How do people run Chosen?

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings, working my way back into the game after a break. 
 

I have the Dark Vengeance Chosen and a sprue of the new models. 
 

Do people generally prefer 5 or 10 man units? Keep it simple with stock equipment, or go nuts with all the upgrades possible? 
 

what’s the consensus on combi-weapons? Stock up as many as they can carry, or leave home? 
 

Also, it looks to me like a Chosen with dual claws can also have a plasma pistol? 
 

I’m considering a unit of ten, adding a Master of Possesion and an Exalted Champion to them. It’s the characters I have painted, and they seem to pair up well for an aggressive unit. 

[Tokugawa]

Before points cost update, people prefer 5 men units, since "lord + 5 chosen +0cp reroll everything" is so brainless powerful and already enough to delete anything(below 300pts) they touched.

[LSM]

4 hours ago, Annatar Giftbringer said:

Do people generally prefer 5 or 10 man units? Keep it simple with stock equipment, or go nuts with all the upgrades possible? 
 

what’s the consensus on combi-weapons? Stock up as many as they can carry, or leave home? 
 

Also, it looks to me like a Chosen with dual claws can also have a plasma pistol? 
 

I’m considering a unit of ten, adding a Master of Possesion and an Exalted Champion to them. It’s the characters I have painted, and they seem to pair up well for an aggressive unit. 

 

Consensus seems to be to max out everything (per 5) and run with a Lord. MoP and Exalted Champion could do some good work, and as you've already got them painted up it'd be worth running them a few times to test them out regardless. As you say, they seem to pair well (MoP's +1 to Advance and Charge on a unit with Chosen Marauders).

 

RAW, the Paired Accursed Weapons model can also have one of the Plasma Pistols, but... some of the rules in the index seem a bit sloppily written. (For example, the original Index had the Combi-Weapons replacing the Bolt Pistol instead of the Boltgun.)

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Given that all the upgrades are currently baked into the price, its generally best to take them all.  And yes, the combiweapon is better than a bolter as it is just a bolter with upside.

 

Now, at some point in the future units may again have to pay for upgrade options, so if you want to future proof yourself for that you can build some units/models without them, but until then there is no advantage in doing so.  If you are going this route, magnetization might be something to consider to get the best of both worlds.

[TrawlingCleaner]

I don't personally put plasma pistols on them as I have a tendency to roll poorly with hazardous tests 

 

There's no wrong way to run them but combis tend to do absolute work for me and I always take as many as I can get

 

3 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Given that all the upgrades are currently baked into the price, its generally best to take them all.  And yes, the combiweapon is better than a bolter as it is just a bolter with upside.

 

Now, at some point in the future units may again have to pay for upgrade options, so if you want to future proof yourself for that you can build some units/models without them, but until then there is no advantage in doing so.  If you are going this route, magnetization might be something to consider to get the best of both worlds.

 

The only thing I'd say is that, they're unlikely to change something this fundamental this edition, in my opinion anyways. I think they're a bit far in with it at this point to change it. I could be wrong though!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, I didn't mean this edition - just that in some future edition, the rules pendulum is likely to swing back to increased granularity in points, and should such happen "all the possible gear" might no longer be the best option.  Given the time it takes me to paint stuff, I see this as a multi-edition hobby and find that its sometimes worth "future proofing"

Edited February 17 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Good point regarding future proofing. from GW’s perspective, it would be an obvious step now that everyone is making out their squads for free - force everyone to buy new models to build cheap stock bodies again… 

 

The note regarding double claws and pistols is valid too, though this particular option has survived a couple of errata’s now…. And as the pistols are/can be holstered, it would only be a matter of removing them from the list if anything changes. 
 

What about mark of chaos? I was thinking initially mark of Slaanesh. I understand I won’t need it for the advance & charge stratagem, since they have that one built in, but the increased crit chance with sustained hits sounded good. Perhaps I’m looking at it the wrong way? Undivided for rerolls, or Tzeench for ress & heal, or….

[Annatar Giftbringer]

And regarding unit size. 10 is expensive, and I realize it will lead to overkill often, against “lesser“ units, but is 5 survivable and resilient enough? Will they even make a dent against good units? 
 

dropping them to 5 will allow me to add other stuff to the army, but perhaps that strong, large unit is needed and useful..?

[LSM]

4 hours ago, Annatar Giftbringer said:

What about mark of chaos? I was thinking initially mark of Slaanesh. I understand I won’t need it for the advance & charge stratagem, since they have that one built in, but the increased crit chance with sustained hits sounded good. Perhaps I’m looking at it the wrong way? Undivided for rerolls, or Tzeench for ress & heal, or….

 

It seems a lot of people go Undivided (though that's with a Lord, for free Profane Zeal). But if you do run them with an Exalted Champion, Undivided's Dark Pact giving them re-roll 1's to Hit, while the Champion gives them +1 to hit, virtually guarantees their attacks land.

 

I personally like Slaanesh, for the reason you said.

 

Nurgle might have some play, Dark Obscuration letting them get close to enemies, and helping the effectiveness of their Combi-Weapons a touch. Tzeentch if you want to use Skinshift to heal up/bring back 3W models. Khorne could help them take on high Toughness enemies (though it can't be taken with the MoP leading the unit).

 

I don't think there's a "wrong" pick.

[Kaiju Soze]

Undivided with Master of Executions and Liber Hereticus; it doesn't take much to get the re-rolls from the MoE to maximise both Lethal Hits and Sustained Hits.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Master of Executions isn’t a viable option currently, I’m afraid. Might be a long term goal, but it’s a model I don’t own and I’m gonna use them soon-ish. 
 

good tip for the future though!

[Tokugawa]

On 2/17/2024 at 3:11 PM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Yeah, I didn't mean this edition - just that in some future edition, the rules pendulum is likely to swing back to increased granularity in points, and should such happen "all the possible gear" might no longer be the best option.  Given the time it takes me to paint stuff, I see this as a multi-edition hobby and find that its sometimes worth "future proofing"

No. Once adapted easier and faster points calculation, most people would never look back. 0pts wargears design would be long stay. Maybe for game balancing, some very unique and special upgrade pieces should have 10pts or 15pts cost in future, but that is furthest.