Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review

Flame and water clash in the latest Warcry set as the Lumineth Realm-lords do battle with the tormented spirits of the Nighthaunt. Get a full look at the new set from Taller de juegos in our Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review!

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Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review – Summary

Pyre and Flood is another worthy entry into the annals of Warcry history. With the usual and to-be-expected array of high-quality gaming gear synonymous with Taller de juegos boxes releases, things are looking bright for Warcry. The set is, surprisingly, let down by its miniatures: a lack of differentiation in the sculpts from unit to unit leave the two warbands feeling uninspired and uninteresting – which is a huge shame, as the individual units themselves are awesome, but suffer when taken side-by-side with their allies.

Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review – Introduction

I have to admit, Warcry is something that’s somewhat slipped off our radar over the last few months. Whilst Pyre and Flood was originally revealed in January 2024 at the Las Vegas Open, so much has happened in the worlds of Warhammer already this year that you would have been forgiven for forgetting all about this upcoming release – especially with Age of Sigmar Fourth Edition having been announced between now and then.

Nonetheless, when it was first announced opinions on the box were divided: both the Lumineth Realm-lords miniatures and the Nighthaunt teased as being included in the box were greeted with both delight and disdain in equal measure. Many thought both forces were bland, not different enough from existing units to really warrant the hype. Fans of each faction, however, greeted the news with delight (and I have to admit, there are a few figures in this set I’m looking forward to getting my hands on).

One thing we could all agree on, however, is that the giant frog-head Seraphon statue rubble was the highlight of the box.

So, has this changed? How does the box fare now it’s released? Read on for our thoughts.

Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review – Contents

Here’s the exterior box in all its Warcry-ish glory.

La caja contiene:

• 1 x 64-page Warband Tome: Pyre and Flood
• 62 x cards:
  • 14 x fighter cards
  • 3 x ability cards
  • 3 x divider cards
  • 42 x battlepan cards
• 16 x miniatures
  • 10 x Ydrilan Riverblades
  • 8 x Pyregheists
• 1 x Giant Frog Head (TM) Scenery Piece Idol of the Old Ones

We’ll have a look at this all in more detail below.

Engranaje de la guerra

So, here’s everything in that list above (including miniatures assembly guide, peeking around the Warband Tome).

This is very much the standard fare you’d expect to see in a modern Warcry box: all the cards you need to play with your Warbands, as well as the appropriate rules and lore tome to get you up-to-date on what’s going down in the Mortal Realms.

It is important, however, to recognise that these Warcry kits are not play-out-of-the-box games. No, it’s better to consider these sets as expansiones to the existing rulesets, as you cannot play Warcry just using the contents of this box. Whilst the Warband Tome contains the variuous rules you need for the miniatures in this box, it does not contain any of the core rules you need to play Warcry. You’ll need to source those elsewhere.

As such, if you’re wanting to get into Warcry, you’re much better off grabbing the Warcry: Crypt of Blood Starter Set, which, of course, we’ve done a revisión of.

So, that said, let’s crack on. How does everything in the box square up?

It is as any Taller de juegos veteran would expect. Cards and book are both of good quality, with clear writing, eye-catching layouts, and printed on good quality stock.

Over the last twelve months with particular lines, we’ve very much felt GW dropped the ball with some of their book layouts. Happily, Warcry doesn’t fall into this foetid pit of desaturated images, gresyscale filters, and teensy text. Whilst at its core the Warband Tome is a rules document, it’s filled with gorgeous artwork and fantastic scenic shots of miniatures to really help you get into the universe.

So, the gaming bits are of suitable quality – but we all know why you’re De Verdad aquí.

Let’s have a look at the miniatures.

Miniaturas

The Pyre and Flood box comes with two Warcry Warbands for you to get starter with: the Lumineth Realm-lords’ Ydrilan Riverblades, and the Nighthaunt Pyregheists. We’ll have a closer look at the models that make up these two teams below!

Pureflood Seneschal

The Pureflood Seneschal takes the Tactical Rock to a whole new level.

The leader of the Ydrilan Riverblades part of the box, this miniature certainly cuts an impressive figure (heh). Oozing the elegant, athletic, acrobatic poise and grace so typical of the Lumineth Realm-lords, the elevated position earned by its placement upon its broken fragment of pillar really helps elevate this figure as a centrepiece model.

But – and there is a but, and it’s a but that’s going to come up again as we go through these figures – there is a pervasive sense that more could have been made of this chap. As we look at the other miniatures, you’ll see what I mean.

Crestdancers

So, keeping the Pureflood Seneschal in mind, have a look at the Crestdancers.

Now, no one is going to argue that these aren’t gorgeous, dynamic miniatures. They drip detail, too, each one rendered in an expressive mid-combat pose, partially in the air with weapons spinning. But compare them to the Pureflood Seneschal.

There’s really not all that much to differentiate them from each other. Whilst the Seneschal has slightly more ornate armour and an extra crest on his helmet, his aesthetic isn’t far from that of the Crestdancers at all.

Now, obviously having uniformity within a faction is important: it’s a key part of their characterisation and, especially with a faction like the Lumineth, help create the sense that they are a united, advanced, indomitable force. But there just isn’t quite enough differentiation between these units to really make them stand out from each other – which is a real shame, because they’re all great in and of themselves.

Stream-runners

Unfortunately, the Stream-runners suffer the same fate as the Crestdancers.

Basically a slightly lesser-armoured Crestdancer, the Stream-runners are, again, a gorgeous set of miniatures in and of themselves, but side-by-side with the Crestdancers and the Seneschal before them, they look like slightly underdressed versions of their peers.

It’s a shame. The Riverblades really suffer for this lack of creativity from unit to unit. When photographing these models, I kept mixing them up as it really wasn’t clear at a glance which model was in which unit. This isn’t something you want to be doing with your figures: it’s irritating for painting, and risks landing you in hot water if you’re actually playing games and keep getting your units confused.

Deacon of Flames

“So, the Nighthaunt are better, right?” you say.

All Nighthaunt units share a similar core shape: individual models are based around the same concept: that of the top half of a skeleton draped in some ragged old bedsheets. Stuff is then added to this frame in order to help make units stand out. And in some cases, this is done spectacularly well – see, for example, this chap.

The Deacon of Flames is the stand-out in this set, entirely thanks to the ornate yoke placed across its shoulders and the mangled corpse above which it floats. At its core, it’s still just another spooky guy, but the creepy chandelier-esque crosspiece lashed over it makes it stand out as a centrepiece model.

It’s also not too difficult a build – Nighthaunt miniatures frequently rely on builders to attach large, flat components (the bedsheet-y bits) to each other via their thinner edges. There’s a bit of that here, but the edges are clear and contact points good enough to make it work.

Balefire Guard

Now, I like the Balefire Guard because it turns out I’m a bit of a sucker for a ghost with a big heavy weapon, but again I see the same issue that afflicted the Ydrilan Riverblades creeping in here.

These chaps are extremely derivative of the Bladegheist Revenants and the armoured Spirit Torments with a little bit of fire added here and there for some stronger differentiation. Again, things just feel a little bit lacking – but at least these guys hacer have some heavy bits of armour mixed in with their models to help make them stand out.

Flamewraiths

Ah. Right. Okay.

It’s very difficult to think of anything new or interesting to say about the Flamewraiths because they are neither new nor interesting. They’re just regular Nighthaunt dudes but on fire. As the Stream-runners were lesser-armoured versions of the Crestdancers, the Flamewraiths just seem to be Balefire Guards with different clonky weapons (though you can build them dual-wielding, which will help differentiate them a little further) and without the armour. They skate dangerously close to just being That Regular Nighthaunt Shape but a bit burny.

Torchwraiths

A little bit of excitement is restored with the Torchwraiths. Much smaller than their counterparts, these suffering souls double down on the whole ‘on fire’ part of the Pyregheist thing, and make a much better show of it for doing so. With flames bursting from their eyes, their skulls lit with fire, and their entire bodies succumbing to eldritch magics, these figures, though small, feel much more interesting than the Balefire Guards and the Flamewraiths before them.

Each also has an ornate stake affixed to its back, bringing it more in-line with the Deacon of Flame miniature, which we’ve already established is the most interesting figure in this set by a country mile. This little, visually distinct inclusion really helps bring an elements of gothic horror to the aesthetic of these miniatures, and creates a far more interesting character and silhouette for it.

So, in all, the miniatures in Pyre and Flood miss the mark. It strikes me that the sculpts of these models have tried to create a sense of evolution from one unit to the next largely through the addition or removal of pieces of armour (the same way that in, say, World of Warcraft your character gets more and more powerful the bigger and bigger their shoulderpads get). Whilst a sound concept, the execution of this has fallen a little flat across all the miniatures in this set.

Instead of creating three exciting and unique units, the Ydrilan Riverblades become a bit dull and samey as you work your way through them. There’s simply not enough differentiation from model to model to really be exciting. Whilst the Pyregheists have a handful of standout models, they also suffer the same fate – the Balefire Guard largely being a more heavily-armoured version of the Flamewraiths, and even then skate a little too close to both the Bladegheist Revenants and Spirit Torment miniatures that already exist.

It’s a shame. Warcry boxes, just like Underworlds sets, thrive off unique and exciting miniatures – varied and visually distinct parts of a warband that you desear to have in your collection. But Pyre and Flood drops the ball on this, instead offering you ten copy-pasted elves and some frequently bland ghosts.

Then again, I collect Space Marines, which are just dozens of the same little space soldier carrying different guns, so what do I know?

Terrain and Scenery

Perhaps I take back what I said about the Deacon of Flame being the best miniature in this set. Does a scenery piece count as a miniature? Eh, who knows. Anyway.

Idol of the Old Ones

When it was first shown off at LVO 2024, the Idol of the Old Ones was the part of this set that caught everyone’s attention. And, to be honest, its the one bit of the set that, this late into the review, is making me smile.

It’s just a giant Slann head. It’s great.

For a scenery piece, this model is covered in ornate details befitting the lore of the Seraphon that canonically created it. It’s a really nice, really satisfying bit of kit that will look awesome in the centre of your battlefield.

It’s also not too difficult to assemble, but be particularly vigilant with your sprue gates and contact point: there are a lot of edges that need to be flat in order for things to line up properly, and a fair few of them will have bits of sprue gate attached to them unless you’re a master clipper.

Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review – Price and Availability

Warcry Warbands and their decks of cards, and centrepiece terrain features (such as the Elder Gnarloak and the Motzlpota) usually clock in at costing about £35.00GBP/$60.00USD/€45.00EUR cada. If you’re trying to replicate the exact box experience as closely as possible, you’d also have to then nab yourself a copy of the Warcry Compendium whenever that was updated in order to ensure you had all the extra stuff you needed for your Warbands, which will cost an extra £27.50GBP/$45.00USD/€35.00EUR. Costs stack up quickly.

With that in mind, then, Pyre and Flood clocking in at £80.00GBP/$130.00USD/€105.00EUR seems very fair – mathematically, at least. In terms of the miniatures in this set, however, I’d be hesitant to recommend it unless you’re either really into Warcry, Nighthaunt, and/or Lumineth Realm-lords.

Warcry: Pyre and Flood Review – Conclusion

Well, that was a bit disappointing.

Personally, I’ve been really excited to get my hands on some Lumineth for quite some time. They’re one of only a handful of factions that, to date, I’ve never painted any miniatures of. I’m also a big fan of Nighthaunt, having collected and painted a large army of them myself. But for me, both offerings that come in the Pyre and Flood box fall flat.

Sure, the gaming bits – books, cards, whatever – are all fine, as you’d expect, decent quality bits of gear. But we all know that the real reason we loom over the “Add to Cart” button on pre-order days (rather like Nagash looming over a certain Stormcast Eternal in a recent video) is because of the miniatures in these boxes. It’s where the value lies in their price-points, after all. In this regard, though, Pyre and Flood simply does not deliver where it counts.

The box is, in a word, uninspiring. Whilst the giant froggy terrain piece is a laugh and a few of the miniatures are worth a second look, it’s not enough to save Pyre and Flood from absolute mediocrity.

This is a release everyone will have forgotten about in a few weeks’ time.

★★★

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Resumen

Crítico

Rob Hebblethwaite

Fecha de revisión

Artículo revisado

Warcry: Pyre and Flood

Calificación del autor

3

nombre del producto

Warcry: Pyre and Flood