The tombs contained herein will ever be expanding as the Chaos Wastes territory grows...

General Stuff - By Gerd Hug

Monstrous Hordes - By Gerd Hug

Chaos Gifts - By Gerd Hug

Magic Items, Chaos Only - By Gerd Hug

Chaos Spells - By Gerd Hug

Human Armies - By Gerd Hug

Chaos Human Tactics - By Gerd Hug

Tactics and analysis of the forces of Chaos

1.0 General Stuff:

In December 1997 games workshop released a new version of the Realms of CHaos (RoC)

in order to adapt this race to the new 5th Edition rules and to make it more

chaotic and give it a better background. All in all Tuomas Pirinen (the

headauthor) gave Chaos much of flavur and colour back it had lost when Rick

Priestly had written the 4th Edition Armybook which was very weak as far as

flavour and colour go. This is especially true if you are a long time player

like me who simply addored the 3rd Edition Chaos Armybooks which were all

flavour. The new RoC achieves to give Chaos some of the flavour back and

clarifies many questions and on the other hand limits the army composition

choices drastically. It splits the all in one 4th edition army into three

different ones under the theme of warbands. Imho this is very good. However

there is one big weakness, especially as far as he Marauder background is

concerned, it lacks a map. If you are familiar with maps about the chaos wastes

you happen to wonder about the location of those Marauder tribes. This article

will try to give a detailed analysis about this new RoC and give some hints on

tactics. I will discuss each of the three different armylists seperately. Every

RoC army is divided into a Warlord section and a followers section. In addition

you can have 25 percent of your army either from the Monstrous Hordes section

or other RoC army sections or you can have "real" allies in form of Undead,

Chaos Dwarfs, Orcs. Imho to call creatures from the other RoC armies allies is

not a good idea for it will create much debating on whether to see them as

allies , which means you can't have them in grand tournaments, or some special

allies , which means you can use them in grand tournaments, or not. Tuomas

Pirinen and Jervis Johnson will , i.e. GW , will allow such "allies" from other

RoC armies in grand tournaments. Especially as Tuomas cleared that up in a

letter directed to the Warhammer mailing list. Still not all Warhammer players

do have access to said mailing list and giving many players attitudes it will

not cause much good to call other RoC armies allies. Poor wording from GW (as

usual as i may say so :(). Remember that you now have to buy each warlord a

retinue of at least the same points costs. In addition it is entirely up to you

which of your characters will be your armies general. This gives you a lot of

freedom to design your army and the possibility to avoid expensive characters

in low points games.

1.1 The Marks of Chaos

Only humans and Daemonprinces may have Marks of Chaos. Human sorcerers will have the

Mark of the god they follow automatically. Non sorcerers and Daemonprinces must

buy one of the marks if you want them to follow one of the chaos gods.

1.1.1 The non sorcerer marks:

Khorne:

As usual a Khorne character is subject to frenzy. Being frenzy is a risky business.

On one hand it makes you immune to psychology and gives you up to 10 attacks

which , with the right magic items /chaos rewards, will turn your character

into a killing machine. On the other hand given the new 5th edition rules for

frenzy characters having to test to keep their attacks it can lead your

character in having less attacks than even a champion. The rule of thumb that

applies here: The less turns the game has the better - the more turns the worse

for your khorne characters. In grand tournaments a khorne character surely is a

bargain.

Slaanesh:

Being immune to psychology and being unable to break is being underestimated by many

players. Not having to ever have to test on your Ld values means you can use

slaanesh characters to attack and tie up whole units on their very own without

proper support. They only have to survive the hth rounds.

Nurgle:

Nurgle gives its champions +1 to their T value. Aleays keep in mind that getting +1

on your T means your opponent gets a -1 on his to wound roll. This means you

can easily create nurgle characters being immune to normal S3 attacks.

Tzeentch:

This is the only mark that has been changed. From a +4 dispell ability to a 1 reroll

per battle with a +1/-1 adjustment. Such reroll is a very powerful ability

indeed. The only drawback is that you only have one such reroll in a whole

battle. This results in the player to make a tough decision whether to use that

ability or not. Still such an ability can be a battle winner, you just have to

choose the right moment. The longer lasting the battle is the tougher your

decision will be.

Always keep in mind that you do not have to buy a mark at all if you do not want to.

You can always go chaos undivided. Though this will limit you in magic items

you might want to use and robs you off some useful abilities.

1.1.2 The sorcerer marks.

A sorcerer does not have to buy his mark. YOu just decide to which chaos god he

prays and he gets this gods mark. If he doesn't follow any particular chaos god

he gets the mark of chaos undivided.

Khorne:

There is no such thing as a sorcerer of Khorne :)

Tzeentch:

A sorcerer of tzeentch has the same mark a non sorcerer has.

Slaanesh:

This is probably the most powerful mark a sorcerer can have. Nobody will neither

shoot or cast spells at him within 12inch. This makes a chaos sorcerer of

slaanesh a very powerful enemy wizard killer and perfectly suited to tackle

shooting units. To improve this ability it is best to mount him onto a steed of

slaanesh which will improve his range to up to 24inch. You can even protect

units from certain spells and in some cases from shooting.

Nurgle:

The mark of Nurgle is more tricky. No enemy wizard of lower level will cast any

spells and you have the chance to dispell enemy spells which are in effect

within 6 inch of your nurgle sorcerer at the start of your magic phase on a 4+.

This gives you somewhat of an additional dispell and can be very useful to

cancel out hands of glory for example. You will only rarely face wizards of

lower level though.

2.0 Monstrous Hordes

2.1 General

The monstrous hordes are not an armylist on their own. This list comprises all large

monsters you find in a typical armybook and several other creatures that

originally have been part of the real armylist like Dragonogres, Harpies or

Trolls. Your army can be comprised of up to 25percent from the monstrous hordes

list and any characters like Dragonogre lords and such are part of these

25percent. YOu do not have to buy them a retinue - instead you are only allowed

to field a type of character depending on the total number of creatures you

choose to take. I.e. field 3 Dragonogres and one can be a champion.

2.2 Harpies

The use of Harpies is severely limited now. Human armies can never field more than

one Harpy unit. The same applies to Daemon armies. Only Beastmen armies can

take more units. AT first glance and for 15pts with 4 4 0 4 4 2 2 1 6 Harpies

seem to be a bargain. ON second glance you will soon realise that fielding

Harpies is risky. Thisis because of their low leadership and the inability to

test on any character - not even the general of your army - Ld values. The fact

that Harpies are fighting in ranks makes up for the lack of Ld a bit. As it is

right now fielding Harpies against armies whose warmachines cause fear is very

risky and not the way to go. You will fail any fear test more often than not.

Against other warmachines with standard crew Harpies are very effective. Use

them wisely and pray you inflict casualties or otherwise your Harpies will be

gone for good as their Ld is so low and you will only rarely rally them. Using

Harpies against other type of stuff like units is nothing i recommend. The only

useful function they have then is to charge the flank and negate any rank boni.

Again anything that causes fear / terror is a bane to any Harpy.

2.3 Chaos Trolls

The only type of Trolls a chaos army is now able to field are Chaos Trolls. They

cost the same 65pts - have no special abilities like the Stone - or River

Trolls but their Ld is 7 and their A is 4. Additionally you can equip them with

double handed weapons which turns them into dangerous creatures given their

regeneration ability. The additional attack and the Ld of 7 even gives you the

chance to field those Trolls without assorted character to boost their Ld.

Still 7 doesn't mean that you will pass all stupidity tests. The possible

double handed weapons turn chaos trolls into real heavy cavalry killers. The

resulting S7 combined with 4 attacks is mathematically much better than the 1

automatically hitting vomit attack with a S5. Even though the vomit attack

negates any armour saves.To sum it up Chaos Trolls are quite a bargain, even

though you will have trouble to field many of those given the fact that they

are part of the monstrous hordes list and the crux for any chaos player is what

to use for the 25percent. The choices are simply too many and i myself can

think of many more important things to field.

2.4 Dragon Ogres

Well there is not much to say about Dragon Ogres. They haven't changed. Even though

they are expensive for those 87pts they are awesome. Equip them with additional

hand weapons - give them light armour and they have 4 S5 attacks and a 4+ save.

Their rather low Ld7 means you should have the army general near (or with) the

unit or one of the Warlords of you army should lead them. Still if i have the

choice between dragon ogres and chaos trolls i choose dragon ogres. WIth a T5

they have some great staying powers and it turns them into prime targets. Used

wisely you can get your opponent to concentrate too much on these creatures and

leave your real "killers" alone until it is too late. Unfortunately Dragon

Ogres are now part of the monstrous hordes and therefore rather difficult to

field, given the many choices you have and the gaps you have to fill.

2.5 Chaos Spawn

The rules for chaos spawn changed completely. There is now only one type of generic

chaos spawn. For 70pts you get a 2D6 3 0 4 5 3 3 D6 10 with a 4+ daemonic save

and cause fear. In addition you cannot break chaos spawn. Even though the

movement is rather unpredictable with 2D6 it is fast enough. The D6 attacks hit

automatically and given the S4 and T5 it turns chaos spawn into something that

can dish out a lot of damage and that has an awesome staying power. Especially

as the spawns wont break. Direct SPawn against the usual SKaven Plaque Censer

Bearer screen and these rats wont cause any trouble. CHaos Spawn are my number

1 choice from the monstrous hordes list. Or use them to stop the typical

Bretonnian charges. You will see the ways to use SPawn are numerous.

2.6 All the rest

All Monsters like Dragons and swarms are also part of the monstrous hordes list. Not

much to say about that as it is the same for every army.

3.0 Chaos Gifts

Together with the Chaos boxed set you also get a set of 12 so called Chaos Gifts.

Just rol 2D6 for the amount of Cards you can use in each battle. Compared to

the old Chaos Gifts these new ones are greatly reduced in their effects on your

own or your opponents army.

3.1 Winds of Chaos

A typical and truely chaotical gift. Depending on your 1D6 roll either you or your

opponent receives the odd winds of magic card or you reduce (or add) the number

of cards rolled by 1. Generally its effect on the game is not great.

3.2 Mutations (2 Cards)

There are two different Mutation Cards. Depending on your 1D6 roll it affects one of

your own units (no characters). Only a 1 gives you a slight malus (either -1WS

or -1M). 2 has no effect and 3+ gives you something good that remains for the

whole battle. A Chaos Warrior unit with +1S and halberds isa devastating force.

3.3 Stench of Nurgel

This is one of the cards you play on one of your opponents units. You reduce this

units movement by 1 inch. This effect can be huge. Just consider that any

Dwarfen unit now moves just 2 inch. Or heavy cavalary that just moves 5 inch.

If played well and on a big battlefield this can be the reason for your

opponents battle plan not working as he is either too slow or his battle line

breaks apart.

3.4 Storm of Chaos

With this card you inflict 1D6 S4 on any opposing unit or warmachine. On the first

look this doesn't seem to be dangerous. But on the second it is! Rule of thump

- the smaller the battle the more devastating the effect of this card. It

turned out to be especially useful against opposing flying units or

warmachines. Use it wisely and never use it on big enemy units.

3.5 Changing the Ways

This card gives you 1D3 of your opponents winds of magic cards once during the

battle. On big battles the effect usually is not that great but in any tourn

restricted game and tounrament the effect can be huge, like giving you the

chance to virtually rule one magic phase. Combined with the powerful chaos

spells this card can decide a whole battle.

3.6 Eternal Labour

With this card you can get 1D6 wounds back (and your opponent as well). You can only

play that on rnf troops. All in all ths card is pretty much useless and just

has some kind of fun factor. It certainly wont decide any battle in any way.

3.7 Bless of Gods

With this you give your armies general and any other character who follows the same

god as your army general a +1 on their save. Any character that follows a

different god has his save reduced by -1. Of course this card favours "one god"

armies on the other hand you usually do not have that many chaos characters

anyways and what if your other characters are wizards? These mostly do have

chaos armour but also rarely need it because of some ward or other kind of

save. Therefore a reduction of the normal armour save usually is not that bad.

3.8 Eye of God

This is one card you do not have to play if you do not want to. Depending on 1D6 one

of your characters you nominated before either turns into a spawn (1) or cosmic

duell (2) or gets one of his characteristics increased by 1 (3+). This is

either S T or W. If you want some true chaotic feeling then play this card.

3.9 Fury of Khorne

This card effectively counts as a free dispell scroll. Even though this rarely is a

battle winner you can never have enough dispell scrolls.

3.10 Allure of Slaanesh

With this card you reduce your opponents first Ld Test by 1D3. Can have some nice

effects but unfortunately you cannot really control this card as it has to be

played on the first test. On the other hand if you are lucky you can halfway

count on your opponent failing his first panic or terror/fear test as this can

never be higher than 7. Not bad - but also not great.

3.11 Feud of Gods

This card lets you have one round of hth combat between two of your armies characters

which follow different gods. Both only have one attack. As long as you do not

insist on using the magic weapons you equipped your characters with this card

is not that dangerous given the stats and other equipment you usually give your

chaos characters.

4.0 Magic Items Chaos only

There are of course some magic items which are chaos only and which can be taken by

any chaos character except daemons. Although some are restricted to followers

of a specific god which means beastmen cannot use them. This however does not

apply to chaos magic standards. Weird isn't it ?

4.1 Weapons

- Chaos Tomb Blade: This sword gives you 1 wind of magic card per wound caused. Not

a bad item if you base your tactics on magical superiority. You have to make

sure however that you will cause wounds with tha weapon. This means the more

attacks the better. Given to a Khorne character would be ideal but on the other

hand it is a bit out of flavour (Khorne and magic !). For 75pts i consider it

rather expensive.

- Chaos Runesword of Grungni Ironheart: For a 65pts this weapon gives you a +1 on

WS S and A. This is a nice weapon to improve your chaos sorcerers or other

characters. No bad but also not useful in such a way that you can base some

tactics on it. It certainly is not a weapon for your Lord level characters. It

lacks the real bite and is too expensive.

- Chaos Daemon Sword: This is the 60pts chaos version of the Venom Sword. Having

the chance to multiply any wound into 1D6 wounds and giving no armour save ,

except magic armour certainly is devastating. On the other hand of you roll a 1

when determining the number of wounds you take that wound by yourself in good

old chaotic fashion. If you want to have flavour take this instead of the Venom

Sword. If you want to walk to secure path take the Venom Sword. In any way this

sword is most dangerous. Just make sure that the wielding character has enough

attacks and at least a S5 (hero level and up) you can use it to open any

tinhead and kill him. Combined with potion of strength this sword also makes

short work of any multiple wound monsters like slaan or treemen or dragons etc.

- Sword of Change: For a mere 50pts this sword raises any true chaos players

heartbeat. With the potential to kill and turn into chaos spawn any living

creature that takes at least one wound by 33% this sword _is_ it. Combine it

with a potion of strength against nasty critters like treemen and you are all

set. In most cases the potential S5 (or S4 for Beastmen) of your characters are

more than enough. Be aware however that it is a bit difficult to open tinheads

with this weapon.

- Chaos Runeblade: Just one of those nice D3 wounds weapons. In addition you negate

normal armour. Generally a very nice weapon (you can never have enough Dx

weapons) and especially good against tinheads as their awesome armour saves are

worth nothing.

- Blood Drinker: Just one of those weapons which have funny but generally useless

effects in a serious game. This certainly i snot a lord level characters weapon

and honestly 25pts are better spent elsewhere.

- Soul Blade: To this weapon applies the same as for the Blood Drinker - even though

i consider it more important to deduct toughness instead of strength.

- Dark Sword: Useless

4.2 Armour:

- Chaos Runeshield: What can i say - this is _the_ piece of equipment no real chaos

player with a winning heart should leave for battle. Something that negates

enemy magic weapons is especially useful against all those nasty dwarfen

runeweapons and turns those magically boosted human characters into what they

really are. The fact that you can buy that with chaos armour and it still

counts as one magic item is very useful for beastmen which generally have no

possibility to buy chaos armour as equipment.

- Chaos Armour: What can i say? For human army characters it is a must have

equipment.

4.3 Enchanted Items:

- Slaanesh's Sceptre of Domination: Not that useful as most characters Ld values are

just too high - maybe against Skaven it has some worth. The fact that any

character who passses his Ld test becomes immune certainly doesn't improve this

items effectiveness either. 50pts can be spent better elsewhere.

- Cursed Book: To have a -1 to hit item that even has a range of effectiveness can

have devastating effects. Just consider it with the usual banner of might

combination and in a unit of chaos warriors. The Ws6 of chaos warriors ensures

that 85% of anything they get into hth with only hit at a 5 at best and they

hit at a 2. This is almost cheese, especially if you have the Slaanesh Succour

of Chaos spell active as well. This means you hit automatically. I think you

get the idea :)

- Helm of many Eyes: An item that lets you strike first is always useful - even

though your chaos characters , except beastmen, have an I value of 6-9. If you

want to use this item carefully consider what your opponent can field on first

strike stuff. If they are not Dwarfs (with their first strike rune) or such

critters than you do not have to use the helm as your I value ensures your

first strikes. Whether you still strike first if equipped with a double handed

weapon as well is still subject of a large debate GW refuses to decide as

usual.

- Potion of Chaos: If you want to play your chaos army ina chaotical way - use this

item. Even though i consider its effects too little for 25pts. Since 5th

edition it is also 1 use only and it is absolutely not clear what you have to

do if you roll a 6 (i suggest you roll on one of the 2 mutations cards).

- Warpstone Charm: A reroll with a +1/-1 modifier for 10pts and being one use only

can have some effect but imho magic item slots are too important for chaos

armies. The larger the battle the less the affect this item has.

4.4 Wizard Arcana

- Chaos Familiar: Even though a bit expensive for 50pts it still gives you the

effects of a warpstone charm once per round. This can be very important for

chaos sorcerers. For example in a reroll of a dispell or to keep a reward or

item in effect etc.

- Chalice of Chaos: When the 4th edition was still in effect this item had a lot of

value if you wanted to play for magical superiority, but with 5th edition it is

useless, especially for 35pts (like who wants to end his own magic phase ?)! It

is just a typical item that needs a revamping badly.

- Golden Eye of Tzeentch:Generally for this item applies the same i have written

about the Slaanesh Sceptre of Domination.

- Skull of Katam: Useless item period!

4.5 Magic Standards:

- Banner of Rage: Well i think the usefulness of this banner is obvious. Even though

most experienced players abandon the bloody path of Khorne sooner or later.

- Blasted Standard: If you really want a one use Banner for 50pts that even is

dispellable, well.....

- Rapturous Standard: During 4th edition this was _the_ banner for chaos armies.

Now it is almost useless as you can now be broken. Even though it is still not

clear given the high amount of crap and contradictions GW let nicely flow into

the 5th edition magic items.

4.6 Bound Spells:

- Staff of Nurgle: Even though expensive for 100pts this staff is a killer and can

be a game winner if you prepare its use in your magic phase correctly. You can

even create a battle plan based upon this item. There is no other item of spell

that slays everything automatically if not dispelled.

5.0 Chaos Spells:

No other magic user in the warhammer fantasy world has such a wide array of spell

decks to choose from. You potentially have 4 decks. Now you just decide what

god your sorcerer follows and thats it. Beastmen can even still combine chaos

decks. Chaos magic generally is very destructive and only has some very few

spells that help the caster of the unit. The fact that you can combine spell

decks by just using different sorcerers even improves that. Imho chaos magic is

the most devastating magic right after necromancy.

5.1 Dark Magic

Having Dark Magic gives you the useful option to use any dispel card as a power

card. This helps you alot with your decision about the cards you want to store

for your next magic phase. I.e. store dispels before any other card. On the

other hand dark magic is very expensive. Too many power 3 spells which are not

really worth it. Some of the spells however can be battle winners. For real

destructive power it is far better to stick with the chaos god spells.

- Arnizipals Black Horror

Even though a Power 3 spell this one is a potential battle winner. If you prepare

the casting of this one well it will have a devastating effect, especially in

close combat. As most rnf troops only have a strength of 3 this gives you a 66%

killing chance. Even elites with S4 only reduce the chance to 50%. The fact

that only magical armour may save only benefits chaos armies anywass. To sum it

up - this is the Dark Magic rnf troops killer.

- Blade Wind

This Power 2 spell has a range of 24'' and can be used to good effect against low

WS troops. It is especially useful against low WS monsters like Stegadons or

Zombie Dragons. Toughness does not count either and therefore your chance for a

wound is by 50%. Watch them Lizardmen players curse if you attack their

stegadons with it.

- Dark Hand of Destruction

This Power 1 close combat spell inflicts D3 wounds if you manage a successful attack

roll. This spell has the benefit that the caster does not have to roll to wound

against his targets toughness which can be very useful against such foes. On

the other hand if you do not manage the hth attack roll the spell is wasted.

And this happens happens by at least 33%.

- Death Spasm

This Power 2 spell with a range of 18'' is designed to be one of those

character/monster killing spells. You just need to exceed your targets

toughness by rolling 1D6. However just about any important target has a

toughness of at least 4 which gives you just a 33% chance of success in most

cases. In many other cases the spell is useless as your possible targets

toughness is 6 and more. All in all this spell is certainly not a must have

one.

- Doombolt

For a range of 18'' and being a power 2 spell this spell is expensive if you

consider the possible damage you can do. Against warmachines however it canbe

devastating as its strength increases to 10. Not even an empire steam tank will

survive long against this spell. Though inflicting just 1D6 hits is certainly

not that great.

- Malediction of Nagash

A power 3 spell with a range of 36''. The possibility to to slow down an enemy unit

far away or to reduce its shooting capabilities can be nice. The D3 wounds in

following magic phases can be ignored as almost no spell stays in play for

longer than 1 round. However investing 3 power cards into casting this spell is

a risky bit. You usually do not have the power for this 2nd rated spell as

there are far more important spells to cast.

- Power of Chaos

A power 1 spell that gives you the chance to draw more power cards from the pile or

being sucked into the warp for 14%. This spell can be useful sometimes but be

aware that a 1 will kill you and losing valuable characters is something no

army , especially not chaos, can afford.

- Soul Drain

Even though the power 3 make this spell expensive, its range of 24'' and the chance

to gain additional wounds even above the stats value make this spell really

useful. Especially if you consider that the template is 2'' and no armour save

is allowed. A good spell against tincans.

- The transformation of Kadon

A nice spell that can tranform a potentially weak level 1, 2 wizard into a fearsome

creature. For level 3,4 wizards i consider this spell wasted unless said

wizard is really low on wounds and magical equipment. You usually cannot afford

to lose a level 4 wizards casting abilities.

- Witch Flight

What can i say. Tranportation spells are always useful and given that chaos sorcerers

usually are killing machines compared to the average sorcerers of most other

races this spell can be a battle winner.

5.2 Tzeentch

Tzeentch spells are very cheap to cast. The deck only has one power 3 spell and you

are likely to find a good use for each of the spells in this deck even if this

is only to draw dispels from your enemy using the cheap but still rather

powerful spells in order to successfully cast the one killing blow.

- Blue fire of Tzeentch

A power 1 spell with a range of 18'' that inflicts 1D5 S4 hits is nice to draw

dispells and/or to whittle down lightly armoured enemy troops. It makes up a

bit for the lack of shooting power in a chaos army.

- Bolt of Change

A power 2 spell with a range of 12'' that has the potential to kill everything as

there is no save at all against it undoubtly is a battle winner and perfect to

crack even the toughest of dwarfen characters. To roll equal to or less then

your toughness on 2D6 is something not even Vampires manage easily. Consider a

highly mobile chaos sorcerer on a flying disk positioning himself to cast this

spell - a perfect assassination.

- Boon of Tzeentch

A good dispell drawing spell that, if cast successfully grants you D3 additional

magic cards, is always very useful.

- Touch of Tzeentch

One of the few close combat spells for the usually cheap 1 power card. It inflicts

1D6 S4 hits with no armour save. At least against human armies or the average

champion/hero this spell has its uses besides drawing dispells.

- Glean Magic

Stealing one of your opponents spells for 2 power cards and from a maximum range of

24'' is nice, even though you must return it to its owner when dispelled and

you have to draw it randomly. At least sometimes you will draw one of thsoe

spells you really want your opponent not to have.

- Incandescent Assassin

This spell is designed to attack characters or multiple wound large creatures.

Unfortunately most possible character targets's WS is quite high and therefore

the spell is most likely not effective. Against monstrous critters like the

stegadon (WS2) this spell can be devastating however.

- Pink Fire of Tzeentch

Just another useful 1 power spell. Its range of 6'' is mostly useless and turns it

into a close combat spell. It targets single models with a strength from 5 to

10 which means it is capable of giving almost all high toughness creatures a

hard time to survive.

- Shield of Fire

For just 1 power you can cast the only self protecting spell from the tzeentch deck.

It is very useful and i almost always try to protect my sorcerers with it - if

they draw it of course - It's potential to destroy your opponents magic weapons

is a very useful benefit as well.

- Gift of Chaos

For just one power you get the chance to add one of the mutations listed in the two

mutation chaos gift cards to your sorcerer permanently. This is nice but it

only comes to bear in long battles. In tournaments with their 4 turns this

spell can't show its full potential.

- Tzeentch Firestorm

This is the only power 3 spell in the tzeentch deck. It gives you the chance to

raise pink horrors if you only manage to inflict enough wounds. Unfortunately

the template is just a mere 2'' one which means you have to choose your targets

wisely. Still it is a useful spell.

5.3 Slaanesh

The Slaanesh deck doesn't seem to be too powerful on first glance but on second

glance it can have more potential than the Tzeentch deck. At least against

opposing armies with low Ld values.

- Acquiescence

A power 1 spell for hth purposes. Even though it is nice to have your opponents

characteristics halved it is quite difficult to achieve as you have to roll

equal to or less than your I on 1D6. Even dwarfen generals have I of 5. Not

quite a spell one would like to have.

- Beam of Slaanesh

A power 2 spell with a range of 24''. If you fail a Ld test on 3D6 your

characteristics are all halved. Not bad to slow down tough enemy units. The

failing rate for the Ld test is high enough to make it a nice spell even

against high Ld enemies. A nice spell to support your own army.

- Bondage of Slaanesh

A very dangerous and useful spell for 2 power. Unfortunately the range is only 12''.

If successful cast one opposing unit can do nothing. This spell can be a battle

winner even though it has a supporting character.

- Cacophonic Choir

A close combat power 1 spell with great, even though somewhat fickle, destructive

power. It is especially useful against opposing cavalry units as this spell

does not permit any kind of armour save. One of my favourite.

- Chaos Spawn

A power 3 spell with a range of 24''. What is to say against a spell that has the

power to kill everything. Imho it is _the_ character killing spell, especially

as you do not need to have a line of sight and even creatures like Vampires can

fail a T check on 2D6 quite easily.

- Cursed Caress

This is another hth spell with great killing power. There are not many characters

which have more than 3-4 wounds. And not even a ward can save you.

- Lash of Slaanesh

A power 1 spell with a range of 8'' that inflicts 2D6 S4 hits. Unfortunately it

permits armour saves and therefore you need to choose your targets carefully.

- Pavane of Slaanesh

Another power 2 supporting spell with a range of 24''. Unfortunately the required Ld

test is on 2D6 which means you need to cast it against low Ld enemies in order

to have acceptable success with it. Though if you manage to successfully cast

it the chosen enemy unit/character is in deep trouble especially if in hth

combat. Skaven beware!

- Slicing shards of Slaanesh

Just like the lash of Slaanesh except that it costs 2 power and has a range of 24''.

Not bad but also not that great.

- Succour of Chaos

Another power range 12'' supporting spell which is very useful. Given the high WS of

many chaos troop types it ensures that you hit most opposing stuff on a 2+.

5.4 Nurgle

Also the Nurgle spells are quite powerful. There is not much to say compared to the

other chaos spell decks.

- Cloud of flies

A power 1 spell that prevents an opposing unit to either move or shoot. Unfortunately

it's range is only 12'' which means that ideal targets like archers are not

that ideal targets at all. Still the supporting character of this spell can be

quite handsome in order to get your units to charge what they want to charge.

- Fly Swarm

A power 1 spell that gives the Nurgle sorcerer some surviving power against nasty

opponents equipped to the teeth with nasty weapons/spells. It even gives you

the chance to survive instant death stuff.

- Miasma of Pestilence

Another power 2 spell that can be cast on the sorcerer only and which supports him

to a certain degree. Unfortunately this spell affects any modell within 6'' of

the caster friend and foe alike. Only nurgle characters are unaffected.

therefore you need to be careful with casting this one.

- Pillar of Putrefaction

A power 1 spell that works like the high magic coruscation of finreir spell except

that you cannot move to up to 24''. Not a bad spell for sorcerers but utterly

useless for Plaguebearers.

- Pit of Slime

A power 2 spell with a range of 12'' which is imho useless. The rate of success for

this spell is at 33% at best. One has more important things to do in his magic

phase.

- Plague Wind

This is the only power 3 spell in the Nurgle deck and has a range of 24''. It has a

lot of destructive power and works best against targets with low T. It is

additionally useful that you can raise Plaguebearers with that spell if you

only inflict enough wounds. This additional effect, besides that it does not

allow armour saves (which makes it a good spell against tinheads), can disrupt

your enemies plans quite easily as it binds hopefully important enemy units in

hth combat for at least one round. Additionally this spell can be devastating

against characters out on their own.

- Rancid Visitation

Just the typical useful power 2 spell with a range of 18'' that inflicts 2D6 S4 hits

with no armour save. Almost a must have.

- Shrivelling Pox

A hth combat spell for 1 power. It can be quite useful if you only manage to roll

high enough. Quite a useful spell against creatures with many wounds.

- Stench of Nurgle

Another power 1 hth combat spell with some supporting character. However here applies

the same as for Miasma of Pestilence.

- Stream of Corruption

A nice power 2 template spell especially useful against low I opponents as they are

killed outright. Especially a 6 kills regardless of I. Unfortunately GW reduced

the template down to a small one which only affects 3-4 enemy modells. Greater

Daemons however , having this spell as their Daemonic Reward can still use the

old huge flamer template.

6.0 Human Armies

Human armies are one of the 3 aspects a chaos army can have. Apart from the now

applying Warlord - Retinue picking they didn't change the human stats or

equipment possibilities except for one notable difference. You can now buy

Chaos Armour as equipment for 10points. This means chaos sorcerers and human

characters not aligned to khorne wont have to sacrifice a valuable magic item

slot in order to wear such armour. And you can never have enough saving throws.

Another benefit is that you can now field multiple Lord level characters and

these do not even have to be your armies general. In fact any character can be

the nominated general. I.e. with these new rules the average chaos characters

and the average chaos army becomes even tougher than before. More about army

composition later.

6.0.1 The Chaos Rewards

Human characters can be given so called chaos rewards. These are given in the same

way as normal magic items but have some advantages. First such rewards cannot

be negated by any! means. This means you have not to worry about spells like

deadlock or weapons like the destroyer or sword of destruction. Unfortunately

you cannot combine the SOD with rewads either as per WD222.

- Nurgle Rewards:

Nurgle's fould Odour:

For 50pts this reward reduces the ws of any enemy unit fighting the bearer and unit

he is with. Imho this item is far too expensive as a -1 on your ws rarely also

changes the resulting to hit roll. And the to hit roll is what counts.

Nurgle's Rot:

For a mere 35pts this item gives any enemy in base to base contact with the bearer

1 wound on a D6 roll of 6. This means the chances are 16%. This is not much and

makes this item more or less useless and should only be taken for flavour or if

you really have no 35pts to spend elsewhere.

Nurgle's cloud of flies:

For 30pts this item gives anyone fighting the wearer a -1 on their to hit roll.

This is a very nice item as it affects the to hit roll. Given the high WS of

chaotic characters this means any enemy has a 33% to hit at best. If you

combine that with some other items that give a -X to hit like the cursed book

for example this means the wearer can only be hit on a 6. Imho you get the

point.

- Khorne rewards:

Collar of Khorne:

Having an item that will destroy enemy magic weapons if you only manage to make a

successful saving throw om behalf of your chaos armour and that gives you and a

unit you are with a 4+ dispell against spells sounds nice , on first glance.

However given the fact that magic weapons used to fight a chaos army usually

either disallow armour saving throws or/and modify any possible armour saving

throw in a way that it is 5-6+ at best and the additional fact that this item

is 100pts make this item pretty much useless.

Axe of Khorne:

For just 75pts you get a weapon that has the effect of a frost blade. Even though

that a 6 on a D6 renders this weapon useless it is still worth its points. This

is because you usually only ned magic weapons when fighting enemy

characters/creatures with multiple wounds. Just never forget to equip your

characters with non-magical weapons as well.

Battle fury of Khorne:

For 50pts you get an item that increases your attacks by 1-2, being frenzy it

doubles to 2-4, giving a khorne lord character a total of 6-7 (11-14 when

frenzied) attacks. As long as you are frenzied you can be sure that your total

number will drop dramatically after the first few hth combat phases. Of course

such a reward can be nice if combined with cheese stuff like an exectutioners

axe or if you want to have a character capable of slaying a whole unit in one

round of hth combat but given the pts cost and the fact that these additional

attacks wont last longer than 2 rounds you have to ask yourself whether this is

really worth it or not. Rule of thumb, the shorter the battle the worthier it

becomes. Imho the up to 10 attacks are enough for any purpose already and you

need to fill your magic slots with more important stuff.

Praise of Khorne:

For just 25pts you get the chance top reroll any armour save. This may be nice for

as long as you do not face many of the armour save negating weapons. If

combined with the chaos runeshield it can be even be a great reward.

- Tzeentch rewards:

Destiny of tzeentch

For some 40pts you get a special save that works at least once, if not more

depending on your D6. This is another item to make a 1W champion live at least

twice as long or other characters living much longer as well.

Fortune of Tzeentch

For some 35pts you get the ability to reroll any one dice roll once per turn. Of

course this item will burn out on a 1 but this is effectively the Mark of

Tzeentch working not only once per battle. This can be very nice and even a

battle winner sometimes. Even though you should not depend on it.

- Slaanesh rewards:

Allure of Slaanesh

For just 50pts you get a reward that lets any opposing figures do a Ld test on 3D6

in order to strike your character. This comes in very handy and the chances for

even high Ld races not making that Ld test are at 30% which is quite a bargain.

Against low-level Ld races like Goblins or Skaven this item is almost a must

for any selfrespecting Slaanesh character.

Gaze of Slaanesh

This item reduces the A value of any opposing figure by 1 for just 30pts. Even

though thi sis not that impressive against opposing characters it is

devastating against almost all rnf troop types. If you just manage to bind

opposing characters with other characetrs of your own the Gaze of Slaanesh

rewarded character will be dangerous to no end. It increaes the attack value of

any character dramatically.

- Non-aligned rewards

Breathe fire

Having the ability to breathe fire for 50pts is a bit expensive. However this reward

can be used in hth combat as well and this means, given the size of the

template, that you cover most of any opposing units. This means used right this

reward can be quite useful, even if expensive.

Regeneration

Well what is to say. this gives you something like a special save for just 50ptsand

given the fact that you rarely bump into fire based attacks it is a very good

bargain especially if you consider that all non chaos rewards which a chaos

player also has access to have a good chance of burning out.

Iron hard Skin

Just another 4+ special save like reward for a mere 40pts. A must have.

Hideous Appearance

Well to inflict fear (and be immune to fear then) for 35pts is a bit expensive.

First of all the very high Ld of chaos characters almost ensure that you rarely

fail any fear test and second half your characters are immune to fear anyways.

Of course it has its uses if you want to send a lone character against a huge

fear causing unit all alone and where you risk losing the combat result. Imho

there are many other ways to ensure that this will not happen to any chaos

army.

Scorpion Tail

This reward gives you one other S5 attack which negates any armour save for 35pts.

Not a bad one but also not that great. Imho this reward is like a filler if you

still have character points free and do not know with what to fill the magic

item slots.

Mace Tail

This is like the scorpion tail without negating armour saves and for 25pts

Many Arms

For just 25pts this reward gives you either +1A or a +1 to your save. Not that bad

if you want to go for rnf troops. It does not however increase the attack value

if your character uses a magic weapon.

Massive Horns

For just 25pts this gives you an additional attack. Thats quite useful sometimes.

Scaly Skin

For 25pts you get an additional 4+ saving throw which is modified by strength.

Not that great especially if you consider that the base is +4.

6.1 The Warlords

As it is with all chaos characters, human warlords are quite expensive. This means

that you have to be even more careful with your character selection. You can't

allow yourself to waste any points here. You wont ever have that many

characters. Generally your characters are far above the average human ones. You

start with a WS that no other race has which ensures you will hit at a 3+. Your

S starts at a 5 and your T raises to a 5 as well. This means that most other

races have difficulties wounding your characters as long as they are not mere

champions and it also means that you can even try to tackle tinheads by relying

on nothing else but your own S and may be a halberd. Your I is as high as that

of any Elves which ensures a first strike in consecutive hth combat rounds

against almost any other race. Your Ld values start at a 9 which also means

that you rarely break.

6.1.1 Champions

For just 61pts you can have an unaligned chaos champion with a WS7 S5 T4 I7 Ld9 A3 W1.

The fact that you can buy him chaos armour without sacrificing his valuable

magic item slot certainly helps him to survive. His combat stats are good

enough to tackle almost any other character up to the hero level with a good

chance of winning would it be not for his one and only wound. Imho characters

with just one wound are wasted at least if they are as expensive as a chaos

champion. Also it is difficult to find the right retinue, because in order to

not to waste critical character points the ideal retinue of a character should

be costing as much as the character. If it costs more you are going to lose

character points which you can sometimes accept but mostly not, especially if

you consider combinations with troop types from the monstrous hordes list. You

hardly find a retinue for a champion which is sufficient for a battle and only

costs lets say 100pts. The only possible troop type would be Marauders and

these must be fielded in big blocks and not in 8-10 figs.

- Useful magical equipment:

To find useful magic items for a champion is always difficult. You have to decide

whether to take a protecting item which is mostly not worth it because most

protecting items work on a 50% chance, a unit supporting item like the cursed

book or ruby chalice, which means that your champion has to rely on his chaos

armour only (always buy that) and on the slim chance that your opponent ignores

and possibly forgets about a "lowly" champion, or you go for an offensive item

like magical weapons which is the worst idea you can have imho. Best equipment

for a champion would be the halberd if you have to tackle tinheads or just his

handweapon and possibly an additional one if you have to fight standard troops.

In any case you can say the shorter the battle is the more valuable and

survivable a champion becomes.

- possible equipment:

Mark of Tzeentch, additional hw, jade amulett, cursed book, ruby chalice,

halberd

Gives you a reroll, actually gives you 2 wounds because of the cheap jade amulett

and 4 attacks. I think you can figure the stats out for those other marks on

your own. The cursed book would give any enemy a -1 to hit on your character

and any other chaos troops within 6''. The ruby chalice would even protect you

from missile fire even though it is a bit expensive and therefore whether to

put it onto a 1 wound character or not is questionable.

- my personal view:

I never field champions, the disadvantages outweight any possible advantage i can

think of. It may also be that because i only face experienced generals who

usually do not ignore a champion.

6.1.2 Hero like character

For just 163 points you get an unaligned character that has WS8 S5 T5 W2 I8 Ld10 A4.

The high WS almost assures an at least 3+ to hit against almost everything else

the warhammer world has to offer. The high toughness means that about 80% of

any other races characters will need a 5+ to wound and his S5 means he wounds

about 80% of any other races characters on a 3+. His A4 means he is having as

many attacks as any other Lord level character (with some exceptions of course

:)). His I8 is only equalled by elven races and assures the 1st strike in any

consecutive rounds of hth combat. His W2 mean that he will survive much longer

in combat and his Ld10 makes him an ideal leader. Of course he costs as much

(and more) than most other races generals but considering his stats he is more

than worth it. Of course his high cost also means that you have to try to make

him as survivable as possible. So always buy him chaos armour and a shield and

either an additional HW or preferably against tinheads a halberd. This gives

him either 5 S5 attacks or 4 S6 attacks. His high cost also come in handy if

you consider the necessary retinue. For the average 200+ points you can always

have a nice big block of marauders with assorted banner. More on unit

composition later.

- possible magic items:

The hero like character has two magic item slots free. You usually should think of

either 1 protecting item and one attacking item or one protecting item and one

unit supporting item. The high costs of this hero means that you have to

protect him well. Otherwise your points have been wasted. Checking on his stats

means that this character usually does not really need a magical weapon - at

least against most other races and therefore a unit supporting item should be

preferred. If your character is not acompanying a unit or you have to face some

really nasty stuff (monsters, vampires, ttoads etc.) he should probably have a

magic weapon. You should however always consider the purpose first as his stats

make many and most of the cheap magic weapons obsolete.

- combos: (always buy chaos armor and shield and additional HW or halberd and

consider a possible mark. The mark should be chosen based upon the task this

character has to fulfill - of course this is for hardliners and not for the

poets who prefer themed armies :)) I think you can figure the purposes of the

different marks by yourself. Also remember that his stats mean that he can deal

with any sort of rnf troops without any magic weapon and therefore a possible

magic weapon should be chosen with the "how to kill opposing

characters/multiple wound creatures" in mind. If you check out the magic

weapons list you will easily find the perfect weapon for the specific task

without having me to point that out. If you think your hero needs a magic

weapon then his second magic item should preferably be some ward like save.

Imho this is mandatory as your hero is far too expensive to risk him easily.

You may also , however go for the Chaos armour/chaos runeshield combo and mount

that character on a barded steed (1+ save) or a steed of his chaos god (2+

save). Since the chaos runeshield negates any magic weapons your character

might have to face this 1+ save is almost like a special save which is only

reduced by your opponents strength. Again many armies with their S4 maximum

this works very well. If not for that go for a special save should you decide

to equip your character with a magic weapon. Should you decide that a magic

weapon is not that necessary (which is in almost 70% of all battles) then you

should go for s unit supporting item like the cursed book or the ruby chalice

or any other assorted item that helps your assorted unit to win a round of hth

combat. Mounting your hero can be quite effective as it does not only increase

your armour save to 2+/1+ it also makes this character extremly fast. Even more

if he is riding a disc of tzeentch or a slaanesh steed. Speed always is a

battle winner as it gives you the chance to choose your fights on your own

terms. If you decide to let this characters retinue to be mounted as well

however, this will be very expensive pointswise and your unit will be a small

one. It is mostly far better to let such a mounted character run on his own.

Another way of mounting such a character is to let him ride on a chariot. this

does not only increase any charge by 1D6(+2 in case it has scythed wheels which

i highly recommend) S7 hits which is enough to wipe out or at least severely

hurt almost anything else you might have to face in the warhammer world it also

protects your character on a varying degree both from missile and hth attacks.

An added bonus is that the chariot is then part of this characters retinue.

Such a setup becomes even more dangerous should you decide to let your

characters chariot being towed by the steeds of your characters chaos god. this

ranges from the rather slow but awesome and multi woundedjuggernauts of khorne

(check out those beasties stats.) over 24'' ranged discs of tzeentch to the

also 24''ranged steeds of slaanesh (T5) which do also increase your characters

attacks by 2. Beasts of nurgle are nothing i would recommend for towing because

of their compulsery movement. Lastly even if you only use "mere" chaos steeds

this gives you steeds which have a S4 WS4. More on chariots later. Now without

any further comment here are some working and tried combos for hero characters.

Be aware however that these can only be some of the myriad useful combinations.

- Mark of Slaanesh, Halberd, Chariot towed by steeds of Slaanesh, CHaos armor

,Allure of Slaanesh, Iron hard skin.

Now this character is the perfect rnf killer and can even attack tough cavalry. His

mark means he wont break. His halberd gives him S6 attacks which are 6 in

total. 4 hitting on a 3+ (against 96% of any opposition) and 2 hitting on a

4-5+ due to the two steeds of slaanesh. The allure of slaanesh lets any opposin

g figure first have to pass a Ld test on 3D6 in order to strike your chariot.

This is very difficult for most rnf troops and even characters. The iron hard

skin gives this character a 4+ special save. If this character charges in his

chariots it adds D6+2 S7 hits. And lastly this chariot has a charge range of

24'' which makes it as fast as anything can go in the arhammer world. In

addition this chariot causes fear and wont ever break. You can also just

replace the armour of brilliance for standard chaos armour and add a magic

weapon. Of course this means you lose the "to hit" protection the armour of

brilliance offers. On the other hand you get 2 additional attacks with your

magic weapon. Of course you can change the marks of this character as well.

Just make sure you add the steeds of his chaos god then. This character surely

runs on his own and should therefore be placed and moved carefully. always let

him sit back behind rnf units. His charge range means that he wont have any

problems with any charge from such a position.

A cheap variant of this is to just mount that character on the steed of his god.

This only takes the D6+2 S7 hits and one attack away.

- Any mark, chaos armour, steed (either the one of his god or a chaos steed) with

barding (not possible for steeds of the chaos gods), chaos runeshield, an

assorted magic weapon (like sword of heroes against dwarfs), additional hw.

This character has a save of 1+ (chaos steed with baridng) or 2+ (steed of the chaos

god) to start with which cannot be negated by any magic weapon. This means his

save can only reduced by the personal strength of any opposing enemy. Against

humans this means he has something like an unmodifiable 2+ save (3+). His magic

weapon means he can strike pretty hard. Again always remember that such mounted

characters are vulnerable to missile fire. More about tactics for lone

characters later.

Characters which are to accompany units should preferably have a unit supporting item.

This however is not always necessary - it just depends on what kind of enemy

you are going to fight. Generally the only unit supporting items such a

character can have is something that decreases the to hit chance of any

opposition or protects the unit from magical attacks. (Cursed book or

spelleater shield for example). Imho a character that is not mounted must be

placed in a unit. Of course giving such a character a unit supporting item

means that he still needs a protecting item and does not have any magic weapon.

This however doesn't mean muchin most cases.

- any mark, chaos armour (shield), halberd, cursed book, regeneration, in a unit

that carries the banner of might.

This is one of the typical -1 for the enemy and +1 for me combos. If the unit is a

chaos warrior one this means it and the character will hit almost anything on a

2+ and can only be hit on a 5+. The differences in the to hit roll are so high

it almost ensures that you will win the combot as long as you are able to wound

your opposing stuff. Therefore it is a nice idea to give that unit halberds for

example. Such stuff can be even deadlier if you combine such a cursed book

with a ruby chalice being worn by another character in that unit which turns

the to hit rolls into 2+/6+. Of course if you need a magic weapon then you have

to give up on the cursed book and this changes the to hit rolls into 2+/4+.

Mounting such a character on a monster is something i do not like to do. Of course

such character/monster combos usually are devastating to no end and generally

cheesy, not to mention that such combos are _expensive_.

6.1.3 Lord level characters

Anything said about hero level characters also applies to lord level characters. A

lord level character just has WS9 BS9 I9 W3 A5 and is even more expensive.

However he has a 3rd magic item slot available and this means that you can give

such characters a unit supporting item and a magic weapon and a protecting item

all together. This also reflects the usual way to equip such a character. If

you want such a character to be on his own you can always change the unit

suporting item into another self protecting item like something that decreases

the enemy to hit roll (which is true to most unit supporting items as well

anyways) or , if your gaming group allows that, go for another protecting item.

This however comes very close to cheese imho. Sure you can never have enough

saves but too many unmodifiable and/or special saves just make a game boring,

especially as chaos has access to several additional saving items. As for

examples on how to equip such a critter just use the examples i mentioned above

and add the assorted item that the above mentioned character does not field.

6.1.4 The army battle standard bearer

Generally a BSB would always be useful would it not be for the one fact that most

BSBs only have 1 wound. This makes them extremly vulnerable and they therefore

usually die asap. In order to prevent them from dying to some degree you can

mount and armour him to the teeth and/or give him a protecting magic item. This

means however that you sacrifice the chance to give the BSB a magic banner.

Combining magic banners can be devastating for your enemy. Imho it is sad that

you can have two magic banners in one unit if you use the BSB. I prefer a house

rule that only allows one magic banner in any unit. A human chaos BSB differ

quite some compared to most other armies BSBs. Generally BSBs have champion

like stats. The chaos BSB has a mixture of champion and hero like stats. His S

WS W A are those of a chaos hero. This means he has 4 attacks , a very high WS8

and , most important, 2 wounds. Of course this makes the chaos BSB expensive.

On the other hand you can almsot use him as an additional hero who actually

survives more than just the 1st round of hth combat. As an added benefit you

can even mount this BSB onto the same chariot your army general rides, adding

even more awesome destructive power. Her is a possible example:

- Army general is a lord character: mark of slaanesh, armour of brilliance,

regeneration, sword of change (or whatever you feel like it), additional hw, on

a chariot towed by steeds of slaanesh + the army BSB having a halberd, mark of

slaanesh, halberd wearing chaos armour/chaos runeshield combo. This means any

enemy striking that chariot will have a -2 to hit against a WS of 9 and

therefore usually hitting on a 6+ and his magic weapon will not work. He will

receive D6+2 S7 hits, 5+2(steeds of slaanesh) attacks from a magic weapon and 4

S6 attacks from the BSB. Additionally the whole stuff will never break, cause

fear and will have a +1 to any combat result. This is just one of the lesser

cheesy combos possible.

I.e. given his stats a human chaos army BSB can be a useful addition to any human

chaos army.

6.1.5 Chaos Sorcerers

As with all sorcerers in the warhammer world there are 4 different kind of human

chaos sorcerers as well. They differ in their sorcerer level (ranged 1-4) and

in their stats. Of course they are quite expensive as well. Usually a sorcerer

is not that much of a fighter - he is for casting spells. A chaos sorcerer

however has all that is required to turn him into a supreme fighting machine.

His WS is 6 (compared to the usual 3-4 most other sorcerer types have) which

means that he will hit anything at a 4+ and all rnf on a 3+. Also a chaos

sorcerer has one attack more than most other sorcerer types. Combined with his

high S and T values of 5 and his awesome I of 6-9 (only elves are equally good

with I) and his Ld of 9-10 you have all the basics to use your sorcerer for

more than just casting spells. In fact i regard the spell casting abilities of

chaos sorcerers to be just a goody. A sorcerer usually has 1 wound more than

any comparable non sorcerer character and he can have 1 magic item per level.

This means a lord level sorcerer can have 4 magic items. Equipment wise you

can even give your chaos sorcerers armour. This is something no other sorcerer

can have. For a mere 10pts you can give each of your sorcerers chaos armour.

Now just mount him on a barded steed and your chaos sorcerer has a respective

basic armour saving throw of 2+ without you having to sacrifice any valuable

magic item slot. Also remember that the sorcerer marks are mostly different

compared to those for the non sorcerous characters.

- The different levels:

First of all you have to keep one sad fact in mind. Just about every chaos character

is very expensive and you therefore cannot afford to lose one or to take

unnecessary risks.

First level sorcerers have S4 T5 W1 I7 A2 Ld9. This means they are are already quite

good , especially with their high T and A values. Unfortunately they only have

1 wound and cost a whooping 84pts naked. This makes them imho far too expensive

because of their fragility. I.e. tactics like any greenskin player uses with

multiple cheap goblin shamans are not affordable.

Second lebel sorcerers have S5 T5 W2 A2 I7 Ld9. Such 2nd level sorcerers are even

better than 1st level ones as they have not only 2 wounds but they can also

have two magic items which makes them much more survivable, especially as you

have to remember that this type of character is a sorcerer and should therefore

have some invaluable dispell/destroy magic stuff. With two items available and

bought chaos armour you can give your sorcerer at least one of these items and

still protect him to a reasonable degree. Give him an additional hw and he even

has 3 S5 attacks which is enough for most rnf troop types and even for many

opposing characters. Unfortunately he also costs some 166pts naked.

Third level sorcerers have the same stats as a 2nd level except for W3 A3 I8 and

the chance to equip him with three magic items in total.All this makes him

equal, if not superior to most other armies lord level characters.

Fouth level sorcerers are the highest level sorcerers a human chaos army can

have. Compared to a 3rd level sorcerer they have W4 I9 A4 Ld10. This together

with their other stats makes them most formidable foes capable of dealing death

to almost everything else the warhammer world has to offer. The 4th magic item

slot even increases all that. The high WS of 6 (which is as high as the WS of

any other human armies Lord level characters can be) even ensures a good to hit

against comparably ranked characters. The high I of 9 means that only elves can

challenged him there and ansure the first strike in any consecutive hth combat

phases.

Summary:

Apart from the fact that they are quite expensive, which applies to everything

a chaos army can field chaos sorcerers are the way to go as far as characters

are concerned against most armies. The only army you would have to fear then

would be Orcs and Goblins because of their Banner of Mork. Apart from this you

have to fear nothing. Given the fact that sorcerers are not that much more

expensive compared to comparable non sorcerous chaos characters i would highly

recommend to base your army around them. Sure you lose a higher WS and one

attack but you gain the benefit of spell casting and the chance to add several

magic items only a sorcerer can have and one additional magic item slot. This

more often than not is worth the points.

Personal View:

I always base my human chaos armies around sorcerers. Any Hero/Lord level

characters i only choose in order to field something on which i can maximise

the to hit/taking hit effect or if i really see a need for a possible non

sorcerer mark (Slaanesh comes in handy here). If possible i prefer 4th level

characters for the reasons i mentioned above and in order to maximise the

survivability of my characters within the given restrictions (i rarely if ever

play "free for all magic items" games. We usually play by a 50-75pts max). This

means that i usually field even fewer characters than many other chaos armies

but if i combine my characters with superior speed and movement this makes

usually up that lack. With the speed a chaos army can give its human characters

you can always choose your fights and decide which parts of your opposing army

you want to eliminate early in the game.

Some tested examples:

- Sorcerer Lord: Mark of Slaanesh, Steed of Slaanesh, Chaos Armor, Lance or

additional HW, Allure of Slaanesh, Gaze of Slaanesh, Iron hard skin, a magic

weapon.

Now this character is a mighty combo of character AND rnf killing machine. He

has the stats of a sorcerer lord. He rides a steed of slaanesh giving him a

24'' charge/movement range and one additional attack witha WS3. The Mark of

Slaanesh means that noone within 12'' will ever cast or shoot at this

character as long as he is alone. Therefore just get him close to enemy archers

or artillery which should be easy given his charge range and if you use

possibly scenery to your advantage and you have a thorn in your enemies army

that is invulnerable to most attacks either ranged or magic. You have to charge

him in order to kill him. And if someone charges him (or you decide to charge

by yourself) your two marks of slaanesh come into bear. Anyone attacking the

sorcerer in hth loses 1 attack , which means that most rnf troop types wont

ever strike at him and those who have more than one attack will have to pass a

Ld test on 3D6 first. This will even fail by 40% even if you have the highest

Ld value of 10. Especially low Ld armies like skaven or Orcs and Goblins will

have a very hard time to kill this guy. In case something manages to hit and

even wound the T5 sorcerer he has a modifiable 3+ and then an unmodifiable 4+

save. Should he charge then he will have a grand total of 5 attacks which are

either S7 (Lance) in the first round and S5 in any consecutive rounds, or 6

attacks with a S5 (additional Hw), or he strikes with any sort of dangerous

magic weapon (a skull wand of kaloth against low ld troops for example). Should

anything survive the hth phase then you still have the magic phase with a

fairly high percentage to successfully cast a destructive magic spell.

Sure this sort of character is an all attack one where his magic abilities are

just an added benefit. If you decide to field such a character you should add a

second sorcerer with some magical backup in form of dispell/destroy scroll(s)

and or items which help with your spell casting. You can also always drop one

of the items mentioned above and give this sorcerer some backup abilities and

he will still be a very dangerous fighting opponent.

- Sorcerer Lord: Mark of Nurgle, placed in a unit of chaos warriors, Chaos

Armor, Nurgles Cloud of Flies, Staff of Nurgle, Regeneration, magic weapon.

Just another form of an all attack killing machine. Given the fact that the

beast of nurgle is not "the mount" to use for characters you should either give

him a chaos steed (range 14'' save 2+ because of barding) or place him into a

unit, preferably chaos warriors. A range of 14'' is usually not enough to evade

any artillery or missiles which could be trailed against such a acharacter

should he be out on his own. Therefore placing him into a unit should be

prefered.

This character is build around the Staff of Nurgle, an item which has the power

to kill everything within 12'' if you only succeed to cast the spell bound into

it. The regeneration gives him something like a special 4+ save, the cloud of

flies reduces any to hit by -1 and a possible magic weapon gives him character

killing abilities in hth. Best it would be to assort an additional character to

this unit in order to help the sorcerer to survive any possible challenge and

to add additional killing power. If you do this it would be very handy to

replace the magic weapon with a spell casting item or some magical backup in

form of a dispell scroll. Whatever you decide to do never forget about the

Staff of Nurgle. This is the item you want to use at least once (it burns out

on a 1-2) against some possible opposing killing machine. Therefore always use

your magic phase to prepare the spell bound in the staff. If you do that wisely

you will pick out any opposing character and slay him. The fact that your

character is within a unit of chaos warriors even ensures that enemy characters

will sooner or later be close to that staff because a chaos warrior unit always

is a target noone can ignore. Be sure if you do not want to come , they will.

- Sorcerer Lord of Tzeentch: Mark of Tzeentch, Chaos Armour, Lance or

additional hw, riding disc of tzeentch, iron hard skin, destiny of tzeentch,

skull staff, dispell scroll (destroy) or magic weapon.

This is some kind of a backup sorcerer. He is primarily used for dispelling

purposes because of the skull stuff. If you just change the scroll for a magic

weapon he turns into a more than capable fighter able to deal with almost

anything else. The mark gives you a onetime reroll which is can be a battle

winner. The iron hard skin - destiny of tzeentch combo gives this sorcerer a

very high survivability rate, not to mention his 3+ armour save.

Summary:

As you probably know by now chaos sorcerers are awesome fighters. However you

should never forget to have some kind of backup that helps you dealing with

opposing magic. Therefore try to field at least two. Chaos sorcerers of less

rank fall into the same group even though they lack magic item slots and you

have to even more carefully select what items your sorcerer should have. The

less items the more specific the sorcerers role will be. You might also want to

equip a sorcerer for magic supremacy by giving him skull staff, potion of

knowledge etc. but i rarely find that necessary for a chaos army.

6.2 Human army rnf troops

General:

As it is with characters human chaos rnf troops are quite expensive too. Even

though they have superior stats they die almost as fast as any other weaker rnf

troops of most other armies. This is because of them having only one wound.

Multi wound troops you have as well but they are so expensive that you can

rarely field many of them. So what does this mean.

Being a chaos player you have the option to field either many small units

equipped to the teeth which will have a hard time trying to survive a round of

hth combat against any opponent who fields big (not to say huge) blocks of rnf

troops, or you field only some few units which are composed out of big blocks

and which are not equipped to the teeth (like that cursed and way too expensive

chaos armour for chaos warriors) but who can stand up against other huge rnf

blocks. Imho any small units tactic is doomed unless these small units are

extremly fast and do not meet huge blocks of rnf. The resulting combat results

usually end in your opponents favour and you cannot allow yourself to break.

therefore make any block of rnf troops as big as you can possibly and

reasonably do. More on that later.

6.2.1 Chaos Knights

Chaos Knights represent the most elite rnf troops a chaos player can possibly

field. WS6 BS6 S4 T4 W1 I6 A2 Ld9 combined with a WS4 S4 horse and the chance

for a 1+ save are impressive. This however is expensive. A fully equipped chaos

knight costs around 80pts each. Altogether you have a knight on a superior

warhorse with a 1+ save. In addition you do not have to pay extra for either

musician or banner bearer.

Now having a 1+ save to start with means that no S3 attack will ever hurt those

knights. Even a S4 or 5 attack only reduces the save to +2 +3. This makes them

vastly superior to any other cavalry especially as you still have a magic

banner slot free. Of course any such unit is extremly hard hitting - imagine

each warrior has 2 attacks hitting on a +3 with a S6. Thats pretty much enough

to kill any opposing rnf troops which only have 1 wound. Unfortunately their

high points cost mean that you never have many of those chaos knights -

especially if you remember the fact that any points the unit costs more than

their warlord means lost character points - and therefore (almost) no ranks.

This fact can pretty much kill your expensive chaos knights. Additionally never

forget that expensive means important. Even only 5 models cost you around

400pts with a magic banner not included. This means they have a standing

combat result of 1. Now let such a unit face a standard infantry block of

imperial halberdiers with a banner of defiance. From the 10 attacks there will

roughly 66% hit. Thats 7 attacka. Your S6 from the charge mean you wound on

anything but a 1. With 7 hit you can be sure that one to wound roll will be a

1. Thats 6 wounds if we are generous and your dice rolling is good. Ok 7 of

those halberdiers die and their front rank cannot fight back but with their

banner and ranks their basic hth combat result is a 7+. This means both units

aree equal in hth.

To sum it up your empire players blocks a very expensive chaos unit with a

throw away halberdier unit and will probably tie this unit up for the remainder

of the game. I.e. your few chaos knights need to break their opposing units in

the first hth round or they are wasted. This means your unit may needs either

an assorted character for additional killing and/or a magic banner that helps

you with the combat result. Ths makes this small unit even more expensive and

important. It will draw even more attention from your enemy.

An additional weakness is that there are way too many magic items or spells

which do not give you an armour saving throw (just check the spells). Just take

one of those standard 2D6 S4 hits spells which every deck has. It means if this

spell will ever be cast at your unit it will most likely be wiped off the table

top.

Personal view:

I never field chaos knights as they are way too expensive for the uses they may

have. Being expensive means i have to protect them from magic and other stuff.

Of course their charge range of 14'' makes them fast but one has to ask himself

if such a small unit that can die easily if your opponent knows this game is

worth the efforts of additional protection you more or less must give them. If

you really want to field them make sure they attack small opposing units and

not your enemies big blocks.

6.2.2 Chaos Warriors

Chaos warriors are the elite foot troops of any human chaos army. They have the

same stats as a chaos knights just without the horse and cost 31pts (33pts with

halberds) with chaos armour giving them a +3 save. Additionally you do not have

to pay for musician and banner bearer as well.

As per weapons, given the warriors truely awesome stats you can just equip them

with anything you want.Additional hw - figure 12 - 15 S4 attacks hitting on a 3+. Halberds -

figure 10-12 S5 attacks hitting on a 3+. What kind of weapons you choose really

depends on the possible enemy you have to fight. If it is against cavalry or

other T4 troops use Halberds. If it is "weak" stuff like elves or humans use

additional hw or spears.

As far as armour goes you have to carefully consider if you should pay the 7

pts for chaos armour. This increases the price for each model by 25% and you

only need that chaos armour when fighting missile heavy fast troops like elven

for example. The T4 makes your troops much saver than additional chaos armour.

If you field chaos warriors make sure that the unit is as big as possible -

therefore buy them as retinue for your most expensive character. They will be a

prime target.

Always equip your chaos warriors with a magic standard. The best would probably

be the banner of might or if you want to go cheese the banner of rage. Imagine

chaos warriors hitting on a 2+. If you really want to be cheesy and create a

powerful block then give this unit the banner of rage and add an army battle

standard bearer with the banner of might. Each warrior will hit on a 2+ and

have 4 attacks minimum. Thats enough to break almost anything. I cannot

possibly think of any other more devastating rnf troop.

If you add some characters to your chaos warrior unit you are even more set.

You just have to make sure that this juggernaut gets into hth on your terms and

relatively unmolested. This means - protect them with your other troops and use

them in a second wave for example. More on tactics later

6.2.3 Chaos Hounds

For 12pts you get something that is M6 WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld6. This is not

bad - especially if you consider the 12'' charge range. The lwo Ld you can

cover with an assorted chaos warrior who will not even slow the hounds down.

Not bad. Unfortunately and obviously you cannot give ypur chaos hounds any sort

of equipment. This makes them easy pray for any sort of missile attack. This

lack of any save/equipment and the fact that you have plenty of additional rnf

troops which are far better make your chaos hounds more or less useless. For

flanking and to cancel opposing units rank bonuses they may still have some

use. I would however not build big units. They are just not worth it. Not even

as a screen are they good as they are too expensive.

6.2.4 Chaos Marauder

Now this is the troop type chaos lacked during the 4th edition time. Something

that is cheap and still quite powerful.For a mere 12pts you get M4 WS4 BS3 S4

T3 W1 I4 A2 Ld7 which you can additionally equip with double handed weapons or

additional hw or flails. With flails you will have troops which have 2 attacks

hiiting most opposing rnf troops on a 3+ with a strength of 6. Thats pretty

much davastating and enough to even tackle the most heavily armored cavalry.

Unfortunately only one unit per retinue may have a magical banner. If you

really want to you can also equip this troops with la and shield. This is

however not really necessary as you can bring many and thats the key - big

blocks! If you do not want such a units chaos lord to accompany said unit then

you should assort it a chaos warrior for Ld purposes. This warrior also serves

the good purpose to take challenges you do not want your chaos lord to accept

in case he is accompanying the unit.

Personal view:

I always equip my marauders with flails and leave any armor at home. I also

make marauder units as big as i can possibly do without sacrificing character

points. Such a marauder block can be a first class blocking unit if you equip

it with the banner of defiance. More on such tactics later. All in all chaos

marauders are more than worth their points.

6.2.5 Mounted Chaos Marauder

Mounted chaos marauders are just marauders mounted on a normal warhorse and

with the option to equip them with flails and/or shields. If you give them

everything the marauder costs a whooping 35pts and that is expensive.

Additinally every such unit may have a magic banner. Even though not cheap they

are much cheaper than chaos knights and can accomplish most of the tasks a

chaos knight unit can do in much the same way.

Personal View:

If i field such marauders i never equip them with shields and therefore have

great fast cavalry. The options of any fast cavalry far outweight any benefit

you could get by giving them a shield. The flails are just like lances. Be

aware however that you should possibly break any opposing unit in the first

round after the charge because the lack of armor and numbers don't give them

much staying power in consecutive rounds. As far as magic banners go i never

give them any - this is because i usually need my banners in the big blocks.

For harassing and flanking purposes such marauders can be devastating however.

6.2.6 Chariots

Well what is to say. Chaos gets two types of chariots - either marauder

chariots with marauder crew and normal warhorses or chaos warrior chariots

with chaos steeds and chaos warrior crew. Always equip your chariots with

scythes - thats a must!

WHich type of chariot you want to use is totally up to you. Be aware that the

marauder chariot can accomplish 80% of the tasks any chaos warrior chariot can

accomplish. The only difference is in points cost and equipment and as it is

the impact hits that make chariots so dangerous the equipment is of minor

importance. The role of chariots for characters is already covered above. Being

able to give one chariot a magic banner can sometimes be very important. The

jobs for chariot are obvious. They are something like the long strike hard

hitting force a chaos army can field. Never leave the chaos wastes without

them.

Personal view:

Apart from using chariots as a character ride (of course with the character

typical steeds to increase the charge range and for other benefits i have

already mentioned) i usually try to combine two chariots or more together and

attack one unit with it. As long as this unit is not huge and stuffed with

supercharacters you can be sure that this unit will break after the charge more

often than not. Additionally i use these chariots for flanking purposes -

removing the rank bonus - and to tackle opposing heavy cavalry.

6.2.7 Ogres

Ogres you can field in the same way as dragonogres (3 dragonogres can have a

champioon etc.). For 40pts you get something that moves 6'' has WS3 S4 and T5

and A2 and Ld7. Unfortunately your ogres cannot have a magic banner but at

least you can give them most types of hand weapons and up to heavy armor. The

high points cost mean that you never field many of those ogres. In addition

your retinue neds at least a unit of marauders or chaos warriors in order to

field ogres. This can get you to waste character points quite fast as you

either have to cut down on your warrior unit(s) in order to keep the optimum as

many character points as unit points or you field them and lose character

points. Cutting down on your warrior units is not that much of a goo didea

because in close combat your warrior units are much better (higher WS Ld and

numbers and magic banner) than your ogres. Additionally your ogres usually draw

a lot of fire. This you can use to your own advantage to distract your enemy

away from the real danger your warrior units pose. Their high toughness of 5

and 3 wounds make them almost ideal to take bow fire.

Personal view:

I rarely field ogres. If i field them then i never give them any armor as i

rely on their high toughness and additional hw. I only field ogres if i take

real expensive characters with me. Imho ogres cannot accomplish much in hth -

at least not at all as much as any warrir unit can.

So much about the different human chaos troop types and characters. I am sure

you have learned a lot so far. Now on with the most important part - TACTICS

7.0 Tactics with human chaos armies.

General:

In this chapter i try to cover several tactics for a human chaos army. Be aware

that i cannot discuss all possible tactis because this would blow this already

big document. Additionally i only cover HUMAN army tactis and not combined

chaos army tactics. The combined arms tactics you can find in my tactics for

demon armies.

7.1 The game factors that count

7.1.1 Time

Time is a key factor for any chaos army. The lack of missile weapons and cheap