The Good
- Eye of the Gods changed pretty dramatically. Overall the table is far more reliable and has some pretty cool results such as transforming into a daemon prince. Fair warning though, as with all things random, this table should be seen as a perk and one should not base tactics around rolling on this table.
- Chaos Chariots. Wow. Standard Chaos Chariots dropped in points and moved to the Core section of the army list. This gives chaos a great mobile support unit that pack a solid punch. It shouldn't be used to charge straight into enemy hordes, but it makes a great flanking unit. The 8th edition book will see the at least a couple of these in every army.
- Warhounds. Warhounds have always been used as placement drops and pretty much that's it. NOw, I really don't see that role changing, but they did receive a nice boost in that role with the ability to purchase vanguard for the unit and poison dropping in points. The one weakness warhounds had was that they could be shot and flee and potentially panic units early in the game. With vanguard being cheap (for small units) they can make an initial move to move out of panic range. I really like giving them poison as then they make amusing speed bumps for monsters and sometimes they can take a wound or two off before they hit my main lines.
- Chimera. Many people will contest this one. At first glance it seems a bit fragile for the price. However, this gives Warriors of Chaos a reliable method for dealing with skirmishers, Fast Cavalry, and Warmachines. Flying monsters are crazy good at this despite their weakness versus cannons. Being able to give the Chimera a 4+ Regen save just makes it even better and the breath weapon means it can pose a serious threat to ranked units with a flank charge. I wouldn't advocate more than one in a standard 2500 point game, but these beasties are extremely versatile and allow Warriors of Chaos to put even more mobile threats on the table so they are less of a static force.
- Skullcrushers. I know this one is contentious and also that these models aren't new. However, the rules in the book still present a great unit. For roughly the cost of mournfangs you get a unit with six S5 attacks at WS5 (3 at I2 and 3 at I5) and a 1+ armor save and 3 wounds. Expensive? Certainly. Worth it? Absolutely. For the cost of an HPA you get 18 attacks at S5 and 9 T4 wounds with a 1+ armor save.
The Bad
- Marks. The Marks themselves didn't change much except for Lore of Nurgle which lost some of its survivability. This biggest change to marks is how they are purchased per model. This makes really large units of marked models incredibly expensive and smaller units more of a bargin. Taking a mark on a unit isn't an auto-include anymore.
- Marauders. Everyone knew marauders were going to go up in points but I don't think anyone expected them to go up as much as they did. At first glance the damage isn't too bad as they cost about as much as an Empire halberdier. However, their upgrade costs are prohibitive and adding marks only makes things worse. I don't predict marauders will see much light of day other than unmarked sword and board buses for steadfast blocks.
- Mutalith Vortex Beast. While I love the model the rules for this beast confuse me. It's whole "thing" is a bound spell that relies on a random table. It also costs more than an HPA, has mediocre stats (for a monster) no stubborn or immune to psychology, and is otherwise unimpressive barring a good use of the bound spell. Even more confusing is that some affects of the spell are beneficial and some are damage effects.
- Lore of Tzeentch. Ugh. This lore is largely a mimic of Lore of Fire in most regards. Of the spells, only 1 is a hex and all the others are magic missiles or direct damage. Even more confusing is the warpflame rule. So it's called warpflame but it's not actually flaming and if I roll bad than I help my opponent out? What?!?
- Magic Items. Warriors of Chaos follows the trend of the other 8th edition books by shrinking the amount of magic items in the book. However, they certainly chose to keep some weird ones. The hellfire sword is the only noteworthy weapon. The Helm of Many Eyes makes a return but this time as magic armor. This means that there are no magic suits of chaos armor so the generic magic armors are useless since they will drop your armor save for whatever other advantage you'll get. Otherwise the Banner of Rage and the Skull of Katam are the only noteworthy keepers.
The Models
- Throgg - I love this model. One day I will actually pick up this model just to paint since I never plan to play a chaos monster list. He just looks so characterful and all the small details like the embedded axe and the weird mouths all over just add to the sheer coolness of this model. Top props to the sculptor of this model.
- Dragon Ogres - While I love the appearance of these models the rearing up pose is little tiresome and poorly executed. Overall I still like the models though. They look suitably rough and share the same ogre aesthetic as the Ogre Kingdoms ogres which makes them fit in the world a little better.
- Mutalith Vortex Beast / Slaughterbrute - Both of these figures are fantastic but I do lean towards the Mutalith a little more than the slaughterbrute. The slaughterbrute looks sufficiently terrorizing and Khorne-like with a pose that intimates how he plans to abuse the opponents army. The mutalith just oozes Chaos though. The strange tentacles and the ovoid shape, the weird 8-pointed star, etc just add to the models character.
- Chaos Chariot - I really like this model. It's simple and understated but still lethal looking.
Overall I'm really impressed with the Warriors of Chaos book. It has expanded the army beyond just a static wall of infantry that simply marches across the field straight at the opponent. So the army has more diverse options and more playstyles which only makes a book better since army lists will use a more diverse mix of units. IN addition the models are fantastic. Even some of the more recent releases that didn't come with the book like the skullcrushers, Valkia are fantastic. I didn't mention it above but the new Chaos Lord is fantastic as well. So the new Warriors of Chaos book has me excited to jump back into Chaos in the future. Maybe sometime after Adepticon I'll work up a list and pick up a few more models.
So until the next time, keep playing and let me know of how Warriors of Chaos have worked for you or your experiences playing against the new book. Until then, I'm back to painting rats.