Editing Warhammer Army Project/Cathay (section)

== The Lore of Ying & Yan ==
'''Lore Attribute: Equilibrium''' A Wizard gains access to both Ying & Yan's versions of a spell when selected, similar to the [[Eldar]]'s Runes of Battle. Every successfully cast spell must be from the opposite energy type of the one cast before it. Otherwise, the Wizard rolls a miscast on the roll of ANY double. This means you get a larger pool of spells, but it also means you won't have the same freedom of being able to cast a spell whenever you want (well, you do...but it comes at very significant risk, and risking something like this on your Level 4 Wu Jen Lord isn't something you'd want to do).

*'''Signature for Ying: Ancestor's Courage (8/11)''' An augment with 12" range (24" if augmented), gives a unit Stubborn and Immune to Psychology until the caster's next Magic Phase. Want a unit to hold its ground? Are you trying desperately to keep an area under your control? Drop this on the holding unit.

*'''Signature for Yan: Warrior Incarnate (8/11)''' An augment with 12/24" range, gives a chosen unit Frenzy and Hatred until the caster's next Magic Phase. Pushing an advantage? Want to give your unit that slight extra edge they need?...you know what to do. 
-Both signatures are essential, basic, but seldom useless, except on units not intended for CC. 

*'''1st for Ying: Sapping of Will (5/8)''' A hex with 18" range and Remains in Play giving the target unit Always Strikes Last and -1 to their Weapon Skill...What? You're telling me for a 5+ Casting, It can turn a quick, elite enemy unit into a bunch of snails who hit with the skill of a militiaman? WITH REMAINS IN PLAY!?...I'll fucking take that shit for every battle I'm in. 

*'''1st for Yan: Strength of the Heavens (5/10)''' An augment with 24" range/ 12" aura, gives the target unit +1 Strength and Magical Attacks...GOOD GOD! How am I ever going to find someone willing to go against me with this kind of magic potency?! 
-I mean...do I need to tell you how useful this shtick is? 

*'''2nd for Ying: Absorbing Chill (6/12)'''  An augment with 24" range, Enemies that are attacking the augmented unit suffer -1 to their To Wound rolls. Make your basic infantry that much more challenging to deal with or protect your more critical units...what? Did you want something more profound? More insightful? It's a basic but excellent spell. There's no secret to using this spell. JUST USE IT! SPAM THIS SHIT!

*'''2nd for Yan: Flames of Azure (6/12)''' An augment with 24" range, The target unit gains Flaming Attacks and enemy models in base to base contact suffer Strength 3 attacks with the Flaming attacks special rule. These count towards combat res. Okay, this one isn't BAAAD, but it's more situational than its counterpart. The Strength 3 hits aren't worth the cost by themselves. Put this on a ranged unit you think will be trapped in combat by a unit that has the Flammable special rule in the near future, or even just a ranged unit that can target a Flammable unit. Just don't waste your dice on using this for those Strength 3 attacks...use something else.     
-Somewhat more specific spells are used for more specific situations (at least the Flames of Azure one). But both are worth it when used correctly. 

*'''3rd for Ying: Blazing Phoenix (8/12)''' A Direct Damage spell with 12/18" range. All enemy units within the range suffer D6 Flaming Strength 4 hits. 

*'''3rd for Yan: Call of the Dragon (8/13)''' A Direct Damage spell, Flaming Breath attack Strength 4, or S5 if overcast.
-Both of these are direct damage dealers. Blazing Phoenix is for multiple, close enemy units surrounding the Wizard. Call of the Dragon is more beneficial for a single unit... straightforward.

*'''4th for Ying: Bereavement of Life (9/12)''' Magic Missile with 24" range, Causes 3D6 hits. After rolling for how many hits you have and rolling again, every 6 you get for these die results is a wound with no armour saves allowed. With 3D6 hits, you're sure to get a few, but other spells can do a better job against hordes as well as basic infantry. This is a gambling spell that wouldn't be worth it most of the time. Against high Toughness units, high Armour Save units, and even just individual Lords/Heroes/Monster would be good targets for this.

*'''4th for Yan: Resurgence from Death (9/12)''' Augment with 12"/24" range. It gives the target unit Regeneration (5+) until the user's next Magic Phase. Eh, okay, but this is probably the "worst" spell in this lore (which definitely says something). Other spells in this lore (Absorbing Chill) would probably be better than this for survivability...though this one is better for high Toughness units/models where the enemy will be wounding you on a 6+ either way. 
It is slightly less versatile than the other pairs before, but they still have good uses and shouldn't be labeled useless.

*'''5th for Ying: Shroud of Darkness (10/13)''' Hex with 18" range. The unit affected by this will have its line of sight limited to 8" until the start of the caster's next Magic Phase. They also can't declare charges, cast spells at, or shoot targets outside the range. Holy hell, this spell has a wide amount of use for it. First is the obvious; essentially neuter an elite ranged enemy unit *cough* WOOD ELVES *cough* or those uber dangerous Magic Users (that use spells that can be affected this anyway) *cough* SLANN MAGE PRIESTS *cough*. Or use this to sever an enemy unit from their General and his Inspiring Presence or a BSB and his "Hold Your Ground!" rule. This will also help against shock cavalry coming for a significant impact (Bretonnians will hate you for this...and call you an honor-less cur to boot). The only thing this wouldn't help SO MUCH with is Artillery since you'll have to wade across the field to get to them...and by the time you get there, they'll probably have already done their work. Nevertheless, this is an excellent spell. USE IT, DAMN YOU!!

*'''5th for Yan: Path of Light (10/13)''' An augment with 12/24" range. The target unit immediately moves 3D6 '''FORWARD''' as if in the Remaining Moves sub-phase. Notice the word forward...that means that this is just an "advance quickly" spell that lets your units get places fast...not really for redeploying or shifting. If you are highly aggressive, you'll like this spell...otherwise, you'll find minimal use of it. Still, not a bad spell to have (especially for how many spells Cathay armies CAN have).
-I see good synergy going on with these spells. Experiment with these together and see if you can't make some tabletop magic to happen.

*'''6th for Ying: Earth Eruption (14/17)''' Direct Damage spell with 18" range. Place a small template within the range. Models at least partially covered by the template suffer a single S4 hit per model. Those completely covered by the template instead take S6 hits with no Armour saves allowed. An interesting spell...hm...since it's small, you'll most likely want to use this against non-horde units and non-Monstrous Infantry units (since you'll get few hits to begin with...and most Monstrous Infantry have T4 or higher). You'll probably have to find a happy medium of small enough bases, expensive enough models and high enough armour save without high Toughness to make this spell fairly efficient.  

*'''6th for Yan: Meteor Rain (12/18)''' Direct Damage spell with 24" range. Place a marker within the range and roll 2D6. The results of those 2D6 are the radius for Meteor Rain. ANY unit within the radius takes 2D6 S4 hits. Again, this one is tricky to use correctly since the range depends on a 2D6 results, and how many hits you get are based on a 2D6 results...this is a gambling spell. Make certain you know this. I see this being most useful against many packed, small, reasonably low Toughness units. There's little effective use for this elsewhere. This will make Skaven and Goblin lists cry, of course. 
-Interestingly enough, these are the least effective spells in terms of universality and literal effectiveness.

This lore is the kind of lore that the tears of Chaos Warriors are made out of, turning their mighty warriors into weakling school children waiting for you to bash their faces in, and some of the debuffs can also completely fuck over gun and arrow lines as well as cavalry.   Really as a whole, this lore has some of the cruelest debuffs for the power dice you're investing in the game. It's not a bad idea to stick to this lore over the rulebook lores that Cathay can access for this purpose.