You don’t have to be a good general to tell bad from good advice. You also don’t have play every day to tell the difference between basic and advance tactics. It also doesn’t take much to tell the difference between a terrible and good army lists. So it makes me wonder what is Games Workshop thinking when it presents a “tactica” such as the one currently on their website about Khorne Chaos Space Marines. Of course GW tactic articles have never been the stuff to write home about, but this one might just be crap de la crap of the bunch. Let us start with the army list and work our way backwards…
HQ
Murdrax Skullbiter, Daemon Prince of Khorne: 140 points
Mark of Khorne, wings.Slaughtermaster Bane, Chaos Lord: 150 points
Mark of Khorne, power armour, Daemon weapon, bolt pistol, Personal Icon, melta bombs, frag and krak grenades.Elites
Krassax Gorefinger’s Hearteaters, 8 Chaos Terminators: 365 points
1 Terminator Champion with lightning claw, twin-linked bolter and Icon of Khorne.
1 Chaos Terminator with power fist and reaper autocannon.
2 Chaos Terminators with chainfists and combi-meltaguns.
4 Chaos Terminators with power weapons and twin-linked bolters.Khyrane Slaughterhand’s Deathbringers, 8 Chaos Terminators: 370 points
1 Terminator Champion with chainfist and twin-linked bolter.
1 Terminator Champion with power fist, twin-linked bolter and Icon of Khorne.
1 Chaos Terminator with power fist and reaper autocannon.
1 Chaos Terminator with power weapon and combi-meltagun.
1 Chaos Terminator with chainfist and twin-linked bolter.
3 Chaos Terminators with power weapons and twin-linked bolters.
Red Holocaust, Chaos Dreadnought: 140 points
Twin-linked lascannon, missile launcher, smoke launchers, searchlight, extra armour.Troops
Megrim’s Ravagers, 8 Khorne Berzerkers: 213 points
1 Skull Champion with power fist, bolt pistol and Personal Icon.
7 Khorne Berzerkers with close combat weapons and bolt pistols.
All have power armour, frag and krak grenades.Ghorlen’s Slaughterers, 8 Khorne Berzerkers: 213 points
1 Skull Champion with power fist and bolt pistol.
1 Khorne Berzerker with close combat weapon, bolt pistol and Personal Icon.
6 Khorne Berzerkers with close combat weapons and bolt pistols.
All have power armour, frag and krak grenades.Kaon’s Widowmakers, 8 Khorne Berzerkers: 208 points
1 Skull Champion with power weapon, bolt pistol and melta bombs.
1 Khorne Berzerker with close combat weapon, bolt pistol and Personal Icon.
6 Khorne Berzerkers with close combat weapons and bolt pistols.
All have power armour, frag and krak grenades.Khabren Bale’s Goredrinkers, 8 Khorne Berzerkers: 238 points
1 Skull Champion with power weapon, bolt pistol, melta bombs and Personal Icon.
2 Khorne Berzerkers with close combat weapons and plasma pistols.
5 Khorne Berzerkers with close combat weapons and bolt pistols.
All have power armour, frag and krak grenades.Dedicated Transport: Chaos Rhino with twin-linked bolter, pintle-mounted combi-meltagun, extra armour, smoke launchers and searchlight: 60 points
Fast Attack
Gryndal, 1 Chaos Spawn: 40 pointsHeavy Support
2 Obliterators: 150 points
Power fists, Obliterator weapons.
Sword of Angron, Chaos Predator: 120 points
Turret-mounted twin-linked lascannon, smoke launchers, searchlight and extra armour.
Warhound, Chaos Predator: 85 points
Turret-mounted autocannon, smoke launchers, searchlight and extra armour.Total: 2492 points
Don’t know about you, but having only one Rhino in a 2500 point army list seems just plain dumb. I understand just how cute it is to run the sacred number, but if you are going to run units without transports at least go balls to the wall! I am talking take 16 man units and run like mad for the nearest squishy thing. Instead we get three killable squads that march across the board only protected by one rhino and two preds for screens. We have the obligatory Spawn– as if this army list is SO over the top that we need a Chaos Spawn to tone it down. We also have the super shooty dred that I am sure has never fire frenzied on the wrong target before as well. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket with those pricey Terminator units. Done properly you could salvage a 1500 point army list out of this, but at 2500 what does he expect he will be facing? Just think about an average Space Wolf list? Not to mention, a few battle cannon shots.
The list is actually the least of our worries. Image for a second a new player coming to GW’s website thinking about what army he would like to play and decides on World Eaters. This is the sort of advice that he has waiting…
My Daemon Prince is probably the most powerful single model in my army – he’s a powerhouse of close combat potential. He’s also the single biggest target in the army, with every heavy weapon in sight firing at him. To increase his survivability I tend to have him advance along behind the Berzerkers (you can imagine him goading them forward), until he is within charge range, at which point he soars over the top with his daemonic wings and charges headfirst into the foe!
Because any incoming fire will be coming through the Berzerkers, he receives a 4+ cover save and, best of all, he also has the habit of breaking up my opponent’s fire discipline.
Now forget the fact that any good player would have the Daemon Prince killed by the end of round one because you were dumb enough to stick it in the open. Instead, take a look at the picture GW used to “illustrate” 4+ cover save.
Now if my opponent told me that his Deamon Prince should get a 4+ cover save, a conversation about exactly what 50% really means. Even worse you can easily make the argument that this advice is claiming that shooting through infantry automatically gives a MCs a cover save.
Set up your units so that you can move them straight towards the enemy, preferably with lines of fire towards your own models blocking. When they get into combat, try to make sure you’re charging – four attacks at Weapon Skill, Strength and Initiative 5 is generally enough to give anything a bad, bad day.
By moving them up behind a Rhino you can protect them from the worst of the enemy’s incoming fire too – since the tank can move 12″, it won’t slow them down at all.
No one would ever guess that the best thing to do with a assualty foot units is to move them to the closest enemy as fast as you can!!?! Not to mention “you have to score points to win the game” advice on getting off the charge instead of your opponent.
I have lots of units that can Deep Strike in my collection, including Chaos Terminators and Obliterators. Because I rely quite heavily on them, each of my squads of Khorne Berzerkers has a Personal Icon that means anything that Deep Strikes within 6″ will automatically hit its target.
I position my squads so that I can offer ‘safe landing’ coverage to the maximum number of models at a time. This means that I can land my squads of Chaos Terminators right in the enemy’s face and unleash a tirade of combi-bolters, meltas, and reaper autocannon. Anything that survives better be ready for a fight with my combat elite in the next turn!
REALLY? using icons for no deviations I would of never have read the item entry before– too bad in order for the Terminators to be “right in the enemy’s face” your icon units actually have to get to the enemy. Try using Rhino or hell even a Land Raider with your Zerkers inside to bring his Termies closer to the face. There is a time and place for deep striking Oblits, but when you have a crazy prone dred and two preds to pop armor you my friend really need all the help you can get.
I’m not a big one for lots of tanks in my force – I prefer to win games with chain-axes and bolt pistols, but I’ve got to admit there are times when the ability to smash apart an enemy vehicle with a lascannon, or to offer covering fire to the Berzerkers running across the battlefield is very useful.
I’ve got minimally armed Predators in my force – this means I’m not inclined to try to play in a static fashion. Instead they can rumble forwards alongside the army, where their armoured flanks protect the Berzerkers from enfilading fire.
Never would have guessed this guy doesn’t like tanks…
This master general is not done delivering some great advice. He has three foundations for success with this army.
I’ve found there are three foundations to my tactics:
1) Deploy Carefully. This is more than just placing your models in cover – it’s placing them so that they have the most direct route to your foe. Cover the distance as fast as possible, preferably without risking lots of difficult or dangerous terrain. Every turn out of combat for your hard hitters is a turn wasted.
2) Iconic. There’s more on this later, but in a nutshell make sure that you have plenty of Icons in your army – these will enable you to take the random chance out of bringing on your reinforcements.
3) Open Fire. As I will cover in more detail shortly, there’s no reason that your army needs to be restricted to close combat – there are plenty of models that you can include in your Chaos Space Marines army, even one that resonates the character of the World Eaters, without skimping on firepower. Make sure you bring some big guns, otherwise you’re asking for trouble.
First, where are the heavy hitters at exactly?
Second, am I suppose to hug difficult terrain or not?
Third, one piece of wargear makes not a foundation.
Fourth, big guns? Oh, do explain…please
It is ok to play fluffy lists and have fluffy armies, just advertise them as such. To sell this as a tactica on the front page of GW’s website is absurd and insulting frankly. Even the kiddies that play at your average GW store know better than to think that this army has any chance against anyone with half a brain especially with the pedestrian advice given.
Finally, we all should have known that this “tactica” was really the work of a global network of evil doers…
That global network being the GINGERS!!!
Take a look at the tactica in all its glory on GW website that is if you can figure out how to navigate that poor designed monstrosity. What else can you find wrong with this tactica by Wade Pryce?