Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

But Carngrad (or at least this section of it) actually was.*

One of my gaming buddies came over on Saturday, and we finally got around to actually playing Warcry. The weekend before, I'd seen some people playing, and one of them said that he thought it might be just barely possible to build all the scenery in a single day. Obviously, that's the kind of thing I take as a challenge, but after finishing, either he builds extremely slowly, or he also meant all the dudes from the set as well, or something else, I don't know. Even taking more care with cleanup and such than I usually do, and consulting the guide that Waywalker Studios did on making sure your Terrain can actually be used for all the Battlefield cards, it still didn't take anywhere near a full day.

Speaking of that guide, as you may or may not have noticed, the assembly instructions in the box only show how to build two Ruins, and leave the remainder up to you. Which would be all well and good except that the game is built around specific Terrain set-ups on the included cards, and if you do just randomly build something cool with the rest, you won't necessarily actually be able to set all of those up. Furthermore, there are a couple of places where it's important to not follow the directions, as they tell you to glue on the stairs and a couple of other parts that the cards call for using in different configurations. The Waywalker Studios guide is good, but they relied on the pictures from the set, which don't have very good angles for the ruins that don't have directions. So hopefully, as well as being a build showcase, this will also have some useful reference images of those ruins from different angles.

Some of these barely fit in my light box. It got a bit sketchy at points.


These are some different angles on the ruin that doesn't have a good pic in the instructions. Hopefully, along with the parts list in the Waywalker guide, they'll make it easier for someone else to build than it was for me.


The other ruin that doesn't have directions. This one is pretty simple, tho.



One of the two that do have directions. Where they did them (and didn't tell you to glue things that should remain loose), the directions are really very good, with the different types of parts categorized and colour-coded.



The last of the ruins. Together, they really do offer a pretty impressive range of options. OK, technically, I think the next one is a ruin as well, but I think of it as The Bell Tower instead. It doesn't really have the same range of options and potential for mixing with the other parts, but is still really cool.

Again, as noted before, don't glue the stairs in. They pressure-fit just fine. I chose to leave the skeletons off of this one because A) the overall concentration of them was getting a bit high for my taste after doing the barricades, B) they'll be cool for other projects, and C) they all have the same pose, and collectively, it makes them look like they were sentenced to The Hell of Infinite Coffee and No Toilets. One big thing to note is that none of the stone framework is damaged except the very top. Chop off those shattered column tops and this could work great as part of an intact structure, make an actual bell tower or something. Also, you could put all kinds of things in the niches instead of the skeletons. A bit skinny for most actual minis, but there re definitely things that could make cool statuary or whatever in there.


The last major piece of terrain from the set. Again, don't glue the stairs in, and ideally don't glue the platform to the statue head (it actually stays on surprisingly solidly), or the barricade at the end either. I did that before I looked up advice on building these, and really wish I hadn't.
See. If that bit hadn't been there, this would be great for extending the platform area available. But it's stuck, so that's always going to be blocked off. Don't make my mistake. Leave it unglued. It sits on there just fine. I thought I also had a pic showing how well the stairs fit with the other ruins, but apparently not. You can see it in the big pic at the top, but it's not as nice as it would have been if I'd done it in the light box.

I really want more of this Terrain. It's built to be pretty compatible with the other AoS Terrain from the Azyrite Ruins on, and there's so much more potential than what I felt constrained to by the limitations of the Game.  A lot of this stuff (particularly the bell tower and statue head) could even fit in with 40K Sector Imperialis sets pretty nicely with a bit of work.

I've also got a bunch of shots of the Death Guard stuff that I've done this month, just need to get those ready to post. Until then, y'all have a good one, y'hear!

*Don't ask me about how long it's going to take to get it painted.

10 comments:

  1. That looks like a very cool kit! GW have been knocking it out of the park with their plastic terrain for years now.

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    1. As far as I can tell, it's pretty much been since Ray Dranfield got moved from the Warhammer World dioramas staff to the scenery department. He has a great sense of how to go about designing not just scenery pieces, but full scenery ranges.

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  2. The terrain in Warcry is a large part of the appeal in this box and I hadn't realised there was so much of it until you posted this up, so thank you for taking the time to show it all off.

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    1. Certainly! There's actually even more. I didn't bother including the barricades or scatter terrain, since those are basically just "clip off the sprue and clean up the mold lines".

      It is also impressive how flexible even this set of builds is. It's possible to pack them together very densely (either for storage, or as GW did to get them all in one pic), and still be usable, but they also work very nicely spread out over a surprisingly large area.

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  3. '...sentenced to The Hell of Infinite Coffee and No Toilets...'

    lol, that was hilarious!

    Its a shame about the platform above the head, suppose you'll have to buy another right? ;-p It is really cool looking terrain, though when looking through your pics all I could think of was Mordheim.

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    1. Thanks! Ever since I first watched Big Trouble in Little China, I've liked the idea of very specific hells. And, with all the hands crossed over the groin, and a 6 year old and 3 1/2 year old around here pretty often, the imagery went straight to "need to pee", rather than some sort of binding. There was also a bit in the liner notes of Rag-Na-Rok that contributed, about an end of the world concert featuring free beer and pay toilets XD

      I would love to get more of this stuff. It's absolutely fantastic, and there's so much more potential beyond what I've done here. Given that my liquid assets come to about 7 bucks right now, it's not happening anytime soon, tho :(

      And yeah, you are far from the first I've seen think about using this for Mordheim. Go for it, it is the 20th anniversary after all!

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  4. Typical GW. "Oh you bolloxed up the terrain because we didn't give you proper instructions? Never mind, you can just buy another box!". Ah don't listen to me. I'm just desperately trying to avoid the hook and spend more money on a game that I'm probably not going to play. Cos that scenery looks pretty cool

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    1. Yeah, I really should have resisted the urge for this one, but it was just too cool. Best of lucking fending that off!

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  5. I must and will not buy Warcry, even for this awesome scenery.

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    1. Stay strong! It is a difficult task you have set yourself!

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