Chaos Supplements Inbound

I hope these are true.. faeit 212 posted that all of the major chaos legions would be getting full supplement support and these supplements would actually have more rules content to them.  The rumor also stated that all of these are being worked on at the same time and they should be released either at the same time or right after the other.  I don't know about you guys but this was the news I have been waiting to hear especially after seeing all of the customization that vanilla marines have now with there new book.  The rumor also stated that these books will bring the flavor back to the legions like never before.  This I certainly will take with a lot of salt as I have been let down so far by book chaos space marine books.  Don't get me wrong, the 2 books are definitely fun to play and offer some options but not to the extent that I would like too see them.   I really hope these new supplements are the real deal and bring with it the options that all csm players have been waiting for.  Some quick points on what I would like to see per my chaos armies..

Nightlords - bikes and raptors as troops at least.  New special characters.  Army wide stealth and ways to miss with leadership - terror tactics.  A way to make standard csms stubborn.

Thousand sons - better aspiring sorcerers, we are currently paying the same price for these guys as your book standard hq sorcerer.  Able to pick other spell lores other than tzeentch like chaos daemons.  Ways to increase the strength of thousand sons bolt guns.  Better psychic defense.  Actual rubric termies.

Iron Warriors/Dark mech - changes to force org.  Actual warsmiths.  Army wide Tank hunters. New dark mechanicus units.   Way to make standard csms stubborn.  New special characters

On my painting station currently im working on some screamers, and of course the required Riptide.  Let me know what you think.

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.

Thousand Sons in 6th edition

Here I go again with 40K ADD, in my last post I spoke about putting together a Khrone list that centered on presenting as many fast killy units to an opponent at one time and basically win games on overwhelming pressure.  Now I'm going to talk about a list that is centered on winning the psychic phase, basically putting out both maledictions and buffs to overwhelm the opponent by buffing or weakening key units.  I`m a huge Thousand Sons fan and own a big Thousand Sons army that I wanted  to dust off and start using again.  The problem of course is to make the army viable in todays meta at least to make it a little competitive and not just a fluff bunny list that loses to everything under the sun.  How do we solve this?  Well, lets look at the unit itself -

The Thousand Sons squad. 
The squad brings with it fearless, a 4 up invul save, power armor, and ap3 bolters.  Not bad so far and on its own something to consider however lets look at its not so good features.  The squad is slow and purposeful which in 5th edition might have been a boon by allowing you to move and shoot but with the changes to rapid fire weapons in 6th, its a big hindrance.  The squad cant run which means you have to invest in rhinos to get them across the battlefield which adds to their points cost and the biggest issue about it, you cant overwatch when assaulted.  This is huge and due to their ap3 bolters, might have actually deterred enemies from assaulting (+3 or higher armor saves).  The next issue is the squad having to take an expensive character with limited options.  The aspiring sorcerer clocks in at almost  65 points which is as much or more than an actual sorcerer.  If I am going to pay the same price, please give me the same options, +1 wound, WS 5 and the option to buy another psychic level.  At least make it that the guy could pick from any psychic tree.  Dont think this what be over powering and the cost itself would be a very good limiter.  The last of course is the cost of the unit.  9 guys with a Rhino clocks in around 277 points.  For that price the unit should at least come with grenades or a way to increase the strength of their bolters so at least they could go after light vehicles.  How about changing their guns to assault 2 so at least they can be the shooty unit that they are meant to be. 

OK,ok so enough with the complaining, now how do we play them in 6th?  I take a squad that maximizes their shooting ability but still keep their sacred number, so 9 in a squad.  To improve the units mobility,  I take a Rhino.   To give the unit some anti tank ability,  I give the champ melta  bombs.  This clocks in at 282 points, pretty expensive but OK for my purposes.  I usually take 2 squads like this unless it's a big game where I take 3 squads.  The strength of the army is not in these squads but the resilience that the squad provides the attached sorcerer lord.  It grants him fearless, and a squad with a built in sigil invulnerable save.  In this army I take 2 sorcerer lords to maximize my attempts at getting the best powers out of telepathy.  And that my friends is the crux of the army, basically taking dual sorcerers to try to get hallucination and invisibility and casting it on as many units as possible so that the thousand sons can pick them apart through bolter fire or in close combat.  If the aspiring champ or the tzeentch sorcerer picks up doombolt than that adds to the squads battle effectiveness.  We could take the squad in small 5 man squads but i feel that other CSM units do this better namely chosen or plague marines.  With my troop choices done, I also take the required heldrake and a squad of oblits.  I have been finding that a lascannon predator also solves my problem of long range firepower as well and for a cheap price.  Now the question remains what to take for a counter attack unit to aid the thousand sons?  I know here i will get laughed at as I usually take possessed.  Here me out though, the squad is fearless, has high strength and the random abilities are actually quite good now.  Now couple that that with lets say a grimore wielding herald of tzeentch getting them to a 2+ invul.  Yeah I know too gimmicky but scary.  Adding daemon allies just opens up more options and more importantly options that would make the list even more effective.  The same trick could be done with terminators and without a doubt the unit would be more effective but I just love how possessed look and the fact that termies are not fearless really bugs me.  Below is a list that I plan on trying.  I already played the list once against a daemon army but would like to try it against several builds before i deem it a success or failure.  This would be my "base" list, one that I would add on too. 

+++ Thousand Sons New Base List (1748pts) +++
+++ 1750pt Codex: Chaos Daemons 2013, Chaos Space Marines 6th Ed (2012) by SN Roster (Allied Detachment, Primary Detachment)) +++

+ HQ + (125pts)

    * Daemonic Heralds (125pts)
        * Herald of Tzeentch (125pts)
            (Change Discipline, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Independent Character)
            D6 Exalted Daemonic Reward (30pts) (Exalted Rewards, Hellforged Artefacts), Psyker Level 3 (50pts)
            * Daemon of Tzeentch
                (Hatred (Daemon of Nurgle), Re-roll all Saving throws results of 1, Tzeentch Psyker Powers)
                Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

+ Troops + (95pts)

    * Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (95pts)
        (Blue Horrors, Brotherhood of Sorcerers, Change Discipline, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Magic Made Manifest)
        Iridescent Horror (5pts), 10x Pink Horrors (90pts)
        * Daemon of Tzeentch
            (Hatred (Daemon of Nurgle), Re-roll all Saving throws results of 1, Tzeentch Psyker Powers)
            Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)

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

+ HQ + (315pts)

    * Sorcerer (165pts)
        (Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker)
        2x Additional Mastery Level (50pts), Mark of Tzeentch (15pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts), Spell familiar (15pts)
        * Power Armour
            Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon

    * Sorcerer (150pts)
        (Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker)
        2x Additional Mastery Level (50pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts), Spell familiar (15pts)
        * Power Armour
            Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon

+ Elites + (334pts)

    * Possessed (334pts)
        (Daemon, Fearless, Fleet, Vessels of Chaos)
        * Chaos Rhino (35pts)
            (Repair)
            Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers
        * 9x Possessed (279pts)
            9x Mark of Tzeentch (45pts)
        * Possessed Champion (20pts)
            (Champion of Chaos)
            2x Gift of mutation (20pts)

+ Troops + (564pts)

    * Thousand Sons (Troops) (282pts)
        (Fearless, Mark of Tzeentch, Slow and Purposeful, Veterans of the Long War)
        8x Thousand Son (184pts)
        * Aspiring Sorcerer (63pts)
            Melta Bombs (5pts)
        * Chaos Rhino (35pts)
            (Repair)
            Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers

    * Thousand Sons (Troops) (282pts)
        (Fearless, Mark of Tzeentch, Slow and Purposeful, Veterans of the Long War)
        8x Thousand Son (184pts)
        * Aspiring Sorcerer (63pts)
            Melta Bombs (5pts)
        * Chaos Rhino (35pts)
            (Repair)
            Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers

+ Fast Attack + (170pts)

    * Heldrake (170pts)
        (Daemon, Daemonforge, It Will Not Die, Meteroric Descent)
        Baleflamer

+ Heavy Support + (145pts)

    * Chaos Predator (145pts)
        Lascannons (40pts), Twin-Linked Lascannon (25pts), Warpflame gargoyles (5pts)

I plan this use this list or something similar in my next games.  Let me know what you think, great list or fluff bunny list that is incredibly worthless.. Pics are from another Thousand Sons player and Ahriman from the GW site

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