Chaos Great Hosts

Remember when Games Workshop was awesome and released Hordes of Chaos, allowing you create armies containing all of the minions of Chaos for Warhammer Fantasy Battle? Remember how they chose to be moneygrubbing idjits and split it up into the relatively decent Warriors of Chaos, clunky Daemon and suck-sandwich Beastmen armies? Well, Forge World decided to try and bring back that awesomeness with rules for Chaos Great Hosts in their Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos splatbook.

Chaos Great Hosts make use of the rules for Allied armies as a base, but are fundamentally their own beast, with a bevvy of special rules. Most obviously, Chaos Great Hosts are controlled by a single player, rather than being two or more players working together to form a single army.

Comprising the Host

Chaos Great Hosts are comprised of units taken from the Warriors of Chaos, Daemons of Chaos and Beastmen armies, and must contain units and characters from at least two of the eligible armies, and may contain up to three.

One Lord tier character must be featured in the Chaos Host who is designated the Paragon of the Host.

A Battle Standard Bearer must be featured in the Chaos Host; this character must be from the same army book as the Paragon of the Host (for example, if your Paragon is a Chaos Lord, then your BSB must also be a Chaos Champion).

The minimum Core units of the Host must, again, be taken from the same army book as the Paragon of the Host. Make note of these models; they represent the Paragon's most loyal supporters, the very foundation of their powerbase, and so count as having the Sworn Disciples rule.

The special Rules Paragon of the Host, The Tide of Conquest, Scorn of Chaos, Sworn Disciples, And Hell Followed With Them, Not One Of Us!, and Antagonistic are all in use.

As long as the Host is not suffering from the Scorn of Chaos, all models may be used as Trusted Allies (see the Warhammer rulebook), whether they are Sworn Disciples or Antagonistic.

Paragon of the Host

The Paragon of the Host is the General of a Chaos Great Host, as mentioned above, and can be taken from any of the Lord-tier characters of Warriors of Chaos, Daemons of Chaos, or Beastmen. The Paragon gains the special rules Touch of Destiny and Death of the Dark Lord. Additionally, the benefits of the Chaos Host being in Ascendency, and the kinds of models that are considered Sworn Disciples or Antagonistic, depends on the nature of the Paragon.

Paragon of Ruin: Any Chaos Lord, Sorcerer Lord, or Daemon Prince that does not have a Chaos Mark/Dedication, as well as Beastlords, Doombulls, Great Bray-Shamans, or Archaon the Everchosen himself, can be designated as a Paragon of Ruin. In this case, all units from the Paragon's own army book that do not have Chaos Marks or are otherwise dedicated to Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle or Tzeentch are considered Sworn Disciples, and there are no Antagonistic units or characters.

Paragon of Slaughter: You may only designate a Khorne-marked Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince, Valkia the Bloody or Bloodthirster as a Paragon of Slaughter. Units marked or Dedicated to Khorne are Sworn Disciples, and those Marked or Dedicated to Slaanesh are Antagonistic.

Paragon of Excess: You may only designate a Slaanesh-marked Chaos Lord or Sorcerer Lord or Daemon Prince, Prince Sigvald, or Keeper of Secrets as a Paragon of Excess. Units marked or Dedicated to Slaanesh are Sworn Disciples, and those Marked or Dedicated to Khorne are Antagonistic.

Paragon of Decay: You may only designate a Nurgle-marked Chaos Lord or Sorcerer Lord or Daemon Prince, Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord, or Great Unclean One as a Paragon of Decay. Units marked or Dedicated to Nurgle are Sworn Disciples, and those Marked or Dedicated to Tzeentch are Antagonistic.

Paragon of Change: You may only designate a Tzeentch-marked Chaos Lord or Sorcerer Lord or Daemon Prince, Vilitch the Curseling, or Changer of Ways as a Paragon of Change. Units marked or Dedicated to Tzeentch are Sworn Disciples, and those Marked or Dedicated to Nurgle are Antagonistic.

Touch of Destiny

The Paragon gains a 5+ Ward Save, or increases an existing Ward Save by +1, to a maximum of 3+. If the Paragon is slain outright by a spell that does not cause wounds, they may roll a D6; on a 6, they negate the spell's effects and survive.

The Death of the Dark Lord

If the Paragon is slain, the Chaos Host will start to break apart. Once the Paragon is slain, every unit and character in the army must make a Leadership check; failure will cause the unit/model to be removed and count as destroyed. The Tide of Conquest rule is no longer applied and all models in the army now count as Antagonistic, as ambition and hatred flares.

Sworn Disciples

Certain models in a Chaos Great Host are designated as Sworn Disciples: these are determined by the nature of the Paragon of the Host, as well as by being the "old guard" mentioned above. Characters and units classified as Sworn Disciples can always use the Paragon's Inspiring Presence and the Battle Standard Bearer's Hold Your Ground! special rules, regardless of the Tide of Conquest.

Antagonistic

Certain models in a Chaos Great Host may be classified as Antagonistic, dependent upon the nature of the Paragon of the Host. These Chaos worshippers have only the most tenuous of allegiances to the Host and so they are fractious, unreliable, and potentially traitorous. Antagonistic characters and units can not use the Paragon's Inspiring Presence, or the Battle Standard Bearer's Hold Your Ground! special rules.

An Antagonistic unit may not be joined by a character that does not originate from their own armybook.

Other friendly units must make Dangerous Terrain tests if they are fleeing and pass through an Antagonistic unit or character.

Antagonistic models do not benefit from the Paragon of the Host being in Ascendency.

And Hell Followed With Them

Even amongst the forces of Chaos, it is a soul-searing event to march in the wake of a daemonic legion, as the fickle spirits of Chaos are undiscerning in whom they attack and reality melts like wax in their presence. If your Paragon is a Daemon, then all the characters and units without the Daemonic rule in your army who are not Immune to Psychology gain Immune to Psychology at the cost of -1 Leadership.

The Tide of Conquest

Chaos Great Hosts are fractious and unruly, dependent upon success to keep themselves operating together.

During battle, keep a tally turn-by-turn of the number of enemy units fleeing at the end of a player's turn and the number of enemy units destroyed at the end of a player's turn.

All players should keep their own tallies.

At the start of each turn, players must compare tallies.

If the Host's tally is greater, than they are in Ascendency.

If the Host's tally is less, than they suffer the Scorn of Chaos.

If both tallies are the same, the game carries on as normal with no special rules in play.

Ascendency

If the Chaos Great Host is Ascendant, then they receive a special bonus based upon the nature of their Paragon. This blessing lasts from the start of the Chaos Host's turn until the Tide of Conquest is next worked out, and all bonuses or penalties are cumulative.

Paragon of Ruin: The favor of the gods incites the horde to violence, granting the Despoiling Horde special rule to the Chaos Great Host; all Infantry type units (NOT characters!) gain the Devastating Charge special rule, and the Paragon's Inspiring Presence is increased to 18".

Paragon of Slaughter: The favor of Khorne grants the Bringer of Carnage special rule to the Chaos Great Host; all units gain +1 to Combat Resolution and Sworn Disciples gain Magic Resistance (1).

Paragon of Excess: The favor of Slaanesh grants the Roiling Madness special rule to the Chaos Great Host; all enemy models suffer -1 Initiative (to a minimum of I1) and all Wizards in the Chaos Host add +1 to casting rolls for Hex type spells.

Paragon of Decay: The favor of Nurgle grants the Plague & Pestilence special rule to the Chaos Great Host; enemy models suffer -1 Ballistic Skill when shooting at targets further than 12" away, and spells cast from the Lore of Light or the Lore of Life suffer a -D3 penalty to their casting rolls.

Paragon of Change: The favor of Tzeentch grants the Lord of the Eightfold Storm special rule to the Chaos Great Host; all Wizards in the Chaos Host add +1 to their casting rolls and all Wizards in the enemy army suffer a -1 penalty to their dispel rolls.

Scorn of Chaos

If the Chaos Host suffers the Scorn of Chaos, it must roll on the special Scorn of Chaos table, which is a basic 2D6 check.

• 2-4 - Discord: All units not considered Sworn Disciples become Antagonistic. Re-roll if this isn't possible.
• 5-6 - Desertion: A single non-Sworn Disciple unit chosen by the enemy breaks and flees as if they had failed a Panic test (only Sworn Disciples and Unbreakable units are immune). Re-roll if this isn't possible.
• 7 - Treachery: A single unit chosen by the enemy, other than the Paragon or a unit joined by the Paragon, turns traitor. The enemy player may control this unit until the Chaos Host gains Ascendency again.
• 8-9 - Death: A single unit chosen by the enemy, other than the Paragon or a unit joined by the Paragon, is struck with the gods' wrath, suffering 2D6 automatic wounds (4D6 for Hordes).
• 10-12 - The Judgment of the Gods: The Paragon suffers D6 automatic wounds that ignore Armor and Ward saves.

Not One Of Us!

If a unit becomes Antagonistic as a result of the Scorn of Chaos, and it is currently joined by a character that does not belong to the same armybook as the unit, that character must take a Leadership test. On a success, it retains control over the unit and may operate normally, including leaving it. On a failure, the unit storms their hated leader and drowns them in their dead; the character is instantly slain, with no saves of any kind allowed, and the traitorous unit suffers D6 wounds with no saves allowed. This Leadership test must be taken each turn until the character leaves, is slain, or the unit ceases being Antagonistic.