Warhammer 40k Forum and Wargaming Forums banner

What do you want in the next "Codex: Chaos Space Marines" ?

2K views 19 replies 16 participants last post by  shaantitus 
#1 ·
Okay, first off I want to say upfront that I did not start this thread to be a “The current codex sucks!”-bash off. If you think there is something the current Chaos Space Marine codex does not do properly, fine. Say that, but be ready to offer up an idea to correct it.
I do think that the current codex did a lot of things right and addressed several problems that were present in the prior codex. Being able to tool out every aspiring champion to a comparable level with your lord being one of the big ones. I was practically doing cart wheels when I found that you could now run Tzeentch marked marines that weren’t Thousand sons. Changing the Defiler from being a stationary gun with legs (Why would you ever do that in the first place?) to a more mobile fire base I think was a good step.
However, in working to correct those problems I think they forgot some things when they crafted the current Codex.
1) Where are the Legions? The Iron Warriors, Night Lords, and the Alpha legion are big name Chaos armies. With the Horus Heresy Novels, and other Black Library publications that focus heavily on these armies, people want to play them. But at present all they are, are names and colors and nothing more. Do I want them to bring back the old 9-mini dexs inside of the main codex? No. I think that was needlessly contradictory. I think this can be address by taking a cue from the Current Space marine Codex. You have a series of Characters that grant certain abilities to represent the army in question.
The Iron Warriors I think would be fairly simple: Give them the stubborn special rule for all the CSM, Chosen, Terminators, Havocs and Lords.
The Nightlords are a bit more difficult to come up with an easy fix for just because of their character. There really isn’t a USR I can point to that would serve the Nightlords character, though giving them Acute senses to show they’re ability to see in the dark is a good start. The defining point of the Nightlords is their terror tactics. I think looking at the Blood Angels codex and more specifically the death mask rules is a good place to start. Give a special rule to select units, say Chosen, Possessed, Sorcerers and Lords that applies a negative leadership modifier to opponents they attack in close combat. The modifier would be cumulative with other modifiers. I haven’t had a chance to check out the new Dark Eldar Codex, but from what I’ve heard it may have some good starting points to look at for addressing the Night Lords.
The Alpha Legion… now there’s a challenge. In the past they’ve represented the alpha legion by giving them cultists that could infiltrate. But those tended to be less capable, less survivable, and less effective Imperial guard wannabes. More to the point, I never felt that that really represented the Alpha Legion’s belief in warfare, specifically the one that says to attack from a dozen different directions at the same time to inflict maximum disadvantage to the enemy while maximizing your own advantages. At a first thought, I think having a rule that allows Alpha Legion to booby trap terrain would be a good start. A rule that allows the Alpha Legion player to disrupt one opponents reserves might be a viable option as well.

2) Either give us back the Daemons or get them out of the book entirely. If we’re going to have Daemons, then give us Blood letters, Plauge bearers, Daemonettes, and Horrors. If we’re going to have Greater Daemons then give us Blood Thirsters, Keepers, Great unclean ones, and Lords of Change. If we’re not going to have them, then take them out of the book entirely.
3) Make the Daemon Prince more then just a Psychic powers dump. Give it options to really change it’s stats, Daemonic Speed, Daemonic Wings, Daemonic Armor, Daemon weapon options. Make it so that the Daemon prince can be a real monster but worth the points. As it stands most people I’ve seen just use him for a Lash of Submission with wings.
4) Abaddon. Yes, he is bad ass. Make him worth taking for the army, not just himself. Abaddon is arguable the single most bad-ass mother loving beat you in the face s.o.b. to come out of the Eye of terror in the last ten thousand years. He has managed to unit the forces of Chaos into a coherent force not just once but 13 times. Give him an ability that affects the army to represent this. All Chaos Space Marines count has having an Icon of Chaos Glory for free perhaps.
5) Personally, I think there should be a distinction between “Renegade Space Marines” and the “Traitor Legion Marines”. The Traitor Legions have been duking it out in the Eye of Terror for ten thousand years. They are hard and battle worn even more so then normal marines, while Renagade Marine are closer to their loyalist brothers in terms of operating standard. I’ll be honest, off the top of my head I’m not really sure what would be a good way to address this particular distinction in game. Perhaps Renegades keep the current CSM stats and options, while Traitor Legion marines get Veteran skill options.
 
See less See more
#4 ·
Flavour.

But on a serious note, just more vehicle variants and fixing the units that Chaos all ready have. Give Termies something to either counter or equivalent to TH/SS, make Possessed into either a unit of normal Marines that can buy all sorts of upgrades or a special rule similar to that of the Ymgarl Stealers mutation rules.

Make all cult troops elites, and make Daemons god-specific, only summonable through a cult troop sergeant/unit (All cult troops count as having personal icons as standard gear) Collapse the Chaos Daemons codex so there can be more variety. Raptors should reduce all enemy leadership within 6" by one point, and gain an extra attack (Being vicious creatures).

Probably get rid of Lash and replace it with a different psychic power, same goes for Nurgle's Rot (Make it Strength 1 Poisoned 2+ AP4 template, a bit like the Bane Wolf) and increase the cost of it. Give Daemon Princes more options (Daemonic Gifts or God-specific upgrades like the old Axe of Khorne).

For Legion rules:
A Chaos Lord can take a 'legion mark' for a points cost, giving an army boost. Nothing too game-changing.
Black Legion: Units of Chaos Terminators may be taken as troops (To signify all the veterans in the Black Legion), less the 'Deep Strike' rules.

World Eaters: Khorne Berzerkers are counted as troops and you may take Bloodthirsters and Bloodletters as summoned Daemons. The Chaos Lord gains +1 attack and the special rule 'Furious Charge'. Sorcerors (As psykers) and cult troops of other gods may not be taken in a World Eaters army.

Thousand Sons: Rubric Marines are counted as troops and you may take Lords of Change and Pink Horrors as summoned Daemons. The Chaos Lord gains a force weapon and the Psyker rule and may pick two powers from the Chaos Psychic powers list. Thousand Sons sorcerors cannot suffer from Perils of the Warp. Cult troops of other gods and Possessed (As dust is unpossessable) may not be taken in a Thousand Sons army.

Death Guard: Plague Marines are counted as troops and you may take Great Unclean Ones and Plaguebearers as summoned Daemons. The Chaos Lord gains +1 Toughness and the 'Feel No Pain' special rule, and his close combat attacks are poisoned (4+). Cult troops of other gods and Chosen (Being sneaky) may not be taken in a Death Guard army.

Emperor's Children: Noise Marines are counted as troops and you may take Keepers of Secrets and Daemonettes as summoned Daemons. The Chaos Lord gains +2 Initiative and the 'Acute Senses' special Rule. Cult troops of other gods and Obliterators (Being imperfect) may not be taken in an Emperor's Children army.

Word Bearers: Word Bearers may take Cultists as a troops choice and may take any Daemons as summoned Daemons (arriving through Cultists rather than through cult troops). The Chaos Lord may take an Accursed Crozius (Force Weapon) for 10 points. He cannot take damage from the 'Perils of the Warp' rule from using this ability.
Cultist:
WS: 3
BS: 3
S: 3
T: 3
W: 1
I: 3
A: 1
LD: 8
Sv: 5+
Pts: 6
Wargear: Lasgun and laspistol.
May take:
An Icon of Chaos Glory (Re-roll failed morale tests) for 10pts. May replace lasguns with close combat weapons at no additional cost.

Iron Warriors: Iron Warriors may take two extra Heavy Support units than is normally allowed. An Iron Warriors army may not include Possessed or any cult troops. The Chaos Lord gains a Servo-Arm (1 Strength 8 attack at Initiative 1) and the ability to repair damaged vehicles of a Weapon Destroyed or Immobilised damage result on a 5+.

Alpha Legion: The Alpha Legion may take Cultists as troops. All infantry units gain the Infiltrate special rule. An Alpha Legion army may not include cult troops or Land Raiders.

Night Lords: Raptors may be taken as troops in a Night Lords army. All units cause a non-cumulative morale decrease as described in the Raptor entry. Night Lords may not take cult troops (Being staunchly Undivided) or Obliterators. The Chaos Lord must take a Jump Pack. All squad leaders have the option to take twin Lightning claws at 20pts for the pair.

I will add more to this, but for now I'm out of ideas.

Midnight

EDIT: Ah crap. Gotta copy this down into Word for my own uses now.
 
#5 ·
all chaos armies should get cultists. all armed with las pistol and CC weapon, may take special weapon

MoT immune from PotW

CSM to get god specific deamons back.

Cult troops as non scoring unless you take the relavent mark with one of you HQs

Possessed abilities as upgrades rather than random
 
#10 ·
There shouldn't be just one "Codex: Chaos Space Marines", there should be more...

For instance, "Codex: Chaos Space Marines" should encompass Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Night Lords and Word Bearers and general Undivided legions, giving specifics on their units, and ONLY playable in that codex, and giving special rules when you use them. For instance:

Alpha Legion Attack Squad:

WS 4 BS 5 S 4 T 4 I 4 Ld 9

Special Rules: Alpha Legion, each chaos marine squad gains the "Infiltrate" special rule.

This codex will list out all the units from the Black Legion too, listing Berzerkers, Tsons, Emporors Children and Death Guard. BUT, you are limited as to how many you can use, and if you were to take Khorne Berzerkers you aren't allowed to take Emporers Children. Also, this goes for Death Guard and Thousand Sons. And perhaps a limit on how many of these units can be taken (maybe 0 - 2 between the four).

Then, four more codexes!

Codex: World Eaters, Codex: Thousand Sons, Codex: Death Guard, Codex: Emporors Children.

Mainly because that would mean that it can be kept to fluff more, and introduce a whole bunch of new armies coming about!

Also, it means if you want to play legion specific armies, you can, but not only that, it gives you the freedom of the current codex.

This is entirely in my own opinion!
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the positive feedback (And the rep :biggrin:)

Cult troops should be elites, I said that quite early on in my post. On the subject of Cultist HQs, I think that that should be an option in the Imperial Guard army list rather than the Chaos Space Marines codex. That allows them more options and more scope for anybody who wants a cultist army. It also means that you don't have to re-print all the stats.

I think that all special characters should be squad upgrades. Similar to a retinue prinicpal, if the squad dies then the upgrade character becomes and independant character. Abaddon is an upgrade for a squad of Chaos Terminators that have been taken as Troops (Forcing you to take the Black Legion upgrade). Special Characters may only be taken when you have the Mark of their Legion in your army. The SCs may take these marks but they gain no personal benefits. Lucius is a noise Marine upgrade, Ahriman a Thousand Sons upgrade, and Typhus as a Death Guard Terminators upgrade. Kharn is a special case, being a loner, so he just requires on squad of Berzerkers as troops in the army. They should provide boons to the unit they're in:

Typhus: Gives all the Terminators in the squad Defensive and Offensive Grenades (Destroyer Plague), 4+ Poisoned attacks and the Feel No Pain rule. They have their initiative decreased by 2 as they are sluggish due to the plagues ravaging their bodies.

Lucius: Gives the unit the rule 'Acute Senses' and +2 Initiative.

Ahriman: The unit of Thousand Sons that is accompanying Ahriman is exempt from the Slow and Purposeful rule (As Ahriman is suc a powerful sorceror he can increase the magical energy animating them by a significant amount). They also gain the special rule 'Relentless'.

Abaddon: The unit of Chaos Terminators he accompanies gains +1 WS and LD (As they are true veterans of the black legion, drawn from the few survivors of the Sons of Horus 1st company).

Vastakel Khyre: The unit of Chaos Terminators he accompanies gains +1 WS (As they are hardened warriors from the Eye).

Vastakel Khyre is a toned-down Abaddon, for smaller points games. No stats yet, but I will make some. Mark my words!

Possessed are as follows:
Possessed Marine:
WS: 4
BS: 4
S: 4
T: 4
W: 1
I: 4
A: 2
Ld: 10
Sv: 3+
Pts: 16
Wargear:
2 Close Combat Weapons, Frag Grenades
Upgrades:
Power Weapon: 15pts per model
Power Fist: 25pts per model
Rending Claws: 10pts per model
Breath of Chaos (Flamer): 5pts per model
Wings: 20pts per model
Daemon Strength (+1 Strength): 5pts per model
Fleet: 10pts per model
Unholy Resilience (+1 Toughness): 10pts per model
Blessings of the Blood God (May only be taken in a World Eaters army, +1 Attack and Furious Charge): 10pts per model
Pain Bringers (May only be taken in an Emperor's Children army, +1 Initiative and Rending Claws): 15pts per model
Unwholesome (May only be taken in a Death Guard army, +1 Toughness and Feel No Pain): 15pts per model

That's all I've got so far.

Midnight
 
#13 ·
The whole Chaos codex needs to be replaced with one that rivals the Space marine codex dealing with the main renegade legions not just Abbadons private club the black legion, it is long overdue that all the original 'traitor' legions were shown some love by the GW team and perhaps they could release subsequent codices for the Cult traitor legions including demons for each Chaos Power accordingly which can be used without having the main chaos codex on similar lines to the Blood Angels, space puppies etc.

Weapon choices etc, the chaos marines have been fighting non stop since the heresy, they have won countless battles against the imperium but dont appear to be able to use the inevitable bounty of captured equipment and weapons that a defeated imperial army would undoubtedly leave behind. They are still limited to the weapons they would have had at the time of Horus's great revelation for the future of mankind.

I have recently returned to the hobby after a 8 year break, the vast majority of the chaos model range has not changed, they may argue that the demand isnt there but if the codex is not entirely inspiring and the model range so restricted what do they expect.

Chosen marines need personal icons, if you can infiltrate why not give them the 5 point equipment to allow reserves to land on a specific target giving them the same value as the much cheaper imperial scouts....

Drop Pods ......

The opportunity to equip our army with the contents of the wargear book, whats the point in including plasma cannons and multi melta's when the option to actually use them is not included.
 
#15 ·
I dislike the idea of making cult troops elite-only. Making defensive ground-holders like Plague marines elite who can't hold any objectives at all defeats their purpose.

I actually like what they did in the recent DE codex: troop and elite version of the same unit. Want affordable CC specialists for a decent price? Get vanilla troop Berserkers. Have more points to spare for pure slaughter? Get World Eater veterans for a bit more with a truly fearsome statline, at the price of not holding objectives.

Specific legions should get style-based perks, yes. Suggestions:

Iron warriors: Extra Heavy slot, maybe the option of carrying more special/heavy weapons in smaller unit sizes. No Daemons.

Emperor's Children: Sonic blasters as default. All models must have mark of slaanesh. Special weapon options for termies and dreadnoughts.

World eaters: Special rule for Khornate chainaxes (best armor save allowable being 4+). Possible need for leadership checks to prevent Rage rule from taking over. Assault version of rhinos. No psykers allowed; possible favored enemy against psykers in general.

Thousand Sons: Arcane wargear options for sorcerers. Maybe something similar to the necron WBB rule for rubric marines. Tzeentch marked psykers being immune to perils of the warp, as suggested.

Death Guard: Options for poisoned firearms and CC weapons. Choice for nurgle zombie troops instead of cultists.

Alpha Legion: Options to give Scout, Infiltrate and Stealth rule to most units. HQs with rules that disrupt enemy reserve rolls (to reflect their taste for sabotage).

Night lords: Raptors as troops. Special wargear for champions to harm enemy leadership. Accurate deepstrike with raptors.

Black Legion: More army-wide rules for their HQs to represnet better organization and tactics. Ability to take on units from other legions as elite, but from a limited list only. Limited use of drop pods.

Some version of the old veteran skills system should also be implemented for added flavor and style.

Renegades: Special rules for chapters that went to chaos, or just broke from the empire, in more recent times. No veteran rule and more expensive marks, but they could retain some modern SM wargear such as storm bolters, thunder hammers and whatnot.
 
#16 ·
what do I want in the next chaos marine codex?...I don't want a chaos marine codex to ever be made again, I want a codex chaos, thats it,
daemons
traitor guard
traitor marines
true chaos marines (nurgle, khorn etc)
all in 1 codex, I think its absolutely stupid that chaos marines get a codex full of just marines when chaos is made up of allot more than ultrasmurfs with spikes.
 
#17 ·
Making Daemon Prince's special and game winning like they used to be, instead of Killed in two turns of concentrated Lascannon fire.

I'd like to actually see Chaos Space Marines in a CSM dex, not Space Marines with Spikes.

But hey, we've got fully customizable Combat monster characters riding Daemonic Steeds with Veteran elite core warriors in Space Wolves, why bother with CSM, hey?



 
#18 ·
But hey, we've got fully customizable Combat monster characters riding Daemonic Steeds with Veteran elite core warriors in Space Wolves, why bother with CSM, hey?
This. It galls me how many cool rules for recent codices have been transplated directly from the 3.5 CSM codex, like a stolen kidney. Space wolves even get Daemonic Rune...i mean, um, 'saga'. :threaten:
 
#20 ·
To be honest most of the suggestions in this thread are covered in some way by the old 3.5 dex. Stella is right about the 'one big covers all chaos dex'(that came up in another thread yesterday i think). One serious problem i do see with midnightsun's iron warriors entry. Oblit spam, there would need to be a limit. Who wants to face 15 oblits? I know they rock but it would take the fun out of it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top