Birds of a Feather... a Warcry project, by Medge

In the Bloodwind spoil, birds of a feather fly, kill and die together. 

Welcome to another bash the Backlog; Warcry update. 

When it was first release I was totally blown away by Warcry. The Mortal Realms was somewhat... lacking in Mortals at this stage; the miniatures range featuring lightning-blooded demi-gods, immortal Aelves, Ogors, and Greenskins, daemons and warp-touched men... but very few true-blooded mortals.

Warcry was a window into the lives of the "common man" within the Mortal Realms, although not one we expected to see! With Chaos in the ascendancy for millennia, the "common man" was already a long way down the path of damnation, a path the lead straight to the Evenchosen's doors. Throughout the Realmgate Wars we'd seen what happens to those that had fallen to Chaos, but Warcry brought us models that showed just how many paths there were to corruption!

Previously I've shown off my Iron Golems, one of my favourite of the new Warcry Warbands, and some Chaos Furies, evil lesser daemons that haunt the Bloodwind Spoil.

Today I wanted to share some of the Bloodwind spoils more avian options; the Corvus Cabal and Raptoryxes.

The Corvus Cabal; Pick the corpse clean

The Corvus Cabal hail from the realm of Ulgu - a shadowed land full of hidden dangers. They worship an aspect of Chaos the call the Great Gatherer, depicted as a great carrion bird perched atop a nest of bone and treasure, the patron on thieves and murders.

The Cabal show their dedication to the Great Gatherer by offering treasures and grizzly trophies looted from their victims, and decorating their lairs (and themselves) with feathers and bones.

As with the Iron Golems, I was immediately blown away by how amazing these models looked. Where the Iron Golem models were all solid, formidable warriors, the Corvus Cabal were the opposite. Each model is either bursting with speed, running, leaping or hurling their weapons, or skulking like murderous vermin waiting to strike.        

I opted to paint my Corvus Cabal in drab grey and black, splashing in purples and blues on the fur and feathers to break up the monotone colours.

Everything was done using Contrast paints to a Battle ready standard - since I'm not gaming any time soon I just wanted to get them done and off the pile of shame! If I find I really enjoy the Warband I'll likely revisit them and add the highlights and such!

  

I was pretty impressed with how nice the models looked with just the contrast range. Yes - the models look a little flat without the 'eavy Metal style highlights, but the natural highlight effect the contrast range gives was surprisingly good. More than good enough for tabletop standard at least!

Feathered Beasts; the Raptoryx

With the Corvus Cabal complete I turned my attention to the only remaining Warcry pieces I had left; the Raptoryxes. 

Avian predators that hunt across the Bloodwind Spoil, the Raptoryxes are neutral monsters that (on occasion) pop up in games of Warcry - adding some extra threat to both you and your opponent.

As with the Corvus Cabal, I opted to paint the Raptoryx using contrast and drybrushes, looking for a quick tabletop-standard paint scheme.

I'm pretty happy with the results!

I wanted the Raptoryxes to look a little different to the Furies I painted last year, opting to paint them in three different coloured pairs rather than a single colour. I was really pleased with how nice they turned out (given each one took about 2 hours in total to paint, including drying time), but I was especially pleased with the white and pink ones.

The end, and the beginning...

With these models complete I'm finally in a place to say "I have a fully painted Warcry collection" - and it's a good feeling!

I've got two Warcry Warbands from "Season 1" of the game, the Iron Golems and Corvus Cabal, I can use to learn and experiment with.

I have the Corpsewrack Mausoleum board and terrain fully painted, along with the Core Mission Deck/ Cards, as the battlefield

and now I have the Raptoryxes and Furies painted for neutral monsters, or unwitting allies, depending on how the story plays out.

Ready. For. War!

When lockdown in the UK eases I'll be looking to play a few games with both Factions, weighing up which one I like the most (strengths, weaknesses and play styles) before taking my favourite of the two down one (or both!) of their Campaigns from the Core Book.

As my journey continues I may end up adding additional factions and/ or fighters to the roster, either with tamed monsters or force leaders. I have both the Tome of Champions 2019 and the Monsters and Mercenaries expansions to draw from, and will likely pick up the Tome of Champions 2020 when I embark on the campaigns.

After that... who knows!

If you want to follow along with me as I learn Warcry and attempt to earn Archeons favour then drop me a comment below and I'll pick up the series again soon.

Until then, stay safe and happy hobby everyone!  

Medge

  

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