Convention Demos -- Shadespire or AoS Skirmish?

[Blutsteigen]

Greetings,

Solid gaming convention coming to my area in January.

I'm trying to decide if I should demo Shadespire or AoS skirmish to current and aspiring wargamers.

Shadespire is a low barrier of entry, ready to assemble and play game.

Skirmish is a bit less complex, as it would not require card hand management.

Any thoughts from the community on what I should focus on before January for my 

preparations?

Thanks.

[Carnelian]

Shadespire hands down. 

Skirmish is cool but, due to all the super sweet models it uses,  it's vast and unwieldy and is not really bhild for competitive play.

Shadespire is new and hype 

[Blutsteigen]

On 9/29/2017 at 12:59 AM, Carnelian said:

Shadespire hands down. 

Skirmish is cool but, due to all the super sweet models it uses,  it's vast and unwieldy and is not really bhild for competitive play.

Shadespire is new and hype 

Thank you Carnelian. I agree at this point.

[Killax]

On 29-9-2017 at 9:59 AM, Carnelian said:

Shadespire hands down. 

Skirmish is cool but, due to all the super sweet models it uses,  it's vast and unwieldy and is not really bhild for competitive play.

Shadespire is new and hype 

I just wanted to say I agree with this aswell.

The prime advantage of Shadespire is that you don't have to explain all the pieces in order to make it function and work well. For sure this means some guess work is needed for newer players but this is all part of the experience. Shadespire comes with a mix of very characterful models and this is why I like it so much. In addition even if you have to buy the starterbox you get a game for 2 players for €50, which is a good deal for any boardgame. 

Age of Sigmar Skirmish in my opinion still is a supplement to Age of Sigmar, meaning you need to know how that works and then you can go over to Age of Sigmar Skirmish. Which has some massive advantages for current AoS players aswell but unless the player has a Skirmish box I do think it will be much more difficult for a new player to obtain a cool mix of different models for this game. Which isn't required but certainly more fun.

The prime advantage of boardgames like Shadespire versus wargames like Age of Sigmar are:
- It thakes up less space, time to play, put together and paint
- It's more interesting for people who like boardgames but can't envision themselves putting together whole armies
- It's much easier for GW to distribute the love for each Grand Allegiance because only a handful of models are needed to play the game, where with full wargames GW likes to give at least 4 new heroes, usually 3 monsters and a minimum of 3 newer other units, it just thakes much more time to design, create and have in stores

Cheers,

[Gaz Taylor]

I would echo shadespire as well as you basically get everything in the box and it's a lot more open for new players. Only tricky thing for somebody new is removing the models from the frames but for the average new player that should be fine!

Skirmish is fun, but for brand new players I would say Shadespire

[Killax]

I think the other best part of it all is even the press fit models which I missed the time I made the above post.

In reality Age of Sigmar is a really fun game but the buy in for the game is quite high, as you do want your glues, paints and basing materials aswell in order to really get the full experience of playing the game.
Shadespire even removes all those entry costs by presenting it as a fully playable game that doesn't require anything of that. Offcourse glueing the models is possible, so is painting and giving them their own base but if you want to skip on all that you can.

If anything this is the type of game most new players will be excited about because after their first played demo game they should be able to play the game by themselves within 5 minutes after purchasing it. You need clippers and that's really about it. The models are clearly represented in plastic colour, the bases are scenic and the models are designed in such a way that you can make up the difference per model (and thus card) extremely easy. Which makes it a very well thought out product so far.

As other boardgame review individuals and websites have covered, Shadespire has all the hallmarks of being the next great "collectable boardgame". It's compact, affordable, comes from a compagny that offers massive ammounts of hobby products to spice the game up and it has the ideal size where practicly every faction in Age of Sigmar can be covered in a handful of years if GW wanted to. Not only does it appeal to wargamers there is a board and cardgame aspect very well mixed into it.

[RoyalDachshund]

Shadespire.
Buy a box, have a game. Maybe a lill bit harder to grasp when it comes to rules and cards but it's all in one box.

Skirmish.
Buy a box of 10 units to use one of them. Do it couple of times. It's a terrible time to get into AoS Skirmish without having some models already. Took me three months and way too many cash to assembly a lill chaos band. It might be fun to play and show people with the stuff you have, but lot of them won't get into it because of the surprisingly high cost barrier. I know, there is ebay, second hand, facebook groups but what new player will jump onto hunting for one Pink Horror or a Tzaangor Skyfire?

[Wraith01]

I agree that Shadespire is an easier game to sell to people. But if you are going to be demoing the game, and have enough models, Skirmish is still a great option.  

 

[Blutsteigen]

I appreciate the feedback everyone. I'm going Shadespire for the myriad of reasons above -- not to mention justification to my lady to purchase it!

Thank you, I'll post some pix of the demo later.

[Elodin]

Despite Shadespire having cards, I'd actually say it's easier game to grasp. You don't have to be concerned with remembering hero phase activations, hit/wound tables, measurement/charges, battleshock, etc.

Not saying Skirmish is difficult, but to the uninitiated it might seem a little daunting. Shadespire is much more clear cut with hexes, tokens and a concise, repeated phase system that should have players comfortable by the end of the game. 

 

But, Shadespire is the new hotness, so I'm clearly biased.