Editing Warhammer/Tactics/7th Edition/Warriors of Chaos (section)

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===
One of the best things about this army is the low model count. The other one is that the models are, most of the time, goddamn awesome. Under 8th edition infantry has been strengthened (haha!), while other units such as chaos horsemen, chariots or the like don't see so much use as they used to have. Consequently, you should consider buying a strong core of infantry: about 30-40 warriors of chaos ("oh my god the pain!" being cried by your opponent's units is guaranteed in close combat), although some people prefer to use even less. Marauders are no longer a good choice, although they can be used MSU style quite effectively depending on your list. Having bought some Warriors, invest in some heroes, sorcerers, a unit of horseman or two and 1 or 2 hellcannons (they are AMAZING now!). One of the advantages of playing WoC as opposed to Ogre Kingdoms or another similar force is the viability of many of your choices - you can run an all-mounted force, an all-chariot force, a force made up entirely of monsters or a simply Warrior army. The choice is yours!

===Army Composition===
===Magic Items=== 
*'''Generic Mounts'''
Generic mounts tend to be worse than mark-specific mounts, but the ability to be taken with any mark guarantees that they aren't obsolete, especially due to the dubious usefulness of the marks of Slaanesh and Nurgle in every other aspect (although their specific mounts do rock).
''A note on monstrous cavalry: at the moment, skullcrushers are the only monstrous cavalry unit in your army, which means that you won't have Look out Sir! unless you take a unit of at least 5 of them and place your hero in the unit. This is a problem especially against cannons, although stone throwers and quite a few spells can also present a danger: remember, even with a 4+ ward save two cannon balls are enough to kill a lord. Against cannons, you can protect yourself by placing a unit of trolls/ogres/whatever you want in front of the lord. Against spells and stone throwers there is nothing you can do, but they are generally unreliable (stone throwers) or can be dispelled at the cost of allowing something else to slip past (spells). All analysis of monstrous mounts assumes that you are taking this into account.''
**Chaos Steed: Your standard barded warhorse, only since this is chaos, he gets S4 to kick people to death. If you want a mounted hero or lord, this is what you'll likely be taking. With a 1+ armour save if you take a shield and the fact that a chaos lord (and heck, most of the times the exalted heroes) will only ever be hit on a 4+ you have a great defense right from the bat. The cost for such an awesome loadout is that with cavalry being so gimped this edition you will have a hard time killing very large units if you are unable to maneuver well (and depending on the map it may be hard: losing a 40 point model to a dangerous terrain test is sad). While not bad on your general, it might be best used on a hero leading a flank.
**Daemonic Mount: An attack-oriented chaos steed, it replaces the +1 armour for barding with an extra attack at S5 and stomp. Since the main draw of cavalry is having an extra +2 armour, the bloodthirsty beast has no place on a chaos lord. It does, however, work great on heroes and sorcerer lords, because it improves their toughness to 5, making up for the loss of armour while still providing a decent offense.
**Chaos Chariot: Yeah no. Chariots operate fine on their own, placing a character there will only turn them into the focus of all shooting, because it will become as vulnerable as a Shaggoth and just as (or more) pricy. Not only that, you replace one of the crew (so you lose attacks compared to a normal chariot) and you aren't as mobile as if you were on any other mount, because you can't march. Oh, and it's more expensive than a Daemonic Mount. If you didn't get the picture yet, don't take it.
**Chaos Warshrine: Yes, this really is a mount now. Despite offering a great ward save and being relatively tough, the Warshrine is no longer as useful as it used to be. In addition, it hobbles along at a painfully slow pace - as in, slower than the rest of your already (mostly) slow army - hardly an ideal choice for a mount. 
**Manticore: At T5, 4 wounds and no armour, this thing will die fast to shooting, melee, and magic. Which is a shame, because it can really dish out the pain: 4 attacks (5 if you fail the leadership test, which will also make your lord frenzied) at s5 with killing blow and thunderstomp will put a hurt on things, but you can't really expect it to survive against anything other than s3 infantry (and even then, not lol 4 rows asf high elves). Back when terror was more devastating, this was a worthy, if unreliable, mount,but now you are better off just taking the Tzeentch or Slaanesh mounts if you need your lord to move fast across the board. As of the new book, the Manticore was given a substantial price discount and the ability to buy a 4+ armour save. Still a glass cannon, but with the option for other viable flying threats like a Chimera or a Daemon Prince, it can find its place in an army now as part of a multitude of fast threats.
**Chaos Dragon: Ouch. The corrupted cousin of the Star Dragons, it has one less WS, S and W and replaces them with an extra breath weapon that will devastate low T things and put a dent on even high T cavalry, and +1I. Unless you are tackling enemy lords or monsters, this is usually to your advantage, especially considering you are paying 50 points less for it. At 3000+ points, you can properly equip your lord, but at 2500 you just have the bare minimum, so take the mark of Tzeentch, a talisman of endurance and a great weapon and go hunt whatever you please, just get into combat fast before you are struck down by everything your opponent has to throw at you. Monsters are always risky to take, so don't be surprised if one game you slaughter everything in your path and the other you lose 620 points to turn 1 shooting.

*'''Mark-Specific Mounts'''
**Juggernaut of Khorne: An S5 mount with 3 attacks (the model and the lord are one model, so both get frenzy) and stomp that also improves your armour save by 3 and gives you magic resist? Khorne is a kind god indeed to those who would fuck shit up in his name. Now that armor can't be improved past 1+, you benefit from it most if you take a halberd or a great weapon. Alternatively, if your lord already has a talisman of preservation, you could take a hero with the armour of destiny and a shield and have a sweet 1+/4++ save on two models (if you do so, make sure to make this fact obvious to your opponent by sending your characters on lone missions against his precious inner circle knights/ white lions). Heck, you could even take the glittering scales and still have a 2+ save while only being hit on 5+ or even 6+. A very solid choice.
**Palanquin: A mount that is considered infantry - chaos has it all. While not as balls-out powerful as the juggernaut, the fact that you remain infantry means that you can improve your armour save without having to join a unit of cavalry while still being safe thanks to Look out Sir! Since you have a 50x50 base, if you place your lord in the corner of a unit your opponent will be forced to allocate at least 2 attacks to him, which is to your favor. The Palanquin itself provides a respectable 6 s3 poisoned attacks, ideal against monsters and hordes designed to slow you down alike. Of course, all this is wasted if you don't make the most of your armour, so grab that dawnstone and a dragonhelm/enchanted shield. A solid choice only stained by the fact that the mark of Nurgle is generally wasted on lords (unless you also take the chaos runesword, in which case ws5 heroes and elite infantry will only hit you on 5s).
**Steed of Slaanesh: Have you ever wanted to hit something really hard, but were too far away to bash its skull in? Then the the boobed snake is for you. Of dubious usefulness in a lord (you want him close to the rest of your army to offer his leadership), this thing is spectacular on an exalted hero, because while the Disc of Tzeentch has fly, the steed allows you to join a unit of marauders and still have the vanguard move at the start of the game (which means you have all the defensive benefits of being in a unit), something your opponent will have to react to unless he wants to lose his flank. All the mounts have fear, but the fact that your hero will likely hit units in the flank (away from the BSB) makes it far more effective here than elsewhere. (In the new codex, you no longer have this for some reason.)
**Disc of Tzeentch: Boy, aren't you just spoiled for mounts? The Disc of Tzeentch can claim two main advantages over the Steed of Slaanesh: it allows you to fly over units, and you get a far more useful mark. Without vanguard, you are better having your hero or lord join a unit of chaos knights rather than marauder horsemen, and then leave the unit when a suitable charge opportunity presents itself. As with the steed of Slaanesh, it tends to be more useful on a hero, but the fact that you can be close to your army before they reach the melee (where they will be required to make far fewer leadership tests) means that it can and should be considered even on a lord. Also, great to keep sorcerers out of dangerous combat once it starts. Again, fear is more advantageous here than on the other (non-Slaaneshi) mounts.

*'''Weapons'''
DAEMONBLADE: nice. Magic weapon that makes the wielder have the random attacks (d6+3) special rule (so far, I have no idea if he adds these to his regular amount of attacks or what) but if you roll a 1, you hit yourself.

COLLAR OF KHORNE: grants magic resistance 3

UNHOLY STRIKE: the character can make a single attack that's double strength and has d3 wounds special rule.

*'''Armour'''
**Skinhidden Plate: +1 Toughness would be lovely, if it didn't cost 60 points. Skip.
**Chaos Runeshield: For 50 points it makes your opponents magic weapons and runic weapons count as normal weapons. Have your opponent [[RAGE|rage]] when his 100 point sword is useless. Of course, most lords invest at least 50 or so points in defense, so in most cases you are spending 50 points to make your opponent waste 50 points. Still, if you want to hunt down lords, this item and the aethersword on a mounted lord basically guarantee you can kill any character in 2-3 rounds of combat while being immune to retaliatory attacks, if you do not mind that you won't be very good at anything else (with the exception of hunting heavy cavalry). 
**Armour of Damnation: Amusing when used in conjunction with The Father of Blades, but your 45 points are better spent on other defensive items.
**Crimson Armour of Dragan: Too expensive. Unlike the Bronze Armour, it can be used on your general to provide killing blow immunity without gimping your leadership, but it's simply not worth it. If you are afraid of characters, you are better off just taking a 4+ ward (or the runeshield) so that you actually have some decent defense against other attacks, while against units you have an excellent tool at your disposal already: marauders. Oh, and you can't suffer multiple wounds, but since this benefit won't extend to your mount forget about taking a lord on a dragon bearing only this as defense.
**Armour of Morrslieb: Quite a good armor, actually. Being cheaper than the talisman of preservation comes with the cost of not working against magical attacks. It is thus best used on an exalted hero whom you want to solo units rather than on a lord who can be reasonably expected to fight enemy characters at some point.
**The Bronze Armour of Zhrakk: 15 points, the wear can at best wounded on 3+, even if the attack is auto-wounding, and gives immunity to killing blow. Very cheap way of getting killing blow immunity, but being unable to confer leadership means it's a big no for your general. Instead, take it on an exalted hero and then kite him to hold things like grave guard on his own (but keep the bsb nearby!).

*'''Arcane Items'''
**Skull of Katam: Simply not worth it. We already have the Mark of Tzeentch, and 50 points is far too much to pay for what you get. (actually, in this addition, this item is very good. for 15 points, you get to channel 6 dice instead of 1)
**Infernal Puppet: A must for <s>any wizard heavy list</s> any list with at least one Sorcerer Lord <s>or</s> and even against other wizards. For 35 points it lets you adjust ANY miscast roll by d3. Any. Fucking. Miscast. Yes, especially [[FAIL|yours]]. Saving your sorcerer and watching that [[Dark Elves|metal lore bitch]] exploding for 35 points? Point and laugh.
**Blood of Tzeentch: Can be useful, but in most games you're already going to have enough casting power to make something like this redundant. If you have the spare points for this, it can swing a spell around in some games. Highly situational.
**Power Familiar: Useful generally & more so in a game where you are outclassed magically. As with the Blood of Tzeentch, situational.
**Warrior Familiar: Not worth it. Skip.
**Spell Familiar: Brilliant against most of the armies you'll face, if you have the points for it, use it.

===Magic===
*'''Tzeentch'''
Tzeentchian spells are quite funny. They have some nice damage dealing potential, and many are underestimated. Moreover, the Mark of Tzeentch gives your sorcerer a +1 bonus to your ward save and casting rolls. The main advantage of the lore is that like the lord of change itself it cannot be predicted: your infernal gateway is as likely to deal 2 S2 wounds as to destroy a unit with no saves allowed. Amazing for those who like to play mind games with their opponents.
**Flickering Fire of Tzeentch (5+): For its casting value it used to be a damn amazing spell, but now that if you use only one die you have a one in three chance of failing the spell in spite of whatever bonuses you might have it lost ground to the simple fireball. Still, an average of 4,5 hits and S4,5 is nothing to scoff at, so they can be pretty useful on 2+ sorcerers to either make your enemy waste dispel dice or make his glass cannons suffer (it is amazing against high and dark elves). When you finally roll S7 against his cavalry or monsters, he will definitely think twice about letting other mind bullets pass.

**Treason of Tzeentch: An enemy unit resolves a single close combat attack against itself. Troll any hordes or any High S/Low T unit you like. I recommend High Elf White Lions, who, if in a unit of 20 will stab around 8 of themselves to death. 
**Pandaemonium: This spell will be dispelled at the beginning of your opponent's turn, guaranteed (he won't in your turn unless you roll badly). So, what's its use? Against magic-heavy items, it is invaluable to make them waste two casting dice each turn (which is usually the bonus power dice they receive, so they'll have to rely on good rolls for winds of magic). But what about the others? Well, in that case you, being the Tactical Genius you are, will realize that those hellcannons and their -1ld panic tests just became that much more deadly, as well as the fear tests for your units on the flanks. 
**Call to Glory: Removes a 15 point chaos warrior and replaces him with an exalted hero. +1 str, +2 A and other bonuses. But if your opponent dispels it you don't get the warrior back. So use it when your opponent's mage is not a threat. No, being the smart fellow that you are, you will use it on a 5 points marauder. Your opponent dispels it? Fine, you lost an expendable marauder that still got double the normal attacks at a greater WS (important against elite units) for one turn, and again, he wasted his power dice. He doesn't? Well then, have fun dealing with a free chaos hero rampaging through your frontlines! (In addition, the powergamer in me notices the spell can be dispelled at any time, in order to offset the 100 vp penalty, end the spell just before you roll the final armor save that might kill him.) 
**Infernal Gateway (15+): You know it, you love it. Easily the best spell in the game, it inflicts 2d6 hits at 2d6 strength. The real kicker is that if you roll a 11 or 12 as a strength you remove the unit from the game. The Whole Unit. No Saves. Even ICs. The Whole Unit. Again, the chances of this happening are 1/12, but every fantasy player has heard the terrifying tales of deathstars suddenly disappearing to this baby, and only an opponent with brass balls will allow you to cast it freely.

*'''Nurgle'''

*'''Slaanesh'''