40K Meta Hotness: Chaos Terminators
Goatboy here. Today’s 40K Meta Hotness is the tried and true Chaos Terminator (with their Daddy most likely attached). They rock!
These guys seemed well poised to wreck the tabletop with a plethora of stacking rules, powerful abilities, and just pain in the butt control of the tabletop. These midfield kings are ready to wreck 40K. Pending some balance changes they might have what it takes to help CSMs get to the top of the 40k meta.
The Chaos Terminators have had an interesting time in the last few editions. 9th saw them become kings for a little bit. They got kicked in the face when they lost Contempt. Finally, Chaos Terminators have come back to the forefront with the shift in 10th edition. In a lot of ways, they are more than just a brick wall to throw the enemy against. They have shifted a bit into a kind of murderous little knife of death that hides a truly evil king… named Abaddon.
CSM Terminators Tough Till the End
These guys are pretty tough little jerks with a 4+ invulnerable save and a ton of different interactions with their Marks of Chaos. A lot of the time you are seeing Chaos Terminators roll out with Chaos Undivided to give themselves rerolls. Then when you add Abaddon into their unit they get all the “Marks” too, which again allows other fun Stratagems to interact. This overall gives you a very tanky unit that can heal guys back, do some damage, and take it in return.
Damage Potential is High!
Throw Combi weapons on all of these guys and you start to see how you can quickly stack a decent amount of mortal wounds. Especially when utilizing the Mark system for rerolls to wound. This allows you to easily throw out some damage into tougher things and still take a beating in return. Of course with a nicely hidden Abaddon in the mix you have a batch of guys that are scary to move too close to. Unpreared enemies who stray too close just get wiped out.
Chaos Terminator Melee Threat!
These guys can be a Melee threat, too beyond just having Abaddon in the mix. A ton of attacks, some good weapons, and a plethora of rerolls helps make this unit a rough one to see across the table. They are going to get there and throw out a good amount of wounds. It is a pain in the butt to get rid of them.
A Sample Tournament List
Russell Tassin took this to a 7th place finish and a final round for all the marbles at the Lone Star Open up in Dallas this past weekend. I was there as well and obviously didn’t do nearly as well as Russell did. He was playing Ben Jurek from Team America and another good player/person for the game. Heck, I like both of them but Russell’s my buddy from Texas who I always love seeing at events as he gives me a big hug and we talk Chaos nonsense. Just an excellent dude on top of being an excellent player. It is the same with Ben – but I like Chaos more. Plus, I don’t want to talk about them dang dirty Eldar.
Here is his list.
Black legion (2000 Points)Chaos Space Marines
Slaves to Darkness
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Abaddon the Despoiler (280 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Drach’nyen
1x Talon of HorusChaos Lord in Terminator Armour (100 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided
• 1x Chainfist
1x Combi-weapon
BATTLELINE
Cultist Mob (55 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
• 1x Cultist Champion
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Cultist firearm
• 9x Chaos Cultist
• 6x Close combat weapon
1x Close combat weapon
1x Close combat weapon
1x Close combat weapon
6x Cultist firearm
1x Cultist grenade launcher
1x Flamer
1x Heavy stubber
OTHER DATASHEETS
Chaos Land Raider (255 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Combi-weapon
1x Havoc launcher
2x Soulshatter lascannon
1x Twin heavy bolter
Chaos Terminator Squad (390 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided
• 1x Terminator Champion
• 1x Chainfist
1x Combi-weapon
• 9x Chaos Terminator
• 2x Accursed weapon
1x Chainfist
9x Combi-weapon
6x Power fist
Chaos Terminator Squad (195 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided
• 1x Terminator Champion
• 1x Chainfist
1x Combi-weapon
• 4x Chaos Terminator
• 1x Accursed weapon
4x Combi-weapon
3x Power fist
Forgefiend (165 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Chaos Undivided
• 1x Armoured limbs
2x Ectoplasma cannon
1x Ectoplasma cannon
Obliterators (160 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
• 2x Crushing fists
2x Fleshmetal guns
Obliterators (160 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
• 2x Crushing fists
2x Fleshmetal guns
Obliterators (160 Points)
• Mark of Chaos: Nurgle
• 2x Crushing fists
2x Fleshmetal guns
ALLIED UNITS
Nurglings (40 Points)
• 3x Diseased claws and teeth
Nurglings (40 Points)
• 3x Diseased claws and teeth
2000 Points
Using the List
As you can see he utilized the blocks of Terminators to hold the middle and then allow your Obliterators to come down and wreck things as needed. The Terminators were acting like some of the Custodes armies as a big old pain in the butt middle ground to try and chew thru. Also – as Abaddon has all the marks. So any unit he joins can benefit from a plethora of Stratagems just due to the factor of having it all.
Congrats to Russell for kicking butt with those Terminators and to Ben for winning the LSO in the end. He got his golden ticket on the back of Eldar nonsense – riding it all the way to victory.
Death to the False Emperor!
