Codex: Chaos Space Marines is out now and in the hands of aspiring Warmasters everywhere, and you’ve already begun concocting the most vicious, bloodthirsty, and back-stabbingest plans you can think of. There are so many customisation options in the codex that you can really make the character of your dreams – or your opponents’ nightmares. Here are five that we think are really going to set the galaxy aflame.
The Immortal Lord
Isn’t it annoying when your Warlord falls in battle? Wouldn’t it be great if they just… didn’t? Terminator Lords from the Black Legion have your answer. These hulking honchos can get two Warlord Traits thanks to the Lord of the Ezekarion Stratagem, and pairing Indomitable with Soul-eater will ramp their durability up to incredible levels, halving all damage they take and absorbing lost Wounds from their foes. And that’s before Papa Nurgle gets involved.
The Mark of Nurgle makes it supernaturally difficult to wound your Lord, while the Grandfather’s Blessings Stratagem means you can outright shrug off wound rolls of 1, 2, and 3. Why not add the Veilbreaker Plate Relic to subtract 1 from incoming AP while you’re at it? Do you feel tough enough now?
Friend to All Daemons
When a champion of Chaos fully embraces the gifts of their daemonic allies, they become frightening figures. If cramming as many daemons as possible into a mortal body is your cup of tea, take a Word Bearers Lord Discordant with the Exalted Possession Warlord Trait and the Mark of Slaanesh, then graft the daemon rivals Thaa’ris and Rhi’ol into your impaler chainglaive and mechatendrils.*
Have you ever seen a single HQ choice swing with up to 21 Attacks before? You have now.
The Cult Leader
The booming sermons of a Dark Apostle might seem antithetical to the Alpha Legion’s usual restrained manner, but as proponents of using every resource at their disposal, they know just how to rile up a Cultist Mob when it counts. The Cult Leader Warlord Trait and the Icon of the Hydra Cult Relic can be combined with some fervent Prayers to the Dark Gods to stack multiple offensive and defensive bonuses on nearby Cultists, turning them from feeble pawns into surprisingly formidable saboteurs.
Say No to Psykers
Khorne hates sorcerers, and loves to see his servants mess with their parlour tricks. A winged Night Lords Daemon Prince with the Mark of Khorne and the Vox Daemonicus Relic provides a speedy bubble of psyker-hate, scrambling their ability to perform psychic actions while denying one power every turn – and even if a power does slip through, you can shut it down with the Scorn of Sorcery Stratagem.
You’ll be earning the ire of every cowardly conjuror on the battlefield – but the Unholy Fortitude Warlord Trait gives your character a solid defence against any injury, even the mortal wounds caused by Smite.
Master of Machines
The Iron Warriors seldom go to war without waves of daemon engines at their beck and call, and they get plenty of tools to keep their mechanical minions in the fight. The Warpsmith is our tinkerer of choice – since they already have their PhD in Daemonic Engineering – and you can combine the Daemonsmith Warlord Trait with the Techno-Venomous Mechatendrils Relic to give them a real boost.
As long as this Warpsmith hangs around, they can repair three wounds per round on a VEHICLE of your choice – on top of the wounds daemon engines heal (un)naturally – and they can boost the performance of two war machines at once. That’ll put the fear of a Helbrute horde into just about anybody.
There’s even more to find hidden within the pages of Codex: Chaos Space Marines, so pick up a copy and devise the most cursed commander you can think of. Let us know what you cook up at our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
* All of the Lord Discordant’s writhing tendrils function as a single weapon, so it’s fine and dandy.