The Questor Soulsworn Stormcast Eternals clash against the Royal Beastflayers of the Flesh-eater Courts in today’s review of Warcry: Nightmare Quest. Sprue pictures of all the warbands and terrain, a size comparison with various Ghoul models, and a look through the warband tome – we have it all here.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest, the fourth and final expansion box of the Gnarlwood season, will be available for preorder starting Saturday, May 13, 2023, and go on sale one week after.
The set contains:
- The Questor Soulsworn (a 6 model Stormcast Eternals warband)
- The Royal Beastflayers (a 10 model Flesh-eater Courts warband)
- a selection of Gnarlwood scenery plus a Realmshaper Engine
- a double-sided gaming board (30″ x 22″)
- Might and Madness, a 64 pages warband tome
- a set of reference and warband cards
Questor Soulsworn review
Soulsworn are individuals who operate outside the Stormcast’s chamber structure. These individuals wander through the Mortal Realms on their own, following visions and omens of Sigmar. But, in dire need, they’ll come together and form warbands to fulfill specific quests – such as to protect the secrets of Talaxis, the Seraphon star-ship that crashed over the Gnarlwood.
The Questor Soulsworn come on two identical sets of three small-size sprues each. This means you get three unique body sculpts repeated twice. The base size is 40mm.
- The first body sculpt has male features and can either be built as a) a Knight-Relictor or b) as an Errant-Questor with either Grandblade or Grandhammer, with a choice of either a bare head or helmet and a choice of two different left shoulder guards
- The second body sculpt has female/androgynous features, and can either be built as a) a Questor-Prime or b) as an Errant-Questor with either Grandaxe or Grandspear, with a choice of two bare heads or a helmet, and a choice of three different left shoulder guards
- The third body has female/androgynous features and can either be built as a) an Errant Questor Duellist with Twinblades or b) as an Errant-Questor with either Grandhammer or Grandaxe, with a choice of either a bare head or helmet, and a choice of two different left shoulder guards
All in all, this is a nice kit that caters to the updated Stormcast Eternals aesthetics well. The setup with two identical sets of sprues is unusual for a Warcry warband, so maybe this kit was originally planned to be something else. Thanks to two to three assembly options and multiple interchangeable heads, there isn’t too much repetition, despite only having three unique bodies. I think the Questor Soulsworn are a decent addition to the Stormcast range.
Royal Beastflayers review
The Royal Beastflayers follow the delusion of being bands of hunters slaying the wild beasts in the “noble” lands of the Flesh-eater Courts (I still can’t wrap my head around the Flesh-eaters’ lore in Age of Sigmar, but it is what it is). They are scouring the Gnarlwood, believing that Realmshaper Engines are nests of draconic magic that need to be destroyed.
This kit comes with two medium size sprues that build the following ten models:
- The Royal Flaymaster comes on a 32mm base. The model has a choice of two heads and either a spear or halberd poking out of the right arm.
- The Beastflayer Baron, on a 32mm base as well. You can choose between bare right claws or a broken sword.
- 3 Ghoul Gore-Squires, on 28mm bases, each with the choice of either an empty hand or blade weapon.
- 3 Ghoul Trackers, on 25mm bases, with no build options.
- 2 Offal Hounds, on 40mm bases, again no build options.
I feel the design of the Beastflayers has taken another significant leap forward compared to the most recent Flesh-eater Courts Underworlds warband. The proportions of the bodies and musculature seem even better realised than previous iterations. And the many new design elements and fighter types hint at where the Flesh-eater Courts range could be heading. Especially the Royal Flaymaster is an all-around amazing sculpt. Only the simian Offal Hounds, degenerate ghouls believing they are hunting dogs, take some getting used to.
For those wondering, Garfy made a comparison and found that the proportions and details of the three Ghoul Trackers are pretty much identical to the model from the rather dated Crypt Ghoul kit. I guess this means that this kit won’t get updated whenever the Flesh-eater Courts get a range refresh.
Nightmare Quest terrain review
Nightmare Quest comes with five sprues of terrain. Three of them that build the trees, bamboo bridges, and the Seraphon temple ruins, are familiar from the previous expansion sets.
Sprues four and five are new. They are two identical sprues that build one half of the Realmshaper Engine each. The engine is actually not the existing model, but a new design. One that is extremely similar and also has approximately the same dimensions. In contrast to the existing model, however, the side parts of the pyramid are sculpted on one side only and thus cannot be flipped. I’m really wondering what’s the point with this model – I wish they would have just taken the existing engine and designed a few new temple structures instead.
Might and Madness warband tome review
The warband tome Might and Madness follows the template of the previous tomes of this season. In the skinny softcover book with 64 pages you’ll find lore and rules for both new warbands, additional terrain rules for the models in the box, Soulsworn and Beastflayer quests, a campaign arc for both new warbands, plus another campaign arc for 4 to 6 players in two teams.
Value
The good news is that the RRP of £110 / 145 € / $185 has remained the same compared to the previous expansion boxes. Even if the number of terrain pieces again looks a little low, judging from previous releases, you will save about 30% when buying Nightmare Quest compared to buying all the products individually. Also, unlike Kill Team, the new terrain sprues are also not available outside the expansion sets.
You can find the latest Warcry releases at our partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, Firestorm Games, and Taschengelddieb, with a welcome discount of up to 20% over RRP.
I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.
7.5Score
Pros
- The best new Flesh-eater sculpts in quite a while...
- Solid new Stormcast models with a few options
- Finally some Seraphon themed terrain included
Cons
- ... except for the Offal Hounds maybe
- Soulsworn Questors have repeated body sculpts
Final Verdict
Nightmare Quest is the fourth and final expansion box of the Gnarlwood season. In contrast to the very original warbands of the previous boxes, this time there is more familiar fare. Nevertheless, the release model with four boxes building on each other worked much better for me with Warcry than with Kill Team. Yes, the terrain could have been more varied. But if you have bought all four boxes, you now also have a complete Age of Sigmar game table with a lot of terrain. With Kill Team, on the other hand, after the second box there was hardly any reason to keep up, as you only needed two boxes for playing Boarding Patrols.