Underworlds - some general and card questions

[Overread]

So I thought I might have a look at Underworlds since I'm tempted to get the Godsworn Hunt as part of my general "not building a slaves to darkness army right now" project (already well underway with a load of furies and Untamed Beasts from Warcry). 

 

Though before I dip my toes in I've a few questions relating to the game

1) What does one miss out on if one doesn't get the core set - or rather what parts does one need to find on ebay from split sets to make the game work. I assume that would be easier than trying to buy the core set and then split off the parts I don't need (namely the model teams). 

2) I'm aware that each universal card is often unique to specific sets, including faction sets. Which in theory means if you want to build decks with the whole card list you need "all" the model sets to get all the cards. In practice how empowering is this or is going for the core materials a viable option if one only wants a single warband (or one or two).

3) What extra items are worth getting for the set. I've already seen the Leaders and Powers Unbound card sets - is one of these based on the previous starter set cards? How much do they bring to enhancing the game itself? 

4) I see that the board set from the first game (shadspire) is in the store, I assume that the cards which once went with that set are now split into the respective decks/sets for the two armies that were present in that boxed set? Ergo a case of cards being in the fighter packs not sold on their own? 

5) I see that the dice are quite specific for the game. There is a set of generic magic dice (are these worth it for all warbands) and that factions typically get their own dice set but are often in limited supply at launch (ebay hunting or wait for a potential - one day - slaanesh party)

[Rodiger]

To try and answer these questions. A lot of this depends on how you want to play, casual - get what you like, tournament - pretty much need everything.

1. The core set costs £40 pounds, in that you get 2 warbands with their own specific cards, as well as many of the universals you can't get elsewhere, you get 2 physical boards, dice, magic dice as well as the objective tokens and game tokens. Pricing that separately, 1 warband £17.50 Dice £6 Magic Dice £6 a board pack £15 you are talking £44.50 and you have 1 less board 1 less warband and no tokens. The core set I think is the best priced thing GW make. I think you would struggle to get the parts separately for cheaper, especially as these are GW prices and not from an online retailer. 

2. I own everything, I'm not sure how empowered I feel, my thoughts have more turned to whether I have a plastic crack addiction. I find it overwhelming making decks now as I have so many cards to look through, it takes ages. You don't need everything, you can probably find the cards you need individually but making a deck involves trial and error trying cards, swapping them out, finding new combos. Really you aren't going to want to play the same deck all the time anyway, you will want to make different kinds. Sorry this answer is a bit all over the place, I suppose it depends on how far you want to go. Buying the core set will give you enough cards to make some good decks though.

3. I own these sets too, I honestly think these are probably only worth it for playing tournaments and for completists.

4. The original box sets contents were split into the boards available to buy separately, as well as the two warbands split into solo boxes with their faction specific cards, their universal cards were released as a separate deck to buy for the people who already owned the original core set.

5. In a nutshell Nightvault warbands use magic dice, the shadespire ones don't. The faction specific dice a purely cosmetic, I don't play the Chosen Axes but I bought their dice as I liked the orange. They aren't essential at all. You want to play with Godsworn Hunt so you would need some magic dice. 

Basically I would recommend buying the core set, buy the Godsworn Hunt, try some decks from this collection of cards. The go from there. Also warbands you might like the look of might not play how you want to play, there is huge sway to how you can get a warband to play, but sometimes they just won't fit how you want to, having three warbands that play three different styles is a good way to experiment. Also all the warbands are really nice models and a pleasure to paint. I hope that helps.

 

[riddlesworth]

17 hours ago, Overread said:

1) What does one miss out on if one doesn't get the core set - or rather what parts does one need to find on ebay from split sets to make the game work. I assume that would be easier than trying to buy the core set and then split off the parts I don't need (namely the model teams). 

Core set contains: 2 warbands, generic universals, boards, dice, tokens. You will need tokens to play. You can pick up the extra board packs, third party tokens and split universals separately but for organised play, having the board options is important (as you can't use the same side of a board more than once in a best of 3 matchup) and generally only "legit" tokens are preferred. Especially for Grand Clash style events. and TBH, if you were to buy extra boards, 3rd party tokens and split universals, you're probably approaching the cost of the core set anyway

 

17 hours ago, Overread said:

2) I'm aware that each universal card is often unique to specific sets, including faction sets. Which in theory means if you want to build decks with the whole card list you need "all" the model sets to get all the cards. In practice how empowering is this or is going for the core materials a viable option if one only wants a single warband (or one or two).

if you only want a single warband, core box + warband + power unbound will make you a serviceable deck. If you want to play in high levels of competitive play, you're going to end up buying the expansions anyway. Even if you didn't want the individual warbands, think of the expansions as 30 new universal cards you can play with. At that point they are a little pricy, but not horrendously so.

17 hours ago, Overread said:

3) What extra items are worth getting for the set. I've already seen the Leaders and Powers Unbound card sets - is one of these based on the previous starter set cards? How much do they bring to enhancing the game itself? 

The leaders set has one or two cards that crop up in competitive play. Power Unbound has some excellent cards for all warbands and even with many of its best cards being on the restricted list, is still well worth buying.

 

17 hours ago, Overread said:

4) I see that the board set from the first game (shadspire) is in the store, I assume that the cards which once went with that set are now split into the respective decks/sets for the two armies that were present in that boxed set? Ergo a case of cards being in the fighter packs not sold on their own? 

The Shadespire core set universal cards are the only cards currently unavailable for purchase. However, many were re-printed in the Nightvault core set, with very few exceptions (the only one that comes to mind is Healing Potion). The expansion boxes for Garreck's Reavers and Steelheart's champions contain all the faction specific cards from the Shadespire core set but the universal cards are all new for Nightvault. If you can get your hands on a Shadespire core set, the universal cards from the Reaver and Champion expansions are available in the Echoes of Glory card pack 

17 hours ago, Overread said:

5) I see that the dice are quite specific for the game. There is a set of generic magic dice (are these worth it for all warbands) and that factions typically get their own dice set but are often in limited supply at launch (ebay hunting or wait for a potential - one day - slaanesh party)

Magic dice are usable for the following warbands: Stormsire's Cursebreakers, Thorns of the Briar Queen, Eyes of the Nine, Zarbag's Gitz (also the only warband that you DEFINITELY need a scatter token for), Ylthari's Guardians. None of the other warbands use magic gambits or spell attacks.

 

This isn't like other GW games where players buy multiple core sets and split out the armies to recoup costs on Ebay - the Core set for Underworlds is a great price point to dip your toe into the game and contains everything you need. From there, you only need to buy the warbands you want to play until you take the competitive plunge and buy everything.

[Lior'Lec]

     @Overread to play casually then your warband of choice plus the starter set is the easiest way to go and still a very reasonable price. If you find yourself wanting to add some more variety into your deck building later then either the powers unbound or leaders decks would give you some new options but they aren’t necessary. 

     If you don’t pick up one of the starter sets then order yourself some 3rd party tokens or make some yourself. The mechanics of the game are based on the tokens, they are required. 

     If you want to play a magic warband (including  Godsworn Hunt) but cannot locate the Nightvault starter set you don’t actually HAVE to have the magic dice. The magic dice have the same symbol frequency as the combat dice, they just substitute one symbol for another which you can do yourself if just playing for fun. Crit, Support 1 and 2, Minor Magic/Attack, Greater Magic/Attack x2.

     Obviously if you were wanting to play competitively (or are a completionist like me) you would want to have everything. So by asking your questions I think it’s fairly safe to say you aren’t looking to attend tournaments. 

[riddlesworth]

8 hours ago, Lior'Lec said:

     If you want to play a magic warband (including  Godsworn Hunt) but cannot locate the Nightvault starter set you don’t actually HAVE to have the magic dice. The magic dice have the same symbol frequency as the combat dice, they just substitute one symbol for another which you can do yourself if just playing for fun. Crit, Support 1 and 2, Minor Magic/Attack, Greater Magic/Attack x2.

Not sure I understand?

Attack dice: 1x single support, 1x double support, 1x fury, 2xsmash, 1xcrit

Defence dice: 1x single support, 1x double support, 1x dodge, 2xblock, 1xcrit

Magic Dice: 2xfocus, 3x channel, 1xcrit

This is different, yes?

[Lior'Lec]

     I stand corrected, 3 greater, 2 lesser magic. I still could’ve sworn I saw support icons on them. But you can still substitute combat dice for magic dice if you don’t have them on hand. Any support icon would equal minor magic and any attack icon would equal major magic.