The TL
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Core armies would be smaller but more streamlined across the factions. In general a “core army” would consist of 8-9 units, the bulk of the units being provided by the doctrine. The bulk of the abilities would be provided by the commander. The commanders and doctrines would have an interesting relation ship as various commanders and doctrines would affect each other. This is an example just for the chaos army. Please use your imagination for how this would work with other armies.
Initial commanders:
Champion – Vet 0 ability
Doctrinal Attributes: Nurgle moves at half speed but has 25% increased suppression/damage resistance. Khorne ability “Skulls for the Skull Throne” passive ability that increases the champion’s move speed, attack speed and damage, Tzeentch ability Phase change – can split between the warp and reality meaning 50% less received damage but also deals 50% less damage, warps into attack when close range).
Universal Abilities: Willpower (activated ability that increases suppression resistance for units immediately around the hero), Worship the Gods – Units gain increased veterancy while this ability is active. Termniator Squad (late game, powerful squad with melee/ranged options),
Sorcerer – Vet 0 – fireball
Khorne, 10% reduced cooldown on all spells. Nurgle: Blight – casts on area of the terrain, slows units by 75%. Tzeentch: Warp Sight (reveals a very large area of the fog of war around the sorcerer for 15s),
Universal abilities: Confusion (cast on group of enemy units, changes allegiance of random units within target area for 30s), Possessed marines (mid game call-in fast melee unit), Chaos Fleet Portal Bombardment (opens a portal to a distant chaos fleet, bombards the area with heavy guns)
Herald (before a doctrine is picked would appear like a small spawn, then would take the shape of allegiance demon afterwards with (plague bearer, blood letter, pink horror) with increased combat abilities. Unique trait of herald is that if killed on the battlefield it rather than staying on the spot it would be returned to base after 1 min.
Daemon Essence (passive increases the fighting power of daemons nearby the herald),
Warp Storm (late game, cast ability over wide area that slows and ravages enemy infantry and vehicles alike) Daemon Prince (late game ability, cast on your hero to turn into demon prince of the chosen alliance)
CORE ARMY/TECh
Tier 0 – Cultist, Biker
T1 – Havoc, Raptor, Traitor Marine
T2 – Chaos Dreadnaught, Chaos Rhino
T3 – Chaos Predator, Obliterators
Three “doctrines” (would be call Allegiance for chaos) would be Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Khorne. “Doctrinal” abilities would be unlocked through tech, so the unit would be trainable in the appropriate tech tree. Hero abilities would be tied to command points. Slaneesh could be added in a future expansion.
Khorne:
Blood for the Blood God (passive ability, each kill incrementally increases the speed that units gain veterancy. Like +.001% for each kill added universally)
Rage (activated ability: units do increased damage/speed but also receive more damage)
Berserkers - Tier 2
Blood Letters - Tier 2
Blood Crushers - Tier 1
Defiler - Tier 3
Nurgle
Nurglings - Tier 0
Plague Bearers - Tier 1
Plague Marines - Tier 2
Blight Drones - Tier 3
Pestilence ( late game: powerful damage over time plague spell that is passed from enemy unit to enemy unit.
Decay (early/mid game: cast on target friendly unit, unit slowly loses HP for 60s, but all attacks deal powerful damage over time)
Tzeentch
Gifts of Change - passive universal ability. Melee units warp when close range, once units retreat they a partially in the warp and are even harder to kill, ranged units see slightly farther.
Pink Horrors - Tier 1
Furies - Tier 2
Flamers of Tzeentch - Tier 2
Warp portal (units can teleport between two points)
Bringer of Change – Changes selected unit into any other unit within its own tier for 30s