Shadespire: ‘ultimate competitive’?

The messaging around Games Workshop’s upcoming Sahdespire game is becoming clearer and it’s apparent that this will not be simply another board game release set in one of their game worlds.

For Shadespire, Games Workshop are introducing a whole new level of competition play. This will start soon after the game’s release, at the Blood & Glory event in Derby this November, soon after the game’s release.

Here’s the trophy on offer:

At first glance it looks like they are serious, with a US tournament to follow. When it comes to competitive tabletop games the first one that comes to my mind is Magic: the Gathering. As luck would have it, Magic recently held its 2017 World Championship, where the top-rated players competed for a trophy, the title of 2017 World Champion, and $100,000 cash.

Above is the winner with his two close friends and team-mates, although ultimately this was an individual challenge.

William Jensen now sits at the apex of an expansive global pyramid which covers everything from the top end of competitive play to weekly events in stores around the world. There is a pathway competitive players can enter which takes them from stores to the top level of competition.

This is what ‘ultimate competitive’ looks like.Magic’s success is based on factors including:

• Ease and clarity of entry into the competitive scene
• incentives for stores to engage with and support organised play
• incentives for players to follow the path laid out, or simply find their preferred level
• prizes at all levels of play
• a solid ruleset to provide consistency of play across venues around the world

 

This is what Games Workshop will need to achieve in order to call this a success. Part of me wishes they were doing this with Blood Bowl, but I’ll be watching Shadespire closely.

 

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