Warhammer Underworlds Deathgorge rulebook

 We have come a long way since the 4 page rules included in Shadespire, like what now, 7 years ago?

As in the latest core box, Deathgorge, we got a nice and glossy rules book, counting 64 pages.  Still small for a GW game, but never the less quite a growth over those years.

Though it is not at all dry rules to remember, the engine still is the same, it just has some nice fine-tuning and more diagrams as before, so let's have a look at the book.

 

The Lore

 

Located in the realm of Ghur, the Deathgorge was once a domain of the Orruk's, where mighty armies where defeated.  But when the Ogor's drove them out, it became infected with the curse of Everwinter.  Rumours of mythical artifacts, covered in a strange amber residue as if gorged up by some huge beast, have attracted many adventurers to the place.   It's halls are full of dark grandeur, slain monsters and warriors frozen in the eternal ice, their souls ready to be harvested in hundred meter high stalactites.

 

These artifacts are rumoured to be from the ancient settlement of Anbarra, where in the Age of Myth Gorkamorka and Sigmar duelled to a stalemate in 12 days, destroying all around them.  As Drakatoa, the Living Avelanche, fled from the scene after having Gorkamorka pulled out of him, it is said it brought along all the artifacts that ended up in the Deathgorge.  

 

 

It also tells the lore of the warbands included in the set, the Slaaneshi Thricefold Discord band of demons, and the Idoneth Deepkin of Cyreni's Razors accompanied by their squid.  The former are a trio of Heralds of Slaanesh, who can't stand each other.  They have been send to the Deathgorge to claim 666 souls in order to be redeemed.  The latter, led by Cyreni of the Abyss, is an Idoneth expedition to gather souls, led by a Tidecaster proficient in handling icy waters.

 

 Introduction

Basically, well, an Introduction to the Underworlds game, telling what is what included in the game and the things you need.  This section covers the basics, like how to read the cards, what the symbols mean, what Insipre is, the usual.

The Rules

Then we move on to of course the most important part of a rulebook, namely how one should actually play the game.  Now, Underworlds is rather unique in the Games Workshop family in that it combines three types of games into one: a miniature game, a board game and a cardbuilder game.  While this might sound daunting, it is actually pretty straight forward, especially as the Rivals format allows for play straight out of the box.

 

 

The core mechanics are still about 4 pages, with all the other pages taken up by special rules and abilities, and diagrams explaining the said actions in detail.  You have three turns of 4 subphases each, during which a couple of steps are taken.  This at first glance large sequence is handily printed on the back of the rulebook in a flowchart, and once you tried the game one or two times, it comes pretty naturally.

 

 

It also contains the explanations for the special abilities weapons and the likes might have, like Ensnare or Cleave, and superactions like Charge that combine two actions into one  (but usually at a cost).

The Other Stuff

 

Once the rules section is finished, there are some additional rules for multi-player games, as well as the various formats that can be played.  Generally though, you will either be playing Rivals (using either the warbands pre-constructed deck or one of the Universal pre-constructed decks), or Nemesis, which combines a Universal deck with your bands stack into a single deck for some tailored deckbuilding.

There is also a 4 page glossary of the rules with short explanations and references to the pages in question, and finally the flow chart I talked about above.

 

 

The whole rulebook is smooth, glossy thick paper like most Games Workshop products, with a lot of gorgeous artwork.  One can say a lot of things about GW, but never that their rulebooks aren't decently made.

So yes, give this game a try, you can also freely print the rulebook from the Warhammer Community download section under Underworlds, so no need to actually get the box, though you will need it for the counters and boards though if you don't have someone already playing the game.