“The shadow of Chaos grows with the passing of the seasons. Fight and struggle as much as you wish, it will not help you – this world is doomed” – Engra Deathsword
Hot on the heels of the Dwarfen Mountain Holds, we have the fifth Arcane Journal to release for Warhammer: The Old World in the shape of the Warriors of Chaos. As the threat grows in the North and the Forces of Chaos move against the realms of men, the armies of the evil gods have some new tricks to pull against the first line of humanity’s defence. As always, a big thank you to Games Workshop for sending us a copy of the Arcane Journal to play with and review so we can keep you up to date with what’s happening in the land the time forgot.
As is becoming pretty standard with these books, we’ve got two armies of infamy joined by two special characters (one new, one returning) and a host of new unit entries (seven in all) for players to add to their dark forces. Just like with the preceding Arcane Journals, the aim here appears to be to give players more options when building lists and not necessarily to increase the overall power level of the army in question. In our opinion this book is a bit hit or miss in those goals with only some of the unit options and one of the armies of infamy really delivering on that. That said, where the book does deliver, it delivers in spades as you’ll soon see.
I don’t normally touch on the background lore in these reviews as I’m far more of a gamer than anything else, but I really enjoyed reading the Saga of the Chainmaker which introduces us to our new special character, Frydall the Chainmaker. Reading how quickly and smartly her forces strike out when raiding was great, and I’d encourage anyone who’s got a spare 15-20 minutes to give it a once over; I promise you it’s a solid investment of your time you won’t regret.
Table of Contents
Armies of Infamy
Wolves of the Sea
We have two armies of Infamy in this book, and the first we’ll be covering are the Wolves of the Sea which is a Norse/Kurgen/Marauder themed force based around Frydall. She doesn’t have to be included in any force but does help this particular army as a whole when she is. I’ve found this to be a really enjoyable list with a few new, really outstanding, additions to the Marauder theme. Falcon: Wolves of the Sea is definitely a cool and intriguing new way to play Chaos. It forces you into a build that has been mostly unexplored given how the game has shaken out, and makes for a delightful if not necessarily reliable gameplan. I would argue that this list has a pretty high skill ceiling to get the most out of it, especially when compared to some of the more direct stat checks Chaos is currently known for, but the payoffs are excellent.
Favour of the Gods is the first of the three rules the army has. This gifts the characters, and (most importantly) units in the army the ability to get additional rolls on the Gaze of the Gods table. Firstly, any time a character in the force slays their opponent in a challenge they must immediately roll on for the gods gaze, so lets hope they are smiling in your favour. I’d highly recommend taking at least one, if not 2-3 Favour of the Gods common magic items for your characters as a result of this as no one wants to be stuck with an early Stupidity test. In addition, this rule grants units which have claimed the standard of the enemy the ability to roll on the table. I know that standards aren’t the most commonplace items in competitive, cutting edge lists these days but just imagine rolling that 5 and getting an additional attack on most of the units in this book, it would turn them up to 10! Falcon: In my limited experience so far, this has been the most fun aspect of the new rulesets found in this book. While most competitive lists are only running a couple of banners, a good gaze roll on an entire unit can completely upend the board state for an opponent and make threats out of even the most mundane chaff.
Sea-Born Raiders is a nifty little rule letting you purchase the Ambushing special rule for Chaos Marauder or Marauder Horsemen units in your army for +1pts a model or for Aspiring Champions (who are infantry/Cav) at +10pts. You’re not going to be spamming this a lot, but Frydall does help with the modifier for ambush rolls and taking a couple of ambushing units, especially horsemen with their large threat range and potential missile weapons might well be worth investing in. Falcon: I love a bigger unit of Marauders with Frydall and Ambushers in this list; not only does it provide an amount of protection in the early rounds of the game for a unit that would otherwise be targeted early and often, it creates a legitimate threat that your opponent has to account for at all times.
The final special rule for the Wolves of the Sea is without a doubt the most thematic rule I’ve ever seen in Warhammer and is four paragraphs long. To summarise you may select a unit champion (who has 1 wound) to fight against an opponent’s unit champion (that also must have 1 wound, sorry Ogres). They fight out a pre-game challenge until one is no longer standing. The winner of the fight takes the first turn without the need for a roll off. Your dishonourable opponent may choose to refuse the challenge, but if they do your forces laugh at their cowardice and you take the first turn anyway! There are some really good choices for this in the Wolves army list with Chaos Warriors and Marauder Tribe Huscarls both having a single wound and you being able to tool them up to fight really well in a single 1 on 1 fight against an opponent they will usually outmatch.
The army list itself is pretty solid and has a host of new units. Character-wise you’re allowed 0-1 Chaos Lord, Daemon Prince or Sorcerer Lord, 0-1 Exalted Champion or Exalted Sorcerer per 1000 and unlimited Aspiring Champions and Marauder Tribe Chieftains. This is slightly more restrictive than the Grand Army list but is pretty strongly themed and won’t really hold you back from writing competitive lists with the exception of not being able to take both the traditional Chaos Lord on Dragon and the Lv4 Sorcerer Lord. This army is very much not about the characters and very much about manipulating when you bring your units to bear so this isn’t that big of a drawback in practice.
The Core of the list is very traditional with Chaos Marauders, Marauder Horsemen and Chaos Warhounds, but they’re also joined by a new unit in Marauder Tribe Berserkers. Chaos Warriors, who are less numerous in the Marauder Tribes, are in the Special selection along with Chaos Chariots, Chaos Spawn and two more new units in the Skin Wolves and the Marauder Tribe Huscarls, both of whom are excellent additions to the armoury.
The Rare selection of the list is flush with options and luckily you can take 33% of the army here to get a few more options in. Chaos Ogres, Chaos Trolls and Dragon Ogres all make an appearance along with 0-1 Dragon Ogre Shaggoth (per unit of Dragon Ogres) and 0-1 Chaos Giant per 1000pts. Finally you also have access to another of the new units in the Gigantic Spawn of Chaos at 0-1 per 1000pts and these things are excellent. Mercenary options round out the force with Gor and Ungor herds sometimes rallying under the banner of the Wolves of the Sea.
We’ll have a look at the relevant units here from the above list in a moment but I want to talk about Frydall the Chainmaker. She continues the trend of most of the Old World’s characters in that she’s not the “top level” choice from an army selection point of view and takes the slot of an Exalted Champion, but she has a bunch of decent rules to help her see play (and I do think she will). Rocking a 3+ save (against ranged, 4+ in close combat) and a 5+ ward, she is decently tanky, though perhaps not enough for her 235pts. Between having access to ambushing and her very offensive profile you should be able to reliably keep her away from the scariest things anyway so this should be a small concern. With up to 7 base attacks and Impact Hits (1) you’re going to be taking out chunks of enemy models before they have a chance to swing. Her weapon, Storm’s Wrath, grants her +2Str (making her S7) in the first round of combat and -1AP along with an additional D3 attacks means not much outside of tooled up enemy characters or monstrous infantry/cavalry can stand up to her. Her Chainmaker special rule means that any enemy standard she or her unit captures is worth 100pts as a trophy of war (instead of the normal 50) so if you’re able to claim one or two standards over a game then you’re looking at a nice shift in Victory Points. Falcon: While we’ve already mentioned that banners aren’t exactly bountiful in most competitive lists, this additional 50 points can be significant in some of the close games that come down to just characters standing on the field. Frydall is truly excellent when you get to pick your combats, but if you choose to take her you need to make sure you have a different answer to things like monsters in your lists as it doesn’t take much for her to be swatted down if she’s the one you have to send in to soften them up.
Frydall also comes with two additional rules in Commander & Captain which grants friendly units of Chaos Marauders, Marauder Horsemen, Marauder Tribe Huscarls and Marauder Tribe Berserkers +1Ld while in her command range (unless she’s fleeing) turning marauders into decent little bricks, and allowing you to pass more Terror/Fear/Break tests than normal. Her final special rules called Peerless Raider means you can upgrade one unit of Marauders or Horsemen to have ambush for free (normally +1pts per model) which could and should save you 20-30pts if you really played into it. More importantly, it allows you to apply a +1/-1 modifier when making the roll to determine if any of the above units make it onto the board or are delayed. I know ambushing armies have been discussed and it would be interesting to see if going hard into a controllable ambushing force is something which would work on the table, I’m certainly going to try it out moving forward. Falcon: Ambushers is such a cool special rule but it has always been held back by how unreliable it is outside of armies like Tomb Kings that have more agency in bringing their units in from reserves. This +1/-1 modifier is always an incredible boon and the fact that in this case it is on a legitimate combat threat is all the better. This list can run a lot of small and fast glass cannons that become infinitely more lethal when you get to choose when and where they come into play. For those that played previous editions there are definite echoes of Wulfrik the Wanderer here.
So, what are all the brilliant new units found in this army composition list? The Marauder Tribe Chieftains are brazen warriors who’ve risen to the top of their tribes and this is reflected in their profile. Comparable to an Aspiring Champion, you get a more lightly armoured, but potentially ambushing character. They also come with Warband to allow you to gain that Ld bonus from their unit of Marauders meaning you can hit Ld10 easily enough if you want to. Coming in at 65pts with an inbuilt 6+ ward, they aren’t going to be setting the world on fire but do add some really nice options when combined with Frydalls ambush manipulation and their ability to be mounted on Warhorses.
Marauder Tribe Berserkers are one of my favourite new army list options. These are M5 humans who are great little combat units, either fighting with Open Order in ranks or skirmishing around the side of your forces or behind the enemy. With Frenzy taking them up to 2A per model and either Flails or Additional Hand Weapons and command options you’ve got a great skirmishing unit. Add in Relentless Warriors which grants them a 6+ ward and their natural T4 and you’ve got a unit which can go toe to toe with anything else in it’s weight class. Stick a couple of these into your list and grant them the Ambush special rule and you’ll soon take out the enemies rear. Falcon: These are ‘We’ve got Wardancers at home’ and I love them. At 8ppm before upgrades, with warband for those sweet sweet charge rerolls, Berserkers fulfill a number of roles and make for quite the nuisance when spammed in units of 5-10 either when deployed on the line or in ambush. Don’t leave home without at least three squads of them. Even without Frydall, they are a case where the unreliability of Ambushers is completely fine as they will at most be running you 100 points a unit and you’re hoping to use them as cleanup anyway.
Marauder Tribe Huscarls are a medium cavalry unit fitting in the same gap as Orc Boar boys between Chaos Knights and Marauder Horsemen. They have a host of options to pick from, making modelling them a little easier. Cavalry Spears, Flails, Throwing Axes, Javelins, Heavy Armour, Shields and Marks of Chaos are all options along with a Champion who can pick 25pts of magic items (remember that challenge rule for who gets to go first?) and Drilled. They also have a bunch of fantastic rules as standard with Counter Charge, Furious Charge and Swiftstride all making an appearance. Tooled up, these will normally end up costing you somewhere around 22-24pts a model, but are great and with the ability to get to to a 4+ save and 3 S4/5 attacks a model they do really pack a punch. Falcon: I’m not completely sold on the Huscarls yet but I think there is a place for them as less good Wild Riders if you give them flails and the mark of Khorne . It is unfortunate that Frydall let’s you manipulate the ambush roll for these guys as well and yet there is no way to actually give them ambush, unlike the rest of the options in the army list. Perhaps we’ll get an early FAQ.
The last of the units allowed into a Wolves of the Sea army are the namesakes themselves, the Skin Wolves. I really like all of these new units and these might be my favourite of the lot. With WS5 they hit far more reliably than most Monstrous Infantry and have the ability to fit any situation with their Warped Form ability. They each have three Attacks at Strength 4 with their claws (hand weapons), and while they lack armour they do have a 5+ regeneration save along with Blood Rage, Primal Fury and Swiftstride and the Skirmishers/Open Order formations. This gives you a really quick unit able to flex it’s Movement value of 7 to pick the fights it wants (which are nearly all of them). Their Warped Form special rule lets them adopt one of three special abilities at the start of each combat phase, these are Enlarged Claws (Hand Weapons gain -1AP, Armour Bane (2)), Barded Protrusions (Extra Attack (+1)) or Toughened Flesh (+1T and +2 Armour Value) meaning you’ve nearly always got the right tools for the job – as long as Strength 4 attacks are enough to wound your opponents regularly enough. Falcon: I really want to love the Skin Wolves and do think they’re a great tool to have in your list. Skirmishers + Swiftstride on these bodies is a great combination for hunting light-medium armoured units in particular. The problem I have found is I often already have a number of tools that do this job anyway in this army of infamy and I end up wanting to fit Dragon Ogres in their slot instead as they threaten a broader range of targets. I wish that the Skin Wolves had an option to be played in the Grand Army as well, but unfortunately they are exclusive to this army of infamy.
I’m also going to talk about the Gigantic Spawn of Chaos here, which really is a Swiss army knife of special rules and the Marks of Chaos it has access to gives it different roles in the army. For a base cost of 145pts you’ve got yourself a S6, T6 6W Monster, making them already good value. Its talons are only -1AP but it does have Armour Bane (2) to balance that out and has a healthy D6+1 Attacks to go along with it’s D6 Stomps. First Charge means it can go into ranked units and expect to win the first round of combat, and when coupled with the Terror rule it’s always got a chance of just making them break.
So what of these special marks of Chaos? Much like their little brothers in the Ravening Hordes book, Gigantic Spawn gain alternative bonuses denoting their God of choice. Nurgle is my favourite, giving it a 5+ regeneration save in addition to it’s Scaly Skin (5+) and when coupled with it’s ability to occasionally heal itself in combat, it means it lives for far longer than it has any right to for a model coming in at 170pts. As to the other Gods, Khorne grants it Impact Hits (D3) and Killing Blow while Slannesh bestows Counter Charge and Strikes First and Tzeentch changes it to have Flaming, Magical Attacks along with Magic Resistance (-2). This is a really customizable unit depending on what role you want it to fill. As I’ve said, I think Nurgle is great but Khorne also has real play and output against Monsterous Infantry/Cavalry models where it can just pop off. It should also be mentioned, despite the fact I’ve talked about it here, this unit can be taken in any Warriors of Chaos or Beastmen Brayherd armies at 0-1 per 1000 in the Rare slot, so expect to see a fair few of these on the table in the coming months/years. Falcon: Yeah, these guys are insane value. Absolutely worth taking as many as you’re allowed to in every list that you can. I don’t think I can rate them highly enough. There is definitely a wall of toughness 6 list that you can build for Chaos now that is going to be a difficult one to crack. In my practice games, my Nurgle spawn have absolutely been a lynchpin unit both in terms of damage potential and in holding up your opponents’ scarier units to set up flanking maneuvres. There just isn’t much they cannot do.
Heralds of Darkness
Now we can roll into the second of the Armies of Infamy, the Heralds of Darkness. This force is based around the marauding elite forces of Knights and monsters that preface the coming of the Chaos horde and make the ground tremble in their presence. Like the Wolves, the Heralds also have 3 special rules associated with them.
The first of these is Mounted Host which just means that all your characters much either be mounted or have the Fly (X) special rule, pretty simple and sets the theme in the same was the Nomadic Waaagh does.
Following this up, we have the key reason for taking this force in Steeds of Darkness. When a Cavalry or Chariot model makes a Charge, Flee or Pursuit roll it may re-roll any dice that are a natural 1, before discarding any dice that are required to be discarded. This is so powerful in terms of increasing the reliability of chargers and a real boon. I won’t bore you with the math but being able to reroll any of the 2D6 for the charge or the D6 for the Swiftstride is amazing and lets leave it there, it’s good, we all knows its good, be happy you’ve got it. This really amps up the chariot options in the Chaos list that struggle due to a lack of Swiftstride or Warband.
The final rule is The Shadow Grows and means you have to match characters to units (and vice versa) with the exception of those with Mark of Chaos Undivided. This does limit you to only a handful of specialist units as taking characters with marks to match units gets expensive really quickly. A lot of Chaos Armies like to run with a Chaos Lord on a Dragon with a Mark of Nurgle and a Chaos Sorcerer Lord with the Mark of Tzeentch. Doing that here more or less removes any of the other Marks of Chaos being taken because you won’t be able to afford the characters to match. No matter how good the Steeds of Darkness rule is it’s brought heavily back to earth with The Shadow Grows and it’s interactions with what’s most commonly seen on the tabletop today. Falcon: This is a real bummer and when tied together with the rest of what the list has to offer I honestly don’t feel it brings enough to the table to warrant not just running the Grand Army instead. In making lists, the like-for-like Mark rule ends up feeling pretty oppressive. Regular Chaos Knights are really just an ‘ok’ to subpar unit unless they are being taken in smaller squads with the mark of khorne and having to now throw an additional 100+ points into aspiring champions to meet those requirements effectively limits you to just the one mandatory squad. Perhaps if Steeds of Darkness applied to more than just your knights and chariots it would be better. This is probably the first army of infamy the team has put together that just doesn’t feel particularly unique to play either which is a real shame.
I think you know what army list options you’re expecting here is going to be pretty straightforward but lets go through them anyway.
For characters you’ve got 0-1 Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince, then 0-1 Exalted Champion or Sorcerer Lord per 1000pts. Finally you’ve got unlimited Aspiring Champions and Exalted Sorcerers. For core you’ve got to spend 33% here instead of the normal 25% with Chaos Knights being 1+ and 0-1 on Chaos Chariots. In addition you’ve got the Marauder Horsemen and Chaos Warhounds of which you’ll still see a bunch of in this army list. This 33% Tax really does make a difference and once you’ve picked up your 1-2 units of Chaos Knights, a Chaos Chariot and some chaff you still end up needing more, something which is harder to do well due to the mark matching, as you can’t just have a couple of units of Marauder Horsemen with the Mark of Khorne due to having to match them with characters like you wouldn’t normally do with the Grand Army Composition. The big thing here is it really feels like you’re playing short 1 or 2 really cool toys because of the hoops you need to go through.
In special you’ve got Dragon Ogres, Chaos Spawn, Chaos Chariots, Chimeras, 0-1 Chosen Chaos Knights and 0-1 Chosen Chaos Chariots per 1000pts. Chosen Chariots are probably the sole reason to consider this army composition list over any of the others. In Rare you’ve got Gorebeast Chariots, 0-1 Dragon Ogre Shaggoth’s per unit of Dragon Ogres, 0-1 Chaos Giant per 1000pts, 0-1 Gigantic Spawn of Chaos per 1000pts and 0-1 Warpfire Dragons. Finally under Mercenaries you’ve got Centigor Chieftains and Centigor Herds making an appearance.
While not directly tied to this army list I’m going to discuss Galrauch, The Great Drake here as well as I do think you’ll see him being taken here in lists running a bunch of Dragons. Clocking in at 465pts you’ve got that S6, T6, W6 profile along with Ws and A6. He’s also got a bunch of special rules, a 3+ Armour save and Stomps (D6) to go alongside his Swiftstride and Terror rules. While he’s a combat beast a lot of his power comes from his once per game Breath of Change ability which is fired as a flame template instead of one of his normal ranged weapons. All models hit must immediately take a Toughness test. If passed the attack has no effect, however if it’s failed then the model is immediately removed from play as a casualty. No Armour, No Ward, No Regen, No Model. I’m not normally keen on single dice rolls being the deciding factor of a game but if it’s attacked to a nearly 500pt monster, is once per game, has an effective 18″ threat (Fly plus template) and only has a 50:50 (at best) change of killing the important model, I’m less worried about it.
His heads have different breath attacks with them being either S4 -1AP, or S2 No Armour Save attacks. Galrauch is a Lv4 wizard and knows spells from the Dark Magic Lore but has an internal struggle where the Dragon who’s body it was originally still tries to fight off the Lord of Chaos which now has control of his body. At the start of each of your turns you need to take a Leadership Test for Galrauch (Ld9), if passed you have total control. However if you fail the Dragon comes out. He’s reduced to a Lv1 wizard and can only cast a single spell, he gains the Random Movement (2D6) Special rule and if he’s in combat he must direct D3 of his attacks into himself giving the enemy potential combat resolution. Needless to say this is a pretty big downside to him and helps temper that Breath of Change rule even more. Falcon: There is one upside to this rule: Random Movement when you’re not locked in combat is a helluva drug. While you lose out on a ton of your maneuverability, there will be times when being able to completely negate an opponents’ charge reactions is worth way more than your spellcasting ability.
Falcon: The Heralds army of Infamy also introduces two other new units to the Chaos army composition list. First among these is the Chosen Chaos Chariot. Available only to the Heralds of Darkness army list, the chosen chariot, is a 30 point ‘upgrade’ to the standard Chaos Chariot found in the Warriors of Chaos Grand Army. Those 30 points net you 2 Chosen Warriors with Halberds as riders for your chariot, rather than their standard kin, giving you 2 more Str 5 attacks in close combat and Leadership 9. More importantly, the Chosen chariot comes with the extremely powerful Counter Charge universal special rule meaning that any opposing cavalry/chariots/monsters that wish to engage you are always risking taking d6+1 impact hits for their trouble. This chariot option is also available to any of the martial characters in a Heralds of Darkness list (the Champions and Chaos Lord) as a mount. While it is no Chaos Dragon, the chariot isn’t a terrible investment if you’re playing in smaller point games or if you are locked to sub-500 point characters which we have started to see in comped environments.
Last but certainly not least, the Heralds of Darkness Army of Infamy (and now, also the Warriors of Chaos Grand Army) may field the new Warpfire Dragon as a 0-1 Rare choice regardless of army size. Warpfire dragons are 375pts for 6s across the board in stats (except for a 3 in initiative and 5 for attacks). Like their big brother Galrauch, they may be upgraded to be wizards though they are locked to being only level 1 or 2 so it may not be worth the investment. They have Regeneration 5+, count as wearing Full Plate and come stock with Magic Resistance (-2), D6 Stomps, Swiftstride, Fly (10), Terror, and 3 Unique Special Rules. In addition, instead of the normal breath weapon that the other dragons in the Old World have, the Warpfire Dragon instead has a Warpfire Blast which is essentially a Str 4(8), AP -1(3), 24 inch range stone thrower with multiple wounds d3+1 under its centre. That’s a pretty spicy shooting attack to have while you are jockeying for position in the early game.
As to their Unique special rules? Warpfire Dragons act as flying magic sponges that have grown to like the taste of warpstone and as such they have also grown to take on its properties, so when they die it ALL comes out in an Explosive Demise. When a Warpfire Dragon loses its final wound it blows up and deals D6 Str 5 Ap -2 hits to all friendly and enemy units within 6 inches.
Fire and Chaos grants Warpfire Dragons a 5+ Ward Save against any Magical or Flaming attacks.
And finally, the piece de la resistance, Warpfire Aura removes the ward saves from all other models (Friend and Foe) that are within 3 inches of this dragon. There aren’t many things in the game that currently shut down or hinder Ward Saves in any way and I do not mind seeing it on such an expensive body in the slightest. The only reason I wouldn’t suggest windmill slamming 1 into all of the lists that would allow it is that Gigantic Chaos Spawn now also exist and vie for your Rare Slot points and they are just more efficient. It’s honestly too bad that it is the Sea Wolves army of infamy that was granted 33% Rare and not the Heralds of Darkness as that might have been the spice needed to make it worth the investment.
Artefacts of the Ruinous Powers
It will come as no surprise that we’ve got a host of new magic items for the forces of Chaos to pick from. These are a little different again here in while you’ve got some new items a handful of them are specific to the Armies of Infamy as well. These specific items are usually really good (I’ll certainly be running some) and are worth taking if you’re running one of the AOI’s. As normal I’m not going to run through them all, we’re just going to pick some highlights from each section.
Dagger of the Dark Pantheon – A 35pt magic weapon which is S:User and AP-2 in Combat granting Magical Attacks. So why on earth am I highlighting this? It’s because for each wound you cause in combat as a result of attacks from this weapon it’s wielder may apply a +1 modifier to their next Casting or Dispel Roll. What this lets you do is have a Daemon Prince really flex that first spell or dispel attempt each turn. Need to boost your combat output? Attack first then cast an Assailment at +lots. Need to dispel a really important spell? Attack then hold out. Lots of nice tricky plays can be made here and that’s great flexibility.
Daemonic Platemail – One of my favourite items. Limited to Infantry or Calvary only this is a suit of full plate. In addition (for 50pts) you also get +1 Toughness and +1 Initiative. Just great. Combined with a Nurgle Daemon Prince and you can have this little T7 monster (after his signature spell) roaming the battlefield causing Havoc. Falcon: The Daemon Prince with this Platemail and the Dark Pantheon Dagger is a new favorite combo of mine. It may not outstrip Ogreblade + Armour of Meteoric Iron but it does feel really strong in its own right.
Talisman of the Carrion Crow – Do you like Regeneration so much you need multiple magic items to get it? Welcome! For 45pts and your Talisman slot you can now get Regeneration (5+) and the Poison Attacks special rules. Falcon: This is probably the ultimate item in the book. Being able to run two characters with a 2/3+ armour save along with a 5+ Regen and 5+ Ward is actually very oppressive. That this item also hands out poison is just icing on the frustration cake you’ll be force-feeding opponents.
Icon of Darkness – While both AoI’s have great magic banners I think this one’s outstanding. A very simple additional -1 to hit modifier for anyone targeting this unit in the shooting phase. What’s not to love for 20 points?
Rod of the Damned – You know how every competitive list ever runs the Ruby Ring of Ruin because it’s just that good? How about a 40pt stick which casts The Summoning from the Lore of Daemonology at Bound Spell Lv2? Get ready for a lot of chaos armies to have these magical sticks in them!
Tome of the Dark Gods – Ever wanted Nurgles +1 Toughness spell alongside the Mark of Tzeentch’s Blue Fire? Well now you can. When rolling for spells you can choose to discard spells for any number of Chaos Signatures spells while you have the Mark of Chaos Undivided. I’m a big fan of toolbox items and being able to flex into whatever specific setup you need on a game by game basis really appeals to me.
Grimoire of Ogvald – Hate having to roll for your spells every game but also want more flexibility than Lore Familiar provides? Or just really want what amounts to 2 Lore Familiars in your list? Just call Ogvald. This 50 point magic item gives your caster access to every spell in their chosen Lore (including signatures), though they are still limited by their wizard level in how many spells they can cast per turn. Very potent in lists looking to run multiple Sorceror Lords in particular.
Building the Lists
As normal we’re giving you a little breakdown of a couple of lists we’re created and tried out with the Armies of Infamy. The armies are very different and while the Wolves of the Sea list is certainly great (fun and powerful) the Heralds of Darkness list might just impose too harsh a restriction on the character/unit mark coefficient to be worth taking over the Grand Army Composition, but time will tell if that holds true.
Wolves of the Sea
Frydall (235)
Chaos Sorcerer Lord – Lv4 (Battle Magic), Infernal Puppet, Ruby Ring of Ruin (305)
20 Chaos Marauders – Light Armour, Shields, Full Command, Ambushers (free) (177)
5 Chaos Warhounds (30)
5 Chaos Warhounds (30)
5 Marauder Horsemen – Flails, Shields, Ambushing, Mark of Khorne (80)
5 Marauder Horsemen – Flails, Shields, Mark of Khorne (75)
6 Marauder Tribe Berserkers – Additional Hand Weapons, Ambushers (60)
6 Marauder Tribe Berserkers – Additional Hand Weapons, Ambushers (60)
6 Marauder Tribe Berserkers – Additional Hand Weapons, Ambushers (60)
4 Skin Wolves (180)
4 Skin Wolves (180)
6 Marauder Tribe Huscarls – Cav Spears, Heavy Armour, Shields, Full Command, Drilled, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Darkness (184)
Giant Spawn – Mark of Nurgle (170)
Giant Spawn – Mark of Nurgle (170)
Army Total = 1996
Liam_Jordan: Here we have what I’m looking at running once I can put all the pieces together. We’re really leaning into the Ambush manipulation provided by Frydall with a possible five Ambushing units (but realistically just the three). In addition we’ve got some serious hitting power with a decent sized unit of Huscarls, 2×4 Skin Wolves and two Giant Spawns. In addition we’ve used our one “big” character choice allowed by the list on the Lv4 with the Puppet and Battle Magic. This character also has the Ruby Ring and is there to provide ranged support to the army in the form of Magic Missiles or support spells while shutting down your opponents magic through the puppet. The Berserkers and Marauder Horsemen all hit well above their own weight class and the Spawns really do work once they get motoring. I think there’s a legitimate list where you add more ambushing units and characters (at the cost of the LV4) and just see if your opponent can answer what you’re throwing at them.
Heralds of Darkness
Chaos Lord on Chosen Chaos Chariot – Great Weapon, Mark of Khorne, Talisman of the Carrion Crow, Favour of the Gods (399)
Sorceror Lord on Chaos Chariot – Crown of Everlasting Conquest, Favour of the Gods (380)
Aspiring Champion on Chaos Steed – Lance, Shield, Mark of Khorne (102)
Aspiring Champion on Chaos Steed – Lance, Shield, Mark of Khorne (102)
Chaos Chariot (110)
5 Chaos Knights – Lances, Mark of Khorne, Champion (161)
5 Chaos Knights – Lances, Mark of Khorne, Champion (161)
4 Chaos Knights – Lances, Mark of Khorne, Champion (130)
5 Chaos Warhounds – Vanguard (35)
5 Chaos Warhounds – Vanguard (35)
5 Chaos Warhounds – Vanguard (35)
Chosen Chaos Chariot (140)
Chosen Chaos Chariot (140)
Dragon Ogre Shartak: Great Weapon, Heavy Armor (70)
Falcon: We’re digging deep here to try to make the most of our rerolls in a list designed to shock and awe our opponents into submission. Our Chaos Lord and Sorceror Lord are the keys to the army as they will both be boasting large wound pools with 3 saves our opponents have to chew through on top of being immune to all forms of killing blow. Ideally you will be able to push aggressively turn one and bait charges from your opponents’ faster units into the Lord and Chosen chariots, using Countercharge as a strong deterrent. The small units of Khorne Knights hit very hard with the Aspiring Champions to boost their output and make ideal flank smashers but can also do heavy damage on a frontal charge to set up your follow-up turns.. The Chosen Chariots and Dragon Ogre could easily be 2 Gigantic Spawn and that might be better for a take all comers list but we aren’t hear to herald impending doom with those ugly things, we’re here because we like horsies. Warhounds are here primarily to keep all your frenzied knights in check so they don’t get baited into turn one charges. In practice this list did very well, particularly the two lords as they are an excellent mixture of damage potential and toughness, to a point of frustration for my opponents.
Bonus List
Here There Be Dragons
Warriors of Chaos Grand Army List
Characters [996pts]
Todd the Everchosen Chaos Lord [531pts]: Shield, Great Weapon, Chaos Dragon, General, Favour of the Gods, Crown of Everlasting Conquest, Mark of Chaos Undivided
Galrauch [465pts]
Core [558pts]
4 Chaos Knights [130pts]: Lances, Mark of Khorne, Champion
4 Chaos Knights [130pts]: Lances, Mark of Khorne, Champion
5 Chaos Warhounds [35pts]: Vanguard
5 Chaos Warhounds [35pts]: Vanguard
6 Forsaken [114pts]: Forsaken by Khorne
6 Forsaken [114pts]: Forsaken by Khorne
Special [70pts]
Dragon Ogres [70pts]: Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Shartak
Rare [375pts]
Warpfire Dragon[375pts]
Falcon: Oh yeah baby, who doesn’t like dragons? Here we distill Warriors of Chaos into their most base of good stuff forms and then sprinkle in some George RR Martin callbacks. Just remember to keep your Warpfire Dragon away from Todd so he doesn’t lose his ward save from Chaos Armor and you’ll be golden as you reenact your favorite scenes from a crossover I doubt anyone asked for. Scream Dracarys every time you spit flames to make your Orc opponents understand that they aren’t the only ones who get to yell insane gibberish at events. Froth at the mouth and tear at your clothes when your forsaken roll the wrong mutations for the 4th time in 5 combats. Be outwardly sad but inwardly giggle when Breath of Change, against all odds, removes your opponent’s General from the game. Most importantly, BYBSaBAtA (Be Your Best Self and Bring About the Apocalypse). Get in losers!
Conclusion
With those lists we reach the end of our overview of the Warriors of Chaos Arcane Journal. I’m sure that while some people will be disappointed that it doesn’t do a lot to address some of the weaker area’s of the book (mainly the actual Warriors of Chaos) what you do get is a fun-adjacent chariot-based list and a really fun and potent themed marauder based list which is great on the table. In addition, you’ve got a bunch of new units which really make the Armies of Infamy lists tick and a great new addition to every Chaos List out there in the Warpfire Dragon and Gigantic Chaos Spawn.
I think it’s fair to say this might be a more divisive Arcane Journal due to how few new units it adds into the main Grand Composition army list and some of the other small gripes we mentioned above, but it’s certainly got a bunch of character and feel to it (especially the Sea Wolves) and really sets the scene of what’s to come from the lands North for the more civilized races occupying the Old World.
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