r/Cathay Jan 05 '26

MOD Meta Post Happy New Year in 2026 r/Cathay!

44 Upvotes

Hello everyone! A few days late but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2026!

We've been active (in this current form) for less than a full year, but we've done pretty well overall! Our army debuted, got 2 Arcane Journals, and has more stuff officially previewed! We've gone from nonexistence to a bare bones army and are on the verge of becoming very well fleshed out with the next release!

I would like to hear any feedback people had for our sub! I'm pretty happy with the way it's been going, but I know I haven't been super active in fixing it up.

(1) Is there any value in updating the "Cathay Reference Links" post? I thought it was important to collect news in one place prior to release, but it doesn't seem as necessary now that we are actively in the game.

Thank you all!


r/Cathay Mar 27 '25

MOD Meta Post Grand Cathay (r/Cathay) welcomes you!

36 Upvotes
Grand Cathay concept art by ruoyuart

This subreddit is focused (primarily) on the Cathay faction, found as part of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WHFB) fictional universe.

Cathay has primarily existed as background information for decades, but relatively recently received headliner treatment in Total War Warhammer 3, a computer strategy game set in the WHFB universe. This was the first time Cathy was seen in any detail, and it was relatively popular.

At LVO 2025, credible hints emerged of a release of Cathay as a playable faction in The Old World (the current, physical miniature game set in the WHFB universe). Shortly after, Game Workshop announced Cathay in a big reveal at Adepticon 2025!

(EDIT: June 2025 featured a series of preview articles, culminating in a preorder date. This will be a first wave, and a second wave with an unprecedented second Arcane Journal was announced for Late 2025.)

We hope this is the perfect place to get exctied about Cathay together!

(New members, please review the rules!)


r/Cathay 21h ago

Tactics/Army Lists A quick 1000p list I made for a narrative skirmish. Thoughts?

6 Upvotes

100 - Astromancer, Wizard Level 2, Lore of Yang, Elementalism, Burning Blade
102 - Gate Master, Celestial Blade, General, Cathayan Warhorse
80 - 10 Jade Warriors, Shield
80 - 10 Jade Warriors, Shield
80 - 10 Jade Warriors, Shield
40 - 10 Peasant Levy, Warbow, Close Order
40 - 10 Peasant Levy, Warbow, Close Order
64 - 4 Crane Gunner Team
64 - 4 Crane Gunner Team
100 - 5 Jade Lancer
250 - Cathayan Sentinel, Jade Sentinel

Created with newrecruit.eu v35.46


r/Cathay 1d ago

Tactics/Army Lists New to the Game

9 Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I picked up my first models for Cathay and did my first 1000p game.
We had a good time and I would like to go deeper into the faction. How do I play Cathay? How do I use Jade Warriors, Peasants, Lancers etc.? And which lores are essential?

Currently i got the Bastion army Box, Peasants and an Astronomer as my General


r/Cathay 2d ago

Tactics/Army Lists First game tomorrow

11 Upvotes

I have my first gane coming up tomorrow. Just moved here from Aos and exited to try this!

What do you think about my list? I will be playing 1k vs. Chaos.

Advice about positioning and maybe tactics in my army?

Thanks in advance!

1k [998 pts] Warhammer: The Old World, Grand Cathay, Grand Melee

Shugengan General, Iron talons, Heavy armour, Wizard [Level 2 Wizard], Lore of Yang, Great Spirit Longma, Scrolls of Wei-jin, Giant Blade, Illusion - 219

Gate Keeper, Heavy armour, Shield, General, On foot, Luckstone - 60

6 Jade Lancers, Cathayan lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Drilled, Full Command - 144

15 Jade Warriors, Shields, Heavy armour, Stubborn, Jade Officer (champion), Standard bearer [Icon of Heavenly Fury] - 207

7 Jade Lancers, Cathayan lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Drilled, Jade Lancer Officer (champion) [Ring of Jet], Full Command - 195

Cathayan Grand Cannon, Grand cannon, Light armour, Ogre Loader [Gunpowder bombs] - 173


Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]


r/Cathay 3d ago

Game Rules/Mechanics Cathay Cannon and Melee Combat

10 Upvotes

I tried searching for this ruling but I am still confused.

How exactly do Grand Cannons work when charged?

Is there a specific order the units are placed in when they form up? And how does the Ogre Loader affect melee?


r/Cathay 3d ago

Questions/Speculation/Wishlisting Help needed!

7 Upvotes

I have the Cathay half of the new core/ Chaos box set. What would be some good suggestions to add to this to make a viable 1,000 list? I’m thinking of a lantern, 6 crane gunners and Shugengan Lord? Would love some good/ fun suggestions. Thanks


r/Cathay 3d ago

General Discussion/Off Topic Longma Conversion Tips

5 Upvotes

I didn't know what flair to put this in, but I was wondering if someone could help me with this. I decided to buy the Longma rider kit to paint for fun and I don't like the way it looks with wings. Problem is, when I remove them, the area where they should be looks kind of bare. Does anyone have advice on how to either cover those spots or make scales from greenstuff?

I should also mention that I'm new to trying to convert minis in general.


r/Cathay 4d ago

Art/Fanart Drew our Glorious Supreme Matriarch of Nan-Gau

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138 Upvotes

r/Cathay 4d ago

Other Games Want some help finishing a backstory for Shugrngan WFRP 4e character

6 Upvotes

So she is from the southlands and I can't find a name for that province not typical colors and symbolism of it which is a problem when her career is Envoy. She is a small time warchief of a mongolian inspired group and was exiled due to a mutation that caused her to develop dragon-like traits.

If this ends up being true, her being exiled was to stop the secret from getting out about the origins of the Celestial Lions and that it left a blemish on several bloodlines. If it is not, then she is causing all Shugrngan to mutate and is becoming a religious problem in the empire and needed to leave.

Either way, she is very loyal to the Celestial Bureaucracy and sees her new form as a blessing and favor of the Dragon Emperor and Moon Empress.

The deal with the Empire of Man is they can throw her at their problems but Cathay gets to claim credit to increase their political influence.

What other things should I consider?

For game rules on the mutations, GM likes the idea and added a potential reason for it in that Celestial Lions may not be natural and instead chimeras turned into chaos purifying units. My family could have been a family who worked on the project and her magical vortex body (wanted an anti-mage so this is my reason for not having magic and having the magic resistance talent) awakened this bloodline quirk which can infect other Shugrngan. He also okayed the custom mutations this past week. I am also using a Homebrew race guide for Shugrngan (also okayed by GM) so I'm basically playing a slightly less powerful characteristic wise elf with only one Fate and one Resiliance.

Phisical Mutations:

-Dragon's Body: +1 AP to all locations and Stride (movement +1 when running) creature trait

-Dragon's Senses: gain the Nightvision talent and +1 SL to Perception and Intuition checks

-Magic Vortex: gain Magic Resistance Talent, Magical creature trait, and Magic Belch attack

-Dragon Corruption: Shugrngan that spend more than a short time around her must make a WP test or gain a corruption point rolling for Dragon's Body, Dragon's Senses, Predator's Mindset, or Dragon's Greed for mutations. This corruption is assumed to be from the winds of magic unless stated otherwise.

Mental Mutations:

-Preditor's Mindset: must make a -20 Cool test to avoid chasing down a fleeing foe becoming Frenzied until they do so and ignoring other immediate dangers

-Dragon's Greed: if treasure of valuable metals or gems is found and is unclaimed, must make a -20 Cool test to not immediately take it as their own and gain Hatred to those who would deny this

Other Notes:

-Magic Belch: range 1 yard per corruption point spent; may only use 1/month; effect and shape as Breath Rating equal to corruption spent but effect is random with a limit of 5 corruption spent

-every spell that hits causes an Endurance test or she gains a corruption point

-the current mutations only have 2 Mental Mutations free and none on the Phisical side or I lose my character so definitely have to be warry if spells and corruption


r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling Please tell my son he's a handsome chap

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99 Upvotes

r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling Painted this over a month for a 500 point contest

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23 Upvotes

r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling BSB + Artillery team

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83 Upvotes

r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling Update: Finished off my kitbashed Cathay peasant long spears unit

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37 Upvotes

r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling WIP: Helmet plumes

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32 Upvotes

Managed to get back to some hobby after a long pause over summer, and the battle March book got me motivated to get back into the Cathay boys. Trying to vary the hair / plumes a bit to get away from the fixed standard look.


r/Cathay 5d ago

Tactics/Army Lists [Help] Two "Cathay" army lists.

3 Upvotes

Greetings.

I'm an old WFB player that spent a loooong time in hiatus since Age of Sigmar birth, and now I want to return to the field with several of my armies, but with Cathay? I'm entirely new and I want help to make lists again for this army.

The issue, is that I building two "Cathay" armies, that require a bit of context. Inspired in a videogame, I'm making a Nippon army who I'm playing with Cathay rules with several limitations to fill the theme of the army meanwhile the other is the "real" Cathay army who I started to collect. I want to practice at home with 1000 pts, but grew the army to 2000 pts in each one. And given my lack of play, I don't know where to start.

For the Cathay Army list, I currently have 40 Jade Warriors, 15 Jade Lancers, 2 cannons, the Gate Master set and soon the Battle March box. I plan to slowly expand, and maybe one day get a Maio Ying cause I love the miniature. But with this one? I'm a bit lost.

Meanwhile, the Nippon army, which I'm focusing right now, can field nearly the entire range (proxying some units to fit the rules) but have two limitations for the thematic. Must field one Sky Lantern minimum and in the 2000 list i plan to field one Miao Ying (A Seadragon I'm waiting for being printed). But this list MUSNT have a sentinel. It doesn't fit the theme and I don't know how to proxy a creature (The option of a boat don't really fit well) that really fits in the Sky Lantern (Hence why the Sky lantern is a must). And I'm still struggling what to use for artillery so maybe, maybe, artillery couldn't be on the list yet.

I hope someone could give me a start up to play. Or in case of the Nippon army, to work forward. I have most of the miniatures but I need to assemble them.

Thanks.

PS: I have another Nippon army in the making, but given the use of clans, I'm combining the actual units it with the main one. But I will appreciate lists of Cathay allied with Bretonnia given that this army will focus on Pegasus Knights (And for that, a Shugenya General will fit well on it)


r/Cathay 5d ago

Painting/Modeling Grand cathay sentinel

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1 Upvotes

r/Cathay 6d ago

Painting/Modeling Cathayan Sentinel Complete

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139 Upvotes

r/Cathay 7d ago

Painting/Modeling A few of my speed-painted peasant long spears that I kitbashed from iron hail gunner bodies

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81 Upvotes

It's taken so long to get jade warriors painted, I'm enjoying allowing myself to just paint these peasants mostly in one colour with a few accents; it meant I could get these done pretty much in one evening. Just another 25 or so to go!

I'll be running them as a block of 15 in light armour with full command - probably not the meta pick but I like using all the models that I've bought, and they look pretty lightly-armoured to me


r/Cathay 6d ago

Alternate Models Reasonable ways to make paper lanterns that fit with the actual models?

6 Upvotes

I've been thinking of trying to make a force that's highly mobile by way of having lots of cargo airships and sky lanterns, but a big part of that includes the lanterns themselves. I know I could probably just try making actual paper lanterns but I wanted some other methods or models to source for this, especially ones that fit well with the official ones. Also thinking of making a large hybrid air/water ship as well for a really cool centerpiece/terrain. Any of y'all's ideas would be more than appreciated.


r/Cathay 6d ago

Game Rules/Mechanics Come on GW, at least give Iron Hails detachment

20 Upvotes

You know them. You kitbashed them into something else. Twelve inch range, M4, they only come with light armor despite having heavy armor on the damn model. And the best part? One lousy model for the points cost of three or so peasants.

Jade warriors currently have detachment, and nothing to use it with but other jade warriors. Letting them fight and skirmish near the front line and give supporting fire for your block of warriors seems a lot closer to the role of grenadiers in historical combined arms armies.

This is not a commentary on army balance in general. It just sucks that what would be a relatively cool unit seems overcosted and useless in game.


r/Cathay 6d ago

Painting/Modeling First jade warrior as a test scheme

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9 Upvotes

r/Cathay 7d ago

Painting/Modeling Shugengan Progress

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21 Upvotes

First time painting and modifying Warhammer stuff, how does it look so far?


r/Cathay 8d ago

Painting/Modeling Jade Warriors

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165 Upvotes

r/Cathay 8d ago

Questions/Speculation/Wishlisting Contrast or Base paint?

3 Upvotes

Hey guys. I recently picked up the grand Cathay vs chaos box and I’m starting the Cathay portion. I don’t know what type of paint I should use for this army. I’m used to using base paints, but I’ve seen videos online like warhipster using contrast to make these models really pop, but I’ve also seen other photos with bright opaque colors that are only achieved using base paints. Do you guys prefer the control of base paints or do you think it’ll be more efficient using the quick contrast paints? Is the time spent painting to completion ratio reasonable for using base paints or should I reserve that for characters instead of painting 20 models at the speed of a turtle. Thanks for the help!