Help With Tzeentch Army

[Rodiger]

Hi, I’m looking for advice with my army. I’m new to Age of Sigmar and decided I would go for a Tzeentch based army. I am just playing friendly games and I wanted an army with stuff I like in it and would look good painted on the table top, for this reason I didn’t look at the rules when deciding what to get, I just went with what I thought would look cool. This approach maybe right or wrong but I have found after a couple of games that my army has some serious deficiencies. I am not looking for a competitive tournament army, I am only playing friendly, but it needs to at least be a challenge to beat, no one enjoys playing with or against a bad army. I have always liked Tzeentch the best out of the Chaos God, I think really I want to play as a Tzeentch Arcanites Army rather than a Daemons one. My understanding of how a Tzeentch army works well or used to before restrictions was summoning lots of free units which some of them could then spam Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield. Personally this is not how I want to play an army, feels kind of cheesy to me in a friendly game, and I don’t think me or my friend would enjoy it. So what I am looking for is some advice on, general tactics, how to make bad units better, good synergies, and any suggestions on what I should add. Taking units as counts as isn’t a problem.  The army is made from the AOS starter set, the Slaves to Darkness Start Collecting, Warhammer Quest and some Pink Horrors and Flamers.

This is the list I have taken twice, it’s about 2100 points.

+ Leader +

Bloodstoker

Chaos Sorcerer Lord

Cursling, Lord of Tzeentch

Gaunt Summoner & Chaos Familiars

Ogroid Thamaturge

+ Leader/Behemoth +

Daemon Prince [Tzeentch]

+ Battleline +

Chaos Marauders  x 20

Chaos Warriors x 10

Kairic Acolytes x10

Pink Horrors 10

+ Other +

Tzangors x 10

Chaos Chariot

Chaos Chosen x 5

Chaos Knights x 5

Flamers of Tzeentch x3

Khorgorath

I’ll go through my impressions of what I have taken so far. Firstly the terrible stuff.

The Tzangors were awful, they could take wounds well, but they didn’t kill anything, I am thinking I should just take them as Bestigors instead. What should be their role on the battle field though? With two wounds they seem like protection is their best bet, but they are quite expensive for that role. I like the models, and I bought another set off Ebay so I will use the models regardless, should I take them as a group of 20?

The Kairic Acolytes were also awful, I also bought another set of them off Ebay as I like the models. They died really quickly and didn’t kill anything. Not really sure what their purpose is, I think I need to take more than 10 of them. I originally thought they could fill a role with their shooting attack, but it’s terrible, it didn’t even cause a wound.

Marauders, again awful, I had 20 of them, they all died, didn’t cause a single wound. I think I should take these as the Bloodreavers with the Bloodsecrator, but then I’m not running a Tzeentch army. What would make Tzeentch Marauders good?  

Pink Horrors, I only have 10, but they didn’t kill anything and they all died, I summoned them in one game and started them in another. I like the idea of breaking them down into Blue Horrors then Brimstones but I will wait for an actual release of those models. My initial idea was they could be used in a shooting capacity, but they didn’t do anything with it. I’m guessing these were good as free units that could be summoned and then Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield stuff but, that’s gone now so what is their battlefield role now?

Ok units.

Chaos Warriors were ok, they didn’t die but they didn’t kill anything either, I made a noob mistake and thought they could mix and match weapons like Tzangors and Kairic Acolytes do. I can work out what to use them for. Which is a preferred load out for them?

Chaos Knights were ok/bad I think. They really didn’t kill anything but created a distraction. I’m unsure about them, the army needs speed and they can fill that role, maybe they need 10 in a unit, they are expensive, I like the models and they will look cool once done. Which is a preferred load out for them?

Chariot, didn’t really come into play in either game, can’t really say much about it, it got one charge in and didn’t cause a wound.  

Daemon Prince, I failed to get this guy into battle in both games, he is seeming like a waste at the moment, but he might be good, not sure Tzeentch is best for him considering Pink Horrors get the same powers.

Good Units

Chosen were great, dealt a lot of wounds and could stand a lot as well. Their bonus was a great boost to other units too.

Khorgorath was good, not very Tzeentch but he was good, took quite a few wounds off the Leader of the army before it died.

Blood Stoker was very good, very handy, but again not very Tzeentchy.

Flamers were great, I summoned them and they did serious damage to some units before they died. I really don’t like the models, I think I need more of them though, but I don’t like the idea of a just a summoning flamers army because that works.

Chaos Sorcerer Lord, pretty good, I took the normal one as he is a good buff to the Slaves to Darkness models, rather than the Tzeentch one as I don’t have any spawn or anything to use as them.

Gaunt Summoner was pretty good, he was somewhat wasted with his sword as he killed a single elf with it, but it looks good for killing bigger things, his spells were good.

Cursling was also good, I think with a bit of practice he will be very good, he is lacking as the overall leader though, as he doesn’t have a Command Ability.

Ogorid Thamaturge was good, I think with a bit of practice he will be a decent addition.

So overall, my problems seems to be lack of shooting, that seems to be a problem in general with chaos, (I have been reading the threads) lack of mobility, and most of my army didn’t kill anything, and a lot of it died. I am going to try a Chaos Lord next time as he can make Slaves to Darkness units arrive from different sides of the board. Sorry for the essay, any advice?

Thanks

[DarkBlack]

The Chaos Lord has a new warscroll, he no longer "summons", but istead gives one unit (within 10"?) his mark benefit (re-roll saves of 1 for Tzeentch).

For weapon loadouts, depends on what you want units to do. I would go hand weapon and shield for warriors (I want them to tank) and weapons with shields if I took knights.

The deamon prince isn't bad, but not spectacular either, worth about his points.

[BayCloth]

I've not used any tzeentch units myself but from experience know that the slaves to darkness units are generally quite tough.

With all the extra wizards you'll have from your tzeentch elements in may be worth just trying to get off mystic shield all over the place.

This will make those units like the Knights and chosen super tough. You won't win quickly but you'll be able to grind your opponents down over time. A couple of hammer units to break key deadlocks and you'll be laughing. 

I love the theme though and would love to know if you have any success with it. 

[Tasman]

Kairos Fateweaver can REALLY add a boost to your Tzeench themed army. Probably the best overall spell caster in the Chaos Allegiance.

Also, the blue scribes can be fun to run, and look into Sayl the Faithless from Forgeworld. Just check out these war scrolls, proxy them in (if your opponent doesn't mind), and see how they behave for you.....

[Rodiger]

13 hours ago, DarkBlack said:

The Chaos Lord has a new warscroll, he no longer "summons", but istead gives one unit (within 10"?) his mark benefit (re-roll saves of 1 for Tzeentch).

I didn't realise that, I think I will go with the old war scroll for now as it solves some of my problems. 

 

14 hours ago, BayCloth said:

A couple of hammer units to break key deadlocks and you'll be laughing. 

Can you recommend some hammer units? I'm pretty new to Age of Sigmar and Chaos so I am not sure what they are.

 

12 hours ago, Tasman said:

Kairos Fateweaver can REALLY add a boost to your Tzeench themed army.

Will do he looks good. I'm holding out for a new kit to be released but I can proxy him for now. 

 

12 hours ago, Tasman said:

look into Sayl the Faithless from Forgeworld

I didn't know about him, he looks interesting.

Any ideas how to make the Tzangors, Kairic Acolytes and Marauders better?

Thanks

[Tasman]

I haven't used Tzangors or Acolytes yet, but as for marauders, use the shields for a 5+ save and units of 30 so they get their combat buffs for a couple of turns. Other than that, their role is simply to be cheap chaff battle line troops that die for the glory of the ruinous powers!

[Rodiger]

I’ve been searching through all I can to try and make the Tzaangors and Kairic Acolyetes better.

The Tzaangors weapons get 4/4 – rend 6+ ward save, 3/4 – rend, or 4/4 1 rend, all 1 damage. They have a vicious beak attack which is 4/6 – rend. They have a special rule that means on a 4+ they can reduce the wound roll by 1, this can be a 2 + if they are in a group of 9 and within 9” of an Arcanite Hero. They are not mortal so they cannot benefit from the Fatesworn Warhost, or the Warshrine. Compared to Bestigors they are poor attacking, they have the 2 wounds so my thinking is their battle role must be stick them as protection for a Wizard who is going to be casting and also for protecting objectives. Mystic shielding them when appropriate will help with that role too.  I think there are cheaper options than these though that are more effective. I will try 20 next game and see how they do, if they don’t do any better they are going to have to be Bestigors, which is a shame because the models are wonderful and they will look great once I finish them. They deserve better rules, they are a lot better in Silver Tower.

The Kairic Acolytes have the same weapon profile as the Tzaangors, instead of the Vicious Beak they have Sorcerers Bolt which is 12” shooting attack at 5/4 – rend. If they are within 9” of a Tzeentch Wizard they can add 1 to the hit roll of Sorcerers Bolt. They are mortal so they can get benefits from the Fatesworn Warhost and from the Warshrine. The Fateswron would give 1 rend to all the weapons and the shooting attack, as well as a 6+ ward and the option to fire Arcane Bolt. The Warshrine would give them a reroll to their saves. I am thinking their role would be to accompany the Warshrine and a Wizard. I haven’t used the Warshrine or the Fatesworn yet so I don’t know how to play them properly. I think points wise it’s a little expensive to make bad units slightly less worse, especially compared to Bloodreavers and a Bloodsecrator for a lot less points, the Fatesworn and Warshrine can benefit other units though so they are not solely used for the Acolytes. They are cheap as the points are the same as Marauders, and may be better than them. Again the models are great but the rules are bad, I will try them in this capacity in a unit of 18 see how they go, if not they will be counts as for something else.

Have I missed anything with either? Thoughts?