Chosen loadouts

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I figured that it was about time I field my own chosen squad, as they seem to be a staple in most lists and I need any edge I can get against my friend's necrons (their 3 wound profile would be huge against the 2D weapons of his many destroyers).  I also figured that I could probably convert my old Dark Vengence models (I have 10) without too much effort, before I build and paint some more appropriately scaled and (for my army) caped models using the current GW kit.

 

Then I actually took a look at their wargear selections - man, they are complicated.  I'm debating whether its worth converting the dark vengeance models, as it would require a lot more work than I anticipated. 

 

Having worked out what the legal loadouts are (which took a bit), I think the best way to kit them is:

-  In terms of shooting, 4x combiweapons, 4x plasmapistols

-  In terms of melee, 2x power fists, 2x twin accursed weapons, 6x accursed weapons.

 

The question then becomes where to best put the plasma pistols and icon.  To me, its a balance between putting them on models you want to keep so you can remove "chaff" before "value" during regular casualty allocation, balanced with not putting them with wargear you don't want to lose from a failed hazardous test.  So, basically, one benefits you from putting all your eggs in one basket, while the other punishes you for doing so.  Given the way hazardous tests are "pooled" (rather than taken by individual models) in 10e, I think I'll probably hedge my bets by doing both - taking 2 on the power fists, which I want to keep, and the other 2 on combiweapon models, which I can allocate failed hazarous tests to first.  That said, if hazardous tests change next edition to remove the pooling, having them on the powerfists is back to being a liabilty.

 

That said, a further consideration against putting them the combiweapons is that both the combiweapons and the pistols are best at within 12", but you can only fire one, whereas on a bolter model it essentially gives you the bolter for long range and the plasma for close.

 

As a final note, I'm not a huge fan of just putting on a holster and saying that's a plasma pistols - with impactful weapons such as it, I want it to be actually visible and identifiable on the model.  That's one reason why I didn't put any on the paired accursed weapons models, though that's probably the most efficient place to put them in terms of shooting volume, as you don't lose any bolter shots (that said, any loss of efficiency is minimal).

 

Anyway, interested in hearing how others have built theirs and why, and if there are any considerations I've missed or an over/under valuing in my thoughts above.

Edited October 16 by Dr_Ruminahui

[HeadlessCross]

"Balance" is wrong in this case. Throw the Plasma Pistols on the Fists or Claw guys (can't remember if Claw guys can take the Plasma) and put the icon on a Fist. 

[Tallarn Commander]

I can't really speak to your ranged configuration, my Chosen seem to do very little damage with their ranged weapons. And I've tried various ranged configurations. My Chosen Squads' lethality lies in the melee phase these days, which is the opposite of how Chosen worked when I started using them.

 

But your melee configuration is exactly how I configure my Chosen. This edition my Chosen are often my best unit.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

On 10/17/2025 at 8:29 AM, HeadlessCross said:

"Balance" is wrong in this case. Throw the Plasma Pistols on the Fists or Claw guys (can't remember if Claw guys can take the Plasma) and put the icon on a Fist. 

 

The Paired Accursed Weapons can take the plasma pistol, a bit oddly - I guess on the reasoning that the pair doesn't have to be lightning claws, whose "mittens" would (realistically) make pistol use difficult.

 

So, you think the flexibility in regular casualty removal outweighs the risk of losing a better melee model through hazardous?  Or is your thinking based on something else?

 

And  @Tallarn Commander, I agree its kind of weird that Chosen went from being a shooty unit to a melee unit - previously there were 2 builds for Chosen (melee and shooting) but the melee role was better done by other units for cheaper, so typically weren't often fielded (I did, but found them two expensive and keeping track of the various melee profiles too complicated).  So, by a) combiweapons becoming completely different weapons this edition and b) every chosen, no matter their other weapons, by default gets a power weapon.  They essentially folded the 2 builds into 1 that did both things, but melee considerably better than shooting - plus they gave them an extra wound.  All while keeping them reasonably point costed, which is nice - often units that do more than 1 thing (even mediocrely) pay extra for doing so, making them too expensive (terminators and land raiders are kind of the poster children for this, traditionally), so I'm happy that Chosen didn't get that treatment.

Edited October 18 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Volgon]

There was actually a post about this recently on the Warhammer Competitive subreddit about Liam VSL's CSM list (one of if not the best CSM player in the world, just won the London Grand Tournament for the third time in a row). You can see the discussion here. 

 

While army lists usually are a bunch of wargear vomit, it does separate the leader from the rest of the models, which he armed with a Power Fist + Plasma Pistol + Icon. Following that same logic (that being, the most valuable models get the most valuable wargear), I think it's likely he put the rest of the Plasma Pistols on the Fists and Twin Accursed Weapon models. The question then becomes: what is the use case of the Overcharged profile? And to that I say: pretty much none for this unit, as 4 overcharged shots, averaging 2-3 hits, and then Wound rolls and Saves, does not ever seem worth the risk to lose a 25 point model that is primarily a melee threat, even if the pistol was on a stock standard Accursed Weapon + Boltgun Marine instead of a Fist/Claw model.

 

The whole tournament was streamed on the Wargames Live youtube channel, so if you really want to try and decipher Liam's exact loadout and use case, you could go through the VODs and try to find his games (will find at least one in the Grand Finals) and try to figure out more info from there.

 

[HeadlessCross]

12 hours ago, Tallarn Commander said:

I can't really speak to your ranged configuration, my Chosen seem to do very little damage with their ranged weapons. And I've tried various ranged configurations. My Chosen Squads' lethality lies in the melee phase these days, which is the opposite of how Chosen worked when I started using them.

 

But your melee configuration is exactly how I configure my Chosen. This edition my Chosen are often my best unit.

They USED to do a little range damage when Combi-Weapons weren't turned into what they are today. 

[Galron]

I actually like combi-weapons on units when I can bring them. Dev wounds are great on a 4+ even if it is just 1D. They do pretty decent in rapid fire range and arent bad for softening infantry up.

 

You want a confusing mix of weapons, try looking at Nemesis Claw.