Les légionnaires du Chaos Warcry Warband

The Chaos Legionnaires are the first individual box released for Warcry since it moved to the Realm of Beasts of Ghur.

While on the surface they look innocent chaos warriors, in reality they follow Be’lakor and his hidden agenda to sow confusion and discord in the Chaos forces.

Background and Lore of the Chaos Legionnaires Warband

Be’lakor was the first to become a Daemon Prince, the greatest achievement a mortal can obtain from the Chaos Gods. It is not known how he lost their favour, only that he was soon replaced and punished to forever crown the new Everchosen, the favourite by all Dark Gods.

He has since planned revenge and a way to topple even Archaon, the current title holder. The Dark Creed is a secret religion that venerates him and works to sow confusion and reap dissent to facilitate Be’lakor’s ascension.

The Chaos Legionnaires are elite fighters belonging to this creed, loyal to Be’lakor and guided in battle by Eternus, the Blade of the First Prince. They can also be accompanied by Centaurion Marshals (in Warcry this is an Ally that can be used by any Chaos warband) and represent the new aesthetic from the Slaves to Darkness faction.

But how well do they serve the First Prince? Let’s find out.

Fighters in the Chaos Legionnaires Warband

Note : si vous n'avez pas lu les règles de base de Warcry avant de lire cet article, il peut être utile de savoir que les capacités du jeu sont activées en utilisant 6 dés que vous lancez au début de votre tour.

Si deux des dés indiquent la même valeur, ils peuvent être utilisés pour activer une capacité Double. Si trois dés ont la même valeur, ils peuvent être utilisés pour activer une capacité Triple, et ainsi de suite.

Ainsi, lorsque cet article mentionne qu'une capacité est un Double, un Triple ou un Quad, il fait référence à ce système. Ce système peut sembler un peu confus, mais il est très rapide de s'y habituer lorsque vous commencez à jouer

The Chaos Legionnaires warband is made of 7 different fighters, of which 1 is the leader.

Decuriarch: 170 points

The Decuriarch is the only Leader option available to this warband. He has a strong profile with an impressive Toughness 5 and 22 Wounds. His attacks are also in line with other Chaos leaders: 4 attacks at Strength 4 for 2/5 damage.

The difference, often, is made by the abilities he has access to. Let’s start with the 2 Leader abilities unique to his profile. Pacte sombre allows to do some ranged damage (up to 12″) to a single enemy. You roll as many dice as the ability’s value and for each 3+ you allocate that enemy 1 damage. It costs a Double, but then you roll D3 damage to yourself. It’s a bit of a trade-off with you getting the wrong end of the stick. It is indeed highly possible to receive more damage than that allocated, especially with low Doubles. It is however the only ranged “attack” available and if an enemy is too far away and low on Wounds you can try your luck with the Chaos gods.

The other ability costs a Triple, La faveur du vrai maître, and is much more useful as it allows to increase by 1 the melee attacks of every friendly fighter within 9″ as long as the Decuriarch takes an enemy down first. With his melee power it shouldn’t be a problem to find a sacrificial opponent and buff all other companions, making this ability a must every round.

The next ability, Bouclier Ram, is shared with the Hornshields, and allows some impact damage at the end of a Move next to an enemy. You need to roll a 6 and have a highly valued Double to do some significant damage, so better leave this ability to the Hornshields.

The last one is an ability that can be used by all fighters in this warband and costs a Quad: Wrath of the First Prince. It provides a bonus attack, that is always a good thing, and in addition up to 3 hits (half the value of the ability rounded up) becomes critical hits. Scoring critical hits is always nice, and increasing the chances to roll a critical is always great. Note that you still need to score at least a hit, but with Strength 4 or 5 within the warband, this will not be a problem.

Mutandor with Beast Spear: 145 points

The Mutandor with Beast Spear is actually the only profile available for the Mutandors, a… somehow weird name in a warband whose names are actually not their strength.

Once we get past the name, this fighter is an elite champion with a significative cost due in part to his 2″ range weapon (the highest in the entire warband). He has Strength 5 that should enable to crack the toughest armours, and a good 2/5 damage.

For some reasons he is also the fastest in the warband (5″ Move) and this combines well with his signature ability, Headlong Charge. Or it would, if it was not too restrictive, especially for a Triple. It provides a bonus attack, but only after you spent the previous 2 activations moving. So, no Disengage or other actions, just Move. Arguably it is difficult to meet the requirements for this ability, but in the first turn it allows an attack while being at 12″ distance (5″ per Movement and 2″ range), that is not bad.

The warband reaction, Call to Arms, seems to imply you should keep your warband tight and compact, or at least in pairs, so throwing your Mutandor in the midst of the enemy lines may not always be a good idea, despite Toughness 4 and 18 Wounds.

Hornhelm

• Hornhelm with Darkiron Mace: 120 points
• Hornhelm with Steelbite Axe: 125 points

The Hornhelm are the specialised infantry, better than the troop but less scary than a Mutandor. Or are they? They don’t have the 2″ range weapon or the 5″ Movement, but for the rest they have a similar profile and arguably a better damage output in most situations.

Le Masse en fer noir avec une force de 4 mais des dégâts minimums de 3 est vraiment intéressant, tandis que le Hache en acier a une plus grande Force (5) et plus de dégâts sur les coups critiques (2/6), ce qui en fait une meilleure option contre les ennemis blindés.

Hornhelms have access to Brutal Swing that allows to add up to 3 to the damage on critical hits for the next attack action. Considering they have only 3 attacks (4 if under the effect of the Decuriarch ability) it could be a waste of a Double…

Hornshield

• Hornshield with Mace: 100 points
• Hornshield with Axe: 95 points
• Hornshield with Sword: 95 points

The Hornshields are your basic troops, but do not expect cheap cannon fodder. Toughness 5 and 12 Wounds means you need some good critical hits to put them down.

Même les profils de leurs armes sont relativement dangereux :

• Le L'épée is the basic one with 4 attacks at Strength 4 for 1/3 damage.
• Le Hache loses an attack (3) to increase Strength (5) and damage on critical hit (1/4).
• Le Masse is the most expensive because it has a greater minimum damage (2/4) compared to the Axe profile (with Strength 4 although).

Apart from the warband Quad, they have also access to the Double Bouclier Ram, that allows them to do some damage after a move action ends close to an enemy. You need to roll a 6 and have a highly valued Double, but there’s not many other options for Doubles in the warband and these guys would go heads on towards the enemy any way.

Capacités pour le groupe de guerre des Légionnaires du Chaos

• Bélier de bouclier (Double, Decuriarch et tous les boucliers de corne) : Une chance d'infliger jusqu'à 6 dégâts à la fin d'une action de mouvement après avoir engagé un ennemi.
• Pacte sombre (Double, Decuriarch) : A chance to do up to 6 damage to an enemy at 12″ range but also up to 3 damage to himself.
• Brutal Swing (Double, les deux Hornhelm) : Ajoutez jusqu'à 3 aux dégâts des coups critiques pour la prochaine action d'attaque.
• Charge frontale (Triple, Mutandor) : A bonus attack if at the end of 2 Move actions you are within 2″ of an enemy.
• La faveur du vrai maître (Triple, Decuriarch) : Après avoir abattu un ennemi, augmentez de 1 les attaques de mêlée de tous les combattants amis se trouvant dans un rayon de 9″.
• La Colère du Premier Prince (Quad, tout le monde) : Une attaque bonus dont jusqu'à 3 coups peuvent devenir des coups critiques à la place.

Réaction pour le groupe de combat des Légionnaires du Chaos

Introduit dans la nouvelle saison de Warcry, Réactions sont des choses qui peuvent être faites dans certaines circonstances, mais toujours pendant le tour de l'ennemi. Elles coûtent une action et ne peuvent donc être utilisées que par les combattants qui n'ont pas encore été activés ou qui attendent. Il existe 3 réactions universelles et une réaction spécifique à chaque groupe de combat :

Appel aux armes (tout le monde)

• Quand: Après qu'un ennemi ait terminé un mouvement à proximité.
• Quoi ? Allows another friendly fighter to perform a bonus move engaging the enemy that just moved.

Trait de bataille pour le Warband des Légionnaires du Chaos

Maîtres manipulateurs : Lors de la détermination de l'initiative, ce joueur détermine qui gagne en cas d'égalité.

Strategy and Tactics for the Chaos Legionnaires Warband

The Chaos Legionnaires are an elite warband where even their cheaper fighters can be compared to other warbands’ elite/specialized troops. Despite so, you can still field around 8 fighters meaning that you are not short on bodies like some other legacy warbands (those created from Age of Sigmar troop profiles).

Their main weakness is the lack of ranged attacks, as they are limited to a single Leader ability that costs a Double, depends on dice rolls to do anything but certain as taxes would self-inflict some damage (D3). It is still useful as it could be your only option to target a running enemy, so do not disregard it immediately (Pacte sombre).

Another situational ability is given to the top fighter after the Decuriarch, the Mutandor. As it provides a bonus attack action as long as you perform 2 move actions first, the occasions to use it will be minimal. Unless you can use his 5″ movement to circle around an enemy without engaging or it’s the first turn and you want to get the first blood.

Apart from that, the Mutandor is the fighter with the highest range in the warband (2″) and decent attacks that makes him useful to avoid immediate retaliation.

The Hornhelms are better fighters, statistically speaking, same number of attacks as the Mutandor but better damage potential at a reduced cost. Their special ability is even more forgettable however.

If you need a strong front line, the Hornhelms are your go to, and which weapon to choose, is up to personal preference. The Axe is better against high armour enemies, and the Mace against Toughness 3 or less.

The Hornshields are the core of your warband, with decent costs for the damage throughput and with a Toughness of 5 hardly matched by basic troops. 12 wounds mean that they can withstand few critical hits and their high Strength means that they will not struggle to push back.

If you do need to close down on an enemy, all Chaos Legionnaires can use Call to Arms as a reaction, allowing a close fighter to engage an enemy passing-by. This kind of reactions are a double-edged sword: on one side they allow for strategical position so that your opponent may always be worried if you can reposition next to an objective because they entered the 3″ bubble, on the other hand, it can slow down the game with the opponent always calculating distances, ensuring he stays outside of 3″ even if you wouldn’t have wasted an action for a move in their turn.

You are most likely to use this ability with the Hornshields, bringing to the fore your best fighter. Basically you use a Hornshield action to move another fighter, allowing repositioning of your best warriors without sacrificing their actions. Careful: disengage actions are not the same as movement actions!

The best ability all Chaos Legionnaires share is their Quad that allows a bonus action and the ability to ensure at least some hits are critical. You would want to use it more with your high damage fighters like the 6 from the Hornhelm with Steelbite Axe.

And if you have enough dice (and high value Quad), the Decuriarch’s Triple, La faveur du vrai maître, can increase the attack value of your fighters by 1, meaning more chances to hit and more chances to convert those hits in critical ones.

The Decuriarch’s Triple should be your main objective every round. If you have the chance to enable it, 9″ bubble of +1 attack is not huge, but remember you can reposition some fighter with their reaction. It can really compensate the overall low amount of attacks for this warband (apart the Decuriarch and the Hornshield with Sword, they all have 3 attacks) and it comes as a reward for killing an opponent, so: win-win!

The final verdict on the Chaos Legionnaires is that they have limited ranged capabilities but are good in melee, with a great compromise between elite low-count warbands and stronger but less expensive fighters. They can stand more than a punch with high Wounds and Toughness, don’t have runners or flying elements but have decent movement.

They have some good abilities like the leader’s Triple, the warband Quad and the reaction, that lets you forget about the quality of the others.

They could even work as a beginner friendly warband as the game plan is pretty simple: use your leader to kill weaker enemies and increase your warband attacks, until you get a Quad to use with your strong fighters.

In the meanwhile keep your fighters at the minimum in pairs so that they can support each other, or at least let your opponent think more carefully about his moves, and keep slashing enemies for the Dark Master!

Avantages et inconvénients du groupe de guerre des Légionnaires du Chaos

Pour :

+ Combattants forts et coriaces
+ Excellente aptitude à la quadrature du cercle et au triplé du chef

Cons :

- Pas d'options échelonnées
- Des noms subjectivement ridicules

Some thematic warbands for the Chaos Legionnaires

Pour le plaisir, nous vous présentons ici quelques groupes de guerre thématiques, davantage destinés à l'amusement ou au contexte narratif qu'au jeu compétitif. Notez que dans le jeu narratif, vous devez accomplir une quête qui vous permet de recruter un Héros avant de pouvoir l'ajouter à votre liste.

Sorti de la boîte : Decuriarch, 1 Mutandor, 1 Hornhelm with Darkiron Mace, 2 Hornhelm with Steelbite Axe, 1 Hornshield with Mace, 1 with Sword and 1 with Axe, so that you have at least a single fighter for each profile.

How to buy a Chaos Legionnaires Warband

The Chaos Legionnaires have their own box, the first one sold with the new Ghur colours.

Les carottes permettent de construire :

• 1 Decuriarch
• 1 Mutandor with Beast Spear
• 3 Hornhelm with either weapon option
• 3 Hornshield with either of the 3 weapon options

For a total of 8 miniatures, allowing you to have one for each profile with only one Hornhelm that would have an alternative sculpt in your warband.

Tips on painting a Chaos Legionnaires Warband for Warcry

Chaos Legionnaires follow most Slaves to Darkness and Chaos tropes, so you can find several deviations on the theme and apply the one you prefer. If you want to go for a classic GW battle ready finish, then Warhammer Community has you covered. If you want to get a step further, there’s also the parade ready tutorial.

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