Future Cathay DLC Units - Jade Lion, Temple Dogs and Crow-Men?

TheWattman#7460

So we got the full Cathay starting roster and its a decent place to begin from. But of course, there is always room for expansion. Now, looking past the obvious demands (which I share) for Terracotta Automaton infantry and various missing Jade Warrior variants, I'd like to take the oppertunity to discuss 3 units mentioned in older, but still somewhat recent and established, lore, to see if they have any place in the newly-revamped world of Cathay. Lets begin!

1. Jade Lions - Cathay's Equivalent to Kislev Snowleopard/Tomb King Necrosphinx

From Ogre Kingdoms 6th edition:
In far Cathay, the Jade Lions are revered for their courage and level-headedness. Occasionally an Ogre may be found carrying the likeness of one of these as an amulet, and they still contain some of their power, although showing cowardice will cause the magic to depart.

The images here are of a real statue and then some fan-created concept art. As for WH3, we can imagine these in one of two ways, both depending on size. They are statues of Jade stone and could either function as a mid-teir construct-monster similar to the Kislev Snowleopard (assuming it is roughly that size), or else on par with the giant constructs of the tomb kings, the most direct equivalent being the Necrosphinx. If the Terracotta Sentinel is assumed to be more directed towards mashing infantry, then the Jade Lion (if in the same size class) would fill the role of fellow monster-killer. Or the other way around just as easily.

2. Crow-Men - the Harpies/Vargheists of Cathay

From Tamurkhan Throne of Chaos:
Crow-men are living statues of onyx - neither raven nor man in shape - that fight in Cathayan armies. They attack their enemies by flying and drawing them bellowing and helpless into the air, and then gutting them with their glittering talons.

Once again, fan-made concept art. There is a similar size conundrum as with the Jade Lion, but here its less drastic. The in-game equivalents here would either be the Harpies of the Dark Elves or the Vargheists of the Vampire Counts. If they are more human-sized then we have a Harpy-situation, if bigger then a Vargheist one. I imagine these mainly being the melee-protectors of commanders on Sky Lanterns along with the already confirmed flying cavalry, or just your standard backline harassers.

3. Temple Dogs - the "Bears" of Cathay

From Warhammer Armies 3rd Edition/Tamurkhan Throne of Chaos
Temple Dogs are stone statues found guarding temple entrances in the far-eastern lands of Nippon and Cathay. They are commonly seen being ridden into battle by the mighty Samurai Lords. Temple Dogs resemble nothing so much as a cross between a giant pekinese and a lion. In times of war, the power of the Temple Gods is channelled into these statues to animate them. It is a great honour to mount this divine animal, indicating that the rider has found great favour with the gods. About the size of a horse, the Temple Dog retains some of the properties of stone, giving it a very tough skin and tremendous weight. During Tamurkhan's march south along the eastern side of the Mountains of Mourn, his lieutenant Sayl the Faithless attacked the Cathayan fortress of the Tower of Ashshair. There his forces confronted stone-fleshed Temple Dogs that swam down the jade walls of the tower and up through the rocky ground as if it were water.

This is the only unit we have official art and models of. As we can see, these are mounts decently sized for human commanders. Currently Cathay has no powerful mount option for generic characters, nothing that could for example go tow-to-tow with an Empire Griffon. Its either a Warhorse or a Sky Lantern (Jade Longma for Dragonblooded excluded for now), which doesn't give Cathay many options for powerful melee combat when it comes to generic characters at the present.Temple Dogs could be the answer to this, just as bears have for Kislev. Most likely a surviveable tank role, if it is ever added.

What do you think guys? Do these things have a chance of making it in down the DLC road?

Blaced

Isn't Temple Dogs origin from real world (Stone) Jade Lion?

talonn#7575

not a big fan of crowmen anymore. They are actually based on Tengu which is Japanese myth

Mr_Finley7#4571

I think the crow men are stupid but I’m all about the jade lions

Naygir_Killaz

Foo Dogs/Temple Lions are a must.
Celestial dragon monks are also another omitted cathay unit although I have a feeling they will be a hero option.

Blaced

I would like to see Temple Dog/Jade Lion (by the way they should be same unit), which it can also be a shared unit with Nippon

And if we really get Nippon dlc, crow-men should go there

Earlybird#2907

Horse face and Ox head as monstruous infantry

Bonutz#3949

Ki-Rin could be another potential DLC unit for Cathay.

But to your list, I would definitely love to see Jade Lions and Stone Temple Dogs. They would be a perfect lineup in the same DLC.

Blaced

Earlybird said:

Horse face and Ox head as monstruous infantry

Chaos heretic detected!

TheWattman#7460

Blaced said:

Isn't Temple Dogs origin from real world (Stone) Jade Lion?

Well they are two seperate things in Warhammer atleast

talonn said:

not a big fan of crowmen anymore. They are actually based on Tengu which is Japanese myth

Still, their lore specifically says they fight in Cathayan armies.

Blaced

Bonutz said:

Ki-Rin could be another potential DLC unit for Cathay.

But to your list, I would definitely love to see Jade Lions and Stone Temple Dogs. They would be a perfect lineup in the same DLC.

I was thinking about that, but since we already have Jade lancer and Longma Riders, doubt Ki rin will still be an option

Blaced

TheWattman said:

Blaced said:

Isn't Temple Dogs origin from real world (Stone) Jade Lion?

Well they are two seperate things in Warhammer atleast

talonn said:

not a big fan of crowmen anymore. They are actually based on Tengu which is Japanese myth

Still, their lore specifically says they fight in Cathayan armies.

You are right, but many lores just reconned, I assume GW and CA will rewrite some old lore

Anyway, Temple Dog, Jade Lion, or both is my top DLC units option

dodge33cymru#1936

Personally, no thanks to any of these; I really hope they can come up with DLC that isn't 'constructs', which I always find to be quite a lazy inclusion unless they're actually tied to magic users and WoM somehow.

Malruir#2663

Temple dogs will certainly come, but as others have said the crow men should come rather for Nippon.

Rob18446

I get the feeling Cathay is meant to be far more human centric than its previous lore suggested, the fact the only non human unit we got is a giant stone humanoid gives me the impression we probably won't see too many fantastical creatures, temple lions as mounts maybe but I get the feeling the crow-men and horned ogres might have been tossed out.

Jam#4399

Qilin
Terracotta Warrior
Temple Dogs

Blaced

Rob18446 said:

I get the feeling Cathay is meant to be far more human centric than its previous lore suggested, the fact the only non human unit we got is a giant stone humanoid gives me the impression we probably won't see too many fantastical creatures, temple lions as mounts maybe but I get the feeling the crow-men and horned ogres might have been tossed out.

I assume the one horned Ogres are just Ogres

Moneris#2622

Temple Dogs/Jade Lions have religious significance, so I expect they would come packaged together with Dragon Monks.

Captain_Rex#1635

Yes together with Monkey-men and Celestial Dragon Monks.

Captain_Rex#1635

Moneris said:

Temple Dogs/Jade Lions have religious significance, so I expect they would come packaged together with Dragon Monks.

Haven’t thought about that, fantastic idea!

- Monk LL
- Monk Lord
- Monk Hero
- Jade Lions
- Temple Dogs
- Celestial Dragon Monks (2 variants)