Let's talk about Warhammer! 10th Edition is coming up and Warhammer Community has been showcasing some faction focuses. This article of mine discusses what I think about their Chaos Space Marines teaser Article Link
I've already covered the previews of the Space Marines and the Tyranids and there are plenty of these on the Warhammer Community Website so I will cover them one at a time!
Chaos Space Marines are foul Traitors and servants of the Dark Gods of Chaos... They are forever one of my nemesis on the Tabletop!
As is the norm for all the factions in 10th Edition. There is a Faction rule and a Detachment rule. What this means is that ANY army of Chaos Space Marines has the following rule and the Specific Detachment (of which there will eventually be several for this faction) will have another rule for your army.
So the Army Rule for Chaos Space Marines is the following:
With this rule Chaos Space Marines with the "Heretic Astartes" keyword can power up their attacks, but at a cost. Make a Dark Pact to gain power and do a Leadership test. If you fail your unit suffers D3 wounds. On a fail this could be a single wound at minimum. At worst case it is one dead Chaos Marine and one more wounded.
What might needed to be noted is the following:
1 - They still get to do all their attacks with the boon selected. Only after the attack is done is the leadership rolled and models hurt should they fail that test.
2 - There is no limit to how many times they do a Dark Pact. Perhaps this is badly written, but does this mean they can do two per phase or that you can only do one per phase?
3 - You do a Dark Pact for Shooting Phase and another Dark Pact for the Fight phase for melee attacks.
To Choose between these two abilities, let us consider what we know of these new Universal Special Rules:
Lethal Hits - Hit Rolls of 6 cause an automatic wound regardless of the Toughness of the target. Thus you skip the wound roll when you roll a 6.
Sustained Hits 1 - Rolls of a 6 To Hit generate an extra 1 hit scored. Thus 6's to hit counts as hitting twice.
On their own, you would use Lethal Hits when trying to take down a tough unit or single model. You would use Sustained Hits when trying to wipe out squads of infantry that are lightly armored or if your weapons have sufficient strength to do damage the target.
If you were allowed to do BOTH, would this then mean that you score an additional hit with Sustained Hits 1 and one automatic wound with Lethal hits? Or will some people argue that they scored 2x automatic wounds?
Because there is another synergy that is going to join with this rule:
Chaos Legionaries are versatile units that can be kitted out for a massive variety of weaponry. But they also have this squad upgrade:
Getting a Chaos Icon will mean being much less prone to failing Dark Pacts.
Chaos Obliterators also look like really strong units:
This preview shows us that not all Melta Weapons are the same:
A Melta Rifle from a Space Marine Eradicator is 18" Range, single attack Strength 9, Ap -4 and D6 Damage.
While the Focused Malice Weapon is 24" Range instead D3 attacks at Strength of 12, but with a lower AP of -3 and Damage flat 4.
Melta 2 is a special rule one both of these guns meaning that at Half range the weapon does an extra 2 Damage!
For the Obliterators, a longer range means that this kicks in at 12" and then you Hit on a 3+ with D3 attacks at S12. Flat 6 damage!
The Melta Rifle needs to be within 9" for the Melta Rifle to get the extra damage and it will vary between 3 Damage and 8 Damage. Not as reliable.
I feel that I will be seeing plenty Oblits again on the battlefield. That's not even ALL that they do!
Ruinous Salvo is a high-strength Blast for heavy infantry and Warp Hail is able to get massive amounts of attacks to lay low light infantry.
If these guys can also make a Dark Pact then pairing up Sustained Hits with Focused Malice and Lethal Hits with Warp Hail will make for some powerful synargies!
We shall have to see how THAT plays out! Wow!
Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
