40K: What “Traitor Legions” Better Have
The Traitor Legions is coming for Chaos Players and fans – so let’s talk about what this book better have in it…
The Traitor Legions Book has been announced by Games Workshop and folks are getting excited. Why are they so excited? Because they are hoping that this book is finally a return to the book that we’ve all been waiting for:
Codex: Chaos Space Marines 3.5
Why was this book such a big deal? It wasn’t just because it had some broken stuff in it (because it did). It was also a book that allowed players to actually build their Chaos Legions to match the Traitor Legion’s fluff! All nine Traitor Legions had their own special rules included in this modest 80 page codex (yeah, it was only 80 pages – I’m looking at it as I type). This book had that undiluted Chaos “Flavor” that player crave. With any luck that’s exactly what we’re getting with this new Traitor Legions book.
So what’s the Chaos Flavor I’m talking about? I’m glad you asked because I have a list of things that each of the nine legions needs to have.
Alpha Legion
The Alpha Legion is a legion full of spymasters and saboteurs. They need to go heavy on the Infiltrate special rules. They had Chaos Cultists before but that never felt “right” as they were just a bunch of crappy guardsmen and not skilled combatants. No, the Alpha Legion also need something like their “operatives” and that operative needs to be a Chaos version of Sly Marbo or a Callidus Assassin type.
Iron Warriors
Ahhh the masters of the siege. The Iron Warriors big thing from the 3.5 dex was that they had an extra heavy slot at the cost of 2 fast attack choices. Now with the way CADs work these days – who’s counting anyways! Still they also had access to the Basilisk from the (formerly) Imperial Guard Codex. (That’s probably why your friend has had that Silver Basilisk collecting dust in there collection for so long.) So let’s give them access to those – but let’s not stop there. Give them access to a few more of those artiliery pieces while we’re at it – The Basilisk, Wyvern and Manticore, too. Sorry, no Hydras or Deathstrike missiles. Hydras scream defense, not offense and the Deathstrike is just too rare.
Oh and the Warpsmith should get some extra cool attention too.
Night Lords
Night Lords should have lots of Stealth/Shrouding access all over the place. They should also have free Night Vision as part of their special rules. Raptor Packs should also be heavily supported within their rules. The Night Lord’s units should also cause Fear and probably have the option to start turn 1 with Night Fight in effect. Oh and Bikes! We can’t forget about them being the skilled raiders that they are – The Night Lord Bikers need to be above average compared to the rest of the Chaos Bikers.
Word Bearers
The Word Bearers were always known for their Dark Apostles, their Accursed Crozius and their ability to “lead” troops (typically lots of troops) into battle. So give them those back! They need to have high leadership or boosts to passing Morale checks and they need to have access to lots of cheap bodies to throw at the enemy. At the same time their character need to be able to make those same chaff units scary in combat. They should also have the option to take basic demons as troops in their respective list, too!
Black Legion
So…they kinda already got an entire book. I think we all know how that one turned out. The Black Legion from the 3.5 Codex was the “Generic” Chaos list. The only special rules they had were really access to Abaddon the Despoiler – which, to be fair, he was a beat stick. So maybe their rules need to revolve around Abaddon and his retinue giving some army wide buffs – “While Abaddon is in play X effect happens” type things.
World Eaters
One of the best/worst things about the 3.5 codex was the phrase “Electric Football” – if you played during this era, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The World Eaters were the chosen of Khorne – all the units had to be marked Khorne and that meant they had to run head-first at the closest enemy model/unit. The army pretty much played itself! I had a lot of fun playing Khorne Chaos armies – not because the game was particularly tactical, but because we (the players) just liked hanging out and throwing dice.
Nostalgia aside, I think that the World Eaters should still be the chosen of Khorne. They need to have free Marks of Khorne and they need to be scary in close combat. Khornate Chainaxes need to reduce the effectiveness of an opponent’s armor – but not like the AP system. It never made sense that they made more of an impact vs terminators than a guardsmen. Maybe reduce the target’s save by 1. And bring back the Rage of Khorne bonus attacks! Oh and they did have FNP…just saying.
Death Guard
Much like the World Eaters had a patron, so do the Death Guard. Nurgle Marks for free and Nurgle specific Power need to be all over the place. The Death Guard were known primarily as a foot-slogging army in the 3.5 dex – if they are going to be light on the transports they need to have some cool mechanics to support that. Aside from that oddity, they need to bring all the pestilence and poison they can muster. Nurglings should be all over the place and let’s bring the Pandemic Staff back! Why not sprinkle some old school Blight Grenade in there with the -1 to be hit in close combat. Oh and Manreaper power weapons…make it happen.
Emperor’s Children
These guys need to bring the Noise! Obviously, in keeping with the theme they need to have free Marks of Slaanesh everywhere. The should have access to all the crazy sonic weapons on upgrades (anyone else remember Warp Scream) and Combat Drugs. And let’s not for get about the Psychic Power Siren…Was it dumb? Yeah. Was it probably broken? Probably! But I think with the way the powers work now it might be viable. It’s not really that much worse than Invisibility, amirte?!
The EC also had some cool wargear like the Needle of Desire and the Rapturous Standard. I’d like to see them get some cool chaos artifacts like that as well.
The Thousand Sons
I almost feel like this one is cheating a bit with Wrath of Magnus on the horizon. I’m going to skip this one actually – with the Rubric Marines on the way there really isn’t any point to speculate, is there? Okay, fine – I’ll just do it bullet point style:
- Mark of Tzeentch
- AP 3 fire power
- Lots of Psychic dice generation/powers
- Feel No Pain/Invulnerable save – on account of them not really being flesh-and-bone
- Slow and Purposeful – this one I’m torn about, but it was in the 3.5 dex, I figured I’d mention it.
Again, I’m not looking for a book that will end all others and make Chaos “the Best” in the 40k universe again. I’m just hoping that they get access to what made them so appealing to being with – cool, flavorful Chaos-fueled options!
What do you hope the Traitor Legions book has within it’s covers?
