Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review
Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by VoltorRWH
Valorous warriors face off against deluded monsters in the latest Warcry box. Venture into the Realm of Beasts alongside the Questor Soulsworn or the Royal Beastflayers in the latest box from Games Workshop. Check out our Warcry: Nightmare Quest review for all the details.
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Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Summary
Nightmare Quest is a true-to-form return to skirmish combat in the Age of Sigmar. Whilst some of the models may drive you mad as you try and build them (here’s looking at you, weird flesh-trees), the overall quality of what’s on offer in this box is excellent – as you’d expect from Games Workshop.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Introduction
Announced at Warhammer Fest this year, Nighmare Quest is the latest addition to the Warcry range from Games Workshop. The box sees the pious Stormcast Eternals and insane Flesh-eater Courts come face-to-face across a sprawl of ancient ruins, lost within the twisting heart of Ghur, the Realm of Beasts.
We haven’t covered all that many Warcry releases here ay FauxHammer.com, in part due to the fact that we haven’t been able to get a hold of them, and in part due to them not being as common releases as other products. As such, it’s one of the ranges we’re slightly less familiar with. Age of Sigmar’s (sort of) answer to Necromunda/Kill Team, Warcry lets players take control of small teams of fighters who duke it out over a map, each side reaching for victory over the other. Each set is designed to be its own standalone game, and can be played as long as you have the current Warcry: Core Book – so do remember that this is another necessary purchase if you’re hoping to get stuck in to Warcry with this box.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Unboxing
So, let’s see what we’ve got today. Here’s the new box:
The art is splendid, featuring the Questor Soulworn and the Royal Beastflayers preparing to start kicking the snot out of each other.
Inside, we have our sprues. There are two identical Stormcast Eternal sprues, one Flesh-eater Courts sprue, and then a whole pile of terrain.
Beneath, we have our divider. Will this be another dull sheet of glossy paper like we’ve seen in recent releases? It certainly look that way.
…But not if you flip it over!
Magnificent. This art is spectacular and would look awesome as a poster on any hobby room wall.
Finally, we have everything else.
Books, bases, board and cards. We’ll have a closer look at all of this now!
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Contents
Nightmare Quest comes with the following goods:
- 16 x Citadel miniatures
- 10 x Royal Beastflayers
- 6 x Questor Soulsworn
- 1 x Scenery Kit which builds a Realmshaper Engine and various other bits of scatter terrain
- 1 x Might and Madness Warband Tome
- 1 x Set of Warcry: Nightmare Quest Cards and Reference Cards
- 1 x Double-sided Gaming Board
- There’s a fair bit in this box, so we’ll take a closer look at it all now.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Wargear
Let’s start with a deep-dive into all the non-plastic stuff in the Nightmare Quest box, as there is quite a bit of it. Namely, the Warband Tome, the cards, and the board.
Might and Madness Warband Tome
First off, we’ll start with the book. It’s important that would-be buyers understand just what the Might and Madness Warband Tome is, as well as what it isn’t.
The Might and Madness Warband Tome is the rulebook for the two warbands in the box. It contains all the rules, all the details, and everything else you need in order to be able to use the Questor Soulsworn and the Royal Beastflayers in your games of Warcry. it’s best to think of it like a codex or battletome for these two particular forces.
It’s got everything anyone interested in either or both forces could want. Pages upon pages of lore and setting notes for each, describing who’s who, what’s what, and of course, how everything looks when painted up by Games Workshop’s ‘Eavy Metal team.
It is not, however, a comprehensive, how-to-play, learn-the-ropes guide. You will struggle to play a game of Warcry using just this book alone, and will need either a copy of the current Warcry: Core Book, or easy access to someone who knows exactly what it is they’re doing. Without these, you won’t know what half the stuff in this book actually means.
You’re best off thinking of Nightmare Quest as an expansion – a new wing of content that builds on the pre-existing base. It’s a bit sucky that more provision isn’t made to ensure these boxes can’t be used straight out of the gates, but GW clearly want that additional £30 for the Warcry Core Rules. Remember when all those Age of Sigmar battleboxes had little copies of the Core Rules in them? That was awesome. I’ve got about 10 copies of the AoS Third rules as a result.
The book is, however, very good-quality. What’s written is clear and concise. The print quality is excellent, all the art and photographs are phenomenal, and I for one now can’t wait to paint up some of these miniatures as a result.
Cards
Warcray is played with a number of cards. These are used to set up and develop the game, outlining terrain rules, objectives as well as twists and turns for the battle. Each are drawn randomly so as to add an element of randomness to the play of the game.
Also included are a number of reference cards so you’re able to keep tabs on your fighters’ statistics during battle. As you’d expect, information is clearly displayed and well-formatted, but as with the Warband Tome before it, these will mean little to nothing to you without a basic understanding of Warcry’s core rules. That rulebook is gonna be a necessary purchase, y’all.
Double-sided Gaming Board
Last but not least in this section, we have the double-sided gaming board. Whilst the board itself is good quality – the print is nice and the card is thick, so you’re unlikely to ruin it in a few games (unless you’re really trying to) – the actual graphic on either side is a little bit underwhelming.
They’re perhaps a tad too similar for my tastes. It would have been nice to have slightly more variation between surfaces instead of just brown and rocky on both. Even the printed detritus and debris is in roughly the same place on either side of the board.
But, at the end of the day, the board is a vector for everything else happening on top of it. With your new Warcry scenery and your miniatures all in play, you’re likely not going to be paying too much attention to the board itself.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Models
Now we get onto the good bit: the miniatures and models in the new Warcry: Nightmare Quest box. And, boy oh boy, it’s really good this time around.
Questor Soulsworn
I am a huge fan of Stormcast Eternals; they are the first army that got me back into Warhammer a few years ago, and I unapologetically think they’re great. Back then, when they were basically just Space Marines in baroque high-fantasy armour, I loved their look. Now that they’ve been slimmed down and given the more unique design that came with Age of Sigmar Third Edition, I love them even more.
The Questor Soulsworn are in my mind some of, if not the, best-looking Stormcast Eternals miniatures to date. They are absolutely spectacular, just look at them:
You might notice some similarities across these figures, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Nightmare Quest comes with two identical sprues for the Questor Soulsworn, each divided into three smaller sprues, each of which can in turn make three different warriors. This means that, whilst you can only build 6 Stormcast Eternals with these sprues, you get a choice of 9 to pick from in all.
Now, something to note: bottom-middle, the Praetor Primus, is a PITA. His right arm, which is holding a soul-swallowing lantern akin to those wielded by Lord Relictors, is a nuisance to attach. I don’t know if this was an isolated me problem, but I could not get that right arm to sit comfortably against the torso. It look a lot of glue and a lot of swearing to get it into a semi-comfortable position.
But that was the only issue I had with these miniatures. The rest go together very easily – and look absolutely magnificent once together.
Royal Beastflayers
I am going to start this section with the same sentence as I started the previous one: I am a huge fan of Stormcast Eternals; they are the first army that got me back into Warhammer a few years ago, and I unapologetically think they’re great.
But the magnificent Questor Soulsworn miniatures aren’t my favourite in the Nightmare Quest box. Oh no. For me, the Royal Beastflayers take it. These guys are horrible in all the right ways. Just look at them!
There are a couple of variant options across the kits – nothing major, a different head here or an alternative hand holding a sword or not holding anything there. They are the absolute antithesis of the Stormcast Eternals part of this box: gone are the paladin-like features, the oversized weapons, the gushing pride and valour. In their place are twisted, warped creatures ghastly in both feature and conduct.
…I also kinda like how the little guys look like Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie the Head.
However, there is a big error in the build guide for these chaps. An entire step is missed off between assembling the first figure – the Huntsmaster – and attaching him to his base. Component 64 – part of a foot standing on a skeleton must be attached to the right foot of the Huntsmaster before he is glued onto his base. You’ll likely notice something’s up when you try and attach the figure and realise his legs look a little wonky – this is why.
The component doesn’t even feature on the guide, the step simply shows the miniature with half his foot missing being attached to his base. Oops.
Issues aside, here’s what I managed to do with mine:
These are wonderful minis and an absolute blast to paint. If you aren’t able to get hold of this box, keep an eye out for when (if) the set goes on sale as these guys are definitely worth a buy.
Scenery
As we’ve had with just about every Warcry box ever, a huge amount of the plastic in the set is given over to an impressive set of scenery. Nightmare Quest is no different, providing you with everything you need to make some scatter terrain as well as some walkways, platforms, twisted trees, and a huge pyramid – a Realmshaper Engine to give it its proper name.
Here’s everything, barely contained in my lightbox given how large some of it is.
As with all the other bits of plastic in this set, the scenery is serious impressive. There are dozens of details – bones, barricades, and Seraphon-themed ruins. However, some of it is a real nuisance to assemble – particularly those trees, which are essentially built as multi-sided tubes and then slotted together. If you’ve missed any sprue gate, you’ll find they don’t slot together well, and you’ll end up with some huge gaps on your terrain.
The Realmshaper Engine is a bit easier, but ensure you leave plenty of time for things to dry: you’ll find yourself having to twist and bend parts in order to get the sides of this pyramid to slot together. It can be a bit disconcerting and frustrating, but do persist – it’s not as complicated as it may seem at first.
And, after all, when it’s all together it does look pretty impressive, let’s be honest. There’s a fair bit of versatility in the kit, too: you could use the scatter terrain anywhere, perhaps in games of Necromunda and Kill Team. Plus, paint these trees up carefully and hide the claw-like gnarls on their branches and you’ve got yourself a perfectly serviceable – and very impressive – tree for any D&D campaign you’re running, or an equally impressive bit of terrain for any other Warhammer game you may want to play.
A bit of a faff to assemble, but excellent once together.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Price & Availability
Warcry: Nightmare Quest will set you back £110 straight from Games Workshop, but your friendly local might be able to offer you a copy at a discount – provided, of course, you can beat the rush when pre-orders go live on Saturday, May 13 at 10am UK Time.
FLGSes are getting fewer and fewer copies of GW products to sell as GW moves to encourage people to buy for them direct. Whilst Warcry isn’t as popualr as the Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 flagship ranges, this one will still likely sell out quite quickly.
Warcry: Nightmare Quest Review – Final Thoughts
Pros | Cons |
Stunning Stormcast Eternals miniatures Phenomenal Flesh-eater Courts figures High-quality cards, books, boards, and other gaming resources | Some of the terrain is a pain to assemble Big mistake in the assembly guide No core rules |
There’s a lot to like in Nightmare Quest – particularly the models. On the whole, the set boasts some really nice, high-quality gaming supplies, but it is the little plastic figures that make it. The Questor Soulsworn – whilst essentially made out of duplicates of the same kit – remain really impressive figures, but it is the Royal Beastflayers that make the set. These miniatures are great fun: ghoulish and intricate, and covered in pleasing details and unique sculpts. The terrain is nice too, but novice builders may find themselves struggling with some aspects of the build.
In all, Nightmare Quest is another solid entry into the Ghurish Warcry arc. The contents of the set are predictable, albeit retain the excellent quality you expect from GW products, but it is the miniatures that carry this one.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some painting to do…
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