Played my first real games of Shadespire!

Yes, yes, I've played some games of Shadespire- two teaching/learning games with Rob, and some three player learning/teaching games with BK and Joey, but this past Tuesday I managed to play my first real one on one games of Shadespire, using decks I've built against someone using decks they've built.

I built decks for two of my warbands- Steelheart's Champions, and the Chosen Axes.  I played two games with each, all against Joey running his Ironskull’s Boyz warband.

For Steelheart's Champions, I wanted to try something different.  All of our games so far (the learning/teaching games), have all followed a similar formula.  Basically everything runs in, charging and battling, and much glory is scored in the slaughter.  The games were brutal, dynamic, quick... and a little luck dependent.

Instead, I wanted to try something more controlled.  I was going to take my Champions, spend the first turn moving back, away from the opposing warband, try to score some easy early objectives, like Consecrated Area (above), Sigmar's Bulwark, and the Hold Objective... objectives.

Getting a few early points will let me play some great upgrades to increase how dangerous my warband is (Great Strength), or set up for the end game with the various Key upgrades.  I then finish my deck with a bunch of pushes, a Healing Potion, a Last Chance... things like that.  Whatever I can to help keep my warband alive!

With that said, for the first time, I actually spent time considering my board choice and placement this time (all our previous games were long-edge to long-edge, creating a board where we could get into each other quickly.

Anyway, first game, I ran my deck against Joey's Ironskulls, and I think he wasn't quite prepared for it (again, this was our first real game).  I won the board placement, and attached the boards along their short edge, making a long, narrow board.  I then moved everything back, scored two glory early, upgraded, and came out and killed his leader on the second round.  From there, nothing was really a threat, and I ended up winning, 10-2.

Second game I once again won the board placement roll, but got a tad cocky from the first game, and left Steelheart a little closer to his oncoming Orruks.  He got killed early, giving the Orruks some glory to upgrade with, and they were able to steamroll the rest of my warband, beating me 6-4.

I decided to try the other deck I brought, which was my Chosen Axes.  My strategy for this one was a bit different.  The goal was to once again to stay away first turn, Inspiring Fjul-Grimnir, then upgrading him a bunch before sending him out to slaughter the opposing warband.  With luck, I would either get Shining Example or Alone in the Darkness is my opening hand, score one of them, and go to town with my Inspired Leader.

For the Power deck, I packed a lot of Move upgrade cards, a lot of random push cards, and things to make Fjul-Grimnir scarier.  I was also lucky in that I drew Spoils of Battle in both of my games with this deck.

Game 3, I once again won the board roll off, once again elected for the long, narrow setup, and things went basically to play.  I used Spoils of Battle to put a Move upgrade on Fjul-Grimnir, Inspired him, and sent him out.  We danced around a bit, and missed a lot of attacks, and when the dust settled, we were tied at five glory apiece.  Fortunately, in my effort to Inspire one of my other guys, I had actually parked someone on an objective, and due to that, I was able to win the game on a tie breaker!

Game 4 went much like Game 3, except more bloody.  I killed Joey's leader, but Joey managed to kill a couple of Dwarfs.  I ended the final turn leading by two glory... but after we scored our end game objectives, we ended up tied at 8 glory apiece! 

I then realized I had Treasure-Lust in my hand... and no one on an objective.  Oops!  There really was nothing that prevented me from pushing a guy onto one, in case of a tie breaker.  But I honestly didn't think about it (something I'll consider from now on at least).

So, in my first set of 'real' games, I went 2-1-1, learned a valuable lesson, and tried a new style of gameplay.  I had a great time, and I think this is something we'll get on the table a few times going forward, as it plays so quickly that it works as a perfect filler!  I have a Skaven warband I need to assemble, and in the meantime, I need to figure out a fun way to play the Reavers, as I haven't actually tried them yet.  Looking forward to more games!