Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Slaves to Darkness

Grand Alliance Chaos Slaves to Darkness

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Lore Tactics General Tactics

The old Warriors of Chaos enter the Mortal Realms as the re-done Slaves to Darkness. The Slaves to Darkness fight for any of the Chaos Gods or the gods as a pantheon, and can be built in a variety of ways with plenty opportunity for synergy between heroes and units.

Why Play Slaves to Darkness?

Pros

• Reuses Warriors of Chaos models from WFB, making them a quasi-old-school faction (or at least a money-saver). And the new models themselves aren’t too shabby either.
• Pals with most other Chaos factions, providing an absurdly stupid wide range of allies, allegiances, and playstyles (practically, only skavens are out of the equation).
• You have lots of options for battleline units. Even by accident you will end up having battlelines.
• If you have war bands from Warcry, you can include them in your army lists.
• Your faction's poster boy killed a world, so his credentials are beyond reproach.
• The faction provides a lot of ways to play
• Your faction acronym is "STD"
• Access to reroll hit & wound roll. When reroll ability is getting a lot of nerf in AOS 3.0, STD gets reroll both hit & wound in one ability, with multiple source to offer it

Cons

• Your faction acronym is "STD"
• Traits and abilities are now specifically for Slaves to Darkness, which isn't a con for this army, but hurts value when allying with other Chaos armies.
• Hardly any shooting phase worth mentioning

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Slaves to Darkness

Additional rules: Broken Realms: Morathi ; Soul Wars: Wrath of The Everchosen

Forgeworld warscrolls: Monstrous Arcanum

Latest Matched play points: Slaves to Darkness Errata

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

If your army has a SLAVES TO DARKNESS allegiance and chose to take the SLAVES TO DARKNESS allegiance abilities, it has the following rules: Damned Legions: You must belong to one of these. If a model already has a keyword from one, they cannot gain another, it can still be included in your army but it can't benefit from the allegiance ability of that legion. Legions are: Ravagers, Cabalists, Despoilers, or the Host of the Everchosen.

Marks of Chaos: SLAVES TO DARKNESS units with the MARK OF CHAOS keyword can select their own marks at no additional cost. Icons, however, don't seem to add anything special to the mix.

• Undivided: Non-unique Mortal and Ogroid units gain Eye of the Gods, allowing everyone to gain blessings. Heroes who roll on that table get to re-roll one of their die, helping get a more desirable result.
  • Slay Worthy Foes: A unique command available to any Undivided hero. The commanded Undivided unit gets to add +1 to any wound rolls against heroes and monsters.
• Khorne: Gain +1 attacks on the charge. Chaos Warriors assaulting objectives will most definitely be mistaken for Slaanesh-marked due to the amount of high impact sexually pleasing violence they will be pumping out.
  • Let the Blood Flow: A unique command for Khornate Heroes. After the commanded Khorne unit charges, they can deal d3 mortal wounds to a nearby unit on a 2+.
• Tzeentch: Gain a 6+ FNP against any spells.
  • Warp Reality: A spell given to Tzeentchian Wizards with CV 6. When cast, one friendly unit within visibility is immediately teleported and can redeploy anywhere within 9" of the caster, but more than 9" away from enemies. Standard rule of translocating in that you then can't move the unit in the movement phase. Sounds cool, and lead to either slingshotting charges without a retreat or giving your caster a sudden bodyguard unit, but the positioning required and stipulations of having to teleport them TO the caster means its uses are limited.
• Nurgle: Enemies take -1 to wound your units in melee. Solid.
  • Bestow Contagion: A unique command for Nurglite Heroes. After the commanded Nurgle unit fights for the first time, they can deal an additional d3 mortal wounds on a 3+.
• Slaanesh: +1 to run and charge rolls.
  • Close In for the Kill: A unique command for Slaaneshi Heroes. The commanded Slaanesh unit can charge after running, giving them an incredible threat range.

Vows Darkness: EYE OF THE GODS HEROES gain their own unique Heroic Actions:

• Pledge to the Dark Gods: When this hero rolls for rewards from the Eye of the Gods, they can roll 3d6 and discard one roll for a means of reliably gaining the preferred build.
• Draw on Power: Wizards only. You can roll 3d6 when casting a spell, but rolling a double 1 or triple 1 deals d6 mortal wounds instead of the standard d3.

Eye of the Gods: If a SLAVES TO DARKNESS unit with the EYE OF THE GODS keyword makes an attack in a combat phase that slays one or more enemy HEROES or MONSTERS, at the end of the combat phase, make a roll on the table below after the unit's attacks have been completed, adding +1 if the unit managed to snag an objective on this turn. While Heroes get to roll on the whole table with a 2d6, any other units only get to roll d6+2, conveniently letting them avoid becoming gribblies.

2D6	Reward
2	Spawndom: You can add a Chaos Spawn to your army. If you do, set up a Chaos Spawn model within 1" of the HERO, and then remove the hero. Unlike last edition, there is no way to avoid this and this has no wording to avoid counting as your general being killed.
3	Snubbed by the Gods: Nothing happens. Try again later.
4	Mutative Regrowth: Heal up to d3 wounds. This cannot push your unit over the starting amount of wounds and it won't resurrect any fallen models if this is a multi-model unit.
5	Flames of Chaos: The unit can choose to ignore a spell on a 2+.
6	Unearthly Reflexes: +1 to charge rolls. This can presumably stack with the Slaanesh bonus for even better charges.
7	Unholy Resilience: Gain a 6++ Ward save.
8	Slaughterer's Strength: All melee weapons improve their Rend score by 1.
9	Arcane Awakening: The unit is now a WIZARD, being able to cast and unbind one spell each turn. Any units that are already WIZARDS instead get to cast an additional spell each turn, while KHORNE units just count this as Slaughterer's Strength again.
10	Aura of Chaos: Gain a 5++ Ward save.
11-12	Dark Apotheosis: You can add a Daemon Prince to your army. If you do, set up a Daemon Prince model within 1" of the HERO, and then remove the hero, but the DP gains their command traits, artefacts and will be the general if the removed hero was. If you don't have a Daemon Prince to use, you can instead pick out a reward.

Thanks to Tome Celestial from Wihite Dwarf 468 (Sep 2021) Slaves to Darkness got two new battle traits to better incorporate Warcry cultist (and other cultists) in your Army!

Lore of the Damned

1. Binding Damnation: CV7. Visible target within 12" fights last until your next hero phase.
   • Terrific effect, but fairly high casting value, so still a bit of a gamble.
2. Spite-tongue Curse: CV3. Visible target within 12" takes 3 mortal wounds. If this is unsuccessful or is unnbound, the caster takes 3 mortal wounds.
   • Very powerful if your opponent is out of unbinding attempts or doesn't have any in the first place. Probably too risky in any other situation.
3. Chaotic Conduit: CV7. Pick a visible EYE OF THE GODS unit within 12". That unit immediately rolls on the Eye of The Gods table.
   • A great way to start racking up the buffs on UNDIVIDED units. Watch your enemies shit their pants as their battlelines get swept away by superlatively god-juiced Chaos Warriors by turn 2. In Undivided-heavy lists, this will be a fairly prioritised unbind, so give your foes a difficult choice on what to spend their unbinds on.
4. Daemonic Speed: CV6. Pick a visible SLAVES TO DARKNESS unit with a Mount wholly within 12". They can attempt charges within 18" instead of 12" and now roll 3D6 for distance until your next hero phase.
   • It speaks for itself. Plant this on some Varanguard or some decked-out Chaos Knights and watch them trample your enemies flat at mach-2.
5. Ruinous Vigour: CV6. Pick a visible SLAVES TO DARKNESS MONSTER unit wholly within 12". They act as though they haven't taken wounds for the purposes of the wounds table.
   • Now that our Manticores aren't just vehicles for their riders and can actually do damage, this is fairly nice.

Endless Spells

<tabs> <tab name="Slaves to Darkness">

• Eightfold Doom-Sigil: (40pts) CV 5. This spell will only have use when things die around it, so you'd best make sure you make at least one model go down so you can power them up. Now a bonus attack won't sound too scary for your Chaos Lord, but throw it on a band of marauders and they won't be laughing anymore.
  • And it's just plain "friendly models slain" within its range, and Cabalists' ability kills d3 friendly models allowing essentially free uses of this endless spell

• Darkfire Daemonrift: (80pts) CV 6. This is a purely predatory spell, dealing d3 MWs to anything it goes through. It's damage potential also powered up by other Wizards and Endless spells, which is pretty trollish for, say, Tzeentch or the Sacrosanct Chamber and all their wizards.

• Realmscourge Rapture: (60pts) CV 7. This Predatory spell is like the Pendulum in that it can only move in straight lines (but in this case can also only go forward, making it even more reliable). Anything that this goes through (or near) suffers not only d3 MWs, but their movement will also be halved, which can positively cripple a unit just in time for your vikings to flatten them.

</tab> <tab name="Tzeentch">

• Burning Sigil of Tzeentch: (40pts) Summons a floating 12" bubble of RANDOM, with a mix of results helpful and harmful to a single unit. (d3 MWs that risks a Chaos Spawn if someone dies, halved movement, d6" movement after running, +1 attacks, or -1 to hit) The issue is that this sigil cannot move on its own, meaning that you really need to find a good place to set it up and then pray some more that Tzeentch blesses your rolls for the right results.

• Tome of Eyes: (40pts) Summons a magical book that becomes part of the caster's unit. Alongside letting the caster reroll any casting tests, it lets results of snake eyes or double 6s count as auto-casting with immunity to dispels (though the caster also takes d3 MWs in the process) and grants a special spell that deals mortal wounds and robs the target of 1 point of Bravery for each casualty you deal. What better way to stick it to those filthy rats than to smite them with your evil spellbook and then see them fail battleshock for once?

• Daemonic Simulacrum: (50pts) This predatory spell has a...thematic move speed of 9", and each turn it has 9 chances to deal MWs to the closest unit within 6" on a 5+ (4+ if they're wizards). While the range is nice for a spell that would otherwise be considered underwhelming, it also leaves you very open to the chance of it all being for naught on a bad roll. Potential to backfire horribly if your opponent gets to move it so be wary of positioning or have a Lord of Change eat it.

</tab> <tab name="Slaanesh">

• Wheels of Excruciation. Predatory Spell with 12" flying movement. Casting Value 5. Set up within 6" of the caster and immediately make a move with it. Roll 6 dice for each unit passed. For each roll that is lower than the unit's save, they take a mortal wound.

• Mesmerising Mirror.Predatory Spell with 6" flying movement. Casting Value 6. Set up within 18" of the caster. Does not affect CHAOS SLAANESH. Units that start a move within 12" of the model suffer D3 mortal wounds unless they end closer to the mirror than when they started.
  • Also, after the model moves or is set up, roll 6 dice for each hero within 6", rolling separately. For each 6, the hero takes n-squared mortal wounds. Even though this part of it can do 36 mortal wounds to an enemy hero, the odds of that are 1 in 46656. Don't bank on it. Does 1.83 mortal wounds on average and has a 33.5% chance of doing nothing, with a 60.3% chance of doing 1-4 Mortal Wounds and a 5.35% chance of doing 9 mortal wounds. You will note that it has about a 6% chance of killing a footslogging hero and less than a 1% chance of killing a 10+ wounds hero.

• Dreadful Visage. Predatory Spell with 8" flying movement. Casting Value 7. Set up within 12" of the caster and immediately make a move with it. After it moves, pick the closest unit and roll 6 dice. For each 4+, they take a mortal wound. Also, this model gives -1 bravery to units within 12" unless they are CHAOS SLAANESH, in which case they get +1 bravery.

</tab> </tabs>

Damned Legions

<tabs> <tab name="Cabalists"> Magic! Rituals! The power is yours to grasp!

Trait - Blasphemous Rituals

All Cabalists Heroes are Wizards, capable of casting and unbinding as they wish. Any existing wizards can cast an additional spell, and also learn an additional spell from the Lore of the Damned. Additionally, if a hero uses the Draw on Power Heroic Action, any fellow heroes within 3" can also do it immediately afterwards.

• It goes without saying, but this is incredibly powerful for Tzeentch, as this will help give a lot of mileage out of their special spell.

</tab> <tab name="Despoilers"> Daemon Princes Ho! Best run with monsters to make use of the abilities, and lots of Daemon Princes!

Trait - The Favoured and the Cursed

All Despoilers Monsters gain +2 Wounds. Any Despoilers Daemon Princes get their own unique Command Traits that they can use on their own despite not being the general.

</tab> <tab name="Host of the Everchosen"> ALL HAIL ARCHAON, EVERCHOSEN AND SUPREME BEING.

Trait - Legion of Darkness

Whenever a unit of Chaos Chosen, Chaos Knights or Chaos Warriors receives the Rally command, they restore a model on a 5+. In addition, you get a free Ensorcelled Banner because Archie has a special closet for them all.

• Used to be on a 4+ and work on Varanguard, but this shit got nerfed FAST, because...yeah. Still pretty decent, simply for the extra Ensorcelled Banner and battleline Chosen/Varanguard.

</tab> <tab name="The Knights of the Empty Throne"> When the Everchosen is away, his knights will play.

Trait - Unmatched Conquerors

All mounted units can run and charge in the same turn, which is badass for a cavalry-heavy force.

Trait - Dread Lieutenant

If Archaon is not in the army, one model in a unit of Varanguard can be chosen to be the general. While this general can't take anything due to lacking the Hero keyword, if they do use the Rally command on a fellow squad of Varanguard, they regain a model on a 5+.

</tab> <tab name="Legion of the First Prince"> Bow to Be'lakor! First of the Daemon Princes and favored of the Four!

Trait - Favour of the Four

During each Hero phase, you can make one Undivided unit temporarily gain the benefits of a mark of chaos on top of being Undivided until your next hero phase. This can be plenty handy as you can cheese out the best of each mark when you need them, including Tzeentch's special spell.

Trait - Infernal Servants

Any allied Bloodletters, Daemonettes, Horrors, and Plaguebearers all benefit from the marks of their respective god.

</tab> <tab name="Ravagers"> All Mortals All Day. More Darkoath, more Marauders, more Cultists.

Trait - Rally the Tribes

A unique Heroic Action given to Ravagers Heroes. This allows you to resurrect a wiped-out unit of Marauders, Marauder Horsemen, Cultist, or Darkoath at half-strength. This works better for the reinforced squads because they can still fight and won't worry as much about being wiped out again right after coming back.

</tab> </tabs>

Command Traits

<tabs> <tab name="Ruinous Overlords"> Open to all Slaves of Darkness heroes

1. Death Dealer: Once per battle, they can fight a second time in the same turn. This will always be the last in initiative order, meaning that you might not even be able to apply it if the enemy kills your general first.
2. Favoured of the Pantheon: Eye of the Gods only. This general can roll on the Eye of the Gods table after deployment for a pregame buff.
3. Arch-Sorcerer: Wizard only. This general knows the entire Lore of the Damned.
4. Idolater Lord: This general becomes a Priest. If your general has a mark, then all Undivided Cultist units will also gain that same mark.

</tab> <tab name="Aspects of the Ascended"> Daemon Princes only

1. Not to be Denied: If another hero performs a Heroic Action, then your general can also perform a Heroic Action, but it must be different than the one originally used.
2. Bolstered by Chaos: Your general gains +2 wounds and becomes a Monster.
   • While it sucks that you can no longer hide the prince behind cultists, you do get the Monstrous Rampages to use.
3. Radiance of Dark Glory: During each Hero phase, roll a d6 for every friendly model within 9" of this general. Each model heals a wound on a 3+, or 3 wounds if the model is a Monster.
   • Did you pick Despoilers and went all-in on the Daemon Princes? This will allow you to keep all of them around, if stuck to your general. Also helpful for allies as well since it has no keyword restrictions.
4. Diabolic Majesty: Undivided only. Once per battle, this general can perform a Heroic Action despite lacking the appropriate allegiance.

</tab> </tabs>

Artefacts of Power

<tabs> <tab name="Ruinous Overlords"> Open to all Slaves of Darkness heroes

• Hellfire Sword: One melee weapon that rolls a natural 6 to wound now has all its damage deal mortal wounds. Pretty damn scary if you can hit it.
• Helm of the Oppressor: Enemies within 6" cannot benefit from Inspiring Presence or Rally commands.
• Crown of Conquest: Enemies within 6" of the bearer and have 1 or 2 wounds cannot contest objectives.

</tab> <tab name="Chaos Esoterica"> Wizards only

• Chaos Familiar: Once per game, you can spend the familiar so the bearer can cast an additional spell from the Lore of the Damned. This doesn't have to be a spell they already know.
• Infernal Puppet: Once per game, pick one enemy Wizard within 24". When this wizard casts, they automatically suffer d3 mortal wounds before they can even cast.
• Helm of Eldritch Command: When the bearer attempts to dispel and Endless Spell, any roll that exceeds the casting value instead corrupts the Endless Spell and now counts as if the bearer had originally summoned it.

</tab> <tab name="Chaos Infernal Treasures"> Daemon Princes only

• Helm of Many Eyes: The bearer always fights first.
• Doombringer Blade: During the first turn, mark one enemy hero or monster. The bearer adds +1 to wound this marked enemy in melee.
• Realmwarper's Twist-Rune: Once per game, pick a piece of terrain within 12". Any model within 1" of this terrain suffers a mortal wound on a 5+ and the terrain now blocks all LoS until the next turn.

</tab> </tabs>

Ensorcelled Banners

Your unique enchancement, any StD army gets to take one banner on top of anything else they take. If you get an extra enhancement and pick a second banner, it can't be the same one you already picked.

These banners can only be put on Chaos Knights, Chosen and Chaos Warriors.

• The Blasphemous Icon: Non-Chaos Priests always suffer -1 to their prayer rolls while this icon is around.
• The Dread Banner: Undivided only. When this unit rolls on the Eye of the Gods table, you can roll 2d6 and drop the one you like less.
• The Banner of Rage: Khorne only. +1 to wound in melee.
• The Blasted Standard: Tzeentch only. Gain a 4++ Ward against missiles, which is the biggest issue for these units.
• The Eroding Icon: Nurgle only. Enemies attacking the unit bearing the icon degrade the Rend of their melee weapons by 1.
• The Banner of Screaming Flesh: Slaanesh only. +1 Attack on the charge.

Warscrolls

Heroes

Named

• Be'lakor, the Dark Master: (DAEMON, UNDIVIDED, 355pts.) Having somehow escaped Alarielle's ruby from The End Times, the Dark Master is back and trolling with the best of them. Has Ghostly immunity to save modifiers and heals from failed enemy Battleshocks. His best ability is The Dark Master: During deployment, pick 1 enemy unit, then reveal which unit you picked to your opponent at the start of one of their hero phases. Every time that unit wants to move, shoot, cast a spell or attack in combat, they have to roll a dice and can only do so on a 5+. This ability is straight-busted but only works for 1 turn - unless the enemy gets a double turn.
  • With the new model and role as the title character for the next Broken Realms book, expect this boss to gain a power boost proportional to the scale-up to his size. His Dark Master ability now triggers on a 3+. He gains some supporting attacks with his claw and tail, the claw standing out with an absurd -3 Rend and insane 1+ to wound that degrades.
• Archaon The Everchosen: (DAEMON, UNDIVIDED, MORTAL, MONSTER, WIZARD, HERO 860pts.) Still the same stone wall and beatstick that he's always been, just with more streamlined rules and Dorghar getting dynamite strapped to his claws, trading the D6 damage for an eye-watering FLAT 5 DAMAGE per smack! Gets to pick one additional Chaos Mark alongside being Undivided, because he just looooves making Be'lakor's veins pop at the blatant theft of his Legion rule. The heads no longer work all at once, but one of the three abilities can be used once as a monstrous rampage; the Khorne head can instantly slay a model if you beat the wounds characteristic, and heals Archaon in kind wound-for-wound, the Tzeentch head can stop one endless spell within 12" on a 2+ which also rebounds D3MW onto the caster, whilst the Nurgle head has a breath weapon that lets you roll a number of dice equal to enemy models within 6" (to a maximum of 7). Each 3+ is a MW. Archaon is as tanky as ever with a whopping 25 wounds and a juicy 5+ ward but can also rebound Mortal Wounds on a 6+ (note this doesn't specify combat, so it affects wizards and shooting units too). The Eye of Sheerian actually does its fucking job of seeing the future, as once per game, it can be used in your hero phase to act as the Host of the Everchosen CA of old, and let you predetermine who goes first next turn, which can decide the outcome of a match when used at the right time.
• Theddra Skull-Scryer: (Mortal Wizard, 70pts)
• Godsworn Hunt: (Mortal, 60pts)

• Slambo: Now worse and cheaper than an Exalted Champion. His only real value is to be a cheap mark aura, or to swap as the general in a Ravagers legion so you can "summon the tribes".

Generic

• Chaos Lord: (115pts.) Cheaper than the Daemonic Mount version and maybe slightly more killy, with decent retinue abilities to boot. Traded a better Save of 3+ and Bravery of 9 against a reduction to 6 Wounds; otherwise stats remained unchanged. Can pick one Chaos Chosen or Chaos Warriors unit to be his retinue, which allows him to pass on wounds on a 3+. His retinue can also fight immediately after him if they are around. Decent at killing line infantry. Don't send him alone against characters more expensive than he is, or he will die. Side modelling note, the option to take a flail can be achieved by taking the Chaos Chosen off of a Chaos Chariot and basing him and using his as a Chaos Lord, jury is still out on whether this is official or not.

• Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount: (170pts.) Your budget (for a Slaves to Darkness character) mounted Lord. With the latest battletome, the Cursed Warhammer no longer deals mortal wounds on 6s to hit and the bonus of healing d3 wounds for killing whelps with your big mallet is gone. Your Chaos Lord now has Save 3+ and Bravery 9 however, and is able to take a Chaos Lance (for Rend -2 and Damage 2 on the charge) instead of the more reliable Cursed Warhammer (flat Rend -1, Damage 2). Also great for other Slaves to Darkness cavalry units as his quasi-command ability allows him to strike first in the turn he charges and grants the same effect to one Chaos Knight, Chaos Chariot or Gorebeast Chariot unit wholly within 12".

• Chaos Lord on Karkadrak: (220pts.) Movement 9", 9 Wounds and the always welcomed 3+ Save, this lord on battle lizard loves keeping up with his fellow cavalry and bring nothing short of utter destruction. Without any adages, this character boasts no less than 11(!) attacks with an average Damage of 2 across 3 profiles, has mortal wound potential both on the charge and with his Daemonbound Blade. However, he can no longer heal with his attacks with his big axe (which has gone down to 4 Attacks but now has Rend -1). Sporting classic mortal wound protection that Slaves to Darkness units are spoiled with, and the same quasi-command ability as his horse-riding brethren, he is an excellent pick for a Slaves focused army. Pair him with some Chaos Knights, or Chaos Chariot or Gorebeast Chariot and reap all the skulls you can.
  • Currently the toughest variant with his 3+ Save and 9 Wounds, taking a Khorne Lord on Croc with Death Dealer and Daemonic Power cast by a Chaos Sorcerer Lord means his already somewhat juicy weapons will be hitting 9 Attacks on 2+/2+/-1 or -2 on the charge plus 5 Attacks on 3+/2+/-1 with his mount (with the ability to fight twice in the same combat phase once per battle). Just remember that this build hates the number 2; 2s to Hit, 2s on the Save, Attacks against it with Rend -2≤, you get the point.

• Chaos Lord on Manticore: (Monster, Behemoth, 270 pts.) The Lord on Manticore can have a choice between Chaos Flail and Daemon Blade, with the Flail offering twice as many Attacks as the Blade but lacking any Rend or mortal wounds generation, and a choice between Chaos Runeshield, Daggerfist, and Chaos Lance. The Lance might be awesome, but since everyone and their grandma will be gunning for your Manticore, the 3+ Save and 5+ ward against mortal wounds might be the best choice. The Manticore is no slouch itself with Damage 3 on its Claws and Jaws attacks against Monsters. Also, the Manticore no longer uses a damage table, which means maximum damage output all the time. The Lord's simili command ability allows a unit to re-roll the dice determining the distance it can move when receiving the Redeploy command, which may prove handy but is mostly situational.

• Daemon Prince: (170pts.) He’s gone through a reworking since his last outing. A 3+ save with a token 6+ ward along with a drop in points. Can either take wings for a 12" move and flight, or can take a trophy rack that provides a battleshock-immune aura that increases in range each time he fraps a hero or monster. Can take either a sword for MW output, an axe for consistant armour-cracking, or paired talons to mulch infantry. What makes him REALLY tasty, though, are the heroic actions he can conduct depending on his Mark
  • Fiendish Speed: UNDIVIDED only. Gives him Strike First. Gone are the days of having this baked-in to his warscroll, but it's still here! Just means you have to now choose between lightning strikes or the boons the other Marks provide...
  • Pledge of Skulls:** KHORNE only. Each time he kills a model he heals one wound. Those Clanrats sure look tasty...
  • Eroding Miasma:** NURGLE only. Ward roles cannot be made within 3" of him. Absolutely fucking broken against Death armies.
  • Eldritch Artefact:** TZEENTCH only. If used in the enemy hero phase, he ignores spells on a 2+. In your phase, he gets to cast a spell like a wizard, casting one extra if he already is a wizard. Cabalists LOVE this one.
  • Ecstatic Charge:** SLAANESH only. +1A if they made a charge in the same turn. Simple and no-nonsense.

• Exalted Hero of Chaos: (100pts.) Completely overhauled in the new battletome, with an increase of 10 points. Can be equipped with a Rune-eched Blade dealing 4 Attacks at 3+/3+/-1 and Damage 2 paired with a Chaos Runeshield for a 3+ Save and 5+ ward against mortal wounds. Alternatively, can drop the Shield (reverting to a 4+ Save) in exchange for a pair of Axes of the Dark Champion dishing 8 Attacks at 4+/4+/-1 and Damage 2. So, gone are the random attacks and the double activation in melee when charged. The Exalted Hero no longer heals wounds when they kill a Hero but now get +1 Attack while within 3" of any enemy Hero or Monster, as well as a free roll on the Eye of the Gods table at the start of the battle. Their value may lie in the cheap way of completing the Lust for Power battle tactic, but other than that they are only 15 point cheaper than the Chaos Lord on foot, who has better melee attacks and the retinue abilities (though the Chaos Lord cannot get a 5+ ward against mortal wounds, so the Exalted Hero is still a guy to consider).

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord: (120pts.) The support wizard had a slight increase in points and dubious buff in power in the last battletome. His Oracular Visions ability and Daemonic Power spell have gone from flat rerolls for units to 6+ ward and +1 to hit and to wound respectively. Remains an appealing option for a backfield objective holder who can cast spells to buff combat units (and cause damage with endless spells, as the case may be). Further made dangerous under Cabalists Legion (additional casting attenmpt and spell) and with Mark of Tzeentch. Potential for several to be taken for mass-buffs as they are cheap enough to pseudo-spam. May need casting buffs (such as the Master of Magic universal command trait or the Draw on Power heroic action) since Lore of the Damned spells have rather high casting values.

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore: (Monster, Behemoth, 260 pts.) Classic Wizard riding a big monster. They are still ok fighters and caster while being cheaper than the Chaos Lord variant. Wind of Chaos will clean up groups.

• Gaunt Summoner: your master Wizard, with 2 casts/unbind, his own crowd slaying spell, and can give up one casting to summon a Min size daemon unit. He cost more than two Chaos Sorcerer, so make use of his flying disk and summoning powers.
  • uses for summons: Bloodletters can inflict MWs, Daemonettes are still the best shredders and fast movers, Plaguebearers are walls, Horrors provide shooting and annoying way to be survivable, while Furies can grab objectives.
  • Amazing for cabalist armies as their rituals give bonuses for models slain. What unit is just an unfair amount of models that gaunt can summon? Horrors? Wrong! Because Horrors can't be sacrificed as they're not a Cabalists unit!
  • However, a Gaunt Summoner can summon 6 Furies, which DO become a Cabalists unit and can be sacrificed, and with 3rd edition rules, you can use the Rally command to try and get a few back so your battery lasts at least another turn

• Gaunt Summoner on Disc of Tzeentch: (260pts.) give a summoner +1 wounds, 16" Flying movement and a +2 for melee save if normal ground fighter catches him.

• Darkoath Chieftain: (90pts.) Further improved to be a Barbarian blender. He doesn't get to choose a Mark of Chaos so he can't spread any god benefits, but he does get 7 attacks on the charge, deals one MW to surrounding units after he kills something, and gets a CA that lets Marauders and Cultists around him fight even when killed.

• Darkoath Warqueen: (90pts.) If the Chieftain is a sweeper, Warqueens are duelists. She has a consistent 6 attacks, a 6++ FNP (that bounces a mortal wound, even at range), she fights before others, and deals more damage against Heroes and Monsters. Her CA adds 3" to nearby Marauders and Cultists charge rolls, pushing them to an altogether 11" charge minimum (7" charge roll, +1" Drummer, +3" Warqueen's CA).

• Ogroid Myrmidon: (130pts.) The beatstick hero option got slightly nerfed with only a Gladiator Spear to fight in melee, sporting 4 Attacks at 3+/3+/-1 and a new Damage 2. The Spear may also be thrown up to 18" and does Damage D3 but this model is built for melee. He is also pretty tanky with a 4+ Save, 8 Wounds and Bravery 8. The fun does not end there as Arcane Fury allows 6's to hit to count as 2 hits and Berserk Rage allows him to add 1 to wound rolls with melee weapons if it suffered a wound or mortal wound earlier in the phase, which can be decent if your opponent gets turn priority and manages to score a wound or two. Its command ability called Pit Marshall that could be used on a Cultists unit to grant them immunity to Battleshock is sadly gone while the introduction of the Orgoid Theridons to the army would have been the occasion to allow some synergy with them. This feels like a missed opportunity but note that each Ogroid Myrmidon allows you to select 1 Orgoid Theridon unit as battletine.

• Centaurion Marshal: (145 pts) New hero from Warcry. Technically meant as a follower of Be'lakor but follows anybody. Overall a 10 Wounds none Monster with a reasonable attack profile. It has a unique way of attacking. It must attack with its Mauling Spear first, which has 4 Attacks at 3+/3+/-1 and Damage 2. For each successful hit made with the Spear, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of its Skull Bludgeon and Varanspire Gladius. With a base of 6 Attacks that's a potential total of 10 Attacks no Rend and Damage 1 but still not nothing. Its other abilities allow it to make a non-Monster unit strike last on a 6+. And finally if issuing the Rally command to an Undivided Mortal unit they rally on a 5+ instead of 6+. Overall his combat abilites while not nothing are obviously more suited to fighting weaker infantry, he won't last long against Monsters and true heavy hitters. An ok support hero I guess.

Units

• Chaos Warriors: (Battleline Size: 10, 220pts.) The plate armour vikings you know and love are back with a vengeance this addition. With 2W, a 3+ save and a 5+ ward against mortal wounds, the bulk and shields of Chaos Warriors are no longer for show. Great weapons and dual wielding are now gone in lieu of taking either hand weapons and shields or halberds and shields, both with respectable punching power and REND! The obvious difference is whether you want more hits landing or more dudes in range. Chaos Warriors are your linebreakers, as they gain +1 attack if the unit is wholly within 12" of an enemy objective OR their territory. Slap a 10man hand weapon team with the Mark of Khorne to give them 4A each on the charge, or give a 20man halberd squad the Mark of Nurgle and watch your opponent kill himself trying to remove them. (Both models and player-wise)

• Chaos Chosen: (Battleline in 'Host of the Everchosen' Size: 5, 240pts.) 100pt price hike since last edition, but it is THOUROUGHLY deserved! With 3W and a 3+ save, Chosen take hits and dish out the punishment in return, each with 3A at rend -1 D2 that deals an additional MW on a 6 to hit. Chaos Warriors may be your speartip and the shieldwall, but these guys are the ultimate hammer in the middle that leaves shit broken and very much dead. They come with a once-per-game fight twice ability if you're wanting erase chaff entirely or ensure that beast goes down hard (albeit with the strike last effect, so make sure their target is defanged or they're buffed enough to survive retaliation). They also get to roll on Eye of the Gods when they deploy, so you are more than likely gonna get some goodies before the fighting even starts. Simple and no-nonsense, the Chosen are there to kill and they do it very well, no matter what Mark you give them.

• Chaos Marauders: (Battleline Min10, Max:30 85pts.) The OG vikings are still around but......woah how the mighty have fallen. They still did not get a model update, which they sorely need in comparison to the new models being released. All the good buffs from previous Battletomes are gone and they got very little to replace it. Gone is their charge manipulation or extra rend, now all they get is +1 to hit rolls on the charge. And given there paltry attack output thats not saying much. Can come with an axe and shield for a 5+ save or a flail for an additional attack and better hitting but a worse save. Ultimately no longer serve any real purpose in the book as the cultist models are now all battleline and are pretty much universally better and even cheaper in some regards (plus having infinitely better models to boot). Also if your looking for barbarian themed units Darkoath units cover that honestly better and have better utility. Given their status as an ancient skulpt its not unbieleble they are just planning to phase the unit out in the next given all the better competition. Honestly best pass.

• Chaos Marauder Horsemen: (Battleline in StD Min5, Max:15 105pts.) in comparison to the utter neutering of Marauders the Marauder Horsemen actually faired quite better. You get the option for Axe and Shield for a 5+ armour save instead of 6+ (also the axe comes with 2 attacks), Javalin and shield which grants the unit its shooting attack and gives you rend and finally the Barbarian Flail that loses the shield but gives them 3 attacks base. While the flail might sound tempting these guys really aren't designed to be brawling in combat and will not last long against almost anyone with just a 6+ save. The Javalin and Shield will likely remain your go to option especially when their abiliites are taken into account. They retain their ability to retreat out of combat and still shoot/charge in the same turn and they gained the new ability to subtract 1 from wound rolls for missle weapons that target them. So with this in mind their obvious intended purpose is to shoot from a distance and have enemy return fire wound them less often. Getting out of combat and shooting is nice, but keep in mind if these guys get into combat their is a good chance they won't live to retreat later. Unfortunately while their shooting is nice in a book that has in the past been limited in it, the new unit additions in the updated book has definitely brought them competition in the shooting department (especially the Scions of the Flames). In addition units like the Corvus Cabal, Furies and even Raptoryx now compete directly against them for the role as cheap, fast objective grabbers (and honestly cheaper as well). Unlike their cousins the Chaos Marauders they still can be argued to have use, but the utility they bring to the army has dropped significantly from before.

• Chaos Knights: (Battleline in StD Min5, Max:15, 230pts.) take a Chaos Warrior, put him on a horse, gaining a 10" move and +1 wound. Been some major shakeups in the new tome. For one gone are the days of weapon options for everyone but the champion. Now everyone gets Lances only and get -2 rend and 2 damage on the charge. While sad to lose the sword the lance options attacks have been buffed and most took that anyway so its little consequence. The Doom Knight unit champion can trade out his cursed lance (which he gets an extra atack) for either a cursed-flail or ensorcelled Warhammer. While the flail has more attacks you'll probably stick with the warhamemr to provide more punch outside of charges and give more variety. In terms of rules they kept their charge bonus and mortal wound save, but got a really good buff. When attacking models in this unit can attack when 1/2" of another model in this unit thats in 1/2" of an enemy model, meaning it is far easier to get within attack range. An amazing buff (that hopefully might become a core rule in the game one day). Otherwise their next biggest change is a special musician bonus that allows you to make one charge dice roll always atleast a 4. Meaning you always have a minumum 5" charge (no double ones for you!!) Overall got much better, but unfortunately got much more expensive. However they now hit like an absolute truck on the charge and are suitably tanky as well. Overall solid unit.

• Chaos Chariot: (Battleline in StD Min1, Max:3 120pts.) Our favorite Shock and Awe Chariot got the Ogor Charge rule, big win (only ever on 5+ but still thats atleast a few mortal wounds). Can be taken individually or in squads of 3. If taken in squad one can be champion, esentially given all non-mount weapons an extra attack. A Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (or demonic mount) or on demonic mount can synergize well with them, allowing them to attack immediatley after they do in the fight phase. This will maximize the hurt dealt when they charge. Keep in mind taking a bigger unit will not buff its charge mortal wounds, but will obviously make them more deadly in subsequent combat phases. The Chariot's retain their 1 per game run and charge, and given their high move a turn 1 charge is not out of the question. Overall not much change from the previous version though somewhat better in actual combat. Get progressively better as you tack on the buffs like mark effects and ward.

• Gorebeast Chariot: (150pts) a lot slower then a normal Chariot but a better base attack profile (the riders are the same but the gorebeast has heaveier hits than the horses). Same as regular chariot in being able to take a unit champion in bigger squads but the real change up comes with its mortal wound effect. If this unit successfully made a charge move at the end of the subsequent combat phase if the unit is still alive it may immediately make a normal move even if it is within 3" of an enemy unit. In additon it can pass over enemy units with a wounds characteristic of 4 or less as if the unit fan fly. If it does so you roll a dice for each model in the Gorebeast chariot unit and on each 3+ that enemy unit suffers d6 mortal wounds. Yup you heard that right, a potential 3d6 mortal wounds to a single unit. Now mind you a lot has to happen before it goes off (survive combat, be against a unit with 4 or less wounds, be able to place the bases, etc) but the abilty to remove yourself from combat and deal a but-load of mortal wounds is pretty cool. And atleast finally gives them a gimmick that distincly sets them apart from Chaos Chariots.

• Varanguard: (Battleline in Hosts of the Everchosen or Knights of the Empty Throne. Min:3, Max:12, 280pts) Super Warriors lent out by Archaon. They are giant chaos knights with 5 wounds 3+ armour. Have the great ability to fight to fight twice once per game, though only when it is your turn to pick a unit to fight again. Has lost their ability to ignore spells as before but now ignore mortal wounds on a 4+. Has recieved great weapon upgrades from previous incarnations. Each model can be armed with an Ensorcelled Weapon for consistency from more attack output, Fellspear for better charge damage and rend, or Daemonforged Blade can inflict more Damage and MW potentail. Overall all weapon options have merit and each model in the unit can be armed with a different weapon, so feel free to mix and match however you choose. In addition their mounts also attack with tearing fangs. This unit is also ELITE so can give commands to itself. Overall a solid anvil and hammer in one.

• Chaos Legionnaires: (Battleline Min: 8 110 pts) The devout followers of Be'lakor. New unit introduced in warcry but is not a cultist unit. Comes stock with with unit champion to issuing commands and more attacks and another model in unit gains an additional attack as well. In addition 3 in 8 models in this unit add 1 to their damage characteristic giving them pretty good damage potential. Besides them the units attack profile is pretty good and with a 4+ save they are reasonable on defense. Their best ability however is their ability to pick a unit within 6" and roll a 4+ if successful that enemy cannot receive or issue command abilities. An excellent way to troll you opponent. In addition they add 1 to their wound rolls if within 12" of a friendly Be'lakor. This along with other synergies obviously encourages their use in Legion of the First Prince armies. Overall not the best combat unit in the book but they definitely have their uses.

• Ogroid Theridons: (One unit Battleline Per Ogroid Myrmidon in army Min: 3 190 pts) The new Ogroid unit taking the place as the resident frontal assault troops of the army. All come stock with either Goroan Falchion and shield giving them a 4+ save instead of 5+ or a Goroan Great Axe for a better attack profile. Unit comes stock with a unit champion, standard bearer for bravery and musician for slightly better charge range. When fighting if any wounds or mortal wound were allocated to the unit you can add one to wound rolls if during the same phase. In addition once per battle you can add 1 to their attacks characteristic for one combat phase. However if you do this you can not use the Inspiring Presence command on them in the following battleshock phase. Overall a pretty solid unit, though does have a somewhat low armor save that is offset by their high wound density (5 base). While it is possible to make them battleline an army of these guys probably wouldn't be the most competitive (plus you would need a lot of Ogroid Myrmidons) but would hit pretty hard. Fills the role as a points-efficient frontal assault squad that can draw attention away from more valuable targets and great for counter-charges.

• Furies: (Min:6, Max:18, 90pts Battleline in Legion of the First Prince) Returning to their undivided roots, They are speedy winged imps, they may have sharp claws and two wounds, but they will die quickly. Recently updated to include a 6+ save for whatever thats worth. They perfected and fused the Skink and clanrat tactic of slingshotting off Enemies. Essentially when they are picked to fight they can immediately retreat instead of fighting. So with the right manuevering they can make a move, charge, then retreat even further onto an objective (so essentially a potential 12+2d6+12 move in one turn) but bears repeating they need to actually need to not get hit first. Beyond that they also have an interaction ability with the new named Hero Eternus in that if they are within 1" of him at the start of the hero phase you get 1 additional command point. So honeslty if you want to bring him too they might be worth it as CP generators of all things.

• Raptoryx: (Min:6, Max:18, 80pts) Replacing the role of Warhound. They are bulky chickens that have 3/3+/3+/-/1 attacks on the charge with a 6+ save (though with 2 wounds so they arent completely screwed in combat), landing more attacks on average than unbuffed horsemen in exchange for survivability. In addition, they also ignore battleshock tests when within 3" of any friendly monster units. So they could be used as a cheap chaff wall if paired with some monsters (say in a monster heavy Despoilers army) that can potentially hold on for a turn or two as backup to your monsters, as they can actually put out a respectable number of attacks on the charge. Beyond that they can run suicidally into enemy lines to destroy the enemies chaff walls and as very cheap objective grabbers (they are actually a pretty good objective contester for their points cost).

• Fomoroid Crusher: (100pts) a big bruiser none-monster unit. Overall has an OK attack profile with both a good ranged attack and alright attack profile. His attack profiles add one to damage if near terrain so best hug him around some. In addition the main reason you will take him is his special ability. In the hero phase you can pick a terrain piece within 6" and roll a dice, on a 3+ all enemy units garrisoning it or within 6" recieve d3 MW. In additon if you rolled a 3+ if the terrain piece was a garrison it is demolisehd. Or if it was a faction terrain peice it loses its special abilities. Overall he is far from an autoinclude. But his central gimmick can actually be pretty handy depending on the battlefield layout. In addtion certain armies that like their faction terrain are going to take special exception to this guy so does have his uses (plus he can be hilarious in meme lists if you bring multiple of them).

• Mindstealer Sphiranx: ( 95pts) a big psychic cat with an evil stare. Lost the Monster classification and no longer lowers bravery. Instead he got a somewhat better melee profile and his central ability. At start of combat phase pick and enemy unit in 9" and roll 2d6. If it equals or exceeds their bravery the strike-last effeccts them for the rest of the phase. So he has some synergy in handicapping enemy units. Beyond that he doesn't really have much other utility besides being a relatively fast unit with OK durability.

• Chaos Spawn: (Min:1 Max:6 50pts.) That Which Must Not Be Named. Not actually terrible anymore, though far from reliable. A Move of 2D6" makes for potentially fast movement. Similarly, 2D6 attacks per Spawn is potentially strong, but even better is the special rule these attacks come with: If you roll a Double, instead of Hitting and Wounding on 4+, you Hit and Wound on 3+. Just think about it, 12 attacks apiece with good Hit and Wound rolls... Also, five Wounds with a 5+ save to make for pretty hardy models.

Behemoth

• Chaos Warshrine: (Totem, Priest, Behemoth, 170pts) First, it has an Aura that grants Mortal Slaves to Darkness an additional 6+ save after their normal save. It has a very sharp decline for a monster profile (i.e. 18"-12"-9"-6"-3"). Once per hero phase on a 3+ you get a prayer that buffs one Mortal STD unit within 18". There is one buff for Undivided and every God. And if the unit you are buffing has the corresponding God keyword, you get a extra buff. The Undivided buff is the best by default, granting rerolls of To Hit and To Wound and reroll charges if Undivided. The favor of Khorne rerolls charges, and if Khorne, you get to reroll hits. Slaanesh rerolls charges, and if Slaanesh, immune to battleshock. Nurgle is reroll wounds, and if Nurgle +1 to saves. Tzeentch is reroll saves, and if Tzeentch, ignore magic on 4+. The fact you can give prayer buffs from one god to another god's marked unit is diabolical. All of that sounds great but keep in mind it is only on ONE unit you get to buff. Overall, this is great frontline support unit. Did I mention it has 10 attacks(starting profile)at 2 damage each? And it gets a Mark of Chaos?

• Soul Grinder:(Daemon, Behemoth, 210pts) Ever wanted a beast that can throw ranged shots AND be great in melee? This daemon might be for you. Same price as a Daemon Prince but with less special abilities. It makes up for it by giving you a boatload of attacks for very good damage. Two ranged attack profiles, one at 20" and six at 16", the 20" does flat 3 damage the rest do 1 damage. CC has six attacks for 1 damage each, 1 attack -2 Rend for D6 damage, and either: two attacks -2 Rend flat 3 damage, OR 4 attacks -1 Rend D3 damage. Big, ugly, and killy, he fills the hammer role. The biggest downside for it is the mostly 4+ to hit. And since it is a Daemon, it can't benefit from CSL Demonic Power spell or the Warshrine. But at 16 wounds and a 4+ save, you can probably find a spot in the army.

• Slaughterbrute: (Monster, Behemoth, 170pts) They bind to one Slaves to Darkness HERO. Clocking in at just under the cost of two Khorgoraths, the Slaughterbrute can dish out almost exactly the same amount of wounds as them in melee combat. The Brute's weakness is its 4+ save and 12 wounds, but its degenerating profile is actually very forgiving. It stays fast and killy until you shave off a good 8 wounds! Just be aware your big boy in red is not a shock trooper and will need an escort to the enemy lines. However, the Slaughterbrute is truly a Bloodsecrator's best friend. The Slaughterbrute is at its most dangerous inside the Bloodsecrator area of effect.
  • Too bad he lacks very good rend. Seriously he doesn't have access to Rend -2 despite his huge size and his JAWS are rend-less!

• Mutalith Vortex Beast: (Monster, Behemoth, 170pts) A regenerating monster with many attacks. other monsters hit harder but it provides a random debuff to one enemy each of your hero phases. They may permanently lower Bravery or Slow, inflict MWs or make a Chaos spawn if it kills with an MW.

• Chaos War Mammoth: (Forgeworld) (Monster, Behemoth, 320pts) (NOTE: Model is OOP.) This monster has 22 wounds! It has a 4+ save. All of his attacks cause at least D3 wounds, making it an exceptional monster-killer when at full strength as well as imposing -2 to any Battleshock tests to any unfortunate unit that gets charged. 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. Yet combine this with a mark of Khorne, a hero with a 18“ Khorne Aura (Ravagers Command Trait) or a Chaos Lord to make it fight twice and it will kill one or two entire hordes of whatever you charged. It is a real game changer but seldom used since it‘s become hard to get your hands on the Model.

Cultists

The original warbands from Warcry. Generally, they all play as Marauders with special gimmicks and better profiles and now come stock with the undivided keyword (which can be changed with the idolators CT) and are all Battleline to boot. They now have more synergy with the Hero units, making them arguably more viable than the stock. If playing the Ravagers, each unit is part of your toolbox. If you’re making an army geared to a certain Realm, definitely considering bringing one of these guys from that respective Realm.

• Iron Golems: (Battleline Min:8 100pts) Chamon Cultists. Cheap and heavy armour make them good cheap objective holders. They have 4+ armor save and can add additional +1 to it if they haven't moved or been set up in the same turn, 6 bravery (which can be boosted by their standard bearer), an extra attack unit champion and a 3W guy per 8 models to pawn wounds and who also does 2 damage per attack rather than one, let them hold on for a while longer than their contemporaries. Overall more expensive than before but have a much better attack profile. These guys while lacking some of the fancier abiliites are probably the most balanced of the cultist units. With good offense, defense, ranged and cost allows them great versatility. And still our cheapest objective holders.
• Splintered Fang: (Battleline Min:10 100pts) Snake men from Ghyran with a panchent for poison. Have the most attacks base than other cultists and deal mortal wounds on 6's to hit and wound on 2's! They have their standard unit champion and a serpent caller than can regenerate the units serpent model to regenerate free woudns. The serpents model also has two wounds rather than one. Overall a very efficient damage dealer, at only 100 pts can dish out a crazy amount of attacks and MW and one of the best damage dealers in the book in respect to cost.
• The Unmade: (Battleline Min:9 80pts) Shyish Cultists. They're made to break units through fear. Have the standard two attacks and stats boost from previous version. However the Blissful ONe unit champion has a different attack profile with far better damage output. While nice the real reason you bring them is that they shut down all uses of the Redeploy and Rally command abilities by enemy units in 12" of them. This can have great utility for pinning down units or shutting down units with good rally abilities.
• Corvus Cabal: (Battleline Min:9 80pts) Ulgu Cultists. Flexible with both shooty and choppy. Like all cultists got a decent melee and ranged boost with more attacks and better stats. Come with standard unit champion plus a strike talon who gains an additonal attack over base. Come with two intereting abiliites. This unit is not visible while in cover and when charging from cover they are treated as if they can fly, not bad but their second ability is why you are probably bringing them. You can set this unit in reserve and bring them on anywhere on the battlfield more than 9" away from enemies (as long if done before 4th battle round). The armies resident outflankers and backfield objective harassers.
• Cypher Lords: (Min:8 80pts) Hysh Cultists. Another unit with both shooty and choppy. As with all cultists got a stats boost to make them actually playable. One guy out of 8 let them chuck smoke bombs to subtract one from enemy hit rolls on a 4+, while having a unit champion for commands and an additional unit character for just more attacks. They can move trough other units as if they can fly and can do mortal wounds to that unit on a 6+ (roll for each modl in the Cypher unit). While they have better hitting skill than most other cultists they are very fragile and best used in synergy with other units (utilizing their hit penealty abilities).
• Untamed Beasts: (Min:9 90pts) Ghur Cultists. Like the Iron Golems, these savages can let one guy out of 9 become a saber-tooth tiger and be 2W and 2 damage per attack, while another gets to throw harpoons with -1 Rend & d3 damage. While recieved the general damage boost as the other cultists their melee still isn't spectacurar in a book filled with it (especially with their poor durability). They reason you take them is they can both run and still charge in same turn. Also after army set up and before first battle round they get a fre normal move (cannot run).
• Spire Tyrants: (Battleline Min:9 100pts) Cultists from the Varanspire. They are a pure damage Cult. Have a 4+ save for better durability than most other cultists. The Pit Champion and Bestigor Destroyer both get +2 attacks, the Headclaimer gets +1 damage and the whole unit gets +1 to thier attacks characteristics if they are wholly within 9" of a friendly Mortal hero. In addition they do not take battleshock tests if they are within 3" of enemy units, making them surprising hardy in combat. Overall a solid unit on offense and defense that is perhaps held back a little in that they don't bring much besides a frontline fighting unit in an army that is filled to burting with them (though you can obviously find a place for them).
• Scions of the Flame: (Battleline Min: 8 80 pts) The worshippers of the eternal flame of chaos. This group from Aqushy. Has the same unit champion that can issue commands as normal, in addition has an additonal model that instead of doing addtional attack like some others if the unit is within 1" of an enenemy unit does d3 mortal wounds on a 2+. While nice and having an ok attack profile their durability isn't going to last them long. What these guys do bring is being the resident ranged unit of the bunch. All have flamefurst pot attack missile weapons while being good on their own count as 3 hits instead of 1 if attacking a unit with 10 or more models, excellent for horde clearing. In addition the unit has an inferno priest with a unique ranged attack for d6 addtional ranged attacks. Overall a fairly cheap missle unit that is best to keep them in ranged and let them drown you opponent in flames (literally).
• Darkoath Savagers: (Battleline Min: 10 100pts) The old-school Chaos Marauders from yore (and the Red Harvest boxset), bringing the old Conan-esque aesthetic, dealing a mortal wound on a 6+ to hit. One model of the lot can get +1 to attacks and damage with their weapons as well as letting them issue commands to their own squad. Another two become Proven and get to deal 2 damage with their swords. Another model is the God-speaker, giving you a CP on a 6+, which is a minor convenience for giving the unit orders. In addition, taking an objective gives you the a major 5++ Ward, which can help if they last long enough. While these guys are in this section since they are from Warcry it worth noting that they don't have a Cultist keyword though they come with undivided. This seems to be intentional as they seem to synergize more with the other Darkoath heroes. If you wanted to to an all-Darkoath army (not that I would recommend it). Still a solid unit though their profile stats are less impressive in the newer addition as all the other cultists have been boosted to similiar stats but are still a solid unit. In addition likely will be replacing the Mauraders as the generic viking infantry going forward unless mauraders get an update. Which is probably for the best.
• Tarantulos Brood: (Min: 13 110 pts) The other team for the Red Harvest boxset, a band of freaky spider-men. Your troops have a bit of reach on their otherwise ordinary weapons and have the ability to use ranged weapons with a surprising 2+ to wound but lack any Rending. The strongpoint of your army is your leader, as he not only provides you with the ability to command his group but he also lets you re-spawn the spider swarms, your disposable hangers-on made to die instead of your more valuable troops. Can move over terrain in the same manner as a unit that can fly. They are also also very fast with a base 8" move. Overall not bad but face greater competition with the greatly improved other cultist units.
• Horns of Hashut: (Battleline Min: 13 100 pts) New cultist unit come to burn and desecrate. First unit dedicated to Hashut in the new book. Come with standard command giving unit champion and model with extra attacks. One model also gets access to a flamethrower that puts out a pretty good missle profile (2+ to hit and 3+ to wound!). Their attack profile is ok and coming with a 4+ save. They also get charge damage by causing mortal wounds by rolling a dice for each model in the unit and causing them on a 6+. Faces stiff competition in the troops department and can't take a mark at all.

Battalions

Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and doodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.

Chaos Horde

(140pts, Min: 3670pts, Max: 64,780pts) 1 Godsworn Champions of Ruin + 4-8 battalions of any combination from the rest.

Once per turn, you can use 1 command ability for any unit from this battalion for free, and units from this battalion get +2" movement for the first battle round.

Godsworn Champions of Ruin

(180pts, Min: 630pts, Max: 6220pts) 1 HERO selected from Chaos Lord (any kind), Sorcerer Lord (either kind), Exalted Hero of Chaos, Ogroid Myrmidon, Daemon Prince, Darkoath Warqueen, and Darkoath Chieftain; 4-8 units selected from Chosen, Knights, Warriors, Marauders, and Marauder Horsemen.

The HERO of the battalion can fight in the hero phase if within 3" of an enemy unit.

Godswrath Warband

(180pts, Min: 930pts, Max: 6820pts) 1 HERO selected from Chaos Lord (any kind in the battletome) and Sorcerer Lord (either kind); 4-8 units selected from Chosen, Knights, Warriors, Marauders, and Marauder Horsemen; 1+ Chaos Warshrine.

Choose one of the battalion's Warshrines and roll a D6 for each visible enemy unit within 24". If the roll for an enemy unit is a 6, it takes D3 mortal wounds.

Ruinbringer Warband

(140pts, Min: 760pts, Max: 6150pts) 1 HERO selected from Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount or Chaos Lord on Karkadrak; 4-8 units selected from Knights, Chariots, Gorebeast Chariots, and Marauder Horsemen.

Each time a unit from this battalion completes a charge, choose one enemy unit within 1". On a 2+, the enemy unit takes D3 mortal wounds.

Overlords of Chaos

(120pts, Min: 1020pts, Max: 7320pts) 3-6 Host of the Everchosen Varanguard.

Each unit gets to replace their Circle with another, allowing you to have a mix of Circles within an army.

Gresh's Iron Reapers

(140pts, Min: 560pts, Max: 1190pts) 1 Undivided Idolator Lord equipped with Chaos Greatblade and Lashing Whip and 2 units of Undivided Gorebeast Chariots.

The Idolator Lord becomes a unique named character called Rokar Gresh. His Chaos Greatblade haves 4 attacks and deals D3 wounds, which become mortal wounds if you roll an unaltered 6 to hit. If Rokar Gresh is the general it takes his own command trait, Profane Oratory, which gives +1 to hit rolls to an allied Slaves to Darkness unit within 18" in each battle phase.

The following Battalions can also be used in their respective god allegiance.

Bloodmarked Warband

(Khorne Warband. 120pts, Min 990pts, Max 10520pts) 1 Mortal STD Khorne HERO, 8 Mortal STD Khorne units.

If a HERO from this battalion slays any models during the combat phase, you can pick a unit from this battalion wholly within 12" of said HERO. That unit gains +1 attack until your next hero phase. A unit cannot benefit from this more than once per battle round.

Fatesworn Warband

(Tzeentch Warband. 180pts, Min 1080pts, Max 11780pts) 1 Mortal STD Tzeentch HERO, 9 Mortal STD Tzeentch units.

At the start of your hero phase, one unit from the battalion can become able to cast 1 spell and dispel 1 endless spell. It also knows the Stolen Sting spell: CV7, target a visible enemy unit within 18". Target's melee weapons have their rend worsened by 1.

Plaguetouched Warband

(Nurgle Warband. 180pts, Min 900pts, Max 9380pts) 1 Mortal STD Nurgle HERO, 7 Mortal STD Nurgle units.

Unmodified wound rolls of 6 on attacks targeting units from this battalion result in the attacker taking 1 mortal wound. Also, in your hero phase, pick an enemy target within 1" of any unit in the battalion. On a 3+, that enemy unit takes D3 mortal wounds.

Pleasurebound Warband

(Slaanesh Warband. 160pts, Min 790pts, Max 8160pts) 1 Mortal STD Slaanesh HERO, 6 Mortal STD Slaanesh units.

If a model from this battalion dies during the combat phase, units from this battalion can pile in an extra 6" until your next hero phase.

Allied Armies

• Beasts of Chaos:
• One-Eyed Grunnok: A Warstomper Mega-Gargant available to all Chaos factions. Recruit a your own monstrous centerpiece at the cost of your entire allied points allowance. He’s a best used right in the heat of combat where he can throw enemies at each other and disrupt enemy formations. Re-rolls jump attacks of 1, plus enemies get -1 to hits on previous jump attacks of 6.

Legions of Chaos

Nestled in the rules of each of the God-focused battletomes is the special rule called Legions of Chaos. This allows you to include two (marked) STD units out of every four in the army. These units count as "Coalition" units, ignored for the sake of any alignment bonuses and cannot be used to be the General.

In all cases, one of the main things to consider is that you'll tend to have tougher forces than the forces of the god themselves. While you won't take the god's given lores, you'll still get the benefits of the army's battle traits and

• Blades of Khorne: Khorne flavored versions of stuff Slaves already have. Notable units are the Bloodsecrator and Wrathmongers since the +1 attack buff will apply to your Khorne marked units.
• Maggotkin of Nurgle: Unlike the other gods, the forces of Nurgle are actually about as tanky as your forces if not more so. While the Mark of Nurgle inflicts a -1 to hit in melee, they cannot benefit from the Disease points, nor can they heal like the rest of the army.
  • Sadly, synergy will prove to be a considerable issue, as none of the Maggotkin heroes offer rules to support a more generalized Nurgle force, and the lack of spells hurts too.
• Hedonites of Slaanesh:
• Disciples of Tzeentch: New Kairos is a very powerful double caster that can hijack Endless Spells and can support any additional wizards you throw in. Curseling is a janky double caster that can reroll unbinding attempts and cast the spells he unbinds. Flamers and exalted flamers can make for some solid cheap shooting units, which STD have the anvils to support while the Exalted Flamers give nearby normal flamers +1 to hit, whether on foot or on chariot.
  • While your wizards won't get access to the unique disciplines, you do get Warp Reality to help teleport your more fragile forces. In addition, the Mark of Tzeentch also includes a 6+ FNP against any spells, making them a touch more resistant if you can't unbind any spells.

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules