Just a quick video today. We’re going to be look at the new Warcry starter. This is available for preorder on Saturday the 29th of July and we might see some content creators looking at the contents on Saturday morning.
We did see some rumours about this box set a while ago, but it’s only been officially revealed recently. This is a fantastic box. In it you get all the cards you need for all the fighters in the box. You also get the cards with all the abilities your warbands in the box have access to. You get tokens, dice, a paper board, some terrain and some minis.
I can also see just in the corner that the token page also includes a measurement tool which is a nice addition. The rulebook is 72 pages which has the core rules for Warcry along with seven battleplans designed for this box. Presumably there is some sort of mini campaign between them which could be fun.
The terrain is brand new but looks a lot like the old Mausoleum box, so if you already have that or can get your hands on it this terrain is a really nice addition. It’s not a lot of terrain, but it’s enough to make a wall or two that will break up the board. I’ve seen some speculation that this might have been terrain for an Underworld box and it certainly would look great on an underworlds board.
There are 8 fighters in total, both previously available as Underworlds warbands. The models are gorgeous and the fighters do see play in competitive lists, Prince Duvalle and Calthia Xandire in particular. In Warcry these are what are called Bladeborn fighters. So this isn’t a full one thousand point warband, it’s probably closer to five or six hundred. As I’ve talked about previously, you can have a fun and engaging game at this size so I’m not particlarly upset about that in a starter box. What’s really nice about Bladeborn fighters is if you take the Leader as an ally in another warband, then the rest of the Bladeborn fighters can join as normal fighters. So if decide to play another Death faction, Flesh Eater Courts for example, you can use all of the Vampire fighters in this box.
So I titled this video as “The best starter you shouldn’t buy” so lets talk about that a little. There are a few things I don’t like about this box, first is the paper mat. I have this exact mat in cardboard from the Mausoleum box and I love it. The paper ones though, I never sit flat and I always end up binning pretty soon. It’s a cost saving from GW which I can appreciate, but I’d be much happier with cardboard.
Second, the rulebook is tiny compared to the actual rulebook. It’s 72 pages while the core rulebook is 160 pages. What we’re probably losing is all the narrative campaign rules. So the Crypt of Blood book is just going to be a copy of the online rules and some bonus content that can only be used with these two warbands. Again, I get that GW are saving some money in this starter but I would have liked to see this with full narrative campaign rules so you didn’t need to go buy another rulebook after picking up this.
The dice being the generic ones and the lack of a plastic ruler I can get over as I have tons of them already. All of this would be fine if the price was right, and it really isn’t. It’s way too much for a new player to try out the game for cheap and there really isn’t enough in this to justify the price.
If this had two Underworlds warbands with all their Cards and the full rulebook, then the price would make sense. It’s not though. You can’t play these warbands in Underworlds as you don’t get the cards. The rulebook is half the size of the core rulebook. The terrain is pretty underwhelming. This unfortunately, is massively over-costed for what it’s supposed to do.
If we look instead at Nightmare Quest. This is nearly double the price, but we’re getting a cardboard mat, enough terrain to fill the board, and double the number of fighters with two full one thousand point warbands. The Might and Madness campaign book is 64 pages, which probably is similar to the content of the Crypt of Blood book assuming the core rules only take up 8 pages.
It’s such a shame, as in concept the box is a great starting point, but the price is just too much.
Okay, so if you do want to start into Warcry, what are the alternatives?
The classic is the Age of Sigmar Warrior box. This gets you a bunch of Orks and a bunch of Stormcast enough to make two full warbands. You get the same crappy paper board and your terrain is a box but it’s half the price. You will need to get the rules online from the Warhammer Community website and if you want fighter cards you’ll need to make some and print them out yourself. Link to the Card Creator in the description. You’ll also need to work out some tokens but for the most part you just need some wound and activation tokens. Again, I’ve got a pdf link in the description you can print out that have what you need.
Another option is just to buy two warbands. This is going to cost a little more than getting the starter box, but you get to pick any two of the warbands you like the look of. As before a board and terrain might be a challenge but if you’re already a Warhammer fan you probably have something you can use. If you’re brand new then don’t be afraid to fight across the kitchen table with Cereal Box buildings and milk carton towers. It’s part of the experience.
Another option is to pick up a Warhammer Underworlds starter, whether this cheap one or one of the more expensive ones. The idea of taking two small warbands and facing them off is actually a good one. Honestly, if the Warcry starter also included everything you needed to play Underworlds as well as Warcry I’d tell you it’s an instant buy. The Underworlds box frustratingly has almost the same contents as the Warcry starter but more. It’s got cardboard boards, two 56 page books, a Stormcast warband facing off against a Death warband, along with tons of cards, tokens, and special dice. With this box you can play games of Underworld or grab the online Warcry rules and play some games of Warcry with them.
Warcry is a fantastic game and is super easy to get started with. For someone new though, it’s not always clear how to do so. We often seen new players asking the best way to get into the game and having something obvious on the GW store would really help with that. I think many potential new players are going to look at the price and decide that Warcry is too expensive for them. In this instance, I feel GW are actively putting a barrier in the way of new players getting into Warcry and through that Age of Sigmar. Frustratingly, I expect some GW manager down the line will pull out the poor sales figures for this box and question whether anyone even plays Warcry. Luckily, we have seen the preview for the Wildercorps Hunters the upcoming Cities of Sigmar warband which I’m sure will be very popular.
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