Warhammer Flesh-eater Courts Army Set Review - Delusional and Deadly

In their own twisted and deluded minds, the Flesh-eater Courts think themselves high nobility. In reality, they're depraved, monstrous, cannibalistic vampire beasts who rend flesh with twisted claws and hungry fangs. This week, Games Workshop sent us a brand new collection of these Warhammer: Age of Sigmar minis, so read on for everything included, and a breakdown of all the new characters, in our Flesh-eater Courts Army Set Review.

What's Included In The Flesh-eater Courts Army Set?

Included in the Flesh-eater Courts Army Set is everything a player needs to kickstart their new army. While not enough to field a full army -- the units included come to 745 points -- it's a strong start. As a bonus, all of the models included in the box are new to the range!

Full box contents for the Flesh-eater Courts Army Set include:

• 88-page special edition Death Battletome: Flesh-eater Courts
• 27 Warscroll Cards
• 33 Enhancement Cards
• 1 Token Sheet
• 1 Abhorrant Gorewarden
• 1 Varghulf Courtier
• 3 Morbheg Knights
• 20 Cryptguard

Flesh-eater Courts Army Set Unit Deep Dive

Let's spend some time with each of the new units included in the set, talking about their stats, highlighting a few key abilities, and more. First up is the showpiece of this new set.

Abhorrant Gorewarden

With his jangling keys to the kingdom, the Abhorrant Gorewarden protects the realm of the Flesh-eater Courts. This model is a Hero Wizard unit with the Fly ability, and its core stats are:

• Move: 12"
• Wounds: 7
• Bravery: 10
• Save: 4+

Armed with talons and fangs (1", 5 Attacks, 3+ Hit, 3+ Wound, -1 Rend, 2 Damage), the bloodthirsty Gorewarden can heal up to D3 wounds. He can also be setup in reserve "circling in the skies," allowing you to set him (and an additional Crypt Flayers or Morbheg Knights unit) up 9" from enemy units at the end of your movement phase. This unpredictability, and added mobility from flight, makes him a hard-to-pin-down heavy hitter!

Add to that his spell, "Winds of Shyish," which basically repeats the special reserve rule, reading:

Winds of Shyish: Winds of Shyish is a spell that has a casting value of 6 and a range of 9" If successfully cast pick 1 friendly Flesh-eater Courts unit that can fly and is wholly within range and visible to the caster. Remove this unit and the unit you picked from the battlefield and set them up again more than 9" from all enemy units and wholly within 9" of each other. Neither unit can move in the following movement phase.

The pure mobility here, from objective control to the ability to harry your opponents' weakened units, makes the Gorewarden maybe the most powerful unit in the box. I also love the look of this unit and its keyring. This was a pretty straightforward unit to build, as well.

Varghulf Courtier

Though considered saintly champions by the Flesh-eater Courts, in reality the Varghulf Courtier is one of the most bestial creatures in the army. This unit is a Hero unit, with the following stats:

• Move: 10"
• Wounds: 8
• Bravery: 10
• Save: 4+

Armed with two different weapon profiles -- Immense Claws (2", 5 Attacks, 3+ Hit, 3+ Wound, -1 Rend, 2 Damage) and Dagger-like Fangs (2", 1 Attack, 3+ hit, 2+ Wound, -2 Rend, 3 Damage), this unit can go into a frenzy with its "Kings Champion" ability, which lets it add 2 to its attack characteristics (but can only attack units that have a Wounds characteristic of 1 or 2 and are un-mounted).

It can also pass across terrain features as though it had Fly thanks to its "Bounding Strides" ability, and it indulges in a "Victory Feast" which reads:

Victory Feast: At the end of the combat phase, if any enemy models were slain by wounds caused by this unit's attacks in that phase, you can heal up to D6 wounds allocated to this unit. In addition, at the end of the combat phase, this unit can immediately retreat.

With that healing and the 8 wound characteristic making it hard to take down, this unit can really get in the mix and be a stubborn problem for your opponent. As for the build: though fairly difficult to line up, dry fit, and glue the initial pieces of this model, by the time I got the torso put together everything else slid into place rather nicely.

Morbheg Knights

The Morbheg Knights are dedicated warriors who pounce into battle atop grisly Nightshriekers. Their core stats are as follows:

• Move: 12"
• Wounds: 3
• Bravery: 10
• Save: 4+

These units are armed with a Grisly Lance (2", 2 Attacks, 3+ Hit, 3+ Wound, -1 Rend, 1 Damage) and their mounts are armed with Vicious Claws and Teeth (2", 3 Attacks, 3+ Hit, 3+ Wound, -1 Rend, 2 Damage), and you can build a champion, standard bearer, and musician per unit (of 3 total).

Along with their "Predator's Pounce" ability, which allows them to retreat and charge in the same turn, they also have the "Shrieking Charge" ability:

Shrieking Charge: After this unit makes a charge move, you can pick 1 enemy unit within 1" of this unit. That enemy unit cannot receive the Unleash Hell command in this phase. In addition, roll 1 dice for each model in this unit that is within 1" of that enemy unit. For each 4+, that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.

We love it when our cavalry (even mounted upon giant bat-monsters) has a great charge ability, and in my opinion Shrieking Charge could be a seriously powerful one.

Cryptguard

Finally, let's look at the Cryptguard, of which there are two units (of 10 models each) included in this box. These dedicated footsoldiers protect their realm with core stats of:

• Move: 6"
• Wounds: 1
• Bravery: 10
• Save: 5+

The Cryptguard come armed with a Cursed Weapon (2", 2 Attacks, 3+ Hit, 3+ Wound, -1 Rend, 1 Damage). You can build a champion, standard-bearer, and musician from the sprues included here, and they have a 5+ ward.

In addition, to reinforce their role as protectors, they add 1 to the ward rolls of friendly Flesh-eater Courts heroes wholly within 3" of them.

Additionally, they have the special ability Armoury of Madness, which reads:

Armoury of Madness: If any wounds caused by this unit's attacks are allocated to an enemy unit, that enemy unit cannot issue or receive commands until the end of the turn.

Good, solid, standard on-the-ground fighters with a nice little extra control ability here, these won't shock to table but make a nice addition to your army.

What Are Some Key Additions To Add To The Flesh-eater Courts Army Set?

For players looking to build out their army from this base, there are a few key additions to consider adding to your crew. For one, it would definitely be worth it to pick up some Crypt Flayers to pair with the "set up in reserves" abilities of your Abhorrant Gorewarden, giving them added flexibility.

Also, just to flesh out your army, I'd highly recommend investing in a few units of Crypt Ghouls, a bit less exciting than the Cryptguard, but you'll want to have plenty of fodder on the battlefield. From there, you can decide if you want more of a horde of minions vibe, or a swiping in a striking vibe, and go from there.

Looking to really take your Flesh-eater Courts army to the next level? Consider investing in the crankiest god of death, Nagash - Supreme Lord of the Undead, who is just as much table showpiece as he is tactically sound purchase (in fact, he may be prettier on the table than he is outright dangerous, but still... it's fun to field a god).

What Are My Final Thoughts On The Flesh-eater Courts Army Set?

All in all, I feel like this Flesh-eater Courts Army Set delivers a great starting point for generals looking to build out a FeC army. The Gorewarden is fun and fast, and the Varghulf Courtier hits surprisingly hard. Also, as expected with these releases, the additional Warscroll and Enhancement cards, along with tokens and other materials, make playing the game that much easier. 

Should I Buy The Flesh-eater Courts Army Set?

Get this Army Set if you already have a Flesh-eater Courts Army and are looking to build it out with these new models (and you want the newest version of their battletome), or if you're thinking of starting a new FeC army. Avoid this Army Set if you're looking for a proper introductory/Starter set, as this doesn't include the core rules for the game or other useful tools (like a  measuring device or dice).

The copy of Flesh-eater Courts Army Set used in this review was provided to us by Games Workshop.