Codex Reviews and Impressions
 |
| I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok... |
Welcome back all, to the final part of Roll of the Dice's Codex review for Codex Chaos Marines. In the this last article I want to cover the Special Characters From the book and how they'll effect the armies we see on the tabletop. Now enough jawing, let's get to it!
Disclaimer: I am not a tournament player anymore. I've been out of that scene for about 5 years and therefor couldn't give two shakes about the meta-scene and comp scores and the like. I only play now for fun, because I love the background, and because I greatly enjoy crushing peoples hopes and dreams with teeny little metal and resin models. Their tears fuel me and I enjoy winning.
Seriously though, I prefer non-serious games with other competitive people and make wacky lists because I think they are fun. I don't write from a hard-core gamer perspective and if that's what you are looking for, try 3++ or something similar.
Alrighty, let's start with big poppa pump himself, Abaddon.
Rolling in with a huge weapon skill (7) and initiative (6 +1 thanks to park of Slaneesh/ MoChaos ascendant), good ol' Abaddon will be maintaining his status as prime beatstick of the army. Being able to switch up between his daemon weapon and throwing down with between 7-11 ap 2 S7 hits OR 5 ap 3 S8 re-roll to wound hits with the Talon of Horus (don't forget both weapons are specialist weapons!, Abby is still a unit eating champ. In the new edition he also allows you to bring in Chosen (the most equippable unit in the codex as you'll see) as troops means armies that include Abaddon will brings to bear a lot of specialized weaponry in the form of massed assault and/or heavy weapons. On top of all of this he also bring the Black Crusader Warlord trait to the table allowing for maximum marine killing (preferred enemy (space marines) on all units within 12" of the character). Abaddin is a bargain at 265 points when you build your army around him (which you pretty much should be as he automatically HAS to be your warlord...). One last note: Blood Angels has Hatred against Abaddon (FINALLY!) due to his use of the Talon of Horus (might have something to do with tearing out their Primarchs heart... possibly.. maybe.). This is a wonderful nod back to the 2nd edition codex and the fluff. I approve mightily.
Huron Blackheart: Despite having the most awful to pronounce first name of all time (Lufght...? how do you say this? loo-goh? Loo-ee-gee? Luft-guh?... F*** it. he's now Johnny... Johnny Huron the blackheart and all round fancy man) is, in this outing, rather sub-par I regret to report. I've been a fan of him ever since reading of him in the 2e codex (the first codex I ever bought!), but he's really kind of junk. Sure he'll beat down a few guys in challenges, because of his tyrants claw (strikes at initiative 5, S6 ap3) but that's... about... it. He has no ranged attack unless Hamadrya rolls up a ranged psychic power that turn and otherwise is armed with a Heavy flamer (which is awesome) and a power axe. While I adore heavy flamers on any unit, Huron is designed to be in melee, and he's just not that strong of a contender as he only has 3+/5++. I'll be trying him out anyways because I love his background, but otherwise, I don't think we'll see him much on the board. Oh, and he does allow d3 units to infiltrate each game as he has the Master of Deception Warlord trait. He runs for 160 points.. which isn't a lot, but compared to the other characters at that price point... and the Chaos lord, he's just not worth it.
Kharn the Betrayer: oooooooooooooo-eeeee! this guy is great again. Hatred of everything, 5 attacks base, 7 on the first round of combat, S6 ap2 always hits on a 2+(ALWAYS.. even if it would be an auto-hit) Deny the witch on a 2+, immunity to instant death via force weapons AND CAN JOIN A UNIT AGAIN.. HELL frikkin YES!. Now of course not everything is roses and unicorns. All of his melee rolls to hit of 1's become AUTOMATIC hits on his unit or any friendly model (randomized) within 6". That is kind of scary when you roll like I do... but so what?? Any enemy model he comes into contact will die. On top of being king-headtaker he also allows you to take Khorne Bezerkers as troops. As you will see, this is a good thing. How much does he set you back? Only 160 points, the same as Johnny Huron Blackheart(see! told you Huron's not worth his points. His forge world model is awesome though...).
Ahriman: We chaos players can now claim the strongest caster in the game (for the moment) with Ahriman being the first Mastery Level 4 in the game. While the Tzeentch powers list isn't all that and a bag of chips, he does also have the ability to roll 2 of his powers (remember, as a marked character he has to spend at least half of his powers in his gods psychic powers list) from either the biomancy, pyromancy or or telepathy lists. Why on earth the master of the Corvidae doesn't have access to Divination I'll never understand, but oh well.. that's just my inner fluff bunny having an issue ( It's SO FLUFFY THOUGH!). So other than casting, what else can Ahriman do? quite a lot actually. First and foremost he can cast up to 3 powers in his shooting phase thanks to his force staff (which is +2S ap4). Secondly his warlord trait allows you to grant infiltration to d3 units. Thirdly he has inferno bolts which are just silly.. seriously. Ap3 boltguns are so silly...
All this for 230 points AND he allows Thousand Sons as troops. Not too shabby.
Typhus: Typhus is fantastic. He allows zombies in your army. This is the greatest thing ever.
Luciu... wait? you want more than just how awesome zombies are? fiiiiine. Not everyone has an unholy love of zombies like I do... I guess...
Typhus allows for Zombie cultists as troops choices. They have fearless, feel no pain and slow and purposeful. Aka they make an awesome tar-pit as you can have up to 35 cultists per squad and it only comes to 150 points. He's T5, has feel no pain, wears terminator armor and is a mastery level 2 psychic. He wields Man-reaper, a +2S ap2 DAEMON WEAPON (+d6 attacks) that is also a force weapon. Alas it's unwieldy (as it should be, it's a freakin big ass SCYTHE!), but that still means he has 5-9 attacks in melee provided he doesn't roll a 1. He carries Blight grenades (assault and defensive grenades which means shrouding), AND he has the destroyer hive a 1-shot large blast centered on him that deals a S4 ap 2 ignores cover hit to everything touched other than typhus, and doesn't scatter. Typhus is, as I said, fan-frikkin-tastic. A bargain at 230 points and allows you to take Plague Marines as troops.
Lucius the Eternal: just... Wow. Challenger supreme and fancy lad. Reduces your opponents attacks by 1, initiative 7, attacks equal to your opponents weapon skill in a challenge, a doom siren (S5 ap 2 ignores cover template), AND every time you make a successful saving throw your opponent takes a S4 ap 2 ignores cover hit in return.... Terrifying. Your opponents will quickly learn to hate Lucius. Did I mention that he opens up Noise Marines as troops and only costs 165 points (5 points more than Huron!)? No? well now I have.
So these are the characters we have in the new Codex. There are some standout great ones (Lucius, Typhus) and some below par ones as well (Huron and Bile...alas...). I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of Lucius and Ahriman as noise marines got fantastic in the codex as you'll have read, and Ahriman is a real mighty man and can do things like few others. Abaddon will keep on keeping on with chosen being fabulous figures and he really is a master of utility. Typhus will make the rounds due to the zombies. Mark my words!
As for the rest... only time will tell. And keep in mind this is all just my initial thoughts on the codex.
Anyways that's enough rambling from me on the subject. What did you all think? Did you enjoy the review? comments and Criticism are always welcome (and I respond to everyone!). If you liked this series let us know!
So until next time,
I feel the Chaos overtaking me!
Bean out~
No comments:
Post a Comment