The Old World Cathay FAQ 1.5.2 Breakdown

28th January 2026.
The long-awaited FAQs are out — the ones GW said would arrive “in January”.

They include a PDF made exclusively for Cathay, and the nerf it’s had coming ever since it released.

If you don’t know exactly what I mean, I break it down here, nicely ordered and easy to digest, like always. And at the end I’ll leave you the official PDF in case you want it for anything.

Looking for 1.5.2 FAQs for the rest of the armies? it’s here.

Let’s get into it.

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Armoury and Mundane Equipment for Cathay in Old World 1.5.2

Cathayan Warhorse

The Cathayan horse no longer has First Charge. It’s not a massive nerf, but hey — it’s there, to start things off.

This affects characters mounted on horseback (Gatekeeper and the Gate Master, who weren’t exactly the most common sights on tables) and the Jade Lancers (it might sound minor, but Cathay doesn’t have many options), and — most importantly — it affects any future units that might show up in the second wave that’s on the way.

Dragon Fire Bombs

The dragon fire bombs simply drop from Strength 4 to Strength 3.

Cathayan Lance

You can skip this bit — I think everyone already played it the way the rule now spells it out:

The Strength and Armour Piercing bonuses only apply against the unit you charged (for example: if you get “counter-charged” by an Empire detachment after your charge, you wouldn’t get the bonus against that detachment, because you didn’t charge them).

Alright. With that said, let’s get to what actually matters, which is the…

The Massive Sky Lanterns Nerf for Cathay in Warhammer Old World FAQ

The Sky Lanterns, as everyone expected, are now Toughness 4, not Toughness 5.
And that’s not the only nerf — the Commander in the crew no longer has the champion rule and, here’s the real kicker, they’re no longer Unbreakable.

Those three lines alone are already huge, but that’s not all.

In a FAQ they also clarify, regarding Heavenly Beacon, that the +1/-1 you can use when determining whether ambushing troops arrive is not cumulative.

They’re also Flammable, and Disengage has been changed.

The new Disengage rule for Sky Lanterns in 1.5.2

Before, they always got to Disengage, being Unbreakable and not having to take Leadership tests.

Now, Disengage — as the FAQs say — changes completely: if this unit, which is no longer Unbreakable, loses combat and flees or retreats in good order, it cannot use Disengage.

ONLY if it would Give Ground, it can instead choose to swap that for “retreat in good order”, making the normal dice roll — but in such a way that the enemy can’t pursue as normal: the enemy can only move 2″ towards it (as if the lantern had given ground).

In that case, what can happen is that the Cathay player retreats in good order only 2″ (because the dice hate you), and the enemy pushes forward and remains engaged with the Sky Lantern (with a 3+ on either of the two dice you roll when retreating in good order, the Sky Lantern will have successfully disengaged from combat and automatically rallied. So obviously it can face whatever direction it wants).

Also, Disengage still allows it — just like before — to “retreat in good order” if it wins a round of combat, instead of pursuing or reforming in place like any other unit would.

Sky Lantern Bombs in Old World 1.5.2

Do you think those are enough nerfs for the Sky Lanterns? If you play Cathay, you probably think it’s overkill. Well… there’s more anyway: the Sky Lantern bombs have also been nerfed, because you can now throw them only once per game. Everything else stays the same. Meaning: you can’t throw them at enemies that are engaged in combat, you have to be within 6″, etc.

To me, it’s a fair and necessary nerf for the Sky Lanterns. We’ll see if they still show up on tables — maybe just one instead of three. I think it’ll depend a lot on the second wave of miniatures coming soon for this army.

How do Warhammer Old World Errata affect the Cathayan Grand Cannon?

The cannon itself isn’t touched, beyond clarifying in a FAQ that Thunderous Impact does not stack (a unit affected by it twice because it’s near the impact point of two cannons doesn’t get -2 Movement, only -1) — which Dwarf players are going to love.

However, the ogre in the crew stops being a character. So forget challenges: the typical mounted character who manages to reach the cannon in combat can take him out immediately.

Since he’s not a character, the ogre deploys together with the rest of the war machine crew, at the same time.

Cathay Magic Items after Warhammer The Old World FAQ 1.5.2

The changes to magic items aren’t only from the Cathay Arcane Journal (obviously they weren’t going to leave the magic-missile ring as it was).

Standard of Wei-Jin

Its cost increases from 40 to 60 points.

The effect stays the same: the unit carrying it causes Fear and makes all enemies within 12″ suffer -1 Leadership for Fear, Terror, and Panic tests.

Icon of Heavenly Fury

Goes from 35 to 45 points. This is the one that stopped an enemy unit from Flying, like the Bretonnia horn, and it used to be usable even if the banner’s unit was engaged in combat and without any prior test — which now changes: you can no longer be engaged in combat to use it, and the unit must pass a Leadership test using its own unmodified Leadership for the effect to apply.

It’s like the Beastmen banner, except Jade Lancers and Jade Warriors (the units that can carry it) have Leadership 8 and are units you actually see on the table, that people actually play. Among other reasons, because the army doesn’t have another Core unit available at the moment.

Dragon’s Eye Banner

Another banner nerf. It gives a chance that an enemy wizard, when choosing the banner’s unit as the target of a spell, has to pick a different unit instead. What gets worse is the probability: it used to be 3+, now it’s 4+.

Either way, it still stays the same that if there isn’t another unit to target, the spell is lost — if you roll that 4+, of course.

Maw Shard

A magic item that, within 18″, makes any doubles rolled by an enemy wizard when casting count as a miscast. It goes from 40 points to 50, but the effect stays the same. Is that enough of a nerf?

Probably not.

+10 points probably isn’t enough for an item like this.

Although it’s also true that miscasts in Warhammer: The Old World aren’t catastrophic most of the time, and the damage is pretty situational.

Alchemist’s Mask

Costs the same, still casts Plague of Rust as a bound spell, but instead of doing it at Power Level 3, it now does it at Power Level 1.

And even though those are the enchanted items from the book, they’re not the only things involved in the Cathay nerf — because two more items from the Arcane Journal: Dawn of the Stone Dragon also got touched, with the Ring of Jet being one of them (finally!).

Ring of Jet

Same effect as before: it casts the Necromancy magic missile that deals 3D6 Strength 2 hits with no armour saves allowed, BUT now it does it at Power Level 1 instead of 2.

Important here: it’s not common anymore 🙂 (Thanks Andy)

Seal of Xing Po

Its cost goes up by 10 points, but it does the same thing: it lets the wizard carrying it discard two randomly generated spells to instead pick 2 signature spells from the Lore of Yang or the Lore of Yin.

As before, multiple wizards can take it, but each wizard can only carry one of these items.

What does Cathay magic look like after the 1.5.2 FAQs?

Not much changed. One FAQ says the special rule Mastery of the Elemental Winds can only be used once per turn, per army. Meaning: you can’t use it once per wizard in the same turn.

Remember what this rule does: it gives +1 to cast as long as the wizard using it is within 6″ of another wizard who also has this rule.

Overall, as a conclusion, this was a very necessary FAQ that significantly drops the competitive Cathay list of three Sky Lanterns with bound spells.

Thanks, GW. The rest of us mortals appreciate it.

And anyone looking to buy second-hand Sky Lanterns will appreciate it too.

Oh — I almost forgot. Here’s the link to the official FAQs PDF, and more importantly, I’ve also analysed and explained what dropped in the 28th January FAQs for the rest of the Arcane Journals, the core rulebook, Ravening Hordes, and Forces of Fantasy — which won’t leave you indifferent (not you, and not the meta).

Cathay 1.5.2 FAQ & Errata: Complete Breakdown Warhammer The Old World