Games Workshop has revealed a stacked line up of new miniatures for Grand Cathay, a long awaited new army for Warhammer: The Old World. Cathay has been part of the game’s lore for decades, and made an appearance as a playable faction in the videogame Total War: Warhammer III, but this is the first time it has been represented on the tabletop with actual models. And what models they are!
In the year since Warhammer: The Old World released, Cathay will be the first totally new miniature range that isn’t just a rerelease of old armies with a smattering of new kits. Actually, that’s underselling how significant Cathay is: the last time Games Workshop released a totally brand new army for Warhammer was the Ogre Kingdoms, who debuted in 2005.
Cathay is extremely China-coded. Ruled over by the Celestial Dragon Emperor and his brood – and yes, they’re actual dragons – it’s the longest continuous human civilization in the setting, protected from the northern Chaos hordes by the great Bastion wall. It’s geographically quite isolated from the other Warhammer: The Old World factions by mountain ranges (and the intervening ogre kingdoms), but a silk road trade route connects the disparate regions.
The new models match the unit designs that featured in the Cathay Total War: Warhammer III faction perfectly – not surprising at all, considering all the new designs added to that game were co-designed by the Games Workshop studio and Creative Assembly. All of the new models will be released in plastic.
Here’s the full Warhammer: The Old World Cathay miniature range that has been revealed so far:
Miao Ying, the Storm Dragon
Miao Ying is the daughter of the Celestial Dragon Emperor, and the ruler of Nan Ghao, the city at the lynchpin of the Western bastion’s defenses. Mao Ying is an incredibly potent sorcerer, who can change at will between her human and draconic form. Including her in your army will allow you to upgrade your already elite infantry to even better Celestial Dragon Guard.
Jade Warriors infantry
Jade Warriors are the well equipped core of Cathay’s army. They go into battle wearing heavy armor and shields, and have a Defensive Stance rule that allows them to reroll save rolls of one in combat. In a nice touch, the kit will contain options to give every model a male or female head.
Jade Lancers cavalry
Where Jade Warriors are an anvil, Jade Lancers cavalry are the hammer. They can fight in two ranks thanks to their Cathayan lances, and can follow up from combat and count as charging in the following turn.
Cathayan artillery
Cathayan artillery pieces are miniaturised versions of the enormous weapons that stand along the Great Bastion wall and defend Cathay against Chaos invasions.
There are two types of warmachine in this kit, the Cathayan Grand Cannon and the Fire Hail Rocket battery. The Grand Cannon is so heavy that it can slow down targets that it hits, and the Fire Hail battery can equip a variety of different ammunition.
There’s also an option to attach an Ogre loader to the unit. He can help protect the unit from melee attacks with defensive bombs, and allows the artillery piece to fire twice during one turn of the game.
Sky Lantern
The Sky Lantern is a hot air balloon held aloft by a caged vermillion warbird – a red phoenix. It’s a rare choice for the army, and a very funky heavy chariot, on a brand new enormous base.
The Sky Lantern synergises nicely with artillery, which can draw line of sight from it, and the gunners riding inside it can take all manner of gunpowder weapons and bombs. There’s also an option to mount a Lord Magistrate hero choice in the Lantern.
Cathayan Sentinels
Cathayan Sentinels are colossal animated statues constructed by the Immortal Dragon to defend Cathay. Those that are part of the bastion are made of terracotta, but there are many kinds, including granite and even warpstone Sentinels. Fielding the unit as one or the other is as simple as painting it differently!
This looks like a simply enormous kit, far bigger than regular giants and dragons. Each kind of Sentinel has different effects: Terracotta Sentinels can regenerate wounds, Granite Sentinels have a superior armor save, and Warpstone sentinels are so radioactive that they reduce the toughness of nearby enemies.
Shugengan Lord on Great Spirit Longma
The Shugengan Lord is a new Hero or Lord choice, martial leaders who are descended from the dragon dynasty. Their draconic blood means they’re natural sorcerers and fearsome warriors, and you can field them as a L2 or a L4 Wizard. The Longma is what it looks like – a dragon horse. Hell yeah.
Gate Masters of the Celestial Cities
The Gate Masters of the Celestial Cities are purely martial Hero or Lord choices. They’re the leaders of the Jade Warriors, each one a veteran of at least ten years. The box set for these models will have enough parts to make two miniatures, one mounted and one on foot, and there will be parts to make a battle standard bearer. Handily, the new Cathay range comes with some truly massive transfers, which will make banner decoration a lot easier.
Armies of Grand Cathay Arcane Journal
As Cathay is a totally new army that didn’t appear in Forces of Fantasy, its new Arcane Journal will function a lot more like a classic fantasy army book or a modern Warhammer 40k codex, with the full stats, magic items, and lores of magic for the army. There will of course be some armies of renown.
Grand Cathay Battalion
The battalion box for Grand Cathay will contain 50 models:
- Jade Warriors x 30
- Jade Lancers x 10
- Cathay Artillery x 2
- Artillery crew x 6
- Ogre Loaders x 2
To put it mildly, we are very excited by these new figures.
If the sudden thought of painting sixty miniatures to build a basic army leaves you feeling overwhelmed, can we suggest you look at the recently revealed Kings of War Champions? Made by Mantic Games, it promises Warhammer-style rank and flank combat, in a pared back format designed to play in under an hour (and to be built and painted in not much longer than that).
Source: Wargamer
