Unit of the week Unit of the week: Chosen

[Cpt.Danjou]

+++Unit of the week+++

 

Chosen

This thread is only for tactics for Chosen, not for pictures, there are other places for that.

How to best use Chosen?

• Wargear?
• Legion?
• Marks?
• Which stratagems are worth throwing out?
• Any solid unit combos?

[Cpt.Danjou]

This is an enigma for me. I love to convert, bling up and use all the more nasty looking cc weapons on my models, but I don't have a chosen squad. I know some of you are upset over that the chosen lost the lightning claws, but for me it is not a loss, I always disliked how they looked, and now with the accursed weapon rule for chosen I can have an axe and a sword without breaking any rules. What annoys me more is that there is no way you can take a power fist. Getting bogged down with a high toughness monster and don't have the tool to hurt it makes me a little annoyed. 

I have not looked closer at what else to take on them, but I assume I would mark them with MoS, and bring as many combi-meltas as possible, probably chuck them in a Rhino, to get some speed.

 

Cpt. Danjou

[Kythnos]

5 minutes ago, Cpt.Danjou said:

What annoys me more is that there is no way you can take a power fist.

This has actually been faq'd. One in five models can take a power fist.

[Cpt.Danjou]

28 minutes ago, Kythnos said:

This has actually been faq'd. One in five models can take a power fist.

Meh, how have I missed that. Thanks for the heads up.

[danodan123]

For free too! If I'm not mistaken...

[dice4thedicegod]

I like chosen a lot.   I’ve been running a cheap 5 man squad but am going to try a 10 man with mark/icon of khorne and black mace on champion (as I’m using creations of bile, that gets the champ to S8 ap-3) and it’s still only 270 for the unit , which is only 9 points per wound. Bargain!

 

I also always take the powerfist and double accursed weapons.

 

 

[Tallarn Commander]

I've been using a squad of 10 Chosen in most of my games. They are one of my most effective units. I love them.

 

I equip First Claw, my Chosen Squad, with 2 powerfists, a Mark of Slaanesh, an Icon of Slaanesh, and a single combi-melta for taking potshots at enemy characters. I usually screen them with a squad of 10 Khornate or Slaaneshi melee Legionaries.

 

I traditionally put both squads in stock Rhinos and support them with a Master of Possession (and sometimes a Dark Apostle and/or Daemon Prince). That way they often benefit from "Delightful Agonies" and other buffs.

 

Lately I've been trying both squads without the Rhinos. I'm not sure if this is a good idea.

 

On one hand, once their contents are dropped off the Rhinos are almost worthless (except against Tau overwatch) now that it's much harder to get "Engage on All Fronts."

 

On the other hand, without Rhinos the Chosen and the melee Legionaries sure take a lot more casualties from enemy shooting as they run up the board on foot. I'll play 3 more games without Rhinos at a tournament this weekend and see how they fare.

[Khornestar]

I only played them before the power fist change. I’d for sure take those.

 

Since I run them as Slaanesh and take the icon, those fists would be hitting on 3’s, which is just swell. 
 

I don’t bother with the combi guns, because 10 per gun feels like way too much to me. I use them for board control. I feel like they may justify taking a rhino, as moving 30 wounds up the board for relatively cheap might be worth it. 
 

I would love to run a list with 10 chosen, 10 possessed, and 10 terminators for 3 wound spam.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Khornestar

[Verbal Underbelly]

Emperor's children with power fists and an icon are vaguely interesting (hitting on 2s) but I feel there's nothing here that isn't done better by terminators... If you could take more than 2 fists in a 10 man unit. I haven't tried them to be honest but on paper I just think it's hard to not pick terminators instead. 

[dice4thedicegod]

3 hours ago, Verbal Underbelly said:

Emperor's children with power fists and an icon are vaguely interesting (hitting on 2s) but I feel there's nothing here that isn't done better by terminators... If you could take more than 2 fists in a 10 man unit. I haven't tried them to be honest but on paper I just think it's hard to not pick terminators instead. 

I think they fulfill different army list design philosophies.  

Terminators , especially when loaded up, are far more expensive… more resilient/potent too, but very expensive.

Chosen are very cheap for what you get (assuming you leave them with free loadout and no mark… at least, no mark unless full size).  They are resilient and give good melee output… for their points.

If You want an anvil, get terminators.  If you want a decent cheapish unit to trade with in midfield and force your opponent to commit their decent resources… use chosen.

[Karhedron]

I agree, Chosen are very cost effective for their points. If you look at the closest Loyalist equivalents which would probably be BT Primaris Sword Brethren who also cost 25 points with a Power sword. For the same points, Chosen get +1W, +1A (thanks to the Accursed Weapons) and +1Ld. On top of that you can season with Icon to taste and load up with custom wargear.

[Prot]

I've had this discussion elsewhere on the forum and I was convinced to pull my Chosen back out. For me it's just simply this: Termies 2+ with AoC, half price combi-weapons, shooting max range, and not needing a ride/deep strike. 

 

But there is a point difference, the ability to take an icon but I will try foot slogging 10 of them to keep the economy of the unit as a factor. 

[Karhedron]

Chosen are good value, I think the real question is what role they are required to perform. Terminators get 2+/5++ save and a combi bolter for 8 points more which is a valid observation. Chosen are 1" faster but really need a ride to get anywhere. So I guess the main benefit of Chosen is that the Icon unlocks the second half of the Mark ability.

• Khorne doesn't benefit much from this as an extra point of AP in melee is overkill when you have Accursed Weapons.
• Tzeentch is useful as an extra point of AP on bolters will help against non-AoC opponents.
• Nurgle is OK as 6s to hit Autowounding is decent.
• Slaanesh is really good as +1 to Hit with those tasty Accursed blades or other melee weapons really helps.

I guess I see the problem that Chosen are a good unit but other units tend to fill their niche better.

[Maggotlord]

The one BIG REASON for Chosen >> Terminators is modeling options. 

 

You can convert almost every power armor SM or CSM to be a chosen. 

[WatchCaptainNavar]

I’ve just got my first box of chosen and I’m thinking of keeping them cheap with the mark, icon, power fist and double accursed.

 

For the role in my force I’ve done well with a unit of 10 pistol and sword legionaries with mark and icon of khorne mounted in a rhino. So I’m thinking the same for the chosen have the 5 of them share a rhino with 5 chain sword legionaries so they can be the flexible with the legionaries being the ones to sit on any objectives / secondaries. While the chosen hopefully go on a nuisance rampage in my opponents back line.

 

Normally I default to mark of slanesh with my terminators and it was my first thought with the chosen for +1 to hit and fights first. But I’m now being tempted by mark of khorne as it’ll take the accursed weapons to strength 6 so a good buff against toughness 3 and 5 units, the extra ap helps off set AoC and then for strats chosen can already benefit from the wrath stratergem for +1 to hit but also with khorne we can make 6 to hit in combat auto wound which is more flexible than tank hunters and there is also the khorne strat to attempt to deny a psychic power which could be handy when they’re getting stuck in.

[Kythnos]

Has anyone tried running Chosen in a Dreadclaw? If yes, what setup worked for you? One big unit of Chosen or two smaller ones or even one unit of Chosen and a different unit to accompany them?

 

My Dreadclaw has been gathering dust for a while but if there is a unit to make bringing it worthwhile, I always think of Chosen.

[Gree]

A great unit overshadowed by their Terminator counterparts in the competitive meta. That being said Chosen are an excellent unit that will likely do a fine job if you want to save points against Terminators. They can run your standard 10-Man Black Rune brick almost as good as their Terminator counterparts at cheapter cost.

 

I've also been thinking about a Khorne-marked squad. Not as a 10-man brick, but a 5-man unit with an Icon and MoK.  Having AP-4 in the current AoC meta can be useful against certain armies and builds. 

[Tallarn Commander]

By the way, I ran my 10 Chosen without a Rhino at a tournament this weekend and they did fine in all their games without the transport. Up til recently I've been outting them in a Rhino. The smaller boards meant they almost always got a Turn 2 charge. And I screened them so they never got charged.

 

The boards were fairly dense in terms of terrain though, so if you play in boards with minimum terrain you might still want Rhinos.

 

Gree, yes, 5 trooper Khornate Chosen squads would be fairly cheap and the enemy ignores them at their peril.

[WatchCaptainNavar]

I’m torn on rhinos, I like them more for the protection they give their occupants and i normally disembark turn 2 having used the rhinos movement to get them closer. But 2 rhinos is another 160 pts which is conveniently the same price as some of the best units in the csm book. 
 

the other advantage of walking up the board is there more likely to get in combat in the magic turn 3 for wanton slaughter.

[Squike]

On 12/18/2022 at 12:43 PM, Kythnos said:

Has anyone tried running Chosen in a Dreadclaw? If yes, what setup worked for you? One big unit of Chosen or two smaller ones or even one unit of Chosen and a different unit to accompany them?

 

My Dreadclaw has been gathering dust for a while but if there is a unit to make bringing it worthwhile, I always think of Chosen.

 

Yeah I run my Chosen in a Claw, 10 man MOT+ Banner, max out on Combi-Meltas and Fists. so pretty much as expensive as they come with the -1 to Wound Relic on them as well. (currently don't have termi's)

 

They did a lot of work in a local competitive league I took part in this year, they only bad thing I found is trying to make the 9" charge after turning up... but generally they hung around long enough if they didn't thanks to the 3W's the Relic and Skeins of Fate from a Daemon Prince to do there fair share of damage.

[Kythnos]

1 hour ago, Squike said:

 

Yeah I run my Chosen in a Claw, 10 man MOT+ Banner, max out on Combi-Meltas and Fists. so pretty much as expensive as they come with the -1 to Wound Relic on them as well. (currently don't have termi's)

 

They did a lot of work in a local competitive league I took part in this year, they only bad thing I found is trying to make the 9" charge after turning up... but generally they hung around long enough if they didn't thanks to the 3W's the Relic and Skeins of Fate from a Daemon Prince to do there fair share of damage.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this setup. Ans particular reason for the MoT beyond access to Skeins of Fate as a buff? Since my main opponent play Marines, AoC always negates the damage buff and the single ignored damage per turn didn't seem to matter a lot.

[Verbal Underbelly]

Does anyone think there's value in a squad of 10 with four combi meltas and two power fists? Or is it a waste of points compared to terminators? 

 

Edit

 

I've just looked at how much that unit would cost in points. Hard pass from me. I think I was hoping to re-live their previous incarnation of maxing out the special weapons...

Edited December 21, 2022 by Verbal Underbelly

[WatchCaptainNavar]

I don’t really think combi weapons earn there place in chosen or terminators unless you’ve got points spare at the end of your list building, 10 / 5 points for a melta is steep for a unit which is likely to be in combat for much of the latter part of the game and with how poor chaos lords are currently there’s unlikely to be one nearby for hit rerolls.

 

my preference with my iron warriors is to save the points for dedicated anti tank such as vindicators. In addition iron warriors have a strat to auto wound vehicles on 6s to hit and with late 9th I think the better process is just to throw a ton of combi bolter fire at a target and fish for wounds given the amount of units that aren’t really threatened by low volume melta fire now.

 

To me that combi melta is better spent on more terminator melee weapons, being as chosen are of a pretty fixed combat load out and there powerfist is free.

 

As a final thought though, I wouldn’t be suprised if in a future balance patch all the weapon options for both chaos and space marines become baked into the unit cost for free like what happened with the guard and death guard. So magnetise or super glue the weapons for a bit of future proofing.

[Verbal Underbelly]

Good insight pal. Appreciate it. 

[Snazzy]

I have to disagree about the combi-weapons.  The whole point of Chosen is to trigger and exploit their Chosen rule.  They may not have enough to take out an equal number of MEQs, but the combi weapons and plasma pistols give them more of a chance of finishing off a unit and making use of Chosen in every phase.  If you are taking them for Accursed Weapons, Terminators are just better.