Shadow War Armageddon!

So my friend came into town the other wanting to play Shadow War: Armageddon. I was pretty intrigued by this re-implementation of Necromunda (which everyone says is the best) and we made an appointment to play.

He brought his Space Marines. I liked the look of the Tau. (Disclaimer: I know almost nothing about WH40K since I stopped playing at 2nd Ed.) So we got our respective 1000 point teams and off we went.

Since it was a learning game (another friend was there to teach us) we decided to dispense with a scenario/mission and just kill each other until one side failed a bottle (?!!!) test.

We both set up... (that’s my friend on the left helping me set up, since I’m a complete tyro to any WH40K faction) and off we went!

Space Marines advanced ... My Tau stayed put and in cover, since Tau is a shooty faction. 

I managed to actually down a Space Marine! With my Tau sniper Ion Rifle!

And knock down what I later discovered was his Team Leader!

But that’s all I managed to do.

His Space Marines got within close combat distance to my Tau and... I’m sure those of you who know 40K are now wincing and shaking your heads? Does the term “murderize” mean anything? 7 hits in close combat!!!! Talk about overkill. That was my Shas’ui Team Leader by the way...

After 4 of my 8 Tau went down (compared to only 1 out of his 5 SM) I decided to fail my 2nd bottle test and the Space Marines won!

Quick thoughts: So Tau is a shooty faction... yet SWA plays with TONS of terrain to provide cover and block all those shots? Tau is a shooty faction yet my pulse carbines have a measly 18” range while the Marine bolters have 24”? (Yes, I need a Pulse Drone to increase my range... next upgrade cycle). 

As for the game... the amount of times you have to roll dice! Oy. Roll to hit (+/- modifiers). Roll to Wound. Saving Throws. Then roll to resolve injuries. Then if you lucked out and rolled a 6... roll to see if your ammo blows up in your face. And that’s just for ONE model! Multiply that by 6-10 models.... I think I’ve been spoilt by most modern game systems where at most you only do 2 rolls (or even *gasp* just one...)

OK, the game system is pretty basic. The fun is in the campaign mode where you can upgrade and recruit and generally improve your Kill Team. Otherwise a one-off game just has no context and you’re either playing because you have the 40K models and want to try SWA or (like me) you borrow the models form a friend to try the game out.

Verdict: price of entry (a box of basic Tau Pathfinders) is pretty low for this kind of game... and I can’t believe I’m saying that after being brainwashed by the whole “GW is @#$#@! expensive” mantra! Yes, GW can be... but they make the price of entry for a basic force pretty reasonable compared to some others who tout themselves as GW alternatives (I’m looking at you, Warmahordes!)

So I got me a sprue of Pathfinders and once I prime them white, I’ll be assembling them, complete the painting... and headed out for my next SWA game with my own Pathfinder KIll Team.