‘Warhammer: The Old World’- How To Play Grand Cathay

Today take a look at the basics of how to play Warhammer: The Old World’s Grand Cathay – The Defenders of the Great Bastion!

Grand Cathay is one of the core armies in Warhammer the Old World. They are a brand new army in Warhammer: The Old World and this is the first time they have been included at this scale. Though they have lurked in the background lore, and other games, most notable video games, they have only just made it to the tabletop in a mainline game. Grand Cathay is a powerful human empire in the east that draws inspiration from real world China.

So below we will offer some tips on how to play Grand Cathay and get started with the army.

What Is Grand Cathay?

Grand Cathay is a might human empire in the east of the Warhammer World. It is an empire of extreme order that fights a constant war to keep Chaos in check. They act as something of a counterpart to the Empire of Man in the west. In the current time period they are far more unified then the western Empire of Man. They are also notabley protrayed as far less “grimdark” then the Empire of Man, thought they certainly have their own issues. Their current lore paints them as much more of “the good guys” then pretty much any other faction in the game.

Calling Grand Cathay a human empire might be considered by some a bit of a stretch. While the population is mostly made up of humans, the Cathay is not rule by humans. Rather it exists ruled by dragons. Xen Yang, the Celestial Dragon Emperor is an immortal godlike dragon that is the one and only ruler of Cathay. Along with his Queen Quai Yin and their nine dragon children they form an immortal and staggeringly powerful eternal dynasty that takes human form at will. It is through these human forms that they have interbreed with humans creating a  ruling class of dragon blooded children that seek to preserve the harmony of Cathay.

Technologically Cathay is an advanced civilization, using gunpowder and other modern technologies. They are also willing to mix magic with their technology and you are just as likely to see a Cathayan army supported by an animated stone colossus as by cannons and airships. This makes them a very powerful force.

Why Play Grand Cathay

Do you like Dragons? I mean really like dragons? What about medieval China? Complex interlocking rules? How about cannons and rockets, or big flying war machines? Ordered blocks of elite human warriors? If any of these things peak your interest then Grand Cathay might be the army for you.

Grand Cathay Strengths

• A ton of powerful special rules.
• Flying War Lantern.
• Strong artillery.
• Characters that balance combat and magic ability.

Grand Cathay Weaknesses

• Very limited roster.
• Few choices for good support characters.
• No basic ranged units.
• No light units.

Signature Grand Cathay Rules

• The Elemental Winds- Each turn you must determine if the winds of Ying or Yang are blowing. The winds give the bulk of your army various buffs.
• Will of the Dragons – Most Cathay units have this rule which allows them to re-roll failed Panic tests when a friendly unit is destroyed.
• Mastery Of The Elemental Winds- Allows Cathay wizards with this rule to gain a bonus to cast if near other wizards with this rule.

Grand Cathay Armies of Infamy

• The Jade Fleet- An army of Infamy that represents the  alliance between Cathay and factions of the Empire of Man. It allows Cathay to take several Empire units in their list, and gives them some buffs.

Key Grand Cathay Units

Here is a breakdown of every Grand Cathay unit for you to know about:

Maio Ying- The Storm Dragon

A powerful special character. Maio Ying and transform back and forth between human and dragon form. Both a power caster and strong combat character she can tear armies apart. But can also be hard to use.

Shugengan Lords

Moving on from the real dragon, we have the dragon blooded wizards of the army. The Shugengan come in two forms, the Lords and the Generals. The Lords are slightly more powerful and can be up to a lvl 4 wizard, the Generals are a little weaker and cap out at lvl 2. These are both solid choices and like Miao Ying are a mix of caster and fighter, and are reasonably priced for this.  Especially given that they are on a monster. Your army will likely run 1-2 of these at all times.

Gate Masters

For a dedicated combat hero we’ve got the Gate Master and the smaller version the Gate Keeper. These guys are basically an Empire General and Captain. I don’t have a ton to say about them. They kind of suck with low attacks, few mount options, and not a ton going for them. You don’t see a lot of Empire Generals or Captains out there wrecking shop and the same is true here. They do get Harmony of Stone and Steel which lets you re-roll a few types of leadership tests.  That’s nice, but Cathay already has great LD. But if you want a fighter to go in a unit, this is what you have.

Magistrates of Grand Cathay

Next up we have the Magistrates which come in the big form (Lord Magistrate) and the little form (Strategist). On their own these guys aren’t much to talk about, but for my money are better than the Gate Master/Keeper. The have the same ability to allow some re-rolls, amazing LD (Ld 9 even on the little dude at 40 pts). They also allow all friendly models in their command range to use their LD, and let one unit a turn that wins combat fall back in good order rather than following up or pursuing, which  can set up interesting things. If you really want to them to contribute they can be mounted on a Sky Lantern (more on that later) upping the wounds of that model and letting it take magic items (and another bomb attack). This is a decent and cheap character, but nothing that breaks the game.

Jade Warriors

Next up we have Jade Warriors. If you want infantry in your Cathay Army these are the guys you can take. They are also the only true core unit (though you can take some Jade Lancers as core). They’ve got elite human stat lines, mostly 3s, with 4 WS and LD 8. They come with heavy army and can either take shields or halberds.  If they don’t charge they can re-roll 1s on saves in combat. All this means they won’t kill a lot, but are very tank-y with the option to get a 3+ save base, and some good buffs in the army for them. You’ll likely want a unit or two.

Jade Lancers

Next up you have Jade Lancers. If you want cavalry these are your option. They are also your other core choice, as you can take 0-1 per 1000 pts as core. If I’m being honest they are another pretty mid unit. They are in effect your pretty standard heavy cavalry, and at 20 points are on the cheaper end. The big drawback they have is that instead of lances they have Cathayan Lances, which are really just spears. These give you +1 S and AP -1 on the charge, and let you fight in two ranks always. They aren’t a very strong unit. But can give you a decently fast scoring unit.

Sky Lanterns

These are floating engines of death. Able to gun down and bomb whole armies out of the game, they are likely the single most broken overpowered unit in the game. Despite that they do look really cool. You can check out a more in-depth review of them here.

Cathayan Sentinel

The Cathayan Sentinel is the combat monster (well Behemoth) of the army. It’s similar to a giant or other big monsters, with T6 and 6 wounds. It can be upgraded to have different types and rules, which is nice. However it doesn’t have great saves. Considering the weaknesses of this model and that its competing with Lanterns for points, I’m not sure its a winner. Still if you want something to whomp the enemy in combat, this can do.

Fire Rain Rocket Battery

The first of two war machines Cathay gets is the Fire Rain Rocket. It’s basically a stone thrower with two modes, a weak 5 inch template or a slightly stronger 4 inch template. Stone throwers aren’t very good right now and I don’t think one is really anything special. It’s flexible, but it’s also competing with the much better cannon.

Cathayan Grand Cannon

The Grand Cannon is simply put – the best cannon in the game. It’s a slightly better Empire Great Cannon in damage output, for slightly more points. It also shuts down swift stride and slows enemy units when it hits. Like, totally amazing, S tier war machine! This thing is great and you can pull a lot of tricks with it. For instance you can slow down units you can see, just by getting to hit near them. Like this is just a great unit and again you’ll likely see 1-2 in any Cathay army.

Ogre Artillery Crew

Lastly we have the Ogre Artillery Crew. This is a character you can buy as an upgrade for 35 pts to either war machine. They add an Ogre to the unit, letting it move a little faster, become stubborn in combat and have an Ogre with them. This makes them a lot more resilient to random attacks by light troops and has decent advantages. More importantly however the Ogre helps you load the war machine. That means once per game you can either re-roll an artillery dice (becoming a one use only Engineer) or fire twice.

Sample Grand Cathay Army

Characters -521 pts

Lord Magistrate -160 pts
– Gunpowder bombs
– General
– Maw Shard
– Ring Of Jet
– Obsidian Lodestone

Gate Master -196 pts
– Cathayan Warhorse
– The Monkey King’s Wisdom
– Spirit Lantern

Gate Keeper -165 pts
– Battle Standard Bearer [Banner Of The Dragon’s Wrath]
– Shield of Nan-Gau
– Ring Of Jet

Core Units -633 pts

9 Jade Lancers -294 pts
– Ambushers
– Drilled
– Stubborn
– Jade Lancer Officer (champion) [Spirit Lantern]
– Standard bearer [Icon of Heavenly Fury]
– Musician

24 Jade Warriors -299 pts
– Drilled
– Jade Officer (champion) [Spirit Lantern]
– Standard bearer [The Jade Banner]
– Musician

5 Jade Warriors -40 pt]
– detachment

Special Units -346 pts

Cathayan Grand Cannon -173 pts
– Ogre Loader -Gunpowder bombs

Cathayan Grand Cannon -173 pts
– Ogre Loader -Gunpowder bomb

Tips For Playing Grand Cathay

Cathay is an army that currently has a limited number of game play styles. They are going to rely a lot on their character and unique units. Their core is all very mid and best suited for scoring, rather than killing. They also lack a true combat monster, and will struggle head on vs some of the top tier combat units. The army really needs to work as a whole using a lot of it’s various special rules to work. Cannons are a great tool for limiting enemy mobility (They can also just kill things). Shugengan and Sentinels can bully a lot of enemy units.

Sky Lanterns are a menace and you can always just build an army around them. This will likely win you more games then friends. They have some very powerful builds and some very bad builds, but struggle with mid tier builds. Mobility and shutting down enemy tricks is a big part of the armies game play and you will want to be tricksy yourself. In Magic The Gathering terms, Cathay is the closest thing to a blue/control army and it can get a lot of milage out of going that way.

~And remember, fight Chaos and protect the Grand Bastion! 

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.

Read the Comments (0)

Read more at this site