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Warhammer has pulled back the curtain unexpectedly on a massive Chaos revamp for the Old World. Happy Monday, I guess?
In a surprise drop, Chaos Marauders have received a huge overhaul that updates infantry and cavalry units. This is highly unusual, because most armies for Warhammer The Old World (a retro throwback that uses vast blocks of troops rather than individual models) reuse existing miniatures from the 2000s/2010s. They're also very handsome, to the point I'd quite like to use them as generic barbarians in my sessions of the best tabletop RPGs.
Want to start your Chaos force ahead of the Marauders coming out? The Warriors of Chaos Battalion is $157.99 via Miniature Market rather than $185 right now (or £92 at Wayland Games in the UK). If you want a different kind of army, though, you can pick up most Grand Cathay units at Amazon.
Both unit types will be available as part of the Chaos Marauders Army Reinforcement Set, which includes 50 models in total – 40 Marauders and 10 Marauder Horsemen. These can be added to an existing Chaos army in The Old World or used as a foundation for a full Marauder force.
It's unclear when these new Marauders are coming out, but they'll launch alongside Arcane Journal: The Razing of Westerland. This provides rules for the new units and a campaign that'll take a 500-point force to greater heights as you play through consecutive battles.
No matter what, this wasn't something I had on my bingo card. Although I'm a fan of The Old World (I said it was like a time capsule thanks to it reworking the original Fantasy Battles system that retired back in 2015), I don't think it's unfair to say that it's not Warhammer's most popular system. That's why it reusing older, previously-existing models makes sense… and why any significant revamp or addition is so noteworthy. Indeed, the new Grand Cathay Battalion boxed set finally convinced my colleague that it's time to get into Warhammer: The Old World. I thought the only significant addition would be for new factions like this, so a random pair of units (that haven't aged too badly, if you ask me) getting such a huge a facelift is unexpected.
Something worth noting is that this force shares a lot of DNA with Age of Sigmar's Darkoath faction. That's also an army of Chaos-worshipping barbarians who are very fond of furs and flayed skins, so these Marauders would fit right in with them (metaphorically speaking, anyway - these guys have square bases rather than AoS' circular ones). However, it's also worth pointing out is that there don't seem to be any women in the Marauder ranks. The Darkoath do have female members, on the other hand, so I suppose we can conclude that Age of Sigmar (which takes place chronologically after Old World) is a more inclusive place. It's still horrible to live in on account of everything wanting to kill you, of course, but hey. Good for them.
- Warriors of Chaos Battalion:
$185$157.99 at Miniature Market - UK Warriors of Chaos Battalion:
£115£92 at Wayland Games
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