# MoK, or MoN + Banner of Rage?



## Dao Jones (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm thinking of building my army around a few sturdy, high point infantry blocks (20ish Warriors of Chaos), and supplementing them with cavalry (CKs and Marauders), Warhounds and Sorcerers. I had originally intended to field my infantry blocks with Marks of Khorne for that immune to psychology / + 1 attack fun stuff, but as I look through the book and theorycraft, it occurs to me that there's two ways I can go here:

1. WoC unit with MoK, and a Banner of Wrath. This gives me the Frenzy, and allows me a free spell attack. While the spell itself isn't overwhelming (and is easy to dispel), it gives me that much more ranged power (which the WoC list otherwise lacks), and forces my enemy to chose to take an automatic hit, or waste a dispel on the bound spell.

2. WoC unit with MoN, and a Banner of Rage. I lose my ranged spell attack, but I gain the -1 WS/BS benefit of Nurgle, and the banner gives me the Frenzy. (Which I won't lose if I break; I assume the MoK's Frenzy dissipates upon breaking.) 

I had honestly initially passed over the MoN for my infantry, since with their Toughness 4 and AS of 3+ they'll likely be able to shrug off most non-artillery ranged damage, and with WS5 most melee targets will already have a hard time hitting them (and they'll almost always be hitting on 3+ except against the rare 5+ WS opponents). And I like the extra spell, because I already intend to field 2-3 level 2 Sorcerers (</= 1500 point army) doped up on casting bonuses, which will allow me a lot of ranged damage in advance of getting my bricks into melee. But I'm new to the game, so maybe I'm missing something. 

I'd hate to have to repaint my red CWs, but I'd hate even more making a new guy mistake, and not building my army to their best.


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## Ascendant Valor (Jan 3, 2009)

Chaos Knights are often better suited to the Mark of Nurgle and Banner of Rage combination, due to their inherent potency as compared to Chaos Warriors. They're faster, hit a little harder, and survive much longer (while also being a points sink and a juicy target for your opponent!).

Mark of Khorne, and Frenzy at large, is often times seen as a liability unless you embrace its flaws. Take your Chaos Warriors, for example. You'll see in the Big Rule Book (as I like to call it) that Frenzy forces your units to charge if they may do so under normal circumstances. Because of this, a unit of Fast Cavalry can easily lure your units around by the nose, rendering your expensive unit worthless by a cheap cavalry unit. There are plenty of ways to mitigate or negate this, it's just a matter of figuring out which one works best for you (often, screening any Frenzied units works, like using Warhounds to block your Chaos Warriors until you actually want them to charge).

And don't discount the potency of the Mark of Nurgle. It can make all the difference at times. Imagine a unit of Empire Halberdiers hitting your flanks. They're Weapon Skill 3 and Strength 4 against your T4 and 4+AS. That's not a fun prospect, but with the Mark of Nurgle they'll need to hit your Chaos Warriors on 5+. That's pretty significant. Let's see another example: Chaos Warriors versus Sword Masters of Hoeth (arguably one of the fiercest combat units in all of Warhammer Fantasy). The Sword Masters are WS6, and would hence normally hit the Chaos Warriors on 3+. Mark of Nurgle, though, reduces them to WS5 so they'll need 4+ to Hit. That's pretty significant.
And for the ranged? Gunline armies heavily dislike the -1 to Hit for shooting. Thunderers have a tough time cracking a T4 unit already, but when they hit them on 5+ they instantly become a serious threat; more Warriors are likely to advance across the table to slaughter the poor Dwarfs (okay, so maybe that unit of Hammerers are at the ready... see the above statement!).
:victory:

If you're going for a fluffy army, then do so! If you want a functional army, you'll need to balance the Marks out well; it's very situational, assigning Marks, so it's up to you to decide when to employ them and how to use them on the tabletop.



Now, in reference to your question:

I'd stick with setup #1 for the Warriors. Like I said above, setup #2 is better for something harder hitting if you can afford it (otherwise, put it on another unit of Chaos Warriors!).


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

An interesting question, personally I am building a Khorne army, but as Ascendant Valour points out, you've got the frenzy to deal with. In my case I'm going with a lot of cavalry. However that army will be strictly for fluff games only.

For tournaments, or just seriously competitive play, the Nurgle/banner of rage combination would seem a good bet, though you might want to try Blasted Standard as well.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

One thing you are going to find Dao is that Warrior heavy armies are very hard to win with. Gunlines will shoot the shit out of you while you plod across the table and armies with even a bit more speed will simply outrun you. Make sure you pad out the army with some mobility as well, not just big blocks of Warriors.


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