Terminators: Chaos Space Marines

Product Information

Doubling strength up to S8 and therefore wounding on 2+ against most enemies is very useful. Powerfists also threaten enemy characters with instant death, cause lots of trouble to monstrous creatures (MCs) and even destroy most vehicles. The downside is, having to strike at I1 means that your enemies will almost certainly strike before you, and possibly lose your terminator in the process. We’ve had enough time to get to grips with the armies of 10th Edition, so over the next few weeks we’re going to be publishing a competitive faction focus for each of them, showcasing what’s been working for them in early tournament play. Today, We takes a look at Chaos Space Marines, a faction currently sitting on top of the meta for 10th edition. The Dark Commune is a bit of a weird unit, acting as a kind of Cultist command squad. It can join units of cultists (either regular or Accursed), giving its unit a 5++ invuln save will lend them a surprising amount of durability. Giving its Cultist unit one turn of advance and charge plus a damage output boost means they can also skirmish with some units or charge onto objectives. It’s not a bad upgrade in power and for the right price might have some Creations of Bile are really interesting. They have really flown under the radar since release, overshadowed by the Death Guard supplement in the same Psychic Awakening. But wow does this Legion add some interesting things to a Terminator unit. The Legion trait of +1 to Strength and Movement is great. +1 Strength pairs quite nicely with all of their melee weapons, and +1 Movement is okay at first glance, but great once you understand how fast this Legion can make the Terminator squad. The stratagems are where this Legion shines. The first is an advance and charge stratagem that gives +1 to advance and +1 to charge. Unfortunately, this stratagem has to be activated at the start of the movement phase, so can’t be activated while in a transport or while off the board. But that’s okay, because this Terminator unit (5” move on it’s datasheet) can move, on average, 21” BEFORE THE CHARGE, and a +1 to charge to boot.

Possessed and a Master Of Possession go together perfectly. The Possessed unit ability to gain Devastating Wounds when the unit makes a Dark Pact also affects the attached Master Of Possession. The MOP has a surprisingly good gun with Precision and Anti-Psyker, and giving him Devastating Wounds means that he’ll trigger nasty critical wounds on a 2+. Annoyed by Ahriman or a Grey Knight Librarian? Attach a MOP to some Possessed and reliably snipe out the psyker character with 6 (or more if you got a 6 to hit with exploding hits!) mortal wounds. These squads are meant to use LRs as transports and use them to get off a devastating charge. As a result they don’t need so many ranged weapons, although heavy flamers and combi-flamers can be useful against infantry in terrain since terminators don’t have offensive grenades. More combat orientated icons are preferable here, although IoN is still good when dealing with hordes. Chosen –Chosen are just tough, incredibly versatile units, capable of shooting, fighting, and moving however and whenever they like. If they had OC 2 they’d be the perfect unit but as-is they’re merely very good.

Mark of Slaanesh

Infernal Rites (2CP) will be the most familiar to 9th Edition players, as it is a copy and paste of Armour Of Contempt on any unit for a phase. Reducing incoming AP by 1 on a unit in a key moment can be very valuable. That said, Space Marines get this same Stratagem for 1 CP, and just knowing that makes me seethe with rage. These squads take advantage of combi-weapons when DSing to lay down a good amount of fire then following it up with a charge on the following turn, usually after surviving any return fire. IoN and IoZ help with surviving for more than one turn here and using a big a squad as possible helps mitigate morale tests. Legions are out. Forget about your legion rules and traits, it’s all just CSM now. And while there will likely be special Detachments in the future to work with, none of the CSM characters have the kinds of faction keywords to create restrictions like the Space Marines do, so we may see more flexibility on Chaos Rosters even after the Codex drops. Welcome to the 80s! Here we see the original metal minis that stomped their way into both Rogue Trader and Space Hulk 1st edition. These came in two waves in 1989, and 1991. Having a non-applicable strat (+1 to smite for a psyker), and a weird and essentially useless icon (1 mortal wound to an enemy within 12” if you roll a 6??), this mark doesn’t do anything for the Terminator squad. The psychic power, +1 to invulnerable saves, is good but unfortunately doesn’t add much until you get to damage from AP-3 or better weapons. All this comes together to make Tzeentch the clear loser.

Note: Heavy flamers in conjunction with boltguns are usually enough to put some serious hurt on hordes, leaving more space for combi-meltas for anti-tank/anti-MC) Landraider AssaultThese suits were still highly sought-after, however, as Terminator Armour proved adept at bloody, short-ranged battles waged in cramped conditions such as boarding actions and ship-to-ship engagements, hive cities and tunnel-fighting. Chaos Rhino • Chaos Predator • Infernal Relic Predator • Chaos Vindicator • Chaos Land Raider • Chaos Land Raider Proteus • Infernal Relic Land Raider Achilles • Land Raider Hades Diabolus • Relic Sicaran Battle Tank • Maulerfiend • Forgefiend • Defiler • Brass Scorpion • Blood Slaughterer • Blight Drone • Foetid Bloat-drone • Kytan • Plague Hulk • Venomcrawler • Myphitic Blight-hauler

Forgefiends received a glow-up that will make any Daemon Engine players happy. The plasma went up to S10, and the gatling cannon got 50% more shots (in exchange for losing 1 point of AP). The real benefit is its Daemonic Ordinance rule, which lets it gain Hazardous and Devastating Wounds when it fires. This will add some consistent mortal wound output when you’re firing 12 2-damage gatling cannon shots each turn.In addition to the huge selection of new fighters and Commanders, Kill Team: Elites includes a number of new open, narrative and matched play missions, all of which enable you to field kill teams of up to 200 points in size to cater for your powerful new operatives. The set includes 5 multipart Chaos Terminators, each of which can be equipped with a variety of melee and ranged weapons. The following weapon options are included in the kit. This unit can take on almost any target. On the turn they drop, they can pump out 80 shots at 24” and S4 with +1 to hit and wound. They can easily make the charge, and absolutely annihilate most targets in melee. With FnP, and fight first, they can be a bother to remove. This unit is extremely flexible in how it can do damage. I really like this unit against any matchup, in any game. It’s an extremely strong and extremely reliable unit. Accursed Cultists return largely unchanged, which isn’t a bad thing. The ability to regenerate 1 destroyed Torment or 3 destroyed Mutants in each player’s command phase, combined with a 6+ Feel No Pain and OC2, means these are going to be surprisingly annoying for your opponents to shift off objectives. The mainstay of anti-tank terminator squads. In 5th edition there is no better way to kill at tank at range than with a melta weapon. Several of these can almost guarantee a vehicle kill. They are also passable at killing MCs and MEQs. Again, due to short range they are best used in DSing anti-tank squads or LR squads.