Gorechosen or Shade Spire?

I really want to get into one of these. I’m leaning towards Gorechosen because it looks easier to set up and go without having to screw around with deck building, especially since most of my friends will have no interest in that aspect. But, damn, Shadespire looks like fun. Thoughts?

Here's what some random weirdo named "Charlest" said on another site:

They're pretty different but I think both will appeal to the same types of people (if you really like Gorechosen you will really like Shadespire).

So in Shadespire you're controlling a small group and typically facing off against another single small group. You can play three and four player but that requires buying more boards/factions.

Unlike Gorechosen, you can move and activate whichever dudes you want to do whatever you want. You don't need a card allowing you to move forward or turn around or whatever.

The card play in Shadespire is more to provide boosts. So you can pull out an extra action, or boost a character's stats. They're more about surprises and supplementary to the core action system.

A huge element of Shadespire is also the objective framework. You're dealt cards from a faction specific deck which dicates short term objectives. Stuff like kill an enemy this round, or take out their leader. Maybe control objective space 1. These refill in your hand as the game goes on.

So it's a bit more dynamic than Gorechosen but also a little less brutal because you have multiple models. It's deeper and more rich but it doesn't completely replace. There's additional meat to it in that each side has their own board and you can strategically place them in different ways. You can customize your deck before play and tweak it to your satisfaction.

It's also meant to be played competitively in addition to casually so is built tighter than Gorechosen. It's also faster clocking in at 20 minutes consistently. Gorechosen can be that fast, but we've also had games last as long as 40.

I love Gorechosen, but I think Shadespire is the better game.

Think of Shadespire like Gorechosen meets X-Wing. You're taking a group of dudes, possibly customized through those cards, and taking on another player's group.

I haven't played Shade Spire, but I think there are pros and cons to both games. The trick is figuring out which is a pro or a con based on your situation.
Player count: Gorechosen is not great unless 4 models start the game, so you really want 4 players, or 2 people running 2 guys each. Shade Spire is pretty much 2 player out of the box.
Weight: Gorechosen is the lighter game
Length: As Charlie says, apparently Shade Spire is the shorter game on average.
Treadmill: Shade Spire is probably a bigger purchase; Gorechosen is done, and you don't "need" any more characters than are in the box. I think they released cards for 4 others.
Models: The models for Gorechosen are some of the coolest models I've ever seen; pictures of Shade Spire don't impress me in the same way.

Having finally played a few times, I agree down the line with Charlie's comparison. But to put a finer point on it, Gorechosen is more obnoxious, more silly, and more rock n' roll. It is more immediately gratifying. It feels like classic GW design and is a game you should play listening to Venom and drinking a terrible beer. Shadespire is for Basil Poledouris and a craft-brewed session ale. And it has quite a bit more depth to explore between the fighters, cards, objectives and board layouts.

You can definitely see Shadespire as a refinement of Gorechosen, there is a clear developmental throughline. But I also think that it, more than any other GW game to date, feels like a part of the larger gaming zeitgeist and trend. It doesn't have that "developed in a Nottingham bubble" feel. Which is both a pro and a con. The big pro is that it feels very of the moment and it feels like it is something that could really find an audience (but won't- my prediction). The big con is that it doesn't have that one of a kind feel that GW designs often have. It could be a completely generic fantasy Skirmish game without the Age of Sigmar trappings and it wouldn't be a lesser game. Gorechosen is completely, hopelessly dedicated to Khorne and no other.

I don't think one is better than the other- Gorechosen was the best game of 2016, Shadespire is probably the best game of 2017. It is a sharp, sleek game and in some ways it may be the best game in its class. The process sets up some very interesting decision points, the hard limit of 12 activations puts the game on an almost painfully tight schedule, and the objective mechanic is fucking brilliant. It is a sneaky Eurogame thing where you have "meet these conditions" cards you score VPs on, and those VPs are also your currency to buy upgrades...all of which are HUGELY conditional and can swing a fight one way or the other.

One thing they totally fixed (and this is something that Gorechosen did too, really) is the tendency for these kinds of games to wind up in a static scrum. You might be slugging it out with another fighter, but grabbing an objective might be worth more points than offing your adversary. So you've got to move.

The support mechanic is also genius, where you get to count extra symbols as hits or blocks if you have help. This is, of course, ported over from X-Wing where you have things that make symbols count as other symbols.

But there is deckbuilding and factions, and Gorechosen is an out of the box experience (although you REALLY want the extra characters!). Gorechosen is built for multiplayer. And so far I have not seen anything as dramatic and thrilling as some of the bullshit that goes on in that game in Shadespire. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's a different tone.

I guess maybe that Shadespire is the thinking person's Gorechosen.

Michael Barnes wrote: Shadespire is for Basil Poledouris and a craft-brewed session ale.

I haven't played Shade Spire and frankly I have little interest in it.

If you decide to get Gorechosen just know what you're getting yourself into. The game is 100% "classic" Ameritrash. It's like a game out of time...something that has willfully ignored that last 25 years of modern game design.

You pick an absurdly named character, roll some dice, and fuck shit up. You could be decapitated within 5 minutes and be left rolling a single D6 from beyond the grave for the reminder of the game. Someone with delicate, modern gaming, sensibilities would likely call it shallow or childish. They'd also completely miss the fucking point. If all you're looking for is a dice chucker with heavy metal aesthetics designed to please your inner 12 year old then go ahead and order it now. It's an all out slug-fest that is completely unashamed of how ridiculous it is. There is something very refreshing about that.

It's also something that gets less rambunctious and wildly entertaining the more often you bring it out. The initial electric jolt of your first few plays is like the maiden trip of a wonderful drug. Then after 4 or 5 plays you've seen all the tricks and the game never quite re-captures that first monumental high. It's the reason I held off buying it. At this point I'd be content to forgot all of it's "below the belt" punches and dirty tricks so it can go back to surprising me when I play it once/twice a year at a convention.

If you're interested in something like Shade Spire I highly recommend tracking down everything for the MagicThe Gathering: Arena of Planeswalker. The game is criminally underrated and you can get the two base sets and expansion for like $30. It's a shitload of fun!

On the quality of minis.
Gorechosen dudes are way better, but they're also supposed to be. Each one is a hero and almost equivalent in power to both starting warbands from shadespire (which are basically the cheapest/weakest troops of their respective faction). Unless I am missing something, which is totally possible.