Don't DEFILE me, brah!!!

I was talking to one of my good buddies, who happens to run a Hobby Center right now, and he pointed out to me that Defilers have been sitting on his shelf for some time without moving.  I asked 'why?' and he replied that the new Daemon-Engines are whooping its ass!  Between aesthetic and points-cost, I can understand.  But I must come the defense of the original and pimp it for a bit.

The year was 2003 (or maybe it was '02, I don't remember).  All us 'sergeants' sat in a crowded room and listened for two days as our bosses told us that we needed to do our jobs and get more hobbyists and actually sell something.  Then the third day rolls around and we finally got what we came for- our 'future product briefing'.  At the time, we were informed of what was being released up to a year later and then told to keep it hush-hush.  Most of us did.  Some black-shirts decided to ruin it for the rest of us.  But in this meeting, we got introduced to the 13th Black Crusade and all that would entail- a new codex, completely new Chaos Marines, a gazillion new kits to match the new loyalist crap, and then the thing that angered me- this new Heavy Support choice that was a vehicle with spider-like legs of iron and crab-like claws of craziness. It also had a torso with a weirdly-placed helmet on top and a cannon loaded into it's chest.

Wait, Chaos Space Marines would now have their own artillery!?  NOOOOOOO!

This was back in the day when I was staunchly loyal and hated everything about the renegades.  And now the Development Team decided to fix the one hole in the book- artillery.  I left HQ very upset that weekend.  But alas, I returned to my shop and begrudgingly sold the hell out of these new models upon release, months later.  Eventually, I decided to revisit my ancient Word Bearers army and I decided that Abaddon would have gifted a few of the war machines to the XVIIth Legion.

You see, the original storyline was that Abaddon decided to have his Dark Mechanicus thralls design and build him a war engine capable of imprisoning a Daemon-spirit as well as blast mighty gouges into enemy lines. The Black Legion was exclusively seen with these, fortifying the idea that Abaddon sanctioned their creation.  Eventually, the Defiler was seen with all liveries and with every type of renegade warband imaginable.  I grew to appreciate this.

The novel "Storm of Iron" was released and BLAM! the Defiler was included and described in detail.  Not only was the book one of the best ever written from Black Library, but the inclusion of the mighty war engines only stoked the fires of desire that much more.  So I bought one.  Then I sold it to a buddy.  Then I bought one again.  Which I gave away to a new kid.  A couple years ago, I acquired three from a friend shipping off to join the military (yay good luck!), of which I gave one to a novice friend last year.  But I still have my remaining two.  And I stare at them everyday in my garage, er, workshop.  That might be because they're prominently displayed...  But I digress.

I didn't really like the model itself and most hobbyists believe that it's too big and looks too different from everything else.  I was more than inclined to agree.  That is until this year, when the new daemon-engines hit the shelves.  Now the Defiler is not much larger (height-wise, in any case) and actually matches the original aesthetic of the Chaos Marines much better than the new stuff.  On top of that, the look actually grew on me over the years and now I see the machine as an impressive 'living vehicle'.  The spider-leg construct has become my favorite part, leading me to want a Necron army like there's no tomorrow (but I'm poor, so the Defilers will have to sate my mechanical desires for the time being).  All-in-all, the Defiler is a beautiful 'ugly' war engine to me now.

I do have to mention my grand plans for the Defiler, though.  At one point, I had decided to convert my Defilers to match my army.  Everyone knows I'm a Word Bearers guy and have been for decades, so I have that desire to have 'cathedrals' and 'cursed sanctuaries' throughout my army.  You see, waaaaaay back in the day GW had the fluff for the XVIIth Legion noting them as 'cult creators' and builders of massive halls of worship to the dark gods everywhere they went.  A little slave labor and some heretic love equals lots of daemons.  In fact, my original army saw all my characters with building tools as weapons (buzz saws, rock drills, pretty much all the Necromunda pit-slave weapons) as they were supposed to represent an 'engineering company'.  The characters have been given away and that old army is long lost to the warp, but my idea for the Defilers was born later and stuck.  What I wanted to do to exemplify this theme was tear the turret-torso from the machine and replace it with a Warhammer Tower (obviously involving some conversion), which would then have an inset cannon and the parapets manned by cultists controlling the other guns on a Defiler.  It was, and still is, a brilliant idea.  Unfortunately, I've recently (within the last four years) realized that I'm lazy and don't want to do that much work.  So, alas, the standard model it is.

MY 1st Defiler, now bloodied on my Dark Angels too often.

Now that I'm done talking about how the thing looks, let me talk about why I like it in the game.  I'm hoping that someone will read this and actually forgo one of the newer engines and grab up the mecha-spider-blasty-claw monster for their army instead.  Let's see if that works...

For the same cost as a Chaos Land Raider, you get a much less resilient model.  Or is it?  It has 4 Hull Points, just like a Land Raider, but it only has armor 12.  If only it had an invulnerable save or something to make it at least almost as survivable.  Oh, wait, it does!  Ah man, it's only a 5+, so that only counts it as +1 armor in the math-hammer world.  I wish maybe it could regenerate or something so at least it stays on the table for some amount of time.  Oh, wait, it does!!!  Therefore, you get a vehicle that is ALMOST as survivable as a Land Raider, notwithstanding that all-too-easy-to-get lucky shot.  But I've now seen a Defiler manage to survive 13 consecutive turns of fire and not die, which is a far difference from the old days.  I've also seen a Land Raider die to the first shot too many times, so the comparison is pretty apt, I think.

What can it do?  I mean, it's really nothing more than a glorified Dreadnought, right?  It has two Power Fists (strangely, there's no such thing as a 'Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon' in the Chaos Codex, so I see a conundrum that the blogosphere has conveniently ignored), so comes with a fair number of high-strength attacks.  It can also take the Power Scourge, which reduces any enemies in combat by D3 WS.  This is something I don't think people have really thought about yet.  Imagine that sergeant with the Power Fist needing 5's to hit in close combat because your Defiler rolled a 5 or 6 on that die.  That can really frustrate a loyalist, you know?  Does the Scourge add an extra attack?  (Yet another conundrum that the blogosphere has ignored.)  If the Power Fists get blown off or destroyed, then the Scourge is still a Str 8, AP 2 CCW.  That's rather nice.

What else can it do?  It's really nothing more than a renegade version of a weaker Leman Russ, right?  Well, it does have a Battle Cannon (which used to be able to fire indirectly, but some design guy pointed out the obvious contradiction in that), and also packs a twin-linked weapon of some sort.  Most people would want the Lascannon, but I'm perfectly content with the Reaper Autocannon.  This is for two reasons- a)Lascannons are no longer necessary to breaking armor as armor is much rarer and certainly weaker than it used to be, with exceptions, and b)multiple shots from a weapon that is generally only going to snap-fire anyway is obviously more efficient.  This is a very big point, too.  Let me explain.

You may have noticed that Flyers have made a bit of a cameo in this edition.  If you're one of the very few that's ever played against a flyer, you've probably found that killing them can be rather difficult.  I believe that the Defiler sans its Battle Cannon would make an almost efficient anti-aircraft weapon as long as it's packing that twin-Autocannon.  But Jay, the Lascannon will have an easier go at breaking that flyer's armor!  Let's do some mathhammer-
-A Lascannon firing at a flyer has a 16% chance of hitting a flyer, 33% if it's twin-linked.  Then it has a 66% chance of glancing the armor (avg 12), which means nothing to a flyer, so let's go with the 50% to try and penetrate it.  Then, with that 'ol armor penetration roll, you have a 33% of immobilizing or destroying it, upped to 50% for the AP bonus.  That adds up to around 8% of the time expecting to knock a flyer out of the sky.
-An Autocannon firing at a flyer has a 33% chance of hitting once or an 8% chance of hitting it twice (as opposed to a Lascannon having a 0% chance of hitting twice), which is increased to 66% to hit once and 16% to hit twice with twin-linked goodness.  Then you have a 16% of punching through the armor per shot (remember, 'penetrate', not 'glance'), and a 33% chance of immobilizing or destroying it.  This all adds up to a 6% chance of knocking it out of the sky, twice.  What's higher- 8% once or 6%, twice?
Add to that the possibility to killing TWO Land Speeders in a turn (versus a Lascannon's ability to only kill one), and the Reaper Autocannons obviously become the better choice, especially considering that they're WAY cheaper!

I must note here that I HATE Math-hammer.  Not only is it a complete waste of think-time, but it assumes that dice actually follow the Laws of Probability.  As the good Emperor decided not to gift me with an abundance of good luck, I know this not to be true.  But Math-hammer can be a fun exercise to reinforce some pretty common-sense ideas, such as 'More shots are better than stronger shots', something we REAL humans learned in WWI.  In any case, please don't think this is my normal routine, I play the game because it's looks cool.  Math-hammer is for people who don't have real lives.  And if you're offended by this, I really don't care (although I truly don't mean to be mean).  I've had decades of dealing with this from people only to see them get frustrated and throw dice when the math didn't pan out on the table.  It's a game, people.  Not homework.

More weapons to note- the Power Scourge is really an upgrade from the Heavy Flamer (really only useful for Overwatch and coincidental enemy units being nearby) or the Havoc Launcher (even less useful since it's a blast weapon and can't be used in Overwatch nor fired along with the Battle Cannon).  Sadly, these weapon options aren't really attractive, so going balls-out and taking the Power Scourge is pretty enticing.

In addition to that, don't forget about a move-and-fire Battle Cannon that saw some big improvements this edition.  What are those improvements?  The biggest is that the weapon's Strength is now static for the whole large blast template, meaning that killing 'parking lots' has become a possibility again.  The cannon is also mounted high enough on the turret that it can see over even Land Raiders, giving it greater opportunities to fire because of the 'True Line of Sight' half-rule.

And if all that's not awesome enough, don't forget that the Defiler comes with the 'Daemonforged' rule, which allows the model to reroll armor penetrations and wound rolls with the slight risk of losing a Hull Point (which it can regenerate later if it's lucky anyway!).  Oh, and it ignores 'Stunned' and 'Shaken' results most of the time because Grandpa Daemon is too crotchety already.  Oh, and it's Fleet, just in case you really want to get it into combat.  But wait, there's more!

Unlike any of the other Daemon-engines, the Defiler is able to take vehicle wargear.  Extra armor is useless. Pintle-mounted Combi-Bolters and Havoc Launchers are useless wastes of points, and Warpflame Gargoyles are all but redundant.  Taking a combi-Plasma or Meltagun may be a decent choice, but the only real option here is a big one- the Dirge Caster.  Why is the Dirge Caster so important?

The loudspeakers of a Dirge-caster scream disorienting prayers and soul-rending chants at the enemy, stopping them from being able to fire on Overwatch if within 6" of the vehicle.  Normally this won't matter as a Defiler, with Fleet, is going to charge from much further away.  But what if the Daemon-engine is actually escorting a unit of Marines towards the enemy?  What if the Marines charge first and take advantage of the enemy not being able to react?  What if the Defiler IS close enough to use this as it charges in?  That's a really nice way to stop that rapid-firing Plasma Gun from getting that one lucky shot off and killing the excited machine at the most inopportune moment.  Like I said, it shouldn't play a large role very often, but for only 5 points it could make a HUGE difference!  Can the other engines get this?  NOPE!  Take that, new hotness!

At the end of the day, the Defiler is the infantry-killing maching of the Chaos army.  It's expensive, powerful, and too large to hide for long.  It simultaneously fulfills the role of Dreadnought and Battle Tank.  It certainly is a force on the battlefield.  I can go into more detail and start theory-hammering why I think the Defiler is superior to alot of other things in the codex, but I hate that already and my hands are getting tired of typing.  :-)  Let me know what y'all think and whether you're convinced to add one to your army now.  Just hope that you get to hear your opponent someday cry out, "Not a Defiler, man!!!"  I can't wait for it to happen to me...

Happy Gaming!

To fear or not to fear...

I'm trying to write up an army list for the Team Tournie at Adepticon next year, and I've found a conundrum.

1,000 points is not a large force, and that makes some of the more commonly chosen upgrades difficult to justify.  Especially in an atmosphere as competitive as that.  This is especially prevalent in the Chaos Marine squad.  They start out very cheap, only 140 points for a unit of 10 marines (what a deal!), but then grow to be very expensive with upgrades (a couple plasma guns and a power fist makes that squad over 200 points suddenly).  Knowing that, what is my biggest issue?

Well, I'm playing Word Bearers.  Word Bearers are a founding Legion, and are actually more responsible for the Horus Heresy than the guy it's named after.  Therefore, they should have 'Veterans of the Long War', which costs 1 point per model (for ten).  Word Bearers are also well known for having banners and drums all throughout their army, and are consistently reputed as being implacable and dislodgeable (meaning Fearless).  For that, it's an icon that costs 25 points. 

So what do I do?  Normally, I pay for both and end up with a Fearless squad that is also full of hatred for their loyalist brethren.  The Leadership bonus that I get is useless since I'm Fearless, but rerolling hits in the first round of combat against the boy scouts can be really effective.  That being said, 35 points per squad in a 1k army list can be a bit much.  Right now I'm staring at 70 points that I think could be used better. 

That being said, I can't simply ignore the 'fluff' for the XVIIth Legion and leave the banners at home.  And I certainly can't ignore it and not make them Veterans.  Which one do I choose, if I choose one?  There are advantages to either.  Let's talk about them...

Veterans of the Long War
Nine of the Emporer's 18 Primarchs chose to side against the Imperium and court the favour of the Chaos Gods.  Eventually losing the war to coup, they fled into a nearly inaccessible part of the galaxy and began plotting.  For ten millenia, these Legions (and many additional buddies) have attacked the good guys and nearly destroyed any hope of peace for humanity.  Those ten millenia have seen atrocities and experiences that the parties involved will never forget.  And the Chaos Marines continue to do it throughout time.  They've even learned a thing or two.

For only 1 or 2 points per model, a unit gains an additional Leadership and Hatred(Space Marines).  The Leadership boost is the most important aspect of this, and Hatred is a nice benefit as well.  Stock, a marine squad is Ld 8, and 9 on the Aspiring Champion.  With the upgrade, now they're 9 and 10 respectably. 

The risk here is that the Asp Champ must declare and accept challenges whenever possible, meaning that he's at risk of being killed and losing that Ld the unit desperately needs.  Woe betide the squad that didn't take the upgrade and is no depending on a normal stat 8 to stay in the fight.  If they're Ld 9 after the death of the fearless leader, then at least they're a little more likely to keep fighthing. 

That being said, an Aspiring Champion with a Power Sword or Lightning Claws and the Vets upgrade fighing Space Marines means the chances of losing the challenge are much smaller.  That reroll can help guarantee that the Ld bonus sticks around a bit longer.  This makes the upgrade DOUBLE as effective, and really makes the points cost a bargain.


Icon of Vengeance
In the grim darkness of the far future, there are many banners and standards.  Every army (save 'Nids) appears to have some special way of showing their espirit de corps, and cloth palettes flapping in the scouring winds appear to be the most accepted.  For marines, both renegade and loyalist, this is especially true.  The panoply of their armor and the heraldry on their shoulder pads are proudly displayed as symbols of the opponents' doom.  Word Bearers do this better than anyone else in the galaxy, bringing lots of banners and even attaching verses and dark litanies to every blank spot they can find.  And then they march right at the enemy in long, stubborn battlelines praying loudly to their dark masters.  Imperial logisticians regularly note how the Word Bearers march implacably into the most horrendous firepower without pause, and for reasons unknown to any rational mind.

The Icon of Vengeance is usually a 25-point upgrade (or much cheaper in the case of already-Fearless units), and makes the unit Fearless and adds a point to any combat resolution score.  This can seem very expensive, but Fearless is now a big advantage in the game.  Not only will the troops never flee from shooting casualties, but they'll also never flee from a combat only to be cut down. 

You see, most people forget about the loyalists' special rule 'And they shall know no fear' and how much of a benefit that is.  Let's say the loyalists lose a combat and fail their Ld check.  Then they fail the 'sweeping advance' roll.  What happens?  In any other army, the unit is wiped out with no saves and the victors get to consolidate their position.  But those damned good guy Space Marines merely turn around and stick out their tongues, swinging their chainswords even more.  There's nothing more embarassing than watching Chaos Marines get cut down like rookies in training camp, just because they failed a nearly unfailable Leadership check. 

Here's the disadvantage, though.  Fearless models may not 'Go to Ground', which can be pretty key sometimes.  In addition, the cost of the banner is equivalent to two extra marines, which may be enough to tip the scales so you wouldn't have to worry about losing.  And on top of all that, sometimes losing a combat is strategically more sound than sticking around, and that's an option only the boy scouts get. 

That outta the way, not only is Fearless very powerful now, but that extra point in combat resolution makes up for the loss of the Aspiring Champion in a challenge at worst and firmly steals a victory from the enemy at best.  It makes the 25 point price-tag almost worth it, or totally worth it depending on the matchup. 


So what should I choose?  The 'Veterans of the Long War' is certainly useful and is definitely worth the cost, while the Icon of Vengeance is very costly yet completely trustworthy.  Both is awesome, but big games require a little frugality, and I can only choose one.  Ten points and some goodness, or twenty-five and some love?

Let me know what y'all think in this debate and why.  I will take all opinions in consideration.  After all, I'm no longer a competitive guy and here I'm getting ready for the most competitive situation, so I definitely need the help.  :-)

Thanks in advance, and Happy Gaming!

5th Battle for Ehdiciun VI

Again, the lines were drawn just before the sky brightened for the morning dawn.  Both armies found themselves arrayed against one another and seemingly fighting for an ancient Adeptus Mechanicus ruin.  The same power crystals were in the area, so this macine must've been useful, but neither commander understood how or why.  Mazarius was impressed that such an ancient structure stood so intact on this otherwise uninhabitted planet.  Kharsis' view from the air of the ruin made him want to wretch, angry at the oppulance and craftsmanship from this lie of an empire.  Better, though, were the scattered pieces of armor and machinery needed for equipment used by both forces, making this battlefield conveniently productive.

The 5 objective points

Deployment and the start of the game, as seen from the south

End of the game, as seen from the west

We still played 1000 points (again, same armies), but this time we played the Big Guns Never Tire scenario.  Rolling for objectives, my brother rolled a '6', meaning we used all 5 objective points.  Placing objectives on a 4x4 table and not getting too close to each other or the edges is rather difficult, by the way.

Night fight was in effect again.  I'm thinking that GW meant for night fight to hopefully mitigate 'alpha strike' armies, which I like.  But it appears that our armies like to fight early in the morning.  Our warlord traits were wonky this time- Mazarius was allowed to reroll run rolls for nearby units and Kharsis allowed rerolls of '1' when shooting at me near an objective.  Needless to say, these had little effect on the game.  I rolled to deploy and go first, and I took advantage of it.

Here's the deal- in today's game, his dice were against him.  Let me tell you how bad it was...
His Defiler played the artillery role and fired four times in the game.  It killed one model it wasn't even aiming at, put one hull point on the Dreadnought, and missed two other times.  A Defiler, with a Battle Cannon, killed one single marine all game.  ONE!
He rolled twice to bring in the Raptors, needing a 3+ of course.  Turn two, he rolls a '1'.  Turn three, he rolls a '1'.  Turn four sees the squad arrive automatically, but really?  Two times to roll a three or higher and he couldn't do that?  TWO!
His squad of seven krak grenades assaulted the land speeder and hit three times, only to glance it once.  Then the Daemon Prince assaults the thing, hits once and fails to beat the armor.  That same prince died (finally!) because my brother couldn't make three armor saves across four turns.  THREE!
By the end of the game, I had killed all 20 chaos marines, two possessed, the prince, and a raptor.  I had lost the five devastators (two having died by my brother's actions, the rest simply fleeing from the field), three marines from the Combat Squad (one having killed himself with plasma), and one marine from the Command Squad (also having killed himself with plasma).  In the entire game, he had killed four total models.  FOUR! 
And the whole game had been like that.  His armor saves weren't horrible, but his shooting was worthless and his wounding made every other roll seem like a waste of time.

It should be pretty obvious how stunning this is to a newbie.  If nothing else, this was a lesson in how badly the dice can control a game.  When they work, they work.  Whey they don't, these games can be a whole lot less fun.  I joked with him and offered that maybe his 'beginners luck' had finally run out.  It didn't matter.  On top of a poor showing by his cubes of probability, Uncle Sam was also bashing him with additional duty this weekend (as I said, he's a soldier.  It's not as fun a life as the movies make it).  So my jokes definitely didn't work.  He did, however, say that it won't happen again.  I fear that to be true.  It was nice to be on the giving end of bad luck for once.  :-)

The game ended with me controlling one objective and getting first blood and slay the warlord (finally!).  He had killed my Devastators and could have scored an objective with his Defiler, but we knew there'd be no point.  The official score was 5-1, but was really 5-4.  In any case, I actually won the game.  Sooooo....

I guess it's onto the next battle and what that may be.  If anything, maybe I'll build and paint up a few more buildings and start transitioning into the urban areas...  Eh, I have painting to catch up on.  So much to doooooooooooooo!  (and that makes me happy!)

Happy Gaming!

My thoughts on Chaos codex

I have now had two weeks to assimilate this codex into my grey-matter, and I've developed a few opinions.  It's finally time I shared them for no other reason than self-edification and wanton curiosity.  Let's do this!

 

First off, the codex is BEAUTIFUL!  It's hardbound, full color, embossed cover, a couple fold-outs, and decorative layout on every page.  Staring at the promo images, I was worried that the book would be full of 'Blanchitse' artwork (my least favorite part of GW's history) and basically mitigate this 'new' look.  As it turns out, even the artwork is new and sexy!  Holding and reading this book is a pleasure, to be sure.

One of my favorite things about this codex is the front cover art.  I know it's not new and was sported on the front of the novel, 'Blood Gorgons'.  But it's an excellent image and serves to fortify this principle I've been preaching for years (and even blogged about once or twice)- Chaos Space Marines are no longer Legion!  I'm more exhausted of seeing Khorne Berserkers, Black Legionnaires, Plague monkeys of bloatedness, and Tzeentchian fire-blasters than you can possibly imagine.  For over two decades I've seen little else.  But this cover shows off a renegade marine.  This renegade is just as enamored with the gods in the warp as any Legionnaire, and actually even participates in a bit of internecine politics, as chaos forces tend to do.  Just because he doesn't have the flaming face/burning eye/flying skull/stylized lines from 10 millenia ago doesn't mean he's not a valid Chaos Marine.  In fact, GW's own fluff (since the freakin' beginning!) has been that 8 of the original 9 renegade legions basically destroyed themselves, while the remnants are joined by heretical chapters and general human asshats to be the pains-in-the-ass to the galaxy that they are.  Last time an entire Death Guard army hit a battlefield was when Abbadon told them to and there just happened to be enough of them to be a respectable number.  For the love of the warp, people, the Legions don't matter!!!  I'd like to take a moment and thank GW for trying to push this point home for the 5th edition in a row...

 Now onto the stuff that you guys actually care about- the inside.  First off, the background and 'fluff' section of the book are fantastic.  There's no real focus on any particular Legion or force, yet each of the original Legions and some infamous renegade Chapters get a specific blurb.  None of the Horus Heresy stuff is actually brought into the codex, so you won't be reading about Horus' Mournival, or Fulgrim's acquisition of the blade that felled the Warmaster, or any of the other stuff that Black Library's ridiculously awesome novels go into.  I know this doesn't seem awesome, but that separation of 'history' and 'background' stays strong.  But don't worry!  If you're looking for fluff and stuff, each unit is described really well, and even the gods get a bit of a blurb (as they always do), so you won't be stuck reading nothing at all.  In fact, the parts describing the history are even re-worded and presented slightly differently so you don't get that 'deja vu' feeling as you read.  As beautiful as the book is, it's also as interesting to read over a night or two.  Overall, a good job here as well.

Now the army section sees the introduction of four NEW units.  I've already made my opinions on the models known, so I won't go into that, but I will say that these units are described to fit almost seamlessly into the army.  Daemon Engines are confounding even to the renegade marines surrounding them, Dark Chaplains roam the ranks instilling hatred and fearlessness to nearby allies, Warpsmiths are renegade Techmarines in almost every way, and the Heldrake fighters are mutated Helblades that spent a little too much time in the warp.  I am impressed!  That being said, it's not a big surprise that Chaos has the ability to invent whatever they want and still make a little sense of it. 

Heldrake Fighter, for when a pilot just isn't good enough...

Heed the Word!!!

Now let's get to the rules.  I know, I know, you've been waiting patiently and now you're a little annoyed.  Hey, blame GW for making the other 2/3 of the book awesome too!

First off, anyone notice the return of the Wargear List?  That's right, it's back!  It's useful, too, as it means that you don't have to worry about whether an Aspiring Champion in a troop squad has different options than one in a Raptor unit.  The list is the same, the points are the same, simple and sweet- the way it should be.

I'm really disappointed in the Artifacts list, though.  Here I've been using the 'Daemon Weapon' upgrade on my Lord for a couple of years now, and suddenly I find it doesn't exist?  In fact, the axe I'm holding can't be a Daemon Weapon unless I have the mark of Khorne?  POOP!  That makes me sad.  What almost makes up for it, though, is the Black Mace.  Here's a 45 point weapon that's AP 4, but any unsaved wounds turn into toughness tests or death!  Better, anyone nearby has to take that T test or die too!  What what?!?  My buddy and I joked that Phil Kelly just stole Sauron's weapon and put it into our grimdark universe.  Sorry, Sauron!

Chaos Lords got cheaper, but now you have to pay to give them any invulnerable save (Aura of Dark Glory for the 5+ and Sigil of Corruption for the 4+).  I now have a 127 point Lord with Termie armor, and power axe, and a lightning claw!  That's cheap for a simple character.  Sorcerers followed the Imperium and got weaker- they're now only 2 wounds and such.  Oh well, they still rock!  Add to that the fact that they can be up to mastery level 3 and you're looking at a mighty powerful 'Brain'.  Enter the Dark Apostle. 

Jay MAD about the Dark Apostle.  Here's a super-cheap character that is basically a 2-wound Chaplain who's tired of the Emprah's crap.  Now add a chaos star and remove all options.  Although the Dark Apostle has access to all the weapon lists, he still can't be upgraded with a bike, or a jump pack, or Terminator armor, or any of that.  And then he's not a sorcerer!!!  As a Word Bearers player, I expected so much more.  Oh well, he's not bad.  He's just not as great as I wanted him to be.  At least Dark Apostles do exist now. 

The Daemon Prince is BEAST!  They are far more expensive now, but for a monster of that caliber, it's well worth it.  Aaaaand, he can be a sorcerer!  So lo and behold, a flying monster with shooting attacks and it's not in the Tyranid codex.  It's about damned time!  Unfortunately for me, I had to remove the Prince from my 1000 point list because it's just too powerful.  What a terrible problem to have...

Chosen may only have 4 special weapons and a heavy weapon and an Aspiring Champion.  They've lost 'infiltrate', but gained 2 base attacks.  Terminators are still cheap as hell, but be careful as you MUST have 5 models to bring a Reaper Autocannon.  Ask me how I know...  Helbrutes, otherwise known as Chaos Dreadnoughts, are still crazy, but the Fire Frenzy/Swingy Frenzy rules have changed to be much, much more friendly to the player. 

Possessed are where it's at for me.  Their points value did not decrease and they didn't get any upgrades.  What they did get was a little more dependability.  Fleet is now built in, their attacks are still strength 5, and they have the 'Daemon' rule (which gives them that invulnerable save they're used to and adds Fear to the mix).  But the real fun is in the Vessels of Chaos table, where they get their special abilities.  It's a d3, rolled EVERY Fight Phase, and the worst result is to 'reroll wounds'.  That's right, your options can be reroll wounds, higher attacks and initiative, or AP 3 claws.  Yay!!!

Here's where I start to get a little poopy-faced about the book, Cult Troops.  I've already ranted about Chaos not being Legion anymore, but I think the super-troopers from those days still deserve to be common.  Sadly, GW moved them to the Elites section.  Don't worry, if you take a Lord with your favoured mark (or a Sorcerer with the mark of Tzeentch), those doods become troops.  But I think it's still a hindrance to choice.  That sadness overwith, I can't deny that the cult troops are awesome!  They are all just slightly better than standard marines with a mark, and worth almost every point.  Berserkers can purchase Chainaxes now, Plague Marines have their Plague Knives back, and the other two are unchanged (for the better).  Add the banners and you'll see some broken marine units hit the table in honour of the Dark Gods.  Don't worry, I'll talk about banners in just a moment...

To get some more poopy-facedness out of the way, let's mention Mutilators.  Obliterators, with no guns.  Morph Power Fists, Axes, Lightning Claws, swords, etc.  Sooooooo, Obliterators with no guns.  Got it.  Poop.

Spawn are better insofar as they're cheap (30 points, finally!) and they have a nifty table to roll on each fight phase as well, just like the Possessed.  The abilities aren't nearly as good, but hey, Spawn got something.  Havocs can buy Flakk missles now, making a 5-man unit set up with anti-air Missle Launchers cost a measly 175 points.  Hey, the option is there, right?  Obliterators had a couple weapons added to their 'morphy' list, especially noted the Assault Cannon.  The only disadvantage is that the unit can't 'morph' the same weapons two turns in a row.  I suppose this would be a disadvantage if they didn't have ALL the good weapons anyway.  Chaos Bikes are way cheaper now, being only 20 points (wait, what?!?  My Ravenwing pay 33 points a bike!!!).  Oh yes, this codex definitely worked on some of the less common units.

What about the new stuff?  It's good.  The Warp Talons are expensive (30 points per model), but they have Lightning Claws.  All of them!  The Maulerfiend is cheaper than a Furioso, but only gives up a single point of armor, initiative, and attacks in return for the Daemon special rule, ignoring terrain, Fleet, and magma cutters.  Fair trade, I think.  Then the Forgefiend rules simply because, as another one of my buddies described, it's a Psifleman but better.  It's quite a few points, but it's the pew-pew that matters.  I'm also gonna toss the daddy of all Daemon-engines in here- the Defiler.  It's waaaaaay better now.  Take the old Defiler, make the funny flail-thingy do something almost useful, add the Daemon and 'It will not die' rules like the other engines, and VOILA!  Awesome!  Even better, it's only slightly more expensive than a Forgefiend, so you have the choice of many small templates (or powerful autocannon shots) or one big one.  I've always rather liked that debate...

The Heldrake costs points but has the Vector Strike rule, so it's effectiveness is unquestionable.  That's all I've got on that one.

The real money, for me anyway, is in the Chaos Space Marines and Raptors.  Oh.  My.  Word.  A single Chaos Marine is now only 13 points.  He's identical to a loyalist marine (even including the Ld stat), but he doesn't have 'And they shall know no fear'.  You can pay 2 more points to give them the 'chaos armed' characteristic (you know, the old colloquialism for models armed with rapid fire, pistol, and close combat weapon), and another 1 point per model to raise their Ld to 9/10 (oh, and Hatred(SM) too!).  This is cheap, and gets really expensive.  That, in my mind, is perfect!  I've always liked the idea of horde Space Marines, but I've never liked the cost.  Now you can take advantage of either!  But here's where the real fun begins.  A mark of Chaos will give you a special ability or two, or a stat increase.  This no longer depends on standards (so no more losing your mark to a sniper).  In fact, giving your normal marines a mark will make them almost as good as the cult troopers, and almost the same price!  What makes it all awesome is that the units (normal and cult) can take the same banners and get the same awesome abilities!  What's a great example?  Let me give you the greatest:  Slaanesh.  A unit of Noise Marines costs 17 points per model and automatically have the initiative of 5 and Fearless.  A normal unit of Chaos Marines with a mark of Slaanesh (gaining +1 I) costs 15 points per model.  Either unit may take the Icon of Excess for 30 points, simply because they have the right mark, and they then gain Feel No Pain.  That's right, Slaanesh gets FnP now!!!  Oh, and notice they're close in cost.  The rest of the troops do that too.  And in case you forgot I mentioned these, the Raptors fit the same awesome-mold now.  They have all the same upgrades as normal, access to the marks and standards as all others do, and they only cost 17 points per model.  That's 17 points for a Space Marine with jump packs- EAT IT, BLOOD ANGELS!

The army list allows you to do anything you want with your Chaos army.  If you want to make an all Khorne army, it's possible.  If you want to make an Iron Warriors army, you can definitely do that.  If you want to make Word Bearers or Thousand Sons, you can do that.  You can do it with Khorne-marked troops holding heavy weapons, you can make an army with Nurgle Spawn!  Anything you want, you can do it.

There's a couple of small considerations to keep in mind.  Firstly, standards are no longer used for Deep Striking.  They add +1 to any combat results and bestow an extra special rule onto the unit, and that's it.  There are also no Lesser Daemons in the book.  If you want Daemons now, you have to ally in forces from another detachment.  Chaos now has their own Warlord Traits table to roll on, psykers with a mark must roll at least once on their god's discipline table, and Chaos must now ALWAYS accept and issue challenges.  Luckily, when you win, you get a roll on a Gifts of the Gods, er, 40k version of the table (which can turn you into a Spawn or a Daemon Prince with an (un)lucky roll). 

 

So what is my overall impression?  I love this book.  I have reread it multiple times already, I have already played the army list game with it, and I have shown it to all my friends who couldn't care less.  I love it!  Do I think it's the best $50 I've ever spent? 

 

No.  I'm an old DnD player who used to buy those books almost every week.  I'm used to paying for 288 page, hardbound, tons of color books for only $30.  I'd happily pay that for this codex.  But I can't say that I'm terribly okay with the price tag.  That being said, at least I almost feel like I got my money's worth.  And my Word Bearers certainly aren't complaining...