GW Releases Free Core Rules for Warcry

I wrote about this briefly a couple days ago, and now that Games Workshop has made the full rules available I figure it deserves a separate post.

Warcry, the fast-paced skirmish game set in the Mortal Realms has just earned an amazing new edition. You can learn how to play [it] in a matter of minutes – the basic version of the core rules are simple and intuitive, but packed with tactical complexity. With this document in hand, you’ll have almost everything you need to get started – you just need your warband, a clear surface to play on, a scattering of terrain, a measuring device, a few dice, and a set of fighter cards.

This is not a "lite" version - this is a 26-page PDF of the full rules. Where do you find the fighter cards? GW released all of those for free, too.

www.warhammer-community.com/2022/08/18/c...e-rules-to-download/

About six months ago, I discovered this little skirmish game that I could play with all of my Warhammer Quest miniatures and I've been Mr. Warcry since. In my somewhat limited experience, Games Workshop has done a fabulous job with 2.0. Precious little has actually changed from the first edition apart from some quality of life tweaks to carrying treasure and falling off terrain. The big new wrinkle is Reactions.

Under specific circumstances, fighters can use a faction-specific Reaction ability during the opponent's turn - at the cost of a future action. When a Stormcast Eternal takes lethal damage, they can explode in a burst of lightning to damage nearby enemies. Seraphon units can stave off a bloody demise by using 'Starborn' to convert critical hits against them back into regular hits. The goblin mobs of the Gloomspite Gitz will literally 'Pile On' their foes: if an enemy figure lands within 3" of your Gitz figure, you can make a free Move with a different goblin as long as it brings them closer to the fray.

These abilities are by no means game-breaking and expand the decision space without mucking up the game's breezy flow. They're thematically fitting - the ones I've read, at least, as there are over 30 unique factions - and a smart addition to the system.

Point costs and Wound stats decreased across the board, so lists will be a bit more varied and combat a bit more dangerous. Goblins can now be run as a proper horde, as God intended, and the online community seems happy with the rest of the changes overall. We've certainly enjoyed it thus far.

If you missed Barnes' five-star review of the first edition, check it out: therewillbe.games/articles-boardgame-rev...ar-warcry-review/amp

The 2p skirmish market is glutted these days and it's hard to say how much releasing the original shortly before COVID lockdown bit into the game's potential popularity. This is a (perhaps uncharacteristically) big step towards accessibility. Definitely worth having a look.

I do think this is Games Workshop's best game. I would have said Underworlds previously, but that game has buckled under it's own weight of cycling out cards and changing of cardbacks with an endless stream of warbands.

This is far better than Kill Team, however.

I've bought a couple Underworlds warbands just to use the models in Warcry. I'm not concerned over whether they'll get unique statlines like they had in v.1; I think the sculpts are cool and they all match generic fighter profiles.