Old World Almanack – Grand Cathay on the tabletop

They’re the first new faction for Warhammer: the Old World, a mysterious eastern Empire revealed for the first time after many decades in the margins. Now, with the west in disarray and under ever-growing threat from the resurgent forces of Chaos, the Storm Dragon has arrived at the head of a mighty expeditionary army. But how do they play? We spoke to JTY and Danny about this small but harmoniously formed new force.

JTY: Grand Cathay is a small, elite army of well trained, professional troops supported by powerful heroes, quality artillery, and impressive centrepiece units like Sky Lanterns and Sentinels.

This is the Cathayan equivalent of the Grand Army lists that you find in Ravening Hordes or Forces of Fantasy. It’s a small roster for the time being, but each unit works in conjunction with the other parts of the army – harmony is the watchword. So while Grand Cathay does not have the same number of units available to other factions, the models it can field work extremely hard to counter a multitude of threats.

There are a couple of key special rules for the army. Will of the Dragons allows units with this rule to re-roll failed Panic tests when nearby units are destroyed – it displays the professionalism of the soldiery. A number of units have it at the moment, but should the roster grow, this may change to demonstrate the breadth of Imperial forces.

Danny: Then there are The Elemental Winds, which represent Yin and Yang, the two sides of the Elemental Compass. There are different bonuses available to units with Will of the Dragons, boosting Movement, Initiative, Weapon Skill or Leadership – and improving different sorts of spells.

JTY: Think of it as the equivalent to Bretonnian Vows, though while the peasants don’t get to share in those, Jade Warriors benefit here because they are the core professional elite of any Cathayan army.

JTY: The Jade Warriors are excellent troops. They’re better trained and equipped than their equivalents in the Old World – one benefit of an empire near the height of its powers – but they’re not quite as deadly as the likes of Chaos Warriors. Both the Warriors and the Lancers have a Weapon Skill of four, plus high Leadership and decent armour, so they’re better basic infantry than most. Like everything in this list, they’re strong but appropriately costed for their power within the context of the list they belong to. 

Danny: Don’t let the lack of basic missile infantry fool you – Grand Cathay are flexible, and can play offensively and defensively. Due both to the magical prowess of the Shugengan and the effectiveness of their artillery, as well as with the fire support from the Lantern, they have a deceptive amount of missile fire – it’s just concentrated. You’re not bulking your army out with hordes of peasant bowmen or regiments of handgunners, like Bretonnia and the Empire.

JTY: The Shugengan Lords are ‘dragon-blooded’ – which means they share a distant ancestry with the Dragons. They are similar to a Chaos Sorcerer or a Loremaster, warrior-wizards who are comfortable in the thick of combat. You can build them to focus on support or combat – and you can choose from a wide range of Spell Lores, including the new Lores of Yin and Yang which have three spells each.

Danny: They’re tutored in the ways of feng-shi sorcery by the dragons themselves. This is High Magic, so they are among the most learned mortal practitioners of magic, though they tend to specialise either in Yin or Yang. 

A Shugengan Lord with one level of wizardry could take the Battle Magic lore and cast Hammerhand on themselves each turn. Combine that with a magic weapon and some defensive items, and you’ve got a really punchy close combat character.

If you equip them with a Lore Familiar and High Magic, you can be firing out magic missiles and vortexes each turn You could even take two, one to fulfill each role – there’s that Yin and Yang in your army construction, each one covering the weaknesses of the other.

JTY: Sentinels have a number of battlefield roles, as they all have to be made of a particular material. It’s an expensive model at 230 points, but the effects are all valuable. The Warpstone aura that reduces Toughness is especially unpleasant, while Obsidian plays merry hell with enemy wizards. All these options reward players who think about the synergies – which is a very Cathayan attitude.

Danny: They’re also very good at catching cannonballs… My favourite material is Jade which lets you choose a bound spell to cast. People are more than welcome to paint their Sentinels in materials other than the five in the journal. Grand Cathay is a huge realm with a very varied landscape, including soaring mountains, tropical rainforests and vast tracts of desert.

Sky Lanterns are especially interesting and unique models. They are both a supportive element that can help the rest of the army, and a mobile firebase in their own right. With crane guns they can sit towards the back and provide ranged support, while iron hail guns can be used to control flanks against skirmishers. They’re very good at dissuading units like that…

JTY: It’s a heavy chariot with a decent amount of impact hits. It’s mobile enough that you charge it into the flank of a unit and knock out that rank bonus – and sometimes it can disengage at the end of combat.

Danny: The cannon hits hard, and the impact can slow advancing units. Meanwhile, the rocket battery is a refined version of the Empire’s Hellstorm rocket battery – it’s more reliable and more consistent, and has different modes of fire: low strength over a wider area, or something more concentrated.

Light cavalry is a death sentence for most artillery crews – but when there’s an ogre around, six goblin Wolf Riders with a can-do attitude might not be enough to do the job any more. 

JTY: The Storm Dragon is very good by design. She’s one of the most powerful characters in the World of Legend, and she is accordingly complex. We wanted rules to allow her to transform, that being one of the most unique and recognisable features of the Cathayan Dragons.

Danny: She’s a less powerful wizard in dragon form, but very good in combat. She’s a competent warrior as a human, but she’s very good at casting. She has an excellent magic missile attack that’s unique to her, and she also gets to upgrade one unit of Jade Warriors into Celestial Dragon Guard.*

JTY: A character of her status needs a bodyguard, after all.

Danny: You can certainly expect this army to operate in the same way as a comparable force in Total War. Obviously, our current roster is narrower, but a force of Jade Warriors and Lancers with artillery and Miao Ying in support will be recognisable to fans of the video game.

JTY: The second Arcane Journal will be released alongside Miao Ying and the individual releases from the Cathayan Battalion, but there are no other unrevealed units scheduled. It’s a very narrative journal – we focus on how Chaos is affecting Grand Cathay and what makes the Storm Dragon decide to travel to the Old World. We discuss Cathayan connections between east and west – hinting at the antagonisms between the Jade Fleet and the Elves of Ulthuan – and the continuing war in Westerland.

It also includes additional rules on terrain generation, occupying buildings, and multiplayer rules, as well as a load of scenarios. We follow this up with an Army of Infamy for Grand Cathay, the Jade Fleet, which is allowed to take a number of Empire of Man units as Mercenaries – the kind of force that’s battling back against the Chaos incursion at this time. We round it out with yet more Magic Items.

Thanks guys! The Armies of Grand Cathay are available to pre-order right now.

* These guys wear yellow robes in Total War – but there’s no obligation to paint them in the same way on the tabletop. Yellow is the colour of the Emperor’s personal guard, but bodyguards in the employ of the other dragons or provinces may vary.