Review: Chaos Marauders Army Reinforcement Set

I was not expecting that: new Chaos Marauders were not on my hobby bingo list for 2025. But now it has come true, and before us lies the first Warhammer The Old World army box with updated models. In this review, we will take a very close look at the HQ sprue images and build options of the new Marauder and Marauder Horsemen kits.

The Chaos Marauders Army Reinforcement Set will be available for pre-order starting Saturday, 22 November 2025. The pre-order period lasts two weeks, with the official release date set for 2 December 2025. The RRP is £108 / 140 € / $180. Note that the box is only available until stocks last.

Included in the box are:

• 40 new Chaos Marauders (with hand weapons and shields, great weapons, or flails)
• 10 new Marauder Horsemen (with spears and shields or flails)
• 2 new Chaos Marauders transfer sheets

Chaos Marauders Army Reinforcement Set unboxing

The Chaos Marauders box has the same format as previous Warhammer The Old World Battalions. Thanks to the 50 models included, the box is well-stocked with plastic. Let us first take a look at the new Marauders.

2025 plastic Chaos Marauders review

The Chaos Marauders were some of the oldest Warhammer Fantasy models still in circulation. A rework was often wished for, as the crude proportions looked very dated. At the time of the 8th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy, there were plastic Marauder Horsemen, which gave hope for a redesign of the foot models. However, it had to wait until 2025. A completely new design was developed for The Old World. Less Conan the Barbarian, less Age of Sigmar Darkoath, and now proper Norsemen, wrapped in warm, tattered clothing and thick furs.

For every 10 Marauders, you get a sprue with three segments, which builds 10 models on 30mm square bases, including an optional command section. With the four included copies, you can build either 4 individual units of 10, one large unit of 40, or anything in between. The kit feels like a modern Age of Sigmar kit: you build 10 different monopose bodies, and can then add a few variable parts like heads and weapons. There are no more hips or arms with ball joints like back in the day.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The following parts are included per sprue:

• 10 different bodies
• 9 bare heads (10 with the musician’s head) and 7 helmeted heads (9 with the champion and standard bearer head), (all male; according to the instructions, each pair of heads is intended for a specific body, but the connection points are universal)
• 10 right and left arms for hand weapons and shields
• 9 freely interchangeable shields
• 9 freely interchangeable right hands with hand weapons
• 10 arm/hand pairs with two-handed weapon shafts, each with either an axe blade or a flail
• 1 extra helmeted head (part 113), 1 right arm with an animal skull and sword (114), and a special shield (115) for the Headman Champion; 1 extra bare head (59) and a left arm with a banner for the Standard Bearer (116); 1 extra helmeted head (27), a left arm with a drum (119 and 120), and a right hand with a club (118) for the Musician

The new Marauder kits represent a break for Warhammer The Old World in so many respects. While the previous new plastic kits were mainly additions to the existing range, this is the first time an existing kit has been replaced. The elephant in the room is the jump from 25mm to 30mm square bases. Long-time collectors, who had only just re-based their Marauders from 20mm to 25mm for The Old World, will surely be annoyed by this.

Unfortunately, I do not have an old Marauder for a direct comparison, but the models have also grown significantly larger with the bigger bases. They now truly look like their physique could fit beneath a Chaos Warrior’s armour. Compared to the recently released Jade Warriors of Cathay, the Marauders also seem to follow the more modern proportions of today’s GW kits.

The new size is also accompanied by a massive increase in the level of detail: multiple finely sculpted layers of clothing, furs, textured cloaks, detailed weapons, and ornate shields. This not only makes large parts of the old Chaos Warriors range look old in the truest sense of the word (especially the Chaos Warriors, if you are not using the new Age of Sigmar versions), but it also means that painting them is hardly feasible without techniques like ‘Slapchop’ or Contrast paints.

But in return, you get truly fantastic infantry models, with believable clothing and equipment, characterful facial features, and realistic poses. You also get multiple weapon options, though I would have liked a few extra banner tops. Icons of the four Chaos Gods are not found, by the way, as the Marauders only worship Chaos Undivided during the era of The Old World. The transfer sheet, however, contains designs for the Cults of The Bloodied Hound, The Carrion Crow, The Slithering Serpent, and The Fell Raptor, which naturally originate from Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch, respectively.

Assembly is quick, although visible seam lines appear in the area of the hips on the long tunics where the body halves meet. I also do not find the building instructions optimal. It first shows how to build the three command models, and then separately all 10 different body/poses with regular weapons. So, if you build the Champion, Standard Bearer, and Musician, you have to laboriously cross-reference which bodies you have already used when building the remaining models, as this is not marked in the instructions. Instructions for 40k and Age of Sigmar kits go model by model, with all possible build options for each, which I find much clearer.

New plastic Marauders Horsemen kit reviewed

As already mentioned, the Marauder Horsemen received a plastic kit during the 8th Edition and are not quite as old as the foot Marauders. Nevertheless, the old look has been completely abandoned here too.

The three-segment sprue builds 5 models on 30×60mm square bases with a choice between spear and shield or flails, including an optional command unit.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The kit contains:

• 5 horses (the riders’ legs are sculpted firmly onto the saddle)
• 5 rider torsos
• 5 right hands with spears, 5 left shield arms, 5 shields (freely interchangeable, contrary to the instructions)
• 4 pairs of arms with flails, 1 right arm with a one-handed flail (part 41), and 1 left arm with skulls on a rope (42)
• 6 bare heads, 7 helmeted heads (freely interchangeable, contrary to the instructions, and also compatible with the foot Marauders)
• 1 extra right arm with a sword (37) and 1 special shield for the Champion (43); 1 right arm with a horn for the Musician (parts 55 and 56); 1 right arm with a banner for the Standard Bearer (70)

The Horsemen are also highly detailed models, captured in a dynamic attack gallop. A clear upgrade compared to the old Horsemen, and depending on your taste, perhaps even better than the lighter Darkoath Fellriders from Age of Sigmar (which we reviewed together as part of the Darkoath Army Set here).

Interestingly, the instructions here follow the model-by-model logic, unlike the foot Marauders. However, there are also weaknesses here: It is not mentioned that the heads and shields are freely interchangeable (just some of the bears might get in the way with the flails) between the different torsos. Nor is it mentioned that the torsos can also be freely combined with the horses, which allows for more combinations.

Where to get

You can find the latest GW releases at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 20% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.