Warhammer 40K Tabletop XXIX: Ro, Ro, Ro Your Boute

[Cheesegear]

Guide to Shadow War
Part 1 - Being Skilled

This is only going to be relevant for campaign play. If you aren't playing in a Shadow War campaign, this portion of the Shadow War Guide will mean nothing to you and you may as well just skip this and move on to Part 2 (whenever that happens). The Advance Table is random, so when you roll a Characteristic increase, just choose whichever one is right for that character. The thing is, you get to roll 2d6 and pick the best skill, so...Yes. It does matter, because gaining Skills isn't totally random and there actually is some choice in the matter.

Combat:

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Combat Master: This is great for models who really need to win combat (e.g; Aspiring Champions), or are terrified of being dogpiled on by Orks (e.g; Harlequins, Grey Knights, etc.). The more expensive your Melee model becomes, the more they're going to need this skill.
Disarm: For when you really want to win combat.
Feint: This almost makes up for being WS3, but models with WS4 aren't going to really need it.
Block: This isn't so much of an auto-win as Disarm is, but it is a really, really important skill to have.
Counter-Attack: For sure the least useful skill in the group, but by no means bad.
Step Aside: If Disarm and Block have already failed, you'll fall back on this one.

Ferocity

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Berserk Charge: Handy to have.
Impetuous: What? This is the last skill you want in this group. It's not even...Why?
Iron Will: If your LEADER can roll on Ferocity, keep rolling until you get this skill. Then you never need it again.
Fear: Fear is nice.
Nerves of Steel: If you aren't part of a Team that already does this, and you're a Melee model, you want this skill.
True Grit: Sure

Guerilla

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Armourer: *shrug*. Doesn't stack.
Scavenger: Go to your army roster. If your TROOPER and starting wargear costs more than 100 Points, you're going to need one or more Scavengers in your Team (yes, it stacks). Otherwise every time you need to buy a new Trooper, you're spending a Promethium Tank, and that's how you lose. Probably the only reason you're ever going to roll Scavenger is because they rolled an Advance on the Serious Injury table, and you have a 'free' Level Up. Using your real Level Up trying to roll for Scavenger is probably not the greatest idea.
Hunter: Sure.
Medic: Why is this Guerilla? Whatever. Somehow, a Medic can patch your model up so good that they don't even get Captured. As with Scavenger, this is really, really good to have. It's just awkward to deliberately try and roll for when there are other, more important things.
Destined for Greatness: This is a 'waste' of a roll, since you don't get anything immediately, and requires you to spend even more Advances on one model. The only time that this would be useful is for a Chaos Marine Aspiring Champion. But, again, there are way more important things to roll for - especially on a Leader.
Survivor: Like a Medic, but can't be used on other models.

RAW Alert: After Mission Rewards happen 'in sequence'. That means that Recover Injured Fighters (What Doesn't Kill You...) and Advance happens before Resupply.
Which means that you can apply the effects of Scavenger at the end of the same Mission that you pick up the Skill.

Guerilla is an awkward table, because it doesn't help you win games. It helps you 'lose less badly'. Even the stronger abilities like Scavenger and Medic aren't even useful until the end of the next Mission.

Agility

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Catfall: No.
Dodge: Maybe.
Jump Back: Hit & Run will always be one of the better Skills in the game. Remember to only use it in your opponent's turn, because if you do it in your turn, it just frees up your opponent to shoot you without the 50% chance to hit their own models, and then gives the model you were in combat with anyway, a free second Charge.
Great Leap: I mean, what kind of terrain do you even play on?
Catch Grenade: lulzy. But no. It doesn't even work 66% of the time. Waste of a skill roll.
Sprint: Arguably one of the best Melee skills there is. Unfortunately you have to roll on...the rest...of the Agility tree as well. Sprint, on the Agility tree, is the epitome of 'Not all skills are equal'.

Muscle

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Bodycheck: 'Kay.
Burly: Yes.
Crushing Blow: Seems okay. But you could just get a Chainsword.
Headbutt: 'Kay.
Hurl Opponent: No idea why you would do this instead of hitting. If your meta plays with a whole bunch of 10" drops, and you think you're going to effectively use this Skill more than zero times, sure. Unless you play with massive terrain pieces, this Skill just isn't very good.
Iron Jaw: You get your Save, and then an FNP roll.

Muscle is basically the combat tree, except worse. It's what you roll on when you want non-Melee models to be in Melee, and how come you haven't built your Team correctly, and what are you even doing?

Shooting

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Crack Shot: Yes. Re-rolling the Injury Table is the fastest way to win.
Fast Shot: Yes.
Gunfighter: If you have access to Plasma Pistols, this skill is amazing. If you don't have access to Pistols at all...Well, yeah.
Hip Shooting: Why not? It's not bad. You can reach Objectives quicker and do some damage.
Marksman: Yes.
Ammo Hound: Again, not like it's bad. This is extremely useful on models with Sustained Fire weapons, and arguably better than Marksman on the same models, because Marksman only gives more chances to roll 6s.

This grouping effectively breaks a campaign. See, in the days of Necromunda, you only just barely had to worry about Heavy Stubbers. In Shadow War, which is definitely not Necromunda, you have to worry about Plasma weapons with Sustained Fire, or, just anything that Wounds easily re-rolling on the Injury Table taking out fighters left and right. For any model to even remotely have a chance of making it into Melee, they have to be really, really fast, and have at least a -2 To Hit, or some other means of avoiding shooting. Remembering that because Shooting is so Emperor-damned effective, Photo-Visors are common as dirt. Almost like putting 40K models down, as-is, completely ruined how Necromunda works. Yeah...Almost something like that.

Stealth

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Ambush: Hide and Overwatch in the same turn. Sniper Rifles and Camo Cloaks for the win.
Dive: Run and Hide in the same turn. Combine with Sprint, and you'll actually make it to Melee.
Escape Artist: Any time you get Captured, Advance instead. A really, really, really nice skill to have, but it's still random and there are just better options to have.
Evade: Doesn't actually work like that. Still, it's extremely useful and one of the best skills to have for literally any model as it explicitly works in the open.
Infiltration: Potentially one of the best skills in the group, and on the right model; In the game.
Sneak Up: Sure.

The only way that a Stealth skill could be considered bad is if you put it on a model that clearly doesn't need it.