Hordes of Chaos

Warriors of Chaos is a Warhammer "Army Book," a supplement to the Warhammer Fantasy Battle tabletop miniature wargame. The book gives rules for playing an army of the human Chaos-worshippers from the Chaos wastes of the north, as well as in-game background information on such individuals. Within the game, the forces of Chaos were originally represented by a single army, but were later split into separate armies – daemons, warriors, and beastmen – that could contain models from each other's army lists, albeit not as core choices. This arrangement is no longer rules-legal, but the existence of a cannon crewed by Chaos Dwarfs in the current rules is a remnant of older editions.

In the fictional world of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the inter-dimensional gate that brought the "Old Ones" to the world collapsed, ripping a hole in the fabric of reality. The hole was located at the worlds north pole, and led to the "realm of Chaos". From this realm came the energy known as magic, but also the beings known as Daemons. The daemons would have destroyed the world, but the Slann and High Elven Arch-mages were able to create a vortex to drain most of the magic away. Without magic the daemons faded back to the realm of Chaos.

The area around the entrance to realm of Chaos is known as the Chaos Wastes. Because the wastes are so close to the realm of Chaos, the laws that govern Order are fluid, the weather can change instantly and the wastes are full of monsters.

The humans that live in the wastes are savages compared to humans from the Old World. They tend to live in tribes that move from area to area. Each tribe has its own beliefs and customs, but all worship the four great gods of Chaos in some form. Life is hard in the wastes, tribes are always fighting monsters and each other, making them natural born fighters. They are tall and heavily built, often dressed in furs and scraps of armor. Their bodies are covered in symbols and runes, which they believe will protect them. Like all from the chaos wastes, they likely have some form of mutation, but see this as proof that the gods favor them.

The men from the north are great sailors, and during peace times they will trade with and fight for other races. Most of the time they will be raiding the other races for plunder, slaves or glory.

At times the hole to the realm of Chaos will expand, making the Chaos wastes unlivable. This forces the southern tribes to attack other races. These incursions are rare but difficult to defeat.

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