Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Disciples of Tzeentch

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Why play Disciple of Tzeentch?

Disciples of Tzeentch are all about two things: spells and acting like you know what you're doing. Most of your heroes are wizards and all of them are smug assholes that if you kick in the dick they'll act like you kicking them in the dick was a nine year plan that causes them to end up better off somehow. Hell, Lords of Change love to meddle with stuff that more often they fail because they get cocky and meddle too much. On top of a love of all things changing, weirdly colorful and on fire if you want to set up stupid complex strategy for your army and hope they go just as planned, then Disciples of Tzeentch are for you.

Pros

  • With the amount of wizards, spells and abilities surrounding magic Disciples of Tzeentch are undeniably one of, if not the, army for magic. Disciples of Tzeentch is so focused on magic you get to summon free units not just from yourself casting spells, but from anybody casting spells.
  • Some of the best shooting in Chaos, not that Chaos has much competition.
  • An amazing Allegiance ability that helps you make sure those critical rolls are exactly what you need them to be.
  • Very good diversity, with units that can fill the need for good hoards, good elites, good fast units, good shooters. Anything you need, Tzeentch can have or ally into.

Cons

  • With AoS2 coming out, Games Workshop jumped Disciples of Tzeentch with a bat behind a gas station; almost all of the point costs have gone up. Thankfully they've brought a few things down and with magic based summoning, endless spells and free realm spells you can't really blame them.
  • Any wounds your models have aren't going to hold up long to some swinging, with your units saves ranging from "bad" to "pretty bad".
  • Your standard colours, are in fact liable to give headaches. So many yellows, bright blues and pinks. This is actually a good thing as it will distract your opponent from your schemes, just as planned.
  • Thanks to Changehost in 1.0 specifically you will be seen as a Powergamer very quickly. The Army has a reputation of being broken. AoS remedies this to an extent.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

If your army has a TZEENTCH allegiance and chose to take the TZEENTCH Allegiance abilities, it has the following rule:

Master of Destiny: After set-up but before rolling for first turn, roll nine dice and bank them as "Destiny Dice" that you can use in place of casting, unbinding, run, charge, to hit, wound, save, damage, or battleshock rolls. You must use one Destiny Dice per die, so to completely control a charge, you must use two Destiny Dice. At any moment, your army can't have more than nine dice.

Naturally, as you have a very limited pool of Destiny Dice and most ways of regaining them require either expensive Battalions, wasting spells or more convoluted means, you want to make the most of them. So, in other words, do not disregard 1s and 2s, as they can still be useful.

  • 1s and 2s are most useful for Battleshock tests, where rolling low can mean the difference between the unit hanging on (and, in the case of Daemons, potentially regenerating) and the unit being killed off.
  • 6s are most useful for when you want to activate some ability that triggers on hit rolls of 6+, in your army this will mostly affect Skyfires. If you have a Tzaangor Shaman nearby, 5s can be used for this as well. By setting three of three to hit rolls in this fashion, you have a very decent chance of removing an opposing Hero with a single barrage. And believe you me, shooting the Bloodsecrator out of a Bloodreaver mob might not make you friends, but it sure as hell can win you the game.
  • 3s and 4s are the really awkward ones and are probably best used for casting rolls. A single Destiny Die 4 sacrificed already guarantees a successful casting of Daemonic Power, which is nice.

Summon Daemons of Tzeentch: as of AoS2 summoning Daemons by Spells and using Reinforcement Points are no longer things but have been replaced with the following. To summon Daemons you must spend Fate Points which are generated when either player successfully casts a spell without it getting unbound. You must have at least ten Fate Points to be allowed to summon and after that, you can summon as many units you have points for, set up wholly within 12" of a Tzeentch Hero and more than 9" from any enemy units.

Command Traits

There are actually three tables to pick Command Traits from for you: one for Arcanites, one for Daemons and one for Mortals. If you have a combination of those keywords, you can pick which table you take your Command Traits from, though 1-3 are almost exact copy-pastes on all three tables.

An ARCANITE General of an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH Allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

  1. Arch-sorcerer: Allows your Hero to know two more spells from the Lore of Fate. Take it only if your Magister is your leader as he is the only one able to abuse this (with good rolling of course... or just as planned?) Otherwise a nice one for a Gaunt Summoner or a Curseling.
  2. Nexus of Fate: Roll a dice at the start of your Hero phase, you can (but don't have to) replace one of your Destiny Dice with rolls of 1 or 6. Do you feel that you have too much 3s and 4s? Works only when your general is on the battlefield.
  3. Magical Supremacy: Increases dispel range to forty-two inches for your general. Abuse this on the Curseling! Adds twelve inches to his dispel range and if he does dispel it then he gets to cast that spell without your opponent being able to dispel in return.
  4. Boundless Mutation: Hero phase on a 2+ d3 wounds are healed but if a 1 is rolled Hero takes a wound and if it kills him he becomes a Spawn. Risky but it can keep you alive so you can cast more spells.
  5. Cult Demagogue: +2 Bravery to all Tzeentch Arcanites within 9". Can be very helpful if you plan on having hordes and keeping 'em in the fight longer. On the other hand, all the 1s and 2s on your Destiny Dice will probably be used to auto-pass important Battleshock tests anyway, so this is only marginally helpful.
  6. Arcane Sacrifice: In the Hero phase you can deal d3 Mortal wounds on a friendly unit. If you do so then your hero gets +9 to range and re-rolls to cast. Sooo... that Curseling... I don't know... but I think he can abuse these Command Traits... He can steal spells on a longer range and if you steal an expensive spell then he is more likely to cast it.

A DAEMON General of an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

  1. Arch-sorcerer: Allows your hero to know two more spells from the Change Lore. On a Lord of Change, this could be pretty fun, but on Heralds it's a waste of space.
  2. Nexus of Fate: Do you need more 1s for resurrecting Horrors? Or 6s to make your spells unbindable?
  3. Magical Supremacy: Put on the leader of an Aether-Eater Host for best effect, though the additional unbinding range is always appreciated.
  4. Daemonic Spark: Once per battle, your General increases damage of his melee weapons by one for the rest of the turn. A temporary damage boost may sound awesome but think for a moment who can get this: Heralds, Fatemasters, Gaunt Summoners, Tzaangor Shamans and Lords of Change. Except for the Lord of Change and the Fatemaster, none of these want anything to do with melee, and the damage boost is not particularly helpful on those two. Pass. But, you can use it if your general is a Daemon Prince, it could be nice given that you hit.
  5. Incorporeal Form: Enemy units subtract one from all to hit rolls in the Combat Phase when they target the General. Again, your General most likely wants nothing to do with melee, but if you want to help him survive if he gets stuck in, you can do much worse than this.
  6. Aether Tether: Re-rolling saves of one may not sound like much, but it could end up saving your ass.

A MORTAL General of an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

  1. Arch-sorcerer: Allows your hero to know two more spells from the Destiny Lore. Take it only if your Magister is your leader as he is the only one able to abuse this (with good rolling of course... or just as planned?) Otherwise a nice one for a Gaunt Summoner or a Curseling.
  2. Nexus of Fate: The same as above, but now you have more options to use it with Tzeentch-marked Slaves to Darkness. Need an additional dice for unbindable Daemonic Power? Go for it. Worrying about killiness of your Chaos Lord on Manticore? Go for it.
  3. Magical Supremacy: Increases dispel range to forty-two inches for your General. Abuse this on the Curseling! Adds twelve inches to his dispel range and if he does dispel it then he gets to cast that spell without your opponent being able to dispel in return.
  4. Blessing of Tzeentch: A 6+ Save-after-the-save. Pretty standard, but not bad at all. Put on an Ogroid to further extend his huge Wound count.
  5. Soul Burn: Wound rolls of 6 or higher damage by an additional Mortal Wound in melee. Interesting on an already killy General like a Marked Chaos Lord or an Ogroid, worthless on a caster.
  6. Illusionist: Lower Hit rolls against your General at range by one. This could save his bacon from the inevitable barrage of shots that will doubtless be headed toward your General.

Treasures of the Cults

One ARCANITE HERO in an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities, plus one ARCANITE HERO for every battalion selected, can choose one of the following Magical Artefacts (weapons of mounts can't be upgraded this way):

  1. Ambition's End: If this weapon causes an unsaved wound. On a 5+, it causes an additional Mortal Wound, and the target forgets a random spell if a WIZARD. A Wizard in melee is a dead Wizard anyway, so why bother with this? Unless you are a meatwall named Ogroid Thaumaturge and that Wizard is a Monster, that's it.
  2. Secret-Eater: If a HERO is slain by this weapon, you can roll and add another dice to your Destiny Dice pool. Against Hero-heavy armies, this might be good, otherwise, pass. No specifications if it is a melee or ranged weapon.
  3. Spiteful Shield: Roll a dice for each successful hit against you, on a 6, the attacker takes a Mortal Wound after his attacks have been done. Could be a nice deterrent from punching your Hero, but there are better ways to go about it.
  4. Souldraught: Once per battle you can drink and roll three dice to cast and unbind, taking the highest two until the end of the phase. Utterly worthless on a one-spell-and-unbind-per-turn Wizard, but a Gaunt Summoner who wants to make sure his Infernal Flames spell goes off will want this.
  5. Glamour Fetish: Opponent adds one to Battleshock rolls within 9" of this model. Eh. Pass and take something to kill enemies better.
  6. Windthief Charm: Once per battle, the bearer can move twice as far and count as flying while doing so. Nice for strategic repositioning and nothing says that there it can be used only in the movement phase or only in your turn. If you decide to take a foot Gaunt Summoner, this can move him out of trouble just as someone charges him- but be wary of flipping tables. per FAQ can only be used at the start of the Movement phase.

Fated Artefacts

One ARCANITE or MORTAL HERO in an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities, plus one ARCANITE or MORTAL HERO for every battalion selected, can choose one of the following Artefacts, though they cannot replace the weapon profiles of a mount:

  1. Wicked Shard: Re-roll 1s to wound but if the bearer successfully cast/dispelled a spell then he gets to re-roll all to wound rolls. Good on a Hero who is good in combat and dispelling (*cough* Curseling *cough*) Since the Wicked Shard only enhances one weapon, it doesn't really help the Curseling, whose damage output is spread out over three mediocre weapon profiles. Now, if you were to give it to the Ogroid's staff...
  2. Changeblade: If you get a kill with a weapon chosen as this then whenever you kill an enemy Hero you get a pet Spawn- Oh god N- AGHRBHLAR. Good with a Hero with high mobility so he can run after weak targets, otherwise its an alright weapon. Unfortunately, the Spawn can't do anything the end of the turn- wait NOOOGHLKGBHGB. In Matched Play, this weapon is not too terribly useful, as you have to set aside those 60 points for something that might not even trigger.
  3. Nexus Staff: If you kill a Hero with this then for each enemy unit within 9" you do d3 Mortal wounds on a 4+. Not worth it as it doesn't do enough for the amount of effort you have to put in to get this to work properly. Interestingly, it is the only one of these weapon buffs that doesn't specify melee weapons, though the only ones who can take advantage of that fact are the Tzaangor Shaman and the Magister.
  4. Timeslip pendant: Once per Combat Phase the Hero can pile in and attack at the end of this phase. Thaumaturge or a Lord on Manticore can abuse this.
  5. Daemonheart: Once per ANY Hero Phase your Hero can get +1 damage on his weapons but at the end of the round roll a dice, on a 1 the hero suffers a mortal wound. Again, Thaumaturge and Manticore hero can abuse this and it might help the Curseling out a bit, almost doubling his damage output for a turn.
  6. Paradoxical shield:+2 to save but you re-roll successful saves. Really trolly upgrade, Can easily give one of your Heroes a 2+ but you have to re-roll all your successful saves. This is a hard one to judge as it can easily go wrong or you can roll like a god and laugh at your opponent as you re-roll your 6 into a 6.(just as planned.) Generally try to put it on something that re-rolls 1s on Saves. You can only re-roll each dice once, so those natural 1s do not have to be re-rolled if they succeed after the re-roll. all re-rolls occur BEFORE applying modifiers, so it looks like the shield requires you to re-roll only if the unmodified die would succeed. Gives you a good place to spend your 3s and 4s from the destiny pool.

Daemonic Weapons

Any TZEENTCH DAEMON HERO can be given one of the following weapons (mount's weapons are not upgraded).

  1. Warpfire Blade: 6s to wound deal an extra Mortal wound in addition to its normal wounds on a melee weapon of the Hero's choosing. Pretty standard upgrade but why are your Daemon Heroes in close combat?
  2. Sentient Weapons: Your opponent cannot benefit to modifiers on their save rolls. SCREW YOU CASTELLANT and/or Mystic Shield. Wait, it doesn't say that it upgrades melee weapons only... That Rod of Sorcery is much deadlier now.
  3. Blade of Fate: A melee weapon gets re-rolls of 1s to hit and wound as long as you have at least one Destiny Dace in your pool of Destiny. If you still have nine then you re-roll all to wound and to hit. Unless you plan to not use any Destiny Dice or manage them very carefully there are better choices out there... and did I ask? WHY IS YOUR HERO IN CLOSE COMBAT?
  4. Souleater: A weapon gets +1 attack whenever it slays a Hero... To get a good benefit from this your Hero will have to run after most Heroes your opponent controls like a dog chasing a car... not worth it... and do I even have to mention it... You don't want your Heroes in close combat...
  5. Phantasmal Weapons: This is actually a nice melee upgrade for your Heroes, especially your Lord of Change. A bonus to Rend on all weapons is mighty strong, especially on your Lord of Change. This and the Sentient Weapons are the only melee upgrades you should be looking at for your deamons as they affect all your Hero attacks, something the Lord of Change can abuse. Unfortunately, Discs' Teeth and Horns are not boosted by this.
  6. Pyrofyre Stave: Though it gives an alright bonus of +1 to wound on ranged attacks... most heroes having only two shooting attacks. Lords of change can use this if you roll well on your 2d6 attacks, otherwise I'd say just pass... (Why are you not a Hero, Exalted Flamer? *weep*)
  • Alternate Opinion: All these Melee Relics do actually have a decent user: A Daemon Prince. Give a Daemon Prince the Blade of Fate or the Phantasmal Weapons and watch him rip enemies to little, teeny weeny pieces.

Daemonic Powers

Any TZEENTCH DAEMON HERO can be given one of the following Daemonic Powers (nothing says that the mount's weapons can't be upgraded)

  1. Lord of Flux: In your Hero Phase any enemy unit with 3" of your Hero take a Mortal wound on a 4+. There are much better options out there than this measly thing. It is a 50% chance to do one mortal wound on units that are in combat range of your Hero... keeping in mind that because this activates in your Hero Phase, your Hero must survive through a full turn of combat for it to even activate.
  2. Aura of Mutability: All your Tzeentch Daemon units within 3" of the Hero get re-rolls of 1's to wound. This works for shooting so put your Hero near big Horror units or Flamer units to allow them to wound more. Keep in mind that these work on the Tzaangor Skyfires and Enlightened as well, since thanks to their Discs, they count as Daemons.
  3. Cursed Ichor: Whenever your Hero suffers a wound, on a 2+ a random enemy unit within 1" of them takes a mortal wound too. Good for a suicide bomb Hero to run at an enemy Hero you want dead and blow both of em up.
  4. Wellspring of Arcane Might: Tzeentch Daemons within 9" of the Hero re-roll 1's to cast. Keep in mind that Horrors and Gaunt Summoners are Tzeentch Daemons, too. Also helps to make sure a Lord of Change pretty much never fails a casting roll.
  5. Aspect of Tzeentch: while this Hero is on the field, any time you use a Destiny Dice for anything while he is on the field, you roll a D6, on a 6 you get a new one right back. Don't bet on this working more than twice per game, but those two times are already damn good.
  6. Mark of the Conjurer: Gives two Fate Points instead of one, if a successful casting roll was a double and not unbound. Could be very good with Lords of Change and cogs.

Lore of Fate

Every ARCANITE and MORTAL WIZARD in an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Spells (Alternatively, you can pick or roll one spell of Fate for all MORTAL and ARCANITE WIZARDS per army) :

  1. Bolt of Tzeentch: Pretty high casting value of 8, but D6 Mortal Wounds at 18" are nothing to sneeze at. Just make sure your caster has some way of making the casting easier on himself, though. Arcane Sacrifice, Souldraught, the Tzaangor Shaman's energy drink, anything.
  2. Arcane Suggestion: Theoretically a wonderful debuff for casting value of 7, but too random to be of much use. You either deal D3 Mortal Wounds, OR drop their Hit and Wound rolls OR drop their saves by 1. Awkward if you were trying to neuter the enemy but made them more fragile instead or you deal one Mortal wound to an horde unit instead of de-buffing it. Ideally, this could be used to weaken enemy Heroes and Monsters, but unfortunately this can't be cast on them.
  3. Glimpse the Future: Considering how bloody useful Destiny Dice are, it should come as no surprise that the spell that gives you more has a high casting value of 7 and, even without the First Rule of One, is restricted to one per turn. Still worth it, especially on something that has multiple casting attempt, like a Magister in an Arcanite Cabal.
  4. Shield of Fate: Odd. This cheap one (casting value 5) grants you re-rolls on your saves that get worse the fewer Destiny Dice you have. Do you sincerely want something that hinges on a precious resource not being expended?. It's flat out better then Mystic Shield now but the person casting it could just know another spell if they feel like it. Worse case it's just as good as Mystic Shield so you can give different things a bit more protection at least.
  5. Infusion Arcanum: The Curseling and the Ogroid love this baby. Pathetically low casting value of 5? Check. Increases both Hit and Wound rolls of the caster by one? Check. Take a powerful melee Hero and turn him into a terrifying melee Hero. For true dickishness, give it to Archaon. Yes, Ol'Topknot is both MORTAL and TZEENTCH and so is entitled to this spell if he's put in a Tzeentch army.
  6. Treacherous Bond: Exactly what the Gaunt Summoner wants. The casting value is 6. This one is basically a "Look Out, Sir" of 2+ for the caster. The unit receiving the hits can stand up to 18" away when the spell is cast. So now you can toss your Gaunt Summoner into range for his scary spell and not worry about repercussions. Pick a unit of Pink Horrors with this spell. Let them tank hits and fill up nearby Blue Horror units with their deaths, then, in the Battleshock Phase, Destiny Dice a 1 into their Battleshock and get D6 Horrors right back via their banner.

Lore of Change

Every DAEMON WIZARD in an army with a TZEENTCH allegiance and has chosen to take the TZEENTCH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Spells:

  1. Bolt of Tzeentch: Pretty high casting value of 8, but D6 Mortal Wounds are nothing to sneeze at. Best on a Lord of Change with his amazing casting roll modification rule.
  2. Treason of Tzeentch: Casting on 5+, pick a unit within 18" that has at least two models. You can then choose one model in that unit and immediately attacks the other members of the unit. This is devastating against glass cannon units, it literally destroys them from the inside! Simply choose the model with the most attacks and watch him butcher his own men! Worth noting that the model attacking cannot damage himself,so be prepared to fight him later in the turn.
  3. Arcane Transformation: The casting values is 7. This one is potentially neat, but there are a lot of factors holding it back. You get to buff a friendly Hero, yay! You only get to target each Hero with this once. There are three stats you can pick between, yay! Two of them are worthless. Seriously, one extra inch of Move isn't going to win the game and Bravery is nearly worthless on a lone Hero, so the only useful one is to add one attack to a weapon profile of your choice. Interestingly, it doesn't specify "melee" weapons, so you could totally use this to double a Magisters shooting attacks. Otherwise, go for broke and give an Ogroid a second swing with his scary horns.
  4. Unchecked Mutation: Pass. Pass so hard you forget there even is another spell here. Casting value 7, D3 Mortal Wounds, with a cascading effect that deals additional Mortal Wounds for every 5+ you roll on the following dice roll. 5+ means you're unlikely to get even one extra Mortal Wound, never mind a bunch and all for a casting value that's insultingly high for such an awful spell.
  5. Fold Reality: This is a mixed bag: The spell casts on a 7+. Roll a D6, on a 2+, you add that many models to a friendly TZEENTCH DAEMON unit. On a 1, however, the whole unit goes poof. The logical choice is to only ever use this on units that are near death already, like a lone Pink Horror trying to get some new buddies. The question is, do you want to leave a whole unit's fate to a single dice roll? And no, don't think you can cheese this via Destiny Dice. Masters of Destiny Tells you which rolls you are allowed to change and rolls made by specific spells that you really really wish you could set isn't among them.
    • In fact, you only have 1/6 chance of messing up with this spell, while the other five times you resurrect an average 3 guys, so it's pretty good. Just use it on units with low numbers, and that you can comfortably lose, and you're set. Or just take Kairos and a unit of 6 Tzaangor Skyfires, to have a unit that will probably never die; changing that 1 on a 6 one time per battle should ensure you never lose the unit. If you're in a really big battle, instead take a unit of 3 Burning Chariots, but keep in mind your opponent will refuse to play with you ever again after this. And I can't blame him. Neither would I.
  6. Tzeentch's Inferno: If Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome are on your side, this is a damn game winner. If not, you'll waste casting attempts on it. Casting value 9(!) so you need a Lord of Change or Kairos just to cast it reliably. Roll 9 D6, each 6 generates D3 Mortal Wounds. On average, that's 3 Mortal Wounds. Woo. If, however, you roll well, you could go all the way to a unit killer with this. Combine this with Infernal Gateway, and your Lord of Change can unleash some serious fireworks.
  • A question: What if a Hero is both Daemon and Mortal/Arcanite? Can he know spells from both Lores? the heroes that fit on that category are the Tzaangor Shamans, Gaunt Summoners and Archaon himself, the rules for both lores is "each wizard in a Tzeentch army knows and additional spell chosen from the Lores", so until FAQ'd, technically he can know one (or two if he is an Arch-Sorcerer) of both.

Warscrolls

Leaders

Named Leaders

  • Kairos Fateweaver: Disappointing. Kairos has a pretty decent melee profile and decent survivability, just like all Lords of Change. He also shares their rule for better casting rolls but gets a much less useful unique spell to cast with it. There are only two things going for him: Once per game, you can change one D6 to a result of your choice, except it doesn't work on the roll for turn order, which makes it all but worthless, and the other is that Kairos knows the spells of all friendly Wizards within 18". Woo. (No seriously woo! So long as Kairos is within 18" of a Herald, he knows Pink Fire which he is much better at casting. He's less versatile, less killy and gives less support than a normal Lord of Change; he costs more and can't take Artifacts and Command Traits. Not impressive. Still useful for that single, guaranteed dice roll. Ensure an opponent fails a critical save. Insurance for Fold Reality is not killing everything.
  • The Changeling: A fun little hero unit. Can deploy on you opponent's side of the board and can't be targeted by anything until he is revealed by another Hero coming within 3" of him or you personally using an ability. Until then he can half the movement on a single unit within 9" every turn. Good on certain occasions like when your enemy brings a few fast units to keep you from moving up the board or getting close to artillery. Bring for fun, not for game breaking madness. Also interesting is that he can use the spells of all Wizards around him. Against Ironjawz, you could totally have the Changeling cast Foot of Gork, use Destiny Dice to pass the casting roll and then stomp an opponent's unit into the dirt. If this kills that big 10 men Brute unit, the Changeling has already earned his points back and then some. Also a fun Assassin given its ability to copy the profile and abilities(FAQ: The "Formless Horror" ability only copies the weapon's range, attacks, hit, wound, rend, and damage, not the weapon's abilities. (as of Chaos FAQ and Errata 1.4, released January 29, 2018)) of a particular weapon in an opponent's warscroll. You can use it as a suicide unit against say... Alarielle and copy the beetle's attacks, using Destiny Dice to pass to hit and wound rolls and watch as you deal 25 damage with a 140 pt. unit. At the very least, it'll cripple a super killy monster. A personal favorite trick is is you're up against Archon the Everchosen, charge the Changeling into combat with him and watch your opponents face drop as you chose to use his weapon against him. Chose the Changeling to hit first, and use your Destiny Dice. Hopefully, you've rolled at least one six. Attack and auto hit with a Destiny Die then chose the to wound roll to be an automatic 6 to wound meaning that Archon's sword removes him from the table with no saves at all allowed. Brutal. Nerfed.
  • The Blue Scribes: Now a very powerful caster. They can automatically cast anything on 2+ with 1d6 and to unbind their attempt, you need a 9 or more. This allows you to cast any overpowered summoning spell with impunity. Don't want to be a jerk? No problem, you can also just use their own spell, which gives Tzeentch Wizards re-rolls to cast. Those Casting Value 9 Herald Spells getting you down? Don't forget the Blue Scribes can attempt to learn any spell cast near them so if you get your Pink Fire off using your arcane tome, the Blue Scribes can learn it on a 4+ and in subsequent turns cast it on a 2+. Give them Tzeentchs's Inferno too and have fun.
  • Vortemis the All-Seeing: Must be taken with the Eyes of the Nine. He's essentially just a magister with a unique spell that gives a free CP to spend on the At the Double, Forward to Victory, or Inspiring Presence commands.

Generic Leaders

  • Gaunt Summoner: A very mediocre Wizard statline but attached to some impressive magic. The Gaunt Summoner has one of the best horde-roasting spells in the game and can cast twice per turn, making him an excellent addition to any army. The fact that he has the Daemon keyword only makes him better. The only real problem is the lack of mobility and survivability. To use his impressive spell to best effect, you want him close to the enemy, but 5 Wounds and a 6+ save aren't too helpful in letting him survive that.
    • The Balewind Vortex can help mitigate the need to be close. If an entire horde of enemies wishes to approach, they do not want to be within the 36" bubble of death that his spell becomes while atop the vortex.
  • Curseling, Eye 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 (it has 24" range, and the target can't try to unbind this 3+ spell if you're more than 18" away from him, niiice). 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 Nerfed. His main problem is the First Rule of One. He only has three spells, two of them the generic spells and the third one that only works if the enemy is packing Wizards, and even then the result may not help him, so unless you give him a good lore spell, he will be dead weight on the spells you can cast.
  • Fatemaster: 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.
  • Magister: 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. You could potentially use two 3s from your Destiny Dice pool to successfully cast a Mystic Shield with him, then cast his unique spell in addition because technically your last casting "roll" was a double.
  • Tzaangor Shaman: The mage you want in a Tzaangor-heavy army. Thanks to his Disc, he's not all that bad in melee, but that is still only a last resort, as he's too important to risk. The fun part is that he is a 6 wound Mage with high movement and a decent spell: Enemy unit takes D3 Mortal Wounds. Afterward, you can add a Tzaangor to a nearby unit for every model the spell killed. Roast some Saurus Guard and fill up your Beastmen all in the same breath. The Shaman also carries a nice energy drink with him that, once per game, lets him cast twice and re-roll casting rolls while he's at it. Use to best effect in an Arcanite Cabal Battalion for three re-rollable spells. Also, since the disc he rides gives him the Daemon keyword, he qualifies for and can pick from both Daemonic and Arcanite tables from the Allegiance abilities.
  • Ogroid Thaumaturge: For all intents and purposes, the Ogroid Thaumaturge is a Tzeentch-marked Doombull. He has eight Wounds without counting as a monster, a 5+ save and automatic regeneration of one Wound per friendly Hero phase, so he's pretty tanky. He also moves 6", deals D3 Mortal Wounds for successfully charging and has three weapon profiles in melee, all of them good. His staff is just like any other mage staff, but hitting on 3+ and dealing two knocks, then his horns have one attack with great Hit and Wound rolls, great Rend and constant damage 3, and finally, his hooves are exactly 2 Hammer-Liberators worth of knocks. But wait, that's not all. He is also a Wizard, armed with one of the most bullshit unique spells in the game: Casting value 7, pretty high, but instantly deals D6 Mortal Wounds. And then you get to set up a unit of either Pink, Blue or Brimstone Horrors within 1" of whatever you shot with its size equal to the number of Mortal wounds you inflicted. (yes, right in melee distance, tying the unit down instantly). And yes, you CAN pick Pink Horrors and then immediately cast a spell with those because it's still your Hero phase. But wait, that's still not all. He also turns red after suffering 5 or more Wounds, lowering his casting rolls but gaining +1 To Hit, making him even more terrifying in melee. This guy is just amazing. Having him and a Tzeentch army and NOT playing him is akin to sacrilege. He's powerful, he's versatile, and his model looks amazing.
  • Lord of Change: (36 Fate Points) Casty, scary lord, now with fourteen Wounds because he got a new model. Can choose between a bunch of weapon profiles in addition to his staff but the gatling rod will generally be your best bet because a Lord of Change in melee is a dead Lord of Change unless you're sending him war machine hunting.
  • Exalted Daemon of Tzeentch (Forge World): A Lord of Change pre-new model, now with a 3+ Save and fifteen wounds. This also means it only has the staff to fight with, severely hampering its usefulness with the new freshness available. Also has a Casting Value of 9 as opposed to 10 for some reason.
  • Herald of Tzeentch: (12 Fate Points) Has a pretty cool combination of tricks going for him. He has a unique spell with a casting value of nine, which is pretty fucking high. Also, once per game, he can cast with three dice instead of two, making nine much more reachable. Also, if he casts with a value of nine or more (no matter which spell) he can cast another one. Basically once per game, you can cast twice unless you roll really bad.
  • Herald of Tzeentch on Disc: (12 Fate Points) Oddly the disc is disturbingly powerful in melee. However, the Herald on it wants absolutely nothing to do with melee. Ultimately, the Herald on Disc is a confused beast, best left alone. His unique spell can potentially do nine Mortal wounds for a casting value of four, though it will average only one and a half, but hey in Matched Play you only get one Arcane Bolt anyway so it's better than your herald sitting on their fucking hands. His real usefulness is that he is manic fast and can keep up with your Flamers and Screamers to proc their loci.
  • Herald of Tzeentch on Burning Chariot: (24 Fate Points) When deciding how to build the model, do consider that this unit doesn't get the Magical Flames shooting attack that other Heralds get, or the Blue Horrors close combat attacks that the Exalted Flamer gets. In other words, if you build this version, you can use the Blue Horrors to increase your Pink Horror units, the Exalted Flamer by himself and all the flame bits for nice conversions. His unique spell is an Arcane Bolt on everything in 9", it's got a casting value of nine though so like the on foot version you might only get to use it once all game. Also, this guy makes Burning Chariots Battleline if he's your general, which allows you to spam them in low points games.
  • 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: Has a brutal pair of weapons, both attack thrice, hitting and making wounds at 3+. The Reaperblade has a range of 2", -2 rend and 2 damage, and once per battle he has the option to make one attack, but making 2D6 fucking damage. Tzeentch to reroll every 1 to save 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 to attack 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. 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. Tzeentch allows him to unbind a spell in each turn. 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

Battleline

  • Kairic Acolytes: Tzeentch-themed Marauders, just as Bloodreavers are Khorne-themed Marauders. Kairic Acolytes can (and must) mix and match weapons: The normal blade is the exact same as a Marauder with an axe, the glaive gets better Rend, the dual-wielder hits better and the shield gives the model a 6+ save-before-the-save against normal and mortal wounds. This is all okay, but not terribly impressive. What sets them apart is that each is also a magical dabbler and can shoot minor magic missiles with 5+/4+/-/1, which sounds bad. Then you notice that having a Tzeentch Wizard tagging along adds 1 to these shots' To Hit rolls. Then you notice that these shots are amazing as normal Marauders don't get stuff like this at all, so even a weak shot is better than no shot at all.
    • Protip: Because you can mix weapons 40K-style, give some of them shields, and whatever weapons you want to the rest. Put the guys with weapons in the front, so they get to be more killy, then when it's time to allocate wounds, place them in the guys with shields (their rule says the models with shields are the ones who get the extra Save). That's teamwork.
  • Tzaangors: Incredible. They are, at first glance, Chaos Warriors with a lower save. Then you look at their weapons. No matter what you equip them with, they will always have a 4+/5+/-/1 beak attack each. Then you can choose between two weapons, a sword, and board and glaive (only two on every five models). The shield gives you a nice save-after-the-save, the twin swords get you better hit rolls and the glaives only give you 1 attack instead of 2 but at damage 2 and Rend -1. They also have a nice rule where, for every 9 models in the unit, you get an additional attack, up to +3 maximum. Since this stacks nicely with the few strong attacks from the glaives, you want glaives if you want to go for raw damage output and shields to keep them safe, and they can have one mutant for every 5 models, who always have two blades and make 1 additional hit with them. The good thing? You can mix-and-match so that you can do both! They can also run and charge like normal Beastmen, thanks to their musician and can channel mortal wounds onto enemy units if the Tzaangors have Wizards chilling with them. Having an Arcanite Hero hanging with them also gets them better Wound rolls, so keep that Tzaangor Shaman nearby to buff and replenish.
  • Pink Horrors: (20 Fate Points for a unit of 10) One of the best infantry units in the game. Not only do they shoot pretty well and on a surprisingly high range, but each unit also counts as a Wizard, so they can either shoot some Mortal Wounds at stuff their normal attacks can't get through, give themselves reroll 1's to saves and help to summon some more bullshit. Even more insane when using the new Lore of Change, in which case every unit of Horrors gets one of the Lore's spells to play around with. Horrors filling their unit back up? Do it! Horrors buffing your Heroes? Do it! Horrors causing big stuff like Kurnoth Hunters or Ironguts to punch each other? Do it! The huge downside to Horrors, of course, is how they survive as they only have a 5+ save like most daemons. In open and narrative play one does not have to worry as they have the SPLIT rule, however in matched play this is next to useless as reinforcement points mean you do not get to bring in blue and brimstone horrors unless you've put the points aside, except, of course, that you can fill existing units back up without Reinforcement Points. So say you were playing 2000 pts and wanted your 3 battlelines to be Pinks that split and split again you'll find that you need to put aside 100 points for each units blues (1 pink turning into 2 blues) and then for each unit of blues you need to put aside 40. This plus your cost of taking the Pinks means that you are investing 280 points per unit of Pink Horrors. So taking 3 of them with this would mean having 840 of your points just in your battleline units.
    • As of AOS2, Split was changed so that when a Pink dies, it either inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ against units within 9" or you receive 2 Fate Points that must be exclusively spent to summon Blue Horrors.
  • Chaos Warriors: The same heavily armored 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 same stats, and their normal hand weapons are the same as the swords Liberators carry. Their other options include a halberd that is worse than the hand weapon but with better range. And a greatblade with the same stats as a Liberator hammer but with a -1 rend, however unlike them taking this will cost you your special shield. Their shields work a little differently as their shields give you a special save of 5+ against mortal wounds. Which while giving them greater durability against Mortal wounds than Liberators they have worse saves against regular damage attacks. A potential downside to them? They come in units of at least ten, meaning it can be harder to use them as cheap battleline choices. 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, though a smart opponent will try to shoot off a couple to negate the bonus. All in all, strong chaos rivals to liberators, while Liberators can be argued as a more balanced unit with an equal focus on attack and defense and also containing special weapons. Chaos Warriors are more offensively focused, they are less about holding the line than smashing through it. With their weapon options favoring frontal assault more.
    • Take 20, give them halberds so you can attack in two ranks. Enjoy your 60 attacks.
    • Take 20, give them shields, string them out in front of your army and run them forward. Don't worry about being charged: these guys are bait. Take the aforementioned Halberd Warriors and destroy whatever dumbass takes that bait.
  • Something must have changed since Chaos Warriors are taken in increments of 5 now. So feel free to take 5 just for a battleline tax if you want. Also remember this isn't WFB anymore, Chaos Warriors are surprisingly...not as punchy as you may remember. All 4 Chaos Powers have Battleline that are more offense (in Tzeentch's case, Tzaangors). Taking 20 Halberd Warriors sounds and looks cool, but in reality you'll be doing far less wounds than you think they would do (and point wise is the same as 20 Tzaangors who are far more offensive). Just take 10 with hand weapons and shields as an anvil.
  • 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 pretty decent. They can choose between Flails and Axes, with the axes being slightly better on average. But if the dice gods are on your side (or you have a big enough hoard, which you probably will), the flails can have the higher damage output. 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. They can also take a Banner that increases their awful Bravery to 6, but makes no mistake; they still run away screaming if something goes wrong. Basically, use them as you would Blood Reavers, except with a better save and arguably lower damage output: In large units and with lots of support. That way, they can get pretty impressive.

Others

Daemon
  • Blue Horrors:(10 Fate Points for a unit of 10) Some saint at GW decided to bless us with a warscroll for Blue Horrors in the Silver Tower game, apparently having forgotten the utter lunacy that once ensued because of them. Basically, a Blue Horror is a Pink Horror, but worse in melee, slightly lower-ranged shots and no magic. But that's really not the important part. The important part is that, so long as you have the warscroll and the models, you can set up 2 Blue Horrors whenever a Pink Horror is killed, thus adding two more wounds your opponent has to chew through before he can get at the actually important stuff behind them. It also helps that Blue Horrors are cheap as chips. With 50 points for 10 models that can shoot, you can place a veritable flood of gribblies in front of your opponent and roast him from a semi-safe distance. Shame they aren't Battleline.
    • As of AOS2, Split was changed so that when a Pink dies, it either inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ against units within 9" or you receive 2 Fate Points that must be exclusively spent to summon Blue Horrors.
    • As of AOS2, Split Again was changed so that when a Blue dies, it either inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ against units within 9" or you receive 1 Fate Points that must be exclusively spent to summon Brimstone Horrors.
  • Brimstone Horrors: (10 Fate Points for a unit of 10) And because Pink Horrors splitting into two blue wasn't insane enough, killing a Blue Horror creates a (paired) Brimstone Horror, which are basically teeny-tiny swarms that have only 1 Wound despite clearly being 2 distinct lifeforms is not like you could expect from GW to someday release an ant colony and give it +10000 wounds tho. These are even weaker than the Blue Horrors but provide yet another bunch of Wounds your opponent has to chew through. If we ignore the scarcity of the Brimstone Horror models, under perfect conditions, it would take 40 Wounds of damage for your opponent to chew through 10 Pink Horrors.
    • As of AOS2, Split Again was changed so that when a Blue dies, it either inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ against units within 9" or you receive 1 Fate Points that must be exclusively spent to summon Brimstone Horrors.
  • Exalted Flamers: (12 Fate Points) At first it looks like a slightly more cost effective flamer with twice the wounds and twice the attacks of a normal flamer for a bit lower cost per model, but then you need to remember that the flamer leader gets a extra attack and if a flamer dies near a hero on a 6 you can get 2 back. If you crunch the math on point value to wounds dealt the exalted flamer is ahead but only by the smallest of a fraction so I'd just take normal flamers for the splitting and put this chap on the chariot for the extra stuff that can do. But if you plucked a Chariot apart, built it with the Herald on top or just want to save 60 points, fielding this guy really doesn't hurt, as absolutely nothing in the game enjoys being pelted with 6 damage D3 shots from 18" away.
  • Flamers: (18 Fate Points for a unit of 3) Pretty bloody great. They die very easily, so keep them in cover, but their ranged flame attack is possibly the best thing Tzeentch daemons can bring you, massed shots (10 from 3 of them) causing D3 wounds on anything that gets through is awesome. Bonus flaming is nice too - remember "healing" in AoS only affects models that are still alive, if flaming one-wound stuff it doesn't mean models get up again if you roll a one afterward. In summary using a wound-based comp system (or no comp system) you'd be a fool not to bring at least three of these. Also, remember the awful Locus of Transmogrification? It's been buffed to hell and back and given to these guys. If they lose models while close to a Herald of Tzeentch/Blue Scribes/The Changeling, they have a chance of the Flamer simply splitting into two new and fully healed Flamers. Lastly, they have 9" Move and can fly (by jumping, according to their warscroll!), so you can use them as ultra-powered horse archers, leaping here and there while puking multi-colored death from a safe distance.
  • Screamer: (10 Fate Points for a unit of 3) A bit pillow-fisted overall. Three of them won't do much, they want to be in bigger units to achieve anything (even lone wizards might not die quickly to them otherwise) and you're unlikely to put plenty of wounds on units, though monsters really don't enjoy the damage upgrade to D3. Do remember you can do the slashing fins attack if you "retreat" from a combat they're not going to win by flying over the unit they were fighting.
  • Exalted Flamer on Burning Chariot: Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Has the potential of inflicting 46 Wounds per round, if you do it just right. When you can make 50 4-5+s and get past all rend then only roll 3's on damage (half of the D3's only work against monsters) yeah. But realistically it's so fragile and inaccurate you should only use it to pick off opportune targets in melee while shooting at whatever you feel like. It can damage units it flies over, has the same powerful missile weapon as the standard Exalted Flamer and a bunch of melee attacks, including the two Screamers, who make 6 attacks, each of which deals D3 damage whilst targeting a Monster. None of these have Rend so pick your targets. They're super fast and they fly but they'll die if the opponent even thinks about shooting and flamers aren't slow anyway. It can be great however if you want it to circle around and take the side objectives that the opponent only has a token force for just make sure it attacks first in most cases because it won't last long otherwise.
Arcanite
  • Tzaangor Enlightened: Elite Tzaangors. They have the "option" of putting them onto Discs, though frankly, that option is somewhat insulting, as you will ever not take it, but being able to play them on foot is good if you want three spare discs that you want to use with other Tzeentchian models, either from AoS or 40K, is nice. For the low price of being affected by anti-Daemon abilities, all your Enlightened gain 10" extra Move, an extra Wound and a massively scary melee profile on top of their own massively scary melee profile. They get better when a Tzaangor Shaman is nearby. Other than that, they have a beautiful psychological tool in the Guided by the Past ability, which grants them full rerolls To Hit and Wound if an enemy unit within 3" has already attacked this turn. This puts your opponent into an unpleasant situation: Either attack them first and give the survivors powerful rerolls or let them attack first and pray he'll still have models left once they're done.
  • Tzaangor Skyfires: Ranged Elite Tzaangors. These fellows are the unholy cross between a Tzaangor Enlightened, a Kurnoth Hunter and a Warplock Jezzail (guess who did what, I don't wanna imagine that scene). They have the obscene 16" Movement of the Enlightened, the 24" range of the Kurnoth Hunters and 6+ unmodified 6+ To Hit rolls immediately deal Mortal Wounds. This is even stronger considering that close proximity to a Tzaangor Shaman grants them +1 To Hit, and the leader already has an additional +1. No, the leader simply hits on 3+, very different as that doesn't increase his chance of triggering the exploding 6+s. No, is still an effective, additional +1 for the leader' bow, and he still needs a clean 6+ to deal instant damage. Expect to see at least one unit of 6 in every competitive list.
  • Eyes of the Nine: A mixed unit of 4 models including two named kairic acolytes, a named tzaangor wielding a savage greatblade and a blure horror. Must be taken alongside Vortemis the All-Seeing.
Mortal
  • 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.
  • Chaos 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 re-roll 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. So a good way to look at Chosen is as a potential buffing unit with high damage potential. Don't compare them to Paladins as they really don't like that. Get them into the thick of things and start killing to buff everyone up.
  • 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 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. Considering this is an army that can be at a desperate lacking in ranged weaponry, it can be a good rule-of-thumb to include a few goods ranged harassers. Feigned Charge allows for Mongolian-style hit and run tactics, as it allows the Marauders to shoot and charge even if they retreated. Meaning these guys can run circles around slower moving units while they gradually shoot them down before multi-charging them to death.
  • 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. A favor of Tzeentch, for example, Grants an AoS2 Mystic Shield, but if the unit it's used on is Tzeentch, you can instead re-roll all failed Save 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 armor tar pits like nobody's business.
  • 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.

Behemoths

  • Mutalith Vortex Beast of Tzeentch: YES, that's right, as of April 8th 2017, the Mutalith Vortex Beast and Slaughterbrute received and update with the keywords TZEENTCH and KHORNE respectively, allowing them to keep the Allegiance Abilities from the new Blades of Khorne and Disciples of Tzeentch Battletomes, which is good, and not stupidly broken.
    • The Mutalith Vortex Beast is a big, bad monster with good survivability, healing D3 wounds on each of your hero phases, having a +4 save, and has the potential to dish out A LOT of attacks, but his weapons profiles have modest hit and wound stats, so don't expect it to RIP AND TEAR the enemy (oh no, that's what Slaughterbeast do).
    • You don't take it because it is killy and stompy, like the aforementioned Slaughterbeast; ho, oh no, you take it will give your enemy's forces a really bad time with de-buffs and mortal wounds. Aura of Mutation is one of the few random special rules that can never turn on you, since it can apply one of 3 PERMANENT DE-BUFFS (yes, PERMANENT) or inflicts heavy damage to a unit at 15" from it (yes, a unit, not necessarily an enemy unit, given the curious wording), according to the number you got after rolling a single dice on your hero phase:
  1. Hideous Disfigurement: -1 Bravery FOR THE REST OF THE BATTLE. Good against elite units that are too brave to run away otherwise.
  2. Trollbrains: FOR THE REST OF THE BATTLE the controlling player must roll a dice at the start of each of their hero phases. On the roll of a 1, the target unit can’t be selected to cast spells, move or attack until their next hero phase. A kind of curse, but this can be FATAL, since the entire unit will not be able to do a single thing on the rest of the turn. Choppy units, shooty units, fast units, wizards with powerful spells. Damn, could you imagine what could happen to a whole Sisters of the Thorn unit, who happens to have four of those attributes, on a roll of 1? if your Mutalith Beast charges them you will watch a nasty hentai movie.
  3. Gift of Mutations: -1 Move for THE REST OF THE BATTLE. This is just wrong; this gives a bad time to almost everyone. Crippling movements, retreats, charges, escape routes and punishing harder monsters with damage tables (imagine those poor, slugass like Plague Furnaces or Screaming Bells that got a shitton of damage, they will not be able to move at all).
  4. Tide of Transmogrification: D3 mortal wounds. Good, free damage.
  5. Maelstrom of Change: D6 mortal wounds. Gooder, more free damage.
  6. Spawnchange: D6 mortal wounds, plus each slain model in the unit will becomeif you kill at least a model you instantly get a Chaos SpwALLAHUACKBARARGHH. Good already for the mortal wounds, and can be better on open or narrative games. Matched games will not abuse a lot of the extra... units created... but if you have 60 points free to spare, go ahead and place one.
    • Remember that you *can* inflict mortal wounds to your units, but why would you that? at the moment there is not a single battalion that could benefit from this...
    • (Note: as you can see, those first three de-buffs are never referred to not be able to be used multiple times on the same unit. Until FAQ'd and clarified, you could expect to reduce bravery and movement twice or more on a single battle. Don't abuse from this, unless you want to be that guy).
    • Now, since the Mutalith Vortex Beast got that shiny new TZEENTCH keyword, it benefits from Masters of Destiny, for those times when you really have to make sure to pass the savings, but it is a Monster, and doesn't have any further synergy with either from Mortal or Daemon units. Don't be an idiot wasting your Destiny Dices to make it pass every hit or wound roll, and don't try to be a smart ass trying to use them with Aura of Mutation, you can't, since the rules for the battle trait specifically says that they DO NOT affect abilities.
  • Chaos War Mammoth: This monster has 22 wounds! Although it's only packing a 5+ save. All of his attacks cause at least D3 wounds, making it an exceptional monster-killer when at full strength. Its real strength lies in supporting a Marauder charge, however - as well as imposing -2 to any Battleshock tests to any unfortunate unit that gets charged, the Mammoth can also help Marauder or Marauder Horsemen get in a little extra movement and increase their damage output in combat. Wounding and even killing this thing just makes it cause more damage. If you're playing with a big Chaos horde then there's no finer feeling than running this guy into the enemy's biggest and toughest-looking infantry blob, although expect a few dirty looks for doing so. Keep in mind that he doesn't like magic missiles or war machine fire, however.
  • Gigantic Chaos Spawn: A strong but unreliable monster burdened with random movement, random attacks, and regeneration. He can put out a fair amount of damage with a mix of its tongues and maws, and has 12 wounds and has a good chance to regenerate and possibly gain more wounds each turn. It's worth remembering that he can be given any Chaos God as a keyword, which opens up amusing possibilities like running a Khornate Spawn alongside a Bloodsecrator.

Normal Battalions

Aether-Eater Host

(130 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) Say that five times in a row fast. A Herald on Chariot takes 3+ units of Heralds on Disc, Heralds on Chariot, Screamers or the Blue Scribes along. Whenever one of them unbinds a spell, that model heals D3 Wounds and as long as there are 9+ units in the Battalion, your Screamers can unbind one spell a turn. Let's be honest here, unless you're running some gimmick list or are trying to make your 40k Screamerstar work in AoS, this Battalion will never have 9+ units, so basically you only get healing whenever one of your Wizards unbinds, which is still pretty cool. Can help a Chariot Herald survive for longer.

Alter-Kin Coven

(130 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) A unit of Kairic Acolytes, a unit of Tzaangors and a unit of Tzaangor Skyfires get an aura of mutation that works basically like Nurgle's Rot but every model killed lets you add a Tzaangor to a nearby unit. Not too shabby. An inexpensive Battalion with a decent bonus and no dead weight at all. Not bad, but not great. Let's be honest here, you take this because you want to turn it into a Cult of the Transient Form later. No shame in admitting that.

Arcanite Cabal

(180 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) 3-9 Magisters, Fatemasters or Tzaangor Shamans, in any combination. If you use Destiny Dice for models of this Battalion, you have a 50% chance of recycling the Dice and if they stick close to each other, they can cast an additional spell in each friendly Hero Phase. What is interesting about this is that the Fatemaster isn't a Wizard, but the wording reads as though he gets a spell as well... Either way, the Magisters and the Shamans really love both of these abilities. The Magister gets more chances of rolling doubles and casting EVEN more and the Tzaangor Shaman has a wonderful opportunity to make the most out of his one-use ability.

Daemon Cohort of Tzeentch

(-p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) Could be fairly nasty if you play fair. Extra spells means you could reliably be casting Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield with every unit (including your Horrors) every turn. Having most of your army with +1 saves while throwing multiple sets of D3 mortal wounds across the field, plus normal shooting, could be nasty. You'll probably want to borrow some speed bumps from somewhere to keep enemy units at arm's length. Lord of Change probably best for his command ability giving a bonus to cast. And all of this is not taking into account the fact that you could use summoning magic with all your casting attempts.

Changehost

(180 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) A Lord of Change takes 8+ units between every Tzeentch Daemon unit that is not another Lord of Change. In each hero phase two units within 27" from the Lord of Change can teleport in each other's place. You can do it twice if the formation includes 9+ units, and three times if there are 18+ units. This can be fairly nasty, but you need to use it correctly. For example, plonk a unit of hard-to-kill Horrors in front of the unit that was just busy cutting your Flamers apart. Or bait a monster into attacking your Horrors, then switch them out for Screamers with their bonus against monsters. There are lots of possibilities, but you need to think these situations out beforehand, as it's a huge-ass Battalion and it's only worth its cost of entry if you know how to make use of it.

Multitudinous Host

(240p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) A Herald of Tzeentch takes 8+ units of Horrors (Pink, Blue or Brimstone in any combination) along. In every friendly Hero Phase, you get to add D6 models to each Pink and Blue unit and D3 to each Brimstone unit. And no, the Herald's position or surviving is not a condition for this. Hoo boy, you could end up with a hell of a lot of Horrors with this. In Matched, it's neutered a bit, but still powerful. It only means that you need big units to take advantage of it.

Overseer's Fate-Twisters

(140 p) (min 1340.pt; max -.pt) Oh. Oh, my. If this weren't so insanely big and expensive, it'd be absolutely mandatory. As it is, it won't see much use. You take a Lord of Change and then 8+ choices from the list of Exalted Flamers, Burning Chariots or HORROR HERO. Combined with the Battalion cost, you're looking at 1340 points bare minimum, though the benefits speak for themselves: First, every Hero Phase, you get another Destiny Die. Second, you get to re-roll one Destiny Die every Hero Phase. Third, and this is the Cheddar, so long as there are 9+ models in the Battalion, you can wait until after you've made a roll before you decide to sub Destiny Dice in. This not only lowers your consumption of Destiny Dice drastically, but it's also a wonderful psychological tool that lets the opponent know you have almost complete control over your dice rolls and puts you at ease as you have almost complete control over your dice rolls.

Omniscient Oracles

(130 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) Really, really not worth the price of admission. Take Kairos and three more vanilla Lords of Change. In exchange, you get to re-roll all 1s on Hit, Wound, Save, Run and Charge rolls. Now, to be honest, this is a massive fucking load of bullshit. It's Daemonic Power on steroids for four powerful Behemoths. Never mind that they can still take unique spells, gear and magical gear on top of this. On the other hand, even in a 2500 point game, you just spent well over half your points on four models. Never mind all the cash you'd have to throw down for this...

Skyshoal Coven

(130 p) (min 730.pt; max -.pt) A unit of Tzaangor Enlightened that have to take Discs of Tzeentch and two units of Tzaangor Skyfires get to move 9" in every friendly Hero Phase and have a tiny chance of inflicting Mortal Wounds on stuff they flew over, just like Screamers. This is a bit unnecessary, as these models are all excessively fast already and, more importantly, the Skyfires will never want to be in a situation where they want to do this fly-by attack.

Alternate Opinion: This is absolutely amazing for Skyfires. If your enemy gets close, you just zoom away with your Hero Phase move, keep going in your Movement Phase, and keep your target at just inside max range. Never will an enemy get close enough to charge.

Another Alternate opinion this is amazing for all models because you can get easy turn 1 alpha strike charges

Tzaangor Coven

(110 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) A unit of Tzaangors, a unit of Tzaangor Enlightened and a unit of Tzaangor Skyfires. All their beaks Wound on 4+, which is pretty nice. In addition, the plain Tzaangors get bonuses if the others stick close. If at least one sticks close, the vanilla ones get to pile and an attack in your Hero Phases. If both are close, they also get yet another +1 To Wound. If you like Tzaangors, and let's be honest, of course, you do, why else would you play Arcanites, then this one is damn good. Having a unit of Tzaangors buffed by all this and with a Tzaangor Shaman nearby is pretty horrifying.

Warpflame Host

(100 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) An Exalted Flamer has 3+ units of Exalted Flamers, Flamers or Burning Chariots tagging along. Together, they have a small chance of dealing additional Mortal Wounds in the Hero Phase, similar to Nurgle's Rot. Not really that good, as all the models are already plenty killy, don't want enemies anywhere near that close to them and the chance of triggering damage at all is fairly low. You really only take this because it's a requirement for The Eternal Conflagration.

Witchfyre Coven

(120 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) Two units of Kairic Acolytes and a unit of Tzaangor Enlightened. This nets you the ability to shoot your Sorcerous Bolts in the Hero Phase as well as in the Shooting Phase. This has a lot of uses, most of it boiling down to "more dakka". This is one of the requirements for a Pyrofane Cult and boy does that ever enhance those Acolytes further. If you want to get this as cheap as possible, remember to leave your Enlightened on foot so you save 40 points.

Phantasmagoria of Fate

(200 p) (Min: 470.pt. Max: -pt.) 1-4 combination of any Beast of Chaos Hero; 3-9 combination of Bestigors, Gors, Tzaangors, Ungors, Ungor Raiders; 0-9 combination of Bullgors, Centigors, Dragon Ogors, Tzaangor Enlightened, Tzaangor Skyfires, Tuskgor Chariots; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.

Give all units the Tzeentch keyword and non-wizards can unbind spells within 9" as if they were wizards. Might just as well use only Tzaangors. Also Grants you access to Lager beastmen body not traditionally found in Tzeentch Rosters if you want to go heavier in melee.

Super Battalions

The Eternal Conflagration

(110 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) This is one of those big Battalions we've been seeing since the Sylvaneth. To start out, you need a Lord of Change and a Warpflame Host (the one with all the Flamers), but with at least 6 units in it. In exchange, the opponent takes a To Hit penalty against all your Flamers and Exalted Flamers, which is excellent as it keeps your glass cannons safe that much longer, and your Lord of Change gets to use Flamers as spell conduits in much the same way that Slann can use Skink Heroes With latest errata only Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt may be cast through keyword Flamer. The main problem with this is a) you look like a dick if you play nothing but Flamers and some token Battleline and b) you will have a 2000 point army of less than 50 models.

The Host Duplicitous

(120 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) The other big Battalion for the Daemons. This one needs a Lord of Change and a Changehost to start out with, with the added requirement of the Changehost having at least 3 HORROR HEROES. And yes, that means you need two Lords of Change to start this pain train. For this, all dice on casting rolls that show a 1 are counted as 2s. This makes your casters that much better, especially the two Lords of Change, but the Heralds are going to like it, too. The more fun part is the Flickering Mirage spell the Battalion gives your casters. You pick an enemy unit. Until your next Hero Phase, all their successful Hit Rolls fail, and all their failed Hit Rolls succeed. WAT. Depending on how this interacts with exploding 6+s and the like, this is the best de-buff in the damn game. And this cements the Battalion's role: You take The Host Duplicitous to fuck with people. Between the Changehost's base rules and that bullshit spell, matches against this Battalion will leave your opponent with less hair than before, some of it turned grey. No unit ever stays where it's supposed to, every turn your whole army switches around, and his deathstar with the re-rollable 2+ Hit rolls can't hit for shit anymore.

Arcanite Cult

(120 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) Like with the Sylvaneth, this super Battalion is the blueprint. It has the most rigid structure and the fewest bonuses. Avoid at all cost. The other two Arcanite super Battalions are literally this one, but tricked out and with more choice. Either way, to start, you need an Arcanite Cabal, then 3-9 of the other Arcanite Battalions and then you can take up to one Curseling, Ogroid and Gaunt Summoner each. For that, you get +1 Bravery on everything (don't scoff, your Tzaangors and Acolytes have horrible Bravery) and you get to choose three of your Destiny Dice rather than rolling them at the start of the game.

Cult of the Transient Form

(100 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) You need at least an Arcanite Cabal and an Alter-Kin Coven to start out with, with the Alter-Kin Coven's Tzaangor unit being 20+ strong. For that you get a chance of Kairic Acolytes turning into Tzaangors when they die (great as those Tzaangors can reinforce other Tzaangor units) and Heroes have a chance of turning into Chaos Sp--- those (not so great as you have to reserve points for that, then again, if you're playing a Magister, you've likely reserved points for a Spa-- thingie or two anyway). If you add at least two more Coven Battalions (see above), you also get the generic Arcanite Cult rules on top.

The Pyrofane Cult

(140 p) (min -.pt; max -.pt) To start this, you need an Arcanite Cabal and a Witchfyre Coven in which both Kairic Acolyte squads are 20+ strong. For this, first your Wizards get a new spell that is basically an Arcane Bolt that has a decent chance of jumping to other nearby enemy units. Decent, but not amazing. Also, for every unit from the Battalion that shot at an enemy unit, every subsequent unit of Kairic Acolytes gets +1 To Wound when shooting at the same unit. So basically, you let a Magister shoot an enemy unit with his staff and then have a unit of Kairic Acolytes shoot at the same unit, then those Wound on 3+. If, after that, you shoot the same unit with yet another unit of Kairic Acolytes, they Wound on 2+. The really fun part is that, thanks to the wording, you also get this bonus when using the Witchfyre Coven's rule to shoot in the Hero Phase.

Army Building

1000 pt.

Here the core tax is 1 Leader and 2 Battleline units.

Your basic choices here are to focus either on Daemons, Tzaangor, Mortals or a combination thereof. A Lord of Change is probably overkill, and an Ogroid and another support mage working in tandem will likely serve you better. Taking Kairic Acolytes over Pink Horrors is seldom a good idea unless you have a specific Battalion in mind. Also, do not be too proud to look into the Slaves to Darkness. The Chaos Sorcerer Lord provides wonderful support, and Chaos Warriors provide a hardy Battleline choice. Avoid Chosen and Chaos Knights, though, as your Tzaangor Enlightened leave them in the dust regarding mobility and damage output. Also, hands off those Flamers. A single unit is already 20% of your points budget. They are massively scary, but once the opponent has a target lock on their asses, you'll lose a huge part of your army.

Another possibility is to buy a Start Collecting: Slaves to Darkness box. Since all those Mortals can elect to take the TZEENTCH keyword, they are entirely compatible with your allegiance, though not with your Battalions. The Chaos Warriors give you some more survivable Battlelines, the Knights and the Chariot give you a nice balance of beefy and fast and the Chaos Sorcerer Lord is just flat-out better than your Magister.

Yet another option is to pick one of the Battalions from the Battletome and build your army around it. A Changehost can complement just about any Tzeentch Daemons and provides a fun bonus for example. Ideally, for this you want to pick a Battalion you can expand upon when taking the hurdle to 2000 points.

An example Arcanite list could be:

  • Tzaangor Shaman (General)
  • Ogroid Thaumaturge
  • 10 Tzaangors (Battleline)
  • 10 Kairic Acolytes (Battleline)
  • 3 Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc
  • 3 Tzaangor Skyfires

Now that Generals Handbook 2.0 has dropped Acolytes got cheaper and all Tzeentch wizards and Skyfires got pricier. The Tzaangor coven battalion is now a no go as it's also more expensive to take. The above list gives you dead on 1000 points and with a squishy force like the Arcanites it's probably better to prioritize bodies over trying to fit a battalion in. You could also remove the Tzaangors and Enlightened and replace them with another unit of Skyfires and Acolytes and have 40 points left for an endless spell, but this leaves you without any melee units.

2000 pt.

Here the core tax is 1 Leader and 3 Battleline units.

Example list with 0 Battalions but could still be pretty fun. Decided on a Balewind Vortex for the Curseling to really annoy other magic users with crazy reliable unbinding and spell stealing ability 48" range on glean magic sounds pretty fun. Comes to 1980 points.

Heroes

  • Lord of Change
  • Tzaangor Shaman
  • Ogroid Thuamaturge
  • Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch

Battleline

  • 20 Tzaangors
  • 10 Kairic Acolytes
  • 10 Kairic Acolytes

Other Units

  • 3 Tzaangor Skyfires
  • 3 Tzaangor Skyfires
  • 3 Tzaangor Enlightened

Scenery

  • Balewind Vortex

2500 pt.

Here the core tax is 1 Leader and 4 Battleline units.

Tactics

Magic

Allied Armies

  • Slaves to Darkness: Well, they do need to be mentioned. Chaos Warriors are the toughest Battleline you can get, which makes them a wonderful bodyguard unit for your squishy Wizards. Their shields also make them a prime target for your Look Out, Sir-spell, in that they can simply tank a third of the damage they receive from it via their shields. Marauder Horsemen and Chaos Knights also provide you with a vanguard that can keep up with your Flamers. And, finally, the Chaos Sorcerer Lord provides you with an amazing support spell. Also, frankly, if you still have a Tzeentch-marked Slaves to Darkness army around from when the Arcanites didn't exist yet, here can be their place to shine.
  • Daemons of Chaos: Since you can mark all those generic Daemons, you can add some helpful stuff do your army. Furies may not be worth much, but a Soulgrinder is the sort of thing that makes opponents rethink their whole strategy. A Daemon Prince also makes a wonderful Hero for you, who can actually enjoy all those melee upgrades in the Daemonic Weapons list. Galrauch should also be mentioned, as he's a Tzeentch Daemon Dragon, powerful in combat and with a good spell.
  • Everchosen: Because fuck you, I'm Cheeos incarnate. Archaon is Daemon, Mortal, Tzeentch, Monster, Hero, Wizard, Scientist, Philantropist and Playboy. He can benefit from any non-Arcanite Allegiance Abilities for a Tzeentch army, alongside his Varanguard if he marks them. His Varanguard-marking happens during the game, so including them would break your Tzeentch allegiance Fatesworn Warband battalion says that its Allegiance is Everchosen, but a battalion can still be part of any allegiance that all its units have on their own warscrolls, so until FAQ'd, you can use bonuses for them as well.
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