New Chaos Dex

The moment has finally come, the moment that my chosen army will once again breathe life and be the scourge of the table top, finally my army will be good as grey knights, or that is what most internet pundits have been stating since the release of the codex last week.  The truth however is a lot further from that as nobody has been able to come up with the netlist to rule them all.  As for me, I am actually quite happy with this turn of events as I find the codex to be like a fine cigar, to be enjoyed rather then rushed, to be savored rather then scarfed down, etc.  I dont want an army that is auto-take, an easy win button like how Necrons and Grey Knights are at the moment, but an army that rewards the thinking player, an army that utilizes the idea of combined arms where synergy between units is paramount.  I see this codex as that book, the thinking man's army and not one where you will see every player bringing the same list over and over.  This is a Phil Kelly production after all, where numerous builds are in, all can be competitive, and all fun to play.  For the last couple of weeks, I have read the book backwards and forwards and I still have not seen all of the combinations that are possible.  Every day I discover something new, something unique, something that I would not have thought of after going through the book the time before and this is exciting to me.  My imagination is going crazy on all of the possible builds I can do with my armies, all of the options I can take and with allies the sky is the limit.  What I thought I would do now is to discuss some of my winners of the dex as well as my thoughts on why.

Winner - Chaos Lords
 These guys saw a major improvement from the last dex.  The options that these guys have now are limitless, allowing you to build a lord that you can truely call your own.  You want a beatstick, give him the mark of Khrone, mount him on a juggernaut and give him the ax of blindness.  You want a more shooty lord, mount him on a bike and give him the brand and you have a fast moving mini hellhound that can really put out the hurt on horde and MEQ units.  All and all a winner


Winner - Chaos Space Marines
This unit is both a winner and a loser.  Let me explain, the unit definitely got a huge boost for the number of options available to them.  The fact that Marks could be taken without the icon means that marks cant be just shot off.  Gift of mutation on the champion is a nice little boost that can be good if you roll well, a homage to the old 3.5 dex of allowing you to tool up your champions.  Big squads is still in there and the base cost of each model is the lowest MEQ you could get.  Now the bad, if you tool these guys back to last edition stats, you are paying the same amount in points as the last book.  You start adding in the new stuff like marks, VOTLW, etc, and the cost starts going up.  I would be good with the price but the fact that these guys are not fearless or have some sort of ability to not be run down really takes the cake.  I would easily pay for fearless as a mark, all you are left with is an icon that can get sniped out easily especially in this edition at the cost of 25 points!!  Still not bad if taken cheap or if babysat by a fearless character.


Winner - Chaos Bikers
A unit that for the most part is a winner due to the fact of their new points cost.  They now cost the same amount Raptors cost in the last book which means big squads are a viable choice now.  6th edition has also made bikes a heck of lot better with jink saves, hammer of wrath, etc.  A good sized squad with a couple of melta guns and a mark will run you under 300 points.


Winner - Heldrake
To be honest, i didnt believe the hype when they first announced this unit.  Still didnt believe it when reading the heldrakes rules when I had the codex in hand.  After trying it for a couple of games thanks to a friend of mine letting me borrow his all I can say is awesome.  The heldrake is really good at one thing, killing infantry.  Yes this unit was billed at being the ultimate anti flyer unit however with its baleflamer is the scourge of infantry everywhere.  Its also remarkablely tough with its 5 + invul and armor 12.  It will not die just adds to its toughness which I saw first hand when I made several rolls to restore hullpoints.  Of all of the daemon engines, this one is definitely the best of the lot.  

I am still digesting the codex at this point, these were the stand outs that I saw and that I actually tried out.  I will go over the losers of the codex in my next post along with the lists that I plan on running.  All in all a great codex but one that is also filled with many missed opportunities.