AoS: A Quick Review of Warcry’s New Warbands
Two new warbands are heading to the Eightpoints, and they are bringing some awesome new tools to try out in combat.
All of the warbands fighting for dominance in (and now below) the Eightpoints are interesting and unique, and the new forces coming in the Catacombs box set are no exception. From the Shadowstalkers of deep Ulgu to the Scions of Aqshy, they are going to bring a whole new array of skills to plan around or direct, and the current forces will need to be ready to respond. Here’s my thoughts on the rules we’ve seen so far for the new warbands, and how I expect that they’ll play.
Shadowstalkers
Masters of ambush, misdirection, and acrobatics, the Shadowstalkers are going to be one of the most mobile warbands in the game, if not topping that list. Even locking them down in combat won’t be enough, thanks to their Triple that allows them to finish a disengage action within 1” of an enemy. This will allow them to break out of combats with tarpit models and chase down a runner or important enemy and take them out.
The leader, who is a powerful model all by herself, can also weaponize her blood and the shadows of her enemies with the Quad ensnaring darkness ability, potentially finishing off several enemies at once with a single quad. Should you get the value of the ability up to 6, you could floor a full half of your enemy’s fighters with a single action. In addition, you can make short blinks around the battlefield with the Shadow Leap ability on a Double. This will let you quickly ascend tall terrain, jump obstacles, or avoid dangerous traps and pitfalls. I can’t wait to get my hands on this warband, since I’m a huge fan of hit and run tactics, and these guys seem like the best at it.
Scions of the Flame
As their name suggests, these guys are all about setting their enemies on fire, setting themselves on fire, and just generally doing fire-related things. In addition, they have a powerful cadre of special characters that can spark explosions or even behead their enemies in a single devastating blow. My personal favorite, though, is the resident sorceress, the Inferno Priest, who has access to the Quad ability Engulf in Flames. You get to target an enemy within 3” and light them up, rolling 6 dice and dealing half the ability value to the fighter for each 2+.
Scary as that is, the fire might not immediately go out, and for every 6 you roll, you get to roll another d6. This ability doesn’t stop with the extra dice though, so if you keep rolling 6s, you keep doing damage, and a lucky roll of the dice could take even an Ogroid out of combat in a single round. It will honestly be hard for me to decided which of these two warbands to focus on, but honestly…why not both?
Are you excited for the new box set?
