Editing Warhammer Army Project/Cathay/8th (section)

==Army Units==
=== Special Characters ===

*'''Xen Huong, Celestial Dragon Emperor:''' This here is the Emperor himself...but don't be fooled by children stories about Chinese Emperors. This one is far from old, crippled and completely helpless. This here bad-ass can stand toe to toe with a Chaos Lord and turns into A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON! But before we get into the meat of his kit, let's look at his stats. Weapon Skill 7; Strength, Toughness, and Attack are all 5's, Initiative of 6 and 4 Wounds...pretty beastly, wouldn't you say? Now, his magic items. First is his long sword; called the Phoenix Talon. It gives an additional -2 modifier to Armour Saves against wounds made by this weapon (on top of his S5) as well as giving him +2 Attacks...whose the horde blender now, Undead scum?! He also has the Imperial Dragon Seal that gives him Regeneration and enemies targeting him suffer -1 to their To Hit rolls; in both CC and Shooting. 
**As stated before he can change into a Celestial Dragon. He gains two Strength and Wounds as well as another point in Toughness but -1 in Attacks (he also can't use his sword...for obvious reasons) and -2 in Initiative (as well as the other special rules for Celestial Dragons). Despite how good he is as a CC Master, his lack of an obvious Ward Save is quite troubling...so yes...Glass Cannon Lord and he IS a whopping 450pts. Don't take him in smaller games...he's just simply too much for someone without a Ward Save (unless you're playing for fun...then have at it!) 

*'''Zhao Fei, Grand General of Cathay:''' A significant step down in cost from the emperor at 210 points, Zhao Fei has a more supportive role. His statline is nothing to write home about, being the same as the generic lord option, and he rides a normal warhorse. However, his magical spear can be thrown and acts as a bolt thrower when he does so, and his armor with the Horse gives him a 2+/5++, the ward save being a marked advantage over Xen Huong. His special rules are where he benefits the most, however: Everything within 12" re-rolls failed panic tests, and most importantly, he can take 50 points of stratagems. This means that Zhao Fei fulfills the role of both a strategist and a warlord in your army, and so can very well be the only character you take besides a wizard. In addition, his armor and warhorse mean that you'll be able to use stratagems on cavalry units that would often be outside of a Strategist's range. Overall he's a bit pricey at 260 when loaded up with stratagems(and why would you take him if you don't), but he's alright and can fit into smaller point games nicely.

*'''Tian Shi:''' Named character Level 4 wizard, he's a loremaster of Heavens and damn good at his job at a hefty 340 points. Of course, he *only* has access to Heavens, so keep that in mind. He has the rule "Grand Astromancer", which allows him to re-roll one power die in each magic phase, and his robe allows him to generate d3 extra dice in every magic phase. In addition, once per game, he can auto-cast any spell at its lowest level for free, but he no longer generates d3 power dice a turn. Excellent for the end game, throwing out a bolt of free chain lightning, on which he can re-roll the number of hits on due to his staff along with Urannon's Thunderbolt. He's a hell of a wizard, giving more dice and buffing two spells that he, of course, possesses automatically. If you want a great heavens wizard, he's your man, but for any other lore, you'll need the basic Wu-Jen.

*'''Huan Bei:''' Captain of the Emperor's Guard, and thus must join a unit of them. This isn't as big a deal as it sounds since he now makes them core, and they all have a re-rollable break test on 3d6, dropping the highest. His particular weapon is that Green Dragon Glaive, a halberd that deals d3 hits on every successful hit, has armour piercing (1), and provides a -1 to hit him in combat. If you decide to take multiple guard units, pick him to lead the biggest and stack the Razor Standard to really throw in the hurt.

*'''Chu-Ye Xian, Grand Imperial Strategist:''' He is the most elite strategist, capable of buying up to 125 points worth of them. His strategies all have double range and he can re-roll their tests. While he's far from a good combatant, he has used. His shooting can either be in the form of a poisoned Cathayan repeater crossbow or in an instrument that can knock out an entire unit for a turn on a failed Ld check. His only protection is in a fan that robs an attack from anyone in b2b and makes them ASL, which is the only way he might be able to retaliate.

*'''Cheng Long:''' Grand Master of the Celestial Dragons. While he can't be general, he's plenty impressed with the fire breath, hover, and the ability to give a pack of his boys stubborn while he possesses Immunity (Psychology). On top of being just a better monk, he also possesses upgraded versions of each style (Black Tiger adds +d3 attacks, White Crane adds ASF and +1 to hit, Fanged Snake gives HKB, Great Dragon gives +2 Strength, and Praying Mantis gives a 4++ ward).

*'''The Monkey King:''' Because calling him Son Wukong or Son Gokuu would be too damn obvious. He's actually a mix between monk and monkey, possessing flight and the fighting styles as well as the ability to provoke berserk fury (a la Frenzy) to anyone in charging range. Of course, he wants to be in combat, where his quarterstaff can add +2 to his strength and he can make use of his single-use ability to double his attacks and gain a 4+ ward for the turn.

*'''Dalan-Tai:''' Khan of the nomads. He's the best when it comes to Steppe Nomads and lets an attached unit re-roll dangerous terrain, flee, and pursue tests. On top of this, he lets his unit fire while fleeing by sacrificing swiftstride for the turn. All this archery is based on his Dragon Bow, an S5 bow that goes through armor like nothing.

=== Generic Characters===

*'''Warlord/Duizhu:'''The Commander is your generic fighty lord, very customizable and with a reasonable price tag. That's it. Seriously, he on his own has no special rules that make him unique. He DOES, however, gets more interesting when you consider what you can give him, and what he allows you to take. In addition to the usual weapon options, he can take a Cathayan longsword, a two-handed weapon giving a 6+ parry and armor piercing. The really interesting aspect of the commander is that if you have one in your army, you may take a Drum & Gong. Counting as a war machine, the Drum and Gong acts as a musician to all units within 12, and VERY importantly, it affects STACK with actual musicians. This is very useful as your core infantry has low leadership across the board, so any help in that regard is useful.

*'''Wu Jen:'''Standard Caster, nearly identical to an Empire wizard except for lore options. While not having access to the excellent lore of life, he gains access to the lore of yin and yang, which as mentioned above is quite powerful, on top of Fire, Metal, Heavens, and Shadow.

*'''Strategist:''' A character truly unique to the Cathay army, he's cheap as chips at 20 points base and does fuck all in combat. His actual ability lies in the army-unique stratagems. He can take seventy-five points worth of stratagems, and issues them to any unit within 12" on a 2+. Interestingly, while the same stratagem can't be used twice in one turn, there is no restriction on how many stratagems one Strategist can use per turn, nor is there a restriction on stacking stratagems on a single unit. If he took the cheapest stratagems, one strategist could potentially use four in one turn. This opens up very interesting possibilities tactically, such as using the "Sleeping Crocodile" stratagem to face a flank charger and then using "The Blinding Light" to eliminate their charge bonuses. All around, a very cool and solid character.

===Mounts===
*'''Warhorse:''' Tried and true, you can take barding for a few extra points and slap a Commander in a cavalry unit.

*'''Qilin:''' A swole flying unicorn. M9, WS4, S&T4, 3W, I5, and 2A, it gets +1 strength on the charge and has magical attacks. Bonus points for the image of a Cairn wraith dying from a kick to the face from your magic horse.

*'''Pixiu:''' Winged Dog-Dragon-thing, with griffon stats. beefier that the Qilin, at over double the points. Causes Terror and has Hatred: Daemons of Chaos as a nifty little extra.

*'''Bastion Chariot:''' A Beefy four-horse chariot that a Commander can replace one crew member in. A very solid choice, cheaper than the Pixiu, and can join a unit of chariots for extra security.

=== Core Units ===
Simple, solid, cheap, and with mostly piss poor leadership, these are guys get shit don, as long as they don't run away.

*'''Imperial Infantry:''' Cheap as chips basic infantry. Man-at-Arms stats, at 4 points a model base. Can take spears for free and halberds for a point each, which is highly recommended, as this unit should be taken in big blocks to maximize benefit from iron discipline. A unit with max ranks can scrape by in unfavorable match-ups due to the bonus from iron discipline, so it's important you take advantage of it. They also can your archer units by replacing their shield with a bow for a point or a crossbow for 3.

*'''Repeater Crossbowmen:'''"FUCK YOU DARK ERVES!" -Cathayan Bowyer, probably. Also cheap at 6 points, they come stock with repeater crossbows, having an 18" range, S3, and multiple shots(3). Not much else to say but move up and throw some dakka down. Good unit.
**Note at 6 points per model, they're cheaper than the 7 ppm you'd pay for Imperial Infantry with crossbows.

*'''Dragon Lancers:''' Your entry-level heavy cav, they're no empire or Bretonnia knights, and they're certainly no chaos knights, but they do have some interesting options. Also the only core choice with leadership 8. They start at 16 points with heavy armor and halberds and with barding you'll get a 3+, bringing you to 18 points. You can give them short bows for a point if you want a bit of extra mobile ranged fire. The most interesting option is fire lances for 2 points each. While only single-use, in the first round of combat the Dragon Lancers can fight with an extra attack that is S4, flaming, and armor piercing (1). Note that despite the name it is NOT a lance, and does NOT replace the halberd. Whether the extra two points a model is worth it for a one use handgun shot is up to you, but it will make that first charge extra painful.

*'''Steppe Archers:''' Basic light auxiliary cavalry, though they do have BS4  (5 on the champion), which is nice. They come with short bows, but can be given spears and shields without losing fast cavalry. Decent, but nothing exciting. Notably has leadership 7, making it one of, along with the dragon lancers, the only two core units above leadership 6.

*'''Hill Tribesmen:''' 4 point auxiliary infantry with ambush. They're slightly better at fighting than imperial infantry with WS3, but have no armor and lack the Iron Discipline rule. They are however auxiliaries, so they won't panic Your other troops when they inevitably run given leadership 6. Dirt cheap, throw them in someone's flank or warmachines.

*'''Monkey Warriors:''' Anyone who's read Journey to the West knows why these guys are here. They have Movement and initiative 5, but a rather pitiful toughness 2, with their only weapons being a two-handed quarterstaff with a 6++ parry. These guys are harassing skirmishers, and they have blowpipes with Multiple Shots (2) and poison. Take these guys to whittle down tough units with poison and occasionally beat a weak unit in melee before they can strike back. As auxiliaries, they also aren't much of a concern if they flee a fight.

=== Special Units ===
The Cathayan special units are quite interesting, fulfilling several disparate roles and filled with strange units.

*'''Emperor's Guard:'''The simplest of the special units, these guys are only pseudo-elite infantry. A definite step up from the imperial infantry, at WS4, I4, and L8 with stubborn, these guys are here to hold the line. They only have Heavy armor and halberds, and they can take a magic banner up to 50 points. Of the elite choices, these are the guys you really wanna max out. With halberds and Iron Discipline, you'll get lots of decent strength attacks and they'll be able to power through many engagements through the combat resolution bonuses, and at a reasonable 10 points each it won't break the bank.

*'''Swordsaints:''' Your true elite infantry, these guys are the next step above the Emperor's Guard, with WS5, S4, and 2 attacks each, these lads will tear through most targets. With two attacks and strength 4, they'll chop through light infantry, but they can also take on other elites with their armor-piercing Cathayan long swords and killing blow. They also have iron discipline but are 13 points so it will be more costly if you want to take advantage of it. The main disadvantage of this unit is durability. While the longsword gives them a 6+ parry, with only heavy armor and no option for a shield, ranged fire is the arch-enemy of this unit. However, if you're using the lore of Yin and Yang on your wizard, a shroud of darkness will keep enemy firepower off these guys, and path of light will get them to the enemy faster.

*'''Nightblades:'''Ninjas! In...Fantasy China...? Come on Matthias. Historical nitpicking aside, these guys are alright (the basis of ninjutsu did migrate through China before reaching Japan). They fulfill a similar role to the monkey warriors but are much better in melee with a better weapon skill, T3, two hand weapons, and poison in melee. They also possess scout, which the monkey warriors do not. However, they still aren't excellent in melee, and at 12 points a model with throwing weapons they don't have as good shooting weapons as monkey warriors. To me, this unit's job can be done by hill tribesmen and monkey warriors, which are cheap enough for you to take both for the same price and importantly do not compete with, in this user's opinion, better special options. TL;DR: They're not bad per se, but not optimal.

*'''Celestial Dragon Monks:''' Shaolin Monks! Now we've got our stereotypes straight! This unit is a strange one, as its role is rather unclear. It's a skirmisher unit with no armor and strider...with a chaos warrior statline and immune to psychology. Ain't that a kick in the head? At 15 points a model they're expensive, but in addition to their beastly statlines, they can pick one of five stances that boosts their abilities every turn.
**Black Tiger: +1 attack
**White Crane: Always Strikes First
**Fanged Snake: Killing Blow
**Great Dragon: +1 Strength
**Preying Mantis: 5+ Ward save
**These stances allow the monks to adapt to a variety of situations, meaning they'll be useful no matter what they're facing. These guys will absolutely mulch infantry with Black Tiger, have three attacks each, and did I mention that the unit champion has a Strength 3 breath weapon? Elves? See how green they get when you throw out ASF against them. Are some enemy elites getting you down?  Throw some killing blow in there. I don't think I need to explain how +1 strength or a 5+ ward save is useful. Its main weakness is it's complete vulnerability to ranged fire. Skirmisher will help a little, but they have no armor and that ward saves only works in combat. So get em in combat quick.

*'''Wu Xia:''' Good luck finding models for these guys because they are WEIRD. Wandering vigilantes that ride giant fuck off frogs into battle. +1 for creativity at least. These guys are monster Cav, but frankly, they don't fight like it. The rider is essentially an inner circle knight with heavy armor and a lance/halberd combo weapon. The frog...well, it's not that strong. Only strength 4 and two attacks, poison is good but not enough to make up for it. It's slow too: only a 6-inch movement. The unit has iron discipline despite getting very little use out of it. The big advantage to this unit is its special rule great leap: the unit can move up to 6", bypassing any terrain less than 4" and any enemy units that aren't large, '''even when charging'''! This allows them to bypass chaff units that are often the bane of elite units like this. However, with their intensely mediocre stats and mediocre save, there's no guarantee they'll even win once they get to their target. At 42 points, I'd take the equivalent in dragon lancers every time.

*'''Bastion Chariot:''' A big beefy chariot. What more do you want? It's got four horses and three crew, t5 and 5 wounds, and you can take them as a mount for your commander. Take a few and smash some stuff up.

*'''Foo Dogs:''' "Hey look at that cool statue-OHGODITSEATINGMEPLEASGODNO!!!!" Monstrous beasts, they are a very solid choice with a different role from most. They come in units of 3+, so no singular models to catch charges or lone wizard hunters like razorgors. These guys honestly function like the monster cav in the way that the Wu Xia doesn't. They have three attacks each at S4, WS4, and cause fear, but their big pull is their durability. A 3+ Scaly skin, toughness 5, magic resistance, and UNBREAKABLE means these guys aren't going away anytime soon. These guys will hold up an infantry block for ages, and they're damn hard to take out before they get to melee. Great unit, take it and watch your opponent weep as they fail to kill your doggies.

*'''Terracotta Warriors:''' Living stone warriors come to kick your ass! They're strength and toughness 4 with halberds, magic resistance, and unbreakable, at 9 points a model! Seems broken until you see their big downside: unstable, and leadership 3 at that. That's right, your magical stone badasses crumble like basic skeletons if they lose a fight. They are excellent fighters for their cost, with the only downside being the lack of armor saves, but with unstable and no method of resurrection like the undead armies, they'll completely collapse in an unfavorable matchup.

*'''Field Engineers:'''Essentially skaven weapon teams, these guys can be attached to any non-skirmishing infantry unit, and up to 2 can be taken as a single special choice. They can take firebombs for mobile and cheap, if short ranged, firepower, skyrockets for longer ranged, Harding hitting shooting, dragons breath for an S4 breath weapon, or even a hand mortar for a mini mobile stone thrower!

*'''Stormhurler Ballista:''' The last special choice, it's a generic bolt thrower with an alternate fire mode of 6 crossbow shots. Simple.

=== Rare Units ===
*'''Fire Arrow:''' Empire HellRockets. More of a big multishot bow actually, roll the artillery dice and fire 3 times the number at an infantry block with S3 volley of arrows. A means of firing long-range arrow volleys on goblins while cheaping out on buying archers.

*'''Dragon Cannon:''' A cannon with a particularly explosive landing before bouncing. d6 S3 hits with Piercing 1 will wipe out most infantry and cavalry, but it'll fall short against all the big bad monsters.

*'''Phoenix:''' A Flamespyre Phoenix with one more attack and other abilities in exchange for any of the magical boosts. It can, instead of moving or charging, it make an 18" pseudo-move/charge that does a strength 5 hit to all that it passes over and engaged anything it encounters at the end of its movement. Do stay in the fight longer for better or worse, with a 50/50 chance a fatal wound results in death or cause all in direct contact take S5 hits.

*'''Brass Titan:''' A Giant Monstrous terracotta warrior but with 3+ natural armour and can instantly damage all units in contact to it in addition to his 5 normal attacks. And this isn't his stomp. A real infantry mulcher.

*'''Celestial Dragon:''' Your flying Dragon. Not much to write home about when compared to others like it, but this dragon can become a Wizard of Fire or Heavens. Are one of the few fire wizards that can efficacy use Cascading Fire-cloak as it has the stats to be in melee.