Games Workshop Reveal Shadow War: Armageddon For Warhammer 40,000
March 15, 2017 by brennon
The Warhammer 40,000 world is being rocked by the announcement of a new game system based in its grimdark future. Shadow War: Armageddon takes 'Kill Teams' and expands upon them with Necromunda-esque rules which will add to your skirmishing in the dark twisted metal world of Armageddon.
Inside the game box, you're going to be getting a set of Space Marine Scouts and some Ork Boyz to use as the basis of your Kill Team on the tabletop. This can be expanded using the Warhammer 40,000 range and they are also going to have rules for a dozen other factions too for those not liking power armour or green.
The rules will then expand out to allow you to upgrade and add to your Kill Teams as you fight through missions giving the game a narrative campaign structure too.
Modular Terrain
The real star of the show though is the modular terrain kit which comes in the box.
This Industrial terrain, based on the designs that would cover the Hive, looks fantastic with plenty of walkways, chimneys and archaic mechanisms for your Kill Teams to fight around. As you'll see in the video above they can be assembled in a variety of different ways.
This might have been why we saw those 4x4 mats late last year, as a precursor to this game coming to hit the shelves. The terrain looks great and with some of the other plastic kits out there from Games Workshop, you could make quite the dense tabletop.
Will you be joining in and fighting the Shadow War?
"The real star of the show though is the modular terrain kit which comes in the box..."
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Happiness!
Please be reasonably priced.
Please be reasonably priced.
Please.
lol I like your optimism, let’s run with it!
GW boxed games run about $150, right?
Having bought Kingdom Death: Monster, I’m no longer qualified to say that that is too much.
Hmmm so what does this mean for Necromunda? I like the terrain but would still prefer human gangs to what’s presented here.
I really doubt Gee Dubs will rerelease Necromunda. The game will probably have a list that is a generic “gang” list for Necromunda fans. Maybe it will have specific racial rules for the different gangs (like Reiklanders or Marienburgers in Mordheim). I am curious to know what other factions there will be. Since this is obviously taking place on Armageddon there could be lots of forces involved. There are the Salamanders, the Black Templars, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists (I think they were there), the ork hunters, the steel legion, the hive militias who all had forces on Armageddon. That is just a few of the armies there. I remember reading the White Dwarf about the Armageddon campaign. It was a cool issue.
I hope they do a generic “Scout” squad with a few chapter specific rules and special equipment instead of a different list for each chapter. The more exotic armies will probably be left out (space elves, tyranids, chaos, tau, etc). Though the Genestealers might be thrown in there for good measure.
This is just my speculation. You will probably get your gang or hive militia or something similiar list. Depending on what Gee Dubs does the game could be really awesome.
Necromunda has been touted as something Specialist Games Division are working on
I think this means that this is Necromunda, at least for the time being. It has the advantages that it doesn’t require a new range of minis, and it has the popular selling lines in it.
Last I heard its still on the table for a spuds release, so expect to pay the same as eBay lead prices for FW resin
I’d have preferred actual Necromunda rather than kill team 40k. I also think Scouts vs Orks just a little bland. I can play kill teams without buying this setup, apart from the terrain there’s nothing new to intice me into purchasing the game. It’s a little dissapointing to ge honest, though it’ll appeal other players just not me.
Kill team doesn’t support “progression” like Necromunda does. This uses the Necromunda rules and you can improve your team members as they fight more skirmishes. It’s a little more advanced than Kill Team from what I can tell
just release Necro again, it would be a license to print money. A whole new generation, probably two have started into the hobby since then. The rules don’t need touched they’re perfect for a small skirmish game, all they need is the terrain and minis to bring it up to speed. Fucking orks/orcs/oruks/whatever the hell they’re called now against scouts is just another 40K game. I honestly can’t see the appeal beyond retconning the background to remove the scummy underbelly of hiveworlds and the thought that humanity is anything other than a beacon of hope against the evil aliens. It’s like Trump is writing 40K
Disagree with you on this one, Ger :). Those small-scale games went the way of the dodo to begin with because they didn’t sell much. Even Blood Bowl struggled to shift any minis. Now they’re all in on plastic it would be hugely expensive to tool an entire new line of minis to play Necromunda with. Conversely, Space Marines sell like gangbusters (I know, beats me too lol), which is why they put Space Marines in everything, even Warhammer Fantasy! From a creative point of view I don’t much care either way as Necromunda feels a very dated ruleset to me now (so my complaint would be that they haven’t rebooted the rules). From a commercial point of view it makes sense to me.
I wouldn’t say they went away because of low sales. They went away because GW chose to shift perspective. Gorkamorka died on it’s backside since it was too restrictive. A single planet with 2 flavours of greenskins and two flavours of humans (one of which thought they were greenskins). Likewise Bloodbowl, if you weren’t an “own it all” nutter” was limited to a team of around 15 minis. But games like Whamster Quest and Necro were only limited by GW themselves, and when Necro and the Journal finally became defunct they had only scratched the surface of what was possible.
I will concede that the cost is high, the ruleset itself though lasted for close to 30 years because of it’s flexibility. Necro had been one of the most profitable games for GW throughout its life compared to the other tertiary rulesets.
Commerically I will admit it makes sense for them to do spak marins against orks, but in doing that I feel they’re losing an opportunity to do something more interesting. A stormboy is a stormboy, but a rich upperclass prick in a wingsuit with the bored idea that they’ll hunt peasants is far more interesting.
They did have low sales. GW spent the 1990s trying to find a third line to shift minis, and accidentally found it with LotR. They had warehouses full of Blood Bowl minis they couldn’t shift, and that was one of the more popular games. Once LotR gave them their third line the remainder were shunted off to being “specialist games”, and when they migrated from metal to plastic they were dumped altogether because they didn’t justify the cost of the tooling. To do a new line of Necromunda minis in plastic would be very expensive, and it’s highly unlikely to generate the additional sales over this to justify the extra expense.
So from a commercial point of view, I disagree that doing a new Necromunda with new minis would be license to print money in comparison to this. From a creative point of view, I have no preference on the setting, I stand by the rules being at least ten years out of date 🙂
2nd Edition Rules were too much for an army vs army set-up. You had to pretty much dedicate an entire day to get a game done.
2nd Edition Rules were a much better fit when shrunk down to the gang sizes you got in Necromunda.
The only thing I had a problem with, is the true line of sight, because against certain players, it would turn into a real slog as they tried to persuade you that a character was in soft cover rather than hard cover, etc…
The silhouette system that Infinity uses (not perfect) in addition to “intent”, is something I’d borrow and put into other game systems rather than going back and arguing with someone who has made all his models crouched / kneeling.
I wouldn’t say they spent the 1990’s finding a way to do it and then ran with LoTR. They spent a fortune for LoTR and it didn’t land until 2001.
After the buyout they had two profitble minis lines, and wanted a third, which is why they burned through a load of new and rebooted games trying to find it. They weren’t that keen on taking LotR, and its success took them by surprise, and it gave them the third line they’d spent a decade looking for.
For most of its life, Lord of the Rings did not move off of the shelves. It sold copies to retailers who wanted discounts on 40k and WFB stuff (where it sat on the shelves forever).
The way that GW deals with retailers would have made any game sell just as well.
For their part, Necromunda, Blood Bowl and Mordheim did not sell as well as 40k, but they sold well enough to justify the investment. But in each case, they weren’t given a lot of time to grow, and GW’s habit of dropping third games tended to make new players wary of getting in on the new one (by the time we got to Gorka Morka and the Epic 40k reboot, a lot of gamers were pretty much done).
GW’s current views on board games is as a gateway into their miniatures games, so they want to have a strong crossover appeal between them. It would be in their best interest to support a Kill Team level game that can cross over with 40k proper.
I honestly think this is something they should have done a long time ago- basically remake Necromunda with more 40k races represented.
I had imagined some planet that had been overrun by chaos during the 13th crusade- with stranded space marines and humans fighting against those who embraced chaos and whatever random aliens happened to be in the neighborhood. But Armageddon works too.
Hopefully if they did re release it they would re do the awful campaign rules.
They really need to update a lot of the rules to re-release Necromunda or Mordheim. Neither of those were as tight as Blood Bowl (where they needed to do very little aside from making new minis).
What was so awful about them?
As someone who still plays (and very much enjoys) a Necromunda campaign regularly, aside from late campaign gangs getting a little too super-powerful I really don’t see anything “awful” about the campaign system.
I actually think the Necromunda and Mordheim systems to be some of the better skirmish-level games ever made and with a few tweaks would be pretty much perfect. Some combining of the two would do well, as would adding an alternating activation mechanic.
I saw this and it looks good but is this just going to be kill team with some new terrain?
They are named ‘Kill Teams’ but the rules for the game are based on Necromunda rather than just your standard 40k rules.
It will also feature an element of progression and upgrading of your team as you play through games apparently too.
So it’s Necromunda but using the standard forces of Warhammer 40,000 and a smidge of Kill Team thrown in I would guess.
Their rep at GAMA straight-up said it was the Necromunda ruleset.
Cheers for the update, I saw it was the necromunda ruleset from the email they sent out with the new army for AoS (Kharadron Overlords) and the new AoS starter set.
I hoping for some nice campaign rules, although the new terrain looks good too. I will be keeping my eye out for this.
Kill-team with expanded experience? That sounds fun. As someone who still has some lingering nostalgia for 40k, but will not invest in the silly amount of stuff actual 40k needs these days, it’s a good option.
I am really looking forward to this. I love the smal scale 40k stuff. Just love the universe and the possibility to build characterfull smal-scale units.
Also they will pobably have rules geensteler cults, chaos cultists, imperial guard and hopefully some inquisition stuff – this alone is enought for a “only human gangs” style of game.
Pretty much a guaranteed buy from me because I still have a box or two to go until my painting debt is floor to ceiling 😉
I suspect I will also buy this lol
What are the chances of getting the rule book without the plastic? that’s rhetorical, Theres always eBay I suppose
You might find that it’s done as a Black Library download after the main release. Probably not, but worth considering as an option!
This actually makes perfect sense. I am a bit disappointed that it’s not “proper” Necromunda (it still might come out, who knows?) but having a skirmish game where you can buy a single squad of already existing miniatures to get involved.
As someone who has drifted away from 40K, this could be the game that get`s me back in. As i still have a lot of the box game`s that GW released back in the day, i can`t see me getting back in to 40K, but this new game has got me interested.
i`m loving the new terrain, added to other terrain that people still have there will be some very interesting gaming boards cropping up. I can see it now, tables that measure 2 x 2 base, but also being 24 to 36 inch tall. Not the whole board, but sections of the playing area. If the game play`s like Necromunda, then it`s a winner in my book.
As long as GW don`t go mad with the “Price”, i can see them selling a lot of “Shadow War Armageddon.
Necromunda will likely come in a few years once the new and improved Specialist Games team have finished messing about with Blood Bowl and Adeptus Titanicus.
This is a really nice idea that introduces some cool new terrain bundled with some older minis.
I will definitely be picking up a metric sh*t ton of the awesome scenery pieces for using with Necromunda, Inquisimunda and regular 40/30k games.
When (not if, I’m an optimist) Necromunda is re-released, it will likely be all Forgeworld minis. Maybe we will see generic “Gang Sprue” in plastic but certainly the rest will be Forgeworld resin.
Well, the thing is it’s called “shadow war: Armageddon”. If GW follows its usual progression, like silver tower, if this sells well we could see other “shadow wars” boxes for new settings.
I think you are right, they will probably do more sets with other factions and more scenery pieces.
Maybe even some xenon terrain (crosses fingers)
I am not convinced that a new necro would be a huge hit now. It has a lot of nostalgia for players but I don’t see GW updating the rules well enough to compete with all the other great skirmish games out there to keep peoples attention that are not currently 40K players.
People often talk about the greatness of the experience system and campaigns but I found it often left one or two models ridiculously over powered and they steamrollered the second half of any campaign.
If GW does redo necro it needs to be with a fully modern set of rules, not just a rehash of a decades old system.
I am glad to see them trying to offer a small scale option non the less.
I like this small scale stuff as its a good gateway for people to get into the game and isnt too intimidating. Like most on here (i imagine) i have the models and can find more cost effective scenery elsewhere but wouldn’t mind a gander at the rules.
I liked the idea of necromunda but never really enjoyed the rule set as it did feel very dated. Fingers crossed this is going to be a good rule set so i can finally use my 40k stuff again.
http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.com/p/kill-team-rules.html
It seems that they are trying to do what the above link does. Small linked 40k games. A great idea for a starting point. Very few models are needed to get in and get playing.
Now the Big Question I have is that is it a different rules set for just this OR is it just different from the Current Edition?
Me and a mate are going to give the Heralds system a spin
Its a fun little system that would more or less work for any game system. The only issue comes in the “base size” upgrade. Point difference can make things quite a bit more challenging.
All in the detail for me, rules need to be interesting and scenary modular after construction. Otherwise its not really offering anything for me. Good that they seem to be finally getting the skirmish games market sector.
from Warhammer TV on the Facebook
‘No, they are more like Necromunda, or 2nd edition. It’s a different game.’
Looks like a Gateway game to 40K for new Players…would explain the boring minis choice.
A bit of a touch-up for the rules…some better looking minis and more levels in the terrain would have gone a looong way for old fans. Maybe some expansions will help in the future. With this right now I will at least save money. 😉
If you are going to scale down 40k, and still not do Necromunda like everyone wanted, at least pick factions that belong in Hive cities. Like the Genestealer Cult.
They’ve listed genestealer cult as being one of the factions.
That’s the big loss for me. Scouts, I understand the whole space marine is the top seller thing, but scouts? Where they ever a thing?
I have actually met one player in here who has Space Marine Scout army so one can make army out of them if using regular SM codex because they have access to both Scout Bikes and Land Speeder Storm.
They are doing same on AoS side so GW seems to be bring they skirmish systems closer to they core systems.
I notice everyone separates this from 40k as a skirmish game. 40k is also a skirmish game. Sure, it has more models. It is a platoon scale game. I really believe it was always a skirmish game. Look at the artwork. It shows a few soldiers up close and personal. If Armageddon is a true skirmish game then 40k is bigger skirmish game. You can’t really depict mass battles in 28mm. A napoleonic French regiment is 700-800 men. That’s a lot of boxes of dudes!
I scratch my head as to why Gee Dubs has yet to rerelease Mordheim. Personally I never saw anyone play Necromunda…but people still play Mordheim leagues from time to time. I suspect Gee Dubs is trying to distance itself from the older, classic games with new, original stuff.
Let’s face it, Specialist Games is dead. I doubt it will ever come back.
Specialist Games (now called Specialist Design Studio) just re-released Blood Bowl and are soon to release Adeptus Titanicus. They have already mentioned Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic and other games that they will be working on over the coming years. They’re far from dead.
My experience was quite the opposite of yours. Never saw many people play Mordheim but saw plenty play Necromunda. Depends which was more popular in your local area I guess.
I don’t like current GW ruleset and I like very much 40k 2nd edition and Necromunda and for the first time after years I will buy again a GW product. Good move, I am very surprised ! Bravi!
the factory/chemical plant looks fabulous.
Any word on RRP?
I want Necromunda not this knock off
It’s supposedly a future project
2nd Edition 40k lives!
Blaster was here…
So, I just bought Kill Team because I am going to buy for sure Shadow War and a squad of Tau and one of Space Marine can be used in the new game and buying kill team is cheaper than the single squads.
Consider these are observation from someone that used to love 40k, started with 1st edition and blah blah all the usual at one point more than 10 years ago I just decided 40k was becoming ridiculous with all the supermonster on the table and bad rules. Just to put in perspective what follows:
I buy kill team and as stand-alone product is, honestly, horrible. It feels like someone just throws inside a box a bunch of stuff. The models are very nice sure, the rulebook…meh…I don’t really like the rules and the rulebook is simply the 40k rulebook. Very nice booklet with assembly guide but don’t know why it has the stats and rules to use a 40k marines squad or tau with no statistic for weapons. Maybe they are in small rulebook? No, the kill team rulebook gives again a bunch of extra rules but it assumes you already know everything about 40k. That’s not what I want. I want a complete squad level skirmish game, this product is not even user-friendly for a “veteran” that doesn’t play 40k anymore so I guess I was not the target.
Now, why I am so excited for Shadow war? Because that seems to be the product I was looking for. Extra bonus – the rules I love, 2nd edition 40k – but that’s extra. I will have everything I need to re-enter in the 40k world. It will be (I think) the product that Kill Teams wanted to be but miserably failed to be.
Good stuff GW, good stuff…