Warhammer Armies – Warriors of Chaos

My Warriors of Chaos for Warhammer Fantasy Battle have marshalled in strength (1,000 points under 8th Edition rules to be precise) to raid the civilised lands. Serving their dark gods under the banner of Chaos Undivided, they form a core army of no-nonsense fighters around which daemons and cults of all denominations can gather in future.

Bursting from the Chaos Wastes

Leading these mobs of murderers are a massive Chaos Lord and a twisted Chaos Sorcerer. Both figures are Games Day special editions and very nice sculpts in my opinion. The Chaos Lord is a version of Archaon the Everchosen on foot, a serious chunk of metal.

I like that the Chaos Sorcerer has some Tzeentchian vibes about him, which is fitting being a magic wielder, even though his soul isn’t (yet) fully in the claws of the Great Conspirator.

The Chaos Lord wields a possessed blade

The Chaos Sorcerer channels swirling warp energy

The regiments marching with them to war are largely built from plastic sets, with the exception of the leader of the Chaos Warriors (another Games Day figure) and the classic chariot.

Chaos Warriors are merciless killers in the name of their dark gods

Chaos Knights crush their enemies with a thunderous charge

Chaos Marauders revel in their savagery

A Chaos Chariot is sent ahead to break the defenders’ lines

There are many ‘allies’ waiting in the wings to join these Warriors of Chaos in their crusade, from brutish Beastmen to nightmarish Daemons of Slaanesh, Nurgle and Khorne. I hope my armies of the Empire and the Dwarfs can be raised quickly enough to stem the rising tide of Chaos before it is too late.

The Chaos Lord leads his forces from the front

The Chaos Warriors serve their gods through battle

Cataphracts of Chaos

My Warriors of Chaos are nearly ready to invade the civilised empires now that I have completed the final unit of the army. These five Chaos Knights and their steeds are the most costly fighters in their warband, but they do pack a mean iron fisted punch unless they can be stopped by an artillery barrage before smashing into the enemy lines.

The Chaos Knights break into a charge

Since this cavalry is nearly completely covered in metal plates without any of the pelts that break up the Chaos Warriors’ colour scheme, I applied some flesh wash to the horse barding which gives it a different tone from the riders in their cold steel. Horns and fleshy bits on the shields do the rest with some bronze elements on the command group.

A demonic soul is bound into this shield

The diabolical horn comes alive in battle

Prying eyes from the Realm of Chaos

The steed is armoured in the skull of a defeated monster

The Doom Knight fights to earn glory in the eyes of the gods

Now what this force needs is a mighty and ruthless leader, backed up by a cunning practitioner of the dark arts to lead it into battle and glorious victory for the gods of Chaos.

Get out of the way or be trampled into the dust

Warriors of the Dark Gods

An army of the Warriors of Chaos needs a unit of these dreaded fighters themselves of course. As I am putting together a core force of just 1,000 points, a group of ten of these provides a hefty chunk of the army’s fighting strength.

Having conquered the wastes, the warriors head south

These warriors march under the banner of Chaos Undivided, clad in cold, chaos-infused steel and wrapped in heavy cloaks and shaggy furs. Their relentless assault on the civilised lands can only ever end in complete annihilation, be it theirs or their enemies’.

The eight pointed star of chaos proclaims their allegiance

No mere mortals could wield such heavy blades in each hand

The Aspiring Champion leading this band of merciless killers is a figure released for Games Day 2009. He fits the style of the plastic Chaos Warriors well but has enough additional detail and flourishes to make him stand out as their commander.

The champion seeks the favour of his sinister gods

Trophies of defeated enemies adorn these ruthless fighters

Long March South

I’ve been feeling the call of Chaos and decided to revisit some of the units I had previously raised but not quite finished. I have put together an army list for 1,000 points of Warriors of Chaos Undivided, using a no-nonsense black and metal colour scheme and consisting of Warriors, Marauders, Knights and a chariot.

First off I re-based the chariot, propping up the steeds on bits of slate while doing so to give them a little more height.

The chariot cuts a path for the warband

Next I touched up the bases for the Chaos Marauders and painted the remaining two in full, making it a mob of 20. This regiment started out when these sculpts were first released and they have a quick and dirty dry brush job for the skin.

Heavy flails will crush any resistance

Shortly before I had also completed this alien tree from Wargames Terrain Workshop. While I had envisaged it to be part of my Catachan jungle terrain, Captain Darling over on Discord pointed out its Lovecraftian qualities. With my eyes opened such, I can see it equally well as part of a Chaos landscape for Warhammer now.

Vegetation in the lands of Chaos is weird and often deadly

I’ve moved on to painting the Warriors next which will join this dark crusade in due course. Assuming they don’t get lost in the Chaos Wastes for another twenty-odd years.

Whipping their steeds towards the enemy

The Marauders throw themselves into the fray

The Beasts are Stirring

While doing a roll call of my various work in progress armies for Warhammer Fantasy Battle I came across a mostly finished herd of Beastmen Gors that required a few updates. I drybrushed the bases brown where they were grey before and repainted the edges in my now standard Gorthor Brown.

Beastmen are a constant threat to hamlets and villages throughout the Empire

I also found that I was one warrior short since I intend to use the previous leader of the herd as a Wargor in the 1,000 points force. Since I had a spare model from the Marauder Miniatures MB09 Beastmen Regiment with a missing double handed club, I converted that figure by giving it an axe and shield from the plastic Citadel Chaos Marauders. About half of the other Gors also received shields from that set, as none of the regiment was equipped with any.

Beastmen use crude but effective weapons and armour

Some of the Beastmen had previously been converted to wielding two hand weapons, while the remaining ones were now given shields from the Ungors plastic set.

Gors wield vicious, heavy blades