The Dominion of Chaos will sweep over The Old World, leaving it in ruin and flame. Worshipers of the Ruinous Powers band together into mighty warbands and tribes, and march upon the races of The Old World to follow the Path to Glory and sell their souls for the promise of greater power. The powers of Chaos are fickle however, and sometimes there are worse fates than death to those who fail their Dark Gods…

Today the latest release for Warhammer The Old World is up for pre order with Arcane Journal – Warriors of Chaos bringing new lore and rules to Chaos players, alongside some classic returning kits. In this full review we’ll be checking out the Arcane Journal, seeing what new rules and profiles it introduces and diving into the new sub factions to see what interesting alternate lists can be put together

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us a free review copy a little ahead of time, if you would like to support the site then why not order your Warhammer The Old World goodies through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

So let’s dive into the pages of the Arcane Journal, and let’s see what secrets of the Dark Gods lie inside…

Arcane Journal – Warriors of Chaos Review

So before we jump in, what is an Arcane Journal? Following on from the 4 existing ones for Tomb Kings, Bretonnians, Orcs and Goblins and Dwarfs, Arcane Journal Warriors of Chaos is an optional supplement that acts like a mini “Warhammer Armies” book. With all the profiles within the 2 core list books, these Arcane Journals instead offer lore, a couple of different sub lists that have restrictions but allow you to field a very different army, a selection of new units (some of which are locked to the alternate lists) and a fresh assortment of magic items. You can quite happily play Warriors of Chaos without picking up this book, but you do get a lot of cool new toys if you do.

The first part of the book covers lore, both around the various tribes in the north that worship the Chaos Gods in various aspects, along with a history of Chaos that expands upon the information within the core book.

The bulk of new lore here tells the story of Frydaal the Chainmaker and her assault upon the Empire. Leading her armies through rapid ship based assaults upon the coast, she cuts a path across the Old World, with her ships using hit and run tactics, and being able to dance around the defenses and pour into areas that are weaker. We get a nice hint of a new unit that may be returning in the Empire Arcane Journal too – Manann’s Blades are featured heavily in the narrative – this was a kit introduced back in the Tamurkhan book, and consisted of some command sculpts and resin upgrade parts built around the Empire State Troops – I always regretted not picking these up in the past, and I really hope we get the chance to get them again!

As with the other Arcane Journals we also get a narrative scenario included – this pits a Wolves of the Sea army (One of the two new sub factions introduced in this book) against the Empire, with the Chaos forces defending a mighty Monument that has been erected in the name of the Dark Gods. this is a nice scenario with bonus victory points for the Chaos force killing characters in challenges, and the Empire for just having characters alive at the end of the game!

Wolves of the Sea

The first new list introduced in the book are the Wolves of the Sea – This represents a tribe of Norscans who perform raids from ships, and they have quite a different construction than the standard Chaos force!

One thing to note here, which will make list building more interesting is that you can have a Single Chaos Lord, Daemon Prince or Sorcerer Lord – no multiple top tier heroes, you’re going to have to pick a single one! they can still take an Exhalted Champion or an Exhalted Sorcerer per 1000 points, so you can still stick in more support, it’s just going to be more of an important decision which one you take.

They also get a brand new Character choice in the form of the Marauder Tribe Chieftains. These start out dirt cheap and are a nice way of making heroes for your Marauder units and can even be put on a horse, While maybe not quite as an Exhalted Champion, they have the same stat line as an Aspiring Champion (but with a 6+ save) and can still be given marks and 50 points of magic items. The new Darkoath range for Age of Sigmar would be a great place to get both mounted and foot based characters who would represent this unit perfectly, and it allows you to do a really thematic pure marauder list too!

Their Core choices are very marauder heavy with you only being able to take Marauders, Marauder Horsemen, Chaos Warhounds and another new unit Marauder Tribe Berserkers

The Marauder Tribe Berserkers are basically Marauder Chosen, that have Frenzy, a 6+ ward against non-magical attacks can be given the ambushers rule, gave Open Order and Skirmishers and can be given additional hand weapons, flails or throwing axes. This gives you a lot of different options, and as a core choice you could exclusively take these rather than standard marauders (Though watch out for your Frenzy). They are a couple of points more than a standard Marauder, but I think they are well worth it!

Chaos Warriors, Spawn and Chariots can be taken as special units, but you also get 2 new units here too the Skin Wolves and the Marauder Tribe Huscarls

Skin Wolves are a fun unit that brings back some classic Forge World models, and can be fielded in units as small as 2. They have Open Order and Skirmish, and get the Swiftstride charge bonus. They also have Blood Rage and Primal Fury seen on some Beastmen units along with Regen 5+. What’s really cool through is their ability to transform in the fight phase, allowing you to tweak them based on what you have engaged. Enlarged Claws increases your Armour Piercing by 1 and gives you armour bane 2 (Which is very handy as they only count as having hand weapons), Barbed Protrusions gives you an extra attack and Toughened Flesh increases your Toughness by 1 and your armour by 2 (They dont wear any armour base)

Marauder Tribe Huscarls are elite Marauder Horsemen who have counter charge and Furious charge, but are stuck with Close Order – They do gain access to magic banners and ites on the champion though, plus can be given Drilled, making them a pretty handy unit. They are toughness 4 base, and you can also give them heavy armour and shields too, giving them a little more resilient than your other Marauder units.

Rare gives you access to Chaos Ogres, Chaos Trolls, Shaggoths, Dragon Ogres, Giants and another new unit the Gigantic Chaos Spawn. You get a 33% Rare allowance, so a nice opportunity to take some cool units.

Gigantic Chaos Spawns basically take a standard Spawn and dial it up to 11 – Strength and Toughness 6, with 6 wounds, they are a lot scarier – they get D6 attacks with their Slashing Talons that have AP1 (Combined with Armour Bane 2 allowing for some nice spikes) and then a single attack at AP-2 that heals a wound on the spawn if it inflicts a wound!

They get to be upgraded to marks, which follow the standard spawn upgrades but are better – for example Khorne gives them Impact hits D3 in addition to Killing Blow, and Nurgle gives it Regen 5+ in addition to poisoned attacks

You can also take 1 per 1000 points in any Warriors of Chaos or Beastmen army as a rare choice!

Finally you can take Gors and Ungors as mercs!

Wolves of the Sea get a couple of additional rules to represent their raider nature – Every time a character either kills a model in a challange they get to roll on the eye of the gods, and in addition every time a unit claims an enemy standard the unit gets to roll on Eye of the Gods too!

Kneeling for the Lady is all well and good, but what about a Warrior’s Duel to determine who takes the first turn? – you can choose to challenge your opponent to a duel with each of you nominating a single infantry or cavalry champion with 1 wound to fight each other to the death (even if that requires multiple rounds of combat), with the winner getting the first turn. And if your opponent is a coward who declines this duel, you immediately get the first turn too!

Heralds of Darkness

The other list in the book are the Heralds of Darkness, which is a fully mounted Chaos army.

Character options are much as they are in the base list, with the exception that you have to be mounted or able to fly

Core is increased to 33% and consists of Knights, Horsemen, Warhounds and a single Chosen Chaos Chariot

Chosen Chaos Chariots do what they say on the tin, it’s a chariot with Chosen crew. In addition to the extra attacks for the Chosen crew, they also gain Countercharge. Like with these upgraded chariots in other Arcane Journals, you can also take these as a character mount too

For Special 1 unit of chosen Knights can be taken, along with another Chosen Chariot per 1000 points, with Spawn,standard Chariots, Chimeras and Dragon Ogres also being an option

And for Rare you can take Gorebeast Chariots, Shaggoths, Giants, Gigantic Spawns and a single Warpfire Dragon

Warpfire Dragons are an awesome Forge World kit, and it’s great to have them back in the range! They are also very cool – They are dragons with a Stone Thrower like shooting attack that can also be upgraded to level 1 or 2 wizards with Battle Magic, Daemonology or Dark Magic. What makes them really nasty is that units within 3″ of them can’t take Ward Saves. Oh, and if you kill them they explode dealing D6 Strength 5 hits at AP -2 to everything within 6″ of them! They are expensive, especially if you give them magic, but opens the door to you having multiple dragons in the army. Any standard Warriors of Chaos army can also take a single one as a rare choice.

Like the previous list they can also take some Beastmen Mercs – this time Centigor Herds and Cheiftains.

While this is a cool sub faction with some ace options, you also are a little more restricted in the fact that for each character you take with a mark of chaos you have to also take a non-character unit with that same mark, which may mean you have to juggle what marks you tend to take a little to make it “legal”

The big benefit to the list is that when charging, fleeing or pursuing your Cavalry and Chariot units are allowed to reroll any 1s! This probably makes this army the most reliable chargers in the game.

Other New Units

In addition to the new units detailed above in the Armies of Infamy above, there are also a couple of new heroes that can be taken in any Warriors of Chaos army

Frydaal The Chainmaker is a named Exhalted Champion who really buffs Marauders and is perfect to stick into the Wolves of the Sea – all marauder units (including the new ones) within her command range get +1 leadership and she also gives ambushing maraurder units a +1/-1 modifer for when they turn up, making them much more reliable – she’s also able to give a single marauder unit Ambushers to free.

She’s also got a nice two handed weapon that gives her D3 extra attacks and isn’t Strikes Last – a potential of 7 Strength 7 attacks hitting at initiative is nothing to be sniffed at!

Galrauch The Great Drake is back! A classic Warhammer model, and usable in any Warriors of Chaos army (Including the two in this book) and he is suitably bananas! With 6’s for most of his stats he’s already good, but add in the fact that he is also a Level 4 Dark Magic Wizard and this makes him a very sturdy caster (Who could also be accompanied by a Lord on Dragon and a Warpfire Dragon too…)

He has a few different breath attacks that he can choose from each turn – Dark Fire of Chaos is a basic Magical S4 Ap1 template weapon, or instead you can hit with the Fumes of Contagion which is only S2 but no armour saves can be made against it. Alternatively, once per game you have to absolutely, positively kill every thing you are nearby you can opt to unleash his one use Breath of Change – every model under the template has to make a toughness check – if they fail they are slain, no saves, no regen, no wards, do not pass go, do not collect £200. This is amazing, but again, he only gets to use it once per game, so you’re going to have to be a little careful with when you trigger it

Galrauch does have a downside however, at the start of each turn he has to take a leadership test, and if he fails he can only cast a single spell, has random movement and has to attack himself with D3 attacks! He’s Leadership 9, so chances are you’ll pass this – but there’s always that chance he starts hitting himself and foils your plans at the worst moment possible!

Magic Items

The book also contains an assortment of new Magic Items that can be taken in Warriors of Chaos armies. There’s 18 new ones here and I’ll have a quick look at some of my favourite ones from each category

Obsidian Dread-Glave is a nice Two Hander with S+2 and Killing Blow, While the Taskmaster’s Scourge is a whip that can also be used on your own unit – pass a leadership test and they gain D3 movement – which is pretty ace (It’s also cheap enough to be put on a unit champion too!)

The Daemonic Platemail is nice suit of Full Plate that also increases your Initiative and Toughness by one! Sadly it can only be taken by infantry or cavalry, so no taking that on a Dragon!

Tallisman of the Carrion Crow is a decent banner that gives your unit regen 5+ and poisoned attacks

The Sea Raider’s Crest is an interesting one that gives your unit Fear (or terror if they already have fear) – pretty cheap too

Like Ruby Ring of Ruin? Well Rod of the Damned is a Power Level 2 bound The Summoning – Dealing 2D6 S4 hits with AP 1. I think this one will be pretty popular!

On a similar note Tome of the Dark Gods allows wizards to discard any randomly generated spell and replace them with any spell from the Lore of Chaos regardless of Mark

Summary

While I know a lot of people were disappointed about the lack of brand new models in this book, there’s a lot of cool kits coming back and some really fun and thematic sub factions along with some ace new units. Already off the top of my head I’m working out what I need to buy to do an army with Galrauch, a lord on Dragon and a Warpfire Dragon with the remaining 500 ish points being Knights and however many Dragon Ogres I can fit in after the compulsory Core!

I’m a massive fan of the Marauder list too, as I feel this opens up lots of opportunity for conversions and making a nice unique army! While these Arcane Journals are not compulsory, I do feel that this one in particular is going to get a lot of use for matched play, with some excellent options within the book for expanding any Chaos army

The Old World is going from strength to strength, and I love how much love is injected into the game in just 48 pages of a supplement, and it’s well worth picking up to add to the collection!

Arcane Journal Warriors of Chaos is up for pre order today and is released Saturday 14th September

Games Workshop provided Sprues and Brews with a free copy for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

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