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

===[[Word Bearers]]===
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In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only the laughter of thirsting Gods.

Thematically the Word Bearers are the truest "Legion" out of the Chaos Space Marines, managing to keep their shit together when the Heresy went bad and managing to regroup until they were once more a at Legion-strength, without having every member with delusions of grandeur leave to make his own warband. They love inciting the masses to rebel against [[Imperium|those fools who can't see the truth]] and they're known to bring scores of Daemonic allies into battle. 

Crunch-wise the Word Bearers have the weakest Legion Trait. Fortunately they aren't alone however, being the best choice if you wanna go deep into fully devoted territory be it spamming possessed and buffing them with characters or daemonic allies, whether devoted to one or all of the aspects of the primordial truth we recommend checking the Chaos Daemons tactica too. However, their new content has vastly increased their ability to function without the Chaos Daemon Codex, having gained a slew of powerful Buffing and Utility-based Relics and Stratagems, and top spot as the most powerful Psychic Legion of the Vanilla Chaos Legions. Too bad their Legion Trait is a liability. 
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*'''Legion Trait: ''Profane Zeal'':''' Units with this trait may re-roll failed Morale tests. Just like ''And They Shall Know No Fear'', so you get something all Loyalist scum get ''for free'' with their Chapter Tactics. This doesn't mean you shouldn't take Word Bearers, because there is more to them than their Legion Trait, but if you don't intend on using their Stratagems, Warlord Traits, or Relics, don't take them.
*'''Warlord Traits''': 
**'''''The Voice of Lorgar'':''' Add 3" to the range of any aura abilities (as of the FAQ, this includes prayers) that the warlord has. Rooftop Havocs should be able to hear your Lord shouting at them to shoot straight, whilst covering a lot of ground. It's complete trash unless you drop it on a Dark Apostle to boost the range of his prayers.
**'''''Exalted Possession'':''' This Warlord gains the {{W40kKeyword|POSSESSED}} and {{W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} keywords (if they don't already have them). Add 1 to the Strength and Attacks characteristics of the Warlord, and add 1" to this Warlord's Move characteristic. Note that this means they can be buffed by Greater Possessed, Masters of Possession, Daemonic Loci, and several Relics from the Daemon Codex. Most notably this allows the warlord to be effected by the Revered Hosts stratagem to boost the damage of all weapons the character has.
**'''''Daemonic Whispers'':''' If your army is Battle-forged, roll one d3 before the battle begins, you gain a number of additional Command Points equal to the result. Once per battle, if this Warlord is on the battlefield, you can re-roll a single hit roll, wound roll, damage roll or saving throw.
**'''''Master of the Union'':''' Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of models in friendly {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS DAEMON}} units whilst their unit is within 6" of this Warlord.
**'''''Diabolist'':''' When this Warlord would lose a wound, roll one D6, adding 3 to the result if that wound would be lost as the result of a mortal wound, on a 6+ that wound is not lost.
**'''''Sacrilegious Regeneration'':''' Add 1 to this Warlord's Wounds characteristic. At the start of your turn, this Warlord regains up to D3 lost wounds.
*'''Stratagems''':
**'''''Dark Pact (1CP)'':''' Use this stratagem when a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS CHARACTER}} attempts to summon a unit of {{W40kKeyword|DAEMONS}} to the battlefield using a daemonic ritual. You can re-roll any of the dice used in the summoning roll, and your character will not suffer any mortal wounds for rolling doubles or triples. Considering how much cheaper Daemons have gotten, this makes summoning a lot more viable.
**'''''Malevolent Covenant (1CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem in your Psychic phase when a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS PSYKER}} unit from your army fails a Psychic test. This is autmatically manifested by that {{W40kKeyword|PSYKER}} unit at the minimum required warp charge value and without a double having been rolled, and cannot be resisted by a Deny the Witch attempt. After resolving the effects of the psychic power that {{W40kKeyword|PSYKER}} unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
**'''''Apostle of the Dark Council (1CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem before the battle. Select one {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS PRIEST}} model from you army. It now knows one additional prayer from the Prayers to the Dark Gods and can chant one additional prayer at the start of the battle round, like the Loyalists' Master of Sanctity. You can only use this Stratagem once per battle.
**'''''Cursed Despoilers (2CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem after deployment but before the first battle round begins, if a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS}} unit from you army is on the battlefield. Select one terrain feature (other than a Fortification). Units entirely on or within that terrain feature do not gain the benefits of cover to their saving throws.
**'''''Revered Hosts (1 CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem in the Fight phase when a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS POSSESSED}} unit or {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS GREATER POSSESSED}} unit from your army is chosen to fight with. Unit the end of the phase add 1 to the Damage characteristic of melee weapons models in that unit are equipped with.
**'''''Hexagrammic Wards (1CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem in any phase after making a saving throw for a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS CHARACTER}} model from you army. Treat the result of that saving throw as 6. Each {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS CHARACTER}} model from your army can only be the target of this Stratagem once per battle. A nifty alternative to the traditional Command re-roll. 
**'''''Vengeance for Monarchia (1CP)'':''' Use this Stratagem in the fight phase when a {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS}} unit from you army is chosen to fight with. Until the end of that phase, when resolving an attack made with a melee weapon by a model in that unit against an {{W40kKeyword|ULTRAMARINES}} unit, you can re-roll the hit roll and you can re-roll the wound roll.
*'''Relic''': 
**'''''The Cursed Crozius'':''' S+2, AP-2, and a flat 3 damage, replacing a power maul or accursed crozius. In addition, the bearer may re-roll failed wound rolls with the weapon in close combat when fighting against {{W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} units. An extremely powerful relic for one of the weakest Legions in the codex, there is almost no reason to skip over this as it's a great option and can dish out a shocking amount of pain. Put it on a Dark Apostle with the Omen of Potency and he'll be striking like a mini-Greater Daemon. Using Stratagems to allow him to strike twice can actually have him outperform Bloodthirsters, albeit at the cost of a shitload of CP.
**'''''Crown of the Blasphemer'':''' Improve the invulnerable save of a model with this Relic by 1, to a maximum of 3+. Subtract 1 from the Leadership characteristic of models in enemy units whilst within 6" of this model.
**'''''Baleful Icon'':''' When a charge roll is made for a charge declared against any friendly {{W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS}} units within 6" of a model with this Relic, subtract 2 from the result.
**'''''Book of the Reviler'':''' Model that is not a {{W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} only. Before the battle, a model with this Relic can read from the Book of the Reviler. If it does, randomly generate two Chaos Boons for that model from the table found in the Chaos Boon Stratagem, re-rolling Spawndom, Daemonhood, and duplicate results. Note that doing so does not cost any Command Points and an enemy {{Template:W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|VEHICLE}}, or {{Template:W40kKeyword|MONSTER}} model does not have to have been destroyed.
**'''''Malefic Tome'':''' {{W40kKeyword|PSYKER}} model only. A model with this Relic knows one additional psychic power from their chosen discipline. When a Psychic test is taken for a model with this Relic, add 1 to the total.
**'''''Ashen Axe'':''' Model with a chainaxe only. This Relic replaces a chainaxe and has the following profile - +1 Str, -2 AP, d3 Dmg. Enemy units with 1" of a model with this Relic cannot fallback unless they have the {{Template:W40kKeyword|VEHICLE}} or {{Template:W40kKeyword|TITANIC}} keywords, or have a minimum Move characteristic.
**'''''Epistle of Lorgar'':''' {{Template:W40kKeyword|PRIEST}} model only. When a model with this Relic chants a prayer, you can re-roll the dice to determine if that prayer is heard. Add 1 to the Leadership characteristic of models in friendly {{Template:W40kKeyword|WORD BEARERS}} units whilst their unit is with 6" of this model.
*'''Strategies:''' Despite their Legion Trait, Word Bearers have a very obvious playstyle of Daemons, Auras, buffing, and Morale. Daemons add an ABSURD level of complexity and variety to an Army list, and a Dark Apostle, Chaos Lord, or any Daemon Squad can be buffed out to truly insane proportions. 
**'''''Allies From Beyond:''''' The first is to take Masters of Possession and go heavier on the monsters/Daemons; if you use Dark Pact when using Incursion you can make their summoning extremely reliable, conjuring up max-sized Daemon units (seekers come to mind to make it much more likely you'll make the charge, or Bloodcrushers since they're just devastating on the charge and it's not too much harder to make) or the new Keeper of Secrets, thanks to having a low enough charge you'll get it the vast majority of the time. If you really want to boost your daemons then summon a Herald (preferably of Slaanesh) to boost all the Keeper's attacks to S7 (and sword to S9) to wound Marines on 2's while being able to crush vehicles. Even just from a support role the Keeper can help out if you already have Possessed or other Slaanesh in combat since they can almost immediately cast Hysterical Frenzy and give you an out-of-sequence close combat round (although you're better off doing this from a Herald if you just want to troll the enemy with that move). Don't worry about skipping out on Sorcerers, if you really want something like Warptime you can always use the Chaos Familiar Stratagem to give it to one of the Masters of Possession. 
**'''''Little Lorgar:''''' The second way to go about it is to use the Dark Apostle to hold the main line. With The Cursed Crozius and the Omen of Potency prayer he makes a very effective charge deterrent, since you can make him have 6 Strength 6 (8 if you make him an Apostle of the Dark Council and chant the Khorne prayer in addition) Ap-4 attacks that do 3 damage each, meaning he's effectively punching in at near the same weight class as a Greater Daemon (greater if you want to burn a lot of CP, 1 for beseeching and 3 for getting him to fight again, just in case you wanted to make Bloodthirsters look like pansies). Given the Voice of Lorgar and by using Illusory Supplication you can pretend you've got an army of Daemons by spreading that 5++ save around, which goes well with lots of Cultists and/or Havocs, especially since he fixes the former's morale issues. Naturally this works a lot better in smaller to mid point games than the really large ones, though he still provides a decent bubble there too.
***Do note that if you want him to hit even harder, you can also choose to go with Exalted Possession instead of Voice of Lorgar, which in turn lets him benefit from the Vessels of the Neverborn stratagem from the Daemonkin Ritualists detachment, and also allows him access to even further buffs but at that point you're basically trying to make a smash captain rather than hold the line.
**'''''Angry Little Lorgar:''''' Khorne-Flavored Apostle with the Black Mace. Only D2, but More Str (9) and potential to deal Mortal Wounds on 6s.
**'''''Cursed Lord:''''' Chaos Jump Lord with Cursed Crozius and Exalted Possession. Swinging for a flat 3 damage at S7 is nice and gets better with Revered Hosts. If you team up with a Nurgle Daemons DP with locus and Virulent Blessing you can be getting up to ludicrous levels of damage per unsaved wound. Probably better in theory hammer than on the tabletop.
**'''''Tarpit Lord:''''' Chaos Lord with Jump Pack and the Ashen Axe. This model's primary purpose is to tag along side your assault forces and lock the enemy in combat. It's easy to pile into a non-vehicle unit with the lord and trap your opponent - if you pile in your close combat unit to the same target to can protect your self from shooting.
**'''''Angry Possessed:''''' Make your detachment a specialist Daemonkin Ritualists. Then give your warlord Master of the Union trait. Uses Vessels for the Neverborn (1 CP) and Revered Hosts (1 CP) stratagems. Congratulation, you've got a squad of Strength 6, Attack 2+D3, Damage 2 per models. You can go even further with a Greater Possessed, Master of Possession, Dark Apostle, Skull Altar, Skarbrand and/or Herald. They can become really brutal at full potential. And as they are very tough with HP 2 and Save 3+/5++, they are more durable than Berserks and can make hole in higher toughness. Add in a Field Commander with "Shepard of the True Faith" and now you're doing mortal wounds on top of your already massive damage output.
***Give the Possessed Nurgle's Mark.  Ally or summon in a Nurgle Daemon psyker with the Virulent Blessing power.  Buff the Possessed unit with Virulent Blessing, VotLW, and the Soultearer Portent prayer. Each Possessed's attacks are now doing 4 damage apiece on wound rolls of 4+.
(((Fabius Bile is also a good choice for buffing possesed))) this needs to be divided into several sections of angry possesed. It is too long 

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