Please join me in welcoming back a community legend and dear friend of mine, a man you may know as Sleek, Mike Prime, The Original Pink Slip Punk, or Mr. Bowl. Sleek has been out of the game for a hot minute as real life took priority and his locals floated to other game systems for a time. The good news is that he’s back, has already thundered around Las Vegas with Ironsoul’s Condemnors (as is his trademark), and now is making things happen in the San Luis Obispo region of California once again.
Today’s article will cover a few different categories on the page. First, this will slot into the Sleek’s Bowl tag since, you know, he wrote it. Second, it’s going to cover some Custom Rules that Mike put together for an achievement list and a spin on a campaign night. Finally, it’s also part of the Community Growth Series as it addresses how to get people in on a big fun group activity and leave them wanting to come back for more.
I’ll let the Prime explain it himself, but below you can read about how to wrangle your locals into a fun Underworlds spinoff, list some achievements and points scoring system he used for his event, and a bit of a photo gallery from the game night his group ran. Enjoy!
ALSO! A reader has made a github for tracking these achievements. Thanks to Raven from Malaysia!
https://github.com/ongzhen119/Achievement-Night-PWA
The Worst Thing About Underworlds (Clickbait)
What is the worst thing about Underworlds? It is NOT rules ambiguity. It is not imbalance. It is not the lack of deck variety or board options. No, the worst thing about Underworlds is also the worst thing about any miniature game on the market. Namely, you might not have people to play with.
It’s true you can join a vassal league and play games online with multiple players around the world. And that is very fun. Specifically, because it gets you out of your local meta and pushes you to excel in a competitive and unique environment. However, if you are anything like me, I always seem to crave the in-person experience. That tactile feel of the board, the actual rolling of dice, the deck boxes and card shuffling. Not to mention making new friends and meeting new people in person. With computer screens and AI running the show while I am at work, I find I really enjoy sitting with people and playing games.
But therein lies the problem. You must have a local community to play with and enough within that community for your games to be interesting. Barring someone who champions the game in your area, you may be the only one who can develop that!
One way to do this is to plan an achievement game night. An achievement game night is like an organized play night without the potentially toxic competitiveness. It gives both new player and veterans an equal playing field so both can have fun. I developed an achievement organized play night at the recommendation of a friend of mine to grow our local Underworlds community. I am going to lay out some of the details below to hopefully spur on ideas for your community. Feel free to change the achievements to things that are more or less difficult based on your community.
The Achievements List
The Event
Time
We ran ours from 6pm-10pm. That was enough time for beginners to get in three matches with a little time to spare. These were one-off games, not a series of best of 3.
Nemesis or Rivals? BOTH.
Players could play Rivals or Nemesis decks. We didn’t want new players to have to come up with great combos, but we didn’t want to limit players who love doing that. So, you can do both. BUT there is an achievement if you do both. The risk here is that a veteran brings a nemesis deck and trounces a beginner playing rivals. However, there are achievements for the loser in that match that the veteran does not get.
Warbands
You can use any warband during any round. So, if you don’t like what you played in the first round, grab another warband and play them! Again, there was an achievement for playing three different warbands for the night. This makes things very fun for collectors and beginners who have a box set and just want to try the two warbands and see what they like. They are not locked into something that they don’t enjoy playing all night.
Yahtzee
There were achievements that had to do with what you roll on the dice and how many dice you rolled. This could be scored regardless of success or failure. Think of this as a bunch of Branching Fate achievement points. This was fun for all competitors, and your opponent would often point out something you earned.
Winning
Finally, you do get two points for winning. So winning a match does matter, but that accounts for 6 points of the total 25 available.
Getting Annihilated
There was also an achievement if someone scores more than 15 glory against you. This means that if your opponent really rocked you, you still get something. In fact, a participant who beats everyone handily will not score this achievement.
Prizes
Everyone got prizes and the top three achievement point earner got first pick of the prize lot. Sidenote: we charged $10 to play and handed out prizes from the organized play kit. You can charge and give away whatever you like, just make sure both beginner and veteran would be interested.
What does all this mean?
So, what you end up with is a night where beginner and veteran both have fun, earn prizes, and most importantly, you develop your community.
Background
I have been out of the game for a little while and wanted to help re-establish a player group. This was perfect as it didn’t require anyone to know up to date rules or FAQs. It allowed me to play without having to sit out if I am the organizer. It also pushed me to know the rules more tightly as I was the resource for rules questions for the night.
How Did It Go?
It went perfectly. Our players had a blast and some of our newer players earned top-tier prizes. Veteran players seeking to earn achievement points also found themselves losing to beginners as they tried warbands, decks and pairings they have never played before. I included some pictures and the achievement list with a summary set up on the back for your games if you want to try it. If you have a regular league night, this is a great opener for a new season or to fill the gap between seasons. It is also nice after a tournament if people are sort of competition-fatigued.
Good luck!
Thanks to Sleek for putting together this project and being willing to share it with the world. And congratulations on being able to get the ball rolling locally again! Glad to see him back on the scene. I hope you’re able to replicate some of his success and have fun with an achievement night, campaign, league, or anything else that strikes your fancy.
If you’d like to stroll down memory lane, click to see articles with the Sleek’s Bowl tag
If you’re interested in reading more Custom Rules, we got plenty.
Finally, you can read the Community Growth Series for more insights on how to expand your local player base.
Whether you’re scoring achievements, playing standard WHU, or doing your own thing, I hope you have fun Spending Glory in the Spitewood!
EDIT: How’s this for some immediate feedback! From Raven:
This was really inspiring. I’m trying to grow a small Warhammer Underworlds scene in Butterworth, Malaysia, and your achievement-night idea gave me a clear direction. I ended up making a small PWA web app to help track achievement scoring for our local game night. Thanks for sharing this — especially the beginner-friendly approach.
https://github.com/ongzhen119/Achievement-Night-PWA
Spent Glory 
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