Review: Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, Warcry

At long last, we have the opportunity to review Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, WARCRY! Like the crazed Chaos Warriors of the wastes, let's jump into action.

The Product(s):
-Warcry Two Player Starter Set
-Monsters and Mercenaries, Expansion Book
*For my games I used the Cypher Lords warband, while my opponent's used Iron Golems, Untamed Beasts and Corvus Cabal*

Like many other two player starter sets that Games-Workshop has developed, this set is absolutely massive with a miniature mountain's worth of stuff.

• 8 Iron Golems (warband)
• 9 Untamed Beasts (warband)
• 6 Furies and 6 Raptoryx (chaos beasts)
• 20 fighter cards and 4 ability cards with rules for all the above
• Rulebook
• A vast array of modular terrain.
• A double-sided 22”x30” folding gaming board 
• Warcry Battleplan Cards – deployment, victory, twist decks, and 38 Terrain cards.
• 18 D6, featuring the Warcry icon on the 6

What makes this starter set different compared to similar boxsets is the emphasis on modular terrain. It comes as no surprise, since mechanically the terrain is a key component of the gameplay. At this moment in time, the warbands, chaos beasts, faction cards, rulebook and Battleplan cards can be purchased outside the starter set individually. The terrain and dice are exclusive to the Starter Box (so far).

While not a small investment, this is arguably the best value to plastic kit ratio in a starter box, that I have seen so far from Games-Workshop. At the time of writing this review the starter box is still available, however I don't expect this box set to last much longer. Why? Games-Workshop seems to do a series of small print runs of starter sets with unique terrain exclusive to the box. After six months, the starter box is removed and specific terrain pieces are reintroduced in different bundles or newer starter sets.

On the model statline cards, they use symbols as keywords to identify models and abilities. It is a great idea initially, but due to some of the symbols looking very similar it can be easy to get confused. Not a deal breaker, but something to be aware of.

As for the expansion book, it shocked me just how small in size it was. But more on that later in the review.

Gameplay Quirks:
Here's a list of several of the unique features that stood out to me, while playing the base game of Warcry.
-Four card decks are used to setup the victory conditions, deployment, terrain and twist.
-Warbands are divided in 3 parts and usually show up at different times during the battle.
-Models have huge wound stat values ranging from 8 to 40-ish wounds (higher in the expansion).
-One dice roll for combat actions.
-Only 4 actions available in the game.
-Free-form movement up and over terrain (no halved movement).
-Ability dice help determine player initiative and how many abilities you can use.
-Multiplayer matches can take place on one 22 x 30 board (coffee table size).
-Campaign play.


Going down the list, the card decks in my opinion are the reason to play Warcry. They provide a level of variance which is refreshing and enjoyable. However, depending on what warbands you use can create swingy situations. But even in those situations, if you are aware that "oh my warband is slow and I need to get across the board" you can play pretty effectively, even if it's an uphill battle. I would recommend using the matched play cards only (symbol on them) if you are still not convinced. All our games with the matched play cards were fine and we had no issues with "unbalanced missions". There are also several pre-made matched play missions for those who want a more standardized play experience as well.

At the start of each game, players separate their warband into three parts, the Shield, Dagger and Hammer. Depending on the mission, these elements could show up on round two and three and at different locations on the board. The split is done before deployment is shown and you are not aware of when or where they will show up. I am of two minds about this, since it really is truly random, but typically the Shield shows up on round one, but not always. My only real advice is to make sure to group models that complement each other and have built in synergies. Due to the size of the Board being so small, even if you mess this step up, you don't have that far to walk.

Models in this game have HUGE wound values and this was primarily done to offset the power of a single damage roll. Usually in these games a model has to make several rolls, losing dice with each roll, so models didn't need lots of wounds. Gameplay is straight forward, since there's only four actions, move, attack(all attacks), disengage(to leave one inch from a model) and wait. There's no charging in this game, and models can be tied up if they enter one inch of one another.

This game has my favourite type of movement with no penalties (divided movement) up terrain. You still have to move that many inches vertically, but several factions have abilities to ignore this as well. It's pretty clear they want you to jump across and down on unsuspecting foes.

The game has alternating activations and initiative is determined by rolling ability dice.  Each player rolls six dice and counts the number of individual numbers, along with any doubles, triples and quads. The player with the higher amount of individual unique numbers (aka non-double/triple/quad), gets initiative while the other player will usually have more doubles and therefore more access to abilities. Each player can save or add a wild dice to throw this off and force a reroll or to turn a double into a triple etc. This mechanic reminds me a bit of the Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower Destiny dice roll, which had players rolling a pool of bonus ability dice that anyone could use, but became more limited as they get used up.

I haven't had too much experience with the multiplayer matches yet, but just looking at the setup is just bonkers since all players setup on one board. Noting that several of the playable AOS factions can have 15 models, those games will be absolutely mental.

I haven't delved too deep into campaign play, but they provide players the ability to follow their own unique faction quest line, independent of other players outcomes. Throughout a quest, players will complete convergence battles which have pre-determined deployments and rewards. There isn't as much campaign progression when compared to similar games like Mordheim, Necromunda and Frostgrave, and that is a result of the simplistic statlines of models in the game. While warbands can grow, there isn't a ton of customization for warbands. It would seem they are relying more on players swapping out warbands and adding Chaos Beasts. However the expansion book addresses a lot of these concerns.

The Expansion Book: Monsters and Mercenaries

Wow what a book. It really does clear up a lot of the initial concerns I had about the level of customization in the game. While there still isn't the sheer level of granularity when compared to games which let you choose every aspect of your model. There's still a decent amount of list construction that can happen now thanks to this book. As your warband grows you can dominate various Chaos Beasts and in the original box there was only two options. This has now grown to five, including Chaos Spawn, Warhounds and Razorgors. Players can now embark on Fated Quests (any warband) which offer super special rewards and battles. There's new challenge battles which allow warbands to conquer monsters like the Chimera, Hydra and other monster kits. Also if you win you can add them to your roster (50 wounds on most), but they will take up almost a third of your total points cost. All of the monster stats are within the book, with the exception of the Chimera, which can only be found in the new repack kit for the monster. Order monsters can only be controlled by order factions and Chaos for chaos etc.

So what do the monsters actually do?
Well they have slightly different rules to help make them more fun than just being really strong models. When you fight a monster or warband that has a monster, you gain access to a list of "anti-monster" abilities which help keep you alive. Monsters have their own list of general abilities and their own unique monster abilities, but cannot use the universal abilities chart. A monster can activate three times per turn, but can only complete one action (they do not have access to the wait action). You can only ever have one monster, otherwise they get replaced by the new one.

The remaining challenge missions include fighting swarms of Chaos Beasts and what I never expected, a raid boss style challenge mission against the Chaos warriors of Archeon the Ever-chosen. This special mission gives you rules for a non-matched play warband which to put it lightly is truly brutal. Should be a fun time.

Lastly ally mercenary models have been added to provide additional list building options for warbands. You don't gain access to them right away, but as you conquer territory you can start recruiting them like any other model in your list. However you are limited on how many you can recruit depending on your campaign progress. They too can level up as well, gaining rerolls and other benefits, but can not be your "fated warrior" ruleswise.

Even though the book is short, it has a ton of value within, making it a worthy purchase for me. 

The Experience:
If I had to explain my experience with Warcry in a phrase I would say: "Simple, yet very satisfying". Before buying this product I was watching and reading reviews and had my reservations about the "overly simplistic" nature of the game. However what I got was a lean but very filling experience. Every action you make in the game can have lasting consequences and as a result there isn't too much room for error, since the games can be very short around 40-60 minutes. With that said though, the shorter length and random mission setup really help to keep the game feeling fresh each time I play. With the addition of more campaign content and customization for warbands, the game will start to feel more personalized. At the moment the warbands seem to have "their gimmick" but hopefully over time these get fleshed out to be more well rounded.

Building and painting both the terrain and warbands was a bit of a time sink though, but ultimately it made the whole experience so much more worth it in the long run. Not necessarily a requirement, but I felt it was the best way to experience the game. The downside of course is that it can feel a bit anti-climatic painting for a week to have a game finish in 40 minutes, however that quickly disappeared as we setup for several rematches.

Other Thoughts and Emotions:

The random setup and deployment of the warbands, really does add a sense of excitement. A lot of miniature games have players setup their entire factions initially, but that can create a sense of watching paint dry as you can anticipate what they are going to do. "Hey is that a combat army, well I guess I have to watch you move for three turns".

Combat felt like a boxing match to a certain degree, since models can take a hit or two. It creates moments of tension when a player pulls off a critical hit, turning a calculated move into a potential unexpected gamble.

The ability dice are fun, if a bit unreliable. There's a lot of repetition between abilities, but that wasn't a negative since it allowed us to react accordingly, once we saw them used a couple times.

My hope for this game is that eventually they will release a pack of "weapon" cards that can be rewarded and placed on fighter cards. That way individual models can be personalized a bit more and that the campaign rewards can be more impactful than: "yay a free re-roll".

Was it Worth it?
Yeah I would say so, tell me your thoughts on twitter @ATT64, was Warcry all you hoped it to be or not.

Talk to you soon,
Adam.