Chaos review...All the cool gear!

What is an army without cool wargear? Well kind of drab actually. This  the list of the new Chaos gear and some thoughts on it...or a review!

MARKS

Every non-vehicle unit in the game can purchase Marks of a patron Chaos power. They all come at varying costs per unit.

Khorne unit gains Rage and Counter-Attack. The cheap and angry choice.

Nurgle unit gains +1 to Toughness and Nurgle magic spells (psyker powers but lets call a spade a spade here folks)

The easy button choice for most people, as tougher equals better.

Tzeentch unit gains a +1 to their invulnerable save (to a maximum of 3++). If they don't have an invulnerable save then they get a 6++. They also gain access to Tzeentch spells. Wow a waste o' points here. I guess a 6++ save is good when? Sure you can make Terminators 4++, but is it worth the points?

Slaanesh unit gains +1 to initiative and access to Slaanesh spells. This is the other easy button mark. When the 40K tabletop is over populated with initiative 4, initiative 5 is awesome!

Now what would Chaos be without Marks and their associated Icons? Well, they would be boring evil Marines is what they would be.

ICONS

The major patron powers have their own special icons. A unit must have the specific mark to carry an icon in four out of the five choices. Much like the marks, these icons have varying prices per unit.

Icon of Wrath a Khorne only icon. The unit with this gains Furious Charge. They can also re-roll their random charge distance. Handy if you really want to run a Khorne Berzerkers or Astartes dedicated to them.

Icon of Despair a Nurgle only icon. The unit gains the Fear special rule. Waste points and time in this game. Who thought this was a viable item?

Icon of Flame a Tzeentch only icon. This gives the units bolt weapons (pistol,gun,combi-and heavy) the Soul Blaze special ability. I guess it has a minor use if you want to try and keep low armor/toughness units on fire after you shoot them. The problem is that it has to go with Tzeentch units and unless you are running 10K Sons, this is about as useless as the Icon o' Despair.

Icon of Excess a Slaanesh only Icon. This gives the unit the Feel No Pain special rule. An ok option, but 5+ to get back up is a hope not a viable strategy.

Icon of Vengance is for a unit without a mark. It gives the unit the Fearless special rule. This is big no-brainer item. It keeps your units on the board longer and Fearless is great again. Just make sure to keep this guy alive, since he can be picked out by characters and people trying to land blast templates centered on him.

WYRD AND DEMONIC GEAR/ITEMS

It wouldn't be Chaos without some special wargear. These are demonic gifts, weapons and such that one would expect and hope to be in this codex.

Ichor Blood a model with this will cause a strength 3 AP 4 hit to any unit, if he was wounded by that unit in close combat. Meh! Strength 3? Sure it is only +5 points, but find another use or eat the five points.

Aura of Dark Glory gives a model a 5++ save for a meager +15 points. Pass on this too, unless you are always lucky or think 5++ is awesome.

Gift of Mutation this is bought and rolled for before the game starts. It costs +10 points to get a roll on the Chaos Boon table. Now there is a stipulation, the Spawn and Demon Prince options must be re-rolled if you get them. I guess the writers didn't want to have an extra demon prince or spawn running around turn one or something. Whatever the case it is a giant table that I covered already and I am not a fan of it. Wanna gamble and waste ten points go nuts! I'll take a melta gun or combi-weapon instead.

Sigil of Corruption gives a model a 4++ save. Now I can get behind this a bit, then again it costs +25 points. A hefty investment for sure, but a better investment than a 5++ upgrade.

Combat Familiar- gives a model an additional 2 attacks in close combat. These attacks are worked out at S4 AP- and at initiative. +15 points

Spell Familiar- lets a player re-roll a failed psychic test. This is probably a "must" for all the Chaos spell casters, or is it? +15 points

STEEDS

Once again the forces of evil can get a proper evil pony to ride upon. They are very similar to the Codex Demon mounts. They have some differences, but I imagine these are the future of what the Chaos Demon mounts will be.

Juggernaut- Khorne only, duh! The model becomes calvary, gains +1 toughness, +1 wound and +1 attack. Not a bad way for a Khorne character to travel. +35 points

Disc of Tzeentch- gives +1 attack and the character becomes jump infantry. Pass! +30 points

Steed of Slaanesh- gives +1 attack, Acute Senses, Outflank and an additional +3" on run moves. A nice bit of speediness and a minor tactical use, but Acute Senses? This is not really useful but it is there. +20 points

Palanquin of Nurgle- gains a +1attack, +2 wounds and becomes very bulky. An interesting choice for a Nurgle character. The bump to toughness 5 with a mark o' Nurgle and the added wounds make for a nice bit of a buff. However, this makes for a pricey character before any weapons are chosen. +40 points

ARTEFACT'S

The forbidden items from places men fear to tread, or the one of a kind "special" Chaos weapons and items. These are all unique and that means only one per army.

Axe of Blind Fury- is a Khorne only weapon. It gives +2 strength and AP2 in close combat. It is also a demon weapon so those rules apply, and causes Blind. Blind= the wielder is -1 WS, -1 BS and has the Rage rule. The strength, AP and rage make this a very tasty close combat upgrade for all the Khornies out there. So what if your WS goes from 5 to 4. Does it really matter? The extra attacks from Rage (not even counting the demon weapon attacks), strength and AP 2 counter that nicely. It runs +35 points. Just hope you don't roll 1's for those demon weapon attacks.

Black Mace- has a close combat strength equal to the user and AP 4. It has the Fleshbane ( 2+ to wound), demon weapon and Cursed rules. Cursed= when a model is wounded they have to take a toughness test. If this test is failed the model is removed with no saves allowed. Also if a model is wounded by this weapon then all models within 3" of it must also take a toughness test. If these models fail they are also removed from play with no saves. This power does nothing to vehicles. Well no duh! but they have to write it in for the less than common sense crowd. This runs +45 points. A handy weapon for guy who faces a lot on non-Marines, but the AP 4 is what kills it. Sure there are people who add this to a Demon Prince and say that it then becomes AP 2, since all monsters have AP 2 close combat attacks. I have a problem with that line of thinking as the weapon is stated as being AP 4. Sure monsters have AP 2 attacks, but where does it say they do if equipped with a weapon that has a set value. Wait I just realized crap like this last bit ruins the fun of the game. Grab this if you face and can get to grips with non-Marines for killy fun times. It can still be useful against Astartes, but with more luck being needed.

Dimensional Key-is activated once an enemy is killed. After that all terrain within 12" of the wielder counts as difficult and dangerous for the enemy. It also allows Deep Striking units the ability to arrive with no scatter.

A pile of suck here. Dangerous terrain is not really dangerous now, since you get armor saves against it. The no scatter deep strike

is nice, but you want this ability active early and getting a kill turn 1 is almost impossible and turn 2 can be difficult. By turn three most deep striking stuff is in, outside of the horrible luck rolls. A waste of +25 points item right here!

Scrolls of Magnus- are a Tzeencth only item, DUH! During the Chaos turn you may choose to gain a new psy power. Now this power must be from the main rulebook list of psy powers. It is also all random rolls to figure which discipline and power is gained. If you already know the rolled power, then simply roll again. It seems this can be done every turn. Wow that is a lot of rolling to gain some unknown and possibly unwanted psy power. Even better is that every time you roll for this ability the character takes a S3 AP1 hit with no cover saves allowed. Even better than the randomness is the off chance to get hurt. I guess that is the fickle power of the warp at work though. It will also run +45 points for this steaming pile.

Murder Sword- is a wonder name! It is the same strength as the user and is AP 3, causes Instant Death and has the Murder rule. Murder= You pick an enemy character before the first turn. You then want to get into close combat and kill this target. If successful then the wielder gains 2x strength and AP 1 in close combat. This is Huskblade for the forces of Chaos. I imagine the Dark Eldar might take offense to this. It rolls in at +35 points.

Burning Brand of Skalathrax- is my favorite item. it is a S 4 AP 3 flamer that has the Soul Blaze and Torrent rule. This has it possibly maybe burning the target for additional rounds. The Torrent rule gives it the ability to fire as a Hellhound. You place the template up to 12" from the model firing it. This along with the AP 3 make it a personal favorite for me. It does run +30 points, but the extra range should let you get a couple shots from it during the game and it is a nice addition to the Marine filled battlefields.

MISC GEAR

Chain Axe- this is a favorite of the Khornies, but now it can be grabbed by anyone who can take weapon upgrades. This melee weapon has the same strength as the user and AP 4. I guess Khorne weapons are only scary for armies without power armor. I guess this might be useful if all you face are non-Marine armies. I find it not worth the +8 points.

Blight Grenades- a Nurgle only grenade. This acts in an offensive and defensive capacity. Is it ever a bad thing to take away a charge bonus? I think not. Worth the + 5 points if you have them to spare and follow Nurgle.