hex). I withdrew my whole gang to my edge of the board first using Varclav’s super power. He and his queen were placed on my edge in the beginning. End of turn one I made the hyper jump with my Queen by using Hidden Paths and pushed one of my minios onto the objective token in reach of Terry’s Boyz.

Thorns of the Briar Queen VS Ironskull’s Boyz – Objectives secured!

I do not clearly remember which objectives I scored, but it led me to 6 glory end of turn one. Terry had to decide splitting up his gang and attacking both flanks or focusing on my territory while ignoring the Queen holding an objective. To make her harder to ignore she was given the Tome of Glories. Terry decided to kill the Queen who resisted quite a long time before going down. She played her role well and allowed me to score objectives inside my territory leading to a victory in round 1.

I felt bad for Terry when I decided to use the same board placement as if things went not horribly wrong round 2 would go towards the same direction.

Thorns of the Briar Queen VS Ironskull’s Boyz – Sleepy ghosts

Indeed the second round went to my favour. After scoring four glory in turn one I decided to play it save and hide in my corner farming upgrades to score big in turn 3. Eventually the plan worked out and I won the best of three 2:0 with a glory difference of +22.

Terry showed good sportsmanship and I promise not to come back next time with a similar deck.

Beef #2: Thorns of the Briar Queen VS The Eyes of the Nine

Playing top-table against Tzeentch’s advocates was going to be tough for me. They have high range, they can summon an unkillable horror right next to me and they are unpredictable. On top of that Saeed was able to overcome Magore’s Fiends in his first match – spooky!

I got a good start being allowed to decide the board placement and once more I went with corridor. I had to delay jumping to Saeed’s territory as he would have wiped the ground with me easily. Drawing a Mulligan left me with some easy to score objectives: Well-Guarded, Keep them Guessing and Tactical Supremacy 3-4 which were placed on my board. I was able to score all of them as Saeed summoned the blue horror in range of my minions. Oh boy this small guy is a pain! I know it is better ignoring him, but once Saeed equipped him with Tome of Diseases and threw Shardgale into the ring I was too scared to leave him alone. I attacked him and wasted an unreasonable amount of ploys to silence him (he still killed one or two of my ghosts). However thanks to the strong start I was able to win round 1 by +5 glory. I was saved by the upgrades Inescapable Vengeance and Faneway Crystal which brought me some extra glory in round 3 along with the suitable keys.
The second match I got to place three objective tokens, but had to say good-bye to the corridor. Until round 3 I was only able to score 4 glory and lost the Ever-Hanged plus three other Chainrasps. These 4 glory though I kept for the last round to equip the Faneway Crystal and provide a key or two (spoiler: I did not draw the right keys). Apart from Faneway Crystal I had Transfixing Gaze, Baffling Illusion and Sudden Appearance in hand.

The objectives I held could net me 7 glory: Supremacy, Making a Statement and Take the City. Saeed hat two objectives tokens on his board and I had the right cards to jump there within two turns.

My plan was clear, but chances pulling off the following were low to say the least:

Varclav was wounded and could be killed with a single blow, so I put him on guard.
I had to use Transfixing Gaze on K’charik who was in range of both a) the place where my Queen would disappear to as well as b) my chainrasp who would be holding an objective on my territory.
Baffling Illusion would deny one turn of successful charging
I hoped he would go for my Chainrasp who was the easiest kill. Even if he killed him I still had 4 more glory from Making a Statement and Take the City which might be enough to still win.
My Queen will escape and make a Sudden Appearance out of reach and move onto an objective in Saeed’s territory.
Varclav will use the allmighty Faneway Crystal to jump straight onto the second objective in Saeed’s territory.

Unfortunately Saeed switched to attacking Varclav once he held the objective in this territory, but I was able to win all rolls thanks to his guard token. I was struck by surprise when I finally scored all 7 glory while denying Saeed’s objectives.

End of round 3 victory was mine with 2:0 and +11 glory difference. Both Saeed and I could not believe what just happened. Sorry for stealing that win!

Beef #3: Thorns of the Briar Queen VS Stormcast Eternals

At that point only Byron’s Stormcast Eternals and my Nighthaunt stood undefeated. Due to personal reasons Byron had to concede this match (I think and hope it was not because I am horrible person!). I am leaving this event with a feeling of unfinished business, but I think somehow my ghosties deserved their Shadeglass.

It was a lovely day at the Battlezone and even though our community here in Dubai is still small it is a big pleasure meeting them and discussing WHU in our WhatsApp-group.

As my Nighthaunt will be sent into retirement with immediate effect The Eyes of the Nine are ready for the next tournament. Stay tuned for my next decklist!

Make Holding Objectives great again!

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Rob Zayin

Last weekend I participated in Dubai’s WHU Spring tournament taking place at my new home LGS “Battlezone Dubai”. I worked on my Thorns of the Briar Queen deck and thought about how to adjust it to the current meta and the fact that I am able to complete a full Bo3 game without rolling a single crit.

Eventually I came up with this deck.

The main strategy is not being attacked by your enemy while trying to sneak onto objectives through movement shenanigan ploys at the end of each action phase. Apart of that I included five objectives which are easy to score and only need very little interaction with your opponent.

As in round 2 or 3 the opponent will be after you anyhow I included some ploys which allow you to hyper jump onto the other edge of the board. Let’s take a look at the deck.

The objectives

Easy to score: Escalation, Perfect Planning, Well-Guarded, Fired Up, Keep them Guessing

Perfect planning works smoothly with the nighthaunt as Varclav’s ability gives you mobility without movement. Well-Guarded is easy to score especially in early game as there are simply so many minions hanging around which can be pushed adjacent to the Queen with a single action or ploy. Fired up can be scored with a ploy at the end of your opponent’s activation without putting your character’s in too much danger.

Holding objectives: Supremacy, Our Only Way Out, Making a Statment, Take the City, Tactical Supremacy 1-2, 1-4, 3-4

Not going into the classics here which are a must-have in this deck, but we should take a look at Making a Statement and Take the City.
Making a Statement looks pretty hard to score as you need to invade enemy territory. That is true, but you will see that we have included some cards which let you escape to the other board edge making it easy to even move three characters over there in the last turn. Importat to remember: If you see that your opponent is placing all objective tokens into No-Man’s territory place one of yours to the far end edge of their territory. In that case you can simply rob the three glory whenever you draw that card.
Take the City is a bad card. Yes, it sucks. However in our deck it has its spot and can add a simple +1 while going for your main objectives.

Gambits

A gambit a day keeps the Mollog away: Invisible Walls, Baffling Illusion, Transfixing Stare, Howling Vortex

Transfixing Stare can win you a match if played well. Frozen in Time is a viable alternative, but again I do not want to rely on dice rolls. Invisible Walls and Baffling Illusion work nice to bring your minions to the safety zone if you need more than one actication to do so. Howling Vortex feels quite broken if you are able to pull it off. Pushing all of your opponent’s models one field is like a horrible version of Great Concussion (do you still remember that card? Back then when we were young…) as you can even push them towards No-Man’s territory from any direction.

Bazinga! Hidden Paths, Illusory Fighter, Quick Advance, Drifting Advance, Sudden Appearance, Earthquake

Hidden Paths and Sudden Appearance will do the trick if you need to switch boards. While Illusionary Fighter only lets you jump close to No-Man’s Sudden Appearance will take you to any starting hex on both boards. Drifting Advance requires you to get closer to your opponent which we actually do not want. However if you use it after the last activation to sneak onto objective tokens it is as good as Varclav’s super hero power. I usually use Earthquake to counter Earthquake and/or pushing the opponent off objective tokens (ideally while going onto it myself).

Upgrades

More Bazinga! Shardcaller, Inescapable Vengeance, Faneway Crystal

With Faneway Crystal and Inescapable Vengeance we add two more options to our deck jumpin to where no sun is shining. The beauty of the Faneway Crystal allows us to directly move onto an objective token. With Inescapable Vengeance you need to push your queen at least one more hex. Shardcaller is a nice card, but I tend to forget I equiped it until I realise “Hell, it could have scored me two glory!”.

The Key to Success is Keys: The Blazing, Dazzling, Formless, Fractured, Hallowed & Shadowed Key, Tome of Glories

These will bring in what it takes to crush your opponent end of round 3 even if you were far behind. Obviously try to either equip these at late as possible or use one of them as Red Herring to redirect your opponent towards a worthless minion in a lonely irrelevant corner of the board.

How to…

Place the boards adjacent on the short edges if you win the roll. This way you can split up your team 4:3 on both boards leaving the opponent with three viable targets or the option to split up their warband as well.

If you lost the board placement roll: no problem! You have three objective tokens to place in that case. Make sure you have at least two objectives in hand which you can score round one otherwise you will be screwed.

Should you intend to attack back: go for the Ever-Hanged (Cleave) and your Queen who are already strong without any upgrades. Just make sure to get them inspired before attacking. You will need Varclav for his special power – do not lose him!

Read my upcoming battle report to see how my spooky squad managed this new deck!