Warcry - Pyre and Flood: Pyregheists
The sheer amount of output from Games Workshop in recent years has been staggering. Not just the individual systems in-play at any one time, but the ongoing support of these numerous games. Naturally, not every release for every game system is going to tick the boxes for every single hobbyist - Pyre and Flood is no exception.
I love and adore Warcry - the fast-paced skirmish game set within the Age of Sigmar universe. The upcoming Pyre and Flood box features two warbands - the Lumineth Ydrilan Riverblades and the Nighthaunt Pyregheists. This box encapsulates the aforementioned natural dichotomy for myself, the dichotomy that I am sure anyone in this hobby can come upon. The Ydrilan Riverblades are simply not my style as they flow across the battlefield as the rivers do, monks dedicated to cleansing the Chaos corruption within the area. However, the Pyregheists - oh man, those Pyregheists. I’m not a Nighthaunt player but I find these models to be utterly and irrevocably magnificent.
Thus, permit me if you would, this brief runthrough of the upcoming Pyregheists within the Pyre and Flood box along with some of the new terrain rules. I’ll be touching upon the Pyregheists rules, their lore and all the reasons why these ghastly apparitions have spared balefire within my very soul!
First announced during LVO 2024, the Pyre and Flood box for Warcry includes the aforementioned warbands, along with a substantial terrain piece - the Idol of the Old Ones. This looks as though it’ll sit superbly as the centrepiece of your Warcry battlefields, acting as something to block line of sight whilst also adding a splash of colour amids the dull browns and earthy greens of the battlefield.
Hippity-hoppity, I am the property.
The rules for this terrain piece are quite enticing, coming in two parts. The first is Stuttering Beam where a non-Beast fighter stood upon the terrain piece can use a [Triple] to try and fire an energy beam from the fractured crystal within the idol’s headdress. When doing so, you select a visible point on the battlefield before the activating fighter rolls a D6 and on a 1 this inflicts D6 wounds on that fighter! Otherwise, you allocate damage equal to half the value of the ability dice used for this to any fighters within 3” of the chosen battlefield point.
The second rule, with its own risks, is Ransack on a [Double]. Again, you roll a dice for this. On a 1 - 2, the activating fighter suffers D3 damage points. On a 3 - 4 you heal 3 damage points on the activating fighter. On a 5 - 6 you can add one wild dice to your pool.
Both rules are suitably fun, especially as they both have an element of risk but could also have potentially great payoffs. I’m rather enamoured with the image painted by the rules of a foreboding, humming ruin within a dense Gnarloak wood, crowned by a stuttering and glowing gem as beams of energy intermittently pierce through the mire.
Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire…
Now, onto the stars of the show - the Pyregheists! These burning spectres are ghostly Nighthaunt fighters wreathed in flame and wielding scorching weapons made to set foes ablaze.
Acting as the leader of the Pyregheists, the Deacon of Flames is a towering, imposing figure on a 40mm base. They can be equipped with either a Brazier-Staff or Pyrekeeper’s Tongs. The staff grants an extra attack at the cost of strength, whereas the tongs go for the opposite. Both are at 2” range, but the Deacon also gets an 8” ranged weapon with two attacks, Strength 4 and Damage 2/4. Having this range on the Deacon of Flames grants wonderful utility as it maintains it as a threat in most instances. However, this makes the Deacon a target, so it is likely worth keeping some of his fellow Pyregheists nearby for screening.
Those who would challenge the Deacon of Flames would surely find themselves out of the frying pan and into the…well, you know.
The model looks terrific, with ornate metal work atop its hunched back as it sucks the burning soul out from a human victim upon his base. This is the exact level of “metal” that I crave within Warcry.
Following up from the Deacon of Flames comes the Balefire Guard who can be equipped with either Flaming Halberd or Scorching Flail. You get the same trade-off here with these guys as the flail grants an extra attack whereas the halberd hits a little harder. These ghastly ghosts aren’t quite as lurching as their boss, but they come donned in battered metal armour and helmets that exquisitely help their shrieking skull faces to pop out visually.
Balefire Guard - Previously protectors of sacred flame, now disseminators of said flame!
These models are arguably more “standard Nighthaunt” in their aesthetic, as opposed to some fire-imbued equivalent, but that’s where the Flamewraiths come in…
The Flamewraiths in life were tasked with lighting the sacred fires within the mortuaries of Shysh and were revered. However, their duties have carried on in death and now they simply seek to set alight anything and everything that they can as they wave around their Brazier-Staffs and Balefire Torches. Rather than a difference in strength with these weapons, the staff has fewer attacks but deals more damage on a critical hit.
These models are phenomenal amongst their kin and are quintessential for the visual goals of the Pyregheists. They wield weapons that burn with billowing flames whilst their own “bodies” are simultaneously erupting in flames. They are the embodiment of the Pyregheists and their poses/sculpts have a genuine sense of movement and dynamism that leave me head-over heels for this warband.
Flamewraiths - The swishing and trailing flames on these sculpts really do imbue that great sense of speed and movement.
However, my absolute favourite models within the Pyregheists warband is the more meagre of the bunch. Yes, the Torchwraiths are the final option in the Pyregheists warband and whilst their stats are fairly lacklustre, their models are utterly stellar!
Having innate ranged and melee weapons, these fire-sprites are the speediest of the bunch (moving 6”) whilst having fewer wounds than all of their brethren, despite all being Toughness 4. Their close-combat attacks come in at 3 dice, Strength 3 and Damage 1/3, whilst their ranged option at 8” matches all aspects bar the range.
According to their background, the Torchwraiths writhe in an eternal flame, a price paid to Nagash for being feeble necromancers and graverobbers in life who sought to plunder corpses from the pyre carts that were loaded for burning in tribute to him. Their torment is impossible to question as Nighthaunt forms burn, just as they did when their physical bodies were staked and burned alongside the prizes and corpses that they sought to take. The models reflect this anguish and agony perfectly, as they hurl bolts of Balefire outward at anyone close enough, shrieking and screaming as they go.
Torchwraiths - Clearly struggling to handle the spice.
I will emphasise here that painting this warband was a great and very enjoyable experience. Those with an airbrush setup should see a chance here to do get plenty of glowing effects and OSL. I painted the above Pyregheists over a couple of evenings but went for a more standard “red-hot” kind of flame, rather than something more ethereal. This was a deliberate choice after seeing the new trailer for the next edition of Age of Sigmar and showing that Aqshy (the Realm of Fire) is likely to be the centre-stage for the upcoming Age of Sigmar update.
Cremate Your Mates
The faction rules for the Pyregheists support the lore and background of the warband brilliantly as they mostly tie into a special ability that they have - Balefire Cremation. From what I can see, this comes instead of a Reaction, something that new warbands typically get alongside their faction rules. Summarily, some of the Pyregheist faction abilities will instruct you to “Cremate” an enemy fighter. In this, you put a “Pyre token” in the place of an enemy fighter that was taken down (when instructed to Cremate them). At the end of the battle round, but before determining objective control, enemy fighters within 1” of a Pyre token suffer 3 damage. I can picture it now, enemy fighters stricken down by the Deacon of Flames and their bodies set alight with Balefire that lashes out at those that would come to avenge their fallen comrade.
I do find it a little unclear if the Pyre token is removed at that point, or if it lingers for the rest of the game and triggers at the end of each battle round. This is something that I feel will need clarifying in an FAQ/Errata.
Nevertheless, whilst Balefire Cremation helps the Pyregheists to even further establish their identity on the battlefield, I am personally over-the-moon with one of their faction abilities. Some of the abilities listed are reasonably safe and effective. There’s a [Double] to increase damage for hits (and critical hits) in the next melee attack by a chosen fighter. There’s the [Triple] to “Light the Pyre” that allows you to cremate an enemy fighter that is taken out of action. However, the piece de resistance comes in “Agonising Penance” at the eye-watering price of a [Quad].
When Agonising Penance is triggered, you pick a visible enemy fighter within 6” of your chosen friendly Pyregheist, that enemy makes a move action towards one of their own friendly fighters at a distance based on the value of the ability dice that you used for this, this is also treated as them jumping and they are able to move out of combat with a Pyregheist when this is triggered. Once the move action is done, the jumping enemy fighter is dealt 3 damage, along with any other fighter in their warband within 2” of the jumping fighter. Should this kill any fighter, you may then Cremate them.
Is this an enemy fighter being set ablaze with Balefire causing them to run howling in pain towards a comrade for support, only to ignite them as well? Is this a Pyregheist unleashing a mighty blast of flaming ethereal energy and sending a now-aflame enemy fighter hurtling towards its allies like a football doused in petrol and sparked? It could be either or neither, but I am enamoured with it all the same.
World-Cry
The Pyre and Flood warband tome contains terrain rules beyond the colossal Slaan idol that is included in the box. In fact, there’s a myriad of rules that you and your opponent can agree on to give your Warcry environments more flavour and impact than ever before. Should you and your opponent agree to certain terrain pieces aligning with some of these rules, this could include:
A Blood Altar, upon which a nearby fighter may spend a [Double] in order to deal damage to themselves but increase their melee Strength and Damage for the rest of the activation.
Lifesucking Scenery, that will deal damage to nearby fighters that are already damaged.
Commanding Overlook, that will increase the strength of all missile attacks for fighters stood upon it, at the cost of a [Double].
Site of Glory, that will grant a fighter one level of renown providing they are the only fighter stood upon it at the end of the battle.
Because, well, is it even Warcry if the trees aren’t trying to kill you alongside the enemy warband?
There are more rules beyond those listed above, and some certainly seem more appealing that others. It’s fair to see from what I’ve read that these aren’t to be implemented in your games with too much of an emphasis on balance or efficiency. These should be used in games where narrative plays more of a role and in games where you and your opponent are looking to walk away from the games with fond and ridiculous memories of events that took place within the game, rather than who won. These rules imbue a sense of Necromunda and I’m very happy to see Warcry continue to lean into this.
Nonetheless, it’s not all good news. Whilst the Idol of the Old Ones is a lovely bit of kit and looks quite striking on the tabletop, the cards that are included within the Pyre and Flame box require you to have access to the terrain included within the “Scales of Talaxis” box. Upon looking into this, I saw that the box is no longer in production. However, you can now buy each of the key terrain pieces individually at a far higher cost. I also suspect you’d not get the terrain setup cards that you would get in the Scales of Talaxis box. This whole thing leaves a particularly sour taste in my mouth and leaves me scratching my head. I still can’t sit here and express any semblance of agreement or alignment when it comes to these particular approaches from Games Workshop.
We’ve gone from selling big boxes with everything that you’d need contained within, to now needing to buy several boxes in order to play the game in the first place. Does it make sense as a business for Games Workshop to divide its products like this? Yes, I suppose so. Does it provide a good customer experience for a game that is hailed as a fantastic, fast-paced and accessible game? No, no it does not.
Questionable product management aside, the Pyre and Flood box is yet another welcome ingredient to the delicious, simmering stew that Warcry. The system continues to be fun, accessible and cinematic with seemingly minimal effort. Combine this with the track record of Warcry also getting some world-class miniatures (and I do vehemently include the Pyregheists almost first and foremost amongst them), and the system is visibly and undeniably going from strength to strength.
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Thanks very much to Games Workshop for providing Warcry: Pyre and Flood for content purposes.