Warmachine Shadows and Scum Review - Sneaky Villainy

Warmachine, a tabletop wargame that initially came to life to focus on balanced and competitive gameplay, has been around since 2003 under Privateer Press, until last year when Steamforged Games announced that they had bought the IP. Warmachine had recently moved into a new edition of the rules, and SFG has continued to run with that, kicking off a roadmap of new and exciting releases. These releases started with a brand new 2-player starter set which we reviewed here, and in this article, we'll have a detailed look at a brand new starter set, Warmachine Shadows and Scum, featuring 2 very different factions from the first starter set.

Metal and Magic

Games of Warmachine begin with each player's selection of a Warcaster, a powerful mage that sets the tone for the rest of your army. While each faction has a distinct feel, the Warcaster you choose, each with a unique once-per-battle ability, can change how the force functions. Backing up the Warcaster are Warjacks, powerful metal constructs that pack a punch on the battlefield. Further supporting your Warcaster and Warjacks are Solos, individual warriors, and Units, groups of warriors, who flesh out the rest of your force

All of the rules and unit stats are available for free on the Warmachine app, and we covered some of the cool mechanics in our 2-Player Starter Set review, so check that out if you want to know more about Warmachine.

A Different Kind Of Starter?

Like the Blood and Thunder starter set before this, the Shadows and Scum box comes with 2 30-point forces, with a spread across unit types to give new players a look at how they play. This time though, the forces are led by Warlocks (rather than Warcasters) and contain a Warbeast (rather than Warjack). Warlocks/Warcasters and Warjacks/Warbeasts are different in name only and use fury rather than focus. This harks back to the days when Warmachine and Hordes were sold as different systems, sharing the same rules, but are now combined into just Warmachine. Both forces also have 2 solo units (rather than the single solo in Blood and Thunder), and all the miniatures are still Cadre for their respective factions, which means they can be used across all forces in the faction. 

As before, this starter set only contains miniatures for the 2 forces; all the rules and unit cards are on the Warmachine app. If you want to use this set straight away, you'll also have to have some 6-sided dice, a measuring tool and some tokens. The box does make this clear, and this is similar to many other systems now, taking their rules almost entirely digital.

From The Shadows

The Khymaera troops in Shadows and Scum are the Shard Nocturnes, elite and stealthy killers led by Vallyx, Fate’s Eclipse. Vallyx gives all friendly Shard Noctures the Flying High ability, which means that all attacks against them suffer -3 range, which reduces the range threat as they close the distance with their enemies. Vallyx's feat also makes all friendly hits within their control range Critical Hits, which means you can set up a pretty devastating round of combat. Vallyx is backed up by the warbeast Akylss, who can deploy a caustic mist to cover the Shard Nocturnes advance. Akylss has a corrosive ranged and melee attack, that gains an additional dice against construct and undead enemies.

The Shard Noctures in Shadows and Scum come with 2 solos, Pythia, who attaches to your factions' leader at the start of the game and allows them to channel spells through them, and also upkeep a spell for free if they're nearby, and Regulus, who along with being super stealthy, has a special action, that if they are within 8 inches of the enemy leader, they can move a nearby friendly unit 3 inches. The stealthy Shades are the Shard Nocture's unit, and they gain an additional dice on attacks and damage against character models. Along with a high threat range due to reposition and unpredictable movement abilities, they can strike straight for the enemy leader.

The Shard Nocturnes like to make fast, explosive plays for the enemy leader, with several of their units stealthily advancing with boosted attacks and threat ranges. 

Arrrrrrrr!

Foulblood's Armada is the Southern Kriels army in the Shadows and Scum box, led by Commodore Foulblood himself. Foulbood has some great overlapping abilities with Battle Plan: Open Bar, which gives any friendly units Stumbling Drunk, which means they can't be knocked down, then as a Feat, Foulblood can use Happy Hour, which gives all units that are Stumbling Drunk, +3 armor for the turn. Foulblood's shoulder-mounted monkey also reduces enemy melee attacks by 2. Foulblood is backed up by the huge Chum, who has incredible healing with D3 wounds whenever they activate, and also D3 wounds if it boxes a living model and removes it from play. They also have critical consume rules on their Great Maw attack, which allows them to remove a small model from a critical hit.

Foulblood's Armarda are supported by 2 solos, Sully a flying albatross who drops explosives from the sky, with a fantastically thematic Albatross special rule that gives all enemies -1 to attack and damage rolls for the remainder of the turn when Sully is taken out, and Mr Bogs, who's adept at taking out enemy warbeasts, and who's massive rifle pushes both them away from their target, and their target directly away from them when hit. The 3 model unit, the Lochabash Brothers round out the force, who can charge into combat, and if grouped together can get up to +4 on damage rolls, then side step out of combat, and with snap fire, can fire twice if they take out an enemy with their first ranged attack.

Foulblood's Armada are pretty hard-hitting. Bunching up and smashing into enemies gives them boosts to attacks and defense, supported by Sully dropping fire from the skies, and Mr Bogs softening up the larger enemies.

Warmachine Shadows and Scum Final Thoughts?

Both of the 2 new Cadres in Warmachine Shadows and Scum offer interesting playstyles, very different from those in Blood and Thunder. The Shard Nocturnes like to stealthily work their way up, and make explosive and often devastating assassination attempts, whereas Foulblood's Armarda are solid in both ranged and melee attacks and like to smash into combat together, benefitting from overlapping buffs. Both factions are set up for new players, with 30-point forces with a variety of different units. The cadre rules also allow them to be used in any force of their faction beyond this box as well. While both forces have less straightforward playstyles than some, they're fairly easy to pilot, but there are still several rules to keep track of for new players.

As with Blood and Thunder, this set is just miniatures, as the rules and stats are all available for free on the Warmachine app and you will have to add a couple of accessories (dice, measuring tool, and tokens) to get playing, but once you have those, getting started with Shadows and Scum is easy.

The copy of the Warmachine Shadows and Scum used to produce this review was provided by Steamforged Games.