Throughout the Old World, people huddle behind the high walls of
their cities for protection. Outside these fortified
settlements, ravening war bands hold sway over a grim land of
forests, mountains, and untamed wilderness.
Within is safe, comfortable, and ordered without his elemental
danger, ancient darkness, and the inescapable rule of chaos.
In the north, the power of Chaos is strongest, and the rule of
man is at its most fragile. Beyond the last mortal realm of
Kislev lies the Troll Country, a grim and shadowy land over which
no man claims kingship. Here, the minions of Chaos
openly fight for supremacy. Huge monsters vie with their
rivals to establish their territory.
Chaos War bands strive for ascendancy over those who would
dare usurp them. Minotaurs, ogres, trolls,
chimeras and other nameless abominations reign over the
broken land. From amongst the mutants, the
monstrosities and the Renegades, the Chaos gods choose their
champions and muster their armies.
It is with good reason that men loathe and fear the growing
power of Chaos. The constant threat of marauders
reminds them of a time long ago, when Chaos armies marched
southwards, plundering and destroying everything in their
path. More than once the Chaos hordes
have rolled across Kislev, scattering the armies of men
until they stood poised to destroy the lands of the Empire.
At the back of the Chaos armies, riding the winds of destruction,
come demons to pick over the spoils.
But always the forces of Chaos have been vanquished.
Always their champions have been defeated and the demons driven
northwards once more. Terrible as these wars were,
each past incursion has become but a sham, a preparation for a
greater war to come. Every battle has been a careful
testing of human defences that must one day be breached.
It is foretold that a great champion of Chaos will rise to
unite the Chaos hordes, to command them upon the field of
battle and break the back of the mortal world forever.
The moment of dark glory fast approaches when the world will
be consumed by Chaos, when its champions will have their just
reward. This book describes the
followers of Chaos in all their black evil.
It describes the Champions of Chaos, Chaos warriors, beastmen,
demons, and the foulest servants of the Dark Gods.
Rules are provided for those creatures as part of your
Warhammer army. The box also contains a number
of cards representing magic spells, magic items, number of
Chaos gifts. These last represent the divine
favours of the Chaos Gods, the physical mutations of both
disfigure and bless the followers of Chaos, giving them
many powerful advantages. Hello my friends, my name is
Owen and this is a deep dive into Warhammer Army's Chaos
written by Rick Priestley back in 1994.
Do you know back in the 80s I started playing Warhammer around
about 1984 with the second edition being launched.
That book with that three books in a box.
And I never liked Chaos in the 80s.
They had a very heavy metal feel about them.
I remember the Chaos brothers, Jake and Hellwood who appeared
in Caleb Dark and the comic strip and I never liked those
either, although I had those figures and I wish I could find
them now. Chaos was always something done
by other people. I never understood why the
armies were so powerful. The characters were so powerful.
Chaos warriors back in second edition had weapons skill 6 for
a normal Chaos warrior. Why a Dwarf had weapons skill 4
but a Chaos Dwarf had weapons skill 7 was totally and utterly
beyond me. But you know what?
Chaos grew on me. Chaos started to gnaw away at me
like Chaos does. And as the years have passed and
armies have come and gone, battles have been fought.
Warriors have been painted. Chaos finally took hold of me.
I've always been a Chaos Beastman fan, as many long time
listeners of the Crown of Command will know.
But even as I'm recording this, I'm looking at a unit of 6
minute ORS striding towards me, axes held high.
But back then in this time in 1994, and it was a different
age, Chaos was something that other people did.
But today we're going to have a look through the Chaos book.
We're going to read some of their fiction.
We'll have a look at the stats as we deep dive into what they
had to offer us back then. As I said, my name is Owen
Staton and I am the presenter of the Time Between Times podcast.
Anyone who enjoys what I do here, please take a look at
there. And if you want to buy me a
coffee, why not go at coffee.com/owen Staton?
It would be much appreciated, for these readings are actually
quite hard on the throat. I read you the introduction.
Rick Priestley was in his pomp at these times, churning out
game after game, background after background, all of it well
remembered to all of us. And I read you the introduction.
There we crossed a few pages and we were introduced to the Chaos
Gods again. These books always have
fantastic sketch arm artwork inside.
The gods haven't changed, although many years ago some of
you might remember a fifth God called Malal, the renegade Chaos
God who featured in Caleb Dark and in Caleb Dark, which was a
comic strip that was done in the Citadel journals of the time.
Almost a precursor that run alongside White Dwarf.
It was left on a Cliff edge. Caledark, the renegade warlord
who had a an axe which was a a pterosaur's head which would eat
whatever he could be fine. He was being chased by the Chaos
Brothers into a valley and the valley and Malal appeared,
causing the rocks on either side to tumble down.
He looked like Caledark was doomed, and maybe he was,
because the comic strip stopped right there and we've never
heard from him since. And as Chaos developed the
books, the realm of Chaos, slaves, the darkness, the lost
and the damned, all these things, slowly but surely, Malal
was forgotten. To all but the oldest of
Warhammer players like myself. Anyway, we must not weep for
Malal. We must rejoice that Corn,
Nergal, Zeech and Slannish are still there.
I can never say it's in Zich very well, but so I'll try and
avoid all the text regarding him.
But here we are, we've got them all.
Slannish was always my favorite, but as the years went on as
well, the Slannish probably quite rightfully got torn down
from what it was once. Which of course was the God of
sex, but now it was just a God of pleasure.
And although it alludes to those early things, there are less
boobs and kinky wear, and that's probably a good thing.
But anyway, let's move on to what they say about the Chaos
Gods. There are 4 great Chaos Gods on
Malal, four brothers in darkness who rule the infernal region
known as the Realm of Chaos. This is not a material realm,
but a place without physical or temporal boundaries.
A vast, formless limbo that exists beyond the light of sun
or *. From their vantage point beyond
space and time, the Chaos gods ponder the feeble antics of
mortals much as a man might study a nest of ants.
They watch for a while the progress of one tiny creature,
until the struggles of a more interesting individual capture
their attention. Occasionally their gaze is drawn
elsewhere, to another world perhaps, or some other godly
concern, for while mortals are left to pursue their own ends in
their own fashion. Such is the nature of gods, for
they are whimsical in their favour as in their anger, and
their plans are beyond the wit of any man to comprehend.
The four great Chaos Gods are named as follows.
The 1st and the greatest is Corn, the Blood God, who is also
known as the Lord of Skulls. The second in power is Tzinzich,
the Changer of the Ways, called by some the great sorcerer.
Next is Nergal, the Lord of Decay, who is also the master of
plague and pestilence. Nergal is the most resplendently
fowl of all the Chaos gods. Lastly, there is the youthful
Slannish, the handsome Prince of Chaos, seductive and perverse in
his supernatural favours. The dark gods of Chaos each have
their own particular enthusiasms, their own demons,
and their own subdimensional territories within the realm of
Chaos. Each strives for dominance over
the others, and the one may gain ascendancy for a while.
No God has ever succeeded in vanquishing another.
As one God gains mastery, the others ally against him, and as
the allies grow in power, they divide amongst themselves,
forming new alliances until another conqueror emerges to be
vanquished in his turn. Their battlefield is not the
realm of Chaos, but the mortal worlds of the old World, but is
1 amongst many. So when men fight their wars for
the casual amusement and momentary gratification of the
gods, the fate of the Old World is of more than usual
significance in the struggle between the gods and mortals.
In the far north of the Old World lies a zone of darkness, a
gateway of sorts, a vast black hole linking the Realm of Chaos
and the mortal universe. Here, the abode of man and the
domain of gods are as one. Magic pours in through this dark
gateway, bringing with it many other ways the Old World.
It stands at the frontier between the mortal universe and
the Realm of Chaos. When Chaos grows in influence,
the gateway expands and the northern boundaries of the world
are sucked into it, consumed by the realm of Chaos.
If the power of Chaos becomes dominant, then the whole world
will be swallowed and its people will become damned souls in
eternal slavery to the Chaos gods.
Heavy stuff there, my friends, isn't it?
But what I like about that, it sort of alludes to chaos being
more than an old world thing. That this one world maybe exists
in the 40K universe and that Chaos is here just like it is
there. I like this was the time these
characters, these gods, the Nerglers, the corns, the Zech,
the Slannish started to go all over Games Workshops IP and
became 1 great thing that everyone could look at.
This was important to them obviously because they could
create figures that could be used in both games.
The background was similar for both games, and they eluded, of
course, that both games were there in the same universe.
There's a small piece of fiction which we shall look at here in
the next bit, and I shall read that for you.
The tree of damned shades. I walked across the plain of
bone beneath the brazen sky. All were about the skulls of the
slain, and among them grew black flowers, each twisted bloom a
soul in thrall. Crimson flecked flies sucked at
the red nectar in the field, and the air tasted bloody in my
mouth. The black flowers nodded their
heads as I passed and whispered their bitter scented breeze.
A distant demon shriek reached my ears, and the sound of
tormented laughter drift past and was swallowed by silence.
And then I came to the Tree of the Damned.
Shades. Living souls had hung upon its
branches, and living souls had fed its roots in ages past.
Twisted with the pain of their misguided loyalty, the Shades
had made their pact, and now had their reward.
Those same shades moaned their regret and agony, pleading for
pity from every branch and twig save one whose deviant eye I
met. I paused in the glare of that
eye. The tree of damned shade spoke
in a splintering voice, crying out as if 1000 axes were tearing
at its heart wood by broken faith and bitter promise, A man
walks in the gardens of blood. Once my roots taste is mortal
body, he is mine and I am he, A man.
A man I will be free in the flesh and bone.
I will slay for you, my master, Blood beyond measure.
I will spill upon the battlefields of the world.
O freedom from the wooden frame that I would once again March to
the beat of my own heart. The tree withered and shook its
dark branches and fled. And my fate lay not with those
trapped and hideous souls from a Lieber Malphic Marius
Hollishire. Dark stuff, isn't it, my
friends? And one thing that still grips
me about these books and what I one thing I'll always speak
about, as you know, is the quality of the the written work
within so high, so good. I mean, this is written by Rick
Priestley. The cover art is by Jeff Taylor.
Black and white art by John Blanche, Wayne England and Mark
Gibbons, but it doesn't say anything about the the the text,
the actual fiction in here. So I'm assuming that it's
written by Rick Priestley again, but really good stuff there.
OK, we've got the four chaos gods left.
They describe them next. So I'll choose or I'm going to
choose my favorite. I'm going to choose Slannish.
So let's read that for you. OK, We've got a part, a couple
of paragraphs on each of them, but we'll go with Slannish.
Slannish is the youngest of the Chaos Gods and is known as the
Prince of Chaos. Alone of all the Dark Gods, he
is divinely beautiful. Slannish's seductive as only an
immortal can be, disarming in his innocence, utterly beguiling
in his manner. He is drawn to mortals,
possessed of physical beauty and charm, all sensual pleasures of
art, music and companionship. Interesting choice of words
fascinates Slannish. He is the master of luxury and
indulgence, of cruel passions and hidden vices, and of the
terrible temptations that only a God can offer.
In bodily form, Slannish is perfection, long limbed and
elegant, with a haunting and drogonous body.
It is said that it is impossible for a mortal to look upon that
divine face without losing his soul.
For all who see Slannish become slaves of his slightest whim.
Some say that Slannish can assume male, female, or
hermaphrodite form at will, but to his followers he manifests
himself as a young man, clean limbed and fresh, with a vigor
of youth. Though Slanish is the least of
the Dark Gods of Chaos, he's an important player in the Divine
game. His support is an essential part
of any alliance between the Chaos Gods.
The favour of Slanish can easily swing the balance of power
between the gods, giving Slanish influence disproportionate to
his power. Nonetheless, the power of
Slanish is growing all of the time, and soon the Prince of
Chaos will come to rival the other gods.
And maybe, who knows, he might rise over them.
Interesting. They've always had trouble
trying to theme Slani Chauvenet. They went with that original
vision, something, you know, very as, as you know, the old
Realm of Chaos books were given for adult guidance at the time.
So they created Slanish and they created a very good vision.
But of course, by this point where they were looking at
younger audiences, it became a very hard sell, didn't it?
But they've stuck with it and I think that's a good thing.
OK, the next couple of pages are talking about a Champions Will
in Chaos. We've got the Chaos champions
reward. We've got a few other things.
We've talked about minotaurs, Beastmen, Awe Beastmen, the
children of Chaos. There's a quite a few pages
about various beasts and I can't pass over a beast man reading
can I? So I'm going to get you in here.
I was going to read the minotaur because I'm looking at six
minotaur right now, including the must sort after Mordheim.
Minotaur stands on my shelf here, One of my favorite old
figures. Always open to offers though.
Anyway, beast men. In the dark forest of the Old
World dwell the favoured children of Chaos, foul and
unholy things that hate the world and hide from the honest
light of day. They serve no mortal master, but
belong heart and soul to the dark gods of Chaos.
Men call these creatures Beast Men, for they are part human and
part beast. Their twisted bodies are
blasphemy of nature. Hooves adorn their limbs.
They are cruel and brutal creatures who brawl and fight
amongst themselves. We're not venting their hatred
against mankind. These rude and uncouth beasts
are not alone in the Kingdom of darkness.
All manner of crawling and slithering creatures keep their
evil company. Human, mutical, mutical human,
mutant brigands find refuge here too.
Bitter hearted Renegades whose spirits have been blackened by
the touch of chaos, till the fearful eyes of men.
All beast men seem of a kind, unruly and Collis.
Bruce, start again. I'll have to drink in a minute.
To the fearful eyes of all men, all Beast men seem of a kind,
unruly and callous brutes that despise mankind and all he
strives to build. Yet there is a cruel hierarchy
amongst them. The most numerous call
themselves Gores and can be readily distinguished from the
lowly breeds by the keen horns. Gores take great pride in their
horns, polishing and sharpening them in readiness for battle.
The lesser breeds are called Beret.
And those are rarely seen in battle, they've only tiny horns
or no horns at all, and I sometimes even have human heads.
Beast men are often joined by mutant humans of similar
appearance, and it is from these ranks of outcasts that many Bray
are descended. A human who knows how becomes a
Beast Man as a result of a mutation is known as a Ternskin,
the lowest rank amongst a kind and a kin to a slave.
Thanks to the mutating powers of Chaos, a Beast Men may be born
to human parents. Such creatures are often
abandoned by their parents at birth, left to die at the forest
edge. Such foundlings may be
discovered and raised by Beast Men, who call them Gaves.
Gaves are regarded as gifts from the Chaos Gods themselves.
Beast Men hide out deep in the forests in rough camps, rock
shelters and other wild secluded places.
They live in savage war bands consisting of anything from a
dozen to many hundreds of individuals.
Each war band is led by one of the strongest amongst them, a
beast man favoured with many gifts of the Chaos Gods.
This mighty beast Lord is the master of the pack and to
maintain his position he has to continually fight off challenges
from young power hungry gores. He makes his banner from the
pelts of those he has defeated that his standard becomes a gory
record of his conquests. Beast men fight amongst
themselves continuously, each Beast Lord vying with his rivals
for the favour of the Chaos gods.
When the armies of Chaos gather, the war bands stop fighting and
assemble for war. They are drawn together at the
great meeting places marked by huge stone slabs called
herdstones. There are many such meeting
places amongst the dark glades of the forest.
It is here that the forces of Chaos gather, Beast men,
minotaurs and their ilk ready for battle.
The herd stones pulse with dark magic and are covered in evil
runes, proclaiming the end of the world and the triumph of the
Chaos gods. There's a lot in that reading,
isn't there? That has changed the use of the
words braze. They became Angors in later
editions, the way they describe different beast men, but perhaps
we'll never see. But a great background, isn't
it? They're there in the forest,
watching, listening, waiting. It makes the old world, and
especially the forests within it, a dark and sinister place.
We can see a shift. Even though the game itself in
the 90s was becoming naturally quite lighter, there was still
that dark edge, something that we could all explore and enjoy,
and they did really well. The next page is all about chaos
gifts, champions and chaos gifts.
Some chaos magic items as well, gifts and demons.
This book seems to have less background, less stories, less
of a picture being painted if you like, and more of an
emphasis on rules and figures. If I remember rightly.
It became in a box, didn't it? And that box had cards with it
and had some things that you could use in the game.
As we we moved that way. The next couple of pages are
looking at some figures. We have some chaos banners in
black and white as there was akin to doing these days.
And then we have the figure of Slannish, the Prince of Chaos.
So excuse me, the Keeper of Secrets is there in front of us.
What a classic model. That was.
The Bloodthirster, the old Chaos Bloodthirster.
There he is. And we've got some figures from
Nergal, we've got some figures from Zinzich, we've got some
lovely Beastmen figures here. I've got some of these still,
these old metal Beastmen, and of course the Beastmen shaman.
I mean, that figure went through many editions and still.
And the Beastmen champion, the one holding the axe in two,
hands down low Beastmen Hornblower, fantastic figure,
Beastmen shaman, Beastmen champion.
Really, really nice stuff here. Chaos Knights come next.
Plastic horses, by the look of them.
Yeah, play us Knights in bright colours.
And then we have a dragon ogres. Yeah, the old original dragon
ogres. I've still got that figure.
And the beasts, man. The Foul Brood of Chaos.
A bloodthirster of corn accompanies dragon ogres into
battle. We've got some Chaos mutations
where Mike McVeigh is giving us a little outline on how to add
some wings to your figures of some sneaky arms or a scorpion
hand. Yeah, that's good, isn't it, to
have have some conversions and things like that.
Then we've got some how to build a Chaos dragon.
We've got the instructions for the figure here in the Chaos
book. Pinning was a big thing, wasn't
it? I never did get around that.
I just used to use tons and tons of super glue until I couldn't
move my fingers anymore and even then it would break.
And there is a picture of the finished Chaos dragon, the
classic S shaped dragon that all the Dragons at this time did.
Here we go. We've got a bit coming up here
about the war against Chaos. Now this goes on for many pages
and I think it would probably do with a a read.
If you want to hear this, you've got a lot of pages about it.
Let me know and I'll I'll put it up as we did with the some of
the stories from the undead books.
So if you want to hear me reading the War of Chaos, how
about you let me know. Gift of Spawn Done covers the
next few pages with introducing Chaos spawns and everything that
they did. Then we've got Chaos Demons and
now we're into the beastry. Chaos Warriors still in this
edition. Look at this as a base stat line
for Chaos Warriors. Movement 4.
Weapon skill 6, Bow skill 6, Strength 4, Toughness 4, Wounds
1, Initiative 62, Attacks and Leadership 9.
That is a foot soldier in this chaos army.
This always the juxtaposition of chaos is to confuse me because
obviously when they say Chaos you, you think of these nameless
hordes piling over the mountains, under the caves,
emerging from ships in the sea. But the armies, if you, you
know, if you use them as point values.
The armies were just tiny because the figures were so
powerful, so they never really appeared on the table as they
did in the background. As such, Chaos warriors are men
who have abandoned the world and thrown in their lot with Chaos.
Men who have chosen a life of bloodshed and advantage in
return for a fleeting chance to gain the favour of a Chaos God.
Many a little more than brigands outcast from society, criminal
criminals fleeing from justice, Mad Men and malcontents seeking
refuge from persecution. However, not all come from the
dregs of society. Their ranks also include deposed
nobles, young fortune hunters, and refugees driven out of their
homes by poverty and war. Chaos warriors fight in the war
Bands of Chaos Champions. Every Chaos Warrior hopes that
one day he will be recognized by his Chaos God and chosen to be
one of his champions. Chaos Warriors are powerful
fighters and bear many chaotic mutations and enhance their
power Still. Wow.
Big words. Big words for very very tough
troops. We've got Marks of Chaos.
We've got rules on Chaos sorcerers.
Beastmen. What was a Beastman stat at this
time? Movement 4.
Weapons got 4. Boast got three, Strength 3.
Toughed AS42 wounds for a beastman.
Initiative 3. One attack and leadership 7.
They had an infighting rule which is very similar to
animosity as well. And there it is.
Minotaurs were next. Chaos dragon, Chaos Centaur,
Harpers, Chaos gorgon dragon, Ogus trolls, Chaos trolls.
As it happens, my friend Marcel, my good friend in Germany and a
good friend of the crown of commanders, just sent me some
trolls which I am creating chaos trolls with.
I told you I was drawn back to Chaos.
Trolls are large and hideous creatures, bestial and foul,
with long gangling limbs and cold, damp hides.
They're warty, slimy and sometimes scaly.
Skins can almost be any colour. Depending on the sort of troll.
There are many different shapes and sizes of troll spines are
not uncommon, while 2 headed trolls have sometimes been
sighted travelling with Chaos war bands.
Trolls are not very intelligent, but they are extremely strong
and can easily RIP a man apart with their bare hands.
Trolls are greatly feared because of their unthinking
ferocity and indiscriminate appetite.
They can and will eat anything, flesh and bone, wood, rocks, bit
of metal. The stomach of a trawl contains
some of the most powerful acids known in the Old world, and his
digestive juices are highly valued by alchemists and
Wizards. The most unusual and perhaps
best known characteristic of trolls is that their flesh is
able to regrow almost as quickly as it is damaged.
If a trawl's clawed hand is severed, a fresh one will grow
from the stump. You have to cause a great deal
of damage to a trawl to stop it regenerating.
The only thing that trolls cannot survive is fire.
If they are burnt, they cannot regenerate, so fire is the
greatest ally of the trawl fighter.
Never used by an actual dwarf Troll Slayer?
You might not. Trolls are wild creatures that
live either alone or in small groups with others of their
kind. They can sometimes be persuaded
to join Chaos War bands, although it is doubtful whether
they really understand what is going on.
Left to their own devices, the chances of a trawl will go wild
or become Sopaforic, but if they are led by more intelligent
creatures, they can prove to be dangerous foes.
Trawl stats, Movement 6, Web skill 3, Bo skill one, Strength
5, Toughness 4, Three wounds, initiative 13 attacks, and a
leadership of four. And of course the Regenerate
special rule. And we've got a little bit here
about Stone Trolls and River Trolls as well.
So they are expanding this now. We've got demons, Blood, letters
of corn, Flesh, hounds of corn, friends of Slannish, steeds of
slannish plague, bearers of Nergal, nerglings, demons of
Tzinzich, flamers of Tzinzich, got all of these.
And then we have a little bit of fiction, a page of fiction right
in the middle of the book. Let's have a look what it says.
The York army drew into a dense mass on top of the Ridge below
the Green Horde. A sea of morning mist lay over
the rolling landscape. Here and there the tops of the
hills broke through the whiteness, round and green and
glistening with dew. Old Claw Crookfang watched the
islands grow larger as the mist gradually evaporated in the heat
of the early sun. Claw coughed and wheezed as he
fought to bring up some some debris on the bottom of his old
lungs. He leaned over in his saddle and
spat noisily onto Gimlug, his long-suffering goblin slave.
Pat gawk, I ate moanings swarclaw to nobody in
particular. His warborn mounted, snuffed in
anise. I'll start again.
Pat gawk I ate moanings swarclaw to nobody in particular.
His warborn mount snuffled uneasily, lifted its shabby
tail, and let RIP with a noise like a tent flap in a Gale.
Phew, Bosh wine, Gimflug has something died?
What an if Claw gave Gimlug his best.
Don't mess with me, I'm in a bad mood glare and said course not
get features, I always smells like this.
The goblin grunted repentantly. Claw was not feeling good.
Usually there was nothing like a scrap to cheer his savage heart,
but today was different. The tribe seemed I'll at ease.
Normally the boys would be shouting and yelling by now,
working themselves up for a really good wah.
This morning the Green Horde was quiet, even the goblins stood
solemnly in rank without so much as a squabble or jest to pass
the time. This was going to be a dirty
battle. Chaos.
He muttered a word left a bad taste in his mouth and he spat
in disgust. Missed me.
Oops, squealed Gimlug as he deftly stepped out of the path
of the vile Green Gobbutt, inadvertently planting his own
left foot in a steaming mound of bored dung claw.
Crookfang turned to his boar boys.
Their ugly scarf faces were as familiar to him as the huge wart
at the end of his nose. Of all the tribe, these were his
boys. Crookfang's killers, as he liked
to call them. He led those ferocious warriors
through more battles than he could count.
Many, many more than he could count, as it happened, as
numbers greater than 3 remained a sacred mystery to the
straightforward old orc. He looked at his troops now and
sensed disquiet in their eyes. He observed the slope of the
borroweds should have the bowed shoulders and Humila set of the
slab like jaws. They had shared some great days
together, shedding the thin red line of men and stunties between
Black Fire Pass and the Red Eye Mountain.
He could put a name to every battered face.
There was a what's his name with the big ears and over there was
Umaflap down there from the Badlands.
Next to him was Thingamajig who had lost 3 claws, a dead rock
gap. Now that was a real scrap.
The old orc cleared his throat and spoke.
Lads, he said. Lads, I, I know what you're
thinking. He paused for a moment and let
this sink in chaos. He paused again.
You're thinking, why do we have to fight them?
Horrible, dirty, disgusting things, The orcs murmured
uncomfortably. Well, I tell you, Claw
continued. I tell you why your nose as how
the lackeys of the Gart Dark Gods have been getting ready for
the big push. Well, this is it, they're in
front of us, they're behind us. They've captured the bridge over
the big river and they're got they run these old up in the big
city, they're called Prague. Ain't nowhere for us to hide,
lads. They know where to go.
We're going to fight and we're going to and and happen as we're
not going to die. Gawk knows we ain't afraid of
dying. But them things.
An orc made a face which is an expression of utter disgust.
Give us a scrap again against the stunt.
These or skinny elves? But these are not normal, no
proper flesh and blood. There's not lads, lads,
whispered Claw. You're right.
And no one knows more than me. And if I had my way we'd be
living up in a black crag lording it over them gobbles at
Mount Grimfang. But we ain't.
We're here and now, and the filthy Dark Gods is marching
down on us. Even as the old oak spoke, the
truth behind his words were revealed as out of the mist
emerged a huge army. Lots of points, Then rank upon
rank of ironclad Chaos Warriors trampled forward.
Behind the Chaos Warriors, their horrific shapes still concealed
in the mist, marched demons and monstrous spawn of the Dark
Gods. Come on lads.
Squealed a tiny voice. It was Gimlag.
The boss is right. If we're going to die, we're
going to die as if we if we're going to die, then we're going
to go out with a bang. The tiny goblin grinned
manically and snatched a spear many times his own height from
one of the ball boys, waving the spear fanatically.
The gobbling dashed forward, whooping and screaming charge at
the top of his squeaky voice. The sound trailed off into the
mist and vanished. Silly little bagger, thought
Claw tearfully as he watched the tiny figure disappear out of
sight. He'd owned that cheeky gobbo
since he was a pup. He missed the little thingy.
The sound of 1000 swords drawn as one brought him back to the
present. He looked again at his boys, and
this time he saw a new purpose in their eyes.
Not hope, but determination of the cheerful lust for violence
he was accustomed to, but a grim and unshakeable resolve.
The War Boys snorted and stomped as their hooves eagerly and the
red eye is sparkling in the light of a new day.
We're ready, boss. Announced the big head hawk.
Let's sort them out. Right said claw.
Right said claw, let's sort them out lads.
Wasn't the easiest read was it? But ah, Pitiful's Hawks must be
hard work for them. Gosh, a huge army of Chaos
Warriors. OK, we're moving on now guys,
into the Chaos army list. OK, so let's find out how many
points were they charging for a Chaos Warrior of that kind?
We've got a few pages here of the usual, the amounts you can
take, what you can do, army selection, etcetera.
Then we're looking at a Chaos Lord General on foot, naked if
you like, 305 points if you put him on a Juggernaut plus 70
points. C Duslani, She's only 5.
Gosh, you're talking about a 400 point character there.
Chaos heroes are 193 points, KS champions 91, A Beastman Lord
200 points a minute Lord 380 points.
If you're playing 2000 point battles you're not getting much
you but what you did get was really tough.
Chaos warriors 24 points a model so you'll be talking the best
part of 500 points for a 20 man chaos warrior unit.
Phew. These armies were really small.
I can't remember in this day and age how they used to do in
battle, but they can't have done that well because even if they
were this powerful, 1 by 1 you could easily outflank them and
take away their rank bonuses and things like that and cause
absolute carnage. The Wengoed are some special
characters. Count Mordrec the damned, Edgren
von Horstman, the dark sorcerer of Chaos, a bowel, the
undefeated destroyer of corn. Well, he hasn't done a good job
because corn is still not destroyed, so I don't know what
they go in there. I cloyd Hellbrass and Skylar the
Scorn, the spawn of chaos. At 340 points.
Your army may include Skylar as a character, in which case you
must appoint another Chaos Champion or Chaos Sorcerer to be
his master. Skylar may not be the army's
general. One Skylar, Anfigrim of
Nausicaa, enjoyed the favour of his Chaos God.
At one time, Skylar's Raiders plagued the southern coast of
the Empire. His name was held in terror by
the Kislevite merchants of eringrad.
Many remember the daring night raids that left the Docklands of
the Lynsk an inferno of destruction.
But the power of such magnitude has its cost, and Skylar paid
the highest price for his ambition.
At first, his body swelled with chitinous plates.
This gift made him even more powerful.
But it was the beginning of the end for Skylar.
Within the year, his head grew elongate and reptilian and a
beak tail sprouted from his back.
His limbs lost their clean human shape, becoming long and hairy
and ape like. Soon he could no longer grasp
his sword and fell upon all fours like a beast.
At last his mind gave up its grip and Skylar was lost into
the depths of gibbling abomination.
He had become a Chaos Spawn. Skylar's warrior band took pity
on him instead. Indeed, there were some who
revered him in his new shape and paid him homage as a living God.
Subsequently, his trusted Lieutenant, One Eyed Urloc, was
chosen as Corn's champion, and Urloc placed around Skylar's
malformed head the portent collar of corn.
When Urloc led the warriors to battle, he took Skylar with him,
directing the horrific creature like some tamed beast.
But the ultimate fate of Skylar is not recorded.
But he was said to have fallen at the gates of Kislev, a
Titanic battle which ended the Great War against Chaos.
Skylar the Chaos spawned Movement 6, Webskill 6, supposed
to Kill 0, Strength 6, Toughness 6, Wounds 4 and List of three,
six attacks and Leadership 8 Tough creature and a lovely John
Branch drawing there of what Skylar would look like.
But I don't think we ever got a figure of him.
The rest of the books is another small fiction leading up after
that. But the rest of the books does
seem to be taken up. Then with black and white
pictures of the Chaos range before they finally finish with
a lovely diorama. The Empire armies mount of
futile defence against the irresistible hosts of Chaos.
That, my friends, brings us to the end of Warhammer Army Chaos.
Another tone from long ago, unread, unpicked up,
undiscovered for many years, but read by me, Owen Stanton, to you
today. Wherever you are, a deep dive
into Warhammer Armies Chaos. I hope you enjoyed it, my
friends. Again, we call it a deep dive,
but I'd be just skipping the surface.
It would take me hours upon end to read everything that's in
there. But I hope whether you're
painting, you're reading, you're enjoying, you're driving,
whatever you're doing, that these raids just take you back a
few years to that golden age where plastic walked the land
along with metal, and the falling clink of dice seemed to
echo through the land. Take care of yourselves and blow
it in there. With our Happy New Year, I hope
this will be a big one for all of us.
In the meantime, my name is Owen Steyton.
You'll find out more about me at welshstoryteller.com and drop me
a line on any suggestions you'd like me to read.
And of course, you can find me on the Time Between Times
podcast. Take care, my friends.