CSM in 6th Review: Chaos Spawn

Don't be too quick to dismiss these entities.  They may be warped beyond recognition by the fickle nature of the warp powers, but that doesn't mean they're cute puppy kitty dog cats either.  Against space marines, they'll be hitting on 4+ and wounding on 3+.

The mutated beyond reason rule is entertaining, in an analogous way to possessed powers, but a little bit weaker perhaps.  They essentially get a one in three chance of a reasonable armour save (they have none otherwise), rolling 2d6 and picking the highest for their attacks (this is actually remarkably powerful) and gaining poisoned attacks (okay, so they're not going to attempt to take on T=8 targets, but re-rolling the "to wound" roll against marines, eldar, gaunts, orks, etc., is a real plus).

They get rage and fearless in-built for the points cost (and fear, meh!) but are very bulky (only 3 per land raider! gah!).  Given the rage rule, the mark of Khorne for these guys is cheap, but not highly warranted.

The mark of Tzeentch will at least give the spawn a regular invulnerable saving throw, even if it is 6+.  So that represents a better investment.

The mark of Slaanesh brings the spawn's initiative up to the same level as a space marine, so at least they're striking at the same time.  But that's not too brilliant.

I think the mark of Nurgle has it here.  Having T=6 means that the chaos spawn will not suffer instant death at the hands of a well placed battle cannon shell and takes the "to wound" roll of ordinary bolter shells to 6+.

Here's some quick ideas.

5 Chaos Spawn, Mark of Nurgle (180 points)
Take with a quick chaos lord (i.e. on a bike!) and charge forward.  Use the spawn to screen any incoming shots against the lord.

3 Chaos Spawn, Mark of Tzeentch, Chaos Landraider (332 points)
What could be more improbable than a small squad of chaos spawn jumping out of a land raider? (Just write down on a piece of paper that they're loaded inside - so that you can show your opponent - whilst you deep-strike the terminators elsewhere -- a nasty distraction!).  Swap out the mark of Tzeentch for the mark of Slaanesh for a slightly cheaper variant.  Hope that you get a full 18 attacks after disembarking.  Don't forget rage!

1 Chaos Spawn (30 points)
Urm, you got 30 points left over, right?  And you're not expecting to get any champion turned in to a chaos spawn.  Soooooo .... use those points and play the chaos you've always wanted to.  Run as fast as your tendrils / legs / hooves / arms can carry you to contest an objective somewhere.  Try not to die too quickly to bolter / gauss / shuriken fire -- stick to cover.  Alternatively, use as a fire magnet to lure a more inexperienced player in to shooting at it instead of something else.

That's about all I've got.  Given the Chaos Boon Table, I think we're going to be investing in the odd chaos spawn or two anyhow, so any additional ideas on what to do with them are welcome!

CSM in 6th Review: Chaos Bikers

They're fast, they have the blessings of the dark gods, and they can take a pair of special weapons. Chaos bikers are appealing on a number of levels for the Chaos General as they provide a (cheaper than previously) way to bring some fast pain to requisite targets.

As with other chaos units, one of the bikers is a chaos champion and will have to issue challenges in melee, so its best to equip them for that role as they're rather likely to get stuck in to a unit sooner rather than later.  The champion has access to the regular ranged and melee weapons, the gift of mutation, and melta bombs.  That provides a nice degree of customizability that is comparable to ground based troops.

The squad as a whole can take the usual four marks, icons and Veterans of the Long War.  The mark of Khorne and Slaanesh will help with a combat orientated biker squad; whilst the marks of Nurgle and Tzeentch helps with survivability.  Indeed, it is worth noting that for Nurgle, a chaos bikers' toughness goes up to 6 which is very significant.

Before looking at some example squad set-ups, I want to make one additional note.  One way we can think of bikers is that we get a bunch of marines with a free transport.  Let's suppose that we try to construct an analogue unit that is made up of a rhino plus some chaos marines.  A chaos marine armed with bolter, bolt pistol and close combat weapon is 15 points.  Three of them are therefore 45 points.  Adding a rhino takes the total up to 70 points.  Hence chaos bikers are completely comparable in cost to (an impossibly small sized) squad of ordinary marines in a transport.  But the bikers have advantages: their twin-linked bolters are strictly better than regular bolters.  They sacrifice the security(?!) of their rhino for enhanced toughness, so they are in some ways more vulnerable.  Never forget they can still die to bolter fire.  Use them wisely and use cover to protect them until the alpha-strike manoeuvre that you're planning is able to be executed!

3 Chaos Bikers, 2 Plasma Guns, Icon of Vengeance (125 points)
An harassment unit that should be used to ping high value (high armour save) targets as often as possible.  Swap out the plasma guns for meltas to taste.  Use their speed to keep shooting pressure on.  Use as a lure.  Use in the late game to contest objectives.  Use two or three of these squads in one army.  Job done.

6 Chaos Bikers, 2 Melta Guns, Mark of Slaanesh, Veterans of the Long War, Icon of Excess, Biker Champion with power weapon, melta bombs and combi-melta (233 points)
Take out a transport (even land raider) using the triple meltagun threat.  Use the high initiative to get the drop on the contents of the transport (especially enemy space marines) and the champion's power weapon to assault them with.  The Icon of Excess will help to keep them alive against the enemies attack and can help to tarpit opponents until backup arrives, if necessary.  Team up with a Slaaneshi sorcerer for added fun.

7 Chaos Bikers, 1 Flamer, 1 Melta Gun, Mark of Nurgle, Champion with Power Fist (232 points)
A generalist squad -- think of them as a pseudo-analogue to a plague marine squad but faster!  But with toughness of 6, these guys are even better since they're much harder to wound.  Opponents are going to be targeting their plasma weapons on them to get them down.  They're therefore a distractor unit, so we'd better have some secondary unit of dread waiting in the wings.

8 Chaos Bikers, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath, Veterans of the Long War, Champion with power weapon and melta bombs (234 points)
The anti-infantry squad.  Charge!

CSM in 6th Review: Chaos Rhino

The Chaos Rhino deserves a quick mention in the review of the new chaos space marine codex. To be fair, the rhino is a pretty standard piece of kit and is not vastly different to the loyalist analogue. It is the potential upgrades that can set it aside from its loyalist counterparts, so we'll look at a few example builds in turn.  (and you'll notice I've avoided making any statement about whether armies should be investing in such tanks any longer!).

Chaos Rhino with combi-bolter, search light, smoke launchers, repair, havoc launcher (47 points)
The havoc launcher is a splendid upgrade that just got cheaper in the new codex.  Don't underestimate the threat that the havoc launcher can have: regular S5 pie plates with re-rolls to hit are pretty awesome to "ping" enemy hold-outs with, even if they get an armour or cover save.  I'd recommend taking several of these rhinos if you're going to go down this route, just to keep the threat level high.

Chaos Rhino with combi-bolter, search light, smoke launchers, repair, extra armour, destroyer blades, combi-melta (70 points)

An expensive variant, to be sure. I see the purpose of this one is to deliver its (valuable?) contents to the heart of the battlefield, using the extra armour and smoke launchers to keep it intact.  The combi-melta (which could be dropped if points are an issue) is there to augment the potential of the riders to take out targets (recall, two passengers can shoot from the hatch on the top).  Finally, once the passengers have been delivered, the destroyer blades come in to play.  If the rhino has survived this long, its role is now to tank shock and destroy any units hunkered down on objectives.  Take a few destroyer blades in an army for a themed, shocking potential.

Chaos Rhino with combi-bolter, search light, smoke launchers, repair, extra armour, dirge caster (50 points)

Get the assault-orientated passengers to where they need to be (using smoke screens and the extra armour), disembark and charge (but sadly not in the same turn).  Keep the rhino close so that the dirge caster prevents overwatch.  This isn't a particularly good set-up, as the dirge caster would be superior in conjunction with a land raider (which does have an assault ramp), but can be effective if positioned just right on the turn that they disembark.

CSM in 6th Review: Noise Marines

Lots of plusses about Noise Marines in the new Chaos Space Marine codex.  They got cheaper, they can produce a prodigious amount of firepower and are dangerous in close combat due to their higher initiative. Their sonic weapons are also cheaper and the Icon of Excess looks on paper to be pretty awesome.

In comparison to the old codex, the Noise Marines now are strictly better. They have more options, and more builds.  Squad upgrades include the sonic weapon (excellent price), close combat weapons (in exchange for the bolter, or instead of taking sonic blasters), Veterans of the Long War (great in a space marine heavy meta-game), Icon of Excess (making them feel no pain -- very cheap as well if there we're taking a large blob of Noise Marines), and one in ten marines can get a blastmaster.

The Noise Champion can get the doom siren, in addition to melta bombs, an odd gift of mutation as well as access to melee and ranged weapons from the armoury.

Let's have a look at the the sonic weapons to start with.  The blasters have been changed to Salvo 2/3.  But, we've got to remember one thing about "salvo" weapons: we cannot charge any model who has fired a salvo weapon.  So if you're planning a charge, you need to switch to bolt pistols. That said, their ability to ignore cover and a range of 24" means they're always going to be pretty useful on the move, or stationary.  The blastmaster on the other hand, is tremendous.  Seriously!  With a choice of modes (both of which ignore cover and cause pinning), this weapon singularly can cause tremendous headaches and has great range to boot.  Alone, this weapon is the reason to go for 10 strong squads.  For the Noise Champion, the doom siren is an interesting selection for an assault-orientated squad.  The AP3 on the template weapon is clearly going to down space marines and discourage assaults.

Since there's so much here, let's turn now to consider a pair of comparably priced builds and a crazy 20 man shooty squad.

10 Noise Marines, 9 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster (237 points)

A ranged, blasting unit.  Set them up in a building or ruin to start with.  Only move them out to gain better range.  Use as a bait by spreading them out and then falling back (not routing!), firing as they go, luring the enemy close to other guns and units.  Take a bastion for fun?

6 Noise Marines, 2 sonic blasters, 4 close combat weapons, Veterans of the Long War, Icon of Excess, Noise Champion with doom siren, melta bombs and power sword, rhino with dirge caster and havoc launcher (245 points)

This is an assault orientated squad with a fluffy number of members.  Get on board the rhino and fire the salvo weapons from the roof-top hatch, along with the havoc launcher to lay down a strong ground fire.  Get out, rapid fire.  Assault the enemy (don't forget the doom siren) or let them charge you (don't forget the doom siren).  Use the champion to take out opposing champions and sergeants to secure rolls on the chaos rewards table (did he make daemon prince?).  Use the Icon of Excess to buff the saving throws of your (smallish) squad and keep them alive.  Once done, hop back on board the rhino and get away!

20 Noise Marines, 14 sonic blasters, 2 blastmasters, Icon of Excess, Noise Champion with Power Sword, Aegis Defence Line with Quad Gun (622 points)

Team up with a Slaaneshi sorcerer to (hopefully) get Symphony of Pain.  Shoot.  Then shoot some more.  Then don't bother shooting some of the blasters, but shoot the blastmasters instead and maybe the quad gun.  Then shoot a bit more.  If in trouble, charge the enemy: the icon and high initiative should be enough.  These guys are going to be a tough nut to crack. Probably strictly better to run as two 10 man squads (but then 2 Icons would be getting expensive), but what the heck: we can dream.

There's something for everyone here.  And more significantly, Noise Marines just made the top tier!

CSM in 6th Review: Plague Marines

Plague marines actually got cheaper in the new codex, despite apparent price hikes to the contrary. They lost their stinky blight grenades that caused no bonus attack for charging them, but instead, they gain poisoned weapons.  This change takes them back a few editions and they're now (once again) a threat to all monstrous creatures in close combat. Plague marines retain their tactical flexibility: they're able to take two out of flamers, meltaguns, and plasmaguns. Alternatively, two marines in a squad may take plasma pistols. This leads to a multitude of battlefield roles.

The plague champion gets access to melee and ranged upgrades from the armoury, as well as a gift of mutation, melta bombs.  Of course, they can also purchase Veterans of the Long War and can take an Icon of Despair and a rhino transport.

Regarding the Icon of Despair, I really don't think its worth it.  The ability to cause fear in opponents is a bit sub-par in a space marine heavy meta-game.  Without the ability to summon daemons / act as a homing device, this is one icon that has lost its touch and purpose. That said, they also function as an analogue of instruments of chaos from chaos daemons.  Therefore, if the express purpose of a particular plague marine squad is to tar-pit, then the icon will be valuable -- take it.

I feel a bit conflicted about the Gift of Mutation for plague marine champions.  On the one hand, they could get a good roll that makes it well worth the points.  This is particularly true for a tar-pit unit.  But a ranged unit, it is not so much worth while taking the upgrade.  So, I think this upgrade is situational.

Finally, since plague marine champions have I=3, I think that they're probably the one and only type of champion that can afford to have a power fist.  Since they're going to be striking after the majority of miniatures in the game, they're already relying on their enhanced toughness and feel no pain to avoid being killed in direct challenges thanks to the Champion of Chaos rule.  It's an expensive gamble, though, to be sure.  But one that I'll be taking.

Let's have a look at a few potential squad set-ups.

5 Plague Marines, 2 plasma guns, plague champion with combi-plasma (160 points)
A small squad of plasma death.  Team up with an infiltrating warlord to cause a little panic.  Or keep them in an advanced position in your half of the table: ready to shoot down enemy bikers that get too close.  Hold an objective late in the game that is in your own half.  Or add a fortification (Aegis defence line or a bastion, plus quad gun) for a strong anchor that won't be taken down in a hurry.  Add two extra marines to make the squad size to 7 and be a little bit fluffy about things (and a little more survivable).

7 Plagues Marines, 1 Flamer, 1 Melta Gun, plague champion with power fist, rhino with havoc launcher (255 points)
This has to be one of my favourite set-ups.  Although it can be criticised for not being "focussed" in the sense of going for mixed ranged special weapons, it is an all-rounder that has proved effective time and again.  Use the rhino to get close (or as a line-of-sight blocker) and ping the enemy regularly with the havoc launcher.  Get out, rapid fire, flame and melt.  Then charge on the next turn (or get charged and have a nice flamer overwatch against the chargers).  Hope the champion survives an opposing sergeant and unleash the power fist on them in return.  The power fist also provides a way to down dreadnoughts and other targets.  There's little not to like in this set up for me!  Add in the Icon of Despair if you think they're going to be doing plenty of close combat, or Veterans of the Long War if you know the enemy in advance.  Either way, its still cheaper than the previous edition.

10 Plague Marines, Veterans of the Long War, 2 flamers, champion with powerfist, Icon of Despair, Rhino with havoc launcher (342 points)
A combat tar-pit squad.  Add in a gift of mutation on the champion if there's some spare points left over.  Get stuck in as soon as possible to the enemy.

20 Plague Marines (480 points).  Better to use as 4 x 5 Plague Marines for the same points in many circumstances.
A "naked" squad of 20 plague marines.  Their high toughness and feel no pain means that they're not going anywhere fast (so long as someone else in the force takes care of pesky vindicators coming their way).  Spread them out to hold lots of ground, use as a road bump.  Claim objectives and stay put.  Take on a monstrous creature you want dead. In short, they're hard to remove quickly.  This set-up is strictly better as 4 lots of 5 man squads due to the extra attack on the champion (assuming you've got a Nurgle lord and they're troops), but some players dislike such small squads, even when T=5.

CSM in 6th Review: Thousand Sons

Should they be called "Rubric Marines" since the other three cult units don't get called by their old legion name?  I don't know, but it's up there with the top questions I have about the new codex.  Then again, I suppose the commanding sorcerer is not strictly a "Rubricae".  But I digress.

Thousand Sons in the new Chaos Space Marine codex are still shooty, and their AP3 bolters are going to hurt enemy marines.  They've lost the "sorcerer commands" style rule in favour of simply everything being slow and purposeful.  This isn't so bad, but I was fond of the old style rules simply for fluff reasons.  And they all get Veterans of the Long War for free in their price.

But, they are the priciest of all the four cult marines.  Most of this cost is tied up with having a level 1 psyker in the unit, coupled with the AP3 bolters.  As they're a Tzeentch psyker, they have to select their power from the Tzeentch powers.  Given that we're setting this unit up as a shooty unit for the main part, that means that doombolt and Tzeentch's firestorm are the optimal result.  Unless we're taking a rhino transport: the odd well placed boon of mutation can be superlative.  (NB: breath is a Warp Charge  =2 power, so we can't have it!).

In terms of the upgrades, the aspiring sorcerer can take both a gift of mutation and melta bombs (but nothing from the ranged or melee table!).  I'm a bit "meh" about the boon of mutation: I don't see these guys getting in to combat frequently, but if they do, the force weapon could prove very good when teamed up with a gift of mutation.  Melta bombs again suggest engagement with enemies, so probably not worth taking since we're going to concentrate on shooting.

An Icon of Flame provides the unit with the soul blaze ability.  If it were slightly cheaper, or their bolters weren't AP3, it might be worthwhile.  But it's just on the edge of not quite being worth it in my opinion.

Here's a couple of suggested set-ups:

5 Thousand Sons, Imperial Bastion fortification with quad-gun (275 points)
A good armour save (3+), a good invulnerable save (4+) and a cover save.  Use the sorcerer to mount the quad gun and shoot away.  Fire those other boltguns at anything in range (or use the sorcerers power -- you selected firestorm, right?). Go inside the building as well if you like!  Replace the Bastion with an Aegis defence line to taste.

10 Thousand Sons, Chaos Rhino with Destroyer Blades (315 points)
Ride up to the target marine squad, get out and rapid fire them to oblivion.  Should the rhino survive a little while, use to tank shock enemy units on an objective.  Did you roll Bolt of Tzeentch as the psychic power?  If so, use on enemy vehicles from the back of the rhino along the way for extra impact.