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That last point is worth saying plainly. Cathay finished near the bottom at the 500-point Foray 3 and in the two 750-point events we found. The brightest result came at Entoyment Battle March, where Chris Tomlin took Grand Cathay to second place at 600 points with a 3-1 record.

Cathay is one of the armies I most enjoy in Battle March, where a single good artillery piece can swing a 500-point game. This is not an article about copying the army that has solved Battle March, though. No one has done that with Cathay yet. It is about using the evidence we have, staying inside the Battle March restrictions and building armies that look enjoyable to play.

What comes in the Grand Cathay Battle March box?

• 1 Shugengan General on Great Spirit Longma
• 20 Jade Warriors
• 5 Jade Lancers
• 6 Iron Hail Gunners
• 4 Crane Gunner Teams

Games Workshop’s own muster list turns those models into a 597-point army. It gives the Shugengan General a Cathayan lance, fields all three units with their command options and gives the Jade Lancer Officer an Enchanted Shield.

The box fits 600 points far better than 500. A 149-point Shugengan General is legal at 600, where the 25% limit for a single character is 150 points. At 500 that limit falls to 125 points, so you need a cheaper character to play the army at that size.

Battle March list-building rules we used

We checked every original list in this guide against these limits:

• 400 to 750 points
• a General and at least two non-character units
• no single character above 25% of the army
• at least 25% Core
• no more than 50% Characters in total
• no more than 50% Special in total
• no single Core unit above 35%
• no single Special unit above 30%
• no single Rare or Mercenary unit above 25%
• no ordinary unit above Unit Strength 20

Tournament lists appear exactly as their players submitted them. Our own lists use the current Cathay entries and the same Battle March caps.

Where the Cathay support pieces fit at each army size

500 points: the tournament roster

This 498-point roster comes from Marius Cathay’s submission for Torneo Escalada Bélica I. That was an escalation event rather than a stand-alone 500-point tournament: this is the 500-point stage submitted by the player who went on to win the event.

500-point Grand Cathay tournament roster, 498 points

The clever part is the Strategist. Besides keeping the character spend low, a Strategist General lets one Sky Lantern move from Rare to Special. That matters because a 150-point Lantern would break the 125-point single-Rare limit at 500. As a Special choice, it lands exactly on the 30% single-unit cap.

This army does not try to win a straight fight. The Jade Warriors hold ground, the Peasants supply cheap Core bodies, and the Lantern and Crane Guns make the enemy walk through long-range fire. It is a small combined-arms puzzle rather than a miniature battle line.

500 points: the box-led Gatehouse Patrol

This is our casual alternative. Add one Gate Keeper to the Battle March box and leave the Shugengan General on the shelf. The Gate Keeper makes one unit of Jade Lancers a Core choice, which lets the rest of the box fit under the Special allowance.

500-point Gatehouse Patrol, 497 points

This uses every rank-and-file model from the Battle March box and gives each unit a clear job. The Jade Warriors form the centre, the Lancers threaten a counter-charge, the Crane Guns start working early, and the Iron Hails protect the dangerous 12-inch space around the line.

Our Iron Hail and Crane Gun shooting tests help explain that pairing. At 12 inches, equal points of Iron Hails caused more unsaved wounds than Crane Guns against several of our test targets. Over a scripted five-turn approach, the Crane Guns usually pulled ahead because their 36-inch range let them start shooting sooner. Those were 10,000 trials per matchup, not 10,000 games, so they do not prove either unit wins games on its own, but they support taking both when the points allow.

600 points: the complete Battle March box

This is the easiest place to start, because it uses the exact contents of the box and follows Games Workshop’s published muster list.

Official Grand Cathay Battle March box list, 597 points

This is the best casual list for somebody who wants to build the box and play. It has five distinct units, a flying wizard, a dependable infantry block and two very different shooting pieces.

The army also gives you real decisions. The Longma can hunt exposed units, but 149 points is a quarter of the army and losing it hurts. The Lancers need room to charge. The Iron Hails want to close the distance, while the Crane Guns want a firing lane and do not want to move before shooting.

I would not overstate its strength. It is a varied box army, not a proven tournament build, and that variety is exactly what makes it a good first Cathay force.

600 points: the Entoyment runner-up

This is the strongest tournament evidence we found for Cathay in Battle March. Chris Tomlin finished second of 18 players at Entoyment Battle March on 26 September 2026, going 3-1.

Entoyment Grand Cathay list, 599 points

This list is wonderfully blunt. Two flying Shugengan Generals create pressure and give the opponent awkward targets. The Jade Warriors provide the compulsory Core and stop enemy Stomp Attacks with the Monster Hunter’s Tapestry. The cannon threatens monsters, cavalry and other expensive models from the first turn.

The construction also squeezes the Battle March limits. Each Shugengan costs 149 points, just under the 150-point single-character cap. Together they cost 298, just under the 300-point character allowance, and the list still includes the two non-character units it needs.

Beyond the General and the Jade Warriors, it looks nothing like the retail box army, and that tells you something. The best Cathay result we found came from concentrating points into two mobile characters and a cannon rather than spreading them across five box units. Wolves of the Sea took the other top places at the same event; my Wolves of the Sea Battle March list covers those armies.

750 points: the Gatehouse Expedition

Cathay has not given us a strong 750-point tournament list to copy. The faction finished 14th at the 20-player Brussels March event and eighth at an eight-player US event. That is a tiny sample, but it certainly does not justify calling Cathay a 750-point powerhouse.

So this one is deliberately a fun list. It uses every rank-and-file model in the box, adds a Gate Keeper and a Cathayan Grand Cannon, and leans into a disciplined gatehouse force.

750-point Gatehouse Expedition, 748 points

The Gate Keeper again turns the Lancers into Core. That solves the problem that catches the obvious 750-point expansion: 20 Jade Warriors cost 178 points, but a 750-point army needs at least 187.5 points of Core, so simply adding a cannon to the official 597-point list does not work.

The upgrades give this army its character. Stubborn Jade Warriors defend the centre. The Lancers can deploy normally or arrive as Ambushers, and the Monster Hunter’s Tapestry protects them from Stomp Attacks. Reserve Move helps the Crane Guns adjust after firing, while the Iron Hails cover close approaches. The cannon supplies the high-Strength threat the box lacks.

There are a lot of upgrades here because Battle March limits unit sizes. At 750 points, Cathay cannot simply make the Jade Warrior block bigger than 20, so investing in the units already on the table is a reasonable way to spend the final points, especially for a themed list.

What the Cathay support pieces do

Four of these five lists lean on long-range support, and in my testing artillery and the Sky Lantern changed the Cathay picture more than any unit swap I tried.

• Grand Cannon (130): S10, AP −3, Multiple Wounds (D3+1). Best into monsters, cavalry and expensive multi-wound targets, and Thunderous Impact can cut Movement and remove Swiftstride around the strike point.
• Fire Rain Rocket Battery (130): the broad 5-inch mode pressures ranked infantry and can force Panic through Wailing Spirits; Bastion mode suits smaller, elite targets.
• Sky Lantern (135, or 150 with bombs): a flying Crane Gun platform with Scouts, Reserve Move, Unbreakable and real objective value.

Cathay support weapons against my benchmark units: average wounds or casualties from one shot or volley Monte Carlo estimate

The cannon is the monster and cavalry answer, which is exactly why the Entoyment list took one. The broad rocket template is the better pick into ranked infantry like Clanrats.

Sky Lantern Bombing Runs

One Sky Lantern Bombing Run against my benchmark units Monte Carlo estimate

A successful Bombing Run followed by a close-range crane gun volley averaged roughly 8.2 casualties into Clanrats, 6.8 into Jade Warriors or Gors, 3 into Ironbreakers and 2.4 into Knights. That is an exposed, high-risk attack run rather than a routine shooting turn, and it explains why Marius built his 500-point roster around one. My Sky Lantern page has a separate test against different targets.

Which Grand Cathay Battle March list should you use?

• Use the 497-point Gatehouse Patrol if you want to play at 500 with most of the box. It needs one extra Gate Keeper, but it keeps the army varied and legal.
• Use the 597-point official list if you have bought the Battle March box and want to play immediately. It is the most natural starting point and teaches you how the main Cathay units work together.
• Use the 599-point Entoyment list if you want the best tournament evidence available. It asks you to buy a second Shugengan General and a cannon, and it plays very differently from the box force.
• Use the 748-point Gatehouse Expedition if the theme appeals to you. It has not earned a tournament label; it is a legal, characterful expansion built around the models in the box.

Are Grand Cathay good in Battle March?

The honest answer is that the results remain mixed and the sample is small. Cathay has a 600-point runner-up finish, but the 500 and 750-point results we found were poor. That makes the faction interesting rather than hopeless: there is enough evidence to show it can work, but not enough to claim anyone has found the definitive build.

Cathay’s best path looks like combined arms. Jade Warriors hold the important space. Long-range weapons force movement. Iron Hails punish enemies that get close. Lancers and flying characters exploit the openings. When those pieces support one another, the army makes sense. When each unit fights alone, the low model count becomes unforgiving very quickly.

How I would play Cathay in Battle March

1. Hold: shield Jade Warriors sit on the important objective and invite the enemy to deal with them.
2. Soften: artillery and crane guns attack structural breakpoints: remove a Rat Ogre, strip a Clanrat rank, weaken a four- or five-model cavalry hammer, or take away Swiftstride with Thunderous Impact.
3. Finish: Jade Lancers and flying characters never start fair fights. They flank, pursue and finish units the line has already damaged or pinned.
4. Pressure: Sky Lanterns and Iron Hails create lopsided threats through mobile shooting, bombing and scoring.

The win comes from position and objectives, not from asking Cathay to out-fight Chaos head on.

Related reading

• Iron Hail Gunners vs Crane Gunners: which is better?
• Grand Cathay shooting units compared
• Are Jade Warriors good?
• Old World war machines compared
• Wolves of the Sea Battle March list

Sources

• Entoyment Battle March results (26 September 2026, 18 players, 600 points)
• Foray 3 results (17 January 2026, 24 players, 500 points)
• Torneo Escalada Bélica I results (19 April 2026, eight-player escalation event)
• Brussels March results (27 June 2026, 20 players, 750 points)
• Official Battle March rules (Games Workshop)
• Official Grand Cathay Battle March muster list (Games Workshop)