How to Play Cthulhu Wars: The Windwalker Expansion

Game Objective

As Windwalker, your goal is to become an unstoppable force by the end of the game. You start weaker, but your units become cheaper and your strength increases dramatically as the game progresses. The main strategy is to accumulate Power to pull off a "gigantic successful turn," controlling 5 to 6 Gates, and then, on the following turn, use that Power advantage to perform a massive Ritual of Annihilation. You are betting on a big final attack for victory.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Choose one of the two Areas on the map that contain the Windwalker Glyph as your Starting Area. Both Areas allow Windwalker to summon any of their unique Great Old Ones.
2. The requirement for one of your Spellbooks is met when any player builds a Gate in the other Starting Area (the one you did not choose for the game). For example, on the Earth map, if Windwalker starts in the Arctic Ocean, a Gate must be built in Antarctica to fulfill this Spellbook requirement.
3. Windwalker components include: a Faction Card, 6 Spellbooks, a Rulebook, and 19 miniatures (7 different types, all white): a Power marker, a Doom marker, 6 Acolyte Cultists, 4 Wendigos, 4 Gnoph-Keh, 1 Ice Age, and 2 Great Old Ones (Rhan-Tegoth, Ithaqua).

Game Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

As Windwalker, you are a "late bloomer." Your Spellbooks are not all useful early on, and you don't have good movement abilities until you awaken Ithaqua. As the game progresses, your units become cheaper, your strength increases dramatically, and a host of powerful options appear.

• Gnoph-Kehs: They are expensive initially, but you need to start producing them to reduce the cost. The summoning cost of a Gnoph-Keh depends on the number of Gnoph-Kehs in the Pool:
  • If no Gnoph-Keh is on the map, summoning one costs 4 Power.
  • With one on the map (and 3 in the Pool), the cost is 3 Power.
  • With 2 in the Pool and 2 on the map, the third will cost 2 Power.
  • The final Gnoph-Keh costs only 1 Power.
  • A Gnoph-Keh Captured by Tsathoggua is not in the Pool.
• Wendigos: Before Battles are common, you may need to summon some Wendigos. Later, they are the product of fighting.
• Hibernate: It can be tempting to Hibernate when you have a lot of Power left over, but if your enemies also have a lot of Power, it's risky. Wait until they are too weak to launch an effective attack, then Hibernate – even 2-3 extra points help next turn.
  • Even while hibernating, Windwalker participates in negotiations about how much Power is lost and can choose to lose Power due to Crawling Chaos's Thousand Forms.
  • If Windwalker under Hibernation gains Power, they remain under the effects of Hibernation and cannot perform actions. You can only spend Power when you have the option via Spellbooks or abilities (e.g., to prevent Rhan-Tegoth from being Killed or Wounded).
  • The Minimum Power rule interacts with Hibernate as follows: first add the Power saved from the previous turn. Then calculate how much Power Windwalker is entitled to gain that turn. If the Minimum Power for that turn is greater than the total, your Power is increased to the Minimum Power.
• Ferox: Allows you to leave Cultists alone with relative safety, but you still need to be careful about Cthulhu's Dreams.
• Great Old Ones: They are cheap and useful. You can summon Rhan-Tegoth without a Gate, at either pole. This is often an unpleasant surprise for an enemy who thought they were safe, especially due to Rhan-Tegoth's resistance to wounds. Late in the game, bring in Ithaqua to take advantage, and your Spellbooks start to take effect.
  • If Yog-Sothoth is in the Area where you Awaken Ithaqua, Yog-Sothoth can be the "Gate" you replace with Ithaqua if it is the ONLY Gate in the Area. If there is another Gate available, you must replace it.
• Spellbooks:
  • Howl: Useful for clearing an Area to capture a Gate, or for removing an enemy Great Old One's protective shields.
    • The victim decides which of their units is Retreated and to which adjacent Area it goes.
    • The unit can go where Windwalker has units, because Howl does NOT inflict a Pain (similar to how Cthulhu's Devour does not inflict a Kill, although it eliminates a unit).
    • Howl does not inflict a Pain, even if it causes a unit to retreat. Therefore, surrounded units are not Killed by Howl.
    • Crawling Chaos's Madness ability does not allow it to choose where Howl's victims are Retreated.
    • Howl cannot Retreat a Brain Cylinder on the Yuggoth map.
  • Ice Age: Defends a vulnerable Gate and can be used to prepare an enemy Area for invasion.
    • If an Action affects units that end the turn in the Area, or does something with the Area itself.
    • Units can leave the Area without extra cost. But moving INTO the Area costs 1 additional Power (not per unit, just for the entire Movement Action).
    • If Yellow Sign tries to Desecrate the Area, it would cost +1 Power.
    • If Cthulhu emerges from Submerge in the Ice Age Area, he would pay +1 Power (but not if he left the Area via Submerge).
    • Great Cthulhu's Devolve is not an Action, so it is still free, although using Dreams would cost 4.
    • Black Goat's Avatar would cost +1 Power, as at least one unit will end that Action in that Area.
    • Opener of the Way's units can Promote after Battle for free (because it's not an Action), but declaring Battle would cost +1.
    • Sleeper could still use Death From Below in the Ice Age Area, as it is not an Action.
    • If Sleeper declared Lethargy while Tsathoggua was in the Area, it would cost 1 Power.
    • If you use an independent Great Old One Action, such as Mother Hydra's Zygote, and placed at least one of the Recruited Cultists there, it would cost +1 Power.
    • Controlling or abandoning a Gate costs 1 Power if the Ice Age marker is in the Area, unless you are Windwalker. The Action is still unlimited.
    • Crawling Chaos's units can fly over (but not land in) an Ice Age Area without spending extra Power, as they are not ending their Action in that Area.
    • Yellow Sign's Spellbook The Third Eye, which reduces the cost of a Desecration to 1, does not override the Ice Age Spellbook. If the King in Yellow performs a Desecration in an Area containing the Ice Age token, the cost is still increased by 1 (i.e., 3 without The Third Eye, and 2 with it).
  • Cannibalism: Take this Spellbook early to start your Wendigo army. It also acts as a "damage shield" – as long as you get a Kill, you can instantly replace a loss!
    • Only actual rolled Kills generate Wendigos or Acolyte Cultists via Cannibalism. Abilities like Crawling Chaos's Abduct or Cthulhu's Devour do not. Opener of the Way's Spellbook Dread Curse of Azathoth also does not generate Wendigos, as it does not generate a "real" Battle.
    • If you have no Wendigos in your Pool and a Wendigo is Killed in Battle, you can immediately re-spawn it via Cannibalism (assuming you killed an enemy unit in the same Battle). This also works with Cultists.
  • Berserkergang: Best when you have many Gnoph-Kehs, so they are cheap to replace.
    • Berserkergang only works when actual Kill results have been scored.
    • Berserkergang, like all non-Kill eliminations, can be used to destroy Sleeper's units if he is using Demand Sacrifice and you refuse to make the payment.
  • Herald of the Outer Gods: Simple and reliable.
    • When paying the 5 Power for Herald of the Outer Gods, you still move the Ritual marker up.
  • Arctic Wind: It is useful for marching your unstoppable horde to victory.

End Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• As Windwalker, you are a "late bloomer." Focus on building your Spellbooks and armies early in the game, even if they are not immediately useful.
• Your Great Old Ones are cheap and useful. Use Rhan-Tegoth to surprise enemies, summoning him without a Gate at either pole, taking advantage of his resistance to wounds.
• Plan a "gigantic successful turn" at the end of the game, where you will control 5 to 6 Gates, and then use your Power advantage to perform a massive Ritual of Annihilation on the following turn.