Chaos Lords, how do you get them working?

[Dysorange]

Hello everyone, 

 

before you read this topic you should be aware there could be a lot of readings! The Chaos Lords topics being a very extended one just by the sheer amount of possibilities these dudes offer!!

 

Also for those who would like to have a general review of the whole stuff our generals can equip, wear, swing, throw or eat, you will not find this here. Why will you ask? Well I don't see the point of reviewing how the Axe of Blind Fury (that is now used for so long that I think Sigwald might already have used it himself in the old ages) works. Same goes for all the other gear, we know how it works, or so I feel.

 

Instead of a classical review of the unit I would propose another approach, how do you use your Lord? 

If possible it would be good to keep a common format to present your favorite setup! Here is my offer :

 

0 – Feel free to present your Lord!

1 - What gear does he (she?) (Both? O_o’) rides to war with?

2 - What guys are tasked to shield your Lord? What kind of unit does he ride with?

3 - Any specific role assigned to him and / or his unit? I guess if the role is only rushing forward and Hack&slash it could be worth mentioning^^

 

As I think building a tactica for our Swiss Army Knife would prove too much for a lone Servant of the Ruinous Power (one might turn into a horrible-thing-that-should-not-be-named) I am asking you support Brothers! What is your preference? Who is leading your Warbands of merciless warriors?

 

As an example I will start with some of my set up :

 

-Chaos Lord Ostanes Argyros, Leader of the Forsaken.

Chaos Bike, Sigil of Corruption, Power Fist, Lightning Claw, Mark of Nurgle, Meltabomb

 

- The Messengers of Argyros : Five Chaos Bikers with mark of Nurgle, two Meltas, Champ with Power Axe.

 

- The job of this unit is mostly to intercept any vehicle the enemy would like to rush forward and to open it using the meltas then crush the unit inside with the Lord. Alternatively the great mobility provided by the bike added to the Toughness provided by Mark of Nurgle makes it an absolutely remarkable versatile unit! The lord with a combination of Claw and Fist benefits from an extra attack and can deal with most situations (AP3/AP2). Add the Daemonheart for extra resilience! Credit goes to The Jeske for this setup from my point of view as I could come with this guy after reading a lot of his posts! Thanks Jeske :)

 

-Master Nyarlathos, Spirit guide of the Forsaken

 Mark of Tzeentch, Sigil of Corruption, Disk of Tzeentch, Murder Sword.

 

-Chaos Spawn unit composed of five Chaos Spawn. They represented those of the Forsaken who have fallen too low in their service to the Dark Gods. They are used as a meatshield to protect Nyarlathos.

 

- The aim of this Lord s basically to play hide and seek with the enemy special snowflake, keeping an area clean of his influence, I mostly get this dude out when I know I am going to face a very strong unit buffered by a special character! Huge mobility + specific design to kill a masterpiece in the ennemy’s game, this guy has won me a few close games and I just love this concept!

 

 

Feel free to give me your opinion, post your own preference and discuss the use of the mighty Chaos Lords!!!

 

For the Dark Gods!

[Daevyll]

Coryphaeus Hadad of the Bearers of the Word

  - Burning brand of Skalathrax

  - Power Axe

  - Aura of Dark Glory

  - meltabombs

  - bolt pistol/frag/krak/power armour

 

Usually accompanied by squad Zimri

  - 8 Chaos Space marines (naturally, anything other than the sacred number is a nono)

  - additional CCW

  - VOTLW

  - meltagun

  - Aspiring champion with power sword

  - Rhino with Havoc launcher

 

Cheap, super-scoring, can shoot up the melee-things and melee the shooty things. And the burning brand just feels so .. right to me.

 

I dislike deathstar-type units because they always seem to walk right into the first S10 AP2 blast template available and die horribly. I prefer more baskets.

[Sn4k30r]

Usually Chaos Lord comes with MoN for the T5, or 6 if on bike, trying to deny instant death from s8-9 most common weapons,  

YOu can give or deamonheart from CS supplement or Skull of kerngar from BL Supplement, for more resilience, if no supplement is being used would be nice add the Brand an extra torrent ap3 flamer always worthy .

 

i made a diffent CL from regular CL on bike MoN,

 

I choose Chaos Lord with:

Mark of Khorne

Juggernaut

Power Axe 

Deamonheart

Sigil

 

That means you have 4wounds Chaos lord with 2+/4+ , T5, It will not die, with rage-counter attack    6attacks base 7on charge! he usually goes with undivided bikes since he is khorne, and i think there not big difference on t5 with t6 bikes they die the same vs high s and ap weapons , you can add a power fist/claw set up for weapon if u like but i like this set up (cheaper too)more wounds and save and attacks with toughness from juggernaut.

 

The only bad thing maybe he is only t5 means if he fails a save against s10 is instant death but not to many s10 and still has 4+ invu.

[oreaper84]

In the cabal of the severed heads there are many lords each assigned to the tasks of foiling the imperium's every hope of survival, but i primarily run a select few.

 

Severus Hellscream- MoS/bike/sigil/murder sword/GoM

 

He rides around with the riders sorrow  a melta heavy squad of bikers with Mos/BoE and goes and kills that traget that must be taken down, and he drives an ever moaning blade through thier heart.

 

Agrax Headtaker (the red butcher) Mok/AoBF/Jugger/GoM/Sigil

 

He travels full a full squad of spawn and then the butchery commences

[Sception]

My chaos lord:

 

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/a94b3e2b-8d12-4ecb-b79d-0581edaaebed_zps77af8678-1.jpg

+++ Wiegraf Folles, of the Black Legion +++

 

 

 

I run him as a black legion undivided lord with spineshiver, bolt pistol, meltabombs, skull, sigil, gift of mutation, vets, alongside a unit of unaligned chosen with vets, 2x power axe, 3x meltaguns, and a champ with power sword and meltabombs, all in a land raider with dozer, extra armor, and dirge casters.  I run this unit for fluff and aesthetics.

 

In terms of gameplay, though?  I recommend none of it.  They have worked consistently poorly for me despite the high points cost.  Not as bad as my deep striking terminators - at least the chosen & land raider don't kill themselves - but still very poor overall.  Then again, that was in 6th, I have yet to try them out with the improved damage table in 7th edition.  If they do better now, then I might reward them with MoK all around and an icon of the fleet & the furious.

 

If they actually get to their targets, but still do poorly, then I might jump the whole warband over to the crimson slaughter book, for the 2+ save and AP2-at-init sword on the lord, and the cheaper, preferred-enemy chosen.  Without the skull, though, I'd feel obligated to grab mark of nurgle on the lord for protection from S8-9 instant death, and that's not ideal thematically.  I'd also have to change up the fluff for my warband - move their origins up from the Ghost Wars to something more recent to account for the lack of vets.  I'd also have to drop the Sons of the Eye connection on the lord, maybe shift that origin to another of the Shrine Knights.  Cletienne, maybe?

 

I don't know.  I could cleave closer to the inspirational material if Wiegraf was a more recent renegade rather than a Heresy Vet, but I kind of like the fluff I already have for him, and would rather not re-write it, so I'll probably just stick to the Black Legion supplement, worse though it may be for my lord and chosen overall.

 

Obviously a bike or jugger lord in some bikes or spawn would be superior all round, but Wiegraf is more about finding a use for the gorgeous dark vengeance model and those chosen I took forever converting (and will probably take two forevers painting) than he is about being the best character I could build from the limited mechanical resources available.

[Dam13n]

I tend to run:

 

Plaguesmith Damien

- Chaos Lord of Nurgle in Terminator Armour with Combi-plasma, Lightning Claw, Gift of Mutation and Blight Grenades

 

Moritat Kvasir

- Chaos Lord of Slaanesh with Burning Brand, Power Weapon, Jump Pack and Gift of Mutation

 

Damien joins a unit of 5 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns

- he's a tank and used accordingly.  Usually standing at the front of his unit to take advantage of his T5, 2+ save and 2+ look out sir.

 

Kvasir starts with a unit of Noise Marines so he doesn't get sniped turn 1, then splits off on his own for most of the rest of the game.

- a glass cannon if ever there was one.  He either kills loads of stuff and rampages his way through the enemy army... or dies in a storm of enemy fire.

 

In other words, I play them as they would act, given their character and back stories.  Basically with extreme arrogance and cruel, violent tendencies.  They tend to do pretty well...

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

I'll get this topic added to the Chaos tactical pin topic later on today.

 

1 - What gear does he rides to war with?

 

 

 

For my HQ chose, I will always take my Chaos Lord - Narach Delau for my Iron Warriors force over the last two years when the current codex was release.  His standard wargear - Combi Plasma, Mark of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Terminator armour & Veteran of the Long War, think that 162pts in total.

 

 

2 - What guys are tasked to shield your Lord? What kind of unit does he ride with?

 

 

 

I have a unit of three Terminators with Combi Plasma, Power Axe & Veteran of the Long war to act as Narach Delau bodyguards.
 

 

3 - Any specific role assigned to him and / or his unit? I guess if the role is only rushing forward and Hack&slash it could be worth mentioning^^

 

 

 

I always deep strike the unit of Terminators with the Chaos Lord, targeting elite unit like Centurions or say Devastators or light armour tanks with the combi plasma.  After that I general use my Chaos Lord & Terminators to help support my Chaos Space Marines in close combat.

 

I went with Axe of Blind Fury on Narach as it allow him to strike that I5 with a possible 11 attack on the charge or 10 attack if a unit charge him that S6, Ap2.  That will do a great bit of damage against any unit he goes against in close combat, with the Terminators attack to follow after words. 

 

Last combat my Chaos Lord - Narach Delau was in, he was winning vs a Writhknight, it was only in the last moment that I rolled that 1's for the Daemonic weapon special rule due to the dice not landing right due to a bit of terrain & re-rolling it.  All I needed was anything other than that 1 & he would have slay the Eldar Writhknight which would have been epic, adding to his theme & history.

While the Terminators unit/bodyguards, I went with Power Axe so they don't get tie up in close combat, being a small elite unit I find they will loss a war of attrition, longer your stuck in close combat, more armour save your going to be making & slow the unit start losing out.  Best example would be against my friend Space Wolves, Wolf Guard unit (they all had Wolf Claws) & back then I had my Terminators arm with mace, in the end my unit was wipe out after being in 5-7 round of close combat, with other units like Blood Claws & Grey Hunter help out.  

I want my Chaos Lord & terminators bodyguards to be able to win combat right away & be able to move on, to go & support my other units or claim object or get line breaker points.

 

While Terminator armour, it just look cool & it always been my Chaos Lord main wargear over the years I've collected my Iron Warriors force over the years.  Since 6th ed was release & now with 7th ed, with close combat weapons having a Ap value, it great having that 2+ armour save against power sword, say if I'm against Eldar Banshee's or Space Marine Honour Guards or that Space Marine Librarian who just issue a challenge.  Or even just against your standard Kark Missile shots from those units of Long Fangs.

 

IP

 

 

[Zeller]

Word Bearer lord: TDA, murdersword, sigil.

 

AP2, better invuln, and better armor save. Unfortunately csm lords still suck compared to loyalists and the dice gods hate hate hate my chaos lord no matter his wargear as they afford him maybe 1 wounding attack a turn no matter how many I have. So I might as well make it a painful wound eh?

[Excessus]

Crimson Slaughter:

 

Armour, Sword, Horns(sometimes, sometimes not), MoN, Bike, grenades, sigil

[Kierdale]

When the ETL finishes I'll be turning my gaze back to my Psychopomps, so I'll be watching this thread with great interest.

[Disciple of Fulgrim]

Lord Commander Fulgentius, leader of the Disciples of Fulgrim, is currently set up as follows:

 

1. MoS, TDA, BBoS, PF.

 

2. He rides to war in a LR Proteus (the "Lupus Mortis," which is also equipped with a MM, Ceramite Armor and a dozer blade) accompanied by Squad Arsenius (five NM, with a Doom Siren and PS for the Champ, and additional CCW for the other guys.)

 

3. He forms the core of my maneuver element, gets pointed at my opponent's backfield, and generally goes after Long Fangs or Devastators, or Grey Hunters or Tactical Squads camping objectives.  He usually gets there quickly, thanks to the Proteus' Scout move, dozer blade and Ceramite, and can be counted on to melt a squad per turn thanks to the BB and DS.  Once he's hopped out, his LR not only provides any needed AP 1 and 2, but also serves as a nice LOS blocker.  In addition to causing casualties, seizing objectives and being a blast to play, this "Pink Blitzkrieg" inevitably draws a lot of fire and attention, thus giving my fire support element (Blastmaster Noise Marines and the usual Heavy Support options) a little more breathing room to pump out the dakka.    

[Strazhakov]

I love Raptor/Jump Lords so I'll never enter a battle without them.

Equipment varies on the opponent and supplement used but currently I'm a huge fan of the Hand of Darkness and the Spineshaver Blade from the BL dex. Otherwise Burning Brand is fun on a mobile IC.

 

His retinue are the "Excrutiators" a 10-15 man Veteran Slaanesh Raptor squad with double Meltaguns and Icon of Excess.

[Emperors Immortals]

+Good to see so many Slaaneshi devotees :)

 

Lord Skar'til the Never Spoke rides to war with his MoS Chosen in a StormEagle, he carries an ancient daemon sword called The Blade of the Relentless and has been gifted by his patron with the Daemonheart.

 

Very fun, and wreck's Astartes troops and back lines with contempt, that bit of extra I is a killer :D

 

Somwtimes a Sorcerer with Horns, a bike and a sigil.

[Strazhakov]

+Good to see so many Slaaneshi devotees

Slaanesh is Love.

Slaanesh is Life.

[incinerator950]

I want to make a topic detailing the primary alignment focus of our fellow astartes players.

[Beachymike123]

With my main lord i run him with sigil, murder sword, and tda, with combi-melta to boot. He does the job well and handles challenges with ease mostly. That said i don't run with a competetive circle of players. He is often escorted by termies but depends on points played. If i run him in PA i also have meltabombs and just a bolt pistol. He remains cheap enough but easily earns his points back.

My other 'lord' has a jump pack, AoBF, MoK and meltabombs. He too does well in challenges but i usually use him as a smash attack sort of guy. He does well, but i often find he will do great until the latter part of the game when he has less targets and can be better picked off by HW fire as he and the raptor escorts he has are picked off.

If this were to include sorcerors then i have great success with my pyromancy only ex-librarian, but thats a different thread altogether.

Generally i find if a lord has a specific role and a good escort, they can wreck face 9 times out of 10. But CC is where we excel, and imho this is how they should be tooled.

[Dysorange]

Good to see so many different kind of Lords among our Warbands!

 

It seems indeed that Slaanesh receives much more love than some other, especially Tzeentch! But it could be a plot form himself to stay out of sight^^

 

I know it seems a bit odd but has anyone had success with a Lord with the Prophet of the voices yet? With a group of possessed as bodyguard and maybe some Mark?

I fell like the lack of close combat power lost wit the new CS possessed table could be compensated by a hard hitting Lord making a good Secured objective unit to throw at your ennemy.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Glad this topic came up as I've been having some difficulty with which sort of lord to go for-the fully decked out lord or the cheap one. 

 

For the most part recently I've been going for the fully decked out lord-bike/juggernaut, sigil and a daemon weapon (black mace or axe of blind fury since I don't use either supplement). Problem is for me he can never beat the +2 ++3 IWND space marine chapter master and I end up spending all those pts on a lord who just dies. 

 

The way I see it the other option is keep him cheap. Go on foot with a marine squad, take maybe the sigil, power weapon and a combi weapon or brand and just support the squad, or I could go for my biker lord just with something more reliable than a daemon weapon. 

 

My view of course is skewed since I basically only play against space marines these days..I'm sure other people have success with the axe/jugger lord. 

[the jeske]

Why don't your run an invisi bomb then ? with 2-3 sorc in a unit and being hit on a +6, it doesn't matter how tough a chapter master is and you have to get only one force weapon wound to  off him.

[oreaper84]

^{For a few games i did run a lord out of the CS suppliment just to see if he worked. He had the sword,MoTz,disk,sigil,horns,and the 2+ save. I ran him with a bike escort that was cheap as chips and flew into a cheap unit to ramp the lord up. After the initial combat he was ready for anything. (seriously this guy killed wraith knights/nid monsters,marine bike capts you name it)}

[Sheesh Mode]

Chaoslord

- Mark of Slaanesh

- Twin Lightning Claws

- Jumpack

 

Accompanied by

- 5 Warptalons 

- Mark of Slaanesh

 

It's a good unit to attack high-profile targets; characters, elites and the like, without investing too many models or points into the attack. 

[Valaskjalf]

I ran a similar MoS lord but from BL with Spineshiver blade...I7 with up to 12A on the charge gave him Skull to make him EW - pretty nasty. Only AP3 but with so many Attacks hes perfect for destroying MEQ squads by himself eventhough I also put him in with Talons.

[Teetengee]

MoK,Jugger, Aobf, PP,sigil

Runs alongside 5 spawn, but will detach if he needs to kill something else. Good and killy, not too expensive for the wounds. Also, he is super fast  and loves to start behind some los blocking terrain and then run right over/through it (assuming it isn't impassible) at the enemy. Considering the rest of my army is also running as fast as they can towards the enemy, he doesn't eat all the rage and can usually make it through.

 

Edit: I totally run the lord with the sigil. oops

[the jeske]

Chaoslord

- Mark of Slaanesh

- Twin Lightning Claws

- Jumpack

 

Accompanied by

- 5 Warptalons 

- Mark of Slaanesh

 

It's a good unit to attack high-profile targets; characters, elites and the like, without investing too many models or points into the attack. 

but most characters have +2 or ++2 LC armed models will have problems hurting those.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Why don't your run an invisi bomb then ? with 2-3 sorc in a unit and being hit on a +6, it doesn't matter how tough a chapter master is and you have to get only one force weapon wound to  off him.

Hmm that's not a bad idea, I'll have to give that a go. 

 

I think twin lightning claws is an option you should never use, since for 10 more pts you get the same number of attacks if you take a power fist/lightning claw and the added versatility of getting x2s ap2 hits if you need them.