Of the three currently active Chaos deities, Tzeentch has in recent years been by far the most neglected. In the later editions of Warhammer Fantasy, Tzeentch always played second fiddle to Nurgle. Mark of Nurgle was an incredible boon for Warriors of old, especially compared to the benefits offered by the Mark of Tzeentch. Short of one or two character builds, and maybe a tarpit unit here and there, it wasn't really all that points efficient. This dilemma wasn't helped by the fact that their two "Tzeentch-dedicated" characters were Galrauch (horrifically expensive in what was a very cannon-friendly, monster-hostile meta) and Vilitch the Curseling, who struggled to decide if he was a powerful warrior or a powerful caster, but paid premium points for both!
Then we passed through the End Times and into the Age of Sigmar! During this time of transition, Slannesh faded into obscurity (allegedly held prisoner somewhere amongst the realms!), while the other two Chaos Brothers were truly, truly spoilt!
Nurgle continued the trend of being a fan favourite, both in game and with models! Not only were they gifted with the exceptional Blight Kings kit, but also three Maggoth Lords and the towering, corpulent Glottkin! Gutrot Spume filled the obligatory clampack character slot, joining the Lord of Plagues, and neatly completing an abundance of models.
Then all attention turned to Khorne! Model-wise, it felt like the wave never ended! End Times brought the Wrathmongers/Skullreapers kit and Skarr Bloodwrath. Age of Sigmar only solidified their position as the main chaos faction for the time. The new starter box was jam packed with amazing models! From the dynamic Lord of Khorne model to Bloodreaver models who quenched the thirst for updated Marauder models.
This was backed up by more Khorne characters than you could shake an axe at!
In that time, Tzeentch was left with scraps. They received the Gaunt Summoner on a disc. And they received the contents of the Silver Tower. And that's honestly about it. The majority of the models in the Silver Tower didn't even get their own rules. The official word was that they were substitutes for existing units.
Things only got worse for Tzeentch when the General's Handbook dropped and stripped them of their ability to cast massed Arcane Bolts!
But although the End Times was spearheaded by Nurgle, and the glory of the War of the Realms was Khorne's for the taking, their ultimate failure left only one contender to take up the mantle as the Ascendant Chaos brother. All the events, the outcome of every battle, had led to this moment. The cunning machinations and malicious trickery had all been orchestrated by the Great Deceiver, and now power over all the legions of Chaos is his to command!
It looks like The Disciples of Tzeentch is gonna be a massive drop! There are kits for all the troops, as well as a bunch of characters, but more importantly, a ton of new rules! New spells, new command traits, artefacts, warscroll battalions. The whole nine yards!
This is a big deal for Chaos! DoT have three distinct factions within their ranks. Mortals, Daemons and the Birdmen that seem to be the new flavour added to the mix! Tzeentch has unprecedented variety within their pool of troops, and I think a savvy general will have no trouble unlocking great potential that this Battletome offers.
The ability to manipulate dice rolls is both very themed and incredibly powerful! Characters having access to Discs left, right and centre will give them a huge amount of mobility, allowing them to be where they need to and offer synergy to those who need it most! No doubt the Hero Phase will be brutal with the array of spells available to all of the unique casters now within their ranks!
I'm interested to see how resilient the army ends up being! While it can pack a considerable punch, will it be able to take one and still remain an effective force! Time will certainly tell.
Are you jumping aboard the Tzeentch train? What is making it into your legion of change?
Thanks for reading!
Gabe
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