Warhammer 40K: 10th Ed Chaos Space Marine Rules – Abaddon Swings For The Fence
Games Workshop is continuing the faction focuses and today the Chaos Space Marines are in their sights. All hail the Champions of Chaos!
By now you know the drill. We’re going to take a look at the previews from the GW Faction Focus on the Chaos Space Marines. Let’s dive right in and see what these spiky space marines can do!
“Chaos Space Marines have all of the skill and flexibility of their loyalist counterparts, supplemented by forbidden power borrowed from the warp. Sorcerous invocations and terrifying mutations are yours to command, backed by raging Daemon Engines and hordes of screaming cultists. “
Faction Rules
Army Rule – Dark Pacts
Okay, this seems like it might be worth doing — but that’s the whole point! Tempted by chaos to receive power and you may or may not like the price…
And in case you were wondering there’s no limit on how many times you can choose to make a Dark Pact in a game. I guess that’s good if all you want to do is win by tossing Cultists bodies to the meatgrinder!
Stratagem – Dark Obscuration
This is a noteworthy stratagem not just because of the bonus it provides but because of the additional boon you get if you’re Nurgle. But how to you pledge your units to Nurgle?
“That’s also part of the Detachment rule for the Slaves to Darkness Detachment, which makes it easier than ever before – but you’ll need to wait to see the sinister details…”
This sounds a whole lot like Space Marines and the questions we had about choosing a chapter. We need more details!
Unit Spotlights
Legionaries
It’s our first official look at CSM Legionaries in 10th! And they are looking…well, pretty much like Primaris Marines in a lot of ways. One major difference is that CSM are packing a TON of wargear options vs the specialized units of the Primaris Space Marines. They are clearly sticking to codex training and functioning more like Tactical Marine Squads…waitaminute!
Anyhow, the CSM Legionaries are your Swiss Army Knife unit that’s capable of hurting any target at (almost) any range. Combine that versatility with the Dark Pacts ability and they can be a legit threat if enough of these units are focus firing the right targets.
The Despoiler is back in 10th with a brutal looking profile. He’s not a beefy in the toughness department at Guilliman, but he’s packing a bucket of close combat attacks! On top of that he’s got powerful Aura abilities that can apply to friendly units within range as well as the unit he’s leading. Yep, he’s going to get to “hide” in a unit…so maybe it’s a good thing he’s not toughness 9…
That said, I am curious to see what units he can join. Furthermore, he seems like he’s going to be an excellent CP battery in your games. With a leadership of 5+, I’d be making Dark Pact rolls all day on the big guy. Gimme those “free” CP, please!
Weapon Spotlight
Baleflamer
The Baleflamer is back once again. This is a weapon that was a terror on the battlefield when it was first introduced, then got nerfed, and now its…probably fine? It won’t wipe out a squad of Space Marines in one shot any more but it’s got the ability to punch into their armor and at 2 Damage a pop, each failed save is a pulled model. Make’em roll the dice!
Fleshmetal Guns
If you’re a fan of Obliterators then you’ll be happy to know they are retaining their morphing weapons. I like how GW is signifying that you can only choose one of those attacks with the bracket arrow on the card. Notice how Abaddon doesn’t have that for all his melee attacks…just saying.
Honestly, I was kinda hoping for more info about the Chaos Space Marines. It would have been nice to see their Detachment option in this preview. Oh well. We’ll just have to wait to see the rest of the rules when they drop in the Summer.
What do you think of the Chaos Space Marines?
