Warcry: Red Harvest terrain

Hey everybody,
I’ve finally finished building up the terrain from Red Harvest, and I’ve just had to come here to write about it because this stuff is just amazing!!

It’s gonna look even more stunning when painted…

The board is really quite full with this stuff, as well, which I’m quite impressed by, considering there are only four structures and then a host of sluices. I thought it would lead to a table that feels more open, but maybe that’s just the configuration, or something.

I’m very impressed, anyway. There are, as I say, four big structures that form the cornerstones of the terrain: two multi-level platforms, and two “delve engines”, the Pit Dredger and the Varanite Syphon. The Syphon is the beam engine thing that has that beautiful daemonic head at the top, while the Dredger is the winding gear with the ore buckets on it.

I particularly enjoyed getting the Dredger built, despite its reputation that I’d heard about with getting those buckets to line up! The winding capstan has got three poor unfortunate skeletons on there who have seemingly died in service to those Chaotic bands who are plundering the Varanite Delve, which I think is a beautifully creepy touch to this piece! Both platforms have got a lot of character to them, as well, with manacles and skeletons hanging around them. I’m really looking forward to getting these painted, even if all of the metallic barding is giving me palpitations!

In game, these engines have got rules whereby fighters can be pushed into the moving parts, dealing damage to them, and fighters within 1″ of its moving parts can turn the machine on, which damages fighters who are on or within 3″ of any sluices connected to the machine. It’s a nice way to interact with the scenery, and I love that kind of thing – even if, when I’m playing, I usually forget all about such rules!

Each machine comes on its own sprue, and the platforms likewise have their own sprue each. The sluices are doubled up, with two sprues of six sluices each. I can see this stuff being released separately at some point, either packaged as a machine and set of sluices, or also with a platform. It certainly seems to have been produced with an eye to re-packaging, anyway, the way these things are so self-contained.

The set also includes the barricades that were in the original set, which is nice to have as there are plenty of elements in common with the new stuff that keeps everything in the same aesthetic mould.

The two warbands, though, while they have each really grabbed my attention, are still in the process of being built. I’ve got a fair number of the Tarantulos Brood fighters built up, though only one member of the Darkoath Savagers so far. I really like both of these warbands, for different reasons, and I’m very much looking forward to getting them all built so that I can try them out. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some more games in with Warcry now that all of the lockdown measures appear to be easing, and the country is getting somewhat back to normal! Not many in my gaming circle have been too taken with it, sadly, so I think it might well need to be pickup games for the time being, but I guess we’ll see.

It is such a good game, so fast-paced and brutal, I really do love it. The terrain in this box is so different to anything that we’ve had so far, and lends quite an oppressive atmosphere when you see fully-painted tables of it. I find myself hoping that we might have almost the equivalent of 40k Sector Mechanicus stuff for Age of Sigmar, with more daemonically-possessed machinery to supplement this. Although of course, what we have in the box is entirely suitable for games of Warcry. I love everything about this box, though, and I’m so glad GW are continuing to bring out stuff like this for the game.

Tome of Champions 2021 is also out now, of course, which seems to have bundled in the DLC from last year with rules for the Warhammer Underworlds warbands, plus more quests and so on. Sounds like a cracking book, and one that I really need to get my paws on!