My Tactical article pledge: I am not the greatest player, nor a seal pup. I will endeavor to speak from my experience and always be honest about what is theory and what is play tested. Never will I assume to know better than anyone... unless to call out ego or pretension.
As a few of you know, I've had access to the new Chaos Space Marine codex for a few months now. So with the public release only a few days away I think it is time to give you my initial impressions on this the first codex of 6th edition.
Taken superficially the Chaos Space Marine codex looks like the last codex only re-skinned, but now with dragons. The truth is that this is a very deep codex. It is a codex built with a lot of foresight and I foresee it easily mutating as the 40k meta turns.
The fluffy player (if they actually work at it) will find everything they need to have an effective army of whatever (exception being Night Lords) chaos legion story they want to tell. The key though is accepting the usage of Allies.
The competitive player will find a lot of things to like in this codex mostly with cheap troops and anti-aircraft options. This codex will break the AirCav "dominance" we currently see in tournaments around the country. Take an Quad Gun + Havocs + Dragon + Daemon Princes = Night Scythes of broken dreams.
The disappointing part about the codex is the anti-flyer tools: until the Flyer fever breaks you won't see many variation in lists. By the time players stop taking heavy Flyer lists (thanks to CSM) we could be on to the next shiny codex.
Competitive players will want the quick answers to see if the Chaos Marine codex can break the current meta.
Here is an example of the type of "competitive" list I think you will see out the box.
- 1 Deamon Prince with Wings and psychic powers
- 1 Nurgle Lord or Ahirman
- 1 Terminator Squad of Slaanesh or Tzeentch
- 1-2 Minimum Squad Size Cultist Units
- 2-3 Plague Marine or Thousand Son Units
- 1 Heldrake
- 1 Havoc Squad with full Flak power
- 2 Obliterator Squads with Mark of Nurgle
- Aegis with Quad Gun
Taken superficially the Chaos Space Marine codex looks like the last codex only re-skinned, but now with dragons.
The reason you will see this sort of army is pretty simple. Not only is it effective, it also requires a minimal effort to build. Most current and past Chaos Space Marines players already have many of the units.
- Change Long Fangs to Havocs.
- Convert Cadians to Cultists.
- Buy one Heldrake
- Convert Terminators
The real questions is once the Flying armies start showing up op Ebay, what will be next for the Chaos Space Marine codex?
Well I cannot answer that question without precognition. What I will do is go over some the winners and losers for the 6th Edition Chaos Space Marine Codex.
Loser Warp Talons
30 points each
No AP 2 weapons
No Options
Over Priced
Loser Hellbrute
105 points
Overpriced
No Smoke Launchers
Less options
Still Crazy
That is just some of the winners and losers found in the new Chaos Space Marine codex. In the coming days we take an in-depth looks at the units and tactics found in this codex. Blood of Kittens will not only take you through everything, but we will look back at the evolution of the Chaos Space Marines.
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For tactical articles feel free to email me to continue the discussion or if you discovery inaccurate interpretations of the rules-- edits will be made accordingly.
For tactical articles feel free to email me to continue the discussion or if you discover an inaccurate interpretation of the rules-- edits will be made accordingly.
Also check out other articles in this series...
- Getting Restarted
- Breaking Down the Codex
- Chaos Space Marine Unit Review
- Cultist Review
- Khorne Berzerkers Review
- Thousand Sons Review
- Noise Marine Review
- Plague Marine Review
- Chosen Review
- Mutilator Review
- Helbrute Review
- Possessed Review
- Chaos Terminator Review
- Chaos Bikes Review
- Chaos Spawn Review
- Raptors Review
- Warp Talons Review
- Heldrake Review
- Havocs Review
- Obliterator Review
- Defiler Review
- Forgefiend Review
- Maulerfiend Review
- Rhino, Vindicator, Predator, Land Raider Review
- Abbadon the Despiler Review
- Huron Blackheart Review
- Kharn the Betrayer Review
- Ahriman Review
- Typhus Review
- Lucius the Eternal Review
- Fabius Bile Review
- Chaos Lord Review
- Chaos Sorcerer Review
- Daemon Prince Review
- Warpsmith Review
- Dark Apostle Review
- Final Breakdown
Warning
It's Like Tactics is rated theory hammer because these are general observations and assumptions based on only few tested games.