AAR Video- First try at Shadow War Armageddon!
A number of CSW members have a long-term love for the classic game Necromunda. So, we were quite excited to hear that Games Workshop was using the Necromunda ruleset as the basis for their 40k-setting warband skirmish game "Shadow War Armageddon".
Last Thursday I grabbed a few crates of terrain and 2 kill teams and headed down to Greenfire games to give the game a try. Greenfire asked to live stream our game, hence the video below. As we played I attempted to explain the basics of the game, a bit of strategy, some comparisons to 40k, etc. You can be the judge of how well that was accomplished.
For a first game, it was over reasonably quickly, in less than an hour. I suspect that further games could easily be completed in that amount of time, maybe considerably less. If I'd been thinking, I would have certainly played another game immediately after this one. Astute players will note that I managed to completely forget about half the rules related to morale and leadership tests. Oops...
Both teams used an identical Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) lists that you can read here...
...with one force being made of vintage Squat miniatures and the other GW Cadians with Pig Iron Productions helmeted gas mask heads.
Though we only used about half of the table, I always enjoy the chance to get my urban terrain on the table. Here's two shots I took to give a different perspective of the battlefield.
The Tower the Squats were deployed in:
The Guardsmen advance across the transit station:
Three more bits of helpful information for present and potential Shadow War players.
First of all, the warband list builder at Shadow War Zone is super easy to use. I was able to quickly create a warband and print off the army list above.
Secondly, the STAWK's "Shadow War Cheat Sheet" is a very nice Quick Reference sheet. It's 4 pages are a bit more comprehensive than you will need, but if you have the first page at hand and leave your rulebook open to the weapons list on the penultimate page of the Shadow War rulebook you'll rarely have to consult anything else.
Lastly, for those in the Chicago area looking to play more Shadow War and 40k, Greenfire Games is supporting both and they are being played on Monday and Tuesday evenings at one of the cleanest and friendliest game shops in Chicagoland. Also, I left behind this crate of terrain...
... so if you liked what you saw above, you can play on some of it!
In summary, I'm even more excited about Shadow War than I was before playing this. The forces in this particular game were pretty similar to what one would play in Necromunda but the core of the rules seem very solid and I'm hopeful that they will handle the more dramatic 40k personalities (Space Marines, Eldar, etc) just as well. This is the game that I've been wanting GW to make for at least 15 years now. With the very low model count and all the rules and army lists a player would need contained in one book, the barriers-to-entry into the 40k universe have never been lower or the rules better.
Looking forward to the next game!
-Karl Paulsen
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