Fighting for your life in the 41st Millennium is bad enough without the weather getting involved, and when that weather strips flesh from bones and drives the strongest minds mad? Well, consider that day ruined – unless you’re one of the malevolent fiends that revels in the chaos of a good Warp Storm.
The mere presence of daemons is enough to precipitate perilous warp phenomena, and with Codex: Chaos Daemons in hand you can turn the fluctuating empyrean to your deadly advantage.
The power of a Warp Storm ebbs and flows, and you’ll never quite know how much magical mojo you’ll have at your command until the turn begins. It’s as simple as rolling eight dice and counting how many 4+ you score – a good turn will bestow plenty of Warp Storm points (or WSPs), but there’s always the chance Tzeentch will trip you up and leave your eddies becalmed.*
All daemonic armies have access to eight Chaos Undivided effects to spend their WSPs on. These range from shrouding your force in an obscuring veil of shadow** to throwing enemy reinforcements off target, but all can hurl a mighty spanner into the works of an opponent’s war machine.
Each of the four Chaos Gods likes to add their own special ingredients to the Warp Storm soup, and Detachments comprised entirely of their followers grant access to three more effects for each Ruinous Power. In typical fashion, a Khorne storm makes everyone very angry indeed – fighting just that bit harder in close combat – while Nurgle makes it rain cats and dogs, if the cats were plagues and the dogs were also plagues.
Tzeentch can take advantage of the roiling warp currents to empower his favourite sorcerers, filling their air with even more psychic madness than usual. Meanwhile, Slaanesh does what he does best, infusing his warriors with quicksilver speed to get those crab claws snapping before anyone even thinks of striking back.
Luckily for those who thrive in the maelstrom, the fetters of chance aren’t the only way to earn Warp Storm points. For instance, the daemonic tallyman Epidemius counts up your kills and beseeches Nurgle for even more blessings.
This won’t be the last you hear from the Eye of Terror – tune into Warhammer Community next week for more from Codex: Chaos Daemons, and sign up to our newsletter if you want to hear the latest daemonic whispers first.
* Even if you’re doing his work – Tzeentch is just a bit like that.
** A tactic that seems right up a certain powerful Daemon Prince’s alley.