Any of you who have been following me for any amount of time know that Chaos Space Marines are my army of choice. I have been collecting them for many years in almost every shape and form. So much so that my collection looks very disjointed and...chaotic. This new release has me super excited and I am really looking forward to seeing what some of these new rules bring to the game.
I am going to start with the new units, mainly because I can see a good number of them fitting in some of these fancy new specialist detachments and leading us off is the bad guy himself, none other than the Lord of the Black Legion, Abaddon the Despoiler. He got a fucking beautiful new model, a decent stat line increase and some boosts to his weapons, however all his abilities stayed pretty much the same. He got +1S and +1W, while Drach'nyen went to a straight 3 damage and the Talon went to -4AP in combat. His Lord of the Black Legion rule changed slightly so that Black Legion units within 6" can re-roll hit rolls, not failed hit rolls. This is a minor change in wording, but a huge change in mechanics due to the order of application of hit modifiers.
The next big awesome model coming out for GW is the Lord Discordant on Hellstalker. Now I have heard a ton of backlash about this guy being a character with 12 wounds, which allows your opponent to target him, but if this guy didn't have 12 wounds, he would have to cost easily as much as Abaddon. He has a 2+/5++, regenerates a wound at the start of your turn, gives enemy vehicles within 6" a -1 to hit penalty AND gives <LEGION> Daemon Engines within 6" +1 to hit. Then every time he kills a vehicle in combat he can either heal a nearby Daemon Engine for D3 wounds or hit an enemy vehicle within 12" for D3 mortal wounds on a 2+. Oh, and if you think that might be a little out of his capability, he has 4 attacks at S6 (or S8 if he charges or does a HI) -2AP and 2D, PLUS 5 attacks at S7 AP-2 D3D, PLUS one attack at S8 -4AP D3D that if it successfully wounds a vehicle it also does D3 mortal wounds. All that means that he is dealing around 8 wounds to a T7 vehicle with a 3+ save. This does not factor in his Autocannon which he can also swap for a Baleflamer, or any outside buffs he may get. He can also swap out that one big attack that can do the mortal wounds for a Magma Cutter, it's a pistol and does a flat 3 damage, but since you can't shoot anything else if you shoot a pistol it's probably not worth taking. His biggest failing is that he is only T6, which makes all those Autocannons and shoulder cannon on the Castellan that much more deadly. But with a 2+ save, he isn't all that worried.
The next new kid on the block is the Master of Execution and I have to say I am not impressed. His big thing is that he can HI 6" toward the closest character and he has an axe that's basically a power fist with no -1 to hit and a small chance of doing mortal wounds. He should have been an Elites choice as there are way better HQ choices to choose from.
So the Dark Apostle is not a new character, but he got a serious overhaul in the rules department and now has a list of prayers he can choose from. He starts with the basic prayer we all know, friendly <LEGION> units within 6" can re-roll hit rolls in the fight phase. He has 10 others to choose from but the main ones you want to focus on are the -1 to hit penalty when enemy units target the friendly <LEGION> unit with shooting attacks, a +1 to hit buff for shooting attacks made by a friendly <LEGION> unit within 6", a +1 to wound in combat buff for a target friendly <LEGION> unit within 6", and all friendly <LEGION> models within 6" get a 5++. The way the prayers work is totally different as well, taking effect at the start of the battle round on a 3+ and lasting until the end of the battle round. You can boost this roll by +1 if you have a couple Dark Disciples around for a couple points. They sort of have the character rule while they are near a Dark Apostle without having the Character keyword.
The last big unit change is the Havocs. They went to a straight 5 man unit and now come standard with a Heavy Bolter or Lascannon and can swap it for another from the heavy weapon list. This seems like a huge nerf until you recognise they went up to T5 and can move and shoot without penalty. I'm not 100% about this change and I'll have to play it a little to see how it goes. I know no one was playing with them, but this move was too much. I think just the addition of moving and shooting without penalty along with the new Reaper Chaincannon would have been a good start. Limiting them to 5 man squads and forcing them to take a heavy weapon means that each lost model is going to hurt a lot, and it's not hard to kill 5 marines, even if they are T5, but we will see. You will likely want to start them in cover, or possibly in a Rhino, to keep them safe from that first volley of incoming firepower.
We also got a new heavy weapon, the Reaper Chaincannon, which is a heavy bolter on steroids. 24", Heavy 8, -1AP, and 1D. You can put one pretty much anywhere heavy weapons can be taken on infantry units, except terminators. Oy-vey, I would love to see this in the hands of a terminator.
Lets move on to the new rules for a Black Legion Detachment. This is not a specialist detachment, but a new set of rules for a Black Legion army, which leads me to believe that each Legion is going to get some sort of update like this. This is a nice little upgrade which offers up a handful of new stratagems, relics, and warlord traits that they can take, however it does not show up in the Codex 2.0.
The first stratagem that I want to highlight is Chosen of the Pantheon which gives a unit that has no mark of chaos ALL the marks of chaos until the start of your next turn. This might seem a little weird, but you really need to think of the potential. Think of all the stratagems and powers that require a unit to have a specific mark, Miasma of Pestilence, Delightful Agonies, Weaver of Fates, Fury of Khorne, Endless Cacophony, Grandfather's Blessing. The trick is what do you put it on? This leads me to Merciless Fighters which gives a unit +1A if there are more Black Legion models in that unit than there are enemy models within 3" of it. Then there is the Tip of the Spear which you use on your first turn shooting phase and lets the Black Legion unit closest to the enemy re-roll hit rolls.
The Sightless Helm is one of the relics, it reduces the models BS by 1 (so 2+ becomes a 3+), but increases the AP of ALL of it's weapons by 1(-1AP becomes -2AP). How about this on a Lord Discordant? With most of his weapons only -2AP, this really makes him dangerous and since he gives a +1 to hit to nearby Daemon Engines, which he is, it pretty much makes it a free AP boost. The Angelsbane is pretty much the bolter of Fuck you Imperium. If the beta bolter rules work on it, you'll see a couple of these S5, -2AP, D2(D3 vs Imperium units).
There are 6 new Warlord traits also bringing a lot to the table, one of them refunding CP you use on a 5+, another gives wounds back after a unit is destroyed, and a third is a 6" aura of 5+ Death to the False Emperor.
Now, the Black Legion was not the only army to get a makeover because the Renegade Chapters was given a makeover and fleshed out with some actual rules from popular Renegade Chapters. Lets start with the Red Corsairs who kept the ability to charge after they advance, but also grants +1CP if there are 3 units with the legion trait in the detachment, or +3CP if there are 3 units of Chaos Space Marines. That's 8CP for a battalion with 3 units of Marines in it. Their Warlord Trait gives a Red Corsairs character an extra relic and when the Warlord kills a character he get +1A. With all those extra CP that you get from a RC battalion you can afford the 3CP stratagem More Where They Came From, which is basically Tide of Traitors for a RC Chaos Space Marines unit, get ready to see big units of Space Marines. As for that relic, well its a combi-melta with a S9 meltagun and a rapid fire 3 S4, -1AP, D2 bolter. That's 6 shots at 24" on a terminator or bike.
Then we have the Crimson Slaughter who auto pass morale tests during the turn they kill a unit, also roll a D6 and on a 5+ you get a CP back. Their Warlord trait is nothing to mention, but the Stratagem is pretty special. For 2 CP, during your opponent's shooting phase, you pick a terrain feature within 12" of a CS unit from your army and all enemy units within 3" of it have a -1 to hit until the end of the phase. The Blade of the Relentless is a rather plain power sword, until it kills a model, then it auto-wounds for the rest of the battle. That wounds really awesome, until you realise your average lord has 4 attacks.
The Purge are going to be a huge factor in the future and their trait is only one of the reasons why. When you attack an enemy unit that has lost at least one wound this TURN, you can re-roll hit rolls, and those wounds could have come from ANYWHERE! Their warlord trait is good allowing the warlord to re-roll damage rolls for all his weapons and wound rolls of 1 which sounds awesome on a Lord Discordant. The second big reason the Purge is going to be popular is that for 1CP, a unit that is not in combat can shoot into combat, but for each unmodified hit roll of 1 hits a friendly unit instead, so it's a good thing you will likely be re-rolling hit rolls when the unit in combat inflicts a wound with pistols, right? Their relic is a miniature line breaker bombardment hand grenade.
The Scourged can overwatch on a 5+ and units can re-roll a single hit roll each time it shoots or fights. Their warlord trait is a 3" version of the Vexator Mask, forcing a unit to fight last in the fight phase. Their stratagem lets you shoot at reinforcements for 2CP and their relic deals damage to psykers on a 5+ when they successfully cast a power.
The Brazen Beasts get a -4AP on wound rolls of 6 when they charged or were charged. Their warlord trait adds 2 to the warlords S and A every time he kills a character and the relic is a nice stack that adds 1 to the bearers A and M as well as giving him a 2+ save. Their stratagem targets enemy units within 1" of a Daemon Engine and on a 2-4 is suffers D3 mortal wounds or on a 5-6 3 mortal wounds.
Our last renegade chapter is the Flawless Host, who get Death to the False Emperor against everyone, and it stacks with actual Death to the False Emperor. Their warlord trait doubles down on those extra attacks, granting them 3 additional attacks instead of 1, their stratagem lets a unit re-roll hit rolls in the fight phase, and their relic adds 3" to aura abilities and +1A. Everything points to combat monsters. Sorcerers with Prescience will do wonders for all those extra attacks.
Now that we are done with the Renegade Chapters, we can finally get into the Specialist Detachments. Some of you may not exactly know how these work, so lets go over that. First, each specialist detachment is accessed by using a stratagem. You pick a detachment in your army and the stratagem gives specific units in that detachment a new keyword. This keyword is then used to gain access to certain new abilities, stratagems, warlord traits, and relics. You also gain access to the Field Commander stratagem which allows you to give a character, who is not your warlord, the specialist detachment specific warlord trait.
So to start us off, the Bringers of Despair is a specialist detachment that can only be used on a Black Legion detachment and it gives every unit in Terminator armour the keyword Bringers of Despair. The first stratagem is used in the fight phase and targets a Bringer of Despair unit, each model slain by the target unit counts as 2 for the next Morale phase. The other stratagem is used in the Morale phase and it makes a friendly Heretic Astartes unit automatically pass it's Morale test if it's within 18" of a Bringer of Despair unit. The warlord trait gives the character a re-roll hit rolls of 1 and if your character has the Lord of Chaos ability(re-roll hit rolls of 1) it improves it to re-rolling any hit rolls. These re-rolls only affect Bringer of Despair units though. The relic is a really cool axe that gets +1 to hit Imperium units. now you might not think that's particularly great since most of your characters hit on 2+ already, but it makes a difference for Death to the False Emperor, especially if you also have Prescience cast on him which means DttFE triggers on 4+ AND if he has the warlord trait First Amongst Traitors it triggers on a 3+. That's pretty cool.
Next up is the Devastation Battery, it can be used on any Chaos Space Marine detachment and gives all <LEGION> Chaos Lords, Warpsmiths, Havocs, and Obliterators the Devastation Battery keyword. The first stratagem lets you kill buildings good, while the other is amazing. At the end of your opponent's FIRST movement phase, if your opponent' got the first turn, pick a Devastation Battery unit and shoot with it as if it's your shooting phase. With a unit of Havocs all toting those new chain cannons this will create a nice little buffer zone against anyone looking to get right in your face right away. Perhaps your opponent has a unit of Harlequin bikers with haywire guns looking to get at your knight in the backfield. 32 S5 shots with some buffs would really make them think twice. This doesn't work against everyone though as some armies are just perfectly fine sitting back and blasting that softball you just lobbed up to them. The warlord trait sucks, it basically turns you into a Marine Lt. that only works against vehicles while the Relic lets a single DevBat unit within 6" of the bearer ignore cover.
Since Cultists no longer have access to the legion's traits, they had to do something to make them useful. The Cult of Damned gives Dark Apostles, Dark Disciples, and Cultists the key word. The first stratagem is used when a cultist unit destroys an enemy unit in the fight phase and it makes them auto pass morale for the rest of the battle. That's really good, but you have to kill something first, in combat. The other turns a unit of cultists into a unit of Dark Disciples and gives the Dark Apostle +1 to pray, essentially making it impossible to fail that check. The warlord trait will help you get that kill as it lets you re-roll charge rolls and the relic is a heavy flamer that does d3 damage.
Daemonkin came out with their own codex, well they get a specialist detachment too affecting Dark Apostles, Masters of Possession, Possessed, and Great Possessed. This one has some potential with it's warlord trait a 6" aura that gives unit the ability to deal mortal wounds on an unmodified wound roll of 6. Possessed have gotten a ton of buffs in the last little while and Greater Possessed are monsters in their own right. The relic is a staff that deals a mortal wound to a unit within 1" at the end of the fight phase. No rolling, no ifs, just straight up one mortal wound. Stratagem number one gives a Daemon unit within 6" of a Master of Possession in the same detachment +1A and +1S. The other one deals wounds to a unit of Possessed to give wounds to a Character.
The Soulforged Pack is designed with Daemon Engines in mind, affecting them and Warpsmiths. Remember, the Lord Discordant has the Warpsmith keyword. The relic is not good but the warlord trait increases the movement of Daemon engine within 6" of the warlord by 2". Remember, the Lord Discordant has the Daemon Engine keyword. Stratagem number one doubles the number of wounds a Daemon Engine has for the purposes of determining the result on it's damage table and stratagem number two lets a Daemon Engine charge even if it advanced. It feels like this detachment was built for 3 Maulerfiends and a Lord Discordant.
We are getting close to the end, I promise, but next on the list is the Host Raptorial which affects all <LEGION> Jump Pack units in the detachment. Their warlord trait adds 2 to the charge roll made by units within 6" of the warlord. This is huge for Warp Talons who don't have any sort of ability to help them get into combat short of a Khorne Daemon Detachment. The relic is pretty cool too, you roll a D6 for each enemy unit that you moved across in the movement or charge phase and on a 4+ they take D3 mortal wounds. Now, I know what you're thinking, you can't move across enemy units in the charge phase and for that I say 2 things. There is a FAQ coming out shortly, and if you make a charge move and move your model through the gaps in between 2 models, that counts as moving across that unit. Their stratagems are goo, the first giving re-rolls to hit to a unit that deep strikes until the end of the turn. So for shooting and assault, which is pretty damn good for a unit of Raptors with plasma and champ with combat weapons. This takes a little heat off them having to be near a Lord to prevent the plasma backfire. The other stratagem is less good, but has a place if you are really looking to mess with your opponent in the morale phase. If a Host Raptorial unit kills another unit, enemy units receive a -1 to their Ld if they are within 6" of any other Host Raptorial units. This has some potential when paired with Night Lords and Butcher Cannons as you can spread out the wounds, then hit them with a powerful Ld curse and watch as even the bravest units start to break and run. The biggest problem is that this ability, along with the Night Lords and the Raptors Ld reducing abilities have such a short range to them. This is also a huge double edged sword because if you have positioned yourself to surround an enemy model when you consolidated, he can fail his morale check and remove that model that you surrounded, leaving him able to fall back and shoot you.
The Fallen got a detachment and it allows you take a Sorcerer and a Rhino, it strips away all the "bad guy" keywords and replaces then with Fallen and Imperium. Their stratagems are a -1 to hit in your enemies shooting phase and a re-roll all wound rolls in the fight phase against Dark Angels. There is no warlord trait so to speak, but Cypher gets an aura that denies CP regenerating and the relic is a somewhat disappointing force sword. It's a really interesting idea, but I think that there just isn't enough here to make them a worthwhile faction.
Chaos Space Marines are not the only ones who get a fancy detachment, Khorne Daemons get one as well which affects Bloodletters. The warlord trait gives +1A and another +1A if there is an enemy character within 6" while the relic heals back D3 wounds on a 4+ if models were killed in the fight phase and on a 2+ if a character was killed. One stratagem is a grenade that does D3 mortal wounds and the other gives +2 to charge rolls when charging a unit that has already been charged by a Bloodletter unit, as long as you don't declare a charge against anything else. The trick here is to use your big unit of Bloodletters to use the Banner to 3D6 charge multiple things, then have your secondary units and characters charge into other key units for maximum damage output, and don't forget your Locus re-rolls.
Well, there we have it. Those are all the new units and specialist detachments in the Vigilus Ablaze book. I hope this was useful to you and feel free to leave a comment.
Until next time, keep them dice rollin.
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