Shadow War: Armageddon /gen/

Hoping "Imperial Agents and SOB" team is good edition
Last thread:
>Shadow War: Armageddon Free Faction Rules:
games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/ShadowWar/SWA_Killteams_ENG.pdf

>Rules Archive:
mega.nz/#F!mUtQAAxS!1fjZcUJ94veAvCRBREeifw

>[removed]77 pages of rules: some pages missing bottom part, check archive.
docs.google.com/document/d/1xvgryrNiMFoLYiaX8o6Y-Q0q1GLRvwWnvbrSL7omZXo/edit?usp=sharing

1st for Da Boyz

Anyone play with the Nid warrior list? Debating on starting them or genestealers.

Warriors are fucking retarded powerful, cults is mid teir

Genestealers all the way you get the most guys minus Orks, 3 specialists, and Webbers!
My Neophyte Leader has a Bolt pistol and chainsword, 3A +1CS on the charge, Parry, and once he gets his first 2/3 advancements he is a fucker to deal with, killed a Troupe Master and a Mime before the Virtuoso took him out.

Any recommendations on centering the drill for pewter gun barrels? And should lasguns be drilled, or just have the little nub painted red like a light bulb?

light bulb is what I do

either is a good option imo, when "primed" lasguns have the glow, when they're just chilling they're just a normal gun barrel

I use the pointy end of a round file to leave a center mark for the drill bit to catch in.

A needle pin to make a guide mark for the drill bit is what I do. Much easier to center a needle point. Then you let the drill "find" the pin hole.

Just eyeball the center? I also have a lot of bolters to do.

Don't drill las. Do lightbulb.

You got a picture of the muzzle of an inactive lasgun?

Yeah, just drag the pin/whatever until it looks centered, double check, then press to make the mark, then remove the pin and triple check. If you are off a bit just do it again and press harder to make the second guide hole deeper.

This. Make the mark just slight at first and once you're satisfied with its placement you can make the mark slightly deeper.

Warriors are definitely on the upper end of the power curve, but a single really bad game can end it for them quickly. Like, a Scavenge mission and they keep getting taken by the mutant.
Nothing you can do about bad dice, but something like that can put them behind tremendously on points.

What units can I take for a Tau list ?
I'm fairly new to SW:A and the 40k TT so please don't bully if I ask stupid question

Pathfinders, Drones
Sometimes a stealthsuit

Okay thank you
I downloaded the PDF
What Tier are Tau ?

The game is like a week old, just chill out and play if you want

okay !!
What are you playing ?

How far would I get with one box of Tyranid warriors? I'm considering getting them as my second team, but I'd have to start from scratch since I don't own Tyranids. Is a box of warriors going to last me a while? Those of you who have played Tyranids in swag games, what's your take?

Not that user, but I play guard, and considering I've read through every thread about SWA here I'd say every faction is being played and players of each faction have commented that they're having fun and that it's fairly balanced. Most people complaining about balance haven't played enough games, use faulty tactics, have a bad terrain setup, or are just theory crafters. So you should pick whatever team you like, visually and gameplaywise. If you learn the game, and play enough you'll find that it's a good game.

>visually and gameplaywise
Dont forget fluff, user! Best reason to pick an army.

Okay then
I'll just my Tau because I already have miniature painted for them

Agreed. If you like the fluff you might even have fun losing with your preferred team.

That's a good plan. And if you later feel like an other team looks fun it's pretty easy to expand into that since you only need a box to get started.

I witnessed a game of Tau vs Chaos Space Marines yesterday, and it was really tight. A lot of fun things happened as well. A Tau sniper fell two levels from a structure, took a S10 hit and ended up pinned with a fleshwound.

>"I'm ok! I'm ok! Just scraped my knee a bit!"

How would it work just taking Shadow War's rules and using them for the equal of a 1,000 point game and not giving a damn about its special reinforcement and shit rules?

Or would I just be better off printing off copies of 2e.

It would be tedious.

It would be extra tedious if you actually used the amount of terrain you need to make Necro rules fun.

seems decent , i'dd scrounge up some extra points to get your mining laser a photovisor though
just turn one of those hybrids into a recruit et voila
alternatively turn two into recruits and you can buy a clip harness to which is even more usefull for genestealers since you can deploy in hiding and thus take the high ground without getting alpha striked off turn 1

You'll want minimum 2 boxes. 3 total Warriors from 1 box is not enough Scything Talons nor enough bodies once you get past your first game. Additionally, if you get more than 1 Gun Beast and want them both to have Venom Cannons, you'd need that second box.
If you want to go full WYSIWYG then you'll need a lot more weapons as well.

>If you want to go full WYSIWYG

Quick reminder that the WYSIWYG is in the ruleboook as a rule. So not a guideline, it's an actual rule.

You can always house rule it, just saying that the default position on the subject is WYSIWYG

Does that only go for weapons, or does it extend to armor and gadgets like photovisors and red dot sights and stuff? GW don't even have any bits for a lot of that stuff.

But according to the webpage the box contains enough scything talons and everything I need to make three warriors. How do you mean there's not enough scything talons? There are six scything talons in the box as far as I can tell. Also six boneswords and so on.


Yeah, the wysiwyg rule is one of the things that I like about Necromunda/Swag. It encourages you to put more love into your miniatures.

I'm usually a wysiwyg fag when it comes to skirmishes, but damn. Warriors are just too fucking expensive for that.

I think only grenades are exempt but I don't the rulebook on hand to check that.

Upgrades are faily easy to do, and I noticed that factions without scoped rifles/guns don't have access to scopes for instance.

Although I'm building Skittles, which is super easy for upgrades since I'll just paint the lenses of the guys with the visors in a different colour or something like that.

It's mostly weapons (apart from knives and grenades that the miniature can have stuffed down pockets or boots). But it depends on how anal your local group is. One could argue that camo gear is always a chameleon cloak for example. Personally I think it's fun to try and get all the stuff that I can on my miniatures. Does it have a scope on the weapon? I'll put a scope on the mini then. Red dot? Sure. I'll glue a small thing under the weapon and paint the end red. You can do a lot with greenstuff or greystuff, depending on your patience. Most things are fairly easy to do.

Your melee bugs are going to want double talons. That's four per bug.

Just duplicate the bits you need with oyumaru and putty.

Yeah ok. So there's basically one pair too few of the talons. I get it.

Are the hiveguard and warrior boxes compatible? Using a hiveguard for the gunbeasts might be cool imo.

Ok, trying to figure out if I can still make a good team from just one box.

Why do I want four talons on one nid rather than two talons and two boneswords?

So now do I have a reason to start using my kasrkin models since guard lasguns can be upgraded to hot shot?

My bits came in today so I built my Chaos warband. Really happy with these dudes.

Well, you'll want two boxes because you'll end up with five warriors in the end.

Scything talons are great when paired, but weak as a second weapon. You get an extra attack die but the trade off of having half your attacks come in at their inferior profile isn't where you want to end up. Honestly, if you're swinging bone swords you're going to murder anything short of a solitaire anyway. I'm running 3 swords and a lash and it's absurd overkill. I'll never use all my parries thanks to the whip. Weapon skill 5 makes it very unlikely to lose melee, especially since not much can get the charge off on you.

My alpha has t5 and a 4++ in melee. If he gets there, you lose.

If you're kitting out someone for less points, double talons is pro. Skill 6 is very hard to beat but you're more susceptible to bad dice.

you used, Z, right?

yes
but hot shot lasguns are hot shit

Other than needing an extra coat of matte I think my dudes are ready for their debut on Saturday.

Probably should have posted my picture.

and now the correct way up and smaller.

Getting tyranids to look the correct amount of moist is hard.

Glossy varnish. If I ever get Tyranids for this I'll be painting them in a dark greenish scheme and fucking dip them in gloss varnish. Aliens-style.

Not every campaign/league is going to enforce WYSIWYG. That would put off newcomers super hard. Maybe veterans of 40k will do it, but someone brand new wanting to dip their toes in might get blindsided by not having enough specifically shaped plastic to represent what their toys do.

Three pairs of Talons too few. You get 3 pairs in a box.

Not really, no. The hiveguard are a little too wide to make it work.

These dudes are (as pictured) one layer of gloss and two layers of matte. Gloss by itself is ridiculously shiny (this was mr super clear gloss, so it's the real fucking deal, very glossy and no loss of color vibrance)

So can I buy one box of nid warriors and then get another later? I mean is it possible to build a good enough team from just one box?

Yeah, I'd want mine to look slimy and wet though.

Yes, but obviously you'll be limited to 3 dudesand you may end up with a slightly odd weapon arrangement.

Alright. But they would be playable still? That's what matters to me really. I just feel like getting into a second team, but I don't want them to be completely gimped. :)

A team I just threw together with only 3 Warriors is:

Alpha (250)
-Chitin Carapace
-Pair of Boneswords (125)
-Pair of Scything Talons

Warrior (200)
-Chitin Carapce
-Pair of Rending Claws (25)
-Scything Talons

Gun Beast (225)
-Adrenal Glands (10)
-Chitin Carapace
-Scything Talons
-Venom Cannon(165)
1000/1000

Very first amount of points should go into Biomorphs such as Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Extended Carapace, Flesh Hooks.
Put Adrenal Glands on the Gun Beast so it can more quickly get into position for shooting, and if it's Venom Cannon every fails an ammo check, it can catch up to the other two.

No less playable than guard limited by the special weapons in their box.

Sounds good. Thanks for the advice.

But you're not putting a lot of biomorphs on them?

The main way I look at it you have a few reasonable options for Warriors.

You either take fewer of them and give them nice weapons but few Biomorphs, or give them a lot of Biomorphs, but then your higher end weapon pool is reduced.

This is the list I started the league I'm in with:
Tyranid Alpha - (250) 300
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)

Tyranid New Spawn - (175) 225
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)

Tyranid New Spawn - (175) 225
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)

Tyranid Gun-Beast - (225) 250
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)

I went the more boys less toys route so I could equip them after the first couple of games.

So basically all melee? Did that work?

Just almost took a sip of my painting water instead of my beer. Again...

not as bad as cleaning your brushes in your tea mate

Tyranids are pretty horrifying opponents for "normal" kill teams just on their base stats alone, I imagine they did just fine.

>not drinking your paint water to imbibe the essence of painting

>Tyranids are pretty horrifying opponents for "normal" kill teams

Yep, all the WAACers and powergamers are gravitating to them, pretty sad to see it already.

But if you absolutely HAVE to win then, I guess...

I've lost one Gun Beast but was able to buy it back. After a total of 4 (2 against Orkz and 2 against Harlequins) games, here's how my list is looking:

Tyranid Alpha - (250) 400
-Scything Talons (0)
-Lashwhip and Bonesword (100)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)
-Toxin Sacs - (10)
Skills - Evade, Ambush

Tyranid Warrior - (200) 250
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)

Tyranid New Spawn - (175) 225
-Scything Talons (0)
-Scything Talons (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)
Skills - Frenzy

Tyranid New Spawn - (175) 295
-Deathspitter (45)
-Rending Claws (25)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)
-Toxin Sacs - (10)

Tyranid Gun-Beast - (225) 340
-Scything Talons (0)
-Deathspitter (45)
-Acid Blood - (20)
-Adrenal Glands - (10)
-Flesh Hooks - (15)
-Toxin Sacs - (10)
-Extended Chitin Carapce (15)
Skills - Marksman

The first Gun Beast had Crack Shot before it died. The Frenzy New Spawn would have been a Warrior by now if it didn't have to miss a game. The Gun Beast is tooled out with a ton of Biomorphs because it's impossible to buy a Gun Beast and a Venom Cannon for it at the same time during a Recruit/Resupply. I'll be replacing it's Deathspitter after the next game. I gave it Acid Blood because it keeps going down/dying to melee.

I already had Warriors because Tyranids is my main faction in 40k. Starting in 7th. Yup, I sure am a WAAC faggot for playing what I already have. Guess I'll just go kill myself after I'm done clubbing all the baby seals.

Warriors are trashpiles in 7th and die to anything that WOULD be considered top tier. In SWA, admittedly, they are really strong. So next time I'll probably just try to work with my GSC stuff that I got as an allied army anyway.

>have been playing tyranids since I was 11 years old
>it's the only army I play in any GW game
>play them in SW:A
>OMG WAACFAG

You just made me imagine a poor IG player facing both Harlies and 'Nids on a regular basis.
>May Imperial justice account in all balance.
>The Emperor protects

God I hate old tyranid models...

To be honest the new ones aren't very good either imo. If you're creating an alien race, why the heck do you make them humanoid? Sounds like lack of imagination to me. And why do they have external animal weapons in symbiosis so it looks like they're carrying guns? Why can't they vomit, shit and piss stuff on their enemies instead? Walking on two legs? Why not give them more? The whole Tyranid race seems poorly imagined imo.

>playing nids
>have lots of stuff
>still play the strongest option

How viable is chainswords and bolt pistols for GSC?
Been trying to write a list and was thinking about taking shotguns but I noticed boltpistols are just as good

You have way poorer imagination if you think a bugs swarm with fully organic tech having numerous legs and non external biomorphs is somehow more original or interesting

Using tropes and established genre conventions to create something new is key characteristic of 40k. The rest of your critique is bullshit since it entails: Why is it not X? without giving motivation why that would fit the theme of the faction more.

Furthermore, in creating 'products' it's accepted as a good practice to combine 'points of parity (the familiar) with points of difference (the new) to make something that is compelling for your audience.

Using the claws as scy talons? Its what I should probably just do (Im thinking of doing some hackjobs with modern scy talons)

Nice work, but like the other user said, the orignal Tyranids are aweful/not my taste.

I'd have used 2e hormagaunt talons but I only have like 2 sets. Of those and they are hard to come by.

Funny story. I play Orks, the only team I've lost to so far was an IG team making their best Tau impression. Neither Harlies nor 'nids have put so much as a dent in the green tide.

I've since come to the conclusion that just because something is good on paper, doesn't mean it's good on the table-top. Harlies, for example, are pitifully easy to overwhelm and annihilate simply through sheer numbers. Sure, I can't take any of the 1v1, even with my nob, but that doesn't matter when my Nob +3 yoofs are the ones doing the smacking.

'nids were more difficult, I'll admit. Something to do with 3 sodding wounds one each model and a 5+ save as well as godly CC. That said, they have a relatively low model count, too. Overwhelmed them with a fuckton of shoota and slugga attacks.

They were the reason I bought grenades, though.

I spent some time playing around with the new terrain today and I think you definitely need an extra of one of the big kits to make something interesting.

Also it feels like 4 leg supports is not enough if you want to make modular terrain without relying on the clips.

Just wanna take this moment to say this model is a fucking awesome example of what the Tyranids are all about (and why some are humanoid) they ate a fucking ork and turned his mass into a fucking cannon! Look at that smug bastard, even in dead his body fights and he literally became the dakka

even before the game was out, anons in this thread had already decided that Harlequins were 'broken'

It's a whole lot o f conjecture and not that often backed up with facts.

There's nothing wrong with my imagination. I can imagine crazy, over the top stuff too. But considering what Tyranids are it would've been more believable if they had evolved differently. Then again, that would've made them less suitable for a wargame.

That said, the fact they have rules which basically say "You can't shoot me, ever" is pretty annoying.

>even in dead
Damn autocorrect

It's just my opinion. I think they could've done them differently and better. But it's a wargame, and they need to keep things within certain limits or it would just be a bunch of exceptions to the core rules, and unnecessarily hard to create and balance rules for them.

And while we're talking about bullshit, there are plenty of familiar otherworldly stuff in pop culture. I'm not saying they need to come up with something completely new. Just saying antropomorphic insects are kinda lazy.

He wouldn't be so smug if he were able to see the ballsack dangling above his head. :)

I'm not saying it's perfect or that Harlequins have design flaws. But some anons in this thread over exaggerate.

I think the tyranids have plenty of weird models without losing their Xenomorph Dinosaur look.

But you're just arguing weird, for weirdness sake. I know it's the hip thing to do when talking about aliens. The tyranids have plenty of weird models at the moment. Flying poison octopi, Psychic worms, giant burrowing mawbeasts, tentacle grape cannon beasts, chameleon squidfaced predator, walking breeder monsters, etc.

Sure, I was mainly talking about the warriors and other bipedal variants. The fundamental idea of an alien lifeform is cool, and it's something that's been tickling the human imagination for many years. To fit that concept into a wargame requires staying within certain limits. Both for playability reasons and miniature creation reasons. But in some of the cases I think they could've made them cooler.

>But in some of the cases I think they could've made them cooler.

Put up or shut up.

I don't sculpt, sorry.

If you can't even describe what you are talking about you have no cause to say the design could have been cooler.

Or are you telling me I'm not allowed to criticize their design decisions if I'm not a making wargames or sculpt miniatures myself?

>Sure, I was mainly talking about the warriors and other bipedal variants
So you're moving the goalposts? Since your original post talks about an 'alien race'. I'm not gonna extend your argument to Eldar and Tau, who are also Alien lifeforms, since that would be disingenuous, but saying 'Aliens need to be weirder' without being specific in what you'd hope for while respecting their themes and aesthetic is a bit useless.

Ah so that's what you're on about. I already said what I had issues with. If you can't comprehend what you read then I can't help you.

Yes. "It could have been cooler" if you can't even describe in concrete ways what could have been done better you aren't doing criticism just having a vapid moan.