Kislev is often recommended as a beginner-friendly faction because its units are forgiving, but the campaign layer is busier than it looks. This guide is written to make those three systems readable before turn 20, when they start competing for your attention.
Court & Orthodoxy
This system replaced the older Motherland mechanic in a patch and applies to all playable Kislev factions. You earn support with two institutions and spend the resulting Boons on rewards:
- 100 support raises your tier with that side, and the bar resets to zero each time you tier up.
- Support comes from buildings, characters and battles — Bokha and Orthodoxy building chains generate it per turn, aligned Ataman skills add it directly, and winning battles against Chaos or against that side's enemies adds chunks of it.
- You are not locked out. Sending support to one side does not stop you sending it to the other, and the two do not absorb each other the way the old support race did.
- Tier 20 triggers A Fickle Motherland — every reward costs an extra Boon, but you gain +50% support from fighting the enemies of the Ice Court and Orthodoxy. It is a scaling penalty on a stronger income, not a dead end.
The practical decision is which side you can afford to favour. Each faction has its own leeway: Katarin can keep the Ice Court a tier ahead of the Orthodoxy without taking the penalty, while Kostaltyn can push the Orthodoxy further before penalties start. Ignoring one side entirely is the expensive option.
Devotion and the prayers
Devotion replaces public order for Kislev. It is gained by defeating Norsca and Beastmen, and it is lost when you declare war on other Kislev factions — which is why Kislev civil wars are paid for twice. Low devotion is associated with Chaos armies appearing inside your territory.
| Prayer | Effect | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Awakening of the Earth | +5% income from all buildings (research can raise it further). | Safe interior provinces and big cities. |
| Public Relief | -10% recruitment cost and +2 regional recruitment capacity (researchable down to -15%). | When you are raising a new army. |
| Clearing the Plains | -40% local plague spread chance, -5 corruption, better and cheaper heroes. | When Chaos corruption or Nurgle plagues are spreading. |
| The Tsar's Name | +10 devotion, -10 corruption and +15% damage reduction against Chaos factions — at the cost of -33% income from all buildings in that province. | Frontline provinces actually fighting Chaos. Turn it off behind the lines, because the income penalty is severe. |
| Command / church power | Reduces enemy campaign movement in the province. | The province enemies keep arriving in. |
Devotion and prayers apply per province, so a Kislev campaign is a continuous exercise in turning the right prayer on in the right place — and turning the expensive ones off once the threat has passed.
Ice Court training
Frost Maidens and Ice Witches — Kislev's heroes and spellcasting lords — are trained before they can be recruited, through the Ice Court. Training takes several turns (community sources differ on the exact count), and each training turn presents a choice among effects that shape the finished character's stats and campaign influence.
- Start training before you need the character. A Reserve habit here saves you the delay when a lord dies or a new army is due.
- Train for a job. The choices push toward army buffs, personal power or internal bonuses; pick the one you are short of.
- Katarin shortens the process. Her faction reduces Ice Court training duration, which is one reason she is the standard Kislev start.
Atamans
Atamans are Kislev's provincial governors, and they are not generals:
- You gain one Ataman per two fully controlled provinces.
- Each one contributes to income, control, growth and corruption in its region, and can be specialised further through its skill line.
- They can launch garrison sorties — attacking roaming enemies within range using the local garrison, which is how you clear raiders without pulling your main army back.
- They can no longer be recruited as generals; they exist for provincial defence and bonuses.
Which Kislev faction should you pick?
| Faction | Where you start | What it is good at | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ice Court — Tzarina Katarin | Kislev proper | Faster research, a larger Winds of Magic pool, cheaper Ice Court training, +3 recruit rank for Frost Maidens, -6 local corruption; her own army gets -50% upkeep on Ice Guard and -50% miscast chance. | Learning Kislev. A spellcasting core with a solid hybrid line behind it. |
| The Great Orthodoxy — Kostaltyn | A hard region near Throt and Azazel | Stronger Patriarchs, more devotion from their actions, and buffs to Kossars and other lower-tier units; he has more room to favour the Orthodoxy before penalties land. | Players who want the cheap-troop, buff-heavy version and a more aggressive opening. |
| Ursun Revivalists — Boris Ursus | The Chaos Wastes | Immunity to Chaos attrition, much cheaper garrisons and religious buildings, faster construction, and War Bear Riders that are cheaper and recruit at higher rank — plus combat bonuses against Chaos factions. | Experienced players. The hardest start and the most distinctive army. |
| Daughters of the Forest — Mother Ostankya | Naggaroth, or relocate to Kislev | Spirit Essence, the Witch's Hut and Hexes; extra Winds of Magic capacity from resource buildings, faster recruitment for beasts and buffs for spiders. | Players who want Kislev with a completely different, hag-magic flavour. |
A first-20-turns shape
- Turns 1–5: secure the starting province and put an Ataman in it as soon as you control two provinces. Simultaneously start an Ice Court training slot — you will want the caster later, not now.
- Turns 5–10: fight Norsca or Beastmen. That is where devotion comes from, and devotion is what keeps Chaos armies from appearing in your lands.
- Turns 10–15: commit to a side in Court & Orthodoxy. Push the side your faction can favour without penalty, and spend the first Boons on whatever fixes your current bottleneck.
- Turns 15–20: build the hybrid core — Armoured Kossars as the line, Streltsi or Ice Guard as the missile half — and use Public Relief while you recruit it.
Turn order: province, devotion, political commitment, hybrid army.
Battle notes
- Your missile units are also your line. Kossars, Streltsi and Ice Guard shoot and then fight, so a missile slot here is a protection slot as well.
- By Our Blood is a real mechanic, not flavour. Most of the roster turns unbreakable for a short window when nearly dead, which is why a Kislev line that should have broken often does not.
- Buy siege capability. The Little Grom is Kislev's only artillery; an army without one waits outside every wall.
- Bring anti-armour. Streltsi and Ice Guard cover this, but a stack built entirely of Kossars will struggle against heavily armoured Chaos.
- You do not need dedicated anti-air. Most of your units are shooting already, so against flyers they simply change target.
Common mistakes
- Starting Kislev civil wars. Attacking other Kislev factions costs devotion, which is the resource that keeps Chaos armies out of your lands.
- Waiting until you need a Frost Maiden to train one — the several-turn delay lands at the worst possible moment.
- Leaving The Tsar's Name on everywhere. -33% building income is a serious penalty; it is a frontline tool only.
- Favouring one Court side on a faction that cannot afford it. Each faction has different leeway; learn yours before pushing support.
- Recruiting Atamans as generals. They are provincial governors now.
- Fielding an army with no Little Grom and then discovering every walled settlement costs you a turn.
Fact boundary: compiled on 29 October 2026 from the Total War: WARHAMMER wiki entries for Kislev and the Court & Orthodoxy mechanic, official faction effect data and post-launch community guides. Ice Court training duration is reported differently across sources, so it is described as several turns rather than a fixed number. Warhammer Guide has not tested this campaign in-game.
Next steps: compare starts in the faction guide, learn the sandbox with the Immortal Empires guide, read the Grand Cathay guide for the other Order front, or plan the late game with the end game scenarios guide.