The Headquarters of Villainy

You may have noticed that when I have been writing posts for this place, they have mainly been about Chaos.  Well, this time I thought for a change that we would talk about Chaos again.  Not the same disorganised jumble of thoughts as the last post, but more based around a problem I’m having with my army as it stands.

Well, maybe ‘problem’ is overstating it.  I enjoy the army a lot and it’s solid without (I think) being dickish, although you’d doubtless find those who would disagree with that assessment. The quandary I’ve got is really an overabundance of HQ choices, all of which I like very much.  And that’s the rub.  It’s hard to settle for one combo in particular.  Here’s the rundown:

Chaos Lord with Black Mace, Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Slaanesh: 150pts.  This guy is really my go-to Warlord.  The Black Mace is quite horrific and the Fearless rule he’s got makes him a very handy unit buff for either the regular CSM or the Cultists.  He comes in nice and cheap (for a Marine-type HQ at any rate) and can punch exceptionally hard with that mace.  Also, he allows me to take Noise Marines as Troops, which is a very useful trait.

Warpsmith with Burning Brand of Skalathrax, Veterans of the Long War and Aura of Dark Glory: 165pts.  Vital for my storyline as he’s the creator of my Daemon engines and the source of my Cultists (indentured Mechanicum serfs infect with scrapcode).  It’s nice to have a more ranged HQ unit, even if the range is short, and he’s not a slouch in assault, with 4 attacks flatfooted at S5 AP2, even if he is striking last.  The Brand makes him a monster versus foot Marines and also contributes to a decent Overwatch if his unit gets charged.  I used to run him with a Mark of Khorne as well, but it was far better synergistically for him to have the option of running with the CSM, and having a rival Mark would preclude that.  Also, it was easy to justify in storyline, as he is more mad and corrupted than a pure and voluntary Chaos devotee.  He also lets me weaken a piece of terrain for my opponent, which is very handy against some armies.

Level 3 Sorcerer with Terminator Armour and Mark of Slaanesh: 150pts.  I really like using Psychic powers in this edition and the Sorcerers are an excellent source of random nastiness.  I usually pack one Slaaneshi power and two Biomancy ones, and they can pan out nicely, with decent odds of getting something really cool to use.  The Terminator armour really helps with survivability against small arms fire and anyone not packing dedicated AP2 kit, with the cost of reducing the number of his attacks in any given fight.  I’m still undecided as to what force weapon to give him.  Sword is good for marine killing, Staff is better for everything else (including Terminators) and Axe is way out.  I have a Mark of Slaanesh.  I don’t want to waste it using an axe.  Now, I like this guy, but he has a brother:

Level 3 Sorcerer with Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption and Jump Pack: 150pts.  I like this guy for similar reasons to his brother, but he has the advantage of a great deal of manoeuvrability and a better invulnerable save and an extra attack for two close combat weapons.  When I field him, he’s tied to a Warp Talon unit, so if I’m not playing my Talons, then he doesn’t see the field mainly because one jump packer on his own is just going to get punked.  Nevertheless, he packs a harder punch in combat than the Terminator and can run down enemies as well.  He and his squad are very much anti-Marine specialists.

The annoyance for me is whichever two I take, I feel like I’m missing out on the cool stuff the others can do.  I should quit complaining about this, because this is surely the sign of something going very right!  Maybe it’s a sign that I should play bigger games in order to include all of them, who knows?

As an additional complication, when assembling the Terminator Sorcerer, I found out that I really like the Chaos Terminator Lord kit.  So now, Lord Hieronymus Reach of the Whispered Word may be getting an armour upgrade!  Obviously, this brings new aspects to be considered.  Losing an attack doesn’t matter as much when you’re wielding a Daemon Weapon and the 2+ regular save (new and improved in 6th!) will probably more than balance out the downgrade of his Invulnerable Save from 4+ to 5+ (no, I am not buying a Sigil of Corruption for a Terminator! Unless he’s Tzeentch, then it’s cool).  The big deal from a rule standpoint is the inability for him or his unit to run down enemies in assault.  With rallying being far easier and shepherding units of the board simply not happening any more, this could be a very bad thing, but a risk I reckon he’ll be willing to take.  After all, you don’t get a roll on the boon table if you just run down an enemy character.  You need to murder them properly.  Also, the other roadblock for me is that I'm using the maul-wielding Chosen from Dark Vengeance, and I love the model.  He just looks like a leader and he is very much who I picture when I think of Lord Reach.  Awesome as the Chaos terminator Lord kit is, If I had an option for artificier armour for this guy, then the Terminator armour wouldn't even get a second thought!

So anyway, that’s the state of play at the moment.  There could be a lot of 3,000 point games in my future if I want to run everything!

So long, for now…