Intro

I’ve been playing Tzeentch on and off for about 18 months, drawn to the spells, summoning and shenanigans this faction is known for. I was originally hoping to go with a Kairos and Lord of Change list, but when the 3^rd edition battletome came out, there wasn’t really any reason to start the battle with 2 of these big birds. I say start, because my most successful lists were those from the Guild of Summoners, with the gimme battle tactic to go along with the gimme Grand Strategy. Grand Strategies are gone, Guild of Summoners are gone but there might be a viable reason to have that Kairos and Lord of Change build from the start.

Who are the Disciples of Tzeentch?

An excellent question and one for which the answer is always changing. Tzeentch is one of the four original Chaos Gods, focused on change and manipulation of his own servants and those of others. These subtleties put him at odds with Khorne, with the latter’s hatred of sorcery consolidating the enmity between these two factions. It is never clear exactly what Tzeentch’s end goals are as their machinations are as likely to have their worshippers be defeated at the right time and place as to march to victory after victory. The only consolation is that it is ‘All as planned’.

There are two factions within the Disciples of Tzeentch that vie for their master’s favour: Daemons and the Arcanites. Daemons are the stuff of magic itself given form, with the ability to twist and shape raw chaos to their will, resulting in magic spells or blasts of wyrdflame to ignite their foes. Arcanites are the mortal followers of Tzeentch, including the mutated Tzaangor and the Kairic Acolytes who use magic to reshape their own bodies.

Why play the Disciples of Tzeentch?

Disciples of Tzeentch is a faction that heavily relies on magic, not necessarily for damage dealing directly, but to further their subtle plans for victory on the battle field. They do not have the raw combat power of a Destruction army nor do they have the ranged prowess of many Order factions. What they do have is a range of tools that can be selected to take on a variety of challenges and, Tzeentch willing, come out on top.

Battle Traits

Masters of Destiny

One of the Disciples of Tzeentch’s most notorious ability, Destiny Dice, returns in 4^th edition. In the deployment phase, you roll 9 dice and can use the outcome of these dice to use instead of a dice roll. These can include casting rolls and charging rolls, though you do need to spend 2 of these dice to do so. These can be hugely influential, guaranteeing a charge when really needed (though not a counter-charge), making a 6+ save to an attack that could wipe out a key piece or making sure an important attack wounds its intended target. 4^th edition sees an interesting change to this mechanic because while there is (almost) no way of returning Destiny Dice, which was very straightforward in 3^rd, there is also no need to hoard dice in order to get the Grand Strategy at the end of the game.

Conflagration of Tzeentch

The defining ability of the index for Tzeentch is the ability to light an enemy unit up, literally. If a weapon with the Wyrdflame weapon ability does damage, that unit is now burning. There are also a couple of ways of adding burning in the combat phase too. Importantly, only one unit per phase can have the burning debuff added. Potentially, you could cast a Wyrdflame spell in your opponent’s turn; shoot them with a Wyrdflame weapon with Covering Fire; fight them with your combat source of burning and then do all of that again in your turn for 6 potential units per battle round. Realistically, if you could get 3 units burning, that’s good going.

Burning Wyrdflame

So what does the Wyrdflame do? At the end of every turn, on a D3 roll of a 2 or 3, a unit takes that much damage but on a 1, they manage to put themselves out and are no longer burning. Yes, it’s only D3, but that could be enough to swing an objective or complete a battle tactic. If you do manage to get a good spread of burning going, these could all add up. If you take the Wyrdflame Host battle formation, you are probably better off choosing NOT to activate the D3 roll so as to keep the debuff applied.

Quenching the Flames

In addition, Wyrdflame shuts down any healing, with the healing ‘quenching the flames’ instead. This would shut down the prodigious Soulblight healing as well as making Rally a 1cp – please put me out, I’m on fire command ability.

Battle Formations

Tzaangor Coven

Screeching Warflock is a passive that means that every time a friendly Warflock (anything Tzaangor related) uses Rally, you roll an extra 3 dice. Obviously the more Tzaangor you take, the better this is, but you can expect to be able to bring back 2-3 normal Tzaangor, but the extra 3 dice pushes you up the point at which you’ve been a little unlucky not to being a Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc or Skyfire back. The Enlightened on Disc aren’t what they were, but they’re still a good unit and with access to this recursion, can be quite a tricky one to get rid of.

Wyrdflame Host

Mutagenic Inferno is another passive that subtracts 1 from wound rolls made by attacks from Burning units. The utility of this one will be determined by how hard you choose to lean into the Wyrdflame mechanic. Choosing Pinks as your screens, choosing the Lore of Change (see below) and even your artifact choice can make the enemy significantly debuffed, throwing off the expectations your opponent may have from that hammer unit that has just charged you.

Arcanite Cabal

Another passive, Sinister Counter-hexes, allows you to add 1 to unbinding rolls for friendly Arcanite units and, if successful, that unit can immediately use Magical Intervention without a CP being spent. Again, economies of scale will be important here, although taking Kairos alongside a Curseling is quite a potent anti-magic duo. The only potential downside is that if you face off against a faction without magic…you have wasted your battle formation choice.

Change Host

The only battle formation with an active ability allows you to remove a Daemon unit from combat on a 3+ and set it up again but still in combat with the enemy units it was in combat with. I may be missing something huge here, but there aren’t really any Daemon units that you want in full on combat and even if you do, why would you want to essentially do a fancy pile in with them and only on a 3+. All the other battle formations seem to offer a lot more.

Heroic Traits

Cult Demagogue

Similar, but different is how I would describe Cult Demagogue. The downside is that if you roll a double (that is not a miscast) then you only get +3 to cast instead of the cast not being able to be unbound. The upside is that, if you have a two cast wizard, it works on both casts. With Destiny Dice being the best way of getting that double on the cast and Destiny Dice being less commonplace, this is probably an overall positive change.

Illusionist

Amazing on a first-read, until you see the word ‘wholly’. It is -1 to hit while units are ‘wholly’ within a unit’s combat range, i.e. 3”. I was initially very excited until I remembered how to read as, sadly, most of anything you’ll want to protect with this has a base size of greater than 3” or a footprint larger than this. There’s still some play with it and it is not just shooting but combat too, so maybe a Curseling or a Ogroid Thaumaturge might get a little extra survivability with this.

Nexus of Fate

Roll a dice in Your Hero Phase an replace one of the Destiny Dice with the roll. With the loss of battleshock as a phase, there isn’t a lot of use for Destiny Dice of 1, so this may help make these a bit more useful. If Destiny Dice are key to your plan, this is a good one to pick and, if you don’t want to risk getting losing a good Destiny Dice…you still have good Destiny Dice!

Artefacts

Ambition’s End

An artefact that is itself lacking in ambition as it can do D3 damage to a wizard the bearer is in combat with and subtracts 1 from casting rolls for the rest of the battle. Rest of the battle is great, but better to just kill the wizard and not be able to cast for the rest of the battle. Hard pass.

Nine-eyed Tome

Adding 1 to casting and banishment rolls is always good and consistently so. Combine the Curseling, Arcanite Cabal and Kairos with this artefact and the Curseling could have +3 to unbind, which is not to be sniffed at and then could immediately cast back with +2 to cast. Solid artefact and likely to be the default pick.

Wyrdflame Blade

If you are going all in on Wyrdflame, this artefact can allow an enemy unit to receive the Burning keyword if any damage points are put through. Don’t put this on an Ogroid as they can already add Burning in combat, but if a Curseling has it, they can add Burning in each of the three main phases of the game.

Spell Lore

Lore of Change

Tzeentch has the choice of two spell lores, with one great spell in each, one decent spell in each and one spell that you would never choose if you didn’t get the other spells with it.

The great spell for the Lore of Change is Fold Reality, which gives Tzeentch a teleport, something they were lacking for all of 3^rd – Ephilim the Unknowable’s spell does not count! It goes off on a 7, but with Kairos nearby and/or casting it, it’s a pretty reliable spell and movement is always great. While units set up this turn cannot score tactics such as Take their Land or Take the Flanks, putting a hammer unit within 9” and being able to guarantee a charge with Destiny Dice is pretty good. Typically, about two months after I put all my Enlightened on Foot on discs!

The good spell is Bolt of Tzeentch, which is a straightforward D3 damage spell with an 18” range and a generous casting value of 6. Crucially, it has the unlimited keyword, so can be cast by every wizard and it is Wyrdflame, so you will want this spell if you are focusing on Burning.

Transformed to Spawn is the meh spell and that is being kind. 12” range is really short and you might be able to bring a Spawn in, that you still have to pay for. Spawns are pretty awful, so why you would want to pay for one to use with this spell, I do not know. Bring in a Manifestation instead, which is much better than a Spawn AND free!

Lore of Fate

Shield of Fate is the best spell in probably both lores as it gives the target a 5+ ward AND -1 to hit (if you have 4 or more Destiny Dice), both of which last until the start of your next turn. This is a great spell and a good candidate to be cast in your opponent’s hero phase using Magical Intervention. Lasting for potentially two player turns is also fairly uncommon, adding to the value of this spell.

The okay spell, good would be going too far, is Infernal Gateway, which is a 12” range damaging spell, where you roll the number of dice equivalent to the number of Destiny Dice you have (minimum 4), which each 4+ being a mortal wound. If there was a way of getting dice back (without running out entirely first) this would be good, potentially great. As it is, it is a good spell for the start of the game that either requires you to not use your Destiny Dice or to get gradually less effective as time goes on.

Glimpse the Future asks you to put aside your Destiny Dice of 6 and then gamble with the others. This could be a great way of getting out of a sticky situation and getting something usable to play with, but it only give you an actual dice back once you have none left at all. And if you don’t have any left at all, Infernal Gateway is toothless and Shield of Fate is only the 5+ ward. Not a good spell.

Despite Shield of Fate being so good, the utility of teleporting and the ability to maximise Burning units means that the Lore of Change gets my vote unless you have something very particular in mind, for example, assassinating a 5 wound character with the Changeling and a lucky dice roll T1.

Manifestation Lore

Burning Sigil of Tzeentch

The first of two static manifestations is the Burning Sigil of Tzeentch, which goes off on a 5 and needs to be placed wholly within 12” of the caster. Every movement phase it is on the board,  you roll 2 dice and choose one outcome to apply to all units with 9”, friendly and otherwise, ranging from reducing move, subtracting from hit or wound rolls or, causing D3 damage, but making that unit angry and adding 1 to their attacks characteristic. As it is a static manifestation it can be placed within 9” of the enemy and even into their combat ranges. Potentially this could shut down counter-charges, but will cost the Sigil as it only has a 5+ save and a 6+ ward with 6 health.

Daemonic Simulacrum

The good news is if the Daemonic Simulacrum hits a Slann, it will have 7 attacks, 4s/3s, rend -2 for D3 damage, which gives it a pretty good chance of eating the frog. Into anything else, it’s just 4s/3s, rend -1 for D3. It is a manifestation with a 9” move so it does need to be set up outside 9” of the enemy and 12” of the caster. However, if you choose the Lore of Change, a caster could potentially teleport close enough to an enemy wizard that they can put the Simulacrum down within 9” and then use Destiny Dice to guarantee a charge as they do have the Disciples of Tzeentch keyword. With pretty much everyone taking a wizard to get access to manifestations, this is worth a look.

Tome of Eyes

The second static and third manifestation is similar, but different, just like the Cult Demagogue heroic trait. Instead of just a +1 to cast, Tzeentch generals can choose to add 1 or 2 to the casting roll for a wizard (and it can be multiple) within the combat range of the Tome, and then roll the number of dice equivalent to the buff i.e. for +2, you roll 2 dice. For each 1 or 2, allocate 1 damage point to the caster. What’s great about this and the timing of various abilities is that you can cause 2 damage to a unit and then rally them, practically guaranteeing they are back at full health. In this way, you can see the 1cp as adding +2 to cast. Put Kairos nearby and that’s +3 to cast.

Krondspine Incarnate

It’s also worth mentioning here that if you do take Kairos (and you probably will want to) then Kairos’ Mastery of Magic passive means that you only need to roll one 4 on 2d6 to summon the Incarnate. This still works on your opponent’s turn as he gives the +1 to cast to himself too.

Units

This won’t be an exhaustive list, but one that looks to highlight the units that will probably become the core of your army with one or two reasons why you might want to choose them.

Kairos Fateweaver

The biggest of the big birds has several things going for him. He retains Mastery of Magic, which makes the lowest D6 of a casting roll the same as the highest D6, so a roll of a 1 and a 6 turns into 2 6s. Added to his Beacon of Sorcery ability to give +1 to casting AND unbinding, you’ve just cast something on a 13. Bonuses to unbinding are very uncommon, so it makes him a very potent wizard and a Wizard (3) at that. He also has one of the most powerful spells from 3^rd edition as his warscroll spell, Arcane Suggestion. While it does go off on an 8, with Mastery of Magic this is going off 75% of the time and allows you to choose one of the following debuffs: the target cannot use commands; subtract 1 from hit and wound rolls; subtract 1 from save rolls.

However, this combination of abilities is overshadowed by his Oracle of Eternity ability. Kairos can, once per battle, do one of two things. Either choose a battle tactic that has already been completed OR choose two battle tactics you can try to achieve without burning that second tactic. This is huge. Scoring 5 battle tactics is really hard to do in 4^th so being able to double up on Take the Flanks with 200 points of Screamers for 8 points is a great position to be in. In my opinion, this is the path to victory for Tzeentch: score all 5 tactics and hold 2 objectives all game for 40 points (in most cases). Debuff the enemy sufficiently that they drop a couple of tactics and don’t take objectives and that should be enough to win.

Lord of Change

In the introduction I mentioned that I wanted to have the opportunity to run both of these units in the same list and Disciples of Tzeentch have followed the pattern for Chaos that the named Greater Daemon has abilities that fit the lore and then the unnamed ones largely do the same thing – return units in lieu of summoning. For one Destiny Dice (so this is what those 1s and 2s can be used for) a Lord of Change can return a Daemon unit at half strength, wholly within 12” and outside of 9” of the enemy. The best candidates for this are probably 20 Pink Horrors or 6 Flamers. The slightly lesser big bird also throws out a -1 to hit debuff when targeting Daemon units in combat wholly within 12”. Couple this with the Wyrdflame debuff if you choose Wyrdflame Host and your opponent will be at -1 to hit AND wound, and potentially unable to do anything about it because of Arcane Sacrifice from Kairos. It has lost access to the Mastery of Magic ability, so casting is a little harder, but if you take the Nine-Eyed Tome, cast the Tome of Eyes and are wholly within 12” of Kairos, that’s +4 to casting rolls. The spell, Tzeentch’s Firestorm is fine, generally doing D3 mortals, with the potential to spike for more, but it is unique and it does have Wyrdflame to add this debuff. What also has Wyrdflame is the Rod of Sorcery, which is the option you want to take on the LoC, with 2D6 shots at 18”, 3s/3s, rend -1 and 1 damage.

Changecaster

While the Herald on Disc has gone to Legends, the Changecaster is a plastic model, so survives! The first of two reasons you would want to take these are for 3 extra dice when rallying when wholly within 12”. From 9 dice (appropriately), it’s reasonable to expect 4 health back, which could be two Pink Horrors or two Flamers. Flamers are particularly interesting as they shouldn’t really be in combat, so rallying in both turns to get 4 back for 2cp feels pretty decent. The second reason is that you can add 1 to hit rolls that target a Burning enemy unit when the Burning enemy unit is within 12”. While there aren’t really any Daemon units that can take advantage of this (though Screamers would help) it would also apply to any variety of Tzaangor you might be able to throw in, who are more dangerous in combat.

The Curseling

For 170 points, The Curseling is a good investment of points as a 2-cast wizard that cannot always be targeted as he is a foot hero of only 6 health. He also has a 3+ save, so is relatively tanky for a Tzeentch hero. His ranged attack crucially has the Wyrdflame keyword for its D6 attacks and his melee profile, while a little underwhelming, can potentially do 15 damage at rend -2. His other ability, Disrupter of the Arcane, allows him to reduce the power level of a wizard by 1, to a minimum of 0, until the next Tzeentch turn. It is only on a 4+, but with the Arcanite Cabal battle formation and Kairos’ +1 to unbinds, the odds are that spell is being stopped. With Arcanite Cabal, The Curseling would then immediately be able to cast a spell without spending a command point. Finally, to get another phase where Wyrdflame could be added, the Wyrdflame Blade is probably best on The Curseling if you are taking it.

Ogroid Thaumaturge

A quick mention for the other ‘combat’ hero as a decent ranged attack has been added, though sadly without the Wyrdflame keyword, but the Ogroid’s combat attacks do add Burning. While 3 attacks, 4s and 2s is a little swingy, if the Ogroid has lost any health (and not just in that phase or turn), he gets +1 to hit and wound. On the charge, the Great Horns and Cloven Hooves also do 3 damage. There is also the staff in combat that would be 3s and 2s for D3 if damaged.

Tzaangor Shaman

The final hero that I’m going to take a look at here as it features in one of my lists below is the Tzaangor Shaman. Being only a Wizard (1) it isn’t going to dominate the hero phase nor does it have its own warscroll spell. What it can do is to give a Tzaangor unit on foot run and charge, which can be really handy on Enlightened on Foot, one of the more efficient warscrolls of the index. The other ability synergises well with the Tzaangor Coven battle formation as it can bring up to 3 models back to a unit. If you can get this off in range of some Enlightened on Disc, that could be 170 points this is bringing back to your army AND it can be done by multiple Shamans AND at the end of every turn.

Pink Horrors

Pinks are significantly different to what they were in 3^rd. They can split, but only if they join a nearby blues and brims unit that has taken enough casualties for the extra blues to fit in the unit and not take over its starting strength. And if you combine the points cost for pinks and blues at their current value then they are the same cost (260pts) as pinks were at the end of 3^rd. Pinks on their own, however, are only 140pts and they do have 20 wounds in a unit of 10 instead of just the 10 and they have a 6+ ward as standard. So they can be a bit of a tarpit, as 40 wounds in a reinforced unit is not nothing, particularly if you choose the Lore of Fate and add Shield of Fate. Set the unit attacking you on fire with their Wyrdflame attacks and throw in All out Defence, 40 wounds on a 5+ save, 5+ ward and -1 to hit and wound is actually quite survivable. If a melee hammer does come over and kill them all, on a 4+ you can inflict 1 mortal damage on a target that is in combat with them…then bring half back with a Lord of Change!

Flamers of Tzeentch

A reinforced unit of 6 has 18 attacks, 3s/4s, -1 against infantry for D3 damage and +1 to wound against targets that are already burning, which could be decent. They are, however only 12 wounds on a 5+ save, 6+ ward, so will go down quite quickly. On the bright side, if a Changecaster uses the rally command on this unit then you’re probably bringing 2-3 back. They’re also quite fast too, with 9” move, so they can potentially hide somewhere relatively safe before accelerating forward to shoot (and then probably die!)

Burning Chariot of Tzeentch

While we’re talking about setting stuff on fire, a quick mention for the Burning Chariot as for 20 points more than 3 flamers, you get 4 Wyrdflame shots at 16” instead of 12” and 12 attacks (admittedly pretty poor ones!) in combat. However, if you were to take the Chariot, it would be for its ability to give the Burning keyword to an enemy that it moved over in Your movement phase on a 3+. Probably a few too many hoops to jump through for me, but worth mentioning as another source of Burning.

Screamers of Tzeentch

With the Beast keyword, these will not be able to snatch anything but an uncontested objective, but they still do have some uses. They are only 100 points, with a 5+ save and 6+ ward with 3 health, so they are not entirely trivial to get rid of and their 14” move can be really handy for Seize the Centre, Take the Flanks and Take their Land. If you have Kairos in your list then they could score one of these twice, making a 200 point investment for 2 units good sense and worth including in most lists.

Tzaangors

From the heady heights of Hoarfrost-induced murder at the end of 3^rd, Tzaangor have take a bit of a fall from grace. They now only have 2 attacks, 4s/3s, rend -1 for 1 damage, but do get Crit (2 Hits) if the unit is wholly within enemy territory…if they live that long or Reality if Folded to teleport them across the board. A unit of 20 is only 300 points though and, in a Tzaangor Coven with Shaman support, those 40 wounds could hang around a bit.

Tzaangor Enlightened on Foot

Point-for-point, this is as efficient as it gets for Tzeentch as for only 10 points more than their speedier brothers on disc, you get twice the number of spear attacks AND they have kept the shut down commands ability that all Enlightened had in 3^rd – albeit on a 3+ and only when charging. Compared to 10 standard Tzaangor, they are only 2 fewer wounds and they’re on a 4+ save rather than a 5+. Their problem always used to be the delivery mechanism you would use to get them into combat and with Fold Reality as a spell plus Destiny Dice to guarantee a charge this is no longer a problem. If you’re starting a Tzeentch army for 4^th and you’re into goats, 6 boxes of these will only be 540 points of models for the most efficient ¼ of your army. In fact, you could practically create a whole army just using this kit…

Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc

Much faster than their footslogging kin, they also have a couple of D3 damage disc attacks too. They are also damage 3 when the Tzeentch player goes second OR is the underdog. Having at least one unit to zoom around the board assassinating choice targets is definitely a build option particularly when coupled with…

Tzaangor Skyfires

The same speed and defensive profile of the Enlightened above, but with two 18” bow attacks that ignore any modifiers to hit and to wound. A unit of 3 can do the same skirmishing job of 3 Screamers, while still being able to do some damage at range. Where they truly shine, however, is that they give +1 to hit rolls made by friendly Warflock units that attack the unit the Skyfires did damage too. There is no limitation on how many times this is used, so two Skyfire units patrolling the flanks could mark targets for their melee cousins, bringing the Enlightened on Disc up to 3s and 3s on their 3 damage spears.

Sample Lists

For the sample lists, I’ve brought a Daemon variant and an Arcanite one.

Disciples of Tzeentch – Daemons

Wyrdflame Host

Kairos Fateweaver 440

[General]

– 1 x Changecaster, Herald of Tzeentch 140

– 20 x Pink Horrors 280

– 20 x Pink Horrors 280

Lord of Change 360

[Nine-Eyed Tome]

[Illusionist]

– 6 x Flamers of Tzeentch 240

– 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch 100

– 3 x Screamers of Tzeentch 100

Lore of Fate

Manifestations of Tzeentch

1940/2000pts

2 drops

This list is trying to debuff as much of the enemy as it can with Wyrdflame while scoring 5 tactics, manipulated by Kairos. The choice between Lore of Change for the D3 Wyrdflame spell and teleport and Lore of Fate and the 5+ ward and -1 to hit was tough, but getting the extra resilience for the pinks won out in the end. Each Tzeentch movement phase, one unit of Daemons can potentially come back at half strength, so up to 500pts or so of recursion available in this list if the Lord of Change’s illusionist ability keeps him alive.

Disciples of Tzeentch – Arcanites

Tzaangor Coven

Tzaangor Shaman 160

[General]

– 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened 180

– 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened 180

– 20 x Tzaangors 300

– 20 x Tzaangors 300

Tzaangor Shaman 160

– 6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch 340

– 3 x Tzaangor Skyfires 170

– 3 x Tzaangor Skyfires 170

Lore of Change

Krondspine Incarnate

1960/2000pts

2 drops

This list doesn’t have access to the -1 to wound debuff or Kairos’ Oracle of Eternity, but it does have access to lots of rally rolls and 2 Shaman to potentially bring 6 models back per turn. The 5+ ward, -1 to hit spell would be great on the 20 Tzaangor blocks, but the teleport of the Enlightened of Foot is probably more important to try to eliminate threats instead of surviving them. With only two casts and no bonuses in this list, the Krondspine is the choice of manifestation to get rid of any enemy manifestations while the goats kill the actual enemy.