Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Chaos Campaign - Chapter 1, Mission 2

Here are general tips for playing the Chaos Champaign in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos on HARD Difficulty. A list of all our Warhammer: Mark of Chaos articles can be found here.
We won't be hand-holding you through absolutely everything, but instead just give tips on situations that we found tricky or that you might not have considered.

Chapter 1: The Will of the Gods

Mission 2: First Sacrifice

Overall Strategy

• For this mission, take 3 units of Marauder Axe Throwers with level 3 Weapons and the Champion upgrade.
• Don't bother with armor at the moment since our goal is not to let them be engaged in combat at all. It doesn't hurt to have it, but we're still saving money for later.
• We are upgrading the Axe Throwers here because they are basically the only ranged unit for Chaos so they will not become obsolete. Don't go crazy buying too many, however, since the number of units you can bring into any scenario is limited. You can bring more into a siege (like Fortress of the Gods) but not that much more.
• Do not fully reinforce or upgrade the other units because we'll try to get free models in the Fortress of the Gods mission, and will then probably get rid of some afterwards and get better units instead.
• If you didn't sell any units, you will have 5, but can only take 4. Take the Warriors Undivided and attach the Sorcerer Undivided to them.
• You might have only 6 models in the Warriors Undivided unit. Believe it or not, that is actually enough and it's not hard to come out of this mission with all 6. If you do want to reinforce this unit, go for the Champion upgrade. If we can make it to the Fortress of the Gods mission, we can get free troops to fill the ranks using the Flame of the Gods.
• Aim for 5/5 for the Sorcerer's Steal Soul ability because it can resurrect units. Use this whenever you can throughout this mission to keep the Warrior numbers up. You cannot get more units than you start the mission with, however, so you could buy some to shore up the numbers if you're having a tough time.
• For this mission, the Warriors Undivided are front-line blockers to keep attackers busy so you can concentrate Axe Throwers on units. They don't need to win fights, they just need to stay alive, even if you only have a few. We could armor them, but with the Sorcerer to heal them, it should be enough and we'll save quite a bit of coin.
• You could set the Warriors Undivided as his bodyguard and go for maximum weapons and armor. You will always want to attach him to some kind of unit since he can resurrect them.
• Once you are in Chapter 2 you will probably swap them for Bloodletters or Plague Bearers. However, don't sell them. They are still useful because demons can't go up siege ladders or into siege towers.
• Alternatively, you could move him around to whatever unit has taken losses, in which case you can (for now) save some money on upgrading the Warriors since you might not always take them with you, depending on mission requirements. By level 10, he can make any unit very survivable since he can make up for an archer unit's inferior melee with his spells, and he can hit targets at range with spells while a unit closes for melee.
• We won't be able to get a mount for the Sorcerer so you will not be able to attach him to Knights.
• When enemy units are engaged, try to hit the stronger unit from behind or with spells. The goal isn't to wipe out everyone -- it's to wipe out the survivors.
• If the enemy turns on you, engage them with the Warriors (and Thorgar if absolutely necessary; otherwise, have him join after the Warriors start fighting) and concentrate Axe Throwers on the units.
• If your Axe Throwers are in melee, do not flee them unless you really have no reinforcements nearby for some reason, since they'll take even more damage. Instead, have the other two Axe Thrower units attack and bring in your melee units as soon as possible.
• Keep enemy skirmishes balanced by attacking whoever is stronger. That way, more die with less effort on your part and hopefully with very little direct combat against you.
• If you are willing to have a slightly trickier time, you can swap out the Warriors Undivided for a fourth unit of Axe Throwers. Less survivability per model (1 hp only and low armor) but more flexibility with the unit as long as it is supported when it gets into melee.
• Archer units have a very low chance to hit, but make up for it because all units can shoot.
• If they are engaged in melee, however, NONE of them shoot and they revert to being a melee unit, except with typically lower armor AND their lousy chance to hit. It is therefore very important to have some kind of support relieve them immediately if they are engaged.
• Move your Sorcerer around to attach to weaker units so that he can resurrect their models.
• Enemy skirmishes are clumps of scripted events that don't start until they are out of your fog of war, so take your time walking and recovering spellpower whenever you can.

Walkthrough

• Phase 1: Initial defenders
• Move in with the Sorcerer and Warriors Undivided, and with the Axe Throwers behind. Have Thorgar somewhere off to the side.
• During the fight, concentrate Thorgar's Axe of Doom and the Sorcerer's spells on the Handgunners even though your units are attacking the melee units. We don't want the Handgunners to end up targeting Thorgar because he might have to duel later.
• The Handgunners must be attacked even if they retreat, until they drop treasure (gold, usually only when they all die).
• Phase 2: Outside the walls
• Walk in. Typically a reinforcement Chaos unit will wander out of town and go to the skirmish on the left (closer). If you are too close, they will engage you instead.
• Pull back if necessary. Destroy the nearby buildings while you are waiting. Once you see them charging into battle, it's safe to move.
• Move your units in between the two skirmishes and destroy one group at a time.
• When all enemy units immediately outside the gate are destroyed or broken and down to just a couple of fleeing units, immediately move to your right and clear that field. You might not see any units yet, but they are already fighting. And if you do not help the Empire there, you will have to deal with a significant amount of Chaos units charging you after they  overrun the Empire forces.
• Afterwards, destroy the nearby buildings to look for loot, then it's time to go inside. You should still have ~60 Axe Throwers if possible.
• Phase 3: City
• The Empire is between you and Chaos, and the Empire Handgunners will turn on you if you are closer. You can therefore crush the Empire between Chaos forces, but you don't want to do this because you want to fight only survivors, and you definitely don't want to fight a bigger Chaos army by having helped them lose fewer units to the Empire.
• Instead, don't enter the square and move to the northwest (right side as you enter the city) Along the way, your sorcerer can cast spells at nearer units and you might as well start softeninig up the Chaos forces to give the Empire a hand.
• Clump your Axe Throwers as much as possible in the corner first and quickly, then attack the nearest Chaos units in the nearest skirmish. When the melee units are cleared, charge the enemy Marauder Axe Throwers with melee units.
• Again, try to keep Thorgar out of the action if he is targeted by the enemy Axe Throwers. The unit actively being attacked should be the Warriors Undivided, and your Sorcerer should be draining life like mad whenever he can.
• Once the enemy Chaos hero spots any of your units, he will make an announcement and start walking over to duel.
• If possible, pull your heroes back so they don't get drawn into a duel because we are not ready yet.
• Focus Axe Thrower fire on the Champion as soon as he is in range. The goal here is to whittle down his health and then duel him, or outright kill him so you don't have to duel him at all. All while retaining your position which protects you from getting flanked by any of the enemy forces or getting your Axe Throwers tangled up in melee.
• He walks, so if you've cleared the whole map, you could run away from him and occasionally use your Sorcerer to cast Steal Soul on him and resurrect lost units while softening him up for Thorgar to duel.
• Afterwards, keep the enemy tied up with your heroes and Warriors Undivided while trying to keep your Axe Throwers free from melee so they continue their hail of fire.You should be able to clean up the map from here if you do not lose too many Axe Throwers.