Do you like Armies of Infamy? Well, GW has brought us ANOTHER new one for Chaos.
It’s true that it barely brings anything new, but it repackages everything we already had in a different way. I don’t know, maybe it’s your thing.
If you’re nostalgic like me and still remember the days when we used to include Tuskgor Chariots in a Warriors of Chaos army and maybe a unit of Chaos Furies or Screamers of Tzeentch to deal with war machines, this might bring back some good memories.
This list is one of the three parts of the August 2026 Arcane Journal called The March of Chaos (not to be confused with Battle March). I’ll cover the other two parts in separate posts because otherwise this would take forever.
Let’s get into it.
Hordes of Chaos: Army Composition List for Warhammer The Old World
As I said, this is basically a mix of beasts and Chaos mortals. There are no daemons, which is pretty sad, but remember that GW already said from the beginning of the game that daemons were one of those armies they had no intention of supporting, so it was to be expected that they wouldn’t show up here.
Characters, 50%:
0-1 Chaos Lord, Daemon Prince or Beastlord.
0-1 Exalted Champion, level 3-4 Wizard or level 3-4 Bray-Shaman per 1,000 points.
Cult Magisters (the new character), Aspiring Champions, level 1-2 Sorcerers and Shamans, Wargors, Gorebulls, as many as you want.
The Battle Standard Bearer in this case can be either an Aspiring Champion or a Wargor, for 25 points as usual.
As for magic items, everyone can buy common magic items and, on top of that, beasts can buy items from the Beastmen book and mortals from the Warriors of Chaos book. No crazy new combinations or nonsensical orgies unlocked here.
Core Units 33% (watch out, not the usual 25%):
1+ Chaos Marauders or Chaos Warriors
1+ Gors or Ungors
If your general is a Chaos Lord, Exalted Champion or Daemon Prince, you can include a single unit of Chosen Warriors as a Core unit.
If your general is a Beastlord or Wargor, you can include one unit of Bestigors per 1,000 points as a Core unit.
Chaos Cultists (the new unit) and Chaos Warhounds, as many as you want.
Special Units 33% (the percentages change again; normally this is 50%, so it has dropped significantly here):
If your general is a Chaos Lord, Exalted Champion or Daemon Prince, 1 unit of Chosen Knights can be included as a Special Unit.
Marauder Horsemen, Chaos Knights and Chaos Chariots, as many as you want.
Rare Units 33% instead of the usual 25%
0-1 Shaggoth
Dragon Ogres, Chaos Spawn, Minotaurs, Chimeras, Giants, Cygors and Ghorgons, with no limit.
Where the hell are the Gigantic Spawn of Chaos? I really miss them, considering they’re a unit that gets used a lot in both Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos. I think it’s absurd that they’re not here. The only explanation I can come up with is that GW wants to make absolutely sure this army isn’t competitive at all, and is simply a nostalgic option for campaigns or something like that.
Don’t agree?
Well, now you’re going to see the army’s special rules, so let’s see if that changes your mind:
Hordes of Chaos: Army Special Rules for The Old World
On top of the rules that already apply to Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos armies in general, you also add these if you decide to play this Army of Infamy. As usual, there are 4 in total. In this case, I’d say one is good, one is situational and two are negative:
An Unholy Union: Beast units (not characters) within 6″ of mortal units re-roll 1s To Wound and subtract 1 from their Flee roll, while mortal units within 6″ of beast units re-roll 1s To Hit and subtract 1 from their Flee roll. It doesn’t specify that this has to be in combat, so yeah, it’s a small improvement for things like Ungor bows.
Any unit that appears in both armies (Dragon Ogres, for example) is unaffected by this rule.
For the Dark Gods!: When a character kills their opponent in a challenge, they must roll on the Eye of the Gods table. In addition, your general can re-roll 1D6 on that table once per battle.
Untrusting Allies: Beast characters cannot join Cultists (the new unit) or mortal units, nor can they give them their Leadership. Mortal characters cannot join beast units or give them their Leadership either.
The Shadow Grows: For every character you include with the Mark of one of the 4 gods, you also have to include one unit with the same Mark.
These rules feel pretty meh to me. They add little or nothing in-game and have very little flavour. That’s the overall vibe I’ve been getting from the Armies of Infamy they’ve been releasing for quite a few months now.
Speaking of months… remember when GW made us change all the bases on Chaos Marauders on foot from 25mm to 30mm a while ago? Well, now they’ve released another infantry unit on 25mm bases. I’ll explain them below:
New Hordes of Chaos Units: Cult Magister and Chaos Cultists in Warhammer The Old World
Cult Magister
The Cult Magister is a level 1 Wizard (it cannot be level 2) who can choose Daemonology, Dark Magic and the signature spell of Chaos Undivided. It cannot buy Marks of Chaos, so it has no access to other signature spells such as Tzeentch’s.
It has 2 Wounds, Movement 4 and no armour.
It can only join units of Cultists (the guys on 25mm bases I mentioned earlier).
You can give it a flail, an additional hand weapon, 25 points of magic items AND the Ambushers special rule.
The good part is that it costs 55 points and comes with a Sacrificial Dagger as standard, which, besides having AP 1 and striking first in combat—which is basically anecdotal—is the same as the Beastmen one: if it is in a unit, it can kill a Cultist when casting a spell and add 1 to its casting roll.
Chaos Cultists
Chaos Cultists are infantry very similar to Ungors, with higher Leadership but Movement 4.
6 points.
You choose between giving them two hand weapons and throwing weapons, or just 1 hand weapon and a shortbow.
Warband, Skirmishers/Open Order, Mark of Chaos Undivided, they don’t cause Panic in your other troops—not even other Cultists—and… they are probably the guys with the best ambushes in the game. Check this out:
They have the Ambushers rule BUT, ON TOP OF THAT, you can add or subtract 1 from their roll to see whether they arrive BUT, EVEN MORE ON TOP OF THAT, instead of having to be placed 8 inches away from the enemy when they come in, they only have to be 4 inches away.
That lets them get really close to the typical war machines deployed at the back, shoot when they arrive and even pretty much guarantee the charge for the following turn.
Apart from that use, I don’t think either the Cultists or the Magisters are worth shit.
As a Chaos player, I have to say this leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t like it at all. A crappy army, a list made with no love and purely out of obligation.
It’s exactly the same thing I felt when I read the Dwarf Slayer list. Exactly the same. The difference is that I’m not a Dwarf player, so I care less about that one.
I don’t know. Sad day for Chaos, but a good time for Battle March. A good time to get into the game and to play 3 games in a single morning.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Battle March, the game mode for battles under 1,000 points, was updated recently. I’ll leave the post down below in case you’re interested.
MAGIC UPDATES The March of Chaos in Warhammer The Old World: Arcane Journal EXPLAINED
(Updated) Battle March Rules | Warhammer: The Old World | New Skirmish Mode Explained
NEW COMMON MAGIC ITEMS | Arcane Journal The March of Chaos
Warhammer Battle March: All the New OPTIONAL Content
MAGIC UPDATES The March of Chaos in Warhammer The Old World: Arcane Journal EXPLAINED
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