Underplayed & Overlooked: Codex Chaos Space Marines
Welcome back to Underplayed & Overlooked. In todays article I am going to go to the traitorous forces of Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Lets get started. A word about the Support score for these characters. You will notice I gave each character a 3 for Support as Chaos special characters are not big on directly affecting things via support style abilities. So because of this I will not be reviewing the Support category for these models. The average support they have to offer is an Icon which all but one of the special characters in the Codex has and that is about the best the selfish champions of Chaos have to give!
Huron Blackheart
- Cost: 5
- Offense: 4
- Defense: 3
- Support: 3
From a cost perspective lets break it down. A Chaos Lord with the equivalent wargear (which is an impossible loadout anyway) would cost 170 pts. Plus even that loadout lacks the heavy flamer. So he is very good value for points.
Offensively he is a bit middle ground. For ranged combat he has a heavy flamer which can do a fair chunk of damage if the opportunity to use it arises. In close combat he is very much like a Chaos Lord with 3 Attacks at Initiative 5. However he has the ability to either attack with his power weapon giving him 4 Attacks or 3 attacks with his Powerfist. As always the option is nice and it further separates him from a regular Lord. Lastly he can cast Warptime thus making him more reliable in the dice rolling department when it comes to Close Combat.
Defensively he is identical to a Chaos Lord with a 3+ Armor Save and a 5+ Invulnerable Save as well as having 3 Wounds. It is clear he is based off of a Chaos Lord in terms of stats.
Typhus
- Cost: 2
- Offense: 3
- Defense: 4
- Support: 3
In the cost department Typhus is a beast being the third most expensive special character in the Codex. So he is by no means a budget character. I wouldn't expect to see him until the 1500 pts level and above.
For ranged attacks he only has psychic shooting attacks. This though is not as much a detriment as it would seem at first glance. Nurgles Rot is a great power for one thing. It affects any models within 6" and can even be cast in Close Combat. It is a great power for softening tarpit units (conscripts, gaunts, ork boyz, etc). Also he has Wind of Chaos which is a very nice template attack which always wounds on a 4+ while ignoring Armor and Cover saves. It even glances vehicles on a 4+. Lastly the psychic test for these powers is automatically passed thus assuring it will happen every turn you want it to with no fear from Perils.
In close combat he wields a Daemon Weapon which is also a Force Weapon. This is quite handy for taking down multi-wound models as well as giving him 7 attacks average on the charge. Unless of course he rolls a 1 for his Daemon Weapon attacks in which case he just twiddles his thumbs and tries to shrug off the automatic wound with his 5+ Invulnerable Save.
Defensively he is very difficult to kill being T 4(5) and having Feel No Pain. He is also in Terminator Armor and in case he is charged he does have Blight Grenades to soften the incoming attacks. Finally he has 4 Wounds being only one of two characters in the Codex to be so resilient. It is only his 5+ Invulnerable Save that keeps him from a perfect score.
Lucius the Eternal
- Cost: 5
- Offense: 4
- Defense: 3
- Support: 3
He is one of the cheapest special characters in the codex and very affordable even in comparison to standard characters after the usual upgrades. A steal in my opinion for any Slannesh themed list not running dual Lash of Submission.
From an offensive perspective he has a lot going for him. He has a Doom Siren (AP3 Flamer) for his ranged attack which could really put some hurt on a squad before you charge in. For close combat he has a very nice WS 7 as well as Initiative 6 with a Power Weapon.
He is also armed with a Lash or Torment (acts as a Tyranid Lash Whip) which helps to reduce some of the attacks headed his way. Finally the Armor of Shrieking Souls turns every save he makes in Close Combat into a S4 Power Weapon hit on the unit that caused helping do some damage throughout a combat round.
Defensively he is the same as a Chaos Lord with only a 3+ Armor Save and a 5+ Invulnerable. However the Lash of Torment and Armor of Shrieking Souls go a a long way into helping him survive in combat while still dealing out the punishment. His primary weakness is (as with every Chaos Special Character except Abaddon) is the is a single Powerfist wound away from turning into soft wet meat. So always insure he has the squad take the worst damage to keep him around as long as you can.
That concludes this set of reviews. Stay tuned next time for a review of Codex: Orks.