I like Shades. They have a lot of problems but I think they’re not unplayable. Throwing x1 in an army can be fun.
Like others have said it would be great if they had something that made the Soul Devour process easier, whether it’s defense against range like the PK’s or some kind of vanishing/scatter ability or changing the ability altogether. But I actually am more annoyed with them only having 2 attack, that really deters me from running them. If they had 3 or 4 attack then threatening with Soul Devour and going for potential sneak attacks would be much more potent. As is, the 2 attack really hurts the strategy of being tricky attackers. At least it’s not 1 attack I guess.
It also is just an extra kick in the shins that if you do Soul Devour, you have to destroy a Shade. It will almost always be worth it but still, you forgettably lose a hidden 33.3pt. from your points gained. It would be sick if after the figure you Soul Devoured dies, the Shade you devoured it with comes back on the table in its place.
It would’ve also been cool if they could destroy squad figures in some way. Like, after moving and before attacking, choose a squad figure adjacent to a Shade, roll the D20, if it’s a common and you roll an 11 or higher it’s destroyed, if it’s a unique and you roll a 16 or higher it’s destroyed. Maybe instead of attacking. Call it Soul Suck or Soul Drain or Soul Gather or something.
What about an ability that gains initiative? For every Shade out of the start zone +X to your initiative. You could even just do for all Shades you control on the battlefield lol.
Yeah they’re pretty bad, but I still like ‘em. Like with the Anubians, 4 defense reels me in.
(But are they bad enough to run at GenCon this year......?
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