Warhammer Underworlds - Shadespire Edition is a digital adaptation of the turn-based strategy tabletop game from Games Workshop. This is 1-to-1 recreation of the tabletop game in video game form and follows all of the rules exactly as they are written in the rulebooks.

Currently WU:O is following the warbands and running the rulesets from the first and second physical seasons, Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire and Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault.

The winner of a match is the player who has collected the most Glory Tokens by the end of the End Phase in Round 3.

Glory Tokens are won in two ways:

• Defeating an enemy fighter by reducing their health (adding Wound Tokens) - players score 1 Glory Token
  
• Claiming an Objective Card - players score the number of Glory Tokens shown on that Objective Card

Angharad will be defeated if she gains two more Wound Tokens below. When defeated, the opposing player will add 1 Glory to their total.



When an Objective Card is claimed, Glory is added to a player's total.

A match of Warhammer Underworlds consists of the six main components:

Warbands are made up of a varying number of fighters with different strengths and abilities. Each warband is controlled by a single player.

Below is an example of a warband - in this case Ironskull's Boyz



Each fighter in every warband has their own individual stats relating to attacking, defending, moving as well as any special abilities and inspiration conditions that will make them more powerful. These are shown on their fighter cards.




Objective Cards act like missions - complete a mission and win Glory Tokens.




Power Cards are special conditions, either one off events (known as Ploys) or permanent upgrades to a fighter (known as Upgrades), that will help you defeat your opponent.

Ploys are recognisable by the dagger symbol in the top-left corner



Upgrades are recognisable by the gears symbol in the top-left corner




These are the 6-sided dice rolled when you make an attack action. One die has the following faces:

1x Critical Success face
2x Smash Symbol faces (Hammer)
1x Fury Symbol face (Swords)
1x Single Support face
1x Double Support face




These are the 6-sided dice rolled when you defend against an attack action. One die has the following faces:

1x Critical Success face
2x Block Symbol faces (Shield)
1x Dodge Symbol face (Arrow)
1x Single Support face
1x Double Support face




This is made up of two game boards chosen and placed by the players at the start of the game.

Players choose a game board each at the start of the game



Players lay boards next to each other to create a Battlefield

Before a match can begin, players need to set up the Battlefield. This is a very strategic part of the Warhammer Underworlds as players need to adapt their environment and their warband positioning to best suit their overall strategy to win the game.


At the start of the game each player gets to select one game board each. These are then placed next to each other to create the Battlefield.



The order in which boards are selected and configured is determined by a Roll-Off. See the Roll-Off section for more information.

In the tabletop game there are also extra rules that determine how boards can be placed next to each other. In Warhammer Underworlds - Shadespire Edition players can move and rotate game boards into position and the game will auto-configure the layout based on these rules.


Each player then gets to place a number of randomly selected Objective Tokens on the hexes. Objective Markers are numbered 1-5 and important for claiming a large amount of Objective Cards in the game. Important note: At the time of placement neither players know ahead of time what numbered markers they are placing.



As there are five Objective Tokens that need to be placed, it results in one player placing two markers and one player placing three markers. Whichever player placed the first game board is first to place the first marker.

In the tabletop game there are also extra rules that determine where tokens can be placed in relation to each other. No Objective Token can be placed within two hexes of another token, a starting hex, blocked hex or edge hex. Only the final token can be placed on an edge hex.

In Warhammer Underworlds - Shadespire Edition the game will highlight a hex in blue to notify available positions, following the rules above. Objective Markers cannot be placed on red hexes.


Lethal hexes are special hexes on the board that contain a hazard that can wound or even kill a fighter. When a fighter moves, is placed, pushed, or driven back into a lethal hex, the fighter is dealt 1 damage. A fighter that is standing in a lethal hex can remain standing in it without further penalty from that hex.



During this phase, each player can place one Lethal Hex Tokens to any hex on the battlefield, other than a lethal hex, a starting hex, or a hex that contains an objective token. The first player to do this is the player that first chose a game board.

The location of a lethal hex could mean the difference between life and death for a fighter, so choose carefully to ensure that it works with your chosen strategy!


Each player then draws three Objective Cards and five Power Cards.



Players may discard (mulligan) their hands and draw again at this stage if they so wish, but will lose all those cards to the discard pile.This is useful if the drawn cards do not match your immediate strategic plans.

If a player wants to mulligan their hand they drag out the Redraw Hand Card and new cards are automatically drawn. If a player wants to keep their cards they can select the large green Pass Button.


After another Roll-Off, each player then takes it in turn to place their fighters on their game board.



Starting hexes show a large embossed skull icon for easy identification.

A complete match is broken down into five simple sections:

1. Setting up the Battlefield
   
2. Round 1
   
   • Action Phase
     
   • End Phase
3. Round 2
   
   • Action Phase
     
   • End Phase
4. Round 3
   
   • Action Phase
     
   • End Phase
5. Victory / Defeat / Draw

There are three rounds in a game of Warhammer Underworlds - Shadespire Edition, each divided into an Action Phase and an End Phase.

In each Action Phase, players take it in turns to make actions like Move or Attack using their fighters, or by Drawing New Cards to their decks. These are called Activations.

After a player has made an Activation, both players then enter the Power Step, where players take it in turn to play Power Cards from their hand. Newcomers to WU:O should note that this is an incredibly important section of the game as it allows you to upgrade fighters by using earned Glory Tokens and play ploys that will influence the "Next Activation", which could significantly increase your odds of successfuly defending or attacking!

Once the Power Step has been resolved, the opposing player then takes their Activation, or if all four Activations have been taken by both players, the round continues to the End Phase.

Once the End Phase has been resolved, play continues to the next Round.

Each player takes it in turn to make 4 Activations each in every Action Phase.

An Activation is classed as one of the following:

• Make a Move Action
  
• Make an Attack Action
  
• Make a Charge Action
  
• Go on Guard
  
• Make a unique Action related to a fighter or shown on an Upgrade card
  
• Draw a new Power Card
  
• Discard an Objective Card and draw a new Objective Card
  
• Pass (do nothing)

After an Activation has been made both players enter the Power Step.

The Power Step is one of the most important sections of the Action Phase as it allows players to play Power Cards to either play a ploy or apply an upgrade to one of their fighters using Glory Tokens*. Players take it in turns to play Power Cards until they have run out of Power Cards in their hand, or choose to Pass. During the Power Step, Warhammer Underworlds - Shadespire Edition will show what Power Cards can be played by raising them slightly from your hand.

Once a Power Step has been completed the opposing player then starts their next Activation. If all players have made 4 Activations each then the Round continues to the End Phase.

The Action Phase and the Power Step will be broken down into more detail in Part Two and Part Three of this guide (TBA).

* Details on how to use Glory Tokens in relation to upgrades will be covered in the next guide!

In the End Phase of Round 1 and Round 2 the following events happen in order:

1. Claim any Objective Cards (some have conditions that only act in the End Phase)
   
2. Discard any remaining Objective Cards
   
3. Play and upgrade any fighters using upgrade Power Cards and Glory Tokens.
   
4. Discard any or all of your remaining Power Cards
   
5. Draw new Objective Cards up to a total of three (if possible)
   
6. Draw new Power Cards up to a total of five (if possible)

Note that players cannot use ploys in the End Phase.

Once these steps have been completed, all Move and Charge tokens are removed from the fighters and the next Round begins.

In Round 3 players only need to claim Objective Cards. Once this happens Glory Points are then totaled and the player with the most Glory wins the game!

In the case of a Draw players win under one of the following conditions:

• The opponent’s warband was entirely taken out of action
  
• The player’s fighters are stood on the greatest number of Objective hexes

If there is still a tie, the game is a Draw.

Roll-offs are used at various points in the game to decide which player goes first. They occur in the following sections of gameplay:

• To decide which player selects a board first
  
• To decide which player places their fighter first
  
• To decide which player goes first in Round 1, 2 and 3

Each player rolls four dice and counts the number of critical successes.



The player with most "crits" wins the roll-off!

In the event of a tie or no critical successes, the player that rolled the most single supports then wins. If there is still a tie then the player that rolled the most double supports wins the roll-off.



In Round 1 the roll-off works slightly differently in that the player who finished placing all of the fighters in their warband first adds an extra critical success. In WU:O this is shown as a small piece of shardglass that appears next to the dice rolls.



This special roll-off gives the player with the least amount of fighters a slight advantage in deciding which warband attacks first!