WestRider's Chaos Codex Review

[WestRider]

Part 1: General stuff, HQs, and Troops:
OK, I haven't had a chance to play with the new Chaos Dex, and these are largely still first impressions, but I've given the new Chaos Dex a couple of reads now, and bounced a few things off others, and I think I've got a pretty good sense of the individual parts of the Dex now. I'm absolutely certain that there will arise combinations of things within the Dex, and interactions with other Dexes, that change the overall picture, but here goes as a first look:

General Rules:
- Champion of Chaos & the Boon Table: Mostly frustrating. Expect your Opponents to abuse the heck out of this once they get a feel for it, suckering your Champions and Support Characters into Challenges they can't handle. Most of the Boon Table is kind of underwhelming, unlikely to make much of a difference except in rare occasions.
- On a related note, virtually all Units come with a Champion by default now, so you don't even have the option of not buying them to do an end-run on CoC.
- Veteran of the Long War: +1 Ld and Hatred for all Loyalist Space Marines. Worth keeping in mind where it comes included. Not sure if it's worth shelling out for otherwise. Depends on how many Marine Armies you play against, in part, I reckon.
- Daemon Weapon: If you roll a 1 now, it still does a Wound, and doesn't give you any extra Attacks, but you still get to use your base Attacks, if only at WS1.
- Marks: Khorne is the only one that really changed. It now gives Rage and Counter-Attack instead of +1 Attack.


HQ:
- Chaos Lord: Sets the tone for significant chunks of the book, a cheap base with enough options to get truly ludicrous if you want to. The Chaos Lord is notable for being one of the ways to give Fearless to a Unit, for unlocking Cult Units as Troops, and for generally being a Combat Beatstick. They're about the only option for whom the Champion of Chaos rule and the Boon Table are (nearly) pure win.

I see four rough categories of Lord right off the bat that seem promising, each with a different Mark and signature bit of wargear:
- The Khorne Axe Lord: Mark of Khorne, the Axe of Blind Fury, and whatever other gear you want to give him. A Sigil of Corruption is probably a good buy for a decent Invul, and then you're going to want some way to get him into the fray, whether an escort Unit, a Bike, a Jump Pack, or a Juggernaut. (Juggernauts are Cavalry now, vastly improving them as an option). This guy is probably the premier non-Special Character beatstick in the Game right now, I wouldn't hesitate to throw him at a Tyrant with Guard, especially if he's on a Juggernaut.
- The Nurgle Bike Lord. Mark of Nurgle plus a Bike makes him T6, grab whatever gear you like to accompany that. With his speed and resilience, I think he makes a good platform for the Burning Brand of Skalathrax, the AP3 Torrent Flamer Daemon Weapon. Unlocking Plague Marines as Troops is excellent for many Builds as well.
- The Slaanesh Steed Lord: One of three reliable ways to get an Outflanking Unit, and the only one that has Acute Senses to go with it. Lots of possibilities you might want to bring in on the flank, and lots of fun ways to kit the Lord out as well.
- The Tzeentch Disk Lord: Almost the only thing in the Dex that can get a 3++, and with a Disk, they become T5 and ridiculously mobile on top of that. Another good platform for the Burning Brand. No Cult Troop unlock for them, tho.

The other main unique option for Chaos Lords is The Black Mace, a 2+ Poisoned Daemon Weapon that forces Toughness Tests both to cause Instant Death on Models Wounded by it and to force Armour-ignoring Wounds on all Enemies within 3" at the end of the Assault Phase.

- Chaos Sorcerers: The cheapest Psykers in the Game, and they can go up in level ridiculously cheaply, too. 110 Points for a Level 3 Psyker. Have access to Telepathy, Biomancy, Pyromancy, and the Discipline for their Mark if they took one. The Tzeentch Discipline is kind of meh, Nurgle's is decent, Slaanesh's is excellent, even tho Lash is gone. Underwhelming as Combat Characters unless they get Iron Arm or something, but some good possibilities as Support Characters. Tzeentch Sorcerers are the Unlock for 1000 Sons as Troops.
- Notably not Fearless, and Champion of Chaos can easily get them into Challenges they can't handle.
- Slaanesh, Nurgle and Undivided Biomancy or Telepathy Sorcerers look to be the winners here.

- Daemon Princes: Our first big losers. Well, sort of. They got some significant buffs to their Statline, and have access to most of the Daemon Weapons and such, as well as being able to upgrade to Level 3 Psykers, but they got way more expensive without getting any tougher. WS9, I8, A5 is pretty cool, tho. They are not Champions of Chaos, and so can get into some fights with less worry than other HQs.
- Basically just bigger, slightly less wieldy beatsticks.
- Can be decent Support with Psyker Levels, but the Points start adding up really fast. Going to be hard to find the balance point here.

- WarpSmith: The first of the new options. Somewhere between a Sorcerer and a Chaos Lord in combat ability (2+Sv and extra Attacks from the MechaTendrils help), but he's probably most notable for Shatter Defences: The opposite of the Techmarine's Bolster Defenses ability, this reduces the Cover Save provided by one piece of Terrain (not a Fortification, unfortunately) in your Opponent's Deployment Zone.
- Lack of Fearless is a significant drawback, compared to what you could get from a Combat Chaos Lord of similar cost.

- Dark Apostle: The other new HQ, and the other one that can give out Fearless, along with Hatred to any Unit he Joins. Also gives all Units within 6" Ld 10, which is nice for keeping Culties in place as a Shooting Screen, but without Stubborn or something to help out, they'll still run as soon as anything remotely competent makes it into Combat with them.
- Kind of mediocre in Combat, since he's only got a Power Maul and is forced to get into Challenges by Champion of Chaos. Make sure you've got a Champion in his Unit who can handle Challengers with decent Armour Saves if you're going to let him get anywhere near the front lines.

- Troops
- Chaos Space Marines: The Role of basic Chaos Marines has changed substantially in the new Dex. In the previous one, they were consummate all-rounders, but rather over-costed. Now, like the Chaos Lord, they start out cheap and kind of meh, but can be ridiculously customized. Be careful not to go overboard: It's still possible to turn them into great all-rounders, but they're going to be even more badly over-costed if you do. Pretty much any Role you can think of, tho, they can pull off with the right gear and attached Character.
- Start with Pistol and either Bolter or CCW for 2 Points cheaper than previously. Can buy the other weapon for 2 Points per Model.
- Can take Marks, same effects as for Characters. All except Tzeentch look useful, but watch the total cost. Icons and marks are separate now, and have distinct effects. A Unit can't buy an Icon of a God if they don't have that God's Mark.
- Even without a Character, they can be made Fearless with the Icon of Vengeance. Possibly worthwhile for larger Squads that can hide it reasonably well.
- Icons are no longer Teleport Homers, but now add 1 to your Combat Res. The Tzeentch and Nurgle ones are pretty much garbage, but Khorne (Furious Charge) and Slaanesh (FNP) are worth considering in large Units.

- Cultists: Good to see these guys back in the Dex! Even if they are pretty much just meatshields now. 10-35 Models, cheaper than Guardsmen, or the same if they upgrade to Autoguns. 1/10 can take a Stubber or Flamer. Champion has no options except a Shotgun. Can take Marks, but not Icons.
- I'm disappointed in the lack of an option for Unit-wide Shotguns. I've got a ton of Shotgun Culties on my shelf
- That out of my system, they're a perfectly decent Unit for a cheap Screen or backfield Objective Holder. Don't really work as a Tarpit without an attached Chaos Lord or Dark Apostle, tho, since they have no way to get Fearless or Stubborn otherwise, and that jacks up their cost too much to use as a Tarpit.

More later, I need to work up a list for my first Game with the Dex tomorrow ;D

EDIT: Fixed a bit about Khorne Marks after it was pointed out to me that I'd missed that ICs can't Join a Squad with a different Mark.
EDIT2: And that Counter-Attack doesn't actually carry through to the Squad like that.

[Rook]

Really good work WestRider!!!

I'd like to build a Chaos army but now that the codex is out I think I will have to stand in line for minis at discount prices.

Oh well, in either case good work on the break down of the codex.

[WestRider]

Thanks! Here's part 2:
Part 2:

- Elites:
- Chosen: No longer Infiltrate, so now they're basically Chaos Marines+. More expensive, but not by much, only 3 more Points per Model for Champion Profiles across the whole Unit.
- I hadn't really looked at these guys much before, but now I think they may be how I want to roll with my Black Legion. Abaddon makes them Troops, and I reckon a few Squads of 10 mounted up in Rhinos and loaded with Special Weapons should be able to dominate Midfield pretty well.
- Possibly more than any other Unit, it's very easy to go overboard here. Especially keep on eye on CC upgrades, those get spendy very fast.

- Possessed: Certainly improved, but they're still really expensive for something that generally dies as easily as a basic Chaos Marine who costs half as much. Every possible Roll on their random table is good and widely usable, tho, which is a big buff, as is Fleet being standard for them.

- Terminators: Bit of a rant here, first: I've got something like 20 Chaos Terminators with Lightning Claws or PowerFists and Combi-Weapons. And they're the old Metal ones, so it's going to be a serious pain getting them all to work with the new restrictions, where most of the Squad can only upgrade one arm or the other.
- That out of the way, Termies are pretty solid, and not hugely changed. Probably best to keep them fairly cheap, but a scattering of Combi-Weapons is nice, and a ChainFist in the Squad is always handy.
- Remember that you can choose your Power Weapon for the ones that don't upgrade to a Fist or something. A mix of Axes and Mauls looks good to me, giving a lot of high Strength Attacks, some of them with a good AP as well.
- The minimum sized Deep Striking "Termicide" Melta Squad is still viable, tho a bit less necessary.
- Next step is five (or more likely 4+ a Chaos Lord) in a Land Raider. Mark of Slaanesh or Khorne looks good here, and if you're not taking a Lord, a Heavy Flamer seems like it could be a good call as well. If you do take one of those Marks, the corresponding Icon may be worthwhile as well, but at only 5 dudes, it's kind of hard to keep it safe, and they're even spendier than on CSM Squads.
- Then there's the option for big, DeathStar-type Squads. 7-8 is probably the minimum size here, ranging all the way up to 10. Definitely going to want a Chaos Lord in as well, possibly Abaddon. Walking with combi-Bolters and a Reaper or two is viable, as is Deep Striking, since they've got enough firepower to make the landing Turn count. Mark of Tzeentch is probably the most useful in terms of helping them deal with other serious Assault Units and massed Plasma fire.

- Hellbrute: The new Chaos Dreadnought. Kind of meh. It's more or less the same as the Loyalist one, except its options aren't as good, and it has the annoying Crazed Special Rule. Crazed is frustrating because
A) It only has any effect against Shooting. Once you're in an Assault, the best case scenario is that it does nothing, and you may end up Immobilising yourself for a Turn and letting your Opponent hit your Rear Armour with Grenades.
B) The result that requires it to shoot is the only one that doesn't clear Shaken/Stunned results. It also still applies even if the Hellbrute has no Ranged Weapons.
- All that said, it is nice to see the Power Scourge and Thunder Hammer back as actual options for this thing. The Power Scourge in particular has pretty nice rules this time around.

- Mutilators: Garbage. Sorry. They're trying to be a Dedicated Assault Unit, but they have a poor Invul, Slow & Purposeful, and a maximum Unit Size of 3. And they're not even Fearless. An Assault Squad with a PowerFist will take them out in a couple of rounds of Combat, and that's just sad.

- Berzerkers: About the same as they were. They don't do as well in protracted Combats, but they're cheaper, so I reckon it balances out. Chain Axes seem too expensive to me, Plasma Pistols still aren't worth 15 Points, and the Icon is ludicrously expensive given that they already have Furious Charge.
- I think I actually like them better as an Elites Unit than as Troops. No worries about needing them to Hold Objectives, just give 'em a Fist and send 'em on their way.

- Thousand Sons: Still kind of meh. They got noticeably cheaper since the Sorcerer doesn't have to pay for his Power anymore, but the Tzeentch table isn't great, and he can't roll on the Rulebook ones.

- Plague Marines: They cost an extra Point per Model, and get Poisoned Attacks in Close Combat, but are otherwise pretty much the same. And actually, since for some reason they don't pay for their Champion, they don't actually cost any more than they used to until you take more than 10 in a Squad.
- Still an excellent choice, either as Elites or as Troops with a Nurgle Chaos Lord.

- Noise Marines: Got way cheaper. And their Sonic Weapons all ignore Cover now. The change to Salvo on the Sonic Blasters pretty much means they're a static firepower Unit now, and the fact that BlastMasters are a 1 in 10 upgrade is kind of annoying.
- Also worth considering forgoing the Sonic Weapons and just running them as an Assault Unit with a Doom Siren Champ. I5 and Fearless, with the potential for FNP with an Icon make them a pretty solid option here.

- Rhino: Only notable change is the option for Dirge Casters. Keeping enemy Units within 6" from firing Overwatch seems like it could be pretty useful. The Dirge Caster's cheap, too.

- Fast Attack
- Chaos Bikers: The first hugely improved Unit, simply because they dropped over a third of their Points Cost. Being able to take Specials as a replacement for either the Twin Bolters or the Bolt Pistol is nice for those of us with the older Models. Other than that, not much to say: They're fast, cheap, and can hit surprisingly hard, both at range and in Assault.
- Mark of Nurgle is expensive, but T6 Bikes should be fun.
- Mark of Slaanesh or Khorne (possibly with the respective Icons if you're using enough Bikes) seem like good choices if you're going for the Assault angle, too.
- Or there's the fast Melta suicide special, now with a Combi-Melta on the Champion as well, hitting harder in CC, and 29 Points cheaper.

- Chaos Spawn: Well, looks like Pyrovores are now the uncontested worst Unit in 40K. Chaos Spawn are pretty awesome now, being Beasts, so they're actually fast, T5 Multi-Wound, so they can take some hits, even without an Armour Save, and as with Possessed, their random chart is all good. Marks of Khorne and Nurgle seem good, while Slaanesh is mediocre here because they're already I5.
- Note that they're just about the only thing in the Dex that doesn't have Assault Grenades. As with Tyranid Units, be very careful what you're Assaulting if it's in Cover.

- Raptors: And the hits just keep coming in Fast Attack! A solid price drop, better options for the Champion, and access to the new Marks and Icons make Raptors pretty solid. Bikers are probably better most of the time, but Raptors certainly aren't going to be hurting your cause.
- At this point, you can figure out what's good for them. They're just CSM with Jump Packs and no Bolters, after all.

- Warp Talons: Oops, looks like they can't all be hits. Warp Talons are excellent at shredding anything in Power Armour or worse, but they have no options that will let them do more than scratch helplessly at anything with a 2+ Sv or an Armour Value. Potentially good, but really expensive, and there are a lot of hard counters out there for them. Too much of a gamble for my taste.

- Heldrake: The first of the new Daemon Engines. With the Daemon Rule and It Will Not Die, the Heldrake just became the toughest Flyer in 40K. Despite the hype, it's actually pretty bad at hunting Flyers, because its Vector Strikes are only S7, and it's never going to be able to shoot what it just clawed at. Actually, given the BS3, just forget the Hades Autocannon entirely, and go for the BaleFlamer. That thing should have you toasting a pretty nice swath of Infantry most Turns.
- Note also that it does have Hover. Not likely to be used all that often, since it's not a Transport, but good to keep in mind.

- Heavy Support
- Havocs: Another of the big winners in this changeover. Autocannon seem like the obvious option to me, ridiculously cheap for the amount of Firepower they're packing.
- Rather more expensive, but if you need to deal with Flyers, these guys have the first Flakk Missiles in the Game as an option for their Missile Launchers.
- I'm planning on keeping mine cheap, but I see a lot of people talking about taking the Mark of Nurgle to protect them from harassment fire. I can definitely see the appeal, and it's not that much of an investment on a small Squad.

Obliterators: Pretty much the same. They can't use the same Weapon two Turns in a row, but they have access to Assault Cannon now, got cheaper, and can take Marks. Nurgle again seems like the go-to here, keeping them from getting Instakilled by Melta and Lascannon fire.

- Defiler: Picked up a couple of cool Rules, but got way more expensive. It was already trying to do too much at once, and paying too much for it, and it feels like that just got worse.

- ForgeFiend: The second new Daemon Engine, and my pick for the best of them. Nice & tough, and even at BS3, 8 S8 AP4 shots is pretty awesome. Or go for the three S8 AP2 Blasts if you're having trouble with Paladins.

- MaulerFiend: The last of the Daemon Engines, the ForgeFiend's grabbier brother. Cheap, tough, and fast (12" Move and it ignores Difficult Terrain), the only real downsides are that it's still WS3, that it only has 3 Attacks (tho the Magma Cutters average out to taking that up to 4-5 effectively), and that there's some seriously stiff competition with Havocs, Obliterators, ForgeFiends, and Predators. If this were in the Elites section, I'd take it in a heartbeat. As Heavy Support, probably not.

- Land Raider: Exactly the same, except now 10 Points more expensive. Because Chaos Land Raider Spam was such a problem before?

- Vindicator: Got a little cheaper, but still more expensive than the Imperial version, for no discernible reason. Decent, but there's better in here.

- Predator: Again with the odd Points changes. The base cost went up, but all the upgrades dropped.
- 130 Points for an AutoLas Predator with Havoc Launcher seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.
- Without the Havoc Launcher, it's the cheapest AutoLas or Annihilator in the Game. Still some stiff competition with Havocs and Forge Fiends, but if you're meching up, they're a solid choice.

Special Characters tomorrow. Bed now

[dangerrod]

Was just reading thru and noticed a few things, the biggest being their is no chaos Dreadnought at all, just the Hellbrute.

Also i can see a lot of players maxing out cultists to grab objectives and using the elite options to tie down most of your force. I can't see why anyone would really take Chosen units now over termies or even one of the Cult elite units.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a large number of Warp Talons as well. And even tho its the first 6th edition codex we've seen, those Flakk missiles seem awfully expensive for something that will only glance most flyers on a 5

Danger Rod

[RedsandRoyals]

First, I'd like to applaud Westrider for doing this. It makes it a lot easier for those of us who are picking up Chaos without a lot of experience playing the old codex. I went through it with a friend who plays Spikey marines, and he picked out the same winners and losers Westrider has. I can see a lot more AutoHavocs in my future, certainly.

Also, I'd love to slap whoever laid out the army list section. They have a set "armory" at the start which splits the wargear into different categories, then lays out the points, ensuring you're constantly flipping back and forth when you're list building. They also put the showcase section in between this and the section which describes what each artifact or whatever does, which ensures more time spent searching and page flipping. It's a minor thing, I'll admit, but I don't see what was wrong with just listing the options in the entry.

Reds

[Ymmot (M.I.A)]

Really glad to hearthat chaos spawn got a boost, I have a bunch of them because I've always liked the models. My havocs have missile launchers, so the option for flakk missiles sounds great!

My Black Legion army will rise again! Chosen as a troop choice? Too bad I no longer have Abaddon.(and I'll kinda miss infiltrate.)

[WestRider]

dangerrod: The Hellbrute is just a renamed Dread, yeah. Same as how Eldar Dreadnoughts became WraithLords in the changeover from 2nd to 3rd. Basically the same Unit, tho.

I find it interesting that we've got almost exactly opposite opinions on those other two Units, tho. Time will tell, I guess.

@reds & Flash: Thanks, guys! I'm also hoping this will make for a decent overview for people playing against Chaos Marines who don't intend to pick up the Dex. At least give them a heads-up about what they're likely to see.

Part 3: Special Characters

First off, something I forgot in the General Rules section:
Chaos Marines have access to their own Warlord Trait table, in addition to the three in the main Rulebook. Four of them are actually pretty good, if not necessarily for every Army.
- Black Crusader gives everyone within 12" of the Warlord Preferred Enemy (Space Marines). Since a lot of the Army already has Hatred (Space Marines), this is less useful than it might look for some builds, but it seems like it would be great to roll this up for a Shooty list that doesn't mind keeping the Warlord back to buff Havocs and ForgeFiends and Predators and stuff. Still pretty good for Assault-based Armies, especially if you haven't been taking Veterans of the Long War.
- Master of Deception lets you Infiltrate d3 Units. Probably worth keeping the possibility of this one in mind when writing Lists, including at least one Unit that could substantially benefit. As always with Warlord Traits, don't plan for it, tho.
- Hatred Incarnate gives the Warlord and any Unit he Joins Hatred. Pretty sweet unless your Warlord is a Dark Apostle, who already does that anyhow.
- Exalted Champion lets your Warlord re-roll Chaos Boons. Excellent for avoiding getting Spawnified!

Anyhow, on to the Special Characters:
- First off, the Big Bad himself, Abaddon the Despoiler. Possibly now the premier beatstick character in the Game, with all four Marks buffing him, Eternal Warrior, and the choice of either a S8 Lightning Claw or a S5, AP2 Daemon Weapon to swing around. As with most of the Special Characters, Abaddon has a pre-selected Warlord Trait, in his case, Black Crusader, to make everyone around him better at beating up Marines as well. On top of all that, he makes Chosen into Troops for a dark and twisted mirror of LoganWing.
- Note that, since he has all the Marks as part of his Mark of Chaos Ascendent, he will benefit from any Icon in a Unit he's Joined. He will also pass Counter-Attack on to Units he Joins because of the Mark of Khorne.

- Huron Blackheart, the Tyrant of Badab: Pretty good Combat Character, with a decent Invul, Power Axe, and a S6 ArmourBane Lightning Claw. He's got a Heavy Flamer, too, because why not? T4 without Eternal Warrior leaves him a bit vulnerable to a lot of "Challenge Characters", tho. His Hamadrya gives him a random Biomancy, Pyromancy, or Divination Power each Turn, tho unfortunately, he can never swap to the Primaris, and so can't get Presicence
- What really sets him apart in my mind, tho, is that he always has the Master of Deception Warlord Trait, so you can rely on at least one Unit getting Infiltrate. Opens up some significant possibilities when you can plan on that.
- He's pretty cheap as Chaos Lords go, too, which makes him a very attractive option compared to some of the others.

- Kharne the Betrayer: Pretty similar to his previous incarnation in overall effect. He'll kill pretty much any Infantry or Vehicle he can get his hands on, but at only T4 with a 3+/5++, he's kind of fragile. Gorechild isn't a Daemon Weapon, so he only gets 5 Attacks, 7 on the charge, but he's pretty reliable with those. He's got ArmourBane, so he can rip most Vehicles apart, but at only S6, he can struggle a bit against MCs or other high Toughness targets.
- His Betrayer Rule can now send his misses into any Friendly Model that's part of the same Combat and within 6", so detaching him from a Unit before Charging in no longer helps you. On the other hand, his Warlord Trait gives him and his Unit Hatred, so you'll get to re-roll those 1s on the first round.
- Don't even bother using Psychic Powers against Kharne. 2+DtW Rolls, and he's immune to the Instant Death effects of Force Weapons.
- Another cheap option, so if you just want a basic Beatstick character, you could do worse.
- And, of course, he makes Berzerkers Troops.

- Ahriman: As far as I know, the first Level 4 Psyker in the Game, and his Black Staff lets him use up to 3 WitchFire powers in the same Turn in addition to being a Force Staff.
- With a profile close to a Chaos Lord's, a 4++, and access to Biomancy, Ahriman holds up pretty well in Combat, which is good, because most of the WitchFire powers that he's supposed to be based around are kind of mediocre, and generally want to be fired at very different targets, while he can only pound on one thing at time.
- Pretty expensive, tho not as much so as Abaddon, and he did get cheaper than his last version.
- Unlocks 1K Sons as Troops, and is also a Master of Deception, so you'll get some Infiltrators with him.
- Seems kind of underwhelming overall, but my regular Opponent likes to use him, so I reckon I'll find out soon whether or not that holds up.

- Typhus: Another spendy option, but maybe worth it, tho in part this is going to depend on a FAQ ruling. Pretty solid combat character, with a good Daemon Weapon, just has to watch out for S10 and things with AP2 and Instant Death, because he doesn't usually dish out his damage until I1.
- Once per Game, he can unleash the Destroyer Hive, placing a S4 AP2 Large Blast over himself instead of making CC Attacks. It does hit your dudes as well, so careful when you trigger it.
- In addition to unlocking Plague Marines as Troops, he can turn Culties into Plague Zombies. They give up their guns, and can't take any other options (This is the bit that needs a FAQ, as adding dudes to the Unit is an "option" as written. They kind of suck if you can only get packs of 10.), but get Fearless, FNP, and S&P, making them potentially awesome Tarpits.
- He's a level 2 Psyker, taking his powers from the decent Nurgle List.
- Unfortunately, his fixed Warlord Trait is one of the ones that kind of sucks. He causes Fear. Whatever.

- Lucius the Eternal: Interesting concept, but there are too many hard counters for him. He'll shred most basic characters (especially if they have a good WS, since he gets to substitute his Opponent's WS for his Attacks characteristic in Challenges), but he can't reliably get through 2+ Saves or decent Invuls, and with no particularly notable defensive abilities, there are a lot of things that can pound him flat pretty easily.
- Is at least fairly cheap.
- No fixed Warlord Trait, unlocks Noise Marines as Troops.

- Fabius Bile: Enhanced Chaos Space Marines are now free, one Unit gets Fearless and +1 S, and there are no drawbacks.
- Well, except the fact that you have to take Bile himself. He's not all that expensive compared to the other SCs, but he really doesn't do much, personally. He can beat up bad Units reasonably well, but against even something like Tactical Marines, he's pretty lackluster, since he doesn't have a Power Weapon or an Invul Sv. Keep him well back, or get used to seeing Champion of Chaos forcing him into unwinnable Challenges.
- He does provide the only way to make a CSM Squad Fearless that can't be killed off, which is notable, and then he can make a Backfield Squad Fearless as well by Joining them, so he has some Buff capacity. Still pretty underwhelming, which is a shame for such a cool Model.

Final notes:
- The overall trend I see here is one I like: Solid Base Units that can be customized. As usual for this sort of thing, you can also make them into extreme generalists, but it probably costs too much. Overall, tho, I think this Dex is going to be able to do pretty much anything, at least in general List Archetype terms: Assault, Shooty, or Balanced; Foot, Mech, or Hybrid; and MSU, Horde, or Mixed.

- Another rant I probably would have put in at the start if I'd thought of it in time: There is no meaningful Psychic Defense in here whatsoever. Chaos is intimately bound to the Warp, the source of all Psychic Power, and they can do nothing to stop others from wielding it? Gimme a break I was really hoping to see some kind of "offensive" Psychic Defense, something that made Perils way more common or something, but all we get is Kharne and Sorcerers, and they only help the Unit they're with.

- Despite the handful of things I've been complaining about here, now that I've gone through it in depth like this, I'm really liking the possibilities in this Dex, overall. I can't remember if I've mentioned it here before, but one of my long-term goals, set back when the 3.5 Dex came out, is to have a decent 2K Army for each of the 9 Traitor Legions. I kind of let that fall by the wayside over the past 5 years, but now I'm back into it. It should be pretty quick to update my Alpha Legion and finish up my Word Bearers and Iron Warriors, and then we'll see where things go from there!

[Ymmot (M.I.A)]

points can get fiddly once you start throwing on upgrades, notice that the champ doesn't need to spend points for the ccw upgrade and everything in a terminator squad is priced at werid numbers. It does seem like there is a lot of cool options though, even if I have to change some gear around on a few of my models.

I have a defiler that needs to lose his autocannon for either a flail or a heavy flamer, a couple terminators that needed to trade combi bolters, apart from that...a whole lot of work on just about all my CSMs squads, if only because I painted them all ages ago and they could really use an update, though some of them also need to get their gear straightened out, an odd pistol or ccw here and there.

[cheminhaler]

Really detailed review of the codex, WestRider. I'm still waiting another week to get the book, so the information is much appreciated.

For Bile I suppose you can choose which squad gets upgraded and thus make it a really big, fearless squad. I didn't realise he was that bad in combat that even aspiring champions can be better.

RE- Abaddon. In the previous codex did he use both weapons at once? I'm pretty sure I had 10 BA successor termies die to him (alone - and within 2 turns) in a big apoc game, but it was against a bunch of kids and I didn't know the rules at all at that time.

[WestRider]

- Fabulous Bile: Yes, you get to pick which Squad. I'd probably go for a full 20 dudes on that one.

- In the previous Dex, Abaddon had a single combined profile for both Drach N'yen and The Talon of Horus. Now they're separate Weapons, and he chooses which to use each Turn. They did a good job of balancing them out, too, I think I used them about equally.

***If you read this as I put it up, note that I made a couple of edits to the first post. Some of the things I put in about abusing the Mark of Khorne don't actually work on a closer read.

[tonba]

I can foresee my heavy support consisting of;

Ageis Defence line w/ Autocannon
8 havocs w/ 4x missile launchers (with flakk missile upgrade)
ForgeFiend w/ twin autocannons

I think this will be good.. the forgefiend will chew through transports and most vechicles quite easily. While the havocs in the defence line are on anti aircraft/skimmer duties. If all are gone, they can start gunning down transports, or smaller units of troops.

[WestRider]

In just one Game, I've fallen hard for Autocannon Havocs. I'll fool around with stuff in other Games, but when I'm getting serious, my Heavy Support is usually going to be 3x5 Havocs w/4 Autocannon. Behind an Aegis Line, with one of the Champions manning the Quad Gun, of course. 445 Points of doom for anything short of AV14.

Might upgrade one of them to Missiles with Skyfire, but I took down a Heldrake with no trouble at all with only two of those Squads.