The new season of Warhammer Underworlds kicks off tomorrow, when the Gnarlwood boxed set hits pre-order. Earlier in the week, we looked at the bestial killers of the Gnarlspirit Pack. Now, the Sons of Velmorn rise from their graves for a moment in the spotlight.
As the Age of Chaos dawned and the carnivorous Gnarlwood crept across Thondia, King Morlak Velmorn – then among the living – sought a way to save his kingdom and preserve his bloodline. The cursed Tyrant’s Crown ensured that he and his sons would rule forever… but not quite in the way he imagined. Fortunately for Velmorn, crowns are very in this season, and he’ll fight anyone who enters his domain to claim differently.
King Morlak Velmorn
Untold decades of practice means the king is pretty handy with his sword. By activating Velmorn nice and early in a round, you can boost his skeletal sons – because his Deadly Command means he counts as a supporting fighter for each of your Grave Guard, wherever they might be.
That’ll also increase your chances of Inspiring him, and making his Baleful Tomb Blade even deadlier.
Marshal Faulk Velmorn
With his dad mouldering on the throne forever, the firstborn son will now never get the chance to wear that fancy hat. That’s done nothing to stop the Sibling Rivalry between his undead brothers, making them all easier to Inspire – even if they can’t score critical hits (or take credit for supporting a critical hit), you can still Inspire one of your Grave Guard at the end of each round.
Helmar the Hewer
Like his older brother, Helmar also has the Shield Up ability – when he’s Inspired, a critical success will not only inspire any supporting friendly fighters, but will also give Helmar a Guard token,* helping him to stay alive (undead?) that much longer.
He’s also clearly the smartest son, as he's the only one wielding an axe while fighting in the root-halls beneath the flesh-eating Gnarlwood.
Sir Jedran Falseborn
Even Velmorn’s illegitimate son has been afflicted by the curse of the Tyrant’s Crown. Though he’s not an heir – and therefore doesn’t share their Sibling Rivalry or title as Grave Guard – Jedran is the king’s towering enforcer, unleashed against the most dangerous of enemies with his deadly Great Tomb Blade.
Thain, Fourth-and-Last
Finally, there’s the youngest son, still trying to get his dad to notice him in undeath. Thain’s Trip ability lets you knock a target off-balance,** making them easier for the rest of your warband to take out – perfect for bringing down big enemies like Gorlock from Blackpowder's Buccaneers or the Gorehulk from the Gorechosen of Dromm.
The Wight King and his sons have a particular hatred for the living, and many of their objective cards are about taking enemy fighters out of action. Ensure the dead outnumber the living by taking down enemy fighters to score Inevitability Itself.
Or for a more targeted approach, take out an enemy leader to score Absolute Monarch.
Taking out enemy leaders is always a good plan, even if it isn’t quite so straightforward in multiplayer games. Still, you can’t brook any challengers if you want to wear the Tyrant’s Crown – and leverage The Crown’s Curse to revive your fallen sons.
The ability to bring your Grave Guard back to fight again is a great boon, if only just to see the look on your opponent’s face when they think they’ve taken one of your fighters out of action. And even if you don’t yet have the glory to equip The Crown’s Curse, there’s another way to command Velmorn’s sons to Rise Again…
As if the obvious benefits of returning fallen fighters to the fray aren’t enough, you can also score the objective card House Eternal when you give a friendly fighter a Raise counter.
Your revived fighters are vulnerable, meaning they only have a single wound remaining. That’s enough for even the weakest of Warhammer Underworlds fighters to finish them off. Fortunately, a little death magic in the form of a Shyishan Infusion will have them feeling much more lively. Uh, relatively speaking.
As they say in the Gnarlwood, if you come at the king you’d better not miss. The Fell Enchantments protecting the royal family ensure that anyone foolish enough to attack you – and miss – will suffer a terrible curse for all eternity. Or until the end of the phase, at least.
Velmorn’s crypts and mausoleums are full of ancient weapons that still have sharp edges, despite many years of use. Spend some Glory to make your Grave Guard even deadlier with a Heirloom Weapon.
Pair these fine armaments with the Experience of Ages to give your attacks Ensnare, making it more likely that your attacks will punch through your enemy’s defences.
It may seem strange to want to re-roll successful attack rolls, but it gives you another chance to roll those sweet, sweet critical successes that are so vital for the warband. A critical hit Inspires not just the attacking fighter, but their supporting allies too – why accept less than perfection?
These cards are part of The Sons of Velmorn’s Rivals deck – a preconstructed deck of cards designed to complement the warband. Every new warband comes with a Rivals deck, all of which have been carefully balanced against each other to ensure a fair match whichever deck you choose.
Alternatively, you can dabble in deck-building with the Nemesis format, which allows you to mix in cards from two separate Rivals decks – including those which come with Warhammer Underworlds: Gnarlwood.
The Sons of Velmorn are available in the Warhammer Underworlds: Gnarlwood boxed set, which is available to pre-order from Saturday. In the meantime, learn how to paint your skeletal scions with this handy painting guide.
This is just the start of the new season of Warhammer Underworlds – learn about the future of the game and the return of Organised Play, and sign up for our newsletter for all of the latest updates from the root-halls.
* Fighters with Guard tokens count both Dodge and Block as success when they defend.
** Snare hexes are another way to stagger enemies and score re-rolls in this new season.