Take a look at a trio of peasant-focused Grand Cathay armylists. Those new Warhammer: the Old World units CAN put up quite a fight!
There hasn’t been a ton of new for the Old World lately, which is tragic. However we have gotten a bit of an update on one thing at least, with the new Cathay units coming out in individual boxes soon. Now these new units are pretty decent (and a lot more balanced then other parts of the army). So with them becoming more available I wanted to look at a few Cathay lists you could build focusing on some of the new models/units. Lets dig in.
The Cathay Grab Bag
Shugengan Lord, Iron talons, Heavy armour, Wizard -Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Yang, General, Great Spirit Longma, The Monkey King’s Wisdom, Scrolls of Wei-jin, Potion of Foolhardiness, Illusion – 374
Astromancer, Lore of Yang, Wizard -Level 1 , Illusion – 65
Astromancer, Lore of Yang, Wizard -Level 1, Illusion – 65
20 Jade Warriors, Shields, Standard bearer [Monster Hunter’s Tapestry], Full Command – 203
20 Jade Warriors, Shields, Standard bearer [The Jade Banner], Full Command – 218
14 Peasant Levy, Warbows, Skirmishers – 56 – x4
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour – 130
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour – 130
10 Iron Hail Gunners, Iron hail guns, Light armour – 120
10 Iron Hail Gunners, Iron hail guns, Light armour – 120
6 Crane Gunner Teams, Crane guns, Light armour, Tower shields, Reserve Move – 108
6 Crane Gunner Teams, Crane guns, Light armour, Tower shields, Reserve Move – 108
Sky Lantern, Sky Lantern Crane Guns, – 135
How It Works
This first list was one I built kind of based on what I have around, but its designed as a decent all comers list. The bulk of it comes in mixing a few of the Cathay Battalion Boxes. You’ve got two blocks of tank-y infantry to hold objectives and center the list around. An Astromancer can go into each to cast glittering robes to make them evening harder to move. A ton of skirmishing archers act as chaff, and are annoying. They are also good at scoring objectives.
Two cannons give you table control and slow the enemy down. A Lantern and a bunch Crane Gunners give you some heavy hitting shooting. You’ve also got a bunch of Iron Hails to flank and dumb out shots. It’s a lot of shooting in the list. Lastly you have a very powerful Shugengan Lord who can dish out a lot of pain and bully units around. It’s not a crazy list but its got tricks and can win some fights.
Warriors of The Fields
Warriors of Wind & Field [1998 pts]
Lord Magistrate, Light armour, General, Sky Lantern -Sky Lantern Crane Guns + Sky Lantern bombs, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Talisman of Protection – 280
Supreme Astromancer, Lore of Yang, Wizard -Level 3 Wizard, On foot, Arch-Lightning Rod, Elementalism – 165
Strategist, Light armour, On foot, Wizarding Hat – 85
Astromancer, Lore of Yang, Wizard -Level 1 Wizard, On foot, Maw Shard, Battle Magic – 115
4 Iron Hail Gunners, Iron hail guns, Light armour, Marksman (champion) – 54
10 Iron Hail Gunners, Iron hail guns, Light armour, Marksman (champion) – 126
10 Iron Hail Gunners, Iron hail guns, Light armour, Marksman (champion) – 126
30 Peasant Levy, Warbows, No armour, Skirmishers, Reserve Move, Scouts, Peasant Elder (champion) – 188
29 Peasant Levy, Long spears, No armour, Move through Cover, Full Command – 154
10 Jade Warriors, Shields, Heavy armour, Standard bearer -Icon of Heavenly Fury – 131
Sky Lantern, Sky Lantern Crane Guns, 4+ – 135
4 Crane Gunner Teams, Crane guns, Light armour, Tower shields, Reserve Move – 72
4 Crane Gunner Teams, Crane guns, Light armour, Tower shields, Reserve Move – 72
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour – 130
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour, Ogre Loader – 165
How The Warriors Work
This list is really built as more of a MSU (many small units) list using the Warriors of Wind and Filed Army of Infamy. This list has a lot of units and none of them are worth all that many points. You’ve basically got around 12 units running around, with lots of skirmish and chaff to get in the enemies’ way. There is also a decent amount of table control going on here. The cannons can really slow down enemy units. You can also shut down enemy flying for up to two turns, which can throw a wrench in their plans. You’ve got one big unit of spears to act as a bit of a road block, and a lot of small shooting units that can add up to a big punch.
The list also has one big unit of archers to throw out a ton of shots. Since they have Warbows these are based off the archers S. For that you are going to throw the Supreme Astromancer in the unit. Their main job is to throw Might of Heaven and Earth on the unit to push to bows up to S4 shooting. Elementalism also has some useful spells. You could spend some more points on them (and lose a few core) to beef up their uptions, giving them more spells or even one of the upgrades to let them know more signature spells.
Lastly you’ve got the strategist with Wizarding Hat (I know a bit of an odd choice). LD9 means hopefully stupid isn’t a big deal, but it’s a risk. You’ve really got two options with him. The first is to take Waaagh! Magic. A lot of those spells are great in this list. In particular Evil Sun Shinin’ is great, giving you S4 Ap-1 and re-rolling 1s to hit, and also buffing any other nearby shooting you have. You can also go for Deamonology. Vessels would give you S5 Ap-1 bows (nice!) but you’d have to be in the unit, and there isn’t a great chance of rolling it, but other spells are good.
The Serious List
Grand Cathay [1999 pts]
Shugengan Lord, Iron talons, Heavy armour, Wizard -Level 4, Dragon fire pistol, Lore of Yang, General, Great Spirit Longma, The Monkey King’s Wisdom, Scrolls of Wei-jin, Illusion – 373
Shugengan Lord, Iron talons, Heavy armour, Wizard -Level 3, Dragon fire pistol, Lore of Yang, Great Spirit Longma, Lore Familiar, Jade Blade of the Great Fleet, Illusion – 358
Shug General, Celestial blade, Iron talons, Heavy armour, Wizard [Level 1 Wizard], Lore of Yang, Great Spirit Longma, Maw Shard, Battle Magic – 205
20 Peasant Levy, Warbows, No armour, Skirmishers, Peasant Elder (champion), Musician – 93 – x4
10 Jade Warriors, Shields, Heavy armour, Standard bearer -Icon of Heavenly Fury – 131
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour – 130
Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour – 130
Sky Lantern, Sky Lantern Crane Guns, 4+, Sky Lantern bombs – 150
Sky Lantern, Sky Lantern Crane Guns, 4+, Sky Lantern bombs – 150
Why It’s Deadly
Lastly I wanted to look at a more “serious” competitive list. At it’s heart this list is basically the competitive Cathay lists we saw pre-FAQ (or might see in Jade Fleet) but with a bunch of cheap archers replacing the Jade Lancers in core. This build has 3 hard hitting Shugengan for heroes. They can put out a lot of damage and are very versatile. You can also switch up the builds to get 4 if you want. Two Sky Lanterns provide some good ranged support and a pair of cannons help with table control.
For core you’ve got a small unit of Jade Warriors, enough to control an objective and shut down flying for a turn (useful but maybe a liability). Then you’ve got 4 cheap units of skirmishing archers. These folks can get in the way, run away, grab objectives and put out a decent amount of annoying shots. If the die they don’t give up many points. While you can play around a tune it, I think this is a quire powerful list with lots of tricks.
Let us know what you think of these lists, down in the comments!
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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.
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