The first Elite unit I'll
dive into are the Chosen. These are the Chaos veterans and they are very similar
to their Imperial counterparts.
They have the same stats that we all know that
every Marine has, so I'll just hit on the differences. They have 2 base attacks
and a leadership of 9. The unit champion has the exact same stats, so why is he
so special? Hell, give the guy an extra attack or leadership 10 for the love the
Pete! These guys come armed with a pistol, bolter, close combat
weapon, frag and krak grenades. They
start in a squad of five for just 10 points shy of 100.
They can add up to five more bodies to the squad at the cost of
18 points per model.
This is a unit that can take a variety of
weapons so they can become whatever your sick twisted heart desires on the
battlefield. The first choice is that up to four models may take: a plasma pistol
+15, power weapon (of various variety) +15,
a powerfist +25, pair of lightning claws
+30, combi-bolter +3,
flamer +5, combi-weapon
+10, melta gun +10,
plasma gun +15. Then after that, one model
may take: flamer
+5, melta gun +10, plasma
gun +15, heavy bolter
+10, autocannon +10,
missile launcher +15, or a lascannon
+20. Right there you have
the makings of all sorts of silly killy squads.
The unit champion can pull weapons from the melee
and ranged choices in the wargear section He cannot grab
the artefacts or other wierd wargear.
He can also choose a Gift o' Mutation for +10
or melta bombs for +5. Yeah,
nothing super special here.
They can take a Rhino for +35.....and well there
is that.
Then there are the Marks that these guys can take.
They are all the same, and the same cost as their Chaos Marine troop
counterparts: +2/guy for Khorne (furious
charge bonus), +2/guy Tzeencth (6++ save waste of
time), +2/guy Slaanesh ( initiative +1), and
+3/guy for Nurgle (+1 toughness). They get the same
Icons as well: Icon of Wrath +20 points ,Icon of Flame +15
points, Icon of Excess +35 points (this is 5 points
higher for Chosen), Icon of Despair of +10 points, and the Icon
of Vengeance +25 points.
Finally, they can take "Veterans of the Long War"
for +2/guy.
I have no like or dislike of this unit. They are
just elite Marines, like every other Marine codex has. They can be made into a
squad of power weapon swinging close combat specialists, they can be given your particular flavor of
assault weapon x5 or can be made into a balanced unit to deal with multiple
threats. The biggest problem is the ability to overspend on these guys with all the weapons, Marks and Icons. Personally, I like the idea of 6 Chosen with 5 flamers and a power weapon on the
champion or a 6 man squad with 5 melta guns with a power weapon and a
combi-melta on the champion. That is how I would try and use this unit. I'd
probably buy a Rhino as well to get them closer to their targets.
I kind of like them as a small melee-focused unit. The presence of twin lightning claws for one ordinary member and the Champion both helps a lot in that respect. That plus the Mark of Slaanesh (with so few models, I feel striking first is worth more than more attacks) is pretty much all I've got on mine at the moment, though I'm intrigued by the prospect of a Hot Plasma Death squad at some stage too...
ReplyDeleteLove the twin lightning claws, but the lack of good available bits makes me sad.
ReplyDelete