Let’s break down all the new Chaotic Traits and Cults of Chaos fromWarhammer: The Old World’s The Burning Of Westerland.
The Razing of Westerland is the newest Arcane Journal for Warhammer: The Old World. And it just might be the best. Now I took at a look at all the cool things in the book the other week, you can check that out here. I also went back and took a deep dive at the new magic items. Today I wanted to go back and really dig into all the cool new Chaos upgrades, the Cults and Traits you can take, and see which ones are really worth it. So lets dig in.
Cults of Chaos
The Cults of Chaos are the new upgrade option for Marauder Horse and Foot (they do not, as of now, effect the other Wolves of the Sea units such as Huscarls/Berserkers). These replace the old Marks and each cost 1 pt per model, and a unit can pick up to one. To use it the unit must take a leadership, if passed the Cult goes into effect, until the start of the units next turn. If failed the Cult has no effect. A cult is a one time use thing so you can only try to use it once a game.
The four cults each give you a small buff, Bloodied Hound gives you +1WS, Carrion Crow +1T, Slithering Serpent gives you Poisoned Attacks and Fell Raptor gives you a 6+ Ward vs non-magical attacks.
Which Are The “Good” Ones
Of these I think Carrion Crow for +1 T is the very clear winner. This is a very nice upgrade jumping you to T4, or T5 with other upgrades, for a turn. It’s good both vs shooting and combat and makes a unit very hard to move, likely shaving off a lot of damage, unless you are fighting only very high S attacks.
Bloodied Hound is also… OK. It’s obviously only good in combat but can have some effect. It does has the potential to effect both offence and defense. However the jump from WS 4 to WS 5 is not one of the really important ones, and vs the majority of foes wont provide you much defensive buff. It may net you a few extra hits.
On the flip side I don’t think that Slithering Serpent or Fell Raptor are worth taking other than for thematic reasons. Poison just isn’t all that good these days and its a minor buff. Meanwhile a 6+ ward vs non-magical is just straight up worse than +1 T.
Overall I don’t know that I would even take Cults on every unit. It feels like +1 T is the clear winner here. But we will see if anyone has cool combos.
Chaotic Traits- How They Work
Traits are a new upgrade system for Chaos on top of all the other ones they already have. There are 7 traits to pick from. Both units and characters can buy them, and they cost different points depending on if you are a unit or a character.
Chaos Lords, Sorcerers Lords, Chosen Knights and Warriors, and Marauder Huscarls can buy up to two traits allowing for cool combos. Exalted and Aspiring Champions, Exalted Sorcerers, Chieftains, normal Warriors and Knights, Berserkers, and normal foot and horse Marauders can all buy a single trait if they wish.
The Really Good Traits
The trait that everyone is really talking about is Unnatural Fortitude. Its 20 pts for a character or 2 pts per model for a unit. You can’t take it if you wear full or heavy plate, but it gives you +1 T for the whole game. Obviously this is basically a Marauder Buff as none of the Warriors can take it. Still its an amazing buff and I think you will it all over the place, pushing those units up to T4/T5 on the more elite units.
As a side play there are a few suits of magic armor out there that are not heavy or plate. So it seems you could give them to a Chaos Lord/Wizard to unlock this allowing for say a T7 dragon. Could be nasty.
Battle Hunger is another strong upgrade to me. This is locked to infantry only and costs 10 pts for a character or 20 pts for a unit. It lets you charge 2 inches more and add d3 to your charge roll. It’s cheap and that’s really solid. Considering Berserkers are move 5 already these seems like a nice combo, though I’m not sure I’d pick it over +1T.
The Pretty Good Traits
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Get Tabletop, RPG & Pop Culture news delivered directly to your inbox.
Dark Heartsis probably the best of the “mid”-tier traits. For 20 pts a character or 1 pt. a model in a unit you can make the enemy take -1 to their LD on break tests. Now this Trait doesn’t stack so having a bunch in a combat won’t help, and it units that are ItP, have this trait or cause Terror aren’t effected. But combed with Terror (a little hard as it is infantry or cav only, sorry dragons) it gives the enemy a -2 to break tests, and Chaos can make some real LD bomb lists that this plays to.
Enhanced Reflexes is another pretty decent one. At 10 pts for characters and 1 pt for aunit its relatively cheap. It gives you +2 I when fighting with a hand weapon (or Ensorcelled Weapon). It’s not huge but for a tanky unit that’s using shields its a decent buff. Warriors/Knights are all I4, so this makes them always I6, lettering them strike at the same time as a lot of chargers.
The last of the pretty good traits is Brazen Will. Its 15 pts a unit and 10 for a character and gives you MR 1, but can only be taken by infantry and cav units. There are plenty of ways to get MR already such as Mark of Tzeentch, but its also never a bad thing. Actually for non-wizards this is likely just a better/cheaper choice than Tzeentch and I could see myself throwing on units if I have a few pts to spare.
The Situational Traits
Lastly we have a pair of traits that while not bad are pretty situational. Longstriders is 15 pts for a character or 1 pt a model for units and again can’t be given to models with heavy or full plate armor. You can also only take o-1 per 1000 pts of these. Vanguard CAN be good, but its not something you just want randomly in your army. This can be pretty good if you have a plan, but its not crazy. Though again there is a play to say you can give a lord magic armor and get a vanguarding dragon.
Lastly we have Prophetic Foresight.This costs whatever you are giving it to 10 pts and prevents enemy units with scouts from setting up within 18 inches, rather than 12. It also makes Ambushers set up 12 inches away rather than 8. This is a cool ability, though to be honest Chaos worries about these types of units a lot less then other factions do. It’s also situational it requires the enemy to actually have these types of units around. I think it’s a really fun rule, but I don’t know if I would use it a lot.
Let us know what you think of the new traits/cults, down in the comments!
Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.