Wondering how the Warcry warbands stack up to each other on the tabletop? Check out our thoughts on the first three Warbands for the game!
A few weeks ago I played some Warcry with the gaming group and then at my house with my brother in law and have had a blast with it (see that here) It has lately been our go-to game when we have an odd number of people on hobby night, or when we don’t have enough time to get in a 3 hour game of AoS.
The interesting thing about Warcry is every game is different and yes some games just work out where the odds are against you (see the Ogre starting the game on objective I need to take with only room for one model to stand near him for attacking). Overall, I think there are some decent lists for the armies in warcry.
This week I am going to go into what you get from the warcry starter boxes covering the following warbands. (Corvus Cabal, Cypher Lords, and Iron Golems)
Corvus Cabal
Corvus Cabal comes with 9 models, 1 Shadow Piercer, 1 Strike Talon, 2 Spire Stalkers, and 5 Cabalists.
- Shadow Piercer: 185 Points Leader: Move 5”, 4 Toughness, 10 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage (5 on critical)
- Strike Talon: 185 Points: Move 8”, 4 Toughness, 20 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 5 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage (4 on critical)
- 2 Spirestalkers: 280 Points (140 each): Move 5”, 4 Toughness, 15 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, Strength 4, 2 Damage (4 on critical)
- 3 Cabalist with Spear: 225 Points (75 each): Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 8 Wounds. Attack: Range 2”, 4 Dice, 3 Strength, Damage 1 (4 on critical)
- 1 Cabalist: 65 Points: Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 8 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, Strength 3, Damage 1 (3 on critical)
- 1 Cabalist with Familiar: 60 Points: Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 8 Wounds. Range 1”, 3 Dice, 3 Strength, Damage 1 (3 on critical)
Total 1000 Points
They have two abilities anyone can use the first is a Range 8 attack (Double), and a bonus move and attack action with higher strength if they started above their opponent (quad). The familiar and leader can pick a model within 20” to not be able to disengage (double). Then the spire stalkers and leader can ignore vertical climbing (double). Finally, the Strike Talon can take a bonus action and then make a bonus attack action if the move action puts them 3” or more vertically lower than starting position.
This is a great starter set as it can get you exactly to 1000 points (you may need to play around with getting the familiar to stick on a non-spear model. They should have more models than your opponent at 9 and your weaker models can stay protected with the 2-inch range with your stronger models are keeping your opponent engaged. You also have a ton of abilities to get bonus move and attack actions.
The downside is a lot of this Warband relies on being above your opponent, which on a terrain light table might not give you much upside. Also, they have 8 wounds which is pretty low so it is easy to kill your models which is important in objective heavy matches.
Cypher Lords
Cypher Lords comes with 8 models, 1 Thrallmaster, 1 Luminate, 1 Mindbound with Double-Bladed Sword, 2 Mindbounds, 2 Mirrorblades with Glaives, and 1 Mirrorblade with Dueling Swords.
- Thrallmaster: 205 Points Leader: Move 5”, Toughness 4, 20 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 5 Dice, Strength 4, 2 Damage (6 on a critical)
- Luminate: 175 Points: Move 5”, Toughness 4, 15 Wounds. Attack: Range 2”, 5 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage (5 on critical)
- Mindbound with Double-Bladed Sword: 80 Points. Move 5”, Toughness 3, Wounds 10. Attack Range 2”, 3 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage (4 on critical)
- 2 Mindbound: 150 Points (75 each): Move 5”, Toughness 3, Wounds 10. Attack Range 1”, 4 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage (3 on critical)
- 2 Mirrorblade with Glaive: 140 Points (120 each): Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 10 Wounds. Attack: Range 2”, 4 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage (5 on critical)
- Mirrorblade with Dueling Swords: 115 Points: Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 10 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 5 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage (4 on critical)
Total 965 Points
What’s nice about this Warband is that they have a lot of abilities that all the models can use (3 to be exact) giving each model a chance at one of the following: Range 6” attack (doubles), make one model fly (double), or giving a model fly with a bonus move and bonus attack action (quad). The leader and luminate can also teleport any of his minions (triple). All the range 2” models can do a 2” AoE around themselves (double), and finally, the thrallmaster can create a 6” AoE that subtracts 1 from attacks actions while within 6”.
For me this would be the hardest Warband to play because they don’t have high toughness or wounds, so you are relying on the teleport mechanic to get models in and out of combat. You also have the 2” inch range on a lot of your models as well so you can stay out of combat and stab at your opponents, however in a game requiring zone control or objectives this could be difficult.
Iron Golems
Iron Golems I am basing this off the Warcry Starter set for building options, so you get 8 miniatures. The Dominar, Ogor Breacher, Signifier or Profector, Armator, Drillmaster, 3 Legionaries you can customize as you see fit. The following is how I built my squad.
- Dominar: 175 Points Leader: Move 4”, 4 Toughness, 20 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 3 Dice, 5 Strength, 2 Damage (5 on critical)
- Ogor Breacher: 235 Points: Move 4”, 5 Toughness, 30 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 2 Dice, 6 Strength, 4 Damage (8 on critical)
- Profector: 125 Points: Move 4”, 4 Toughness, 15 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 3 Dice, Strength 4, 2 Damage (5 on critical)
- Armator: 90 Points: Move 3”, 4 Toughness, 12 Wounds. Range 1”, 4 Dice, Strength 4, 1 Damage (4 on critical)
- Drillmaster: 125 Points: Move 5”, 4 Toughness, 15 Wounds. First Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, Strength 4, 2 Damage (4 on critical). Second Attack: Range 3”, 4 Dice, 4 Strength, 1 Damage (2 on critical)
- Iron Legionary with Bolas: 65 Points: Move 4”, 4 Toughness, 10 Wounds. First Attack: Range 1”, 2 Dice, Strength 3, 1 Damage (3 on critical). Second Attack: Range 3”, 3 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage (2 on critical)
- 2 Iron Legionaries: 80 Points: Move 4”, Toughness 5, 10 Wounds. Attack: Range 1”, 2 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage (3 on critical)
Total 975 Points
They have one ability they can all use with is a range 6” attack (double). Then the boss and the profector can add strength to their attack (double). If you run a signifier they can create a 6” AoE that adds 1 to the toughness of all friendly fighters (triple). The leader can also take a bonus move or attack action every time an enemy fighter is taken out of action (double). The Ogor can dish out the dice value in damage to an enemy they finish a move within 1” of (triple). Finally, the drillmaster can create an AoE that allocates damage equal to the dice roll to all enemy fighters within 3” of him.
I like the way this Warband has so many options when it comes to how you can construct them; it makes it feel like a more unique Warband. These guys already have high toughness and wounds, so I decided to add more damage with the Profector rather than the Signifier. To make up for it I gave my legionaries shields to boost their toughness so that they can hold the line. The Ogor and your leader are going to basically charge forward and kill whatever they meet.
A downside to this Warband is it is pretty slow with a move of 4”, so you will be spending turn one doing some double moves. Along with that, your legionaries are more of hold your opponents in combat while your special characters dish out the damage. This isn’t a bad thing, but you will just need to set up accordingly.
There you have it, a first look at 3 of the 6 unique warbands that have released with Warcry. Personally, if I had to choose one of these three, I would go with the Iron Golems as I love the variety you can select for the foot troops and they are more to my playstyle (march forward and smash).
Next time we will cover the last 3 unique warcry warbands, before looking into the AoS factions and then the expansion that was just released.
More AoS How-To For Beginners!
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