Warhammer: The Old World – Arcane Journal: The Breaching of the Great Bastion

Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a copy of this book for review.

The Latest Arcane Journal for Cathay finally brings together it's disparate parts.

"Fight boldly, but with discipline, let the enemy's brash fury be their downfall." - Cathay Proverb

Here it is! Almost 8 months after the first wave of Cathayan models hit the Old World like a furious storm and upended the competitive side of the game, Games Workshop has released the third and theoretically final Arcane Journal for the army of the Celestial Dragon. This entry fully fleshes out the faction by adding a number of less elite models for the army including 3 unique rank and file infantry options and a new character to help lead your forces to victory. On top of these new datasheets, players receive: a revamped Grand Army Composition list featuring prominent spots for the new entries, a second Army of Infamy in the Warriors of Wind and Field, and a slight update to Grand Cathay's special rules, plus a smattering of new lore to bridge the gap in time between the original Cathayan Arcane Journal and the events of Dawn of the Storm Dragon.

As far as arcane journals go, Great Bastion is an interesting one. It comes across as a bit disjointed and light when compared to the other entries we've received this edition. It is written in a way where it clearly should have been released prior to or in tandem with Storm Dragon but wasn't, probably because of either model availability or market saturation. Rather than releasing everything at once, we get a more paced release to allow things to breathe and maintain hype around the game which I understand to a degree. While most of the arcane journals this edition have featured lore that progressed the story of the disparate factions of the Old World, this one ends up going backwards to explain the Chaos invasion of Cathay and how it would lead to Miao Ying forming her Jade Fleet and venturing out to save the Westerlands and curtail the tide of the Dark Powers. I believe I would have preferred having the second and third journals combined into one for the sake of simplicity, especially given the fact that each book feels relatively light compared to the others released this edition but it is a minor gripe in the grand state of things.

Liam: It's maybe something to discuss at a future point but I'm fairly sure that this is the model we'll have moving forward. I like the Arcane Journal model of releases and the steady flow of rules and models keeps the game feeling fairly fresh and alive.

As to the exact nuts and bolts of what the journal provides to players of the Old World? Well, let's get into it.

Expect Peasant Levies to be a lynchpin unit of Cathayan lists going forward. These cheap bodies provide a lot of what the army was missing.

The Fastest Spears in the East: New Units

As already mentioned, Breaching the Great Bastion features a number of new units for the armies of Grand Cathay. The first and definitely the most impactful of which being the Peasant Levy. Peasant Levies represent the great hosts of farmers and standard citizenry of the empire of Cathay that are trained to some martial degree throughout their lives in order to take up arms in defense of their homeland in case of emergency. This unit is extremely cost effective (perhaps too cost effective, 1 more point would not have hurt) and just what Cathay truly needed when it comes to putting together a balanced list. Sitting at a paltry 4 points per model, with a base unit size of 10+, Peasant Levies feature the standard human stat lines we've kind of come to expect with a WS of 2 and BS, Str, To and Initiative of 3. They are base leadership 5 (6 when fielded with an Elder, their champion equivalent) and may be equipped with either Warbows or Long Spears at no extra cost.

Levies are an absolutely fantastic unit, that for whatever reason do not have the Levies special rule despite it being in their name. Instead, they come with Close Order, Warband, and Horde, though they may swap their Close Order for the Skirmishers rule for free, something most players will do if they plan on take those beautiful warbows. Additionally, 1 unit of peasants for every 1000 points in your list may have the Ambushers special rule for an additional 1 point per model (an absolute must-have upgrade in this situation, in my opinion). While most players will be familiar with the warbow, the Long Spear is a new weapon option currently exclusive to Cathay. It is a Str user, ap - weapon with the Fight In Extra Ranks rule common to spears. In addition, it grants the wielder the Strikes First special rule in any turn in which it was charged.

While Strikes First is an extremely powerful ability, and I know many Elven players to be extraordinarily tilted it was given to lowly farmers over their elite ancient warriors, in practice the Long Spears are just kind of ok. Str 3 attacks at Weapon Skill 2 just do not generally translate into actual wounds on the table even when made en masse and the poor unarmored toughness 3 bodies of the peasantry themselves don't hold up to any clap back. While I do see potential for players wanting to run a sizable unit of spears as an anchor unit, perhaps held in ambush to protect points, I believe we'll see people really take advantage of just how versatile 4 point skirmishing models with warbows can be instead. Expect to see at least 4x 12-15 in every grand army or wind and wall army of infamy build for the foreseeable future.

Liam: As Falcon has said I think every Grand Army will include these and a lot of these. 20 Jade Warriors with Full Command comes out to 178pts with 144pts left of the 500pts of core left to fill after the 2nd unit of Warriors in a standard 2000pt army, if you took slightly less Jade Warriors then clearly that 144pt load increases and with the removal of Jade Lancers from the Grand Army Core section Peasants are the clear choice to fill this gap. I expect that 2x20 Jade Warriors might even be a little too high for a lot of players, further increasing the amount of peasants required to fill the army, less if you have magic items. I can easily see ~2x20 Warriors and ~2x15 Peasants being pretty much standard in most armies but dropping some of the Warriors and adding another one, or two units of Peasants becomes very appealing.

Next up, and perhaps a little less exciting (at least competitively speaking, narratively I love these guys) are the 2 gunner datasheets that have been brought over from Cathay's shore. Previously relegated to their posts in Sky Lanterns, Ironhail and Crane Gunners mark members of the Cathayan military that have not quite met the level of expertise required to ride around in a hot air balloon and have been instead outfitted with their weapons and told to slog it with the common folk.

Crane Gunner Teams are first up here. They are move 4, WS/BS/Str/To/Init 3 and each come with 2 wounds for 16 points at leadership 7, come in squad sizes of 3-8 and they have Open Order. They have no command options to speak of and are equipped with crane guns, light armor and tower shields. The Crane Gun here is mostly the same as the one found on the Sky Lantern with a 36 inch range, a strength of 6 and AP of 2 with the Armour Bane (2) special rule. However, unlike those mounted on the balloon, these guns have the Move or Shoot special rule instead of Ponderous making the unit rather unwieldly, particularly against highly mobile enemies. This lack of movement is further compounded by the unit's Tower Shields which grant the gunners a whopping +3 to their armour saves (bringing them to a respectable 3+) but only in their front arc. Luckily, this can be mitigated if you're willing to pay the points as Crane Gunners to have the option to take the Reserve Move special rule for an additional 2 points per model. You will always take this special rule if you plan on running Crane Gunners. You may also elect to pay an additional 1 point per model to give your Crane Gunners Ambushers. DO NOT DO THIS. Ambushing counts as a move. Paying extra points to bring your unit with insane range onto the board later in the game and have them do nothing the turn they come into play is insane. If you choose to give this unit ambushers I will assume it is only out of spite for me.

Liam: The ambushing rule here is hilarious. Who doesn't want to not have their guys turn up on T2 (at best) and not shoot until T3 (at best)? And that's even if you roll the dice to bring them on. So the best case scenario is that you get to shoot for 4 of the 6 turns of any game. Lets just pretend that that line isn't there, and move on with the rest of the unit entry. What you're left with however is a pretty cool unit. It's not the most efficient unit in terms of the points per output, especially compared to the lantern, but it's still more than playable. With 2W each and a 3+ save in the front arc then you've got a fairly resilient unit which can take a little punishment at range before losing any real firepower. In addition their range means that you should be able to position them in such a way that they can be protected mostly by the board edge and have all real damage from from that front arc. The most interesting part of them however is without a doubt their reserve move rule you can purchase which seems mandatory if you ever plan on getting the most from them, it'll be a real skill test of the Cathay player to be able to position them in a such a way where they're effective the following turn, knowing what your opponent wants to do and reacting to that. I'm a big fan and these will almost certainly make it into some lists.

On the other side of the gunner coin are the Ironhails. These little guys come in at 12 points a piece with the same stat line as their Crane Gunner brothers and sisters (though with only 1 wound a piece). They may take a Marksman upgrade, but no banner or musician. At unit sizes of 4-12, ironhails are an interesting package that don't quite make it in the most competitive builds as they are far too fragile for their points, but they are almost there. They come stock with Skirmishers and Open Order special rules and may be upgraded to take gunpowder bombs for an additional 2 points per model (this is a trap). The Iron Hail guns are decent little damage packages similar to what we've seen from the blunderbuss options found in Bretonnian Exiles and Chaos Dwarves. They are str 3, ap 1 with a range of 12 inches and come with the Move and Shoot and Multiple Shots d3 special rules. In addition, wielders of Iron Hail guns suffer no penalties for firing at long range, for using the stand and shoot reaction, or for firing multiple shots. While there is definitely a really high ceiling to what Iron Hails can do for you on the table, they are extremely fragile for their points and really do not stack up well at all to the 4 point peasants with warbows that are literally right there. When you consider that these gunners are also a Special option and not Core like the peasantry (except in the new AoI), there just isn't a huge space for them in list building. All that said, I have had some success running them in practice games in small units of 4 where they can easily hide in and around terrain and pick off injured enemy units. I think I'd feel a lot more intrigued by the Ironhail gunners if they had had the option to pay for Ambushers, unlike their big dumb Crane Gunner kin.

Liam: These are a really interesting unit where I agree with nearly everything Falcon's said above, they're a reasonable unit which you aren't spiting yourself if you take, but at the same time, they aren't going to the top of anyone's shopping list when making lists. It feels like they're just slightly too expensive in both survivability and output for their cost, especially if you buy the bomb upgrade (which you shouldn't). However similar to Falcon I kinda like the small unit option. 4 don't set you back many points at all and are really good at killing things which threaten your back line like light calvary or ranked up ambushing units. If you're taking 2+ Warmachines and maybe a unit of Crane Gunners for pushing 400-500pts taking a small unit of these for 48pts can protect them pretty easily with a decent threat range (thanks to Move & Shoot) they can protect a wide stretch of the table with reasonable firepower. The other upside to such a small unit size is that opponents won't want to waste full magic missiles into them as they can only cap out at killing 4 models, worst case scenario they do, kill 1-3 of them and now how to dedicate another one to finishing off a unit? Even if they don't pull their weight overall that's still not a bad game state for the Cathay player to find themselves in. The final point is that their Stand & Shoot reaction is well above average, coupled with being able to run everywhere means that if light cav or similar do get towards your warmachines or firebase you can just run in the way, still shoot and then Stand & Shoot, hopefully really reducing the threat.

The astromancer is a welcome addition to an already stacked Character slot in Cathay, it is only disappointing that our little crow guy doesn't actually have special rules. SHAME

Finally, to round off our new units, we have the Astromancers of the Celestial Court. These new wizards are a nice little add to the Cathayan army that I know a number of people wish had been available at release. On paper, Astromancers are almost carbon copies of Empire wizards and wizard lords. They come in at 125 and 65 points respectively for their lvl 3 and lvl 1 variations, and have standard human stat lines (3s across the board, except a move of 4 and a leadership of 8). Astromancers have all the same lore options as their Shugengan counterparts, may choose to be either of the Lore of Yin or Yang for free, may be mounted on a Cathayan horse for 16 points, and come with Magic Attacks, MR (-1), and Mastery of the Elemental Winds. These guys are relatively boring little packages but definitely have their place in Cathayan lists, particularly as further methods of applying the clutch +1 to cast that comes with Mastery. If you are looking at running a list with a larger unit of Jade Warriors or Peasant Levy, you definitely should consider 1 or 2, though they are far from an auto-take and that is perfectly ok with me.

Liam: Cheap dedicated wizards are the thing Cathay was missing the most for me with their initial release and this box/book brings them to the fray. With the Mastery of the Elemental Winds rule in play you can get a fairly effective pair of casters for less than 200pts who know a decent range of spells and by adding that bonus after rolling the dice you can change some of the Cathay signature spells to go off on their higher casting "boosted" effect pretty easily or easily trigger the Mastery of the Elemental Winds rule for Miao or a Shugengan far cheaper than you could have before. Their only downside is them not having the Will of the Dragon rule but I presume that's because that rules for the martially trained members of the armies not those in support roles.

Rules Revisited

As part of the updates to the army of Grand Cathay that this book brings, we also have rewrites of the Grand Army Composition list to better make use of the new unit entries available to the army and a significant adjustment to one of Cathay's core special rules.

First up, the Elemental Winds found in the core Arcane Journal have been changed. Now instead of being either the Winds of Yang on a 1-3 on a dice roll at the beginning of every round, or the Winds of Yin on a 4-6, the results have added a 3rd option. On a 1-2, the winds die down and there is no effect in play, while Yang and Yin are triggered on a 3-4 or 5-6 respectively. This is a slight nerf to the army but also one that makes some sense. While you could never rely on the benefits of the winds being what you needed in a pinch, having any effect only trigger 1/3rd of the time will further limit those clutch turns where you desperately want that additional pip of movement or leadership. It should be noted here that as written, these new Elemental Winds only impact the Grand Army and Warriors of Wind and Wall army lists. The Jade Fleet army of infamy is not mentioned in this book and it specifically refers you to the original Arcane Journal for its rules. I imagine this is just an oversight and we will see a quick errata to bring the fleet in line with the rest of the lists and would recommend everyone play it that way in the mean time.

Secondly, and definitely a change that will have a bigger impact on the competitive nature of Cathay are the changes to the Grand Army Composition list. For starters, we have the Supreme Astromancer added to Characters as a 0-1 option per 1000 points. They, along with Gate Masters, have been added to the same allotment line as Magistrates and Shugengan Lords meaning you may only have 1 of any of those 4 units per 1k points in your army really limiting the use of either model in games given the raw power you are electing to lose by dropping Lords and Magistrates from your lists entirely. You may choose to run as many plain jane Astromancers as you want though.

Next up, in Core, Peasant Levy have been added alongside Jade Warriors and Jade Lancers have been removed as an option altogether unless you have a Gate Keeper or Gate Master as your General, in which case you may have 1 unit of Lancers in your Core slot. This is a pretty big blow to the Grand Army given how strong Jade Lancers are as a core choice. I think it is understandable to remove or limit them as an option in the Grand Army to further separate this list from the Jade Fleet but it is definitely a net nerf to list making given how much of a drop in power it is to make a Gate Master your general over a Lord Magistrate or Miao Ying, particularly at higher point totals. If you're playing in the 1k-1.5k point range it might be a stronger consideration.

Liam: This is the single biggest change in the book and in effect says that if you want to play pure Wave 1 of Cathay then you're almost pointing people at the Jade Fleet Army of Infamy instead of this. It's a shame in a way because I do really like these new options which aren't found there and you'll see three distinct styles of Cathay moving forward: The new AoI which is very peasant and lantern led, the grand army which looks like the old lists we used to see with peasants in core instead of lancers and finally the Jade Fleet lists which are for people who haven't yet picked up this box or want to run Jade Lancers en masse in the core section of the list.

At Special, Grand Cannons and Rocket Batteries have now been limited to 0-2 per 1000 points, instead of 0-3. This is not a huge change as most lists were only running 2-3 cannons to begin with and 0 Rocket Batteries but a change nonetheless. Additionally, Iron Hail Gunners and Crane Gunner Teams can be found in this slot further relegating them to 'this is neat, but' status.

The new Army of Infamy really juices up your Peasant Levies to heroic proportions.
@badusernametag

To The Wind(dow), To the Wall

Just as the great starseer Lil John first proclaimed in 2003, the Army of Grand Cathay has a new Army of Infamy to play and it be 'Gettin' Low'...Lowborn that is. The Warriors of Wind and Field Army of Infamy is a Peasant and Sky Lantern focused Army Composition list meant to embody the main conglomerations of troops that defended the Great Bastion when Chaos came a knocking and remained there when the elite forces of the Jade Fleet set off to put a stop to the machinations of the gods. It is a pretty neat design piece that splits the ways you can play the army in a pretty linear fashion. You may choose to run the elite Lancers, Shugengan Lords and Dragons of the Jade Fleet without the hordes of bodies as ablative wounds, the balanced take all comers Grand Army, or eschew your biggest weapons in favor of juiced up farmers with bows and sticks.

The Wind and Field composition list is pretty lean. It removes the option of taking Shugengan Lords and Cathayan Dragons found in the other lists available to Cathay, moves Jade Lancers to your Rare slot outside of the option to run a single unit in Special at any point value and moves Jade Warriors to Special. Though, you may still take 1 unit of Jade Warriors in Core per 1000 points (which is more than enough in this list anyway) and your Ironhail Gunners get moved to this slot as well (which makes them slightly more appealing). In terms of unique buffs to this list over its compatriots, the Wind and Wall army of Infamy gets to take Sky Lanterns in Special instead of Rare and Peasant Levies are a 1+ option (meaning you can take practically infinite msu units of them if you desire in a GW matched play list). Lastly, this list unlocks Badlands Ogre Bulls as mercenaries, something the other two comps do not have. Not that you'd use them you wild animal you.

So what do you gain by dropping Shug Lords and Miao Ying? This army gains 4 special rules in their place, 3 of which directly buff Peasant Levies. First up, Warriors of the Field, grants Peasant Levies in this army the sneakily powerful ability to ignore being disrupted by difficult or dangerous terrain. This can be a huge combat resolution swing on the right table. Placing a large unit of peasant partially in a forest and forcing your opponent to engage them there will make most rank and flank armies balk at the option from this alone. Additionally, 0-1 peasant units per 1000 points may pay 20 flat points for the Move Through Cover special rule.

Warriors of the Land is next. This is a bit of a toolbox ability granted to units of Peasant Levy allowing them to choose which dice to discard when performing a Fallback in Good Order move, rather than always the lowest. While this will often be of little consequence, the times it keeps you from bouncing through a series of allied and enemy units or fleeing off the board will be greatly appreciated and it can allow you to better control the board for prospective counter charges in follow-up turns.

Warriors of the Wind is the final rule available to Peasants in this list. It grants 0-1 units of Peasant Levy the Reserve Move and Scouts special rules at a rate of 2 points per model per 1k points in your list. This can be really powerful in that right build, if a bit expensive. I have fooled around with a couple lists that try to abuse the Reserve Move ability here on top of Ambushers or just to better kite opposing mobs in the early game to some great effect.

Last, but definitely not least comes Discipline of the Dragon. Once per game, per Sky Lantern in your list, during your Command phase, a Sky Lantern in your army may enact a 'Grand Strategy'. The Lantern in question makes a Leadership test and if passed grants one of the following abilities to models within 12 inches until your next turn: Defiance of the Dragon grants the Stubborn special rule to all units in range. If a unit already has Stubborn they gain Unbreakable instead, Strength of the Everlasting Empire all infantry and cavalry units cannot be wounded on a to wound roll of a 2 regardless of Attacker Strength, and Fury of the Falling Blade, regular infantry units gain a +1 modifier to their Movement characteristic and may reroll Charge, Flee or Pursuit rolls.

Now of these both Defiance of the Dragon and Strength of the Everlasting Empire are situationally powerful effects. Defiance in particular, if you are running enough Sky Lanterns, can simply give Unbreakable out to the majority of your army for a round or 2 if you wanted it to simply by have more than 1 Lantern roll the effect at a time. This can lead to some clutch late-game plays to deny points or shut down plans for opponents. Even Stubborn is incredibly impactful on its own. Everlasting Empire is a clutch option to have at your disposal against more elite opponents or when up against artillery gunlines. Being able to negate an additional 1/6th of your opponent's wound rolls can change the math just enough in a crucial combat or peppering. Fury of the Falling Blade in its current iteration is pretty underwhelming given that Cathay doesn't really have an elite regular infantry unit in its current iteration. That said, there will be times where it could come in handy when trying to finish off a particularly juicy target you've been weakening with shots from your lanterns or bows.

The terrifying Sky Lantern gets ANOTHER special rule in this new Army of Infamy making you want to field as many as you're legally allowed.

As far as power levels go, this army list is pretty good, if perhaps not as strong as the raw power the Jade Fleet provides. That said, there are some really cool things happening here that I enjoy and I am glad we only got to see it after the extensive nerfs to Sky Lanterns in the latest FAQ. Had this come out with the Lanterns still at their full strength, I am sure several of my friends and sparring buddies would have had aneurysms. I believe this list offers some great Narrative and casual options for play while still having an avoidance build locked away behind massed units of skirmishing bowmen, shugengan generals and sky lanterns that is probably close to A-Tier levels of play.



This list tries to make use of all of our new toys to great effect. The idea here is a simple one, utilize the block of Jade Warriors backed up by the two Astromancers to hold your side of the table by stacking Glittering Robes and Earthen Ramparts. Your Lanterns and Generals provide ample firepower and early game aggression. Crane gunners can sit back and take on the role of a mini-cannon, picking off whatever the Lanterns leave alive while the Ironhails flit about as a threat that can high-roll and punch up, or be joined by one of the Astromancers to pick off ethereal units. While the Gunner Teams are probably the weak links in this list, they are far from awful. If you wanted to go deeper into supporting your Jade Warriors, you could always trade a Shugengan General for a Gate Keeper BSB with the Jade Armour of Beichai, though I don't believe the trade off there is quite so good.

Final Thoughts

This Arcane Journal was a long time coming. In general, I'm very pleased with the extra steps GW has taken to subtly rein in Cathay over and above what we saw in the latest FAQ. While a couple of the choices with the new units are odd (see Ambushers on Crane guns) I'm also pretty excited with how balanced these new pieces are given how the rest of Cathay came to light. While peasant levies are definitely a pushed unit, they are not going to change the landscape of the Old World and I'm quite content with that. The AoI is a unique way to play the army which is exciting given how lacklustre some of the latest books have been and I have had a blast trying out new combos I didn't have access to before. It's exciting times for the armies of the Dragon and I can't wait to see what better players than I will end up putting together.

Liam: So I guess this is the first time we're seeing Cathay as close to a "finished" army, not that I don't expect more to come but you've now got (as mentioned above) 3 distinct styles to play with Cathay and it's going to be interesting to see which one comes out on top. I think the new additions are generally well thought out and add variety to the army and I'm sure in all none Jade Fleet lists you'll see a mix of 2-3 of the new unit types. I'm really excited to get models on the table and will be looking to get to an event to try them all out as soon as possible after the release.

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