Another post, another review.
The other game me and Jeremy played in our breaking of quarantine was Warhammer Underworlds, a game I've been watching but hesitant because it's made by none other than Games Workshop.
Now anyone who knows me, or knows someone who has ever spoken to me about tabletop gaming, knows I'm not the biggest GW fan in the world, and that I pretty routinely point to Warhammer 40K as an example of "how not to make a game." But, even I am willing to give them a chance and don't think they're an entirely lost cause.
So once again Jeremy has a ton of stuff, and all the models were painted by him.
Just a quick note, I won't be making direct comparisons to Godtear here, despite them being fairly direct competition. There will be an upcoming post with comparisons between the two.
The other game me and Jeremy played in our breaking of quarantine was Warhammer Underworlds, a game I've been watching but hesitant because it's made by none other than Games Workshop.
Now anyone who knows me, or knows someone who has ever spoken to me about tabletop gaming, knows I'm not the biggest GW fan in the world, and that I pretty routinely point to Warhammer 40K as an example of "how not to make a game." But, even I am willing to give them a chance and don't think they're an entirely lost cause.
So once again Jeremy has a ton of stuff, and all the models were painted by him.
Just a quick note, I won't be making direct comparisons to Godtear here, despite them being fairly direct competition. There will be an upcoming post with comparisons between the two.
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| Garrak's Reavers, one of the first warbands in the game. |
To start each player needs to choose a warband of predetermined models, of which there are currently 24 available covering a variety of factions from the Age of Sigmar setting. Not every faction is represented yet, but a decent number of choices exist. I'm not super keen on the warbands being predetermined because it means we saw a lot of Sigmarines, er Stormcast, real early and there are four of those in the game currently.
Each fighter has a stat card which has two sides, the normal side and the fighter's inspired side. Different warbands have different requirements to inspire fighters, and once they are they usually hit harder and gain extra abilities in combat. Below you can see both sides of the card of Garrek (and yes someone got paid legal tender to come up with the name "Gorebeard" and I'm utterly disgusted).
Each fighter has a stat card which has two sides, the normal side and the fighter's inspired side. Different warbands have different requirements to inspire fighters, and once they are they usually hit harder and gain extra abilities in combat. Below you can see both sides of the card of Garrek (and yes someone got paid legal tender to come up with the name "Gorebeard" and I'm utterly disgusted).
Instead of switching models around to change up ones play style and strategy in a game, players instead change up their decks of cards. Each player has two decks they work with during a game: an objective deck (how one scores glory points) and a power deck which contains cards you can play to give fighters a temporary boost or upgrade them permanently. And this is something that I'm not entirely sold on. It's a neat idea, and it does add some variety to the game, but I'd really rather just swap out models to change my strategy. n top of that it becomes a case of "buy this box of models you might not want to get a couple of cards that are really good" and that's never a good thing to me. Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is from an outsider perspective, but a lot of the more useful generic cards only come in the starter sets, so if those don't have warbands you care about then they aren't really a good investment. It also means that swapping things around requires a fair bit of faffing about, and god help you if you share cards between decks for multiple warbands.
Okay, on to actual gameplay. I will say right up front, I found the gameplay to be quite good. I went in expecting the usual GW fare: IGOUGO and clunky ass phase system. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it does neither of those things, so good on ya GW for having game design from the 21st century!
Each turn both players get four activation tokens, and when they choose to do something with a model they have to spend one of those tokens. So, moving a model will cost an activation, attacking another, you can do charges to move and attack with a single activation at the cost of not being able to do anything else with that fighter during that turn. This is a really nice mechanic because it forces players to think their turns through. If you have a warband with six models not all of them will go each turn, so you need to make sure you use those activations wisely. If you have a warband with only three models you also need to plan out how to use those activations because you can have a model activate twice, but things like moving can only be done once in a turn. It adds a surprising layer to tactical depth that I wasn't expecting.
Okay, on to actual gameplay. I will say right up front, I found the gameplay to be quite good. I went in expecting the usual GW fare: IGOUGO and clunky ass phase system. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it does neither of those things, so good on ya GW for having game design from the 21st century!
Each turn both players get four activation tokens, and when they choose to do something with a model they have to spend one of those tokens. So, moving a model will cost an activation, attacking another, you can do charges to move and attack with a single activation at the cost of not being able to do anything else with that fighter during that turn. This is a really nice mechanic because it forces players to think their turns through. If you have a warband with six models not all of them will go each turn, so you need to make sure you use those activations wisely. If you have a warband with only three models you also need to plan out how to use those activations because you can have a model activate twice, but things like moving can only be done once in a turn. It adds a surprising layer to tactical depth that I wasn't expecting.
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| A player board showing decks, activation tokens and glory points. |
Combat is fairly smooth and easily handled, and I am so glad it isn't a clunky mess of comparing stats on a table. Fighters have attacks listed on their cards showing the range in hexes, how many attack dice they roll, what symbol they need on the dice to succeed and how much damage the attack does. It's all fairly self contained and easy to follow.
Each model also has a defense stat, showing how many defense dice they roll (for there are three different dice when you factor in magic dice, but we didn't have any experience with that between the warbands we ran) and what symbol they need.
Combat is quick, which makes the game go by without feeling like it's dragging. There's nothing terribly complex, although the support rules seem a little muddled or poorly worded. They remind me of the blocking rules from Blood Bowl, which are the one part of the rules of that game which I really don't like because it always seems to muddle things. It's entirely possible these ones aren't as bad, but we did have to spend a few minutes trying to figure out how much support fighters got when there was a bit of a cluster of a combat.
Each model also has a defense stat, showing how many defense dice they roll (for there are three different dice when you factor in magic dice, but we didn't have any experience with that between the warbands we ran) and what symbol they need.
Combat is quick, which makes the game go by without feeling like it's dragging. There's nothing terribly complex, although the support rules seem a little muddled or poorly worded. They remind me of the blocking rules from Blood Bowl, which are the one part of the rules of that game which I really don't like because it always seems to muddle things. It's entirely possible these ones aren't as bad, but we did have to spend a few minutes trying to figure out how much support fighters got when there was a bit of a cluster of a combat.
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| Some fighters in the thick of the fight, throwing dice and spilling blood. |
Another thing I could say about the game that might be a criticism is that it does seem like there is a good number of tokens to keep track of, and if you have a lot of guys moving and charging things can little a bit cluttered. This doesn't really impact gameplay at all, and I suppose one could just put charge and move tokens on the stat cards if they don't want the board getting filled up.
Cost wise the game can be a bit hit and miss. A starter box retails at $75, which is a pretty chunk of change right up front. Especially if that box doesn't contain warbands you care about. You can buy dice separate, and GW even sold game boards separate but in classic GW pricing they were $35 for a single board (each game requires each player to have a board, so all the pictures here are showing two boards on the table). Each warband retails at around the $33 mark, which isn't terrible depending on the warband. For a three model Stormcast warband that's a bit of a punch in the dick, but for stuff like the Godsworn Hunt that has something like five or six models it's not so bad. They do also come with a fair number of cards to add to that cost, and unlike some folks online I understand that those do have to be factored into the cost somehow.
Cost wise the game can be a bit hit and miss. A starter box retails at $75, which is a pretty chunk of change right up front. Especially if that box doesn't contain warbands you care about. You can buy dice separate, and GW even sold game boards separate but in classic GW pricing they were $35 for a single board (each game requires each player to have a board, so all the pictures here are showing two boards on the table). Each warband retails at around the $33 mark, which isn't terrible depending on the warband. For a three model Stormcast warband that's a bit of a punch in the dick, but for stuff like the Godsworn Hunt that has something like five or six models it's not so bad. They do also come with a fair number of cards to add to that cost, and unlike some folks online I understand that those do have to be factored into the cost somehow.
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| The Reavers make a hard push while Garrek holds an objective. |
All in all, I will say I was quite surprised and pleased at much fun we had with Underworlds. The rules are smooth and easy to get (if not laid out super well in some places), the game plays fast, it doesn't have the GW "clunky, antiquated system from the 80's because grogs can't handle change" thing going on and the tactical depth stunned me. Yeah it's a bit pricey to start with, and if you don't like warbands in the starters then getting a good starting collection of cards will mean buying multiple warbands and there are some cards only in those starters which sucks a bit.
Overall, solid game worth checking out. If you've got someone in your playgroup that might be willing to split a starter with you, or just has one then that can really help. If someone at your LGS (when those are allowed to be a thing again) is doing a demo it's worth checking out. If you like the Age of Sigmar setting and style and want something fast and easy with nice models (detail wise and quality wise, if not always design wise) then this is worth looking into.
Overall, solid game worth checking out. If you've got someone in your playgroup that might be willing to split a starter with you, or just has one then that can really help. If someone at your LGS (when those are allowed to be a thing again) is doing a demo it's worth checking out. If you like the Age of Sigmar setting and style and want something fast and easy with nice models (detail wise and quality wise, if not always design wise) then this is worth looking into.
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