Your sacrifices to the Chaos Gods have been heard, and the Slaves to Darkness will be rewarded with another wave of models following the release of the army set last yet. In this review we take a look at the multipart Chaos Warriors, Chaos Knights with the new expansion sprue, and Exalted Hero of Chaos.

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Slaves to Darkness Chaos Warriors, Chaos Knights, and Exalted Hero of Chaos unboxing and review
These items were kindly provided by Games Workshop. Thoughts and opinions are our own.

The new Slaves to Darkness models, along with the new army book and a new Vanguard set, will be available for preorder starting Saturday, January 14, 2023, and go on sale one week after.

In this review, we cover the new Chaos Warriors, the Chaos Knights and the new Exalted Hero of Chaos. We reviewed the Chaos Chosen, Daemon Prince, and Ogroid Theridons in our unboxing of the Slaves to Darkness army set here.

New multipart Chaos Warrors review

This box comes with ten models on three medium size sprues, ten 32mm bases, and an assembly guide.

The redesigned Chaos Warriors are different sculpts from the monopose models in the previous Start Collecting Slaves to Darkness box. However, there are not many posing options – the bodies and many of the upper arms are fused in fixed poses. The heads, shields and forearms with the weapons are interchangeable though.

Multipart Chaos Warriors sprues 1 and 2
Multipart Chaos Warriors sprues 1 and 2
Multipart Chaos Warriors sprues 3
Multipart Chaos Warriors sprues 3

Whereas the Start Collecting Chaos Warriors only came with hand weapons, with this box you can build either 10 models with hand weapons, or 8 models with halberds and shields and 2 with two-handed halberds. Optionally, you can also build a Champion, Standard Bearer and Musician.

All parts and bodies are unique with no duplicates. The 9 different shield designs are freely interchangeable between the models (except for two bodies, which have shields sculpted on their backs), plus there are 10 helmeted heads, 2 helmeted heads for the champion, a masculine and feminine bare head, and a bare head for blowing into the musician’s horn. This is somewhat meagre, as the monopose models from the former Start Collecting Box had an optional bare head for each of the ten Chaos Warriors. Unfortunately these models will no longer be available, as the new Vanguard box will feature the multipart Warriors. For the Standard Bearer, two standards are included, a banner and a leering daemon face icon, as well as two eight-pointed stars to glue on. No Chaos God-specific icons as with the Chaos Chosen, unfortunately.

Speaking of Chosen, since most of the new Chaos Warriors have the upper arms fused to the body, and the Chaos Chosen do not, the two kits are only partially compatible. At least the heads are interchangeable, though.

New Chaos Knights with upgrade sprue review

The Chaos Knights are made from the same three sprues you already know from the former Start Collecting set, and they come with 75mm oval bases and instructions. New is a small upgrade sprue, which allows you to build a complete command unit. So you can either build five Chaos Knights with lances, or two Knights and a Champion, Standard Bearer, and Musician.

New Chaos Knights upgrade sprue
New Chaos Knights upgrade sprue

The original sprues already included the option to build a champion with flail or lance. The new frame includes a new helmeted champion head, a new hammer for the champion, and a new horse head that includes a new shield. The standard bearer upgrade parts comprise a new helmet, a bannerhead for each of the four chaos gods, and a generic eight-pointed star. The Musician gets a new arm and a head that blows the horn.

Apart from the new upgrade parts, the Chaos Knights are monopose push-fit models with no options or alternate builds whatsoever. If you cut the heads from the connecting bars, you should be able to use Chaos Warrior and Chosen heads with a little bit of tinkering. The shields, however, are firmly connected to the reins and horse heads.

The new Chaos Knights are super dynamic sculpts, but somehow I miss the old kit. Even if they can’t keep up with the level of detail of the new models, the former models were fantastic for the time, and they were true multipart models with endless combination possibilities and useful bitz.

Exalted Hero of Chaos

Exalted Heroes of Chaos are a new Lieutenant-type of characters, and the model is probably my most favourite of the wave. I just love the simple yet menacing pose (with just a small tactical rock), sometimes less is more. The kit comes in a small box with a single small sprue, a 40mm base, and an assembly guide.

Exalted Hero of Chaos sprue
Exalted Hero of Chaos sprue

There are quite a few options in this set. You can choose between a bare head with a topknot or a helmeted head. With a bit of trimming, other Chaos Warrior and Chosen heads will fit fine. For the right hand there is a sword or axe, and for the left hand a second axe or a shield. The chain hanging from the shield is optional, allowing for quite a bit of personalization.

Also make sure to check out our review of the Slaves to Darkness army set, which covers the new Daemon Prince, Ogroid Theridons, and Chaos Chosen:

Value

£37.50 / 50 € for the Warriors, £40 / 55 € for the Knights, and £21 / 27 € for the Exalted Hero seem to be on the higher end of GW’s typical pricing. All of the models are quite chunky though, and the Warriors and Knights (with the new upgrade sprue) can be found in the new Slaves to Darkness Vanguard set, which is only £85 / 110 € and nets you an extra chariot and Chaos Lord, so there is hardly a reason to buy these separately.

You can find the new Slaves to Darkness models including the new Vanguard box at a welcome discount of up to 20% at our partner shops Wayland GamesElement Games, Firestorm Games, and Taschengelddieb.

23
5
0
0
0
1

8.0
Score

Pros

  • Detailed and dynamic sculpts
  • Warriors and Exalted Hero of Chaos have multiple weapon options
  • New upgrade sprue for Chaos Knights

Cons

  • Chaos Warriors have less bare heads than the monopose kit
  • Chaos Knights are monopose push-fit models
  • All models are on the higher-end of typical GW pricing
Chaos Warriors
8.5
Chaos Knights
7.5
Exalted Hero of Chaos
9

Final Verdict

Slaves to Darkness collectors can look forward to another wave of great new models. Only the high price tags and the limited options for the Chaos Knights dampen the joy.