12.1 The Threat of Chaos 134 12.2 The Cracks in the Chaos Armor 13412.3 Dangers of Chaos 13512.4 Tactics 13612.5 Troops 139 12.6 Missile Troops 139 12.7 Artillery 139 12.8 Chariots 140 12.9 Magic Items 140
The combined armies huddled around their campfires in silent misery. They had fought Chaos Hordes three times, and three times they had failed. Wurtbad had been taken, and Karak-Harz was reduced to ruins. After some of the most bitter fighting in the history of the Old World, the walls of Stavrosgrad in Kislev were brought down. The coming day would bring their final chance to stop the tide of Chaos. If they failed, the route to the Free Lands would be open, and the World would end in baptism of Chaos and Blood. And they knew they could not stand the terrible onslaught that awaited them.
Dimitri's weary eyes scanned the campfires, looking for some consolidation, but finding only bitter men who knew that they would face death tomorrow. Then he noticed a hooded man, who carried a round shield with a symbol of a broken eightpointed arrow, the rune that was made to be the bane of Chaos. He suddenly became aware that men around him had stood up, and a glimmer of hope was evident in their eyes. "Who is that?" He asked from Erich who was standing next to him. "He is known as Longsword, a sworn enemy of Chaos. Our generals had sent outriders to look for him. It seems that they have found him."
Suddenly Dimitri felt that the tide had turned.
The danger of Chaos lies first and foremost in their astounding ability to dish out wounds in melee. Both their characters and their rank and file are dangerous to the extreme, far surpassing any opposing army. The only thing that can stand in their way are Undead Characters, Dwarf Lords with wagon loads of Runes and very few Special Characters like the Deathmaster Snikch. Many troops Chaos fields also cause fear, and far too often they are unbreakable, frenzied, or similarly boosted. So are they undefeatable? No! Read on.
The thing that rings true to most Chaos troops is that they are very, very costly in the terms of points. A single Bloodthirster demands a Chaos General to dish out 800 points! The points of the Chaos troops are usually well spent, but even so the numbers will probably be on your side, and you must use this to your advantage. Your units should always have at the full 3 extra ranks, and champions and standards. If you think that you can not afford them, think again! If your Chaos opponent can afford a Chaos Lord, surely you can afford a champion?
The other weakness of Chaos is of course their predictability. They will charge headlong towards you screaming "Blood for the Blood God!", so blame yourself if you did not come prepared.
Thirdly, there are the characters. I hear you screaming "WHAT?!", but think about the point concentration they represent. Chaos can rarely bring more than 1 wizard to field. Deal with him, and the superiority in the Magic Phase is yours. If your opponent likes to bring a Chaos Lord mounted on a Chaos Dragon to the field, his army will be mortally crippled if you kill him/trap him with the Black Gem of Gnar. This advice may sound strange, but I see Chaos Characters as the main pray for my army, not as a thing I should excessively fear.
See where the danger lies and deal with it.
I have listed here some of the most common tricks Chaos players use, and my solutions to counter them.
One of the most typical tricks for a Chaos Player is to use their Greater Daemons to attack your units. As these things are not Characters, your opponent does not have to worry about challenges form champions. Since these things can cause immensive damage, they are quite capable of routing whole units. Expensive units that lack enough rank bonus, like knights, are especially vulnerable to this.
Dragon Ogres are one of the most powerful units around when compared to their relatively low point cost value, and should never be taken lightly.
Dragon Ogres, as well as many other Chaos Creatures have multiple wounds, so Rendering Sword, Slayer Sword and any other weapon that causes multiple wounds is usually a good buy against Chaos. Cannons and Large Stone Throwers are also ideal, having strength 10 and causing D4-D6 wounds per hit.
Chaos has some real armor save monsters, especially the Chaos Knights. They may have "only" Toughness 4 and 1 wound but can easily have an armor save of 1+! Even very powerful heroes will struggle to penetrate their armor. The answer is to cause wounds with no armor save! Some magic weapons (like the Runefang) will do the job, and so do most War Machines. A Deathsword combines two admirable qualities that are necessary when fighting Chaos: (1) It grants high strength to wound the Chaos Troops (2) Gives a -7 armor save modifier!
As the main strength of the Chaos armies is hand to hand, a very usual tactic for a Chaos General is to equip his Chaos Sorcerer with a Chaos Familiar, Warpstone Charm and the Chalice of Chaos that will end the magic phase 1 time out of 3, thus saving Chaos Troops from a lot of magical bombardment.
Chaos Battle Standard bearers are especially dangerous foes, as they benefit both from a magical standard and the advantages of a Hero of Chaos. Normally such Characters should be challenged with champions, but as Chaos Battle Standard Bearers can carry a battle-resolution boosting banner and a potent magic weapon, your unit might be embarrassingly routed. A better way is to put your hand to hand character against him (are you sure he has a Black Amulet), and try to slay this very costly character. Hardy as he is, the Battle Standard is still easier to deal with than a fully boosted Chaos Lord.
Chaos armies often rely very heavily on flyers. If the Chaos army opposing you seems to have more than half of it's troops with the ability to fly, it is a wise idea to move your troops further afield. This enables you to flee from combats that seem hopeless, and allows you to open fire on the landed flyers (with slightly surprised expressions on their faces), and since you are not near to the edges of the field, you'll have a chance to rally your troops.
Don't let the Chaos steamroller get to you! Run away from a fight you are sure to lose, keep your distance. You'll win if you do not have to enter melee.
There are several options to slow down the Chaos armies. White Dragons have a breath that freezes units altogether. It is great when you compare the cost of a normal Dragon (450) to that of a fully-flexed unit of Chaos Knights. (800+!)
War Dancers with their Shadow's Coil dance are also excellent for holding up units that are too powerful in hand to hand, but not altogether reliable since they can still be shot at or frightened with Terror Tests.
I feel that all good armies should include a Dwarf with the Master Rune of Dismay when fighting Against Chaos. Leadership checks all around or else you are frozen on the spot for one turn!
There are also many suitable spells to hold the Chaos Horde while you pound it with every long range attack you've got. Wind Blast, Crimson Bands, Writhing Worm and Manacle of Caloe can seriously hinder the advance of Chaos. I recommend them heartily.
Fleeing is however all too rarely an option since a Chaos Army includes great many options for taking flying creatures, and far too many lightning-fast ground troops. Daemonettes on Steeds of Slaanesh, Centaurs, Harpies, Disk Riders, Juggernaut Cavalry (gasp!), Chariots pulled by Disks of Tzeentch or Slaaneshi Steeds etc. generally means that you will not outrun the forces of Chaos.
But most importantly, remember that the attackers who charge from Flying High WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PURSUIT! The classic Chaos Tactic is to mount a Khornate Lord on Manticore or equivalent give him sword of Destruction or Slayer Sword, Regeneration, and Black amulet and get this monstrosity to accompany a Bloodthirster as it charges a hapless unit. If they are coming from Flying High? You have two options.
Well, actually there are variants:
Carrying the Amulet of Ravensdark is perhaps the best one: Challenge the Chaos Lord with your Champion, and you shall win the combat by many, many points as the Bloodthirster can't hit you, and even the Chaos Lord will score with natural 6's only! If they break, pursue them and cut them down. Even if they make the test, they will still be driven off!
Scarecrow banner is another option, though it is less secure. It does, however, make your troops immune to the Terror tests caused by all flying Monsters, and this includes Bloodthirsters and Lords of Change!
When shooting at the Dread Hordes of Chaos, it is easy to panic: All troops seem equally intimidating, and one easily just looses his arrows towards nearest target to increase the chance of hitting something. This is often disastrous. Chaos Knights will not bow down to Crossbow fire, and Repeater Bolt Throwers will not penetrate the ranks of Beastmen because of their 2 wounds. Pick your targets and concentrate your fire, both with the War Machines and the regular missile troops. Even Chaos troops fail their panic tests sometimes, and every missing rank in their formation means difference of 1 point in Combat Resolution. It might save you.
Be prepared to take on a lots of Fear/Terror causing creatures. In this respect the Chaos Army is almost as dangerous as an Undead force, so prepare accordingly. Try to make all your leadership test on 10, and if possible, try not to take them at all. The Sword of Fortitude is feeble in hand to hand, but almost essential in your main unit.
The actual strategy that I have found to be the most effective one is to divide my power between several units, disrupt the advancing columns of Chaos, shoot them with high-powered missile/War Machine fire, and concentrate my hand to hand units on one unit at a time.
I often take a risk and field very small (5) regiments in the front of my best hand to hand units. As these will die to a last man as the Chaos troops charge them, your enemy will not be able to pursue, and thus will be a sitting duck to your countercharge! Thus far this tactic has worked almost every time, though there is a risk as a wiped-out unit causes a panic test.
As you will probably be doing lots of fleeing (via charge reactions if you are wise or via break tests if you are headstrong), so try to deploy all your troops so that on a average roll they will not be able to leave the field if they flee. (8 for infantry/7 for Dwarfs and 11 for cavalry).
Since generally you simply can not make as powerful hand to hand units as Chaos, it is worth considering an army that has it's power base laid out evenly between units. Think of this: If you put your Mage Lord, General, Battle Standard Bearer and 20+ of your most expensive troops in same unit, you'll lose the game when this block of points is charged by a Chaos Lord, Dragon Ogres and a Bloodthirster. On the other hand, if you decide very carefully how you spread your characters, any (inevitable) defeats in hand to hand will not cripple you.
Unbreakable troops like Slayers, Dwarfs with Rune of Courage, units with the Crown of Command and Flagellants and Skeletons are all good against Chaos armies that can not afford to have their units tied in futile combats. Chaos must win in hand to hand, and win fast, or the fight will turn against them.
Chaos Troops generally have good to excellent toughness and plenty of wounds or high armor save, so bows, crossbows and such are not as effective as against most other armies. If you do take them, I recommend crossbows and hand guns, and picking targets with reasonably low toughness (4 or under) and low armor save. Repeater Hand Guns are also good, provided you'll have enough of them. The most important thing to remember is to concentrate your fire! This is important in Warhammer Fantasy Battle in general, but against Chaos, there is no excuse of not doing this.
This is one of the best ways to take out the Chaos threat. Dwarfs and the Empire especially excel in this category, being able to field numerous and effective War Machines. Organ Gun with the Rune of Disguise is perhaps the best anti-Chaos weapon: Chaos troops can attack it before it has fired, it has High Strength, and causes multiple hits that cause multiple wounds, and it allows no armor save, just for 90 points!
I don't always recommend taking Hellblaster Volley Gun against Chaos: you might find yourself facing an army with too high toughness or armor save that your precious toy is next to useless!
As a rule of thumb, a war machine that allows no save is a good war machine against Chaos.
My motto when fighting against Chaos is: the more war machines I've got, the better!
Chariots are something I almost always take when facing Chaos. Since Chaos Armies are not heavy on missile troops, these rumbling things capable of causing D6+2 Strength 7 hits can actually reach the enemy intact.
Against Chaos I must urge the maxim "everything counts by large amounts". Some chariots will fail the inevitable Terror tests. Some will fall prey to the Harpies or those dreaded Chaos spells. But if you got enough of them, some will get through, and believe me, you will be rewarded for your patience!
An essential when fighting against Chaos. There is hardly a model in their army that is not worth locking out of the time with your champion. As a variant, take Level 1 Mage, mount him on a Flying Monster, and go looking for the most inviting target, like a Bloodthirster, Sorcerer Lord or a Greater Daemon. Just hope you make those terror tests.
This is a perfect tool against Chaos, turning their own advantage (hand to hand) against them. Highly recommended for anybody who is liable to see lots of hand to hand combat.
Have you ever wished you could have the same statistics as Chaos Characters? With this item you can! A Hydra Sword is a good addition to this weapon, as it allows you to cause multiple hits with your opponent's strength. Sword of Swift Slaying isn't bad, either, as your suddenly boosted combat statistics would allow you to slay your opponent before he can even attack.
Chaos armies fly a lot, so taking this item is heartily recommended by old Longsword. Especially Bloodthirsters and Lords of Change will hate this thing, as it stops their hand to hand attacks altogether!
Same commentary that applies to the Black amulet, holds true in the case of the Master Rune of Spite. An excellent Rune against Chaos, especially if the Amulet also has 1 or 2 Runes of Luck so you can re-roll the rebounding saves.
Even though Chaos troops have usually high Leadership, I still feel that it is always wise to include a horn with this Rune in your army if you can. If you can stop even one Chaos regiment with it, it has been a good buy.
As Chaos has an access to some of the nastiest items in the game (Chaos Runeshield, Sword of Change), this little item can come in handy.
This item is essential against Chaos for many reasons:
Chaos likes to send creatures Flying High a lot, so oblige them. This thing is almost guaranteed to hit in the hands of anybody with ballistic skill of 5+ if you are aiming at a large target, and no other modifiers. D6 strength 10 hits. Enough Said.
Since there are lots and lots of troops in Chaos army that have toughness 5+, this sword has thus far proven an excellent buy. +3 to strength, D3 wounds against troops with toughness 5+? Sold.
As a final word about armor. When picking a suit of armor for your Characters, go for the unmodified saves. Chaos troops are simply so strong that anything modifiable will be modified to oblivion.
When fighting against a Chaos army, throw any notions about fairness to the trash can. Here are some magic item combos I use against Chaos armies:
For Dwarfs, this is a great way of battling Chaos: the rebounder rune turns the strength of Chaos against itself. Especially nasty if the Master Rune of Spite is backed up with 2 Runes of Luck so you can re-roll the rebounding dice. On the average, the enemy will beat itself to death.
If you are not a Dwarf, this is the second best combo: Always remember to roll for the effect of the Black Amulet first! It is much nicer to rebound the wound instead of nullifying it.
While my favorite combination with the Master Rune of Flight is Burlok Damminson carrying a Hammer with Master Rune of Flight and Rune of Smiting, you might wish to get a good effect for a little less point cost. This hammer will hit automatically, and has a very good chance of breaking those Axe's of Khorne and Swords of Destruction. You might even want to try 2 Runes of Breaking.
A unit that can be equipped with a magical standard can be accompanied by a Battle Standard Bearer. When these are equipped with the Banners mentioned above, your Combat resolution for 4 ranks deed unit is 6 (+2 if the banners are in the first rank) +D6 without causing a single wound! This will equalize the odds in hand to hand fights!
Here are some characters/units I have composed to be the bane of the Four Powers.
This is one of the characters I regularly try to field when fighting Chaos: a hero or a level 2 Wizard riding cheapest possible flying/fast moving mount and carrying the Dark Mace of Death and the Heart of Woe. When he charges a suitable target (a unit of Dragon Ogres led by a Chaos Lord, for example), make sure his base touches as many enemies as possible. Activate the Dark mace. Boom, D3 automatic wounds all around! When the enemy lashes back and maims your poor hero, Boom! 6+ Strength hit causing D6 wounds all around. With this you can usually get your points back very easily.
Dwarf Special Character Burlok Damminson is the foremost foe of Chaos: Just give him a Hammer with the Master Rune of Flight and 2 Runes of Smiting/1 Rune of Smiting and the Rune of Breaking. Deploy him in a unit with a Runic Standard that has the Rune of Courage in it, and the Scepter of Norgim (increasing his strength to 8) and put him in the middle of your troops so his 12" killing range will benefit as many targets as possible. Dragon Ogre Lords, Chaos Dragons, anything will bow before his Flying Hammer (TM).
These little monsters are quite expensive, but it should be noted that each one of them has 1 chance of 6 at least to slay one target permanently with no saves for armor once per magic phase. They are of particular use against Dragon Ogres that have low initiative levels, and thus are quite vulnerable to the gaze of Cockatrice.
Give your Wraith unit a Crown of Command, and watch as the Chaos General gets furious. As only magic weapons can hurt the Wraiths and their reasonable hand to hand ability combined with the special rule that forces enemies take a break test in the end of each hand to hand round, means that most enemies can't even hurt them, are forced to take a break test in the end of each hand to hand round and their ranks and standard will avail them not as the Wraiths refuse to break! This tactic works even better if the Wraiths a led by a Vampire Lord who challenges the Chaos Characters with Magic Weapons and just happens to have the Sword of Destruction.
A Vampire Lord with the Sword of Destruction is a sweet way of putting Chaos characters out of their misery. His strength, toughness and wounds are so good that without magic items, even a Chaos Lords will struggle to even wound him, while his strength of 7 will chop down Chaos characters as so much grass. The worst trick is to Take Vlad von Carstein with Isabella, get Isabella killed (with the Cloak of Shadows, transporting her to an unwinnable combat) and then hacking away with Vlad and Sword of Destruction with 8 attacks!
This is a dirty tactic: fight fire with fire. Just buy as much Manticores as your monster allowance will give in (Note that 50 spare points and 1 Manticore can be traded for a Chimera), and them let this flock of destruction wipe out Chaos regiment after Chaos regiment in hand to hand. It is a costly tactic as you must buy a hell lot of miniatures, but as Manticores are the best buy in this game in many ways (200 points for Terror, strength 7, toughness 7, 4 attacks, weapon skill 6 and flight), they are well a match for about any unit if used in large enough numbers. As with anything else when fighting against Chaos, concentrate your attacks! Doing things halfway never profit you in the end.
I have briefly gone through all the regiments of Chaos, their strong points and weaknesses, and suggested some ways of dealing with them.
Take plenty of artillery, and put them in to places where they can draw a good field of fire. Dragon Ogres must die before they reach your battle line. As the things rarely go the way one wants, here is another hint against the Dragon Ogres. Buy the Frostblade to one of your best hand to hand characters (Savage Orc Big Boss or a Plague Priest are good because of their frenzy), plus the strength potion. Gulp the potion when it is time to attack the Dragon Ogres so you can wound them, and voila! Each strike leaves 87+ monstrosity lying on the field, stark dead! If you can kill just 2 of these things, the items you bought will have paid themselves back!
Dragon Ogres have quite low initiative, so cast spells that are evaded with I test, run over them with the Steam tank and set your Cockatrices upon them.
Natural answer against these horrors are the flaming weapons. Especially Dwarf War Machines with Runes of Burning are deadly against them, causing great many wounds and allowing no regeneration. Picking out their leader with Hochland Long Rifles or Black Gem is a good idea, since the stupidity will cripple them without a good leader to herd them.
Artillery is the answer here. Centaurs are often underestimated, but experienced Chaos Generals regard them as one of the best Chaos Regiment. Equipped with Lances and bows, and combined with their amazing speed and 2 Wounds, they are perhaps the most flexible Chaos unit. Normal Bow fire is a good option also, since they generally don't have impossibly high armor save values.
Always target them with weapons that give NO SAVE! Repeater Bolt Thrower was made to take out these 80 point monstrosities! In hand to hand, your chances against them are very slim, especially if they manage to charge you.
Just remember, "NO SAVE will win the day."
In many ways the same commentary applies to these as to the Chaos Knights. They have very high armor save for foot troops, and almost no infantry can beat them. If you want to kill them, take a big block of Ogres / Rat Ogres with the Crown of Command. On the average, you'll lose the combat rounds, but Chaos Warriors will run out of wounds before you.
Missile units of any type will stop these quickly. As they are large targets (+1 to hit) they are also very inviting choice for your missile troops. As they can cause huge amount of damage, and are vulnerable to hard hits, War Machines are also good weapons to pick them on with. They have such a large bases that a Mortar shell or a Stone thrower rock can even deviate a bit and still hit the Chariot if your aim is true.
One of the most point-cost effective units (for 10 points you get weapon skill 4, toughness 4, 2 Wounds), they are easily ignored by most people. This is not the case! The problem is that they take a lot of killing. A unit of 20 beastmen costs around 250 points and has 40 Wounds! But these things are not as hardy as other Chaos Regiments: Strength 3 is not good enough against troops with high armor saves, so use your heavy cavalry against these guys.
Their low leadership and relatively puny hand to hand statistics are the key for their defeat. A suitable Hero, mounted on a flying monster, can intercept the Harpies and slay them without the need of putting too many points in his Magical equipment.
Master Rune of Dismay, and especially the Horn of Urgok are the most effective things against them, as they force tests on leadership.
Most Chaos players feel that their base size and relatively high point cost make them an unwieldy unit. I agree that they are not so hard to deal with as many other regiments. Despite their outlook, you can regard them as cavalry unit without an armor save. Missile fire and well-built units are easily their match.
With Lesser Daemons, 1 Wounds and quite low Toughness is the norm. This means that Crossbow/Hand Gun fire is pretty effective against them, and if you can lay your hands on Hail of Doom arrow, lesser Daemons are the chosen target for it! As a Magic Weapon, it negates the Daemonic save, has reasonable strength of 4, and each arrow will slay one very expensive model. Also, remember that Daemonettes, Plaguebearers, Pink Horrors and all Greater Daemons apart from Bloodthirster are Wizards, so any cheap tricks against them will work. The classic is of course the "'Eadbang" Banner of the Orcs, which will make the heads of the Daemons explode if they as much as touch a unit carrying this standard. Amulet of Obsidian will negate their spell-casting abilities, and The Destroyer will steal their spells.
Using transportation spells to move Daemons of different Gods near each other will give you a good chance of seeing these fight each other.
Good hand to hand troops, but not that good. If you have a unit with 2+ save or better, you can fight them with a reasonable confidence of victory. The trouble starts when the Chaos Player mounts them on Juggernauts. Against these, artillery is about the only answer.
The Collars of Khorne and the great speed of these Hounds make them popular amongst the hosts of Chaos. But 1 attack limits their effectiveness in combat. Vicious enough H-T-H fighters and flyers can deal with them.
There probably is not a one Chaos General who does not own a Bloodthirster. Hellishly dangerous if used correctly, my usual advice against Chaos does not hold true to this monstrosity. I say go for it and attack it with everything you've got.
The Chaos Generals usually mount these Ladies of Death on Steeds of Slaanesh to create the ultimately fast cavalry unit. Troops with high armor save can handle them, but they are so fast that they usually pick who they will fight. As they can very easily wipe out all but the most heavily armored target, this could be very bad news.
They have your arm's length of Special Rules, but they are not very strong. Troops with good armor save will be their bane.
Land-bound as they are, Keepers are very fast and quite dangerous in combat. Their weaknesses include rather poor spells and vulnerability to land-troops powerful enough to hurt them. I prefer Chariots - no need for the leadership check as the scythed wheels don't care a thing about the beauty of the Keeper of Secrets.
Very dangerous if you have troops with multiple wounds or lots of Characters. The best opponents for them are the troops that have only 1 Wound, so the special rules for their swords will not gain them additional advantages. They do have an option to mount the beasts of Nurgle, but as this slows their mediocre Movement to 3, it is a rarely used.
Too slow that they could usually bother you, so simply don't fight them! Chaos army can't afford to wait for their Beasts to slumber to the melee. They are very dangerous in hand to hand, however, so don't let your opponent transport them in to melee via spells or such.
Not so dangerous, unless you have medium infantry in your army, which I doubt. They do cause Fear (HOW?), have 4+ save, and against light infantry, they can be deadly. On the other hand, they are a strange creatures of Chaos: they are easy to wound! Troops with multiple attacks will be able to break them.
Now this Greater Daemon is a very rare sight, because it has a relatively slow Movement and lacks wings. It does, however have a Monstrous toughness of 8 and 10 Wounds! To kill it, you'll need 4 Great Cannon hits or something similar. Don't go to hand to hand with it! Just wait as it slumbers towards your lines and shoot! Black Gem of Gnar and the `Eadbang Banner are also good options to take him out.
Astoundingly fast foot troops, with both great missile potential as well as a vicious hand to hand ability. Very, very dangerous, but also very expensive. Heavy missile fire is good, since their number of wounds is low when compared to their high point cost.
It is a good idea to concentrate a heavy barrage of missiles upon Horrors early on, as this will turn them to Blue Horrors, which are much easier to handle in hand to hand.
A popular Greater Daemon due it's lower price, and the ability to fly. I normally take great pains to try and take this creature down early on in hand to hand. True, it has fearsome statistics, but it is quite possible for a powerful hero to take him on. Of course the Black Gem is even better option!
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