Warcry/Tactics/Flesh-Eater Courts

Faction Overview

Deluded as they are, some ghouls think to go on a quest to the Eightpoints and bring some of their friends with them. A fast Warband, but don't expect much from the ghouls, unlike their Crypt Horrors who are slower but actually faster and hit like a truck. Or pay more for Crypt Flayers for even faster, flying murder monsters!

Pros

• Exceptional Mobility: With ghouls moving 5", Horrors moving 6", and Flayers moving a whopping 10" with fly, Flesh-Eater Courts are among Warcry's fastest and most maneuverable factions, allowing them to get right were they need to be in a pinch.
• Powerful Elite Fighters: Horrors, Flayers, and their leader counterparts are among the most durable fighters in the game, and their damage output is very respectable. Combined with their good-to-excellent movement, each one is a force to be reckoned with.
• Flexibility: With access to both powerful heavy-hitters and cheap infantry to make up the numbers, Flesh-Eater Courts can form a solid all-rounder Warband that can take on just about any mission and opponent and have a good chance of coming out on top.

Cons

• Limited Units Types: Flesh-Eaters have great high-cost beatsticks and decent infantry, but no mid-cost units to speak of. This limits list building for the faction somewhat, and can make what we bring to the table fairly predictable.
• No Range: Aside from an unreliable triple ability, Flesh-Eater Courts have no ranged capabilities whatsoever, being limited to 1" range claws and teeth. Enemies with movement-preventing abilities and ranged weapons can cripple our key fighters and really put a dampener on our noble quest.

Abilities Overview

• [Double] Feeding Frenzy: A fighter can only use this ability if an enemy fighter has been taken down by one of their attacks this activation. Remove damage from this fighter equal to the value of the ability. (All)
  • Ability Commentary: Not much to write home about here. It's nice to have a healing ability on a double but it's fairly conditional. Typically Flesh-Eaters have better things to be spending doubles on.
• [Double] Skewering Strike: Add 1 to the strength of the next attack made by this fighter this activation with a Range of 3 or less. If that attack scores a critical hit, until the end of the battle round the target fighter cannot make move or disengage actions. (Crypt Infernal, Crypt Flayer)
  • Ability Commentary: The strength boost is a nice little added bonus, but the real meat of this tactic is the second half. Trapping an enemy who might be otherwise trying to flee gives us some nice utility, particularly for keeping ranged fighters in check. Only getting the trap effect on a crit does make it somewhat unreliable though.
• [Double] Chosen of the King: A fighter can use this ability only if they are within 6" of a visible friendly fighter with the Leader runemark. Until the end of this fighter's activation add 2 to the Attacks characteristic of attack actions made by this fighter that have a Range of 3 or less. (Crypt Haunter, Crypt Horror)
  • Ability Commentary: Conditional but doubly potent [Double] Onslaught. Considering a Crypt Haunter can always make use of this and it's usually not too difficult to position your regular Crypt Horrors to be within 6" of our leader, this is one of our greatest abilities, turning any unit that uses it into a one-model blender.
• [Triple] Bringer of Death: Add the value of this ability to the Move characteristic of friendly fighters within 6" of this fighter when they use this ability, until the end of the battle round. (Leader)
  • Ability Commentary: This one cranks our already excellent mobility up to eleven. Used appropriately, it can allow our leader and any units strategically placed nearby when we pop it to rocket anywhere across the map. This ability offers excellent utility and there are few missions and match-ups were it won't come in handy.
• [Triple] Death Scream: Roll 1 dice for each visible enemy fighter within 8". On a 5 allocate 1 damage to them, on a 6 allocate damage to them equal to the value of this ability. (Crypt Infernal, Crypt Flayer)
  • Ability Commentary: Our only form of ranged attack. It's nice that we get a roll to boop every visible enemy within 8", but a single damage on a 5 and a 6 needed to do any substantial damage, a Flesh-Eater Warband will typically have better things to be spending that triple on. I'd wager 4 targets is the minimum you'd typically want to be able to hit with this before considering whether or not to use it.
• [Quad] The Royal Hunt: This fighter makes a bonus move action, then they can make a bonus attack action. In addition, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of that attack action if this fighter is within 1" of a visible friendly fighter. (All)
  • Ability Commentary: Strictly better [Quad] Rampage. It's nothing fancy and the bonus is underwhelming compared to the "Rampage+" Gloomspite get, but a strictly better version of an already excellent ability is still fantastic. Infernal/Flayers with their 10" movement and fly can usually make the most of this ability, giving them a wide berth of the battlefield and allowing them to strike anywhere.

Fighter's Overview

Leaders

Crypt Ghast

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 16; 125 Pts.
• Runemarks: Leader
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary: The Ghoul leader variant. For his points he's got some respectable stats and if he didn't have the leader runemark he'd be a fine mid-cost fighter. Unfortunately he eats up our leader slot, and he's largely overshadowed by the other two leader options. You usually won't be considering him to lead your Warband unless you have some thematic reason to do so.

Crypt Haunter

• Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 40; 255 Pts.
• Runemarks: Elite Leader
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
• Fighter Commentary: The Horror leader variant. With a whopping 40 wounds, good movement, and a strong attack profile, the Crypt Haunter is both one of the hardest models in the game to take down, and a wrecking ball in combat. His biggest selling point is his constant access to [Double] Chosen of the King; He is always counted as being within 6" of himself, meaning he always has access to a doubly effective version of the games staple combat buff. Because of this, he is the hardest-hitting model in the whole faction. In addition to his combat prowess, being 45 points cheaper than the Crypt Infernal makes him a nice leader choice if you want to spend points elsewhere.

Crypt Infernal

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 4; Wounds 40; 300 Pts.
• Runemarks: Agile, Fly, Leader
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
• Fighter Commentary: The Flayer leader variant. The Infernal is similar to the Haunter in most regards, but trades access to [Double] Chosen of the King for an additional 4" of movement and the Fly runemark. What the Infernal trades in raw killing power, it makes up for with the flexibility this additional movement offers; with 10" flying movement, an Infernal can quickly and effortlessly traverse the battlefield, getting exactly were it needs to be to best enable your gameplan and support your other units with its still respectable combat prowess and the [Triple] Bringer of Death ability. The Infernal's additional mobility combined with identical base weapon stats to the Haunter also makes it the most potent unit to use [Quad] The Royal Hunt on. At 300 points the Infernal is the most expensive leader variant, though he's well worth the cost.

Fighters

Crypt Ghoul

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 55 Pts.
• Runemarks: None
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
• Fighter Commentary: The basic grunts of the faction. Ghouls are fairly fragile, have a mediocre attack profile, but have reasonable movement and are cheap. While not very exciting, these otherwise unassuming infantry play an important role in the warband, cheaply filling out our body count to give us more actions, and more options. These guys will usually be the ones scurrying off to grab treasure and objectives, opening up our Flayers and Horrors to spend their time taking down enemies.

Crypt Horror

• Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 190 Pts.
• Runemarks: Elite
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary: One of our two big, beefy infantry choices. Horrors are our basic bruisers, lumbering up the battlefield and smashing foes while tanking hits with their 30 wounds. 6" movement is good enough for them to run up and get into the action fairly quickly, and [Double] Chosen of the King gives them a substantial boost in combat, granting them a number of bonus attacks equal to a [Quad] Rampage should they happen to have started their activation already in combat. A solid all-rounder bruiser at a reasonable cost.

Crypt Flayer

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 235 Pts.
• Runemarks: Agile, Fly
• Weapons:
  • Claws-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary: The flying cousin of the Crypt Horror. As with the Haunter and Infernal, Flayers are similarly stated, upcosted versions of the basic Horror that trade access to the Elite runemark for additional movement and the Fly runemark. While they are incapable of hitting quite as hard as a Horror with a double, their basic attack profile is still respectable and 10" movement and fly gives them a lot of flexibility. A Crypt Flayer can quickly move to where it is most needed in a given situation, and is the ideal candidate for flying to high-up treasure, snatching it, and proceeding to run circles around the enemy the rest of the game.

Minions, Thralls, and Allies

Allies

Abhorrant Ghoul King

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 28; 185 Pts.
  • Weapons:
    • Fangs-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
• Abilities
  • [Triple] Summon the Black Hunger : Until the end of the battle round, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of attack actions that have a Range characteristic of 3" or less made by visible friendly fighters while they are within 3" of this fighter.