Easter weekend and I’m down at my family home. I wasn’t expecting to get a chance to play any games but we ended up with some time. Looking for some quick inspiration I asked ChatGPT to come up with some ideas. It does actually know lots of the Age of Sigmar lore and seems to be familiar with the various Warcry factions.
I started with some flavour for my brothers stormcast warband.
Query - Invent a Stormcast leader for a Warcry warband and name the warband, make it Ghur themed.
Result - Warband Name: Thunderhoof Stampede
Leader: Lord-Celestant Argos Thundermane
Argos Thundermane is a seasoned Stormcast leader who has a unique bond with the wild beasts of Ghur. He rides into battle atop his fierce gryph-charger mount, wielding a mighty spear imbued with the power of the storm. Argos is known for his cunning tactics and his ability to anticipate his enemy's moves before they make them.
The Thunderhoof Stampede warband is a group of Stormcast warriors who have learned to adapt to the rugged terrain and dangerous predators of Ghur. They are known for their lightning-fast reflexes and their ability to strike their foes with devastating speed. The warband is composed of a mix of cavalry and monster units, with each warrior possessing a deep respect for the primal forces of nature and a willingness to harness their power in service of the God-King.I did actually ask it to rename the warband and the leader a few times to get it somewhere I was happy with. Rather than Spear and Gryph-Charger the leader of my brothers warband is currently an Evocator-Prime on Dracoline, so we can adjust the output to correct.
Query - I have 4 warcry warbands: The Cypher Lords, the Iron Golems, the Corvus Cabal, and the Untamed Beasts. Pick one, give their leader a name, name the warband and give them a villanous plan so the thunderhoof stampede have a reason to battle them
Result - Sure, let's go with the Corvus Cabal!
Warband Name: The Murderous Talons
Leader: Shadowqueen Lirien Nightwing
Lirien Nightwing is a cunning and ruthless leader who commands the Corvus Cabal with an iron fist. She is a master of stealth and deception, and is known for her ability to manipulate her enemies into making fatal mistakes. Lirien wields a pair of wickedly sharp daggers and wears a cloak of shimmering feathers that allows her to blend into the shadows.
The Murderous Talons warband is a group of deadly assassins who have been hired by a powerful chaos warlord to carry out a secret mission in the realm of Ghur. Their plan is to kidnap the offspring of a powerful dracoline pack leader and use it as a bargaining chip to force the dracolines to serve their master. If successful, the chaos warlord would gain control over one of the most fearsome and powerful beasts in the realm, giving him an unstoppable advantage in his quest for power.
The Thunderhoof Stampede, as defenders of the natural order of Ghur, have learned of this villainous plot and are determined to stop the Murderous Talons at any cost. They know that the dracolines are an essential part of the ecosystem in Ghur and that their capture would have disastrous consequences for the realm. The Thunderhoof Stampede will stop at nothing to protect their home and their way of life, and are ready to face the Corvus Cabal in battle to save the dracoline offspring and thwart their evil plan.This worked out pretty well. The Dracoline theme for this story works well with the models my brother has. At the end of our Christmas game he got the box of three Evocators on Dracoline and I thought it would be fun to try them out. So the Thunderhoof Stampede are the core of the warband with an extra Gryph-Hound to round out the numbers. Very small, super elite, but amazingly fast and great damage.
Next I asked for a scenario.
- Write a scenario where the Murderous Talons and Thunderhoof Stampede will face off. Leave it open ended, so they're about to battle but we don't know what happens. Create a victory condition and a rules twist for the battle.
Result - Sure, here's a scenario for the battle between the Murderous Talons and Thunderhoof Stampede:
Scenario: Race for the Dracoline Nest
The Murderous Talons have located the dracoline nest and are moving to capture the offspring. The Thunderhoof Stampede has intercepted them and must prevent them from escaping with the dracoline hatchling.
Victory Condition: The first warband to carry the dracoline hatchling off the opposing warband's side of the board wins the battle. Alternatively, the warband that inflicts the most wounds on the opposing warband by the end of the battle wins.
Rules Twist: The dracoline hatchling is a wild and unpredictable creature that will require careful handling. At the start of each turn, the warband carrying the dracoline hatchling must roll a D6. On a 1-3, the dracoline hatchling will struggle and attempt to break free. The warband carrying the dracoline hatchling must make a Strength check to prevent it from escaping. On a 4-6, the dracoline hatchling will calm down and the warband carrying it may move normally.
As the two warbands face off, the Murderous Talons move quickly to secure the dracoline hatchling and escape. The Thunderhoof Stampede knows that time is running out and that they must stop the Corvus Cabal before it's too late. The battle is intense, with both warbands fighting tooth and nail to gain control of the dracoline hatchling. The rules twist adds an element of unpredictability to the battle, as the warbands must carefully manage their movements and make sure they have the strength to hold onto the dracoline hatchling.It’s pretty cool that it’s suggesting rules even if it doesn’t quite make sense. I decided we were playing a treasure objective mission. We’ll ignore the rules about the Dracoline hatchling, although you could certainly make it work. Instead we’re dealing with Dracoline eggs, I grabbed some chocolate mini-eggs and placed them down as 3 treasure tokens to carry.
Since I had just recently completed the Gnarlwood background video I knew this would be perfect to set in Vexothskol, a once beautiful mountain city of the Draconith empire now a destroyed ruined. It made sense that this might be a Dracoline nesting area.
We set up the board, worked out the battle groups and quickly talked through how the victory objective would go. Three treasures, four turns, winner is whoever has the most treasure at the end of turn 4. We skipped the twist and randomly decided a deployment using the online scenario generator.
Warbands
The Thunderhoof Stampede of the Sacrosanct Chamber with their distinctive albino Draconlines, signature pearl armour, all depicted beautifully on a snowy base.
and we have the Murderous Talons of the Corvus Cabal.
Deployment
Random mission generated courtesy of the Warcry Mission Shuffler
Turn 1
The Corvus Cabal win initiative.
The shrike uses the triple swooping attack to rush in, pick up the egg from the centre of the board and move out headed to the top left of the board and hoping he can stay safe for 4 turns.
The stormcast on the left charge in to pick up an egg and delete a Cabalist
On the right one of the Spire Stalkers moves in to grab the egg, ending up in melee with the Gryph-hound while doing so.
Turn 2
At the start of turn 2, the Gryph-hound and Stormcast Evocator have managed to kill the Spire Stalker but the Gryph-hound can’t pick up the egg.
On the left, the two Dracolines are munching their way through the Cabal.
On the right, the Cabalists manage to snatch up the Egg again while holding off an angry Gryph-hound.
Lirien Nightwing confident in her abilities moves in to take out the Stormcast with the egg, but in a twist of fate is quickly dispatched with the Stormcast taking her down as soon as he activates.
The stormcast on the right clear out the remaining Cabal while the Stormcast leader Argos Thundermane charges into the thick of it.
Turn 3
With everyone around him, Thundermane preps a tripe for his Shatter Spirit Flask ability but the Cabal use wild dice to activate first and the Shrike manages to take Thundermane down before he can activate.
The Shrike then moves to higher ground preparing for a Swooping Attack or Death from Above for the last and final turn.
Sensing the danger, and successfully counting unhatched eggs the Evocator near the Shrike uses his impressive speed to move well out of range.
The Gryph-hound gets another kill and moves towards the Shrike.
Turn 4
The Gryph hound charges up the pillar and attacks the Shrike using the Darting Attack ability to get an extra attack and move down again safely. Unfortunately it’s unable to do enough damage leaving the Shrike able to rush across the board using a quad for Rampage.
Despite doing some impressive damage, it isn’t enough and the Evocator survives able to dispatch the wounded Shrike with one single activation and then back away to safety.
That leaves the Shrike’s egg on the ground where the last remaining Cabalite snatched it up and made a run for it, only to be ridden down by the remaining Evocator.
