Elathain is back: Warhammer Underworlds Casual Games october 2025

 Spitewood is here, and as a result, so does Elathain now have a tournament legal warscroll a new.

 

So of course I immediately went to building a deck for him, which centered around the Ethersea Predators mechanic Deadly Synergies.

 

This new deck promotes "united" figures, aka models of your band being adjacent, so having the two minions around to try and do this is a good tool to help out and try to score some cards.

 

 And as I had this one wednesday due to holidays to get out and grab some games, I hooked up with the Underworlds community in Outpost for some very first try-outs of the deck, warband and new board...

 

In game one, it was time for a Civil War, as I faced Cyreni's Razors from Nico using Raging Slayers with Wrack and Ruin!  So crab will duel squid in the first game of Spitewood... 

 

Both warbands deployed on the shiny new board, and ready to face each other.

 

With Spinefin immediately being Hammertided by Cyreni.  Well, at least that is one activation he won't be using against my warband...

 

With Fuirann immediately going in deep, but missing Cyreni, Alathyrr closed in on Duinclaw. 

 

Tammael joined Fuirann, and the united Aelves wounded the opposing leader, pushing her to the edge just in case he had Stay Close in hand for his end phase. 

 

It soon became one big brawl in that corner of the board, with just about everyone joining in. 

 

At the end of the first round, it was a 4-0 lead for the Soulraid though, with wounds all around both warbands and only poor Spinefin taken down so far.

 

Going into the second turn, the aloof Cyreni reminded Elathain of his nickname "the Ill-fated", something he didn't take in well and he smacked her to the floor. 

 

Both sides stood off against each other, Tammael going to take objective four and threw his spear at the enemy.

 

But while he wounded Cephanyr, the squid moved forward, claiming the third objective and denying me Iron Grasp due to the use of Confusion.

 

At the end of the second round, the Soulraid still held a 7-5 lead but the Razors where starting to catch up.

 

As the third turn began, the big squid was pushed off the objective, while Fuirann pushed back Renglaith into the stagger hex.

 

But the Thrall moved along the fierce warrior, and managed to take down Elathain himself.

 

Cephanyr took off to the other side of the board, to be able to score some objectives on that side, while Fuirann consolidated onto objective four.

 

In it's final activation, Renglaith took objective three again, delving it upwards to the treasure side.  But it was not enough, as the game ended at 10-10 but Fuirann holding the higher numbered token tossed the seashell in favour of the Soulraid, and netting their first victory in the new edition for me.

 

Now, as I said, I had holidays so I could get an additional game in, and I faced Wouter with Rippa's Snarlfangs, a warband I have never played against in all the years of Underworlds, and which brought Blazing Assault and Reckless Fury.  So pure aggro it would be, let's see how we can hold out against those snarling wolves...

 

Rippa deployed all to one side, around it's Aqua Ghyranis token, as I opted for making two groups of fighters.

 

 And immediately the wild riders raced forward, but Fuirann easily managed to hold her own against them.

 

 When Mean-Eye failed to push Duinclaw of the objective, I could score Supremacy as early as turn one as I had the last activation.

 

And with not a single casualty as such on both sides, the first round ended on 4-4.

 

The second round began with the Soulraid taking the initiative in the kills, and they managed to bring Stabbit down.

 

The wolves dispersed as Tammael infiltrated their half, and Mean-Eye charged... Spinefin, missing the little fish.

 

But after two more volleys, he finally got him down, netting him 0 bounty.  Okay then, your choice I guess...

 

As Rippa had moved back in, Duinclaw charged Mean-Eya but couldn't take the wolfrider down, though now all his remaining models where gravely wounded, but upgraded for additional protection.

 

 The second round brought the Snarlfang's in the lead, with amongst others, he scored Unrelenting Massacre and took a 9-12 lead.

 

 The third round saw the action moving to the furthest corner, with Tammael coming to Duinclaws aid.

 

 On the other side though, Elathain took control of objective three...

 

... soon followed with Fuirann grabbing objective five in the last activation.  And that allowed me to score some solid cards, hauling in a 15-13 victory against the wolfriders!

 

  

So, the conclusions after two games of Elathain?

 

1. The warband is of course less punchy then my previous exploits I took to events, and as a result more opponents linger longer on the field of battle.  Though it must be said, I can of course "steer" the deck a more aggressive route like I did with Cyreni earlier this year, the build is made around Holding so I have to focus on that.

 

2. I think the key might be lying in actually getting TWO objectives in Neutral territory to get the ball rolling smoother, making Iron Grasp easier to score by having a side with a single token, and Fuirann is the perfect tool on either side of the board to go camp on it.  The pushing minions also allow for sneaking on those in the middle for helping inscoring  Supremacy. 

 

3. People still seemed traumatised by the fish from edition 1, as they all went full for the little guy...

 

Will this band bring immediate success?  Probably not, while I took home two wins, it where very closely fought, swingy outcomes.  I will need to have full brainpower to pull of possible event wins with the band and deck as it stands now, but I will be taking it to Halle none the less as part of the learning curve, and use that event to fine-tune in order to go in swinging big time once 2026 is at the door.

 

Or at least, that's the plan... 

Lady Harrow's Mournflight

 The most recent warband I painted up for Underworlds are Lady Harrow's Mournflight.

 

Hailing back all the way from Beastgrave, they don't have a dedicated warscroll, forced still to use the generic Death ones.

 

But why did I paint them?  Well for no other reason that I have them undercoated for over a year, and they are a rather simple paintjob, being flying tablelinnen.

 

The bases though required some more work, with the stone work, gravestones and plants and weeds on them.

 

Never the less, it was a fun job to paint and they will certainly see use in the future, even if it is not in Underworlds per se.

 

Now to paint one more warband to hit my yeargoal of 5 painted warbands... who will it be? 

On Tour to the Frituur 20: Nato's in Merksem

 The regular frituur we go to when at my mom's was on holiday, so I took the opportunity to visit a place I hadn't before, Nato's.

 

Located on the Laarsebaan in Merksem, it has been there for a few years now, but I never got round to stepping inside before. 

 

 The place is really spacey, with ample seating places provided.  It has a large selection of the usual snacks, as well as vegan and halal options for those that prefer those.

Behind the corner was a very friendly young lady, and during the weekends they also provide delivery at home.

 

Our order

 

Well, it was a family dinner, so it was quite a big order including two pots of beef stew, which was excellent.  The cervela sausage was a bit on the dry side, but the fries where baked just as they should be, nothing bad, nothing stand out, just plain solid as the art describes.  Some more additional snacks where in the order, for a total of 32.00 euro in the end.

 

Pricewise, this is just "the prices" as they are in about every frituur here in the northern Antwerp region, so that is a-okay in my book.

 

Conclusion

 

Excellent beef stew and well baked fries, what more can one wish for after all.  So that means I'm going to rate it a lovely 7.5 out of 10, it's worth a visit if you are nearby, though parking might be a thing.  Local guide tip: park across the crossroads at the side of the Albert Heijn, it's closed on sunday afternoons anyways, and face it, sunday is friesday! 

 

Now to our next discovery, as I still have a few months to find the remaining 2 places for this year's goal! 

One Page Rules Warfleets: Earth Alliance (early) versus Ferengi

 With these easy to learn, yet rather detailed rules from One Page Rules on the horizon to play in the club, I decided to try a small scale solo game to give it a go.

 

And drawing on my rather big collection of vessels, I went for a small engagement on a small scale field of 3'x3', by flipping one of my mats upside down.

 

For the fleets, I decided to settle on 150 points per side, to give a bit of a feel of the rules without going in to much building yet, and have a fast and short game.

 

The Ferengi where represented using the Ratmen Clans list, due to their weasily nature of battle.  Picking two D'Kora Marauders from Star Trek Attack Wing for this, the limited edition tournament pack one (aka, the shiny one) was a Rat King (heavy 4) with No-Escape Module, broadside Gnaw Guns, front Neutron Cannon and back Precision Laser systems and upgrades costing 80 points.  The "regular" Marauder is a Nest ship (medium 3) with a Treachery Relay, front HE Rockets and broadside Predator cannons for 70 points, resulting in 150 points.

 

The Early Age Earth Alliance from Babylon 5 comes from my ACTA collection, and contained the following vessels drawn from the Human Defence Force list: a Princeps (medium 3 - Hyperion model) with Targeting Array, Iron Wing broadsides and a front Plasma Cannon modules for 50 points, 2 Vulpes's (light 2 - Thetys models) each with the Missile Cluster and Energy Cannon modules in the front (for easiness sake) at 40 points each, and a two squadrons of Myrmillo (Aurora Starfuries) for 10 pts, coming as well to 150 points.

 

Note: In hindsight I only forgot two things: 1. that the ratmen turret is 18" and not short range like the Human one's, and that the Human missiles had Blast.  Guess that sort of cancels each other in numbers of hits... 

  

 The mission?  A simple blast the other guy, with "my" fleet being the Earth Alliance.  For solo AI purposes, the Ferengi will try to engage the smaller prey first, as they want to force those morale tests as soon as possible and being the cowards they are prefer to bully the little guys.  The EA had to deploy first, and both sides faced off.

 

As the squadrons flew forward, one of the Vulpes fired it's Missile Cluster at the Nest ship, missing the vessel. 

 

His sister ship however was in better luck, the Missile Cluster hitting true on the Rat King vessel, and damaging it's No-Escape Module as a result.

 

As the Earth Alliance medium cruiser, the Princeps, went first, he fired it's Plasma Cannon at the Rat King vessel as well, striking twice.  But the thick armour of the vessel still blocked one of the heated blasts, yet this resulted in the No-Escape Module totally destroyed. 

 

 The Nest ship now came into range though, and loosened it's HE Rockets onto Vulpes nr 2, the hits destroying the Energy Cannon on the little ship.

 

The Rat King vessel in turn, making a Hold action, fired it's Neutron Cannon on one of the squadrons of Myrmillo, the only ships in range, and obliterating them to spacedust. 

 

As the first turn came to close, initiative remained with the Earth Alliance, which in this fleet composition is only of importance for both Medium class vessels.  But as the fleets got closer, it was a key moment. 

 

The Myrmillo squadron darted behind the Nest, strafing it with it's guns and knocking the Treachery Relay out of commission. 

 

 Here I made a play mistake though with great consequences, as I hadn't paid attention it was actually this Vulpes's Energy Cannon that was offline instead of it's sister ship, and as a result blasted three hits throught the Nest cruiser, leaving it at a single wound... oops, my mistake, guess that's what you get when trying a game for the first time (in hindsight it didn't make that much of difference, the second one or the Medium cruiser would have resulted in the same in all probability).

 

The other weapons of the Vulpes missed or where blocked, leaving the Nest limping on a single wound. 

 

 

Her sister ship turned towards the Nest cruiser, and unleasing it's Energy Cannon made short work of the Nest, blasting through the hull to take off the final hitpoint.  With two weapon systems as such not used and the Medium cruiser of the Earth Alliance next to fire with it's turret as well so close, and a broadside if needed, the mistake above as said didn't change the outcome, only the moment of the demise of the Nest cruiser.

  

And a glorious demise it was, as fires erupted from the vessel, leaving it a broken hulk... 

 

The Princeps closed in on the Rat King vessel, eager to finish the fight. 

  

 

 Opening fire with it's Energy Cannon, it smacked a gap in the vessel, damaging it's Precision Laser.

  

 The Rat King vessel opted now to move, to bring it's Gnaw Gun broadsides to action.

 

Scoring only a single hit, the Vulpes armour plates withstood the shot. 

 

While the Ratmen's turret plainly mist the little, nimble ship... 

  

The Rat King vessel passed it's Morale test, and we went to the third turn.  Due to the "levels" of the vessels, it was no longer needed to roll initiative as all the smaller Earth Alliance vessels would go first anyways, the Myrmillo squadron dashing in.

 

They managed to hit with all their shots (it's not like a 2+ lumbering heavy class is hard to miss), and one shot actually went through it's 2+ armour, causing a hit that destroyed the Precision Laser.

 

The Vulpes's darted round the big ship (here I remembered to not use the Energy Cannon), but the picture of the turret causing another damage unfortunatly was to blurred, the big ship's Neutron Cannon taking a point of damage from the little guns fire.

 

The other Vulpes had to move out of range though, but the Princeps was closing the gap with his broadside Iron Wing guns. 

 

The shot punched through due to the massive strength of 4 from these mighty cannons, destroying the Neutron Cannon totally.

 

The turret shots however where blocked by the thick armour plating, which had led down the Rat King's vessel quite often during the battle unfortunatly. 

 

And with only one functional system, the vessel needed to take a morale check, failing it duly. 

 

Realising no loot was to be gained today, the mighty vessel charged up it's FTL drive, and jumped out of the system, leaving the sector to the Earth Alliance fleet, who stood victorious against the scavengers. 

 

So, that was a first try of the Warfleets gamesystem, and this small sized battle, including "going through the rules as I went" took about half an hour to play out.  Ideal for some small size home gaming for certain. 

 

The mechanics are smooth, and it has more depth and tactics going on then it looks to have at first glance, so this will indeed be a good system to organise a spacebattle day with at the club and allow people to bring out their various gamesystem collections.

 

Good fun, and I'll defintily be playing quite a lot more of this game!