Hi there! I’m back with something just loosely Goblin related – a tournament report on a small local Warhammer Underworlds tournament I hosted yesterday – thanks again for the tournament kit @Spielbar Trier. I already wrote what I thought of Grinkrak’s Looncourt here. First off – I painted the little buggers and tried to put some effort in – and I’m pretty happy with the results. I tried to get the cloth to look old and tattered ant the mushrooms to emit a faint blue glow. Both of which worked out nicely in my opinion:

I played them using Championship rules. In my opinion the Gitz lack mobility without an ability for that and need card support for that dearly. We have a lot of bodies, but also a lot of frail models so I needed something to make them more survivable and something to make them punch above their weight. Here’s my deck:

I mostly played on The Stricken Swamp since it offers much needed defence boosts, doesn’t hinder me with blocked hexes and (when I had control) gave me the option to put two Goblins next to each other helping me to score Looncourt Scrag ‘Em. I focussed two objectives in my half adjacent to no man’s land which works best for some of the fearsome fortress cards. Also my extra Gloom token went there to make me able to score Underground Fortress without using Walking Wall. Generally I would put Nagz (since he’s worthless and for baiting), then Skolko and Pronk and Snark in the front, with Grib being close by for counterpunch , Grinkrak in the middle so he can’t be attacked right away but punch back some and Snorbo in the rear so he won’t die. Burk also was kinda there… wherever there was space left. Be aware that I think the no reactions in the End Phase part is an accident and I do think they are supposed to inspire in the End Phase. I also think it’s kind of a “there’s no reactions in the End Phase by default but if a card says so do it”, but then again we can have that discussion endlessly until GW states something on it.

Let’s explain some of those card choices more in detail:

My deck used a few combat focused objectives. Pure Carnage went off in all 5 of my games – with seven fighters that don’t live through anything and my need to kill enemies since the deck forces me to go to no man’s land 7 dead fighters isn’t a great ask.
Pick On A Git Yer Own Size is pretty greedy but for two Glory it was easy against most opponents. Some like Grashrak forced me to kill someone with a two wound fighter but then again Cursed Boarding Pike massively helped with that. Most of the time you need to do it on a wounded fighter or with an inspired and upgraded Grib – so it needs some investment but can technically go off round one and did so a couple times.

Run ‘Em Down isn’t too big of an ask but can go wrong. The accuracy of the warband isn’t great but it being a quest and staying on fighter helped greatly since it popped at some time in the game reliably. With the amount of models available charging all the time isn’t bad and most often you’ll do that instead of just attacking if you’re adjacent just for the support.
To help with the kill surges I used Great Strength (Extra Pointy Boots wouldn’t have synergized with the Boarding Pike and both didn’t fit), Cursed Boarding Pike and Kunin Knight. The last one was especially great since I rarely attacked without support and it could easily bring the Squig to 4 damage or the catapult to a ranged three. I even used it on Snorbo one game due to lack of options and with 2 damage on three swords supported he was surprisingly competent.

Reckless Swing might not force optimal play but is a nice surge to get the ball rolling concerning Inspiration as well as glory to get the upgrades going. Later in game it is kinda dead and it doesn’t work always with my focus on supported attacks, but especially round one with one of the danglebros it’s an easy Glory. Bold Sortie in the same vein is a small ask even round one with all the positional cards in my deck. It did rarely brick round one but getting it and not a single position Gambit with the current mulligan rules is rare. Both of those don’t need me to actually hit with which is great.
Scrag ‘Em was pretty easy most of the time, only bricking when I killed an opponent that would have helped me with it. Getting 3 Gitz in a row wasn’t that hard either considering I could start with two adjacent and get an inspire and a Glory for a single action. If it didn’t work out it was nice to keep for next round.

To help score the kill cards I used Stab Stab and Stab Again which was always great. With the flexibility of inspiring my fighters and damage and accuracy always being nice Inspired Attack helped me to secure some clutch kills even without the damage upgrades such as killing gorl round two with the Squig. Pocket Squig should theoretically work but I used it 5 timed and it only once hit a fighter – and it was not the one I was trying to hit. Really frustrating but with Fearsome Fortress the second best option would probably be Lethal Ward which is not as flexible. I tried to use it to soften up enemies for Pick On A Git Yer Own Size which never worked as I intended though.

The positional package also consisted of Trace The Leylines which I used to inspire easily and which was pretty easy to do even at the bigger numbers due to my… Well numbers. Looncourt Scrag ‘e’Em worked great because of my numbers and having two models already adjacent gave me one Glory for just one activation, using the ranged fighter helped greatly.
Underground Fortress was one of the trickier ones but a lot of action was happening around no man’s land and the option to pop one in the back field onto an objective also helped.
Conquered Domain went of once for only one Glory but 4 games it was three. Helped by Walking Fortress those objectives became much easier. Can you choose to not score an objective?

To help with positioning for either attacking or objectives I used Downtrodden Squire which is a bit brainy sometimes but with a bit of care it worked out fine. You will probably only use it the Squig though whose high speed helps to use it to most effect. For him it can be basically plus 1 support but for others it can help you get on tokens. Rapid Defender sounded great on paper but worked only a few times since most of the fight happened in the opponents territory and other upgrades seemed more valuable. Kunnin’ Advance on the other hand never came up but I played it most games and always would have had 3 to four fighters to use on which was a great option to have but killing most of the time was more important and when that was done not many fighters were alive.

The second to last Objective was Small Glories. It sounds hard but I would have been able to score it round one 2 times out of 5 (and once did), and scored it three times round 2. For 2 glory that is pretty reliable.
Ne Neh Na-Ne Neh was only in the deck to discourage my opponents from attacking certain fighters and to inspire. Worked once. Not that I just always botched my defences – there is a delicate balance between giving it to a fighter that will survive either way and opponents won’t attack any way or giving it to a vulnerable fighter which lowers the odds of success. But then again I can’t complain, the fighters that had it were rarely attacked and that was it’s job. With my Glory ceiling I don’t strictly need it but it fills the objective deck which is a negative in that case.

My upgrades also contained Great Fortitude and Great Fortitude plus (Quest’s End) for the much needed boost to get me from the threshold of being killed by damage three as well as the Fortifying Fungus which provided great utility in two of my games. Such effects work best on multi-wound models so the two plus wounds upgrades worked well with it.

To help me position for attack and or objectives Sound the Charge worked like a charm with Snorbo back and easier targets I never had to toss it and focusing on him for one card wasn’t worth it for the opponent either. Sidestep is always great and flexible, Redeploy came up a few times and a 4 hex push helps even for attacking if it can get you close to an enemy. Centre of attention only came up game 5 where it worked nicely. I mainly put it in to help with Looncourt Scrag Em, to more reliably get the Kunnin Knight boost and go get me into range as well as for Trace the Leylines and underground fortress. Would have worked nice I’m sure.

Bold Pile On i did draw once game 5 as well and it was great as expected. Take your Positions might get replaced since it was dead twice when I drew it due to my boss being dead and when I got it it most often only moved one fighter to a token since the opponent or i were standing on the other adjacent ones…

So all in all a deck focusing on a bit of killing, a lot of positioning and not too much side rolling.

First some points about the tournament at hand: I wanted to revitalize my local scene. While this one event certainly wasn’t enough to get the scene to where it was before COVID (some of our younger players turned 18 and moved away to study during that pandemic so they’re not always available now additionally) it was a lot of fun and got some folks who hadn’t played in a while to play again. We play something between relic and championship since the collections people have are really varied and I don’t want to exclude the players that had two Warbands in Nightvault and just came back – so rivals was off the table and not everyone has a rivals deck so Nemesis as well (add to that that I want to play all Warbands and think championship is a better Leveller than Wollops axe). So anyone can bring anything theoretically. We players with extensive collections have the gentleman’s agreement though that we only ever mix two seasons – the season the warband originated in and either the season before or after that. So it was championship legal at some point – relic championship so to say. I like to pepper in universals since well they should be universal and grand alliance cards since some of them are clearly designed with old warbands in mind (who would I play agonizing bolt with other than Vortemis?) – the gist of it being: we limit ourself to not totally overpower the people with smaller collections. At least we try. So not all thoughts here are applicable to championship people and some Warbands are stronger or weaker than you might think from the current meta – it’s a fun and in a way timeless system.

Game one: I played against a friend’s girlfriend who joined us the first time. She usually plays with her boyfriend and I think it was her first game with other people and she did really well. She used Skaeths Wild hunt (Nightvault plus Beastgrave) and put some pressure on with Skaeth and Sheoch at the beginning. Thus it didn’t start well for me. When I managed to attack a previously wounded Sheoch with the Harpoon I could afford due to Reckless Swing with Nagz which I sacrificed eagerly for this, I was able to score pick on a Git your Own Size and Bold Sortie. With 4 unspent Glory I subdued Skaeth pretty quickly (after a scary scything that luckily failed to harm 2 shield Squigapult and Grinkrak) with the Squig and although the Horn dude and 2 shot Archer Lady became scary for a short while, no elf lived to tell the tale. The game ended 16-8 for my goblins.

Game two was against Skittershanks Clawpack who killed my leader pretty quickly. My opponent likes to suicide charge Snyp and not only killed someone but also staggered two further fighters. He rolled I think 7 crits in defence this game and the 2 damage danglerat hit 3 times in this game. Since one of the staggered fighters was Grinkrak due to Misplaced Optimism and his range he crit him for the kill turn 3 of round one. I could have moved away, but he played the card where I couldn’t attack assassins – my original plan was to move out of range and attack Snyp. I shot with the Squigapult instead which had Mob Em and Squigstick provided support upon Kreep.I revenge killed Skittershanks with the Squig due to Inspired Attack right after which was nice. Then it was brutal attrition for a few rounds and mit round two I got into the lead and ended the game 15-10 for me. It was close and exciting and I could’ve played some situations better. Still – those rolls where just plain silly.

Round three went on against one of the other person’s with two wins I knew I had to face at some point. In previous tournaments I had the edge most of the time but those games had always been close enough. My opponent played the Crimson Court with Direchasm and Beastgrave cards and thus had plenty hunger support. I failed to kill Duvalle with my first few tries but succeeded near the end of round 1. Sadly I didn’t anticipate how quick he could accumulate hunger on Vellas, which due to had cleave and ensnare due to Bestial Transformation which caught me off guard and cut right through my most defensive fighters with a devastating scything attack that killed two and left Grinkrak crippled. I managed to kill all but Gorath, inspired and with the von Marusi Armor he proved too tough even with Boarding Pike and the Squig Hopper with +1 damage alive. I got Underground Gortress as well as Conquered Domain round 3 and only had a standing back Snorbo and the Squig alive at the end since Nagz couldn’t escape with his life. Getting these earlier could’ve provided a needed swing – best of one can be brutal. Very well piloted by my opponent and I’m happy to have escaped with only a 15-12 loss in that game.

Round 4 was against an opponent who hadn’t played in a while and just gotten Gnarlwood. The notion that Gnarlspirit Pack was bonkers either escaped him or the opposite. He as well as I where sitting at two wins with his Glory difference (I used the difference between earned Glory and opponents Glory as a tiebreaker for the ranking) being better than mine. I’ve played Gnarlspirit Pack twice myself and was disgusted so I feared that game a bit. He confessed not having had time to deckbuild and used the rivals deck which honestly wasn’t too bad in that case, I think it can hold up pretty well. Still it was one of my best games – I didn’t give Kheira two targets with 2 wounds at once. With a +1 damage card she still managed to kill Grinkrak early which shocked me a bit but the Squig hopper inspired early and I could choose between Gorl and Sarakkar. Since Gorl had activated just the turn before and already had his defence boost I killed the wizard. Before I had bonked Lupans head a bit who survived the ordeal. Round two Kheira and Gorl didn’t manage to kill Grib (with 4 wounds and fortifying fungus), who charged to kill Gorl. Kheira was shot by a Squig in the face shortly after. And while Lupan killed Grib by death by a thousand needles, I killed him too and left the player without a model turn 2 of round 3. Thus winning 19-7. The joke that the others started in the previous games that Gnarlspirit Pack gets points for existing was scarily close to the truth. They get points for everything…

The last round was against one of my most regular opponents who mains Grashraks Desüpoilers and is pretty savvy with them. In the matchup vampires (4 wins) vs Khagra (who had 0 wins at that point – Swiss pairings works fine with fewer rounds and more players but we needed to somehow pair everyone) on the other table I strongly suspected the vampires winning barring me from coming in first. My opponent here though noticed that he’d have to win by 18 glory difference to get in front of me which was also unlikely.
So let’s just say I became hopeless pretty fast. My mate forced me to begin, catapult didn’t hit, everything else would have become pretty vulnerable by Draknar at that point so I didn’t want to expose myself early. He drew a card. Two push plays later he scored 3 points after his first activation. Holding 3 Objectives (ok I botched an attack on the Ungor right before my nose). A lot of misses later, a Draknar with a Glory more for each kill that one-shot the catapult and badabing badaboom – round one the Beastman had 12 points. 12. After round 1. I had 5. And you know… Only one model was killed that first round, strange for our match up. Charging Draknar with Grib didn’t hit either round two although I had two support – but with a lot of work I disposed of him. Then I went on a killing spree with only one Ungor surviving. Survival of the Fittest meant that one Ungor was pretty valuable though. Through the wonderful card that is pure carnage though I managed to catch up a bit to then loose 19-17. A result I could well live with.

For perspective on the results: everyone but me and the vampire player got a “free win” because we were an uneven number of players and someone had to wait. This was always the player lowest on the ranking, which hadn’t already had to skip a round, so only I and the vampire player where unaffected. We counted that “game” as a win for win/loss calculations but also counted the glory as 0-0, so it was without risk but also still a little less valuable than a full win.

With 5 wins and a Glory difference of a whopping +41 the vampires won the tournament by a landslide. I came in second with my goblins, 3 wins and +20 glory. While both my losses were relatively close I also never won as early in the game as to effectively deny a lot of glory and thus didn’t have the best glory count.
Third was Gnarlspirit Pack with +5 glory and three wins (2+1), pretty respectable for a rivals deck although it being Gnarlspirit Pack, then fourth the Skaven with three wins (2+1) and -2 Glory. Grashrak managed 3 wins with -13, Skaeth 2 with -19 and Khagra came in last with one win and -32.
I think that’s a pretty nice result with 3 players out of 7 winning 2 and loosing two games it feels a bit rock-paper-scissors like and while most Warbands can opt for cards to react to meta threads we weren’t aware of the opponents decks nor Warbands in advance and didn’t do that. It was great fun and I’ll probably do another tournament next time an organized play box is released.

I was pretty happy with my deck with the occasional problem of not denying my opponents glory early and thus rarely winning that decisively. I think my glory ceiling is great enough and the deck flower well. I won in average by 8,3 glory and my losses where a bit closer with 2,5 glory difference. The Goblins seem to be middle of the pack in strength in my opinion but still great fun to play. I feared they might be as accuracy starved as Sons of Velmorn but since the deck mitigated that mostly it wasn’t really an issue. I did some mistakes and odd choices during games but considering I played them for the first time yesterday I was pretty happy. Quests are a unique design space and while telegraphing your cards might suck, it can be used to your advantage with cards like Neh-Neh-Na-Neh-Nah and keeping them in between rounds can be valuable as well. And while Grinkrak himself is pretty survivable, he is only 3 wounds and a lucky roll can kill him early. Since I think you need him to a certain extend for offense, you need a few quests to inspire your guys, since the additional accuracy is really important for Skolko and Pronk, Grib and also Snark. The only problem might become if GW rules it that you can only use Dub with Surges, Quests will clash with that since most of the good ones are Surges. I think they just wanted to give Dub a Keyword and felt smart with Reaction and it just didn’t work right. I really hope they just scrap it. Here’s some more impressions of the tournament (got lazy with the pictures around the mid point – clearing all rules issues and managing tournament points while playing myself was a bit stressfull at times):

And here they are, the vampires – deserved winners of the tournament and also the winners of the painting competition card – I came in a close second.