Chaos Space Marine Codex P. II

Sorry for my long absence guys,  to be honest I had started writing this next post almost a month ago but with work, school, and real life getting in the way, I just didnt have the time to finish it.  So in my last post I spoke of what I saw as my winners of the chaos codex, in this post I will continue with my review and concentrate on the not so good units of the codex.  Let me start of by saying the following, overall the codex is really good.  It gives players I believe the tools to make a competitive list that still has some fluff to them.  However I believe there was lot of lost opportunities that would have made this book the knockout that it should have been.  The hype surrounding the fact that Phil Kelly was the author, the rumours surrounding it just made it seem that this book would be the be all end all book of 40k, in fact what we got here is one of the most balanced books of the game.  Again, this is a Kelly production and it will take time for us to see that this book is a success.  With that being said, let me get to the meat of my post, the losers of the codex.

Defilers - While it can be argued that the defiler is better in this edition, the cost of this beastie is just way out there. 195 points for a stock armor 12 walker is just unacceptable, yes it has a battle cannon but go 2nd and guess what is the first thing you lose. If the defiler was armor 13 then maybe it would be worth it. If Phil would have kept it at the same price, then definitely it would be worth it but at armor 12 no way. I would have loved this guy priced at 135 points, with all options either being free or for minimal cost. The maulerfiend at 125 base is a heck of a lot better and brings a lot more to the table including a 12 inch move and move through cover. I expect to see a lot less of these guys on the table which is too bad as I love the model.

 Possessed - Wow was I expecting a heck of a lot more from these guys. At first glance, these guys look a lot better; same stat line which was good before, better possessed table which is based on a D3 roll with all 3 abilities being good, fleet built in and now as they are considered daemons fear. You then look at the price and all is lost. 26 points a model!!?? No gun, no 2+ save, what the heck Phil? That price tag should at least include a 2+ save, the mark of your choice, or 3 attacks base. For 5 points more you can get a terminator, 'nuff said. These models are just gorgeous so like I did in the old edition, I will probably pull these guys out, (this is becoming a theme now with me liking the models so much that I will be playing them even though their rules are terrible).

 Warp Talons - Man was I expecting a lot for these guys being a Nightlords player and all. I was expecting elite Raptors with ton of options, instead I get a unit that is horribly overcosted and with virtually no options at all other then marks.  Its cool that the champ can get 2 rolls on the chaos table but that is too random to base your unit on.  What Phil should have done with these guys is make it so that you can take any weapon sort of like the vanguard veterans out of the space marine books.  Grenades should have been a no-brainer as well, the fact that these guys are an assault unit with no grenades has me shaking my head what the heck was he thinking? 2 wounds would have made these guys extremely good.

 Mutilators - I have been following the rumors for the codex since the news broke that Chaos would be the next book. In trying to learn what was coming out, I looked and looked for that one unit that would allow me to run a hyper elite army.  Basically, an army with as little model count as possible, be tough as nails and give me what I want to call a chaos "paladin" army.  When rumors broke that chosen terminators would give me what I wanted, I waited with baited breath.  Once we learned that terminators were only going to be 1 wound, and not the hyper elite that I wanted them to be, we heard of a new unit, the so-called close combat Obliterator.  With 2 wounds, having the equalivent of terminator armor and being able to wield 2 sets of  specialized weapons, they sounded like they would fit the bill for me.  Then you get the negatives, slow and purposeful, no range weapon of any kind, and max units of 3 makes this a poor choice to try to do the super elite chaos army that I wanted.  Why oh why are they slow and purposeful?  They are a close combat unit which cant run so either you deep strike them in or spend the points on a landraider to get these guys across the board.  Just doesnt make sense, maybe I will give them a go as a rentinue for Abaddon complete with a Landraider, other then that, nope.  And what kills these guys even more, the models themselves which are some of the worst models I have ever seen GW put out. 

These are the worst of the chaos book per my opinion.  The internet will say that there are others but in my opinion the rest of the book is really good.  Time will tell with this book, and with the next 6th edition codex coming out next month, we wont have to wait long.