The next Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry box set was revealed on Saturday at Warhammer Fest, and there’s an actual (model) pyramid in the box. It was shown off along with lots more news for Games Workshop’s smaller fantasy boxed games.
Here’s what Games Workshop revealed for its fantasy boxed games at Warhammer Fest 2023:
Warcry Nightmare Quest
Warcry is the skirmish counterpart to age of Sigmar, with small warbands instead of full Age of Sigmar Armies, and gorgeous 3D terrain. The next boxed set will be Nightmare Quest, and will pit the noble Stormcast Eternals against the delusional ghouls of the Flesheater Courts.
The ‘Questor Soulsworn’ are a whole unit of Stormcast Eternals Errant Questors, lead by a Questor-Prime. These are all unique warriors, and are picked individually for a special mission by Sigmar. The force is lead by a Questor Soulsworn Knight-Relictor, a warrior cleric responsible for retrieving the souls of fallen Stormcast should they be unable to return to Azyr.
The ‘Royal Beastflayers’ are a pack of ghouls who believe they are noble hunters saving the realms from terrible monsters. The most striking new minis are the ‘Offal Hounds’, horrible babboon-faced ghouls created when a ghoul displeases his master, or perhaps the ‘Royal Flaymaster’, the vampiric overlord of the group.
The most recent Warcry season has been focused around the hunt for a crashed Seraphon space-ship, and Nightmare Quest comes with a new Seraphon pyramid model that is presumably part of this doomed vessel. The rules book in Nightmare Quest, ‘Might and Madness’, includes rules for a co-operative multiplayer campaign.
GW says there’s more on the way for Warcry. Summer will bring a starter set for new players, which will have “everything in one box” for a new player to get started. It’ll be a little bit smaller and cheaper than the current season boxes, and will be a permanently available stock item.
Four new warbands will release in Autumn 2023, with Order and Destruction battling it out, Winter 2024 will see a new Order and a new Death warband square off, and two new unrevealed warbands are confirmed for Spring 2024.
Warhammer Underworlds
GW revealed a new warband for Warhammer Underworlds, ‘The Headsman’s Curse’. This new Nighthaunt warband will be the first new list to join the Wyrdhollow season of Underworlds. These damned souls are enslaved to one of Nagash’s magical swords, the Dread Blade Terminus.
The warband is ‘lead’ by the Wielder of the Blade, a powerful melee combatant with a three-damage weapon, who can resurrect his own minions after he slays an enemy model – the warband is hyper-focused on decapitation.
The Headsman’s Curse will release this Summer, alongside an updated beginner’s starter set. and a new rivals deck. The Autumn will see another new Core Box, as well as a new Chaos Warband (which Wade Pryce hinted during a Q&A won’t worship one of the Warhammer Chaos gods), followed in Winter by a new Destruction Warband and another new rivals deck.
In a Q&A with customers at Warhammer Fest, GW spokesman Eddie Eccles confirmed that GW was looking for ways to bring older Underworlds warbands back into production, though he didn’t have any details. One thing that will be coming back is organised play for the game, which will be returning this year.
Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game
GW revealed a collector’s piece miniature for the 20th anniversary of the release of the final Lord of the Rings film. The ‘Get off the Road!’ diorama shows the iconic scene from The Fellowship of the Ring of the four hobbits hiding under a tree root from the Ring Wraith. That wraith has a removable base, so you can use him in your games if you want a particularly deluxe mounted wraith to lead your forces of darkness.
Unfortunately for Middle-Earth fans, GW didn’t have anything else to reveal for the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game at Warhammer Fest 2023, though spokesperson Wade Pryce assured fans there would be “more news soon” for the game.
Check back with Wargamer for more coverage from Warhammer Fest 2023: we’ve already covered the jaw-dropping Warhammer 40k 10th edition starter set Leviathan.