Warhammer 40K: This Week’s Meta Hotness – Chaos Rhino
Woohoo the good ole standby made a showing this past week with an event that ran the new Balance Dataslate. The Humble Chaos Rhino rumbles its way to town looking for flowers to run over.
In the ever-shifting meta of 40K, armies rise and fall. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about armies that are hot or not, but a lot less time looking at units that are running the show. Today let’s start by taking a look at one of the hottest units currently running around the tabletop.
Chaos Rhino Basics
The new Balance Dataslate breathed a lot of life into a few Marine based units and the Chaos Rhino is one of those who got a good bump. Adding an extra point of ignoring AP-1 is a huge boon for a cheap transport designed to get your precious troops somewhere important. This is very important in the Death Guard builds as the army itself can be very slow and cumbersome to get to the middle. Throw in a few Rhinos and you start to have something that gets you that extra 12 inches you need. Heck, you can even throw on a little Combi Weapon of choice – like a Meltagun and mix it with a Havoc launcher to give you a weird little Razorback of Dedicated Transport goodness.
Why are Chaos Rhinos any good?
The models themselves aren’t anything to get excited about, but they do give you things you need. Protection from enemy fire, extra movement for slow troops, and a few little extra hits of damage with a Combi-Melta. These things can help give a Death Guard player a nice bit of power as needed. Oh, and they can also be stinky and give off some Contagion abilities – allowing you to jump out and move that tank forward to increase your aura of Nurgle’s Rot. You mix this with some deep striking Terminator bodies and you start to have a nice little moveable wall. The Chaos Rhino will help keep your army safe and scoring those precious primary points.
Saying a unit is hot is all well and good, but let’s take a look at how players are using it. One list that uses Chaos Rhino run by Aiden Smalley at the Team Stonehammer Present: The Gravel Pit GT.
++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Death Guard) [100 PL, 7CP, 1,998pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Plague Company: Mortarion’s Anvil
+ Stratagems +
Gifts of Decay [-2CP]: 2x Additional Relics
+ No Force Org Slot +
Biologus Putrifier [4 PL, 65pts]: 4. Arch-Contaminator, Warlord
+ HQ +
Death Guard Daemon Prince [8 PL, -1CP, 150pts]: 6. Gift of Plagues, Gloaming Bloat, Hellforged sword, Plaguechosen, Warp Insect Hive
Malignant Plaguecaster [5 PL, 95pts]: 1. Miasma of Pestilence, 5. Curse of the Leper, Bolt pistol, Plague Skull of Glothila
+ Troops +
Plague Marines [6 PL, 125pts]
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Boltgun, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ cleaver: Great plague cleaver
. Plague Marine w/ flail: Flail of corruption
Plague Marines [6 PL, 125pts]
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Boltgun, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ cleaver: Great plague cleaver
. Plague Marine w/ flail: Flail of corruption
Plague Marines [6 PL, 105pts]
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 4x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 4x Blight grenades, 4x Boltgun, 4x Krak grenades, 4x Plague knife
Plague Marines [6 PL, 125pts]
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Boltgun, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ cleaver: Great plague cleaver
. Plague Marine w/ flail: Flail of corruption
+ Elites +
Blightlord Terminators [20 PL, 430pts]
. Blightlord Champion: Balesword, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-bolter
. Blightlord Terminator: Balesword, Reaper autocannon
. Blightlord Terminator: Balesword, Reaper autocannon
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought [8 PL, -1CP, 195pts]: Hellforged cyclone missile launcher, 2x Twin volkite culverin
Deathshroud Terminators [9 PL, -1CP, 165pts]
. Deathshroud Champion: Champion of Disease, Plaguespurt gauntlet, Reaper of Glorious Entropy
. 2x Deathshroud Terminator: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet
Deathshroud Terminators [9 PL, 165pts]
. Deathshroud Champion: Plaguespurt gauntlet
. 2x Deathshroud Terminator: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet
Tallyman [4 PL, 70pts]: Tollkeeper
+ Fast Attack +
Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]: Chaos Spawn
+ Dedicated Transport +
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
++ Total: [100 PL, 7CP, 1,998pts] ++
Using a Chaos Rhino
Here you can see how the army is using the Rhinos to move up Plague Marines up. They are kitted out with some close combat power and are designed to do more damage coming out of their box. Having these small units protected with a Rhino is helpful as it lets your army have a turn more to score points. The new CSM book that is coming will most likely use Rhinos heavily as some of the Cult troop options love to pop out of a Rhino 3 inches closer and ready to chop, chew, and destroy the enemy.
Let us know what units you think are hot right now, down in the comments!
