Fans of brutal brawls in the nexus of the Mortal Realms rejoice. Everyone’s favourite cultist duff-up returns with Warcry: Red Harvest – a box bursting with new miniatures, fresh terrain, and unbeatable rules for the most gore-slicked skirmish game in the Age of Sigmar.
Red Harvest is set in the shadow of the Varanspire, Archaon’s monolithic fortress at the centre of the eight Mortal Realms. In the tormented plains that stretch out around it, the realmstone varanite is mined by hordes of enslaved mortals.
This mutagenic substance is so volatile that just one touch can give you an extra arm or head, or simply turn you into a full-blown Chaos Spawn.
Coincidentally, that’s precisely what the Tarantulos Brood are after – the ability to grow extra limbs to ascend to the form of the monstrous arachnids they worship.
Not content with wearing many-eyed masks and webbed clothes, these obsessive cultists use varanite to grow spidery mutations to scuttle around the Bloodwind Spoil and weave a web of domination.
Arrayed against them are the muscular, leather-strapped Darkoath Savagers, who feel neither fear nor temperature.
Like any good Chaos worshipper, the Darkoath Savagers respect might above all else. With rippling muscles, giant weapons, and more loincloths than you can shake a runestone at, they wade into battle seeking glory – either in victory or by a suitably worthy death.
These two warbands clash over abandoned varanite mines, where the Tarantulos Brood hunt for the remaining deposits of realmstone – while the Darkoath Savagers presumably just fancy a good scrap.
These mines are the perfect terrain to battle over, with sluices for transporting varanite crisscrossing with scaffolding, gangways, and strange machinery to fight on and around.
If you cast your mind back to Broken Realms, you’ll remember Morathi had even sent her Shadowstalkers to scout out these mines to find a big enough seam to aid her apotheosis.*
That’s how important this stuff is, and that’s why warbands are drawn to it like flies. There is a whole host of background in the box, as well as rules for empowering your warband with varanite and covering what happens when you fall into a sluice full of the stuff. Spoiler – it isn’t a good time.
Then there’s a new double-sided gaming board, new tokens, dice, and Warcry cards. It’s both a game in a box and a super-sized expansion for existing Warcry fans – it contains everything a new player needs. And when the time comes to expand your experience, you can further explore the Bloodwind Spoil with the Warcry Core Book, and other expansions.
Red Harvest is going to be a bloody good time for all involved. This is just one part of our Warhammer Day Preview Online, which includes announcements for Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, and much more besides. Check out the Warhammer Day homepage to catch up on the full livestream, and find links to all the breaking news.
* You can find out all about this in Broken Realms: Morathi.