Warcry is among the most accessible and popular tabletop games that are currently supported by Games Workshop. It’s a lovely little skirmish game that can be played casually or competitively, and doesn’t even lose any of its edge after drinking a couple beers with friends.
That said, for all of its accessibility, it’s certainly one of the more obtuse games out there in terms of getting started or even wrapping your head around some of the basics.
When I started playing a few years ago, I pretty much jumped right in, but there were certainly a couple things I wish I had known before going down this route that would have helped me get up to speed faster and even make better decisions when it came to buying my first warbands.
Here are 10 things I wish I knew before starting to play Warcry.
1 – Find friends who also play or want to play when you’re starting out.
If you’re coming in completely new and fresh to tabletop gaming and miniatures, getting everything you need for a game night – even with a relatively simple game like Warcry – can be a little daunting.
There’s the cost of purchasing all the boxes and warbands (which has gone up considerably, thanks to inflation), as well as having some space to play, and even the time to the rules.
To really ease the transition, it will help immensely if a few other people in your friends circle also play or want to play. You can split the cost on a starter box like the Crypt of Blood, have an extra set of hands to assemble and paint, and also learn the rules together.
Worse case, if there’s no one in your area, consider giving it a run on Tabletop Simulator (TTS) over Steam with folks from the Discord or checking out your local game store.
2 – Start with a bespoke Warband and learn to play before you purchase more plastic…
If you’re not one of the lucky folks who happens to have a whole slew of Age of Sigmar Armies sitting on a shelf that you can readily convert into warbands for Warcry, you should ideally start small.
If terrain, boards, and the other accessories are available at your local game shop or a friend’s basement for FREE, don’t feel that you need to splurge on them yet.
Get your hands on a Warband that looks interesting and start there. It’s a lighter investment, roughly the price of a fresh AAA video game, and won’t take forever to assemble and then paint them.
Some good bespoke Warbands you may want to consider that are fun to play and competitive enough with friends include:
- Questor Soulsworn – few in number, mighty in power and abilities.
- Jade Obelisk – many in number, slow but heavy hitting.
- Wildercorps Hunters – a little sneaky, but very slick (and with dogs).
- Vulkyn Flameseekers – because you can’t do wrong with dwarves.
It’ll then take you a couple of games before you really get the ropes of things and by then you will probably have a better idea of the kind of Warband you want to play, or even which types of units you may need to bring in as allies for your starter Warband.
3 – …and bear in mind not all bespoke warbands are created equal.
This was particularly true in previous versions of Warcry and before various errata and “patches” fixed some of the major balancing issues between various teams. Still, not all bespoke Warbands (or even Age of Sigmar armies turned into Warbands) are necessarily equal.
For instance, the Khainite Shadowstalkers, while certainly cool looking models, are one of the most difficult to use on the table.
Similarly for the Cypher Lords (coincidentally 2 of the first Warbands I bought because they looked cool).
If you’re leaning to one of them, or some of the other fast moving but squishy teams, you might need to prepare yourself to lose, like a lot, before your get anywhere with them (if ever).
So, if you’re not the kind that likes to learn through trials and tribulations, it might be best to do a little research into finding a Warband whose style you like but also won’t be outclassed in every fight – even over casual games with friends.
4 – Don’t worry if your models don’t look like what everyone posts on the Reddit after you paint them.
A lot of people I’ve met get really discouraged with the results after they started painting their first warband. Especially when they have the entire talent pool of the internet to compare themselves against.
When it comes to painting, some people out there are decidedly in the god-tier. Every model they paint is a veritable work of art, and no matter how hard we try we’ll never match theirs.
But remember, when someone says “hey check out my first Warcry model” and it’s so beautiful you want to cry, it’s probably because they’ve been painting non-Warcry models for like 30 years.
So don’t let whatever paint job you do get you down. Even those of us with experience are not all amazing painters.
When I got back into miniatures during the pandemic, all I had were some cheap acrylics, a few brushes I hadn’t used in a decade, and little to no recollection of what I was doing.
My first few warbands came out looking like hot garbage, but they were at least playable and I’ve since gone back and started repainting them (which is a great way to not have to keep buying new things to paint).
5 – When shopping for more plastic, consider purchasing good allies first.
It’s really easy to get overwhelmed by FOMO in Warcry (and everything Games Workshop related for that matter). There’s constantly new and cool things coming out.
Before you splurge and by another dozen warbands, opt for getting 1-2 really good allies that you can use with your existing factions.
Nurgle’s Lord of Plagues, the whole squad of Stormcast Eternals Questor Soulsworn, and the Chaos Ally Fomoroid Crusher are all around solid allies to get.
Each of these can act as support pieces who can fill in specific roles in your existing Warband(s).
If you play other factions, consider what sort of piece you need – more damage? More health? A dedicated tank? A missile? Make your purchase after.
6 – Not all boxes or starter sets are equal.
Warcry is a game that’s evolved quite a bit since it was first released a few years back. Units and abilities changed, major rules got revised, and (importantly) what we get in a “starter box” isn’t nearly the same now as it was then.
Currently, the most recent starter set is the Crypt of Blood. It’s got good units, decent value, but it’s also not everything you need to start a complete game of Warcry with a single purchase.
Other sets are also kicking around from the Heart of Ghur set, like Hunter and Hunter that will give you most of what you need, and the rest can be found online.
Ultimately, for value you really can’t beat the older, big box sets like Red Harvest or Catacombs…. if only you can find them.
7 – Many of the rules are available for free online (so don’t worry if they’re not in the box you buy).
In the early days of Warcry, I distinctively remember hunting for ability cards and the stats not only for my units but also others I was considering buying.
A friend who owned Age of Sigmar armies also had to scrounge around online to get physical copies of the cards so he could play.
Fortunately, you don’t need the hard copies of stat cards or abilities. Everything you need about who your units are and what they can do is available online on websites like warcrier.net where you can create rosters you can reference on your phone or download the files you need to print and carry around with you.
The same goes for terrain deployments, mission cards, twists, and all the rest of the core rules. It’s nice to have them in a hardcopy you can flip through, but don’t feel that you have to invest in them just to play.
8 – Once you’re playing, Warcry games are actually very short.
The first couple of times you play Warcry, there’s a good chance it will take you a few hours to get from start to finish. That’s because you’re learning the core rules, figuring out how to use your models, and probably picking up the rest as you go.
Once you’ve had a few under your belt, you’ll probably be able to clear a game an hour – or even less, depending on the scenario.
With my group now, the average 1 vs 1 match takes about 45 minutes and that includes setup and maybe a couple of off topic conversations.
So not only is a game of Warcry not a whole evening affair, but you can likely even sneak in a few rounds after dinner with friends or after the kids go to bed.
9 – Because games are short, every unit action is a precious resource.
Not only are Warcry games brief where the hours and minutes are concerned, but also with what you can do with your units in every game.
In most situations, the greatest amount of actions a piece could take over the course of a game is about 8 actions – with most doing many less because they came in on later battle rounds.
When you realize that, you’ll also realize that Warcry games are all about action economy and making the most out of the precious few things each model can do in a given game.
You’ll quickly notice that abilities that provide bonus actions to units let you cheat this brevity, and protecting units who haven’t acted yet is often the difference between winning and losing (because once a model is removed from table, they take all their actions with them).
10 – Don’t worry too much about losing, or pay too much attention to which Warband wins… at least at first.
Now this one takes me back to my first game of Warcry and how I pretty much learned all the wrong lessons in a single night over Table Top Simulator.
I played a Hedonites of Slaanesh warband against my friend who was using Daughters of Khaine and I got utter steamrolled. The beating was so bad it wasn’t even funny.
A consequence of that was I believed, incredibly incorrectly, that Daughters of Khaine were an A-list team while my Slaanesh Sybarites were crap. The reality is that it’s pretty much the opposite when you fully understand the nuances of roster composition, action economy, and all the rest that comes with experience.
The short of it is that you’re probably gonna lose your first game. Maybe even first few if you’re against a more experienced player. That doesn’t mean your warband sucks. It means you need to play more.
On the flip side, the reverse is also true. Some units will jump out at you because they got a lucky roll and suddenly everyone is like “whoa this snake lady is the boss!” (Spoiler: she’s not).
But because I got murdered by some Blood Stalkers with lucky rolls I ended up buying a bunch of them to make a warband and then realized, to my dismay, that they were actually quite bad and not able to hold their own in most situations. I haven’t even been able to sell them, so they’re just rotting on my shelf.
So yeah, don’t let those early wins or losses get to you. Keep on trucking until you have a better grasp of things.
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