CHAOS LEGIONS

...I like pineapple on pizza...

For anyone who as been following this blog for any length of time knows that I play Chaos, particularly Space Marines, not well but almost exclusively.  So I thought I would take a look at some of the options that we have available to us and see if there is anything we can work with until we get a new codex.  I've had a good think about how I'm going to do this and I'm not going to do a microscopic look at the codex, every unit, and every piece of wargear.  What I'm going to do is take a look at some of the phases of the game and pick out some strengths and weaknesses that can be found in the Chaos Space Marines Codex.

Starting with the Command Phase and scoring objectives.  So as we all have figured out that scoring objectives is going to require a fairly durable unit to weather the firepower leveled at them and Plague Marines and Rubric Marines do this better than most other units in the game.  The T5 and DR of the Plague Marines and the Rubric's All is Dust make both units very resilient to small arms fire.  Putting them in an Alpha Legion detachments is pretty obvious for the -1 to hit, but Iron Warriors have some pretty serious defensive abilities like Dour Duty (reduces incoming fire AP by 1) and Cannon Fodder (forces enemies to target nearby Cultists instead of unit).  Pair those with a Dark Apostle for a 5++ or -1 to hit where appropriate and you have a hard to shift block.  The downside is that they are not Troops, so not objective secured, unless they are in a Death Guard or Thousand Sons detachment, so you might want to get a Patrol Detachment of them.  The other downside of these units is that they only have one wound each, so if not having Objective Secured isn't a deal breaker we could take a look at Spawn.  They are T5 with 4 wounds each and can bee made incredibly durable with a ton of defensive buffs.  They are also pretty damn scary in combat with -2AP and a flat 2D.  I should also mention the Black Legion stratagem World Killers, which is a 3 CP stratagem played at the start of the battleround, gives all Black Legion units SUPER Objective Secured until the end of the battleround.  This one is REALLY good.

As far as holding objectives with troops from the CSM book, well we fall short in that regard.  You can throw a ton of buffs on them just to bring them up to tough, but any kind of dedicated firepower is going to annihilate them.  A decent way to increase their durability is to toss them in a Rhino, then make that Rhino tougher, it also doubles their speed which brings me to...

The next aspect of the game is movement.  For a long time this has been one of the more important aspects of the game and this edition is no different.  Well, there are some differences, particularly when moving larger units cause of Unit Coherency and such, but movement is important, that's what I'm trying to say.  Positioning is not the only important thing though as table control and durability come to play because movement and taking control of objectives go hand in hand.  Unfortunately Plague Marines and Rubric Marines are particularly slow so putting them in a Rhino is decent way to get them where they need to be.  We also have a good number of fast moving big threats like Disco Lords, Daemon Princes, Maulerfiends, and Heldrakes.  Yes, you read that right, I said Heldrakes.  Being the fastest moving, NON-AIRCRAFT, unit in the game for only 150 points makes this guy a pretty big deal not to forget he can still shoot that Baleflamer while in combat.  Now don't treat him like the ultimate beast that he isn't, cause he is basically a flying Helbrute.  Now you might be thinking "He hasn't mentioned bikes yet...", well, bikes.  They are an incredibly good fast moving unit that can auto advance 6" for a total of 20" and you can assault with them if they are Crimson Slaughter, shoot with them if they are Black Legion, toss a bunch of buffs on them to make them tougher, and potentially move them twice.  I like to use a unit of these guys to pressure my opponent's backfield, or dissuade him from sending off smaller units off on their own to hold objectives.

Besides fast moving units, we also have a bunch of units that can Deep Strike like Terminators, Raptors, Obliterators, and Mutilators.  Now Terminators and Obliterators are good units and are both durable and dangerous, but they are also very slow once they hit the ground.  Raptors on the other hand are able to land anywhere and still move very quickly, but their biggest downfall is that they are still only as durable as your average Marine yet you are still paying that premium for their mobility.  Raptors take an extra knock with the introduction of Strategic Reserves, Chosen and Marines can now pull off an outflanking maneuver making the Raptors less desirable.  Furthermore, the Alpha Legion have a bunch of abilities that help units move around the table like Forward Operatives, Renascent Infiltration, Mindveil, and Faceless Commander.

So as you can see we have a bunch of units that can reach any area of the table, but their biggest downfall is their need for support, whether it's more bodies, overlapping firepower, or buffs from characters.  There are many ways to do this, but as soon as you start pumping more and more points and CP's into these units, you have to start building your army specifically to cater to them unless you're using them as distractions or sacrifices.

Now we come to the Shooting Phase and we actually got a decent boost in this phase, particularly with our Daemon Engines.  Forgefiends and Defilers are now free to waltz up the field blasting away and with the Daemon Forge stratagem, and a Disco Lord nearby, they can put out some real damage.  Also don't forget they can shoot many of their weapons while in engagement range, though not the Blast ones which means Defilers can still shoot while they are punching.  The Helbrute is another mechanical monster that can put out some pretty potent firepower.  I played a game recently with two twin-las-missile Brutes and I took turns moving them and using Fire Frenzy to great effect.  Now, even though touching a vehicle or monster in combat does not prevent them from shooting, it does prevent them from shooting outside the combat they are in, so slapping a scourge on him for a whole mess of attacks will help prevent a couple models from stepping up to him and occupying his attention in his next shooting phase.  We could add the Deredeo and Leviathan Dreadnoughts in here as well, but they are incredibly expensive and the Butcher cannon array (arguably the best gun available to them) is only -1AP making it a little lack-lustre for the 75 point price tag.

One of the downsides to the big monsters is that they are big and easy to see, but don't worry because we have a decent amount of infantry sized firepower.  Obliterators are an obvious choice with being able to deep strike and shoot twice with Endless Cacophony and get a 5+++ with Delightful Agonies.  Add a Master of Possession for defensive and offensive buffs or take them as Iron Warriors and you have yourself a solid firebase, typically able to take out just about any target (with a little luck).  Even Havocs can put out a pretty hefty number of shots with the Reaper Chaincannon.  However if you are looking for ultimate damage output your best bet is probably Emperor's Children Noise Marines.  With Endless Cacophony, Excruciating Frequencies, the Remnant of the Maraviglia, Veterans of the Long War, and their ability to ignore the bonus to saves from cover they can remove nearly any unit from any objective (assuming its within 24").  Now if you are worried about not getting first turn and losing them, or getting first turn and not having a target, you can put that whole unit in Strategic Reserves for only 2 CP.  You lose out on the Remnant of Maraviglia, unless you can get the Dark Apostle in position in time.  We can also slide in the Rubric Marines into this area as their -2AP bolters can be incredibly potent especially in the Black Legion with Abaddon nearby and VotLW on hand, but they are probably still better off used in a Thousand Sons detachment as they also have a shoot twice strat there.

Now that seems like kind of a depressing list of able bodied shooting units, but we are not quite done.  Units like Chosen, able to take 6 special weapons, can be put into Strategic Reserves so we don't even necessarily have to spend the points on a Drill for them.  Even Raptors, as over pointed as they are, can take 3 special weapons and have most of the table to choose from.  These units can be used to arrive on the battlefield, pump out not an insignificant amount of firepower and either kill something, or force your opponent to re-direct some of his resources to deal with them.

Again we come to the weaknesses of these units, and for most of them its a lack of range.  Most of the damage being dealt by the infantry is limited to 24".  While the Helbrutes and Forgefiends reach 48" and 36" respectively, they generally don't have the volume of firepower to put a large dent into any single unit. As you can see, our units typically have 2 of the 3 things you want in a "shooty" unit, range, efficiency, and/or durability.

Ok, here we go ladies and gents, we finally get to the section where we excel, melee combat.  Now I can go on for days on units that are good at punching shit in the face, from most of our characters, to Khorne Bezerkers, to Possessed, to Maulerfiends.  What we struggle with is getting those units in range to do the punching and keeping them safe once the punching is done.  One of the most obvious, and old school, ways is to put your assault units in a transport.  Rhinos are pretty good for this, particularly when you can put a Dark Apostle near a couple of them and use Illusory Supplication to give all of them a 5++ while the Smoke Launchers give them -1 to hit among other possible buffs.  In those Rhinos you are probably better off putting in three 5-man units with some characters for supports, as opposed to large units.  The one downside of this is that any stratagem you use will be less effective.  Above I listed a good number of ways to make units more durable to hold objectives, the same tactics can be used to keep melee units alive so they can accomplish all that fun chopping and ripping.

Making units more durable isn't the only way to help ensure they make it to combat though as there are many ways to increase their movement and/or charge range.  Night Lord have From the Night and Raptor Strike to increase their charge distances, although Raptor Strike is only really useful on Characters with jump packs, because Raptors and Warp Talons are kind of shit.  Alpha Legion have a bunch of movement shenanigans which can help get units into position, the top of the list being Forward Operatives for that possible first turn charge.  The Emperor's Children have the +2" movement from Combat Elixirs and the incredible Honour the Prince stratagem making the trek across the table and the following charge as easy as it can be.  Honour the Prince is particularly nice for a nice big unit of Terminators that have dropped in from deep strike.  Finally, the most blood thirsty of all Legions, the World Eaters have Apoplectic Frenzy which lets them move up to 9" before the first turn starts and Violent Urgency which is a Warlord Trait that gives all World Eater units within 6" +1" to their Advance and Charge rolls.  Too bad they don't also have an ability that lets them charge after they advance.  But you know who does have the ability to Advance and still Charge?  Red Corsairs.  This can actually surprise your opponents, when a unit gets a big Advance roll and is able to charge from what was thought to be a safe distance away.  Remember that this applies to all Characters, Infantry, and Bikes.  Bikes being a really key unit in this army for their auto Advance of 6" giving them a 20" move before they can assault.  They could actually make decent use of Flamers, softening up a unit before charging into it.

The Morale Phase has become more important with the changes to Insane Bravery and how Combat Attrition works.  Word Bearers get us the ability to re-roll failed tests which could be huge for smaller units that only took a couple casualties and rolled that unlucky 6 for Morale.  Black Legion units all get a +1 to their Ld, and the Icon of Vengeance gives another +1, plus they have a strat that can pass a +1Ld buff to other nearby legions.  We aren't quite done though as Crimson Slaughter can auto pass Morale tests after they kill a unit, and World Eaters have a stratagem that can do the same thing.

But we all know who the champions of the Morale Phase are, the Night Lords, but for the complete opposite reasons.  With their -1Ld ability, they are pretty good at causing casualties from failed Morale checks.  However, because the amount of damage done isn't determined by how badly you fail the Morale test by, piling the damage onto a single unit doesn't work any more.  The best way to maximize damage in the Morale Phase is to spread out the damage over a couple units and pile on the Night Lords units to max out the -3 Ld penalty with Raptors increasing it to -4 and Butcher Cannons adding on another -2 Ld if they cause any casualties.  Now lets be clear, this is not a great way to win games, but there are no other armies that really utilize the Morale Phase the way the Night Lords do, so if you have a chance to use it, make the most of it.

Now that we have that all out there, lets have a look at some lists and see what units can fulfil multiple needs.

Lets start with an Emperor's Children list and a big blob of Noise Marines which will be backed up by 2 more units of Noise Marines with Rhinos.  You'll want a Dark Apostle with the Remnant of Maraviglia and a Sorcerer with Delightful agonies and a couple big units of Terminators with combined-plasma and combo-meltas.  You'll also want a punchy Character, whether or not you want him to be your warlord is up to you as he will likely die.  The idea with this list is you only put one unit of Termis in deep strike (according to applicable targets) and the big unit of Noise Marines in Strategic Reserves.  The other unit of Terminators moves up and takes the centre of the table with a 5+++ along with their terminator armour, the Rhinos move up supporting one flank and when you want all the Noise Marines jump out of their rides and surround the Dark Apostle who has popped the banner for all that re-rolling goodness.  Your punchy character can either be a Lord or Prince, but he moves around offering his re-roll buff where it's needed and when the time is right, the big unit of Noise. Marines come in and blindside the enemy army, sprinkle liberally with Excruciating Frequencies.  When the Terminators drop in they can shoot and nuke something, then charge and nuke a second thing using Honour the Prince to ensure the destruction.  This army has durable units which can be buffed to be more durable, decent mobility with the Rhinos and Reserves, excellent shooting, and decent combat with the Terminators and punchy character.  The Emperor's Children have a little extra in combat in that they always fight first which is huge with the new changes to the order you activate units.

Iron within...

Next up we have a Monster Mash Iron Warriors army led by a couple Disco Lords, a Sorcerer with Prescience and Delightful Agonies, and a Master of Possession with Cursed Earth and Infernal Power, and finally a Prince for the re-roll 1's and Warptime.  You will need at least a couple detachments to get everything you need which is Defilers, Maulerfiends, and Heldrakes with some Cultists as needed for flavour, objective grabbing and action performing.  The basics of this list are pretty straight forward, the monsters move forward, using all the defensive buffs from the spell casters and the Iron Warrior strats.  Once they get close enough they do their thing and smashy smashy.  Your biggest problem is going to be dealing with terrain as you have several large base models.  The Heldrakes don't have to worry about that and they will have to be your first wave, holding up your opponent and drawing focus while the rest of your army maneuvers.  If need be, you can put something in reserve, but that starts to take away from your threat saturation, letting your opponent focus on fewer targets.  The monsters become incredibly durable, the Defilers, Heldrakes and Disco Lords can put out some firepower, but the real damage is in combat.  You do have an issue in that you are relying on Cultists to hold objectives because the monsters are a single model and don't have Obsec and that puts you in a really weak spot, but if you press the advantage hard enough, and hide the cultists well enough, you should be fine.

Ok, here is a little behind the curtain for you guys.  It's at this point, at the end of my article I re-read it and do some digging online to make sure I didn't miss anything or mess anything.  As I was doing this I checked out what Goonhammer had to say on the subject and it turns we have VERY similar tastes in army lists.  Eerily similar.  So I though I would post up a 3rd list and while it does have some similarities to the Black Legion list they posted, I change it up enough so that it wouldn't be nearly as good as theirs.  I can't be seen as being really good at this after all.

Oh, if have not heard of Goonhammer, go and check them out, they have several authors and pump out tons of articles full of interesting and useful information.

I have the best words, everyone agrees, my words are superb...

This list is going to use a Word Bearer's Detachment with a Dark Apostle praying double hard and a Sorcerer backed up by three BIG units of cultists.  With the changes to how Morale works, I don't really think that making them auto pass is really necessary since it's unlikely that the rest of the unit will run away even if there are only 5 left.  These bodies are going to surround a hit squad of Possessed with Greater Possessed in Rhinos.  The firebase will be Las-missile Helbrutes who can alternate moving and using Fire Frenzy.  Sprinkle with your God Marks of choice to keep everything alive as long as possible.  The next Detachment could be a Patrol of either Night Lords or Emperor's Children with a Chaos Lord, required Troop tax, and a big unit of combi-plasma Terminators.  If you go Night Lords, the Jump Lord can be given the Nurgle Fist and you can drop him in with the Terminators and use Raptor Strike to jump him out and smash some juicy target and Prey on the Weak evens out the hit penalty.  If you go Emperor's Children you can put the Lord in Terminator armour instead and use Honour the Prince on the Terminators to (almost) guarantee their charge into something.

Well, there we have it.  We got a couple lists out of all that hullaballoo and they are not terrible.  Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment.

Til next time, keep them dice rollin.