Everybody seems to have tried new Traitor’s Hate in ordinary games. We’ve come a little bit further and created a 4000 pts roster – Epic for the Epic God! In this article we will discuss the concept of such roster and how to use it. Please, note, that here’s our CHSM player’s personal opinion and it doesn’t pretend to be the one and only truth.
Well, tomorrow I’m fighting Astra Militarum in a big game of 4000 pts. My opponent promises to take at least 2 super-heavies and a lot of ordinary tanks. Infantry crowds, of course. A perfect chance to develop a versatile roster. Such point limit supposes a lot of fun, so this roster won’t work for tournaments.
I’ve taken Black Crusade detachment as a basis – it’s the most modern way to build a Chaos army now. Besides, I’ve taken a Renegade Knight. And after some thoughts I’ve decided to take an allied detachment of Daemons – some summoning never killed anyone.
Let’s start building such huge roster with a Knight – he has not so many options, so you can forget about it after putting him into the army list – there’s not much to change here.
The wargear is pretty unusual in current metagame – instead of 2 standard Gatling I’ve got Battle cannon and the sword. Why? As my game practice shows, it’s a must to have a stable D strength in the roster now. Battle cannon is arguable. But I like having str8 large blasts at hand. Ordnance special rule will make it more effective against tanks. Also I’ve taken barrage rockets for him – really effective against infantry.
Let’s stick to the same idea and deal with the daemons detachment. There’s no revelation here – standard screamer death star with 3 heralds on disks with the Grimoire. 11 Pink Horrors as a troops choice (2WC!) Blame me for being trivial, but this part makes the whole roster really more powerful, while there are more arguable ideas. Screamers are always useful – summoning, slash-attacks against infantry in cover, armorbane attacks against vehicles… I won’t take any more daemons – why should I spend points on those guys, I can summon?
Now when we’ve done with the fixed part of the roster, let’s get to the most interesting stuff. There are about 2880 pts for it.
I’ll take Chaos Warband as core choice – I’d like to try those fantastic multiple boons. That’s why, I’ll give the Lord (who is our leader here) also a gift of mutation. Mark of Khorne, the juggernaut, the Axe of Blind Fury… DO you get the plan? Right! Our Lord will be accompanied by the usual spawns. So, let’s immediately take an auxiliary choice of 5 Chaos Spawns with no mark.
This team is really vulnerable without help – so, I’ve strengthened I with 2 Sorcerers on bikes - 3ml, Sigils, familiars. I have one model with axe and one with the stave – so let it be this way. Try to get Invisibility with the Axe one, and use Heretech with the other – this is extremely useful in breaking enemy tanks. I’ll also take the same Sorcerer, but with the jump pack. What for – you’ll see later. So, we have 20 warp charges in total. It lets us cast any spells – summoning, invisibility, and whatever.
Let’s continue to form the Warband. We need to take to squads of usual CHSM. The first will be independent – 5 guys with melta and combi-melta. I also like to give the sergeant a power fist – this really helps to destroy tanks if they’ve survived shooting. Sure, he risks to die before he can charge, so hide him in the squad and protect whatever it takes. This squad takes a Rhino.
Another squad is not so usual – I’ve taken 8 guys, swapped bolters for CCW and given them the mark of Khorne. That’s right. What for? Well… did you know, that there’s also Kharn The Betrayer on our command slot? An ordinary tactical squad can be really effective with such wargear. They give out a bunch of attacks and if you take an Icon, they can be even more deadly. And, of course. Kharn – one of the deadliest characters in the game, who can destroy even a titan.
We need something to transport this band. And it’s Land Raider. Yes, not the best choice, but Chaos doesn’t have anything better for it. Anyway – 14th armor and lascannons are always useful.
In order to take a land raider, we must take an auxiliary formation Fist of the Gods – Warpsmith and 2 other units of tanks. So, I’ll take classical Laspred and a Vindicator. I’ve always loved Vindicators, nonetheless I’m not always satisfied with them. It’s a good idea to give this tank demonic possession in order to keep shooting after a penetrating hit. I’d like to take the Warpsmith with Kharn in that Land Raider – anyway he has a good number of attacks and can help you with some melta shots.
So – there are already 4 deadly units which will rush to the enemy, making at least 12 inches per turn. Each one is capable to destroy even super-heavy and is really tough. The enemy will have to focus the one of them and ignore the others, or spread the shooting, without making any serious damage. This is the core of our army.
Now I need to finish the warband. Usual AC havocs will be a good homescoring and they can also assist vindicator and predator on our lines.
It’s a good idea to take terminators – a lot of vehicles make melta-drop really useful. Also, remember that the enemy is busy trying to stop your 4 attack units, so termies are likely to survive and charge. I’ll take them with 5 combi-meltas, 2 power fists, one chain fist, and 2 power mauls (to save points and to have something of higher initiative)
I’ll use Raptors as fast attack choice for the same reason as the termies – deep striking and using the advantage the busy enemy in order to kill more stuff. I already have enough anti-tank, so I’ll give them flamers – in order to burn platoons, even if they are in cover. These guys also get mark of Khorne – to kill somebody in close combat if they survive.
Now it’s time to use our Sorcerer on jump pack. You can join him to the termies or to the raptors. As you wish. Again – it’s great to use Hereteck discipline. I’d better drop him with raptors – his invulnerable save will be more helpful there.
The Warband is complete. Now you must(!) take the auxiliary with 2 dragons. If you have the model – take the 3rd one. I don’t, so I’ve taken plague marines with meltas on rhino – another fast dangerous target. Again, there’s still maelstrom to complete.
Well, I
really can’t wait to try this on the table – fast, mobile, dangerous and
versatile army. I’ll post a report about this battle soon, so stay tuned!