Shadespire: a game I have resisted for months. I was given a copy a while ago and have taken some pretty extreme measures to avoid looking at it.

I first walked into Games Workshop Hammersmith 30 years ago and that event has literally shaped my life. It started me on the road to being a gamer. As many of us have, I have been in and out of the hobby to varying degrees in the last three decades including a 5 year stint working for the company in the London area. Now I work in the board games industry, and it pretty much all started with me going “Wow” when I walked into a tiny little shop when I was 10.

The reason that Shadespire has been given a particularly wide berth is that as soon as I saw it I knew I was really going to like it. That in itself is no bad thing, but I am the kind of person who when they really likes something, REALLY likes something. My current “life style” game is the excellent X-Wing made by Fantasy Flight Games. I have been heavily involved in the UK tournament scene for the last three years or so and have been writing a weekly blog about it for the last 18 months. My prime hesitation about engaging with Shadespire has been down to this: Is there enough time in life to play two games like these?

On paper the game has everything I want. It’s in the (new revamped) Warhammer world that I grew up with. It has phenomenal minis. It is quick to play, and you don’t need to paint hundreds of what are essentially the same models. There are plenty of opportunities to play it with a little bit of travelling.

Back in the days of Warhammer Fantasy Battles I was an Orc. Black Orcs were my love and I was always saddened that I couldn’t run an army of Black Orcs, if only GW had done something to fix that… Painting 40 Black Orcs as the centre piece of my army back in the day was a labour of love, it took hours (and they refused to rank up properly) and then got utterly wrecked in a turn by a bunch of pointy ears who casually strolled into them with great weapons.

The best excuse I’ve had for not playing Shadespire has long been “no one geographically close to me plays it.” Then a few days ago a colleague walks into the office with a core set and informs me that there is a lunch time league kicking off, and it looks like up to 10 people could be joining in…

Excuse gone.

Wallet opened.

Toys purchased.

And so I find myself here, writing a second blog. One is a pre-occupation, two could well be a bridge to far. We shall see. If I think what’s going to happen goes on to happen then I am expecting to fall in love this this game, and then somehow try to balance X-Wing and Shadespire in my life. It’ll be a rookies journey, a learning curve. Anyone familiar with my X-Wing blog will know to expect plenty of bad meme’s and geek related nonsense along the road ahead.

I’m not a Golden Daemon painter, I can do an average job and put things on the table that look good enough. I love a painting project, I love playing with painted minis. Another thing that Shadespire leans towards. The Hobby plan is simple, get a Warband painted a month. Pretty sure that’s a manageable target right? So expect some distinctly “adequate” paint jobs in the coming weeks to not be overly impressed by.

There are 10 of us playing in the league at work, one of whom has played a whole 5 games, so it’s very much going to be a learning experience for all of us. The format is simple, round robin, one round match ups to play over lunch breaks and find out which of us is the biggest meanest Warboss in the office. You can probably guess which faction I’m going to be playing.

As I said earlier Black Orcs were my particular obsession back in the days of WFB. When Age of Sigmar appeared I build an Khornate army full of Juggernauts, all being ridden by converted Black Orcs. So it’s probably no surprise then that my warband is going to be the Ironjaws. My Warboss, who has basically always been my warboss, is a cunning chap by the name of Dexta Bludsplatta. Of all the characters I have ever created in my long wargaming history he is by far my favourite. And so Gurzag Ironskull finds himself renamed, his armour to be painted red and black, and his boyz renamed the Bludsplattaz.

Later this week I’m going to have a couple of warm up games to get my head around the rules. It’s not complicated, but for me, until I’ve put it on the table it’s all just theory, and I learn by doing. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m competitive. I hate using things that are overtly “broken” but I like winning games more than I like losing them. A principle from the X-Wing community that I carry with pride is “give good game, get good game” so I’m really hoping that translates well to Shadespire. I’m going to be starting with Tony Carley’s deck that is featured on the Shadespire website, then I will look at evolving it from there to suit my (largely Orcy and unsubtle) play-style as I learn how the game works.

I’ll be trying out all the other warbands over time, sure I primarily bought them for the cards, but the models are too nice not to use. There is a truth in all things wargame related: you have to know your enemy to beat your enemy. But until then it’s all about getting WAAAAAAGH Dexta painted, and getting to grips with the game.

Next Time: Let The Games Begin!