Goatboy’s Monday 40K: Foraging the Rumors
Goatboy here again and let me tell you I am actually excited about the new Chaos Space Marine rumors.
Sure we all know they might dumb some things down (please get rid of the huge Chaos Gift Table) but I still see a glimmer of hope. The initial bomb drop that had me worried was the removal of the cult troops.
I don’t know about you – but it has been a long time since I have seen any cult troops on the table top. Their inflated costs means you will always do better with the squishy cultist tax instead of trying to force in the so called scourges of the galaxy. Heck the initial 6th edition tax of needing a Chaos lord to fulfill your troop scoring potential made the older book a rather bloated mess when trying to create a list.
Of course adding in Dataslates to create the cult legions actually sounds kind of interesting. They could have a few Cult versions of each “basic” choice, mix in a new Detachment, give it some cool rules, and all of a sudden you have a Chaos Space Marine army that might actually work. Look at what it did for the Tyranid book. It went from a Meh fest to a – oh crap I have to worry about those dang floating sacs of “stuff”.
I see the new codexes moving away from full books and instead look at it as a skeleton of an army. This is still frustrating as the cost of “playing” your favorite army has gone up – but I am still excited for any more rules allowing me to play my favorite units. I do wonder if they could just move to the “rules in a box” form of game and sell compilations/campaign books for those who don’t need more plastic crack.
I was prepared to try and live with a codex without cult troops when the rumor mill dropped another bomb that got me excited. The cult troops, while not an actual choice, are now an upgrade for the regular Chaos Space Marine. If this is true – then they finally realized how to actually make a Chaos Space Marine interesting.
We all know that the initial Chaos Space Marine is just a renegade from a splinter chapter who just had enough of the rigid rules of the Imperial Empire. Maybe he met that sultry “daemonette/succubus” and the hidden desires burning within him drove him to space dust. It could be that he got extra excited when he eviserated an alien being and he thought – yeah blood is pretty cool. What if he read a forbidden book and it opened his third eye? Or maybe he was extra gross and thought – yeah I could take this to the next level.
I like the idea that you can upgrade your Marines into the cult troops. It makes it feel like there is an actual path to these monsters damnation. Plus it really helps you create a “legion” of bad guys as they move from just being mad to full commitment to the gods of the Warp. This opens up a ton of possibilities too within the army.
Could we finally have Cult Bikers? What if the cult upgrade gave you all sorts of stuff that couldn’t just be shot out of the unit by a barrage template? I know the rumors always have Cult terminator upgrades getting made and with the new BA/DA terminator boxes showing that they could just produce a single “cult” box – we might finally see them. Or they could just sell upgrade sprues online and forgo creating new box “art/pictures”. Heck they could just invest in some “cult” sprues to sell and I think they would have a winner.
I know this could just be a bunch of smoke blown up my bad place so I can only be so optimistic. It is hard to really get excited for a ton of options as the latest releases seem to limit those options. I still think the legions are coming as GW needs to boost up their sales and giving players Legions will get a lot of new Chaos Space Marines armies built.
Let’s get a list of what I want to see in the new book.
1. Remove that gift of Chaos table. It is too long and needs to be simplified. Hey look at the Warriors of Chaos. We have 12 options and if you are marked you get one option all the time. Sounds great to me. Copy and Paste with some changes please.
2. Ugh – would love to get rid of the challenge rule. It isn’t as much of a big deal as you can still hit the other guy in the challenge but this rule is a pain in the butt.
3. Cult troop upgrades for regular CSM guys. Plague Marine Bikers, Noise Marine Terminators, and Thousand Son Chosen just sound awesome right?
4. If GW wants to make money – create Juggernaut Riders of Khorne for 40k. Just do it already!
5. Lower the point cost on a ton of stuff. A lot of things need to be reconfigured to make them viable.
6. Give them a new gun that isn’t Grav but called something insane. Like the Blood Hex Bullet Shooter! Or just give all their Reaper Autocannons rending like they are in FW.
7. Make a new special character called the Supreme Goatboy Murder Puncher.
8. Make the Dark Apostle good – or at least just an Elite choice.
9. Leave the Sorcerer alone. He is fine and just too pretty to change.
10. Fix the Mark Spells. They are just not good enough to make the “penalty” of not having Psychic focus when getting marked. Unmarked Sorcerers will steal your girlfriend!
11. Just allow me to play Chaos Space Marines in my list and make them not suck.
I know this is asking for a lot and if I even get one of them I will be happy. I just hate seeing an idea they have squandered with a mediocre army. Let people get scared when you bring your Chaos Space Marines to the table. I don’t want to just play FW to be viable.
What are your hopes and dreams for this Codex? Are the rumors just making you upset – or do you see the diamonds in the rough?
