Lord-Ordinator Vorrus Starstrike

Hey everyone,

Following on from Ghroll's post last week, we are reviewing the 4 new characters for Malign Portents - next up: Lord-Ordinator Vorrus Starstrike. 

The front of the box:

The back of the box:

The model (on one sprue):

 

The assembly guide:

Close ups of the sprue. You can see the amount of detail on this guy!

The model has been assembled already, and spray painted with Retributor Armour, ready to follow Chris Peach's Warhammer TV painting guide. 

I'm really looking forward to painting this model and will keep you updated with progress.

Stay tuned for the reviews for the other Malign Portents characters. 

Danariel x

Event dates for 2018

Hi all!

Whilst Kaelo and I are waiting in the queue for the New Year’s Open Day, I thought I would share the list of events released for 2018. 

Some dates to add to your calendar!

Danariel x

Shadespire competition closing soon!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick reminder that the opportunity to win our review copy of Shadespire will soon be over. 

Entries close at 23:59 GMT tonight (Friday 20th October)!

Click here to see our previous post, where you'll find all details of the competition.

Good luck!

Danariel x

Win a copy of Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire

Hi everyone,

Age of Warhammer have decided to run a competition so that you can all have the chance to win our review copy of Shadespire!

In order to enter, you must create fluff for a city using the Warhammer Community city generator. You must then write a description of your city with a brief history and post it in the comments section - the more detail the better. Entries close at 23:59 GMT on Friday 20th October. 

You can find the city generator link here, or use the images shown below. 

Each member of the Age of Warhammer team will then choose their favourite city and 4 names will be put into a hat. The winner will be chosen at random and announced here on the blog the day of Shadespire's release (21st October).

If you are a winner and not based in the United Kingdom, we will ask that you pay towards the postage and packaging. 

Looking forward to reading your entries and good luck!

Danariel x

Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire Gameplay

Hi everyone,

This weekend Kaelo, Ghroll and I have put together the models, read the rulebook and had our first 'Quick-Start' game of Shadespire.

Firstly, I'm pleased that the models are as easy as they look to put together, if not easier. Kaelo was timed clipping, trimming and assembling one of the miniatures, and it took 1minute and 11secs. The only thing that I think lets the models down are that they seem to be made with quite a soft plastic, and I think it'd be quite easy to scratch or break some of the more delicate pieces.

We started playing the game with the Quick-Start Sheet, as it gives a well-rounded explanation of the basics of moving, charging, attacking and defending. It gives enough to be able to move into playing the game confidently with all of its additional cards, objectives etc. without feeling overwhelmed. You are required to assemble four fighters - the Liberators Severin Steelheart and Angharad Brightshield, and the Bloodreavers Garrek Gorebeard and Blooded Saek, and also find their fighter cards.  Pictures included below of our Quick-Start Sheet game:

As part of the Quick-Start sheet, two fighters Severin Steelheart (blue) and Garrek Gorebeard (red) are placed on the board, at least 3 hexes apart.




When you move a character, you can move them up to a number of hexes that is equal to their Move characteristic. Severin can move up to 3 hexes, and does so as below. Once a character has moved, they cannot move again until the next round. So a move token is put next to Severin as a reminder.

It is now Garrek's turn. An attack with a Range characteristic of 1 means it can only be used against an adjacent fighter, meaning that Garrek can attack in this scenario. When you attack, you roll the number of dice that is detailed on the fighter's card. The fighter card also details a symbol and this tells you what symbol you need to roll for a successful hit, and there is also a 'critical' symbol which hits regardless.

When a fighter is a target of an attack, you roll a number of defence dice equal to the Defence characteristic detailed on their fighter card. Similar to attacking, when you defend, you roll the number of dice that is detailed on the fighter's card along with a symbol. The fighter card also details a symbol and this tells you what symbol you need to roll for a successful save, and there is also a 'critical' symbol which saves regardless.

Once all the dice have been rolled, whichever fighter has more successes wins. If the attacker wins, the target suffers damage equal to the Damage characteristic of the Attack action. That number of wound tokens is then put on the target's fighter card. When they have as many wound tokens as their Wounds characteristic, they are taken out of action and removed from the game.

If the target wins, or if it is a draw, the target suffers no damage.  If the attacker wins or if it is a draw, the attacker can push the target back one hex.  In the example shown below, it is assumed that Severin wins and doesn't take any damage.




Next, we're going into charging. It's the Liberators' turn to act, and Angharad is placed on a hex on the game board, within 3 hexes of Garrek.




Angharad will now charge at Garrek. When a fighter makes a Charge action, they can move and attack at the same time. It's very powerful, but means that they cannot do anything for the rest of the round so must be used wisely. Angharad moves so that she is adjacent to Garrek and attacks. As she is next to Severin, she has support in attack. When you have friendly fighters adjacent to the same enemy fighter they assist each other, making it easier to land a hit or fend off a foe. When Angharad makes an attack with Severin standing next to her, an additional symbol on the dice also counts as a success (this works the same for defence). Once Angharad has made her attack, a charge token will need to be placed next to her, as a reminder that she can't do anything for the rest of the round.




As you can see on Garrek Gorebeard's fighter card, he has a total of 4 wounds on his Wounds characteristic. During Angharad's Charge attack, Garrek has taken 2 wounds and so the same amount of wound tokens are placed on his card.




At this point, the Liberators have each had 2 activations (a Move and a Charge) while the Bloodreavers have only had one (an Attack). In each action phase, each side can take 4 activations (which is in most cases, simply taking an action with a fighter). If no one can move or attack, you can pass, doing nothing, and this will count as one of the activations. Once both sides have taken 4 activations, the action phase is over and the end phase begins. 

Blooded Saek is placed anywhere on the game board for this next section.  It is now the Bloodreavers' turn to take an action, and we continue to finish the action phase. 




Blooded Saek attacks Severin Steelheart and he takes 3 wounds as he is unable to defend himself, even with the support in defence in place.




As Severin has taken 3 wounds, he has had 3 wound tokens placed on his fighter card, and he is left with only 1 wound remaining.




The Liberators take their next turn, attacking Garrek Gorebeard.

Garrek is unable to defend himself and takes another 2 wounds. As he has already had 2 wounds and his Wound characteristic is 4, an additional 2 tokens are placed on Garrek's fighter card and he has been removed from the board.

It is the Bloodreavers' turn, and Blooded Saek attacks Severin Steelheart. The attack is defended, and Severin loses no wounds. Severin fights back and his attack hits. As Blooded Saek has no support in defence, he's already at a disadvantage and his defence lets him down.

Blooded Saek has been removed from the board, as he has taken 3 wounds from this attack, which is equal to his Wounds characteristic.




3 wound tokens are added to his fighter card as an added measure. At this point, we will have reached the end phase, where all tokens are cleared from the board and any fighters who have moved or charged will once again be able to do so. It's then the end of the round, and the next round begins.




You would continue playing this until all of the fighters on one side are taken out of action (which is what happened in our run through), or you reach the end of the third round. When a fighter is taken out of action, the other side wins a glory point. Whichever side has the most glory points at the end of the third round wins.

It's worth noting that this is a very simplified start to the game, in order to introduce you to the basics of the game before bringing in the more complicated aspects.

Age of Warhammer will be looking to play and review a full game of Shadespire within the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for some more detail on that.

If you have anything you'd like us to cover on the game, please comment below and let us know! :)

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for further content in the coming weeks.

Danariel x

Unboxing Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since my last post for this blog, and for that I'd like to apologise. Amongst moving, redecorating, work, and a million other excuses I won't bore you with, I have been away from the hobby I was so excited about beginning. In an effort to pull my finger out, (and to instil some confidence back into the guys), I've decided I'd like to review Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire. I am planning on doing this over a few posts, to show off the models, gameplay, rulebook etc. So with that in mind, lets start with the unboxing!

Firstly, starting with an image of the front and back of the box.

The contents of the box are:

• 3 Liberator fighters
• 5 Bloodreaver fighters
• 8 fighter cards
• 2 double-sided game boards
• 96 upgrade, ploy and objective cards
• 126 tokens
• 8 Warhammer Underworlds dice
• 32-page rulebook
• Quick-start sheet

An image below, showing the 2 double-sided boards in all of their glory. (I love the detail on these!)

All 126 tokens in one single image!

The rulebook and a couple of the images from inside. I intend to have my nose in this for the best part of the coming weekend so that I can master the game and school Kaelo when we take on the game in full (further content to follow). I will be going into more detail on the rulebook in another post over the next couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled.








Some images of the fighters on their sprues below. These will hopefully be as easy to assemble as they look, so that I don't have to wait too long to get stuck in. I'll keep you updated.

The Liberators:



A close up of part of Brightshield:




And the Bloodreavers:



A close up of part of Garrek:




Onto the cards. One pack of cards for Liberators:



One pack for Bloodreavers:




And one pack of extra cards along with the dice that come in the pack. The extra cards come with strict instructions not to open them until you have played a few games, so naturally, I want to open them. Patience is a virtue though, and I'm sure it will be worth the wait.




It's worth noting that the fighter cards are double-sided. One side for normal stats and one side includes inspired stats.

   


All in all, unboxing Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire has made me look forward to learning and playing the game, and I don't think you can ask for much more than that as a first impression.

I will be taking some time this weekend to learn the game and report back, so make sure you tune in for some more detailed content on Shadespire. 

Stay tuned, and if you'd like to share your initial thoughts on Shadespire or if there is anything you'd like me to cover, please comment below! :)

Danariel x

Danariel Caythea: Shadow Warriors Update

Hi all,

This is a work in progress post to show what I have worked on over the last week. I've chosen a colour scheme, and started to assemble my Shadow Warrior unit. Massive thanks to Kaelo, who has been amazing with helping me convert the models. Here are some pictures of my currently headless female Shadow Warriors! 

 

 

I have spent a lot of time thinking about my colour scheme; I already knew that I wanted to use darker colours, but I was struggling with making sure that the unit still looked feminine. I settled on a dark purple and blue as my main colours and there'll be more to come on that in the near future.

I would be really interested to see what our readers have been working on this week, so please comment or post below any progress you'd like to share!

Stay tuned for more progress. 

Danariel x