Warbands

Warbands are a unique campaign mechanic for the Warriors of Chaos introduced in Total War: Warhammer III.

Overview

This mechanic allows the Warriors of Chaos to instantly recruit units anywhere (providing they are available in the pool to be recruited) via Warband Recruitment and then use the Warband Upgrades tab to upgrade weaker units into stronger ones, including giving a unit a Mark of Chaos.

Warband Recruitment

• Warriors of Chaos armies can recruit most units by clicking the Warband Recruitment button anywhere on the campaign map. Recruiting this way is instant, like Raise Dead for the Vampire Counts.
  • Gifted units, Regiments of Renown and Allied Recruitment are exceptions.
• Warband Recruitment draws from a pool of available units. For instance, there may be 2 Marauders available for recruitment this turn, and you could have up to a maximum potential of 4 Marauders in the pool.
• Each turn, there is a % chance that more of that unit will be added to the pool. This depends on factors like the climate of the local region, as well as the type+amount of corruption in the province.
• Additionally, if your army is near a Dark Fortress, then buildings in the settlement make certain units available in the Warband Recruitment pool. Eg: Tribal Garrison provides local warband recruitment capacity: 1 Marauders. However, higher tier units can only be recruited through Warband Upgrades (see below), Gifts of Chaos, etc.

Please see the table at the bottom of the page, for which units are more likely to be found in certain areas.

Warband Upgrades

In the Warriors of Chaos lore, a fighter will try to grow in power and gain favour from the Dark Gods, with the eventual goal of becoming an elite warrior such as an Aspiring Champion (then an Exalted Champion, a Chaos Lord and eventually gain immortality as a Daemon Prince). However, for most, this path will result in death or mutation into a gibbering Chaos Spawn. Even still, such mindless monstrosities can still be put to good use in battle!

• In the Warband upgrades tab, units in the army (aside from Regiments of Renown) can be upgraded, which costs favour.
  • Gifted units with some exceptions, Regiments of Renown and Allied units from Allied Recruitment, cannot be upgraded.
  • Bloodletters, Daemonettes, Plaguebearers, and Horrors can be upgraded to their Exalted versions when playing certain factions.

• Units can be upgraded in 3 different ways:
  • You can upgrade a unit to a weapon-swapped version. Eg: Marauders into Marauders (Great Weapons). This is more of a side-grade than an upgrade, and allows you to tailor your army to the enemies you face on the fly.
  • You can upgrade a unit to a higher tier unit. Eg: Marauders into Chaos Warriors.
  • You can upgrade a unit by dedicating it to a specific Chaos God (giving it a "Mark of Chaos"), which changes it's abilities, stats and weapons. Eg: Marauders into Marauders of Khorne.
• Giving a unit a Mark of Chaos is PERMANENT. And once they are Marked, they will now upgrade into other units of the same mark. For instance Marauders of Slaanesh into Chaos Warriors of Slaanesh into Chosen of Slaanesh.
• Upgrading unit to a higher tier, or giving it a Mark of Chaos, requires that they reach a certain rank first. Once upgraded, they are reset to rank 0.
• High tier units cannot be degraded into lower tier units. The sole exception is the Aspiring Champions, as they can be turned into Chaos Spawn.

Warband Recruitment table

Unit	Climate	Corruption	Building	Faction
Marauders	Frozen	Undivided Corruption	Tribal Garrison	All
Forsaken	🗙	Undivided Corruption	Spawn Cave	All
Chaos Spawn	🗙	Undivided Corruption	Spawn Cave	All
Chaos Warriors	In provinces with well-developed Dark Fortresses	🗙	Fighters' Lodge	All
Chaos Knights	In provinces with well-developed Dark Fortresses	🗙	Horse Barn	All
Aspiring Champions	🗙	Undivided Corruption (very high)	🗙	All
Marauder Horsemen	Frozen	Undivided Corruption	Bloody Barracks	All
Chaos Warhounds	Frozen	Undivided Corruption	🗙	All
Chaos Warhounds (Poison)	Frozen	Undivided Corruption Nurgle Corruption	🗙	All
Chaos Feral Manticore	Mountain	Undivided Corruption	Manticore Den	All
Chaos Trolls	Mountain Wasteland Chaos Wastes	Undivided Corruption	Spawn Cave	All
Chaos Giant	Mountain	Undivided Corruption	Dark Cavern	All
Dragon Ogres	Mountain	Undivided Corruption	Giant's Hollow	All
Marauders of Khorne	🗙	Khorne Corruption	🗙	Undivided and Legion of the Gorequeen factions
Forsaken of Khorne	🗙	Khorne Corruption	Spawn Cave ( Legion of the Gorequeen)	Undivided and Legion of the Gorequeen factions
Skullreapers	🗙	Khorne Corruption	🗙	Legion of the Gorequeen faction
Wrathmongers	🗙	Khorne Corruption	🗙	Legion of the Gorequeen faction
Spawn of Khorne	🗙	Khorne Corruption	Spawn Cave ( Legion of the Gorequeen)	Undivided and Legion of the Gorequeen factions
Marauders of Nurgle	🗙	Nurgle Corruption	🗙	Undivided and The Fecundites factions
Forsaken of Nurgle	🗙	Nurgle Corruption	Spawn Cave ( The Fecundites)	Undivided and The Fecundites factions
Spawn of Nurgle	🗙	Nurgle Corruption	Spawn Cave ( The Fecundites)	Undivided and The Fecundites factions
Marauders of Slaanesh	🗙	Slaanesh Corruption	🗙	Undivided and The Ecstatic Legions factions
Forsaken of Slaanesh	🗙	Slaanesh Corruption	Spawn Cave ( The Ecstatic Legions)	Undivided and The Ecstatic Legions factions
Spawn of Slaanesh	🗙	Slaanesh Corruption	Spawn Cave ( The Ecstatic Legions)	Undivided and The Ecstatic Legions factions
Marauders of Tzeentch	🗙	Tzeentch Corruption	🗙	Undivided and Puppets of Misrule factions
Forsaken of Tzeentch	🗙	Tzeentch Corruption	Spawn Cave ( Puppets of Misrule)	Undivided and Puppets of Misrule factions
Spawn of Tzeentch	🗙	Tzeentch Corruption	Spawn Cave ( Puppets of Misrule)	Undivided and Puppets of Misrule factions