If you’re reading this post, you’re either curious about Warhammer Underworlds, or somebody is trying to convince you to play the game. Below is a short post about why this is the best board game on the market, with lots of overlap for people who come from miniatures games, wargames, skirmish games, or TCGs. The goal of this website is to promote community engagement in the game of Warhammer Underworlds and spread the word about how now is the absolute easiest and best time to get into it. I have been playing since the release of Shadespire in 2017 and can say with confidence that the game today looks better than ever from both a competitive and casual standpoint. Here’s a post about why it’s especially good for new players in this second edition of the game.

So what is Warhammer Underworlds and why should you care?

Warhammer Underworlds is “The Ultimate Competitive Miniatures Game” It’s a combination of:

• A combat and control-based board game, which you might compare with with Risk or Blood Rage, Gloomhaven, or Chess
  
• A skirmish miniatures battle game  which you might compare with with X-Wing Miniatures, Star Wars Shatterpoint, Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team, Marvel: Crisis Protocol, or Warmachine
  
• A Deck-building card game,  which you might compare with Magic: the Gathering,  Hearthstone, Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, Pokémon, or Gwent. If you’re an MtG player who wants to see how it compares, check out this post by another blog.

This beautiful and intricate game has one of the hallmarks of good game design: it is easy to learn, but hard to master. It has substantial advantages over the three game types listed above as well:

• If you’re worried about buying into a boxed game that you might simply play a few times, Underworlds is much more frequently updated and expanded upon than most board games, so it won’t get stale and is considerably replayable.
  
• If you’re intimidated by combat games, Underworlds does not use tape measures with complex combat charts and extensive bookkeeping, instead using a single 16-page rulebook (which you can read for free here) and hex-based board spaces. You also can quite easily own and field multiple warbands, and are able to dabble in them all at will. This astronomically increases you variety of play since you aren’t locked into one giant army as you might be in a game like 40K.
  
• If you’re put off by miniatures construction and painting, the models included (which are gorgeous) are all push fit – no glue required, and painting is optional. Teams are only between 3-7 fighters, so you won’t spend hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours putting things together either! Games also don’t last four hours where you wait 45 minutes between turns – the entire game can be completed in 30-60 minutes and you never wait more than a minute before you get to do something again. Literally all it takes to play is one box, and one friend, and one hour.
  
• If you’re overwhelmed by deck construction and collecting creep of most TCGs, there exists a standard and popular game format (Rivals) where pre-built decks are used, and requires no card choice on your part. There is also another option (Nemesis) where a limited card pool is used and only two standard Rivals decks are combined, so you don’t have to “buy everything” and “pay to win” like many card games. Leave the life of chasing rare or expensive singles and gambling on randomized booster packs behind – in Underworlds, we know exactly what we’re getting.

Warhammer Underworlds is enjoyed internationally – from Poland and Spain to the UK and USA, and there are multiple national and world events every year. The game has a growing community and has been holding regular competitive and casual tournaments worldwide. You can even win glass trophies! 

Ready to dive in? Check out this Beginner’s Guide to get started
Looking for groups in your area? Check out the community directory

I’m always down to talk about this fantastic game, and can be reached at SpentGlory@gmail.com