My Sixth Underworlds Tournament - Agents Con
My sixth Warhammer Underworlds tournament was at Agents Con 2024. Yet again, I was equipped with my beloved Mournflight, this time paired with Tooth and Claw. This is the same combination I took to my previous tournament, but I have had a little more practice since then. Let’s see if Lady Harrow’s Savage Scream can win the day.
Game 1
 |
| The Skinnerkin |
My first opponent was Dan Knight with his Skinnerkin paired with the Rimewyrm’s Bite. I had the first activation and simply moved the Widow, after staggering her, onto an objective token deep in my territory. Dan then charged the Screaming Maiden with Flensemaster Pewdrig. This was perfect for me, as I now used this fighter to inspire the remainder of my warband. Each time I moved a fighter, I staggered them first, unless I was charging, as I was aiming to score Embraced Savagery. Dan was unable to do much to my warband as his fighters were set up too far back on his board. I finished the round by taking out Flensemaster Pewdrig. The end of the first round saw me leading 4 to 0 on glory.
Dan took the initiative in the second round. Being behind on glory and having no haunch counters, his ghouls charged my banshees. Even though they landed the occasional attack, they lacked the damage output necessary to kill my fighters. On the other hand, my grouped, inspired, and upgraded fighters quickly began to disassemble his warband. In the second End Phase, I scored Ghostly Torment and Tide of Malice, further increasing my lead.
The third round was simply played through with me finishing off the remaining fighters. In the End Phase, I scored an additional six glory from Move or Die, Nexus of Terror, and Dominion of Death. The final score was 17 to 5, a convincing win to start the day.
Game 2
 |
| The Crimson Court |
My second opponent was my friend and regular opponent Harry Miller with his Crimson Court paired with the Hungering Parasite. I had played Harry with this pairing many times and had always lost. I was hoping this time would be different.
In the first turn, Harry came into my territory and started to put some damage onto my fighters. I played defensively, moving my fighters away to reduce the damage that could be inflicted. This meant I was not inspiring the banshees, but it felt preferable to losing them. Additionally, my defensive approach meant that I did not score any of the three surges I held in my hand. By the end of round 1, Harry had scored Powerful Pawn, On the Chase, and Beyond Exhausted for a total of 4 glory, while I had scored nothing. Prince Duvall, who had the Bane, suffered a point of damage in the End Phase.
Round 2 saw me get going. Prince Duvall Barged the Screaming Maiden to score Deadly Influence. (Harry later looked back on this as maybe a questionable decision, as perhaps he should have gone for a kill.) I then charged Lady Harrow through Duvall, inspiring her at the same time as scoring Fleeting Memories. She then hit Duvall, left him vulnerable, and scored Toyed With. In the power step, I used Dark Command to finish the Prince off. The Bane switched to Vellas. The rest of the round saw various attacks and fighters being injured, with Harry killing both the Anguished One and the Widow. I now used the charged-out rule to escape with both Lady Harrow and the Screaming Maiden into enemy territory, out of range of all but Ennias.
As I moved into the final round, I had a plan to try and catch up. My remaining two banshees were deep in enemy territory, and the vampires were in the middle of my territory. Harry began by charging with Ennias, who failed his attack. In return, I failed mine. Harry then used Sudden Swap to move Vellas in for a Scything attack on both my banshees. Hitting Lady Harrow with the first attack, I saved with two supports despite the Ensnare. The second attack targeted the Maiden but failed to land. Vellas bid a hasty retreat. With two activations remaining, I initiated my plan.
First, I upgraded the Screaming Maiden with the Spirit Blade, then charged into Vellas. Hitting her with Cleave, the vampire was taken out of action. This left my banshee exposed to Gorath and Ennias. I then played Call to Heel to draw the Maiden back to Lady Harrow. Harry was no longer in range to hurt my ghosts, so for his final activation, he cycled an objective. For my final activation, I moved Lady Harrow from one objective to another. The new objective was two hexes from the Maiden and still in enemy territory. I then played Call of the Grave to draw Ennias two hexes toward my leader. This allowed me to score Focal Point and Nexus of Terror in the End Phase for 4 glory. Harry could only score 1. The game ended 15 to 14 in my favor. A narrow win against a very tough opponent.
Game 3
 |
| Myari's Purifiers |
My third opponent was Jack Sheaf with Myari’s Purifiers paired with Seismic Shock. He began by long-boarding me and setting Myari toward the back end of his board. I knew I would have to close in and kill the Purifier's leader as fast as possible to shut down his objective deck.
Bahannar began by charging onto an objective in my territory before hitting the Screaming Maiden for two damage, leaving her vulnerable. I then used Bahannar to inspire Lady Harrow. I intended to sacrifice the Maiden in order to get a second move out of Lady Harrow. Aileen then ran in and killed the Maiden. I continued to move and inspire the rest of my fighters by moving through the charged-out Bahannar. For my final activation, I played Soaring Spite and moved Lady Harrow ten hexes up the board onto a cover hex, ready for round 2. In the final power step of the round, I used Frightening Aspect to pull Myari off an objective, to stand next to Lady Harrow. This served two purposes: firstly, the Purifiers no longer held three objectives (I suspected Jack held Seal the Beastgrave, and it turned out he did!), and it put Myari adjacent to Lady Harrow, so that she could attack without charging. By the end of Round 1, I had made two attacks and failed with both. Jack had made four attacks for four Crit successes!
I won the initiative in round 2 and immediately attacked with Lady Harrow. I hit, but Jack saved by using Myari’s Aetherquartz token for a reroll. I played Echoing Spite and attacked again, this time killing Myari. This precipitated a flurry of salvaging from Jack’s hand. From this point onward, I felt in charge of the game. Jack proceeded to attack my fighters and move onto objectives in my territory, but my banshees first took out Senaela before moving toward Aileen.
In the third round, I focused on gaining two objectives and killing Aileen. With this done, I was able to score Nexus of Terror and Dominion of Death. I won the game 12 to 5.
Game 4
 |
| The Gnarlspirit Pack |
My fourth opponent was James Waters with the Gnarlspirit Pack paired with Tooth and Claw. I had played James twice before, in two previous Agents Con tournaments, losing on both occasions. To make matters even more challenging, he also informed me he had won a Golden Ticket to Worlds and was now trying out new warbands. With both of us using Tooth and Claw, this was going to be a brutal game.
The first activation saw Gorl charge in and smash the Screaming Maiden, removing her from play. The game immediately looked like an uphill battle. I continued to play my game, inspiring fighters and putting attacks onto Gorl, with Lady Harrow killing him off. At the same time, James brought in Lupen, using Self Command to inspire him, and Blackwing into my territory, further putting pressure on my fighters. Crimson Kheira moved into my territory but was unable to charge as I had moved all potential targets out of range. By the end of the first round, all my fighters were inspired, and James' fighters were in my territory.
Round 2 saw me take the initiative. I immediately charged Lupan with Lady Harrow, scoring Fleeting Memories along the way. Lady Harrow landed her attack, killing Lupan and thereby removing his supports from the other fighters. Unfortunately for James, the game had turned against him. My fighters were inspired and had started picking his off, with him being unable to do much in reply. By the end of the round, only Kheira remained on a single wound, and she was pushed into a corner, versus three of my inspired and upgraded banshees. I had also continued to steadily score my objective cards.
In the final round, I quickly dispatched Kheira and then scored as many objectives as possible. I was unable to score a few as they required interactions with enemy fighters. The game ended 20 to 6 in my favor.
Game 5
 |
| Zondara's Gravebreakers |
My final game saw me in the lead for the tournament! I was up against Gareth Davis, who was playing Zondara's Gravebreakers paired with the Hungering Parasite. Gareth again decided to long-board me, setting all of his fighters up towards the back of his board. This made it nearly impossible to inspire the majority of my fighters early on. He began by moving his most forward positioned zombies backward, onto an objective token, further reducing my ability to inspire.
Luckily, I had drawn all three of my push cards in my opening hand and used Call of the Grave, Call to Heel, and Frightening Aspect to pull Ferlain four hexes closer to me. I then charged the Anguished One through the werewolf to inspire, but missed my attack. This also meant I couldn’t push him further out of position. In the next turn, Ferlain made a hasty retreat.
The use of three power cards had still been worth it, as the Anguished One was inspired, gaining speed, accuracy, and a wound. Additionally, Ferlain had to use an activation to reposition rather than charge.
For the remainder of the round, I moved the Widow forward onto an objective token, and Lady Harrow and the Screaming Maiden charged forward to attack Ferlain but could not move far enough to inspire. Ferlain, having only moved, was able to hit and kill the Maiden. During the first round, Ferlain also inspired and used the Bane’s ability to injure Lady Harrow in the End Phase.
The second round saw me gain the initiative. Lady Harrow charged through two objectives and Ferlain to hit Zondara, scoring Fleeting Memories. With Zondara vulnerable, I used Shared Agony to heal Lady Harrow and kill the leader of the Gravebreakers (I think this also upset Ferlain). The game now became about killing Ferlain before he could take out the banshees. The activations ticked by with me wounding Ferlain, only to see him heal with Malefic Siphon, and both Lady Harrow and the Anguished One being wounded and left vulnerable. Then came my big mistake of the whole tournament!
For his fourth activation, Gareth charged the Anguished One but also placed Ferlain adjacent to Lady Harrow. He then quickly picked up the dice and rolled the attack. Without thinking, I picked up my dice and rolled. I failed the defense and instantly realized I had not done Lady Harrow’s movement reaction. I removed the Anguished One from play. In the End Phase, the Bane inflicted a point of damage on Lady Harrow, killing her. The game had gone wrong. In my hand, I held Ghostly Torment but I could no longer score it.
Round 3 started. I needed to win the initiative. I did not, and Ferlain attacked and killed the Widow. All my fighters were dead. The last few turns played out. I held Dominion of Death in my hand. As I did not score Ghostly Torment, I had not scored enough objectives to score Dominion of Death. The game ended 8 to 10 against me. The only loss of the day. Gareth played well and changed the tempo of the game exactly when he needed to, which, at the point in the day when I was very tired, threw me. I spent the drive home kicking myself.
The results
Thank you for reading! If you would like to try out my deck, check out my Nemesis deck library.
Comments
Post a Comment