#15: Chaos and all its friends...

When the End Times began, Undead legions was the first to roll two army lists into one and it was not long before people began to earnestly wait to see which alliance would be next. There was certainly plenty of speculation to that end, and three distinct alliances circulated the rumour mill as obvious choices. The first was the Elves, rolling their three books into one. The second was the forces of Chaos, again containing three books. And the third was an alliance between the Empire, Brettonia and Dwarves. With the conclusion of the end times series we now know that this third alliance never occurred in the game (could have something to do with the fact that everyone from those three races got killed long before the climactic battle, bar a few individuals of note...) which is a damn shame, because a list containing all three of those kingdoms would have been a true force to be reckoned with. 

But it was not to be. As promo, posters and advertisements emerged from the vaults of Games Worlshop, displaying a hideous monstrosity ridden by two unsavoury looking characters, it was clear that Chaos had ascended to height of its power having received the "End Tiems treatment". 

The combinations of this book was no surprise to anyone, and the abuse of power was all but unchecked. Warriors of Chaos, previously bereft of any significant firepower (Hell cannon and throwing axes aside) now had the luxury of advancing across the battlefield beneath the covering fire of Flamers of Tzeentch, burning chariots, and the disgustingly underpriced Skull Cannon. Beasts of Nurgle, Screamers and Fiends joined the fray of shock assault units, while rank upon rank of Plaguebearers and Bloodletters joined the swelling ranks of Chaos Warriors. Reign of Chaos was empowered further, and shared to all followers of Chaos, and the Ascendancy mechanic made Chaos Legions the unquestionable top dogs in the Warhammer World. Thankfully, whoever penned Glottkin made the wise decision to ban Demon characters from joining mortal units and vice versa, protecting those non-chaos players among us from the brutality of Locus' being conveyed upon units of warriors, Knights and all manner of units in between. 

Beastmen probably got the biggest buff from this expansion with the addition of Marks of Chaos available to all Beastmen units for very reasonable points costs as well as Reign of Chaos and some rather powerful allies. It's not to say they are now a top tier army, but it gave a boost to the already sub-par army that needed a boost so desperately. 

And while Beastmen is by far the weakest standalone book of the three, it should not be ignored as having nothing to offer. Besides cheap chaff and very reasonable infantry, which offer chaos players an attractive alternative to Marauders, it's characters are where Beastmen shine in Legions of Chaos. Buy forty Gors with additional hand weapons and park Dr. Festus in their ranks and you suddenly have a combination much stronger than the sum of its parts.  

The Boombull, a doombull with almost uncapped damage potential, is high on the list of popular characters. Slugtongue is ever a common sight now. But where the beauty of Beastmen lies in their unnamed characters. Wargors, while lacking the elitism of an exalted hero, is also significantly cheaper and fills the role of Battle Standard Bearer particularly well, weighing in at toughness 5, having Primal Fury and gaining access to an incredibly cheap 1+ armour save, he is definitely worth considering. Not to mention the power output of the Shard of the Herdstone in the context of a Chaos Legions army. Imagine the damage output of two units of Pink Horrors standing within the shadow of the Herdstone, accompanied by a Tzeentch herald or three, guaranteeing you a devastating magic phase every turn without fail! 

Or our good friend Throgg, with his merry band of trolls being accompanied by a Gorebull wearing the Blackened Plate. Research it. I could babble on about combinations endlessly, but I'll let you discover some of them on your own. Wouldn't want to spoil all the surprises for you...

Besides the endless possibilities, we were handed several new characters to join the already infamous band of overlords already present in Chaos' forces. The first and most prominent was Glottkin themselves, three brothers blessed by Nurgle; one with great martial prowess, one with arcane mastery and one with, well.... Obesity. 

The model itself is majestic and powerful, looming over the battlefield like a big, fat man with two smaller fat men. So how does it convey into game terms? Well, like any model that big, you are sinking some serious points into one model. And while it does everything, from bulldozing regiments of infantry, splatting monsters or casting magic, it is by no means invincible. Sure it has a lot of wounds, but apply the right amount of pressure with a blunt instrument (the right amount being as much as humanly possible) to its face, and it will topple like any other beast. But don't take my word for it...

The second significant release was three generals of Glottkin's campaign, the Maggoth Lords. These multi wound wrecking machines proved popular due to their survivablitly and their reasonable points cost (ranging around the 400pt mark). My pick of the three would definitely be the Wizard Maggoth lord whose name escapes me, who provides an alternative general for my Nurgle horde, being both more durable, more flexible and significantly cheaper than a Great Unclean One upgraded for a similar purpose. 

The last release was Gutrot Spume and his band of Blight Kings, essentially representing Nurgle Pirate Champions, and filling the role of a very tenacious tanking unit, capable of brushing off horrific amounts of damage, and still dishing some back in healthy doses. While being on 40mm bases, it at first seemed odd that they only were classified as infantry, but after seeing their stat line and their points cost (only 40pts a head), this decision only seemed fair. 

So how does one keep friends and still use this Legion List? Simple. The easiest and most black and white way to self-comp your army is to pick one of the four chaos factions and stick to it. While no one enjoys facing down against a legion of Nurgle, it is much better than a legion of Nurgle with Skull Crushers and Skull Cannons. Taking only one faction almost curbs the pain for your opponents as well as shifting your army towards one of four specific play styles. And while there will always be some ass hat who has to take the best of everything in order to obliterate his mates' lovingly painted armies the quickest, there is a simple solution to the games you have with that person. Quite simply, don't. This is a game after all, and we play it to have fun. So if you are a Chaos player like myself and many others, remind yourself to make sure that your opponent isn't going to go sob into his pillow after the game because you brought your Khorne/Nurgle  crusade of Tzeentchian Slanneshery. To a "friendly" game. 

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Thanks for reading and apologies for the articles lateness. Good old technology. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel