Warcry Nightmare Quest Preview

All this season, the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Skirmish game Warcry took place in a deadly forest deep in the heart of Ghur. The Era of the Beast is in full swing, and even the land itself is driven to a chaotic frenzy. Now, with the release of the latest Warcry box set, Warcry Nightmare Quest, two new warbands drive deep into the Gnarloak in search of a crashed Seraphon temple ship and the arcane wonders strewn about its wreckage. Games Workshop sent us a copy of Warcry Nightmare Quest to check out, so follow along as we preview the new box!

Want to see more of our recent Warcry coverage? Check out our review of the box set Warcry Blood Hunt, our coverage of the box set Warcry Sundered Fate, coverage of new Chaos Legionnaires models, and our review of the box set that kicked off this entire new set (and edition), Warcry Heart of Ghur. Now let's dive into my thoughts on the latest box set, and see how it all stacks up!

Warcry Nightmare Quest - What's In The Box?

As with all of the recent Warcry big box releases, this set includes two rival warbands, a whole slew of new terrain (including an incredible Realmshaper Engine), a game board to play on, and more. The official list of components is:

• 64-page Might and Madness Warband Tome
• 22" x 30" Double-sided Game Board
• 30 Battleplan Cards
• 12 Fighter Cards
• 2 Ability Cards
• 3 Divider Cards
• 6 Questor Soulsworn Miniatures
• 10 Royal Beastflayers Miniatures
• Scenery: 1 Realmshaper Engine
• Scenery: 2x Gnarloaks
• Scenery: 2x Rope Bridges
• Scenery: 5 Obstacles (including a Ribcage, Ruins, Palisade, and Shattered Post)

You will need the Warcry Core Rule Book to use the rules content included in this box, and the models (as is the case with all Warcry big box releases) come unpainted and unassembled, so you'll need the proper tools to put them together.

Warcry Nightmare Quest - What's The Story?

I've played through the campaigns in all of the previous Warcry Heart of Ghur big boxes, and the story thus far has all revolved around the discovery of a crashed ship known as The Ravening Ruin. Deep in the heart of the dreaded Gnarloak forest, this once-powerful ship piloted by Seraphon was downed, and the contents of the ship represent a literal treasure trove of arcane secrets and powerful artifacts. Only a prize that big could draw so many different warbands into the forest, which is well-known to be one of the most deadly places in all the realms.

What I really like about this box set is how it feels like we're creeping toward the end of our story, with the Questor Soulsworn - an elite group chosen by the God-King Sigmar himself for their valor - embarking to simply protect these artifacts and arcane ruins, and keep them out of harm's way.

As the group of goodly knights make their way deep into the forest, they learn that a realmshaper engine from the crashed ship has been damaged in an earthquake, and a feral group of ghouls are descending on the area to engage in a ritualistic bloody hunt. These ghouls are the Beastflayers, who believe themselves to be noble knights on a heroic quest. In reality, their minds are ruined, and they're nothing more than a group of monstrous creatures led by a deranged vampire. Should they stumble upon the realmshaper engine before the Questor Soulsworn, it could spell big trouble for the very stability of the realm.

This is a really fun story told in great detail in the lore at the front of the warband tome included in this box's battletome. And while all of the storytelling has been great this season, I found some of the little scenes and vignettes in Warcry Nightmare Quest truly compelling.

Warcry Nightmare Quest - What Models Are Included?

Let's take a quick look at each of the available build options for both of the warbands in Warcry Nightmare Quest, starting with the Questor Soulsworn. Leading the charge for the Soulsworn is the Questor-Prime, a solid fighter with a very strong special Triple ability allowing him to deal 3 damage points to all visible enemy fighters within 3" of him. There's also the skull-faced Soulsworn Knight-Relictor, who's special Quad ability can teleport a friendly fighter anywhere on the battlefield (as long as they're more than 4" from enemy units).

There are also Errant-Questors with an array of powerful weaponry, like giant blades, huge hammers, spears, or twin-blades. All in all, the Questor Soulsworn are melee-focused (only one has a ranged attack) tanks that want to soak up damage and wipe the floor with the competition. Though they are slow-ish, and their numbers are smaller than most other warbands, so you need to be very careful with objective control when running this warband.

Next let's talk about the Royal Beastflayers. These nasty-looking ghouls have the numbers advantage over the Questor, but as you'd expect, they don't pack quite the punch. Leading the gang is the delusional Royal Flaymaster, who has a Triple special ability allowing him to allocate damage to an enemy fighter visible to him (anywhere on the board) equal to twice the number of friendly fighters within 3" of your enemy. I really find this ability so impressive, and such smart design. If you've got a triple of dice lined up, you can swarm your enemy with your grunts, then blast them with this special ability dealing buckets of damage. Such cool synergy.

Also in the army is the Beastflayer Baron who can help friendly fighters get some extra movement in, the Ghoul Gore-Squire who can also boost movement, Ghoul Trackers who serve in that aforementioned grunt role, and terrifying Offal Hounds - who sort of look like a mix between a hunting dog and some sort of large primate, who can easily climb surfaces.

All in all, I find the Royal Beastflayers to be a very mobile warband that wants to be in constant motion. You may not land tons of damage on your opponent, but if you're able to beat them to all the objective points and keep them stuck away from those points with other units, the path to victory is pretty clear here.

Warcry Nightmare Quest - Final Thoughts

I can't say enough great things about how Warcry has handled its recent releases. This box is positively packed with incredible models, terrain that continues to inspire, and campaign rules to keep you and your gaming group enthralled for session after session. 

I'm a big fan of this box set from my initial first look here, and even though I wasn't able to finish building all of the models in this set, reading through the wartome has me feeling confident that this is another solid starter set (as long as you pick up the core rules sold separately).

The copy of Warcry Nightmare Quest used to create this preview was provided by Games Workshop. The author constructed some of the models to showcase the process, and read through the complete rules tome for the creation of this preview. All photographs of painted miniatures are property of Games Workshop, all photos of plastic sprues and unpainted minis are courtesy the author.