Titans of Chaos - Opinions & Strategies RE: our Lords of War

[The Traitor]

Okay, been doing some research/testing on this topic as I want a new LoW, so I have an opinion for some LoW:

- Magnus: played him in more than half of my 8th ed games, he's awesome with or without access to the codex. I seriously believe him to be one of the best LoW of Chaos, if not of the whole game. He rules the Psychic Phase with access to Heretic Astartes (one of the best disciplines out there) and his +2 to tests, meaning that he will reliably cast powers and messes with enemy psychic phase with three improved denials. With Warptime he has a 32" movement, which almost always means a turn 1 charge, and he can cast Weaver of Fates for an impressive 3++ invul re-rolling 1s, which makes him very hard to down. I usually spend his other power in casting death hex or smite. Where he really shines though is in CC, as you will most likely get the charge with Warptime and he's a complete best there, downing knights in a turn if he has smited them previously. I've performed very well in tournament and regular games with this guy, and is at the moment REALLY solid for only 415 points, but I fear that the TS Codex might increase his points and most likely their discipline won't be as awesome (basically loosing access to Warptime).

- Lord of Skulls: he's very solid too, and I know of some competitive players that think that he's even better than Magnus. He has the potential to deal A LOT of damage, his only problem being his 12" movement and 3+ BS/WS... Which is where his biggest advantage kicks in, he's an Heretic Astartes. This means that you can Warptime him for a much more impressive 24" move, making a turn 1 charge very likely, and benefits from CSM auras. He can even be run with abbadon to be turned into a killing machine. Additionally his attacks IMPROVE as he goes down in wounds, while the strength decrease in mostly irrelevant and usually he's already too close to the enemy for the movement decrease to matter, meaning that he can't be crippled as a Knight can be. Overal, one of the best in my opinion if you're willing to give him character support. The biggest downside I see to him is his stupid model, been thinking of going one with spider-like legs, going the creepy route.

- Kytan: unfortunately since the points decrease of the LoS it makes little sense to take this guy rules-wise, as he's quite worse for only a few points less, which is a shame as the model is great. One less gun, his Gatling is worse, less wounds, etc... Hops he gets better at some point.

- Renegade Knight: for me his movement isn't enough to get to CC reliably and BS 3+ isn't great, and unlike the LoS he isn't a Heretic Astartes, so he can't be buffed. I think that there are better LoW options for us, seriously, he's so popular because he's plastic and the model is quite cool, but he isn't too impressive on the tabletop. Don't get me wrong, he's pretty decent and could be included in competitive games, specially with dual gatlings, but he's competing with the likes of Magnus, Aeatos, or the Lord of Skulls, which are definitely better. Don't go dual CC though.

- FW Knight Variants: they're nice but they seem to have the same flaws as the GW knight, and they're even more expensive. The Atropos seems to be the best, but he's also the most expensive. If You're willing to burn command points for him though he could work very well, as the regular knights, they're decent, but with chaos you can do better. The Lancer and the Acheron seem a bit more lacklustre.

- Brass Scorpion: this guy is bonkers. His damage output is HUGE, he's the chaos LoW that deals more damage in CC on average titans aside and additionally he's very shooty. He's kind of slow though, but it is partially fixed by his 3d6 charge. It's a shame that he got FAQ'd to not be able to receive friendly psychic powers, otherwise he would have been extremely good with Warptime. Fortunately he can still shoot things while he gets near, even though his claws are pistols, so your only reasons to fire those are on overwatch or in CC against non-infantry. He's Heretic Astartes, so chaos lords are great for him, but don't invest too heavily around him as he's very fragile already for his points. Overall I think he's an extremely killy glass-cannon, won't perform too well against ranged lists, but definitely useful.

- FW super-heavy tanks: never played one, never played against one, so can't really say much. I do think like too much their look and they're quite expensive, so I didn't pay them too much attention. Some of them though could be great in titanic-heavy metas, as many have devastating macro-weapons that could even one-shot them.

- Aeatos'Rau'Keres: just started a thread about him over the daemon sub-forum, he's going to be my next LoW and I think he's awesome. He moves 20", which is nice enough to assure a turn 2 charge (sometimes even turn 1 against aggressive armies), he's VERY, VERY though with 27 wounds, T8 and a 3++, so can take the punch that some competitive armies are dealing now. He has a +2 to cast psychic powers, a 48" smite and the Tzeentch powers are decent, the Boon can be very useful for himself and a lucky Treson can cripple your enemy, specially if he also has a super-heavy (but even a Stormraven can wreck stuff). In CC he murders things with his staff, more so if they're big, as he then deals damage 6! He also blasts things in shooting with his staff. Which basically means he rules every phase, so I think he's worth it even at 700 points. Additionally he sinergises very well with my Magnus, as I can charge on turn 1 with big M and on turn 2 with this guy, they provide two huge threats, and can benefit from the Changeling -1 to hit aura for extra defense on turn 1.

- Zarakynel: I also think he's pretty solid and, like Magnus, is in the cheap end of LoW point wise. However, this means he has to compete with Magnus, which sucks, as Magnus is better, even if it is just because his 32" move. I think that he could be a great addition for an Slaanesh themed army though, he would have some trouble against ranged armies, but looks quite solid.

- An'Ggrath: Blood for the blood god! And basically just that. If he charges something he will most likely kill it, but he doesn't provide much more for his 700 points. I think that for that price tag Aeatos is better but, just as Zarakynel, he could work for a Khornate list. He's really good in cc though, so will certainly get focussed.

- The FW GUO: I don't like Nurgle, so I won't play this and didn't look the rules much, but he didn't impress me much. Hard to kill but pretty slow so... Nurgle.

- Leviathan: I don't think he's a LoW but thought he should get a mention here, as he's almost there. T8 and 2+ save, that wraps it up, you will most probably not kill him unless you dedicate unholy amounts of firepower. He has great guns and wrecks face in CC too, all of it with a 2+ BS/WS! even though he's a bit slow. And has two awesome strengths: first he's Heretic Astartes, which as explained above is awesome, Warptime can be useful on him, and a lord will make him re-roll those pesky ones; but he also has the Helbrute keyword so, that's right, he gets a LEGION TRAIT. Make him Alpha Legion and he's seriously unkillable. So, a really good non-LoW LoW.

- Mortarion: still haven't got the time to test him much but looks solid. I like Magnus better because he actually has access to Warptime, but Mortarion has some very nice things going for him, such as his -1T aura, an anti-horde weapon, interesting gun, re-rolls to wound too. I guess he will see the table top, but an allied jump-pac CSM Sorcerer with Warptime and Death Hex should be almost mandatory.