Good day ladies and gentlemen, today we go back to Traitors Hate and have a closer look at the Chaos Warband. As I mentioned in my previous post, I believe that the Warband will be the second most popular Core choice as recycling cultists with outflank is both cheap and really good. However I think we can't overlook the flexibility and the ObSec that the Chaos Warband provides us. One thing I notice that many people make the mistake of is thinking they need to take 2 to get a Chaos "Battle Company" This is not so, the Warband's minimum requirements bring it on par with a Demi Company, but the flexibility allows it to be anything in-between a Demi Company and a Battle Company, and even go beyond.
Lets break it down section by section. First up, the HQ units. You are required to take a Chaos Lord, and really theres no going wrong. You can keep him as cheap or as expensive as you want. Want him to live, give him the Sigil and MoT for a 3++. On top of that you can give him the Skull of Kerngar for Eternal Warrior, add a power weapon and he sits at 160 points.
Want him to kill, Axe of Blind Fury on a Jugger or Bike. The Sigil and MoK take him to 170 but adding the Skull for EW will keep him alive while pushing the points to 210.
Or you can give him a combi-melta and just use him as a meat shield.
Unlike the Imperial version, our second AND OPTIONAL HQ is a Sorcerer. With the new powers added to Chaos arsenal he is almost a no-brainer. Making him useful will run you around 125 which makes him ML3 and gives him a familiar. Now you may have other plans and wish to take a Cabal. If you were planning on taking more than 3 in the Cabal, I would consider taking one in this formation and dropping the other as the one in this formation gives you ObSec which in turn gives the whole Cabal and the Deathstar it's in ObSec.
In the Elites section you have your choice of 1-3 of Terminators, Chosen, or Possessed. Now I, like most people, like Chosen in this instance because you can take a shit ton of special weapons with them. I prefer to take 2 as it saves you points and doesn't reduce their effectivity after a casualty or 2. You won't likely take terminators as you will probably be running the Annihilation Force along with the Warband and we all know how expensive Possessed are. However, a unit of 3 terminators is your cheapest option at 112 pts with some combo-weapon upgrades. Chosen are initially cheaper, but their upgrades begin to add up real fast and if you're looking to limit cost in order to fill out something else, termis are cheapest while still being useful.
If you are interested in taking the Possessed, I would consider taking either the Disciples of Manon, the Favoured of Chaos, or the Tormented.
Here we have the first "tax" as I see it. Bikes, Raptors, and Warp Talons are all pretty overpriced and/or not very good. Although the Raptors and Warp Talons got a boost in the Raptor Talon formation, they don't get the same boosts here. I see the possibility of taking Raptors or bikes with maxed special weapons as a suicide squad. A unit of Raptors with melta guns and a combi melta is 125 points that can deep strike and nuke something. A unit of bikes with plasma guns and combi plasma is 110 points and it can harass the flanks, both are cheap enough to be expendable yet still cause enough damage to not be ignored.
In the heavy slot we got 2 units, Havocs and Helbrutes. Well if you're looking to take Helbrutes there are a couple great formations that would do it, but there is something to say for an ObSec Helbrute. Otherwise a unit of Havocs with special weapons is always a good thing. I particularly like the Havocs for the same reason I like the Chosen and honestly, I like them better than regular marines. You can take 10 and a Rhino, but you can take 4 special weapons in a unit and it's one of the few things we got going for us over our Imperial counterparts. True, we don't get Grav, but that is something that you will just have to deal with. Either way look to spend 100-150 points in this slot at a minimum.
Well, there's only one choice here, Chaos Space Marines. I know it's a little underwhelming but if you wanted cultists you picked the wrong Core choice. So here we are with our 2 (at least) units of Marines. What do we do with them? Well, you've got 2 choices, neither one of them great but both have their merits.
You could take the minimum 2 units and give them a Rhino for an extra ObSec unit, then maybe give them a melta gun and call it a day. 240 for both units, not much of a penalty and hey, it's a couple melta guns. This will ensure that you can take both the TAF and the Raptor Talon and still have a handful of ObSec. But...
...what do you think makes the Gladius Strike force to strong? The unending ObSec MEQ bodies and vehicles. Well, Chaos can do this now and there are a couple ways in which Chaos can do it better. No I'm not high. Our Assault squads have better weapon options and our Devastators have access to special weapons and are not limited to Heavy weapons, but the big one is units of 20. You can get get 60 Marine bodies for ~1000 points. That leaves plenty of room for upgrades and still points for 2 Heldrakes.
So, there we have the run down on the Chaos Warband. Take what you have learnt and play test the shit out of it. Good luck.
Until next time, keep them dice rollin.
I've played 4 games with the Warband now. I can tell you that Chosen are terrible compared to Terminators in the Elite slot. If you want special weapon squads take Havoks, because you aren't paying additional 15pts per squad for an extra attack each. Also terminators have the additional benefit of taking an objective secured land raider as a dedicated transport, which is huge. If you take 2 squads with landraiders as back field objective holders/firebase thats hard for anyone to deal with.
ReplyDeleteAlso bikes are great, with Mark of Nurgle. I run a min squad with 2 plasma and MoN and they don't cost much, and your opponent has to deal with them. They're great for grabbing objectives. Way better than Raptors.
Also i've run the raptor talon 3 times now, and i won't be running it again. Charging from deepstrike is strong but keeping so much in reserve is a trap. It doesn't work.
My chosen squads have always done work for me. They are typically more of a suicide nuke squad. I do agree that Havocs are cheaper and get you almost the same thing but there are a couple bonuses other than the extra attack. The entire squad has Ld 10 (with the free VotLW), you can take close combat weapons on the non-character models so they can't get challenged out, and you can get more special weapons in the unit than Havocs.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your comment on terminators, I disagree with you. If you're using 2 land raiders and 2 units of terminators as a "fire base" you're stuck in 4th edition. With the abundance of stomps, death stars, D weapons, grav, and drop pods, taking out a land raider is easy. That's also 700 points minimum that you have relegated to holding backfield objectives. For that you could get 2 units of Havocs fully loaded and a Fortress of Redemption which is way more durable and way more deadly. But hey, if it's been working for you then keep doing it.
As for the idea that keeping a good chunk of your army in reserve is a trap, again, i disagree. Being able to balance what you have on the table vs what you put in reserve is tricky. I've been using the Terminator Annihilation Force and it has been working quite well. I typically aim to get about 1/3 of my army in the TAF. Enough to do some damage, but not so much so that my ground forces are too weak. I haven't played a lot with the Raptor talon, but I've aimed for a similar break down.
I agree with you about the bikes, and say so in the post. Bikes are good. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are WAY better than raptors, but they are definitely better. I personally like to take Raptors as a threat of dropping in 2 melta guns. This can force my opponent to "bubble wrap" with units he would rather deploy elsewhere.
Thanks for the comment and the pointers.