Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Chaos

Why play Chaos

To crush your enemies; to see them driven before you; to hear the lamentations of their women.

The forces of Chaos - divided into two army books, Hordes of Chaos and Beasts of Chaos, but written to work as a pair - are savage, brutal, unforgiving barbarians, plus twisted-up gnarly mutants and eldritch monsters from another dimension. It is an army raised for a single purpose: to destroy the world of men (and elves, and dwarfs, and even goblins and especially lizards, although rodents of unusual size may be all right).

In battle, the Chaos army is a relentless melee death machine, forsaking any ranged attack that isn't "throw a melee weapon at someone" or "bind an eldritch horror into a cannon the size of a house and fire it when you want to move castles out of the way". Some Chaos armies opt for weight of numbers, drowning the foe in a sea of low-cost light infantry; others go for the small force of elite hard-cases wrapped in nigh-impenetrable armour. Chaos has access to powerful, aggressive magic to ease their passage across the field, and a variety of fast-moving "chaff" units to distract and harry the enemy, but make no mistake: sooner or later, this army is about bringing axe to face and making damn sure it stays there.

Army Special Rules

Daemons, Mortals and Beasts

Most Chaos units are classified as either Daemons, Mortals or Beasts. If your General is a Mortal, Mortal units are your Core units, while Daemons and Beasts are Special. If your General is a Beast, Beast units are your Core units, while Mortals and Daemons are Special. If your General is a Daemon... you get the idea. Just to complicate things further, some units (mostly Rare, but one or two Specials like Chaos Trolls and Chaos Ogres) always stay in the same category no matter who's in charge.

Marks of Chaos

Many Chaos units and characters have Marks of Chaos. The default is the Mark of Chaos Undivided: all units which can have a Mark start off with this one, and it's free. You can choose to dedicate your units to a particular Chaos God and gain upgrades, for a few (or more than a few) extra points. The Marks do different things depending on the model they're applied to, and we'll get into the specifics of those later.

The important thing for the army as a whole is that if your General has a particular God's Mark, all your troops who can have a Mark must have the same one, or stick with Chaos Undivided. If your General has the Mark of Chaos Undivided, you can go hog wild with the rest of your units and characters and take what you like.

Also, characters with a Mark can't join units with a different one, although they can join units with no Mark at all (which is how you get characters into Beast Herds, Marauders and other troops that don't have the option).

Daemonic

Some Chaos units are not of this world. Daemon units all cause fear, and the big 'uns cause terror as well; they are immune to psychology; they have a 5+ Ward save which applies to everything except magical attacks; they count as having magical attacks themselves; and they have Instability.

Instability is a fiddly rule that comes into play if your Daemon unit loses a round of combat. Once you know they've lost, take a Leadership test on their unmodified Leadership stat: if they fail this, they disappear, vanish into the Realm of Chaos in a huff. THEN take the same roll and compare it to their Leadership stat as modified by combat resolution, and inflict that many unsaveable wounds on the unit.

Oh, and Daemon characters can't join non-Daemon units, or vice versa.

Ambush

If your General is a Beast with the Ambush rule, Beast units with the Ambush rule can move on from a table edge instead of deploying normally. You can Ambush in any battle where you're allowed to use Scouts. Up to half the eligible units in your army (rounding down) can Ambush, and your General has to start the game on the board. Units in Ambush aren't in play and don't generate Power or Dispel dice, so keep your wizards on the table.

Starting from the second turn, in the Remaining Moves phase, you can bring your Ambushing units on. They have to come on all at once. For each unit, one by one, pick a point on any table edge: that's where they should be. Then take a Leadership test for the unit. If you pass, they move on from that point as if they've returned from pursuing an enemy off the board. If you fail, roll a Scatter die in the middle of the board and follow the arrow to the edge: that's where they turn up instead. (Don't forget that there's a little arrow on the HIT faces for exactly this kind of situation.)

Marks of Chaos

Who Gets 'Em?

• Daemons - Daemon Princes and Exalted Daemons
• Mortals - Lords and Sorcerer Lords; Champion and Sorcerer Heroes, Warriors, Chariots and Knights
• Beasts - Beastlords, Great Shamans, Doombulls and Dragon Ogre Shaggoth Champions; Chieftains and Shamans; 1 and only 1 Bestigor unit; Minotaurs

Mark of Chaos Undivided

The default option, totally free, and not to be sneezed at, this Mark offers a reroll on all psychology tests (that's fear, terror, panic, controlling your frenzy, but NOT Break tests for losing combat or rally tests). Chaos armies have pretty average Leadership on the whole, with Warrior units a bit better and Beast units generally worse. They also tend to take quite a few Panic tests as the first few turns are a slog across the battlefield getting shot at on your way into melee. While other Marks allow you to dominate whole phases of the game, they get expensive fast, and if you want a proper ravening horde, sticking to Chaos Undivided is a good option.

Mark of Khorne

This one's the same all the way down: anything with the Mark of Khorne gets frenzy (even if normally immune to psychology) and puts another Dispel die on the table. Mortal characters also get to ride the Juggernaut of Khorne, a nasty monstrous mount that's no faster than a regular Chaos Steed and doesn't add to their armour save but hits a hell of a lot harder.

The frenzy is a double edged sword. Certainly, Chaos units hit like a sack of bricks anyway, and giving them extra attacks is only good. Absolutely, Chaos units tend to take casualties, and thus panic tests, and so bypassing those tests is only good. However, Chaos armies tend toward the clumsy, which means agile opponents can block, bait, and misdirect Khorne armies all day long. There's nothing worse than some Wood Elf player leading you around by the nose and forcing you to attempt charges that never land.

On the other hand, there's nothing better than laughing in the face of every Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings player you meet as their chief advantages simply fade away in the face of your enhanced combat prowess, complete lack of concern for fear and terror, and pile of Dispel dice to keep those cheeky Invocations under control. Couple with the access to Magic Resistance on many Khorne Daemons and magic items, and you're laughing.

This one's particularly good for Beast armies: Bestigor and Minotaurs are both units that delight in the extra attacks, and the rest of your army can run interference by blocking your charge lanes. Remember that frenzy is only checked AFTER charges have been declared, which means you can keep these under control with the proper order of activation (declare charge with skirmish screen, declare charge with frenzied unit, check for eligible frenzied charges - oh no, skirmish screen's in the way - then move chargers in order of declaration, hey presto you get to charge what you want to as the lane is now clear). Both Warhounds and Beast Herds are very good at getting out of the way when they need to.

Another thing to consider here: Chosen. Because of the extra attack from frenzy, Chosen Warriors with halberds suddenly become a more attractive proposition, throwing out a combine harvester's worth of S5 attacks at anything that gets near them.

Mark of Slaanesh

Daemons and Shaggoths with the Mark of Slaanesh always strike first. Mortals and Beasts with the Mark of Slaanesh are immune to psychology.

This. Is. Brilliant. Warrior and Bestigor units often balk in the face of shooting casualties or being outnumbered by fear-causing enemies: not a problem any more. Even Minotaurs like to laugh off the prospect of being terror-blocked by a Wraith or similar, and tend to come in small and easily panicked units of their own.

Mortal characters gain access to the excellent Mount of Slaanesh, a pleasing combination of speed and power that's halfway between the Juggernaut and the Disc. Beast characters don't, sadly, but the Beastlord can at least mount up on a Chariot and become a fearless guided missile, backing up your Herds if they get into trouble.

Daemon characters are a bit squashy, lacking access to armour saves, so striking first in close combat helps them not get hit (and since they fly, they really should be in close combat very early on in the game). The Shaggoth, meanwhile, is moderately well armoured but has dodgy Initiative for a Lord choice: guess what, striking first, problem solved.

Mark of Tzeentch

For reasons that will become apparent as we go on, there is no such thing as a Sorcerer or Shaman of Tzeentch: this Mark is not available to those models.

Daemon Princes, Chaos Lords and Beastlords all become level 4 wizards, who have to use the Lore of Tzeentch. (It's heckin' expensive, at 140-150 points.)

Exalted Daemons, Chaos Champions, Wargors, Shaggoths and Doombulls all become level 2 wizards, who have to use the Lore of Tzeentch. (It's still pretty pricey, at around 75 for most models.)

Mortal characters also gain access to the Disc of Tzeentch, a cheap flying monstrous mount that can't fight worth a damn but doesn't need to because there's a goddamned Chaos Lord standing on its back doing the heavy lifting.

Everyone else generates an extra Power die for the pool, as long as they're not fleeing.

Now. It's easy to look at this and think you have to go big or go home. For Mortal players in particular it's easy to look at the Mark of Tzeentch and think you MUST TAKE IT ON EVERYTHING EVER, UTTERLY DOMELNATING THE MAGIC PHASE, but - stop. For one thing, it's seriously expensive, and yes a Chaos Lord's statline and a Sorcerer Lord's casting power are not to be sneezed at, but the points add up fast and Chaos armies already run expensive. For another, a pure Marked Tzeentch army may have a lot of Power dice to throw around, but it'll be light on numbers (as none of the cheap bodies can carry the Mark) and crumple to a run of bad terror or panic tests (which you'll be taking a lot if you've loaded up on small Marked units to spam dice).

Far better to have Tzeentch casters backed up by Undivided units (which remain an option even if your General has the Mark of Tzeentch), or even elements in a mixed army with Khorne or Slaanesh line troops. That's an army that won't break and run when things start to go south, but will still deliver the fighting power of a good Tzeentch Champion alongside options for other Lores and tactics.

If you're going to go pure Tzeentch, Chariots are a really good way to sneak a few extra power dice into your army, make sure all your wizards have enough to cast at their full potential, and then fill out on solid Undivided bodies or Marauders to give your casters the meatshields they need to get the job done.

It's less of an attractive option for Beastmen, as well. Beast armies don't have the ability to load up on cheap Marked units and really stack the dice in their favour, and they feel the Panic hit worse than most. Their best Lord options don't become level 4 wizards because even Gav Thorpe thought that was a bit excessive.

Mark of Nurgle

Daemon Princes, Exalted Daemons, Doombulls and Shaggoths get +1 Wound.

Beastlords, Wargors and Mortal characters get +1 Wound and cause fear.

Units cause fear, except Minotaurs, who get... 5+ Scaly Skin? (It's cheap, and it's not bad, but it smacks a little bit of being fresh out of ideas...)

The Mark of Nurgle is generally very, very expensive for what it does: 50 points per unit, around 40 for a character. The extra Wound is nice, but fear is of limited use on units that tend to skew small - the Chaos units that can afford to go big are exactly the ones you can't Mark anyway. Chaos tends to win combat by getting kills rather than auto-breaking shenanigans, and while it's certainly nice to trump stubborn units or not run away from Undead, it's... situational.

Chaos Spells

Wizards with the Mark of Chaos Undivided get access to Death and Shadow magic, plus Fire (Mortals and Daemons) or Beasts (Beasts). Shadow magic is probably the pick of the pack here, with Unseen Lurker and Steed of Shadows to accelerate your movement into combat. Fire does a fine job of compensating for your lack of conventional ranged firepower, and the Flaming Sword of Rhuin is a great spell to draw on your Daemon Prince or Exalted Daemon. Death is merely OK, and Beasts highly situational with a few too many spells that rely on your opponent having brought the right models to cast them on.

Lore of Tzeentch

Tzeentch spells are all about doing damage, or preventing damage - oddly enough, the real moustache-twirling nyahahahahajustasplanned stuff is more Slaanesh's remit. Notably, this lore has seven spells: any wizard can trade out a spell they don't want for Red Fire of Alteration, which you can't roll up at random because you can't roll a 0 on 1d6. (Note that because of the way 1d4chan's code handles numbered lists, it's at 7 on our summary, which of course breaks the rainbow theme GW were going for.)

1. Orange Fire of Protection - cast on a 6+, remains in play, reroll any of the Sorcerer's to hit, to wound or to save rolls that you don't like. (Just the Sorcerer: not anything they're riding.) Actually pretty good: an easy cast, and Tzeentch Lords or Heroes can throw down in combat with the best of them.
2. Yellow Fire of Transmutation - another 6+ cast that remains in play, this one granting a 5+ Ward save to the Sorcerer, their mount, and any unit they joined. Notably, this one replaces the Daemonic Ward, allowing Tzeentch Daemon characters to stop worrying about magic weapons.
3. Green Fire of Mutation - a 9+ cast on an enemy unit that's not immune to psychology, which makes it play "stop hitting itself" for a turn: the unit fights a round of close combat against itself and takes a Panic test if enough casualties are inflicted. Some armies hate this - Lizardmen spring to mind, as their best fighters have multiple attacks but rely on Cold Blooded rather than full on immunity to psychology. Others, like Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings, don't give two tugs.
4. Blue Fire of Metamorphosis - another 9+ cast for a dubiously reliable magic missile. 2d6 hits is good, Strength d6+1 is untrustworthy. Conventional Lores often give you an 8+ for a Strength you can rely on. Warp Lightning this ain't.
5. Indigo Fire of Change - on an 11+, every model in the target enemy unit takes a S2 hit, and any that die turn into Horrors, placed in contact with the front of the target unit and counting as having charged! This one's psychologically damaging to say the least: while Horrors aren't up to much in a scrap, they can take on anything that dies from a S2 hit. Big units of lightweight troops will tremble at the dubious prospect.
6. Violet Fire of Tzeentch - 12+ cast, 6" range, single target model takes a Leadership test or DIES. No saves, no regenerating, no nothing. Given how easy it is for Tzeentch casters to fly, the short range isn't the drawback it usually is. This one's a gamble, but considering that it can snipe characters regardless of line of sight, being a unit, monstrous mountage, ANYTHING, it's worth a cast. If you're going terror-bombing with a Lord of Change or a Sorcerer on a Dragon, lead in with this horrible thing - cast it on your enemy's General and potentially watch their army crumble next turn.
7. Red Fire of Alteration - I am fate, come round at last; I am also a mediocre magic missile, only a 5+ cast and with d6 hits at d6 Strength. All the usual problems of a d6 hits magic missile and you can't even count on the Strength. Swap it out for something a level 2 wizard simply can't cast, but don't expect it to do anything. Fire and Death have better equivalents and Shadow's Creeping Death knocks it into a cocked hat because NO ARMOUR SAVES.

Lore of Slaanesh

Slaanesh magic is extremely underrated, especially for Mortals and Daemons. Its modest ranges aren't a big deal considering the caster can either fly or ride a Mount of Slaanesh, and Chaos armies absolutely love to control the terms on which their enemies can engage them - which is good, because this Lore is all about the board control and tipping the balance in key combats. It's less spectacular on Beastmen because the Shamans are a bit slower, but still addresses a lot of their weaknesses.

1. Blissful Throes - 6+, 12" range, d6 hits, S6. The S6 saves this one: while all the usual remarks about single die magic missiles still hold true, this one is strong enough that the single hit will probably kill a single wound model that it hits. (The words 'six', 'strength' and 'single' are fast losing all meaning for me here, by the way.) A good cast on cavalry, lone characters, even worth a go on a chariot or war machine; you won't one-hit-kill it, but you stand good odds of getting some wounds in against T4 or 5.
2. Luxurious Torment - 7+, casts on a friend or foe. The unit gains frenzy, even if normally immune to psychology, and while subject to frenzy takes d6 S3 hits per turn, distributed as shooting. Note that this is NOT a Remains in Play spell, so your Sorcerer can absolutely spam this one around like it's going out of fashion. I really rate this one. It's a good cast on your own Marauders or Beast Herds, helping them win fights and not panic, although they need lots of bodies to absorb the hits from the spell. It's not a bad cast on your own Warriors or Knights, who'll probably save the wounds. It can also be a giggle to cast on enemy skirmishers or fast cavalry, who suddenly get baited into fights they can't win, and take casualties even if they manage to restrain themselves.
3. Titillating Delusions - 8+, remains in play. Pick an enemy unit within 24". Pick a point it can see. Unit must move toward point as fast as possible and will charge anything you put in the way. A superb board control spell. Note that it works on units that are unbreakable or immune to psychology, and so is great for drawing roadblock units like Slayers or Flagellants into positions you don't want them to be in. Makes Tomb Kings players in particular very sad as their flying Hierophants suddenly find themselves drawn to stand right in front of a Keeper of Secrets. Breaks up Empire detachment geometry like a charm too. Pulls Generals out of their ideal Leadership range. Loads you can do with this.
4. Delectable Torture - 9+, 24" range, make a character attack their own unit. Not as good as the Tzeentch version, but it'll do if you have nothing else to use your dice on. Comes into its own against Wood and High Elves as it can make characters use ranged attacks on their own side if they have them: get this one off early and direct their Hail of Doom into the back of their own Dryads or something similarly hilarious.
5. Enrapturing Spasms - 10+, 24" range, the other board control spell. This one doesn't work on targets which are immune to psychology, and prevents its target from moving, casting, shooting or fighting in its next turn. If the unit's engaged or already fighting, they are hit automatically and don't fight back. It becomes immune to psychology but it CAN take Break tests and WILL flee if broken. Finally, and this is the secret kicker, if the unit is or contains a Wizard, any Remains In Play Spell they're upkeeping is immediately dispelled. Despite all the caveats about breaking and immunity, this spell is AMAZING for turning a key combat in your favour, silencing an artillery piece, freezing a death star or getting a nasty Curse of Years or similar out of play.
6. Delicious Excruciation - 11+, remains in play, turns the target Unbreakable. Cast on Daemons, it replaces Daemonic Instability, and that alone makes it fan-bloody-tastic since Slaanesh Daemons are on the squashy side and tend to take casualties in any circumstance when they're not striking first.

Lore of Nurgle

Most of the Lore of Nurgle is... unspectacular, limited to targeting single models or inflicting minor debuffs. It has mostly short ranges and its casters don't have a fast mount. Its control spell is more a ticking-off than a no-fun-allowed, and its aggressive spells struggle under the weight of low Strength and single d6 hits. However, they do all bypass armour saves, and sometimes - depending on what the stats of the target are - a -1 malus is all you need. Hold your nose, take a closer look, and you'll find a couple of solid, spammable damage spells plus some decent utility. Its real problem is that it's competing with Undivided casters who bring the Lore of Shadows - all the armour bypassing plus sweet, sweet movement spells.

1. Magnificent Buboes - 6+ cast, 18" range, single target takes a Toughness test or suffers a wound, no armour saves. By itself, a fiddly farty little nothing. Land it twice and a Hero dies. Land it three times and a Lord dies. Especially good for upsetting Skaven players (bye bye, Ratling Gun! so long, Warlock Engineer!). Take it on all your casters and worry the enemy for the whole game.
2. Favoured Poxes - 7+, 18" range, Remains in Play. Target enemy suffers -1 WS, BS, S and Ld. This is fine. Not hard to cast, does a lot of favours, but it's not exactly groundbreaking.
3. Effulgent Boils - 8+ cast, 24" range, d6 S4 hits, no armour save. Fine, but you'll probably have better things to do than cast it unless you were unlucky and didn't get Afflictions or Scabs.
4. Glistening Scabs - 9+ cast, 18" range, Remains in Play. -1 Toughness to a single target character. It's... look at what the other two Chaos lores can do with a 9+ spell, then look at this. Yes, it combos with Buboes, but since it Remains in Play you're giving up a Buboes attempt to get it there in the first place. Too niche for the casting cost. Dud of the book.
5. Glorious Afflictions - 10+, remains in play. Pick an enemy unit, anywhere on the battlefield, and halve its movement. The unlimited range and unconcern for line of sight save this one - it's not as powerful as the Slaanesh control spells but it IS a lot more lenient in terms of where it goes. A hidden gem.
6. Sumptuous Pestilence - 11+, 24" range, needs line of sight - target unit takes d6 S3 hits ignoring armour saves at the start of each magic phase (yours and theirs) for the rest of the game. This is NOT a Remains in Play spell and that's why it's good: once it's cast this sucker is staying cast and whittling away at its target basically forever. If you get this on a level 3 or 4 wizard you're laughing: just absolutely thrash it out, four dice that sucker every turn, get it on every unit you can as early as you can.

Magic Items

There are dozens upon dozens of magic items in the Chaos books, and life is too short for one contributor to take the job on. Here are a few of my personal favourites, and may others do what I cannot be arsed with.

• Chaos Daemon Sword - expensive, at 85 points, but slap this on your Sorcerer Lord or Great Bray-Shaman and compress all the fighting and casting power of a Greater Daemon down into a base that can hide in a unit. Just enough left over for a Talisman of Protection, too.

• Slaughterer's Blade & Pendant of Slaanesh - whack both of these on one Lord and let 'em go to town. You either get to heal lost wounds or rack up bonus attacks, what's not to love?

• Armour of Damnation - forcing opponents to reroll their hits is always a chuckle. Solid, basic, effective.

• Collar of Khorne, Pelt of the Dark Young - because nothing says love like putting Magic Resistance on your key unit in an army that already throws Dispel dice around like they're going out of fashion.

• Golden Eye of Tzeentch - unlike most 30 point 3+ wards vs. shooting, this one extends to the model's mount. A Tzeentch character on a Disc will absolutely need this because good GOD the enemy are going to be gunning for them. Take it and thank me later.

• Bindings of Slaanesh - a bit pricey, but being able to lock enemy characters into a challenge with a Chaos Lord's fighting stats is worth it. Pluck that Grey Seer from the back of his bunker and show the dirty rat how we do things in the Grim Dark North.

• Sceptre of Domination - yeah it's another Slaanesh item, no I don't care: power level 6 is great for a Bound item, forcing two or even three dice to be spent on stopping it, and it casts an amusing, potentially dangerous spell. For 25 points it's a bargain. Doesn't even run out on a 1.

• Staff of Darkoath - Chaos loves movement spells. Beast Herds in particular love movement spells as they get to charge on the same turn as they Ambush with them. This thing guarantees a movement spell to the Shaman carrying it - not a Bound spell, a proper one with a solid casting value. Join the dots!

• Crown of Horns, Horn of the Great Hunt, Preyseeker - making Beastmen less dependent on their horrible Leadership ratings is never a bad idea, and between them these three items will keep your Bestigor on the battlefield and your Ambushing units turning up where they should.

• Banner of Rage - turns the unit carrying it into a massive problem for your opponent. They probably won't break, they'll never lose their frenzy, they have to be shot up or beaten down to the last man to be stopped. Whack it on a nice unit of Chosen Knights and ask whaddayagonnado?

Daemonic Gifts

Any Chaos God

• Chaos Disruption - while the main ranged threats to your Daemon Prince are not of a kind that uses Ballistic Skill to hit, this does help the big gribblies not get stand-and-shotted to death if they want to charge a unit with bows or what have you, and that's quite tempting. Pricey at 50 points but even an Exalted Daemon can afford it.

• Blade of the Ether - expensive at 45 points but some players swear by it, and it's not as if Daemon characters get great weapons. Bypassing armour saves is probably worth the expenditure on a Prince.

• Radiance of Dark Glory - essentially a bit of insurance against Instability, but does nothing about the really humiliating "roll an 11 and disappear" problem. Looks better than it is; for the price, you're better off investing in combat kit and trying not to lose a round in the first place.

• Soul Hunger - the useful bit of hatred for a trifling 25 points, very good on a character which will be charging often and wanting to break enemies fast (since Daemons don't take hits back too well).

• Spell Breaker - it's a Dispel Scroll, the chief advantage of which is that the Daemon doesn't need to be a wizard to carry it. If you have the 25 points going, slap it on and give your Sorcerer something nice.

• Diabolic Splendour - now we're talking, 20 points for a proper Ward save that transfers to any unit the Daemon joins? That's a bargain.

• Master of Mortals - allows the Daemon to lead a Mortal army, i.e. putting Mortals in Core and everyone else in Special. At 5 points, fills a lot of gaps if you want the option.

• Unliving Idol - same thing, but for Beasts and twice the price for some reason. Gavin whyyyyyy?

Khorne

• Collar of Khorne - Magic Resistance 2? on something that'll be flying around by itself, attracting every missile and hex on the planet? for 25 points? I'll take two, and three on Tuesdays.

• Axe of Khorne - Killing Blow for 25 points is OK, but it's no Blade of the Ether and they can't be combined. Recommend avoidance.

• Armour of Khorne - a 4+ armour save is merely adequate, and the house recommends taking an Exalted Champion on a Juggernaut if you want saves.

• Might of Khorne - +1 S for 20 points, absolutely fine and dandy as filler, mulch yourself some sword and board infantry.

Slaanesh

• Aura of Slaanesh - if you have nothing better to do with 30 points, take this and inflict a minor Leadership malus, it may help. But it costs the same as Soporific Musk, so take that first.

• Soporific Musk - oh, this is solid, far more so than it first appears. For 20 points, a Daemon Prince may well be hitting opponents on twos, which is just plain nasty. The Initiative part is a writeoff since the Prince will be striking first in the first place, but the Weapon Skill is worth it alone.

• Gaze of Acquiescence - combines reasonably well with Aura of Slaanesh but that's 50 points down the tube for a Leadership gimmick that might not work. It's not bad but you probably have better things to do with your points.

Tzeentch

• Tzeentch's Will - really expensive, but possibly worth it on a character who could be casting a LOT of spells and really doesn't want to Miscast. Also works for saving throws, to hit rolls, and everything else Second Sign of Amul does.

• Spell Destroyer - a super Dispel Scroll with a 4+ chance of permanently destroying the spell, what's not to like for 50 points?

• Master of Sorcery - it's a Spell Familiar, and given the breadth of Tzeentch spells it probably won't hurt to pick up.

• Power Vortex - trading one wound for d3 power dice when you really need them is cast iron. In a vacuum this looks really good but I do wonder what kind of Tzeentch army is going to be stuck for dice.

Nurgle

• Cloud of Flies - hit bonuses and penalties in close combat are few and far between, and this is a good one for the relatively tough and attrition based Nurgle approach. Too pricey for an Exalted Daemon, but worth it on a Prince.

• Stream of Corruption - OK, this is good. 30 points for what appears to be a re-usable Breath Weapon (usable in any of the Chaos player's turns!), with good enough Strength and save modifier to melt light infantry. Excellent work on a cheap (ish) Exalted Daemon.

• Plague Flail - would be better if it was actually a flail. Give me +2 S on my Soul Hunger turns and we'll negotiate.

Units Analysis

Named Characters

• Archaon, Lord of the End Times

• Galrauch, First of the Chaos Dragons

• Gorthor the Beastlord

• Khazrak the One-Eye

• Morghur, Master of Skulls

Mortals

Lords and Heroes

Note: all of these come with Chaos Armour built in. Chaos Armour affords a 4+ save, and Wizards can cast spells whilst wearing it.

• Lord - an extremely solid combatant, excellent stats all round, with only Leadership 9 to make them anything less than perfect. Amongst a bevy of weapon options my personal favourite is the flail and shield: this grants the traditional war engine wrecking Strength of 7 for one round of combat (should be all you need with that many Attacks), allows him to strike first in most subsequent rounds (Initiative 8, after all) and rack up a 3+ base save, easy reach of a 1+ if you slap him on a Chaos Steed.

• Exalted Sorcerer - a level 3/4 wizard sporting the kind of combat stats most armies have on their Heroes; no weapon options, but a full range of nasty mounts. Won't give a Vampire Lord a run for their money but can be trusted to hold their own against line troops. In the right army, with proper precautions taken against Panic (i.e. big units of anything un-Marked, Marks of Khorne or Slaanesh on what needs 'em), can make a worthy General in place of the Lord. Can take magic armour options and probably should.

• Exalted Champion - the only thing Hero standard about this fella is Wounds and Leadership, everything else is firmly Lord grade. Chiefly notable for their access to Daemonic mounts: middleweight monsters that don't take up extra Hero slots, unlike Manticores and the like. Same kit as the Chaos Lord and to be honest the same guidance applies: flail and shield unless there's a good reason not to.

• Aspiring Champion - a budget Hero with no access to Daemonic Mounts, more average Hero stats and a special rule that says they can't be General unless nobody else is present to take the job. A good candidate for the Mark of Tzeentch as they're cheap enough that the premium price doesn't have so much impact. Also the Army Standard Bearer option, and able to be mounted on a Chaos Steed or Chariot for excellent saves in spite of flag-waggling.

• Sorcerer - level 1/2 wizard option, with the same "can only be boss if nobody better is around" rule as the Aspiring Champion. Has a limited range of nasty mount options (the generic Daemonic Mount and the Steed of Slaanesh) but the basic Steed is probably the good one. Deceptively tough for a wizard, as that Chaos armour and solid Weapon Skill goes a long way, but only has one attack so don't be expecting much. Unless, of course, you take the Lore of Fire and a Spell Familiar, and hope for Flaming Sword of Rhuin...

Mount Options

• Chaos Dragon - at 360 points and a Hero slot this thing isn't cheap, but it sports two breath weapons, a 3+ save and sixes across the board in the stats department. If you just want the flying and the terror take a Daemon Prince or even Exalted Daemon, but if you absolutely must put more killing power under your Chaos Lord, this is the way to do it.

• Daemonic Mount - a couple of solid attacks and a Daemonic Ward save to keep it alive. Give the rider the Enchanted Shield and you're looking at something considerably safer than the usual character on non-cavalry mount.

• Juggernaut of Khorne - probably the best of the bunch as far as Exalted Champion mounts go. Has a 4+ armour save of its very own on top of the Daemonic Ward, which is very nice, and WS that basically makes it hit like a Knight Champion.

• Disc of Tzeentch - lousy in a fight but still has W3 and flies 15" per turn. Many of the risks inherent with monstrous mounts go away for Tzeentch characters thanks to the Golden Eye, which keeps them both protected as they zip around spamming spells from medium range.

• Steed of Slaanesh - lower S and T than the Juggernaut or Daemonic Mount, but my God it's fast at 10", and also sports a respectable I5 for those longer combats. Also the cheapest of the bunch, probably because it's that little bit more likely to die.

• Chariot - at 120 points it's not cheap, but it affords bonus armour, brings impact hits, and covers a goodly amount of ground. A great mount for your Sorcerers, since both are best used in pairs anyway.

• Chaos Steed - the budget option (budget being relative, it's still 24 points with mandatory barding), but don't knock it, any Chaos character can hop onto one of these, grab a shield and enjoy a 1+ armour save. While this is normally an extremely desirable default standard, the Daemonic Mounts are strong and fast and cheap enough to be worth taking instead and it's not like Chaos heroes really hurt for armour saves. If points are tight, this is your go-to, but otherwise it's acceptable to spring for the Daemonic version.

Units

• Warriors - the hardest of the hard, with WS and S that match most heroes. However - they still only have one Wound and one Attack, so don't go expecting too much from them. They are far more anvil than hammer: stick to basic hand weapons and shields, notch up that 3+ save, and get your killing power from elsewhere. One unit can be upgraded to the very expensive Chosen - 20 points per model gets you an additional attack and Chaos armour. That 2+ save from sword and board is very, very good indeed, but the halberd is also an attractive option to really make the most out of the bonus attack.

• Knights - in any other army, a unit of cavalry with a 2+ save, S5 in every round of combat and a magic standard option would be a Special choice, with the Marks taking them up to Rare. But this is Chaos, and so you get to take these things as Core, and laugh while you do it. Do watch out for fear-causing enemies unless you've given them a Mark, though: they don't come in big units and the last thing you want is for one bad round of combat to have these expensive nutters whiffing and running.Once again, a single unit in the army can be upgraded to Chosen - and a Chosen Knight may be 45 points, but he has a 1+ save and two attacks and is quite possibly the best heavy cavalryman in the game.

• Marauders - tend to be looked down upon and worried about because they're on an inefficient 25mm base and in the same army as Chaos Warriors and can't have Marks, but you know what? There's nothing wrong with Chaos Marauders. For 5 points you get a human WS and I 4, and access to either a 4+ save or S5 hits for a few points more. Give them flails and they become the unlikely hammer to your Warriors' anvil. Great weapons are probably not the best idea (a waste of good Initiative stats, and they're too fragile to get hit before they hit back).

• Marauder Horsemen - expensive, but flexible Fast Cavalry, with the only conventional shooting options in the book. They won't be harrying from far away but either an 8" S3 or a 6" S4 shot is better than a kick in the teeth. Flails are available and probably a better buy than spears - you want to be breaking enemies on the charge so take your S5 and run with it.

• Chariots - expensive, but dangerous, and best used in pairs to counteract the occasional flop from only rolling one impact hit. Alternatively, send them in alongside a big old unit of the next thing on the list.

• Warhounds - these aren't Fast Cavalry but that can be a good thing, as they're allowed to rank up if they want to. At the time they were metal and it wasn't cost-effective to use them like that, but since plastic kits appeared on the market the big block o' dogs has become more and more attractive. One of the cheapest, fastest sources of rank bonus in the army and can be the secret core to a mounted force.

Daemons

Chaos Undivided

• Daemon Prince - half the price of a Greater Daemon or a Lord on Dragon, with the same opportunity cost of an extra Hero slot, but let's see what you get: all the magic levels you can pay for, 100 points of flexible Daemonic Gifts, a Mark, and a flying Chaos Lord statline that causes terror and comes with all the Daemonic advantages. Unlike Greater Daemons these are not Large Targets and so a hell of a lot easier to keep alive until they want to charge in, cause terror, cast spells and otherwise wreak havoc.

• Exalted Daemon - as Exalted Hero is to Chaos Lord, so Exalted Daemon is to Daemon Prince. Two Hero slots is quite the price to pay but honestly, a Mortal army would be very well served by bringing one of these along instead of a second Sorcerer. They're fast, they cause terror, they can cast spells if they need to and some of the Daemonic Gifts - for Nurgle and Slaanesh in particular - can go a long way on what's ultimately a disposable Hero. Too expensive to throw away, but cheap enough to take risks with.

• Furies - any army can bring one unit of these along, and in a Daemonic army they count as Core. They are fragile, they are cowardly, and they don't have many Attacks to throw around, but they do fly and they do have the WS and S to rip war machine crew or wizards a new one, and that's what they're best for. They're also pretty cheap for Daemons: a full unit of 20 will set you back 300 points and will probably last you an entire game, especially given they're fast enough to pick their own fights. Slam in an Exalted Daemon or Prince with Diabolic Splendour and they're almost dangerous.

Khorne

• Bloodthirster - a godlike combatant with seven S7 Attacks, swinging at Weapon Skill 10, Killing Blow, all the rest of it. Magic Resistance is also a godsend as it's going to be drawing a lot of spellpower. However, and it's a big however, it is both flying and frenzied and therefore will not be staying out of any combats that it has the opportunity to get into. Declare your charges early and often, whack it into things and try to get it some support. A ranked and stacked unit with a War Banner can easily draw or even win combat with this thing and one bad turn will see it poof back into nonexistence.

• Bloodletters - a lot of killing potential (S5, frenzy) and, uniquely among Daemons, a proper command group option and even a token armour save! But: they are still only T3, and have 1 Wound, and not very good saves. You'll be taking three units of them if you pick a Bloodthirster: keep them small, pay your tax, and invest in some Warriors or Beasts to do the stand-up fighting. Treat these as what they are: glass cannons.

• Flesh Hounds - the best wizard slayers around, with good charge ranges, good combat stats and Magic Resistance to boot. They don't fill Core slots because if they did nobody would ever touch a Bloodletter.

Slaanesh

• Keeper of Secrets - your 625 points buys you a lightning fast meat grinder of a monstrous character, which will be mulching through most line infantry thanks to its WS9 going into half of whatever they've got (Soporific Musk is built in). A level 4 wizard with the brilliant Lore of Slaanesh to boot. Keepers are great, but they do leave you saddled with some... limited... options in terms of your army's Core.

• Daemonettes - extremely, extremely delicate, but with two Attacks built in and all the Daemonic perks they can still absolutely mix it up when they get to charge. At 15 points a head they're a little pricey for what you get, though. Worth noting that they are M5 and so can get around the flanks of a Warrior or Marauder centre, or keep pace with the Beastmen.

• Mounted Daemonettes - added by the Storm of Chaos book and retroactively jemmied into this one, they're essentially a Fast Cavalry version of the above with a lot of the same strengths and drawbacks.

Tzeentch

• Lord of Change - you get what you pay for, and what you pay for is a tough flying wizard with all the good Tzeentch Gifts at no opportunity cost. Will almost never Miscast, should have a good spell for every turn, and packs the super Dispel Scroll for emergencies. Although it's the weakest Greater Daemon in a scrap, that doesn't mean it's bad: five S6 attacks is still a lot better than most armies' level 4 wizards can put on the table, and of course it has access to a proper Ward save and rerolls via the Lore of Tzeentch.

• Horrors & Flamers - Treat them like magic Clanrats: their job is to stand there while spells are cast and shots are fired from the attached 'weapon team'. The Horror unit itself can cast a crappy 1d6 magic missile, or blast an entire enemy unit with S3 hits (much better!), or attempt to inflict Killing Blows on something they're fighting and potentially generate more bodies for themselves (niche!). Because the casting value of their spells is based on the size of the unit it's best to bring at least 15: that gives you a Power Level 8 cast and that's sure to eat some enemy Dispel dice and give your Lord of Change free reign. A very strong magical support unit, though, and worth bringing even in a Mortal or Beast army if you've left yourself the option. Flamers, meanwhile, are a dangerous and potentially quite high yield throwing weapon on legs, chucking out d6 S3 hits from 8" away and getting in the way of the enemy, angling and blocking to keep your Horrors free for as long as possible.

• Screamers - a unit of flyers that hits like Fast Cavalry and can do damage to enemy units just by moving over them (it's not much, only a S3 hit per Screamer, but every little helps). Worth taking to chase, to harry, and to hunt down artillery pieces that give your Lord of Change funny feelings. Also very good at catching skirmishers, archers and other nuisances: again, a Chaos Undivided army is well served bringing some of these along if it can.

Nurgle

• Great Unclean One - the slow bro of the Greater Daemons, will take forever to get into combat with anything but can also survive the longest outside a scrap thanks to its ten (10!) Wounds. To be honest, considering that Nurgle magic is best used to spam out damage spells from a distance, the big lug might be happier outside of melee anyway, saving his Stream of Corruption for when anything gets too close for comfort.

• Plaguebearers - if you want a Great Unclean One these are going to be your Core, so get used to them. At Toughness 4 they are the least vulnerable Daemonic infantry and they come with a Stream of Corruption built in, allowing them to wreak a surprising amount of carnage once they're into the enemy lines. Underrated.

• Nurglings - a Swarm, which is normally good, but a Daemonic one, so not Unbreakable, so objectively worse than most. Only has four Wounds and Attacks too. Fortunately, they're adorable and cheap and make good ablative wounds or lane blockers for your Great Unclean One.

Beasts

Lords and Heroes

• Beastlord - The weakest melee lord of all you can field as chaos (even Exalted Champion which is hero can probably beat his ass in melee) but also the cheapest one. Having WS6 S5 T4 and A4 makes him a decent heavy infantry killer, but he won't fare well in fights against duelist characters. He's also pretty bad at being general, because he only has LD8 which for lords is underwhelming to say the least. His 3 redeeming qualities is that he allows your Beast Herds and Warhounds to ambush (Great Bray-Shaman can do it as well while also being a level 4 wizard), can buy magic all magic items excluding enchanted one's unlike Doombull or Shaggoth Champion and is the only Beast character that gets upgraded to Level 4 wizard with Mark of Tzeentch. His only mount option is tuskgor chariot which can make him pretty durable if you combine it with chaos armour and shield and it also increases his ammount of S5 attacks by quite a lot, but you need to get those charges and watch out for anything that can one shot war machines.

• Doombull - Less subtle melee lord of the beasts. Doombull in melee is comperable to Beastlord but he has T5 and W4 making him survive longer than Beastlord if we aren't counting any magical items. Speaking of which Doombull can only buy magical weapon which is pretty bad, but if you make your doombull deadly enough then he won't have to worry about being hit back by others. Doombull of Khorne with Chaos Runesword makes him pretty good duelist cause he'll have WS7 S6 and A6 making it easier for him to hit, not get hit and actually kill his opponents. Doombull also is a pretty good general with LD9 and if he's your general, then your minotaurs count as core instead of special which is great. You do give up ambush special rule for that but it isn't that big of a deal, especially if you aren't fighting factions with loads of artillery.

• Shaggoth Champion - Shaggoth but with mark of chaos undivided. Honestly he isn't very good lord choice. He's large target so it's easier for him to get hit by ranged weapons, he's stuck with WS6 which means that he's best used to kill everything but proper melee lords, doesn't get magical items at all being stuck only with marks of chaos, has 3+ save at best (4+ scaly skin with light armour) and doesn't do anything special for your army like other beast lords do (no beast ambushes, no minotaurs core or making dragon ogres more common etc.). He do have LD9 which is good, but it's better to take Doombull/Daemon Prince with Unliving Idol if you want to have LD9 in beast army. He does have immunity to psychology, terror and if he ever gets hit by lightning based attack (lore of heavens or skaven warp lightning cannon) he gets frenzy.

• Great Bray-Shaman - Regular wizard with nothing amazing going for him in terms of casting but he's quite potent in melee. Great Bray-Shaman and regular Bray-Shaman has access to Bray-staff which can be either used as great weapon or give your wizard +2 to save making him somewhat against anything that isn't lord/hero geared towards assasination. He has access to lore of Death, Shadow and Beast with Shadow being probably the best pick while the worst one being Beast simply because it's very situational since it relies upon whether or not your opponent brought cavalry/monsters to battle. Also he has LD7 so it is pretty good idea to use units which are frenziend, immune to psychology or have high LD of their own because he won't hold your army together for shit.

• Wargor - Gor which has stats similiar to those of Empire Captains for some reason but worse LD than them. There isn't really much to be said about this guy.

• Bray-Shaman - You regular hero wizard which can also hold Bray-staff like he's lord version but has even worse LD than him having only LD6 making him a coward. If you're feeling lucky, you can take one Bray-Shaman with lore of beasts and hope to roll for Bears Anger spell, thus making him better fighter than Wargor (not counting WS).

Units

• Beast Herd

• Bestigor

• Tuskgor Chariot

• Warhounds

Special Units

• Trolls

• Ogres

• Centigors

• Minotaurs

Rare Units

• Chaos SpaaajghjsaglOHGODNOTHEMEMEHASCOMEFORME - two of these take up one Rare slot and they are cheap as bloomin' chips. Unbreakable and sporting T5, their only real drawback as flank defenders is their unreliable 2d6" move. It's possible to dedicate them to a God for 15 points, which isn't the same thing as a Mark so you should be able to do it no matter who leads your army. The standout option here is Slaanesh, which accelerates them to a frightening 3d6" and should ensure they get to where you want them to go... eventually.

• Dragon Ogres

• Dragon Ogre Shaggoths

• Hellcannon

• Dogs of War - only an option to Beast and Mortal armies, because no mercenary with two brain cells to rub together is going to work for a Bloodthirster and the Bloodthirster won't carry pocket change. Standouts are of course any of the ones that add shooting to the army (Ruglud's Armoured Orcs and Mengil's Manflayers are probably a better pick than human crossbowmen, unless you have a beard the size of a small country), but spare a thought for the Bearmen of Urslo who have a similar set of combat stats to Chaos Marauders but come on a more compact base.

Tactics

AMBUSH!

The Beastman Ambush is a bit of a gimmick as, all else being equal, your Beast Herds will probably be doing the Ambushing and they only turn up where you want them slightly more than half the time. Nevertheless, it can work very well provided you stick to small Herds, with Warhounds on the table at the start, to fill up your Core slots, and then use your Specials for some more reliable troops (Chaos Warriors) to force engagements which the Beastmen then tip in your favour.