August’s featured photo is a jaw-dropping King Velmorn diorama by Francesco Olivieri out of Knight Incantor Painting Lab. So much beautiful detail here, it’s hard for me to not stare for minutes at a time! Check out their Instagram page here or their Facebook profile here. You’ll see great paintjobs of all sorts, including this amazing freehand rendition of Calthia Xandire and this gorgeously tattooed Aemos.

Check out Web Highlights from previous months here, or dive in by category below!

Content Creators

The most exciting project out of the content creators this month was Borni of Raumzeit77 who has started a Nemesis competitive database – players from all over the world can input their match results and give us a live look at ‘the meta’, what’s over and underperforming, what pairings have the best win rates, etc. Phenomenal idea and quite well executed so far – be sure to add your games! Here’s the data summary from the first 1200 games submitted.

Submit your games to the form itself here if they are in Nemesis format and both players are intending to win with some baseline knowledge of the rules. Special instructions for submitting tournament data is within, but any games can count. Please help us understand where things sit!
Direct view of the stats for those curious

Not really qualifying as a ‘content creator’ event, but there was a new FaQ/Errata that is in line with a lit of what we see in the stats above – breakneck and rimewyrm were nerfed and presumably now parasite alone at the top. Click here to see the new documents.

After this errata, Path to Glory dropped an episode discussing meta shift expectations and they also made an update after the Errata changed a few things around

What the Hex has also commented on this errata on their podcast

And seeing as I expect a lot of parasite these days, I also published a few ideas about how to counterplay the Bane of Heroes specifically to help you defend against this new menace

North West Warhammer gaming community updated their Errata cards document so you can print out some handy notes for yourself depending on your warband/pairing and not need the whole document – click here for the google drive link and see what suits your needs

In other news, the What the Hex Podcast published an episode related to Counterplay in a similar vein to my counterplay series (which you can read here)

Critical Focus Channel continues their warband lore series with Beastgrave, and have a battle report “Brute vs Cute” showcasing Kainan’s Reapers against Skabbik’s Plaguepack.

A new one for me, but has been around for a long time; An Old Belgian Otaku is a Blog that covers a dozen different activities including WHU – here’s a post about a casual game night they had recently with Thricefold, Zarbag, and the Dread Pageant. The old otaku, who also has a youtube channel, shared this video about ‘why you should play Underworlds’.

HVN7ERX has spun up a new Youtube channel with Underworlds and a plan for tabletop games. Here’s a video titled “Underworlds is not Dead”

This month also saw updates to Charge2Win, a great community resource for new players to get to grips with ‘what this thing does’ – dig around for crash courses on warbands, decks, and more, and share with your friends who are still learning the game.

More information to come, but WathLab (recently the inaugural Spent Glory Hero) will soon be holding a Custom Warband Competition, where you’ll be able to design your own fighters and cards. The last contest in 2020 has 13 entries, so expect a healthy pool this time around as well. Designers may even have a theme in this contest such as 40Kderworlds or ye Olde (under)World – stay tuned!

Lastly, and it’s not Underworlds specific, The Independent Characters published a podcast episode titled ‘The Role of 40K in Life and Work’ discussing the balance of hobbies and the life benefits you have by partaking in something like this. Underworlds (and hobbying in general) has been hugely beneficial for me socially and emotionally, and it’s good to discuss this kind of thing in an adult setting. Play games, make friends, be happy, and have a more fulfilling life.

Events/Organized Play

Agents of Sigmar held a clash on August 4th, won by Voidcursed Hexbanes piloted by Marcus Rose. Possibly the strongest meta pairing around these days!

Warhammer World, under the leadership of the inestimable Nick Bayton, ran two more clash events this month. Dan Knight won the Warhammer World Rivals Clash with Xandire’s Truthseekers – a player after Sleeksbowl’s own heart. The WHW Nemesis clash this month saw Philip Lancashire top the field of 22 players with Crimson Court paired with Tooth & Claw.

The Madtown Throwdown was held this year in Madison, WI and was a Worlds Qualifier event with some fierce competition. In the end Bobby came out on top with Headkrakka’s Madmob paired with Breakneck Slaughter edged out the win over Payvand using Cyreni’s Razors with Rimewyrm’s Bite. What the Hex youtube has live commentary and streaming form each of the 4 rounds – exctiting!
Round 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5RGZTuapak
Round 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2M4iJDa47Q
Round 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCYUcj6_cGo
Round 4 (Finals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uz-LA_Eo_w

The NOVA Open was held at the end of the month (technically 9/1 but whatevs), and in a display of NorthBeast dominance, Gerard the Professor took the Golden Ticket with Drepur’s Wraithcreeper’s and Toxic Terrors, Baconborne of Path to Glory took second with Sepulchral Guard and Rimelocked Relics, and third went to Graham who took Grymwatch with Rimelocked Relics! Impressively there were 8 different warbands with 5 different universal decks in the top 8 (only 1 of which was the Hungering Parasite, and only 1 was Hexbane). Bravo to the NOVA attendees, looked like a great set of matches!

UPCOMING

As usual, check out Check out the Global Events Calendar here: you can filter by country and see what’s happening in your corner of the world. Note this is in GMT so hours may be off for you depending on your time zone. I’ll call out a few things that have me excited below.

September 7th-8th, Freak Wars is holding their major event in Madrid, which is a two-day Championship format event considered to be the National Spanish Championships for the year.

Very short turnaround, but if you can make it out to Los Angeles (Burbank more specifically) on Sunday, September 8th, Geeky Teas and Games is holding their Summer’s End Smackdown. Go play Nemesis with some of the friendliest gamers around!

Oceanic Championships of Warhammer is a Worlds Qualifier held September 14-15, 2024 in Australia. 123 Bakers Rd, Coburg North VIC 3058 – here’s the players’ pack and here is a facebook announcement

Clash on the Clyde 4 is happening in Glasgow on 15th September. All the info is on the Scotland and Glasgow Warhammer Underworlds Facebook if you’re in the area!

Minis & Mayhem is also being held September 15th, and will be a world qualifier in Vancouver BC Canada. Register on BCP here and steal back a ticket from our neighbors to the north, please I am begging you

September 28th will be the Stuttgart Grand Tournament in Germany. Email raumzeit77@proton.me to register, and see the players pack here

October 5-6, a worlds qualifier will be held in Milan, Italy. A golden ticket is cool and all, but what you REALLY want are these hand-drawn prize cards made by Marts Altering. What a great idea – would love to see more like this down the line

The SoCal Open is running Oct 19-20 in Del Mar California, with my buddy and Underworlds Underground cohost Saxthom as the TO. Get down there and say hello. Golden Ticket on the line if enough people register- do it!

The Polish Team Championships will also be held October 19-20 and is as always a very high-level contest.

October 26th will feature Kipper’s Melee, a tournament on Vancouver Island in BC Canada. See this facebook event for details

The Prague Open will be held November 2-3 in the Czech Republic, featuring several games in Including Warhammer Underworlds.
FB event: https://bit.ly/fbopen24
Tickets: https://bit.ly/prgopen24tickets
Rules pack: https://bit.ly/prg24rules

Beardgrave, WathLab’s custom season, will have a tournament held in the Vassal Discord sometime down the line – more info TBD. Check out this Reddit post for a teaser. The event will include new custom seraphon warbands…

Painting/Hobby

Excellently done contest entries for the Arc Open by Leighmer – both the Dread Pageant and Sons of Velmorn earned Gold level commendation. Well deserved!

Crazy diorama by Liam Hopkins (WiP but good enough to share for certain!) of Velmorn’s three littlest sons facing down a charging orruk brute. I’ve played into Krushas enough times to know how this is gonna end…

These are five years old now, but I only just found them and they’re arguably the best Steelheart’s Champions I have ever seen. Masterful work from Olmo Castrillo. Here are three separate galleries of Brightshield, Obryn, and Steelheart himself

Also in the ‘digging up old treasures’ department, look at these Wurmspat by Panom “PBMiniatureart” – I especially love the lighting effects that make them seem like they’re in some sort of fearie fire cave. Here’s a closeup of Ghulgoch the Butcher.

Absolutely WILD diorama with the Shadeborn by Jorge Ros/Gafikmonki with OSL, great wet blending, incredible detail, and artsy water effects

Knock-your-socks-off quality Mannok da Kunnin by Alexey “Stalkerminsky” Ivanov, who also has done one of the smoother Dread Pageant renditions around

Ectoplasm green Thorns of the Briar Queen by Kanosthefallen, cool background choice!

As incredible achievement, Sergio Nunes has now painted every warband. Not just done, but done to a VERY high standard. Check out this display case! Here’s the close-up of Brethren of the Bolt, done in a cool white-metal theme

Morgwaeth’s Blade-Coven painted like traditional D&D Drow/Dark Elves by beautiful_fratchy01. Really pairs well with the blue-tinted NMM on the weaponry

Ahnslaine, the Revenant Archer in a beautiful WiP Orange by Jupiter Rin Minis

Grinkrak’s Looncourt in stunning, almost fluorescent color so well offset by the black. Top tier work from Angel Sinant of Lithis Mini Studio. Love the squiggy details!

Beautiful NMM and leather textures on Gorlak Blackpowder by Tomás Spite – the freehand is great and the whole effect is worth a look!

Flashy and smooth Crimson Court with teal and purple accents and gorgeous green marble basing by reverand_slingshot

Remarkably detailed Pokin’ Snark by Jurgenson954 – look at the NMM and skin tones, wood grain, and more. What a model.

Ephilim’s Pandaemonium with very strong highlighting work by Niccolò Panzeri, and the glow from the cracks in the bases is a beautiful effect. Wish mine looked this good!

Skullgrinder Herax looking mighty fine in this version by Nightscalestudio, and the full Gorechosen warband here. The lightning blue pips here and there look great, and the blending is really clean

Starblood Stalkers with great glazing effects by -overthehill-

Cyreni’s Razors in a really cool directionally lit style by I_am_not_Alpharius which gives them a neat underwater effect

A stellar Zarbag painted by In_The_Middle with one of the more realistic evil eyes you’re going to get. They also painted a grey-green Redkap in a jailhouse stripes theme that is crazy good

Klaq-Trok and Otapatl ready for their closeups, painted by Juan Miguel Pereña. Shiny!

Wyrdhollow painted with a very high level of talent by Michał Chyczewski of Neon Forge Studio

Dark circus Grinkrak’s by Wiedzmin Painting

Bright Pink and pale green Gallanghann of the Glade by SaintChairface in a gallery that also includes some nice headswapped ironsoul’s Condemnors and Headsman’s Curse

Otapatl the Chameleon Skink in a phenomenally airbrushed red by Alessandro

Bright purple Skaeth’s Wild Hunt with incredible NMM and wood texture by CrazyKoala7

Arenai, Stormcoven, and Pandaemonium by SignificantAd4141

The Wielder of the Blade and Sharpener of the Blade in a great black and orange by Firebacon321. Check out the blade glow! They also painted Morgwaeth’s Blade Coven as very sickly looking bleach blondes, as well as Gryselle’s Arenai in a nice pallid scheme

The Godsworn Hunt in a Voiducrsed Thralls theme, with starlight constellations overtakign their forms. Cool concept by gospog_1975

Pastel Mollog’s Mob by Darth Wynaut

Nicely done shadowed Dread Pageant by jumbo_joke with just the right amount of blood effects

Very stark accents on Morgwaeth’s Blade Coven in a cold and pale teal, which is a really nice look on them. Star performance from glandyflands!

Storm of Celestus in a pale green and yellow scheme, which is a really cool look for them. Great idea from Tiev. They also painted Grashrak’s Despoilers in a very colorful scheme including bright Crayola skin tones! Rippa’s Snarlfangs in some bright rainbow colors with a similar idea here – loving the color-coded wolves and tassels to help easily identify who’s who on the table.

Skittershank’s Clawpack in a rotating video by RedofPaw – really nice work all around

A few Brethren of the Bolt moonlighting as Mordheim Zombies painted and converted by James Stone

Spiteclaw’s Swarm also Mordheim-ed up by Ash Wastes Nomad

Beautifully done and quite colorful Wurmspat by Antti Jäppinen – check the second photo for some Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers with great NMM

Godsworn Hunt with plenty of blood effects by gryffon_skull_minis – always nice to see some old favorites out in the wild

Extra Grimdark Zarbag’s Gitz (among other models) painted up for Mordheim by Peter Knight. Neat bioluminescence!

Gorgeous Starblood Stalkers in all sorts of popping colors by Curssis

Blue Smurf-like Skinnerkin – somebody got REALLY chilly down in the Wintermaw. Unique scheme out of danpaintsmodels

Zondara’s Gravebreakers by Kriegschneck

Quite vibrant green skin on Daggok’s Stab-Ladz by Max.Mini Painting – the basing stones look very realistic as well

Almeric Eagle-Eye painted up by thebloodfighter with fantastic NMM and great fades on the blue sections – the sketch lines really add some texture that makes the whole thing striking

Nicely converted Sepsimus by Derek Graham

Cool silver and Green Condemnors by Konrad Ka

Toyle of Zondara’s Gravebreakers painted by Weke’s Minis – ghastly skin and effectively done viscera and gore with the right light touch – nicely done.

Miscellaneous

More Underworlds proxies out of Ivan Ugnichev, this time for Garrek’s Reavers – excuse me, ‘Barrek’s Marauders’

WathLab imagines what “Fuel” Grimnir might look like in the year 40,000 with this custom fighter card – looks really cool!

My buddy Brian rolled 4 crits in an opening roll-off at a game night two weeks ago. ~1/1300 chance, must be those classing Sepulchral Guard dice

That’s a wrap! Tune in next month for September’s highlights, and don’t forget to Spend your Glory!