Goatboy’s 40k: IA Chaos Forge World Review
Goatboy here with a review of some of the coolest stuff out of the Chaos Space Marine Forge World book.
I am happy the book was fairly affordable. I wish they sold this in regular GW stores as I feel it gives a lot of flavor to the bad guys and still keeps within a pretty “even” set of powers. Sure there are some strong ones but thats what is expected from a Forge World release where rules are weird and usually set up to be more powerful then the regular GW plastic counterparts. With that – lets begin.
First the overall look and design of the book is nice and simple. It has some nice textures on the pages, is fairly easy to read, and just looks nice. Mix this with a killer price point (cheaper then the other Indexes when) due to the rock bottom value of the pound versus the USD. This makes it hard to not just grab it even if you barely end up using it. This is just to ensure you know the rules and don’t get surprised by something neat from Forge World.
Daemon Bound
First batch of units are the Daemon Bound which runs into the Daemon infused monsters from Forge World. The new plastic Drone creates the Greater Blight Drone which has started to shoot better and seems alright. It isn’t an auto take but again when we see Death Guard stuff come out it might be very interesting especially with some kind of Tally helping out. I love the Decimator look but it still seems expensive. It does have a way to throw out Mortal wounds so that is something to worry about. It was interesting to see the Plague Hulk because I thought the mold was done and thus the model is not available. The last two are the Khorne Walker and the Brass Scorpion. Both are interesting but I feel the Lord of Skulls is better due to how many more wounds it has. Still these two are worth looking at as they have the key word Heretic Astartes which allows them to double move and get some blessings from the Sorcerers.
Hellforged
Next up is the Hellforged which seems to imply anything that Marines might have but somehow started to go “bad”. Basically anything the good guys have the bad guys get – with some tweaks as they have become a bit evil – like eating guys who ride in them, getting mad in combat, and healing wounds if they killed guy. It is all pretty fluffy, interesting, and neat. I like these things as they feel fun and I hope we see more of these in the upcoming updated books that will come. My favorite thing is the Hellforged Raiper Battery with the Quad Heavy Bolter choice. I just like a 50 point unit that is basically 4 Heavy Bolters. Plus the fluff on it is funny as it gets mad when all the “controllers” are dead. It is pretty cool you get a Mastadon that you can fill to the brim with Berzekers and shove them down your opponents throats. I do like the Leviathan Dreadnought as it is a model I have always wanted so throwing one down on the table just sounds awesome. He is pretty expensive and he also has a Mortal wound weapon which is pretty spicy.
Eryne Cults
Eyrine Cults are the flyer options from Forgeworld – with Raptors, Hellblades, and other expensive resin monsters. The Chaos Hell Talon’s bombing run sounds amazing. The ability to throw out Mortal wounds on a 4+ to 5+ depending on the type of model (infantry are easier). Heck it has another bomb option too. It just seems interesting and could be a lot of fun as it strafes over your enemies, drops out some damage, and has you throwing a ton of dice. Everything else has similar rules to their marine counterparts with some small tweaks. It still feels like the Storm Raven is better in a lot of ways over some of them but I am sure there is a massed flyer list out there that uses Forgeworld stuff to kill a ton of things.
Lords of Ruin
Lords of Ruin are the special characters for the Forge World Chaos options. Necrosius seems to be pretty dang awesome with having the Death Guard Keyword and Tainted. I think you can add that to others depending on how it you build out your list and it feels like almost an auto include in any Pox Walker/Death Guard list. Zhufor has a ton of wounds and seems ok – just wish he had a better Aura. It doesn’t have Khorne as the Aura it is Skulltakers – which doesn’t have a lot of info on it beyond having a name a 13 year old loves. I also see a new keyword added Dark Mechanicus which makes me think will see a ton more of this coming in the future.
Children of the Warp
Children of the Warp is the big batch of crazy Daemon Characters. This is all the high wound, super nutty monsters we see everyone once in awhile when someone wants to play a really Bloodthirster, Fateweaver, or a creepy Keeper of Secrets. I really like the Keeper of Secrets and hope we see a new “plastic” version coming at some point with similar rules. It is pretty nutty that the old “plague” riders got rules to help sell them a bit more. The Giant Spawn seems good but seriously a pain in the butt to constantly roll his abilities each and over turn. The Spined Chaos Beast might be fun as well as you can add any Daemon Allegiance. The Bloated guy who has a name I won’t retype out is pretty neat as you can stack his ability on top of the Plague Bearers large unit ability and all of a sudden you have a pain in the butt unit to get rid of.
Knights & Titans
Next we got all the Knights and their evil versions. I am pretty excited about this as I have an Artapos in a bag that is waiting to get built and submitted to the evil Chaos powers. It seems all the Knights get to heal a wound every turn as they are super evil. I like the Artapos and the Magaera as they seem interesting and have cool guns. Its neat that you get access to all the weird and tall knights and it is great they are included in this one book – as the regular Marine book does not have these FW knights in there.
Finally we get to the crazy big boys on the book – all the Titans. I don’t have any real opinion on them as I don’t plan on owning one and most likely won’t play against them or with them. They are expensive, deadly, and pretty mean. At the very least their rules are pretty basic so I expect the good guy versions to be the same when they come out in the AM book in a week or so. It is nutty to see Strength 30 guns who do flat 12 damage. Does that mean Ghost Arks can never “ignore” it with their shielding save as they only get a d6. Nutty stuff indeed.
Overall if you play Forge World units and like Chaos you should grab this book and most likely the upcoming AM one with Renegades in it. I do wish we had some “army lists” or army faction rules to help cover more bases. It feels like some of the special characters, beyond the Nurgle ones, are lacking some rules you would get by locking yourself in a named army option. I know right now I am looking at grabbing some Raiper Heavy Bolter Batteries to help round out some of my Chaos Armies. All that Dakka needs to get shoved into my enemies who somehow still believe in this false emperor.
~What units stand out to you from the new book?
