Start with nothing on the map. Place the Mad God Marker at 0 on the Victory Track. Start with 6 Power.
Unique Ability
Festering (Power Phase): Gain 1 Power during the Power Phase for each of your Nests (imbedded or otherwise) that shares an area with an enemy empire's building. Anarchy (Ongoing): Whenever any unit is killed or eliminated, move the Mad God marker up by 1 for each unit killed or eliminated. Do this even if The Mad God is not in play.
Unique Weakness
Loathsome (Power & Council Phases): You may never be the first player. Also, you do not benefit from Glorantha's Blessing during the Power Phase.
Heroquests
First Fragment
The Spike Shatters. Only the Catastrophe gift may be placed in this slot.
Blood Sacrifice (Council Phase): Each of your greater gods eliminates one enemy unit or building in its area. The victim chooses which unit or building to eliminate. Each greater god must target a different empire (though they may all be in the same area). The presence of a greater god or a Ziggurat in that area protects its own empire from Blood Sacrifice.
Catastrophe (Ongoing): When the Spike shatters, immediately earn this Gift and 1 Rune. At the end of each Chaos Rift Struggle, if the Rift is not closed, take another Rune. When the Chaos Rift closes, turn this Gift face-down.
I Fought We Won (Council Phase): On the count of three, all enemy players either hold up a finger or a closed fist. A finger indicates that you earn 1 Power (to a maximum of 4). A fist means that player loses 1 Power. If a player fails to respond, you choose for him.
Oblivion (Ongoing): When an enemy's unit or building is killed or eliminated by you in battle or via your Blood Sacrifice Gift, the victim must choose either that you gain 1 Rune OR that one of the eliminated units (or building) be permanently removed from the game. In either case, place that empire's Oblivion token in your Oblivion Box to indicate that you cannot use Oblivion against that target again until the token is removed. Remove all tokens from the Oblivion Box during the Power Phase.
The Unholy Trio (Post-Battle; one-time use): After combat dice are rolled in any battle (even if you did not participate), turn all Rout results into Kills. Then, flip this card face-down and take 1 Rune.
Irruption (Action: Cost 2): Remove a Chaos Nest (or reduce an Imbedded Nest to a basic one) and place all Broos from your unit pool into that area. You may not Irrupt in an area containing a Ziggurat or enemy greater god.
Availability: Glorantha: The Gods War - Core Game (x1)
+1 killl 0 in battle against a Ziggurat or greater god.
Chaos Feature (Ongoing and Power Phase): An imbedded Chaos Nest may share an area with one other player's building. It produces +1 Power in the Power Phase (in addition to the Festering ability). When destroyed, flip it over to become a normal Chaos Nest. These do NOT count as a second building type during the Power Phase.
Availability: [Token] Glorantha: The Gods War - Core Game (x6) [Figure] The Buildings {TGW-4} (x6)
The Imbedded Chaos Nest token and figure are the opposite side of the basic Chaos Nest units.
How to Obtain the Earth Queen Loyalty Card: Give to a new Spouse. The Earth Queen is now married to you for the rest of the game. She is your unit to control, and if she is killed or eliminated she returns to your unit pool rather than Earth’s unit pool. You may summon her in the same manner as any of your other units. Earth may also re-summon her from your pool when placing a Temple or Ziggurat. When this happens you do not decide the area to which she is summoned, but you still control her after she is placed. During the Council Phase, earn 1 Power if this Queen is in play. Be aware that the Earth has the Injunction gift, which may eliminate an Earth Queen during the Council Phase in order to gain a rune. Injunction occurs in the council Phase before you would gain 1 power for this unit.
Heroquest: Wakboth is in play and 3 or more units are killed in a single battle. God Killer (Council Phase): If Wakboth is in play, Ziggurats and greater gods do not protect against Blood Sacrifice.
The new War God of Chaos is Wakboth, the personification of moral evil. Wakboth was the original child of the Unholy Trio, referenced in a previous newletter. When Wakboth entered the universe, he set foot on the Spike, and this immediately shattered it, changing the nature of the cosmos forever.
To Summon: A Chaos Greater God must be in Hell; place Cacodemon in Altinela.
Ogres (Ongoing): When Cacodemon is first placed on the map, add an Ogre to your pool. This Ogre is yours for the rest of the game, even if Cacodemon is not in play. Ogres are identical to Broos in all ways, including Irruption. You cannot take Ogres from your pool so long as you have 6 or more Broos in play.
Heroquest: Cacodemon is in play and a Chaos Greater God is killed or eliminated (self included). More Ogres (One-Time): If Cacodemon is in play, add a second Ogre to your pool, then flip this Gift face-down. This Ogre is yours for the rest of the game, even if Cacodemon is not in play.
The Magic God of Chaos is Cacodemon, who was originally spawned as a fragment of Wakboth, the War God. Cacodemon came to humankind, and from us created the Chaos Tribe, who became the ogres – human-seeming beings who hide within our society, both predators and parasites on other humans.
To Summon: When the Chaos Rift closes, immediately place Kajabor at any of your buildings. You may also summon it by paying 3 Power.
Combat: Equals the enemy's empire gifts
Apocalypse (One-Time): When Kajabor first enters play, replace the Chaos Rift, which must be closed again. If the Chaos Rift is open, this has no effect.
Heroquest: While Kajabor is in play, as your action for a round, select another player. Both of you lose 2 VP. Decay (Council Phase): If Kajabor is in play, roll 1D6. Each empire loses that much power and/or victory points, divvied up however they please. This includes you. However, the empire(s) with the fewest VPs loses nothing.
The Secret God of Chaos is Kajabor, origin of entropy. Kajabor is the God Killer – a mindless un-entity that has neither personality nor emotion. It simply destroys.
Other components[]
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Empire Sheet
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Availability: Glorantha: The Gods War - Core Game (x1)
As the game progresses, your gifts and abilities will sap your foes' strength. You make the game harder for them in many little ways. I Fought, We Won helps you and weakens your enemies. Blood Sacrifice is both frightening and annoying, and custom made for the Lady of Disease. Oblivion slowly erodes enemy empires. Your poison accumulates over time.
Half of Chaos' gift are earned through other players' actions. Several of your gifts are best when taken early, so you must choose carefully between them in the early game. Imbed's extra Power and defense is best when taken early- its advantage is not so much one of Power as it is of defense. Oblivion is far better in the early game - later on, players may opt to lose units. Of course, I Fought, We Won is always an option. Your first gift will determine your strategy for several turns.
While it may be tempting to hold off on Broos until you can have Irruption, this is a sucker bet - just one or two Boos early on can clear out enemy Shrines and weaken your foes. You do not need to defend Chaos Nests, as they are cheap; just place new ones if necessary, replacing them when they are lost. Remember that your enemies have 10 buildings to your 6, so you must prune back your foes' growth or fall behind in VP.
You are at your greatest strength in the mid-to-late game, and can inflict terrifying losses. You can invade with greater gods, threatening with Oblivion to devour an enemy's precious building or unit. The Chaos Rift starts producing for you (and hurting your enemies) by the 2nd or 3rd turn. At this time, one Irruption can really roil the waters. Careful placement of greater gods maximizes Blood Sacrifice.
In the mid- to late-game, use a well-timed Unholy Trio to empty an area and send the Mad God over the top. Make sure the Mad God has a force of Broos to soak up hits while you clear areas out.
Gift Strategies[]
Blood Sacrifice
Take this gift early, and use it! Lady of Disease should always be at an opponent's building. Double-team with Oblivion.
Catastrophe
A no-brainer. Literally.
I Fought, We Won
If you need Power, this will help. This is often a reflexive first choice for Chaos. Before you take it, consider if Oblivion or Imbed might be better.
Imbed
An Imbedded Nest is amazingly hard to dig out, and the extra power adds up.
Oblivion
The virtue of this gift is not so much that you remove enemy units; rather, the fear that you might do so paralyzes enemies.
Unholy Trio
At its best when two opponents battle. Jump starts the Mad God.
Recommended Openers[]
Other Notes[]
Story[]
Epilogue
"The thing surged over the hill like a tide of frantic insects. Fumes rose from them, and the stink choked our warriors. The Broos were insensate; easy enough to kill because they sought only blood for the Goddess and cared naught for their own deaths, and they kept coming. Even mortally wounded, they slaughtered us. Their deities were the same—an enormous, cosmic being stumbled in a clumsy charge into our lines, spreading death not only to our army, but smashing its own troops beneath its hooves." —Sandy Petersen
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