Shadow Wars Wych Cult tactics

I know that grenades are NOT one use only. On one of the pages I have it explicitly states you buy them once and that person has them until they die.

So does this game have a rulebook yet other than the little expansion pdf that came out for the wych cults?

In box only so far. coming soon.

Someone suggested an alteration on the list I made up, mostly dropping a debutante and giving the other three chain hooks and blade venom. A nice little change but it leaves me with 8 models which I'm not too keen on.

The rules so far are only in the sold out box set, but gw announced that it would be coming soon, so a download or softback book will be out. There's a link on a previous page of scans from leaks that give a good idea of the game if you look.

I'd stick to 9 and just arm the wyches. Debutantes aren't gonna make it to combat IMO.

My models are carrying pistols, so my Wyches will have pistols.

That said, I would probably give them all pistols anyway. I played a lot of Necromunda back in the day, and even though that day was a long time ago, here's some things I remember from it. I spent a *lot* of time skulking around trying not to get shot. Hand-to-hand combat was lethal, but relatively uncommon - because of all the criss-crossing catwalks and the like, it was often nearly impossible to physically get to enemy gangers without getting gunned down by them or their buddies.

Also, willingly sacrificing your own gang members as a default strategy was never a good plan in my experience (unless you played Scavvies, which I did in one or two campaigns) because of the cost of replacing them. You end up spending a lot maintaining your status quo, while other gangs are investing in better equipment. Moreover, if you're feeding those gangs a steady diet of expendable juves, they will be gaining experience and advancements faster than you.

I believe you if you tell me that there were some groups where this was a viable strategy. Personally, just setting a couple guys way up on a catwalk somewhere with autoguns seems like it would solve it, especially if I just murder your juves and then leave (voluntarily bottle out). You win the game, but depending on the scenario I can come out ahead that way.

All of this is of course talking about Necromunda. At this point I don't know if I'll ever even see the rules for Shadow War.

My list right now (not having seen the core rules yet) is a Syren with pistol and agonizer, 2 Blood - er, spouses, one with shardnet & impaler, the other with a chainhook, pistol, and blade venom, and 5 Wyches with pistols and blade venom. That leaves 25 points left over, which might mean grenades for someone.

(This is all subject to change with getting to see the rules.)

My main concern right now is how to model a chainhook onto one of my classic Wyches. I'm thinking I'll start with one of the razorsnare & falchion models, because it's already got some chain, and use some of the extra chain bits from the classic Reavers for more chain, but I haven't settled on a suitable blade/hook thing for it yet, or worked out how to adjust the pose so it makes sense.

I'm guessing maybe ten hours of conversion work (depending on how nuts i go with the green stuff) and another ten to paint him. This is why there's only one chainhook in the list, and I put it on a.. er... Goregroom? in order to get the most out of it. Fortunately, the rest of the team are all ready to go.

("Goregroom" sounds stupid, so I also need to come up with a better term for my gender-inclusive Wych specialists.)

So i played my first couple of games last night, with the following list.

Syren w/ Hydra Gauntlets, Mirrorhelm
8x Wychs w/ Chainhooks, Blade Venom.

I didn't give anyone pistols as i thought that if i'm within 12" to shoot or can get within 12" then i could just charge.
The list worked pretty well playing against a friends Catachans, my only issue was getting across the board took alot of time and i had to slink from cover to cover, pretty much hiding every turn to get within range.
I can see the reasons to take pistols now. There were a multitude of times that i was within 12" with the ooposition out in the open on ledges, but i just couldn't get to them to charge.
Tempted to put at least 2-3 splinter pistols in the list so i wont have that issue.

Also as a side note, blastershot shotguns really really HURT!. When running in groups beware and spread out to the max 2" to keep the early recover but minimise the number of hits from blasts.

Other than the above i did really well winning both games. As these are the only 2 games i have played, i can't say much on power.....however i get the feeling wych's were made for this game with their 6" move, I6 and very good cheap CCW

How did you find blade venom wyches? Enough attacks?

Still getting an extra attack for the wych knife, and with WS4 and +1 for the charge i generally got 2-3 hits. Suprisingly the chainhooks with blade venom wounded the majority of the time and with a -3 sv mod, most things were dead pretty quick.
He ran his troopers in groups as well so what i would do is charge then followup into the next one protecting me from his fire.
It just took a very long time to get across the board, probably took 4 maybe 5 turns. Running into cover when i could or just moving and hiding. Sniper rifles with toxin darts are scary

Hmmm okay cool. I'll try and add some chain hooks into my list

In a full campaign, what i would potentially do is swap out 2 Wychs for blood brides with Hydra gauntlets.
As the gauntlets function as 2 weapons, you will never be attacking with your wych knife, so now your rolling 3 attack dice for that greater chance to hit and then wounding on re-rollable 4's.
Then i would also give my wychs splinter pistols for those few occasions that they just cant get into combat but are still in range to shoot.

The one thing i did find was that there is no way in hell i will ever have a wych out in the open, if your not slinking from cover to cover then your as good as dead. Now i expected this having played necromunda way back when, but still getting pinned on a hit and then only being T3 with 6+ (negated most of the time by weapons) we HAVE to stick to cover. I would rather spend 2-3 turns getting into perfect position and hiding while i do it than risking it and getting pinned in the open.

Honestly, that's kind of fluffy. I'm excited to give them a shot.

I'm thinking about a grenade wych just for fun. Think she'll be worth it?

I have to say I do like the idea of Grenades, and potentially pinning 2-3 guys at once. The problem i have is again with the range. You can throw grenades 3x your Strength, so effectively 9", if your within that range you probably could of charged, or moved a bit closer and charged. Then you still have to hit with the grenade (and with the amount of cover thats not always going to happen) and on top of this you have the potential for it to scatter.

As i said though, I like the idea of them and I will try some at some point, just be ready to give it multiple games until you can pull off a good shot with them.

Yeah that makes sense.

Also, in my analysis of the weapons, i didnt realize ritual weapons counted as two weapons. I am definitely sticking with my two specialist in my starting list now

Same, when i first saw them i though that they were really not worth it, but after looking closer there pretty good. Escpecially as it says they can't be used with other weapons, which means you don't have to split the attacks between the gladitorial weapons and wychknife / pistol.

Out of the 3 specialist weapons i would never take the razorflail. Chainhook and bladevenom provide a better save modifer and the same special rules for 10pts cheaper. The shardnet could be fun to put on a dedicated speacialist killer, or when facing against factions like greyknights or CSM

I agree with your conclusion on razorflails.

I will have both GK and CSM (no cultists) in my campaign so I will definitely be taking a shardnet, probably on my leader

Probably the best way to keep her alive and with the boosted attacks shouldn't have too many issues muderizing them back.

Has anyone had a look at the skills yet, from what i can tell i will almost always be rolling Agility and Ferocity. The Combat tree seems to have too many crossover's with what we can get already. Guerilla can be pretty handy for mission and injury rerolls and then some of the Muscle skills could be useful but 3 out of the 6 are kind of useless (im thinking hurl which relies on STR, headbutt which we dont need beacause I6, and then burly which is flat out useless)

I have not had a chance to look. Doesnt guerilla have scavenger and infiltrate? Or are they different per team? (watched and ork vs scout batrep)

Scavenger yes, infiltrate no. Infiltrate is on the stealth tree, which is also good. The 3 that stick out for me are Medic (re roll a serious injury) destined for greatness (re roll advances) and to a lesser degree survivor (re roll serious injury for that fighter). Means that your leader is going to be much more survivable after going down and helps the team a little. Scavenger is useful, but not needed.
Sprint on the Agility tree is just gold with DE though, allowing us to triple our 6" when running and charging.

Also the skill trees are the same for each team.

I think that makes the agility tree alone worth rolling on. The genestealer has that ability and it is a spec op. Imagine always having a wych as good(ish) as a spec op on the table? Are the other ones on the agility tree any good?

Oh yes! Agility is by far the best in my opinion. Catfall allows you to make an Initiative test when falling to take no damage (although you are still pinned) but you can also jump down further than the standard 3" without falling. I used jump in my game a few times and it worked wonderfully, allowing me that extra 1.5" to get into some cover.
Dodge gives you a 6+ invuln against shooting and if you pass your not even pinned.
Jump Back allows you to make a 2" move out of combat as long as you pass an iniative roll (i love our wychs I6)
Great leap means you can jump across gaps d3+3" instead of the normal d6, and you can do this even if you do not have the movement remaining.
Catch grenande does what it says on the tin. As long as its not a blast then roll a d6, on a 5+ you throw the grenade away and it has no effect.
And then theres Sprint.

I don't think many kill teams will run with non-blast grenades, so that may not be too useful, but all the others look like they were made for DE (or maybe harlequins )

Yeah those all sound awesome!

Great leap was the other built in ability of genestealers

Its a solid table. I'd say it has 2 great results, 3 good ones, and one meh result.

Hopefully they will release the book soon separately, otherwise everyone will just have to pirate it off the net

There releasing the rulebook for preorder on 22nd April. The book will include ALL factions as well as those for battle sisters and inquisitorial detachments

Yeah having a good look I think I'll be sticking to my first list so far. the campaign I'm taking part in starts this Thursday I think though I'm not sure if games start happening or if it's building your kill team either way out of the 20 wyches I've got built and assembled, everyone is already wysiwyg, spare parts to make a mirrorhelm agoniser Syren is the only thing really needing built, and I'd be damned if I'm going to start cutting pistols off of wyches for my 4 debunantes.