For anybody who wants it (me included), I'm reviving the Black Legion Tactics thread from the old Portent. I'll repost all my tactics articles, along with any strategy that I saved from other people.
Strategy, tactics, army lists, painting, modeling, and anything related to the Chaos Black Legion will be welcomed. So please feel free to add to the thread; I'm just getting the ball rolling.
Last edited by sephiroth87; 19-06-2005 at 16:28.
What is the Black Legion?
The Black Legion is, quite possibly, the most infamous traitor space marine legion. They were led by the primarch Horus, the eventual leader of the rebellion that tore apart the Imperium. They are now led by Abaddon the Despoiler, the warmaster of Chaos that led the recent 13th Black Crusade.
Origin of the Name
Abaddon's current Black Legion was first called the Luna Wolves at their founding. They were mostly taken from an extremely violent hive world called Cthonia. However, the recruits were effectively brainwashed into being completely loyal to Horus first and the Emperor second. Horus, the original primarch, was named Warmaster of all the Emperor's armies as a reward for his loyal service and for finishing the Ullanor Crusade, a campaign against a vast Ork horde. As for the Luna Wolves, their name was changed to the "Sons of Horus" in honor of their primarch.
Eventually, the Warmaster Horus became sick and was nursed back to health on a planet called Davin. He was eventually inducted into one of their "warrior lodges," which was actually an underground cult of Chaos. He was either possessed by Chaos or freely chose to follow them. Not much is known here, except that he left Davin as a changed man.
Horus eventually led the traitor legions in a huge civil war that tore apart the Imperium and resulted in his death at the Emperor's hands. Both Horus and the Sons of Horus had failed to achieve their objectives of victory and a new Imperium with Horus at the head. The Sons of Horus retreated into the Eye of Terror, along with most of the other traitor legions. Because of their failure to protect the Warmaster Horus and their failure to win the war, they painted their armor black and renamed themselves the "Black Legion."
Consumed with insanity and hatred for the Emperor that crushed them, the Black Legion fights a never-ending war that will either result in their deaths or defeat for the Imperium.
Why People don't play Black Legion and why they should...
To most players, Black Legion has the most boring and simple paint scheme of all the legions, along with a distinct lack of gimmicks that the other legions have. They don't have the nifty different rules that the other legions have, either. Also, they suffer from the same fate as the Ultramarines of the loyalist Space Marines, that of being overcomplex, but most often played by new players to the game. Their paint scheme is on the back of the starter box and can be largely painted with black primer, so it's easy for kids and new players to learn how to paint and play with them.
But when they play with them, they cram their armies with every over-expensive, under-performing elite unit and vehicle in the book. Then they lose. And lose. And lose. Instead of learning and experimenting and learning how to build a better mousetrap, they figure that Black Legion sucks and they start looking at the other chapters, never taking into account that an Undivided Black Legion army can generally duplicate any other army's assets in the Chaos Codex. The veteran players who want to build a new army look at the little kids and new players who are getting their asses handed to them, and they look down on Black Legion as an army for people who don't know what they're doing.
From their first opinions of Black Legion, they have a negative idea about the whole army and the people who play it. The little kids and new players finally lose enough until they're fed up. Then they look at the really neat paint schemes and Imperial Guard weapons of the Iron Warriors. They look at the really neat Bloodthirster and Berserker models of the World Eaters. Then they paint over their black primered Black Legion models and never take advantage of the strongest possible army in the Chaos codex. So in the end, Black Legion armies are a product of ignorance and and the inability to use them effectively.
With that said, the prevalent negative opinion of our Black Legion actually works in our favor, just as it does the loyalist Ultramarines.
When thinking of planning an overall strategy, it helps to realize what our actual strengths are. People rarely do this when thinking about their armies, but a little simple thinking can go miles in deciding how to construct and play your army. What are the strengths of our army?
1. We're underpowered to everyone who doesn't know better. Just like I was saying earlier, Black Legion constantly gets pitted as the weaker underdog, due to the players they've faced earlier. They wouldn't ever believe that we could out-assault a Space Wolves army or outshoot the Tau. But a relatively well-built specialized army in the hands of even a mediocre player is evenly matched with either enemy. Your opponent, unless he knows better (a few actually do know better where I play), will make mistakes out of overconfidence that he normally wouldn't make when he underestimates your plain little black-primered guys.
2. Versatility: we can take any unit and accomplish any function, using a mixture of army selection and flexible basic marine troops. This is in opposition to Cult armies and other chapters, which are barred from taking certain units.
3. More numerous than other cult armies. We can almost double the number of models and wounds of Chaos Cult armies.
4. Heavy Weapons. People generally call Iron Warriors the heavy weapon chaos chapter. Not true. We can take more heavy weapon slots than an Iron Warriors army, and we can utilize them just as effectively. And we can take more and better heavy weapons than the cult armies, who are forbidden to take certain heavy weapons. Man for man, we can wipe out most of the other shooting armies due to number of guns alone.
5. Hand to Hand Prowess. Chaos troops don't ever fear a fistfight, and especially not the Black Legion. Nearly all our basic troops are quality and even the shooters are extremely capable of withstanding or initiating an assault.
The Chaos Space Marine Codex is complicated and divided strangely, so it pays to pick one up and check it out. It seems like such simple advice, but I constantly play people who can't even find rules in their own codex. It constantly pisses me off to see people that would invest three hundred dollars in an army and never know the first thing about what they've paid for. The first step of playing any Chaos army, and especially this one, is to know every rule in your Codex. World Eaters really don't have to know that much about all the units simply because they can't take them. But the Black Legion player's main advantage is an extremely wide area to specialize in. We can take every unit, but we cannot put every unit in the army. So it's useful to know what you put in your army and how it works. You should be able to understand how the Raptor's hit-and-run rule works, what your Chaos marks do, and how certain vehicle upgrades can affect your infantry units. Every smaller unit in your army is part of a larger unit that fights together and supports each other, so if you have a thorough knowledge of your rules, you'll have a better understanding of how your army can function as a unified whole. I've tried to give a fairly broad, but systematic overview of all the units that we can take, so you should have some idea of what I'm talking about here. Even if you don't agree with me, at least you've read it enough to have an opinion about it.
But with all the good assets that Black Legion offers, there are some drawbacks. Unfortunately, they're generally not in the Codex. No, the real drawback that I'm talking about here is generally within your own wallet. Since Black Legion's strength lies in its versatility, it helps to have enough units to change around your army structure. Since Black Legion's troops are cheaper than the cult units, we generally have to buy more than they do. Also, you usually won't play Black Legion because you like one specific army type. For example, if you wanted to constantly be fighting hand to hand battles, why wouldn't you choose to play Emperor's Children or World Eaters? They're meant to do it, after all, while Black Legion doesn't have the nifty perks of either. And keep in mind that I'm not talking about Chaos Undivided armies like the ones that have a Khorne HQ, all Khorne Berserkers, and some Obliterators. No, I'm talking about the real deal, an undivided army with most, if not all, of your troops being of the Undivided or unmarked kind. So if a true Black Legion player really wants to take advantage of the versatility, he or she really has to invest some money in a numerous force. To be able to change gears from specialized shooting to specialized assaulting, you nearly have to own 4 to 6 full units of troops, long range weapons, demons, powerfists, tank(s), defiler(s), and elites of different kinds. If you play 1500 point games, 2000 points worth will generally get you enough to change your force around when you need to.
But the great thing about the Chaos Codex is that it gives you an opportunity to make anything into almost anything else. Your marines can be shooty, close combat oriented, tough, strong, sneaky, or just about anything else you can imagine. And most of it costs little or nothing, so you can make the same 1000 or 1500 point army do completely different things, depending on how you allocate your points.
Or, there is a third choice…playing a completely balanced army, which makes you fight an uphill battle versus the more specialized armies in regular battles, but gives you a huge advantage in missions.
However, a final word. If you play missions or play in tournaments, a balanced army is the only thing that will win it for you. Most Iron Warriors players don't make it to the finals simply because they're not versatile enough to handle multiple missions and multiple armies with the same list. But the Black Legion is capable of both specialization and balance.
This section is designed to show you how to build a workable Black Legion army list. I happen to like lists that stay within the realm of the Black Legion background. I also those believe that an army should have a good chance of winning. So it's with these two ideas that my philosophy of 40k revolves around. Keep in mind that this is only my opinion.
So you want to building and playing a Black Legion army. How to go about doing it?
Generally there are two extremes that you have to think about when building an army list.
1. Build your army based on how well it plays on the table.
2. Build an army based on a theme, without considering its tactical implications
Although people build 40k armies using some variant of these two rules, they don't often take into account how they work together and how they both can add to the fun of Warhammer 40k. If you care about winning only, you'll build your army based on how powerfully it performs, regardless of what models you like or how close it fits to the theme of your army. I don't like playing this way simply because it encourages bad feelings with other players. You will constantly be labeled as a "power gamer" and will have to defend your army's theme with bad justifications because you didn't consider a good theme when making the army in the first place.
Players that only play this way have a narrow enjoyment of the hobby, since most of their enjoyment only comes from winning. When they lose, they tend to be angry. There are many players that are strictly competitive AND good sports, but they're in a minority of this hobby.
If you care about the theme only, you'll love the army regardless of how it performs. However, you stand a good chance of being underpowered against every other army but Dark Eldar (if there are any D.E. players reading this, I'm just joking).
Like any game that has winners and losers, it's not a lot of fun if you ALWAYS end up on the losing side. This type of army might look good and it may have a brilliant idea behind it, but any player will grow discouraged and angry after getting decimated for the hundredth time in a row. They will bitterly accuse opponents of taking "cheesy" army lists that are effective. They want things to be fair, but they didn't think to make sure their army was competitive.
If you're happy with building your armies to either of these extreme concepts, then you don't have to read any further. But I happen to think that the two should work together to maximize the fun and enjoyment of this hobby. If you start out building an army based on both its effectiveness and its theme, you will enjoy playing with the army as well as occasionally winning with it.
These two choices are okay, but I believe that taking both into account will make 40k much more enjoyable. You can and should have fun with both the "hobby" and "game" aspects of 40k. In effect, your army can use thematic elements of the 40k storyline AND have a competitive army.
Things to think about:
1. A thematic, competitive army uses diverse elements of the army. You don't have to have the exact same units to be effective. You'll also find that diversity makes your army look more interesting and will be more enjoyable for your opponents. You will also find that there are so many effective units that a Black Legion army can take, you'll have an easy time finding good units to use.
2. A thematic, competitive army skimps on points. The most competitive lists utilize a solid number of models. Chaos marines and other units can have tons of wargear, but they work best when the Chaos army is high on numbers. Spending all your points on Chosen Aspiring Champions with Mucho Mucho Psychic powers might be fluffy, but they're going to be killed by a single battlecannon shot. Don't make the mistake of making a small army just because it's within the Black Legion's theme.
3. A thematic, competitive army utilizes the codex background. The Black Legion favors close combat over ranged action and sharp, limited assaults. It uses hordes of daemons and deep striking Terminators. It uses a Black Legion commander sitting at the head of his Chosen. The Defiler was fashioned at the command of Abaddon the Despoiler. It's not necessary to use any of these bits from the Chaos codex, but it might be an interesting idea to intentionally use one or two of them for your army. You might read the Codex and think about how a Black Legion army would fight. You could also read some of the Warhammer 40k novels and see how they act. Your army might be a thematic anomaly, but have something in your army that just screams Black Legion.
4. A thematic, competitive army can win games. Certain units perform better than others, so don't feel bad about taking some of the good ones. Certain units work better in conjunction with other units or items, so don't feel bad about taking some of the effective ones. The trick is to make the army effective without completely abusing the rules. Example: You can stick 6 heavy units in the Black Legion army. Does that make it more effective? Maybe. Can your army still be effective with three heavy weapon units and some other effective units? Certainly. You can make a list that uses effective units and tactics, but doesn't completely min-max the rules to their fullest extent.
Starting and Building a Chaos Army
Starting a Warhammer 40k army can be a time-consuming, money draining process. However, it's also one of the greatest hobbies in the world, one that inspires creativity and imagination in any player. I'm building my second army now after building and painting 7000 points worth of Chaos Marines, so I'm familiar with all the pitfalls and joys of starting this hobby (hobby = addiction). I'll try to give what help and advice I can to players starting out.
When I first decided to build a 40k army, I looked all around the store to find an army to play. I had heard about Space Marines, who were apparently the "good guys" of the 40k universe. I heard about Imperial Guard, who were pansier versions of the same thing. However, I didn't want to play the "good guys." In fact, I've always thought that the good guys were inherently boring. They defend freedom, but they aren't interesting. For me, playing the bad guys was way more fun. Bad guys resonate strongly with me. From watching Jesse Ventura and J.R. Ewing when I was a kid, the bad guys were always smart, calculating, brutal, and didn't take **** from anybody. I wanted that in a 40k army.
So Chaos Marines were the way to go. After all, who doesn't like a hard-as-nails badass in power armor and a big spiky helmet? And as every good Khorne Berserker and Chaos Dwarf knows, the size of your helmet is directly proportional to how good your army is.
When I started, I bought the Chaos army box that had 3 bikes, several units of troops, a rhino, and Khorne Berserkers. It was a mistake. Buying the army box doesn't really save you that much money. When you buy the army box, you're overwhelmed by how much crap you have to paint. This creates a problem in which you want to start playing, so you paint your stuff badly or don't paint it at all. And painting is part of Warhammer, whether you like it or not. My suggestion, based on my experience alone, is to buy one thing at a time, paint it, then buy something else. You have to develop a certain sort of discipline when starting an army. This discipline will come in handy when you finally start playing games against real opponents. With both playing and modelling, you'll learn valuable lessons about finite resources and how you prioritize them. In playing, you have to discipline yourself to put together a structured, effective army list, using a limited number of points. You can only put so much stuff in the army, so you have to learn to discipline yourself in what you play with.
Modelling is based on the same basic premise. You have a limited amount of time and a limited amount of money (I do, anyway). You can only buy and paint so much in a limited amount of time, so you have to decide what to buy and paint. You also have to understand that modelling an army takes quite a bit of time. It's not something that you just knock together in an hour or two. Again, you end up having to learn a little bit of discipline in what you do. Understand that a playable army will take some time, and use your finite resources and time to ensure that each unit of your army gets done to a decent standard.
When you buy one box at a time, you learn a little of the discipline that I'm talking about. You may have the money for a Defiler this week, but your first marine squad isn't done. Should you buy the Defiler? No. Stick the money under your mattress and finish your squad. It sucks sometimes, but you'll learn how to finish an army if you can learn to focus and finish what you started.
The question arises: what should I buy first? If you're doing the "box at a time" strategy, you can pick and choose what you want to put in the army. With the box set, I ended up with a bunch of Khorne Berserkers that I still don't use. Don't do this. Instead, here's my suggestion of the order you should go in.
1. One box of troops. Don't even buy a Chaos Lord. You can designate one of the Chaos Marines to be your Lieutenant or Lord, until you buy one or make one (or not). Wait until you've finished painting a squad of marines before you tackle something that everyone will look at (the chaos lord). Make sure you get at least the standard three colors on the marine. You don't have to drybrush or do anything fancy to them if you don't know how, but try to make sure that they're neatly painted and don't look as if they've been dunked in a can of paint.
2. Another box of troops. You've got to have two squads, so you might as well get it out of the way. Ask someone about drybrushing or highlighting if you want to, but the second squad should be better than the first, due to the fact that you've painted ten of them already.
3. A vehicle of some sort. You should be getting better after painting twenty marines, so you might want a little variety in what you paint. Vehicles are still easy to paint, but offer a lot in terms of how they look on the table. Everyone looks at the vehicles before they look at the troops, so try to paint it up to a decent standard.
4. An elite unit like an obliterator or a fast attack like a Chaos Bike. You don't have to get fancy, but your elite or expensive units often will get attention that your other stuff doesn't get. People will look at the elites, so try to have more than the standard three colors on the unit.
5. Finish the elite unit or fast attack unit. You need three bikes, 5 raptors, or one obliterator to make the minimum unit. You don't have to have a full unit, but it should be playable by this point. So finish the other two bikes (raptors, etc.) to have a playable unit.
6. Troops. Whether they're Daemon units, more undivided marines, or cult units, you need more troops. I suggest doing these to find the direction that your army is going in. You can also start thinking about what you want your HQ to be.
7. Chaos Lord. I suggest waiting on this one until now. You should be a good enough painter by now to tackle one and not have it look bad. You can buy the actual Chaos Lord model if you want; alternately, you can use any model that looks appropriate. With a Chaos Lord, the more intimidating it is, the better off you are. Any guy holding a skull or severed head is usually going to win you some intimidation points. Also, big horns or a big hat means that they guy is hard as nails.
By now, you should have a balanced core of stuff to use. Start adding things in based on what you like or how you like to play. Heavies, Fast Attack, Daemons, more Troops, or anything else should be fair game. Your army ends up being an extension of you, so build it according to how you want to play. Undivided Chaos Armies give you the option of being good at all kinds of warfare, so build your force according to what you like to do.
As I said, be patient and finish your unit before going to another one. If you learn to discipline yourself and build your army unit by unit, you'll have the army finished in no time.
Analysis of the Chaos Codex
Chaos Lord and Demon Prince
The Chaos Lord is probably the most-taken choice of a 1500 point or more army. He's fast, mean, and can fight extremely well. He comes with one more wound than a Lieutenant and can take a lot more demonic gifts and wargear. There are two schools of thought on 40k HQ units. The first one is that expensive units last longer and are worth the cost. The second one is that cheap units perform just as well and can last just as long as the expensive unit.
I tend to side with the second train of thought. Chaos Lords are great if you keep them below 150 points. However, I tend to spend even less. My Chaos Lords and Demon Princes usually run around 110-130 points. The big question is whether to give them the gift of Demonic Stature. It makes them able to be shot within a squad, but it gives them extra toughness, weapon skill, and strength. I personally love it, but I only like to use it as a cheap distraction unit. Model him to be huge and give him Demonic Flight or Speed, along with a higher toughness or extra wound. Your opponent is used to seeing huge uber-HQ units in a chaos army, so he'll concentrate 600-800 points of firepower into a 90 point model. In other words, you make him ignore your really dangerous stuff.
If you decide to pay to get an expensive Chaos Lord, don't make the mistake of thinking he's invincible. In one game, I paid over 200 points for a Demon Prince, then sent him in by himself versus a Wraithlord. I hit and wounded with two attacks, then got instantly splatted with one strength ten hit from the Wraithlord. Not a pretty way to lose 200 points.
The Chaos Lieutenant
With one less wound and a tighter limit on demonic gifts, what makes the Lieutenant a viable choice? Simply put, it's 15 points cheaper per model and has almost the same stats as a Chaos Lord. If you don't spend much on wargear, then the Lieutenant offers a cheaper option. Instead of taking one expensive lord, take a cheap lord and a cheap lieutenant or 2 cheap lieutenants. You'll be surprised how effective this is. It's the "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" theory...
Greater Demons
Greater Demons are lots of fun, but debatable on their usefulness. You have to pay for the Demon, then pay for an aspiring champion that will be killed when the Demon hits the table. If you're going to play with a Greater Demon, pay for the Demon Chains upgrade for the Aspiring Champ, so you can have some measure of control over your summoning roll. The Demons are nasty fighters, but having to depend on rolling a 4 or better to even put them in play really sucks. As for the individual demons, the best two are the Bloodthirster and the Lord of Change, for sheer brutality and flying, respectively. The Slaanesh Demon and the Nurgle Demon are fun, but you can get a Demon Prince for cheaper that does the same thing. I don't like Greater Demons, but I play with mine occasionally just to have fun with my army.
Troop Choices
If you've read anything on this site, you've probably figured out that I'm a big fan of regular troops. They are the workhorse of the Black Legion army, and can often do the job better and cheaper than the more expensive super units. However, all troops are not created equal. In fact, a few of these choices suck quite badly. But most are great and should be used often.
Chaos Marines
The best unit. Straight 4's for stats, hard as nails, able to take close combat weapons for free, icons for free when you make them undivided, able to reroll leadership tests for just a point per marine, able to duplicate the role of just about any other unit in the Chaos Armory. I love Chaos Marines. If you take them, it's not that big of a deal to make them dedicated to Chaos Undivided. My marines almost never break, and for only a point, why not pay for it? If anything, Chaos Marines of some sort (of any mark) should compromise AT LEAST 25-30% of your entire Black Legion army points, with marked marines bringing up the total to 30-40%. In a 1500 point Undivided force, you should be fielding AT LEAST 15-20 regular (Chaos Undivided) marines in an assault army, and AT LEAST 25 regular (Chaos Undivided) marines in a shooty army. Otherwise, you're cheating yourself. You have to take them anyway, so take as many of them as you can get.
Demon Packs
Demon packs have to be summoned, but that helps as much as it hinders. They are somewhat random, but they can arrive in such a way that they are untouched by the enemy. Basically, if you're playing with demons, you should count them as a bonus unit. Don't depend on them and don't make them the basis for a Black Legion army. Marines cost the same, but marines are guaranteed to be on the table at the time you need them. However, if you play with demons, it might be a good idea to think about playing with two small packs of demons instead of one large pack. This is because you will have two rolls instead of one for getting them on the table.
Bloodletters of Khorne
I like this unit. In terms of value, I believe it to be the third best summoned unit in the Chaos army, behind Furies and Demonettes. They are way tougher than both of those units, though. With a 3+/5+ save, power weapons, 10 leadership, and 2 base attacks, these guys absolutely carve up armies. They work best against marine and necron armies, though. If you face a horde army, though, the abilities of bloodletters are basically overkill. The other bad thing about all their goodness is their cost of 26 points apiece. For that price, I'd almost rather have Terminators or Possessed with Demonic Talons. However, Terminators can't assault while deep striking, while Possessed have to get there in a Rhino. But the Bloodletters come summoned, making them able to assault the turn they come in. With all the Bloodletters' positive qualities, I'm still occasionally leery about throwing points into a super-expensive unit I might never get to see until turn 4-6.
Also, I don't like their 6'' movement, as opposed to the Furies' 12''. It's sometimes tough to get them into assault range and not shot into tiny pieces. They absolutely wreck marine armies, though. If you face a lot of power armor, the usefulness of this unit increases dramatically.
Demonettes of Slaanesh
The second best unit of demons in the game, following very closely behind Furies. If you can summon them within assault distance, you'll take out a third of the squad without them even rolling armor saves. With two attacks that automatically wound on hits of 6, you're looking at a VERY effective unit. They're basically cheaper, slightly more points-effective versions of Tyranid Genestealers. However, they also suffer from the 6'' movement problem that Bloodletters have, making them somewhat unreliable in getting in to assault on the second turn. Very, very good units, though.
Horrors of Tzeentch
Weapon Skill 2, Ballistic Skill 3, Toughness 3, and one attack. 17 points per Horror. Ugh. These guys were much cooler way back when they split into two Horrors when they got shot. Horrors can shoot demonic fire, meaning that they have a rapid-fire, 12 inch bolt pistol shot. I'd rather take marines with bolt pistols for two points cheaper. If you're going to take Horrors, pay 5 more points per model to make them Flamers of Tzeentch, giving them an assault 3, 18'' doombolt that works like a heavy bolter. They can shoot a crapload of shots, but Flamers of Tzeentch are 22 points a model for a toughness 3, ballistic skill 3, weapon skill 2 summoned demon. If you're going to take them, always take the Flamers. They get a lot of shots, but they have to kill whatever they shoot at, or they'll be assaulted and killed very quickly.
Plaguebearers of Nurgle
I like Plaguebearers, but I think they hurt a Black Legion army as much as they help it. They have the 4(5) toughness, and carry Demonic Venom and Nurgle's Rot. I like the Demonic Venom quite a bit. You're guaranteed a wound on a roll of 4 or better, regardless of the opponent's toughness. However, the Nurgle's Rot is almost guaranteed to hurt your non Plague Marine guys. Nurgle's Rot delivers wounds to any model within 6'' of the carrier, including friendly models (with the exception of models with the mark of Nurgle). The idea of summoning demons is to quickly back them up with regular marines, and having plague bearers makes this very difficult. You don't want your demons killing your own guys, after all. If you are playing a very Nurgle-heavy army, then these demons are quite good. If you are playing regular Black Legion, then they are a poor gamble.
Nurglings
They're weak. They can't kill anything. They can't screen troops. They can't even hold table quarters the way that the Orks' Gretchin can.
However, if you take some, they can hold up most enemy units for a long time. Paying 30 points to tie up a 200 point enemy squad is a great tactic. However, you can only take them if you've got Nurgle marked units. So if you're playing an army heavy on Plague Marine squads, Nurglings might be a decent idea.
Chaos Marine Aspiring Champions
I included this in case people wondered about how to arm them effectively. I suggest, like always, that taking just enough to make them effective. If you give them a powerfist, don't give them anything else but a Chaos Mark. I love power weapons and powerfists. However, if you're running an all shooty force, not every squad has to have an aspiring champion, and not every aspiring champion has to be sporting major wargear. The opposite is true of assault armies. You need each assault squad to be holding a powerfist or a power weapon, so that they can take care of opposing squads and characters as quickly as possible.
Elite Units
Before I go in depth on these units, a quick word about the whole group. Elites are just that, elites. They are not meant to be the backbone of your force, and nor should they. Elite units generally perform better than most regular units, but cost more than regular units and often die just as quickly.
If you're depending entirely on your elites to win the game for you, then you probably need to rethink your army strategy.
Obliterators
Obliterators tend to be a two-way street. On one hand, they're armed with every single weapon imaginable. They're tougher than Terminators, with more wounds, the same 2+/5+ save, and the ability to deep strike. They're stronger in hand to hand and harder to wound. But they suffer from the same problem plague marines have, that insufferable 4(5) toughness. They suffer even more however, because Obliterators present VERY tempting targets for high strength weapons. This is because Obliterators are seventy (!) points a model. If you use them in an assault army, you can deep strike them behind the opposing army to draw fire from your main assaulters. However, I think their best application comes from shooty armies, which offset the fact that Obliterators can't assault, move fast, or be transported. Stick them in the middle of the board with a havoc squad and take down hard targets, or deep strike them behind an enemy Basilisk.
Possessed
I've got a soft spot in my heart for Possessed, simply because of the conversion possibilities. The benefits that they automatically come with are quite good, with an invulnerable save, 5 strength, and a higher leadership. However, all the gifts that they can choose from are somewhat overpriced. The only one that is consistently worth it is Demonic Talons. However, Demonettes do the job just as well and for a lot cheaper. In my opinion, Possessed do the best in a pure assault army. They are also very effective when given the mark of Khorne. They're not the most points-effective unit, but can they do the job and will stand up in a fight.
Chosen
Chosen are an interesting unit. They can be tooled up to be huge, they have an assortment of weapon options, and you can give them terminator armor. In my opinion, the job of Chosen can be accomplished more effectively with different comparably-priced units. But that doesn't mean that they're not good. In the right situation, Chosen Terminators are rock hard and will tear apart the enemy army. But Obliterators and Havoc Squads can outshoot them. Possessed and Demonic Troops can outfight them. If you upgrade them to have Terminator armor, then they still have 4 toughness. And because they're expensive, any Terminator unit that you have on the board will be automatically targeted by the other army. But if you use them, trust in their armor, their shooting, and their fighting skill. That doesn't mean to send them alone versus another army, but you can give them two reaper autocannons and use them to support a flank or as a countercharge unit if you're shooting. If you're assaulting, you can deep strike them in and create complete havoc with the enemy lines. A heavy flamer along with initiative 4 power weapons means that you'll beat the living crap out of opposing units.
Fast Attack
Raptors
Raptors are a very interesting unit. The regular Raptor troops can have 3 special weapons, they move 12 inches, have Demonic Visage, and they can break off of hand to hand combat. However, they are difficult to use effectively, since they are quite fragile and cost a bunch. Never, ever send these guys in alone in battle. Also, I've found that their most effective use doesn't come from their ability at hand to hand combat. Here's a couple of things to remember: Number one, take enough of them to be effective. I'd say that if you're going to use them most effectively, put them in a pure assault army and give them meltaguns. Give them the Infiltrate or Tank Hunter vet skill, then send them tank hunting. A twelve inch move can quite easily reach the back of a tank. If you want assault troop choices that fight well against troops, take Furies. Raptors are simply too expensive to do the job well.
Bikers
Bikers are even more expensive than Raptors, so why take them at all? Some people don't like bikes, but I'm a big fan of them. Simply put, they're tougher and do a more specific job than the Raptors. They have the sorta-good 4(5) toughness, but they have a much higher range of attack than Raptors. They have twin linked bolters, so you can move them up a flank behind rhinos and use their near constant hits to soften up squads. As opposed to Raptors, their main purpose should be troop killing. Give them Plasma Guns instead of meltaguns, so they can rapid fire and tear apart squads of troops. And their invulnerable save really helps them in 4th ediiton.
Bikes with plasma guns can be an effective, but risky troop killing unit, while bikes with meltaguns can use their 24'' movement to quickly hit a tank before it does a huge amount of damage. They can be tooled up for assault, but 35 points is a lot to waste if they get power-fisted by an opposing sergeant.
Demonic Beasts
Flesh Hounds
They now move as cavalry, which means that they'll likely get to charge, which is good. But they're kind of expensive, which isn't so good. Flesh Hounds have collars of Khorne, which keep force weapons from affecting the wearer and a resistance to psychic attacks. This is absolutely useless, since force weapons are rarely used and psychic attacks will never be used on a single demon squad, unless the person doing the psychic attack is a total idiot or plays Daemonhunters. They're good, but the Furies do it better.
Screamers
Screamers are somewhere around the middle. of the pack in terms of usefulness. They have cost the same as Furies, have Furious Charge (gives them Strength 5), and have a point higher leadership. Then why are Furies better? In my book, the ability of Furies to completely tie up the opponent makes them slightly more useful. The Screamers have the occasionally useful ability of detaching from combat. However, it's not optional. They have to detach, regardless of your intentions. So they'll detach from combat, giving your opponent a turn to shoot at your rhino squads, which is not your intent in fielding these types of fast attack demons. The Furies will keep on fighting, giving your squads another turn to move up into assault position. In the end, they're good, but not quite as good as the Furies.
Furies
I like these little guys a lot. They have to be summoned and have a relatively low leadership, but have a 12 inch movement and a strength of 5. In my opinion, Chaos Furies are one of the most useful units in a pure assault army. Have two units of Furies, run your rhinos up, and use the smoke grenades on your Rhinos. Then on your second turn, bring out the furies, which incidentally can move close enough to assault on the second turn. When used like this, their leadership doesn't matter, because you only need them long enough to tie up the enemy so your regular troops don't get killed. They'll attack, killing several with their 5 strength and 4 weapon skill. Then the rest of your army arrives, slaughtering the rest of the opponent. Like I said, Furies are wonderful units.
Heavy Weapon Units
Defiler
A very, very good unit. It's the only unit that the Black Legion has for dropping ordnance blasts on the opponent. They have a role for both assault and shooting armies, and they're fairly tough, to boot. They come with 12 armor and demonic possession, which is about middling in terms of taking shots. However, you can give them indirect fire and hide them behind cover. Or, alternately, you can give it mutated hull, and use it to move and fire from cover. I would suggest indirect fire for a shooty army and mutated hull for an assault army. Either way, Defilers tend to scare the crap out of your opponent. If you're using a Defiler to indirect fire, it's a good idea to have two Defilers in an army. That way, they'll be able to protect each other when the opponent tries to get within the 36'' indirect fire range of the Defiler. When an opponent tries to get close to get at the hiding Defiler, have the other one drop a shot on it. With two Defilers, you can have total control over the whole table, since your opponent can't hide anything behind cover.
Predator
Predators are great units. A Predator can move and fire, which means that it is more mobile than an anti-troop Havoc squad. On top of that, the anti-troop Predator can start out behind cover, then move out and fire, reducing its risk of return fire. I love having an anti-troop predator sitting behind cover. If you want to pay the points, you can stick a lascannon on the turret so that you can hit a transport or tank if you need to. The Predator Annihilator isn't as good, though. You start out behind cover, then waste shots by moving. Or, alternately, you start out in the open and expose yourself to enemy fire. And the Annihilator isn't cheap enough to stick out in the open where people can find the weak side armor.
Havoc Marines
These guys can accomplish any task and do any job. However, it's important to decide what you want to do with them. It's also important to give them weapons that all accomplish the same task. That's why it's a good idea to give them the same or similar weapons. If you have a havoc squad, don't put in an autocannon, a heavy bolter, a lascannon, and a missile launcher in the same group. Actually, don't put in a lascannon at all. Stick those in your regular squads to save points. Missile Launchers are probably the most effective weapon to put in a Havoc squad. Choosing between frag and krak missiles is very handy. Instead, decide what types of armies you'll be facing. Here are some examples of what to put in your squads:
Versus infantry and low armor (tyranids, orks, some imperial guard): 4 heavy bolters or 4 missile launchers
Versus a mix of armor and infantry (space marines and Necrons): 4 missile launchers w/ or w/o tankhunter, or 2 missile launchers and 2 autocannons w/ tank hunter
Versus low armor infantry and high armor (Eldar and Imperial Guard): 4 autocannons w/ tankhunter
Also, if you want to fit in more than three heavy weapon squads, give your havoc squad the mark of Slaanesh. This makes them elite, according to page 38 of the codex. If you have 3 havoc squads with the mark of Slaanesh, you can have a total of 6 Heavy units in a Black Legion army. Unfair, but very legal and very nasty.
Dreadnought
Dreadnoughts are fun, but dangerous. They use a heavy slot where a regular marine dreadnought uses an elite slot. It's not that big of a deal, but I gripe anyway. The good points: Chaos Dreadnoughts have the ability to shoot more and get more attacks than a regular Dreadnought. The bad points: You have the ability to accidentally shoot your own guys-not good when your basic marine is twice as expensive as your basic space ork. If you're going to have a shooty force, I wouldn't use a Dreadnought. The chance of hitting your own guys is a bad chance to take. However, a Dreadnought's biggest asset comes from hiding in cover in a countercharge army, then tearing into whatever gets across the board. If you choose to do this, make sure you always have an enemy target in range. It keeps you from killing your own guys. In my opinion, the lascannon is the most effective weapon for the Dreadnought. The plasma cannon can hit stuff, but the 4th edition rules make it where you're likely hitting one model a turn, which the lascannon does more effectively. If you're running an assault army, it's darn tough to run a dread across the board without getting it blown up. I suggest always giving a Dreadnought Mutated Hull, Extra Armor, and Smoke Launchers. That way, if it gets shot, you've got a chance of surviving. Or, give it just smoke launchers, don't put a lot of points in it, and hope that it kills some stuff before it gets blown up. However, I prefer Predators or Obliterators for my fire support.
Land Raider
Two words: too expensive. For the huge cost of 250 points, you're getting a tank that doesn't know what it wants to do. It can carry terminators, but it can only carry five of them. It can carry regular troops, but a Rhino does it for 50 points. It can shoot, but Predators and Dreadnoughts can do more damage. Basically, it's a unit that would be useful if it could do one thing well. It's only real redeeming quality is the 14 armor all around. However, if you've ever played with a Land Raider, you know that the thing can be blown up with enough lascannons. Then you've got 250 points that was wasted by a 15 point marine. Not pretty. If Games Workshop dropped the cost to 200 points, it might be a viable option. However, at 250 points it's only useful or even viable in really big games. A useful tactic to try is taking a minimum squad necessary to take a land raider as a transport. Take 4 chosen and give one of them Terminator Armor. Then take the Land Raider as a transport. That way, you can have all your heavy support vehicles while being able to use the Land Raider as a fire magnet and tank hunter. And having 4 heavy support choices in a black legion army is always fun...
You misunderestimate the powers of 4 flamers+ aspiring champion with power weapon and combi flamer+rhino.Originally Posted by sephiroth87
Also, since when did BL get an extra heavy support slot? Is it in a FAQ?
It's not my preference, but it's a great tactic to use. That many flamers will mow through low save squads (i.e. orks, tyranids, Dark Eldar) and cause enough wounds to knock out even space marine squads.
As for the heavy support question, Chaos Undivided can get up to six heavies, using either a Land Raider Transport or Elite Havoc Squads with the mark of Slaanesh.
You can have 3 heavies normally, but taking havoc squads with the mark of slaanesh makes them into elite choices. This includes Slaanesh Havoc squads. This can be found on page 38 of the Chaos Codex, under the heading of "The Force Organization Chart."
Also, instead of taking a Land Raider as a Heavy support slot, you can have a cheapie minimum sized chosen squad with one Terminator. They're eligible to take a Land Raider as a transport. The Land Raider doesn't count as a scoring unit like it would if it was a Heavy choice, but you can still take three tanks on top of the Land Raider.
Theoretically, you could have a Predator, two Defilers, a Land Raider, and two Slaanesh-marked Havoc Squads in one force organization choice.
Elite Marines
These are the marines that are marked other than Chaos Undivided. They are better than normal marines, but cost considerably more per marine.
Since they are either troop or elite choices depending on the alignment of your army's commander, I gave them their own section.
Khorne Berserkers
Berserkers are great at hand to hand. They come with an extra attack and fearlessness, along with the nasty, nasty khorne chain axes for only a point more. It's a waste to pay for a Berserker without the chain axe. They deal out casualties quicker than the other marked squads. However, they tend to die the quickest, as opposed to the other marked marines ( I will explain this later). Also, their blood rage will often jump them out of their rhinos or charge when you don't want them to. All in all, they're great hand to hand units, but that's it. If you use them as a countercharge unit, they're great, but they'll jump out of cover right when you don't need them to.
Plague Marines
Plague Marines are also fearless, but have a toughness of 5 instead of 4. I like them a lot, but their toughness is actually 4(5) instead of 5 exactly. This means that they can still be instantly killed by anything that is AP3 or lower. There's a whole lot of weapons that do an AP3 hit to a plague marine. They also have true grit, which means that they can fire their bolters one handed. They can run across the board and shoot farther than other assaulty chaos marines, but they're best suited to a countercharge army. In this respect, they're actually better than other marines.
Noise Marines
Noise Marines behave a bit like Berserkers, but with some marked differences. For starters, they come with the same fearlessness. However, instead of an extra attack, they come with an initiave bonus, called Warp Scream. It effectively drops the enemy's initiave by 1, which is a huge difference. Noise Marines also have the added bonus of being able to stay in their rhinos. They also have the option of anchoring a shooty army because of their effective sonic weaponry. Stick a squad in a rhino and create a mobile, 24'' range firebase. You can tool a Noise Marine squad out to be great in hand to hand combat, also. Khorne Berserkers look like they could do this more effectively, but these two squads function differently.
The practical difference between Berserkers and Noise Marines: How this works out is, Berserkers can deal out casualties quicker, but they lose more guys in return. Noise Marines deal out less casualties, but take less casualties in return. If you have a Berserker squad in hand to hand with a regular marine squad, then they deal out casualties at the same time as the marine squad. That means that the marine squad will kill some berserkers in return. That means a lot less attacks on the next combat. So Berserkers have a huge first attack, but a diminished second attack. Now let's take Noise Marines versus marines. They have less attacks, but since their initiave is better, they'll kill some marines on the first charge without taking any casualties. Then when the enemy squad gets their turn, they have less guys to attack with. It's a small difference, but it makes a huge difference in how you structure your charge. In a Black Legion army, noise marines should be at the head of your attack, and Berserkers should be towards the middle or the back, so as to do the most damage and take the least amount of casualties.
Thousand Sons
The Sons got a bit of an upgrade in 4th edition. I play with them occasionally, and if the damn mark of Tzeentch didn't cost 10 points per model (other marks are 5 per model), Thousand Sons would be a viable choice in a shooty army. Thousand Sons can move and shoot their bolters at 24'', but they have the slow and purposeful rule. This means that they roll 2d6 and take the highest to determine how far they move. These marines can do some damage, but they're just a little expensive. Their regular troops also are not permitted to take any wargear at all, which slightly limits their effectiveness, but not by much. Their one really good point: they come with an extra wound, but 24 points per model is a lot to pay for a marine with an extra wound, when two regular marines are just 28 points. Their aspiring champion gets the sorcerer ability for free and passes psychic tests. Honestly, I'd rather have the extra initiave, the extra attack, or the extra toughness of one of the other groups of marked marines. If you decide to use them, Gift of Chaos or Wind of Chaos are excellent choices to give the champ.
Last edited by sephiroth87; 24-06-2005 at 15:37.
Daemonic Gifts
These tend to be more effective than wargear choices, but also tend to be more expensive. Don't just start giving your Chaos Lord tons of Demonic Gifts just because he can take them. Instead, start thinking about what he can do without and still be effective. A lot of this stuff is tempting, but it hurts you if you take a whole lot of it.
Daemon Armor-It's a 2+ save, but it's almost as expensive as terminator armor, only without the invulnerable save and the extra attack. A Chaos Lord on a Biker with Daemonic Armour is TOUGH to kill. He moves 24'', withstands a few lascannons, and starts tearing stuff up on the second turn. This is a staple in Khorne Daemon Bomb armies.
Demonic Aura- For 15 points, it's a 5+ invulnerable save. I actually like this one, because it gives you something good for a fair price. Your Daemon Prince will be hit with all types of Lascannons and power fists, so it's not a bad idea to take a 5+ invulnerable save. I like taking this instead of Terminator armor because of the ability to have an invulnerable save and the ability to be mobile with Demonic Flight.
Demon Chains- If you're going to play with a Greater Demon, these are the key to getting it out or keeping it in. After all, you don't want Steve, the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh to run out of the Rhino and get shot to smithereens on turn two, do you? Pay for them if you play with the big Demons.
Demonic Essence- an extra wound for 15 points. Not bad, but Chaos Lords already come with three wounds. A fourth doesn't actually make that much of a difference, in the grand scheme of things, but it's definitely nice to have if you've got the points. Best used on Statured princes.
Demonic Fire- I don't like it. Demonic Fire is an assault 2 weapon that fires bolt pistol shots. It's also 5 points. Not expensive, but Chaos Lords generally don't stay out and shoot bolt pistol shots when they can charge into battle. In fact, it has a 12 inch range, so you can pay 1 point for a rapid-firing bolt pistol that does the exact same thing. It's not quite useless, but it's definitely not worth the points, either.
Demon Flight- This is why you have a Chaos Lord. The added 12'' mobility makes the Chaos Lord very dangerous and makes his threat range that much larger. Combine a Flying with Daemonic Stature, and you have a very efficient killing machine. It's pricey, but worth it.
Demonic Mutation- an extra attack for 15 points. Ugh. Give your Lord the mark of Khorne for 10 points. The he'll have an extra attack and fearlessness, too. A Chaos Lord with 2 close combat weapons already has 4 attacks and 5 on the charge. You really don't need one more that badly. If it was 10 points , I might buy it. But for 15, it's another marine I can have. Best used on Aspiring champions, where it's cheaper and can do a lot of damage combined with powerfists.
Demonic Resilience- Another fairly priced gift, the Resilience gives you an extra toughness. Granted, it's only the modified toughness (like obliterators with 4(5) toughness), but it makes Lords very hard to wound, especially combined with Demonic Stature. Very few things can easily wound a toughness 5 Prince, and even fewer can knock one down with a 5(6) toughness. It's a cheap price to pay for what you get.
Demonic Rune- It's good and bad at the same time. On the good side, any weapon that instakills the prince will only wound him. On the bad side it's 35 points to pay. To me, it's simply not worth the cost.
Demonic Stature- This is why I don't use Terminator Armor. For only 15 points, the Chaos Lord gets a bonus to strength, toughness, weapon skill, ignores armor saves, and gets 2D6 to penetrate tanks. The bad thing is that he can be picked out among squads and has a reduced ballistic skill. Whoop-de-freaking-do. If you give hide the Statured prince behind cover and give him flight or speed, it's the best 15 points you could ever spend on a Chaos Lord. If you're assaulting, he can still hide behind cover and tanks, while moving at the same speed as your army. Probably the best and most points-effective Demonic Gift you can buy.
Demon Steed- Mount them on a horse and paint a bull's eye on their chest. They can fleet of foot now, so you get a pretty good movement and a big charge. It's better than it used to be. I'd use it if I really wanted the modeling opportunity, but there are better options, strategically speaking.
Demon Spawn- Walking meat shields for your Chaos Lord. However, it's more expensive than a Chaos Marine and doesn't fight as well. It has strength 5 and toughness 5, but it only moves 6 inches per turn. If you don't plan on using Demonic Flight, Demon Spawn really aren't that bad. But they are only useful in certain instances, and for the points, I'd rather buy something else. If you want one, get the psychic power Gift of Chaos. Then you can have a spawn AND pick out a powerfist sergeant or commander.
Demonic Speed- This used to be the bastard child of the three demonic movement gifts. Now you move 6'', but charge at 12". You also get a freebie D6 fleet of foot move. As a comparison, it's 5 points cheaper than flight, so you have to decide which is better to model. It's actually competing with Daemonic Flight for the best movement tool for Chaos HQs. If your lord is tooled up to kill entire squads, I'd recommend the Daemonic Speed. If he's cheaper or in more of a supporting role (non-statured and holding a Kai Gun, for instance), I'd take Daemonic Flight. I like flight since it's more reliable and I don't move that fast towards the other army.
Demonic Strength- For only 10 points, having an extra point of strength on a Chaos Lord is a great bargain. It doesn't cost that much and it gives you a very noticable bonus when attempting to wound enemies. If you've got the points, take this, especially combined with Daemonic Stature. Strength 5 versus strength 6 is huge when attempting to kill off space marines.
Demonic Talons- Another goodie, but I'm lukewarm on this gift. Like the Demonettes and the Possessed, your Chaos Lord can automatically wound other models when he rolls a 6 to hit. You have to decide whether to take this, though, because you lose your regular weapons upon taking it. It's only ten points, but I always like giving a Chaos Lord some sort of power weapon. The Talons will wound on sixes, but you'll generally only be able to have 4 to 5 attacks per turn. Demonettes cost less than your average Chaos Lord, and have at least ten to sixteen chances per turn (two attacks each with at least 5 or 6 demonettes). To me, Demonic Talons are a way of equalizing cheap troops with average skills. The Chaos Lord is wasted in taking this Wargear. Stick with the Demonettes or Possessed if you want to have Demonic Talons in your Black Legion Army.
Demon Venom- Another gift that takes your regular weapons awy. When rolling to wound, you never have to make a better roll than 4+, irrespective of the enemy's strength and toughaness. They're also considerably cheaper than the Talons. But I say the same thing about this that I say about the Demonic Talons. They're not bad in and of themselves, but they take away from the effectiveness of a Chaos Lord, who should have some sort of power weapon.
Demonic Visage- It's 5 points for a Lord and makes the opponent's leadership at -2 if the Lord wins the combat. It's not bad, and it's now useful in 4th edition. In the past, you'd find that you most often wanted to tear up the squad and stay in hand to hand combat, killing off the rest of the enemy troops. Now, they're fairly easy to wipe out. Good choice.
Wargear Analysis
Before I start, a word: I don't believe in tons of wargear. I think it takes away from your main Chaos Marine troops. I believe regular, basic Chaos marines to be the best unit in this army and any 40k army. They don't need lots of extraneous stuff to be more effective, and that includes your Aspiring Champions. With that said, some of this stuff is fairly neat and does some good things. In conclusion, tons of wargear should be generally left up to your independent characters, who actually don't need the stuff that much, either.
Bionics- You can resist a wound on a roll of 6, but instakill strength weapons still instakill. However, Bionics is only 5 points. I'm not the biggest fan, but this might come in useful. I prefer to spend the 5 points to do something else, though.
Chaos Hound- As it happens, I have 4 of these in my "fun" list. They can keep up with a flying, statured demon prince, they can fight like marines, but they die if their master is killed. They're 12 points a hound, but marines only cost 2 points more. They're fun, but not particularly good. You're better off buying a retinue or buying demonic gifts for your prince. They can infiltrate with their master, so including one on a champ isn't a bad idea for Black Legion marines.
Chaos Space Marine Bike- 30 points for a bike for independent characters. It's not a bad option and 12 inches per turn is nothing to sneeze at. But the new 4th edition rules made the bike a lot better. The 24'' move is nasty on a Chaos Lord, who can benefit hugely from the added mobility and invulnerable save that comes from turbo-boosting.
Master-crafted Weapon- Only take this if you're using a ranged weapon. However, if you're going to be in close combat, take Spiky Bits, as it's 5 points cheaper and does the same thing. Don't get both, as it's a points waste. You'll find that re-rolling 2 misses a turn really doesn't help out a chaos lord who already has a very high weapon skill. Also, you can't master craft a Demon Weapon, so no master-crafting a Kai Gun. I don't see the point of ever paying for this.
Personal Icon- Another icon on a character can be really effective, especially if you've got a movement bonus on the HQ unit, like flight or a bike. However, the bike option is most effective in combination with this upgrade.
Spiky Bits-This one is useful. Being able to re-roll misses in close combat is very nice, and 10 points isn't all that much to pay for it. Much better than a Master-crafted weapon, and very good on its own.
Teleport Homer-If you're deep striking Terminators or Obliterators, this only costs 5 points and is amazingly good. Send a rhino-mounted lord or flying lord along a flank, then deep strike without scattering. It's best used with Terminators and a lord, but is cheap and efficient enough to use with aspiring champions. Very good and very cheap wargear. Keep in mind that infiltrating squads and Bike squads can land Terminators very quickly and very close to the opponent's army.
Terminator Armor-Terminator armor gives a better save, more attacks, better weapons, and deep strike, but makes it where you can't fly or ride in a rhino. Basically, you're trading mobility for a better armor save. For a countercharge army, Terminator armor on a Lord isn't a bad idea. In fact, it's a bargain at 25 points. But if you're assaulting, you need the Lord to get there when the rest of the army does. It's good in certain instances, but not in all. Deep striking him is an option, but he's not reliable enough to show up when he's supposed to.
Meltabombs and Krak Grenades-I don't particularly like these in squads, since you can't do damage to mobile Dreadnoughts, heavier tanks, and troops with these. I'd pay for a PowerFist on your aspiring champion, before I'd buy krak grenades because it's better and can do more to help your squad. If you really want one of these, don't get the Krak Grenades, get the meltabombs. They're more expensive, but they can do more damage. If Chaos had a very cheap, weak unit that moved fast (like Rough Riders, for example) and couldn't deal with tanks, meltabombs would be a great buy. But most of the time, it's just extra points that you could spend somewhere else.
Frag Grenades- For only 1 point apiece, it doesn't seem too bad. But think for a minute. Any group that can fight halfway decently will generally want to assault you, gaining extra attacks. The rest tend to be Imperial Guard Troopers, who can't shoot and can't fight to begin with. If you've got bolt pistols, you really don't need to buy frag grenades. If you're scared of charging into combat, stand there and rapid fire your bolt pistols. 20 shots at Ballistic Skill 4 will waste 2/3 of a Guard squad. Then let them charge you, if they don't run like hell. Then kill them, whether they run or not. If you really want an initiative bonus, pay for the Furious Charge veteran skill, since you get it every time you assault, rather than just assaulting into cover.
Chaos Armory
This is meant to show the relative strengths and weaknesses of the weapons used by Chaos Marine Armies.
Bolt Pistol- You can take them as normal weapons, they come for free, give you an extra attack, and rapid fire within 12''. However, anything outside of 12'' is outside of range. They're better than bolters for assault armies, but have a more limited role in shooting or countercharge armies. They definitely have their uses, and you can definitely use them if you're trying to win games by assaulting.
Bolter- The standard weapon for regular marines and Chaos Marines. They have a 24'' range, rapid fire at 12'', and are probably the best all around basic weapon in the game. The only bad thing about them is that you lose an hand-to-hand attack by not choosing a bolt pistol. Of course, that's no big deal if you plan on shooting the other guys to death. If you're running a shooting army, give bolters to most of your marines. If you put them on Nurgle Plague marines, they have true grit and can fight with them like bolt pistols, which makes for a great counterassault element in your army.
Plasma Cannon-This is only able to be used by Dreadnoughts in your army. It uses a blast template, so it's not totally useless. But blast templates don't often kill multiple enemies like it used to. As a choice, I prefer the lascannon on the Dreadnought.
Plasma Gun- Another good weapon versus marines and necrons. It's has the range of a bolter, rapid-fires, and hits on AP 2, so it kills Terminators and marines with equal ease. The only thing to worry about is the prospect of overheating. However, it's rare that all or most of your plasma weapons will overheat. Don't be afraid to use these, regardless of the small risks involved.
Plasma Pistol- I like it, but it has to be in the right context. By the time you get to use it, you're within 12,'' and you have to charge or be charged. If you're facing a harder target than a regular marine, you can rapid fire the plasma pistol, then charge in to finish the enemy off. I really like these weapons within an assault squad holding a powerfist or power sword. If you have just a power sword, or are facing a tank that skims (Dark Eldar, Eldar and Tau vehicles), you'll have a tough time blowing up their vehicle with a regular Power Fist squad. However, if you have a plasma pistol AND a powerfist in the squad, you can have a shot at penetrating 12 armor and glancing 13 before you charge in with your Fist. It's worth the cost to have one stuck in a marine squad.
Combi-bolter-Terminators, Bikes, Rhinos, and Dreadnoughts have them. It's a bolter that's twin linked, so you get to reroll misses. They're great troop-killing weapons.
Combi-Flamer- I actually like the idea of this one a lot. It's a flamer once per game, and for the rest, it's a combi-bolter. Most of the time, you're not going to use the flamer more than once anyway. It's a fairly cheap upgrade for terminators, so I'd take advantage of it to see if you like it or not.
Combi-Melta- Another good one. You can give these to Terminators and deep strike them behind tanks. However, I can see the use of having a permanent meltagun instead of a combi-melta, as opposed to the combi-flamer opinion. In my opinion, the combi-melta can also be effectively used with a Rhino tank to do a drive-by shooting against an armored vehicle. No one ever expects a Rhino to blow up another tank, after all…
Heavy Bolter- A very good, general all-purpose gun. However, it's a heavy weapon, so don't expect to be very mobile in using it. This gun is most effectively compared to a plasma gun. It deals out more shots than the plasma gun, but it immobilizes your troops and kills less of the enemy marines. Heavy bolters can kill marines, but it's simply not as points effective to do so, when you can do it better with a plasma gun. Its best use comes against horde armies and Eldar/Dark Eldar, where more low strength shots can be more effective than a few high strength shots. Put some of these in a havoc squad, and have them infiltrate against orks. They'll die in droves. And even with a low armor save, if you can wound them enough times, they'll eventually start failing armor saves. This is the principle of the heavy bolter, and it does this well.
Flamer- It has its good points, but is very difficult to use effectively. If you use it before an assault, you stand a good chance of stalling your charge. If you flame a squad, the opposing player will take his front models first, often putting you outside of the 6'' charge range. Then YOU get assaulted on the next turn. However, they kill anything fairly effectively when they get under the template. If you're going to use them in a squad, try to run the flamer marine around the corner of the opposing squad, so that he fires diagonally into the squad. You'll often kill more guys that way. This also helps you in saving one or two of the front guys so that you'll still be within assault range. If you want to be really mean, take a havoc squad of 4 of these guys in a rhino against a Tyranid army. Don't get them out of the Rhino, but just flame the hell out of the Spinegaunts and Hormagaunts. They won't be able to touch your squad, but you'll eat his alive.
Melta Gun- It's a high strength, assault weapon, but you have to be within 6'' to really use it effectively against tanks. Melta guns are the most effective in a Black Legion army when they're given to Raptors. The Raptors can do an amazing amount of damage and can make their points back quickly if they destroy a tank or two.
Autocannon- Ah, the autocannon. Now this is a manly weapon. 2 shots a turn at strength 7 is nothing to sneeze at. However, it's difficult to put them somewhere that they'll take advantage of their effectiveness. Autocannons are best used going up against tanks and medium range armor armies like Imperial Guard and Eldar. If you're going to have a havoc squad with autocannons, it's a great idea to give them the Tank Hunter Skill. After all, 8 strength 8 shots a turn versus a tank is nothing to sneeze at.
Missile Launcher- Probably the best heavy/troop weapon in the game. Missile Launchers are slightly higher on the scale than autocannons because of their marine killing abilities. Since 50-70 percent of gamers play at least some sort of marine army, missile launchers kill them dead with strength 8, AP 3 Krak missiles. Lascannons can do the same thing, but lascannons are more expensive. But as opposed to lascannons, missile launchers also fare well against horde armies, using Frag Missile blast templates. Don't thumb your nose at the lowly missile launcher. They're worth their weight gold in most games.
Lascannon- It penetrates armor better than a missile launcher, but it has a maximum of one casualty per turn and costs a lot more. They're necessary in most Chaos armies, but they're too expensive to put in your havoc squads. Lascannons are 35 pts. per gun in Havoc Squads, while missile launchers and autocannons are 20 pts. Instead, stick some in your normal squads or buy a Predator or Dreadnought to save the points of an overly expensive, immobile Havoc Squad.
Reaper Autocannon-Since I like the regular Autocannon, the Reaper's going to be around the same idea, except a little better. They're better because they get the same two shots, but re-roll their misses. Not bad, but they're kind of expensive. Put one in a Terminator squad and shoot up opposing squads. Reaper Autocannons are good troop and light-to-medium vehicle killers.
Defiler Battle Cannon-Kills anything dead, but not consistently. However, even if it doesn't hit anything, the intimidation that it brings is priceless. If you have a couple of battlecannons on the table, your opponent will spread himself thin and across the board to avoid losing mass casualties. Then you load up on one side and destroy half of his army with your whole army. It can kill tanks, but you should be doing this when you either REALLY need a tank gone or you don't have any viable targets with the battlecannon. This is a weapon to thin the opponent's numbers and pry him out of an area that you don't want him to be in.
And as with all big ordnance weapons, the indirect fire option is your best friend.
Chaos Vehicle Upgrades
Just like real cars, any Chaos Marine with a little curiosity and a little work can soup up any vehicle in the 40k universe. Thankfully, Chaos Marines haven't figured out how to put a giant spoiler on the back of their Predator. Of course, I don't think that Honda Civics exist in the warp, either. Some of this stuff is pretty good, as opposed to the spoiler idea.
Smoke Launchers
It's tough to find three points better spent. It makes your Rhinos live longer and gives other vehicles a cheap way to avoid fire. Granted, it's only useful for one turn a game, but Rhinos don't need more than one or two turns to get within shooting or assault distance. And you'll often find that a Dreadnought or a Predator needs to move quickly to find a better firing or assaulting position. This happens pretty often, so three points isn't that high to pay.
Blasphemous Rune
Ten points for a -1 leadership upon tank shocking. Generally, it's not a bad idea if you've got ten points laying around. Put it on a Rhino along with the Slaanesh upgrade Warp Amp, and you'll have the enemies running in droves. However, it's only useful if you're facing units that can run. Fearless units and Black Templars have no problem being tank shocked. All in all, it's a fun little trick to pull and quite useful sometimes, but I wouldn't pay for it every game.
Coruscating Warp Flame
The warp flame is absoutely nasty versus hordes. Any model has to take a strength D6 AP 4 hit before resolving its attacks. If you give it to a Dreadnought, run him towards the nearest Tyranid squad and have him destroy the whole bunch. In my opinion, it's a very good upgrade that gives a definite payback.
Demonic Possession
This is one that you should seriously consider giving to your big vehicles (i.e. not Rhinos). With it, you are immune to shaken and stunned results on the Penetration and Glance tables. It's very good on Predators and Dreadnoughts. However, it's too expensive on a Rhino, which should always have the Extra Armor upgrade instead of Demonic Possession. Defilers also have no use for this, as they already come with it.
Destroyer-Khorne Upgrade
I don't personally use this upgrade, but it's very points effective and works very well. Dreadnoughts and Rhinos both benefit heavily from it. If you're putting it on a Dreadnought, make sure you have either Demonic Possession, Mutated Hull, or both before you pay the points for the Destroyer.
Dirge Caster
It's another one of those upgrades that looks good on paper, but really isn't worth what you pay for it. Your Chaos units within 6'' become fearless, but the mark of Chaos Undivided does this about a hundred times better and more efficiently. And since Demons are excepted in the descripion, it's worthless. Basically the only unit you have with leadership problems ARE demons. If Demons were included, this would be great. And if you were playing with Cultists, I'd understand. But the first doesn't happen and the second isn't allowed in a Black Legion army.
Dozer Blade
Rerolling failed terrain checks isn't bad, but you have to decide whether or not you want to pay for it. I personally have only had a couple of times where I wanted to move through difficult terrain with my vehicles, and then I had no problems passing it. It's good in certain situations, but not most.
Extra Armor
Every Rhino you ever use should have this, along with Smoke Grenades. It's useful on every other vehicle, too, but Demonic Possession or Mutated Hull is often a more efficient choice on Dreadnoughts and Predators. But if you don't have the points for either one of those upgrades, it's not that tough to find five points for Extra Armor. Good choice.
Havoc Launcher
25 points for 2 frag missles per turn. It's too expensive to put on a fragile Rhino, and it doesn't do enough damage to really replace taking Demonic Possession or Mutated Hull on the big vehicles. But if you've got the 25 points laying around, I'd say take it. But don't make a special effort to take one. If you really want the crowd control that Havoc Launchers offer, put one on a Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolters.
Living Vehicle
It's decent, but being able to drop your close combat weapons on a "weapon destroyed" roll generally only helps a Dreadnought. The shooting deal where you have to be 3'' from another model to use it doesn't help it that much, honestly. It's not that important to take, but can come in handy, occasionally. In all, not that useful.
Mutated Hull
This one always helps, but you have to pay for it. Especially useful with Defilers, Predators, and Dreadnoughts, it gives them an extra point of armor that is very, very key in them surviving for more than a turn. It's not the cheapest upgrade, but it will save your tanks on several occasions.
Parasitic Possession
Parasitic Possession lets you repair weapons on a 4+. If your vehicle depends on its long range weapons (say, a Defiler, for instance), it's very handy to have. However, it costs 40 points for a Defiler as opposed to 20 for a Predator or a Dreadnought. All in all, it's quite good, but I'd take Mutated Hull or Demonic Possession before I'd think about taking this one.
Pintle Combi-bolter
If you take this one on a Rhino, think very strongly about upgrading it into a combi-melta for only 5 points more. I don't use this every game, but I've used it a few times to sneak up to the back of a vehicle and blow it up. This is generally a Rhino weapon, as Predators don't need what a bolter shot gives them. Use it occasionally to keep your opponents honest. Otherwise, it's a bit expensive and doesn't work that consistently.
Searchlight
If you're playing in a tournament where you know or suspect you'll be using the Night Fight mission, it's a godsend. If you suspect that you won't be fighting at night, then this is a points waste. With the new rules, you'll be hit with Dusk and Dawn occasionally, also. Not the best, but it's cheap and works in special situations. If you have an extra point, throw a searchlight onto a random heavy vehicle.
Veteran Skills
The skills that come from being an evil, snarling, hundreds of years old Chaos Marine are not scoffed at lightly. The Chaos Marines get some great little additions to their arsenal using Veteran Skills. The best thing is that they can make your regular and marked squads extremely versatile, which is a huge bonus. Considering that Chaos Marines are the most versatile Troop choices in 40k, the Vet Skills make them that much better. Go regular troops!
A quick word, though. Like all the extra stuff, Vet Skills can be a huge point cost, so you want to be very careful with any skills you give out. Make sure that you don't believe that your Veteran Skilled squads are immortal. They can die just like the rest of them, only they cost you more. A good idea to remember is that only one or maybe two Chaos Squads should ever get Vet Skills in a Black Legion army. You can obviously give them more, but you'll be a victim to the law of diminishing returns, not making back the points that you poured in to the skills. Remember, it's Chaos Marines that win the battles for you, not their nifty skills. If you drop their numbers to give them all skills, you cut the legs out of the rest of your army.
Infiltrate
This is a very versatile skill that can help in a lot of ways. Since Infiltrate is used so often in 4th edition, it's a godsend on regular chaos marines and absolutely vital on Havoc Squads. Havoc Squads require a little foresight and planning to get into good positions, and infiltrate makes it that much easier to do so. Basic squads can also benefit from this, especially in terms of setting up close and deploying last.
You can use the Infiltrate skill to set yourself up for relatively close so that getting Daemons and Greater Daemons into position is very simple. It's considered unsportsmanlike for an Aspiring Champion host and a Greater Demon to sneak through the bushes towards an enemy, but I suspect that most Greater Demons are very adept at rogue-like activities (with the exception of the Bloodthirster, who is like a bull in a china shop). But you can make the choice of whether you want to play like this or not. As opposed to the Big Demons, the lesser demons being summoned from Infiltrators won't be a problem to your opponent. And if it is, tell him to shut his fat mouth, because chaos marines are supposed to be secretive about this sort of thing. But I digress...
In every game, pay the points to infiltrate at least one squad.
Tank Hunters
Along with Infiltrate and Furious Charge, this is one of the best gems on the rock pile. Giving an extra +1 to armor penetration rolls made with heavy and special weapons, meltabombs, and grenades. Tank Hunters is sort of like Jell-O. There's always room in your army to cram this in somewhere. It's especially nasty on Havoc Squads with Autocannons, which can yield 8 strength 8 shots a turn, using a squad of 4 autocannoneers with Tank Hunter. It does have its drawbacks, though. It doesn't work on a Necron Monolith and doesn't work on Toughness models like the Wraithlord. But for three points a model, you can destroy almost anything that's armored. Basic squads can benefit from this skill, too. If you want to put a heavy bolter in a small 5 man squad, you can give them the Tank Hunter skill so that they can destroy troop transports. It basically gives your guys armor piercing ammunition, so it's almost never a bad idea to take it.
Counter-Attack
Counter-attack used to be great, but now it's not quite worth the points cost. Your guys run up and engage the enemy when he attacks. Before 4th edition, marines who were not within base to base only got 1 throwover attack and weren't able to use their power weapons. But now, anybody within 2'' can get their full attacks, making countercharge much less useful. Take it if you want, but there are better ways to spend points.
Furious Charge
This skill always surprises your opponent in how much damage it can potentially do. If you've got a Rhino coming with regular marines, you wouldn't expect them to have a 5 strength and a 5 initiave. It only works when you're assaulting, but Chaos Marines usually have no problem with that situation, considering we can have all the close combat weapons we want in our regular squads. If you want to spend a whole bunch of points (not something I'd recommend, but this isn't too bad), take Fabius Bile as your HQ and have him corrupt the squad you gave Furious Charge to. For a point less than what you pay for Possessed, you can have a basic squad with a 6 strength and 6 initiave on the charge. Nasty, and your opponent will likely choke you when you do this. You can also make your elite units that much harder with this skill, but I usually find it to be overkill. I also don't like this on Raptors, since Raptors aren't good at infantry close combat. If you want to know why, check out the article on Fast Attack units.
Move Through Cover
Rolling an extra D6 when moving through difficult terrain isn't that bad, but it really depends on the types of games that you play. If you often play with lots of difficult terrain and forests, then it's great. If you don't often play with tons of difficult terrain, it's points wasted. I don't often play with a ton of difficult terrain, so I really don't feel like spending the points. But even if you do, it's only 1 point per model, so it's not that much of a points hit. It's relatively good and very cheap. Not a lot of drawbacks to this one.
Night Vision
Just like Move Through Cover, Night Vision is one of those things where you really have to be playing this one to ever want to pay for it. If you're playing in a tournament where you're pretty sure that night fight will come up, then fork up the point per marine and take it on a squad or two. But if you're not planning on playing it, then it's absolutely worthless. However, the Night Fight mission has undergone something of a resurgence. Now you have Night Fight AND Dusk/Dawn randomizations that are randomly added to other missions. So you might be using it more often than you did in 3rd edition. I'd definitely consider putting this on a Havoc Squad.
Siege Specialists
Hmmm...When crossing minefields you only trigger one on a roll of 6. This used to be absolutely worthless until the new Space Marine codex came out. The whirlwind can now shoot mine templates, so it's not completely useless. You also get a +1 on armor penetration versus bunkers and tank traps, which almost never comes up. The last benefit is being fearless when defending and occupying a fortress. That one comes up on occasion, but marines with the Mark of Chaos Undivided don't really have that much of a problem defending a fortress. It's not the worst Vet skill in the world, but it'll rarely, if ever, come in handy. Iron Warriors get it, but they can get a buttload of obliterators and template weapons, so I guess they got off pretty well.
Skilled Riders
This one comes in handy occasionally. For 2 points a model, you get to reroll 1's for Difficult Terrain tests on Bikes or Demonic Steeds. While Move Through Cover helps when moving upward, Skilled Riders helps when trying to assault. Every Imperial Guard or shooting Marine army will attempt to entrench itself upon difficult terrain when you're assaulting, making a bike assault a chancy proposition. After all, you don't want your 34 point bike to get a flat tire when running down a pansy guardsman. It's only 2 points a model, and you don't often have more than 6 or 7 bikes in a 1500 point army. However, you can usually use bikes to just shoot the heck out of opposing squads, so that you don't really need to charge them. I'd suggest you decide how you like using your bikes, then decide whether you want to take this or not.
The Marks of Chaos
The Marks of Chaos include the marks of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch, and the mark of Chaos Undivided.
While all of the marks provide useful benefits, they give very different benefits to your troops and HQ's. Since I have already covered Berserkers, Noise Marines, Tzeentch Marines, and Plague marines in another article, this one will deal largely with the other units and how the Marks affect them. Since Chaos Undivided Lords don't get access to anything special (aside from regular wargear and Gifts), I'm only going to deal with the cult marks and the assorted stuff that goes along with them.
The Mark of Khorne
Khorne marks are very beneficial, especially to Chaos Lords. The extra attack, combined with the ability to use the Berserker Glaive, make a Khorne Lord into a virtual squad killer. He can have a ridiculous amount of attacks, but is subject to the Blood Rage, which makes him run pell-mell into the nearest unit, regardless of the possible consequences. Demonic Flight or a Bike remedies this, though. Always give the Khorne Lord Demonic Flight or a Bike to ride on, so that you can avoid running into the really hairy, suicidal stuff. Khorne Lords are fearsome, but they're usually points heavy units. It seems like every Khorne army I ever face has a Lord that costs 200 points. They're dead hard to face, but the whole army usually has a low model count. And in a close combat army, that poses problems when they run across the table.
Instead of taking the Berserker Glaive, though, think about taking the Axe of Khorne. If you don't have Demonic Stature, it works as a power weapon that lets you roll an extra attack when you roll a 6. When you throw in Demonic Mutation, Spiky Bits, and Rage of Khorne, you'll be rolling a lot of extra dice for attacks. The Berserker Glaive looks like it gets you more, what with a 4+ invulnerable save and all, but it's so difficult to screen him from fire, due to the Glaive changing him from a "Independent Character" into a "Unit." When you take the Glaive, you have to spend a lot just to keep him alive. But with the Axe, you can spend a lot less, get almost the same amount of attacks, and be able to run him with a unit so that they can soak up wounds.
As for other units, Khorne Bikers lose their ability to get Plasma Guns, but gain an extra attack. They're good, but you have to decide whether the lack of plasma weaponry is worth 40 points a bike. I don't think so, but that's only my opinion. The 4th edition of 40k gives the bikes an effective movement of 24'' so it might be worth it just to have handy units to take quarters and summon bloodletters. However, my suggestion is to have a regular Khorne Army with undivided Bikers.
Terminators really benefit from Khorne marks. This is one of the times where the blood rage really helps a unit out. Terminators are heavy and can't run faster than 6''. But wait! Blood Raging gives them a possible extra D6 movement. If you're walking your army, Khorne Terminators are nasty within close range. However, with regular models costing 20 points (chainaxe and the mark of Khorne) each, you usually don't have room for a whole lot of super-expensive Terminators.
Possessed generally cost too much, but regular Khorne Possessed with no upgrades will perform well under most circumstances. And since Demonic Mutation is 10 points each for Possessed, the Mark of Khorne gives you a slight discount by giving fearlessness and an extra attack for only 5 points each.
The Mark of Nurgle
Nurgle Lords are great at troop killing. While Khorne Lords get a lot of attacks, Nurgle lords can come with the Manreaper, a big honking scythe that gives the wielder an extra D6 attacks on any squad they attack. However, if you attack only a single enemy model, you don't get this benefit. Combine this weapon with Nurgle's Rot and the added in toughness (+1), and you can throw him at a squad and effectively have a 6'' kill range. The other Nurgle stuff really isn't worth talking about in terms of Chaos Lords, except for Plague Swords. Plague Swords make a Nurgle Lord into a character killer that takes away multiple wounds on a 4+ and kills the multi-wound opponent outright. It's a great weapon, but they're usually better suited in the hands of Nurgle Aspiring Champions, where the extra wound takers really come in handy. But both weapons are very effective and useful in the hands of Lords, Lieutenants, and Champions.
As for the other stuff. Nurgle Bikers don't exist, unless you have Nurgle Chosen and give them bike upgrades. This is stupidly expensive, and totally not worth it.
Nurgle Possessed is a decent choice, as it gives you a squad with strength 5, toughness 5, with a 5+ invulnerable save. Once again, Possessed are powerful, but almost too expensive.
Nurgle Terminators are a real gem. Giving your Terminators a 5 toughness makes them extremely formidable in close combat. If you can screen them, you can walk Nurgle Terminators up the board and have them fire their twin linked autocannons behind your Plague Marines. When the Plague Marines get locked in, your Terminators can go to work.
The Mark of Slaanesh
Slaanesh marks are rarely put on Lords, but they are very powerful and effective. There are several reasons for this. First, buying the minor psychic power "Siren" (available only to Slaanesh marked sorcerers) makes them invulnerable to assaulting or shooting until they finally assault. As long as your Lord is Slaanesh and has wings, the Siren power lets him choose targets at his leisure. You can feel free to spend a lot of points on the HQ unit simply because there's very little chance of him dying early. The Slaanesh ability to use combat drugs also lets you have a bunch of stuff for a low price, as long as you don't overdo the combat drugs and kill your HQ with them. And the Warp Scream is a freebie, which is always nice.
However, Slaanesh Lords don't get the nifty super-damage weapons of the Khorne and Nurgle Lords. The Lash of Torment sucks for what you get (a negative 1 on leadership) and the Needle of Desire is never a sure thing. And with both of them being Demon Weapons (mastery test required), it's simply not worth it. The regular Demon weapons and regular power weapons are better choices for Slaanesh Lords.
As for the other stuff:
Slaanesh Bikes come with the Warp Scream and the ability to take plasma weapons. They can also take sonic blasters, which means that they can rapid-fire every turn, even from 24'' away. Slaanesh Bikes are great for what you get.
Slaanesh Possessed are a mixed bag, but the Mark of Slaanesh doesn't give enough of a benefit to consider giving it to them.
Slaanesh Terminators are pretty good, with the Warp Scream and the ability to take Noise Weapons instead of Reaper Autocannons. However, Reaper Autocannons are generally better than Blastmasters simply because of the ability to reroll your missed shots.
The Mark of Tzeentch
The one thing you can say about Tzeentch, is that he's an equal opportunity Chaos Deity. Ten points is what you pay for regular marines, so I guess it's a bonus that you only pay ten points for putting a Tzeentch mark on your Chaos Lord.
Although some of the earlier prints of the chaos codex don't say it, Tzeentch Lords are Fearless, just like the Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh marked models. You just have to check the Chaos FAQ on GW's website.
Tzeentch Lords get the Sorcerer power for free and never have to pass Psychic Tests. This is actually pretty nice if you play with psychic powers. Mass Mutation and Gift of Chaos are great on Chaos Lords, so never having to take tests to use them is pretty nice. Other than that, Tzeentch Lords don't get anthing else that's great. The Warp Blade is not a useful Demon Weapon, but the Eye of Tzeentch is only 20 points. Getting to reroll armor saves, to hit rolls, and to wound rolls is great, and way better than mastercrafting weapons or paying for Spiky Bits. Thrall Wizards usually come in handy, but they only move 6'' a turn, so you have to decide whether they're worth it.
Nice to see the thread make a comback.
A few small comments.
I don't think this holds true anymore. A good deal of players, especially online, seem to regard the Black Legion as the cheesiest list.
Simply because we are actually able to use our entire codex, imagine that!
2 points here.
- Plague Marines don't get counter charge, they'd have to buy it as an upgrade separately.
- Even though a unit has the countercharge veteran skill, I don't believe they are obliged to use it. They wording in the codex is "...may move up to 6 inches..."
This isn't that bad of a choice if your trying to make a cheap statured prince for troop killing.
He already ignores armor saves with Stature, and if you want to keep him cheap and not buy him a Daemon weapon, you pay 10 points which gets you an extra HTH attack, and autowound. If you were only going to buy him 2 CCWs, you would have had to pay 2 points anyway, so in a way this costs 8 points.
It's a decent alternative when you want a cheap, troop killer lord.
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