Warcry is the lesser-known stepchild of the Games Workshop universe. While its main games recreated epic battles between huge armies, Warcry focusses down on small skirmishes. It’s a smart rule set that retains the random dice-offs common to the companies’ games but adds an extra tactical dimension in scenario setup. Players draw cards to determine the terrain, their objectives and some special flavour rules. This rewards creative strategy over how the  bigger games often come down to how well the factions in play manage against each other.

Warcry: Heart of Ghur is essentially a second edition of the game after several big box releases on the old rule set. Like them it contains complex kits for two well-matched warbands of chaos warriors and a ton of plastic scenery, all of which you’ll need to assemble yourself. Unlike previous box sets this edition shifts the action into the bestial realm of Ghur, so the terrain consists of bamboo platforms, monstrous skeletal remains and dangerous Gnarloak trees rather than chaotic machines or ancient ruins. Two rulebooks, dice, tokens and a double-sided board on which to set up your scenery round out the box contents.

Photo: Games Workshop

The core of the system involves rolling six dice and pooling them into those that show the same number. These doubles, triples and quads can then be spent to activate special abilities for your models. You’ll need to time them for best effect as you make tactical plans for your models, factoring terrain and the offensive and defensive options available. When you attack it’s a simple matter of comparing the model’s strength against it’s targets toughness, rolling a fistful of dice and see which hit. Damage is a fixed number. These model on model effects give the game an intimate quality, recounting the battles of individual fighters in thrilling detail. Sure, the dice can dictate the victor but it’s the tales that you’ll remember.

You won’t just be watching armies ponderously clash on the tabletop, either. Turns in Warcry are fast and lively, with characters climbing all over the multi-level scenery, grabbing objectives, even entering and exiting the field. The ability to move models independently gives you a lot of tactical freedom to explore, meaning that unexpected decisions by your opponent can be as shocking and as fateful as the fall of the dice. Sometimes the scenario will also populate the board with third-party enemies or other surprises.

While most of the rules remain the same, veteran players will enjoy the new addition of reactions. It’s a simple enough concept, borrowed from miniatures games with a more simulationist bent, allowing fighters to take an action early in response to what enemy models do, such as a counterattack. These increase the tactical options available to players as well as making the back and forth between them more dynamic. They also enrich the unfolding story of your game with extra detail. 

This narrative aspect is leveraged to the full in the game’s campaign system. Because Warcry is relatively short for a miniatures’ game, taking an hour or so, an extended run of clashes between players a realistic possibility. Victories let you buy small upgrades to your forces but it’s all about accumulating glory points or fulfilling the goal of the campaign arc. The system has been extensively extended in this edition, adding short-term quests, new arcs and, best of all, encampments that you have to maintain and defend between battles. There are a number of campaign options in the rules, from multi-player to a specific face-off between the two warbands that come in the box.

All of this makes Warcry: Heart of Ghur a great self-contained option if you’re interested in miniatures gaming, although Games Workshop’s very detailed models may be off-putting to some due to the high prices and extensive assembly time. If you’ve already bought into their universe then you’ll find lots of other models can be used with the game, their Warcry stats freely available through the Warhammer community website. These factions have also been rebalanced for this new edition. 

So whether you’re ready to get bitten by the Games Workshop bug, or to take your Warhammer in a new direction, this is a great time and set with which to start.

Published by Games Workshop

This feature originally appeared in Wyrd Science Vol.1, Issue 3 (Oct '22)

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