Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: LOOK – I Fixed Chaos Chosen!
Goatboy here and I want to talk about a unit that NEEDS to be better. Chaos Chosen. Let’s get to work.
Chaos Chosen have had a hard life. In fact – it is so hard for me to remember if they were every good? I used them during my first Adepticon many moons ago (I had to drive there because my airplane ride got canceled due to damaged planes and it was a long, crazy drive with friends) but I don’t think there were too good. In fact, it is hard to think of the unit actually being usable.
Chaos Chosen
What unit am I talking about? Why it is my favorite never-released plastic option – Chaos Chosen. I remember when those models first came out and how cool they were. The highly detailed and super chaotic looking batch of ancient warriors came out right when GW decided to make Chaos Space Marines well – more evil looking. The Dark Vengeance kit was produced in a 2012 starter set that went on to be well loved as it combined a lot of decent miniatures into one pretty nice boxed set.
I think the box was a 100 or 120 dollars if I remember? Either way, this kit had 5 pretty well-kitted Chosen Chaos marines that rarely saw play as Chosen. They were instead used for conversions for Chaos Lords, Dark Apostles, Sorcerers, and whatever other nonsense us poor Chaos Space Marine players wanted to use them for. I don’t think I ever saw them hit the table as Chosen because at that time Chosen had lost some of the cool rules that used to make them – well maybe good? The old Scout move or infiltration abilities could show up – but it just never worked out like you wanted them too.
So why am I talking about this? Well someone hopped on my stream the other week and we started randomly talking about Chosen. How this was one of those units that you wanted to try and find out if maybe they were good – but normally players were disappointed when they died just like a normal marine – just at a higher cost. With that in mind, I thought – why can’t I think of a better way to make this unit something special. Thus – my little soap box diatribe on how I would rewrite their rules you are hopefully going to read today.
Let’s Fix Chosen
First – I think we look at making Chosen what they have always been an honor guard for Chaos Lords as their name befits the idea that they are the best of the best and Chosen to protect/lead/destroy. I think we can easily start to look at this in how the Dark Eldar give upgraded options for specific units when mixed with a specific leader so I thought why not do something like that but instead utilize something Chaos has kind of left to the wayside – the Marks to shift this unit into something interesting.
OPTION A – Tying Chosen to Chaos Lords
First – I think we should look at how the picking of a Chaos Lord will most likely be a forced choice in the new version of their book. We have seen it show up more in some of the other armies and while somewhat annoying as it limits some choices it does let GW make their armies more – well look like armies GW wants to see on the table top.
With that in mind – let’s build it like Dark Eldar where a Troop choice gets an upgrade if you want to by choosing your Chaos Lord. This allows us a little bit of leeway in allow some things that normally wouldn’t be Chosen – the chance to become Chosen. Like Berzerkers or Noise Marines for those armies that allow those choices to be a troop choice. This is just one of my ideas and I got another will add in the end.
If you are detachment has a Chaos Lord as an HQ choice they can pick a single Troop Chaos Space Marine, Khorne Berzerker, Noise Marine, Plague Marine, or Rubric Marine and upgrade them with the Chosen Keyword. This Chosen Keyword gives them the following set of rules.
If the Unit has the Mark of Khorne – all close combat attacks gain an Additional -1 AP, the Units gains an Extra Attack, and +1 to their Weapon Skill.
If the Unit has the Mark of Nurgle – all ranged weapons gain an Additional -1 AP, the unit gains an Extra Attack, and +1 to their Toughness.
If the Unit has the Mark of Slaanesh – all ranged weapons gain an Additional -1 AP, the unit gains an Extra Attack, and they gain a +1 to their Ballistic Skill.
If the Unit has the Mark of Tzeentch – all ranged weapons gain an Additional -1 AP, the unit gains an Extra Attack, and they gain an invulnerable save of 5+ or get +1 to their invulnerable to a maximum of 3+.
This matches how the Blood Brides/True Born/Haemoxytes are set up where they gain a bonus that doesn’t cost more but gives that unit a sweet and nifty set of rules. This is also set up so the Cult Troops could be an option for armies that allow those to be used – World Eaters and what not. Sure it can make a crazy Khorne Berzerker unit – but isn’t that something you want for Chaos Space Marines? It is also one troop unit and lets you go hog wild when building something to look cool and a centerpiece unit.
OPTION B – Mark-Specific Chosen
The other idea I had – and probably a bit more complicated is to just create a “Chosen” unit with a specific set of options based on the Mark you build. I like this idea a lot as it lets you really go crazy with some options and removes the Cult style of feel from the army. We could also see this in how you could create a Chosen set of Terminators or other options. I really like how World Eaters had a way to make an upgraded Terminator unit and think this could be a cool option as well.
Chosen Idea – Unit Choice with very limited choices for their load out/abilities.
Chosen of Khorne – Only close combat weapon choices for load out, hit on a 2+ WS, and has the ability to double attack like a Khorne Berzerker. This would be a very focused assault unit and again we could see a Limit of 1 Chosen per Lord of Chaos.
Chosen of Slaanesh – Let their choice of close combat be only power weapons, Ranged options only being Plasma or Sound based, most likely move to hitting on a 2+ BS.
Chosen of Nurgle – Let their choice of close combat weapons be Powerfists/Blight Axes/etc, give them a +1 to their Toughness/Disgustingly resilient, and maybe an extra wound.
Chosen of Tzeentch – They can only have ranged options but a large choice of bolter weapons with all better AP being magical, give them an Invulnerable save of some sort, and maybe have a single Smite based Aspiring Sorcerer to let them feel different from all the other options.
Decisions, Decisions…
I like both of these as we have options again that make for interesting units in Chaos. I want to see Chaos Space Marines on the tabletop as it feels like one of the bigger holes in the range right now. We all miss those days of these guys being scary and while it is fun that Chaos Terminators are actually looking ok – we need to see the other stuff decent once again. Plus – that Chosen kit should have come out for purchase right?
Which one do you think is better? Are these types of thought articles something you guys like? I am always thinking of ways to make something better or more interesting. I know the game can be complicated so trying to find that sweet spot with being good and still not overwhelming to figure out is the best thing when building a unit/army.
Should we just leave Chosen in the trash and just make Chaos Space Marines themselves better?
