Shadow Wars Armageddon: Campaigns 101
We continue our week of Shadow War Armageddon coverage. Let’s take a closer look at what happens in between battles.
Welcome to Armageddon gamers. This war-torn Hiveworld is beset on all sides by every 40K faction out there, doing battle deep in the depths of Hive Acheron. Here small kill teams of the galaxy’s greatest killers stalk each other through the industrial depths for both glory and survival.
But exactly how does a Killteam fight it’s way to glory?
This game arrives with a GIANT heavy cardstock box filled to the limit with sprues & rules. The terrain is dripping in detail and enormous in scale.
These sprues are enormous – more pics of our assembled set soon.
The rulebook opens with 10 pages of background on the world of Armageddon, then dives into the 50 pages of core rules. Following that you get the rules for creating Killteams, running campaigns, and missions – what we are here for today.
Here are some sample pages of the campaign structure and the first sample mission to give you a taste of the action:
Here is the default Mission 1. You’ll be playing this one a lot.
Now Compare it to the original Mission 1 from Necromunda. Draw your own conclusions.
Campaign Basics
There are 2 main sections here, Before Mission activities and After Mission.
Before Mission
Here you will be rolling up your mission, then rolling 2d6 on the Promethium sprawl chart to come up with sub-plots for your mission. Each players rolls on the chart, so two will be in effect, making each mission slightly different.
After Mission
Here is where it get’s interesting. After claiming your mission rewards, you go step by step through the following.
Recover Injured Fighters -The d6 roll will detmine if each downed model can shake off their troubles, are maimed, have to sit out games, or are dead as a doornail (along with all their equipment).
Claim Promethium – grab that loot based on your mission and sub-plot conditions.
Advance – Pick a fighter and roll 2d6 to determine if they get a stat increase or a legal category of skill for your Kill-team. There are seven categories of skills tables:
- Combat
- Ferocity
- Guerilla
- Agility
- Muscle
- Shooting
- Stealth
Promote – put a check by each New Recruit/Juve in your Kill-team. After they survive 3 missions, they are automatically upgraded to standard Troopers with the updated stat profile for your chosen faction.
Resupply – In this phase you can replace dead leaders, add new members to your Killteam, or request a bunch of new gear and weapons.
Then its back into the action – onto the next game cycle.
How it Ends
The first Killteam to gather 15 Promethium Caches and wins their next mission take the glory. Everyone else hits the showers…
At any point, players can disband thier Kill-team and assemble a new one (say if they suffer catastrophic casualties).
Shadow War: Armageddon $130
(grab yours from your local store)
A deep and tactically rewarding game, Shadow War: Armageddon comes with a 120-page softback rulebook, containing:
– a history of the brutal conflicts that have wracked the hive world of Armageddon since the notorious Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka decided to invade;
– an overview of the main forces fighting over the hive world – Space Marines Scouts, Astra Militarum Veteran Squads and Ork Boyz Mobs – how they fight, why they fight and the wargear they employ;
– Core Rules: the set of rules you need to learn in order to play Shadow War: Armageddon. It covers the items you need in order to play and the characteristics of each fighter type, along with a breakdown of a game turn – this will teach you movement, shooting, hand-to-hand combat and recovering from injuries, along with an explanation of the mechanics behind using terrain;
– extra rules for hiding, shooting modifiers for targeting enemies according to your weapon’s range and their cover status, overwatch, hurling grenades, reloading and running out of ammunition, parrying, critical hits and more;
– Advanced Rules: a set of optional rules adding yet more complexity to games – these cover damage caused by falling from heights, leaping over gaps or down from higher ground, stray shots and weapon failures, as well as the psychological effects of up-close warfare – fear, terror, hatred and frenzy all have their place;
– a detailed armoury, covering the different weapons, equipment and armour available, with profiles for all the gear available to Space Marines Scouts, Astra Militarum Veterans and Ork Boyz, complete with specialised ammunition types, different weapon optics and equipment;
– 6 missions, leading you through setting up the battlefield, deploying your kill teams, and the victory conditions for your game;
– a collection of evocative photography of Citadel miniatures, helping to visualise the kill teams and battles of Hive Acheron.AdvertisementShadow War: Armageddon features comprehensive rules for linking games together into a larger campaign:
– improve your warriors with a Skills table that confers persistent abilities and upgrades to the members of your kill teams, gradually turning them into a squad of elites;
– Special Operatives: battle-hardened fighters who can be added to your squad;
– Subplots: these are mission-specific rules that can add rivalries, psychological and physical effects to your games;
– Rewards of Battle – a post-mission phase determining your squad’s recovery from injury, advancement of skills and gathering of promethium;
– a reference guide making managing campaigns easier, with blank roster sheets.As well as this, you’ll find the items needed to play the game itself:
– 3 translucent red plastic templates – a 3” small blast template, a 5” large blast template and an 8” teardrop-shaped flamer template, along with counters for identifying miniatures in states such as Overwatch and Hidden;
– a promethium tank counter and a bunker entrance counter, used for certain missions;
– 7 dice – 5xD6, a scatter die and an artillery die.
~We have much to cover all week – so check back soon. Tomorrow we will talk about some unanticipated Kill-team opportunities from 20 years ago.
Cool Note: Terminator Armor in Shadow War Armageddon has a 3+ armor save…rolled on 2d6!!!
