Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Chaos

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The savage Vikings you all know and love in the Age of Sigmar setting, come to spill blood in the name of the Chaos Gods

Rules are here [1]

Warriors of Chaos Summary

Warriors of Chaos Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a pinch of salt.

Named characters

Archaon, the Everchosen: Here he is. He destroyed the Old World and he's ready to wreck the new one as well. Archaon combines High Wounds, high Movement, high Bravery, a 3+ save and a scary melee profile with a bunch of useful special rules. He's a wizard, though without any unique spells, not that you need any. Throw up a Mystic Shield around him and he rocks a 2+ save. And let's just say it's pretty easy to get rerolls of 1s for saves. His sword, which is already rapetastic, has a special rule where if you roll 2 6s To Wound (unlikely, given he only has 4 attacks with it) against a Hero or Monster, it's slain instantly. He can also deal Mortal Wounds just by rolling 6s on his save, can adjust Battleshock tests around him by 2 and has the single most broken Command Ability in the game. It allows every Chaos model with a Command Ability on the entire table to use theirs.

Be'lakor, Chaos Daemon Prince: You want a Daemon Prince who's actually decent with magic? You always thought Be'lakor was the greatest? Well, good for you, because he's very playable this time around. He can cast two spells per turn, though his unique spell is somewhat underwhelming, only causing an enemy unit to reroll successful To Wound rolls in combat. His 4+ save is never influenced by enemy Rend and he is pretty scary in combat with his Blade of Shadows. He also has a high flying Move characteristic and can heal himself if units around him fail Battleshock tests.

Crom the Conqueror: Crom isn't all that impressive at dealing damage, but he is immensely effective at stalling. His 3+ save, combined with his ability to cause To Hit penalties if he doesn't swing with his Axe makes him all but untouchable, especially with a bit of support from a Sorcerer.

Wulfrik the Wanderer: !!Joke rules incoming!! Wulfrik has a special rule where you (the player) have to insult the opponent as harshly as you dare. If they react offended, you get rerolls To Hit and To Wound if Wulfrik targets a Hero. Yes, this guy rewards you for destroying friendships. Aside from that, Wulfrik is worse than a standard Chaos Lord with the bad bad Axes. But unless you are looking for a reason to destroy your interpersonal relations, you don't play Wulfrik to fight. You use him because he can Outflank with up to one unit of Marauders. And pushing a suppository of angry Vikings into the tender rear of your opponent tends to be quite devastating.

Valkia the Bloody: Valkia used to be a great support Hero who also happened to be pretty good at combat. Now she is outstanding at combat, but most of her support is gone. You can reroll Battleshock tests for Mortal Khorne units around Valkia, but if someone still flees after the reroll, the unit takes a further D3 Mortal Wounds. However, since you can lose so many models that even rolling a 1 on Battleshock makes models flee, this rule can end up biting you in the ass. However, she is an absolutely outstanding fighter, especially on the charge, where her spear gains D3 damage per strike, giving her 6(!) attacks at 3+/3+/-2/D3, a profile you usually see on the more destructive Monsters.

Skarr Bloodwrath: The guy who nobody knew until End Times: Archaon rolled along is actually a pretty decent Hero who, unusually for a Hero, is outstanding at tarpit-clearing. He has a pretty impressive profile of 5 3" range attacks at 2+/3+/-1/1. Adding to that, he is what Paladin Decimators wish they could be. He can exchange his number of attacks for the amount of enemies in his range, which again is 3". Now you see thirty Skaven Slaves. Now you don't. And because all that is obviously not awesome enough, if he is killed, you can then keep track of how many models are killed per turn. If, at the start of the Battleshock Phase, 8 or more models were killed during the turn, Skarr comes back to life on a 4+ with all his Wounds intact. So he obviously feels most at home in big games, just don't make the guy your general because the one thing he lacks is a Command Ability.

Scyla Anfingrimm: The fact that Heroes can't join units anymore has really done him good, because now he isn't the only Hero who has to stop cannonballs with his face. Fast, with a bunch of Wounds, lots and lots of strong attacks and a rule that grants him more attacks as he gets damaged. Literally the only annoying thing is his awful 5+ save.

The Glottkin: The big bad bad guys of Nurgle are back. And this time, no bullshit Purple Suns exist that can cascade them out of the game in a single turn. And without that annoying weakness, they are absolutely devastating. 18 freaking Wounds with an automatic Regen of D3 Wounds per friendly Hero Phase, basically Terror and the fact that enemies can take Mortal Wounds simply for being charged by the Glottkin combine with magic and very powerful attacks to make something truly nightmarish. Their unique spell is very situational, but can make a bunch of Marauders into the single most immovable tarpit in the game - for a turn. They also have a really awesome Command Ability that grants one extra attack to every melee weapon of every Nurgle unit within 14" of them. Yes, this includes Nurgle Daemons and Clan Pestilens. Additionally, they have a shooting weapon that is easy to hit with, has a high Rend and inflicts a whole lot of damage, but unfortunately, it only Wounds on 4+, which makes is quite unreliable.

Bloab Rotspawned: Of the Maggoth Riders, Bloab is the only Wizard, but in exchange, he has a worse save than the others, makes less attacks with his (still decent) weapon and projects several annoying auras. He has a fly swarm that can cause penalties To Hit to enemies and his bells lower enemy casting rolls by 1. His Maggoth also has by far the best shooting attack of the three. Finally, his unique spell is potentially devastating: It affects one enemy unit. At the end of every phase in which the unit lost Wounds, roll a D6. On 2+, the unit takes another D3 Mortal Wounds. Keep in mind, this happens on a per-phase basis. Basically, if you cast this spells, you need to invest into it. Every phase you have to strip off at least one Wound off that unit. Otherwise, just use Arcane Bolt and have done.

Morbidex Twiceborn: The guy who loves Nurglings, because they love him. Of the Maggoth riders, he has the worst shooting attacks, projects Nurgle's Rot and has a regeneration effect in each friendly Hero Phase. On 4-5 he heals a Wound. On 6, he heals D3 Wounds instead. He can also spawn D3 Nurgling swarms per turn, either making new units or adding to pre-existing units and grants a +1 To Wound for Nurglings around him. Considering how hard Nurglings are to kill, this guy can swarm the board with little gribblies. He's pretty good in close combat, arguably better than his boss Orghotts.

Orghotts Daemonspew: Supposedly the strongest of the Maggoth riders. He damages enemies who punch him, his Maggoth has an okay shooting attack (though with abysmal range) and his Command Ability lets a friendly Nurgle unit reroll To Wound. His main ability is that if he misses with at least half his attacks, he gets to swing D6 more times with his Axes and gains +1 To Wound when doing so. Since you have to miss at least half your strikes for this to happen, just see this ability for what it is: A safety blanket. If you roll real bad, you get more attacks to turn the situation around.

Gutrot Spume: This guy has pretty much the most hilarious Command Ability in the game. If his health gets too low, he can use his ability: If he inflicts at least 7 Wounds in combat, he heals all lost Wounds because Nurgle is pleased with him, but if he inflicts less, he takes a Mortal Wound on top because Nurgle punishes his arrogance. This ability comes on top of his decent survivability (7 Wounds and a 3+ save). Inflicting 7 Wounds is probable for Spume, but by no means assured, so you need to gamble with it. Ideally, you want to use it when he has 2 Wounds left, so that you get a lot out of it but don't die if you fail. He can also use his tentacles to wrench enemy weapons off them, making him even tankier.

Festus the Leechlord: Festus is a support Hero, pure and simple. He heals a Wound a turn and can either heal a friendly model for D3 Wounds or give out D3 Mortal Wounds to an enemy model, though for both he needs to be within 1" of whoever he wants to affect. His unique spell is pretty much a reverse of Mystic Shield, lowering enemy saves by 1. However, for all this awesome, his close combat potential can be very generously described as lacking.

Sigvald the Magnificent: !!Joke rules incoming!! If you stare into a mirror while rolling Sigvald's 3+ save, you can reroll it. If the reroll is a 1, he can't pile in or attack. Even when he can, his attacks aren't all that. What he does do is make a pretty decent rock to anchor your Slaanesh army to. Hellstriders and Slaanesh Daemons are all very fragile, but Sigvald is tough as nails and his Command Ability makes a 24" circle where Mortal Slaanesh don't have to roll Battleshock.

Galrauch: With all the unpleasant "Spirit of Galrauch" bullshit gone, he's here to kick ass and take names. He has two breath attacks, both of which are pretty good. His melee attacks are a bit lacking compared to other dragons, but other dragons aren't Wizards who can cast two spells a turn, so it evens out.

Vilitch the Curseling: Wow. Vilitch, who used to be overcosted and underpowered, may now be one of the best casters in the WoC army. He can cast and dispel two spells a turn. Any spell he unbinds, he can immediately cast himself with nobody being allowed to unbind his attempt. He also has the Glean Magic spell with which he can steal unique spells off enemy Wizards. And in combat, he's awesome, too. He has three weapons, one a Sorcerer staff with bad To Wound and worse To Hit rolls but D3 damage if it connects and then two weapons which are basically Crom's weapons except one of them has extra Rend. Yeah. He hits hard, he can cast twice and he can cast everything he unbinds. If you play him, keep a bunch of Familiars around to grant him that all-important +1 to cast and unbind.

Throgg: Take everything awesome about Trolls and turn it up a few notches. Throgg's vomit is more damaging than that of a normal Troll, he hits slightly harder in melee, he automatically regenerates instead of on 2+ and he grants rerolls of 1s To Hit to Chaos Monsters, Chaos Ogres and Chaos Trolls. Oh yeah, and his Command Ability lets those three types use his high Bravery of 8. You want an army of monsters, Trolls and Ogres? He makes it happen.

Heroes

Note: Models that are Heroes as well as Monsters are listed under this label.

Chaos Daemon Prince: Fast and decently killy. You can dedicate him to a God, but doing so takes away his decent Monster/Hero-kills-heal ability. All God-specific abilities are good, but the Slaanesh one is pure trolling: When your opponent chooses to pile in within 3" of the Daemon Prince, you can pile in and fight with the Daemon Prince before they are allowed to act. For some ridiculous reason, only Tzeentch Daemon Princes are Wizards and even they aren't all that good at it, getting no unique spell or boost to cast.

Chaos Lord: The basic Chaos Lord can choose between Glaive and Sword or pair of Axes. The Glaive and Sword combination is vastly superior in literally all circumstances which just can't have anything to do with the fact that the Glaive+Sword Lord costs about twice what the double-Axe version does. What is pretty fun about the Lord is that unlike most Chaos units, if he takes a Mark, it actually affects more than just his tag list. All Marks are decent, though the Mark of Khorne's effect doesn't stack with the Axes. He also carries a dagger which you can use once per battle to inflict D3 Mortal Wounds on a 2+ before being attacked by another unit as a last resort. He can also heal himself for D3 Wounds/add 1 Wound to a maxed out stat whenever he kills a Monster or Hero, so you want this guy to be in the thick of it. He can also use his command ability to summon a Slaves to Darkness unit to the battle, which means it's one of those abilities you must use in moderation. Yes, you can dump a fifty man squad of Warriors onto a really small game, but do you want to?

Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount: Pretty good actually. As a weapon, he comes with what is basically the on-foot Lord's Glaive with twice the attacks. Ability-wise he's almost the same as the walking one, too, though for some reason while a Mark of Tzeentch only allows the on-foot Lord to reroll save rolls of 1, this one can reroll all save rolls if he's Tzeentchian. Combined with Eye of the Gods, this makes him all but unkillable so long as you feed a steady stream of Heroes to him. His Command Ability allows a Chariot or Knight unit to reroll charge rolls and adds +1 to their Hit rolls. Gorebeast Chariots hitting on 3+? Yes, please.

Chaos Lord on Manticore: The Lord on Manticore can have a choice between Flail and Sword, with the Sword being better in most circumstances and a choice between Runeshield, Daggerfist and Lance. The Lance might be awesome, but since everyone and their grandma will be gunning for your Manticore, the 5+ save against Mortal Wounds might be the best choice. Ironically enough, the Manticore itself is actually less damaging than the Lord on it, but it does provide some nice special rules, such as rerolls of 1 To Hit against Monsters for its stronger melee profile.

Chaos Sorcerer Lord: Yes. You owe it to yourself to at least check this guy out. While he is utter crap in combat, he is amazing at support. First, without even casting anything, he can grant one friendly unit per turn within 10" of him rerolls of 1 on their saves. Then, when he casts, he has a unique spell that provides rerolls of 1 To Hit, To Wound and to their saves for a friendly unit within 18". Just keep him away from the fighting and let him strengthen your front line.

Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore: Blessed with the same awesome "reroll saves of 1" ability as the normal Lord, this here rides a Manticore, who is just as killy as the one the normal Lord gets. Additionally, the Sorcerer Lord gets the Wind of Chaos spell, which is potentially devastating (and potentially utter crap, hope the dice like you).

Exalted Hero with Battle Standard: Useless. He's bad in melee. Not quite Sorcerer-bad, but bad. His banner also grants +2 to Bravery, because WoC have such a problem with awful Bravery </sarcasm> and rerolls to charge rolls.

Khorne Lord on Juggernaut: As devastating as you would expect. But you don't just use him for a killy melee monster. You use him for his Command Ability, which grants him AND up to three other Mortal Khorne units +1 To Wound so long as they charged that turn. This right here can turn the tide of battle, especially if you choose stuff like Gorebeast Chariots.

Khorne Exalted Hero: Quite a bit worse than the Juggerlord, but with a much better Command ability to make up for it. All Mortal Khorne units within 6" of him gain an extra attack with all of their melee weapons. Combine with Skullreapers and stuff will die.

Nurgle Chaos Lord: Blessed with a bunch of Wounds, automatic regeneration of 1 Wound per Hero Phase and a decently killy weapon. Also projects Nurgle's Rot (non-Nurgle units within 3" take D3 Mortal Wounds on a D6-roll of 6) and as a Command Ability can make another unit within 21" project it.

Nurgle Lord on Daemonic Mount: Pretty damn killy and with a one-use ability that can cause extra Mortal Wounds. However, despite the mount, his Movement is stuck at 7". He makes up for that with his Command Ability, though, since he projects basically 40k's Feel No Pain to all Mortal Nurgle units within 7". Makes tough Nurgle bullshit even tougher.

Nurgle Chaos Sorcerer: Pass. Even worse than the normal Sorcerer Lord in melee (which is saying something) and he gives away the awesome Oracular Visions rule for... the ability to heal/gain a Wound on 4+ after successfully casting a spell. Yeah. His unique spell is also awful, being basically a harder-to-cast, shorter ranged Arcane Bolt with a more consistent damage output.

Chaos Lord of Slaanesh: Yes, his attacks are for some reason stronger than those of Sigvald and he adds +1 To Hit against Heroes and Monsters. This still doesn't make him all that killy, but he has a good Command Ability to make up for it. A Mortal Slaanesh unit within 12" can make an extra attack for every 6 To Hit (new attacks can generate new attacks). Use with a huge unit of Marauders to get the most out of it.

Lord of Slaanesh on Daemonic Mount: !!Joke rules incoming!! Yes, even generic Slaanesh characters get joke rules. If your opponent looks you in the eyes before rolling To Hit this guy, he takes a -1 penalty, because his unit was beguiled by your gorgeous neckbeard-beauty. Aside from that, he's pretty good, with a decently killy weapon and an awesome Command Ability that lets a Mortal Slaanesh unit within 12" Pile In and fight twice. This one helps A LOT with getting the kills necessary to actually make your Hellstriders good.

Tzeentch Chaos Lord on Disc of Tzeentch: While his attacks aren't as strong as that of other Lords, you don't take him for his power. You take him because he can add +2 to his saves in melee unless his opponent is flying, too. Yes, he gets a 2+ save so long as you don't send him at a Dragon or something. Yes, Mystic Shield stacks on that. He also has a weird Command Ability that is potentially awesome and potentially awful. You roll a D6 in your Hero Phase. Until your next Hero Phase, you can reroll all dice rolls that show this result. Awesome if you roll a 1 or 2 for this, awful if you roll a 6.

Tzeentch Sorcerer Lord: This guy is way, way worse than the normal Sorcerer in melee, but can instead shoot a pretty decent shot out 18". He can cast additional spells if your casting roll was a double, even if it failed. His unique spell is basically Arcane Bolt that has a chance of spawning a Chaos Sp-- that.

Dragon Ogre Shaggoth: One of the better picks by a long shot. Gee, that can't have anything to do with the Shaggoth being one of the most expensive kits in the WoC range, can it? 10 Wounds isn't all that high, but thanks to the Summon Lightning spell you just need to have a caster around to remedy this little problem. The Shaggoth also has an awesome special rule where, if the roll to see who goes first in a turn is a tie, every Dragon Ogre unit, including the Shaggoth, immediately heals D3 Wounds on a D6 roll of 4+. And those ties happen way more often than you expect them to. Also, the Shaggoth has some absolutely devastating attacks in close combat.

Infantry

Chaos Warriors: The same heavily armoured Vikings you know and love. Do you like the Liberators' bullshit profile but want to go a bit more Chaosy? Then these guys are what you are looking for. They have the exact same stats and their normal hand weapons are the exact same as the swords Liberators carry. However, where Liberators are comparatively vulnerable to mortal wounds, your Chaos Warriors are more all-round fighters, as their shields give you a special save of 5+ against mortal wounds. Only down-side to them? They come in units of at least ten, which can be problematic if you use wound counts to balance your armies. Can also take Marks, which has no effect whatsoever on their profile but gets them the corresponding keywords, which means they can be affected by God-specific special rules. If you want to be an asshole, use them in units of 20+, where they even gain a bonus to their saves. Not just "reroll 1s" but a flat-out 3+ save.

Marauders: Piss-poor by comparison, but in big units, these guys can get scary, too. First, their shields simply increase their saves by 1, no ifs, no buts, which is actually pretty decent. They can choose between Flails and Axes, with the axes being slightly better on average. They can also take a Damned Icon, which allows them to reroll To Hit rolls of 1, at which point the flails become slightly better. Instead of the Icon, they can take a Banner that increases their awful Bravery to 6, but make no mistake, they still run away screaming if something goes wrong. Basically, use them as you would the Blood Reavers: In large units and with lots of support. That way, they can get pretty impressive.

Forsaken: These guys actually profit from the changes Age of Sigmar brought. They get D3 attacks apiece, so on average the same as Warriors but with a chance to go lower or higher though only at 4+ To Hit. To compensate, they get a randomly generated special rule on their attacks every turn, which can range from better rend to higher damage. They also come in minimum squad sizes of 5 and have a higher Bravery than normal Warriors. Probably still best to stick with Warriors, but not nearly as awful as they used to be.

Chosen: Exact same statline as Forsaken, so Warriors with +1 Ld and armed with Great Weapons, which is basically a Protector's Halberd without the cool special rules. What's so special about Chosen, then? If they kill at least one model in combat, all other Slaves to Darkness (most non Cult-only units) reroll To Wound until the end of the phase. This is pretty devastating and nowhere does it say that multiple Chosen squads can't affect each other with this.

Wrathmongers: One of the Archaon-additions from End Times, the angry cheerleaders are back. With a statline of a Chosen with 3 Wounds but only a 5+ save, they are pretty hardy and with a pretty damn good weapon profile (3+/3+/-1/1) and FOUR attacks apiece, they are decently choppy as well. But that's not why you take them. You take them because despite having a goofy name (they make people angry), they live up to it. Every unit (friend or foe) within 3" of them makes one additional attack with all its melee weapons, except for themselves, unfortunately. If used right, they can overwhelm entire frontlines, but a smart player will abuse the buff they dish out for themselves.

Skullreapers: The other Archaon-addition. They are basically Wrathmongers with better saves but without the two-edged buffs. They can have a pick between a potentially awesome but potentially awful weapon and a weapon that is more reliable but lacking the chance for extra oomph. One in five can take a +1 version of the normal weapons and the Champ gets an additional single-attack-but-devastating-if-it-connects weapon. If you are thinking by now that these guys would be awesome right next to the Wrathmongers, you're doing it right. They also have a fun special rule where they gain rerolls by killing stuff. Basically, they get better at what they do by doing the thing they're best at.

Putrid Blightkings: The super-hardy infantry Glottkin gave us. Same profile as a Skullreaper but with one more Bravery and an almost identical weapon. Their shtick? If they score a 6 To Hit, you don't hit once. You hit D6 times. Yes, they don't have Rend on those weapons, but with that many hits, you don't need it. Even more FUN*, every unit within 3" of them (including themselves) rolls a D6 in your Hero Phase. On a 6, they take D3 mortal wounds. Unless, that is, they have the Nurgle keyword, in which case they heal D3 wounds instead. Make sure you let multi-wound Nurgle stuff hug your Blightkings and you're golden. Also remember that this affects Nurgle units, not Mortal Nurgle. Chaos Lord of Nurgle? Great Unclean One? Plague Furnace? All of them can be healed by the aura these guys have.

Chaos Familiars: Familiars are awful. Really awful. They Hit on 6+ and Wound on 5+ and have 1 attack each. But you don't take them for that. No, they aren't a tarpit, either. They do, however, add 1 to all casting and unbinding rolls for Chaos Wizards within 6" and can have "any number of models". So just have one or two of them tag along with your important casters. Vilitch for example loves these guys to pieces.

Cavalry

Marauder Horsemen: Marauders on horseback. They are in almost every way normal Marauders on mediocre horses. However, they can still take Javelins, which beat every other weapon the guys can have by simple virtue of being a missile weapon in addition to a close combat weapon.

Chaos Knights: Chaos Warriors on pretty good horses. They aren't the bullshit they used to be, but they are still strong. They can either have the same weapon as a Warrior but with three attacks or they can take Glaives, which are exactly like a Liberator with a Warhammer, but gain a bonus to Rend and Damage if they charge.

Skullcrushers of Khorne: Not the unrepentant cheese they used to be, but still terrifying. First, they have a 4+ bonus save against wounds or Mortal Wounds caused by Magic. Second, Juggernauts, while slower than horses, are devastating, each of them a Skullreaper's worth of damage on top of what the Riders can dish out. Those guys have to choose between 3+/3+/-/1 and 4+/3+/-1/1 and get two swings with either. And they also have a chance to inflict Mortal Wounds on stuff they charge.

Hellstriders of Slaanesh: These are... odd. Blessed with possibly the highest Move characteristic in the game (16"), Bravery 7 and a 5+ save, they are fast, but fragile. At first, their attacks don't look too impressive. The Steeds get 2 Marauder-with-Axe attacks, followed by either a Whip (better To Hit) or a Spear (Rend of -1 and better To Wound though the latter only on the charge). However, after combat, they get to roll a D6 and if they roll under the number of models they killed, they get a second attack on their Scourge/Spear for the rest of the game. They can also take an Enrapturing Banner, which dishes out a -1 To Hit penalty to enemies within 6" of them. Play them in 10 man squads and hope for the best.

Chaos Chariots: Pretty fast, since they always add D6" to their Move even without Running. Other than that, it's a chariot. Nice damage from the horses since they are the same the Knights are mounted on, weak Whip and either a reliably strong Greatblade or a less reliable but potentially stronger Flail. Also bonuses on the charge, but you knew that.

Gorebeast Chariots: Don't get the same movement rule as the normal Chaos Chariots but they have the absolutely devastating Gorebeast to make up for it. The beast is just that in combat and also grants you the nice rule the Skullcrushers get where you can potentially inflict Mortal Wounds on whatever you charge in the Charge Phase. How you can use that last fact to your advantage, well... coughBloabRotspawnedcough.

Stuff

Chaos Warshrine: Yes, the Warshrine does not count as a War Machine. If you use the Errata rules, this is a huge advantage. What it does is pretty cool, too. First it has an Aura that grants Mortal units (almost everything Chaos that isn't a Skaven or a Daemon) an additional 6+ save after their normal save. Can also pray for buffs to Mortal units. There is one Undivided buff and one for every God, the latter of which you can only use by dedicating your Shrine to a particular God. The Undivided buff is the best by default, granting rerolls of 1 To Hit and To Wound. However, the God-specific buffs can be cast on whatever you want, but get better if you cast it on a unit of the same God. Favour of Nurgle, for example, allows to reroll 1s To Wound, but if the unit it's used on is Nurgle, you can instead reroll all failed To Wound rolls. And yes, this does mean a Shrine can bless units of rival Gods, just for shits and giggles. Also of note is the fact that this thing can easily hold its own in combat with a monster-like profile and a bunch of strong attacks. Awful Rend, yes, but they plow through low armour tarpits like nobody's business.

That Which Must Not Be Named: Not actually terrible anymore, though far from reliable. A Move of 2D6" makes for potentially fast movement. Similarly, 2D6 attacks per Spawn is potentially strong, but even better is the special rule these attacks come with: If you roll a Double, instead of Hitting and Wounding on 4+, you Hit and Wound on 3+. Just think about it, 12 attacks apiece with good Hit and Wound rolls... Also, five Wounds with a 5+ save make for pretty hardy models.

Chaos Warhounds: They're warhounds. Each is just as durable and twice as powerful in combat as a Marauder, but without any of the buffs and an awful Bravery of 4. They're pretty fast, though, so that's good.

Chaos Ogres: Nothing to see here, move along. No, seriously, their attacks are worse than Chaos Trolls, they don't have a ranged weapon either and their special rules are worse. They have better Bravery, but that's not even a small blessing. If you don't have Trolls on hand, however, Ogres aren't half bad, with pretty devastating attacks, the chance to heal lost wounds whenever they kill stuff and four Wounds apiece.

Chaos Trolls: YES. Do you remember the awful days of just last month when you had to decide between letting your Trolls barf on the enemy or smacking them to bits? No longer! Now you can do both. The barfing is a ranged weapon (albeit at 6") with the impressive profile of 3+/3+/-2/D3. In combat, they are almost the same as Ogres, except they have -1 Rend on their strikes. They also get to make extra attacks in combat for every To Hit roll of 6 and they heal D3 Wounds in each of your Hero Phases on a 2+. Weak Bravery of 5, yes, but that's why you have Inspiring Presence, right? Right.

Dragon Ogres: Not bad, either. Five Wounds with a 4+ save, okay Bravery and scary weapons. Each has what is basically a Chaos Knight's horse bolted to it and in addition fights with a big weapon. You get either Ancient Weapons which are two Double-Hammer Liberators in one, Glaives which exchange the reroll 1s To Hit with 1 more inch of range and a Rend of -1, or Crushers which only have 3 attacks, but with 2 damage each. They also grant the Summon Lightning to nearby Chaos Wizards, which when cast heals the Dragon Ogres for D3 Wounds and grants them rerolls To Wound. With a pretty low casting value of 5, there are worse things you can waste casting attempts on.

War Machines

Hellcannon: One of the better guns around, but not as reliable as what some other Factions get. You can fire on the move no problem, but you gain a +1 To Hit if you stay still. This, combined with the fact that the Hellcannon has a 12" minimum range explains why you still don't want it to roll towards the enemy so it can hit them with its teeth. If you get it to stay still, however, you have a pretty reliable gun that hits on 3+, inflicts D6 Mortal Wounds on a hit and can fire twice so long as at least 2 Dorfs survive. And yes, the fact that it fires off Mortal Wounds instantly makes it better than all the other Cannons out there. Beware if you are playing with Errata rules, however, as a Hellcannon + Crew is 10 Wounds of War Machine, so you can only have 1 per 50 Wounds.

Monsters

My, aren't you spoiled for options here! Most Monsters are equally decent, though some are simply better. When in doubt, have a look at the Slaughterbrute and the Mutalith.


Giant: It's a Giant, same old version as all the other armies get. Always good for a laugh and decently killy, but also holds the title of most easily dispatched monster with a low Move characteristic and an awful 5+ save.

Chimera: Blessed with the same sucky save as the Giant but with a more reliable damage output, the Chimera's main virtues are that it flies 10" and has a 14" fire breath.

Mutalith Vortex Beast: You can do much, much worse than to stick one of these in your army. This thing has the works: High Wound count, high Move characteristic, 4+ save, auto-Regen of D3 Wounds per friendly Hero Phase, a whole bunch of attacks, some of them pretty good, and one of the few random special rules that can never turn on you. Basically, you pick an enemy unit within 15", roll a D6 and consult a chart. The effects range from lowering enemy Bravery or Movement permanently by 1 to inflicting D6 Mortal Wounds and spawning a Chaos Sp--- you know, for every model that died from that. It isn't as outright killy as some other monsters, but it's great as an all around useful unit.

Slaughterbrute: This thing wreaks absolute havoc in combat. High Move, devastating attacks and a good save of 4+. It also has the trick of binding it to one of your Slave to Darkness heroes. As long as that Hero survives, the Brute hits on 3+ instead of the normal 4+. If he's killed or if you didn't pick one, however, the Brute will cause the nearest unit (friend or foe) within 3" D3 Mortal Wounds in each Charge Phase.

Cockatrice: !!Joke rules incoming!! It's a flying monster with a low Wound count of 8. However, because of this low Wound stat, it doesn't lose effectiveness as it gets damaged. It's Petrifying Gaze has you pick a unit in range (10"), roll a D6 and look your opponent in the eyes. If he blinks first, you get to add 1 to the roll. If you do, you must subtract one. At 4+, the enemy unit suffers D6 Mortal Wounds. Aside from that, the Cockatrice is okay, not devastating, but nothing you want to see charging your squishy units.

Great Taurus: Same low Wound count as the Cockatrice, but with a much worse shooting attack, a better save and okay attacks. Oddly, when charging, the Taurus is actually worse than the Cockatrice.

Lammasu: Even worse than the Taurus in combat and without a missile weapon, there is not much that speaks for the Lammasu. However, it has a high Move and can Fly, which can bring its -1 to casting rolls for enemy wizards-aura quickly to where it's useful and it is also a Wizard. It does not have any unique spells, but a Chaos Wizard in general has more spells to choose from than he can count. The Lammasu also holds the distinction of being one of the few Wizards who is not a Hero.

Scenery

Formations

Army Building

External links

List