Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===[[Black Legion]]===
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[[File:BlackLegionInsignia.png|100px|left|]]
In the grim darkness of the far future, the Galaxy will burn.

Thematically the Black Legion are arguably the largest force of Chaos Space Marines, their exact size is unknown and they do not worship any singular entity. They are all united by one desire: to finish what Horus started and to tear down the Imperium, after all, united behind the Warmaster, how can you fail?

The Black Legion are easily the favourite Chaos Space Marines of Games Workshop, being the poster boys of the faction (even though they're not on the cover). This leads to them having rather basic options to allow them to fill practically any role you want. They also were the first to get expanded WTs, Stratagems, and Relics. While they aren't the most competitive it's hard to go wrong with them, as it should be for the "ordinary" Chaos Space Marines.
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*'''Legion Trait: ''Black Crusaders'':''' Units with this trait add 1 to their Leadership characteristic. In addition, if a unit with this trait advanced, they treat all Rapid Fire weapons as Assault weapons. The Leadership buff is nice, allowing unmarked units with an Icon of Vengeance to reach LD10 (!), but unfortunately the other one is rather mediocre. It only comes into play on the few Rapid Fire weapons Chaos has (mostly bolters, combi-bolters, and '''plasma guns''') and imposes a -1 penalty to hit, and you can't charge if you advanced. Best used in conjunction with a lord or Abaddon's re-roll hit aura to try and march larger blobs of CSM into rapid fire range faster, but otherwise very middle of the road.
**Note: Chaos bikers can use this trait to move, advance, and still fire, although you'll get 2 shots out of each combi-bolter, not 4, regardless of range. Best used when you are trying to outflank or encircle an enemy unit.
*'''Warlord Traits:''' As the poster-boys of the CSM, as well as the Imperium's main antagonists, the Black Legion have several traits they can choose from, which also work really well with their unique Stratagem.
**'''''Black-clad Brute'':''' +1 to the Warlord's strength characteristic. In addition, he causes d3 mortal wounds on a 4+ to a unit he charges. Better than their relic for causing Mortal Wounds.
**'''''First Among Traitors'':''' The Death to the False Emperor ability triggers on a 5+ instead of a 6+ for all models in friendly {{W40kKeyword|BLACK LEGION}} units within 6" of the Warlord. Unfortunately, due to the wording on the Icon of Excess and this rule (they both set it to a 5+ instead of giving a +1) you can only get exploding dice on a 4+ if you use Prescience. '''Abaddon''' has this.
**'''''Indomitable'':''' All damage to your warlord is halved. Pairs very well with characters that are likely to draw heavy fire from your opponent. Looking at you, Lord Discordant.
**'''''Soul Eater'':''' Each time your Warlord destroys an enemy unit, he regains d3 lost wounds. More likely to trigger after killing an enemy character, so put it on somebody that has something like a Thunder Hammer.
**'''''Trusted Warleader'':''' Roll every time you use a command point. On a 5+, it is refunded. A trait that can pay for itself, although it can't trigger successfully more than once per battle round.
**'''''Veteran Raider'':''' Friendly {{W40kKeyword|BLACK LEGION}} units within 6" of your warlord can declare a charge even if they fell back. Charging and getting to fight first so often makes you feel like a stronger Emperor's Children (or slightly weaker White Scars) - this is best used on a Jump Lord or Jump Sorcerer supporting Raptors, of course, since they'll be able to fall back, shoot, and charge.
*'''Stratagems:''' 
**'''''Council of Traitors (1 CP)'':''' Use before the battle if your warlord is a Chaos Lord, Daemon Prince, or Abbadon. Allows you to give a warlord trait to a Dark Apostle and Sorcerer in your army. Similar to the Dark Eldar Stratagem, but limited to only Black Legion. Make the Dark Apostle Trusted Warleader and it'll pay for itself (there are much better Sorcerer-unique traits the other can get). Pretty much always worth using in a black legion army as it gives you more options. The only big drawback is that your options for units are limited. For some reason Warpsmiths, Disco lords, Masters of possession and Masters of Execution weren't invited to be on the council.
**'''''Chosen of the Pantheon (1 CP)'':''' Use at the beginning of your turn. Pick a Black Legion unit that is not marked. They gain all 4 marks until the start of the next turn. Mainly useful for using god specific stratagems, auras, or powers. And yes, you can use this to give a Sorcerer the Khorne keyword. 
**'''''Legacy of Horus (1 CP)'':''' Use during the Morale Phase, add 1 to the Leadership of Chaos Marine units as long as they are within range of a Black Legion Unit. Useful whenever you find yourself heavily debuffed for LD across most of your army and are in a blob, otherwise just pay the extra point to ignore casualties.
**'''''Let the Galaxy Burn (1 CP)'':''' Use this stratagem whenever a {{W40kKeyword|BLACK LEGION BIKER}} or {{Template:W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} is selected to attack in the shooting or fight phases. You can re-roll all to-hit rolls of 1 for the unit. If it is a Chaos Space Marine unit, you re-roll all hits instead. Just like the Ultramarines' Chapter Tactic, but ''better'' - this is only the second such ability in the game (the first was Cawl) allowing you to re-roll any hits, not just failed ones.  The distinction matters when dealing with negative modifiers to hit - if your CSM are facing -1 to hit, this strat will let you re-roll 3s, unlike the pleb Ultramarines strat, which would not. Also keep in mind that you can totally take a 20 man squad to make the most of this Stratagem.
**'''''Merciless Fighters (1 CP)'':''' Use on an infantry unit. If there are more models in the unit then there are enemy models within 3', then add 1 to that units attack characteristics. Oh hey, they remembered the Sons of Horus' 30k rules!
**'''''Relics of the Long War(1/3 CP)'':''' Chaos Marine copy-paste. The standard multi-relic stratagem.
**'''''Tip of the Spear (1 CP)'':''' At the start of the first shooting phase, re-roll failed hits for whichever of your units is closest to the enemy for that phase. If there's a tie, pick which one is affected.
**'''''World Killers (3 CP)'':''' Use at the beginning of a battle round. Turns off your opponents' objective secured (or equivalent) rule for the rest of the battle round. Perfect for unexpectedly seizing an objective at the last minute from a blob that thought it was in control.
*'''Relics:''' Yep, because why wouldn't they get a lot of them as well?
**'''Angelsbane''': Replaces a Combi-Bolter. Becomes S5 AP-2 D2, which goes up to 3 if used against anything with the {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} keyword. Solidly shooty, pairs nicely with the Bolter Discipline beta rule, and with a bit of luck can even bring down a 3-wound Custodian or jack up a vehicle. Not bad at all.
**'''Cloak of Conquest''': Each time the bearer slays an enemy character, add 1 to the bearer's Strength, Attacks, and Leadership characteristic until the end of the battle. Useless for most of the battle, but on killy models such as certain Lords, Executioners, and Deamon Princes - The potential to become a complete monster in CC is undeniable. Stacks well with other traits like Black Clad Brute and the many other tactics to buff out a single model.
**'''Ghorisvex's Teeth''': Replaces a chainsword. -3 ap, 2 damage. +2 attacks. any time you roll a 6 to wound, the target takes a mortal wound in addition to normal damage. The lynchpin for the "Chainlord" build, put on a chaos lord with jump pack and give him the Flames of spite WL trait for 2 Mortal wounds on any wound roll of 6+, then pump up the wounding ability through Veterans, Prayers, psychic powers etc.
**'''The Eye of Night''': Once per game, in the shooting phase, the bearer of the Eye of Night can select a visible enemy vehicle. On a 2+, it takes d3 mortal wounds. Not terribly impressive, but at least it doesn't cost more than the guy carrying it anymore. Also avoids vehicle invuln saves. Fluff states this thing is supposed to be able to cause "massive power failure or catastrophic internal damage". But on the tabletop, this thing will tickle a vehicle once. Works quite well with a Jump Pack Sorcerer using smite and rocking demon shells, allowing you to zap a vehicle with 3D3 Mortal Wounds should the opportunity arise. 
**'''Sightless Helm''': -1 Ballistic Skill, -1 AP on all your weapons (so ap -1 becomes ap -2). Has no affect on your ability to hit things in melee. Consider putting this on a Lord Discordant for maximum effect (who cares about BS when you have Baleflamer...)
**'''Spineshiver Blade''': Replaces a power sword. +1 strength. +d6 attacks each time the bearer attacks. Look, a daemon weapon that doesn't try to kill you. Can get pretty ridiculous of you pair with a Khornate Lord and make him fight multiple times,
**'''Trophies of Slaughter''': +1 leadership to allied Black Legion within 6" and -1 leadership to enemies within 6".
*'''Specialist Detachment:''' Yep, the Black Legion even get their own Specialist Detachment. What don't they have? This only selects {{W40kKeyword|BLACK LEGION TERMINATOR}} units; you'll probably only have about 2-3 units dedicated to the BoD, as well as any Termie lord or Abby. So long as you pay 1 CP for the upgrade the following are available to you:
**'''Warlord Trait: ''Chosen of the Warmaster'':''' All {{W40kKeyword|BRINGERS OF DESPAIR}} units within 6" of your warlord re-roll 1s to hit. Slap this on a Chaos Lord, and this becomes re-rolling all failed hits, which you seriously want if you intend on accompanying a retinue of termies and making use of the Brutal Subjugation stratagem. Cheaper than the Space Marines Chapter Master upgrade which does the exact same thing but with fewer upsides.
**'''Stratagems:''' There are two, both situational.
***'''''Brutal Subjugation (1 CP)'':''' During a fight phase, any models your {{W40kKeyword|BRINGERS OF DESPAIR}} units kill count as double for the upcoming morale phase. If you have a blendy pack of terminators or your lord up the front, this shouldn't be too hard to pull off. Chuck some Night Lords in there and this can get painful.
***'''''Chosen Enforcers (1 CP)'':''' Use when a friendly {{W40kKeyword|heretic astartes unit}} within 18" of a {{W40kKeyword|BRINGERS OF DESPAIR}} unit is required to take a morale test. That unit automatically passes the morale test. Much cheaper than Insane Bravery, so why not?
**'''Relic: Foe Cleaver'':''' Replaces a power axe, S+3 AP-2 D1d3, add 1 to hit rolls when targeting an {{W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} unit. Don't forget Death to the False Emperor.
*'''Unique Characters:''' Of course the Black Legion naturally have the most special characters, while the other Legions are struggling to get even one.
**'''[[Abaddon the Despoiler]]''': The Warmaster himself, the guy /tg/ always jokes about for being an armless failure and who was a rare sight on the tabletop... Well, no more of the latter. So long as your plan involves closing the gap and tearing shit up you're going to find a use for him, and there's very few things in the game that can take him on and walk away fine. In addition to being a potent melee threat, he has two aura abilities: one that makes all {{Template:W40kKeyword|Black Legion}} units within 6" re-roll all to hit rolls, and another that makes all {{Template:W40kKeyword|Heretic Astartes}} immune to morale tests. Also, unlike most things in Terminator armour, he has a 6" rather than a 5" move. For this reason, as well as the fact that any transport he's in becomes the priority target for your opponent, consider teleporting him into battle, just don't forget that he has 6 attacks with his claw and an additional D6 attacks with his sword (which, if you roll a 1, will cause a MW on him instead of the extra sword attacks - he can still fight with the claw though). As of Vigilus Ablaze, his statline has grown to Custodes levels to make him nastier than ever before. S5 and T5 with 8 Wounds along with all the other jazz places him very solidly behind only Guilliman and then followed by new Calgar as far as Astartes based units are concerned. 
***If you plan on taking advantage of the 6" move (unlike most terminator 5" move) then walking him up behind a meatshield while in front of Havocs and using his re-roll on them is shockingly effective.
***Note that his morale aura applies to units of any Legion within 12" of Abaddon, if you're mixing and matching he can prevent other Chaos units from running away. 
***It's a good idea to save at least one of the CP he gives you for a re-roll on Drach'nyen. You're either going to wish you had more than 2 attacks, or you want to prevent him from poking his eye out when you really need him to cut somebody in half. 
***Keep in mind that since he has all the chaos god's faction keywords, and can thus use any mark-specific stratagems or be targeted by mark-specific psychic powers. While not cheap in terms of CP or sorcerers, this can raise his threat level to apocalyptic proportions. Take special note of the Khornate stratagem that allows him to fight twice.
**'''Obsidius Mallex [Blackstone Fortress]''': A sort of half-way attempt between Loyalist Smash Captain and Black Legion Chaos Lord, Obsidius is the master of the Servants of the Abyss in the Blackstone Fortress game. He's basically a Chaos Lord statline with a Thunder Hammer and a Plasma Pistol. Like all the splat-game units, GW has made an effort to keep him "balanced" against other codex entries, meaning you're going to be paying out the ass for this combo. In doing so Obsidius comes out being more expensive than a Chaos Lord with a Power Fist and Pistol, and is more expensive than his Loyalist counterpart with the same loadout, whilst at the same time forgetting to bring his Frag and Krak grenades. The real limitation of Obsidius, however, is his lack of the {{W40Kkeyword|Mark of Chaos}} keyword. Without it he cannot, RAW, use the stratagem Beseech the Chaos Gods to access any of the god-specific stratagems (e.g. Khornes Fight Twice) which would, in turn, actually go towards making him worth considering. Finally, thanks to the -1 From his Thunder Hammer, he can't proc Death to the False Emperor without a Prescience buff. Where he does shine is if you want to kill 5 to 6 wound targets or vehicles with a relatively inexpensive solo model.
***Now Thunders Hammer are 40 points... Except for this guy who plays by his own rules and unique data sheet. His hammer is the equivalent of 23 points, so now somewhat of a useful grab, except he is slow and stupid otherwise. 
**'''Haarken Worldclaimer [Vigilus Defiant]''': Another Black Legion Lord like Mallex, only with a buff specifically for Raptors instead of everyone. At first it seems like he would be a potent force multiplier for any Raptor-heavy army, but sadly he really isn't. He doesn't have a gun (and therefore can't use the Daemon Shells stratagem), instead his Helspear acts as an Assault 1 12" S+1 AP-3 D1d3 weapon [[FAIL|that he can't use in melee]] (and it wasn't fixed in errata). Note that his re-roll aura only works for Raptors (which he is) and but only for their melee weapons, meaning he doesn't even get to re-roll his Spear Throw, which explains why all the art around his reveal was his spear impaled in the ground having not hit anything or anyone. Would have been better if he buffed Warp-Talons as well as they are the ones who actually want to be in melee and would benefit the most from his buffs. At least his aura does let a re-roll of all failed hits rather than just hit rolls of 1, and it applies to all Legions instead of only the Black Legion. Night Lords players should consider taking him in a secondary detachment to put his 18" Ld debuff aura to work and if you're using a lot of raptors and not loading them up with plasma, then this guy actually isn't that bad a choice to bring. At 92 points, he is worth taking and building around
*'''Tactics:''' Here are some tactics that work better for Black Legion than any other Legion.
**'''Black Clad Monster:''' Black Legion Dark Apostle + Black-clad Brute + Black Mace + Omen of Potency makes for a pretty nasty glass cannon. Sadly, 4 wounds won't get you much if you don't keep him protected, but that S8 AP-4 2D Mortal Wound causing Mace will put in work with the assload of attacks he will crank out. 
**'''Black Tide''': March Abbadon up the board with ranks fo CSM and havocs. Use his aura to spam re-rolls and ignore morale. Anti armor weapons will be forced to blast individuals marines while your anti armor will be safe in large blobs. Once the lines converge Abbadon kills what's left.
**'''Chosen of Abbadon:''' Take Abbadon and a Lord in one battalion, make this lord your warlord. Take a Dark Apostle and Sorceror in another battalion, use Council of Traitors stratagem and give them warlord traits. Altogether you have four very potent and very customizable HQs, who are far more than a tax for your troops and CP generation.
*** For an unholy combination of fluff and crunch, proceed as described: 
**** Devram Korda: Make this Lord a dedicated beat stick with Mark of Slaanesh, Intoxicating Elixir, and Indomitable. Go big with Terminator armor and chainfist and/or combi-weapon. Deepstrike this guy with the Justaerian Terminator formation and break your opponent. (Chosen of Warmaster works here as well, if you put him into the formation, though Indomitable/Unholy Fortitude fits his "functionally invulnerable" fluff).
****Ygethmor the Deceiver: Take the Sorceror, give him Mark of Tzeentch and Trusted Warleader, then tool him up however you want to overload your opponent through physic powers and complex dickery. 
****Skyrak Slaughterborn: Take the Apostle, give him Mark of Nurgle, Black Clad Brute, Nurgle prayers, and the relic Crozius. Footslog him along with Abbadon and the troops, maybe some Plague Marines for a juicy wall to protect the core of your army. Let him literally talk shit and provoke his fellow warriors to unspeakable acts of violence.  
****''BONUS'' Urkrathos: Take a Khorne Lord, give him Gorsivex's Teeth chainblade, and pair with some Berserkers in LR or Dread Claw. This guys follows in the wake of everyone else and uses MSU berserker squad to clean up all that remain. He can't take any traits, annoyingly, but he completes the four Chosen of Abbadon.
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