Dark Mechanicus (Chaos Marine Special Characters + Hobby Update)

So last time I talked about Chaos Marine HQ's but you can’t finish looking at HQ options without looking at some of the big boys with a back story. To start with I think most of the Chaos Special Characters are well pointed none stupidly over pointed and none obviously under pointed like we have seen in a few of the 5th ed books Cough.." Coteaz "

So let’s get on with it.

Abaddon The Despoiler
He is the official boss man of this codex, weighing in at more points than a land raider you would expect him to be good.  


First of all let’s look at the hitting power he has. He has the option of two weapons to use, The Talon of Horus an AP3, reroll to wound, 2x strength lightning claw. Or His Daemon sword that gives him an extra d6 attacks +1 strength and an AP of 2, this all comes in with a stat line including WS 7 and I 6.

But is he resilient..? T5 Terminator Armour and a 4++ are pretty good but put that together with his 4 wounds and the Eternal Warrior special rule and he is really hard to kill. He is also not running anywhere as he is fearless as you would expect.

The other two main things he brings is moving Chosen Marines to troops unlocking a lot of special weapon, or MSU heavy weapon units that could not otherwise score, and he has the Black Crusade warlord trait making all units in 12" much better vs. space marines.


How to use him..?
To get the most out of him I think you will need to do two things, first is find a way to deliver him to combat (this could be a land raider or maybe even a unit of 35 cultists to soak wounds). The second is probably make use out of the small chosen units by taking some scoring heavy weapon units or even 5 marines with 5 flamers jumping out of a rhino is nastier than people think. He is expensive but is the ultimate beat stick in combat; it’s just hard to get him there. The last thing on him is that with the resent FAQ he will never turn into a DP or Spawn from the boon table which is fantastic as this was a scare.


Huron Blackheart
This guy seems pretty good for his points if not spectacular. Weapon wise he is a bit of a Swiss army knife with a heavy flamer, power axe and lightning claw making him useful.
His real claims to fame though, are his little pet that makes him a random level 1 psyker. But most importantly he has a pre set warlord trait (Master of Deception) allowing you to infiltrate d3 infantry units.

How would I use him..?
Mostly for the warlord trait (as you can build a list on this), having 1-3 20 man chaos marine units infiltrate backed up by mauler fiends and spawn will make for a lot of hard to kill targets turn 1/2.

Kharn The Betrayer

Who doesn’t love this guy? Not much people need to know about him, he destroys stuff in combat (including your own), isn’t the most resilient though make sure he can kill what he charges.

How would I use him..?
Stick him in a 35 cultist blob and let him do what he does!

Ahriman
Unless you are themeing your army I can’t see him being taken. Very expensive a great utility character, (being Mastery level 4 and having master of deception) but I’m not sure that’s what you look for in a chaos HQ.

How would I use him..?
I wouldn’t due to cost, however if you did he would work much like Huron.

Typhus
Tough as old boots with a 2+, 5++, FNP and toughness 5. He also hits hard with Manreaper giving him +2, strength Ap2, +d6 attacks and inflicting instant death. However the main reason to bring him is for ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES AND MORE ZOMBIES! He allows you to make your cultists into a horde of shamberling fearless fnp zombies which are a great troop choice for tournament play.

How would I use him..?
I would be bringing the zombie horde, maybe backed up by Nurgle oblits and Heldrakes.


Lucius The Eternal
Not much to say on this bloke. He doesn’t bring much to the table except making Noise Marines troops, and he doesn’t even do that well as he is more expensive than a standard lord.

How would I use him..?
I can only think I would take him in a themed list.

Fabius Bile
Good stats and FNP, but lacks any sort of power weapon and doesn’t bring an invulnerable save. His claim to fame is his enhanced marines ability that allows you to give a unit of chaos marines S5 and fearless for no cost.

How would I use him..?
For the unit upgrade ability, maybe a unit of 20 Slaanesh marines with pistol and combat weapon and the FNP icon with I5 S5 they will do quite a bit of damage even against dedicated combat units before being hit back.



Hobby update

So I have been working a lot on army list ideas and reaserching units in the codex lately. However I have managed to start work on my Heldrake. I’ve turned the main body round to make the engine part look like a mouth and started sculpting some fleshy parts on top like my other flyers.

Here are a few WIP pics.

Hopefully this bad boy will get finished and painted over the weekend so expect to see pics next Friday until then happy hobbying

Rich