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I'm surprised the FAQ is at all divisive. It's been desperately needed for like a year now. The game's biggest weakness lately has been that it doesn't really look like Star Wars. There's been so much power creep in the last couple years its pretty much hated out all of the iconic ships in favor of more obscure EU and mercenary craft.

It's probably not enough, but Shadespire IS pretty light on the hobby aspects to make it playable. When I picked it up I unwrapped it at the shop, borrowed a set of clippers and had it ready to play in around 10-15 minutes.

Geek And Sundry have just released a "How to Play" Shadespire video.

https://www.facebook.com/geekandsundry/videos/1797371083648677/

And, right now, they're going to be playing the game live on http://www.twitch.tv/geekandsundry with none other than Phil LaMarr.


"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power--Green Lantern's light!"

Just out of curiosity, has anyone given this a shot with 3 or 4 players? I plan on picking it up (and the first expansions) eventually (this month is the Relicblade KS and next month is Necromunda...so this may be a December purchase), but if it plays well with 3 or 4 players I may have to sneak a little more into the hobby budget for a couple core sets sooner rather than later.

 Sabotage! wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone given this a shot with 3 or 4 players? I plan on picking it up (and the first expansions) eventually (this month is the Relicblade KS and next month is Necromunda...so this may be a December purchase), but if it plays well with 3 or 4 players I may have to sneak a little more into the hobby budget for a couple core sets sooner rather than later.

I actually just got my first game in, and we did 3 players. It played pretty darn well, and was 2 Stormcast players versus 1 Khorne player. Stormcast 1 had 11 Glory, Khorne 8, and Stormcast 2 (me) 5. The Khorne player was feeling a little iffy about it because his guys died quick, but then they all wound up inspired and he nabbed a bunch of upgrades and started getting the idea. You will definitely need 2 core sets available though, to have all the boards required (which I'm sure you expected to hear, until/unless they come out with board expansions).

I think it will probably play "better" (or at least a little quicker) with 2, but even with 2 of us not having played before and the other only having 1 game in, we still got it done in less than an hour, including set up and reading some rules and such.

 Valander wrote:
I actually just got my first game in, and we did 3 players. It played pretty darn well, and was 2 Stormcast players versus 1 Khorne player. Stormcast 1 had 11 Glory, Khorne 8, and Stormcast 2 (me) 5. The Khorne player was feeling a little iffy about it because his guys died quick, but then they all wound up inspired and he nabbed a bunch of upgrades and started getting the idea. You will definitely need 2 core sets available though, to have all the boards required (which I'm sure you expected to hear, until/unless they come out with board expansions).

I think it will probably play "better" (or at least a little quicker) with 2, but even with 2 of us not having played before and the other only having 1 game in, we still got it done in less than an hour, including set up and reading some rules and such.

Thanks Valander, that is really good to hear. This seems like a great game I could play with some of my buddies who play CCGs and Board games, but aren't into miniature games as much. I may have to bump it up on my to purchase list.

From BOLS (sorry)

Look for the next 4 factions to arrive in very early Q1 2018
Farstriders (Stormcasts)
Magore’s fiends (Khorne Bloodbound)
Chosen Axes (Fyreslayers)
Spiteclaw’s Swarm (Skaven)
Fyreslayers (4 models)
Skaven (6 Models)
Fyreslayers fill a role similar between the Stormcast Eternals with the ability to emphasize either offense or defense equally.
Skaven have ranged weapons and a theme of extra bonuses for supported attacks versus isolated victims. Beware leaving stragglers alone in the dark when the Skaven are about…

Skaven sounds interesting! Ranged weapons should spice up the game quite a bit I would think. It could also be a small taste of what a "Warhammer Underworlds 40k" could be like.. one can dream..!

zamerion wrote:
From BOLS (sorry)

Look for the next 4 factions to arrive in very early Q1 2018
Farstriders (Stormcasts)
Magore’s fiends (Khorne Bloodbound)
Chosen Axes (Fyreslayers)
Spiteclaw’s Swarm (Skaven)
Fyreslayers (4 models)
Skaven (6 Models)
Fyreslayers fill a role similar between the Stormcast Eternals with the ability to emphasize either offense or defense equally.
Skaven have ranged weapons and a theme of extra bonuses for supported attacks versus isolated victims. Beware leaving stragglers alone in the dark when the Skaven are about…

The names and a bit of background for the coming warbands are in the Shadespire rulebook - for instance the other chaos one has a fleshhound

Some of that is here:

http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shadespire

From necromunda article

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/10/26/necromunda-news-from-spiel-release-date-gang-war-and-more-oct26gw-homepage-post-1/

Some lucky players have had a chance to try the game for themselves at Spiel, among an omnifarious offering of other Warhammer games (we’ll be making some announcements about these later in the week, including when you can expect to see the next two Shadespire warbands![u]).

 Sabotage! wrote:

 Valander wrote:
I actually just got my first game in, and we did 3 players. It played pretty darn well, and was 2 Stormcast players versus 1 Khorne player. Stormcast 1 had 11 Glory, Khorne 8, and Stormcast 2 (me) 5. The Khorne player was feeling a little iffy about it because his guys died quick, but then they all wound up inspired and he nabbed a bunch of upgrades and started getting the idea. You will definitely need 2 core sets available though, to have all the boards required (which I'm sure you expected to hear, until/unless they come out with board expansions).

I think it will probably play "better" (or at least a little quicker) with 2, but even with 2 of us not having played before and the other only having 1 game in, we still got it done in less than an hour, including set up and reading some rules and such.

Thanks Valander, that is really good to hear. This seems like a great game I could play with some of my buddies who play CCGs and Board games, but aren't into miniature games as much. I may have to bump it up on my to purchase list.

No problem. I was pleasantly surprised with how the 3 player variant worked out. Of course, like any 3 player game, there's always a little unbalance; either you wind up with 2 v 1 or 1 v 1 and someone turtling somewhere. But overall, played pretty decently. I do think folks "not into miniatures games" would probably not find this difficult to get into at all, the mechanics have lots of familiarities to LCGs and other board games, and doesn't have the abstractness of "no grid" and having to use tape measures and the like that seems to be a stumbling block for a lot of non-minis players.

Rules question: when you place your board section (each player places one), does that become your territory for starting up? I couldn't track down a rule that definitively states it.

xerxeshavelock wrote:
Rules question: when you place your board section (each player places one), does that become your territory for starting up? I couldn't track down a rule that definitively states it.

Yes...you set up your guys on the board you placed...all complete hexes on your side is your territory.

xerxeshavelock wrote:
Rules question: when you place your board section (each player places one), does that become your territory for starting up? I couldn't track down a rule that definitively states it.

I haven't read the entire rulebook yet, but there's a bit at the end about setting up games and boards and letting you know that you can place your board anywhere (especially for multiplayer games with extra tiles) and reminding you that you can always switch table sides to be closer to your board for setup. That seems to imply that your board that you place is your starting area.

I assumed this was the case. The rules seem to have taken some pains for clarity, but that one seemed a tad fuzzy.

The wording on cards I can see being a potential area for future clarification. Not that I've come across any so far, but there will likely be some make and break interpretations (and soon after, the first banned lists.)

I skimmed through all the cards while I was putting them in sleeves, and nothing really jumped out as being "too vague", but again, I was just skimming. I'm sure there will be a thread in the next week about how "rule X could totally mean Y if you really squint at the wording hard enough!"

(Posted n wrong thread)

xerxeshavelock wrote:
Rules question: when you place your board section (each player places one), does that become your territory for starting up? I couldn't track down a rule that definitively states it.

"A player's territory is made up of all the complete hexes on their game board. Any hexes that become complete by the placement of game boards are no one's territory." Page seventeen, lower right corner.

 His Master's Voice wrote:

xerxeshavelock wrote:
Rules question: when you place your board section (each player places one), does that become your territory for starting up? I couldn't track down a rule that definitively states it.

"A player's territory is made up of all the complete hexes on their game board. Any hexes that become complete by the placement of game boards are no one's territory." Page seventeen, lower right corner.

Top job

A little disappointed that for all the talk about board placement, you are unable to place the short and long edges together.

 grimkeeper wrote:
A little disappointed that for all the talk about board placement, you are unable to place the short and long edges together.

where does it explain you cant do that? I assumed you could place your board in any facing/configuration as long as 3 complete hexes are made between the boards. Is that incorrect?

 Fango wrote:

 grimkeeper wrote:
A little disappointed that for all the talk about board placement, you are unable to place the short and long edges together.

where does it explain you cant do that? I assumed you could place your board in any facing/configuration as long as 3 complete hexes are made between the boards. Is that incorrect?

The hex orientations don't align that way. I wish they'd done it the same as Calth, but I'm sure they have their reasons....

 Sabotage! wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone given this a shot with 3 or 4 players? I plan on picking it up (and the first expansions) eventually (this month is the Relicblade KS and next month is Necromunda...so this may be a December purchase), but if it plays well with 3 or 4 players I may have to sneak a little more into the hobby budget for a couple core sets sooner rather than later.

Did a 4-player game and it worked great, though I will note that if players aren't on top of their cards and when/if they want to play them it can drag on. If every player felt the need to take 10 seconds to consider card options after every model activation it would add 20ish minutes to an average game, so if someone isn't particularly paying attention or feels the need to rethink their strategy every time a model activates it gets very slow very easily.

They couldn’t line up hexes at right angles anyway. Best you can do is make triangles.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone given this a shot with 3 or 4 players? I plan on picking it up (and the first expansions) eventually (this month is the Relicblade KS and next month is Necromunda...so this may be a December purchase), but if it plays well with 3 or 4 players I may have to sneak a little more into the hobby budget for a couple core sets sooner rather than later.

Did a 4-player game and it worked great, though I will note that if players aren't on top of their cards and when/if they want to play them it can drag on. If every player felt the need to take 10 seconds to consider card options after every model activation it would add 20ish minutes to an average game, so if someone isn't particularly paying attention or feels the need to rethink their strategy every time a model activates it gets very slow very easily.

Is that not something that will improve with time?

Right now the game is very new. When folk have figured their usual tactics and strategy, I imagine it’ll play a lot smoother?

Taught another person how to play today and they are onboard.

I think I'm starting to get how Khorne is supposed to play, so it'll be easier to teach the game from here on out.

NEED MY ORKS THO!

Loving the game and excited for new factions. Like the undead we will get soon. Wish we were getting other factions in q1 2018... we already have stormcast and khorne. Like skaven (sound unique too) but I'll have to proxy my own dwarfs as i don't like the practically naked fyrefolk. I know this new khorne set will be armored berzerkers and a demon, but it would be great to get unique races like lizardmen and sylvaneth treefolk.

Here's holding out hope for those two factions sooner than later.

An everchosen set of dismounted Varanguard would be freaking awesome too! Heavily armored, uniquely decorated chaotic knights with demon powered weapons, what more could one ask for! Pretty please gw?

All I need are my ORKS. Well, I'm getting all the warbands probably, but the Ironjawz are by far the ones I look forward to the most. I like the Stormcasts as well, so the Vanguard team could be pretty cool.

My main concern right now is the local support for the game. I spoke with the manager of my local GW store, and he said there is no guarantee they will host tournaments etc. It all depends on the number of players and the hype. Hopefully a lot of people will pick it up and get into it, but right now I don't know too many that are interested in my gaming groups.

 alleus wrote:
All I need are my ORKS. Well, I'm getting all the warbands probably, but the Ironjawz are by far the ones I look forward to the most. I like the Stormcasts as well, so the Vanguard team could be pretty cool.

My main concern right now is the local support for the game. I spoke with the manager of my local GW store, and he said there is no guarantee they will host tournaments etc. It all depends on the number of players and the hype. Hopefully a lot of people will pick it up and get into it, but right now I don't know too many that are interested in my gaming groups.

Dude you're in Sweden and you have a local GW store. You're in a privileged minority already As for your groups, why not demo it for them with all your cool warbands? If that won't get them interested nothing will.

 Mymearan wrote:

 alleus wrote:
All I need are my ORKS. Well, I'm getting all the warbands probably, but the Ironjawz are by far the ones I look forward to the most. I like the Stormcasts as well, so the Vanguard team could be pretty cool.

My main concern right now is the local support for the game. I spoke with the manager of my local GW store, and he said there is no guarantee they will host tournaments etc. It all depends on the number of players and the hype. Hopefully a lot of people will pick it up and get into it, but right now I don't know too many that are interested in my gaming groups.

Dude you're in Sweden and you have a local GW store. You're in a privileged minority already As for your groups, why not demo it for them with all your cool warbands? If that won't get them interested nothing will.

Yeah, you have to be the change you want to see in the community.
Step up, volunteer and put some effort in. It takes sometime but people notice.

Good thing about Shadespire there is that it looks easily packed alongside an army for 40k or AoS, given how little you need to play it.