Choosing a Chaos Army
There are now three separate army lists for Chaos:
Chaos Warriors
Beastmen
Daemons
How to Choose an Army:
75-100% of your points must be spent on your chosen warband, either Chaos Warriors, Beastmen, or Daemons. You cannot mix the three in that 75%. You may choose up to 25% of your points as allies.
Choosing a Warband
To choose a warband, you first choose a Warlord, and then a retinue for him. You repeat this procedure until your points are exhausted.
Nominate a General
Once you have chosen your army, nominate one of your Warlords to be the General. You can choose any Warlord, but it is obviously advantageous to choose the character with the highest Ld. You may not choose your General from amongst allies. There is a flowchart on page 97 of Warhammer: Realm of Chaos that shows how to choose your Warband.
Chaos Warrior Warbands
Chaos Warlords
Chaos Warlords may be either Champions, Heros, or Lord level characters.
Chaos Sorcerers are also Warlords, and they may be chosen from any of the four levels of Sorcerers.
The Chaos Battle Standard Bearer is also a Warlord. You can only have one Chaos Battle Standard Bearer.
Warrior Retinues
You must choose a retinue for each Warlord that must equal or exceed the Warlord in points.
Chaos Knights
These are expensive (66 pts. or 80 if you give them Chaos Armour) troops, but are very hard hitting and mobile, they have very good stats with high WS, BS, S and T, and 2 Attacks, and high Ld. These are the troops you use for breaking the enemy's line and / or his troops such as Bretonnian Knights, etc. You should always give your Chaos Knights a standard and musician, and a magic standard if possible.
Chaos Warriors
Chaos Warriors are foot versions of the Chaos Knights, they are good troops for anchoring an important section of your line and for attacking heavily armoured foes. You should also give Chaos Warriors a standard and musician, and a magic standard if possible.
Chaos Chariots
Chaos Warrior crewed Chariots are very expensive, but given scythed wheels, they are devastating. Use these to attack flanks and tactically important locations in the enemy line. Just remember Chariots need open terrain to maneuvre.
There may also be Chariots crewed by Marauders and pulled by Warhorses. These are much cheaper than Chaos Warrior Chariots but are still effective as assault troops.
Chaos Chariots do not have to be in units of five. They may be used as singles. One chariot may carry a magic standard.
Chaos Hounds
Chaos Hounds should always be led by a Chaos Champion or Hero They have above average stats with 2 Attacks, but with low Ld. They can be led by a Chaos Warrior, and they should be.
Chaos Marauders
Chaos Marauders are the wild barbarians of the North, and they make very effective troops to fill out your warband, as they have good WS and S, and they are led by a Chaos Warrior. Their lower points value make them appealing choices for the mass of your troops, especially when fighting armies with low Toughness and high numbers. Marauders have the 2 Attacks the same as Chaos Warriors. One unit of Marauders may have a magic standard.
Marauder Horsemen
Chaos Marauder Horsemen make good fast cavalry for making flank attacks. My choice of weapons for them would be flails. They may have a standard bearer and musician, which they should have, and my choice for a magic standard would be the Standard of Shielding to increase their survivability until they can impact the enemy. You may use a Chaos Knight as a leader. If you do, keep the role of the Marauder Horsemen in mind when equipping him.
Ogres
Ogres are large and powerful creatures, with high T, and multiple Wounds and Attacks. They have a good Ld value, but they are very expensive. The type of leader you may choose for Ogres depends on the size of the unit. My preference would be to use small units of Ogres led by a Champion.
Chaos Warrior Tactics
The first thing you must do is choose how you wish to play your Chaos Warrior army. Do you want a small army of truly elites made up of all Chaos Knights, or do you want a mix of Chaos Knights and Chaos Warriors, or a mix of Chaos Knights and Chariots, or a mix of Chaos Knights, Warriors, AND Chariots? These are the most elite of the Chaos Warrior forces, but I would like to tell you now that limiting yourself to the above is not the best way to play a Chaos Warrior army. I have found that a Chaos Warrior army that relies mostly on mounted Marauders with flails is a very potent army. You can also make a good army by using a combination of Chaos Warriors, Knights, Marauders, and Chariots.
You should choose a theme/Chaos God for your army, and base it upon this theme/Chaos God. A very good way to build your army is to look at the benefits and the detriments of each Chaos power and build your army to take those into account.
If you are building a Khorne army, you will want the heavily armoured Chaos Knights and Chaos Warriors. Give your Warlords the Mark of Khorne, and choose Chaos Rewards for them that will aid them in survivability such as Praise of Khorne and Rewards that will aid them in destroying their foes such as Battle Fury of Khorne. You do not have to use expensive magic items with Chaos Warlords, due to the fact that they already have high stats. In many cases, the cheaper items that will give you an edge in striking first will be just as useful. Also, cheaper items are less likely to be vetoed. You are better off taking a good combination of cheaper items and rewards than you are trying to make a mega-item. Give your units banners such as the Standard of Shielding to aid them against your enemy's missile fire and the Banner of Rage or the Battle Banner to aid their combat results. But remember, any unit you give the Banner of Rage must charge the nearest enemy unit, and plan for this.
If you are building a Chaos Warrior army of Tzeentch, I would use a much wider variety of troops. In this case I would go with a mix of Chaos Knights, mounted Chaos Warriors, and Sorcerers riding Chariots. Give your Sorcerers rewards such as Destiny of Tzeentch and Fortune of Tzeentch to aid them in using their magic. Give your units banners that will aid their survivability while they close with the enemy. Mounted Chaos Warriors with flails have a very good charge damage, but they fall back to their own strength on all rounds of combat after the first in each combat.
If you are building a Chaos Warrior army of Nurgle, I would suggest a mix of Chaos Knights, Mounted Chaos Warriors with flails, and Nurgle Sorcerers riding Chariots. I would make one of these Sorcerers either a Master Sorcerer or a Sorcerer Lord, and make him my army commander. In this case, even your Sorcerers make good combat troops, especially when given Chaos Rewards of Nurgle (my favorite of these is Cloud of Flies) Give your Sorcerers good magic weapons and Chaos armour. Give your units magic standards that will aid them to survive as they cross the battlefield and attack the enemy. The Plague Banner can be a potent tool in your army.
If you are building a Chaos Warrior army of Slaanesh (this is my favorite, as it has some of the best protection), I would use a Master Sorcerer or Sorcerer Lord as my army general and I would take one other Sorcerer of lower rank. I like mounting Sorcerers in my Chariots and my favorite reward for my Champions of Slaanesh is the Allure Of Slaanesh, as all enemies must take a Ld test on 3D6 to be able to attack them. For this army, I would choose Chaos Knights (a small unit), a large unit of Mounted Marauders with flails, led by a Chaos Warrior, and I would give them The Standard of Shielding. I would also use a small unit of Ogres and fill out my army with a small Chaos Marauder unit to use as a blocking and sceening force.
Battle Standard Bearers: All of the above armies should have a battle standard bearer as the leader of one of the warbands in it, and I would choose a battle standard that would aid in morale and psychology as you will take casualties with a Chaos Warrior army.
Good tactics for any of the above armies is to concentrate on an area, preferrably the flank of your opponent's line, and destroy or drive it off. You will never have the numbers to fight in an extended line, so it is best to find a terrain feature to anchor one end of your line, and even the table edge would work, and fight in one localized area. Do not let your opponent out flank you or catch you within the horns of a Horned formation. Roll up the end of your opponent's line and keep moving down it, destroying or breaking one unit after another. The weighted line, is probably your best line formation but your opponent, if he is good, will be looking for it, so every once in a while just put everything into one area and CHARGE! Don't do the same thing over and over! You must be creative in finding ways to keep your opponent off balance (this usually isn't hard with most of your opponents, as they will probably feel some trepidation at facing the mighty Chaos Warriors).
You can also build a very effective Chaos Warrior Warband using a combination of both mounted troops and the infantry. Use your infantry to anchor your line and to pivot on, and use your mounted troops to hammer your enemy.
Chaos Hounds are very useful for harassing your enemy and for attacking and delaying enemy troops until your more powerful Warriors can strike them. They are also very useful for attacking low WS and low T troops.
Ogres are very good fighters, they have better than average movement, they are very tough, and they can do massive damage! I like to use a unit of 3 or 4 Ogres to attack tough units (don't let them get tied up with large blocks of cheap troops, use them to attack your enemy's smaller, elite forces). They are also a good pinning unit to use as the anvil in a hammer and anvil attack against an enemy unit.
This is an army that just begs to have converted troops in it. One of the most powerful conversions is a Chaos Chariot pulled by two Steeds of Slaanesh with a Chaos Sorcerer of Slaanesh mounted in it that has the Chaos Rewards Allure of Slaanesh and Gaze of Slaanesh and wearing Chaos Armour (which isn't a card, and does not take up one of your magic item slots). Give your Chariot scythes, and possibly replace the other Warrior with your Battle Standard Bearer.
Another potent, but very expensive pointswise conversion would be a Chariot pulled by two Beasts of Nurgle with a Nurgle Sorcerer that has Cloud of Flies and Nurgle's Foul Odor, plus Chaos Armour. Also give this Chariot scythes.
For a Khorne Chariot, I would make no conversions in the creatures pulling it, but I would make sure the Chaos Warlord riding it has the Praise of Khorne reward and that he is well armed, but I would not use the very expensive magic weapons for him, as he does not need him.
A Chaos Warlord of Khorne mounted on a barded Chaos Steed with Praise of Khorne, and such a weapon as a Chaos Daemon Sword, or a Heart Seeker is a truly awesome character, and these weapons aren't as likely to get vetoed as some others such as a Hydra Sword.
Here is a favorite of mine: A Chaos Hero mounted on a barded Chaos Steed - The Hero has the Mark of Khorne, and a Relic Sword. He has the relatively cheap (15 points) Relic Sword to give him +1 WS, giving him a total WS of 9, and when he charges, he's frenzied, giving him 8 attacks.
Here is another favorite: A Chaos Hero with the Mark of Slaanesh, mounted on a barded Chaos Steed, with the Allure of Slaanesh, and the Rending Sword.
Here is one that's useful: Take a Chaos Champion or Hero of Nurgle, give him Cloud of Flies, and mount him on a Beast of Nurgle, and use him to block off areas of the Battlefield with a slime trail (have a target for him when you do this, so that he can also get in some damaging blows for you). This is one of the nastier tricks (PUN intended!). Start him slightly behind one of your flanks and make march moves to get him up past it, leaving a Slime Trail in his wake.
I could go on, giving more examples, but I think the ones I have given should be enough to show that many times Chaos Warlords can be built to be very potent without having very expensive magic items. Remember your opponent will need expensive items in most cases just to be equal with where Chaos Warlords start.
To summarize: Use Rewards, magic items, magic standards, and the magic of your Sorcerers (when you have them) to aid in negating your enemy's missile fire. Choose a target and attack it with overwhelming force and destroy or break it, and then move on to another target. Use terrain or such things as Slime Trails to isolate enemy units, and to protect your flanks. Always remember, you must close with the enemy as quickly as you can to minimize any damage he might do with missile or artillery fire. You have powerful hand to hand fighters, so use them to their maximum. Destroy or break the units on your opponent's flank and try to wheel your army in such a way that you will be attacking down the length of your opponent's line.
Disclaimer:The above information is based on the Warhammer: Realm of Chaos book, published by Games Workshop. You will find the complete stats for all of the above in the aforementiuoned book. All rights to the Warhammer Realm of Chaos book are the sole property of Games Workshop Ltd.
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