The Crimson Slaughter supplement... Quick Review

Howdy guys, life again has kept me from posting as often as i like but I finally found some time to hopefully keep this blog in a more "updated" state.  Today I want to talk about the new CSM supplement that GW just released, the Crimson Slaughter.  I like many other old school 40k players have a soft spot for the legions.  No matter how many times we complain, bitch, and whine it seems that GW just doesn't get the hint that what we really want is legion rules to better reflect our cherished armies on the table top.  We hold our breath every time a new set of CSM rules are released only to be disappointed by what we get.  This is what happened when the black legion supplement was released and this is evidently happening again with the release of the Crimson Slaughter book.  Now before I go any further let me say this, I actually enjoyed the subtle changes that the black legion book brought to Chaos especially in regards to the new relics and having Chosen as troops without the "Abby" tax.  It also helped the whole morale issue a little by allowing you to take another HQ that could make another unit fearless.  We all know that GW is a model company first or that is what they say anyways so I could see why they went with a Crimson Slaughter book instead of a legion book.  Everybody including me have established chaos armies with little to no need to have to buy anything new.  In order to generate sales, GW needed to bring out something new.  Everybody knows that if GW brought out a supplement for an established legion, the only thing that will sell would be the supplement, i guess they see this as a bad thing.  They want people to try there hand at a new chaos faction and even make it easy for you to do it by providing a new box set that can be combined with the starter box to get a decent Crimson Slaughter army.  The new helbrute kit is just icing on the cake.  Do I agree with this thinking , hell no as I definitely would kill for a Nightlords book, iron warriors book, etc.  Lucky for me we have forgeworld putting out rules for legions in their 30K books so at least i could try to see if an opponent is cool with me running an army with these rules.  Heres hoping that GW will see the light and makes us all happy with legion supplements in the near future.

Ok so after that long winded intro, let me get back to the topic of my post.  I really like the Crimson Slaughter supplement.  Bottom line, GW finally did something right with this one.  Maybe its because it was written by Jeremy Veotok, maybe it was the fact that GW saw that the CSM codex is really lack luster compared to the other books, maybe they are finally listening to their fans, who knows, all I know is the 2 pages of rules that are in the book are great and add a lot of character to the army.  Now the big draw about these supplements is the fluff (as 2 pages of rules isnt worth 50 bucks) and let me tell you, after reading it I almost wanted to go out and start a new Crimson Slaughter army.  It was that good, the story of a noble space marine chapter that falls from grace not just because of their self rightousness and their strict adherence to the codex astartes but also due to an uncaring imperium who plays favorites.  The supplement details their rise as the crimson sabres, how their fall happened as well as details on famous battles they took part in.  Veotok does a great job of detailing this which grabs your attention and keep the story moving.  All in all a good read.  A lot of people buy these supplements for the rules and if you are dropping 50 bucks on books such as these just for that, you are really doing yourself a disservice.  Read the fluff and you wont feel as ripped off.  So lets get started with the rules.  Again we are treated with 2-3 pages of rules however these for the most part are very good.  Even the warlord traits are good with the best being the one that grants your warlord shrouded or crusader which also goes to the squad they are in.  The relics are definitely game changing such as giving access to a 2 up save piece of armor, a power sword that goes to ap2 if you kill 3 models in combat to even an artifact that turns your hq into a possessed character.  The gem of course is a piece of war gear that grants one sorcerer access to the divination table.  I don't need to tell you how good this is, giving divination to chaos without the need of allying in daemons is pure win, game changing even.  Will this make it a top tier army, probably not but it does give you more options to possibly make chaos a good army to take to a tourney and not feel like you are wasting your time.  For those of us waiting for a legion book, there is nothing stopping us from using this book to better represent our legions on the table top.  Nightlords, Thousand sons, etc can be represented pretty well with this book, all units causing fear, divination access not bad.  The real winner here though is Word-Bearers, possessed as troops and even the ability to run a possessed chaos lord?  Relic for dark apostles that grants zealot to all units within 6 inches of the relic?  Whats not to love here.  Guys if this is any indication on future chaos supplements, than i am truly excited for the future.  I just hope we dont have to wait long on the fabled veterans of the long war book...

Continuing with Thousand Sons talk

Hey guys.  So lately I have been thinking more on how to run a Thousand Sons list in 6th edition and not be the laughing stock of my gaming group.  Like I talked about in my last post, I love the army and feel that if played correctly, can be a viable option in today's meta.   I just recently signed up for an escalation league at the local flgs and had the pleasure of playing a fellow chaos player who is playing thousand sons in the league.  My opponent shared a lot of tips on how to play the army that I have never thought of before.  Below are some key points that he shared with me.

1.  Maximizing thousand son shooting and survivability by taking large squads - to be honest I was thinking of doing this but found the cost prohibited  but my opponent showed me some of the strengths of running a 18 man squad.  For starters, shooting 17 - 18 ap3 shots from 24 inches is a lot scarier then 8 shots coming from that range. Add in a herald of tzeentch with prescience and the squad will put out the hurt.  Lose a couple of models in a turn and the squad is still scary.  Cast prescience and the squad is re-rolling  hits.  The main weakness of course is close combat however with invisibility and forewarning the unit is going to pull through eventually especially if you are rocking one or two characters. 

2.  Take Ahriman - ok so this I would never consider due to his price tag.  He clocks in at 230 points and in an army where your average points cost per guy is 23 points, makes him a hard pill to swallow.  Lets look at what he brings to the table.  He unlocks thousand sons as troops, he is a level 4 psycher so you are going to get 3 rolls on telepathy or biomancy.  Most importantly though, he automatically gives you master of deception which my opponent used to great effect.  He rolled a 2,and was ableto infiltrate both Ahriman and the 18 man block of thousand sons 24 inches away on my left flank which forced me to have to devote a lot of army to counter it.

3.  Take Tzeentch Daemon allies - I started tinkering with this before my game with my opponent however never realized how good these allies could be.  My opponent took a herald of tzeentch at level 3 and basically maxed his rolls on divination.  He got foreboding which on the surface wouldn't make sense as thousand sons have a 4 up invulnerable but then it hit me... the mark of tzeentch gives you a plus 1 to your invul save... my opponents 18 man blob squad was now rocking a 3 up invul save now!! Imagine this as the unit makes it way up the field..  pretty crazy...The fact that heralds have access to divination open up  a lot of synergy combos that thousand sons never had before. 

I actually played a list similar to what I wrote above and it was a blast to play. I actually ended up losing the game but it was a great game...  I might have to tinker some more to get it just right.

Concept list #1 - Khorne's Wrath

Hey guys.. so I am thinking for a concept of a list that presents so many important targets that it would overwhelm opponents with what to kill first.  I tried to think of a list using the Chaos Space marine codex but found that I needed more.  I especially needed fast units, units that can threaten an opponent by turn 2.  The Maulerfiend came to mind but since its a vehicle, and armor 12, it could be 1-shotted fairly easily.  With the daemon codex, we finally get a lot of fast choices that are either super cheap or pretty resilient and the fact that they are battle brothers with CSM, compliment each other quite nicely.  The idea that I have was to run 2 chaos lords of khrone on juggernauts, 1 or 2 Maulerfiends, 2 full squads of spawn, a heldrake, and 2 or 3 full squads of cultists. As for the daemons side, herald of khorne on juggernaut or bloodthirster, squad of bloodletters, a squad of bloodcrushers, and a full squad of khorne flesh hounds.  As for heavy support, i would take a khorne damon prince.  The idea is simple, build an allied chaos list that would present my opponent's with so much hard hitting units, that they would be overwhelmed with what to target first.  In todays shoot-centric world of 40k, an army that can close the gaps could be a winning formula. 

I see the writing on the wall, armies that are getting updated are becoming more and more shooty. The heldrakes reign as well as any flyer  is about to come to an end.  With the Tau update, the amount of skyfire the army can bring is astonishing.  The amount of firepower they bring against anything  is just as ridiculous and so my belief of a fast army that can setup multiple assaults at the same time might be the answer.  If an army can hit lets say a tau lines at the same time that would decrease the amount of damage as they would need to concentrate their fire on the first unit hitting their lines.  Once you get stuck in, we know what happens to Tau. 

Below is a sample list of what I`m thinking about, it presents a lot of fast moving units that if not dealt with with prove to be quite nasty for an opponent.

+++ New Khrone Wraths fast army (2000pts) +++

Selections:

Codex: Chaos Daemons 2013 (Allied Detachment) Selections:

+ (No Category) +

    * Warp Storm Table
        (Warp Storm table)

+ HQ + (130pts)

    * Daemonic Heralds (130pts)
        * Herald of Khorne (130pts)
            (Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Independent Character)
            D6 Daemonic Reward (10pts) (Lesser Rewards, Magic Weapons), Greater Locus of Fury (20pts) (Greater Locus of Fury), Juggernaut (45pts)
            * Daemon of Khorne
                (Furious Charge, Hatred (Daemon of Slaanesh))
                Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

+ Elites + (250pts)

    * Bloodcrushers of Khorne (250pts)
        (Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike)
        5x Bloodcrushers (225pts)
        * Bloodhunter (25pts)
            D6 Daemonic Reward (20pts) (Greater Magic Weapons, Greater Rewards)
        * Daemon of Khorne
            (Furious Charge, Hatred (Daemon of Slaanesh))
            Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

+ Troops + (100pts)

    * Bloodletters of Khorne (100pts)
        (Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike)
        10x Bloodletters (100pts)
        * Daemon of Khorne
            (Furious Charge, Hatred (Daemon of Slaanesh))
            Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

+ Fast Attack + (320pts)

    * Flesh Hounds of Khorne (320pts)
        (Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Scout)
        20x Flesh Hounds (320pts)
        * Daemon of Khorne
            (Furious Charge, Hatred (Daemon of Slaanesh))
            Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

Chaos Space Marines 6th Ed (2012) by SN (Primary Detachment) Selections:

+ HQ + (345pts)

    * Chaos Lord (170pts)
        (Champion of Chaos, Fearless, Independent Character)
        Juggernaut of Khorne (35pts), Mark of Khorne (10pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts)
        * Power Armour (35pts)
            Axe of Blind Fury (35pts), Bolt Pistol

    * Chaos Lord (175pts)
        (Champion of Chaos, Fearless, Independent Character)
        Juggernaut of Khorne (35pts), Mark of Khorne (10pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts)
        * Power Armour (40pts)
            Lightning Claws (15pts), Power Fist (25pts)

+ Troops + (180pts)

    * Chaos Cultists (90pts)
        (Champion of Chaos)
        Champion's upgrade (10pts), 20x Squad models (champion included) (80pts)

    * Chaos Cultists (90pts)
        (Champion of Chaos)
        Champion's upgrade (10pts), 20x Squad models (champion included) (80pts)

+ Fast Attack + (300pts)

    * Chaos Spawn (150pts)
        (Fear, Fearless, Mutated Beyond Reason, Rage, Random Attacks, Very Bulky)
        5x Spawn (150pts)

    * Chaos Spawn (150pts)
        (Fear, Fearless, Mutated Beyond Reason, Rage, Random Attacks, Very Bulky)
        5x Spawn (150pts)

+ Heavy Support + (375pts)

    * Maulerfiend (125pts)
        (Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover, Siege Crawler)
        Magma cutters

    * Maulerfiend (125pts)
        (Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover, Siege Crawler)
        Magma cutters

    * Maulerfiend (125pts)
        (Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover, Siege Crawler)
        Magma cutters

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.