Moldek

So here’s my first draft of what an eshin campaign might look like : ***** Wyrdstone thieves A treasure hunter came across a huge wyrdstone fragment in a burnt down warehouse. It should be obvious that filthy thieves have no right to this beauty, so you set out to take back what’s rightfully yours. Quick-quick! Before another assassin hears the tale... Convergence battles : 1 - you found the looter’s hideout, but he’s not alone. Find him and interrogate him before his allies come back. (An assassination-type mission) 2 - you were too late! The stone was sold to a merchant. You follow his tracks to the eastern gate, held by another warband. You need to get through before the trail goes cold. (The skaven have to cross the board’s length) 3 - clutching the stone and screaming gibberish, the merchant has taken refuge inside a ruined inn on the old road. He’s hired a group of bodyguards. You wait for the night and sharpen your blades... (a grab the treasure mission) ***** So this is just the basic structure, I’m open to criticism of anyone has some I already wrote down some ideas for the other warband’s campaigns, this is pretty fun to write.

So I got the rulebook yesterday, and I got to thinking about a mordheim mod. Following strictly their campaign system would require to write campaigns for the various warbands, which sound really fun to do. I’m gonna write down some campaign hooks and throw them in this thread. I’m not that good at writing stats so I’m hoping some people (like our great @Cerulean ) will want to do that 😉

@soak314 thanks for the write up, really nice to have detailed reports. It does seem like it’s important to actually play as prescribed by the rules lol. LoS blocking terrain, twists and 3 group deployment play a big role in balancing the game. I’m probably going to field a gryph heavy list, as that’s the only model I have that’s actually on the cards. I have the Easy to Build Castigators that could count as raptors too, I think I’ll work with that for now...

Good to know! I have bought the book and cards for these factions and my first few games are probably going to be between them. Would you say they are a good matchup? I think these faction cards were a really smart decision as it’ll hopefully help warcry be more than another specialist game. I hope it sticks around, it’s the perfect format for me! I’m even considering going to store events...

it’s probably because they made it compatible with the azyrite ruins. I think anyone who insists on using the actual height is being unnecessarily nitpicky and unfun. But that’s just my opinion

It’s 3´´ , page 37

I feel your pain man. I don’t have many players around me either. That said the rules are really simple to teach, maybe if you have 2 warbands ready to go you could convince some people to try it out? People with AoS armies might already have enough minis to make a warband, so their buy in could be as low as the faction cards if they’re into it

This is the perfect thread for me! I love reading what people get up to, and I'm not particularly focused myself After about a million obsessive back and forths, I've decided to hold off on buying the warcry starter set. I'll just get the book and faction cards for nighthaunt and stormcast. I'm keeping the starter set as a reward for finishing the other stuff I have! That might just get me painting more. I've just started painting the Thorns warband for nightvault, having fun with an airbrush and toothbrush. Experimenting is fun, but I hope the result will be decent. About a month ago I bought a box of necromunda cawdor on a whim, and recently I realized that they look brilliant with skulls instead of heads. So I've started converting them for a LoN band for warcry. I've really liked the couple of demo games I've played, looks like I finally found my perfect fit...

Man this is cool! You really did your homework. I’m not great at balancing but on first read this seems quite well done. Lots of high movement, weak underlings... the abilities are very thematic and seem interesting. The only remark I’d have is that I’m not sure if the rat ogre’s triple would see much use. It feels a bit risky to bet on crits, although it would be very cinematic when it does work and he just tears a big ennemy apart... I don’t have a lot of suggestions to add to this, but I’ll think on it. Well done!

Yeah I guess a lot of people like things that can be measured and ranked efficiently. My theory is that most players (myself included) actually rarely get to play and spend more time discussing the game and watching / reading about it. So a vast amount of the discussion is held by people who have little actual experience to put these numbers in context, especially when the game isn’t even out yet... I’m sure there will be a few broken lists and subpar choices, but I’m not too worried about it. Mostly because I’m not playing super competitive, and I don’t think that’s the main purpose of warcry anyways. As long as I have a fighting chance and I have an exciting game with cool minis I’m happy!

Very nice work! Great color choice, very atmospheric... I'm scratching my head to find something to say that isn't a compliment haha

That's an interesting point. It's true that even abilities have to be considered in the context of which fighter can use it, and 3 part deployment does cause some tactical headaches. I wonder if the chaps at the design studio didn't set out to make a game that would be impossible to play WITHOUT battleplans, terrain etc as factors. Of course people will still try to compare unit stats as if they were fighting all at once on a barren plane, and claim that stormcast are definitely OP and so on

I think that's a really good approach to keep the aesthetics while not having to spend hours designing stats and balancing! Actually with the simplicity of weapons options etc, warcry is very well suited to proxying in general : you can just put a picture of the model you're using on top of the picture on the card and there you go . Along your lines, I could see corvus cabal as skaven... It would be cool to design a full add-on, with a couple of more complex injury tables, custom warbands etc. but I think it'll be easier to do once we all had some time to digest the game's mechanics. Please do post some pics of your terrain, it sounds awesome! I have a couple of ruined buildings made for mordheim and I'll definitely add to that in the coming months.

I will be using my Stormcast force as my first warband! Might try out gryphound spam, I’ll just use the sacrosanct models as count-as raptors et all I have also started converting a LoN warband, mostly because I needed an excuse to use the beautiful cawdor models for something!

The Eight Points are a vast and twisted place. Some say that somewhere, folded in a knot of time and space, there is a crooked, half burnt inn, and inside a twin-tailed fish nailed to a shambling door. They say that if you go through that door, you’ll find yourself in the nightmare before time, the pandemonium city : Mordheim... I was thinking about the disappointment that a lot of people felt because they were expecting something closer to Mordheim. While I’m glad that we have a more streamlined ruleset, I wonder how hard it would be to homebrew some kind of hybrid? There are 6 warbands in the original mordheim rulebook : Human mercenaries (although with several flavors), witch hunters, sisters of sigmar, undead, skaven and possessed. I’m thinking that it could be cool to come up with profiles and aptitudes for these warbands, add a couple of D66 tables and maybe a bit more meat to the campaign system, and be able to enjoy the fresh rules with the old setting! what do you think, what would you like from such an expansion, what would you change? This is basically wishlisting at this stage but who knows, it might develop into something more

I see you’ve done your research! It does seem like hinterlands would be best suited for you. I’ve always wanted to try it, it’s just hard to find people to play with consistently. I understand your concerns about the lack of variety in warcry, and I agree that it’s a bit too limited; although I guess that’s the price to pay for balance. My plan is to just use count-as anyways : you can easily put a picture of the miniature you’re using over the unit card. That way I can play with my storm strike stormcast and nighthaunts. Of course using freeguild soldiers as stormcast might break immersion lol.

I totally agree with @NinthMusketeer regarding using the basic skirmish rules. I suppose it comes down to unit selection, but from my limited experience most of the profiles don’t really work as individual skirmishers. Lots of turns where nothing happens when lone warriors have to pass 3 rolls to just get one wound in, and minor heroes able to destroy other combattants very easily. Might work with tailored lists maybe? I think you’re on the right track with the fan supplements, while I didn’t play any of them yet. What matters is that in spirit they aim for a narrative experience, which seems more functional at this scale. Even without the supplements, if I had to play skirmish again I would go towards narrative / open play : a couple of heroes vs an infinite skeleton horde, a band of plucky goblins trying to take down a troggboss, etc. ****** balance and have fun one thing I did try is a free system called Age of Fantasy skirmish, which has equivalents for most of AoS units and feels more fun to play imo. And do let us know what you end up doing, right now I’m looking at warcry but I’m always interested!

I see we have the same objectives!

I just saw the starter box contents at my store and it’s testing my resolve. The minis are really beautiful! So plan A is to just buy the book, battleplan cards and nighthaunt + stormcast cards, and play the miniatures I already have with some proxies (I have sacrosanct stormcasts but no vanguard). Plan B is to buy the starter box if I can find buyers for the minis and maybe the terrain, so I get to keep all the counters etc (maybe even the terrain) Plan C is to just buy the starter box and hoard everything in a big pile like a nerdy dragon 😂

So I just went to my local GW that had the base game available for demos, and played a quick 3 minis vs 3 game. With just the getting started booklet and what i’d already read online we were able to play really quickly without much questions arising. Combat is really streamlined compared to AoS, which is a plus in my book. The tactics are really going to revolve around movement, activation order and aptitudes imho. From a casual standpoint the game seems really easy to houserule and have fun games with. I also think this is the best GW game I’ve seen to introduce someone to the hobby. It feels very straightforward and intuitive in its design. The minis and scenery look freakin good in person and are really testing my resolve not to buy the whole starter box haha. The cards are well made and it really helps to have all your stats laid out and readable at a glance. To sum it up : I love it, and I want it!

I was really planning on buying the starter set ( that terrain 😍), and could already feel the buyer’s remorse from spending that amount, considering I have a lot of grey minis and don’t get to play often... Then I realized I already have stormcast and nighthaunt warbands; I can just get the book and cards and play them, using count as if needed. I’ll probably do that and get the starter set when I have more money and time 😀

Personally I think this one is my favorite. I love this grimdark stuff! Overall I’d say the game aesthetics seem to veer slightly towards dark fantasy and conan-type sword and sorcery, which is fine by me...

Personnally as a life long fan of realms of chaos and mordheim, I’m really glad they went for a specific setting as a starting point. I think it’ll really help create a narrative between players, which is a lot harder to do with a bunch of random armies. And I hope they add campaign setting as they expand the game. You won’t just be playing such and such chaos army, you’ll be playing gortuk the bloody’s warband, who has a grudge against Valksss the snake priest and a bad limp... I hope!

Great points @JPjr . I’ve only played a couple of games of AoS skirmish but it felt pretty dull to me. I’m hoping they have spectacular actions, stuff like push back, diving charge etc. I want to decapitate an ennemy then have my guy pushed off a ledge by some low level warrior with a lucky streak, stuff like that instead of I roll 4+, then I roll 4+, then you roll 4+...

Thanks for the heads up! Yeah I thinl it’ll only be these 2 warbands, they have suitably opposite themes. I’m dying to know more about the game already, this drip feeding is driving me nuts... I’m hoping for simple rules, a solid campaign system and a nice amount of terrain.