Total War: Warhammer 3's army of Cathay has broken containment and is making its way to tabletop Warhammer at last

A gigantic terracotta sentinel made of living armor — (Image credit: Games Workshop)

It's been great to see Warhammer's original setting return to tabletop gaming in its resurrected form, having risen from the grave as Warhammer: The Old World. One disappointment following their original announcement was the suggestion that the new armies of Cathay and Kislev, which debuted in Total War: Warhammer 3, weren't necessarily arriving in miniature form after all. Sales have apparently been good enough that, while we haven't heard any more about Kislev yet, at least Cathay's arrival was teased earlier this year.

Confirmation has now come as part of the annual Warhammer preview at this year's AdeptiCon event, with a showcase of the upcoming miniatures. They look just like the ones seen in Total War: Warhammer 3, which is no surprise since Creative Assembly developed them in close collaboration with Games Workshop.

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The artillery pieces, a cannon and a fire rain rocket battery, both look particularly badass with their dragon-shaped maws and ogres among their crew. Miao Ying, the Storm Dragon, a legendary lord in the videogame, appears in both human form—perched atop some tactical rocks—and dragon form, wearing some sick armor.

The bulk of the army is made up of jade warriors and jade lancers, with showpiece units like the gigantic sentinels—which come in terracotta, jade, or warpstone flavor—and the sky lantern hot-air balloon. Its crew, preparing to drop bombs and shoot their guns over the side, look like they're having an amazing time.

Two more upcoming armies for Warhammer: The Old World were included in this preview: the Beastmen and Wood Elves. As with the other armies of the Old World released so far they're a mixture of new and returning minis, with the promise of a wood elf beast pack first released in 1987 among the antiques being made available again.

I've already got a Tomb Kings army and a set of old High Elves, but the temptation to splash out again is overwhelming. I only just forked out for a box of Free Company Militia to use next time I play Mordheim, GW's long out-of-print skirmish game which those little dudes originally came from, and will probably end up buying at least a few Cathayans as well.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

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