Scale Creep: Shadow War: Armageddon Warbands

The Pyranids of Hive Splinter Penzance

Taking our full responsabilities of trend setters at Scale Creep Inc. we have decided this time to start a trend people would follow even before we set it.

Shadow Wars : Armageddon is one of the latest games GW has published and it's probably the kind many have been waiting for.

Many of the WIPsters have seized this opportunity to fall back into old habits as explained by Colin here.

However, despite the lack of real novelty in that release, the few changes in the rules, the new lists and scenery have been just what we needed to ignite that big barrel of 40k skirmish black powder.

TheOttoVonBismark :

Shadow War: Armageddon is an Early 40K style rule set with the corners knocked off it's clunky ass so it has a lot of appeal.

Based mainly on the Necromunda rules, it is best played with a small number of models which is great if you have a short attention span for painting a lot of models to get a game in (which is most people really).

SW rules/lists as written are bound to be often unbalanced and random, but at least is a framework for playing games with people. That's what is so appealing about the Necromunda rules, it's a common language among the WIPsters.

I think SW is best viewed a a jumping off point into building more narrative style GM led games, which was really the way Rogue Trader was intended to be played in the Blue Book. Battle at the Farm much?

The lists are good in that they tend to focus the players on painting a manageable number of models for even a modest painter and also it's fun to kit out an arbitrary warband of cool warriors.

It's not really fun to go overboard with the equipment and it's absolutely necessary to have painted WYSIWYG models NO EXCEPTIONS or I will flip this table on you, you heathen!

This Pyranid Warband is themed with PIRATES! for the sake of a bit of goofy whimsy and to inject some character into the dull homogeneity of the Tyranidsssssnoooze.

There is no snoozing with these bright chaps on the table. Earrings, bandanas, pirate hats and a eye patch for every Pyranid!

I have gone with a cheeky classic red era colour scheme, subtlety be damned.

Skull bandanna - you only need the skulls to be roughly skull patterns for this to look good as your brain will assume it's from Hot Topic and magically see the skulls!

Dancing a traditional Pyranid Jazz-Hands Jig

Pyranid Alpha - "Pieces of Double Helix Raaaaaark!"

BROADSWORDS!

(I did actually make them a bit broader than the stock model so I can say BROADSWORDS to my opponents ire, lol)

Pyranid Leader - "I am the very model of a modern Tyrant-General"

Broadsword...I mean broadside!

Weapon formerly of the Nuln Armoury

"Hold, monsters!"

So that makes for a healthy 6 models, which is one more than you need for SW but gives me the option of using a Tyranid Alpha as a specialist.
I intend to make the Zoanthrope and the Ravenor to cover the other options, because it will be FUN to do it, those extra guys are the icing on the cake for a project like this...mmmmm cake.

Thanks to Doti for taking those photos! <3

Asslessman :

Shadow Wars has been the kick in the rear I needed to complete a few slow burning projects, Skirmish groups for fantasy or the grimdark future have always been my favourite kind of projects so getting back to it with an excuse felt right.

The best example is probably this team of fearful mercenaries I finally got to finish :

Moreover, with a few games planned, I flet compelled to upgrade my scenery and finally got some scatter terrain done !

The terrain in the main box is also probably a bog part of why the game is catching like it is. Terrain is usually the last thing on the list because it pretendly requires more time/energy and money or at least it's how I usually perceive it. Modular scenery that can even look good on its own clearly has some appeal for lazy modellists like myself and I've found it enabled me to gain some confidence to do greater and perhaps more persoanl things in the future...
I'm only midway through the kit but I've had a greater time with it than I would have expected really...

Last of all, after a few campaigns of skirmish where I had to put my models on the back or on the belly, I've decided that paint chips were no longer an option. While the box set does provide tokens for different states, it doesn't remove the need to put your models in hazardous positions.

This is no longer an option for me.
I've decided to build my own tokens to cover the states I consider important to record on the table, they're still WIP but they'll be used soon for my first Shadow wars games !

Axiom:

Shadow Wars is the new In Thing. Of course it's pretty much the same ruleset I've been playing Necromunda and latterly Inquisimunda with for decades now (it has been decades, right?!). So either I've always been 'In' and the world has caught up, or I've spent a significant portion of my wargaming life playing a fringe game with losers.

Either way, with a shot in the arm and renewed interest, Shadow Wars seemed like the best excuse to start a new faction. Given the setting, there was only one choice for me - one of those crack commando units, led by a hard-nut sergeant and complete with combat veterans and rogues of every type. You know, units like these: