We’ve got a new Arcane Journal.
I’ve been crying about how bad Chaos is since the nerf in July.
It’s taken half a year for my tears to reach Games Workshop HQ and for them to improve the army.
Is this buff to the Hordes of Chaos faction enough to make it interesting again in The Old World?
Let’s break it down, as always, in a structured, clear and easy-to-digest way.
Unit updates in Razing of the Westerland
It’s funny that they haven’t updated the Chosen, which nobody has touched with a barge pole since the game came out, but…
What HAVE they updated?
Changes to the Razing of the Westerland units: Chaos Marauders
Their base size goes up: from 25×25 to 30×30.
They gain the Horde special rule.
They keep their minimum points cost (6 points), but now they come with light armour as standard; before they were naked.
The unit champion can take up to 25 points of magic items (previously they couldn’t).
One unit of Chaos Marauders per 1,000 points can:
- Gain the Ambushers special rule for 1 point per model (new).
- Buy a magic standard of up to 50 points (new).
- Swap Close Order for Open Order or Skirmishers (this was already possible, but only for 1 unit in the whole army).
- Belong to a Chaos Cult for 1 point per model (I’ll explain them below).
These changes mean you can field Marauders that save on a 4+ in close combat with shieldwall, and can have Toughness 4 for one turn for “only” 8 points per model, to hold charges with a +3 rank bonus.
I think they still won’t be used in that role, but it’s an improvement.
You can also have an ambushing, skirmishing unit without any gear to grab table quarters and baggage train markers for 7 points per model.
Maybe this type of unit will show up in some lists.
Changes to the Razing of the Westerland units: Chaos Marauder Horsemen
They keep their minimum points cost (12), but they get a free shield (5+ save as standard).
They’ve forgotten how to use javelins (they can’t take them anymore, although they can still buy throwing axes for 1 point).
The unit champion can take up to 25 points of magic items (previously they couldn’t).
One unit of Chaos Marauder Horsemen per 1,000 points can:
- Gain the Ambushers special rule for 1 point per model (new).
- Buy a magic standard of up to 50 points (new).
- Swap Open Order for Skirmishers (before there was no limit, all units had both formations).
- Belong to a Chaos Cult for 1 point per model (I’ll explain them below).
Even before this book, people had relegated them to grabbing objectives and stopped using them as a glass-cannon combat unit; now that they can’t take the Mark of Khorne, I don’t think anyone is going to run them in that role again.
The option of giving them the “Icon of Darkness” banner for that -1 to be shot at might be useful, but a Fireball or similar spell still hurts them a lot.
They’re interesting as ambushers, just like the Marauders on foot: a unit with a 5+ save, Move 8 and Ambusher costs only 13 points per model.
- March forth and conquer the Mortal Realms in the name of the ruinous powers of Chaos
- A complete Spearhead force of 26 multipart plastic miniatures
And that’s it for the facelifts to the units.
Does that feel a bit underwhelming?
Same here, because there are a ton of units that are unplayable, but hey, we do have OTHER new toys…
The 4 Chaos Cults in Razing of the Westerland
Units of Marauders on foot and mounted Marauders can no longer swap their Mark of Chaos Undivided for another one (this only applies to regular Marauders and horsemen, not to Huscarls or Tribe Berserkers).
Instead, what they can do is belong to a Chaos Cult.
What is a Chaos Cult?
It’s a new type of unit customisation introduced in the new Arcane Journal:
- A model cannot belong to more than one cult at the same time.
- A character with the Mark of any Chaos god can join a unit from any cult without any issue.
How do Chaos Cults work?
Once per game, a unit belonging to a cult can take a Leadership test. If it fails, nothing happens and it doesn’t get to try again for the rest of the game.
At least for this test it can use the Leadership of a friendly character as normal (the General if he’s within 12″, 18″ if he’s a Large Target, or another character inside the unit).
If the test is passed, until the start of its next turn it gains one benefit from this list:
Cult of the Bloodied Hound
+1 Weapon Skill
Cult of the Carrion Crow
+1 Toughness
Cult of the Slithering Serpent
Poisoned Attacks
Cult of the Fel Raptor
6+ Ward Save against non-magical attacks
But… are these the only customisation options in the new Arcane Journal?
No, we also get…
New Chaos Traits in Razing of the Westerland
These are upgrades with different costs for characters and rank-and-file models, and they can be freely combined with the Chaos Cults. The 7 options are:
Unnatural Fortitude (2 pts per model, 20 pts for characters)
+1 Toughness if they don’t wear heavy or full plate armour (which gives you Huscarls at T5 – pretty tasty – and you can also put it on the baby wizard because he comes with light armour).
And no, the Daemon Prince can’t take this.
And no, you can’t stick a low-level wizard on a chariot with this and claim he’s Toughness 6 with a 3+ save, because the bonus applies to the wizard’s Toughness, not the chariot’s.
But, but, butt…
As far as I know, Meteoric Iron Armour isn’t considered “heavy armour” or “full plate”, which means we could run an Exalted on a dragon with T6 and regeneration.
And if, by any chance, you play an event without the 500-point cap on a single character, you can even add Battle Standard Bearer + the banner that stops you from taking Thunderstomp hits, and that way you create your very own dragon-slayer dragon 🙂
Dark Hearts (1 pt per model, 20 pts for characters)
Infantry or Cavalry only. If you win a combat in which there is a unit with this trait, enemy units suffer -1 Leadership on their tests.
- It doesn’t work by just putting a character with the trait into a unit without it.
- It doesn’t work against enemies that cause Terror, are Immune to Psychology, or that also have this trait (fratricidal duel).
This trait works really well with the new lore of magic that came out in this same Arcane Journal exclusively for the Warriors of Chaos, which you can find in this post (specifically with the sixth spell).
Battle Hunger (20 pts per full unit, 10 pts for characters)
Infantry only. It only works if the entire unit has the trait.
The unit’s maximum Charge range increases by 2″ and they can apply a +D3 modifier to their Charge or Pursuit rolls.
It’s a Temu Swiftstride, because of the extra inches you gain and because it doesn’t affect Flee rolls.
This trait adds a LOT of movement if you combine it with Taskmaster’s Scourge. Check how the item works here.
Will of Bronze (15 pts per full unit, 10 pts for characters)
Infantry or Cavalry only. Magic Resistance (1).
This lets us save on Brazen Collars (they cost 20 points and take up magic item slots on characters or champions).
Prophetic Vision (10 pts per full unit or for characters)
No enemy Scout unit can deploy within 18″ of this unit, and no enemy Ambusher unit can appear within 12″ of it.
For it to work the ENTIRE UNIT must have the trait (don’t stick a character without the trait into it).
Longstriders (1 pt per model, 15 pts for characters)
Limited to 1 unit per 1,000 points. They gain Vanguard if they don’t wear heavy or full plate armour.
Toughness 5 Huscarls with Vanguard, you say? Well, I guess we’ll have to try that out — no idea.
Keep in mind that taking the Toughness-boosting trait already stops us from taking heavy armour.
At that point… might as well go all in.
If you’re into the combos you’re reading, just do me a favor and share them with another twisted mind.
Spoiler: here comes another one.
Heightened Reflexes (1 pt per model, 10 pts for characters)
Gains +2 Initiative while fighting in combat with a hand weapon (it works with Enchanted Weapons, but not for mount attacks).
It might be interesting for Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, but I don’t think it’s worth it on Marauders.
On the other hand, this works well with the Mark of Slaanesh, which gives you +1 Initiative in the first round of combat (I’m telling you this because you’ve probably never seen ANYONE use the Mark of Slaanesh in all the time you’ve been playing Old World).
Chaos Warriors of Slaanesh with an enchanted hand weapon and shield, getting charged, hitting in two ranks with Initiative 7, and auto-passing panic tests.
Okay.
How many Chaos Traits can I take?
They can choose 2 traits:
- Chaos Lords
- Sorcerer Lords (Lvl 3/4)
- Units of Chosen on foot
- Units of Chosen Knights
- Huscarls
They can choose 1 trait:
- Exalted Champions
- Aspiring Champions
- Sorcerers (Lvl 1/2)
- Marauder Chieftains (characters)
- Chaos Warriors
- Chaos Knights
- Chaos Marauders (on foot)
- Chaos Marauder Horsemen
- Tribe Berserkers
What the fuck is a huscarl?
Why can it be more mutated than an Exalted Champion who’s been fighting for the gods of Chaos for hundreds of years?
And why can it have the same Toughness as an Exalted Champion on a Chaos Dragon?
And what do clouds even smell like?
Anyway, I hope you’ve found this post useful. Down below I’ll link the rest of the posts that round out the content of this new Arcane Journal.
More on Razing of the Westerland
Razing of the Westerland New Common Magic Items
Shadowlands Lore of Magic Razing of the Westerland
How to buy Cheap New Minis and support TOW?
Razing of the Westerland New Common Magic Items
Shadowlands Lore of Magic Razing of the Westerland
Old World Chaos Army List (block-based)
If you think there’s an error in the post, feel free to reach out at theoldwarrior@theoldwarrior.com, and I’ll review it. Hope you enjoy ToW!