Shadow War experiences so far

[CommodusXIII]

I think SWA is a good second step after a few introductory games of Kill Team. The latter is simple enough to jump into, and SWA gives much more flavor and mechanics to keep it interesting.

[deathspectersgt7]

As someone who'd like to re-enter the tabletop aspect of the hobby, but in a less time-intensive fashion than typical 30K/40K, would people recommend this?

 

Does it feel roughly balanced, so far (or just too early to say?)

Do it !!!! it is quite fun and no Tau cheese . Eldar are a challenge but they die . 

[Panzer]

I seriously can't stop laughing whenever I hear a C:SM player talking about Tau cheese. :D

[deathspectersgt7]

I seriously can't stop laughing whenever I hear a C:SM player talking about Tau cheese.

It goes good with ork fungus and eldar liver . And chocolate covered nids .

[Brother Valor]

I think this is a great means to reenrer or enter into the hobby. You can buy a box of troops to get started. Yesterday I played a returning player fielding skitari. He literally bought the box that morning & borrowed the stores clippers & glue to build his kill team in between missions.

 

The best part of the game are the nearly impossible feats. Yesterday my AM Sergeant heroically went 3 rounds toe to toe with an Aspiring Champion & a Terminator while the rest of his men crawled to safety before I bottled out.

[Panzer]

The best part of the game are the nearly impossible feats. Yesterday my AM Sergeant heroically went 3 rounds toe to toe with an Aspiring Champion & a Terminator while the rest of his men crawled to safety before I bottled out.

That's definitely the best thing and for sure balances the lack of actual balance in a campaign imo. Nobody really cares who wins the campaign but it's about the stories you can tell afterwards. :D

[Beams]

The only gripe I have is that power armor feels out of place, with the setting being lightly armored reconnaionsance forces, and with chaos having 3-10 power armored marines where guard gets 3-10 6+ saves...

 

Sure, you can upgrade to 4+, but then you are initiative 2 and can't see anything and are always pinned...

Edited April 23, 2017 by Beams

[Brother Valor]

I don't know. My guard we're on the losing end all day; but walked away without any deaths & received the same amount of promethium as the winners. If we were playing a steady campaign, I might feel differently; but we got in 4-5 games in as many hours. I didn't really feel under powered compared to the two chaos marine kill teams. I almost won the hit & run mission. It came down to some very lucky reinforcement rolls on his part. In the other mission my sergeant walked away after denying the Aspiring Champion his glory & evading the terminator's chainfist for three rounds. He was the hero of the day!

 

I did tweak the list to allow for more high impact weaponry as I couldn't even pin the terminator with my current list; but he's a specialist & not an everyday encounter. Plasma looks to be my go to special weapon in all my lists now.

 

I do have to admit, I think GW got this one right. It's an awesome game. Super fun, super easy, super fast, & great for players who are looking to try out another army like myself. Yesterday I got to play scouts, nothing new & not as enjoyable as some of the other forces I played, Guard, so much fun, & orks, sorry brothers. I've had the guard & ork models for years; but never played them as I only have a dozen models or so. They were perfect for a kill team. Most fun I've had playing in some time to be honest.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Brother Valor

[BrotherAtrox]

I honestly may never play regular ol' 40K again. I used to play a LOT of Mordheim/Necromunda and SWA scratches the itches those games left me with:

 

-Skirmish level. I can play the game (comparatively) quickly and for a lot less initial investment. This also means collecting/assembling/painting is easier and I can play multiple factions without having to sell organs.

-Encourages lots of terrain. Terrain makes games for me, both in the creative things you can do while playing and the aesthetic it adds.

-Doesn't take itself too seriously. There are rules for falling, accidentally shooting things you weren't aiming at, etc. - it's not afraid to add some chaotic elements.

-Has rules for persistence. You can sustain an injury, or maybe earn a skill and add that extra flavor to a member of your Kill Team.

 

All of this encourages what, in my opinion, takes a good game to a great game: emergent narrative. For example, I played in a Mordheim campaign a while back where one of my good friends was running a Beastmen warband. In one game, a low-level Ungor accidentally knocked the warband leader off a 2-story building. The fall took him out of the game, and afterwards when he rolled on the injury chart he got a head wound that caused some brain damage - represented by giving the Beastman leader Hatred against the enemy warband that inflicted the wound on him... which was his own warband. This was a really simple mechanic, aided by a bit of chance, that produced an equally simple story that took off and was a running joke through the rest of the campaign. For the next three months the story of this Beastman leader becoming increasingly enraged at the incompetence of the people around him continued to grow until it was the centerpiece of our campaign. The player finished pretty low in the points when all was said and done, but he didn't care - he had more fun than anyone else. I hope SWA gets traction in the community and in a few months from now I can walk into a FLGS and reliably get a game going.

[NatBrannigan]

That's brilliant, you can imagine it can't you! Guess who gets "volunteered" for any dangerous job from then on in!

 

It really is the fun little events that happen during and between games that make Mordheim, Necromunda, Gorkamorka etc great.

 

In a Gorkamorka campaign someone in our group picked up damage to his pimped up Trukk that resulted in an "annoying squeak". This later caused the driver to crash into a rock and pick up an injury, which turned out to be a head wound that made him frenzied. The joke was that the annoying squeak had finally driven the driver mad! After several more games enough Teef had been saved to replace said Trukk (which really was a wreck at this point). First game it was used in, first shot that went that Truckks' way wrecked it and sure enough, it picked up an annoying squeak!

 

I had numerous Orks who had their legs replaced by Monowheels (why did I keep going back to that Doc...) to the extent that I added a ramp to the back of one of my Trukks for them. In Shadow War I suspect the stories will be less whacky but will still be the best part of the game. Hopefully my current Orks will become known for something other than spectacular failure!

[Panzer]

All of this encourages what, in my opinion, takes a good game to a great game: emergent narrative. For example, I played in a Mordheim campaign a while back where one of my good friends was running a Beastmen warband. In one game, a low-level Ungor accidentally knocked the warband leader off a 2-story building. The fall took him out of the game, and afterwards when he rolled on the injury chart he got a head wound that caused some brain damage - represented by giving the Beastman leader Hatred against the enemy warband that inflicted the wound on him... which was his own warband. This was a really simple mechanic, aided by a bit of chance, that produced an equally simple story that took off and was a running joke through the rest of the campaign. For the next three months the story of this Beastman leader becoming increasingly enraged at the incompetence of the people around him continued to grow until it was the centerpiece of our campaign. The player finished pretty low in the points when all was said and done, but he didn't care - he had more fun than anyone else. I hope SWA gets traction in the community and in a few months from now I can walk into a FLGS and reliably get a game going.

Haha that reminds me of the last game between our Skitarii and our Tyranid player. It looked really grim for the Skitarii even tho they easily took out one of the Tyranids. At some point one of them was in hand-to-hand combat with one of the remaining two Tyranids. He took the chance and shot into the combat. Either he takes out the Tyranid and has only to deal with the last one (while he has to do bottle checks) ... or he takes out his own guy and is allowed to retreat.

Save to say that he took out his own guy which in return got Hatred for the team that took him out...his own. Means now that one Skitarii has LD10 as long as he can draw line of sight to the one who shot at him. :D

[Cryptix]

 

All of this encourages what, in my opinion, takes a good game to a great game: emergent narrative. For example, I played in a Mordheim campaign a while back where one of my good friends was running a Beastmen warband. In one game, a low-level Ungor accidentally knocked the warband leader off a 2-story building. The fall took him out of the game, and afterwards when he rolled on the injury chart he got a head wound that caused some brain damage - represented by giving the Beastman leader Hatred against the enemy warband that inflicted the wound on him... which was his own warband. This was a really simple mechanic, aided by a bit of chance, that produced an equally simple story that took off and was a running joke through the rest of the campaign. For the next three months the story of this Beastman leader becoming increasingly enraged at the incompetence of the people around him continued to grow until it was the centerpiece of our campaign. The player finished pretty low in the points when all was said and done, but he didn't care - he had more fun than anyone else. I hope SWA gets traction in the community and in a few months from now I can walk into a FLGS and reliably get a game going.

Haha that reminds me of the last game between our Skitarii and our Tyranid player. It looked really grim for the Skitarii even tho they easily took out one of the Tyranids. At some point one of them was in hand-to-hand combat with one of the remaining two Tyranids. He took the chance and shot into the combat. Either he takes out the Tyranid and has only to deal with the last one (while he has to do bottle checks) ... or he takes out his own guy and is allowed to retreat.

Save to say that he took out his own guy which in return got Hatred for the team that took him out...his own. Means now that one Skitarii has LD10 as long as he can draw line of sight to the one who shot at him.

 

Behold the wrath of Jenkins-108. HE SHALL HAVE HIS REVENGE.

[Chaplain Raeven]

 

All of this encourages what, in my opinion, takes a good game to a great game: emergent narrative. For example, I played in a Mordheim campaign a while back where one of my good friends was running a Beastmen warband. In one game, a low-level Ungor accidentally knocked the warband leader off a 2-story building. The fall took him out of the game, and afterwards when he rolled on the injury chart he got a head wound that caused some brain damage - represented by giving the Beastman leader Hatred against the enemy warband that inflicted the wound on him... which was his own warband. This was a really simple mechanic, aided by a bit of chance, that produced an equally simple story that took off and was a running joke through the rest of the campaign. For the next three months the story of this Beastman leader becoming increasingly enraged at the incompetence of the people around him continued to grow until it was the centerpiece of our campaign. The player finished pretty low in the points when all was said and done, but he didn't care - he had more fun than anyone else. I hope SWA gets traction in the community and in a few months from now I can walk into a FLGS and reliably get a game going.

Haha that reminds me of the last game between our Skitarii and our Tyranid player. It looked really grim for the Skitarii even tho they easily took out one of the Tyranids. At some point one of them was in hand-to-hand combat with one of the remaining two Tyranids. He took the chance and shot into the combat. Either he takes out the Tyranid and has only to deal with the last one (while he has to do bottle checks) ... or he takes out his own guy and is allowed to retreat.

Save to say that he took out his own guy which in return got Hatred for the team that took him out...his own. Means now that one Skitarii has LD10 as long as he can draw line of sight to the one who shot at him.

 

 

*Jenkins-108 is under fire by xeno forces*

'Oh man, I can't survive this onslaught. I need to get the warp out of here. Time to turn and...'

*Spots Dinkleberg-209 while turning*

'DINKLEBERG! You're still alive, you Omnisiah damned twat!?'

*Start frothing at the mouth, jumps over his cover and headbuts the enemy*

Edited April 25, 2017 by GreyRavenC

[Panzer]

See? Sill stuff like this is what makes SW:A awesome. Not who won the campaign. :D

[Obscura]

Had my second campaign game last night.

 

Chaos Space Marines Vs Tau

 

The Tau naturally take up defensive positions, using cover to their advantage while I split my forces into a pincer maneuver, sacrificial cultists running up the right ( the tastier squishier option ) and the Marines running up the left, hugging cover and becoming a far more dangerous foe the closer they get in. He's on overwatch and takes pot shots that don't even land ( the negative to hit modifiers from running and near constant cover helped immensely ), the cultists are getting closer as I stop to move my Marines in groups of two to three runners while two stand static to shoot, essentially covering their advance as bolter rounds knock down Tau or take them out of action.

 

I'm about to close in as I wanted my leader to get into close combat with his, the Champion shoots him with his Bolt Pistol, knocking him down with a flesh wound, but by then the other guy decides to bottle out, wanting to deny my leader the extra bonus from taking out his leader in close combat.

 

All in all, another fun experience. 

 

Though I am wishing SW:A had a meatier experience system like Mordheim/Gorkamorka/Necromunda.

[Panzer]

Tau are really weak in SW:A imo.

Low range with bad BS and no access to most of the misc gear makes it hard for them outshoot anybody (if they hit it hurts tho) and once they have basically no chance of recovering early from pinning with their Initiative of 2...if they don't outright die with their T3 and 5+ armor that is. It's just sad imo. :/

 

I'm pretty happy that I decided to use my CSM in our campaign instead of my Tau...wouldn't be a lot fun i fear. I hope your Tau player doesn't mind losing more often than winning and still has fun in the campaign. 

[Stercus]

I managed to pick up a cheap rule book from an eBay auction and am really looking forward to playing a few games of this. Just need to look out for some deals on terrain. I'm guessing the more the merrier on scenery in this right?

[Panzer]

 I'm guessing the more the merrier on scenery in this right?

Definitely. ;)

[Brother Valor]

I've never had the pleasure to play Necromunda nor Mordheim; but I'm thoroughly enjoy SW:A. I've noticed that the other players, even the super competitive always have to win or complain how another players army is Over Powered, are enjoying the games more. Most of us couldn't care less about winning the campaign or even the game. We're just enjoying the experience & some of the outlandish events that occur.

 

Last night we played a free for all, there were three of us, with the object to be capturing the flag & getting it off the board by any table edge. We thought it would be a grand idea to place the flag on top of a 7 story ruin. It was hilarious the number of guys who fell screaming from being shot & tumbling out of the ruin. The winner was the stinkin ork player. He managed to get clipped in the flag room. I could pin him; but by then I was down to a laspistol recruit. We called him Spidey Ork as he kept falling to the end of the harness & climbing back up. The shop was closing soon & we declared "Spidey Ork" the winner.

 

It's this environment that brought me into the hobby so, so many years ago. I've been playing off & on since 2nd edition for almost 20 years. These last few weeks have literary been some of the most enjoyable & I've seen the change brought about in many other players that I would normally avoid playing against due to their melt downs.

 

Props to GW for making one of my favorite hobbies even better!

[Obscura]

Tau are really weak in SW:A imo.

Low range with bad BS and no access to most of the misc gear makes it hard for them outshoot anybody (if they hit it hurts tho) and once they have basically no chance of recovering early from pinning with their Initiative of 2...if they don't outright die with their T3 and 5+ armor that is. It's just sad imo. :/

 

I'm pretty happy that I decided to use my CSM in our campaign instead of my Tau...wouldn't be a lot fun i fear. I hope your Tau player doesn't mind losing more often than winning and still has fun in the campaign. 

 

I don't think he's going to have any fun, he kept on saying how Chaos Space Marines were OP and essentially gave up when he couldn't hit my guys ( I made true scale Marines and then put them on top of raised 32mm display style bases, because why not ), I tried my best, but he didn't want any of it.

 

I'm really happy to have gone with Chaos though, I'm enjoying the modeling opportunities as I've magnetized the majority of my KT.

[Panzer]

 

Tau are really weak in SW:A imo.

Low range with bad BS and no access to most of the misc gear makes it hard for them outshoot anybody (if they hit it hurts tho) and once they have basically no chance of recovering early from pinning with their Initiative of 2...if they don't outright die with their T3 and 5+ armor that is. It's just sad imo. :/

 

I'm pretty happy that I decided to use my CSM in our campaign instead of my Tau...wouldn't be a lot fun i fear. I hope your Tau player doesn't mind losing more often than winning and still has fun in the campaign. 

 

I don't think he's going to have any fun, he kept on saying how Chaos Space Marines were OP and essentially gave up when he couldn't hit my guys ( I made true scale Marines and then put them on top of raised 32mm display style bases, because why not ), I tried my best, but he didn't want any of it.

 

I'm really happy to have gone with Chaos though, I'm enjoying the modeling opportunities as I've magnetized the majority of my KT.

 

CSM are definitely not OP since they don't have anything that helps them against getting pinned and are an expensive low model count team unless you spam cultists. Although to be fair i think Tzeentch Inferno Bolter Marines with some of the Misc upgrades are one of the strongest Troops CSM can field. :D

 

He probably just needs a different perspective. Others aren't OP...Tau are just rather UP in SW:A with the current rules unfortunately.

[Obscura]

 

 

Tau are really weak in SW:A imo.

Low range with bad BS and no access to most of the misc gear makes it hard for them outshoot anybody (if they hit it hurts tho) and once they have basically no chance of recovering early from pinning with their Initiative of 2...if they don't outright die with their T3 and 5+ armor that is. It's just sad imo. :/

 

I'm pretty happy that I decided to use my CSM in our campaign instead of my Tau...wouldn't be a lot fun i fear. I hope your Tau player doesn't mind losing more often than winning and still has fun in the campaign. 

 

I don't think he's going to have any fun, he kept on saying how Chaos Space Marines were OP and essentially gave up when he couldn't hit my guys ( I made true scale Marines and then put them on top of raised 32mm display style bases, because why not ), I tried my best, but he didn't want any of it.

 

I'm really happy to have gone with Chaos though, I'm enjoying the modeling opportunities as I've magnetized the majority of my KT.

 

CSM are definitely not OP since they don't have anything that helps them against getting pinned and are an expensive low model count team unless you spam cultists. Although to be fair i think Tzeentch Inferno Bolter Marines with some of the Misc upgrades are one of the strongest Troops CSM can field.

 

He probably just needs a different perspective. Others aren't OP...Tau are just rather UP in SW:A with the current rules unfortunately.

 

 

I tried explaining that to him and that ultimately if the dice are on your side, you can have the worst tactics in the world but still come out on top, just as long as the dice smile upon you. In that game, the dice were just on my side.

 

I can easily see Tzeentch Inferno Bolter Marines being on the better side of kick ass. I won't even be touching those guys since I went for a Nurgle KT as I enjoyed the modeling aspect of walking sewer marines far more entertaining.

 

As it stands, my next game is against a guy whose playing Necrons and after that I have a game lined up with someone else whose playing Grey Knights. I want to see if the Tau guy will want to play me again, by then maybe his outlook on his squad will have changed.

[Sister Alessia]

Its so good to hear people are having fun and positive experiences. Ive started gaming again, as I used to love Necromunda. Here is my gang so far. All the novices have white hair. Ive not had a game yet, but i have had a game of Kill team against Death Watch, which I won! Yay!

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/2e4eoop.jpg

[Chaplain Raeven]

I pre-ordered the rulebook, despite the disappointing high price for a softback. People praise the game too much to not give it a try, although it's mostly sfPanzer and N1SB that pushed shoved me over edge.

 

Its so good to hear people are having fun and positive experiences. Ive started gaming again, as I used to love Necromunda. Here is my gang so far. All the novices have white hair. Ive not had a game yet, but i have had a game of Kill team against Death Watch, which I won! Yay!
 

 

Oh wow, those are some nice Sisters. The conversion of the LE mini looks pretty nice.

[N1SB]

I pre-ordered the rulebook, despite the disappointing high price for a softback. People praise the game too much to not give it a try, although it's mostly sfPanzer and N1SB that pushed shoved me over edge.

 

Thanks for taking the leap of faith with us 

 

A new learning:

 

 

11. The Rescue mission is a potential trap, you'll want an Ace-in-the-Hole like an Operative

 

It's not the mission per se, but the situation.  If you're having to Rescue your team members, you're at least 1 man (if not more) short, because you probably had a few casualties in order to even get your guy(s) captured.  It's going to be really tricky, because it's like you're walking into a trap.  Despite the Sentry Rules and so forth, your captured teammates really are like bait.

 

I think if you have an Ace-in-the-Hole like a really good Operative for a stealth mission, such as say a Solitaire (if you're Eldar Harlequin) or a Purestrain Genestealer (if you're the Genestealer Cult), it's a really good idea to pay their 1 Cache fee to use them here.  In which case, you can really turn the situation around, where you use these uber units to really butcher your opponent.  It can turn a Rescue mission into a Revenge mission as well.

 

Last week (so I'm posting this way after the fact) I finally got to play the Rescue mission after capturing 2 of my friend's Guardsmen.  He started really well, Flamed a key sentry and took out my special weapons support guy, played it as smart as he could, but because he was already 2 men down to start with he got overwhelmed.  If he was playing his Harlequins, though, I'd actually be worried he'll use it to send a Solitare after me.