Unusually for the modern GW this isn't really a miniatures game but a combination of a boardgame, card game and miniatures skirmish game. In actualy play I feels to me to be primarily a card game with the other elements interacting around that core card-based system.
Also unusually for GW, its an "everything you need in one box" deal. Sort of. The miniatures need clipping from the sprue and assembly, although they are push-fit once you get them off the sprue. They can be then used unpainted, but of course I'll be painting mine.
With a step back, this game feels like Games Workshp parking their tanks on Fantasy Flight Games's lawn in an attempt to grab a bit of the X-Wing style gaming action. The fact that the miniatures don't come assembled and pre-painted means that FFG will retain the edge for the casual gamer market, but hey ho...
Anyway, having bought the base game and run a few solo games to get the rules sorted in my head, I dived in and bought four more "gangs" (?) to add to the two you get in the core box.
I decided to paint them in the "standard" colour shcemes as set out in the Games Workshop artwork and example miniatures.
Steelheart's Champions
I was planning to paint these in a more grimy and used sort of scheme but I'm glad I comitted to going "standard". I think they turned out pretty well. As a note, the shieldmaiden mini was incredibly prblematic to fit together. Not sure if i did it wrong or had a miscast, but i had to carve out quite a bit of the interior plastic to get the parts to fit.
Garreck's Reavers
Khorne berserkers. Go nuts lads...
Ironskull's Boyz
Orcs. Although apparently, Games Workshop are now calling them Orruks. I presume this is for IP and copyright reasons.
I couldn't bring myself to paint this in the GW standard colour scheme because, well...yellow. Ugh. Not only is yellow a difficult colour to paint, usually because of the quality of the paint itself, but it doesn't exactly scream "brutal killer" to me. So I went with a bare metal approach, and mixed up the metal types to try to giv a ramshakle, yet uniform look. I guess these Orruks grabed their armour before the goblin artists got hold of them and dunked them in yellow!
The Chosen Axes
Another GW rebrand, these dwarves are now called duardin apparently.
GW haven't really done dwarves right since the very early Citadel days (in my view), but these little fellows are excellent! I also like their play style at the moment and they might become my default team. Still to be decided of course as I'm not yet experienced with the game.
Spiteclaw's Swarm
The Skaven (rat men) have long been one of my favourite Warhammer races, although I've never collected an army - mostly as the sheer mass of miniatures needed was too daunting to contemplate.
Not painted yet...images coming
Sepulchral Guard
Cool undead.
Not painted yet...images coming
There are two other gangs available but I haven't bought these yet as they are variants on the ones that come int he base game. As Shadespire appears to be a card game and you need these boxes to get all the cards, I suspect I'll be purchasing them at some point.
I'm looking forwards to playing more of this neat little game.
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