Warcry Briar and Bone Review

Warcry Briar and Bone is the third expansion in the latest season of Warcry. It follows the same format as the previous expansion's release, Hunter and Hunted and Pyre and Flood, where it contains 2 new warbands and their rules, and a single piece of scenery, rather than the full scenery set up that earlier season's boxes contained. In this article, we'll have a look at what's in the Briar and Bone box, talk in-depth about the 2 new warbands, and explain why this box is different from previous seasons, and if you're a new player, what you need to use it.

Warcry is a skirmish wargame, set in Games Workshop's larger Warhammer Age of Sigmar setting. As a skirmish game, Warcry features a small number of fighters, rather than huge battles fought with entire armies. We've covered Warcry in depth since its first edition, and you can read our review of the latest starter set Crypt of Blood.

What Does Warcry Briar and Bone Contain?

Warcry Briar and Bone contains:

• Warcry Briar and Bone Warband Tome
• 8x Twistweald miniatures
• 8x Teratic Cohort miniatures
• 1x Ravening Gnarloak scenery piece
• Fighter and ability cards for both warbands
• 42x Battleplan cards

What Do I Need To Use The Warcry Briar and Bone Box?

Warcry Briar and Bone is an expansion pack for Warcry, so it doesn't require everything needed to play.

To use Warcry Briar and Bone you will also need the following Warcry products:

• Warcry Core Rulebook
• Six-sided dice (D6), measuring tools and tokens
• A game board and scenery set (you can use anything you want, including your existing scenery, or the new official set for this season, the Savage Lands: Scales of Talaxis scenery box)

What Warbands Do You Get In Warcry Briar and Bone?

Warcry Briar and Bone, as standard with Warcry expansions, includes 2 brand new warbands, the Sylvaneth Twistweald, and the Ossiarch Bonereapers Teratic Cohort.

Twistweald

The Twistweald aren't the Sylvaneth warriors as you know them, they are forest spirits infected with bizarre arcane parasites, that makes them outcasts from their own kind for fear of spreading the infection further. They're not fast, but they're durable and they all have access to the powerful Quad ability, Twisted Song, that lets them remove damage and make a bonus move or attack action. They also have an ability card filled with offensive doubles and triples, like the Swamsage's Thorned Grasp that deals 2 damage to an enemy on a 2 plus, and continued dice rolls for damage as long as you roll higher than the previous roll.

The Twistweald fighters are expensive, with the cheapest costing 110 points,  but they have a solid mix of hard-hitting close and ranged attacks to spread amongst the warband. The spitesspear armed Twistroot has a great range 2, 4 dice 2/4 damage attack that keeps enemies at range.

Teratic Cohort

The Teratic Cohort are some of Nagash's most pitiful creations, sculpted into skeletal beasts from failed soldiers, their minds forever tormented, which makes them lethal to their enemies. Their animalistic nature gives them the Predatory Ravage reaction, which allows them a free attack after damage has been dealt to them by either discarding a wild dice or subtracting 1 from the attacks and damage from each hit dice from the attack. This reaction can be super lethal from the warband's leader, the Kavalos Centari, an amalgamation of warrior and steed, who attacks with 5 dice at range 3.

The rest of the warband are a mix of Mortek Cyloptians, slow and durable warriors with strength 5 attacks, and the 2 types of beasts, the winged Aviarch Harpies, and houndlike Teratic Prowlers. 

What Are Our Final Thoughts On Warcry Briar and Bone?

The 2 warbands in Warcry Briar and Bone aren't to my taste, although I've always liked the Bonereapers aesthetic, but both are very thematic and matched well against each other. The Twistweld and Teratic Cohort are both slow and durable, and each has a slightly faster fighter option for moving on objectives, or late-game repositioning. I love that they're both outcasts from their own societies, and are still battling each other for the benefit of their own hated factions. I do love the Ravening Gnarloak terrain piece, and kicking an enemy fighter into the maw is extremely satisfying.

Should I Buy Warcry Briar and Bone?

If you want either of the warbands and the scenery piece in this set, then this will probably be the only way to get them for a couple of months before their individual release. If the warband's playstyle or aesthetics don't appeal to you, you won't get much out of this. There is an additional game option, Battle Traits included in the rulebook that adds additional abilities for all Warcry warbands, but that won't be enough to justify the cost if you don't want either of the warbands, and should be published in the Warcry Annual at the end of the season.

The copy of Warcry Briar and Bone used to produce this guide was provided by Games Workshop.