Today’s special article is part of the Custom Rules series. Click here to see other custom rules we’ve put together!

Everybody loves 3-on-3 basketball. Blood Bowl players often enjoy a smaller format known as Sevens using fewer fighters. Age of Sigmar can play a Spearhead mode with fewer fighters, Warcry can use smaller points values, 40K has Combat Patrol and even Kill Team to reduce the model count. These modes provide a tighter, shorter play experience with fewer models and some reduced complexity, and even if they make the experience more casual, they can be quite enjoyable – perhaps even more so for some players than the base games.

While Underworlds already uses very few models, we don’t have a great counterpart to this ‘simplified/reduced’ version of the game. While I and others have put together custom rules for no card games, or a single fighter in the Highlander Format, today I’m proposing a middle ground between these two.

Click here to see some community-proposed updates to this rule-set

3 Bounty Deathmatch

In 3 Bounty Deathmatch, players will use 1-3 fighters totaling 3 bounty. They can play without cards or can opt to bring a 15 card deck. The route to victory is much more constrained as there will be far fewer ways to gain glory, and the game should play pretty quickly and be easy to pick up.

If you want a light way to play over a lunch break, a palate cleanser between other games, something to bring out to a non-warhammer board game party, or just want a new way to experience the awesome Underworlds universe, give this one a spin!

The Rules

Both players select a warband. (Link to warband master list) They then select between 1-3 fighters from that warband, with a total bounty characteristic of 3 across all models combined. Zero bounty fighters are not allowed to be selected in this ruleset. Players do not need to include a Leader in their model selection if they do not wish to.

The game can be played with or without power cards. In a no-cards skirmish, warscroll abilities are still available. The Power Cards version is the standard for this game mode, and players will have a limited pool of Power Cards and their Warscroll to utilize throughout the game.

If playing the standard version with cards, the following rules apply:

• Players determine whether they will be playing Rivals or Nemesis.
• Regardless of format, players will use a deck of 10 ploys and only 5 upgrades of the players’ choosing.
• Rivals format games will require all 15 power cards to come from a single Rivals deck.
• Nemesis can choose any combination of their 15 cards from any two Rivals decks.
• No Objective cards will be used in either format.

Draw cards and mulligan, orient the board, place feature tokens, place fighters, and determine first turn through the usual Warhammer Underworlds rules. The game will progress through 3 rounds as usual, but will end immediately if one warband has been reduced to zero fighters remaining – the player with models still on the board at that time is the winner (do not compare glory totals in this instance). If both players have fighters remaining at the end of the third battle round, the player with more glory wins. If the players have an equal amount of glory at the end of round 3, Use the rulebook’s tiebreakers. Otherwise, the game is a draw.

The only way to collect glory in this game mode is through bounty from slain fighters and the glory awarded by Aqua Ghyranis tokens. Raised fighters return without the reduction in their bounty. Should a raised fighter be slain a second time, the opponent will be awarded bounty a second time.

3 Bounty Deathmatch Strategy

When selecting a warband, you may wish to focus on warscrolls that are useful for all fighters, or ones that focus on a select few (who you then should select for your roster). Warscrolls that focus on multiple different fighters/types will be less useful for this version of the game because you may not be able to select from all of those fighters.

The game’s primary condition is the deathmatch – you win if you clear your opponent off the board. Choosing fighters with good stats or warscrolls that provide benefits to attack and/or defense will be helpful.

While you can collect additional glory through Aqua Ghyranis tokens, this will only count toward your victory condition in the event the game lasts all 3 rounds. Don’t necessarily overcommit to these tokens! That doesn’t mean they should be ignored however, as they still offer healing and can help you get the glory to purchase any upgrades you happen to acquire.

Zero-glory upgrades will be particularly good choices in this format as you may struggle to purchase regular upgrades early in the game – generally only 1-4 bounty will be available to you as the game plays out!

Wrap

What combos are you dreaming up? Will you take a single 3 bounty fighter and load them up with defensive upgrades to solo your opponent, or will you be piling on with multiple smaller fighters? Will you Take Cataclysm/Wrack and spam pings, Reckless Fury to play a control game, Deadly Synergy to operate a flanking approach, Realmstone Raiders to blitz through your deck, or something else? I’d love to hear what strategies you have in mind, and any battle reports you’d like to share at SpentGlory@gmail.com

Until next time, I hope you enjoy Spending your very limited glory in the 3 Bounty Deathmatch!

Today’s special article is part of the Custom Rules series. Click here to see other custom rules we’ve put together!