CSM Options: Icon of Excess

Late in 5th edition, there were a number of players who espoused the view that feel no pain had become too wide-spread in many armies.  To me, feel no pain means just that.  The narrative reason behind this had been one of two things: either the human(oid) body in question really wasn't wired for pain, whether due to degenerate disease (Nurgle!) or something similar; or the creature had taken certain chemical concoctions / drugs / psychic weirdness to bypass their pain receptors (Dark Eldar!).  And then necrons were just robots, but they have other rules.  But we'll ignore that!

So, upon reading the new chaos codex, it was a surprise and a narrative fit that I saw the Icon of Excess.  For the Slaaneshi devotees, they now have the option to also feel no pain.  The narrative reason falls under the second concept from above: a bit too much inhalation of "cloying musk" that drives them to seek fresh sensations regardless of the current state of their being.

The price is reasonably high for most units though.  I therefore think that we wouldn't want to be paying more than about 5 pts per marine for this icon for it to be truly effective.  Hence a slightly larger squad than minimal seems ideal for taking this icon, at least 6 (for fluffy reasons) and certainly a full squad of 10.

Additionally, I think the icon should certainly be deployed for front line marines (melee).  But for rear line marines, I have mixed feelings.  I can see how it would be of benefit for sonic weapon squads, or havoc squads, to grant them a little added durability and protection from incoming ballistics.  But the price kind of puts me off.  So I'll be sticking with front line units to use this icon with.

Wargames Gallery: LotR Scenery: Amon Sul Ruined Watchtower at Weathertop

Following the announcement today that Forge World will be re-releasing their resin ruined watchtower of Amon Sul, I thought I'd share this image of the same LoTR terrain that I snapped a little while ago whilst touring some other GWs.  This one was painted up for a small conflict style tournament and I really like the atmospheric look it has.  Whilst I'd love to own one, the price tag of UKP220 is a little much for my tastes.  But I can see the serious collector or wargames organizer wanting one!

CSM Options: Icon of Despair

The icon for Nurgle marked units is the Icon of Despair.  As well as adding 1 to the combat result, the Icon of Despair confers the fear rule to the unit.  Naturally, fearless units don't care.  And They Shall Know No Fear units also don't care.  Yet, the ability to cause fear (reducing opponent's to WS=1 on an unsuccessful Ld check) can be neat.  But, the meta-game features a strong amount of fearless and space marine armies.  The latter in particular make the fear rule one that is very easy to forget.  I've played against eldar, tau and others under 6th edition and not once yet remembered to force a fear check.  Why? Because the majority of my opponents are space marines.  I fear, fear, that I will not remember you. I also fear that fear is not terribly fearful.

Therefore the only reason to take the Icon of Despair is the benefit to combat outcome.  If equipped on tar-pitting units, this is pretty good (see my tactica about plaguebearers and instruments).  So, perhaps I could entertain an Icon of Despair on plague marine squads once in a while.  But, they have more attacks than plaguebearers.  So the case for an Icon of Despair even on plague marines is poor.  Given that the points cost is double the cost of a chaos daemons instrument, my answer becomes a firm no.  Forget the Icon of Despair.  Its a waste of points in my opinion and I won't be taking them.

(Aside: Pity they don't double up as homing icons, otherwise they'd be worthwhile! -- I feel the codex writers and playtesters really dropped the ball on this one -- homing icons have been with chaos for several editions and I'm still shocked at their absence).

CSM Options: Daemonic Steeds

Having gone through all of the units in the Review of CSM in 6th, I now want to turn to a few of the options available to them.  The first one: daemonic steeds.

My only negative comment is that there isn't an "undivided" option. I'm pretty disappointed about this - I really rather liked the concept of daemonic horsemen lords!  Indeed, the general lack of "obvious" undivided chaos in the new codex is an all-round downer.  I guess that the "undivided" mark is now the lack of a different mark, rather than something specific as it used to be.

Those chaos lords with the mark of a specific chaos god have access to the Juggernaut of Khorne, the Disc of Tzeentch, the Palanquin of Nurgle or Steed of Slaanesh.

The Juggernaut gives +1 T, W, A and grants the cavalry rule to the chaos lord.  For the points cost, the extra wound and point of toughness goes a long way.  And of course, the extra attack is positively Khorne-orientated.  I'm impressed by the cavalry rule as well, especially considering that the bloodcrushers of the daemons codex are infantry.  One potential chaos lord build to take advantage of the steed is the following:
Chaos Lord, Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption, Veterans of the Long War (175 points).

The Disc of Tzeentch gives the sorcerer or lord a jetbike and an extra attack. I'm unconvinced that the points are quite worth it over a chaos bike, but I can certainly see how a unique build could be made out of it (see: Chaos Sorcerer for examples).  But a reasonably plain disc-riding Tzeentch Sorcerer seems about optimal for the points.  Consider this one:
Chaos Sorcerer, Level 3 Psyker, Mark of Tzeentch, Disc of Tzeentch, Sigil of Corruption (180 points).

The Palanquin of Nurgle grants a remarkable extra 2 wounds, 1 more attack, and the model becomes very bulky.  That's not a bad exchange rate, but it is pricey for low points cost games.  And what do we need 2 extra wounds for?  Sticking around, obviously.  If only I could outflank or deepstrike the lord on the palanquin, I'd be happy.  But hey.  Perhaps stick him in a large blob of cultists, behind an Aegis Defence Line, and hang tight on an objective!  Example:
Chaos Lord, Mark of Nurgle, Palanquin of Nurgle, Sigil of Corruption, Ichor Blood (150 points).

The Steed of Slaanesh should be swift, but it only adds 3'' to run moves and only 1 extra attack.  Nonetheless, it is cavalry, and gets the acute senses and outflank rule (horrah!).  How do we take advantage of these?  Well, the build has to be something swift, targeted (pick the target and charge!), deadly and works well with outflank.  Something like this:
Chaos Lord, Mark of Slaanesh, Steed of Slaanesh, plasma pistol, the Murder Sword, Sigil of Corruption, Veterans of the Long War (180 points).   

CSM in 6th Review: Chaos Predator

The final entry in the codex proper (I may review some further units from Forge World later) is the chaos predator.  Much like the Imperial version, it can be constructed with autocannon or twin-linked las-cannon as the primary turret weapon, with the usual sponson options.  In addition, it also gets access to the chaos vehicle equipment list for extra load-outs.

The predator needs a role realistically.  The triple-lascannon set-up (the annihilator) will be popular to take down opposing vehicles and monsters, whereas the autocannon (the destructor) and heavy bolter option is much better suited to anti-horde duty.  The cross-over variants are rarer. I regard only the lascannon sponson one as viable since the other variant tries to do two jobs at once and never gets much bang for its buck; whilst I've not seen the mono-turret version played anywhere in a long long while.  Still, the points cost is very comparable to havocs.  i.e. if you want 3 lascannons amongst those havocs, you're paying about the same points cost as for the predator.  So you've got to make the choice: is a vehicle better than infantry?  Maybe and maybe not, depending on circumstance, set-up and opponents.

Here's a few potential builds that are worth consideration.

Chaos Predator, Autocannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons (95 points)
Cheap and great at pumping out plenty of shots every turn.  The classic "dakka pred" is still a cheap cost option to threaten squads of infantry and hordes, whilst having a reasonable reach and also able to threaten light transport style tanks.

Chaos Predator, Autocannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons, Havoc Launcher, Warpflame Gargoyles (112 points)
Something that the Imperials still can't do: add a havoc launcher.  A twin-linked S5 small blast with a 48" range is awesome.  Especially when equipped on every tank you run!  Coupled with the new warpflame gargoyles option, this enhanced dakka pred is one of my favourite builds to take down large gaunt units when you need to, and also put enough hits on marines and terminators to take a few down.

Chaos Predator, Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons (115 points)
This is the one to take down monstrous creatures and provides anti-tank capability to boot.  It also has a reasonable price tag.

Chaos Predator, Twin-Linked Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons (140 points)
The tank-buster.  And can put hurt on greater daemons, big tyranids and other monsters to boot.  It can even take on flyers with a reasonable probability.  But I personally don't play this variant.  I prefer alternate ways of taking down tanks, so please take this entry as a suggestion for apocalypse only.

Chaos Predator, Twin-Linked Lascannon, Combi-Melta, Dozer Blade, Extra Armour, Destroyer Blades (140 points)
Strange.  Yes.  Here's the idea.  Its a tank hunter that once its done its job goes for a tank shock with the destroyer blades.  Okay - don't take this one too seriously: its too expensive to be perfectly honest.  Perhaps take a rhino with a combi-melta and destroyer blades if you're semi-interested instead.  I simply include it as a concept.

Wargames Gallery: Not The Doom Of Mymeara

Despite some scatter upon arrival, the Soul Grinder had 2 good turns against the craft world Eldar, before the fire dragons sent the daemon machine construct back to the dark forges from whence it came!