Sunday 16 February 2020

STOP ! In the name of... Nurgle ??

Before you break my heart...

Last time I posted here was a full year ago. It is full of dust, and mainly speak about Warmachine & Hordes, but now my main game is Underworlds, and it is my blog, so yeah... who knows what's coming next ! Not me.

I decided to take the mic of right today to defend the poor little cutey Wurmspats. That warband seems to throw a huge gooey curveball to a lot of players, and get labelled terribly for it. Now full disclaimer, I am not a Pro-Player. My secret tech in tournaments is usually to stay hydrated and well nourish. My only Shadeglass is from a Relic event that I did last December with Sepulchral Guard and Thundrik Profiteers (I know, weird one that was). My meta may not be the most hardcore (but we sure keep trying).

First, the decklist that I am currently using with them:

Objectives:
Strong Start
Overpower
Unexpected Pitfall
Seeping Rot
Sorcerous Volley
Swift Capture
Team Effort
Path to Victory
Chosen Warrior
Nurgle's Garden Grows
Uncontested
Coveted Spoils

Gambits:
Steady Advance
Restless Prize
Nightmare in the Shadows
Abasoth's Unmaking
Invert Terrain
Side Step
Grievous Riposte
Nauseous Revulsion
Sphere of Aqshy
Buried Instinct

Upgrades:
Tome of Vitality
Substance Siphon
Hulking Physique
Champion Fortitude
Great Fortitude
Faneway Crystal
Virulent Blade
Spiteful Charm
Mandibles of the Ur-Grub
Victor's Speed

It is always evolving, but I tried to make it better every time. You may notice a lot of cards that you don't see often. I don't fellow which are the "best cardz", simply because it is all relative to what you want to achieve. This deck is let you sit back and take your time. Pick your target carefully, try to inspire as soon as you can without overreaching.

You want to cancel the objective markers in your opponent territory with your gambits. The deck itself only ever requires you to hold two of them, and usually, you just need to get rid of one to stop all the Supremacy and Temporary Victory shenanigans. Once that's done, your opponent will have to come to you for the objectives, so you start to pick him apart. And actually, only three objectives require you to do a kill (and the Path to Victory kill can be shared with a Surge), so here again, not a lot of pressure to get those kills in. The other gambits are there to help you inspire. Grievous Riposte is a bold choice but can turn a game on its head, and as a Reaction can stop a few nasty things like the Snarlfang. From there, the upgrades tank up the warband. 3 cards add Wound and 1 heal. Substance Siphon may look like a strange choice, but it is very good on Fecula, or actually, anybody if your opponent runs a lot of Cleave. Remember that this does not stop their ability to diminish damage, so instead of 1 dice, Fecula can get 3 of them, which is huge, and nothing stops you from going on Guard. Spiteful Charm is also a little funny addition to deter the opponent from attacking. I will not go in detail about the choice for every card but will answer any questions.

So far I had a good run with this deck, and while you don't rack a lot of glories, your opponent will have a hard time getting any.

Let me know what you think, and also if it is something you would like me to do more often (blog post and decklist analysis, that is).

Season 3 Uneducated Guess

(I wrote this 1 year ago, but it is funny to see how much of these came true.)

Good day ladies and gentlemen,

Now thy season 2 is officially completed, it is my belief that season 3 shall come rather sooner then lather. Now this sentence may or may not make much sense, but really who I am to contradict meself ? Exactly. For full disclaimer, I have no real idea what Games-Workshop reserves us for Warhammer Underworlds Season 3 (I mean, sure, there will probably be a starter set...), but based upon my 13 years of gaming with GW and my limited knowledge of Age of Sigmar, I will attempt the unspeakable and try to guess the 8 Mighty Warbands that would compose Season 3, with why I believe they will be there.

Note that this is not a Wishlist and it is only based on cold, hard, unproven assumptions.

Starter Set:
Maggotkin of Nurgle vs Good Guyz

Surprise ! For the Season 3, GW will not go with Stormcast Eternal. Why ? Because GW regularly thrown curveball and the last 2 seasons had Stormcast in the starter. Now wihy these two, you ask ? Let me explain.

Maggotkin of Nurgle:
They would be a 3 Fighters warband. Maggotkin are basically the straight opposite of the Steelheart's Champions. They would fill the same role in the box as the low number, resilient, individually powerful warband, but their personnel objectives and such will be different.

Good Guyz:
That one sound weird, but usually if one side are the "bad guys" (and no, whatever are your personnel believes, 3 half-decay chaos warriors are not the "good guyz"), they other side must be the "Good Guyz", because that's usually what sell. Good vs Bad, so people can root for their warband and it is easy and clear to see their motivation. Now you will notice that I did not call them Stormcast Eternal, because I think GW will go with something completely new here: they will resurface some old Warhammer Fantasy stuff and have a Warband of between 5 and 7 humans that are not Stormcast. That will serve them to also hype the AoS community for an upcoming new faction.

Stormcast Eternal:
Did anyone believed we would escape that one ? There is already a Liberators, Sequitors, Evocators and Vanguard-Hunters, but that still leave a lot of options, sadly (did I said it at loud ? Oups...). If I had to point at the next kind, it would be Prosecutors. There are very different from the others already available option and could be very fast with a lot of options, like 1 with a javelin, 1 with celestial hammer and maybe 1 knight-venator style, with a bow. Of course it is a 3 men warband, because they are Stormcast Eternal.

Skaven Skryre Warband:
1 crazy engineer for leader and either 3 crazy contraptions like a Doom-Flayer, a Warp-Grinder and a Skryre Acolyte or 1 stormfiend and 2 little rats. Since the were release in a dual set lately, I think they would make a coming into Underworlds, just like the Gitz preceeded the Gloomspite or the Thorns followed the Nighthaunt.

Flesh-Eater Court:
People have been wanting a vampire warband for long now, and this will be it with a twist. A vampire will lead this with a bunch of ghouls, just about like the Thorns, but a bit different. Probably a horde warband too.

Beasts of Chaos:
Horde warband lead by a Bray-Shaman, with probably 1 Bestigor and mix of Gors and Ungors. To make a wholesome season, they will need another Horde Warband, and without going with is already out, the Beasts of Chaos are one of the best options to fill this niche.

Daughters of Khaine:
The Aelves are under represented right now, and these girls have a clear style. Will there be 4, 5 or 6 of them, who knows ! But they could make a sweet warband with multiple option ! Maybe a Sorceress, maybe a Melusai, maybe something else !

Ogors:
Now I would like to say it will be 3 Maneaters because they are so cool, but I think it will be something "à la Mollog". Maybe a Butcher with a few grots, or a Hunter with a few kitten. This Warband will be an odd ball, to confuse the meta.

You might notice something here: almost everything is already in AoS. And this is the way it will be, I can assure you. When transitioning from Fantasy to AoS, GW changed the name of just about anything to have the right to put a Trademark on it. Do I personally believe that calling Dwarves "Duardins" is bollocks just to own the name and right of the models: maybe, but that doesn't invalid the fact it is their "modus operandi". That is also a big thing moving forward. All their new models were part of those new groups over which they have total legal control and can actually take legal action against third-party manufacturers to protect their brand. This is why I did not include Seraphon, nor the Dispossessed or Free Guild. The Ogors make the cut because of the Beastriders.