GW brings us some more prviews of what is to come in the new books being released for pre-order this weekend! Vigilus Ablaze and the new CSM Index, both of which will be available to pick up form FLG through our web-cart at a discount with FREE shipping options!
These articles were originally published on Warhammer-community page.
Do you play a Renegade Chapter of Chaos Space Marines like the Red Corsairs or Crimson Slaughter? Looking to make the most out of your Fallen? Well, you’re in luck – Vigilus Ablaze (available to pre-order this weekend) is packed with new rules that make your army better than ever. In this article, we’ll be previewing the new content for Renegades and Fallen, with an in-depth look at what it means for your army, and how best to use it to crush your foes.
Renegade Traits
As you probably already know, when choosing a Chaos Space Marines army, you can choose for everyone in the army to have a <Legion> keyword, which allows them to benefit from distinct and powerful new abilities. Now, instead of the Renegade Chapters trait from the codex, you can pick from one of six Renegade Traits. Each is designed around the unique methods of war pioneered by the respective Renegade Chapter it represents. Take the Crimson Slaughter – these warriors are constantly haunted by sinister spirits, rewarded with silence only after slaying their foes. In-game, this translates into a useful Renegade Trait that rewards you with Command Points for destroying a unit.
Or the Red Corsairs! These guys are perhaps the most notorious of the Renegade Chapters, renowned for their vast numbers and superb tactical skill. This is represented in the rules by the ability to Advance and charge, as well as additional Command Points.
These traits are thematic, fun and powerful, allowing you to better represent your favourite army from the lore on the tabletop, and opening up new army builds you might not have tried before. As well as the Red Corsairs and the Crimson Slaughter, you’ll find Renegade Traits for The Purge, Flawless Host, Brazen Beasts, and The Scourged.
Stratagems
It’s not just Renegade Traits – each Renegade Chapter also has their own Stratagem, offering you more tactical depth and more ways to unleash mayhem! The Purge, for example, are notorious for their contemptuous attitude towards life, even by the standards of Chaos Space Marines, represented in-game by a Stratagem that lets them shoot into combat.
The sinister pre-cognisant skills of the Scourged, meanwhile, are represented by a Stratagem that lets them intercept pesky reinforcements with a devastating fusillade of fire.
Warlord Traits
The new rules for Renegade Chapters give you yet more options when customising your Chaos Characters, with a swathe of Warlord Traits. The Brazen Beasts’ Khorne-given might is represented by a Warlord Trait that gives them an extra 2 Strength and Attacks every time they slay a Character. Grab a Daemon Prince, hunt a couple of enemy heroes, and you’ll be nigh on unstoppable!
Looking for something more cunning? Warlords hailing from The Scourged can shut down enemies by forcing them to fight at the end of the Fight phase, after your own troops have had a chance to soften them up!
Artefacts
Lastly, each Renegade Chapter gets their own artefact, allowing you to further customise your Chaos Lords, Sorcerers, Masters of Possession and other war leaders. The Flawless Host’s Flawless Cloak (these guys sure hate flaws!) is fantastic for maximising the range of key aura abilities. The extra attack is pretty nifty, too!
If you prefer to lead from the back, the Red Corsairs’ Maelstrom’s Bite is ideal. Equip this on a Chaos Lord, and you’ll be able to support your units of Havocs, Obliterators and Chaos Predators with deadly fusillades of infantry-shredding firepower.
The Fallen
Vigilus Ablaze includes loads of content for fans of the Fallen, too! As well as taking a pivotal role in the plot of the story on Vigilus, they can also be fielded with the Fallen Angels Specialist Detachment. This Specialist Detachment lets you give Chaos Sorcerers and Rhinos the Fallen keyword, adding yet more flexibility to these mysterious warriors.
This Specialist Detachment is fantastic for messing with your foe’s Command Points, preventing them from generating new ones mid-game, representing Cypher’s disruptive effects on the battlefield…
What’s more, Fallen in this Detachment are particularly hard to hit thanks to an invaluable Stratagem.
Whether you’re using them as an army in their own right, or as allies to a wider Chaos force, the Fallen are as effective on the battlefield as they are inscrutable…
You’ll be able to master these rules for yourself in Vigilus Ablaze, available to pre-order this weekend – in the meantime, if you’re inspired to start a Renegade Chapter army yourself, we’d highly recommend grabbing Huron Blackheart!
Heretic Astartes Focus: The Night Lords
The Chaos Space Marines are set to receive a huge wave of new reinforcements – not to mention the amazing Daemonkin units in Warhammer 40,000: Shadowspear – so this week, we’re taking a closer look at the Traitor Legions themselves. Today, we’re checking out the most terrifying of the Heretic Astartes – the Night Lords.
Who are the Night Lords?
Even before the Horus Heresy, the Night Lords were cynical, nihilistic killers. Drawn from the criminal population of the night-shrouded world of Nostramo, the VIII Legion became notorious for committing brutal atrocities and turning fear itself into a weapon. Since the Horus Heresy, they have become raiders and pirates, fighting to please their dark whims and generally seeing Chaos as a tool to be exploited rather than something worthy of worship.
The Night Lords are masters of fighting dirty, severing communications, shattering supply lines and striking from the skies with Raptors, Warp Talons and Heldrakes in lightning-fast raids. Having arrived on Vigilus in force, the Night Lords will prove invaluable to the Warmaster’s assault on the world, bringing their guerilla skills to bear against the Genestealer Cults, Orks and Imperium alike.
On the Battlefield
Night Lords armies are unusual even by the standards of Chaos. Where other Legions destroy their foes directly, the Night Lords Legion Trait reduces enemy morale, allowing you to pick your foes apart and let their failed Morale tests do the rest!
The Night Lords are set to receive more options than ever thanks to Vigilus Ablaze. There are loads of units and Specialist Detachments that work superbly with the Night Lords in Vigilus Ablaze, but by far the most thematic is the Host Raptorial – a skyborne force of killers made up of Raptors, Warp Talons, and jump pack-wearing Characters.
Raptors
Raptors are Night Lords to a tee – fast, deadly and equipped with a morale-reducing ability that stacks fantastically with Terror Tactics. With the new Terror Strike ability from the Host Raptorial, you’ll have another way to force devastating Morale tests on your foe. Take three units of Raptors, give them Icons of Despair (which offers a further -1 to Leadership), ally in Haarken Worldclaimer and use this Stratagem for a devastatingly effective combo.
That’s -6 to enemy Leadership, even before you factor in other Leadership-reducing allies like Be’lakor, the Noxious Blightbringer, or butcher cannon-armed Contemptor Dreadnoughts…
Warp Talons
Warp Talons are the ‘hammer’ of any Night Lords army based around the Host Raptorial, capable of scything through pretty-much anyone and anything unfortunate enough to get in their way. The Host Raptorial makes Warp Talons even deadlier with the Vicious Descent Stratagem, allowing you to re-roll hit rolls when you charge. This combines very well with the Warp Talons’ ability to re-roll failed wound rolls thanks to their lightning claws.
What’s more, as Daemons, Warp Talons will benefit hugely from their new Daemonkin allies in Shadowspear. With Greater Possessed giving them an additional point of Strength, and Masters of Possession providing all manner of dark blessings, you’ll be able to push these already-deadly warriors even further.
That’s all for now – check back later for a look at Renegades, or look through the Heretic Astartes Focus Index for all our rules previews so far! If you’re looking to kick off a Night Lords army today, you really can’t go wrong with some Raptors – get yours online or in store today.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
