Cash Johnson yet again with another 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy update. Upon further reading, I decided to come up with an alternate army list better suited to taking on "all comers." My original Warriors of Chaos list was a fluff theme based around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - four characters, four marks, nothing without a mount. With the new rules, however, the list carries with it several changes as I hope to bring this to the 'Ard Boyz in August if it works better than my greenskins (which wouldn't be hard at this point).
First up, the maximum 1+ Armour Save shaves down points on my Khorne Exalted Hero (no longer requires a shield) and Nurgle Exalted Hero (no point in taking an Enchanted Shield anymore) - they were on Juggernaut and Barded Warhorse respectively. It may not seem like a lot, but a combined 15 point reduction pays for other items of note later on.
Second, Thunderstomp strikes again with a Daemon Prince in the new list, as seen in the pic. Mark of Khorne, Diabolic Splendour, and Fury of the Blood God give him a 5+ Ward, 2+ Magic Ward, 5 Attacks + d6 Thunderstomp, Flight, and Terror/Fear at -1 Ld. For a meager 355 points, I get a Lord choice whose sole purpose is to destroy whatever happens to be in his way, plus the ability to actually survive whatever spells get thrown at him (which would probably be a lot since the new Lores are brutal).
Third, my Sorcerer of Tzeentch WAS on a Manticore so I would have a Flying, Terror model that could rip apart anything it got in combat with (Killing Blow is nothing to shake a stick at), but the Daemon Prince does a better job without risking a caster on a needless combat - 200 points dropped right there. Kept him Level 3, only I swapped out his old gear for Conjoined Homonculus and Power Familiar. This would give him +3 for his Caster Level, +1 from Mark of Tzeentch, and an additional +d3 from the Homonculus, meaning a minimum of +5 bonus on every spell he slings into the enemy, as well as 2d6+1 Power Dice per turn - as long as I don't Miscast, he will earn his points in any game. His last bit of bling also happens to be the Mask of Terror (I hate the new item name), and he gets thrown into a Tzeentch Warrior unit
Fourth, I previously ran two Slaanesh units: Exalted Hero in Chariot, and a second Slaanesh Chariot. Those were removed as I didn't have enough staying power in combat, seeing as how all my units were Cavalry, and horseback is expensive to do. Another 390 points managed to get shaved there as well, allowing me to take other units later on.
Fifth, the Khorne and Nurgle Exalted Heroes saw very few changes from how they were originally. Because of the 1+ Armour cap, I decided to kit him out with a new magic weapon, the Cleaver of Swift Slaying - at Initiative 6 with Frenzy and Always Strikes First, that gives him 5 Attacks with Re-Rolls against anything that isn't another Character with a -2 Armour Save on top of that. The other item is the Brass Collar of Khorne, granting him a total of 1+ Armour, 6+ Ward and 3+ Magic Ward (Collar + Juggernaut). As for Nurgle, the points I saved earlier allowed me to upgrade his weapon to a Filth Scythe (because why would Nurgle use a mace), meaning so long as he causes a single unsaved wound, he also causes Terror. On top of that, the Stream of Corruption gets used as well, owing to the fact that he MUST challenge, so an additional 2d6 hits could lead to some very interesting Overkill results (hooray Breath Weapons).
Sixth, my Core units are as follows: 7/7/6 Marauder Horsemen with Javelins and a Musician, 8 Khorne Marauder Horsemen with Flails and Standard, 7 Nurgle Marauder Horsemen with Light Armour/Shields and Full Command, as well as 19 Tzeentch Chaos Warriors with Full Command. This gives me four units with Vanguard Movement to cause damage early, a dedicated brick with a 6+ Ward to hide my Sorcerer Lord, and a nice unit to place my Nurgle Hero in.
Finally, my Special units saw several changes. There are 7 Nurgle Chosen with Chaos Armour, Hand Weapon, Shield, Halberd, and a Standard - 3+ Armour with either 6+ Parry or Strength 5, plus whatever I get from the Eye of the Gods roll at the start of game. Next we have 5 Khorne Knights with Champion and Standard, causing their Fear as usual, extra attack, blah blah - the Exalted Hero goes with them as well for additional fun. Upon removing the second Slaanesh unit, I decided I wanted more sawmill ability, so enter my 6 Chaos Ogres of Khorne. Using the same strategy as Ogre Kingdoms, these bad boys get a Standard, Heavy Armour and Great Weapons - front Rank gets 12 Attacks at Strength 6, back Rank gets 9 Attacks at Strength 6, plus 3 Stomp attacks at Strength 4. I expect to lose at least 2 of them before they even see combat, but Immune to Panic makes up for it - 15 Attacks with a -3 Armour Save, plus 3 more at a -1 means whatever they hit will take damage.
So how do I think this will fare in battle? Well, it's heavily armoured, though there are spells to get around that, but I can withstand enough shooting (even Drew's 80 Handjo... sorry, Handbows) to make it into combat. On top of that, this is geared for full on assault with JavCav and magic support, meaning once models start taking swings, I should be able to cause enough casualties to grind down or break units. Next we have the Vanguard push - though it loses its kick against shooty armies (which just about everyone is going to have now), I can sacrifice the JavCav to make sure the Khorne Marauders get their flails in, or at the very least tie up some of the shooting units on fodder. Another bonus for me is the Sorcerer Lord by himself, as his chance to actually FAIL casting a spell is only on a Natural 2 or 3 on 2d6 - even rolling double 2's means four of the six Tzeentch spells are cast. Finally, there's Psychology on my side this time - two units cause Terror, one has the potential to cause Terror, and three more cause Fear, with the Chosen having potential to cause Fear or Terror.
On a side note, I would like to see how Lizard, Daemon or VC players fare with the new rules, mainly because they held the cheese title for so long lately. Too bad they only come out of the woodwork when there's a tournament to spam - I guess I'll find out in August.
- Cash
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