CHAOS SPACE MARINES PART C

So far we have looked over the army rules, the HQ's, Troops, and Elites sections of the codex.  This leaves us with Fast, Heavy, and wargear, which I will finish off on this post so sit tight, it might be a long one.

So lets have a look at Bikes, they are good.  Ok sweet, what's next?
Spawn, wow, they are even better, and then?
The HELDRAKE? Woop-dee-fucking-doo, seems like everything is alright here...
Oh...right...Warp Talons and Raptors.

So, I look at Warptalons kind of how I look at Mutilators.  The MoK will boost their killing power while the other 3 marks work well with them, but ultimately work towards their survival as well as their cost which sits at 30 pts each without any upgrades.  Unlike the Mutilators, you can't get a Dark Apostle to go with them as he can't get a jump pack, and they are not nearly as good at multitasking as they are limited to only a pair of lightning claws for wargear.  They don't even have frag grenades.  So they are screwed if they charge into cover, they are screwed if they get charged by a walker or anything with a 2+ save, what are they good at?  Well, they have a fucking PAIR of LIGHTNING CLAWS.  A PAIR of them, and jump packs!  You thought battle companies were a problem?  If you get a charge off with 5 of these guys with VotLW they will destroy a 10 man Tac squad.  And if they're combat squadded you can still kill 8 in a multi-charge, and with MoS there is a better chance of catching them so you won't get shot to shit, not to mention you probably went first limiting retun attacks.  You will have to look out for those white scars fuckers and their Hit-And-Run bullshit so you may want to try and charge 3 units and leave only a couple from each unit alive, that way at least one of them should fail their HnR and yet still not have enough guys alive to do much damage to you after you tear their faces off.
There is another thing, but it's kind of a trap.  They have this rule called Warpflame strike which forces enemy models who were within 6" of them when they deep struck count as being hit by a weapon with Blind, which sounds really cool...until you realise you will have to Deep Strike right in the centre of enemy lines to make effect of this and unless their are Tau, Necrons, or Orks, they will pass the majority of their checks and now you're sitting in the middle of their army with your dick swinging in the breeze.
These guys are best used in a target overload situation, or a counter attack role.
Oh, and they are a Daemon so the Grimoire of True Names and Cursed Earth will work on them...enjoy that tasty treat right there.

The Raptors, I think are totally overlooked and are significantly better than their Imperial equivalent, for a change.  They are only 17 pts each and have access to all of the typical special weapons.  So for 115 pts you have a deep striking, jump packing, tank melting, close combat wielding 5 man squad of suicide run.  I don't really think they need a mark of chaos, but if you decide to pop a transport and don't want to get shot to shit after that, you could choose to assault the guys that get out.  If you do that, you may want the MoN.  This will keep them alive a while longer so the rest of your army can bail them out and let them go burn a hole in another tank.  Don't forget, taking a melta-gun does not replace one of your weapons, so you will still get the extra attack for 2 close combat weapons.

Moving onto the Heavy section, I'll politely, but smugly ignore the fantastic Obliterators, the swift moving Maulerfiend, the death dealing Vindicator, and the multi-gun toting Predator and move right into the not so havoc causing Havocs, the not a Soul Grinder Defiler, the "you can make a shooting version of the Maulerfiend?" Forge fiend, and the dust collecting "What machine spirit" Land Raider.

Havocs shoot guns, in an army primarily designed around assault, so you would think they would be helpful in giving fire support, but their lack of inspiring weapons is disheartening.  One of their best uses is as discount Chosen and given a load of meltaguns or plasma guns and a Rhino and then suiciding them to take something out.  They were the first units in the game to get surface to air sky fire with their outrageously expensive flak missiles and the only unit in the Chaos army, aside from a Heldrake with a Hades Autocannon...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...yeah right, so if you are having troubles with lighter armoured fliers, try them out and see how the do.

God, what do I say about the Defiler?  Well, no one used them in the previous 5th edition codex and they were 50 points cheaper, so what makes them worth 200 points now?  He has 4 hull points, which is more than the typical walker, he also has a 5++, IWND, and the Daemonforge rule.  So what's the problem?
First, he is still just a AV 12 walker and costs as much as 2 Helbrutes.  Second, with he new rules for ordinance weapons, he has to snap fire his other guns, which includes a twin-linked heavy flamer, if he shoots the battle cannon.
Now you might think that he is a well rounded unit with both shooting and assaulting capabilities, but while he is using one, the other is wasted yet you have still paid points for those other abilities.
I believe that your best option is to swap the Reaper auto cannon for another fist, giving him 5 attacks base(I think) and then just walk him straight up the middle blasting away with the battle cannon until you can get into assault.  I would keep the heavy flamer over trading it for the power scourge only because the power scourge is 25 points, and using the flamer to overwatch could pay off.

Now, I don't see very many Forgefiends and it's because of the same reason that all dreadnought type walkers are shunned.  They are AV 12 and can too easily get punked by a single lascannon from across the table and the price is too high.  Costing almost as much as the Defiler, this guy is basically a gun platform that doesn't shoot very well but unlike the Defiler, he can't do anything else.  He could be used to shoot down fliers, with his already poor BS the hit to snap firing doesn't drop his effectiveness as much as other things, and the S8 of the Hades auto cannon is great for taking out the average armour of fliers.  Or he could do what the defiler does and go walking right up the middle blasting away with 3 S8 plasma cannons until he gets taken out, drawing a ton of fire power after he decimates a unit or 2 and makes his presence noticed.

Or he gets blasted straight away when your opponent steals the initiative because they know the damage he could do.

I literally could not find a single piece of art work like all the other entries.

Land Raiders, what to do with Land Raiders.  It's not just the Chaos one that is terrible as it's a 230 point investment can can be blown up by anyone that gives a fuck.  Typically these beasts are loaded to the tits with some kind of face smashing death ball of murder, and it's usually slow as shit, otherwise it wouldn't need the ride.  I've seen too many times people try to keep this thing alive by being all cagey and shit.  This dude is meant to barrel down the throat of the enemy and unleashing that hot load all over the enemies front lines.  After that you can back it off and use it to take some pot-shots.

So now that we are done looking over the shitty units in the book, lets have a look at some of the "brilliant" pieces of warmer they put in here.
Ichor blood is kind of like acid blood from the Nid's book, but worse.  It's only a S3 AP4 hit.  It is only 5 points, and if you have a character with lots of wounds, and a way of getting them back to make this thing go on and on and on, it could work.  Also, if you fail a save, but pass a FNP and not take the wound, it counts as an unsaved wound.

The combat familiar is 15 points and it gives you 2 extra attacks.  That sounds awesome right?  Except they are at S4 AP-, no matter what weapons you have equipped.  And it seems that they go at the same I as you so they also get penalised if you take a power fist, all the advantages of going last with none of the penalties of have Sx2 AP2.  Or did I say that wrong?
I do suppose that this thing could help you out with some crowd control, taking out some extra dudes if you are stuck in a blob of guardsmen.

The problem with the Palanquin of Nurgle is that it's 40 points and it gives you +2W and +1A.  This would actually work well with the Ichor Blood and FNP.  He gains the Very Bulky rule, so he can only be joined by SEVEN dudes in a vehicle.  See what they did, a little nod to the sacred number of Nurgle.  They probably didn't even notice it.

Of all the Chaos Artifacts, there are 2 clear winners, and 2 clear losers.  The 2 losers, I have NEVER seen, or used in a game.

I guess this is what happens when the Dimensional Key's power is unleashed.

The Dimensional Key has the stench of potench, but only works if the character kills something in close combat.  Which, if your opponent is trying to avoid that, it might take a couple turns.  Once the power is unleashed its a pretty powerful piece of wargear.  This could be extremely helpful if you can get a first turn charge off, and keep the forward moving character alive long enough to use the rest of the abilities.  I could see this being used to great effect by a D-prince who catches some forward moving scouts on turn 1, then flies around the table creating a dangerous terrain bubble everywhere he goes, blasting psychic powers.

Magnus and his scrolls, on his belt, you see them?

Which brings me to the Scrolls of Magnus.  These things are just way too expensive, way to random, and could hurt you to boot.  Sure, if you play enough game with them you will undoubtedly roll the exact power you need at the exact time you need it to turn the tide of the game and win, but those odds are astronomical.
As I see it, your best bet is to take this on a Prince who has taken the primaris power on every tree available to him, or maxed his powers on his patron god table so that there is no chance of getting double and having to roll again, then just spam the crap out of it til you get a power you will use repeatedly.  Unfortunately this will not boost your Mastery Level, which I think would have done a great job counteracting the S3 AP1 hit it does back.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.  A rundown of how to use all the shittiest items and units in the Chaos Codex.  Personally, I will be giving the outflanking Helfist Murderpack a try, along with the Mutilator with character unit in a Land Raider.

Please leave comments below and let me know what you think.  Am I wrong?  Am I right?  Did I miss something?
Or if you have an idea for a future topic.

The next Codex up for review will be the Orks.

Until next time, keep them dice rollin.