Skip to main content

Wyrdcry 1.0 - The Comet Hath Arrived

· 6 min read
Johan
Wyrdcry

It's finally here! After 7 months of public playtests, Wyrdcry 1.0 is officially released. I'm not ruling out further tweaks to the warband balance as we get more games in, but the core rules feel like they're in a very good spot. The new combat system solved exactly what I wanted them to: making armour matter more, different weapons to shine in different situations, and shooting to be toned down.

This means that there's now a shiny new tab on the website with downloads for both the Rulebook and the Campaign book. Download and print them, my dear miscreants. If you find any errors, let me know and edit them with a sharpie. We might have to do a 1.1 in a few months (although you've done an amazing job with the proof-reading, big thanks to everyone involved)

And finally, for the love of the Shadow Lord – if you like where things are going, spread the word that 1.0 is out!

Changelog​

Starting a Battle​

  • Small tweak - but search parties must now be deployed on the battlefield floor. Deploying Shoot 4 Marksmen on 3 story buildings was...nasty.

Actions​

  • Movement

    • Don't fix what ain't broken. Vanilla Warcry climbing is back, and it feels good
    • Ladders no longer offer the double movement bonus. Climbing feels really fast as is and it's really easy to get your fighters up on platforms.
    • Rather than giving a climbing bonus, grappling hooks now lets your fighters end an activation while climbing, or rappel down for half the movement cost.

  • New Weapon Rules for the attack action.

    • Brutal is a new weapon rule that directly negates the parry weapon rule.
    • Poisoned offers a damage over time effect that kicks in whenever a fighter is activated.

  • Channel Magic

    • The Magical Calamity table now deal set amounts of damage, as using ability values felt too clunky.

  • Wait Action

    • Fighters can no longer use two abilities by waiting. It's one ability, either in the fighter's first or second activation. This is partly to tune down Wizards (double gnaw-doom sucked) but also things like making two respite or strategize rolls. It feels better, trust me.

Reactions​

  • Counter now uses the vanilla Warcry counter rules. As counter damage isn't negated by Armour, the vanilla rule will result in less damage overall to the attacker, and rolling multiple misses better represents the target hitting back.

Abilities​

  • Wizards now have access to universal magical abilities, offering all Wizards some simple battle magic in addition to their faction lore.

Scenarios​

  • We're back to carrying 1 wyrdstone token per fighter, sorry!
  • In Escape, wyrdstone tokens must now be distributed evenly among the defenders search parties.
  • Minor tweaks to Defend the Find (wyrdstone placement)
  • Hidden Vault now uses objective markers rather than selecting terrain pieces as it's been a nightmare to apply the scenario to pre-built Mordheim boards. This also helps with hidden skaven not being able to reveal and search.

The Aftermath Sequence​

  • I mean. Everything is new here. Download the Campaign Book and see for yourselves!
  • That said, I've now run two 5-game campaigns and I'm really happy with the results
    • The lethality is still there, but the catch-up mechanics have done an adequate job of keeping games interesting. Being the underdog and getting to summon a Rat Ogre feels fucking fantastic.
    • There's way less swingy-ness in the income system and warbands stay relatively balanced.
    • That said, I'm hoping to introduce three-player battles soon that lets two underdogs gang up on the campaign leader.

Factions​

  • Clan Eshin

    • Nerfed Black-Clad Killers by forcing revealed fighters to be set up on the battlefield floor. Also removed bonus to Fight. Setting fighters up anywhere felt amazing (very Vermintide) but it was a very stacked ability.
    • The faction ability Murder-Stab is gone, and replaced by the trait Strength In Numbers. Flanking a target now also gives Eshin weapons the piercing 1 weapon rule.

  • Possessed

    • Applied some of the new weapon rules to the Mutations in the mutation Table. The Scorpion Tail is now poisonous, and the Great Claw is brutal. Tentacles have been corrected to have the Whipcrack weapon rule (I guess it can still cause a whiplash? hehe.)
    • The Mutant wasn't properly displaying a line saying that you must roll once on the mutation table when recruiting them to the warband.

  • The Undead

    • Ghouls are a bit weaker and have come down in price so that you can use them for scenario actions! Gory Feast now affects the active Ghoul as well!
    • The rotten fangs of the Dire Wolf now has the Piercing 1 weapon rule.

  • Witch Hunters

    • No updates. Feels great on the table.

  • Sisters of Sigmar

    • Sisters can now buy Prayer beads to re-roll failed Bravery tests (great for generating Wyrd Dice with prayer! Make #prayermeta happen!)

  • Mercenaries

    • As you can now only Strategize once per battle round the Captain now generates Wyrd Dice on a 4+.
    • Increasing Armour on a faction that thrives on fighters wearing heavy armour was silly. Give Order now either gives you an offensive boost (Add 1 to fight or shoot) or bolsters morale (Add 1 to Bravery).

What's next?​

That depends on you! I hope that you'll give the game a try and maybe share a battle report with your experiences. I'm not ruling out minor tweaks in an errata, but this is the core game for now.

Me, I'm planning on running The Curse of Count Adelbrecht for my gaming club and tinkering with Kill Team style Non Player Operatives.

The community created Shadow Warriors, Dwarf Treasure Hunters and Beastmen Raiders all deserve to be brought to the 1.0, as does the rules for mounted combat. Pushing 1.0 out has been a massive project, and I'll probably need a breather before getting stuck in again.

Looking forward to see you all on Discord!

/ Johan