Warhammer 40K Meta Hotness: Chaos Space Marine Bikers
CSM Bikers are one of those units that is right on the edge of being spicy. Let’s chat about the latest Meta Hotness while 9th Edition is still here.
Chaos Space Marines are in a kind of bad place at the moment. A few nerfs, the removal of an important dataslate rule, and changes to the other “good” armies mean the poor bad guys of the universe are left wanting. Still some mighty Chaos Lords will fight across the battlefields with those that have pledged their life to the Warp. Chaos Bikers are one of the more interesting units in the book as they combine a ton of things to make them an interesting choice versus the old brick that was the Terminator blob. The Loss of Armor of Contempt really has helped push them to be better than some of the other options just due to the factor of having the glorious toughness 5.
Powerful Set of Stats
Chaos Bikers have a powerful set of stats just from being a biker model in the current edition of 40K. This gives them toughness 5, fast movement, and the extra wound to help mitigate some of the 2 damage options out there. On top of those things, they also have access to a Combi-Bolter as well as Chainsword to help swing into battle, wrecking shop as needed.
Chaos Biker Movement!
Remember Chaos Bikers can move fast and, depending on your legion, could add that lovely 6-inch Advance to really get where they need to. Red Corsairs and Black Legion can both get or grab abilities to advance and charge into battle pretty easily. Creations of Bile can to, but the dataslate loss of auto-fight on death has really put them into the dirt. This leaves most players looking at Black Legion. Especially since a ton of their extra rules are amazing with strats, powers, and special characters.
Relics and Wargear Help Them Out
The most interesting thing in this setup is the Chaos Bikers also have Core and can get an Icon. This means they can get the full Mark power up abilities of things like Mark of Tzeentch to mitigate the first damage into them, Mark of Slaanesh to let them hit on 2’s if they want, or Mark of Khorne to just make them hit harder. You can also throw on the ole Black Rune of Damnation to help give those toughness 5 jerks an extra layer of protection too.
Under Pressure!
Just like Orks and other armies – the current Chaos Marine builds have to basically be pressure builds that get there, bother the enemy, and hopefully keep them locked into their zone while they score primary and secondary objectives. The Chaos Bikers help immensely with this just by being extremely fast and tough enough to survive a lot of damage that will come their way.
CSM list with Chaos Bikers.
Colin Kay won the Frontier Open this past week in WY. It was a 40 player event and you can see his Black Legion list is built to pressure the opponent with Warp Flamers, Bikers, and other bits of CSM nonsense.
++ Arks of Omen Detachment (Chaos – Chaos Space Marines) +++
Arks of Omen Compulsory Type: Fast Attack
Game Type: 5. Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen
Legion: Black Legion
+ HQ +
Abaddon the Despoiler [15 PL, 350pts, -1CP]: 3. Merciless Overseer, 5. Eternal Vendetta, 6. Paragon of Hatred, Stratagem: Warlord Trait
Dark Apostle [5 PL, 95pts, -1CP]: 5. Trusted War-leader, Aspiring Lord, Chaos Undivided, Illusory Supplication
2x Dark Disciple: 2x Close combat weapon
Master of Possession [6 PL, 105pts]: Chaos Undivided, Mutated Invigoration, Pact of Flesh
Sorcerer in Terminator Armour [7 PL, 125pts, -1CP]: Chaos Familiar, Combi-melta, Force sword, Gift of Chaos, Infernal Gaze, Mark of Tzeentch, Stratagem: Relic, Veilbreaker Plate
+ Troops +
Cultists Mob [2 PL, 50pts]
6x Chaos Cultist w/ cultist firearm: 6x Cultist firearm, 6x Frag & Krak grenades
Chaos Cultist w/ cultist grenade launcher
Chaos Cultist w/ flamer
Chaos Cultist w/ heavy stubber
Cultist Champion: Cultist firearm
Cultists Mob [2 PL, 50pts]
6x Chaos Cultist w/ cultist firearm: 6x Cultist firearm, 6x Frag & Krak grenades
Chaos Cultist w/ cultist grenade launcher
Chaos Cultist w/ flamer
Chaos Cultist w/ heavy stubber
Cultist Champion: Cultist firearm
Legionaries [7 PL, 125pts]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Tzeentch
Aspiring Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
Legionary w/ astartes chainsword
Legionary w/ balefire tome: Balefire tome, Diabolic Strength
Legionary w/ heavy chainaxe
Legionary w/ heavy weapon: Heavy bolter
+ Elites +
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought [9 PL, 200pts, -1CP]: Hellforged cyclone missile launcher, Mark of Tzeentch, 2x Multi-melta
Rubric Marines [13 PL, 252pts]: Icon of Flame
Aspiring Sorcerer: Warpflame pistol, Warptime
9x Rubric Marine w/ warpflamer: 9x Warpflamer
+ Fast Attack +
Chaos Bikers [16 PL, 320pts, -1CP]: Chaos Icon, Mark of Tzeentch
Biker Champion: Black Rune of Damnation, Power fist, Trophies of the Long War
6x Chaos Biker w/ astartes chainsword: 6x Astartes chainsword, 6x Combi-bolter, 6x Frag & Krak grenades
Chaos Biker w/ special weapon: Astartes chainsword, Plasma gun
Chaos Biker w/ special weapon: Astartes chainsword, Plasma gun
Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 25pts]: Chaos Spawn
Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 25pts]: Chaos Spawn
Raptors [6 PL, 140pts]: Chaos Undivided
2x Raptor: 2x Astartes chainsword, 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Frag & Krak grenades
Raptor Champion: Plasma pistol, Power fist
2x Raptor w/ special weapon: Plasma gun
Raptors [6 PL, 135pts]: Chaos Undivided
2x Raptor: 2x Astartes chainsword, 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Frag & Krak grenades
Raptor Champion: Bolt pistol, Power fist
2x Raptor w/ special weapon: Plasma gun
++ Total: [96 PL, 1,997pts, 1CP] ++
Death to the False Emperor!
Chaos is just in a weird place right now, but let’s have high hopes for what comes with 10th edition. A whole slew of new rules, powerful updates, and hopefully CSM getting back to being awesome. I really want to bring all my CSM Possessed out again and I just hope they are solid too.
Watch it all Burn for Abaddon!
