Hey everyone! Adam here , from TFG Radio, to talk about one of the Black Legion’s core choices from the new Traitor Legions book: Black Legion Warband. As always, for more tactics articles, check out the Tactics Corner!
Here is what the formation entails
- 1 Chaos Lord
- 2-6 Units of Chaos Space Marines or Chosen (any combination)
- 1-3 Units of Chaos Terminators or Possessed (any combination)
- 1-3 Units of Raptors, Warp Talons, or Bikers (any combination)
- 1-3 Units of Havocs or Helbrutes (any combination)
Restrictions – Black Legion Detachment
Now this is slightly different from a Chaos Warband. Having the chosen basically taking a troop slot is nice since I normally take them anyway. Unfortunately, it means I have to take either terminators or possessed. In this case I would take a suicide terminator squad to drop in my opponent’s backfield and hopefully hit the rear armor of a vehicle or building.
Special Rules
The formation allows you the following special rules:
- Favoured of the Warmaster – When a model from a Black Legion Warband earns a roll on the Chaos Boon table as a result of the Champion of Chaos special rule, roll twice on the table and choose either one or both of the results.
- Thirst for Glory – If an enemy unit is completely destroyed by a unit from a Black Legion Warband, all other units from the same Black Legion Warband can re-roll To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1 until the end of the phase.
Ok, right off the bat, you give up a lot since your units are not objective secured, and you cannot roll on the boon table every turn, unlike the Chaos Warband. However, since your champions must challenge anyway, the bonus roll for winning the combat can help your champion buff up and also insulates your champion from becoming a spawn, unless you want him to! Thirst for Glory is ok, and a bit handy for shooting units against Imperial armies, as you already have Eternal Hatred, but is also useful if you happen to be playing against a non-imperial army.
So, why use the formation? By itself I wouldn’t use it. It would depend on what you want to do with your army. I personally plan on using it in the Black Legion Decurion to take advantage of the turn 1 deep strike and my documented love for Dreadclaws.
An example list would be:
- Lord w/Jump Pack (goes with Raptors)
- Chaos Space Marine w/Dreadclaw
- Chosen (4 Meltaguns) w/Dreadclaw
- Raptors (2 Melatguns)
- Chaos Terminators w/3 Combi-meltas
- Helbrute w/Maelstrom Raider Legacy of Ruin and Dreadclaw
The actual armament of the raptors and lord would change depending on the rest of the Decurion. I would try to get everything in on turn one to flood the board with targets. I mitigate the chance of the dreadclaw eating my helbrute by having it outflank and having an empty dreadclaw drop in. The plan is to combine it with either the Raptor Talon or Terminator Annihilation Force auxiliary choices to help flood the board.
This isn’t the final word on how it should be played but just some initial ideas as I start to playtest it. Hopefully this article will help you see the opportunities of the Black Legion Warband. Don’t forget to check out our podcast, and blog!
As always, share your thoughts in the comments section! And remember, Frontline Gaming sells Games Workshop product at up to 25% off, every day. You can also pick up some cheap models in our Second Hand Shop. Some of these gems are quite rare, sometimes they’re fully painted!
