Hey everyone! Adam here, from TFG Radio, to talk about how the new edition, and the rules previews we have been seeing, will affect Chaos Space Marines (CSM). As always, for more tactics articles, check out the Tactics Corner!
Now, for those that don’t know, I have been a chaos player for a long time, since Rogue Trader. I have been through the good and the bad of the various Chaos Codexes. I mainly play Black Legion, but I will be talking about the effects of NewHammer, at this point, on the general forces of Chaos. Other authors will provide their opinions on how NewHammer will affect specific legions, like Thousand Sons and Death Guard. This will be a multi-part article as new parts of the game are revealed.
Unit Profiles
Seeing the Space Marine profiles actually gives us a good look at what the CSM profiles will be. Bringing back the movement value is nice, as I haven’t seen it since 2nd edition. Keeping the 6” movement gives them a little more speed than the normal human but will, obviously, still be slower than units that have been, historically, faster . Just a straight hit value for weapon and ballistic skill is nice and will help new players quickly adapt. Not quite sure if the leadership value will be lowered, just like the space marines, but we will see, either as a tease or on release.
Anyone who listens to our podcast knows that we have been very vocal, although not the only ones, in giving terminators more wounds. Combined with the new weapon profiles, and how the AP system works, it makes terminators much more survivable.
The Strength/Toughness chart is still there, but with the stats being able to go above 10, we will be able to see units that are more unique. The ability for anyone to hurt anyone, no matter how long the shot, gives some hope to the poor bloody cultist to be more than just meat shields.
The change to vehicles brings us a larger selection of tools that are available to us. With things like rhinos, dreadnoughts, maulerfiends, and heldrakes now getting the monstrous creature treatment, we will see a lot more of them on the table since they won’t be one shotted. The extra durability will make units we haven’t seen in a long time dusted off and brought to the tabletop. This doesn’t even take into account all the wonderful forgeworld models that are available to us. I’m looking forward to see how my Dreadclaws and Fire Raptor will work.
Weapon Profiles
The new weapon profiles are a big change and now we will have to adjust some of our tactics. The flamer hitting D6 models is huge. Rolling up with a unit of chosen with flamers can decimate a lot of armies. I’m really excited to see the Heldrake’s Bakeflamer profile in the new edition.
The change to the Armour Penetration (AP) stat is also a big change. Even if it’s a slight chance, the ability to get a save from a weapon that, in the current system, you would be unable to, will give your troops a better chance to do what they are there to do. For example, if your terminator is hit by a Lascannon, they are a -3 to their save, which gives you a 5+ save, instead of just being dead because, in 7th edition, it was AP2. In addition, even if you fail to save, your terminator could still survive if your opponent rolls a “1” on the number of wounds inflicted.
Those generals that took a Multiple Small Units (MSU) approach to the game. Like myself, may have to rethink that strategy if flamers become the new hotness (see what I did there). It may be more advantageous to take more bodies to soak up wounds and maybe unlock more of the special or heavy weapons.
Well, that’s all for now. As I mentioned earlier, I will have more articles as more info is released. I hope you enjoyed the article, leave your comments below, and give my podcast a listen. In the mean time, I have a bunch of terminators, obliterators, and land raiders to put together and paint!
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