Hi All,
We are going through our review of the new Chaos Codex and it’s time to take a look at the custom crusade rules for the Black Legion and Word Bearers. These are two heavy-hitting legions, let’s see if their custom rules hold up!
Black Legion
Right off the bat the Black Legion has a copy of my least favorite agenda: If you table your opponent every surviving unit gets 3 exp and D3 Chaos points. I really hate this agenda as you either have to play into it and risk annoying your opponent or you never use it. I dislike all-or-nothing agendas, and even if you achieve it you might not have that many units on the board to benefit.
However, one thing that will make this agenda slightly more appealing is the requisition the Black Legion can take. For 1 RP you get an extra agenda for a single battle. If your units get 6+ experience, combined, from this agenda you get an extra requisition and D3 extra Chaos Points. However if you do not, you either do not gain any Chaos Points from the battle or get a Battle Scar. It’s a very risk-reward strategy but can be quite handy.
The Black Legion table is pretty useful with results that can benefit most units. The first option makes all Core units within 3″ auto-pass morale. The second allows you to use VotLW or Relentless Devastation for free once per battle. The last one gives your unit +1 A if they are fighting an enemy unit with 6+ models. These are all pretty good and even your shooting units can benefit from 2/3 of them.
Their crusade relic replaces an Exalted Power Axe but provides a big buff in stats. It is S +4 AP -2 and D2. You also get +1 to wound vs any Imperium units. This is a pretty good starter weapon as it will make your character exceptionally deadly (and might even provide a reason to include an Exalted Champion).
Word Bearers
The Word Bearers have been considered to be one of the stronger legions following the update. Leaning heavily into possessed units seems to be a solid call for this book and the Crusade rules continue this trend. Their agenda requires you to complete an action within range of an objective, this can only be done once per objective. At the end of the battle every unit that completed this action gets a number of experience points equal to the number of objectives tainted. If you get 3+ you also get a Chaos Point. This is a really good agenda and on some missions you can get units 4+ exp each if you focus on achieving it. While it does depend on the mission you are playing this can be a great way to launch your warband.
The Word Bearer’s Requisitions is an exceptionally intriguing choice. For 1 RP you remove a character from your force who reached the Battle-Hardened rank. However every other unit in your army gets 1 exp and you get a number of chaos points according to if it was Battle-Hardened (D3), Heroic D3+3 or Legendary (D3+6). Now you are sacrificing a character with minimum 16 experience so it can be a bit loss, but the rewards are very powerful too. I really think this is a very Chaos-y type of maneuver and i love this option for Word Bearers players.
The custom battle trait table is really strong as well. The first option allows a unit to auto-pass morale (sad Night Lord sounds) and automatically get 3 bonus experience points if it completes two actions in a game. The second option allows you to use the Legionnaire double-shoot stratagem or Cursed Despoilers for free every turn. The last option gives the unit a 5++ or if it is a Daemonkin or Daemon Engine it gets a 4++. This really elevates Word Bearer Chosen units to being mini terminators all on their own!
Lastly, the custom relic allows a Chaos Priest to know all the base prayers and allows non-priest units to chant a prayer on a 3+. While this isn’t an insanely powerful buff, the prayers are all quite useful.
All in all the Word Bearers rules stand out as the most powerful so far. It almost makes me want to start painting some up. Are you happy with the rules so far? Let me know in the comments!
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