Warhammer 40K: Chaos Quick Fixes
The Chaos Space Marines need a bit of a boost – here’s a handful of quick fixes for the Traitor Legions.
There have been some rumors making the rounds that the Chaos Space Marines are getting Primiaris’d. I highly doubt that. It sounds a lot like two guys just wish-listing – and that’s perfectly fine! In fact, I actually would agree that CSM need some help in general. They were looking like they were in a good spot and then the Space Marines came swinging out of the gate and really knocked EVERYONE down a couple pegs. It’s the cycle of things, right?
Anyhow, we here at BoLS started thinking of a few quick change GW could make in the upcoming Chapter Approved or maybe even in next chapter of Psychic Awakening: Faith & Fury for the CSM legions. We know they are getting new rules, so here are a few of those changes we’d like to see.
Points Reductions
Chaos Space Marine just need to get a points reduction over-all. Cultists, not so much, but Marine (or anyone in Power Armor in the CSM book) needs to come down a few points. Or maybe their Wargear needs a rebalancing – I’m not sure which would be better. But you get the idea. Maybe this isn’t a “quick” fix, but it’s becoming more and more needed when you compare them to Primaris Marines and what they can do for the same points. Which brings us to the next TWO ideas:
Make CSM More Durable
When Space Marines can blow you off the table even when you have a 3+ armor save, something might need a tweak. Making Chaos Space Marines more durable would help with this issue. I’m not saying give them all two wounds. I’m not saying give them all a 6+ Invulnerable save. But something needs to be done to address their over-all durability. And yes, I recognize that Nurgle Marines are really tough – we’re not talking about them. I’m talking about the REST of the army that struggles with dying like guardsmen in a stiff breeze.
Upping their durability could take a number of forms. But that’s just one end of the spectrum. This next option is the opposite of side of the coin.
Upgrade Their Lethality
This suggestion comes with a big fat OR at the front. Up their durability OR up their damage output – not both at once. If GW doesn’t want to make them tougher, make them deadlier. This could be done in a number of ways. CSM have been floating in the warp for 10,000 years, surely they have picked up a few tricks to their wargear along the way. Daemon-ehanced weaponry. Daemon-ehanced stats. Bonus attacks. Upgraded damage on their attacks – you get the idea. Just SOMETHING to help their bog-standard dude be a little bit scarier would go a long way.
Chaos Doctrines
Chaos Marines need something as powerful as the new Combat Doctrines that the Space Marines have – but they should NOT be a copy+paste with word changes. Devastator, Tactical and Assault don’t need to be swapped with Despoiler, Corruption, and Conqueror. While that would certainly be a quick fix, that would take a lot of the cool factor away from Marines and water them down while simultaneously muddying the waters for CSM, too. Why play CSM if they are just Marines with spikes? No, they need something as good but different. Similar results, different methods if you get what I’m saying. CSM already have something that could help. They are called Chaos Marks.
Make Chaos Marks Powerful – Even Undivided
Chaos Marked units should get more than just a Keyword that unlocks a few optional stratagems. Chaos Marks used to do cool stuff and bump stats. Why not infuse that back into the Chaos Marks again? Maybe they grant re-rolls for 1s for hitting/wounding in melee/shooting? Maybe they grant a defensive buff like an additional -1 to be wounded in close combat. I don’t know – but you get the idea. GW has a lot of ways they could make marks better besides blanket +1 to toughness or attacks. Although, those would be pretty quick fixes…
Again, these are just quick fixes we though of – the implementation might take a lot more to balance, but the point is something needs to be done. Chaos needs a hand in the current state of the game.
