So to start who am I? Like I said my name is Pidge, I have played Shadespire at a competitive level for a while now and have seen success in several store championships, challenge events and came second in the Warhammer Fest Grand clash which came down to a Roll-off (hence the name of this blog). Before Shadespire became my game of choice, I was an active player of many other war games such as Warhammer Fantasy, X-wing, 40k, Mordhiem, Blood Bowl, Malifaux and iv dabbled in many others. Iv also played a lot of board and card games in my time and have always had a keen interest in their mechanics. A hobby which has led me to start designing my own games in my spare time. So, where to begin: Why do I play Warhammer Underworlds?
I was a huge fan of the "old world" of Warhammer fantasy and when the Age of Sigmar was announced you could I say I was...disheartened with Games Workshop. Their games became simplified and clearly aimed towards younger players who didn't require or enjoy a game with more complex mechanics. Then came the single box releases. Shadow war, Lost Patrol, Deathwatch, Stormclaw, Gore Chosen and other similar games all seemed like attempts for Games Workshop to market their existing miniatures ranges to the board game consumers. With this in mind (and having not purchased any Games Workshop products for over a year) When I saw Warhammer Underworlds I passed it aside for another of these stand-alone boxes that would be played a handful of times and then added to the pile, never to be opened again. After a Demo game at my local store, I found the game to be somewhat confusing if not uninteresting at first. I couldn't understand why you would ever choose to move or go on guard or how the cards in my hand really impacted the game on the board. Now armed with a few hundred hours more playtime I can explain why I felt this way. The Decks in the core set suck. There are a few lies you will hear when getting into Shadespire such as: "You don't need to paint your models", "3 dice looking for hammers is likely to hit" or "Sepulchral guard are the best faction". But no bigger lie will ever be told to you than "All you need is the core set". If you ever want the proper experience of playing Shadespire the core set is merely a fraction of that and if you are really looking to get into the game you need to purchase every Faction. That brings me to my next point: Is it worth the money?
A few weeks later I entered my store's first tournament. Just a casual event with around 10 players all at a similar skill level. It was a lot of fun and I ended up winning. To my surprise, Games Workshop had actually given out prize support for one of there games! Presumably learning something from Fantasy Flights competitive scene this willingness to reward a player for more than how much money they spent was a very good sign. Players from outside of my store also came to the event and seemed like great guys, I found the community building around the game had some real potential. From that point, I decided. Shadespire was to be my Muse. A game that I could really dive into without the pressure of an established competitive community, or the wallet-burning threat of power creep. Yes, new expansions were going to be coming out every few months. But at £30 each release for 2 whole new factions and all of the cards seemed like an amazing offer considering the quality of miniatures and the amount of potential each new aspect brought to the game. Not including events I have spent around £150 on shadespire so far. A bargain when you consider the average price of a 40k army is probably double that and a single character model for the malign portents AoS range is £20. The only shadespire purchase I would say was not worth the money would be the card sleeves. Tho the designs are nice and the quality of the print seems good the cards fit far too snugly in the sleeves for my tastes. I managed to bend one of my cards taking it out of the sleeves the day I got them. I instead use the FFG standard American clear sleeves. They fit the cards nicely and slide well when shuffled. And as they're all clear you can swap cards between your decks without changing the sleeves at all. The only other purchases I would say are not essential if you wish to get into competitive shadespire are the Lethal Tiles and the 'Leader's Expansion Cards'. I will talk about why in more detail later but if you were wondering if you really needed these the answer is probably no unless you're playing Sepulchral Guard or Spiteclaws Swarm. All in all, I would say Shadespire is well worth the money. A nice range of quality produced miniatures that would make nice characters in other games and each expansion brings a nice new flux of potential to the game.
Now you know a little about my experience getting into the game, let's look at what makes this game good and why you might enjoy it at a competitive level.
Scope: By scope I mean the games content overall. In Shadespire, there is nothing you cannot understand, learn or predict beyond the rolls of the dice. Every player has access to information about every single card on the website. Every player has the exact same pool of resources to build their strategy upon. There is no secret formation mentioned in a white dwarf article 6 months ago, or odd piece of terrain on the table that ruins your strategy. When you play shadespire you can know and control every aspect of the game.
Deck Building: Deck building is one of the most important parts of shadespire but is only really half the battle. Unlike other games where bringing the right list can outright win you the game, shadespire really relies on knowing your own deck and predicting whats in your opponents. 500 cards may seem an intimidating amount to get your head around but when you consider that only 32 are likely present in your opponent's deck you will start to see patterns in play. Because of this building, the "perfect" deck and understanding how to maybe change that deck with the changing meta is an interesting challenge. We all want that extra ploy we can't quite fit in.
Meaningful Choice: Shadespire is a game where every single one of your actions should be carefully thought out and deliberate. Mostly because you have very limited actions and the game doesn't last very long. Unlike games like 40k where most of the time you are shooting your biggest guns as the biggest thing, shadespire has many subtleties in both the moves you choose to make and the order in which you make them. Making the perfect move to outplay your opponent or making a mistake and promising yourself never to do that again are great experiences I rarely feel in other games.
Easy to Learn, Hard to Master: Shadespire is a game so simple that I taught it to my 13-year-old nephew in about an hour. There are no external factors like army books or complicating kill zones. Everything you need to know is on the cards in front of you or in the core rulebook. That said, the addition of new cards, factions, and tiles add a great deal of complexity while all being easy to understand.
Support and Community: Games Workshop seems to have gone all out in trying to make shadespire a competitive game. Seeing them support local hobby stores and not just there own events is a very welcome change. And the quality of the prizes: alternate cards, acrylic token sets and huge glass trophies was all done with a level of polish I would never have expected from games workshop. If you want to build a competitive community this was how you do it, and how you do it right. Every shadespire event I have been to has had a good turnout and every player I have faced has been courteous and gracious in both victory or defeat.
Fast and Accessible: Last, but certainly not least, shadespire is quick to play. If you have a bad game you only have to deal with the defeat for a few more minutes and then you can get right back into the next round with fresh knowledge eager to do better. Or you can adapt your strategy and your deck build over a series of games that last a few hours instead of weeks. The game can be played anywhere as it requires no table or terrain and takes up very little space. Its also easily transported so no carrying around huge carry cases and worrying about leaving your £1000 worth of models being left stood around under a table in a gaming hall. Just pack the entire game back into its box and stuff it in your bag.
These things and many other reasons are why I think shadespire is a great game and why I am so glad I gave it another chance. Thank you for reading and next time we will be looking at the core mechanics of the game and some tricks you can use to improve your gameplay regardless of what faction you play.
Roll Off.
