As we get closer to Halloween it only makes sense to look at the spooky warbands of Warcry, all fighting for Archaon’s favor because….
Nagash commands it? Regardless these guys are all pretty fun with some interesting mechanics. As always, I try and stick with it being close to $50 as possible but if I can’t usually a starter collecting set is the recommended option. If you’re curious about the Chaos warbands you can see those here and here. Or if you are interested in the Order side of things that article is here, and the Destruction one can be located here.
Flesh eater courts are the noblest of the warcry warbands (in their delusional minds) unfortunately you will need to get the start collecting box to be able to build this warband. None of these boxes will get you close to 1000 points by yourself. So, your next best options is to shell out the 90 for the start collecting box, which also gives you a fun dragon you can play with from the Monsters and Mercenaries expansion. (more on that later) If also a great start for a Flesh Eater Courts age of Sigmar army so it is a great springboard for getting into that game as well.
- Crypt Infernal 300 Points (Leader): Move 10”, 4 Toughness, 40 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 1”, 5 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage. (5 on critical)
- 2 Crypt Flayer 470 Points (235 points each): Move 10”, 4 Toughness, 30 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage. (4 on critical)
- 4 Crypt Ghouls 220 Points (55 points each): Move 5”, 3 Toughness, 8 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 1”, 3 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage. (3 on critical)
Total 990 Points
Their special abilities are as follows:
- (All) (Double): Use this when a fighter takes an enemy fighter out of action. This fighter heals a number of wounds equal to the value of this ability.
- (Infernal, Flayer) (Double): Add 1 to Strength to next attack action, if that attack scores a critical hit, until the end of the battle round, the target fighter cannot make move or disengage actions.
- (Haunter, Horror) (Double): A fighter can use this when they are within 6” of your leader. Until the end of activation, add 2 to the Attacks characteristic of attack actions.
- (Leader) (Triple): Add the value of this ability to the Move characteristic of friendly fighters within 6” until the end of the battle round.
- (Infernal, Flayer) (Triple): Roll 1 Dice for each visible enemy within 8”, on a 5 they take 1 damage, on a 6 they take damage equal to the value of this roll.
- (All) (Quad): This fighter makes a bonus move action, then a bonus attack action with an addition 1 to the attack’s characteristic.
While it’s pretty expensive I love the variety that the start collecting gives you in that you can build either horrors or flayers and it really opens the entire army to your play style. For me, I went with Flayer because they hit hard, have a fast move, and because they can fly which is huge in this game. You should be hitting your opponent hard with the Flayers and then mopping them up with your little ghouls or grabbing objectives. Don’t worry at 30 and 40 wounds your leader and flayers can take a lot of punishment.
Legions of Nagash are an interesting warband in that your going to have to pick up a necromancer ($15) in order to field them. (it’s the only leader) Then to fill out a majority of the warband I am getting a box of Grave Guard ($40) which will get you almost to 1000 points, but it takes you over that $50 dollar mark. However, as this warband is based on bodies I think you need to pick up a group of 5 skeletons warriors that GW still offers for $10. *Side note this is a great warband to hunt for through eBay or bargain bins on as these models have been around for a long time and you can probably snag them pretty cheap*
- Necromancer 195 Points (Leader): Move 4”, 4 Toughness, 25 Wounds. Ranged Attack: Range 3” – 7”, 2 Dice, 3 Strength, 3 Damage. (6 on critical) Melee Attack: Range 2”, 3 Dice, 4 Strength, 1 Damage. (4 on critical)
- Seneschal 120 Points: Move 3”, 3 Toughness, 15 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 1”, 4 Dice, 5 Strength, 2 Damage. (5 on critical)
- 7 Grave Guard with Wight Blade and Crypt Shield 630 Points (90 each): Move 3”, 4 Toughness, 10 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 1”, 3 Dice, 4 Strength, 2 Damage. (4 on critical)
- 1 Skeleton with Ancient Spear 55 points: Move 3”, 4 Toughness, 8 Wounds. Melee Attack: Range 2”, 2 Dice, 3 Strength, 1 Damage. (4 on critical)
Total 1000 Points
Their special abilities are as follows:
- (All) (Double): A fighter can use this if they are within 6” of the leader. This fighter makes a bonus move action equal to the value of the ability.
- (Seneshal, Champion) (Double): A fighter can use this if they are within 6” of the leader. Add 1 to the Strength and Attacks characteristics of the attack actions by this fighter.
- (Seneshal, Wright with Double Hand Weapon) (Double): Add 1 to Damage allocated by hits and critical hits made by this fighter.
- (Necromancer) (Triple): Pick a visible friendly fighter within 6”. Allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to this abilities value and then remove that number of damage points from this fighter.
- (Leader) (Triple): Return a friendly fighter to the battlefield that has been taken out of action wholly within 3” of this fighter. Remove a number of damage points from that model equal to the value of this ability.
- (Leader) (Quad): A number of friendly fighters equal to this abilities value within 6” of this fighter can make a bonus move or attack action.
This is basically a war of attrition, if you can keep your warband up then you have a shot of winning the game. You’re never going to one shot any of your opponent’s models, but the necromancer can bring back models when need be, and you can flood the board with bodies. The low movement is tough to get around but if you can get off the (Quad) ability you can usually get yourself is a decent position. Be wary of high terrain though as the normal 3” move is not enough to climb two stories.
For the Nighthaunts a lot of their damage output comes through the form of the Spirit Hosts. While they might not pack much of a punch, they can certainly take a beating. What else won’t take a beating is your wallet as you can get a pretty cool group of models for right around $50. First pick up a box of Spirit Hosts, which will run you $26 and will give you three models. (These have a reputation of being hard to put together so give yourself lots of time to do it).
Then grab the Thorns of the Briar Queen box set for $25, using the 5 chainrasp models as chainrasps and then the guy carrying the candle as your dreadwarden. (His name is Varclav the Cruel). Total is $51 bucks and you have a pretty sweet briar queen model you could proxy as a tomb banshee down the road.
- Dreadwarden 150 Points (Leader): Move 5”, 4 Toughness, 16 Wounds
- 2 Spirit Host 440 Points (220 points each): Move 5”, 5 Toughness, 30 Wounds
- 5 Chainrasps 400 points (80 each): Move 5”, 4 Toughness, 8 Wounds
Total 990 Points
Their special abilities are as follows:
- (All) (Double): Pick a visible enemy fighter a number of inches equal to this ability. Until the end of battle round subtract 1 from the Strength value of their attack actions.
- (Reapers) (Double): Pick visible enemy within 3” with 1 or more damage points. Until the end of battle round add 1 to Strength for attack actions that target this fighter.
- (Spirit Hosts) (Triple): All hits from attack actions count as critical hits
- (Chainrasps, DreadWarden) (Double): Can only be used if there is another fighter with this mark within 3”. Add 1 to Attacks and Strength characteristics of this fighter.
- (Leaders) (Triple): Return a friendly fighter to the battlefield that has been taken out of action wholly within 3” of this fighter. Remove a number of damage points from that model equal to the value of this ability.
- (Reapers) (Quad): Allocate a number of damage points equal to the value of this ability to all visible enemy units within 3” of this fighter.
All these guys fly which is nice with their higher movement, letting you get to where you want to be regardless of terrain. The not so nice part is the low damage output and low strength meaning you need to get to where you want to be and outlive your opponent via turn timer. The main damage output is the Spirit Host with the triple ability and this can do some serious damage. Outside of that though you will get out damaged quite a bit, so be ready to have some I punch you then you punch me games.
There you have it the Death warbands for warcry, next time we are going to finish out initial look at warcry by going through the Monsters and Mercenaries book and seeing what they offer to your warbands as allies.
More Warcry How-To For Beginners!
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About the Author: Travis Perkins
An avid homebrewer and Detroit sports fan (yes even the Lions). I am new to the world of wargamming and very much enjoying the journey. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to comment on the article or email me at perki116@msu.edu
