Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

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*'''Chaos Lord''' - A Nasty, inexpensive close-combat character, with tons of options. Even fully-kitted out will usually run you under 150 points - quite impressive in and of itself. Is Fearless by default and has decent starting saves (3+ Armor, 5+ Invuln). Stick him in with a Fearless unit of any kind and he's going to make shit dead. Each of the aligned lords gets their own unique Daemon Weapon if they invest the points - this is a 2-handed power weapon (so no point in grabbing a pistol alongside) that grants +1d6 attacks in close-combat and has some nifty-swell secondary feature. Curiously, all of them are solid choices in their own right. All of them, however, will inflict a wound you can't armor save against (but you can still take an Invuln save) and forfeit your attacks for the round if you roll a one on the bonus attack roll - so be prepared if things do not go [[Just as planned|as planned]].
** '''Undivided''' - Your Daemon Weapon is the simple-but-effective basic Daemon Weapon with [[-4 Str|+1 Str]]. It's quite similar to the Dark Blade of 4th Edition, but with +1 Str instead of +2 and a bunch of bonus attacks. The weakest of the four overall, but the cheapest (no need for a Mark) and an incredibly solid choice in its own right.
** '''Slaanesh''' - Your Daemon Weapon is the Blissgiver, which causes instant death if it scores a successful wound. On most conventional models this isn't much use (since they have one wound anyway), but this makes a Chaos Lord the bane of multi-wound models like commanders, Nobz, and large Tyranid organisms. Widely considered one of the better choices.
** '''Nurgle''' - Your Daemon Weapon is the Plaguespreader, which is poisoned and ergo wounds on a 4+ (and lets you re-roll failed rolls against T4 or lower targets). Basically a 4th edition Dreadaxe minus the Invulnerability-prevention (but with the ability to bypass armor). A damned good choice, good for killing high-Toughness beasties.
**'''Khorne''' - Your Daemon Weapon is the Bloodfeeder, which gives +2d6 attacks instead of +1d6, but you will take the wound as normal if you roll a 1 on either (thankfully, if you roll snake eyes, it's only one wound). Risky, but can lead to 16+ attacks on a charge, which kind of speaks for itself. If you have the blessings of Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome, prepare yourself, because a Lord with this weapon will make virtually any enemy model irrelevant through sheer volume of attacks if it gets in close.
**'''Tzeentch''' - Your Daemon Weapon is the Deathscreamer, which can be fired as a projectile weapon that's S4, AP3, 24" Range and Assault d6 - functionally a variable-fire-rate Doombolt on call with no need for a psychic test that can fire double the number of shots given a good roll. It still does the usual Daemon Weapon thing in close-combat, too. It can be extremely devastating if you go the shooty route, and is the safest of the Daemon Weapons (since Tzeentch's mark on a lord gives a +4 Invuln save).

Chaos Lords in general love to accompany other units; most do best in (ideally) Fearless close-combat units (such as Khorne Berzerkers), though the Tzeenchian Lord is pretty much good wherever (drop him in a Termie Squad or IC him into a team with heavy/special weapons and watch the fireworks). There are other non-Daemon Weapon options too; a pair of Lightning Claws is an old favorite that persists and remains reasonably viable with a Mark of Khorne (or even the Mark of Slaanesh). They have a few options for giving them additional mobility (such as steeds); most of these are of questionable value, though the Juggernaut of Khorne and Palanquin of Nurgle are both purportedly fairly useful. The Bike is a good option if you wish to field [[Doomrider|Doomrider]], due to him not being relevant to the Codex anymore. Another is Wings or a Jump Pack - the former is preferred since a model with wings can still use a transport (but otherwise has the benefits of a jump pack). He can also grab Terminator Armor as one last option; whilst this is kind of a questionable choice for defense (it really only gives a 2+ armor save now since the Lord has a +5 Invuln save by default), it has the upside of making all the good weapons a bit less expensive and lets the Lord teleport in. (Oh, and he can fire his bolter and assault in the same turn.) For maximum effectiveness, give him an Icon and pair him with a Terminator squad, laughing as the entire goddamned thing ''drops exactly where you want it to''. Fun times.


*'''Chaos Sorcerer''' - A Chaos Lord with 1 fewer WS, a slightly higher cost, and a Force Weapon. New Force Weapon rules means he can psychic test twice a round, so this can actually get some use now. His main use is to make use of his unique powers Gift of Chaos (wildly unpredictable and generally sucks but oh sweet [[Emperor|Jesus]] is it hilarious if you pull it off on say [[Ultramarines|Marneus Calgar]]), Wind of Chaos (Cover/Armor Save Destroying Flamer) and Warptime (so help me I am fucking your shit up this turn with my attacks this round) - but Sorcerers are infinitely more-commonly taken for their aligned powers: Bolt of Change (S8, AP1, 24" range Assault 1 rape-ray), Nurgle's Rot (bane of [[Tarpit]]s), and most notably, Lash of Submission (which lets you move enemy units around - which is ''exactly'' as awesome as it sounds). Generally, not a great choice - Daemon Princes generally do it better, after all - but far from a horrid one.


*'''Daemon Prince''' - <Strike>A favorite of the current Codex - and with good reason.</strike> A painful downgrade from the 210 point bane of anything below WS7/T7 of 3rd edition, it still has it's uses. Reasonably-priced, high stats, immune to instant death, and with tons of wargear options. Wings give him serious mobility and he can take a mark as well - and regardless of which he takes, he is going to be a complete pain in the ass to get rid of. Slaaneshi Princes almost invariably take Lash of Submission, so as to fuck up enemies' attempts to take cover; other abilities are to be grabbed on a case-by-case basis. Generally, if you aren't a Slaaneshi or <strike>Khornate Prince</strike> (never fucking ''ever'' give your Prince the Mark of Khorne, +1 attack isn't worth shit, especially so since if you take it you can't take any psychic powers, this isn't 3rd edition.) You should grab Warptime (may as well guarantee you always hit and wound), though Nurgle Princes ''can'' benefit from Nurgle's Rot (tarpit removal) and Tzeentchian Princes ''can'' make some use of Bolt of Change and/or Wind of Chaos (Skimmer-busting and/or a hit of damage as you close in). <strike>Warptime is the favorite though, for obvious reasons. </strike>As of January 2012, Games Workshop released an FAQ for Chaos that buffed Wings and Dreads but screwed over Warptime in a big way (instead of re-rolling all failed hits and wounds, like most people played it, you have to choose to re-roll everything or nothing). Thus, Wind of Chaos is a much better option now. Thanks, GW. Fags.


*'''Greater Daemon''' - Not technically an HQ unit as it does not, in fact, take up one of your HQ slots. Starts off the table, enters play by making one of your aspiring champions explode. He's cheap, in and of himself, but he kills a model that's typically carrying a Power Fist (and costing ~ 60 points) He's a nasty Monstrous Creature, and tends to draw a lot of fire. You could take one in an army with 2 daemon princes, and hope drowning your foe in Monstrous Creatures works. Generally advisable to avoid it, though. 


''The following are special characters:''

*'''Typhus''' - Good god, Typhus. A Fearless Chaos Sorcerer in Terminator Armor with Feel No Pain and Fearless, on top of his Mark of Nurgle. 2 useful anti-swarm Psy powers (Wind of Chaos, Nurgle's Rot) that he auto-passes the psychic tests for, access to Frag and Blight grenades due to his Destroyer Hive rule, and a Manreaper, which is, functionally, a poisoned Force Weapon with the usual +1d6 attacks (and chance of rebellion if you roll a one). He also has FOUR wounds, as opposed to three, and improved toughness from being a Nurgle Lord. Typhus flat-out rocks, to put it simply; he can rape swarms and [[Tarpit]]s through his Psy Powers, whilst his Manreaper allows him to absolutely [[Anal Circumference|rape]] enemy monstrous creatures and commanders. Throw in his grenade access (rare for a Terminator) and he's quite versatile, especially given his sheer balls-out toughness. Typhus is, however, liberally peppered with drawbacks; he's fucking expensive, he can't do a goddamned thing to enemy vehicles, his Invulnerable Save is only a 5+, he lacks Eternal Warrior, and he has WS 5 as opposed to WS 6, like most Chaos Lords (because he's a Sorcerer). Great unit, but keep him the fuck away from enemy walkers and enemies with [[Grey Knights|Force Weapons]].

*'''Lucius The Eternal''' - Lucius is a bit of an odd duck out, as well as the obligatory Slaaneshi Special Character. As a Chaos Lord, he's largely typical, but his abilities and weapons load make him a much nastier close-combat unit than he appears to be at a glance. For starters, he's WS 7, as opposed to the typical Chaos Lord WS 6, and he boasts Initiative 6 due to his Mark of Slaanesh. He lacks a traditional Daemon Weapon - but what he has in return makes this almost not matter. Lucius boasts a Doom Siren (AP3 Heavy Flamer), a Power Sword, and a unique Weapon in the Lash of Torment, which reduces the number of attacks enemy models get by 1. Because he dual-wields his Power Sword and Lash, he actually has one more attack than is readily apparent on his profile, much like Khorne Berserkers, Noise Marines, Plague Marines, and Chaos Space Marine squads. He also has Krak Grenades and Frag Grenades. What truly makes Lucius useful though, on top of all the above, is his unique ability stemming from his Armor of Shrieking Souls - any close combat attack Lucius saves against (Armor Save OR Invulnerable Save) causes an automatic S4 hit on the unit that attacked him, with no armor saves allowed. Suffice to say, Lucius [[FATAL|butt-fucks]] [[Tarpit]]s and big swarms of units that aren't packing power weapons better than most. It's not all good news, however: Lucius positively sucks against vehicles and his 5+ Invulnerable save, whilst useful, isn't exactly a stellar defensive feature. He also lacks Eternal Warrior, which means he's actually quite vulnerable against things like Force Weapons and heavy weapon sniping attempts. Lucius is extremely specialized for infantry-busting - and whilst he excels at it, he can't really do much else. A decent commander if used correctly.

*'''Khârn The Betrayer''' - [[Kharn|A real fun guy to be around]]. Okay, unlike a lot of other stuff, Kharn, who wasn't [[cheese]] in the previous rulebook, has been upgraded, with his weapon improved and his cost decreased. Khârn is the '''only''' unit in all of 40K that hits, in close combat, on a 2+. Then again, if you do actually roll a 1, he hits a random member of any squad he happens to be in - so sometimes it's best to send him out on his own. Kharn boasts a suite of useful traits and equipment, including Gorechild (A power weapon that gives +1d6 to armor penetration rolls), Frag and Krak grenades (the latter of which will never see use), a Plasma Pistol (like you're ever going to use it), Furious Charge, and perhaps most importantly, a complete immunity to Force Weapon instant death effects and Psy Powers. Khârn can demolish damned-near-anything in close-combat, from enemy vehicles to enemy infantry when on the charge - an advantage primarily offset by the fact that he's completely fucking useless if he can't get close, and rather easy to isolate and tear down due to a relatively weak (5+) Invulnerable save. He is best-used either with Berserkers or Regular Chaos Marines - the latter loaded up to the fucking gills with Flamers, the squads shoved in a [[Rhino Transport|Metal Box]] or [[Land Raider|BIG METAL BOX]], and thrown directly at the enemy's face. Like Lucius and Huron Blackheart, Khârn has one more attack than is listed in his profile due to his weapon loadout - for a total of six. Generally, if a player doesn't use a daemon prince with this army, their either using Kharn or Abaddon. Whichever one you want to use depends on how many points you want to spend.

*'''Huron Blackheart''' - What in the Dark Gods' names is it with this Codex and units in it having more attacks than is actually listed in their profile? Much as was the case for Lucius and Khârn, Huron has an additional attack than his profile lists, for a total of 4. An undivided Chaos Lord for those who don't like [[Abaddon|armless failures]], Huron boasts Warptime despite not actually being a Psyker (due to a pet that is one), access to both a Power Weapon and Power Fist (for dealing with faster or slower foes as appropriate), and a Heavy Flamer. In many respects, Huron is kind of like Lucius, in that he's a heavy close-combat unit that can put serious hurt on groups of units he engages; unlike Lucius he's less of an infantry eraser and more of a general-combat unit, since his Power Fist is more than capable of busting open a tank or taking out a pesky Commander unit (and it WILL put a dent in that commander unit out due to Warptime). The thing is, whilst flavorful - especially if you want your Chaos army to be a band of [[Red Corsairs|fuckawesome space pirates]] (and who the fuck doesn't?) - he really does little that a competently-built Vanilla Chaos Lord or Sorcerer can't do just as well. No Eternal Warrior, no ranged capability outside of his flamer, and a weak (5+) Invuln save round out his downsides.

Also, before he got his famous BOOM HEADSHOT to like half of his body, his stats were better. Seriously - you can check the Badab War Imperial Armor books, back when he was still the Tyrant of Badab. He was just all around better.

*'''[[Fabius Bile|Fabulous Bile]]''' - The grand bull mother moose of mixed bags. On one hand, Bile has good stats and wargear: Toughness 5 and Feel No Pain through his Chirugeron, A weapon that causes instant death (Rod of Torment), five attacks, and a particularly nasty poisoned weapon in the Xyclos Needler. On the other hand, his Rod of Torment does ''not'' ignore armor saves (unlike, say, the Slaaneshi Blissgiver), his Xyclos Needler has really bad AP and sub-par range, and perhaps most damning of all, no Invulnerable save, unlike literally every other Chaos Lord and Sorcerer in the codex. So... Sucks, Right? Not quite. The reason Fabius Bile is taken, ironically, isn't for Bile himself; it's for his Enhanced Warriors trait, which can potentially turn a squad of Chaos Marines into murderous close-combat machines for +3 points a model. Whilst risky (It has a 66% chance of giving +1 Strength and Fearless to the unit, a 16.5% chance of making them attack one another (the survivors still get the benefit), and a 16.5% of making them get +2 Strength and Fearless but making them lose a squad member each turn. This advantage cannot be underestimated - Enhanced Warriors are considerably more cost-effective than Khorne Berserkers and cost notably less. To compare, a 10-man Berserker Squad with a Fist-equipped Champion is 250 points; That same unit with Enhanced Warriors is 220 points, making it an extremely thrifty alternative (since the squad can then cram on a pair of flamers and an Icon of Khorne for only 10 points more than the kitted-out Berserker squad - in essence, for only 10 points more, it's fielding a unit with the same stats and Flamers for additional Infantry [[Rape|destruction]]. Suffice to say, this is quite flexible and potentially very useful - provided you get good rolls when it's time to roll on the Enhanced Warrior table. Players who enjoy [[Chaos Dreadnought|randomness]] will often find them remarkably effective, so Bile does have a place in some armies, even though Bile himself kind of sucks. A far cry from how he was in the previous edition, to be sure.

*'''Ahriman''' - He's a Sorcerer that costs as much as a [[Land Raider]]; that's seldom a good sign. On the other hand he has every Psy Power that isn't Nurgle or Slaanesh-specific and boasts a unique piece of gear in the Black Staff, which is a Force Weapon that lets Ahriman fire off THREE psy powers a turn (or use one of them for his Staff's Force Weapon Psychic Test). His [[dakka|firepower]] is absolutely insane; he can smash open vehicles with Bolt of Change, gun down infantry with Doombolt and Wind of Chaos, and bust up units with Warptime and Gift of Chaos. Making him even better, he boasts a Pistol with Inferno Bolts (so he has an S4 AP3 Pistol) and the standard Tzeentch Marine 4+ invulnerable save, which makes him remarkably tough to kill (and ironically, also gives him a measure of protection against his own powers, since he's primarily used to spam spells). Devastating if used right, but makes for a huge and high-priority target. Unlike a lot of other units with this price-tag, such as Old One-Eye, he tends to actually be worth it if carefully managed, mostly due to the fact that he drops a [[Touhou]]-esque barrage of firepower out in short order. Just remember that he's a gigantic fire magnet.

*'''[[Abaddon|Abaddon]] The Despoiler''' - Don't be fooled by jokes regarding his [[Abaddon|lack of arms]] - he may suck a mountain of dicks at leading troops past [[Cadia]], but Abaddon is ''bad news''. He's expensive as hell - more than a Land Raider - but he is, perhaps, the single most dangerous ''thing'' in all of Warhammer 40K tabletop should he get into close-combat. Seriously. [[Kaldor Draigo]], [[Matt Ward]]'s infamous [[Mary Sue|Special]] [[Twilight|Snowflake]] will lose to Abaddon about 80% of the time assuming average dice rolls. Suffice to say, not many units can reliably go toe-to-toe with the Despoiler and survive for more than a round or two, most will die before they even get a chance to hit him, and many armies lack ''squads'' that can do more than offer him more than a token resistance. He has a Daemonblade that gives +4 strength and re-rolls all failed to-wound rolls (in addition to the usual +1d6 attacks), every single Chaos Mark (For +1 Attack, +1 Initiative, a 4+ Invulnerable Save, and +1 Toughness), and Eternal Warrior. Just fielding this unit has been known to make other players break out in hives. On the other hand, the drawbacks are obvious - he costs a fuckton of points, more so than anything else in the codex, he's a huge fire-magnet (fortunately he can be deep-striked) he's extremely vulnerable to being [[Tarpit]]ted or bogged down, he sucks at shooting (only has a Twin-Linked Bolter). Do anything you fucking can to get him into close combat, and [[Abaddon|Try to not let him lose his arms]]. He will maintain his title of undefeatable at melee all the way up to the exact moment where he runs into an apocalypse melee unit like a Heirodule, a Titan, or An'ggrath, at which point he goes down like a little bitch. But hey, every turn they spend [[FATAL|anal raping]] Lord Topknot is a turn they don't spend fucking over your army.

*'''<Strike>[[Rape|Fluffy the utter bane of anything that isn't WS7/T7]]</strike>''' - Whoever wrote this codex, fuck you.