Chaos Space Marines Codex Overhaul

[Jings]

Hey guys. So suffice it to say, the current GW rules for Space Marines aren't cutting the mustard in 8th Edition. Hordes are everywhere, the scaling of units means that it's almost always better to take walkers as weapons platforms rather than infantry squads and even when Marines are brought to the battle, they just don't have a strong enough bite to do much useful. 

 

So I've been scouring for ideas on and off to get Marines working again, while keeping them a unique and distinct force gameplay-wise. This is a complete list of those changes for Chaos Space Marines, with ideas for Loyalists in the works (I don't have their codexes at hand, nor as much gameplay experience with them as I do Chaos, so work has been slow). I'd also like to mention that this is less a brainchild of myself, and more an amalgamation of ideas put together and specifically mention and thank Iron_Within, as I've shamelessly ripped his excellent "Armoured Ceramite" rule, which really brought everything together and got me to put things down on paper. It's very much a work in progress, and while I've made efforts to keep the changes/buffs reasonable, there are definitely units that would require a points increase, making Chaos (and Space Marine armies in general) a smaller, more elite force than it is played today. 

 

The design philosophy is simple, and has three main objectives: 

1. Make Marines a distinct force on the table by having them more accurately reflect their depictions in the lore. 

2. Have the changes be streamlined, mechanically simple and in-line with the spirit of 8th Edition

3. Give over-looked or inferior units a niche to fill without drastically changing the unit. 

 

 

The attached document has a complete list of changes, but I will list a couple of the core ones here for discussion. 

 

All <Heretic Astartes> Infantry, Bikers, Cavalry and Walkers with an Armour Save of 3+ or better may reroll Armour Saves of 1.

 

All <Heretic Astartes> Infantry, Cavalry, Daemon Princes and Bikers gain +1 Attack and +1 Wound. Does not apply to Cultists.

 

Straight off the bat, these two changes improve almost every infantry unit in the Codex. With your basic Chaos Space Marine now sporting two wounds on top of a rerollable 3+ armour save, with the additional attack in the fight phase, the 13 point Marine definitely feels more than a match for the two and a half Cadians he costs than he did before. Terminators with 3 wounds and 3 attacks with a rerollable 2+ armour save are going to be terrifying against infantry and more akin to the walking tanks they are in the lore. The extra attack will also make the entire faction more formidable in the Fight Phase as well in addition to their revised faction ability: 

 

Eternal Crusade: The old Death to the False Emperor ability (extra hits on 6+ to hit against Imperium), but it applies to all armies. 

New Death to the False Emperor: In the fight phase, <Legion> Infantry, Bikers, Helbrutes and Daemon Princes, the Eternal Crusade ability activates on a 5+.

 

Lots of exploding melee attacks, and within the current codex as it is, there are plenty of ways to exploit this. Maybe running a 20-man unit of Bolt Pistol and Chainsword Chaos Marines might not be a total waste of points, but instead a terrifying, unmoveable melee monster. 

 

Speaking of Chaos Space Marines, they are one of the most extensively changed units. As a unit that is so iconic and fundamental to the faction, it's always bummed me out that they just feel so weak on the tabletop for the three editions I've been playing. 

 

First thing I wanted to do was bring back the classic B+BP+CCW loadout that Chaos Marines could take in past Editions. It's always cost points in the past, so I figured I'd go the 30K route and make it one cost for the unit. 

• Traitor’s Grit: 10 points/1PL: The entire unit may take an item from the Melee Weapons list.

 

Which pairs well with another wargear-related change:

 

• Prized Plunder: One model for every five additional models added to the unit may replace its Boltgun with a Combi-Weapon and/or Bolt Pistol for a Plasma Pistol.

Effectively allowing you to have an extra sergeant's worth of wargear for every five men in a squad. Along with the ability to have an extra special or heavy weapon at 15 and 20 men, you can now have an incredibly flexible unit, that can be run barebones with 5 men to secure a backfield objective, to 20 man blobs armed to the teeth with wargear that can take on most targets.

 

While they have plenty of room for special weapons, Bolters aren't left behind. Now sporting AP-1, they have a lot more bite and even armoured units need to think twice before engaging Marines, particularly if they're by an objective: 

• Despoilers: Double the number of shots made by Bolt weapons when firing at a unit controlling the closest objective.

This makes Chaos Marines your go-to linebreaking units, making them extremely effective at hosing down chaff on an objective. This also means that they can provide fire support for other units, being able to effectively double-tap at 24 inches with their boltguns to assist other units, providing them with a huge degree of tactical flexibility. With option of taking Combi-Bolters as a Special Weapon option as well as with Prized Plunder, you can have up to 8 Rapid Fire 4 Combi-Bolters firing on one objective, supported by another 12 Rapid Fire 2 boltguns. Oof. 

 

 

The attached file has all the changes I've made so far. I've yet to go through Stratagems, or touch Warlord or Legion traits but I'll get to them in short order. The document itself is broken down into a large changelist with an index for finding whatever changes you're looking for. 

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts here guys. There's a large gaming club local to me, so I might start looking for people to playtest with in the near future if I can get it into a playable state, and I'll post my Loyalist changes when they're up to scratch. 

 

 

Here's the link to the document in full: