Battles in the Underhive don't often go according to plan.

   I feel so bad.  My life-long buddy, the one that got into the plastic-crack world with me as a youth, came down for his annual visit and only opportunity to play a game.  We chose Necromunda because that's my current obsession and that's where our history actually began.  I was looking forward to it and hoped he did too.  

  In the Underhive, there are proxies for the six 'middle' Houses in the form of gangs.  But there are other, darker and even more vicious forces down there, often not even worshippers of the Emprah (heresy!!!).  My buddy brought one of those factions- the Corpse Grinders!  These are Khorne-worshipping cultists that depend on the gory deaths of others for their enjoyment.  They aren't as tough as the Goliath gangers, nor are they as well-armed as the brutes, but they have their advantages.  The problem was that I didn't know what those were.  

  As he was setting up his forces and describing their stats, rules, and wargear, I became even more scared.  These dudes have how many attacks?!  With what?!  And they get all those special rules!?!  I continually asked him for the credits-cost and the disadvantages.  The problem was that this was my buddy's first time playing them as well, so he wasn't sure.  I was petrified and decided to bring the Escher crew so I could at least have some range and a lot of toxin/gas.  

  Well, it turns out that my selection was great but my impression was completely wrong.  I thought those cultists were so fast that they would be on top of me in a moment.  I thought that they had so much armor that my lasbolts and autogun bullets would fail to hurt him.  And I thought that I would lose at least half my gang just due to his Infiltrate skill.  Instead, my gang took the high ground, failed to miss with any shots and so pinned everyone that even looked in my direction, and then poisoned them to death.  

  When the smoke (green and noxious smoke, mind you) cleared, the Eschers had lost one body to a frenzied leader tired of seeing his friends get mowed down, while more than half of the cultists were dispatched or outright ineffective.  This is because the Corpse Grinders' biggest weakness is their Cool- they will break and run at nearly anything!  If they make the mistake of 'bunching up' so their banner-bearer can buff their movement, then they also make the mistake of watching one go down and the rest will scurry away like scared roaches.  It was sad.  

  My buddy gets once a year to play a game and I'm the guaranteed opponent.  I've been beating him for decades (when he beats me, though, he BEATS me) but at least it's usually fun(ish).  In this case, it wasn't.  I whined about how broken the warband was, only to watch them become broken and useless.  I overestimated them.  Worse, my buddy just got to put down models, move them forward a bit, and then remove them from the table.  I feel so bad.  

  Got an experience like that?  Drop it in the comments below so we can commiserate together (whether on the giving- or receiving-end).  

Happy Gaming!