The Teratic Cohort are made by Ossiarch Bonereapers warriors and leaders who displeased Nagash, the Great Necromancer. Their punishment is to be remade in bestial form while maintaining the knowledge of who they were and keep a sparkling of hope of one day to be brought back in their original shape.
Background and Lore of the Teratic Cohort Warband
The Ossiarch Bonereapers are bone constructs created by Nagash aeons ago when preparing for taking over all Mortal Realms. They are efficient and disciplined killers and nothing can stand in their way. All who fall, are “recycled” and their bones used to expand their army.
Their skeletal body is made of bones, collected from anywhere in the Mortal Realms and assembled by the Mortisans, the magic caste adept in the bone-shaping art. Their souls, however, are taken from the most talented leaders and warriors who ever walked the mortal realms. They are often fragmented so that the new construct maintains the knowledge of their former life but not a past identity as their only loyalty is now to Nagash.
They are made to be perfect and failure is unacceptable. And Nagash, the God of Undeath, has a creative way to distribute punishments. The Teratic Cohort are made of all those that one way or another failed him: they could have found a village due their tithe deserted because they were slaughtered by other people, or they may have lost an important battle. It doesn’t really matter what they did, as long as Nagash thinks they are not “perfect”.
In their new form, they all serve a new purpose. The Kavalos Centauri are formed from the top half of a Liege-Kavalos merged with his mount, so that they are now fast and can lead the Teratic Cohort thanks to their previous role in the Ossiarch legions. However, they are constantly kept under control through their single eye made of Nadirite which works also as a way for the Mortisans to spy on the progress of the Teratic Cohort. Same eye placed also on the Cykloptian, which maintained a humanoid form but they were equipped with bestial legs to be faster and never be outpaced again.
The Aviarch Harpies have been transformed in winged beings without hands, so that they will forever remember they are not allowed to wield the nadirite weapons because of their past failure, letting their charge escape before they could pay their bone-tithe. In exchange, they are now able to hover the battlefield from above providing a terrific advantage to the troops on the ground.
The worst destiny however is the one befallen to the Teratic Prowlers, deemed broken or corrupted and then reformed in the shape of a canine so that they can forever hunt their victims. And should they fall prey to the call of Ghur, the Realm of Beast, is the duty of a Kavalos to put them down.
Nagash initially decided to burn down the Gnarlwood, the cursed forest created by the magic out of control coming out of Talaxis, the ruin of a fallen Seraphon vessel. For this reason he sent the Pyregheists, but soon discovered that clearing up the forest meant also giving a chance to all other warbands aiming at the treasures contained in Talaxis.
So, the Teratic Cohorts were sent deep into the forest to sack everything worth of use, and their progress was relentless and swift thanks to the fact that, being made of bones, they were mostly ignored by the flesh-hungry forest denizens. In addition, the Gnarloaks which feed on living beings, digest the flesh part of their preys maintaining in their digestive sacks plenty of bones which are perfect for the Teratic Cohort to have an infinite supply of material to reform themselves.
Once they got deep in the forest, they encountered the Twistweald, a group of Sylvaneth infested by the Gnarlwood parasites and hell-bent in sacrificing themselves to bury forever the entirety of Talaxis. Ans so the Briar and Bone war started.
But how do the Teratic Cohorts plan to overcome the Sylvaneth challenge? Let’s see what they have in their arsenal.
Fighters in the Teratic Cohort Warband
Note: if you haven’t read the basic rules for Warcry before reading this article, it might be helpful to know that the game’s abilities are activated by using 6 dice that you roll at the start of your turn.
If two of the dice show the same value, they can be used to activate a Double ability. If three show the same value, they can be used for a Triple ability, and so on.
So, when this article refers to an ability being a Double, a Triple or a Quad, it refers to this system. It might sound a bit confusing, but takes no time to get used to when you start playing
The Teratic Cohort warband is made of 5 different fighters, of which 1 is the leader.
Kavalos Centauri: 235 points
The Kavalos Centauri is the Leader of the warband, and the most expensive fighter. 7″ movement makes him also the fastest, unfortunately being “mounted” has some limitations, like can’t climb or pass through archways and closed doors. Not that climbing a short platform would get away from him, thanks to his 3″ range attacks (5) at Strength 4 for 2/4 damage.
Everyone in the warband has access to a Double, Eye of Katakros, which allows to roll as many dice as the ability’s value and for each 5+ obtain a wild dice. They also have access to a Triple, Unleashed Rage, which allows to score two critical hits for each critical hit rolled in the next melee attack. For a Triple is quite a gamble, made even worse if you discard two of your wild dice (maybe in the last round?) so that the critical hits become 3.
All other abilities depend on the fighter’s profile of which there are two: the Elite like the Centauri, and the Beasts. The Elite have access to a series of abilities starting from the Double Bestial Leaps which allows a free bonus action flying of 3″ (or 4″ if a wild dice is discarded in addition), the Double Nadirite Strike, which adds +2 to the attacks in the next melee attack action (and allows critical hits on a 5+ if two wild dice are discarded as well) to conclude to the only Quad, Savagery Unbound which allows every fighter in the same battle group (or all in the warband if two wild dice are discarded) to perform a bonus move.
The warband reaction also uses wild dice to remove the malus when attacking back a fighter who just attacked in melee: normally the reaction would give -1 to attack and damage to hits and critical hits, but discarding 1 wild dice removes this malus. This reaction is actually interesting when already engaged and potentially receiving two attack actions in sequence, to interrupt them and either give a last blow to the enemy before succumbing with the second attack, or even dispatch it before he can act again.
Mortek Cykloptians
- Mortek Cykloptian with Dread Glaive: 145 points
- Mortek Cykloptian with Nadirite Bident: 145 points
The Mortek Cykloptians work similarly to the Centauri: they have the same Toughness 4, good wounds and Elite runemark which provides access to all abilities mentioned above. They do go down to 4″ movement but they are not mounted.
The main difference between the profiles is that the Mortek Cykloptian with Dread Glaive is the heavy hitter with 3 attacks at Strength 5 for 2/4 damage, while the Mortek Cykloptian with Nadirite Bident has 2″ range but 1/5 damage.
Both have their own use, as they represent the core of the warband, especially if there are treasures to carry or doors to open. The Double Bestial Leaps is probably more useful for them than for the Centauri. And the Bident has the obvious advantage to be able to attack without being engaged.
Aviarch Harpy: 115 points
The Aviarch Harpy is a Beast with 5″ flying movement. As a Beast, there are many limitations like not being able to open doors or carry treasures, but it also introduces the last ability of the warband, available to both the Harpy and the Prowler: Artery-severing Strike. It is a Triple that puts the opponent in a tough position: any action or reaction he performs with the targeted fighter will risk bleeding him to death (roll as many dice as the ability’s value and allocate a damage point for each 2+).
Aside from that, the Harpy has good attacks (4 at Strength 4 for 1/4 damage) and average Toughness (4). It is more of a scouting unit, able to attack from the flanks and double down on weaker opponents or to relieve the pressure.
Teratic Prowler: 80 points
The Teratic Prowler is the base fighter of this warband, unfortunately a Beast as well with all limitations aforementioned. 4″ movement, Toughness 4 and 3 attacks at Strength 3 for 2/4 damage, makes it a decent fighter at its point cost, and one of which you’ll need few considering the cost of the other fighters.
Abilities for the Teratic Cohort Warband
- Bestial Leaps (Double, Kavalos Centauri and both Cykloptians): Perform a 3″ bonus move as if flying (or 4″ if spending a wild dice).
- Eyes of Katakros (Double, Everyone): Once per battle round, roll up to 6 dice and for each 5+ obtain a wild dice.
- Nadirite Strike (Double, Kavalos Centauri and both Cykloptians): Add +2 to the attacks in the next melee attack action. If two wild dice are discarded, critical hits are scored on a 5+.
- Artery-severing Strike (Triple, Aviarch and Prowler): After damaging an enemy, for the rest of the round every time the target performs a reaction or an action (other than wait), roll up to 6 dice and for each 2+ allocate a damage point.
- Unleashed Rage (Triple, Everyone): One critical hit from the next melee action generates an additional critical hit (or two if two wild dice are spent).
- Savagery Unbound (Quad, Kavalos Centauri and both Cykloptians): Each fighter within this battle group (or the entire warband if two wild dice are spent) can perform a bonus move.
Reaction for the Teratic Cohort Warband
Introduced in the new season of Warcry, Reactions are things that can be done in certain circumstances, but always during the enemy turn. They cost one action, so they can be used only by fighters that have not activated yet or are waiting. There are 3 universal reactions and one specific to each warband:
Predatory Ravage (Everyone)
- When: After receiving a melee attack and be assigned all damage.
- What: Make a melee attack action against the attacker with -1 to the attack and damage (both normal and critical hits) unless a wild dice is spent.
Battle Trait for the Teratic Cohort Warband
The battle trait is an addition introduced in Briar and Bone which adds an extra optional rule that affects all characters with the same runemark, without using any ability dice. Each faction has its own but the Grand Alliance one can be used instead:
- Order – Courageous Defenders: When using Take Cover reaction the critical hit becomes normal hit on a 3+ instead of 4+.
- Chaos – Aspire to Glory: Once per battle round, add 1 to the first critical hit from a melee attack from a fighter whose cost is 125 points or less.
- Death- Deathless Minions: Once per battle round, a critical hit to a Minion from a shooting attack is counted as a normal hit instead.
- Destruction – Relentless Destroyers: During melee attacks the target cannot claim the +1 Toughness bonus from cover.
Predatory Outsiders: Before deployment you can pick a battle group that is not in reserve and can deploy it within 6″ of their deployment zone but 6″ away from enemy units.
Strategy and Tactics for the Teratic Cohort Warband
The Teratic Cohort is a weird warband. They play on the concept of wild dice, which are quite powerful to seize initiative. They have one ability which can be played only once per battle round, with a slim chance to obtain a wild dice for each dice rolled (33%). Assuming you have a Double 6 to use, on statistical average you’ll get three wild dice per round (one is given automatically during the initiative phase).
Then you have a list of abilities which get strengthened by spending these wild dice, leaving you with the conundrum: do you want to seize initiative or improve your dice next round, or do you want to activate an effect immediately?
To answer this question, we need to analyse these effects: +1″ on a bonus move? Skip in most cases.
Adding an extra critical hit on the next melee attack action? If you like gambles, then this is the type of all-in that make-or-break. Personally we wouldn’t use this Triple over the universal Double Onslaught, which gives +1 attack for the rest of the activation unless the opponent had really high Toughness (6) or you had a single activation this round.
Giving everyone a free move action instead of those in the same battle group? Again, extremely situational the ability itself. It does not provide a free disengage or attack action, so some fighters may be disqualified immediately. It may be a good second activation ability on the first turn to close the gap with the enemy, but the universal Quad Rampage is the one to beat.
This leaves the Double Nadirite Strike which allows to perform critical hits on a 5+. Is it worth two wild dice? Again, situational, but with 2 attacks more and critical hit damage on the warband being on average 4, it may be a good use of those dice.
And the warband reaction, is a great way to interrupt an opponent who starts before you and activates a fighter already engaged. This way, between the two attack actions, the defending fighter has a chance to fight back, maybe dispatch his adversary, maybe swing one last time before going down. Either way, spending a wild dice to not get a malus on this reaction is a great way to use them if you can afford it. Note that you can’t use the reaction if the fighter is taken down.
In summary, the warband’s abilities are ok, but there’s none ranged. They use a mechanic that does not always work the way it is intended (wild dice used in the Initiative phase are much stronger than those used as extra currency for abilities) and you may often look at the universal abilities as an alternative. However, in some situations the reaction can be quite devastating.
For the rest, the list building of the warband is extremely straight-forward: the Kavalos Centauri is the mandatory leader and best fighter, the Aviarch Harpies are needed for the flying movement and the Prowlers are there to fill the gaps. The only choice is about 2 or 3 Mortek Cykloptians and if Bidents or Glaives. The Glaive is the most damaging weapon, but the 2″ of the Bident, in conjunction with the Double Nadirite Strike is equally worth consideration.
This the warband who most can benefit from allies, like a Soulmason to add more attacks, or a Boneshaper to heal them back, both with a decent 7″ ranged attack.
In an open field, like the Gnarlwood, this warband can use their mobility to reduce the distance with the opponents, although they will struggle against ranged attacks, especially those with decent movement. In closed environments, like Catacombs, the mounted character and the beasts, will struggle to go around, and there’s a limit on how many Bestial Leaps a Kavalos can make in a game, to jump archways and doors.
It is a thematic warband, but is missing something to give an edge against other warbands.
Pros and Cons of the Teratic Cohort Warband
Pros:
+ Straight-forward warband
Cons:
– Simple list-building, not many options
– Mechanics based on wild dice not rewarding
– Not a single ranged attack/ability
Some thematic warbands for the Teratic Cohort
Just for fun here we present few thematic warbands, meant more for fun or narrative context than for competitive play. Note that in narrative play you need to complete a quest that allows you to recruit a Hero before being able to add him to your roster.
Out of the box: 1 Kavalos Centauri, 1 Mortek Cykloptian with Dread Glaive, 1 Mortek Cykloptian with Nadirite Bident, 2 Aviarch Harpies, 3 Teratic Prowlers.
How to buy a Teratic Cohort Warband
The Teratic Cohort were initially released in the quarterly box Briar and One, but a new individual box has since been released.
A single sprue allows to assemble:
- 1 Kavalos Centauri
- 2 Mortek Cykloptian with either option of weapon
- 2 Aviarch Harpy
- 3 Teratic Prowlers
Tips on painting a Teratic Cohort Warband for Warcry
The Teratic Cohort are part of the Ossiarch Bonereapers and as such they can be painted in any colour scheme of your preference. And as they are mostly made of bone material, they are perfect for many speed painting techniques, like those presented by Ninjon for his Ossiarch army.
Games Workshop has their own take on how to speed-paint a Teratic Cohort in less than 4 hours. Otherwise you can take inspiration by an older tutorial for a Mortek Guard using contrast paints.