Warhammer Underworlds

[Jye Nicolson]

Game is in an *amazing* place for casual play, specifically.

I will be over the moon if Combat Patrol for 40k is half as good as Rivals is for Underworlds. That is not hyperbole - half as good is a high bar. Rivals is easy to get into, games are close, and there's tons of variety of play.

Edit: found an earlier post where I said I wouldn't want to switch permanently to Rivals. Well, I don't think I've played a non-Rivals deck since making that post and I've been having a blast.

[The Other Dave]

Yeah, my desire to transition into Nemesis has been tempered by Rivals being quite a lot of fun, helped by the "plug and play" deck swappability aspect. I still wouldn't mind playing more Nemesis, but the fact that we have a lot of newer players in the Ichinomiya group, plus, again, the fact that Rivals is just fun, makes it so I usually just don't mind. Being able to bring a couple warbands and their faction decks, plus a couple rivals decks (which is what fits in my game box), for 6 different play options is pretty neat too. Deckbuilding is fun and all, but it really does lock you in to one deck per warband and, if you're doing full-on Championship, one deck per game day.

And like I've said before, Rivals play really does feel (in a good way) like early Shadespire play, where limited card pools and the game not being "solved" yet meant there was always a bit of jank in your deck, and figuring out how to make it work gives it a nice puzzly feel.

[The Other Dave]

Since Rivals vs Nemesis is a little bit technical, here's a "what does this mean for the casual Underworlds player?" post.

"Rivals" is the current "entry level" format, where you grab a pre-built deck and a warband and play. Current warbands all come with a completely-legal Rivals warband deck and, very importantly, balance amongst these decks is very good and generally only getting better. There are also "universal Rivals decks," again game-legal pre-built decks that (in principle*) any warband can use (and are also the only way universal cards are available - any card you buy will be part of a pre-built deck), each based around a particular gameplay theme. Balance amongst these decks is, likewise, currently very good and only getting better.

*There's currently one universal rivals deck that's centered around magic, so you wouldn't want to use it if your warband doesn't have a wizard. Aside from that, there are some universal decks have more or less synergy with some kinds of warbands, but nothing's unplayable and you could probably make anything work if you put reps in and practiced with it.

So "Rivals" play is pure plug and play, where you pick either your warband's deck or one of the 7 or 8 universal Rivals decks, shuffle and go. As Jye and I have been saying, play is fun and pretty well balanced, the decks are interesting and thematic in play, and it's basically a really fun way to play the game, full stop. So if you want to play Underworlds casually, you can indeed actually-factually buy a single warband box with its Rivals deck and only play that forever and have fun, and have no more and no fewer cards than you need to do so. It's really really good for casual play in a way that GW games generally... aren't. It's kind of shocking really, and I don't think either Jye or myself were expecting that pure Rivals play would stay so fun for so long, but here we are!

[Jye Nicolson]

I tend to lump Nemesis and Rivals together because I don't feel disadvantaged enough playing against a Nemesis deck with a Rivals deck to really worry about it. The Nemesis deck is definitely going to be stronger, but not by enough to motivate me to put one together myself when I could just have more Rivals decks

[The Other Dave]

Yeah, I don't feel too bad about using a Nemesis deck for any, say, pre-Harrowdeep warband* versus one of the new Rivals decks.

*With the notable exception of Blackpowder, his deck is... still not great, even with the change to the warband rules.

[The Other Dave]

Also: Just a periodic reminder that our little Underworlds group up in Ichinomiya meets on (roughly) the second Saturday of every month (like, say, this next Saturday at the time of this posting!), if anyone's Underworlds-curious, or has noticed we don't have time to play at the main Nagoya games days, or what have you.

[The Other Dave]

Huh, interestin':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvl7tc8MZHg

GW's been doing these "metawatch" state-of-the-game videos and they recently did a first one for Underworlds. It's a pretty interesting watch if you're into the game at all, as they have the lead designer in to talk about how they game is doing (well, by all accounts) and their plans moving forward in a really on the whole deep dive-y thoughtful way.

[The Other Dave]

A few folks responded to me and Jye's usual enthusiasm about Underworlds at the last game day with at least polite interest so here's a bump to the thread to invite folks to our monthly second-Saturday Underworlds meetup in Ichinomiya* and/or field questions about just how dang easy it is to get into the game and play it casually at this point in time.

*Or just to have a demo game at Nagoya days!