Shadow War experiences so far

[Stercus]

Aaaah, now that's interesting. We've been playing that a pinned target no longer counts as the easiest but I like your way a bit better. Having said that with the amount of cover generally used when someone is pinned they tend to disappear out of site or at least into heavy cover, so they no longer count as the "easiest" target.

 

An unrelated question, can you voluntarily leap from a great height? Lets say from one of the new bits of Shadow War terrain, so about 6"? We had a cultist grab some loot and then plunge to his death while still holding it, but I'm not sure you're actually allowed to do that? I would have allowed it anyway because it's one of those great thematic moments and the kind of thing a cultist would do I think (probably screaming something about being granted eternal glory on his way down) but just wanted peoples opinions on the legality of it? It's essentially attempting an impossible jump.

Definitely. Thematic moments is what the game is all about. If you'd put it in a Schwarzenegger movie, it belongs.

[Lysimachus]

Played my first 4 games over this weekend with my Void Pirates taking on my brother's GSC.

 

Game 1 was a standard gang fight, not too much of note to say, we traded shots but eventually I managed to take enough of his KT down to force a Bottle check, first win to me!

 

Game 2: Scavengers. Rolled for 5 loot counters, took 2 each without any fuss, then it was a fight to the death over the last one. Highlight was my brother voluntarily throwing his Juve off a 5" platform so that he'd get downed, drop the last loot counter and another fighter could run past and pick it up! Despite my best efforts, this guy managed to get it back to his edge for the win.

 

However, I did get about 4 of his team out, one of which ended up captured...

 

Game 3: Rescue. This one looked tough, especially as I got 4 sentries and my bro got 8 attackers including a pure-strain Genestealer! His stealer proceeded to charge 18" into one of my guys, taking him out with ease. I thought it was all over as he'd be able to use his monster charge to take out the next sentry too (and the one after that too, probably) but super luckily for me we rolled a 1 for if the combat sounded the alarm!!! Suddenly, my guys were alert with reinforcements coming in and things turned around. While my bro managed to free the captive, I got enough downed/out enemies for a first Bottle test and my bro rolled an 11! Game to me!

 

Game 4: Straight fight again. Quite cautious play, he took a stealer again so I spent a lot of time walking+hiding or over-watching to deny him movement (my sniper with rds, photovisor and tox rounds was super useful against the stealer!) Eventually, as he pushed forward, I got a few lucky shots without taking too many casualties and, as we were out of time, my bro voluntarily bottled out before losing any more.

 

So three wins and one loss. Funnily enough though, my promethium rolls were bad and my brother's good so I'm currently only leading 6 caches to 5!!!

[Sister Alessia]

Sounds like great fun Lysi and well done on the wins! I miss Genestealers being terrifying! Sounds like an Alien movie :)

I'm playing my first game today. My brother hasn't finished making his guard killteam, so he's going to be using my guest Eldar Iyanden team, against my sisters.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I posted this in a similar thread over in the guard subforum, but also wanted to share it here.  Here is a pic of my killteam. 

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/Imperial%20Guard/IMG_1301_zpsgsk4lsqo.jpg

 

Sergeant with bolter (the Lt.)

Specialist with plasmagun

Specialist with flamer & carapace (arbite)

Veteran with shotgun & carapace (arbite)

Veteran with shotgun & camo cloak (the ratskin)

Veteran with lasgun & frag grenades (the guy throwing a grenade)

Veteran with lasgun

Veteran with laspistol and chainsword (convict)

Newbie with lasgun (convict vehicle crew)

 

I have fought two skirmishes against my friends orks.

 

 

First one was ambush, with me being the ambushee.  Luckily, I was able to counter ambush with my flamer, melee guard and newbie, but while the flamer took out a couple of orks, their nob with power claw was able to get into melee with my sergeant.  Fortunately I bottled the next turn.

 

My sergeant and my shotgun arbite were injured, with the sargeant getting hatred for the nob, and the arbite getting frenzy.    Both were out the next battle.  My flamer arbite got my advancement and got + 1 W.  I spent my points to get another specialist with a lasugn and camo.

 

Second battle was just a kill team fight, but we rolled that the winner got an extra 100 points.  My friend split his force, and mine was pinned against one edge as there was no safe way to advance.  Both factors played in my favour, as even though my flamer arbite took a rockit to the head in the first turn of shooting, my friend didn`t coordinate his forces well and I was able to concentrate on them one group at a time.

 

My flamer arbite got hatred for his rokkit ork, and my plasmagunner got ammo hound for the group advancement roll.  I had been planning on cashing in a promethium for more points, but as I won, I didn`t have to.  So, I bought a grenade launcher (with both types) and laspistol for my new specialist, gave his camo and carapace to my plasmagunner, gave a laspistol to my flamer arbite, and frag grenades (and the specialist`s old lasgun) to my scout shotgunner.

 

I played LOTS of necromunda back in the day, and this seemed like a natural improvement over that.  In particular I like the more forgiving wound table, and the more varied "gangs".  What I didn't like (and also didn't like when I played necromunda) was having to bend down to figure out true LOS, and how static some battles can be.  I like that team advancement is more even between killteams, but dislike not having a "stash" in which to save points and unused gear.

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

[Hod]

 

 but dislike not having a "stash" in which to save points and unused gear.

 

 

 

You can in the current rules stash any gear you've brought into a game. If you have a guy with a shotgun and then you give him a bolter, you can still have the shotgun. I'm pretty sure you can carry as many weapons as you want on a character into the game (although you can't use them all in one turn, but if you run out of ammo on one gun, you can pull out the next one for the next turn).

 

For the points stash, our gaming group made the very easy to make rule: you can keep a points stash. It makes everyone so much happier, and is not really that big of a deal.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

My understanding is that you can "stash" gear on your models (so, giving a shotgun guy a lasgun as well) but that has to be shown on the model.  So that's what I've done, but its annoying.

 

As for the house rule of stashing points, I can see how you might do that, but I worry that its actually part of the balancing mechanisms.  For example, chaos space marines and sisters of battle can put 10 power armored folks on the table and have powerful heavy weapons such as heavy bolters which IG/AM don't have access to - which likely gives them an advantage later in the campaign.  So, if you force them to pay promethium to get certain models early on, that may give forces with less expensive but less powerful models a chance in the late campaign.  This may not be the case, but for the first go round its something I'm okay with living with.

 

Another small annoyance is that IG/AM can't go "wide" like orks can, in that orks are the only faction that can get 20 models.  So, already on game 2 I've hit my model cap, with the only option now being to "gear up" my existing guys.  Which is fine, but not really within how I see my kill team - which I see more as a dirty dozen type group, rather than an elite group all decked out in carapace, scopes and hotshot lasguns.  Still, I can understand why it may be necessary for game balance - in necromunda there were balance mechanisms where the more guys you had, the harder it was to get money for gear, and the better your gang was compared to your opponent, the faster your opponent advanced.

 

Anyway, I'll have to see what it feels like further into the campaign - maybe I'll like it more then, or better understand the balances required to keep games fun later on.

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

[Sister Alessia]

Lovely killteam Dr_Ruminahui, lots of character!

 

Had my first game on Sunday. We elected to just do a standard killteam fight to learn the rules and since he hadn't made his team yet, he used my guest Eldar.

 

I concentrated my storm bolter and 2 bolter sisters on pinning his shuriken cannon, which I managed for most of the game. I then worked my leader and heavy flamer slowly over 

to his leader, for a cool showdown! We both had 1 kill and 2 downs, it was brutal We agreed on a draw, as we ran out of time, but I did down his leader for extra kudos! 

 

I'm going to be working on painting the terrain before our next game. It was slow going learning the rules, but it was so much fun! I think we both know the rules well enough for a much quicker game next time. Also we have another girl on board playing orcs, yay!

 

http://i63.tinypic.com/rtg5mf.jpg

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/wjsw7c.jpg

[Chaplain Raeven]

I'm a simple man, I see Mantic terrain, I press 'like'.

 

Looks like a fun match, especially with a board filled with terrain. Now you only have to turn that draw into a win next time 

[Sister Alessia]

Thanks Grey :) It's really good terrain, can't wait to get it all painted up! Thats not even all we have lol.

 

It was a fun game, lots of drama. The Dire Avenger passed every jump, and was bouncing around un-pinning guardians. I think I can manage a win next time, I botched my deployment and struggled because of it.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I think its great you've managed to find another player - its a lot more fun if you aren't fighting against the same faction and killteam all the time.

 

And, as a note from experience, stay away from the nob with the power klaw. :)

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

[Sister Alessia]

Thanks for the advice Dr Ruminahui. I will! :) We have 6 of us including me.

[Reyner]

Has anyone come across any homebrew rules for Custodes?

[CommodusXIII]

No, but I haven't seen any for Imperial Knights yet, either.

[Hod]

Has anyone come across any homebrew rules for Custodes?

 

There's one on the FaceBook Shadow War Armageddon Community page for them and Sisters of Silence. PM me and I can send you the link.

 

 

 

No, but I haven't seen any for Imperial Knights yet, either.

That's easy, bring one and give it nine wounds, all heavy weapons and the ability to treat each weapon as an individual (when it comes to pinning and wounding).

Edited May 19, 2017 by Hod

[Reyner]

@CommodusXIII Lol funny guy :P 

 

@Hod PM sent 

[Sister Alessia]

Once my team reaches 10 veteran Sisters, I'm planning to take on Magnus. :)

I've not seen anything for Custodes, sorry.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Played another 2 games of SWA yesterday, again against my friends orks.

 

Here is a pic of my gang at the beginning of the day:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/Imperial%20Guard/IMG_1321_zpsmf60spc1.jpg

 

Sergeant with bolter (the Lt.)

Specialist with plasmagun, las pistol, carapace, camo (has ammo hound skill)

Specialist with flamer, las pistol, carapace (hates the rokkit ork)

Specialist with grenade launcher & lasgun

Veteran with shotgun & carapace

Veteran with shotgun, frag grenades & camo

Veteran with lasgun & frag grenades

Veteran with lasgun

Veteran with laspistol and chainsword (has frenzy)

Newbie with lasgun

 

 

First skirmish was rescue, with the orks trying to rescue a boy I captured last time. I rolled minimum for guards (so I had 1) and he rolled maximum for orks (so, 10).  Knowing things wouldn't go well for my guard, I nominated my newbie for that "honor".  I did manage to move my guard into having a great view of 3 of my friends orks, then rolled a 2 meaning I only had LOS to the nob in full cover and failed to spot him.  The next turn, the nob charged into combat and got 9 hits on the newbie with his power klaw.  Ouch.  Then the worst thing happened - a "1" was rolled, setting off the alarm.  Each turn I managed to get a group of reinforcements on.  The first group camo on almost ontop of 4 orks... then I remembered that my flamer guy couldn't be part of the group as he was out this battle.  They pinned 2 orks, but were both charged and taken out in melee.  Next round, my sarge, grenade launcher and ratskin came on in the same place, and only managed to take out one ork with a point blank krak grenade.

 

Then this happened:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/Imperial%20Guard/IMG_1325_zpsvkvp9pe7.jpg

And my grenade launcher actually won combat and took out the ork when it fumbled with both attack rolls!

 

My last group came on way out of position, so when my friend took out half my gang, I voluntarily bottled.

 

My grenade launcher was the man of the hour, so got the advancement roll which got him the medic skill.  I was really lucky with my injury rolls, the worst one being Frenzy on my sarge, which I rerolled to full recovery with my new medic skill.  So, despite the trouncing, I was going into the next battle with my full kill team... all though I was now 2 promethium to my friend's 7.  With my 100 points, I gave a couple of lasgun guys carapace, hotshots and camo, and got one of them frag grenades.  My newbie and my chainsword guy both rolled "what doesn't kill you", making my newbie a veteran and giving the chainsworder + 1 A.

 

Next battle was scavengers.  My friend chose poorly for table edges, giving my killteam some open lines of sight a cover behind a long line of promethium piping.  This battle, my friend needed 7s to hit and wasn't the luck sack he had been previously, resulting in no models down on my side by the time he decided to bottle out.  I captured one of his Yoofs, so the next mission will likely be another Rescue.  I rolled super-well on the scavenged counters, and now have 6 promethium to my friend's 8, really cutting the gap.

 

Forgetting that I wanted to give an advancement to my sarge (this was the first battle he hadn't either missed or gone out in) and got the evade skill.  I had an extra 100 points to spend thanks to the subplot roll, so I bought carapace, camo, a plasma pistol and a power sword for my sarge (overkill, but its what the model has), a clip harness for my plasma specialist, carapace for the grenade launcher, and carapace, camo and hotshot my my former newbie.

 

And here is my gang now:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/Imperial%20Guard/IMG_1336_zpsdsfvwqow.jpg

 

One thing I've learned is IG vs orks is SUPER swingy - either he gets into melee and wins, or he doesn't and loses.  To my advantage, he has somewhat prioritized toys over boyz - but as he adds more and more bodies to his kill team, I see it getting tougher and tougher for me.

 

Seeing that I'm running out of places to put points, I've converted a VERY old figure for when I want to give carapace to my chainsword guy.  Here it is:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/WIP/IMG_1339_zpsbw7nbqym.jpg

 

I'll post a pic again when I'm done painting him.

 

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

Edited May 24, 2017 by Dr_Ruminahui

[CommodusXIII]

I played my first league match on Friday and it was... rough.  Since none of us have played before, and only one table was available, it was decided that we would play a 2 vs. 2 team mission.  We rolled for teams and the result was my Arbites (IG) and Chaos versus Skitarii and Tyranids.

 

It went as well as you would expect.  The Skitarii sat back and pinned everyone, while the Tyranids rushed our positions and chewed us up.  We never got within shooting range of the Skitarii, and because we were all pinned we were all but defenseless against the Tyranids.  It didn't help that the Skitarii player was cackling the entire time, but that's neither here nor there.

 

It wasn't enough to put me off SW:A, but it definitely wasn't a good first experience.

Edited May 22, 2017 by CommodusXIII

[BrotherAtrox]

That's pretty brutal. The game isn't really meant for 2v2. Also sounds like you might be playing with 1 or 2 "That Guy"s.

[CommodusXIII]

Not really, the lists themselves were relatively balanced.  It was the first round, after all, so we were all bound to 1000 points.  The game played out the way it did because:

1. The dice gods placed a long-range army with a melee army, while my team was made up of two short-range armies.  The problem here became evident midway through the game.  I tried to hug cover and Hide to avoid getting pinned, while the Chaos player had half his army knocked off its feet every turn.  This worked for a while.  Unfortunately, I had to break Hide and start shooting when the Tyranids came close enough to assault me.  This exposed me to the Skitarii, and the Tyranids finished me off.
    
2. The other team was really good at coordination and capitalized on playing to each other's strengths, no complaints there.  My partner and I had very similar lists in certain respects, so there wasn't much we could do to support each other except contribute more bodies to the pyre.

All told, this was supposed to be a way for everyone to learn the ropes together.  It ended up being a massacre.  One player let his enthusiasm get the better of him, but the other three of us have relatively thick skins for such things.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Sorry about your rough start, Commodus, but its good that you can take it in stride.

 

Finished painting the arbite:

 

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Dr_Ruminahui/Arbites/IMG_1340_zpsiodysw1o.jpg

 

I gave him a second ed. las pistol and chainsword because I didn't want him to lose his retro look.

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

Edited May 24, 2017 by Dr_Ruminahui

[incarnus]

I'm amazed everyone loves this game so much.  Within my game group of five, only one person really seems to like it.

 

Balance between factions is nonexistent.  Granted, this is mitigated across the whole campaign, but only somewhat.  Losing may not be much worse than winning, but strong factions will continue to pull ahead.

 

Corrosive slick is possibly the stupidest rule I have ever encountered.  The game is too heavily randomized in general.

 

Loyalist Space Marines aren't a faction.

 

If you like this, just go play Infinity, it's infinitely better (sorry).  Also the models are beautiful, and the company has much better ethics than GW.

[Chaplain Raeven]

 

If you like this, just go play Infinity, it's infinitely better (sorry).  Also the models are beautiful, and the company has much better ethics than GW.

 

Effort required to start with SW:A:

- Buy rules

- Read rules

- Play with models from collection

 

Effort required to start with Infinity

- Buy mini's (online, since no one sells it in stores here)

- Paint mini's

- Convince local players to play Infinity, a game that has very few players here

- Download rules (ok, this is pretty nice)

- Learn rules

- Play, slowly since you're not familiar with the whole thing.

 

GW is known around our area and people have armies already. A fun skirmish game that uses the very same models isn't hard to love. Sure, balance might suck, but that doesn't stop people from having fun, which should be the ONLY reason you play games. SW:A is a suposed to be a nice extra to 40K, not a proper full scale game (it should be though, but GW decided otherwise). If you're going to compare SW:A with it's ancient ruleset with a dedicated expansive skirmish game like Infinity, then you're missing the point.

 

Infinity might be a better game for skirmish, but that's not a proper discussion for this forum. I might as well go the the forums of Corvus Belli and post 'go play Warhammer for reasons'.

[CommodusXIII]

I'm amazed everyone loves this game so much.  Within my game group of five, only one person really seems to like it.

 

Balance between factions is nonexistent.  Granted, this is mitigated across the whole campaign, but only somewhat.  Losing may not be much worse than winning, but strong factions will continue to pull ahead.

 

Corrosive slick is possibly the stupidest rule I have ever encountered.  The game is too heavily randomized in general.

 

Loyalist Space Marines aren't a faction.

 

If you like this, just go play Infinity, it's infinitely better (sorry).  Also the models are beautiful, and the company has much better ethics than GW.

 

I think you might be on the wrong board, mate.

[KhorneHunter57x]

I've been enjoying it pretty well so far, and my Chaos warband has been doing pretty well. I'm working on an Inquisitorial force, and I have the minis to run Craftworld Eldar, Scouts, and IG, so I do plan on giving each of them a shot.

 

Balance between factions is nonexistent.

In my (limited) experience thus far, it seems like there are two tiers of factions - the best and the rest. Ultimately, though, you have to remember that it's just 40k armies shoe-horned into a watered-down version of the old Necromunda rules - great for what it is, but there is a lot that it isn't.