Variations on a Theme - The Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut

[Vorenus]

Greetings from the Eye:

 

As I have mentioned recently in a couple of different threads, I have really been enjoying using a Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut of Khorne as my Warlord of late.  I really, really like the model, and the rules just feel right for a powerful Lord of Chaos.  There are several ways to build the character (in game terms, I mean, not necessarily from the modeling perspective), and this has got me thinking:  What is the best way to kit out the Juggernaut Lord?  I know, some will say I am overthinking it:  "Just give him the Axe of Blind Fury, point him at the enemy, and watch him open a can of murderface on the enemy plastic dudesmen."  And there's a lot of truth to that statement.  But:  With the Black Legion and Crimson Slaughter supplements, there are a couple of other variations on the theme, and they bring something interesting to the table.  Allow me to demonstrate:

 

 

Version 1:  Codex Chaos Space Marines (classic/standard codex)

 

Chaos Lord with Mark of Khorne, mounted on a Juggernaut of Khorne, wielding the Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption; additional options include adding the Burning Brand of Skalathrax for some torrent AP3 flamer goodness - total points 170 (205 with the Burning Brand of Skalathrax)

 

Strengths:  AP2 at Initiative 5; S+2; extra d6 attacks due to Daemon Weapon property

 

Weaknesses compared to other variants:  -1 to WS and BS (penalty to BS is irrelevant if you take the Burning Brand of Skalathrax); vulnerable to Instant Death (limited to Force weapons, weapons that inherently have the Instant Death rule, and/or weapons with S10 ...unless of course the enemy can successfully reduce his T, such as by using the Psychic power Enfeeblement or the Tau's Structural Analyzer, in which case he is vulnerable to Instant Death from S8+ weapons); only a 3+ Armor save--lots of weapons/attacks have AP3; Daemon Weapon can wound self on a roll of a 1

 

 

Version 2: Black Legion supplement

 

Chaos Lord with Mark of Khorne, mounted on a Juggernaut of Khorne, wielding the Spineshiver, and bearing the Skull of Ker'ngar and Sigil of Corruption -- total points 205

 

Strengths:  Eternal Warrior (!); Adamantium Will; Initiative +1; extra d6 attacks due to Daemon Weapon property

 

Weaknesses compared to other variants:  Spineshiver is only AP3, meaning it will not penetrate 2+ saves (hello, Terminator squad, how lovely to meet you today!), and can't make vehicles explode; Spineshiver also does not have a bonus to Strength, making it more difficult to wound enemies (especially enemies with higher Toughness) and/or cause glancing/penetrating hits to enemy vehicles; still only a 3+ Armor save; Daemon weapon can wound self on a roll of a 1; more expensive than standard Codex or Crimson Slaughter variant (unless you add the Burning Brand to the standard codex variant)

 

 

Version 3:  Crimson Slaughter supplement

 

Chaos Lord with Mark of Khorne, mounted on a Juggernaut of Khorne, wielding the Blade of the Relentless and bearing the Daemonheart and Sigil of Corruption -- total points 195

 

Strengths:  2+ Armor Save and It Will Not Die; Blade of the Relentless improves the more enemy dudesmen you kill, potentially getting up to S+2 AP2 and Instant Death (if you kill at least 10 enemy dudesmen)

 

Weaknesses compared to other variants:  Vulnerable to Instant Death (see classic/standard codex variant, above); although the Blade of the Relentless can eventually be S+2 and AP2, it doesn't get that to start, whereas the Axe of Blind Fury starts with those stats right from the start of the game; does not get the extra d6 attacks from the Daemon Weapon property that the Axe of Blind Fury or the Spineshiver get; more expensive than the standard Codex version (unless you take the Burning Brand of Skalathrax, of course)

 

 

Note:  On all of these versions, you can add Melta-bombs and the Gift of Mutation if you want.  You may add Veteran of the Long War to the standard codex version; VotLW is mandatory for the Black Legion version and is prohibited for the Crimson Slaughter version.  If not taking the Burning Brand, you may take a Plasma Pistol or combi-weapon on any of these versions.

 

 

Analysis:

 

The Crimson Slaughter version is interesting (2+ Armor Save and It Will Not Die), but I don't think it's a good fit for me.  The fact that the Blade of the Relentless is only 5 points cheaper than the Axe of Blind Fury and yet it doesn't start with S+2 AP2 like the AoBF doesn't seem like a good deal to me.  Add in the extra d6 attacks from the Daemon Weapon Special rule and the AoBF seems to be an order of magnitude better.  Sure, the Blade of the Relentless can eventually get the Instant Death special rule, but only after killing 10+ enemy dudesmen--the Axe of Blind Fury can kill that many in a single turn, but the Blade of the Relentless will need at least 2 melee rounds to reach that level, depending on the enemy's initial Armor Save value.  And it's probably worth mentioning that the AoBF can already cause Instant Death to models with T3 or less, and if you get lucky on the Chaos Boons table there are two different ways to cause Instant Death to T4 models (i.e., you can roll the Instant Death result on the Chaos Boon table, or you can roll the +1 Strength bonus result, which, added to the +1 from Furious Charge [i always field my Juggernaut Lord with an entourage of Bikers with the Mark of Khorne and the Icon of Wrath so they get Furious Charge and can re-roll assault ranges] adds up to a total Strength of 8, meaning you can cause ID to T4 models AND can potentially cause glancing hits to vehicles with AV14!).  Anyway, it's probably just going to come down to personal preference, like so many aspects of this hobby, and I prefer the AoBF over the Blade of the Relentless.

 

For me, the really tough choice is between the classic/standard codex version and the Black Legion supplement.  Which is better, attacking at AP2 at Initiative, or having Eternal Warrior?  I'm not sure I can really answer that, and I welcome anyone/everyone else's comments explaining which one they think is better (i.e., AP2 at Init vs. Eternal Warrior).  I do know that I really like Eternal Warrior: I hate it when my special snowflake multi-wound Warlord gives up a victory point (from Slay the Warlord) from one Instant Death attack.  Man, I hate it when that happens, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  All it takes is one failed Invulnerable save against a Force weapon (most of which are AP3 or better) and you've lost your murdertrain AND given up a victory point.  Ugh.

 

On the other hand, although the Spineshiver is a Daemon Weapon, and it does grant +1 to Init (which is a nice boost) without the WS and BS penalties from the AoBF, it lacks AP2 and does not give a bonus to Strength, meaning it will be much more difficult to wound enemy dudesmen and making it impossible to explode enemy vehicles (even assuming you can get a penetrating hit on a lower Strength).

 

So, as I said, for me the really tough choice is between the classic Codex version and the Black Legion supplement version. 

 

(As a side note:  The fact that regular Codex Space Marine characters can get AP2 at Initiative, 2+ Armor Saves, 3++ Invulnerable Saves, and Eternal Warrior all on the same character from just the basic codex could be interpreted as evidence that GW favors the Imperial armies over Chaos.  On the other hand, the vanilla SMs can't get the extra d6 attacks from Daemon Weapons, so the most attacks you will ever see on a Chapter Master with all of the bonuses above will top out at 6 on the charge [or 7 if the Chapter Master has Hammer of Wrath, either from being on a Bike or using a Jump Pack, though of course the Hammer of Wrath attack only uses the base Strength statistic], whereas it is possible to get as many as 16 attacks on the charge from a Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut [3 base attacks, +1 from extra CC weapon, +1 from Juggernaut, +2 on the charge from Rage, +d6 from Daemon Weapon, +2 from Combat Familiar [at S4 AP-], and +1 from Hammer of Wrath at base S and AP-].  On the other, other hand, the Chapter Master can get a 3++ Invulnerable Save, which a Khorne Chaos Lord can't.)

 

What are y'all's thoughts on this?

 

--Vorenus