View Full Version : Warriors of Chaos Review
KaptinScuzgob
03-11-2013, 05:14 AM
Introduction
Hey there, I’m Scuzgob and I play Stabbing and Armour the Army. Let’s talk about them, yeah?
At first glance, Warriors of Chaos has changed very little from its 7th edition incarnation. It is not a subtle army. It is an army where you run large mobs of combat infantry into guys and then roll dice until everything is dead. If you have a thing for Chaos, screaming Vikings and big monsters you’ll probably have tremendous fun doing so.
Moving to 8th, Warriors of Chaos (WoC) mainly changed in the army list section. On average, bodies are cheaper to take, while upgrades for said bodies are slightly more expensive. Some of the regulars have shifted their FOC slots, and a few new units joined the fray, but what you’ll usually be taking is a few large blocks of warriors supported by marauders and wizards. Like the new Chaos Space Marines, units start relatively cheap but can quickly get very costly when you start piling on the gear. Moderation is the key to writing a WoC list; they may have the best statlines in the game for basic troops and characters, but they will struggle if overspending causes them to be outnumbered. WoC can get by very well with their basic gear if you know how to use them, and the army can function extremely effectively when focused on a single point of the enemy battleline rather than spread out. They’re operating by overwhelming force, after all.
They are, however, not without some problems. As said above, they can quickly get expensive to field, and their characters more so. As tempting as it is to take a fully tooled up Chaos Lord, Herohammer has not returned, despite what the Eye of the Gods rule tells you. Wizards can pretty quickly suck up points, and their spell lores are quite awkward to use in an army that demands to be in combat so much. And, like Chaos Marines, they suffer somewhat from Leadership issues, having lost the ability to re-roll failed Panic tests. Having a unit of warriors be run down can be quite a painful blow, so a battle standard will be required in larger games. With changes to Marauders, WoC also lack a truly cheap horde unit to compare with Goblins, Gnoblars or Zombies, though they have a lot of tools allowing them to whittle down such units. Aside from the Hellcannon and a handful of breath weapons, the WoC shooting phase is non-existent, leading them to rely on magic to thin out enemy troops before charging in. And mastering multiple charges in a single turn is key to success with WoC.
Marks of Chaos
They do the things they’ve always done. Khorne gives you Frenzy, Tzeentch buffs your ward save, and so on. It’s better to discuss marks on a unit by unit basis, so they’ll be covered more in depth later in the review. It’s worth noting that they’re purchased on a per model basis, meaning they're much cheaper to take on small units, but can easily lead to a vast jump in price for a larger unit. And as usual, you can’t mix Marks in units, something to be aware of when writing army lists.
Eye of the Gods
This challenge-based rule has had an overhaul too, bringing the Warriors in line with Chaos Marines. Like CSM, they must always challenge, and cannot refuse a challenge, though in WHFB you won’t be cringing as your guy is forced into a challenge with a power fist. If you kill a guy in a challenge, or take out a monster, you get to roll on a cute table of bonuses. The table itself is much smaller than the CSM version too, and not quite as annoying. And unlike CSM, unit champions are optional here, so you can avoid this rule entirely if you wish.
A double 1 is of course the bad result, potentially turning your guy into a Chaos Spawn. Notice potentially. Unlike CSM, your guy can avoid this fate by passing a Leadership test, resulting in Stupidity or a LD penalty instead of becoming a spawn.
3 gets you a BS bonus. Very funny, Mr Cruddace. Most of the others are buffs to combat related attributes, all very welcome. A 7 is no longer a “nothing happens” result, which is nice, giving the champion a single re-roll to use for a turn.
The biggest change is result number 12. You take a test, similar to the spawn result, and if you pass you become a Daemon Prince. However, unlike CSM, this Prince keeps all his wargear! While a rare result, the implications of getting something as powerful as a Prince are pretty huge, and can sometimes win you the game. Don’t count on it though.
Eye of the Gods is a fun little rule, but certainly not something to base your army around. Don’t bet on a Daemon Prince appearing just when you need it to, and taking a load of Warshrines and small Marauder units with a champion to increase the odds is a silly idea. I know some of you were thinking of doing it.
KaptinScuzgob
03-11-2013, 05:16 AM
Special Characters
Let’s get these guys out of the way first, shall we? The unique WoC characters can be quite incredibly killy but suffer from being very expensive single models that often don’t do much beyond putting on the close combat hurt. On average, their point costs have gone down, and their abilities have more or less remained unchanged from the last book.
Archaon the Everchosen
Abaddon the Despoiler (Swords & Sorcery Edition) is as costly as ever even with his rather large drop in price. But what a package you get for that price! The guy is nearly indestructible; the greatest threat on the table is usually himself due to his sword hitting his own side on the roll of a 1 to hit. He’s no slouch in combat either, capable of ten attacks that ignore armour saves. Also he does spells or something. Interestingly this time he can be fielded on foot, a good option for those lucky few who actually have that limited on-foot Archaon model, as upgrading him to ride his pony carries a hefty price tag.
Also of note is that the Swords of Chaos upgrade is optional this time, meaning you’re not required to have a unit of Chaos Knights to ride with him. The upgrade can only be applied to an unmarked unit and it gives them Hatred and Immune to Psychology, quite a buff to a heavy cavalry unit, but at five points a knight you’re making an expensive unit even more costly.
Another change is that he is able to choose his spell lore instead of being locked into the Lore of Tzeentch. Shadow is probably the best choice for its multitude of hex spells, as the other options have far too many magic missiles & direct damage spells for a guy that wants to be in combat as fast as possible.
He’s almost worth taking just for those occasions when he turns into a Daemon Prince, but unfortunately Archaon is much too expensive to even consider taking in most games.
Galrauch
Sure, this guy has both a meaty monster profile and the skills of a Wizard, but he suffers from all the problems regular monsters suffer from: poor defences and no units to hide in. War machines do not care about Toughness 6, and with the Lore of Tzeentch being so lacklustre it’s unlikely you’ll be able to take them out before they nail you with cannonballs. Even mass shooting attacks from bowmen stand a good chance at taking him out through torrenting. Galrauch has dropped roughly 100 points from his cost and can be taken in smaller games, which is a small blessing, I guess, but he’s a lot more vulnerable than he looks.
And in case this overpriced monster wizard wasn’t good enough, he comes with a special rule that will make him attack himself and waste an entire turn. As you know, this is the perfect rule to have on your 500+ points Lord choice.
Kholek Suneater
The second monster character, Kholek has enough wounds to avoid death from a single cannonball. Actually, with his powerful shooting attack, Kholek is in the position to defend himself from war machines by blasting them apart before they fire on him. That’s only if you the jump on them however, and it’s no guarantee to kill the target. Unfortunately, that Initiative 1 and average armour save means he’s vulnerable to hordes of infantry that can torrent him down with a load of attacks before he gets to strike.
Sigvald the Magnificent
Slaanesh’s pretty boy Sigvald holds up quite well as a regular combat character, being roughly the same cost as a tooled up Chaos Lord. He always gets a +1 Attack bonus from Eye of the Gods, letting him avoid becoming a Spawn at least, and he makes a great army general with his Leadership 10 and Stubborn. His downsides are having Stupidity (on that Stubborn LD 10 so it isn’t that bad, just be aware he isn’t allowed to re-roll failures) and not doing much else beyond stabbing guys in the face. He is, however, excellent for that role and is a great leader in a Slaanesh themed force. That’s it really.
Valkia the Bloody
Valkia is, like Sigvald, another combat character, but this time she hands out a few helpful buffs to your army. She is effectively a second Battle Standard; nearby units must re-roll failed Break tests, which is hugely effective. Sure, they take some hits if they do run anyway, but that’s unlikely if she is your general. Valkia herself is more than capable in combat, especially on the charge, and can manage quite a distance if she flies in, and always gains +1 Strength from Eye of the Gods. With the addition of two good nerfs to any models that attack her (namely, -1 Strength and Attack) she is a solid choice for an army general.
Vilitch the Curseling
Vilitch is supposedly a good wizard character, but like Galrauch he suffers from the changes made to the Lore of Tzeentch rather than anything he does. And what he does is generate power and dispel dice whenever an enemy wizard fails a casting or dispelling attempt. If your opponent tries and fails to dispel Vilitch’s spells, they were essentially cast at a discount, so Vilitch can fuel your magic phases by himself. Vilitch would be good in a wizard heavy army if he was able to share the power dice he makes, but unfortunately he can’t, leaving him rather restricted in his use.
Wulfrik the Wanderer
A challenged focused character in an army of challenge focused characters, Wulfrik manages to stand out. Not from his combat skills (which are slightly better than average for a Warriors of Chaos hero choice) but for the ability to bring a unit of Marauders onto the table from any table edge. Having a big unit of fighters appear behind your army is no joke in WHFB, and can tip the balance in your favour. As an added bonus, characters he issues a challenge to cannot refuse (he essentially lets you control who issues and answers challenges), making him excellent at hunting cowardly wizards.
Throgg
The King of Trolls is an awesome dude. His most obvious bonuses are allowing Chaos Trolls as Core choices and handing out his Leadership to war beast and monstrous units in quite a large radius, allowing you to build some wacky Monstrous Infantry party (if for some reason Ogre Kingdoms aren’t your thing). You don’t need to go all the way, just having a unit or two alongside Warriors and Marauders takes some pressure off Special choices. Secondly, Throgg has an impressive profile for a Hero choice; five Strength 8 attacks is nothing to laugh at, and with T5, 4 wounds and Regeneration, he’ll be hard to remove. Chuck in the ability to pile on the hurt with a breath weapon that ignores armour saves, and it’s hard to find a reason not to take the guy even if he’s the only troll you have.
Festus the Leechlord
Like Throgg, Festus is a character that screams to be included. His only downside is a subpar profile (for Warriors of Chaos at least) and a lack of Chaos Armour, but the benefits he brings far outweigh those trifles. He gives any Nurgle unit he joins Poisoned Attacks and Regeneration, he’s a Level 2 Wizard, and he can chug a potion down to regain wounds. If you have a big unit of Nurgle anything, you’d be hard pressed to take a Nurgle Sorcerer over this guy. Also, go for doing his “here drink this” attack against monstrous units, it’s much more likely to cause damage than his own two attacks.
Scyla Anfingrimm
The cheapest character in the book, Scyla bounds into a unit and smacks them about with some Strength 5 hits and something something Magic Resistance. That is all.
But wait! There’s something odd about the big red rage ape. He’s Leadership 10. That means, unless you have Archaon or Sigvald running about, this guy is automatically your army general, you can’t hide him in units because he’s Unbreakable, and the only unit he can get a "Look Out Sir" save from is Dragon Ogres because he's a Monstrous Beast. Avoid.
KaptinScuzgob
03-11-2013, 05:21 AM
Character & Mounts
Your regular Warriors of Chaos characters all come with a bucketful of options, start expensive and quickly get even more expensive. Moderation is the key to kitting these guys out; they rarely need the help from the bigger Magic Weapons, so all you really need for them is a ward save of some kind and one of the cheaper weapons. Note that taking Magic Armour will swap their chaos armour for light or heavy armour, reducing their save. Not the end of the world, really, but something to keep in mind.
As for Marks of Chaos, they all have their simple benefits to characters: Khorne for more attacks, Nurgle for being harder to hit, Tzeentch for more defence, and Slaanesh for getting the fastest non-flying mount in the game. The most important thing for Marks is that characters with them can only join units with no Mark or the same Mark, something to keep in mind when writing lists.
Chaos Lord
Boasting one of the best combat statlines in the game, the Chaos Lord is the man of choice if you need something to die. He can get very expensive very quickly if you start piling on the gear, but he is not in need of any of the really impressive Magic Items. He can easily get by with a simple Magic Weapon, the Enchanted Shield and either the Dawnstone or Talisman of Endurance, and you can let his profile do the rest. The biggest choice is which mark to give him, which will also affect his choice of mount. Mark of Khorne, a flail and a Juggernaut makes a sledgehammer of a character perfect for leading a unit of Knights or Skullcrushers, or Slaanesh with a Steed for a very fast guy who can surprise on the flank. You can make a very hardly character with the Mark of Tzeentch and one of the ward save Talismans, though the Disc is an iffy choice for such an expensive model. Chariots, Warshrines, Manticores and Chaos Dragons will jump up his points far too much and leave him a very tempting target for enemy shooting. Sure, he’ll be a hard target, but he’s not invulnerable.
With his impressive statline, the Chaos Lord can easily beat down anything he faces in combat. Just don’t expect him to do anything else, which leaves him somewhat overshadowed by the utility of the Sorcerer Lord.
Exalted Hero
This is the only character that can carry the Battle Standard for WoC, so you’ll probably be seeing at least one of them about. WoC rarely need assistance from Magic Standards, so the bare bones build of Battle Standard, hand weapon, shield and the Mark of your choice makes a (relatively) cheap character which can bolster a battleline while still holding his own. Against a properly kitted out combat character they tend to fall quickly due to only having 2 wounds, however, but they can still dominate any other combat.
Another viable option is to mount him on a Disc of Tzeentch to go war machine hunting. The Exalted Hero can easily defeat crews in this way when equipped with an extra hand weapon and a ward save. Aside from that, he’s a pretty standard combat character. Just hand one the battle standard and put him in the middle of your force.
Daemon Prince
I know I keep saying this, but WoC really is the army of “quickly gets expensive.” The Daemon Prince starts out fairly priced for what you get, but to get the most out of it you have to spend quite a big chunk of points. With Movement 8, the flying upgrade isn’t vital, but Chaos Armour is (you may as well get as many saves as possible for a character like this). The Marks of Chaos do different things than usual here; Khorne giving a respectable combat buff on the charge, Slaanesh granting armour piercing and Nurgle and Tzeentch most importantly providing more protection for your monster. I really can’t overstate that enough, by the way. He’s only T5 with a 5+ ward to start with, not exactly difficult to shoot down. Note that you must choose one of “Daemon of X” upgrades for the Prince, Nurgle and Tzeentch both providing the best benefits for helping him to not die.
While we’re on the subject of protection, why not spend some of his meagre magic item allowance on a magic shield? It’s the only way he’ll be getting one after all. Charmed Shield and Enchanted Shield are good choices and leave some space for another cheap item (though it must be said, the Daemon Prince really doesn’t need a magic weapon of any kind) or you can spend it all on the Shield of Ptolos for the 1+ save against ranged attacks. On the other hand Mr Prince does have a large budget to spend on Chaos Mutations, none of which are terribly vital. Flaming Breath allows him to thin out horde units, Soul Feeder is very cheap for the chance of regaining some lost wounds, and my own paranoia demands taking Scaled Skin to further boost his armour save, with chaos armour, Scaled Skin and the Charmed Shield being the cheapest and most efficient way to reach a 1+ armour save for the big guy.
If you really need to spend even more points on one model, you can make the Daemon Prince a Wizard of up to four levels. A full level 4 Wizard will almost double his cost and isn’t really needed, but a level 2 Prince has a few more options beyond slashing folks up. Your choice of spell lore is restricted by the ‘Mark’ you’ve given him. Tzeentch Princes choose between Tzeentch and Metal, both of which have rather too many magic missile/direct damage spells for a combat monster. Nurgle gets the edge over Tzeentch; as the lores of Nurgle and Death have a handful of useful spells, but I’m partial to Slaanesh, since the lores of Slaanesh and Shadows have some very effective hex spells to sling about while in combat.
And if one of your unit champions just so happens to turn into one, you’re laughing. If you have a spare model, of course.
Chaos Sorcerer Lord & Chaos Sorcerer
With a statline other wizards are jealous of the Chaos Sorcerers are capable of holding their own in combat. Well, they need to be, they’re forced into challenges by the Eye of the Gods rule.
They’re still not meant for combat though, being wizards and all that. They have a wide range of spell lores to choose from, depending on what mark they take or not. As I’ve said above for the Daemon Prince, Fire and Metal have quite a lot of spells you can’t use while in combat, and so may be a poor choice for an on foot Sorcerer. Mounted wizards are able to move fast enough to keep in range and still avoid combat however. Again, Death and Shadows are both solid choices as they come with great debuffing spells to nerf enemy units before you charge them.
As is usual for Tzeentch, wizards get a little extra buff for taking his mark. Re-rolling channelling rolls of 1 isn’t that big of a deal, but it nets you about one extra power dice a game. The trouble then is with the lore of Tzeentch and/or Metal having mostly ranged spells. Nurgle and Slaanesh both have a great bunch of buffing and killing spells, as we’ll see later when I review the Lores of Chaos
Mounts
WoC characters have a huge list of mounts to choose from, so here’s a quick rundown. Chariots and Warshrines will be discussed in depth when they appear as normal units.
Chaos Steed
It’s a barded horse. For putting your guy in a unit of cavalry. The cheapest mount available, it does nothing fancy except come with barding, so it’s here if you’re strapped for points and want a mounted character.
Juggernaut of Khorne
Puts out a good amount of S6 attacks on the turn it charges, is essentially barded and due to how Monstrous Beasts work as character mounts, gives Exalted Heroes +1 wound. If you have the points spare and want a mounted Khorne guy, get a Juggernaut over the other options every time.
Palanquin of Nurgle
Unusually lacking poisoned attacks, the Palanquin adds a handful of average attacks to a character. But more importantly, it gives +2 wounds to heroes and +1 wound to lords because it’s a monstrous mount, and for these bonuses it’s rather fairly priced. A very nice choice for Nurgle characters.
Steed of Slaanesh
The fastest mount on offer and the mount of choice if you’re looking to join a Hellstrider unit, the Steed of Slaanesh allows a character a great amount of manoeuvrability. It can also poke a guy with its poisoned attack.
Disc of Tzeentch
The cheapest flying mount available, the Disc can turn a combat character into a war machine hunting unit, or allow a Wizard to get into prime position for unleashing spells. He will however require more protection, as he will usually be on his own when riding a Disc.
Daemonic Mount
The generic monstrous mount allows unmarked, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch characters to pretend they’re riding a Juggernaut. Has an average amount of S5 attacks, with a stomp, but costs a little too much for what it does, even before you put barding on it.
Manticore & Chaos Dragon
Only lord characters can take these, and most of the time you won’t even have the option due to point limitations. They’re powerful, fighty monsters but vulnerable to being torrented down by hordes of shooting attacks and usually not worth their points. If you want a flying monster, get a Chimera or two and give your lord a cheaper mount or have him walk on foot.
KaptinScuzgob
03-11-2013, 11:27 AM
Lores of Chaos
Warriors of Chaos are super special and get ‘unique’ Lores of Magic for Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh. Well, they were unique until Daemons of Chaos rolled along and have the same dang spells. Watch me rant, kids!
Lore of Tzeentch
What is with Tzeentch having the worst magic options these days? The Lore of Tzeentch suffers because it is a mostly ranged spell lore in a combat centric army (six out of the seven spells cannot be cast while the Sorcerer is in combat), because it heavily features the bad kind of random, and because it has a silly extra rule called Warpflame instead of Flaming attacks. Guys affected by a spell with Warpflame have to take a toughness test. They take more hits if they fail, but if they pass, they get regeneration, which stacks with whatever regenerate save they might already have. This is a Bad Thing to give your opponent, am I right, 40k Daemon players?
Some would argue that you could have a Fire Wizard on hand to get rid of any regeneration you give your opponent, in which case, congratulations, you have the only Wizard in the game that needs help from another Wizard with a completely different Lore. That’s efficient use of points in your army of expensive characters right there.
In fact, half of these spells are straight out of the Lore of Fire with random strength and Warpflame tacked on. Where’s the threatening “turn you into a spawn” spell? Where’s the awesome mutating spell that lets a whole unit roll on the Eye of the Gods table? Why has Tzeentch always got to be this random strength magic missile garbage? Why couldn’t you let Tzeentch be cool, Mr. Cruddace?
Lore Attribute – Boon of Magic
You get a power dice for each casting dice that rolls a 6 when you cast a spell. Only the Sorcerer that cast the spell gets to use these free dice, so you can’t have a Tzeentch wizard working with other Sorcerers to fuel a magic phase, which is a bit of a bummer.
Signature spell – Blue Fire of Tzeentch
Essentially the Fireball spell with random strength. Pretty low casting difficulty, but it has Warpflame, and that random strength will mess up the spell half the time.
Treason of Tzeentch
The only Tzeentch spell that can be cast while the Sorcerer is in combat, Treason inflicts a somewhat hefty Leadership penalty on the target. It forces them to use the lowest LD they have, and stops them from using their general’s Inspiring Presence and Battle Standard. You want this to go off when your army hits the enemy, of course, so they break easily.
Pink Fire of Tzeentch
Shoots out the flamer template and inflicts a hit on anybody under it, with the Warpflame rule. Too unreliable due to random strength, Warpflame and using the artillery dice for its range.
Bolt of Change
A powerful, single magic missile that acts as a bolt thrower shot, penetrating ranks and causing multiple wounds. Has a respectable if random strength, and can chew up a unit of monstrous things. But the kind of targets you want to fire it at will most likely pass their Warpflame test if the Bolt doesn’t kill them.
Glean Magic
Probably the most fun spell in the lore. If cast, you duel an enemy wizard by rolling a D6 and adding your respective wizard levels, and if you win he loses a wizard level and you steal one of his spells. Can screw up your opponent if you steal the right spell, but the spell you nick is (say it with me) random. Also, the caster has to have a high wizard level if he wants a chance at winning the duel. And if the dice really hate you, you can give your target Regeneration too!
Tzeentch’s Firestorm
It’s the Flame Storm spell from the Lore of Fire, but with random strength and the Warpflame rule. Slap the blast template down and watch as it scatters off your target to irritate a single guy on the unit’s corner.
Infernal Gateway
A bigger version of the signature spell of the lore. If you roll 11 or 12 for the strength, it’s Strength 10 and does 3D6 hits. Far too unreliable and not quite as threatening as its previous version, where it could nuke a unit on a lucky roll.
Lore of Nurgle
Nurgle lucks out again and somehow has better magic than his nemesis, Tzeentch the Supposed God of Magic. Must be Chaos being fickle or something. The Lore of Nurgle is stocked with augment spells to boost your own units along with a few ranged spells to cast while you walk in. Nurgle spells work well with WoC, favouring a short ranged approach.
Lore Attribute – Bloated with Disease
Each time you cast a spell, you get a one in six chance of severely buffing your Sorcerer’s defensive abilities for the rest of the game. +1 Toughness and Wound, while unlikely to occur regularly, is never a bad thing.
Signature spell – Stream of Corruption
A short ranged spell utilising the flamer template. Anybody hit by it must pass a Toughness test or lose a wound. Excellent for cutting down blocks of Elves, Goblins and similar low-toughness troopers. Stream of Corruption is a solid spell and good for spamming if you have multiple Nurgle wizards.
Miasma of Pestilence
A simple augment spell that nerfs any and all enemy units in base contact with the target. Combos well with the Mark of Nurgle, as both the Mark and this spell affect enemy to hit rolls in combat. WoC Initiative is quite high on average anyway so the Initiative penalty isn’t so noticeable, unless you cast this on some Ogres or Trolls. You can boost the spell to cause a debuff of D3, but it’s often not worth going that far unless you really need to land your combat hits.
Blades of Putrefaction
Another augment, this time granting poisoned attacks. Nice and simple. If the target already has poison, it gets a boost. So Festus the Leechlord wants to bring this spell along, seeing as he gives his unit poisoned attacks.
Curse of the Leper
This spell features an interesting mechanic of being an augment or hex spell, allowing you to put it on both your units and your opponent’s. More of this please!
Cast on your own unit, it grants a good buff to their Toughness. Cast on an enemy unit, it nerfs their Toughness. Either way is helpful, but since Stream of Corruption, Rancid Visitations and Plague Wind rely on your target’s failing Toughness tests, this is a good spell to open a magic phase with if you’re heavy on the Nurgle wizards.
Rancid Visitations
This is a potentially powerful magic missile. After causing its hits, it can potentially carry on going if the target fails its Toughness test. Of course, combos with Curse of the Leper to cause the most amount of damage possible.
Fleshy Abundance
Nurgle’s final augment spell suffers an increase in difficulty and a reduction in effect from the last WoC book, granting 5+ regeneration to a unit for a turn. However, this time it stacks with any existing regeneration the target has, and oh, it appears Festus gives regeneration to his unit. You know what to do there.
Plague Wind
Nurgle’s final spell is one of those wacky vortexes. Personally, I’m not a fan of these since they can go Night Goblin Fanatic through your own army if you’re unlucky, but WoC can at least withstand this one if it goes wrong. Plague Wind forces toughness tests on its victims and inflicts armour-ignoring wounds on those that fail. Get in close and fire it off into a horde for maximum carnage, but Plague Wind is overshadowed by the utility of the rest of the lore.
Lore of Slaanesh
While Nurgle hands out buffs to your own units, Slaanesh is handing out hexes to the enemy, putting it in direct competition with the Lore of Shadow, the other option for Slaanesh wizards. Slaanesh is a little trickier than attribute nerfs, and can mess with your opponent’s movement to a great degree.
Lore Attribute – Bliss in Torment
When a Slaanesh spell causes some wounds, you roll a D6 for each wound. On a 6, the casting Wizard gets a substantial buff to his combat skills for a turn. Unfortunately, all but one of the Slaanesh spells capable of causing wounds cannot be cast during combat, leaving this attribute difficult to take advantage of.
Signature spell – Lash of Torment
Draws a line from the caster, and anybody under that line takes a S3 hit with armour piercing. Awkward to use and unlikely to affect many models, this is a rather flimsy signature spell.
Acquiescence
Useful in and out of combat, this hex spell gives the target Always Strikes Last and Random Movement. Easily stalls an impending charge, and can severely nerf enemy units in combat, as well as being easy to cast. Makes me wish this was the signature spell.
Pavane of Slaanesh
This spell targets a single enemy model and forces them into a LD test on a 3D6. If they fail, they take a wound with no armour saves. Good for attacking enemy characters and sniping unit champions, you might wonder why WoC have this spell when they're so geared towards challenges. This spell allows you to kill a unit champion outside of combat, thus stopping the Eye of the Gods rule forcing your Chaos Lord into a challenge when you’d rather he go rampaging through the unit, so it’s more useful than it looks. You can also use it to ping off that final wound from an evasive single model unit.
Hysterical Frenzy
Like Curse of the Leper, Hysterical Frenzy can be cast on your unit or an enemy unit, granting Frenzy and a small amount of hits at the end of each magic phase. The hits the spell causes really shouldn’t bother a WoC unit, so you can Frenzy up non-Khorne units if you want. Hysterical Frenzy stacks with existing Frenzy too, so cast it on some Khorne warriors with pairs of hand weapons and go to town.
So why would you want to give Frenzy to an enemy unit? Firstly, it can force a unit into charging you, great for pulling in units of shooting guys that would rather stay out of combat. Secondly, having Frenzy stops you from using the parry save granted by shields, which can assist you in cutting down any annoying shield users. Cast it on a war machine crew for maximum fun.
As an aside, the wounds this spell causes happen at the end of the magic phase and not when the spell is cast, so we’ll need some errata if Hysterical Frenzy counts towards the Lore Attribute.
Slicing Shards
Another spell taken from the Daemon spells, Slicing Shards functions in the same way as Rancid Visitations. The target takes a few hits, then has to pass a LD test or take some more. Not quite so effective as Visitations as the target will likely have some kind of LD buff or re-roll somewhere, but this spell combos with Phantasmagoria below.
Phantasmagoria
Essentially inflicts a unit with the opposite of the Cold Blooded rule. They roll an extra D6 when taking LD tests, discarding the lowest dice. Very helpful at breaking enemy units, this spell can be boosted so it hits all enemy units within a certain distance of the caster. As the Lore of Slaanesh is Leadership based, consider using this spell first to get the most out of your spells.
Cacophonic Choir
A ridiculously powerful hex spell, the Choir can cause quite a lot of damage even when the caster is in combat. Causes a bunch of hits that wound on a 4+, regardless of toughness, and ignore armour saves. On top of that, the target is slapped with Acquiescence’s effects too! Bliss in Torment gets the most use out of this spell, and if you’re feeling really mean you can boost the Choir to hit all enemy units in range as well. Can often finish a game by itself and will totally cripple units hit by it.
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