USD ($)
EUR (€)
Intro
The veterans of the long war - Traitors, Renegades, Heretics, all fall under the banner of the Chaos Space marines.
The Chaos Space Marine faction stands in contrast to the loyalist armies of the Space Marines. They are a great recommendation for players who prefer a more aggressive army. The new Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol is a perfect reflection of this and is a great start for players wanting to start an army.
Before we go over our recommendations we should explore the strengths and Weaknesses of the units within the units in the box.
(Disclaimer: recommendations and descriptions are based on the index rules and stats, these are up for change and may not be within the datasheets of combat patrol)
What comes in the box
Leading the force is a Master of Possession equipped with a bolt pistol, a staff of possession and wields the Rite of Possession. This leader provides the unit he is with bonuses to advancing, charging, a strong benefit to any unit that wants to get into combat as soon as possible. On top of that, with his sacrificial dagger at the cost of a mortal wound for the unit, this leader can empower his attacks on the phase he uses this ability, a strong character for fighting other characters, especially psykers.
Five Possessed with hideous mutations and one bearing a chaos icon. This unit works as an amazing spearhead, with a 9” movement, a toughness of six, a 5+ invulnerable save and three wounds each, it will take massive amounts of firepower to bring these monsters down (Especially if the Master of Possession is with them). And if they get in combat with anything, they get four attacks per model at strength five and two damage each, making them great at fighting against their loyalist counterparts and similar units in unit heavy locations. This is especially true with their Unholy Bloodshed ability, which grants devastating wounds to the unit each time it uses the dark pact ability.
Ten Chaos Legionaries equipped with seven bolters alongside a heavy bolter and a meltagun, the champion wields a plasma pistol and accursed weapon. This squad can be split into two units of five at the declare battle formation step. One of the two battleline units in the chaos space marine faction, the legionaries can hold their own against most light infantry having the meltagun makes it a variable anti tank option.
Ten Chaos Cultists with autopistols and Brutal assault weapons, the lost and the damned, the other battleline unit of the chaos space marines, their main upside is their ability for the dark gods, this allows them to mark an objective in the command phase and count as controlling the objective even if you have no models on it until the enemy controls it.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strong objective control, powerful melee output
Between the Master of possession and the Possessed bodyguard this army has an impressive out of Melee attacks, then with the cultists and legionaries, the army can control a significant sector of the table, especially on objectives.
However the army doesn’t have a reliable answer to heavy tanks or walkers, even with the meltagun, the weapon in question only has a 12” range, and the devastating wounds of the possessed are only triggered on a 6.
Recommendations
This fast moving transport is a great vehicle for moving your infantry towards the enemy and objectives with suitable protection. The APC can hold it’s own as well with two combi-bolters and a havoc launcher for a significant 1d8+8 attacks a round, great for whittling down horde infantry.
2 Havocs:
This squad bears the heavy firepower of the Chaos infantry, able to take a range of heavy weapons, Heavy bolters, lascannons and Missile launchers, whatever support role you need to fill this unit can form a powerful asset to use. Another strength of this unit is that unlike most units in this role, their weapons don’t have the Heavy keyword, meaning they can be mobile without forgoing accuracy. Mentioning accuracy also applies to their main ability which allows them to ignore any or all modifiers to their shooting attack.
This box allows you to assemble either the Maulerfiend or forgefiend. Both provide significant bulk and might to an army list regardless of configuration because of its toughness. The Maulerfiend can match the pace of your faster infantry with rerolls to advancing and charging it will tear up tanks with strength 14 attack dealing d6+1 damage on each of its 6 attacks.
Hulking living weapons, this unit of three has the fleshmetal guns, these weapons have three profiles each can destroy their chosen target. This unit can drop onto their unsuspecting target with the deep strike ability and draw fire with their toughness of 7 and five wounds.
Carrying one of the heaviest weapons in the Chaos Space Marine Faction, the vindicator is a formidable linebreaker, using its demolisher cannon to vaporise most enemies. With D6+3 attacks at strength 14, armour penetration -3 and D6 damage, only the heaviest tanks and walkers will survive when targeted by this.
Conclusion
When looking to expand your miniature army, it is critical to understand the potential of your Lost and Damned, and how to cover for weakness in your contribution to the long war.
We hope that these recommendations provide an understanding of what you can choose for your next steps on your Wwarhammer Journey.
Collect, paint, and play! Bring Glory to the Chaos Gods!
Eager to share your own thoughts on some of your favourite board games? Just fill out our quick and easy application here to become a zatu blogger!