Welcome back, dear lurkers, to my second post on the wonderful board game Warhammer Underworlds. If you fancy playing the feral Gnarlspirit Pack, make sure to check out my previous ramblings on playing them in the Nemesis format. We will continue with the contents of the Gnarlwood starter box: the undead king Velmorn and his royal household of apparently short-sighted sons. It is generally agreed that the latest Death warband is an underdog choice, especially when compared to the extremely strong Gnarlspirit Pack. The love for underdogs and oddballs is something I share with my colleague SleeksBowl, a fellow Underworlds player whose blog you should most definitely check out. He came up with some pretty amazing options for playing the Storm of Celestus! Taking in this inspiration, I will try to squeeze out any potential hidden in between those brittle bones.
As the clickbait-heading already told you, this is a grand “Ultimate Strategy Guide” for the Sons of Velmorn hopefully covering from A to Z. It is divided into 3 parts:
- The Basics: fighters, faction deck, board choices, 1st round considerations, general strategy.
- Winning the No-Win Situation (to be released): grand review of all Nemesis decks (Illusory Might, Deadly Depths, Daring Delvers, as well as Tooth and Claw) including top picks and overall viability.
- Q got us a new Gadget (to be released): review of the latest Nemesis deck, Fearsome Fortress — for which I have high hopes!
This article will start with the basics. But before we continue, I first want to direct a few words to you: I am neither a tournament player, nor have I played loads of games with the Sons. Nevertheless, I will voice strong opinions throughout this article. I hope that these will be insightful — either by being right or completely mistaken. Feel free to voice your own experiences and tips! As reaction to my last article, I received a lot of feedback. Thanks so much! This time, I would like to hear from you regarding the following questions:
- Did this article teach this anything new, and if so, do you find it sensible?
- What are you doing differently when playing this warband?
- Which Rivals Deck would you choose for Nemesis?
Okay, let’s get this train rolling: Sons of Velmorn, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOOOOOOT
Overall Strengths and Joys
- High numbers and high wounds: These skeletons have a minimum of 3 health, making them hard to take out of action with a single hit (most fighters only hit for a maximum of 2 damage). Also, we control 5 fighters, which is above average. Furthermore, we can bring back 3 of those. But can they deliver? Well, let’s say no skeleton is exceptionally bad. They can all do some work.
- Global support: Once Velmorn has activated, he supports all Grave Guards — so all other “small” skeletons. This is easy to accomplish and really strong. But it also means that you might want to activate Velmorn simply to get this ability online.
- Strong bruiser: Sir Jedran is an unexpected addition to this warband and makes for a wonderful high-threat meat shield early on. Previously, no Death warband had access to such a tool. If he manages to roll a Crit and inspires, you have a really frightening fighter at your disposal.
- Scary once inspired: Sometimes, inspiring fighters isn’t that great or that important. Here, it definitely is, as you gain a lot for doing so. Once inspired, every skeleton turns into a good fighter. And theoretically having 5 really solid fighters is amazing. Of course, rolling a Crit as part of an attack or having supported a critical hit is a completely random and generally pretty hard condition.
- Can resurrect fighters: True, it’s probably the worst resurrection mechanic in the game. Still, it is a powerful effect. Be careful when bringing skeletons back. They start with only 1 wound remaining, making them easy glory.
Overall Drawbacks and Gear-Grinders
- Little free actions: Most Death warbands and factions with a lot of models have some way of improving their action economy — meaning the optimization of activations, mostly through some form of gaining free actions. Velmorn and his sons don’t really have that at a larger scale, but there are several cards for accomplishing goals outside the activation step. However, these are pretty average.
- Rough first round and slow Inspiration mechanic: The first drawback leads to the second. Your first round will be either lackluster or pretty hard. First of all, you might start with Velmorn simply to activate his Command ability. This is far from optimal, as you have 5 fighters but in most cases only 3 activations left for scoring objectives or attacking enemies. Second, you only have move 3 and very little options to increase that. Even when positioning near no-one’s territory, one or two of your skeletons might not be able to reach enemy territory or enemy fighters. This leads to further inefficiency and lack of options. Third, you realistically might neither land a single attack nor roll a Crit to inspire in the first round. You have to be mentally prepared for that. It’s not bad luck. This is the norm, not the exception.
- Unrealistic expectations raised by the objective deck: As with many warbands, your in-faction objectives not only work for you, they sadly also work against you by making absurd demands. The most obvious issues are that you shall hit attacks when you cannot, and that your leader has to go on a rampage when he needs to survive. Therefore, you have to accept that 50% of your default objectives won’t favor you. The other half is solid.
- Boring lore: On the one hand, this warband is clearly inspired by plot lines typical for Game of Thrones and House of Dragons. But on the other hand, it misses the most interesting part of these narratives: Where are the mothers?? I would have taken another parent over another bland Grave Guard any day, and to me that is representative of a lack of creativity and interest in general when it comes to actual Underworlds lore and not models.
Your Pixies
Velmorn himself is relatively accurate and in theory can dish out 3 damage. Once inspired, he deals 3 damage by default and gains 2 shield for defense. That’s great, but I would have traded 3 attack dice for 2 instead of 3 damage. He already introduces you to mostly hitting by accident. And things get much worse from here.
Sir Jedran is painful for your opponent simply by being on the board. They can either ignore this fiend and regret the decision later on, or direct most resources towards taking him out of action. Both decisions are a-okay for you. Chances are that Jedran won’t do much early on except for taking damage and maybe holding an objective in the middle. Once inspired, he gets a great support ability he should have had from the get-go. Remember that he is not a Grave Guard, even though he should be.
The little ones. As seems to be the case in general, the last sibling has the greatest potential in royal families. Always inspire Thain first and Faulk last. Thain has high meme potential, as fighters with Scything tend usually do. Boost his stats and things will get scary!
Your own Poker Set
Surge Objectives — Top Picks
- Regal Riposte: Let’s start with a representative of a popular archetype: the Kill-Surge. This one is relatively easy to accomplish and fits the passive-aggressiveness of the skeletons: They get attacked and hopefully punch back hard (just hit, goddamnit).
- Relentless Unity: This is the best Surge to me. Really easy to score passively, and for scoring it actively you “only” have to hit while being supported, but you don’t have to take your target out of action. As you probably won’t hit, just let your opponent score that for you.
- House Eternal: I don’t particularly like this card, but it checks the most important box: can be scored without actually doing much. But it can “brick” your hand, meaning that it might not be scored simply because you don’t have one of the two cards (Rise Again, The Crown’s Curse) able to resurrect a fighter in hand or play.
End Phase Objectives — Top Picks
- Hereditary Claims: I think that’s their best objective. Remember to place one objective in no-one’s territory near one of your starting hexes, and you are well-prepared for two glory.
- Protected Inheritance: This is also a good objective, but definitely not round 1, and maybe even not round 2. But chances are that if you can’t score it round 2, it’s game-over anyway.
- Vying for Favour: This card sadly also grinds my gears, as in round 1 you don’t have the means to move everybody. It’s mind-boggling that they got good objectives that can’t be scored reliably early on when they already struggle in the first round. But here we are.
Gambits — Top Picks
- Imperious Will: This isn’t an exceptional card, but it is highly valuable simply because it gives you the sweet-sweet Command counter without activating Velmorn. Thank you!
- Redoubled Fervor: You might hit on the second try, but as we know, third time’s usually the charm. We take our chances anyway.
- Surprising Swiftness: Again, not exceptional, but serviceable. Once a game, you can become really mobile, so make it count!
Upgrades — Top Picks
- Fearless Lunge: This might be controversial, but the cost to me is well worth the gain. It gives you access to two things you lack: accuracy and range. Great! Also: In Nemesis, you don’t have access to a lot of attack action upgrades.
- Proud Son: This is pretty average compared to similar cards, but it still presents a cure to your pains. Sadly, neither Velmorn nor the Big Guy can take it — which wouldn’t have hurt in my opinion.
- Praetorian: There are a couple of pretty big Ifs attached to this card, but if all conditions are met, this is a really, really strong card. As the Sons lack exceptional or even unique cards, I am tempted to at least take this one.
Board Choices
The greatest danger is to get long-boarded, meaning that your opponent places their board second and joins them by their short sides. This has obvious drawbacks for the Sons of Velmorn, mainly because the distance between their starting hexes and the opponent’s territory is usually much, much higher. Being limited to move 3, this can seriously limit your options. Long-Boarding could work in your favor if your opponent has to come to you — so if they play a really aggressive warband — but it usually won’t.
As you only really need two objectives — one optimally in no-one’s territory and one on your side near to it — I would recommend to place second. This way, you can position your opponent’s board as you like. One of Gnarlwood’s new boards is excellent for this warband, namely Mistmarsh Tangle. Optimally, I would put your opponent’s board at the top and place Velmorn behind the blocked hex to the left. In general, you are looking for boards that have multiple starting hexes near the top or bottom, offer some protection through blocked hexes or cover hexes, and don’t have too many lethal hexes. If you know that your opponent plays the deck Daring Delvers, I would advise against boards with lethal hexes, as it makes scoring Sudden Demise easier for your opponent.
If you have to place first and fear the Long-Board, the Hall of Sublimation is a good option to place first. Basically, you want the starting hexes to be positioned to the left and right. (If you only have access to the boards that come with the Gnarlwood box, you might want to try The Stricken Swamp.)
Drawing Cards, First Round, and General Strategy
Choosing the right board and placing two objectives in favorable positions (remember: one directly in the middle, the other as near as possible on your side) is the first step towards having a fair chance.
The second one is to aggressively drop cards from your starting hand. You really want 1 good Surge and 1 good End Phase that you can actually score in the first round. If you don’t draw a Surge that is easy to score, definitely re-draw. Relentless Unity and Hereditary Claims are your dream-team. Regarding Power Cards: I would definitely drop any hand with more than 2 Upgrades. I would also consider fishing for Imperious Will, as this card is really efficient round 1. So if your power cards are underwhelming anyway, re-drawing and thus having the chance of obtaining that card is a good option.
Third, place your fighters on the right positions: Jedran and Faulk up-front. Thain and Velmorn on hexes that protect them from your opponent’s best fighters, but optimally enable them to counter-charge incoming enemy fighters.
Fourth and last, get lucky and get to decide who goes first. I am tempted to let my opponent start, especially if: a) they play an aggressive warband and b) Velmorn can potentially counter-charge incoming enemies. Counter-charging with Velmorn should only be done if it doesn’t expose him to impactful enemy attacks. For example, your opponent might start by charging into Jedran, maybe even failing to land the attack. Ideally, this fight takes place to the left or right, and no other strong enemy fighter can reach next to Jedran. A blocked hex might offer additional protection from enemy fighters. If you can pull off the counter-charge with Velmorn in your first activation, it can greatly improve your overall efficiency. On the other hand, if Velmorn is suddenly standing right in the middle and in range of multiple enemy fighters, the game is probably lost.
If you have to go first or if the counter-charge isn’t safe, you usually still activate Velmorn first and either go on Guard or move him onto an objective. If you managed to draw Imperious Will, you can usually avoid wasting an activation on Velmorn early on. Great!
Besides these considerations, focus on your objectives first and foremost. There’s litte sense to taking risky charges, as you will miss your attacks anyway. Protect Velmorn and Thain, as these fighters will carry you round 2. The other Grave Guards are of little importance.
As your overall scoring potential is rather low round 1, try to prevent your opponent from scoring. At the moment, typical objectives require your opponent to have X fighters in enemy territory, or to hold objectives in enemy territory or no-one’s territory. So try to push enemies back to their side, stand on objectives before they do, and move fighters to positions that would be good for your opponent. The most common type of Surge is the Kill-Surge, which again means that sacrificing skeletons with little chance of success is a bad idea.
Another play you have to take into account is the surging popularity of Power Cards that deal damage — so called Ping-Damage. Such effects can score your opponent up to four glory. Stay away from lethal hexes and don’t resurrect fighters into vulnerable positions without significant gain. If your opponent plays the deck Daring Delvers, I would be extremely cautious of having vulnerable fighters near the frontline.
Even though you have to take care of your fighters, attacking in general is a good idea (more chances to roll Crits), and loosing one Grave Guard in the first round isn’t the end of the world. If you manage to land a Crit, you usually end up with three inspired fighters in the first round (Velmorn because of support, and two Grave Guards, one inspired by Sibling Rivalry). If that is the case, you are in a really good position. But even if only Thain is being inspired via Sibling Rivalry, that crazy pile of bones can win you the game.
Put simply: It is all about surviving the first round. After that, you either have fair chance at winning, or the game is probably lost anyway.
Before you leave …
In the second part of this “Ultimate Guide”, I will look at all currently available Rivals Decks and present options that will greatly improve our odds of succeeding with the Sons of Velmorn when playing Nemesis.
I am really looking forward to your feedback. You can do so on social media, via personal message, comment, or via e-mail.
