Well guys, I finally found out where this blog went and how log back onto it! Thank the 4 Gods of Chaos! My last post, which will be linked below, I introduced that I would be looking into Traitors Hate and all the good it does for the standard Codex.
I don't know how to slide into this elegantly, so first up: Black Crusade Detachment Overall look & the Chaos Warband.
The Black Crusade Detachment is built from several formation options and Command options which are:
0-5 Command Choices (These are the main 3 HQ choices, Lords, Sorcerers and DP's with named character swaps)
1+ Core Choices consisting of: Chaos Warband, Maelstrom of Gore and The Lost and The Damned.
1+ Auxiliary Choices consisting of: Helforged Warpack, Veterans of The Legions, Heldrake Terror Pack, Cult of Destruction, Fist of The Gods, Raptor Talon, Terminator Annihilation Force, Favoured of Chaos, Trinity of Blood and Spawn.
Some of these Formations can be taken outside of the detachment and some can't, so there is a lot of extra choices for Chaos players in general.
The benifits of taking the Crusade detachment are everyone who can take VotLW can do so for free, and everything gainst Hatred (Armies of the Imperium) special rule. You may think the extra Hatred isn't much, however it adds several other armies, such as Astra Militarium and the Inquisition to the list of armies that VotLW already covers. This also carry's over to Cultists which is pretty sick, but I will get to that in the Lost and the Damned formation review next time.
In Addition to this, at the start of every friendly turn you can choose a single Character model from the detachment and he automatically gains a Boon of Mutation. Now I know I say that the majority of them are not worth points, but free things are worth being free, and it does give you a 5 turns worth of attempting to make a lowly cultists into either a Spawn or Daemon Prince for extra scoring.
The Detachment also allows a Re-roll when rolling on Chaos Marines Warlord Traits, all of which are pretty dire, so that is a nothing to note rule.
Over all, being forced to take one of the 3 core options isn't actually bad looking at the options you have, all 3 are adaptable for different list types and circumstances, 2 a bit more than the other but the thirds special rules make up for that nicely.
OK, thats enough for now. To the Warband!
First off, the selections for the warband look too expensive and unnecessary to build an army around, granted there are cheaper options elsewhere as these are the choices you have to pick from:
1 Lord,
0-1 Sorcerer,
1-3 Units, chosen from: Chosen, Terminators or Possessed
2-6 units of Marines
1-3 Units, chosen from: Raptors, Talons or Bikes
1-3 Units, chosen from: Havocs or Helbrutes.
Now, first up, I will say it again. It looks expensive. Well it is, only if you are taking it bare bones. You are looking at about 400-500 points which is pretty hefty for chaos marines when there are cultists about for a lot cheaper in Lost and the Damned but here is the parts people will miss or generally look over because face value isn't amazing.
The special rules for this warband are: Objective Secured for all units within it and Favoured Scions, basically a special rule where when a Character from this detachment gains a boon roll, they roll two and can choose whether to take one or both of the rolls.
First off, the Favoured Scions special rule allows you to roll two boons on the boon table every time a boon roll is earned, which quiet nicely fits into the Black Crusade rule of getting a free boon roll a turn essentially doubling your power up speed. It also allows the boon roller to choose whether to accept both rolls or pick one of them. This means that you have some control over what boons you want, obviously you are going to accept all you can even if it's +1 ballistic skill on a guy with only a pistol just as long as you don't roll spawn, or depending on the situation, Daemon Prince.
This is massive, as half of the crippling army rules are mitigated by this factor of freely gaining and controlling boons within this formation the table doesn't become such a horrible factor for a good portion of your army.
Objective secured is for objective games, and 5/6 of games you play will (eternal war missions) will be objective based. Having objective secured on a formation that could grow to around 2000 points with ease is quiet a sturdy foot to be slamming down on the table. Essentially you have a unit sitting on an objective saying "you must kill not contest"to your enemy. However because of the wording of the rules Ob Sec does pass to transport vehicles so 3 land raiders covered by 3 helbrutes with 3 units of terminators inside shouts major objective castling or "Camping" tactics.
Ok, so I have just decided to break down each unit with all these new special rules and free stuff attached to them in order to find the better builds you can create with this formation.
Lord:
Free VotLW does nothing for him, however the hatred (Armies of Imperium) does add a sufficient few new enemies to the list of what he can kick with relative ease. Favoured Scion and free boons work heavily in his favour as he is the one guy who is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting during challenges and a few turns of powering him up with boons will make him a combat monster. Objective Secured - because who want's to fight a 10+ boon drinking Juggerlord turn 5?
Note: You can interchange the Characters with the named Chaos Characters within the warband, so such monsters as Kharn, Typhus, Huron and Abaddon can receive the boat load of buffs.
Sorcerer:
Free VotLW does nothing again, and again hatred Armies of Imperium is useful, however this guy isn't really built for smashing the ten bells of shit out of others in CC unless you gave it a specific build. If he does end up killing characters one way or another the Favoured Scion rule can still buff him, but seen as though there are no Psyker specific buffs then it's just a good way to keep Spawnhood or Daemonhood away and retain your precious warp charge. Objective Secured - last turn bullshit turbo boost within 3 of an objective and not just contest but score it, haters going to hate.
Chosen:
Free VotLW making them LD10 does do these guys some good as its 2 points each for them meaning you have a 10 points saving bare bones. The Hatred (AoI) and favoured Scion means that you shouldn't be too scared about putting these guys in combat against imperial foe as they come with CC weapons standard. When I started typing this review/ first look into the formation I did initially think that the chosen wouldn't be worth it, but now 90 points for 5 of them with all the additional rules added to them isn't bad. I still personally wouldn't take a unit of 10, for some reason I see a unit of 10 guys at 180 points and want to scribble it off my page.
A small unit tanked with either special weapons (4 flamers, 4 plasmas, 4 meltas) in a rhino for shock and awe or objective clearing would be their calling. The Hatred and scion stuff can be helpful when they need to get into combat and the LD10 will make them stick round a long time, I just still don't see this unit swinging in combat as hard as the next choice. Objective Secured - burning, plasmaing or melting some poor bastards off an objective, then continuing to do so to anyone who gets near by.
Chaos Terminators:
Free VotLW making them LD10 off the bat just like with the Chosen and you save 3 points per model with this, so 9 points bare bones. Hatred (AoI) and scion is good for them as re-roll to hits with standard power weapons is never a bad thing, also the Terminator Champion would be in good standing to receive perhaps a boon or two mid game from either kills of freebees. There is literally nothing but good news for the terminators, however due to play styles and how metas counter Terminators so easily you would be hard pressed to get a good performance consecutively for them.
The two builds I see for terminator lists are: 3 Terminators, armed with combi's or bare bones for players who didn't want to go down the terminator route but they are the best Tax option to get to other things. Deep strike in, give something a tickle, hide in the opponents deployment zone or sneak onto an objective, stab the cheapo back line units cause you are bigger and mean.
Alternatively, purchase 3 terminators squads with Lightning claws and chainfists, give them MoK and Icon of Wrath, sit in the middle of the board in raiders with a 24" threat bubble that would make Knights think twice about entering with about 12 (3 Chainfists) re-rolling to hit S9 attacks with armour bane to go round. There are cheaper ways to now deal with knights, but hey the ye-olde terminators could still do it! Also then last turn park on objectives and just say "This is mine".
Possessed Marines:
Free VotLW does little, owing to the fact they are fearless, however Hatred (AoI) does buff the combat prowess. Little really to say on this unit, the Vassal table isn't the best and its 130 points bare bones for 5 dudes with a single close combat weapon and no gun in a gun game with chainsaws. Both the Chosen and Terminator options out perform Possessed marines hands down. Thank god I can choose other things and I still don't have to use them.
Chaos Marines
Usually, the Chaos Space Marine is the Go Too unit if you wanted to try the MSU gameplay tactic, unfortunately I did and it didn't work. Objective secured is standard for them and you don't want them entering combat, so the Hatred is only when everything is going wrong and purposefully don't give them transports because you will most likely need the points elsewhere and the other units in this formation give their rhinos Ob Sec and they do more. You have to take 2 units of these so heres the build:
2 units of Marines - 75 points each. Keep in reserve, waltz on hopefully late, be ignored, hold a back field objective, shoot your bolt gun to gain attention and die... wait, don't do the last bit.
I think you should be able to tell that I am getting a bit tired now, but so far bar the Possessed marines and the 2 marine squads tax there are some competent choices to go from and it will be getting better for the next post with the Raptors, Talons, Helbrutes but most importantly the Bikers and the Havocs, but I will leave it at that for now and spoil you with it another day. Night.
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