First released in July 2025 The Grand Army of Cathay has received a second Arcane Journal in the form of Dan of the Storm Lord. This Arcane Journal is 48 pages and provides extra background for The Grand Army of Cathay in it’s foray into the West. It contains terrain rules, three scenarios, and rules for playing multi-player games. There are no new units for the Grand Army of Cathay, but it contains an Army of Infamy, which as we will see doesn’t really change a ton from the main list.
The book contains rules for linear terrain such as rivers, fast rivers, bridges and fords. It also has rules for roads, which might be the first time Warhammer has had road movement. If 50% or more of a unit is on a well maintained road it can add D3″ during a march move. This is fun and flavorful and gives a reason to lay out some roads on your Warhammer battlefields! The rules for buildings are also expanded on which is a nice feature of the book. There are also two terrain generators depending on where you want to set your battle, either the Wasteland outside Marienburg, or the Shadowlands by the Sea of Claws. Each list has 11 terrain types from old stand buy’s like hills and dense woods to more exotic terrain such as Saltwater Bogs, Haunted Ruins, and Shardlands.
The book suggests you can write multiple lists and declare one as the “primary” force, in this case only the general or battle standard bearer count for the purpose of bonus victory points for Kingslayer and Trophies of War. You can also just write one list and divide it amongst the players as evenly as you decide. This is the method my group normally uses on our Tuesday night games.
Each of the three scenarios look like fun and I’d like to give them a shot. They even have rules to link the scenarios with benefits given to the winner of the previous game.
Next we get to the Army of Infamy: The Jade Fleet. If you read my previous review on the Arcane Journal: Armies of Cathay you’ll notice this list is almost exactly the same. The only noticeable difference is there is no way to take a Sentinel or a Sky Lantern as a Special Choice and your mercenary allies are limited to very specific Empire of Man army choices. So, if the list is pretty much exactly the same what benefits does this Arcane Journal get? Very few if you ask me. There are two rules that provide minor buffs to the Jade Fleet’s shooting units once per turn. In my opinion getting an extra 3″ of range and getting to shoot in an extra rank is more extra book keeping than it is worth, but to each their own. Jade Warriors and Jade Lancers within 3″ of a mercenary unit get to re-roll any 1’s to hit in close combat, which is nice and encourages you to bring those limited Empire troops. Lastly, in a Jade Fleet army 1 Sky Lantern per 1,000 points may be upgraded to Ambushers, and once per game a Sky Lantern in Reserve may re-roll to come on the board. So, one of the most rules heavy units in the game gets more rules.
Finally this Arcane Journal provides another 18 magic items to the Armies of Cathay, whether it’s the Grand Army of Cathay or the army of the Jade Fleet. Unlike most Arcane Journals all these items can be used by both the main army and the Arcane Journal army.
I have to say this is the first Arcane Journal I’m disappointed in. While there are some fun elements such as the terrain rules, and the campaigns the Army of Infamy really lets the whole thing down. Miao Ying is the only named character in the Arcane Journal: Grand Cathay but the list shows a Cathayan Dragon as a character choice. I figured at the very least this book would give a generic Cathayan Dragon option, but I guess not. Without any extra characters or units in this book, and a weak Army of Infamy if you were hoping for more on Cathay you will be sorely disappointed. The background section is nice but the whole thing feels like it is just the leftovers of the Arcane Journal: Armies of Grand Cathay and leftovers of The Old World Matched Play Guide put together. I was aware there were no extra units in this book, but even armed with that knowledge I feel let down by this book. Oh well, even Babe Ruth struck out every now and then!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 