The Warcry Pedigree in Age of Sigmar

There are only so many model releases in a given year for Warhammer fans.  Generally these come as either large-scale range releases, or single models that accompany books which update their respective faction to the current edition.  Many armies, across both games, can go literal years without new models aside from the standard “pity hero” on foot, but there’s not a great way to spread out releases any further than they already have.  One mechanism by which Age of Sigmar keeps its factions fresh, however, comes in the form of its associated skirmish game, Warcry.  Warcry is a separate, easy-to-learn-hard-to-master wargame set in the Mortal Realms, but Age of Sigmar players know all too well that they ought to pay attention to it.  Throughout its lifespan, models released for Warcry have been some of the most individually unique & powerful units in Age of Sigmar, the same being true of its sister game, Warhammer Underworlds.  So, how has Games Workshop made these single-unit releases so impactful, bolstering sales across the entire Sigmar IP?  Let’s dive in, and go over every Warcry warband’s pedigree in the larger-scale game.

Via Warhammer Community

Until 3.0, Warcry’s lineup was almost exclusively Chaos-oriented, with the vast majority falling into Slaves to Darkness.  These warbands had the stated goal of fleshing-out the idea of Chaos worshippers in the Mortal Realms that weren’t necessarily favored by any of the four major Chaos Gods, instead adopting cultic practices based on the worlds they inhabited.  The Iron Golems of Chamon have pale skin and thick iron armor, whereas The Unmade of Shyish are death-obsessed flayers, daubing themselves as though they were already corpses.

The four most notable releases from this original era were as follows: The Untamed Beasts, which had a pregame move and allowed factions with low mobility to better score points in the early game, Corvus Cabal as a means of acquiring multiple-model deep strike for similar scoring purposes, Iron Golems for taking the Mark of Nurgle to become nigh-unkillable, and most famously Splintered Fang, which has had multiple instances where 70 Splinter Fang cultists was the best Slaves to Darkness army core.  These models were taken when their respective lists either otherwise lacked mobility, often in things like Nurgle or Khorne, or as a highly-efficient chaff piece that overwhelmed the opponent through sheer weight of dice (Splintered Fang).

We’re able to see that Warcry has always been used as a way to fill gaps in list construction, usually in the form of mobile chaff in Elite armies.  This is similar to how lesser daemons are generally used in 40k, or in a strange echo, Kill Team’s Adeptus Arbites.  Because the scale of these wargames are so much smaller, being skirmish-level, the only possible unit options cap out at around 40mm base size, with some Monster-sized gamepieces available as allies (Most notably, the Minstealer Sphiranx).  The fact that these are more generic options for smaller, multiple-body units means that armies which by design do not tend to get that style of warscroll now have options they ought not to.  This was made all the more obvious with the first of what I’d consider the true winners of Warcry: The Rotmire Creed.

Via TaleofPainters

Warcry 2.0 launched with a battle box containing the unfortunately-forgettable Horns of Hashut, and the gamebreakingly-good Rotmire Creed.  These swamp-dwelling Nurglites broke every design rule that had prior constrained their faction — They were fast-moving ranged infantry with the ability to be taken in massive, roving blocks.  They were also, at their release, undercosted for Nurgle, meaning many players took anywhere from 30-50 Rotmire before considering other options, Pusgoyle lists notwithstanding.  Nurgle simply had never gotten a unit like this, and even took things like Ungor & Plague Monks as coalition allies to fill those prior gaps.  Now, Rotmire are appropriately costed, but not only were they the second-ever non-StD Warcry release, they paved the way for potent Warbands to arrive for even more factions which direly needed assistance.

 Case in point, Warcry: Sundered Fate.  This expansion provided both the Hunters of Haunchi and Jade Obelisk Warbands, which each saw experimentation in their respective armies once rules were released.  Jade Obelisk could be taken in un-rendable 20 man squads for the same price as Horrors, and Hunters broke down into essentially Seraphon’s version of Aetherwings, as well as a difficult-to-chip ambush unit — collectively, these each opened new avenues of play for their factions, and it’s likely they were underplayed in their prime, prior to the game surrounding them changing.

Via Clarkzium

The next big innovation came in the form of Warcry: Bloodhunt, which released the Askurgan Trueblades, the only non-Vyrkos infantry Vampire unit, and the Claws of Karanak, which were analogous to the Rotmire Creed, insofar as they modernized Khorne.  This unassuming mortal unit provides a number of benefits to the faction, which could spam them in MSUs (Multiple small units) to generate Blood Tithe Points, and also chuck them up the board with their pregame move and blisteringly fast movement.  They were upgrades on Blood Reavers or Bloodletters in nearly every way, and as such they’ve actually received a slate of nerfs (just like Rotmire Creed) so they weren’t spammable.

The next Warcry Set, Nightmare Quest, brought with it a pair of units with different impacts: The Beastflayers were the first new Flesh-Eater Courts model in a long time, as a prelude to their refresh, and possessed the Serf keyword, meaning they could be summoned in place of Crypt Ghouls.  This meant your mediocre chaff, given to you nearly for free in the form of the old version of Muster, was now multi-attacking, rending 2 damage spiking trade pieces.  This also, unfortunately, led to a number of FEC players buying upwards of 60 Beastflayers to keep up with the meta.  The other option provided to an army was the Questor Soulsworn, which is a deeply interesting case.  At first, they were brushed off, but as time has gone on, not a single Stormcast list has gotten top3 at a Grand Tournament without them in their list.  Soulsworn are one of the quietly best units in the faction, being an elite anvil with a once-per-game teleport.

Via Warhammer Community

Since then, we’ve received Monsta-Killaz for Kruleboys, another quietly good unit, and Vulkyn Flameseekers, by far the worst unit on this list.  Moreover, the Hunter & Hunted box came with Wildercorps Hunters, an autoinclude in Cities of Sigmar following their nerfs, and the Gorger Mawpack, seeing experimentation in Ogors as a new way to abuse Kragnos’ 3d6 charge ability.

All that’s to say, keeping ones’ eye on Warcry has become a tradition in Age of Sigmar, as their ranges diversify and provide models for armies that otherwise would have gone without new tools.  It’s an easy way to keep factions which Games Workshop knows are going to be without a new book pulsing with new lifeblood.  Of course, this is by no means batting 100, but the vast majority of 3.0 Warbands have had immediate impact on their factions, to an extent that cannot be understated.

With two new Warbands on the horizon, in the form of the flaming Nighthaunt & Water Temple Lumineth, there’s much to expect!  What do you want to see out of new warbands?  Should they expand the aesthetic of some niche picks into subsets of their home army (Jade Obelisk, for example)?  Let me know any thoughts you have in the comments below!