Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

====Artefacts of Chaos====
This is where you find your Daemon weapons and other cool Chaos-y stuff. You're only allowed one of each. The Axe of Blind Fury and Black Mace are Daemon weapons which, just like before, add +D6 attacks, but a roll of one automatically wounds the model with no armor or cover saves (although you can still take Invulnerable saves) and reduces him to WS1. Note that these weapons are not restricted to just Chaos Lords - any model that says it can take a wargear from the Artefacts of Chaos list can. Also keep in mind that a model who ascends to Daemonhood loses all his wargear and rules, so if you take one of these and ascend during the game you don't get to keep your toy. 

Among your chief weapons are:

* '''The MURDER SWORD''': A power sword that you can give to almost any of the non-special character HQs. Before the game you declare one enemy model to be the target of the '''MURDER SWORD'''. Once the wielder of the '''MURDER SWORD''' comes into base contact with the model during Assault, the '''MURDER SWORD''' doubles the users strength, the weapon becomes AP1 '''and''' gains Instant Death due to its special rule, '''MURDER'''. Great for killing off that special snowflake in your opponent's army. Note that, thanks to Champion of Chaos, you can end up fighting some puny Sergeant in a challenge. Sure, you'll still have a sweet-looking AP3 power weapon (which, given the statlines of most of the Chaos HQ choices, should be more than killy), but you'll have to put up with an idiot with a power fist trying to murder you first.... and after messily slaughtering him, you can move on to the actual target. This delaying tactic is why some have decried the '''MURDER SWORD''' as "horrible," but these people clearly just have no taste for style. 
**'''Alternate Opinion''': While it's awesome to use with excessive brute force, '''The MURDER SWORD''' can also be used [[Troll|in other ways]]. Let's get the obvious out of the way: the enemy character chosen to be '''MURDERED''' (from now on called the ''corpse'') is going to do everything in his power to avoid getting near the character who owns the '''MURDER SWORD''', shooting the poor bastard to death or [[Tarpit|flogging down him with anything he can]] all game long, rendering the '''MURDER SWORD''' useless. And with good reason: with this piece of cake, any Chaos Lord, or even a buffed Sorcerer (not saying Daemon princes) can kill any vanilla HQ and almost all Special characters in ONE round of combat(as long they don't have Eternal warrior). Keeping that in mind, the '''MURDER SWORD''' has a... say, "Hazard Aura", where the ''corpse'' won't enter. This depends, of course, on the movement range of the '''MURDER SWORD''''s owner, [[METAL BOXES|his transport]], or anything that makes him cover more ground and assault. You can take advantage of this. Place the wielder of the '''MURDER SWORD''' where you think the ''corpse'' can make the most harm and enjoy seeing the look on your opponent's face when he figures out that [[Not as planned|you've ruined his battle-plan and rendered his special snowflake useless]]. Even more, you can use this to make the ''corpse'' go where you want him to be, like within sight of your tanks, alone in a corner... your call. It's difficult to master, but you'll enjoy it when it succeeds. HOWEVER, be aware that no one likes being trolled that way, so expect that the wielder of the '''MURDER SWORD''' and whatever squad he hangs out with, if any, will become the greatest fire magnet you've ever seen, so kit the wielder accordingly. [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|And even this can be used to your advantage...]] Basically, give it to a Tzeentchian Sorcerer on Disc (3+/3++), stick him into a HUGE blob of Cultists and enjoy trolling.
** -note- you only have to be in base to base contact with the CORPSE to get the x2 str and the AP 2. Need something to '''MURDER''' loyalist termies??? Stick the '''MURDER''' '''SWORD''' in a bike squad and use the champion to challenge, letting the lord mop up the squad while your bike champ eats it.

* '''The Black Mace''': A mace (''not a power maul'') with Fleshbane (wounds on 2+), AP4, and a nifty special rule: '''CURSED'''. When The Black Mace causes an unsaved wound, the model who took it must take a toughness test. If they fail, that model is removed with no saves allowed and all enemy models within 3" of the model with the Black Mace must take the toughness test as well. It's scary AND can affect enemy models even when your wielder is in a challenge. If AP4 doesn't sound good enough, give it to a Daemon Prince, whose Monstrous Creature AP 2 takes precedence over the weapon's AP. The terrifying nature of this weapon, of course, is that it does not inflict Instant Death, but rather removes the model from play, meaning that any big terrifying model you please (short of gargantuan creatures, anyway) that fails a Toughness check will simply disappear, Eternal Warrior or not.

* '''Axe of Blind Fury''': This toy is reserved for those with Mark of Khorne. Adds +2 Strength at AP2 and gives the Rage USR (even though Mark of Khorne already gave you Rage). Really nice, but it lowers your WS and BS by 1 which is a bit of a bummer. Still, A Chaos Lord or Apostle with this can go nuts. Thanks to the latest FAQ, Daemon Prince of Khorne can take the Axe of Blind Fury, and <s>good</s> dark gods, he is MASSIVELY brutal with this toy - it's fucking 7+D6 S9 AP2 WS8 attacks on the charge. Alternatively, give it to a Juggernaut Lord and enjoy the bloodshed. He'll cost a measly 155 pts and destroy anything as long as you can keep him alive (blob of Cultists) and out of Challenges.

* '''Burning Brand of Skalathrax''': S4 AP3 Assault 1 like a flamer on Doom Siren 'roids (regular flamers are AP5). The special thing about it is has Soul Blaze and Torrent. Throw it on a winged Daemon Prince and you can troll the fuck out of the enemy: Vector Strike one squad, then use the flamer to either finish them or melt another unit entirely. Vector Strike a Metal Box, burn the SPESS MEHREENS that pour out. Alternatively, placing it on a bare-bones (or near-bare-bones) Chaos Lord gives you a very irritating little character that will be hard-pressed not to kill enough models to earn his points back and then some.

* '''Scrolls of Magnus''': Big scroll of spells reserved for the followers of Tzeentch, so [[Meme|put on your robe and wizard hat]]. At the start of every turn, you can roll for a random psychic power in a random domain (either Pyromancy, Biomancy, Telepathy, Tzeentch, Telekinesis, or Divination). If you roll a power you already have, you start the whole process over.
**Cool though it may seem, this actually has some pretty big downsides. First off, you can't take Primaris powers, which is bad, since there are quite a few nice Primaris powers (such as in Divination or Telepathy). It also doesn't increase the number of warp charge tokens you get, so unless you have a ton of mastery levels (and you're capped at three), you won't benefit all that much. Not to mention that the whole process is totally random: you won't necessarily get a spell that's useful to you, but you won't know until after you take the hit. Which brings us to the really big downside: every time you roll on the table, '''including re-rolls''', the model takes a S3 AP1 hit; sure, that's only one wound at most, but that's a wound you take for almost no advantage. Finally, this toy is denied to Princes, Mark of Tzeentch or not, which makes some sense, but also limits it to, essentially, Sorcerers, who are squishy as it is. According to the CSM FAQ, a model that uses the Scrolls of Magnus becomes a Psyker (presumably giving them one warp charge), allowing it to be used by any HQ with the Mark of Tzeentch, even if the model in question isn't naturally a Psyker. A Dark Apostle with a 3++ and the Scrolls of Magnus makes for an interesting if not tourney-worthy play style.

* '''Dimensional Key''': A very interesting doo-dad. The Dimensional Key activates after its holder kills a model in close combat. Afterwards, any enemy model within 12" of the holder treats their environment as both Difficult and Dangerous terrain. On top of that, all models that deep strike (anywhere, not just within 12" of the bearer) after the key activates don't scatter for the rest of the game.
** Take Ahriman/Huron as warlord, then infiltrate a winged DP or Chaos Lord with jump-pack/bike/steed and Raptors/Bikers/Spawns escort. Voila! 1st turn charge for perfect deep strikes is almost yours!  Except for the fact that infiltrating units can't charge first turn in 6th edition. For extra lulz place some LoS-blocking hills or walls near the enemy deployment zone, as per 6th Edition's terrain deployment rules.
**'''Alternative opinion:''': The Dimensional Key is an item that is much less effective than one might think. Unless one is extremely lucky, both with rolls and unit placement, the best a unit can hope for is a turn-2 assault. This wouldn't seem too bad, until one remembers that reserves start to arrive at the beginning of turn 2 on a 3+. This means that generally, 2/3rds of your reserves will have already arrived by the time you activate it. Those remaining units will certainly arrive safely, but it is difficult to justify 25 points on a wargear option that affects, in the vast majority of cases, two units at best, chosen randomly. When one is allied with Daemons (which is an excellent idea, as they are the only army that are Battle Brothers with Chaos Marines) this item is even less useful, as fully 5/6ths of your army has arrived by turn 2. '''It also has no effect on Daemons if they are allies, as stated by the book'''.
**'''In apocalypse:''' When you have the ability to choose when your reserves come in, this really gains some traction.