" A Crushing Terror" - Warhammer Underworlds Solo!

Warbands caught in the maddening cycle 
of the Katophrane curse are destined 
not only to live out a half-life 
of soulgrinding immortality 
but also to do battle against foes of all kinds...

~Games Workshop


Last week we looked at my very first Warhammer Underworlds deck that I had made in The Before Times. Updating and publishing that post inspired me to actually get my Warhammer Underworlds models on the table and have a go at the Solo Campaign that Games Workshop published on Warhammer Community a few weeks ago. 

For those who know how to play Warhammer Underworlds, this campaign is necessarily very different from the standard game: It's single-player, you play against A.I., you only use one board, you don't use an objective deck etc. but the mechanics (how you move, attack, use ploys / upgrades and all that good stuff) is pretty much the same as the core game, with a few tweaks. 

This mini-campaign is split into three different games, each of which has different behaviour for the enemy, and changes how you set-up and accomplish your objective enough that they each felt very different. The campaign recommends that you fight each of the three games against a Fomoroid Crusher, but suggests that you can play against any enemy of suitable size. I took this as an opportunity to dig out a few different epic enemies for me to fight, changing it up each game.


Game 1 - Rampage: 

In the first game I played against my Orruk Megaboss, which I have magnetized to either be on his Maw Krusha or afoot. The first game is the most straight forward - you're just trying to kill each other. 

In this mission, because your guys are "prepared," each member starts with an upgrade! This mitigates the fact that, because you don't use an objective deck, you would otherwise be unable to buy upgrades for your dudes with glory. 

You can get a better look at the starting positions above and glance at the upgrades I picked (from last week's deck) for each guy below. 

Due to the innate "cleave" that Dead-Eye Lund starts with, and the fact that Thundrik can't inspire folks in this game because you can't earn glory, Dead-Eye was actually set up to be my Duardin of the match, and I funnelled my resources into supporting him. 

The Megaboss quickly chewed through my two Arkanauts: Ironhail and Alensen, and then turned on the rest of my warband. Bjorgen Thundrik did his best to incentivise Lund, with Paymaster allowing Lund to re-roll. Both Drakkskewer and Thundrik gave their lives so that Lund could keep blasting chunks out of the massive orruk. 

It came down to just Lund (hiding in a corner) vs. the Megaboss. Despite his diminutive size, this dwarf packs a punch. He was eventually able to bring down the beast!

VICTORY TO THE PROFITEERS!!

Game 2 - Desecration:

With a victory under their belts, the plucky dwarves continued their exploration of Beastgrave. Soon they came upon a monstrous creature "tortured by its memories of its former life" the creature "rampages across the battlefield, laying waste to anything of lasting importance" - Games Workshop. 

I thought my Mourngul would be a good fit to represent this creature, tortured by past memories; it also looked appropriately intimidating on the board!

In this game the Mourngul would win by picking up objectives and throwing them at me. So, even more so than last game, this one was all about strategy - specifically regarding positioning. The Mourngul could only interact with objectives if one of my dudes was standing on or beside them; so I did my best to ensure this was never the case. 

But more than just prevent the Mourngul from accomplishing its objective, I had to succeed in mine, which was to bring it down. My plan would have been the same as last time - relying on Lund's cleave to pulverize the creature, but in this game you didn't get to start with upgrades, you had to use what you had in your hand. This meant that I didn't get to start with Challenge Seeker (which had given me +1 attack dice in the previous game) or Paymaster (which gave a re-roll). 

Not being able to rely on my semi-tailored upgrades, all the while dancing around the board to avoid objective markers (and the terrifying Mourngul), made this mission significantly more difficult that the first. Also, the Profiteers' inspire condition (using glory) wasn't applicable here, and the mission specific inspire condition (allowing the monster to throw objectives at me) wasn't desirable. This meant that all my dudes would have to go the whole mission without inspiring! 

I was doing fairly well at keeping the Mourngul away from objectives, but at the expense of isolating my dudes and getting them picked off. 

This time it all came down to Enrik Ironhail and his enhanced Gatling gun:

Once again I was down to a single dwarf, but he managed to fill the creature full of aethershot, end its desecration, and take the day!

VICTORY TO THE PROFITEERS!!

Game 3 - Besieged:

The final mission in the campaign saw a creature cornered in its lair and trying to escape. My Ogroid Thaumaturge worked perfectly for this; not only is it a domineering presence on the board, but if I recall, when you encounter it in Silver Tower it is under similar circumstances (i.e. in its lair). 

This game was completely different. This time the monster started in one corner, and was trying to get off the opposite corner of the board. The madness was that for its primary behaviour it would make TWO move actions (at movement 3) so it would be off the board in two turns. But, and here's the rub, it could only move if it wasn't adjacent to anyone. Good thing I had 5 little dwarf-shaped speed bumps.

If the Ogroid got beside one of my guys, it would automatically do 3 damage, no armour roll, nothing. Only one of my guys (Thundrik) has more than 3 wounds base, so he was the only one who would be able to fend it off for more than one activation! Yikes!

Again, while I couldn't tailor my upgrades, I did get really lucky in those that I drew. I got a couple that gave my guys extra wounds - exactly what the doctor ordered!

Aside from Drakkskewer, my Kharadron Overlords weren't really equipped for melee. While it largely became a big bash-up in the middle, it was given the added tension of always having to have someone beside the Ogroid, otherwise he would make a dash for it and win. 

It all came down to a final confrontation between Thundrik and the colossal beast. I had managed to pimp Thundrik up with an extra wound, and Challenge Seeker (extra attack dice) but this monster started with 10 wounds, and a pretty good armour save!

No word of a lie, it all came down to the final dice roll. Thundrik levelled his Atmospheric Anatomiser at the beast, rolled one success (hammer - see below) and then awaited the monster's save roll. The Ogroid rolled a double-support, failing its armour roll and crashing down in a defeated mass of muscles.

Quite an intense end, but ol' Bjorgen didn't come away unscathed, here's his status at the end of the game:

Anyway, it felt great to finally get my models on the table and it was especially fun to bring back some of the scarier beasts that I have painted in recent years. 

Thanks for dropping by for another week on The Art of Caesura!


Reading: The Guest List - Lucy FoleyWatching: The Mask

Next Week:

A very busy bear...