Warmaster Fantasy - Chaos Counter Set Revised

 "Woe, O world! The Age of Mortals is coming to an end. Time passes into oblivion, and the stars lapse in the sky. The dreadful breed of night is crawling out of darkness, to take possession of the world. Fools! Seek refuge in faith or madness, for there's no longer any other place to hide. The Reign of Chaos has begun!..." -—Egrimm van Horstmann, Champion of Tzeentch.

Honestly, I forgot that I hadn't revised the Chaos set and the Wood Elves set Thanks, Warqueen, for reminding me earlier in the week! The result is this revised Chaos set that replaces the set I originally made 18 years ago for the WM Yahoo email list. Plus, this set will print to the full 20mm x 40mm counters, unlike the old set, which I have deleted.

A Few New Tweaks
I experimented with the cavalry units in this set, giving four stands of the same image, a stand with the unit's type on it like "Knights," and an extra stand having a standard bearer. This will allow players to visually create a unit how they like, such as when brigading cav units, without having to print extra copies. It was a thought I had. Plus I made a few other tweaks here and there, like Hounds properly based as cavalry.

In the Works
The Wood Elves set is in the works, along with sets for the other armies in Revolution that I haven't made yet. I want my Beastmen army! (I bought the excellent 15mm beastmen figures during Splintered Light's kickstarter last year. They are awesome figures, if you like 15mm, and Dave at SL is a great guy to work with on custom orders.)

Well, I hope you like these counters. I appreciate any and all comments. I'm always surprised how many sets are downloaded every month. Stay healthy!

Printing the Counters
I hope you find these paper army sets useful. You can print them at places like Staples or Kinkos, using 110lb card stock paper printed at actual size. You can also print on regular paper and then glue the counters to wooden bases. (Check the older posts on how I did this with my Empire army.) Do not print the pdf to "fit margins." Always print at 100%.  I like printing the counter sets on good copy paper, spray gluing the dull side of a 'Silver Age' comic backing board with Super77, attaching a sheet to the board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters. I like keeping the shiny side down to make moving them easier on a table. Note: This version is designed to fit Silver Age and larger comic backing boards.

Click on the counter set image above to download the complete army counter set in PDF format. The set has enough counters to create many armies of 2000 points or less. Of course, if you need more counters simply print more copies!

Sample Chaos Army Lists
Way back in 2001, Chuck Goetz of the WM Yahoo group posted his favorite 1000, 1500, and 2000 point Chaos armies, along with advice on using those armies. Since my first Warmaster army I bought was a boxed Chaos set, I saved these lists. I've included them below to help Chaos players get started. Remember, these were for the original Warmaster game. If you play Warmaster Revolution, some of the points per unit have changed. The 1,500 and 2,000 point armies had been tested in battle and worked well. The 1,000 point army was untested but looked good. If you have any suggestions, advice, or Chaos army lists of your own, please leave them in the comments section below. Enjoy!

Total Points: 1,000
Break Point: 4
1x Chaos Warriors
2x Chaos Marauders
1x Ogres
1x Chaos Knights
1x Chaos Chariots
1x Harpies
1x General with Orb of Majesty
1x Sorcerer

In original Warmaster, you will have 20 points to play with. In Warmaster Revolution, you will have 30 points left over. The remaining 20 points, if playing original WM, can be spent on either a Scroll of Dispelling or some Swords for the Knights and Chariots. Chuck says this army makes a very strong infantry brigade, a hard hitting cavalry brigade, and a swift-striking flying unit to take out artillery or cut retreats. With only 7 units, you have a low breakpoint of 4 (albeit almost all units have at least a 5+ save), but you only need two leaders. Taking a Sorcerer gives you the opportunity to use magic. As an alternative, you can save 10 points and increase the command radius by taking a Hero instead. (If playing Revolution, you will still have 20 points left to spend on magic items or as you please.)

Total Points: 1,500
Break Point: 7
1x Chaos Warriors
3x Chaos Marauders
1x Ogres
1x Trolls
2x Marauder Horsemen
1x Chaos Knights with Sword of Might
2x Chaos Hounds
1x Chaos Chariots
1x Harpies
1x General with Orb of Majesty
1x Hero
1x Sorcerer with Scroll of Dispelling

This army has two strong, hard-hitting infantry brigades (either 4/2 or 3/3), albeit one that is harder to move due to Troll stupidity. Meanwhile, the cavalry is usually divided into two brigades of three units, one on each flank. Each brigade has a Chaos Hounds unit, a Marauder Horsemen unit, and a Chaos Chariots or Chaos Knights unit. Alternatively, you can put the Chaos Chariots and Chaos Knights in the same brigade to make one really hard-hitting brigade (31 attacks from those two units themselves). The Harpies do their usual thing of looking for targets of opportunity and harassing artillery. The General usually leads in the middle, with the other leaders each taking charge of a flank. You might want to consider removing the Trolls and the Sword of Might, replacing them with two units of Marauder infantry for the same price. Likewise, you could remove one of the Marauder Horsemen units for a second unit of Chaos Chariots. Many possibilities here.

Total Points: 2,000
Break Point: 8
2x Chaos Warriors
2x Chaos Marauders
2x Ogres
1x Marauder Horsemen
1x Chaos Knights with Sword of Cleaving
1x Chaos Knights with Sword of Destruction
2x Chaos Hounds
1x Chaos Chariots
2x Harpies
1x General with Orb of Majesty
1x Hero on Chaos Dragon with Sword of Might
1x Sorcerer with Scroll of Dispelling
1x Sorcerer

This army is only two units bigger than the 1,500 point army, giving it a breakpoint of 8, but is tougher all across the board. Now, the infantry have 4 units with 4 attacks and hits per stand, and none suffers from stupidity. There are two Chaos Knights units, one for each flank. There is a dragon-mounted Hero to add punch to any attack. There is a second Sorcerer to increase the chances of casting battle magic and the spell 'Anger of the Gods' to inhibit enemy movement. Finally, the two Harpies units can inflict their usual misery on the enemy. If you feel six units of infantry are too few, an alternative is to trade a unit of Chaos Hounds and all the magic swords for a third Marauder infantry unit.