Disclosure: This post is reader-powered and contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Regular Chaos is the obvious route. The box already gives me Warriors, Knights, Marauders, Horsemen and a Sorcerer, and I can make a legal 600-point army without buying anything else. But I love almost anything connected with Vikings, so the Wolves of the Sea have a particular pull for me. Their recent Battle March results do not exactly discourage the idea either.

I am also coming back to Warhammer after roughly 25 years away, which matters more than it sounds. That leaves me with a genuine choice: take the army that makes the best use of the box I own, or follow the Norse raiders who currently look like one of the nastiest forces in the format.

What the latest 600-point tournament showed

The most useful comparison comes from one event at one points level: Entoyment Battle March in Poole on 26 September 2026, with 18 players at 600 points over four rounds.

Across those three top-four Wolves players, the combined record was 9 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws. The best regular Warriors of Chaos army finished 8th. That avoids comparing different events, player counts or points limits, which makes it unusually useful. It is still one 18-player event, not proof that Wolves always beat regular Chaos, but three Wolves armies in the top four is a meaningful signal.

The wider picture is more mixed. A regular Warriors of Chaos list finished third, 2-1, at Davinci Battle March Event #4, and a 599-point Wolves list finished third at The Old World: March to Battle 2026. Neither of those won its event; the Entoyment Wolves list below did.

The 598-point Wolves of the Sea list that won

Simon Stevens, 1st place at Entoyment, 4-0: Wolves of the Sea, 598 points As submitted

This list is far more concentrated than the regular Battle March box army: one character, two Berserker units and one Spawn. It puts nearly the entire infantry allowance into flail Berserkers with Unnatural Fortitude, while the Gigantic Spawn supplies a durable, unbreakable threat.

It also has no Huscarls, Warhounds, Skin Wolves, magic or shooting, so a Wolves army does not need every signature unit to win. What it gives up is redundancy: if one unit spends the game in the wrong place, the army has very few pieces left to fix the problem. My Wolves of the Sea Battle March list page covers the 3rd and 4th-place lists too.

The best regular Chaos list from the same tournament

Michael Carrick, 8th place at Entoyment, 2-1-1: Warriors of Chaos, 596 points As submitted

Competitive regular Chaos does not have to mean a slow block of Warriors. This list is almost entirely cavalry, monsters and monstrous infantry: the mounted Champion, Knights, Horsemen and Dragon Ogres give it speed and several charge threats.

The Gigantic Spawn turns up again as the anchor. Both factions can take it, and successful 600-point lists keep finding room for one. This is not a box list, though: it needs a mounted Champion, a sixth Horseman, two Dragon Ogres and a Gigantic Spawn, and it leaves the Warriors, Marauders and Sorcerer at home.

What if I only use the Battle March box?

My Battle March box list, 600 points Checked in Old World Builder

This list uses every model in the box and needs no extra purchase. It has six separate table pieces including the Sorcerer, which helps with objectives and gives a returning player several clear jobs to learn. I would not call it stronger than the Entoyment lists; its advantages are practicality, models I already own, board coverage and learning value. My Warriors of Chaos Battle March army lists page explains the unit choices, alongside the Davinci tournament list and lists at 500 and 750 points.

What if I add Chosen?

Chosen deserve a proper place in this decision, because they separate the two armies. Regular Warriors of Chaos can field Chosen Chaos Warriors and Chosen Chaos Knights as Special choices, and both are legal in Battle March. Wolves of the Sea cannot take either. They are not in the box, so treat these as expansion lists.

Aggressive Chosen list, 600 points Expansion list, checked in Old World Builder

This is the attacking option. The Sorcerer and four Core units keep board coverage, while the Chosen give the army a compact unit that hits much harder than six ordinary Warriors. The Warhounds can screen Frenzy or help the Chosen reach a worthwhile target.

Defensive Chosen list, 600 points Expansion list, checked in Old World Builder

This version uses the Chosen as the centre of the army rather than its hammer. The Knights supply the charge threat, while the Nurgle Chosen hold ground and survive fights that would overwhelm a lighter unit.

Chosen have appeared in submitted Battle March lists, but not at the top. At March for Scania I in January 2026, Peter Pettersson used five Khorne Chosen Warriors in a 497-point list and finished 5th of 8 at 2-3. At The Mustering of Hosts in April 2026, Craig Utterback used five Khorne Chosen Knights in a 746-point list and finished 9th of 14 at 2-2. That shows players are fielding them; it does not show Chosen winning the format.

What our Berserker, Chosen and Spawn tests add

Berserkers

In our Berserker weapon test, 13 flail Berserkers won 76.6% when charging, 55.8% when receiving and 66.2% overall across six benchmark opponents. Berserkers with additional hand weapons were steadier when receiving but less destructive on the charge: 53.1%, 59.3% and 56.2%. That supports the Entoyment winner’s choice of flails for an army that wants to attack first.

We also simulated every unit from the 599-point Wolves list that placed third at March to Battle. There, the Gigantic Spawn won 77.3% overall, with almost identical charging and receiving results. Ten Unnatural Fortitude Berserkers with flails won 31.2% charging and 3.7% receiving, and five won 27.2% and 1.9%. Those Berserker numbers sit far below the 13-model test because unit size, command and static combat result all changed, so I would not merge the two datasets. The lesson is simple: big, supported Berserker blocks can be serious combat units, while small ones work as aggressive trades rather than anvils.

Chosen

Our Chosen and Forsaken tests ran 2,000 combats per matchup:

• Six Khorne Chosen with halberds and full command won 93.5% of their charges across four opponents, and 58% when receiving.
• Six Khorne Chosen with great weapons won 91.5% charging and 59.5% receiving.
• Six Nurgle Chosen with full plate, shields and full command won 72.5% when receiving, the best defensive Chosen or Forsaken build: 79% against Gors, 81% against Empire Halberdiers and 84% against Bretonnian Knights. Swordmasters still beat them more often than not.
• Four Khorne Chosen Knights with lances won 73.3% charging but only 29.5% receiving, and just 14% of their charges into Ironbreakers. They are a fast hammer, not an anvil.

For the Marauders that both armies share, my best Chaos Marauder build guide has the full 1.92-million-combat test.

Warriors of Chaos vs Wolves of the Sea side by side

Which army suits me better?

• Heart: Wolves of the Sea, without much contest. Norse raiders are the reason I looked at Chaos in the first place.
• Tournament evidence: Wolves again. Entoyment is one event, but three of the top four is hard to ignore.
• Purchases: regular Chaos. The box list costs me nothing extra; the winning Wolves list needs a whole new army of Berserkers and a Spawn.
• Painting: regular Chaos gets me to the table sooner. A Berserker-heavy Wolves army is a lot of models to paint before January.
• Learning curve: regular Chaos. After 25 years away, six units with clear jobs seem kinder than a Frenzied army that punishes a misjudged charge.

What I am leaning towards

Wolves of the Sea currently win both the theme argument and the results argument. In my opinion, though, the regular 600-point box list is the sensible army to assemble and play first: it costs nothing more, it gets me playing quickly, and its Marauders and Horsemen carry straight over if I switch. Test games should decide the January list.

Update after test games

I will add my first test-game impressions here, and then the January tournament result, as soon as I have them.