Warcry Catacombs Preview

Warcry, the action-packed skirmish wargame set in the world of Warhammer Age of Sigmar gets a new starter set with 2 brand new warbands and some new battlefields in which to defeat your enemies, in Warcry Catacombs. In this article, we’ll have a look at what’s in the box, as well as looking at who the product is for. 

If you’re interested in the 2 new warbands, we look at them in detail in their own guides as part of our Warcry Guide and you can read our guides on the Scions of Flame and the Khainite Shadowstalkers.

You can buy all the Warcry Products, including Catacombs from our Tabletop Sponsor, Firestorm Games.

Warcry Catacombs is a 2-player starter set. It contains everything 2 players need to get started with Warcry without any additional purchases required. If you’re new to Warcry, this is an easy way to start and if you’re an existing player, this set gives you 2 new warbands, access to Catacombs battles, and some additional outside scenery.

The Warcry Catacombs box contains:

• 2 warbands and stat cards - Scions of Flame and Khainite Shadowstalkers
• Warcry core rulebook
• Catacombs rulebook
• Catacombs board (double-sided, one Catacombs, one outside)
• Catacombs scenery
• Additional outside scenery for use in regular Warcry games
• Dice, tokens, and measuring stick

The big change with Catacombs games over regular Warcry is that the outside multi-level terrain becomes tight dungeon coridoors with less room for maneuvering. Catacombs comes with loads of indoor scenery, including bridges, doors, and unique terrain pieces with their own rules, like The Arms Stash, which lets you increase the attacks of nearby fighters.

Normal Warcry games are set up by drawing random cards for terrain, deployment, victory conditions, and a twist with unique rules. These cards are available in the original starter set and Battleplan card pack, with terrain cards coming in separate terrain packs. A limited number of terrain cards are also published in the Warcry rulebook, allowing players to roll for random battle generation rather than use the cards. 

Catacombs battles are set up slightly differently, with everything required for set up printed in the Catacombs rulebook. Terrain set up sees the biggest change, as narrative campaign battles have fixed terrain setups, as per their battle details and regular games have fixed doors and bridge placement as per the battlemat being used. In the Catacombs box, that's the Infernal Forgefloor. After the fixed terrain set up, players add 4 unique terrain pieces. Deployment is also different, and deployment zones are marked on the cards showing which of the 12 entrance ways printed on the map are used. Reserves always enter on the 3rd turn from any entrance tunnel. Victory and Twist cards for use in Catacombs are also printed in the back of the book.

This means that standard Warcry games and Catacombs are very different, and to allow Catacombs to be used as a complete Warcry starter set, it also includes a set of outside scenery, and several outside terrain setup cards printed in the Catacombs book. This alows players coming into the game with Catacombs to play regular Warcry games, as they get everything they need for outdoor and Catacombs games and can boost their outside scenery with additional Warcry scenery sets later on if they want. Existing players get to add to their existing scenery with another set of platforms and walls, as you can never have too much scenery in Warcry.

If you want to know about the included warbands from Catacombs, you can check out our guides for the Scions of Flame and Khainite Shadowstalkers, where we look in detail at each fighter type, and also go through how best to build them out of the box.

If you’re an existing Warcry player, then picking up Catacombs will give you some duplicate items with the rulebook, dice, and tokens. The original starter set warbands were made available separately, so if you’re just after 1 or both of the warbands and nothing else, the Scions of Flame and Khainite Shadowstalkers may be available later. If you want access to the Catacombs book and scenery, then this starter-set could be the only way to get hold of them.

The copy of Warcry Catacombs used to produce this preview was provided by Warhammer Community.