Well deserved praise too as Shadespire really is an excellent game. I was skeptical, i'll admit it, (no, surely not, I hear you all cry). Age of Sigmar just hadn't grabbed me, I was pining for the Old World and still mourning its loss. I may have fully embraced the universe now (Soul Wars turned up just the other day) but at the time, I was highly resistant. Then Mike grabbed himself a copy of Shadespire a while back and after one game I was impressed if not hooked. I got my own warband, Sepulchral Guard (undead) and have played a few times since, enjoying every game. So it was inevitable that I would grab my own copy in time. Now I have it I guess it's time for a full review.
The first thing you will notice is that this is not one of Games Workshop's big boxed games. Instead the box is smaller and portrait in orientation. This is a product designed to sit on a shelf with other games. The box itself is very high quality and nice and thick. It's also colourful, designed to stand out with some, well let's say 'striking artwork'
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| That is....unfortunate. not the best box art ever... |
Removing the lid will reveal the shrink wrapped boards and cards along with the rulebook. We'll get to the rules in a second. after running through the contents. The tokens are nice and thick and really high quality punched really well and falling away from the card with no problem. The presentation and quality is typically high as per most GW products. The boards themselves are thick and double sided and only bettered by the likes of Space Hulk and maybe Silver Tower. Some of the lines are a little difficult to see which can be annoying when you play the game but it's not a massive problem.
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| The boards are very nice, if not chromatically diverse |
Underneath the shrink wrapped tokens and board are the minis and dice as well as the cards which are so important to the game. More on those in a second. The cards are split into 3 decks, a starter deck for each side and some extra cards that can be built in when you are past the starter games to get you into the deck building side of things. A small number of sleeves are included so that you can at least sleeve the character cards.
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| Baggies are included. Everyone likes baggies |
The sprues themselves are made of coloured plastic but thankfully this does not seem to have impacted on the quality and the miniatures are highly detailed. At the time i think this might have been the first female Stormcast (Neave Blacktalon in the Blightwar set might have beaten her, i'm not sure) but female characters are fairly common now as Game Workshop embraces calls for more equality and diversity in their ranges.
And why not, female heroes make as much sense in a world such as that of Age of Sigmar as any other and should they fall in combat coming back as reforged super soldiers makes just as much sense, it certainly makes the range a touch more interesting. It's not like the Fluff imposed sausage fest of the Astartes and it's all done very tastefully and naturally unlike some miniature manufacturers (Raging Heroes, i'm looking at you). That said I do fear for Slaanesh when the inevitable overhaul takes place, I can't see that aesthetic surviving unscathed.
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| Textured bases all round. |
Aaaanyway.... getting away from all that these are really some very nice models. The 3 Stormcast are well, cast in blue and the 5 Reavers in red. Other expansions that have been released have each had a unique colour, green for the Orruks, bone for the Undead, and so on. Presumably eventually they will run out of colours? There are a lot of factions yet to feature and blue, red, brown, orange, green, bone are all taken. This is an obvious commitment to those that choose to game rather than paint and shows GW going after a completely different target demographic. Even the manual contains no reference to painting the models though there are pictures of painted models on the back of the box. This is a gamer's game through and through.
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| I'm more of a painter tbh. Not a massive fan of bare plastic. |
The minis are all pushfit although I do have to say that the Stormcast Liberators fit that description better than the Chaos Reavers who could certainly benefit from a little glue here and there. The Sepulchral Guard also go together perfectly so maybe it is just the Reavers. There are minimal to no mould lines and each figure comes with a scenic base. This really is GW at the top of their game, if you'll excuse the pun.
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| Here you can see the dice results, not a painted model in the manual! |
And that extends to the rules too. This is a tight ruleset based around competitive play. The game lasts a strict three rounds, each round consisting of four activations. Should your warband consist of more than four fighters then you'll have to decide who isn't activated. If you have less than four then you will be looking at additional activations for some. This adds a layer of strategy and tactical potential to the game, fully aided by it being alternate activations. An activation can be to move, to fight or to charge which allows you to do both there are tokens to allow you to keep track of who has charged., you can also draw a power card as an action if you are running low. You can only move once and if you charge you can't do ANYTHING else with that fighter. Choose your actions carefully.
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| The rulebook is well laid out and easy to follow |
Each and every warrior is represented by a card which contains all of it's stats. One side of the card is gold with increased stats and skills. You will use this side when your warriors become inspired. The way your warband becomes inspired varies from faction to faction which is a masterstroke by GW and adds a lot of variety and yet another level of strategy to the game. For example Orruks become Inspired when they get hurt so you will want all your fighters to take at least one wound. Reavers get Inspired when a certain amount of fighters go out of action (blood for the blood God!) where as the undead get Inspired when they are resurrected. Sometimes Inspiring your fighters will lie in line with your objectives, sometimes it will be opposed to them. This is one of the great things about the game that fills it with strategy. We'll cover objectives in a sec.
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| This upgrade card is only for Steelheart.. They should upgrade his name coz he sounds like a Care Bear |
Let's look at combat first though. It's all pretty simple, the game has bespoke dice and you roll these looking for the symbol that matches your weapon. In addition there are symbols that will count if you have one, or two supporting models that are not themselves engaged. To defend you need to roll dodges or shields, again, dependent on what your card says, Criticals count either way. If you dont beat the amount of hits you take the weapons damage value as wounds. That's it, sounds simple enough and it is, where the depth comes in is in your cards.
You have a hand of cards, that you draw from your pre-constructed deck and you can play from this deck after an activation. You might play a ploy card, which will allow you to perform a strategy or tactic in your next activation, or if you have accumulated Glory you can buy a permanent upgrade which are sometimes restricted to a specific character. You do this by flipping over the Glory to the spent side so although it cannot be used again for an upgrade it still counts toward your victory score. Glory is earned in the end phase as well as for killing foes. In the end phase you will get to play objective cards to claim Glory. As you can see these cards in advance in your hand you can plan your strategies in advance. You might play one for claiming objectives and another for having a warrior not take a wound in a turn or even one for Inspiring all your fighters. I have scored 12 Glory in one turn before by cunning playing of objective cards!
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| Three Glory Points if you score this |
You can also play cards as reactions to activations so if you are attacked you can respond with a card that might increase your chances of survival, but careful! You only get to refill your cards int he end phase at the end of the round.... Careful management and use of your power cards is as critical as tactical positioning and good dice rolls. This is a game that rewards strategy and a multilayered strategy could involve a combination of cards.
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| A reaction card can be played out of sequence. |
So obviously the more cards you have the more strategies you have available, and you only get the cards in the warband packs so serious deck builders will want them all. It's a clever marketing strategy and the packs are very reasonably priced at well under 20 quid a pop, for that you are going to your miniatures and a deck of cards, pretty sweet. It's not a steal exactly but any decent discounter will get that down to under 15 quid which is pretty good value for the gameplay you will get. The only thing I am not too keen on is there is an artifact set that if complete will make victory almost guaranteed and you guessed it, if you buy ALL the extra warbands you WILL have the complete set. This seems a bit cheap and unworthy of the game if I am being honest. Not necessary.
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| Glory to Khorne - literally. |
At this stage everything mentioned in the rulebook has been released but there are some noticeable factions that have not featured yet. Sylvaneth, Idoneth, Daughters of Khaine, Kharadon Overlords, Seraphon, and now Nighthaunts, not to mention all Chaos Gods except Khorne. So one would imagine that a second season is imminent, perhaps with a new starter box and a change of setting. After all the brand is Warhammer Underworlds not Shadespire. Given the success of the game it is unthinkable that there will not be more coming at some point. Personally I really hope there is, it is a great game with some very deep strategy and tactical potential. Couple that with some awesome looking expansions at an attractive price point and you really are on to a winner.
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| Expansion warbands are available and I am sure there are more to follow.... |
Recommended. Its a great quick game that embraces tactical nous and is a lot of fun. Check it out.
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