Welcome back Chaos faithful, and all you other losers who are stuck reading blogs about whiny Chaos Marines. It’s time to fix those chump HQ choices!
And if you’re tired of whiny chaos players, why not submit your own articles about something besides chaos? You can do it here, at the link provided.
Now let’s get to the big issue- Everyone has an idea for how to fix Chaos Space Marines, the little demon engine that couldn’t. The book hasn’t aged well, and it’s suffering from a serious identity crisis. Most of the “How I’d fix chaos” articles I’ve read have been pretty good, but they focus more on the obvious problems and less on the character of the army. This is the issue I want to address most:
Here’s part three of my How to Fix the Chaos Space Marine Codex series.
-THE ARMY LIST CHANGES-
***TROOPS***
Cultists- Stay the same but I still hate them and don’t care about them. It’s all about the traitors, you numbskulls!
Chaos Marines- MASSIVE decrease in points to compensate for lack of ATSKNF. We’re talking dropping down to Heresy level bargain basement costs, like they should be 10 points at most, ideally 7 or 8 points. We want standard, vanilla, regular chaos marines to be cheap enough to compete with cultists and attractive enough to want to have big, Legion style 20 man blobs of them.
Mark upgrades- Marks are bought by the unit, not the model, Horus Heresy style, so they gain more value the more marines you buy.
Fury of the Legion- Bring it, baby!
UNMARKED- Chaos marines who are unmarked may choose one of the following tactics instead. All of the unmarked marines in the detachment must choose the same unmarked tactics.
Iron Within- The unit automatically passes leadership tests resulting from shooting casualties.
The Hydra Strikes- The unit gains Infiltrate.
We Have Come For You- The unit gains Night Vision and Fear. If an army includes any units with this rule, the first turn is always Night Fighting.
Lupercal!- re-roll all leadership checks, Stubborn.
***ELITES***
Terminators- Major points reduction.
-May upgrade to cataphract armor for free.
-May buy marks as a squad. Again, the object is to encourage bigger legion style squads with more models. Mark costs gains value as members are added.
-Marked terminators are fearless.
-Nurlge marked terminators may upgrade power axes to manreapers for free. (forgeworld style manreapers, not Typhus’s demon weapon)
-Tzeentch Terminators gain brotherhood of psykers. Vanilla power weapons (not lightning claws or fists) become force weapons.(They also have inferno bolts from their MoT)
-Slaanesh terminators may upgrade any combi-bolter to a sonic blaster for free. Any reaper autocannon may be upgraded to a blastmaster for free.
UNMARKED: Terminators gain unmarked tactics. Furthermore, they have access to further unlocks.
Iron Within- Any model may buy a havoc launcher. (I’m pretty sure they were cyclones in 30k but let’s say the tech is degraded)
Lupercal!- Upgrade a reaper autocannon to a multi melta for free.
Possessed- These guys need a lot of work. One of the biggest problems with Possessed were that they were competing with terminators… And terminators themselves weren’t that great. For starters, possessed either need to be massively cheaper to compete for an elite slot, or they should just be replaced with Gal Vorbak, the version of possessed that doesn’t suck.
Chosen- An easy fix.
-CHOSEN GAIN INFILTRATE. The rule they always used to have, but for some reason lost in 6e.
-Chosen gain unmarked tactics.
-The Hydra Strikes: Bonus for these guys since they already infiltrate. For every unit of Chosen in the army, you may force an opponent to re-roll a reserve roll, once per game.
Mutilators- Probably need a points reduction. With access to icon-secured deep strike and improved marking and forgeworld style mark costs, this unit might become more attractive. However, as a sort of unhappy mix between possessed and obliterators, mutilators need some kind of perk to give them flavor, instead of just being a half-assed mix of other ideas. So let’s give them a bubble that can add utility to other wacky demon crap.
Deacon of Demonic Blades- Possessed within 12” of a mutilator unit may re-roll their mutations. Demon weapons within 12” may re-roll their number of attacks.
Cult units- Noise marines and plague marines are all in all pretty solid and get buffed by the changes to marks, and just need attractive point adjustments to make them viable. Khorne berzerkers and 1k Sons can use points too. In general, I’d leave the Sons alone except for tweaking their costs. Khorne berzerkers need the most work.
Fields of Slaughter- Khorne Berzerkers may always declare a charge, even if they disembarked from a vehicle or arrived from reserves this turn. Models with the Mark of Khorne who join this unit gain this rule.
Base attacks 2. KBs get 2 attacks again. You were out of line taking away their second attack, Kelly!
(all cult units) Favored Sons- Champions in this unit, or characters who join this unit, add +1 to their Eye of the Gods roll.
Helbrute- This is a big one. Everyone loves dreadnoughts, but nobody runs them because they’re junk. It’s time for chaos to fix the issue. After 10,000 years of warp taint, we’ve finally come full circle. Helbrutes are now more demon than machine!
-Monstrous Creature. No longer a walker, but now a S6 T6 bastard with 4 or 5 wounds and a 2+ save. All other stats as dreadnought.
-Demon.
-It Will Not Die.
-Can take a havoc launcher on his head. Am I the only one that was bothered by the fact that the only vehicle in the codex that couldn’t get a havoc launcher was the model the weapon was designed for? Havoc launchers were supposed to be a dreadnought weapon system.
-Choking Hazard: Helbrutes transported in vehicles with the possessed rule can never be eaten.
-Can be marked or unmarked.
In addition to the universal marks, it gains these options:
- In addition to the universal marks, it gains these options.
- Slaanesh: May swap Twin Heavy bolter for Twin Sonic Blaster, May swap Heavy Flamer for Doom Siren, May swap Twin Lascannon
- for Blastmaster.
- Nurgle: Is equipped with blight grenades.
- Tzeentch: Is a mastery level 1 sorcerer, and dreadnought close combat weapon gains Force. May buy additional levels.
- Khorne: Gains Fields of Slaughter. A Khorne dreadnought with 2 close combat weapons may run and charge in the same turn.
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About the Author: Jack Stover
