Review: Warcry: Crypt of Blood starter set

Similar to Kill Team before it, Warcry, the skirmish offshoot of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, now also receives a compact starter box. However, it’s surprising that the set doesn’t include models or terrain pieces from the original Warcry launch box. Instead, it features two recycled Warhammer: Underworlds warbands combined with a new set of graveyard scenery. In my review, I’ll explain whether Warcry: Crypt of Blood is worth it or not.

Warcry: Crypt of Blood, the new entry-level Warcry starter set, is available for pre-order starting Saturday, 29th June 2023, and appears in stores one week later. The recommended retail price (RRP) is set at £65 / 85 € / $99.

Inside the box, you’ll find two warbands (the Crimson Court and Xandire’s Truthseekers, both originally released for Warhammer: Underworlds), a sprue of new Soulblight graveyard terrain, a thin paper game mat, a 72-page start here book, fighter and ability cards for both warbands, a set of 18 white dice, and a cardboard token sheet.

Warcry: Crypt of Blood models review

The Crimson Court & Xandire’s Truthseekers

Both warbands are Warhammer: Underworlds models that were brought back for this box. The sculpts are monopose and push-fit, so they do not require glue, and are therefore beginner-friendly. I think that The Crimson Court and Xandire’s Truthseekers have some of the best designs of the Soulblight Gravelords and Stormcast Eternals range, and it’s nice to see the models available again through this starter box.

However, as the models were originally designed for Underworlds, they are significantly smaller than Warcry’s usual 1000-point warband size. The Crimson Court comes in at 565 points, and the Stormcast Eternals at 660 points. At least both warbands come with a new, original set of abilities.

New and so far exclusive to this set is the graveyard terrain, which comes on a single large sprue. Unlike the Sigmarite Mausoleum (or Garden of Morr, as the kit used to be called when it was first released for Warhammer Fantasy), this graveyard hails unmistakably from the Mortal Realms. The walls and fence posts are in the same architectural style as the masonry you find on the bases of the models from Warhammer Quest: Cursed City. Included are a sarcophagus, a Nepherata bust, two ruined walls, and two ruined fences.

While the wall pieces line up nicely, for some reason the fences don’t, as Garfy found out when he started painting the models. Hopefully, we will get more Soulblight graveyard terrain in the same style soon with more wall and fence pieces so that more seamless combinations can be made.

Crypt of Blood start here book & components

The Start Here book has 72 pages and comes with a soft cover. It provides a brief introduction to the setting, the warbands, and the Warhammer hobby, all presented with moody artwork and stylish miniature photography. Inside, you’ll find 7 new battleplans, which are designed specifically for the warbands and scenery pieces in the box. These battleplans also feature helpful tutorial lessons, making them great for newcomers.

The book includes the core rules, but it lacks the extended rules such as allies, thralls, monsters, and the three game modes open, narrative, and matched play. To access those, you’ll need to get the current core book. It’s frustrating considering the price, but unfortunately, it became common practice with Games Workshop’s entry-level starter sets.

The game mat is made of thick paper, not the proper cardboard you find in the more expensive campaign boxes like Warcry: Heart of Ghur. Check out Garfy’s tutorial for making a proper 3D gameboard based on the frozen graveyard theme of Crypt of Blood here.

In addition to the mat, you’ll find a set of fighter and ability cards (make sure not to misplace them since they aren’t printed in the book) and a cardboard token sheet. However, it’s quite disappointing that there are no coloured dice like in the big Warcry boxes. Instead, you get some really cheap white dice, even cheaper than the ones usually provided in Warhammer starter sets.

Value

The feeling that this is a pretty stripped-down set unfortunately runs through the whole review. Not stripped-down at all, however, is the price – at £65 / 85 € / $99, the starter set costs the same as the Kill Team starter and the medium-size starter set of the 10th edition of Warhammer 40.000, but both sets contain almost three times as many models!

If you’d like to grab a copy of Warcry: Crypt of Blood anyways, perhaps for the nice terrain, then please consider using the following link for a discount of up to 20% over RRP while supporting Tale of Painters at no extra cost:

You can find the latest Warcry releases at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games.

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