Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===Black Legion===
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Black Legion offer versatility with a wide variety of tactical options, while being a somewhat more elite army than your typical CSM army. 
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*'''Requirements:''' Abaddon is the only Unique Character you can include in a Black Legion detachment, and any unit that can take VotLW must do so for free.
*'''Benefits:''' You have '''Hatred (Everyone)''' and VotLW gets upgraded so you re-roll to hit against Loyalist shitheads (any Armies of the Imperium) every single combat phase. Terminators and Chosen are troops, and any Psyker with a Mark of a chaos god can choose to roll all of their powers on their god-specific table.
** Note: Traitor Legions updates the previous Black Legion rules, removing their infamous VotLW tax and instead letting them have it for free, and finally giving them their own detachment.
** A note on marks: Black Legion is one of two legions that has access to Thousand Sons units. Not terribly useful, but it does give them access to the Exalted Sorcerer and Scarab Occult Terminators for anti-MEQ, divination and one-use orbital strikes.


*'''Warlord Traits'''
**'''1: Black Crusader''': Same as the original, Preferred Enemy (Space Marines) for your Warlord and friendlies within 12".
**'''2: Eye of the Gods''': Whenever the Warlord rolls on the Chaos Boon Table or Gift of Mutation Chaos Reward, they can re-roll the result once.  For a good challenge-based Warlord, this is a big save and it stacks with the Warband benefits for extra insurance. Bonus points for rolling this in a Black Crusade.
**'''3: Gift of Balefire''': Warlord can shoot one single-use S4, AP5, Assault 1, Soulblaze template.  Considering the goofiness of Soulblaze this isn't a really great gift. Still better than Black Crusader if you're facing a different army.
**'''4: Unholy Fortitude''': Warlord gets It Will Not Die. YES.
**'''5: Soul Stealer''': When in combat, any to-wound rolls of 6 become Instant Death. Grab your Claws and go murder some MCs and characters.
**'''6: Chosen of Abaddon''': Warlord and friendly units within 12" gain Stubborn. Excellent force multiplier that takes advantage of your high Ld and patches your lack of ATSKNF.


*'''Relics'''
**'''Spineshiver Blade''': AP3 Daemon Weapon. Gives +1I when in combat.  Neato. Combine with a Slaanesh Chaos Lord for an Initiative 7 MEQ killer! Also note, for what it's worth, that the +1I bonus is always active, regardless of what weapon you're using. Moreover, until faqed, this does not replace a weapon, so a prince with this gains an extra attack!
**'''Crucible of Lies''': User has -1T, but can re-roll Invuln Save rolls of 1. Why would anyone ever take this? Maybe you have a Terminator Lord or Sorcerer of Tzeentch with a Sigil of Corruption hiding in the middle of Terminators squad bodyguards. That's a 2+ armor save with a 3+ invuln that only fails on a 2. Could also work with a Disc of Tzeentch or Bike(you'd still be reaping the benefit of a bike unit's majority toughness) to negate the loss of Toughness, but then disallows the use of Terminator Armor.
**'''Last Memory of the Yuranthos''': A Psyker with this Relic gains an additional Mastery Level, but instead of rolling for another power, you simply get the Sunburst power from Pyromancy. Additionally, you have the option to cast Sunburst with an increased radius for a higher Warp Charge cost (declare the "target" before rolling); a minimum of 2 successes to use Sunburst with a 12" radius, and a minimum of 3 for an 18" radius. Note that should you Perils for any reason, your Psyker is slain outright! 
***''Analysis:'' If you're dead-set on rolling a Telepathy/Ectomancy/Sinistrum Psyker, you won't want this Relic because it will cost you your Psychic Focus and Psychic Shriek is a good Primaris. Likewise, if you like running non-Battle Brother Allies, you'll also want to avoid this power because any Orks or Necrons you bring along for the ride will be hit by this power too! Otherwise, if you don't care about the Primaris powers or like to "Mix and match" (or are playing a Marked Sorcerer/Daemon Prince), then it's worth consideration as it's only 5 points more than a hypothetical 4th Mastery Level. Having a Nova on-hand can actually help extricate smaller Marine units from nearby close combats with small units, and can effectively nullify certain "extreme MSU" threats to your army. However, be careful because the moment your Sorcerer gets entangled in a fight, you won't actually be able to cast this power. If you're dead-set on running a Daemon Prince, then this is a handy "Fly By" power to cast before Swooping away from retaliation. You don't '''have''' to overcharge the Last Memory, but against certain "extreme MSU" builds (mass Scatterpacks come to mind), sometimes it may be well worth sacrificing your Sorcerer to cover an 18" radius of the map in a de-facto neutron bomb. 
**'''Eye of Night''': User can make one single-use Large Blast attack that is S5, AP4 and does 1d3 auto-pen hits to buildings and vehicles that ignore cover.  Don't expect to ruin Land Raiders with this.  It can, though, intimidate that transport full of enemies or mess up artillery.  At least one auto penetrating hit is not to be sniffed at, and against vehicle less enemies, it is great for clearing out tarpits. But it is also obscenely expensive, so make it count, and put it on something with BS5. It really comes into its own in low points games- above 500pts or so, an enemy can survive one vehicle being put out of action. However, in small games, where the enemy has only one vehicle, it not being able to fire for a turn, or it losing the ability to ever move, is ridiculously good.
***''Alternate opinion:''Considering how hard it is to get a vehicle in a decurion, this might not be as expensive as it appears. Think of it as a cheaper, slightly worse triple-las pred. On average you will get 2 penetrating hits for 75 points as opposed to being forced to buy into a fist of the gods for some 400 ish points. With ignore cover no less. You might even get lucky and come up against a wall of armour.
**'''Skull of Ker'ngar''': User has Eternal Warrior and Adamantium Will.  Nice. This is your only place to get EW outside of lucky warlord trait rolls.
**'''Hand of Darkness''': When in combat, the user can trade his attacks for one S*2, AP1, Armourbane, Fleshbane, Instant Death blow.  Not really gonna do much unless in challenges (and being CSM, that will be often) or if you want to pop a tank. In a challenge this will mesh well with the Eye of the Gods trait. Falcon - PUNCH! This became slightly better with Traitor Legions, as anybody that can take this now has built in hatred, meaning you get to re-roll your one attack.
*** What you want to be using this against is monstrous creatures with multiple wounds that you can take down before they get the chance to strike. Thanks to traitor legions we now hate EVERYBODY and get to re-roll to punch a dreadknight in the nads every round.  Make your Apostle punch some Carnifexes or Tervigons in the face or something.
*** '''STOP THE PRESSES:''' Flying MCs start the game gliding. If you can get first turn in a speartip with a raptor talon, you can falcon punch that dirty flyrant back to the future before he takes off. Or D-Thirster, or whatever. This thing got a new lease with Traitor Legions. This also applies to psychic buffs or things like the Riptide nova reactor. Falcon - PUNCH! indeed.


*'''Mission Objectives'''
**1: 1 VP for destroying a unit in turn.
**2: 1 VP if enemy failed Morale/Pin/Fear test.
**3: D3 VPs for killing every enemy Independent Character.
**4: Roll a D6 and get 1 VP when your Warlord controls the objective marker with the same number.
**5: 1 VP if you kill a unit or D3 VPs if killed by your VotLW unit.
**6: 1 VP if manifested a power, D3 if that was a conjuration, D3+3 if summoned a Greater Daemon.


*'''Black Legion Tactics'''
Black Legion are much more viable than before, thanks to Traitor Legions making VotLW free and making Terminators a Troops choice.

With Chosen as Troops, you can have a small unit with only a heavy weapon like a Lascannon or Autocannon, and have them sit on an objective. This gives them an advantage over Cultists. With Terminators as troops, you can have a durable, quality-over-quantity army with bare minimum T4 2+/5++ and ObSec, mass teleportation and the ability to counter a variety of lists through choices of combi-weapons and power weapons.

The Artifacts are mediocre at best, while Hatred (+better Hatred vs the Imperium) is good for a codex written to jump into enemies' faces. On the bright side, you have excellent leadership across the board with most units, plus having a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch with Eternal Warrior is cheese, especially if you use them as allies in a Screamerstar list. And getting re-rolls to hit the first round of every single melee helps your units do their job and be quite reliable in close combat. Kitting units for close combat pays off better because of it.

The best way to play the Black Legion is by taking advantage of your scoring Chosen and Terminator squads. Kit the Chosen with special weapons of your choice, and load them in METHAL BAWKSES! Even flamers aren't bad if you want to keep them cheep, just add another Chosen with a Meltagun and you're set. Using a mix of Chaos Marines and Chosen units gives you more mileage. Since Chosen will carry a lot of special weapons, you don't have to worry about adding them into Marine squads, but do have them watch the Chosen's back. Brothers look out for each other after all!

Meanwhile Terminator squads make for a great vanguard. Deep strike them in, unleash your heavy and combi-weapons to destroy a target, and then start killing things in melee if your opponent fails to shoot them off the board in one turn. Alternatively, put an objective forward outside of your deployment zone and then parking an [[Troll|Objective Secured Land Raider full of Terminators on it]].

If you run lots of Chosen, consider which unit should take Marks, if any. Chosen are a vulnerable unit, not tougher than regular space marines but costing more due to their ability to put out more damage. Keep in mind that quantity over quality is better in this edition, so use Marks with caution if you plan on taking them. On the other hand, Marks on Terminators can be very useful, as they are already a tough unit designed to work in close combat: giving a squad a Mark can push it over the line and make it quite deadly.

It should be noted that with Chosen you are essentially paying +3 points per model for one extra attack. If you are looking to Rip and Tear, you may as well take them, as on the charge they will get 4 attacks per model.
*5 extra attacks with the mark of Khorne- Yes, they have more attacks than Khorne Berzerkers. Give them Icon of Wrath and you have Berzerkers who can take better wargear and have +1 attack, at the cost of chainaxes and fearless. And you are paying a whole 1 point less per model in turn.

The Black Legion is a mixed bag, some of their unique traits work, and others are left to be more desired. It can be wise to keep a few of your squads cheep, and only upgrade those that need it, to save points for your Chosen kill squads/Terminator deathstars.

''Raptor Talon and Terminator Annihilation Force are utterly lethal if they contain your warlord due to your detachment special rules.''

'''Note: '''An often overlooked combination in this supplement allows you to make one of the most durable nameless Lords in the game by equipping a Tzeentch marked Terminator lord with a Sigil of Corruption and the Skull of Eternal Warrior. This is the only way chaos can field a 2+/3++ EW lord so slap a lightning claw and chainfist on him for the additional attack, give him a retinue, and tank everything your opponent throws at you.

*'''Despoiler’s Contingent''': Take Abaddon the Despoiler along with his Terminator Squad in formation (only take 3-4 if you take a Land Raider). Throw in a 2nd HQ, either a Lord with   Spineshiver blade or Hand of darkness trades out with Abaddon in challenges accordingly, OR a Sorceror, Biomancy rolls for certain, Mark of Nurgle may result in best support, Tzeentch adds “cheap” shots (powerful ones if lucky) Slaanesh may be best melee choice. As for the Terminators themselves, give them either Mark of Tzeentch, Mark of Nurgle or Mark of Slaanesh along with Icon of Excess. Stick them in a Land Raider or deepstrike them and drive deep in to the warm moist folds of flesh of your opponent's army.
**'''Traitor Legions Update:''' This strategy becomes much stronger in Traitor Legions. If you take the unique Black Legion detachment, you start rolling for Deep Strike reserves turn 1, and your Warlord's unit arrives automatically! This means you can build your list around dishing out a brutal alpha strike.
**'''Traitor Legions: Objective Secured Variant''': Don't take Abaddon's formation, instead just take Terminators as troops in a CAD. Place objectives all over the battlefield then drop Objective Secured deep striking Terminators and Land Raiders all over the place, seizing ground while at the same time performing a massive blitz. It may be advantageous to take Mark of Tzeentch or Nurgle for this strategy, to avoid getting shot off your objectives and losing them to the enemy.

*'''Melta Assault''': Simple, take those chosen as troop, fill them up with all the Melta, Give them Mark of Khorne or Slaanesh (along with the appropriate Icon) for a better-than-average general assault squad (Slaanesh arguably being better since Feel No Pain adds to your staying power) with the potential to hurt anything in the game with all those melta guns.


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