Warhammer Quest – Darkwater Unboxing

Today, we will be covering the latest release of Warhammer Quest - Darkwater. The pictures in this article show the German version, Dunkelwasser, but it is identical to the English release, except for the translated printed parts.

We previously covered Warhammer Quest Blackstone Fortress in 2018, as well as parts of Cursed City, and we are happy for the game to return to the fantasy setting.

The Warhammer Quest series began around 30 years ago in 1995 with the original Warhammer Quest. At that time, Games Workshop collaborated with companies such as Hasbro to expand the reach of their Citadel miniatures range. Similar to HeroQuest, it was sold on a wider scale - in department stores, for example, alongside board games - and thus reached more people than their usual products, which were limited to comic book stores, fantasy stores, their own Games Workshop stores, and mail order.

After a break of more than 20 years, the series returned with Silver Tower in 2016 and Shadows over Hammerhal in 2017, set in the Age of Sigmar universe. In 2018, the Warhammer Quest series received a 40k spin-off in the form of Blackstone Fortress, which was quite successful and came with multiple supplements that reintroduced many Rogue Trader elements into the game, such as the Dread Ambull. Then, in 2021, Cursed City was released, featuring a darker narrative and a horror theme, in which a group of heroes must battle a vampire horde. However, due to logistical problems, this release gave the 'Cursed' part of the name a whole new meaning. This means there are certain expectations for the latest addition to the Warhammer Quest series, Darkwater.

The setting of Darkwater is the Realm of Life, Ghyran, where a group of heroes must explore the Jade Abbey. Built over the Everspring, a sacred source of water that can heal wounds, cure disease and grant immortality to those who drink from it regularly. However, a once-pious priest named Gelgus Pust bargained with the Chaos god Nurgle and returned as a daemon prince. He is intent on corrupting the Everspring and turning this font of life into a plague weapon. The abbey is now overrun with his daemons and diseased followers.

Players control a band of distinct heroes, including the arrogant knight Edmark Valoran, the Jade Wizard Jacobus Vyne and his animal companions, and the duardin pathfinder Drolf Ironhead. Several others are unlocked over the course of the campaign. Each hero has unique abilities and playstyles. Darkwater is designed as a solo or fully cooperative adventure for one to four players. Progress through linked scenarios by fighting enemies, completing objectives and exploring areas of the abbey, rather than encountering a fully randomised dungeon layout. As you advance, you earn equipment, treasure and new options for your heroes, while confronting increasingly dangerous Nurgle forces such as Cankerborn, Blight Templars and other plague-ridden monsters commanded by Pust’s lieutenants.

This new boxed set will be available to pre-order on Saturday, November 29th and will be priced at RRP 206 EUR. The official release date is December 13th.

Pictures of the painted miniatures, both heroes and the forces of the villain Gelgus Pust, cover the sides of the large box. The top layer contains a lot of sprues: light beige for the heroes and regular grey for the Nurgle-themed enemies. Underneath that is a cardboard box containing all the printed material, designed as a slipcase with artwork. Beneath that, you will find the hardback map book.

The 49 miniatures are split across ten sprues (two for the heroes and eight for the forces of Nurgle), as well as a variety of bases (25 x 25 mm, three x 28 mm, 11 x 32 mm, eight x 40 mm, one x 50 mm and one x 60 mm oval).

The Heroes of the Jade Abbey hail from a variety of places in the Mortal Realms. There are seven in total: Edmark Valoran, Bren Tylis, Inara Sion, Drolf Ironhead, Kelthannor, Drasher Vorn and Jacobus Vyne. They partially pick up on classic Warhammer miniatures, such as a Bretonnian Sorceress or a Jade Wizard, while also adding new additions to the range, such as a Kurnothi (first seen in Underworlds) and a shape-shifting druid (as seen in other fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons or Warcraft).

All of these fit into the two sprues for the heroes. Each miniature in Warhammer Quest: Darkwater is a push-fit model, meaning it doesn't require glue for assembly and is held together by friction. Nevertheless, I highly recommend using plastic glue, as this will ensure a proper bond and reduce the gaps between pieces. It is essential that you clean the models properly of mould lines and any sprue connection spots, as push-fit models do not allow for a dry run. Once these pieces are stuck together, they usually stay together, and applying force to close the gaps risks damaging the plastic.

The Scions of the Plaguefather are the villains in this boxed set. Gelgus Pust is their leader, and his lieutenants are Belga the Cystwitch, Mulgoth the Cleaver and Shaman Foulhoof. They command a variety of mobs, including Pox Wretches, Pestigors and Blight Templars, as well as the Cankerborn. However, the sprues also include Mire Kelpies and tokens.

These miniatures are also designed to be push-fit, but are split in such a way that they can be released in different combinations at a later date. Sprue B covers Gelgus, Belga, and Shaman Foulhoof, while the two C-sprues cover Mulgoth and three Blight Templars. Sprue D contains two Cankerborn and two set of the two E-Sprues, each containing four Pestigors and seven Pox-Wretches (all with A/B poses, using the same body but with alternative arms and heads).

There is also a large, roughly A3-sized sheet to help you get started quickly, providing an overview of the phases of your turn. Although it fits the boxed set, something that folded to a smaller size would be easier to handle during gameplay.

There are multiple packs of cards for the different acts of the game. Each act has a large and a small deck, and there is a fourth set containing extras. The black envelope contains various boxes for storing your card decks between games, and the small cardboard box contains the dice.

As you can see, there are multiple cardboard boxes for storage, as well as twelve regular D6 and two dice for enemy actions. The smaller cards cover gear and status, while the larger ones cover the profiles of the heroes, enemies, and events.

This set includes two booklets, one covering the instructions and the other the rules. There are also two large cardboard sheets containing all the different tokens, a line of sight marker and various field overlays. These are printed on both sides.

The rulebook is clearly structured and covers the turn sequence in detail as well as providing some lore on the Jade Abbey and a brief hobby section on painting the miniatures. The instructions are presented in a similar way to those in most other current boxed sets. They provide an overview of the sprues and bases, and explain the assembly sequence of the parts, including options.

The map book is an impressive piece and a novel concept for Warhammer Quest, providing a new way to cover the game board. You can fold it flat on its back und use the pages as a board / map. It is a large hardback book that will probably only fit inside the boxed set as it is too tall for most bookshelves. It is an interesting concept, as it provides a variety of map designs in one place. The binding looks good, yet I noticed small stress marks in the middle after gently browsing through the pages.

I will not cover the rules on here, as the Warhammer YouTube channel will give you a rundown on the game play.

Conclusion

To be frank, this product leaves me conflicted. The quality is undeniably impressive. The miniatures and accompanying gaming materials are produced to a very high standard, aside from the somewhat unusual design of the regular D6 dice (it's a personal pet peeve when they align the eyes for 6 on a die like this). The miniatures themselves provide a lot of character, both heroes and foes. The same level of attention is seen in the artwork and the story, which features a former Abbey protector now corrupted by Chaos and seeking to spread that corruption. A narrative arc that adds real depth and an interesting spin for a series of scenarios.

Still, I can’t help but ask: who is this product meant for?

In the past, Warhammer Quest was positioned as a standalone board game. Largely intended as an entry-level product to introduce board gamers to the miniature hobby. Yet the landscape for hobby board games has evolved. Today’s offerings, often designed - among others - by names like Mike McVey and the Kopinski brothers, reach a quality level very close to Citadel’s - both in terms of game design and component production. As a result, simply having top-notch miniatures is no longer a unique selling point. At a price of over 200 EUR, this set falls into the same range as many “all-in” crowdfunding bundles, which typically include the core game, expansions, and Kickstarter exclusives, sometimes even with pre-assembled miniatures that make the barrier to entry lower.

This leads to my next point. I enjoyed unboxing this set, and it brought back memories of past releases. With its timing ahead of Christmas, I could imagine a younger hobbyist adding it to their wishlist. However, there’s uncertainty. Will you have to rush to purchase the morning of release just to secure a copy? This stirs up a sense of FOMO. More importantly, if this were a newcomer’s first encounter with Warhammer, or if it were managed more like previous Heroquest or Warhammer Quest releases, the steep price (206 EUR for 49 miniatures, compared to Blackstone Fortress 125 EUR for 44 miniatures in 2018) would be a daunting entry point. The need to assemble so many detailed miniatures, many of which are not particularly beginner-friendly, which further raises the barrier to entry (see my upcoming thoughts on painting the Manticore Knight). In my view, this is not an entry-level or bridging product; rather, it feels more like an army set intended for the upcoming Maggotkin release, packaged with bonus board game content. A well made and thought through board game that is. And with this in mind, if I were to gift a product like this, with the intention to bring somebody closer to wargaming, I would probably checkout Underworlds as it covers less miniatures or go for a combination of a regular miniature board game and add something like a combat patrol.

If you look at it this way, the cost seems justified: Take a 200 EUR battle force boxed set, add a premium for 7 unique heroes and a lot of printed material. But as a miniatures board game or dungeon crawler, there are competitors that offer a more self-contained experience, lower risk of FOMO for buyers, and more user-friendly access and in quite a few cases for half the price.

One last consideration is storage. While the game does provide a solution for storing the printed materials, there’s no proper way to store assembled miniatures in the box. That might be fine for traditional Warhammer products, but not for a modern miniatures board game, especially considering these Citadel models are dynamically posed and finely detailed, making dedicated storage a must, if you intend to handle this like a board game. But I am sure, we will see foam inlays or something similar soon-ish.

• Production Quality: 4/5
• Design appeal: 4/5
• Options / Customization: 3/5
• Value for money: 3/5
• Ease of Assembly: 3/5

Warhammer Quest is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.