Realm of Chaos

This is probably the most thumbed in my collection of old Warhammer army books. It was not the first book I ever bought, that was Undead. It was not my first love either, that would have been High Elves. It was probably my third choice in a way, but I have collected and painted more chaos armies than any other. And to this day, I have a chaos collection that dwarfs my elves and undead (and my dwarfs for that matter).

This book was released in 1997 for fourth/fifth edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It contained three different armies - warriors of chaos, beastmen and chaos daemons. These could be combined to a degree, plus there was the option of including monsters and allies. Add in the different flavours provided by the four gods of Chaos and there were endless possibilities to explore. And that’s what I intend to go back to with a new project. Feeling nostalgic for the old fantasy world, I have been flicking through the book again and wondering if I could revisit those early hobbyist dreams. 

There were three sample armies in the back of the book, one each for warriors, beasts and daemons. Each would make the basis of a solid army, using figures from my old collection and supplementing them with newer models. Each of these armies was a fully playable 1000 point army in fourth edition, and it reminded of me of the joys of those early days. Here’s the chaos warriors army from the book, followed by a (mostly)modern interpretation. I am waiting for a warmer spell of weather so I can get into the garage to prime them.