Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legions of Chaos

The Legions of Chaos is an army added in the 2014 The End Times supplement/core rules update from Games Workshop to Warhammer Fantasy. They're a big and very welcome throwback to the iconic Hordes of Chaos approach from older editions, where Warriors of Chaos, Daemons and Beastmen are all fielded in a single great gribbly horde, with the addition of the new Nurgle special characters as options.

Why Play Legions of Chaos

Because why not. Seriously, you get all the fun toys that the old Horde of Chaos players used to get. You will make the old Neckbeards grin with joy once more. Warriors can now access the brilliant Skull Cannons of Khorne and the chaff Razorgors from the Beastmen book. Beastmen have access to infantry and units that are not utter shit and will not die in hordes of beer and vomit (and ambush now works like it should). Daemons now get their pick from both the other books like flanking core units, as well as trading their old Reign of Chaos chart for one in which only one result can directly hurt you.

If you are already playing a Beastmen or WoC army, there is no downside whatsoever to bringing in exterior units. Even though you are still forced to take magic items from respective books, there is nothing stopping your Beastlord from joining your unit of Chaos Warriors. Daemons don't get as much of a boost, as Daemonic Alignment means your Daemonic character can only join Daemon units with the same mark, and does not benefit from Inspiring Presence or Hold Your Ground! (unless the models with those rules are Daemons with the same mark). So it does not allow things like using Heralds of Slaanesh making to make Chaos Warriors always strike first.

Army Special Rules

By default, all options follow the basic rules of their original armies unless otherwise contradicted, but there are some additions.

• Daemonic Alignment: Daemon units can only be joined by characters who are aligned to the same Chaos God as they follow. Similarly, they can only benefit from Inspiring Presence or Hold Your Ground if the model providing these effects is aligned to their patron god. Only Daemonic characters can join Daemonic units.
• Beastlords, Doombulls, Great Bray-Shamans, Wargors, Gorebulls, Bray-Shamans, Gor Herds, Ungor Herds, Ungor Raiders, Tuskgor Chariots, Minotaurs, Centigors, Bestigor Herds, and Razorgor Chariots can all buy Marks of Chaos. For a unit, the cost is 2pts per model for Khorne, Nurgle or Tzeentch and 1pt per model for Slaanesh. For a Hero, Lord, Chariot or Monster, the cost is 10pts for a Khorne/Nurgle/Tzeentch mark and 5pts for a Slaanesh mark.
• Beastmen Ambush is modified- notably, you don't have to match an ambushing unit with a deployed unit.
• Beastmen Lords and Heroes count as Chaos Champions and so use the rules for Eye of the Gods, but if they receive the Daemonhood reward, they instead trade it for the Spawndom reward.
• A slightly modified version of the Eye of the Gods chart (result 7 gives a result based on what mark the champion has, or if he has no mark) is used.
• In an End-Times LoC army, Daemonic Instability is replaced with Unbreakable and Unstable.
• A modified version of the Daemonic "Reign of Chaos" table is used (regardless of whether or not the army you field includes any Daemons); long story short- when you roll for Winds of Magic, consult the chart for random FUN. Most of the results are actually pretty good for the LOC player- results 5-6 and 8-9 don't target your own units like the Daemon version, and result 7 will probably do something. Results 2-4 are still bad for you though (although 2 and 4 only are if you are fielding Daemons).

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Note Under End Times supplement rules, you can spend up to 50% of your points on Lords, AND up to 50% on your heroes since they have separate points spending pools. You still of course need 25% Core regardless however.

Named Characters

Note: Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, many named characters do have abilities and war gear combos unique to them so if you need to have them go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

Lords

• Khazrak the One-Eye: Costing in at 270 points, Khazrak is still one of the better beastman special lords - though that's more because of how crap the beastmen tend to be in general. With stats that are pretty good, if not as killy as a vanilla Chaos Lord, the ability to forgo his normal 4 attacks to make a number equal to the number of models in the opponent unit's front rank, negating enemy magical weapons and a 2+ save, he's a fairly decent combat character. His special rule makes him most useful in an army where you have a lot of beastmen (make sure to give them marks) with the Beastmen Ambush rule.

• Malagor the Dark Omen: When it comes to being a disrupting wizard, Malagor's actually pretty good. Can cast from one of four lores (Wild, Death, Shadow, Beasts), level 4 wizard, gets a cumulative +1 to all casting rolls for each spell successfully cast, gives Frenzy to other beastmen, can fly, and negates the ability to use the general's leadership for anything within 6" of himself. Pretty good if you get spells that target leadership and you're fighting an army that generally relies on its general's leadership. Of course, you're paying 350 points for this...

• Taurox the Brass Bull: Whoa boy... 335 points for a suped-up Doombull with 6s for everything except Ballistic Skill (3), Wounds (5), Initiative (5) and Leadership (8). He's got a 1+ armor save, does D3+1 impact hits when charging, and his paired weapons ignore armor and are flaming attacks. On the other hand, if your opponent manages to roll 6s both To Hit and To Wound, he dies if he fails his armour save. The odds of it aren't likely, but he's not really the best character you can have now that you have access to WoC characters.

• Skarbrand: He can't fly, but at M8 that's not so bad. With maxed out WS and Initiative, 6s in Strength and attacks, and 6 Toughness 5 Wounds for survival, he's a monster in a melee. Add in the fact he ignores armor with his attacks, his S5 Breath Weapon, permanent Frenzy and inducing Hatred in every unit on the table, friend or foe, and you got someone who guarantees bloodshed.

• Kairos Fateweaver: The absolute best daemonic spellcaster in the game, hands down, who starts with ALL Daemonic Tzeentch spells and 1 spell from EACH of the main Battle Magic lores. Only downside is you have to choose which of his two heads is casting each phase (Left Head knows Life, Metal, Light, Heavens, Daemonic Tzeentch, while Right Head knows Death, Beasts, Shadow, Fire and Daemonic Tzeentch) and you may not have enough power dice to get the best out of him if you haven't loaded up with Horrors of Tzeentch.

• Ku'gath Plaguefather: If only his ability worked on Warriors with the Mark of Nurgle... In an all Nurgle DAEMON army he is fantastic, but he benefits little from combining armies unless you're focusing on a lot of Nurgle daemons.

• Archaon: Whoa boy... what to say about the big daddy of all Warriors of Chaos? He's an unholy rape machine in a vanilla WoC army and he certainly doesn't lose that trait in an LoC army. If you're going to take a special character, you can do a hell of a lot worse than Archaon.

• Galrauch: What's scarier than a Chaos Dragon with 6s in everything and Leadership 9? When it's also a level 4 wizard with the Mark of Tzeentch and with Fumes of Chaos replaced by the Breath of Change (enemies must pass a Toughness save or die outright, no backsies!), that's what! His only weaknesses are the fact he uses Tzeentch Lore (which kind of sucks) and the Spirit of Galrauch rule, which means if you fail a Leadership test (not very likely, on LD9) he can't move, breath weapon or cast spells and he makes 3 WS6 S6 attacks against himself.

• Kholek Suneater: With his sizeable stat boosts compared to a regular Shaggoth, Kholek looks like a guaranteed choice. On the other hand, those 7 attacks are coming at a rock bottom initiative of 1, and while they do D3 Wounds on a hit (which, at WS8, is pretty likely), the fact he's a Large Target with only a 4+ Scaly Skin 2+, he was FAQ'd to have heavy armour too, save makes his survival kind of unlikely, even with 8 T6 Wounds to get through. He also gets the ability to blast a single enemy unit within 24" with a bolt of lightning if he can roll a 2+, which deals out D6 S6 hits - on a 1, it blasts him instead and triggers his his Storm Rage. He can even use this if he's in a melee, so it's not too shabby.

• Sigvald the Magnificent: Sigvald is weird. Awesome combat lord with Mark of Slaanesh, amazing stats, good saves, the ever sought after LD10 and a boatload of attacks. But he almost has to be in a unit to prevent him from dying to cannons. Few infantry blocks really benefit from the Mark of Slaanesh, so finding where to put him can be a tricky proposition.

• Valkia the Bloody: A great killy combat lord. With 7 Str 7 attacks on the charge, good armor, and flying she is meant to get into combat immediately and murder whatever she hits. Her ability also makes her a highly mobile BSB. She also has a nifty ability where she lowers the strength and number of attacks of models in base contact with her. The reality is that you can easily get a chaos lord to do her job better for around the same amount of point. She isn't particularly tanky and she lacks a ward save. But is she cool? God yes. And there is no better lord for a themed Khorne army. Why should Nurgle have all the fun in the End Times?
  • Khorne's old lady is an incredible boon for Beastmen when she isn't the General; two BSBs for an army that suffers so strongly from leadership issues is a true gift of the dark gods.

• Vilitch the Curseling: The only problem with this guy as a wizard - level 4 caster, Loremaster in his chosen lore, steals enemy power dice to make dispel dice if they fail to cast, steals failed dispel attempt dice and makes them fresh power dice - is that he can only use the Mortal Lore of Tzeentch, which is generally regarded as being one of the worst Chaos Magic Lores. If you feel otherwise, he's a pretty good choice, and though inferior to a vanilla Chaos Lord in terms of killing ability, he can hold his own if he gets into a fistfight.

• The Glottkin: So, the Glottkin are the big character getting pushed for the Legions of Chaos, at least in their initial release. Are they worth it? Well, for starters, you're paying 810 points for a Lord choice Special Character Monster that sports 6s for Movement, Weapon Skill, Strength and Toughness, Ballistic Skill 3, 12 Wounds, 5 Attacks, 10 Leadership and a lousy Initiative 1. They cause D3 Impact Hits, they cause Terror, they have the benefits of Nurgle's Mark and Nurgle's Rot, they Regenerate, they have Poisoned Attacks and they cause Terror. In terms of unique rules, they're a level 4 Wizard (WoC Lore of Nurgle), they gain +D6 attacks in each round of close combat, they can nominate one attack each round as being Strength 10 and Multiple Wounds (D6), they have a close combat Breath Weapon (strength 3, ignore armor), Nurgle Marked or Nurgle Daemon units within 12" can re-roll failed choices, and they always get Aura of Chaos if they roll on the Eye of the Gods. The big problem with the Glottkin is they can't cause wounds enough to buy back their absurd point cost. Even with the new Summon Infernal Legion spell that they get as a Chaos Wizard (note that your Chaos wizards only get this spell if using the special "Chaos Ascendant" scenario rules), the fact they lack the spellcasting perks of Nagash makes magic use a risky proposition for something that's also intended to go barrelling into close combat. Yes, if the dice gods are kind, then a charging Glottkin can dish out 14 attacks, one of which is S10 D6 Multiple Wounds, but that depends on random luck, and they're too tied down by their bottom of the barrel Initiative. Especially if your opponent is packing a Wizard with the Lore of Death or any other spells that target Initiative; one Purple Sun to the face and it's bye-bye to 810 points.

• Orghotts Daemonspew: One of the three Maggoth Riders of Nurgle, Orghotts Daemonspew is a Lords choice that costs 430 points. For this, you get a Special Character Monster with Movement 6, Weapon Skill 8, Ballistic Skill 3, Strength 6, Toughness 5, 9 Wounds, Initiative 7, 8 Attacks and Leadership 9. He wears Chaos Armor (with his save boosted to 3+ for being on Whippermaw), and wields the Rotaxes (paired weapons, +2 Strength, Poisoned Attacks). He sports Acid Ichor (unsaved wounds in close combat inflict a S4 hit on the attacker unless they pass an initiative test), causes Fear, sports the Mark of Nurgle, has a 6+ Ward save due to his Daemonflesh rule, and riding Whippermaw means he has a shooting attack that is range 6", Strength 4, Killing Blow, Poisoned Attacks and Quick to Fire. Now, this guy is going somewhere, compared to the Glottkin. Still pricey, yeah, but eight S8 Poisoned Attacks at Weapon Skill 8 isn't something to sneeze at(make that 9 attacks, the rotaxes are paired weapons). Get him into combat, especially if you have a Nurgle Sorcerer with the Fleshy Abundance spell, and between his attacks and his Acid Ichor, he's pretty good at mowing down lower-toughness foes.

• Bloab Rotspawned: One of the three Maggoth Riders of Nurgle, Bloab Rotspawned is a Lords choice that costs 415 points. For this, you get a Special Character Monster with Movement 6, Weapon Skill 5, Ballistic Skill 3, Strength 6, Toughness 5, 8 Wounds, Initiative 5, 6 Attacks and Leadership 8. He wears Chaos Armor (with his save boosted to 3+ for being on Bilespurter), and wields a great weapon. Causing Fear and having the Mark of Nurgle, as well as inflicting D6 Strength 3 Magical Hits on ever enemy unit within 6" at the start of each magic phase, his specialty is his shooting attack (stone thrower, Range 24", Strength 3(4), Vile Bile [Ignores armor]) and his spellcasting. Not only is he a level 3 Lore of Nurgle caster, his Doombells add +1 to his casting rolls and inflict a -1 penalty to the same to any enemy wizard within 12".

• Morbidex Twiceborn: One of the three Maggoth Riders of Nurgle, Morbidex Twiceborn is a Lords choice that costs 385 points. For this, you get a Special Character Monster with Movement 6, Weapon Skill 7, Ballistic Skill 3, Strength 6, Toughness 5, 8 Wounds, Initiative 6, 7 Attacks and Leadership 8. He wears Chaos Armor (with his save boosted to 3+ for being on Tripletongue), and wields a great weapon. This is the most vanilla of the Maggoth Riders; Nurgle's Rot, Daemon Flesh (6+ Ward Save), Lord of Nurglings (nurglings within 12" have Regeneration) and Tripletongue (shooting attack, Range 6", S6, Poisoned Attacks, Quick to Fire). If your army is big on nurglings he's kind of okay, but, really, there's better things to spend your points on.

• Gutrot Spume: Now, what is there to say about Gutrot Spume? Well, at 250 points as a Lord choice, he's the cheapest special character that Nurgle gets in the new Legions of Chaos, for 40 points more than a generic Lord he gets +1 Wound, +1 Ld, a Great Weapon and for special rules... Nurgle's Rot, Mark of Nurgle, Flailing Tentacles (+D3 attacks in Close Combat), and the ability to hop on a Chaos Warshrine for another 125 points. His most unique ability is "At Home on Land or Sea"; Gutrot and any unit he is with treat any areas of water (even impassible ground) as being open ground and so can march, claim rank bonus and be steadfast. He's worth his points, but since he only has one mount he's less versatile as a normal Lord and a little gimmicky, he only becomes awesome if you know your opponent is going to fight you on a water-featuring board.

• Festus Empowered: So, what happens with this beefed up version of Festus the Leech Lord? He costs 320, and has Movement 4, Weapon Skill 5, Ballistic Skill 3, Strength 4, Toughness 5, 3 Wounds, Initiative 5, Attacks 3 and Leadership 8 for his stats. He's a level 3 Nurgle spellcaster with a handweapon, has the Mark of Nurgle, Poisoned Attacks and Regeneration, and a bevvy of unique rules and magical items. Gardener of Nurgle means difficult terrain becomes dangerous terrain for all enemy units (and Alleyways, if using the Streets of Death rules, are dangerous terrain too), Destined for Daemonhood means he automatically becomes a Daemon Prince if you roll a 12 for Eye of the Gods, and if you stick him in a unit, they gain Poisoned Attacks and Regeneratio (5+) thanks to his Harbinger of Pestilence and Healing Elixirs rules. He carries Pestilent Potions, which he can use to either heal himself of 1 wound or make a special attack on a single enemy in close combat (both players roll a D6 and add unmodified Strength to the result; if tie or Festus wins, enemy takes D3 Wounds that ignore armor), and he also has the Shroudlings, which are a bound augment spell (power level 5) that grants all friendly models within 12" the benefits of being in Hard Cover until the start of Festus' next magic phase.

Heroes

• Morghur, Master of Skulls: This guy is confused about what the hell he wants to be. He literally eats missile attacks and spells so long as he stays more than 12" away from the source, so that means he can't be shot down, which is kind of handy to get him into melee. On the other hand, he certainly isn't a unit killer by himself - between his WS6, T5 and automatic S3 Armor Ignoring hit on every enemy model within base contact you'd think otherwise, but he's only S4 and has 2 Wounds. At the same time, you don't want to stick him in a unit for protection because he automatically kills 1 friendly model within 12" every Magic phase, replacing them with a Chaos Spawn on a 3+ and just killing them on a 1-2. If you're willing to stick him in a big but normally crappy unit, like ungors or marauders, he could be worth it, since the chaos spawn are much more killy than the original creatures, but in general, avoid.

• Slugtongue: Although he can only cast Lore of the Wild or Lore of Death spells, Slugtongue's not too shabby for a level 2 wizard. You want to position him in a good-sized unit to cloak him and put him as close to the enemy as you can at the game's start; his "Curse of the Famine-fiend" means you can potentially knock off D3 or even D6 Wounds from every enemy unit within 36 inches. It won't soften up a horde army too much, but a big force is sure to take a few wounds, and every bit helps. With Poisoned Attacks and Regeneration, he's got a decent bit of survivability to him as well.

• Moonclaw, Son of Morrslieb: This guy is just... ugh; Stupidity on both the enemy and YOUR OWN GUYS within 12", only a level 1 wizard, and the ability to get a +2 to casting rolls and make D3 Stone Thrower shots during the first, second or third round of the game. Avoid like the plague; this guy shows just how stupid GW was being when they reinvented Beasts of Chaos as Beastmen. (Also probably Moon Moon in disguise.. dammit Moon Moon!) If you really want to take him though (most likely to fuck over a Goblin or Skaven player) then put him on Unbralok so you can get him as far away from your own guys as possible, and make sure the only ones he's near (if he must be near some of your guys) are Chaos Warriors for their higher Ld.
  • Adding Umbralok isn't a bad idea, since that's +2 Movement, +1 Wound and +3 Attacks (at Initiative 2, yeah, but Moonclaw's I3 himself, so he's hardly one to talk) for +35 points on his original 200 point cost. At the very least, it's no worse an idea than taking this piece of shit character in the first place!

• Skulltaker: Character killer nonpareil; he's always got to issue and accept challenges, but with WS 9 and Heroic Killing Blow when in a challenge, that's what you want him to do. Not too bad at mincing infantry, what with flaming attacks, killing blow, and 4 Initiative 9 Strength 5 attacks, but it's not his strong point. Beware of enemy characters who have better initiative/Always Strikes First and other decent stats, because he's only got a 4+ armor save and 2 T4 Wounds to protect him. Needless to say, shooting attacks will fuck him up.

• Karanak: Another character assassin, but also good for fucking over enemy wizards.

• The Blue Scribes: Seriously? Okay, the fact you can chose which of the eight default lores you cast from each Magic Phase is nice, but with randomized spells each time and no way to even get the signature spells, they're kind of useless.

• The Changeling: Only useful if you're going up against a force with especially killy creatures or characters to copy. Of course, he's got to get into base contact first, so... yeah, there's better things to spend points on.

• Epidemius: Like Ku'gath above, he'd be a lot more useful if his powers benefited from Mark of Nurgle and Mortal Lore of Nurgle wounds and he bolstered mortal Nurglites as well as Nurglite daemons. There's no real point to taking him unless your army is full of Daemons of Nurgle.

• The Masque of Slaanesh: Luckily she comes with a 3+ Ward Save, because that rule about being unable to join any unit would be a killer otherwise. She's quick as greased lightning, can make mincemeat out of most common troops, and can penalize Leadership, Initiative or Strength for all enemies within 12". Not a bad little supporting hero.

• Wulfrik the Wanderer: You suddenly have access to three awesome faction's core choices and you choose marauders? I mean, they aren't even good in Warriors. His ability is cool and he can rock a challenge like nobodies business, but he is unreliable as hell and, I mean, well... marauders man. Marauders...

• Throgg: Trolls for core? Yes please. Even with all three factions vying for that sweet sweet 25% core requirement you are going to be hard pressed to find better core than trolls. Throgg is cheap, has good stats, and is great in zoo themed monster lists.

• Festus the Leechlord: Would be amazing if he were tankier. With no armor and only regen to save him if he is in the front of a unit (where he has to be) you can bet your bottom dollar everyone will target him and he will die. His abilities are awesome as giving an entire unit a 5+ regen save and poison are awesome. If you want a deathstar he is your go to guy, but just know he has drawbacks.

• Scyla Anfingrimm: He's a Chaos Spawn with +2 attacks, Hatred, a 5+ armor save, the Mark of Khorne, and the Brass Collar of Khorne (Ward Save 6+, Magic Resistance 3). There's better things to spend your points on.

• Ungrol Four-Horn: For starters, you can't take this guy unless you take an Ungor Herd for him to lead - that right there should be reason enough to give him the skip. On the other hand, if you must, his stats are relatively decent, especially if he passes his Leadership test (on LD 7, don't count on it) and gets his +2 Weapon Skill and +1 Strength for the turn - nobody's expecting WS6 S5 attacks from ungors! Failing the test gives you a random Lore of the Wild Spell from a level 1 Wizard. All in all, gimmicky and tied to one of the absolute worst units the Beastmen have. Avoid.

• Ghorros Warhoof: A fairly decent character in his own right, and the fact he gives +1 Leadership to all Primal Fury units if he gets killed can be useful. The big drawback is that he has to come with one of the worst units that the beastmen have, and +1 WS does absolutely nothing to improve them. He's not really worth it.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

when trying to decide whether to take a Warriors of Chaos, Beastman or Daemon equivalent in the same role, give the Magic Items available to each a quick browse as a tiebreaker.

Lords

• Beastlord: Cheaper than a Chaos Lord but no where near as killy. Even with the new rules for Heroes you will probably not see many of these around because there isn't anything he can really do which something else can do better.

• Doombull: Oh daddy yes, the Doombull can now wreck havoc with monsters worthy of his skills. Use him in the same way you would in a Beastmen army. However, the new Legion rules means that he fits perfectly in a unit of Trolls. Give him the Blackened Plate and he'll grant the entire unit a 4+ ward against flaming attacks. Oh, and he gives them Frenzy via the Slaughter's Call special rule. Laugh when your trolls have five attacks, and are immune to fire based attacks, which was their only weakness before.

• Great Bray-Shaman: You'll likely see more of these pop up in order to give access to Lore of Beasts, something which Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos lacked. He's a little bit overcosted and fragile, so make sure that you pop a ward save on him otherwise he will die like the goat that he is. Lore of Beasts is totally worth it, boost him to level 4 and then buff your already tough troop choices into the next realm of chaos.

• Bloodthirster: The only Lord choice you have who beats out a Chaos Lord in terms of sheer killiness. Expensive as hell, but you were never going to outnumber the enemy anyway, and you're definitely getting what you pay for!

• Lord of Change:

• Great Unclean One:

• Keeper of Secrets:

• Daemon Prince, Daemons of Chaos Version: Inferior in most ways to the Warrior version, you can pretty much skip him here.

• Daemon Prince, Warriors of Chaos Version: The same old unbreakable Daemon Prince from hell that everyone loves. The new rules for Lords means that you could potentially bring two of them to a 2000+ game, although doing so might make you suffer in other areas, just because you can stuff your force with Lords and Heroes, it doesn't mean that you should. Pretty much any of the 4 Gods make a brilliant unit, the Nurgle Death Prince is hated throughout the game, although the Tanky Tzeentch Prince with Lore of Metal is also pretty good. Don't forget Slaanesh, who can fly up first turn and Chior Bomb everything in sight. With a Chaos familiar and a level one wizard using Slaanesh, you are pretty much guaranteed to get Choir as your spell. Khorne is also handy, because not being a wizard makes you pretty cheap.

• Chaos Lord: The new Lord rules have been good for Chaos. You can now quite comfortably squeeze in a combat lord and a Level 4 in a 2000 point list. One of the best lords in the game (up there with the Vampire Lord, except in one on one a Chaos Lord will probably bash his skull in. But vampires can really eat rank and file models). Coat him in thick armour and a nice ward save and send him in at the deep end. Using Tzeentch can make you almost un-killable, Nurgle can make you un-hittable. Slaanesh isn't as popular because he has a meaty leadership 9, but if you are prone to running away like a sissy girl when your wardogs blow up then it may help you out. Khorne gives you an extra attack, which is always handy. The best thing about a Chaos Lord is that he has no real need for a magic weapon, he can quite happily crush things with just a Halberd or a Great Weapon, except he will give up his impressive I in order to use it.

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord: More expensive than his Beastman counterpart, but makes up for it by being able to take armour and respectable mounts. Even with Daemon Princes flying around, Sorcerer Lords are more common in smaller point games due to their cheapness. Tool him up anyway you want, but make sure his armour save is 2+ or better and he has, at least, a 4+ ward save. It's really easy for warriors to do, and due to Eye of the Gods, he could well end up in Challenges. Luckily for you, you are not a smelly elf mage in a cowardly robe. He is only Toughness and Strength 4. So you might want to sit him on a daemonic mount to increase his toughness.

Heroes

• Wargor:Unless you want a cheap BSB, you'll probably only see him around for his Beast Banner, which grants a unit +1S. Pretty awesome in units of Warriors or units of Bestigors. He is fragile, so at least give him heavy armour, a shield and Gnarled Hide for a 2+ armour save. Even then make sure you have another character in the unit, Eye of the Gods now applies to him and he has to declare and accept challenges. Plus, you don't want your BSB turning into a spawnnnnnnnaAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

• Gorebull: Not quite as good as a Doombull but decent none the less. Like above, best used in units of Trolls with the Blackened Plate to make them immune to flaming attacks and frenzied.

• Bray Shaman: A cheap scroll caddy, what every Chaos Warrior player wanted. You can make them level 1 and spam Wildform or Miasma on everything. Or give him the Herdstone and surround him in units of Horrors. A unit of Horrors counts as a wizard, so bring three units and watch as your magic phase is better than your local elf player. Remember you can't have any higher than 12 dice in the magic phase.

• Herald of Khorne: If you're going to be tossing around units of bloodletters and you want to make them better, then you need these guys; they're the only character that can join them.

• Herald of Tzeentch:' They are mandatory if you want to use Lore of Tzeentch to its fullest. Exalted Locust of Conjuration is a serious buff to all the random spells Tzeentch mages use.

• Herald of Nurgle: If you're going to be tossing around units of plaguebearers and you want to make them better, then you need these guys; they're the only character that can join them.

• Herald of Slaanesh: If you're going to be tossing around units of daemonettes and you want to make them better, then you need these guys; they're the only character that can join them.

• Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch: A web-supplement character, so that right there should give you warning. Different view: A warning of what? They are cheap and do provide you with an excellent range option! Their grapeshot is deadly (S = D6 +3) and they can march and shoot with a unit of flamers! Stick a few around and clear all the chaff crapp! Or aim at bigger, elite units! They get Regeneration cose of Warplame? Sure, it means nothing if you have sufficent numbers of Exalted Flamers. Oh, and Skull Cannons can deal with Regeneration save.

• Exalted Hero: A slightly smaller and less angry Chaos Lord. Pretty good in combat and can also be a BSB. Again, give him some decent armour and a ward save. Or use the Dawnstone. A favourite technique of mine is BSB on a Chaos Steed with Halberd, Helm of Many Eyes, Dawnstone and poisonous slime. A 1+ re-rollable armour save keeps him well protected. However, he has enough points to be a Hortennse Hero (Mark of Tzeentch, Talisman of Perservation and Third Eye of Tzeentch.) or a hard to hit Nurgle one. Very adaptable. However, do not be tempted to spam multiples of them with the new rules, Ld 8 means that he will run away like a girl if he charges a steadfast unit, as even 4 kills is countered by three ranks and a banner.

• Chaos Sorcerer: Yet another sorcerer, aren't you spoilt for choices and it is only the hero slot. A little bit too expensive to be a scroll caddy, but you could give him the Skull of Katam. You might go insane, but no one is relying on your leadership anyway.

Mounts

Sadly, mounts cannot be taken cross-army. That does not mean however that they can't be in the same unit as each other though.

• Razorgor Chariot: For starters, it's the only "mount" that Beastmen characters can take. Of course, with how crappy beastmen are in general, you're not likely to take many of them in the first place.

• Gorebeast Chariot: It's a tough bombass chariot. NURGLE MARK IT. T6 with most things needing 4+'s to hit makes this guy stick.

• Chaos Warshrine: Put a sorcerer lord on it and park it behind your units. Beware though. It's a chariot and it cannot join units, and because enemy units can individually target your lord when he sits on top (though the 4+ save should protect him from all but archer or cannon spam). If your lord does die the shrine is suddenly LD0, so beware.

• Chaos Steed: You know it you love it. Your normal barded cavalry. Take it for the +2 armor save and good mobility.

• Daemonic Mount: Better for heroes than lords, but still good regardless. Your go-to monstrous mount.

• Chaos Chariot: God YES. Nurgle mark makes these already tough chariots harder to kill.

• Manticore: Would be great but is a huge target for cannons / literally anything in range of you. Also - your lord can be targeted and the mount itself is deceptively squishy.

• Chaos Dragon: Oh baby. 50% lords? Hello gorgeous.

• Juggernaut of Khorne: Khorne lords only. Take Helm of Many Eyes and a strength buff and blend the fuck out of anyone stupid enough to stand in front of a unit of Skullcrushers with a chaos Khorn Lord. That said - Daemonic Mount is probably a better option.

• Palanquin of Nurgle: Cool but not great. Park a BSB on this and keep him alive for a long time. Probably. Also - the only current model that exists for them is the Daemon Epid-d-d-d-d-emus, and his model is... eh.

• Steed of Slaanesh: Wanna go fast? This is the way to do it. Great for those lords who want to be up the ass, rounding the third turn in the large intestine of your enemies on turn one. Problem is that the mount doesn't really add any defenses, and there are few units to take him with that are really that good. That said - taking a killy lord in a unit of hellstriders is a great way to ensure they get their bonuses before they are mercilessly killed.

• Disk of Tzeentch: Take Mark of Tzeentch, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Preservation, and Third Eye of Tzeentch on an Exalted Champion for an unkillable and highly mobile BSB.

Core Units

• Gor Herd: Half the cost of a Chaos Warrior and no where near as useful but that ain't why you take them. Whilst they are pretty poor in the beastman book as you really need them to do something they are much better in the Legion rules. One point more than a Marauder, they had -1 I but +1 T. Give them Mark of Khorne and Extra hand weapons and you might have a unit that will actually kill something. Give them Mark of Nurgle, and they might actually survive something. Slaanesh works really well because their leadership is average and they won't run away because a razorgor had a change of heart about attacking a giant. They are still pants and can't be expected to kill anything, but they will gum up the enemy long enough for your heavy hitters to get into combat.

• Ungor Herd: Two points cheaper than Gors and much much worse. They will break at the first sign of trouble, their armour save is useless and giving them spears is a waste of points. Sword and Board gives them a 6+ parry, and Mark of Tzeentch can turn that into a 5+. But there are much better things in the core choice for you to take.

• Ungor Raiders: What's this? Another Chaos unit with a ranged attack? For a point more than a Ungor you get a shortbow instead of a shield. They are pretty much wardogs with bows in your eyes, Ambush them in the side or behind the enemy to get rid of your long range penalty and to pull the enemy out of formation, since they are Skirmishers keep them in Cover and they'll be very hard to hit, so if your opponent wants them gone they'll almost certainly have to divert a portion of their army to fight them.

• Tuskgor Chariot: It's cheaper than a Chaos Chariot by thirty points. For that you lose a point of armour, and the two Chaos Warriors are replaced with a Gor and a Bestigor. It's cheaper but not quite as good. You lose two attacks and whilst one is S6, the other is S4 on the charge only. You don't have scythes either so you lose one impact hit off the bat. But as already stated, thirty points cheaper, if you want a larger number of chariots go with these guys, those saved points add up quick.

• Chaos Warhounds, Beastmen Version: Don't count as core and poison is three times the price of the WoC dogs. In short no. In long NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

• Chaos Warhounds, Warriors of Chaos Version: That's better. These dogs count as core, which is good because who want's an army made up entirely of core models? Use them as chaff and send them to their doom. They can block charge lanes or confuse your opponent at deployment. The best general is decided by how he uses his dogs. Just be careful where they panic too, Beastmen without the Mark of Slaanesh aren't the bravest of souls and you can still run from exploding dog syndrome.

• Bloodletters of Khorne:

• Daemonettes of Slaanesh:

• Pink Horrors of Tzeentch:

• Plaguebearers of Nurgle: It is easy to do worse as far as core choices go. With a daemonic ward save, high toughness / strength, and poison, a block of 50 can really make an excellent tarpit. Throw in a Herald of Nurgle with a loci of your choosing. Combine with fast flanking units to flank and spank your enemies. Grab some chariots from whatever army you choose, or some knights of chaos, and enjoy that sweet sweet static combat res. Even better, make your opponents cry if you use chaos ascendant and pick nurgle, they all become unbreakable)

• Chaos Warriors: The original power armoured demi-gods of battle. Chaos Warriors have been splitting skulls and taking names for decades. Welcome to the best human warriors on Warhammer World. Even as core, there is not much that a Warrior of Chaos cannot stand up to and break beneath his iron boots. Rocking a 4+ armour save off the bat, Chaos Warriors are tough to beat. But they are expensive, and giving them upgrades only makes them more so. Halberds are generally seen as the way to go, as S5 beats an extra attack against everything except T2 or less. However, now that Beast Banner carrying Wargors can join units of Warriors, maybe we'll see Additional Hand Weapon Warriors come into fashion. or maybe we'll see S6 Halberds that wound ogres on 2+. You can miss shields if you want, as a 4+ armour save is often good enough. Plus they can't use it with a Halberd. As for Marks, they are good without them but better with them. However, a Mark of Nurgle Warrior which a shield and Halberd rocks in a 20 frigging points. Nurgle is generally seen as the best mark, as WS5 means most heroes will hit them on 5's. Tzeentch is common, as it gives you a 5+ parry. Khorne makes you frenzied and Slaanesh makes you immune to Panic, Terror and Fear. They have fallen a little bit out of fashion with people this edition as Chariots have become core, but in my opinion. It isn't a Warriors of Chaos Army without Chaos Warriors.

• Forsaken: Faster than Gors, Ungors and Warriors, but rather hit and miss. Costs the same as a Ungor and a Warrior and you don't really get much for it. D3 attacks sound nice, but only the first rank get to use more than one and warriors have two anyway. Most useful marks are probably Khorne and Slaanesh, which grant hatred and swiftstride respectively. You won't see these around very often, which is a shame because they look pretty cool.

• Chaos Marauders: The original Viking Warrior, accept no less. Unfortunately they have become more expensive, and vast hordes of them have fallen out of favour due to the costs of their weapon and mark upgrades. They also have no armour or shields, unless you add them on. In a Legion list, they lose out to a regular Gor. Who are tougher and almost as cheap. Marauders can work, but they do need support.

• Marauder Horsemen: More Horsemen for your core, and who says the Kurgan aren't represented in your army? Quite handy due to their speed and manoeuvrability. Mark of Slaanesh turns them into brilliant fast cav, because they can still flee. Mark of Khorne and Flails turns them into a nasty alpha strike unit which could possibly crunch through a small unit of bowmen or a warmachine. If you want to play an all mounted force, these are your guys. Even then, a small unit of 5 will probably be worth it's weight in gold.

• Chaos Chariot: This is how you make a chariot. It's a mean machine of death and destruction. With two Halberd carrying Chaos Warriors on it's back, plus Scythes. This chariot is probably one of the best in the game. It's also armoured with a mean 3+ save and four wounds on it's T5 frame. Mark of Khorne gives it a horrible amount of attacks, Mark of Nurgle makes it very hard to hit. Take one and love it. It's better than the Beastmen one, but also more expensive.

Special Units

• Minotaurs: In a Beastman army Minotaurs are quite good, in a Legion Army however they are not quite so good. They are 20 points more expensive than trolls and all they get to show for it is Frenzy and 1 impact hit each. And they replace regeneration for Light Armour. With little in the way of defence they are prone to crumbling like pussies if combat doesn't go their way. If you want to use them you do need to invest plenty in them, but honestly trolls and Ogres are both better.
  • Throgg helps with their leadership issues quite a bit and can help support a flank of the buggers so that you don't have to clump them right next to your general.

• Centigors: Bad in the Beastmen book and about as bad here. They fill the role of fast cavalry except they are priced like heavy cavalry without the armour. Their Drunken rule is decent but they'll still die like dogs. If you want cavalry in your list, take marauder horsement. Giving them a shield, Light Armour and a Flail makes them 18 points. So not only are they cheaper they are also better in combat. IF you absolutely have to use Centigors for some reason (Chaos Gods only know why) give them Throwing Axes for S5 shooting attacks and have them run away from anything scarier than zombies.

• Harpies:More Chaff for your army. They are quite a bit more expensive than Ungor Raiders except they get to fly. They are pretty nimble in close combat, but they will die to a stiff breeze. Keep them away from your other units because they will flee first chance they get, and beastmen who flee when a unit panics are damned to an eternity of bubble baths and sweet smelling shampoo.

• Bestigor Herd: Bestigors live fast and die hard. Two points cheaper than a chaos warrior they exchange chaos armour for heavy armour and have a great weapon. T4 and heavy armour will keep them alive for a little while, but make sure you stock up on these hardy warriors. Like all Beastmen units they need support, give them a Beastlord or a Chaos Lord and buff them up with magic or the beastmen. They will probably break whatever they meet, but it will cost them to do so.

• Razorgor Chariot: 15 points more expensive than a Gorebeast chariot and worse. You have no reason to take one. A Razorgor even looks slightly like a Gorebeast too.

• Razorgor Herd: More Chaff for what is the chaffiest army in existence. Quite mean when it charges it will help put the hurt on anything that it gets into a scuffle with. It will run away if things turn sour, but use it as you would any other chaff, except remember than this cat thing has claws. It can stomp too, don't forget it.

• Bloodcrushers of Khorne:

• Flesh Hounds of Khorne:

• Flamers of Tzeentch:

• Screamers of Tzentch:

• Nurglings:

• Beasts of Nurgle:

• Seekers of Slaanesh:

• Fiends of Slaanesh:

• Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh:

• Chaos Furies:

• Hellstriders of Slaanesh: M10 Fast cavalry! These things can be in the opponents backside turn one. With deployment, vanguard and a 20 inch march. If you give them Hellscourges, due to the wording of the rule even the steeds get Always Strikes First. Bear in mind, until they start chasing down units they are pretty poor. But in the hands of a smart general they are deadly. They make excellent warmachine hunters.

• Chosen: And you thought Chaos Warriors were the elite of the army? Sporting an addition point of WS and a free roll on the Eye of the Gods chart which applies to the entire unit. With the new rules to the eye of the Gods chart, if you roll a seven you get given a different reward. Nurgle gets +1 Toughness, Tzeentch gets +1 ward save, Khorne gets +1 Attack and Slaanesh gets +1 Initiative. Use this to your advantage. Bring a warshrine and park it nearby. Now your chosen are rolling 4D6 and removing two you don't like. It pretty much guarantees that you will get the roll you want. Nurgle Chosen with Great Weapons and Toughness 5? Tzeentch Chosen with a continuous 5+ ward save? Additional Hand Weapon Khorne Chosen with 5 attacks each? Or Initiative 6 Slaanesh Chosen? They can be a very powerful unit, and have really gone up in the world.

• Chaos Knights:The deadliest mortal knights in existence. These tend to lose out against Skullcrushers, but that is an unfair comparison. They make excellent bodyguards for Lords on Horses. Just remember that you start off expensive and get worse from their. Each Mark has it's own benefit, although if you are going for Khorne, just take Skullcrushers instead. Ensorcelled weapons are the bane of ethereal and are nearly always the better choice over lances. Being S5 all the time, is better than being S6 on the charge only.

• Chaos Ogres: Giving up the tasty food in the misty mountains for the tasty food of the Chaos wastes. Ogres are pretty good and, if you roll lucky, you can even have Ogre Daemon Princes. Great Weapons are nearly always worth it because you are pretty slow anyway and giving them a mark is handy. Nurgle makes you harder to hit, which is good when you are only WS3.

• Dragon Ogres: Nothing to do with Ogres. Worth a Chaos Knight and a half, these guys are a little fragile but quite heavy on the charge. Slow initaitive means Great Weapons are the way to go. You don't see these guys too often, but if you use them right they will work pretty well. Just keep them away from hard hitting fast targets like Chaos Warriors or Phoenix Guard, a 4+ armour save and three wounds won't last them long at all.

• Chaos Trolls: When they are in Special, Trolls are okay. When you use Throgg and make them core, Trolls are awesome. They are literally stupid, and have a leadership so poor it makes Beastmen seem brave. Keep them near your general so they don't end up chewing their toenails all game. They are quite nasty on the charge, and combine very well the the Doombull. They use Regeneration to keep them save, so a 4 ward against flaming attacks goes a long way. Keep in mind, that if a flaming attack penetrates the ward save, they are vulnerable to regular attacks until the end of the phase. The ward save only works against flaming. If you are against an opponent who is hard to hit, such as a nimble elf or a nurgle warrior, you have the ability to vomit on them. Its a auto hit at S5 which ignores armour saves, take that you smelly elf.

• Chimera: An expensive, but nimble, beastie. Has Fly and can be upgraded to have regeneration (you should do this) flaming attacks (is worth it if you have the points) or poisoned attacks (you can skip this.) It does have poor leadership, so it works well with a Daemon Prince, who can keep up. Can have a truely horrible amount of attacks, with a potential 6 + D3 + 2D6 flaming + D6 Thunderstomp hits in one turn. That is at least 10 attacks and can be up to 27 attacks if you roll like a dice god. He is expensive, and one back combat will make him run away like a sissy, but he can really bring the smack down.

• Gorebeast Chariot: Possibly the best chariot in the game. 130 points of T6 monster with 5 wounds and killing blow on impact hits. Mark of Khorne gives it 9 S5 attacks a turn, Mark of Nurgle means it will probably never die. It is pretty slow and can fall behind the rest of your army so keep that in mind. It makes an excellent flank charger and people will be scared of going near it. Use it well.

• Chaos Warshrine: Not quite so good as it used to be, but still pretty good. Very slow, because it cant march and it doesn't have swiftstride. It also has a relatively low attack output. So what is it good for? It's good at buffing champions, chosen and for refusing to die. Mark of Tzeentch gives it a 3+ ward save and all models rolling on Eye of the Gods roll an additional dice and get to discard one for free. Keep it near your units and buff your champions on the way into battle. You'll laugh when you make several daemon princes in one game, but don't expect it to happen in every one, the odds are quite low. If you're clever/deranged enough to take lore of the wild, use the signature spell to move along

• Putrid Blightkings: The new infantry unit coming out of The End Times, these guys are fluffed up to basically be a sort of Nurgle-worshipping super-Chosen, or even a whole unit of lesser Nurgle champions. Do they live up to the hype? Well... A minimum unit of 5, 40 points per model, and what you get is M4, WS6, BS3, S4, T5, W3, I5, A3, LD8 troops in the squad. Each trooper wears Chaos Armor, has the Mark of Nurgle, and has the Bountiful Blades rule, which lets the unit choose whether it's using Great Weapons, Paired Weapons or Sword & Shield at the start of each combat. Unit champion, musician and standard bearer upgrades at +10 points a pop, can carry a magic standard worth up to 50 points, and the champion benefits from Eye of the Gods. Fairly gribbly, but Chosen are generally a better deal.

Rare Units

• Cygor: What do you call a 275 point monster with T5 and no saves? The answer is utterly crap. It can't hit anything, even with it's re-rolls against wizards. Because it is WS2. That's right, it hits bugger all. It will die pretty easily and is utterly useless, even as a stone thrower. Want to know why? The Hellcannon is better in every regard, with several saves. And its tougher, and its 65 points cheaper. If you don't get the message yet, don't get the Cygor. Please, think of the children.

• Ghorgon: This is what happens if you give steroids to a Doombull. Same cost as the Cygor and far better, being tougher and with more wounds. Still no armour save, but it is Stubborn with Leadership 10, so at least he'll stick around. His swallow hole rule sounds good, but losing six attacks for one killing blow is not. Even with the KB on a 4+. He still needs to hit and he has average WS. it's one of the better Beastmen monsters, but there are better rare things for you to spend your points on than this.

• Chaos Spawn, Beastmen Version: Spawn are quite slow, expensive, and totally random. Possibly good against warmachine hunters but all the warmachines in this army should be able to handle warmachine hunters on their own.

• Chaos Spawn, Warriors of Chaos Version: See above

• Giant: 25 Points more expensive than the Chaos Giant, but better for it even though not all of its "Pick up and..." rolls kill the target. Unlike the other Giant this one is Immune to Psychology (useful if you're bringing in low Ld troops) and it can regain lost wounds with one of its attacks against big things.

• Jabberslythe:Another monster with exactly the same cost as the Cygor. Except this one can fly. But still has only T5 with no save. It's almost as if someone hates beastmen. Aura of Madness is okay, it would be better if it was 3D6 because in most armies you'll only ever do 3 wounds maximum. It's range attack is pretty poor, because it's only one hit and it will probably miss half its shots. Spewing acid over things that harm it is pretty good, but it wont really deter anyone from beating it up. Keep it away from anything tough, and it will do okay.

• Skull Cannon of Khorne: A great choice! A mobile cannon with 4 wounds and a 5+ Ward Save. Just watch out for those 2+ WS against flaming attacks!

• Burning Chariot of Tzeentch:

• Soul Grinder:

• Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh:

• Hellflayer of Slaanesh:

• Plague Drones of Nurgle:

• Hellcannon: This is basically a monster that decided it wanted to be a gun for a short while. You have to be careful with Hellcannons, they are quite unreliable and will like nothing more than to charge into combat and beat things with it's massive gun. Quite tough with several wounds, armour and ward saves. Plus it also has handlers in the case of Chaos Dwarfs, which are probably the only Chaos Dwarf models you'll ever see unless you have rich friends. It loses out a little with the ability to take skull cannons, but you can keep this on a flank and you'll probably hold it down, warmachine hunters have no hope of crushing this monster.

• Dragon Ogre Shaggoth: Yet another monster, except this one is a Dragon Ogre on steroids. It has some armour to save it from dying, but it is a ripe target for a cannonball to the face. Unlike it's smaller cousins, you don't need to give it a Great Weapon because it is initiative 4. It's pretty quite and if it can get into combat it will do quite a bit of damage. Just keep him safe until he gets there. Different view: Expensive and has bad saves. There are much better choices around!

• Chaos Giant: You get brownie points for fielding at least one. Random attacks are hit and miss, but try and get him against Infantry models, while he's pretty good against big things too, Thunderstomps make him a little better against Infantry. Give yourself a pat on the back if you manage to shove Teclis down your pants.

• Skullcrushers of Khorne: Proud Warriors of Khorne, and one of the best monstrous cavalry in the game. Very rarely will you find a reason not to take these beasts. Ensorcelled weapons are generally the way to go, but Lances are cool too. Lances will give you 6 S6 attacks each on the charge. Musicians and Standard Bearers are handy, Champions are hit and miss. You have to challenge and it means you will end up chewing up a goblin champion when you could be crushing rank and file. However they are powerful enough to take out minor heroes and the occasionally lord. If you have a character in the unit, a champion is handy to soak up challenges, because no doubt your lord it kitted out for mayhem.

• Slaughterbrute: The next beast on the list is okay. He binds himself with one of your lords and uses his leadership and Weapon skill. Always bind him to one of your lords, because he does more damage when he is unbound and running through half your army. You can spend some points to give him two extra S5 attacks in addition to his 4 S7 ones. But he could have done with having 6 attacks anyway. Even with Thunderstomp he doesn't do an awful lot of damage and the Vortex Beast is a lot better for his points. He does have an okay armour save, but he is quite fragile. Just try and make sure he dies before his master does. Or their will be trouble.

• Mutalith Vortex Beast: And finally we have beast number 9. Slaanesh BLASPHEMY! Tzeentch would be proud. The Mutalith Vortex Beast is the monster that all Chaos Spawn wish they could be. He carries around a portal to the Chaos Wastes on his back and comes with a built in bound spell that causes its targets to mutate and... um... die. Plus he has an armour and regeneration save, so he is tougher than all the other beasts in the rare section. Aura of Mutation is totally random, but quite good against elves. If you are using Nurgle magic the two go hand in hand.

Building your army

Buying and designing your army

Honestly Daemons kinda got left out in this book. Most of their characters only benefit other Daemons and not other armies, and they really don't have a whole lot of obvious synergy with other armies either. The real winners here are the Beastmen players (all two of them us) and to a lesser degree Warriors of Chaos.

The first step is choosing what direction you want to go with your Lords and Heroes. With a plethora of Nurgle HQs released, and three whole books of lords to choose from - picking your general dictates the route that your army goes. Want to go Festus? Take a block of warriors as core and faster units to tie up combat while they footslog it to charge range. Want to go with the Maggot Lords? Take charge redirecters to ensure you close and murder as quickly as possible. Take a killy combat lord, a level 4 mage, and a BSB? Take a warshrine for some bufftacular action. Essentially this is the End Times. It isn't about being incredibly competitive and breaking the game. While easy to do this makes people hate you and become "clumsy" when they pick up your $100 Glottkin model, letting it fall to the floor and shattering into a million pieces. It is about having a ball with some awesome batshit insanity that comes from combining three different armies. So pick a theme, flavor the fuck out of it, paint up your dudes, and kick some ass.

As far as buying goes the usual staples still apply. Ebay, Amazon, third party stores, and mini trading sites. The army bundles "Cohort of Nurgle" is awesome for anyone getting into Daemons of Nurgle, but it is better for Daemon players. Obviously. The Warriors of chaos bundle is easy to overlook, but the Beastman one has promise - thirty gors and twenty bestigors are a pretty nice boost. It's an excellent place to start but thanks to the inclusion of the cygor/ghorgon you will probably never want more than one. Best route still has to be battalion boxes.

Where to Start

The biggest problem you'll encounter is where to start your army. You have three whole books to choose from and even choosing the best bits from each army can be rather hard.

The early consensus is that Daemon players have been shafted from the off. This is probably revenge for the reign of disaster that they created in the tail end of 7th. Talk about paying for the previous generations mistakes. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, unlike the other two books Daemons are unstable and unbreakable, Secondly, Daemons cannot join any of the WoC and Beastmen units, they have to remain with their own kind. So Daemons will end up losing models pretty quickly, and unlike the undead armies, you have no way to replace them unless you are playing a special scenario.

So where does this leave you? The simple answer is Skullcannons. There is plenty of room for those in any legion army. Bring two, they are really worth it in an army where shooting is neglected. You can even fit two of them and a unit of skull crushers in a 2000 point army list, although the crushers will be naked. I mean, what else are you going to put into your rare section besides maybe a giant?

The biggest benefit that the Beastmen get are Chaos Marks. These serve to make your crap, fragile and scared troops into slightly less shitty killers. They also give another benefit, chaff. Every legion army can now take bucket loads of cheap expendable shit which will redirect and get shot to death. Ungor Skirmishers, War dogs, Beasts of Nurgle, Razorgors are some of the few ways of clogging up charge lanes. This is good for you because your army will either have single model heavy hitters (Greater Daemons, Chimeras, Daemon Princes.) Or massive units of bulky hammers (Chaos Warriors, Bestigors, Plaguebearers.) Thus you want to get these into an armies soft meaty centre. It's all fun and games to charge a twenty strong unit of Chaos Warriors into a Gyrocopter, but you really want to attack the Hammerers instead. Use your chaff well, and make sure you pick your battles. Apart from the Chaos Warriors, most of your units are fragile and you want to pick their fights.

One of the Chaos Warriors best lists is the monster mash list, so lets see how the Legion can improve it. Fill your core with cheap skirmishing/ambushing beastmen, or units of Gors with Mark of Slaanesh. Bring Throgg, A Gorebull BSB with the Blackened Plate and a unit of trolls. Take a Daemon Prince, maybe a Chimera or two and some skull cannons. Boom, a unit of nearly impossible to kill trolls, chaff to gum up a counterattack, and cannons to deal with other monsters, plus it's a very fast list.

Magic

Lore of beasts: This lore is always useful as it gives you buffs to your units (get wyssian's wildform on marauders to turn them into panicier warriors with a worse save- very good.

Lore of metal: use VS heavily armoured armies (Warriors of chaos say...). With this you can give ungors a 4+ armour (just do it for the uncharacteristic ability) and to snipe 1+ armour characters. Also, worseon your enemies save. However, LoB is better at buffs, so know your opponent.

Lore of fire: This has a direct damage spell that murdurs weak opponents (skeletons, zombuggers, brilliant vs dryads). You also have a very good magical missile, and some OK buffs. (PS: if you're doing this for a fireball take ruby ring of ruin).

Lore of the wild

• Bestial Surge (7+): Signature spell - Allows ALL friendly units within a whopping 6" to get an additional 2-7" in movement directly towards an enemy unit. Useful if you are under threat of missile fire or you just need that little extra bump to get into charge range. Remember that Beastmen survive by being aggressive, so this can't hurt. However, when compared to other Lore's signature spells, this spell leaves a Beastman underwhelmed, unless you are using more than one Bray Shaman to cast it per turn, in which case it decently useful.

• Viletide (7+): A 24" magic missile that hits an enemy for 5D6 S1 hits. Great for hunting warmachines, as a S1 hit is still a hit on a 6+, horrible for everything else (Ahem- what about zombuggers and swarms that tend to be T2- Does a decent amount of wounds on them- Invocation only brings back 16 MAXIMUM). Compare to Flock of Doom's (Beasts) 5+ 2D6 S2 and boostable to 48" range.

• Devolve (9+): You know the Jabberslythe's Aura of Madness? This is the spell version of that. All enemy within 12" take a Lead test, if they fail, the unit takes wounds equal to the number failed by. Considering the number of LD10 units out there, this spell is probably best used on... Beastmen (or LD2 zombies- And you'll face a lot now that anyone can summon 30 with a banner with one spell). Combos nicely with Doom and Darkness from Lore of Death.

• Bray-Scream (10+): Already into high 2 dice land, the third spell gives one friendly character within 12" a S3 breath weapon, no armour saves. Fuck awesome, use on Malagor after flying into a flank to turn those Phoenix Guard or large hordes into mincemeat (the breath weapon can get a fuckload of hits in 8th edition), or use it on a character in close combat against any well armoured enemy, gaining 2D6 armour ignoring hits against Heavy Cavalry is huge.

• Traitor-Kin (10+): KILL THE STAR DRAGON RIDER (IE. Faggot) All enemy mounts/handled monsters within 12" (including the ones pulling chariots) attack their own rider/handlers at the monsters strength and attacks. Engage trollface when playing Bretonnia or up against a monster happy army (monsters with handlers on it like Sphinx's and Araknaroks attack themselves)... otherwise sit down and wonder why you didn't take Lore of Beasts. With the new Nagash book though, this is one of the few spells that can help you take down the new mounted heroes, since the FAQ states that the spell works on combined characteristic models.

• Mantle Of Ghorok (13+): One friendly character within 6" gains +D6 S and A.... but takes a wound for any 6s rolled for those characteristics. It's useful for making that Doombull into the unholy rape train he was always meant to be without paying for magical weapons, but if you're packing a quite a few strength/attack boosting weapons (aka what every weapon in the beastmen armoury does) then you can safely skip it. You could use it on your caster if you get stuck in combat- takes him from S4 and A2 to possibly S10 and A8 (although at that point He's dead

• Savage Dominion (16+): This spell had awesome potential, it lets you summon one Giant, Ghorgon, or Jabberslythe (your choice). Sounds good so far... but any wound suffered by your beastie means that the caster has to make a T test for each wound taken, and a failed test means taking a non savable wound, that's not too terrible, also - the caster cannot cast or attack after this point as long as the monster is alive. If you use this spell with anything higher than a normal Bray Shaman at all you've effectively wasted the points, you might as well have bought the monster instead and placed it with your army rather than try to cast it, have it start at the table edge, then run it to the enemy while it most likely gets shot. Pretty good though if you're lucky enough to get it on lower level wizards.

Tactics

Beastly Deathstar

Take a unit of Chaos Warriors that fills a 7*5 block. Take mark of Nurgle. Take a Beastman BSB with Mark of Nurgle and Beastly Banner. Take a Beastman wizard scroll and Wyssan's Wildform. Take Festus and hope to get Fleshy Abundance and Blades of Purification. Take Greatweapons. Enjoy your incredibly tanky and killy block of WS5 S8 T5 Warriors that enemies take a -1 to hit in cc that have a potential 4+ regen and 5+ poison attacks. Does this have drawbacks? Oh sweet Nurgle yes. So many eggs in one slow as hell basket. Is it utterly hilarious? Absofuckinglutely. If you actually manage to get into cc with literally anything it is going to die from 15 attacks that auto wound a third of the time with no armor saves allowed from the warriors alone.

Pink Horror Daemon Birther

Herald of tzeentch (level 2 wizard), and a unit of at least 15 pink horrors (so you can get their casting bonus). Also consider the lesser locus of transmogrification, because if they get into combat, they are more than likely screwed. Every magic phase, go all out for casting infernal legion, ONLY when you are rolling at least six dice. Cast it with the unit of pink horrors, so that if you miscast, it won't totally ruin your Herald (this is why you took the pink horrors). Depending on how much you want to summon will depend on you, but I usually go with the 150 point summon (casting value 17+). Also, depending on what is coming at you, will depend on what you summon. I played a 300 point game with this tactic, and DESTROYED. Everyone was getting pissed off, because by the end of the game, I had summoned 700 points of models, and they couldn't do anything about it because I kept miscasting (on purpose). When my Herald was about to die, I just summoned another Herald, which continued to summon more things. So evil, but so much FUN.

ALTERNATIVE: You could also consider using vilitch the curseling to do the same thing as above, in a unit of your choice. This could be better because the other person would be scared to try and dispel you, because you would just take away all of you dice. Watch out for miscasts though.

SIDE NOTE: As mentioned earlier, Summon Infernal Legion is not a new spell that is always available to you. It's a part of the "Chaos Ascendant" special scenario rules (it's not even a part of the Legion of Chaos army list), meaning you have to be playing one of the special Glottkin narrative scenarios to use them. Or you'll have to convince your opponent to let you use them.

Beastly MSU

Core: Beastmen chariots of slanneesh. 2 khorne cannons and 2 burning chariots in rare. Fill Characters With shadow debuffs and Slannesh grash chariots to move through terrain. Plus you get to use your favorite chaff units, be they warhounds, RAzorgors....

Tarpit Breaker

So let's say you're playing that asshole who has too many models and each turn likes to summon 50 zombies (or owns hundreds of Skaven Slaves or some other cheap fodder) to bog down your guys, the easy answer? Gors! VS zombies these are brilliant- MoK and additional hand weapons and you have enough to MURDER tarpits. 3 X 10 unit has 50 attacks. On average they'll get 3s to hit- that's about 33 hits (44 if you get Hatred), 3s to wound, 22 wounds (29 with Hatred), and with T4 they're almost always going to be tough enough to take the return hits.