Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Chaos: Difference between revisions
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===Named Characters=== | ===Named Characters=== | ||
'''Archaon:''' Now packing an oversized-overdetailed new model! The majority of the changes here focus upon Dorghar, who's now mutated from a horse to a giant fucking chimera with wings and three heads. While his basic equipment and Command Ability work the same as before, his monster now has three weapons: His claws, which deal the most damage but lose accuracy as damage racks up, the two tails, which get the most volume for attack, and the heads. The heads are special because if he kills a model with them, he gains a special ability depending on which head he uses: The Nurgle head spits out everything, inflicting d3 Mortal Wounds on nearby enemies, his Khorne head heals d3 Wounds, and the Tzeentch head can learn the spells of any | '''Archaon:''' Now packing an oversized-overdetailed new model! The majority of the changes here focus upon Dorghar, who's now mutated from a horse to a giant fucking chimera with wings and three heads. While his basic equipment and Command Ability work the same as before, his monster now has three weapons: His claws, which deal the most damage but lose accuracy as damage racks up, the two tails, which get the most volume for attack, and the heads. The heads are special because if he kills a model with them, he gains a special ability depending on which head he uses: The Nurgle head spits out everything, inflicting d3 Mortal Wounds on nearby enemies, his Khorne head heals d3 Wounds IF he killed a Hero, and the Tzeentch head can learn the spells of any Wizard he eats. Stack that with his equivalent of Deny the Witch, and he becomes insanely powerful, even moreso than before. Ironically enough, even with this boost, the poor guy just can't really keep up with Nagash. | ||
===Heroes=== | ===Heroes=== |
Revision as of 17:09, 12 February 2016
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.
Chaos Runeshield: Can avoid mortal wounds on a 5+.
Everchosen
Named Characters
Archaon: Now packing an oversized-overdetailed new model! The majority of the changes here focus upon Dorghar, who's now mutated from a horse to a giant fucking chimera with wings and three heads. While his basic equipment and Command Ability work the same as before, his monster now has three weapons: His claws, which deal the most damage but lose accuracy as damage racks up, the two tails, which get the most volume for attack, and the heads. The heads are special because if he kills a model with them, he gains a special ability depending on which head he uses: The Nurgle head spits out everything, inflicting d3 Mortal Wounds on nearby enemies, his Khorne head heals d3 Wounds IF he killed a Hero, and the Tzeentch head can learn the spells of any Wizard he eats. Stack that with his equivalent of Deny the Witch, and he becomes insanely powerful, even moreso than before. Ironically enough, even with this boost, the poor guy just can't really keep up with Nagash.
Heroes
Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch: A special Sorcerer from the Everchosen Battletome, this guy rides a disc, making him harder to hit by most units. He has a staff to cause decent projectile damage, his disc has volume for damage, and his sword has a special effect: if you roll 2d6 and it's higher than the target's Bravery, they immediately die. In all other cases, though, he only does one wound. On top of that, he also has a spell with a casting value equal to the target's bravery - if it passes, then roll a dice for each point of bravery in the unit, inflicting a mortal wound for every 4+, making it risky but rewarding to sic on Sigmarines. If a Realmgate gets involved, he has a tool there as well: he can summon Daemons of Chaos over from the other side at any point, though the summoned daemons can't move for the turn.
Troop
Varanguard: Chaos Knights + 1, and equally overdesigned and expensive for three knights with mutant steeds. They get even better ensorcelled weapons, with 6 ATTACK EACH, or Spears with 3 attacks and 2 damage (which wound at 3+ and gain -2 rending if they charge and attack in one turn), or swords with 4 attacks (with special FUN if the wound rolls are a 6: roll another d6 for each one and for every 2+, they inflict a Mortal Wound, but on a 1, the Varanguard eat a Mortal Wound). In any case, they still have their monsterhorses with better attacks and shields which give them a 4+ not-DtW. On top of that, they can pile in and attack twice a turn for one turn each game. When commanded by Archie himself, they gain not only the ability to add +1 to hit rolls and re-roll their charges if the big guy uses his Command, but they also gain a Mark of Chaos - WITH THE OPTION TO SWAP OUT MID-GAME. This makes them an incredibly deadly elite unit, but they'll likely have to be an elite bodyguard.
Slaves to Darkness
Heroes
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.
Lord of Chaos: Gets a different ability depending on his mark (Khorne allows him to reroll every 1 to hit, Tzeentch to reroll every 1 to save, Nurgle to reroll every 1 to wound and Slaanesh allows him to run and charge in the same turn) and any Slaves to Darkness unit within 10" with his same mark gets the ability too. If he kills the opponent general, he becomes a Daemon Prince on a whim, but if he dies he becomes... you know what.
Exalted Hero of Chaos: A guy with two axes with the nifty ability of attacking twice in the turn he charged (he pileups again between the two attack waves), and when he kills a Hero or a Monster he will deal double wounds in the next turn.
Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount: Pretty good actually. 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, and the Mark of Nurgle gives him an extra wound instead of allowing him to reroll every 1 to wound. 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. Mark of Khorne gives him a 6" pileup, Nurgle a +1 to his Save, Tzeentch allows him to unbind a spell in each turn and Slaanesh gives -1 Bravery to opponents within 3" during Battleshock Phase. 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 Claws and Jaws attacks and always rerolling when attacking units in your side of the field. His Command Ability allows a unit of Chaos Warriors within 15" to reroll charge, wound and Battleshock rolls.
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).
Troops
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, re-rolling 1s.
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.
Chosen: 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 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.
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. Feigned Charge allows for Mongolian-style hit and run tactics, as it allows the Marauders to shoot and charge even if they retreated.
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.
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.
Chaos Warshrine: Yes, the Warshrine does not count as a War Machine. If you play with caps on Heroes, Monsters and War Machines, 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.
Khorne Bloodbound
Nurgle Rotbringers
Named Characters
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.
Heroes
Lord of Plagues: 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.
Harbinger of Decay: 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.
Rotbringers 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.
Troop
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.
Tzeentch Arcanites
Heroes
Curseling, Lord of Tzeentch: Wow. Vilitch, who used to be overcosted and underpowered, may now be one of the best Chaos casters, albeit he is now a generic hero. 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.
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.
Hosts of Slaanesh
Heroes
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: Every enemy unit who piles up within 3" from him gets -1 to hit rolls against him. 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.
Troop
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 Monsters
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.
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: Very fragile, but very fast and extremely damaging, with four weapon profiles in melee after a flame 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, good 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: 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. 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.
Thunderscorn
Hero
Dragon Ogor 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.
Troop
Dragon Ogors: 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.
Old, retconned stuff
Read: out of production models. Sigvald's model is still in production but is now labelled as a generic Slaanesh Lord.
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.
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.
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. His unique spell, 'Treason of Tzeentch', has a 7+ casting value, 18" range, and lets you select a weapon from the victim unit, then every model equipped with that weapon uses it to make one attack on itself. "Why are you hitting yourself" has never been quite so fun.
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
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?
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.
Infantry
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.
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.
Stuff
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.
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.
Monsters
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.
Formations
- Overlords of Chaos: Archie takes his new giant daemon-thing and rides with a Gaunt Summoner and his Varanguard. When right next to the Summoner during a Hero Phase, the summoner can roll, leading to either you or the other guy going first next combat phase instead of having to roll it. Furthermore, he can designate a unit within 20" (or more if the Summoner's on the field) to be killed, making Varanguard re-roll hits and wounds.
- Bloodmarked Warband: A Mortal Khorne Hero takes 8 Mortal Khorne units, meaning you can pick anything you want If any units have 8 models at the start, they re-roll wound rolls of 1 for the turn, and if the hero ever dies. The Hero takes a big charge here, as he can give distant allies an extra attack with melee weapons if he kills an enemy model and if he dies, another non-hero model replaces him and gains an attack for his melee weapons.
- Plaguetouched Warband: A Mortal Nurgle Hero takes 7 Mortal Nurgle units. Any units with 7 models at the start gain an ability to inflict a Mortal Wound to any enemy that wounds them with a 6+, while the leaders of these units (if they have one) inflict a Mortal Wound on any shmucks within b2b on a 4+. To make things even worse, enemies have to suffer -1 to hit these bastards thanks to the flies!
- Fatesworn Warband: A Mortal Tzeentch Hero takes 9 Mortal Tzeentch units. Any units with 9 models at the start gain a 6+ Invulnerable save. Everyone in the formation gains a minimum of -1 Rending on their weapons (So now everything wrecks light armor) while all Heroes can fire Arcane Bolt even if they aren't a wizard (while actual wizards get to fire it twice).
- Pleasurebound Warband: A Mortal Slaanesh Hero takes 6 Mortal Slaanesh units. Ant units with 6 models at the start gain +2 Bravery. If any of your guys die in combat, then the rest of the band gets +3" on their pile-in moves.
- Archaon's Grand Host: The Overlords of Chaos can now add 4 formations of any combination from the God-aligned Warbands. Archie gains the ability to summon Daemons on a 5+ every Hero Phase and, once per game, command everyone within 10" to pile in and strike at once. The issue here is that this shit is insanely expensive, and not that much more useful than just employing them separately.
- Godsworn Champions of Ruin: A Daemon Prince, Lord of Chaos or Sorcerer Lord (either on foot or on a Manticore) takes 3 to 8 units between Warriors, Chosen, Knights, Exalted Heroes, Sorcerer Lords and Sp-those things. Everything in the formation can pileup and attack Heroes and Monsters during Hero Phase. Yes, you read that right.
- Godswrath Warband: A Lord on Manticore takes 10+ units between Warriors, Chosen, Knights, Chariots and Gorebeast Chariots, plus any number of Warshrines. In each Hero Phase you can roll a number if dices equal to the number of units from the formation within 24" from the Warshrine, and for every 6+ you basically get an Arcane Bolt on an unit that can be seen from the Warshrine. Note that an unit can't be hit twice in the same turn by this unit, meaning that if there are no more enemy units in the line of sight and still have some Bolts to throw, you must wound your own units.
- Ruinbringer Warband: A Lord on Daemonic Mount takes 5+ units between Knights, Marauder Horsemen, Chariots and Gorebeast Chariots. Once per game, every unit in the formation can charge during Hero Phase dealing d3 mortal wounds on enemy units reached (d6 if 10+ models are touching the unit).
- Blightguard: A Lord of Plagues and a Rotbringers Sorcerer take 4 units of Putrid Blightkings. Everyone can reroll every 1 to wound and gets a permanent version of Bloab Rotspawned's flies.
Army Building
External links
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