Once upon a time King Chernitt’s ‘Dominion of Moonreach’ ruled all of Tauber with might, magic and malice. Returned to a world changed beyond reckoning, the Shades of this forgotten tyranny are intent on nothing less than complete dominance.

Both less than they were in their lifetime and eerily more, The Shades of Moonreach are made up of those unfortunates trapped beneath their fallen city five centuries ago, and those the King deems worthy enough to drag out of the Deadlands. Hulking monstrosities stalk alongside rattling skeletons and screeching wraiths on the edges of the Forsaken Forest, long-dead knights take up arms once again, and giggling Psychopomps pop in and out of existence wherever the barrier between worlds grows thin.

This would sound terrifying to any sane individual, fortunately the reality is that the Shades have had time to forget who and what they are - as have the other Factions around them. The Nobles trapped beneath Moonreach have become decadent and lazy, hosting lavish banquets and reveling in their immortality for 500 years. Spirits are even less organised, some are the King’s most loyal followers returning from the Deadlands with him, others are little more than overgrown Psychopomps, and still more are malicious beings with their own agenda using the King’s resurrection as a means to cause their own flavour of chaos.

The Shades need moonstones, as the destruction left in their wake shows, but it’s certainly not for money. Is it desperation on Chernitt’s part - to boost his powers to control his chaotic army? Or will the Shades disappear without the stones? What Chernitt’s agenda is, no one outside the Shades knows, and only his most trusted advisors are aware of the extent of his machinations that are even more devious than those of the Elrich.

For New Players

The Shades are a bizarre faction, breaking a lot of established rules in Moonstone in most of their troupes. Take 5 characters in your troupe? Cool, the Shades can do that then summon even more characters into play (mainly weird little Psychopomps) over the course of the game. Take a healer in your troupe to keep your characters healthy and prevent them from being slain? Nope, don't bother healing your Shade characters. Just reanimate and bring them back into the game after they're slain. This can be especially useful for activating some of their more powerful abilities, which requires friendly characters getting slain. Let them get slain, trigger these powerful abilities, then just bring them back!

This natural toughness in combination with some great ranged options can lead to very tough and attrition-focused troupes, allowing them to methodically dissemble opponents over a number of turns.