Goatboys40K: Dancing with Warp Dust – Making Possessed Work
Goatboy here and today we are going to make Chaos Possessed Work It for you on the tabletop.
Possessed are one of those units that always shine in history and fluff. They sound friggin nutty as they are continually shifting Chaos Space Marines who have wholly given themselves over to the monstrosity that is the warp. On the tabletop, though they feel like they lack some punch you want them to have. It’s why every time we see a GW Chaos list that throws in a ton of Possessed – we have to ask the question why? Is there something we don’t know about them? Can we make them actually good on the table top?
Why They Are Good
Let’s break down why they might be ok. They have two sets of Keywords that make them distinct and part of the new “glue” with the Chaotic armies. The ability to be a Chaos Space Marine and a Daemon. You could also throw in the Infantry keyword as well – but that isn’t nearly as important as the first two. The Chaos Space Marine implies the ability to get boosted by Legion traits, Psychic Powers, and the new push to bring the strength of Daemonic to the Chaos Space Marines. Let’s first look at some of the Legions that might be worth messing with.
Alpha Legion is one of the interesting ones as if you are using a rather large blob of Possessed – you can easily have a -2 to hit unit be your bubble wrap. With a single Spell it pushes out to -3, and you have got an annoying batch of bad guys to deal with. Now I don’t know if that is extremely useful but if you are building an army where the only real unit to shoot as is a bunch of scrappy Possessed – having a -3 is pretty tough to get through. Add on top of that the ability to get a 4+ inv save with whatever Mark you want and any other Daemon Army based Herald/Locus bonus you want, and you could have a potent combo. But it is boring, and we have seen it before so let’s look at some of the other “Legions.”
Black Legion is ok as well as while the Possessed themselves do not gain too much you can easily set up some powerful interactions with the new Vigilus book. Multiple Auras can be set up to get things like reroll all attacks, a murderball of a Jump Pack Lord, and powerful update to Death to the False Emperor. You also could easily set up a chain of the possessed having every mark and every chance to attack twice, heal up, get another +1 to their invulnerable save, and even have a ton of heralds amp up their strength. It isn’t a terrible idea but most likely not worth it – even though throwing the king Abaddon around isn’t a terrible thing.
It is too bad the Word Bearers legion still doesn’t have the legs to stand on as they were the ones who first excepted the embrace of being a Daemon host. The new Renegade chapters are where I think the unit starts to shine as they all have pretty interesting powers. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Red Corsairs as you generate a ton of CP, get the ability to advance and charge, and you have a really powerful special character in Huron who is a Chaos Lord, CP provider, and a sorcerer all rolled into one. The Flawless Host isn’t a bad one either as generating more hits will always be forceful with the Possessed and the new Specialist Detachment the Daemonkin Ritualists. The Brazen Host isn’t a bad idea as you can stack some crazy things with -4 AP hits sounding pretty insane. I still think Red Corsairs are the best as you get more CPs which allow you to do some nutty things.
Auras and Combos
Now once the Legion is picked the next thing is to figure out how you are going to stack a ton of Aura’s and abilities. The new Dark Apostle is very interesting in that all his powers seem powerful. I think you at least start with one. Having the ability to get a -1 to hit on the unit of Possessed is powerful. This will save them especially if you don’t go first. Once you have that you can throw in, a Greater Possessed to get another +1, some Masters of Possession to throw out a Cursed Earth, and then look at having Miasma for Nurgle or the FNP for Slaanesh. I think Tzeentch can be ok as well – it is just less of a powerhouse as while you could use Ahriman he can’t just throw everything on them.
Detachments
Once you pick your legion, you have to think of the Daemonic Battalion to help your army out. The Heralds and cheap troop choices mixed with the flat 5 CP you gain is a powerful thing. If you are going something like Red Corsairs then having a fully linked Chaos God detachment is less needed as a lot of the other Locus are powerful – but just not needed. I like Slaanesh the most as you can make any other Legion like Red Corsairs with the ability for the Possessed to Advance and Charge. You also get some strong and simple HQs in the Heralds of Slaanesh as well as a very cheap troop choice in the Daemonettes. It does help that some new Slaanesh is coming out, so it isn’t hard to look towards the new body horror that is Slaanesh. I also like Nurgle as well as the Nurglings are a powerfully cheap troop choice and a herald of Nurgle is decent. Throw in the Khorne Skullreaver Daemon Prince, and you even get some answers to Knights and other random things. Overall the Herald mix is usually 1 Herald of the Matching God plus whatever Daemon Prince you feel like you need. Mix that with three very cheap troop choices, and you got the perfect Daemon Battalion.
From there the last Detachment can be a lot of different things. I think finding some kind of Damage output will be important so you could look at Havocs with Reaper Autocannons. The Slaanesh mark is powerful especially with the amount of Command Points these armies can work up. I also like the idea of just a Supreme command filled with some of the missing HQ’s you need and some Lord Discordant. Finding and matching the Daemon Heralds with these guys will give you a few beat sticks that can go out and be a pain in the rear. I get the feeling the table tops are going to be filled with those guys – either based on the new model coming out or crazy conversions. Let’s build this list out and try to make the Possessed something to fear. Or at least something you can shame some opponents with.
Chaos Space Marines Battalion + 5CP
Legion – Red Corsairs +3CP
Special Detachment – Daemonkin Ritualist’s -1CP
-HQ-
Master of Possession [5pl, 98pts] Mark of Nurgle – Field Command -1CP – Shepard of True Faith
Dark Apostle [5pl, 100pts] Mark of Nurgle, Benediction of Darkness
Dark Apostle [5pl, 100pts] Mark of Nurgle, Soultearer Portent
-Elites-
Dark Disciples X 2 [1pl, 10pts]
Greater Possessed X 1 [4pl, 70pts] Mark of Nurgle
Possessed X 20 [20pl, 400pts] Mark of Nurgle
-Troops-
Chaos Space Marines X 5 [4pl, 65pts]
Chaos Space Marines X 5 [4pl, 65pts]
Chaos Space Marines X 5 [4pl, 65pts]
Daemon Battalion +5CP
Chaos Allegiance – Undivided
-HQ-
Daemon Prince of Chaos [9pl, 180pts] Wings, Mark of Khorne, Rewords of Chaos -1CP – Skullreaver
Poxbringer [4pl, 70pts]
-Troops-
Nurglings X 3 [3pl, 54pts]
Nurglings X 3 [3pl, 54pts]
Nurglings X 3 [3pl, 54pts]
Supreme Command +1CP
Legion – Red Corsairs
Specialist Detachment – Soulforged Pack -1CP
-HQ-
Lord Discordant on Helstalker [9pl, 160pts] – Warlord – Master of the Soulforges – Relic – Mechaserpants – Mark of Nurgle
Lord Discordant on Helstalker [9pl, 160pts] – Mark of Nurgle
Exalted Champion [5pl, 70pts] Chainsword X 2, Mark of Nurgle
Chaos Lord with Jump Pack [6pl, 93pts] Mark of Khorne, Chainsword, Thunder Hammer
Sorcerer [6pl, 98pts] Mark of Nurgle
Total Pts – 1993pts – CP – 13 after all detachments and extra Relics
List Thoughts & Tactics
This is one of those lists that I think could do ok as it has some decent bodies, ways to protect itself, and a big fat threat range. Not being able to use Veterans of the Long War hurts – but I think it can be ok. It might need another Dark Apostle and use the +1 to wound power. You do have the ability to throw it from the Poxbringer on the Possessed as well as the Helstalkers. Miasma plus Prescience seems to be good for the Sorcerer, but you could make a Chaos for Diabolic strength. Remember you can use the CSM stratagem to change some powers as you need them. I feel the HQ’s get hard to judge and you could remove the Lord Discordants for other options as well. I just think they can hit so hard it is worth having them on the table top.
Remember the big blob will stack with +3 to strength, +1 to wound, +1 to Hit, Reroll 1’s to hit, +1 to their Invulnerable save, Reroll for mutated attacks, and have extra attacks that could generate mortal wounds on 6’s. That is a ton of things that don’t do too badly on high rolls plus stratagem usage. Oh, and the unit can advance and charge plus will most likely be a -2 to hit from Range and a -1 in close combat. Not to shabby I would say.
~Do you think it is worth it for me to try and shame some people with Possessed? Or is this all just a Fever dream because I need to go to sleep.
