Chaos army rules, a review

Well it wouldn’t be a new codex without some special army rules now would it? Those small extra tid-bits that bend or shirk the main edition rules by just a tiny bit. The few Chaos special rules and such are nothing that really impresses me, and in one case really irritates me.

Champion of Chaos

1. This is a rule that applies to all character models in the codex. There are two parts to this little rule A Chaos character must issue and/or accept any challenge from an opposing player in close combat.If there are more than one character in a squad, you choose who challenges or accepts.
2. When an enemy character loses their last wound during a close combat with a model that has this rule, the Chaos character draws the attention of the dark gods. They must then roll on the Chaos Boon table at the end of the combat.

Well then here is the first thing I am no fan of, the challenge mechanic. I find it super lam, and this rule really forces the use of it. Why is it lame? Well, it seems really unbalanced. Why challenge? If you have a hulking bad ass character your opponent will just “Look out sir!” all over the place. If you have a pansy character, you will “look out sir!” all over the place to keep him alive. It basically is a hope the other guy has bad luck on the “Throw a squad mate or buddy in front of the guy trying to crush my face!” or “Look out sir!” roll. I get an HQ challenging another HQ and can see some use there, but why should a Chaos Lord be forced to challenge a nameless sergeant? Blah to this and the challenge mechanic!

Then there is the Chaos Boon table. If your character model kills another (or he falls to something during the same combat) then you must roll on a big random chart to gain some cool ability for that character. WOW! A random chart full of stuff that can make your guy better, waste his time, or flat out ruin his day.

Much like other G.W. games a random chart is just that, random. Roll well and hooray cool abilities or powers. Roll bad and get something detrimental or useless. There is nothing like taking Abbadon to war and having him turn into a spawn after wiping the floor with some poor sergeant. That would just be fantastic, and a horrid waste of points! There is a way to mitigate this bit of silliness and random chance, but that is for another post…………….

Chaos Boon Table

Well I mentioned it above, and this is a big table of stuff that you can/must roll to get wacky fun abilities and such.

It is a D66 table, where you roll 2D6. The first die is a 10 and the second is a 1. The results are all 11-16,21-26,31-36….to 61-66. As I said above, this is G.W. random table where rolling low 11-16 usually does nothing or has a bad outcome. The same goes for 61-66, where the “good” stuff is located on these type of tables.

Now not only do you have to roll is a character kills a character, but you can also spend points to get a roll on this table. It is an upgrade option for all the nameless/non-unique characters in the codex.

The big list of stuff……

roll a.....

11-16= nothing happens

21-22 =become a Chaos Spawn- lose all gear gain spawn stats/rules, keep any Chaos Mark they have

23=+1 attack

24= Eternal Warrior

25=+1 strength

26=+1 ballistic skill

31=+1 initiative

32=+1 wound

33=+1 toughness

34=gain Shrouded rule

35=+1 to armor save 

36=melee weapons gain Fleshbane

41= pass a Deny the Witch roll and enemy psyker takes S 6 AP 2 hit

42=re-roll failed armor saves

43= melee weapons gain Poison rule

44=gain Crusader rule

45=gain Hammer of Wrath rule

46=for each enemy in base-base combat they take additional S4 AP 5 hit at initiative 1

51= gain Adamantium Will rule

52= ranged weapons gain +1 strength

53=gain Hatred rule

54=melee weapons gain Shred rule

55= melee weapons cause instant death

56=+1 weapon skill

61=gain Stubborn rule

62= gain Fleet rule

63=gain Feel No Pain rule

64=re-roll D3+1 times on the chart and ignore Spawn/Demon Prince results

65-66=turn into a Demon Prince and lose all gear,abilities but keep any Chaos Mark

Veterans of the Long War

This is a unit upgrade most of the time, but it also comes attached to all the cult Chaos Marines. This gives the unit +1 leadership and the Hatred rule vs. Space Marines. The important part of this rule is that the spell out which Marines it affects, all of the various written codex Space Marines. It does not work for the Chaos on Chaos violence that occurs. They actually though ahead and stopped the, “ It says Space Marines not Blood Angels. They are different!” arguments that would have occurred. Sadly, we all know the guy who would have argued that point as well. Don’t we?

A buff to unit leadership and a buff in close combat vs. the followers of the Emperor is not bad. It is just kind of sad that this is pretty much a must have upgrade, since the 40K tabletops are covered in Emperor loyal Astartes.

Daemon Weapon

This rule is attached to specific weapons, evil dark and tainted pieces of deadly wargear. When a daemon weapon is being used 1^st roll a D6 before making to hit rolls. On a 2+ the wielder gains that many extra attacks. Yeah this is not only has that many attacks, it is gains that many extra attacks. A very tasty proposition!

If a 1 is rolled, then the model takes a wound with no armor saves allowed, but they can take an invulnerable save if they have one. It can hurt them, but it might really be worth the risk.

Warlord Traits

Chaos has their own special table for pregame Warlord traits. They are sort of marginally better than the main rule book traits and they are rolled for pregame like usual. I am no real fan of this game aspect either, since I enjoy not knowing what my HQ can do, or what crummy rule he gets to have. Enough of my lamenting another random ability I have to deal with or hope for, here are the six Chaos only traits.

1.  Black Crusader-HQ and any units 12" away have preferred enemy Space Marines
2.  Flame Spite- melee weapons of HQ and unit he is in, have Soulblaze ability
3.  Master o' Deception- before deployment D3 infantry can choose to infiltrate
4.  Hatred Incarnate-HQ and unit he is in have Hatred rule
5.  Lord o' Terror- HQ has Fear rule
6.  Exalted Champion- HQ may re-roll on Chaos Boon table before and during game

I'm thinking that many of the army books will come with their own warlord traits. It would seem to make sense. I still find it super lame to roll a random maybe useful ability for your leader, but that is just how I am.

Next' I'll dive into the weapons, gear and upgrades that the new angry Marines can purchase.