# Armies of the Silk Road



## mahavira (Jan 10, 2010)

Despite looooong peripheral (fluff) awareness of the WFB world (I'd read my buddy's rulebook back when they had rules for creating new unit types and still used terms like "+3 shock elite") I am finally getting started in the game itself. While the game has a pretty good array of armies (going Dark Elf), there are a number of things which seem somehow missing. We know from fluff that there is an Araby, and that the Empire fought a crusade there (why they would do this we don't know, as the historical reasons for the crusades don't exist here) generating the Knights Panther and Knights of the Blazing Sun. We know there is Cathay (referred to in Skaven and Dark Elf material) and Nippon (you used to be able to take them as allies but not as an independent force). Once 8E has workable army books for everyone (don't need to all be 8E, just all sufficiently recent that they aren't hopeless) I think it would be cool if GW introduced a few new armies, perhaps as part of a 'silk road' expansion detailing the armies of Araby, India, Cathay, and Nippon. These would allow them to create mini lists of a completely new look (who said they all had to be human?). A few thoughts on what might be good distinguishing features for each area:

Nippon: It is of some interest to me that the new Cold One Knights have helmet crests which are suggestive of the crests samurai helmets used, and there is occasional reference in the Malus Darkblade series to things that sound a bit Japanese (knights carrying two swords, one long and one short), and the medieval japanese, when they actually had an interest in the outside world, were ferocious raiders, much like the DE. The Empire was heavily influenced by Dwarves and Elves (gunpowder and magic, if nothing else) - what if Nippon was similarly influenced by DE, either deliberately (creating vassal allies around the perimeter) or through happenstance (the DE used the islands of Nippon as a staging point for extended raids on Cathay and their cultural influence stuck to the locals). Unit types of particular interest: samurai, both mounted and foot, ferocious Sohei warrior monks, shrine maiden bodyguards to war altars and magicians, and of course ninja. Many elite unit types would have both ranged and melee ability (samurai were excellent bowmen as well as fighters after all) but don't use shields at all.

China: several thoughts. 1) one of the theories behind why the great wall was built was to block off negative energy from the north according to some feng sui belief. In the Warhammer world, evil energy from the north is a legitimate concern and the great wall would be a structure of great importance (if only to make it harder for chaos warriors to cross). 2) Chinese ancestor worship makes an undead force of some kind very appealing. 3) There must be some sort of connection to the first emperor and his terra cotta armies! 4) One of the undead leader types that vanished a few editions ago is the powerful necromancer who is not himself undead: perhaps living priests of the first emperor command armies of 'ancestors' and terra cotta warriors in his service. 5) Perhaps 2 empires, a 'Yin' empire of the dead and a 'yang' empire of the living? Also China should have some level of gunpowder (certainly rockets, don't know what else). 6) Mongol mercenaries?

India: I don't know as much about the military traditions of India, but in terms of fantasy elements, how about the story of Rama? Have a nation of Daemons subject to a lesser chaos power (the books keep telling us there are lots of them after all) named Ravana, allowing for some new Daemon models based on the unfamilliar (and thus probably disturbing) monsters of Indian myth. For humans (or non-humans if some other race seems appropriate) , why should LotR players have all the elephants?

So, are any of these good ideas, or does my not having actually played mean that I am unaware that large numbers of armies are badly in need of overhaul and this is all jsut crazy talk anyway?


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

i like the idea but i doubt gw will do it, id also like to see some form of playable list for sartosa(pirates)


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## murdock129 (Apr 3, 2008)

Another type of army that I'd love to see is Albion (with a return of their old giants)

I also remember over the Worlds Edge Mountains they mentioned Monks who could kill you with a single touch, which sounds like something that could go with the Chinese/Japanese armies


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

There used to be a nippon army list ages ago I think I might even have the book somewhere, it had japanese dog riding samurai, foot samurai, monk fighters ninja's and peasants with spears among other things admittedly this was years ago when even pigmy halflings, Slaan warriors with different totem beast and a cool human slave palanquin featured as army entries but the hobby was more roleplay and model centred then and not just massed produced plastic figures.


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## mahavira (Jan 10, 2010)

To be fair it was also before the use of lead in miniatures became problematic and the price of copper (and probably tin) spiked. Being as I am partial to the plastics (much easier for relative newcomers to modelling to customize, and all told pretty good quality compared even to older metals) I won't criticize GW for moving in the direction they did (if you want RP figures, there are other companies to fill that niche), I'd just like to see a couple more exotic armies.


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