Xathrodox86 reviews: "Chaos in the Old World"

A fun and challenging game, "Chaos in the Old World" lets you become one of the four (or five if you count the expansion) Chaos Gods, whose ultimate goal is the destruction of Warhammer world. However, as Chaos itself, it can be fickle and capricious, and to be honest, completely unfair.

Now YOU can be a God too!

I've played "Chaos in the Old World" back in 2009 with my former RPG group. It was a nice change from our weekly gaming sessions and it, along with "A game of Thrones" has shown me that board games can be just as fun to play as any PnP. That said I was rather surprised that during my first game ever I've managed to beat all three of my buds while playing Khorne. They've told me back then that it was perfecty normal and that not all Gods are equal. I was able toconfirm that claim, when I've bought the game myself, just a month ago. Since then I've played it twice and each time had a lot of fun doing so. That said, "Chaos in the Old World" can be considered an unbalanced game and thus will probably sit ill with all those, who like fairness and equal opportunities on their boards. Now I don't claim that it is a perfect product, far from it. However I think that the lack of balance is actually it's biggest strength. But first things first.

Whole game in a nutshell

"Chaos in the Old World" is produced by Fantasy Flight Games, a company with which I have a mixed and, let's be honest, strained relationship. On one hand both their RPG's and their board games are beautifully made, full of details and are always a great addition to one's collection. On the other hand, most of their games have horribly written and hard to interpret rules, their RPG's in general are God-awfully unplayable and every single one of their product is overpriced. So you can probably guess that I was rather scepticall when deciding to buy this game with a single expansion called "Horned Rat". Fortunately it turned out better than expected and, despite a hefty price tag, made for a very entertaining evening killer.


In the game, which can be played by minimum 3 and maximum 5 (if you have the expansion) players, you take the role of one of the great Gods of Chaos, Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch Slaanesh or the Horned Rat. The goal of the game is the complete and utter domination of the Old World, which is represented by it's most iconic countries (or regions as they are called in game), namely the Empire, Bretonnia, Kislev, Norsca, Troll Country, Estalia, Tilea, Border Princes and Bad Lands. Players can achieve victory by three means: either reach level 50. on the domination table, destroy five regions utterly or reach maximum level on their "power meter". Also once you run out of random event cards the game is over, but it's hardly a victory now, is it?

Pictured: a hand of (Chaos) God... literally!

Each God levels up by achieve this by fulfilling certain requirements. These are:

Khorne: killing everything that moves and letting the Blood God to sort 'em out (killing enemy models in layman's terms)

Nurgle: placing two or more corruption tokens in populated areas on the map, such as Empire or Bretonnia

Tzeentch: placing two or more corruption tokens in the area, which has two or more magic symbols and/or warpstone tokens

Slaanesh: placing two or more corruption tokens in an area where there are two or more noble and/or hero tokens

Horned Rat: dominating a region with two or more Skaven tokens on it

When players gain levels they recieve various rewards. This include free points, free troops and upgrade cards that can boost their units and gameplay in general.

The Old World is slowly consumed by darkness...

Every game starts with randomly choosing an event that will afflict a whole world. It can be a peasant revolution or a visit from the elven mage Teclis. Each event is usually both rewarding and punishing, and a cunning player can use it to it's advantage. For example during my last game, two most populated regions (Empire and Bretonnia) could only be under influence of a single Chaos card. This made us rely on our Cultists and warriors more than on spells. Fun times.

After that the Gods use their power points to summon minions (Cultists, Warriors and Greater Daemons) or play Chaos cards that can boost their forces or be a nuisance to the other players. Khorne is always first, followed by Nurgle then Tzeentch, then Slaanesh and finally the Horned Rat. Each God can only spend a single power point per round, until they've all run out of them or opt to pass their round in the queue. Then it's battle time. As with anything in "Chaos in the Old World", battles take place in order of regions, going from north to south. Once the battles are done, the region's domination is determined. The player with more units and Chaos card cost wins and dominates the region, gaining points equal to the region's value. Certain game elements, such as Skaven tokens can weaken the region's resistance, while others, like "Peasant uprising" can strengthen it.

Then comes the time for CORRUPTION. Every player places one corruption token, for each Cultist he has in any region. Again this is determined in a strict sequence from north to south. Skaven are uniqe in this in that they're not placing corruption tokens by themselves but their basic troops (Clanrats) are treated as corruption tokens.
Now it's worth mentioning that once the corruption in any given region reaches 12 or more, this region is ruined and the player that corrupted it the most recieves a hefty sum of victory points, while the second best also gets a (smaller) reward. Ruin five regions and it's game over. Why this is important? Because every region can be corrupted by two players max and it's the number of corruption tokens/Cultists that counts. Also only the tokens that have been placed in the turn of ruination are counted towards victory in the region. I think you see now that the Skaven have in fact the easiest way of gaining points for destroying the Old World.

Just some Chaos Cultists doing what they do best

 So now that I've presented you with the overiew of the game, you'll probably wonder what's my opinion on it? Generally I like it a lot. Not only is it wonderfully crafted, the board, the cards and figurines are simply gorgeous, but also it's very easy to learn and fast to play. Seriously, it's one of the faster games the FFG ever made, and this is the company which is known for making board games that took a lot of time to play. Even with five players, each game can be finished in 2 to 3 hours max, and each one can be completely unpredictable and, well, chaotic.

That pun WAS intended.

Second great (and bad) thing about "Chaos in the Old World" is that it promotes different styles from different Gods, and I know that it sounds obvious but let me explain. I'm going to use the example of Khorne, who my friends and myself, consider a bit OP.

Just take it easy, big guy...

In the beginning of this review I've remarked that it's not a balanced game and it is. Of all the five Gods, it is Khorne who is the strongest. He has the smallest amount of Cultists but biggest number of very strong warriors and his Chaos cards and upgrade cards give him insane buffs (like giving all his cult troops the ability to fight). Also he can potentially win in the easiest way possible, by killing enemy troops from the very beginning of the game. While this does sound broken (and in fact it is IMO), Khorne can still be beaten. Other Gods can counter him in many ways, each of them remarkable on its own and showing just why each God can be insanely fun to play. Tzeentch can teleport other units and his troops around the map. He also has the largest pool of Chaos Cards that can be played for 0 points, that means for free. Nurgle is a tough, old bastard who can easily corrupt world's regions and later in game has the ability to summon free Cultists, while Slaanesh can make his troops virtually immune to attacks (only those rolled with 6" on the die can hurt them) and is a master of trolling other players, along with Tzeentch, by taking control of their troops or sending neutral heroes at them. Horned Rat is the funniest of all in my opinion. Not only has he an upgrade that treats all regions with Skaven tokens, as adjacent to each other, and thus allowing his troops to move through entire map almost freely, but he can also boost health of each of his units by 1 with a certain Chaos card.

You see where I'm going with this? Yes, the player controlling the Lord of Skulls has potentially the easiest way of winning, but he can still be beaten. In the case of our last game, Khorne won because A) we didn't run away from him (a valid tactic in this case), B) we didn't blocked him and C) we didn't unite against him. Ah yes, I've neraly forgot to tell you that this game benefits from the "Game of Thrones" boardgame syndrome of stabbing your mates in the back. Remember, it's easier to win if you are strentghtened by an unholy alliance. Just watch your back. After all, the Gods of the Warp are fickle beings...

Typical "Chaos..." game. Not pictured is the Horned Rat, who is simply too sneaky to be seen

Another issue we had a problem with was the Horned Rat. The exapnsion which lets one of the players take command of the Great Horned One, comes not only with a tide of sneaky vermin, but also with completely new set of Chaos cards, called the Morrslieb Deck (which cannot be mixed with "normal" Chaos cards) and a couple new Old World events. While the new deck is indeed a nice addition, as it weakens most of the Gods and takes care of some of the balance issues, the Skaven themselves are incredibly strong. Not only have they a lot of Cultists, or Clanrats in this case, but their Chaos cards and upgrade cards are insanely benefficial. I've already written about the +1 health card, but another allows the Skaven player to summon a Vermin Lord Greater Daemon to any region he wishes. Combine that with an Old World event card that spawns Skaven tokens like crazy, and you have one, happy rat player by your table. Horned Rat is so riddicolously mobile, that it's really hard to keep up with him, and the way he recieves points for dominating regions, makes it that he is right behind Khorne in the "broken-as-shit" department. Remember that Skaven gain points for dominating a region which has their token present, which in itself weakens the region by one point each. Oh and did I forget to mention that one of the Chaos cards allows the Rat player to move Skaven tokens around and that they stack? Yeah...

Die-die foolish man-things!

Of course there is a way to counter the furry bastard. His warriors are rather weak and the best way to deal with a Skaven player is to block his attempts at casting Chaos cards. Oh and the Horned Rat has only one deck of these, while other Gods can use either the Morrslieb set or the basic one.

Also he has the cutest Greater Daemon in the whole game. Dawwwww

The final issue, but that's the one that has nothing to do with game balance, is a price. As with every FFG game, the price is high. For both the basic set and an expansion, I've paid 75 $. That's quite a sum, but in all fairness the game is worth the money, and it's not like I'll have to buy a hundred more addons, like in the case of "Talisman" or the "Game of Thrones". Besides it's not like I'm not aware of FFG's money grubbing policy. At least with them it is somewhat justified.

So for the "Chaos in the Old World" my final verdict is: a huge 8 out of 10. While it as its flaws and isn't balanced at all, it's still fun as hell to play. I definetly reccomend this game to any board games and Warhammer fans out there. It takes some getting used to, but if you'll accept it's unfairness, "Chaos in the Old World" will satisfy all your world-destructing needs. It's a perfect game to suppliment the oncoming End Times event, the WFB is currently subjected to. Give it a try.

Pros:

-Challenging and fun to play
-The randomness of the game is awesome
-Beautifully made
-Lets you play as one of the Gods of Chaos!

Cons:

-Khorne and the Horned Rat can be considered broken
-It's expensive
-The figurines can easily brake. Take care when dealing with them

It is definetly worth it

Until next time!

Xathrodox86