I’d been sleeping on fantasy wargame Warcrow, but this fresh tutorial video for the upcoming starter box has made a serious case for the game.
Learning a new wargame is tough. Between Warhammer Age of Sigmar‘s weighty tomes and the endless edge-cases and exceptions in Warhammer 40k: Kill Team, it’s easy to see why a fresh player might find learning a new wargame to be a daunting prospect.
It was this trend which initially put me off Warcrow, a fantasy title from developers Corvus Belli. Despite enjoying the fantastical yet grounded fantasy aesthetic, I simply couldn’t commit to learning another complex ruleset.
Fortunately, Corvus Belli has produced an instructional video, showing off an entry-level scenario from its upcoming starter box, Song of the Dormant, which is due for release on August 29. I expected an informative, if plodding, walkthrough of a by-the-numbers wargame. However, I soon found myself pleasantly surprised by what looks to be a refreshing and well-paced approach to game design.
From the get-go, Warcrow seems concerned with elegant, quality-of-life improvements, designed to make for a slick and unencumbered gaming experience. There were no overblown gimmicks on display, simply a handful of tweaks to the traditional skirmish game formula.
Take movement, for instance. In Warcrow, units ‘leapfrog’ the measuring stick, meaning that you don’t have to faff around with handwaving and approximations; what you see is what you get. Similarly, to add a leader to a unit, you simply slide the leader’s unit card underneath the relevant card for the unit in question – easy peasy.
The stress mechanic also adds a significant layer of tactical depth, allowing you to push units harder in the short term at the cost of survivability and effectiveness in the long term. Stress also interacts with morale, ensuring that more worn, tired units are more likely to turn tail and run if the going gets tough.
Whether you’re a wargaming veteran or simply curious about the hobby, the tutorial is well worth checking out. Whether you enjoyed the tutorial or, perhaps, found it wanting, let us know your thoughts by dropping in at the Wargamer Discord community.