Dark Apostle (Warhammer 40, 000 S.)

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Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you. Melee Combat. Chaos Space Marines have some of the game’s best melee threats – Possessed, Abaddon, Chaos Space Marines, Lords Discordant, Masters of Executions, and Chosen are all absolutely nasty threats, and you can make most of them even better with relics, warlord traits, and upgrades. Now that Jarulek was dead and Marduk had risen to the leadership of the 34th Host, he still had to achieve something of worth to the cause of Chaos before presenting himself for approval before the Dark Council on their daemonic homeworld of Sicarus, located deep within the Eye of Terror. The monofaction bonus for Chaos Space Marines, if every unit from your army has the TRAITORIS ASTARTES keyword (excluding AGENT OF CHAOS and UNALIGNED models), and every unit from your army is from the same Legion (except for Abaddon), then you get these rules: Noise Marines don’t see much play outside of Emperor’s Children, where they really enjoy being Troops and getting the Legion Trait to ignore modifiers to hit which offsets their Heavy penalty. In those armies they’re typically taken as units of 5 with a Blastmaster and chainswords on the rest, or potentially a power fist on the champion. They can be solid mid-range support in other armies, though many armies may find Havocs are a better play thanks to the legion trait. That said, a unit of 5 noise marine with sonic blasters and a blastmaster isn’t a bad unit to have for mid-range fire support in more casual environments. Rubric Marines

In any legion but the one they foremost belong to, these units are Elites choices and can never gain a Legion Trait. However, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth taking – to the contrary and as we’ll see, these units can be very powerful in standard Chaos Space Marines armies, though some more than others. At the end of the battle round, score 2 VP for each Character, Monter, or Vehicle model destroyed that round by a Traitoris Astartes Character from your army. If that target had 10-19 wounds, score an extra VP, and 2 extra VP if it had 20+ wounds or was the enemy Warlord. You can score a max of 5 VP per round from this objective. Each time this happens, roll 2D6, and if you roll under the wounds characteristic of the dead model, you get +1 Command Point. After he obtained the knowledge he had needed from the mind of Daenae, Marduk and his Heretic Astartes fought their way through both the Drukhari and Imperial forces. Marduk and his Host barely made it out of the system as the hive fleet arrived to engulf the doomed world. Marduk then made for the Word Bearers' homeworld of Sicarus within the Eye of Terror to present himself before the Dark Council. Daemon weapons saw a large change with the new Codex; now they upgrade weapons more generally, adding cool effects. Each one comes with the Daemon Weapon rule now, which has you roll 2D6 each time the bearer is selected to fight. Roll less than or equal to your Ld and you can fight normally. Go over and you can choose: Either take D3 mortal wounds and fight normally, or you can’t fight with the Daemon Weapon. This is an excellent tradeoff, and you’ll almost always be taking the wounds if you have to. There are some powerful effects here and a daemon weapon will make its way into almost every competitive Chaos Marines army. Daemon Weapons are Relics, and so to take one you’ll need to spend CP to get one as normal in competitive play. The real value of these units is that you have another cheap ObSec option that sits between Cultists and Chaos Space Marines, with significantly more firepower and durability than the former. At 6/7 Leadership they’re also less likely to flee or kill you on Dread Tests and for 10 points more getting a unit that can actually ruin someone’s day with a meltagun and plasma gun is pretty solid. This gives Chaos Space Marines four solid Troops choices in their games, and that’s pretty cool. ElitesOne of the new additions to the faction is the TRAITORIS ASTARTES keyword, which helps differentiate the more standard Chaos Space Marines from the likes of the Death Guard (Bubonic Astartes) and Thousand Sons (Arcana Astartes). This is separate from the HERETIC ASTARTES keyword in that it denotes the faction. Note that Cultists have the TRAITORIS ASTARTES keyword to mark them as of the same faction, but no longer have HERETIC ASTARTES, so they don’t get Armour of Contempt. Champions of Chaos If psychic powers aren’t your thing, what about praying to the dark gods for help? PRIEST models in your army know the Dark Zealotry prayer and may know a number of others. These may be chanted in your Command phase and will activate/be heard on a D6 roll of a 3+, though note that Dark Apostles will be heard on a 2+ while their acolytes are around. There are six Prayers to the Dark Gods you can choose from in addition to Dark Zealotry, plus four more for the Chaos Gods which your PRIEST unit will know for free if they have the appropriate mark. Note that CULTIST units can only know the first three prayers on the list, i.e. Benediction of Darkness, Litany of Despair, and Omen of Potency. Once heard, prayers stay in effect until the start of your next Command phase. To the Disco Lord’s detriment, he’s no longer the force multiplier he used to be: His previous +1 to hit aura has been replaced with the ability to give a single VEHICLE +1 to hit in melee for a round, or alternately he can curse a vehicle, hitting an enemy vehicle for a few mortal wounds. This latter ability is pretty solid against larger vehicles where you’re more likely to get close to the 6-wound cap. Ritual Offerings (1 CP). Use when an enemy unit is destroyed by a CULTISTS unit. Until the end of the battle those Cultists automatically pass Morale tests and they get +1 to hit in melee. Solid if you’re running lots of big Cultist blobs, which you won’t be doing. C Cheap Troops. Chaos Space Marines still have access to cheap troops in the form of Cultists and Traitor Guard. This allows them to farm out the loathsome work of holding rear objectives to cheaper units and spend their precious points elsewhere. Note that unlike in their brethren’s Death Guard and Thousand Sons codices, Cultists in the CSM codex have ObSec.

He explained to his master -- alongside Lorgar's foster father First Captain Kor Phaeron -- that there were other entities in the universe that were more than willing to accept his worship and the worship of other Humans. Chaos Space Marines have access to a variety of relics, with a set that are available for every legion and sets that are exclusive to each legion. In addition, Chaos Space Marines have Daemon Weapons, special Relic upgrades for weapons, most of which require a specific mark of Chaos. As Kharn and Tal were close comrades, Erebus was nearly killed by the World Eater once he discovered the First Chaplain's hand in his friend's death. Erebus was viciously beaten by Kharn before being forced to teleport himself from the World Eaters' flagship, the Conqueror. Erebus is a senior Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. He originally held the prestigious position of first chaplain of the Word Bearers Space Marine Legion at the end of the Great Crusade and during the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium.Thirteen immense battleships had been sequestered for Marduk's Dark Crusade. Five complete Word Bearers Hosts stood ready to embark upon the Dark Crusade against the hated Imperium. Marduk's flagship, the battleship Infidus Diabolus, stood ready amongst the deadly armada. Lord of Terror (Aura). When enemy units take morale tests within 6” of your warlord, they roll 2D6 and take the highest result. Also, they count as half strength for Attrition tests. This is OK, but the number of situations where it matters are pretty small and usually you want other effects on your Warlord. C- At T5 and 3 wounds with a 5+ invulnerable save, Possessed have enough durability to weather a bit of shooting, particularly with help from Cursed Earth and Pact of Flesh , but are more valuable as forward combat units that crash into enemy lines early than as midtable objective brawlers. They’re a fast, durable unit that can put out a ton of damage and they’re almost always a problem opponents have to deal with. Chosen Unto those who in ignorance and stubbornness refuse the Word, bring the fires of hell. Sunder their flesh, and burn them of their impurity. Take vengeance upon them for their failings, and teach them the weakness of false idols. Thus spoke Lorgar, and so it shall be done. Open their veins that the truth might enter them. Cut upon them and let their blood flow. With holy bolter and chainsword we shall slaughter the unbelievers, and usher the word of truth into the world! ...Great powers of the Warp, guide the arms of your servants that they might let the blood of your enemies in your honour. Gird us with the strength and fortitude to do your bidding, and let our faith protect us from the blows of the faithless. Let your dark light shine upon us, filling us with purpose and belief. With thanks, we give ourselves unto you, pledging body and soul to your glory, for now and for time immaterial. Glory be."

The entire left side of Marduk's face was ruined by the bolt round fired by his former master, the Dark Apostle Jarulek. Most Chaos Space Marine psykers have access to the Dark Hereticus discipline, which has declined in power with the new codex. The upside to this is that more units in your army now have access to this Discipline, thanks to Malefic Tomes in squads of Legionaires. Note that a unit with the CULTISTS or LEGIONAIRES keyword can only take the first three powers in this list, which will typically means you’re taking a single unit with Prescience to get access to that power.

You can include NOISE MARINES units in a CSM Detachment, using their datasheet from Codex: Chaos Space Marines, in which case they can only gain a Legion Trait if every unit in their Detachment (excluding AGENTS OF CHAOS and UNALIGNED units) is from the EMPEROR’S CHILDREN Legion (also, they become Troops in an Emperor’s Children Detachment). Note that Noise Marines come with the Mark of Slaanesh built into their points cost, so you don’t need to pay additional points for their mark. Psychic Utility. Four guys with chainswords or bolters (it doesn’t really matter), and one with a balefire tome and Prescience. This unit is out there to provide some extra value where needed while Advancing to hold objectives and support other units. You will typically also give this unit the Mark of Slaanesh so it has access to Delightful Agonies. This is probably the best of the Chaos Space Marine secondary objectives and even at its best it’s just so-so. Its value is largely tied to your characters, your ability to keep them alive, and their ability to destroy enemy units in melee. Your biggest obstacle for scoring this objective is that you have a very limited number of characters in your army to do this with – 3 HQs, possibly Abaddon, and however many Masters of Execution you’re going to take. One of those is probably a Master of Possession, and you won’t be fighting with him, which leaves at most 2-4 characters to work with. Only melee kills count, and against the armies that offer you lots of said juicy targets, you’ll often have Bring it Down or Assassination to turn to instead. At the end of the game you score 2 VP if your tally is 1, 5 if it’s 2, 9 if it’s 3, and 14 if it’s 4.

In truth, the campaign was a plan by The Brotherhood of Kor Phaeron under the command of Marduk's latest subordinate, First Acolyte Ashkanez, to purge the Word Bearers Legion of his rival Dark Apostle Erebus' loyalists. The Word Bearers intended to take the five outlying planets of the Boros Gate in turn, and once they had fallen the five Hosts would converge on the central planet, Boros Prime, the lynchpin and heart of the Boros System. World Eaters are the odd men out here, currently working off a White Dwarf article, but they’ll move over to the “own Codex” group when their Codex releases in the future.

Word Bearers Stratagems

We’ll talk more about these units in their respective sections. Suffice to say, there are reasons to include these units in your armies, and each of them plays differently outside of their parent legions in ways that affect how they play. Daemon Engine Marks represent the benefits units get for devoting themselves to the Chaos powers. Non-Cultist UNDIVIDED CORE or CHARACTER units in CHAOS SPACE MARINES detachments can be upgraded to have a Mark of Chaos, and every DAEMON PRINCE model must be upgraded. When you upgrade a unit, you increase its cost by 15 points and 1 PL, and it loses the CHAOS UNDIVIDED keyword and gains the relevant MARK OF CHAOS keyword, i.e. KHORNE, TZEENTCH, NURGLE, or SLAANESH. Note that Psykers can’t have the Mark of Khorne. The zealous determination with which the Word Bearers fight is one of their greatest assets. This is represented by their Legion Trait, which makes them incredibly resistant to the effects of morale and serves as a dark mirror to the And They Shall Know No Fear ability of loyalist Chapters. Unbeknownst to the pair of Word Bearers, as they fought one another a long dormant Necron Lord was resurrected from its slumber and slew Jarulek. Marduk seized the artefact and took up his former master's Accursed Crozius, and made good his escape. On the other side of things, Masters of Possession have access to the Malefic discipline, which is mostly buffs for Legion DAEMONKIN units. Once an also-ran to the Dark Hereticus Discipline, these are now the money powers for Chaos, and there are several here that you’ll want to include in every army you field.