Chaos terminators!

[Crozius Arcanum]

I'd like to run chaos terminators one day, because Word Bearers Anointed are awesome and all. I already have a fairly solid 1000 points list and I am thinking of this as basically the building block for higher points games such as 1500 and above.

 

With a box of Chaos Terminators and a Terminator Lord, I could make the following:

 

Lord: TDA, Burning Brand of Skalathrax, Lightning Claw, Melta Bombs.

5 Terminators: 3 power axes, 1 power maul, weird tentacular appendage as counts-as power sword (or force staff as power maul), 5 combi-plasma.

 

Plasmas because meltas are probably better used on bikes, and it should be easy enough to deepstrike this within 12'' of something and just rapid fire/burninate it off whatever objective it holds.

 

Would you say this is a decent use of chaos terminators? I've also dreamed of delivering them with a land raider, but then I would probably want a different loadout, right?

[Kilofix]

My 2 reasons for Chaos Terms are:

 

1. Termicide squad with all Combi-Plasma vs MEQ heavy (as you suggested)

 

2. Termicide squad with all Chain-Fist vs Lords of War that can't be killed with just a couple of Melta or LasCannon

 

For most situations other than the above, Bikes, Oblits, Chosen, etc. do better.

[Dam13n]

The standard use for Chaos Terminators is:

 

3 Terminators with 3 Combi-weapons (Melta or Plasma) and 3 Power Weapons (Mace or Axe)

- every model in a unit has the same weapons

- arrive via Deep Strike close to the target enemy unit.

 

Although you can take Chainfists, they'll never see action in a suicide squad.

 

1 - You'll be deep striking in, so can't charge the turn you arrive

2 - The moment your opponent sees the chainfists, those terminators are as good as dead.

 

So, with 1 Lord and 5 Termies, you'd probably be best off making:

 

1 unit of 3 with Combi-meltas and Power Mauls

1 unit of 3 with Combi-plasmas and Power Axes

 

or:

 

2 units of 3 with Combi-plasmas and Power Axes/Mauls

 

or:

 

Chaos Lord with MoN, Lightning Claw, Chainfist, Sigil, Blight Grenades

1 unit of 4 with MoN, Combi-plasmas, 1 Chainfist, 3 Power Axes

- in a Land Raider with a Dirge Caster

- leaves 1 extra Terminator (I'd make a Sorcerer as an alternate HQ choice)

 

Either way, you'll have to convert the combi-weapons and probably the melee weapons as well.

 

Of course, it all depends on what you already have, and how the unit(s) will fit.  

You may be better off with Bikes/Heldrake/Spawn if you have FA slot(s) free, or Obliterators if you have HS slot(s) free.

[Giga]

Get a terminator lord with lc/pfist (or chainfist if you got points to spare) and mark of your choosing (nurgle is best, though) + 4 termies with combiweapons (I'd personally go with combimeltas, but that depends on your metagame and how willing are you to risk terminators to overheat) and a couple power axes, and put them in a land raider with dirge caster and dozer blade. 

 

This is not an awesome combo by any means, but it's better than trying to deep strike or footslog them, as with 5++ saves they'll just get owned by plasma on the turn they arrive. Personally, I'd rather just use a unit of 9 CSM with ccw/bolt pistols or a unit of khorne berzerkers instead. Scoring is king. 

[Kilofix]

The standard use for Chaos Terminators is:

 

3 Terminators with 3 Combi-weapons (Melta or Plasma) and 3 Power Weapons (Mace or Axe)

- every model in a unit has the same weapons

- arrive via Deep Strike close to the target enemy unit.

 

Although you can take Chainfists, they'll never see action in a suicide squad.

 

1 - You'll be deep striking in, so can't charge the turn you arrive

2 - The moment your opponent sees the chainfists, those terminators are as good as dead.

 

So, with 1 Lord and 5 Termies, you'd probably be best off making:

 

1 unit of 3 with Combi-meltas and Power Mauls

1 unit of 3 with Combi-plasmas and Power Axes

 

or:

 

2 units of 3 with Combi-plasmas and Power Axes/Mauls

 

or:

 

Chaos Lord with MoN, Lightning Claw, Chainfist, Sigil, Blight Grenades

1 unit of 4 with MoN, Combi-plasmas, 1 Chainfist, 3 Power Axes

- in a Land Raider with a Dirge Caster

- leaves 1 extra Terminator (I'd make a Sorcerer as an alternate HQ choice)

 

Either way, you'll have to convert the combi-weapons and probably the melee weapons as well.

 

Of course, it all depends on what you already have, and how the unit(s) will fit.  

You may be better off with Bikes/Heldrake/Spawn if you have FA slot(s) free, or Obliterators if you have HS slot(s) free.

 

You are right, most of the time Chainfist Termicide gets targeted quick.

 

In Apoc, what I do though is put them in a Land Raider, drive up and assault out of it. But it requires a distraction, usually in the form of my own Lord of War and Melta Bikes. Some opponent focus on the latter, leaving the former to total their LoW.

[Crozius Arcanum]

So either you go minimum size, deep strike and make something go boom before being inevitably wiped off the table, or you go for assault and slam into the enemy lines with a Land Raider. Gotcha. I gather the Reaper Autocannon and the Heavy Flamer, cool as they may look, are usually not worth it.

[Giga]

Heavy flamer might be decent if you're using a land raider. You can thin out hordes before attacking them, or remove light units who are blocking your path to the more important units you want to assault (you shoot the heavy flamer at the unit you want to assault, so the template also covers some models in the unit blocking your path, effectively burning two different units and clearing a path). 

 

EDIT: I gotta stress though, in this edition of plasma and cover ignoring ap1 blasts, you may find 5++ terminators really lacklustre. 

 

EDIT#2: frankly, back in 5th when I was having fun modeling some nurgly goodness, I intended to have a full 5 men chaos terminator unit. My goal was to just make them unique and cool, and screw tabletop effectiveness - it's not like they'll ever be a competitive choice, anyway. That's why I say, go with the flamer, as flamers are awesome! 

[Crozius Arcanum]

Another thought I'm kinda nursing is this: 

 

TDA Lord: Power Fist, Combi-plasma

5 Terminators: 3 Axes, 1 Maul, Power Fist, Combi-plasmas for all.  

 

For deepstriking.

 

Too overkill on the plasma? I can't imagine anything drawing breath having had to suffer 12 plasma shots, between 6-8 should statistically hit. This should take out HQ's and their retinues fairly easily.

[Giga]

I don't think TDA lords are valid at all. A TDA sorcerer, on the other hand, might dish out some serious damage.  

[RastlinD]

Crozius -

 

Now that Chaos Squads need 5 men for a special weapon its not really worth it any more. I agree with most of the other posters that Suicide Terminator Squads are the way to go. Depending on the role that you want them to accomplish on the battle field I like 2x Combi-Plasma and 1x Combi-Melta for monstrous creature/heavy infantry hunting or 2x Combi-Melta and 1x Combi-Plasma for tank hunting. Deep strike them in close to a target and unload, hope /pray to the Dark Gods that they survive or draw heavy fire from your opponent allowing the rest of your army to accomplish other objectives.

 

As for close combat weapon choices, I never upgrade since they really are suicide squads but often go with one power maul, one power sword, and one power axe. This gives the force some options on tackling armor (Power Maul and Power Axe) and gives a decent chance to strike in initiative with two of the weapons.

 

Finally, I am a firm believer in not giving the squad a Mark of Chaos because these squads are being used for distraction and will most likely suffer heavy fire power after arriving and shooting off their weapons.

 

With all of that being said, it is entirely possibly to kit out a unit of Terminators entirely based for combat. While this may not be "point effective" if that is your goal I would suggest building the models in what ever close combat scheme you prefer with the numerous amount of power weapons around I like to equip my squads with a number of different options to be better able to handle any situation. This squad most likely needs to be delivered by Land Raider into the enemy's line.