Warhammer: The Old World – Arcane Journal: The Razing of Westerland

"The gods don't listen to prayers; only victories and conquests please them."

So begins the latest Arcane Journal for the Old World, and it's this intense energy that pervades the entire book. Advertised mostly as a facelift for the Warriors of Chaos, with new rules and datasheets for the absolutely gorgeous Marauder box set that was created on behalf of the ruinous powers, this little guy comes with a whole lot more and, quite honestly, feels like a home run when compared to the last few entries we've seen. Not only do Warriors of Chaos players of all shapes and sizes receive some fun upgrades for their more classic units, like a new Magic Lore, the fun and exciting Chaotic Traits, and new datasheets, but we also get rules for running Path to Glory slow grow campaigns AND a swath of common magic items meant to flesh out those found in the core rulebook! There's something here for everyone (except Dwarf and Daemons players, sucks to suck).

As with the previous handful of journals, The Razing of Westerland is first and foremost a continuation of the story of Frydaal the Chainmaker and her Wolves of the Sea as they begin their pillaging of the outer reaches of the Empire and before layering in what we know of Grand Cathay's great counterattack. Just like with all of the journals that came before it, Razing does a pretty good job of expanding on the world-building side of things as we get caught up to speed on the battles between the forces of the North and East. The Path to Glory ruleset also features a fun lore dump as we gets introduced to twin rising chieftains as they vie for power and a chance to sail at Frydaal's side along with several pages devoted to the totemic worship the marauder tribes. Unlock your standard worshippers of chaos, the tribes are a bit more loose with their rituals and understandings of the Ruinous Powers. They do not follow Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, or Slaanesh, choosing instead to pray for assistance from the Bloodied Hound, the Carrion Crow, the Fell Raptor, and the Slithering Serpent. There is some great stuff in here for the lore hounds among you and as always the artwork is sublime.

Ride your Path to Glory and rise through the Ranks of the Chaos Pantheon

Path to Glory

In terms of overall rules, the Path to Glory is a return to bygone days of WHFB. First put together back in 2008 as a mini-campaign book for people explicitly trying to create their own marauder tribes, this new version sets the ground rules for a slow-grow game that any army can compete in. Recommended to start at 500 points and go from there, this Path to Glory ruleset features some fun rules for gaining experience points and upgrading or downgrading units that manage to survive their respective combats. As someone that has participated in a lot of slow grow campaigns in his life, I cannot express enough about how excellent a community builder these things can be in the right hands, so having a template for them, even one as basic as this, is spectacular. In addition to this useful outline for running your campaign games, the Path to Glory section of the book also includes three new custom mission designs to spice up your play experience.

Even Chaos Knights see some love in this book.

New Units

Unlike previous Arcane Journals which have often featured at least a handful of new units for the armies represented within them to take, the Razing of Westerland instead features two replacement datasheets for Marauders and Marauder Horsemen to go along with their updated design. These new blocks completely replace those found in the Ravening Hordes book that was released at the outset of the Old World. On the plus side it is refreshing to see a bit of a glow up for these little guys to match their new models, on the minus side you'll now need at least two army books to play your chaos army, and a minimum of three to run Wolves of the Sea.

But what's actually changed? Well, Marauders are now on 30 x 30 bases instead of 25s (though their more violent Berserker brethren stay on 25s). Their points and overall stat lines stay the same (still 6 points per model for M 4, WS 4, Str/To 3, etc) but Light Armour is now built into their profile and free. Additionally, Marauders gain the Horde special rule (a great buff), and 1 unit per 1000 points may take the Ambushers rule for +1 point per model which is a welcome option. Marauder champions may now take up to 25 points in magic items and 1 unit per 1000 points may elect to have a magic standard of up to 50 points. For the Horsemen, the changes are effectively the same. Horsemen have the same stat lines and point costs as before but now no longer have to pay for shields and no longer have the option to take javelins, their champions gain access to the same 25 point magic item allotment as marauders do, and 1 unit per 1000 points may take the ambushers rule for 1 point per model and/or have a 50 point magic banner. The other change for Horsemen is they now have to select if they have the Open Open Order or Skirmishers special rule during list building rather than being able to switch between them at will. Overall these changes are a slight but welcome buff to units that were kind of seeing limited competitive play. Free armour is always awesome and gaining access to Ambushers outside of the Wolves of the Sea army of infamy is significant.

There is one more change to both of these units that is far more impactful and perhaps a bit divisive: Their Marks of Chaos are gone.

Liam: Let's be clear, this is a pure buff in most instances as outside of that bunker you're normally running them as Mark of Chaos Undivided and seeing the basic unit of 20 with FC, Light Armour and Shields then you're saving 20pts. That adds up over a couple of units for sure. If you take the Cult then you're getting just a small bonus for free and if you don't you save points to spend on cool Traits.

Thoughts and Prayers

The most significant change to the tribes is meant to evince their previously mentioned totemic approach to Chaos worship. Now all Marauders and Marauder Horsemen (but not Huscarls, Berserkers or Chieftains) have the option to replace their Mark of Chaos Undivided with an admittance into a cult rather than one of the classic Marks of the specific Ruinous Powers. These cult upgrades come in at a cost of 1 point per model rather than the normal 2 for a mark of khorne/tzeentch/etc and have single round effect instead of a permanent buff.

Once per game, a unit following a specific cult may pray to their God. On a successful leadership check their feats are recognized and they gain a temporary boost. Followers of the Bloodied Hound gain +1 weapon skill, the Carrion Crow provides +1 toughness, the Slithering Serpent grants the Poisoned Attacks special rule, and the Fell Raptor a 6+ ward save against non-magical attacks. It should be noted that paying for a cult upgrade does not block characters that worship a specific god from joining the unit.

The cults are a really cute addition to the army, though I doubt they'll have much of an impact. +1 toughness or weapon skill for a single round will rarely move the needle in my experience testing the effects (and poison/6+ ward even less) but they are nice to have, especially on the foot marauders that get to use warband to enhance the leadership check up to a 10 if you've brought enough of them. The main negative here is the loss of the option for the Mark of Tzeentch, as Marauder Horsemen were long considered the best escort for Sorceror Lords to ensure they gained the +1 to cast the god of lies provides. Losing that is a pretty significant hit to the unit, even if magic fell off pretty dramatically after the big FAQ.

Does this mean we'll see more of these new beautiful vikings? It's hard to say. Losing the Tzeentch bus option from Marauder Horsemen would have been a massive deal several months ago. Since then, those models have moved to an objective scoring role, which they'll now do slightly better with that free boost to their armour saves. Two units of 7-8 marauders make for excellent scoring units, able to tag baggage trains or march deep onto enemy objectives to deny the secondary game. Plain jane Marauders see the biggest facelift here if only because of how cheap they are per model already. Giving them an ambush option is a pretty safe way to keep them off the board and away from the more devastating shooty armies in the game (as well as keep your drops low for the important go first roll), though I think because of some of the other changes in this book you'll be better off taking Chaos Warriors or Berserkers 90% of the time.

Liam: This is, in my opinion, both the best and worst part about this book. Losing the Marks is something pretty big for anyone who's played WHFB over the years and that's rubbish, but I love the idea and lore of these cults which give bonuses to those tempted by the Chaos Gods but who aren't fully adopted into the full ideology for the time being. It took my head a little to get around it but in effect you're working your way up, so if you're a Marauder or a Horsemen then you're still on the training wheels, but by the time you develop enough into a Chaos Warrior, Huscarl or Chaos Knight then you're good to fully declare your love for your Chosen Chaos God.

The Forces of Chaos Clash with the Dwarfen Holds

It's the Chaos That Makes the Man

Chaotic Traits are another shiny new upgrade option for Chaos players, and I guarantee a handful of these will see play just about everywhere. Similar to Chaos Mutations, Chaotic Traits are upgrades available to characters and units that meet certain requirements to give them some extra potency and are available to units in Warriors of Chaos Grand Army lists and any Warriors of Chaos Army of Infamy.

Now, not all models in your army get these new toys. Chaos Lords, Sorceror Lords, Chosen Knights, Chosen Warriors, and Marauder Huscarls may take up to 2 of the following traits if they meet the requirements while Chaos Knights, Chaos Warriors, Marauders, Berserkers, Horsemen, Exalted and Aspiring Champions, Marauder Chieftains, and Exalted Sorcerors may only take one. Note that Daemon Princes are excluded. The 8 traits are:

Unnatural Fortitude (+2 points per model, +20 for a character): Probably the most significant and straightforward of the traits. Fortitude grants models a flat +1 to their toughness characteristic and is available to any unit that is not equipped with Heavy Armour or Full Plate. The biggest winner here are Marauder Berserkers in the Wolves of the Sea army of infamy. They are already a pretty incredible unit in the current meta and 2ppm to boost them to toughness 5(!!) is an absolute bargain. You can also do some janky things here with your Chaos Lords/Champions/etc by equipping them with something like Meteor Armour or the Armour of Silvered Steel so they get access to the buff since they lose their Heavy Armour to do it.

Liam: Like Falcon's said, this is the big ticket option. Marauder Tribe Berserkers go to T5 with no negatives while Huscarls lose the ability to take Heavy Armour upgrade but gain T5 and I think that's majorly worth the trade.

Battle Hunger (+20 points per unit, +10 for a character): Another pretty cool trait, available to infantry only. Models with this upgrade increase their maximum charge range by 2 inches and roll an additional d3 inches on their charges and pursuits, giving them a swiftstride-light.

Dark Hearts (+1 point per model, +20 for a character): For infantry and Cavalry only, Dark Hearts is a pretty wordy upgrade that essentially lets the unit apply an additional -1 leadership modifier to enemy units making Break tests. The ability does not work on units that cause terror, are immune to psychology, or have this ability. Kind of janky, but probably not worth the paper it is printed on.

Liam: I think this is potentially better than it looks on paper. A small upgrade for 7points on some Marauder Cav when you're running a Dragon is great as it stacks with the Dragons Terror and lets you really try and break your opponent, if you happen to have the Doom Totem as well then you're really putting the pressure on.

Brazen Will (+15 points per unit, +10 for a character): Also for infantry or cavalry units only, this trait grants MR(-1). Straightforwardly strong in the current meta. If you're trying to save a few points over taking a Brazen Collar for MR(-2) or the Mark of Tzeentch you can't go wrong.

Longstriders (+1 point per model, +15 for a character): Models without heavy armour or full plate armour gain the Vanguard special rule from this ability. This may only be taken by 1 unit per 1 thousand points in your list. This one is ok. I don't believe it will see a lot of play outside of some janky players trying to vie for objectives early, there are better options.

Prophetic Foresight (+10 points per unit, +10 for a character): This trait is available to anyone. As long as every model in a unit has this chaotic trait enemy units may not scout within 18 inches of them, or use the Ambushers special rule within 12. This is a wicked tech piece you can use to protect your back line from sneaky Jade Lancers or skirmishing Gors. A decent sized unit of Horsemen or Marauders in skirmish formation can pretty easy block out your entire deployment zone with this pretty easily, completely shutting down some army's strategies.

Liam: I'm a big fan of this as well. Taking this on a character or small unit will become really popular, especially when you're playing baggage train objectives. Taking a unit of 10 with this and the Hand Weapon/Shield/Light Armour combo can stand on that board edge and really protect you from everything turning up from that side of the table.

Enhanced Reflexes (+1 point per model, +10 for a character: My personal favorite, and one of the reasons we may see Chaos Warriors back on the menu, enhanced reflexes grants any unit using simple hand weapons (including ones with the ensorcelled special rule) a +2 bonus to their initiative. In Wolves of the Sea this is a cheap way to get your Chaos Warrior champion up to Initiative 6 in order to practically guarantee winning that game opening challenge and thus going first and in Grand Army this rule makes a larger block of core Chaos Warriors a terror against just about any other infantry block in the game. In my practice games, a block of 25 or so chaos warriors with Mark of Nurgle and this Trait were incredibly efficient. Toss a cheap aspiring champion in the unit with the Enchanting Aura and now you're really cooking with gas.

Marauders Head to War

Magic in the Shadowlands

On top of the new datasheets, and the new traits, James Workshop decided to also bless the downtrodden Warriors of Chaos with their very own new magic lore available only to Exalted Sorcerors and Sorceror Lords. Unlike some of the other new lores we've seen added to the game, there are no restrictions on using these new spells. You do not have to be part of a specific army of infamy or take any magic item to unlock them, which is good because in my opinion it's the only and only real miss in this arcane journal. There just isn't anything about these spells that stands out and screams game-changing. That said, your mileage may vary and perhaps an interesting combo will come out of these spells because of future changes to the game.

Maelstrom of Chaos is the signature spell of the Shadowlands and isn't half bad. It is a Str 4 AP -3(!) magic missile with a range of 15 inches and a low casting cost of 7+. The missile itself is a spell blast template that scatters up to d3+1 inches which does make it a bit random and takes a lot of its damage potential away. On average, if you hit a standard close order infantry unit with this spell you'll get about 5 hits out of it so long as it does scatter outside of their movement tray which isn't too bad, though the top and bottom ends of the spell are kind of abysmal compared to similar missiles. Still, at 7+ there is some good value here given how hard spell-casting has become.

Blackened Bolts is the other magic missile in the lore and is a modified version of the Summoning from Daemonology. With an 18 inch range and an 8+ casting value, Bolts does 2d6 Str 3 Ap -1 hits if it is successful and should it cause any unsaved wounds it forces a Panic test, making it a pretty effective way to deal with annoying skirmishing screens like peasant bowmen or ungors.

Veil of Gloom is the Lore's lone enhancement ability and is situationally the best spell in the lore the way the meta has begun to shift into deathstars and artillery lists to try to counter the horrors of Cathay. Gloom has a casting value of 9+ and a range of 15 inches. If successful, the target unit gains a 4+ ward save against any wound caused by a template and a 5+ ward save against any other wounds caused in the shooting phase. A very strong tool when playing into armies like the City State of Nuln or Cathay.

At this time, I think the only use for this lore is to create some kind of magic missile battery. A Sorceror-Lord with the Tome of the Dark Gods, a spell familiar, and Rod of the Damned has pretty good odds of rolling up to the table with 4 magic missiles in their arsenal between the 2 in this lore, Blue Fires of Tzeentch and the rod, which isn't anything to sneeze at. Add in the very cheap to cast reserve move spell in this lore and there might be room for this tech if you play in a world that is morally against running any kind of magic resistance.

Items

After all this love for Chaos it's hard to believe that this book would have any further love to give to anyone else, particularly given how light the last handful of Arcane Journals have felt in terms of actual game content. So imagine my surprise when I began to read through the 18 new magic items found at the end of Razing and realized they weren't just for the Warriors of Chaos but were in fact for every faction in the game (again, barring Daemons and Dwarves because they are bad). While I would say that the majority of these items are pretty niche, there are a few that I expect to have an immediate and perhaps major impact on the competitive side of the game.

In terms of the magic weapons, the Meteor Hammer stands out as something that may see some play. For 50 points, this Two-Handed weapon always wounds on a 3+ and has an AP of -3. There are a number of factions, particularly of the legacy variety, that would love to have this in their arsenal as that high an AP value is pretty hard to come by. The Sword of Sorrow is the other standout here. At 30 points, this sword is actually a ranged weapon with a strength of 5 and base AP of 1. With a 30 inch range and multiple wounds (2) this item should already be on the radar of any elf or empire player, the fact that it also comes with armourbane (2) and ignores ward and regeneration saves is just absolute value.

The Levitating Shield is an interesting new armour piece. For 25 points, this magic shield confers its +1 to saves even if the user is wielding a Two-Handed weapon. Unfortunately, for whatever reason GW decided to add the limitation that it may only be wielded by infantry models which is a real shame.

For enchanted items, the big draw for players will definitely be the Arch-Lightning Rod. This 40 point item is an exact replica of the Falcon Horn of Fredemund, thus giving every army access to the powerful ability to disable flyers for a turn with a leadership test. Where this probably will see the most play will be armies with wide access to Veterans like High Elves or Empire, or more importantly it will give lists like Cathay and Bretonnia access to 2 rounds of this game-changing move.

The Magic Standards section is the big draw here and I believe at least 1 of the banners in this section will really warp the meta a tad. The 50 point Totem of Wrath is a great option for aggressive players as it effectively gives a unit in your army the 'Choppas' special rule from Orcs and Goblins Tribes (an additional point of AP and rerolling wound rolls of 1 on the charge). Fast, hard-hitting units will be drawn to how it smooths out that all important first round of combat. Another banner that will definitely see play, especially in armies like Beastmen that love to stack their attack modifiers is the Banner of the Swirling Wind which applies a -1 to hit modifier to any enemy unit targeting the wielder in the shooting phase. Last but definitely not least is the Monster Hunter's Tapestry. At 25 points I suspect we'll see this baby in just about every list for a while, though it's impact will be best seen on tarpit units like Gor, Stormvermin, Warriors of Chaos deathstars or really any cheap infantry unit trying to stack combat resolution. This banner makes the wielder's unit immune to all stomps. Combined with the infantry buffs and combat resolution nerfs to monsters in the last big FAQ, the Tapestry will make some of the games most effective infantry blocks practically invulnerable and truly terrifying. The Gor deathstar in Beastmen becomes particularly effective as it is normally stacking -1 to 2 penalties to hit on itself in the combat and shooting phases between slugskin, the pelt of midnight and other effects but was always susceptible to being run over by a couple of dragons. Now that has gone out the window.

Liam: I'm a big fan of the Monster Hunter's Tapestry due to the amount of Monsters we do still see on the table. You have to get the matchup correct but things like Giant Chaos Spawns see well over half their damage output come from Stomps and removing that is just outstanding. The other item which really catches my eye is the Becalming Orb, a 20 point magic item with a single use bound spell attached to it that reduces the spell-casting abilities of wizards within 15 inches of the caster by 2. It's great for standing back, casting out of range and then running that character up. It is not a remains in play so it can't be dispelled from the 'zone' like Drain Magic and can protect your army for that all important turn against some of the magic missile battery armies we still have out there like the Beastmen Wild Herd.

Wolves of the Sea attack the Wood Elf Realms

And Now for a List

We would be remiss if we didn't toss at least one list in the article using this new toolbox for the barbarian hordes. Here's what I've been running with some pretty wicked success.

Our Flag Means Death Warriors of Chaos Grand Army

207 - Aspiring Champion, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Icon of Darkness, Mark of Nurgle, Talisman of the Carrion Crow, Enchanting Aura 319 - Chaos Lord, General, Mark of Nurgle, Great Weapon, Armour of Silvered Steel, 2x Favour of the Gods, Crown of Everlasting Conquest, Unnatural Fortitude 345 - Sorcerer Lord, Mark of Nurgle, Wizard Level 4, Daemonology, Armour of Meteoric Iron, Spell Familiar, Sceptre of Power, Unnatural Fortitude 445 - 24 Chaos Warriors, Shield, Mark of Nurgle, Champion, Standard Bearer, Monster Hunter's Tapestry, Enhanced Reflexes 119 - 8 Marauder Horsemen, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Flail, Marauder Horsemaster, Ambushers 111 - 8 Marauder Horsemen, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Flail, Marauder Horsemaster 78 - 6 Marauder Horsemen, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Flail 375 - Warpfire Dragons

This has some serious jank for your tanks. Rather than running Daemon Princes or multiple dragon champions/lords we're going for the old school deathstar route here. By replacing the Chaos Lord's full plate with the Armour of Silvered Steel and the Sorceror Lord's heavy armour with the Armour of Meteoric Iron we're able to boost both model's base toughnesses to 6 and 5 respectively as they now qualify for Unnatural Fortitude. The Icon of Darkness gives us some additional protection from shooting for our Chaos Warrior brick while we hope that our Sorceror Lord is able further increase the units durability and mobility with his +3 to cast daemonology spells and access to the Nurgle signature. Our Marauder horsemen get to fan out and vie for objectives and the Warpfire either acts as a mobile artillery piece or a backline bully depending on the matchup.

Final Thoughts

This is the first real homerun for the Old World in my opinion since the Beastmen Arcane Journal. The Jade Fleet and Settra's Fury updates were interesting books with a couple of cool new toys for players, but they both felt like they were rushed bits of filler rules, and the Razing of Westerland is an absolute mountain of content by comparison. While the lore of the Shadowlands does do much for me the rest of the book is just layer after layer of cool new rules to spice up your games and the new magic items being common is the first update that even Legacy armies get to take part in since the game launched. I truly hope that this is the future of things, and if the Cathay preview from the Warhammer World Championships is any indication of things it just might be.

Liam: As I've said earlier, I'm kind of torn on some of these elements. Losing the Marks is weird, but I think once I've gotten my head around the concept it's started to grow on me. As someone with a Wolves of the Sea army I'm overjoyed they've taken the chance to update the basic units my list is built around and I can't wait to get them onto the table more. In addition to that, we've got a bunch of upgrade for units across all the "normal" chaos models and characters along with a host of new items which can not only be used by Chaos but by everyone, something I don't think we expected at all. If this is the new direction of Arcane Journals with updates, new rules and cool items along with something like Path to Glory then I couldn't be happier. This is my favourite of the last handful of books and hopefully we'll get a bunch more like this moving forward.

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Tags: chaos | The Old World | warhammer the old world | arcane journal