Revisiting and Revitalizing the Chaos Cult Marines

[Katharon]

Maybe I'm obsessive-compulsive, or simply the daemons are wispering louder than usual, but I felt compelled to try figuring out a way to make Chaos Space Marines cult-marines (i.e. those devoted to a single Chaos deity) what they should – basically, how can we bring them back to the Legion-traits based ideals that we really want. The Loyalist Space Marines all have their respective chapter tactics after all, so why not share some love with CSM, eh? (Well, many reasons, but largely because Slaanesh always hogs the limelight.)


So, to start off, let's go back to the beginning. What are we working with here?


The Beginning

Day 1, week 1

Arrived at new camp on planet Ythcolgar. Started to feel pain in left arm. No idea why. Hung piece of paper on brother Ardius’ backpack reading “Purge me!” and had a good (and sinister) laugh with the rest of the lads. Brother Behemon painted the coolest ever winged skull on his shoulderplate today, and was brutally butchered by the guv’ (Estragor, Exalted Champion of Chaos) for being a Night Lords sympathizer.

As all and sundry know, the Chaos Space Marines because Chaos-y as a result of the Horus Heresy; that titanic struggle that ripped apart the Imperium of Man at the starting height of what could have been a great golden age, but instead saw the galaxy plunged into a never-ending whirlpool of conflict and murder, while uncaring gods chuckled from the ether. The chief architect of this fall were a couple of idiots (no, not Lorgar – the blame lies with Kor Phaeron and Erebus), but ruthless and brilliant idiots nevertheless. After all, if something is stupid but works, then it's not stupid. Worshiping daemons is stupid, but they give you cool stuff and you get to do what you want, so it's not stupid.

The Great Four, or Pantheon, as they are sometimes referred to are represented as follows: Khorne, the god of battle, wrath, hatred, and bloodshed; Tzeentch, the god of change, lies, ambition, and mutation; Nurgle, the god of decay, entropy, inevitability, and struggle; Slaanesh, the god of excess, perversion, pain, and pleasure.

So here we have the gods. What then are their puppets?

The four legions of the Adeptus Astartes that each fell to worshiping a particular Chaos God: The World Eaters Legion, ruthless and blood-mad berzerkers that follow Khorne; The Thousand Sons Legion, bookish and obsessed with psychic power that follow Tzeentch; the Death Guard Legion, stoic and rotting by the power of Grandfather Nurgle; the Emperor's Children Legion, extreme sensation-seeking pleasure hounds that follow Slaanesh.

Gods and their puppets. Each is pretty unique and, in the fluff, quite adequately represent their respective deity of choice. But they started out as so much more, before they fell to worship: they were Astartes, the greatest warriors forged by Mankind in history. Forged biologically and mentally by psychic and genetic indoctrination to be the kind of mass murdering psychopaths that you need to conquer an entire galaxy; trained and armed by the best.

What (USRs) Each Should Share


Now, these Chaos Cult Marines have existed since the mid to late 31st millennium. They conquered the galaxy and then spent several decades tearing it back apart again. They didn't succeed, but not through lack of trying. Hardened by two galactic wars, they retreated into the Eye of Terror, the gate into the warp – which on a good day can be described as a horrific realm of madness, hope, despair, and endless conflict; so kind of a nice vacation. Each of the legions that fell back into the Eye of Terror lost the cohesion that would allow you to really label them as 'legions'.

I'm sorry, but that's the bad news: Chaos Cult Marines are no longer legionnaires. But it's OK!

In exchange for the break down of their ranks and organization, the warbands that would come about became all the more savage and brutal – even in terms of what an Astartes is capable of. In terms of the table-top, that means what exactly? How can we adequately portray in rules what is shown in fluff? Well, firstly, it means that /all/ Cult Marines will share some basic USRs.

Fearless
These guys have conquered everything the galaxy threw at them, then spit in the eye of the God-Emperor that made them – that takes a giant pair of low-hangers that the best action heroes would envy. As such, they should get Fearless. (Yes, they get that now already, but it needs to be said; just covering all the bases)

Fear
One of the key things that is constantly brought up during the Horus Heresy is the fact that the regular hum-drum of humanity, when faced by these towering murder-machines, feel a sudden and practically mind-breaking fear: transhuman dread, as it is known in the fluff. Take that and multiply it by millenia spent murdering and sacrificing to the Gods of Chaos, practically permeating with their chosen deity's mojo, it seems deserving that they would cause everything they encounter that isn't immortal to feel FEAR.

Feel No Pain
(dodging moldy popcorn from the Nurgle section) Hear me out here, first of all. We all know that Space Marines are tough – they can take hits that would lay low any normal human being. How much more enduring and powerful can we consider these Cult Marines – even to the extent that their existence within the Warp for thousands of years may have affected them in other ways. Now, obviously each of the various variations of the Cult Marines will have different levels of FnP (Plague Marines will always have the best). So they're all tougher than anyone else, though some among them are tougher than others.


So there you go, the three F's. The three USRs that I believe that all Cult Marines really should share.

BUT WAIT! There's more!


What Makes Each Unique

So, as we said, each Chaos Cult Marine is a warrior who has gone through nearly 10,000 years of constant struggle, combat, and mind-break to become something that even a Death Company Marine would pause and admire. But each is also quite representative of their chosen deity. Here I'll discuss what wargear and extra Special Rules that they deserve to have. So let's get down to that:


World Eaters Berzerkers

The Blood God's own most glorious basterds. To be a true Khorne Berzerker is to be a member of the old World Eaters Legion and having half your brain replaced by an implant that makes you SO ANGRY AND RAAAAGGEE URRRGHNNNN that they could probably teach the Hulk a few things on the subject. So, what wargear and USRs are:

(1) Khorne's Will (basically a copy of Adamantium Will, but more Chaos-y)
(2) Black Crusader (copy of Crusader, but more Chaos-y)
(3) Furious Charge
(4) Fear
(5) Fearless
(6) Mark of Khorne (as is stands now)
(7) Hammer of Wrath
(8) Hatred (Imperium)
(9) Feel No Pain (5+)

(a) Bolt pistol, chain-axe, bolt gun, frag grenades, krak grenades, power armor

WS:5 BS:4 S:4 T:4 W:1 I:5 A:2 Ld:9 Sv: 3+

Why These?
Khorne Bezerkers are suppose to be one of the most deadly close-combat units in the 40K universe; only a few Eldar folk or Space Marines (and daemons) able to come close to matching them (if that). As warriors who have pledged themselves to Khorne, they're naturally harder to affect with psychic/sorcerers power. They get the Crusader, Chaos version, rule because it's an example of just how effective they are in getting where they can stab things and in sweeping over the opposition. Hammer of Wrath, because – come on guys, they're followers of the God of Wrath! Hatred (Imperium) because it is the Imperium which they are forever in combat with.

Wargear-wise, I've always thought it silly that Berzerkers don't seem to carry their bolters. They're not idiots – bloody-thirsty, yes, but idiots no. So, giving them their bolters can make them a bit more usable and not pigeon-hole. Plus, it's not like they were throwing everything away when they retreated back into the EoT.

Stat-wise, I increased their Initiative and increased their base attacks.

Thousand Sons/Rubric Marines

The Tomb Guard of Khemri that have – oops, *cough* BLAM! (excuse the commissar while they drag out the filth).

The Thousand Sons! Formerly one of the most psychic-powered group of Astartes you could ever imagine – and not only more so. But that's only for the Sorcerers. Your regular joe-smoe Thousand Son that was Blunt (not Blank), were sadly turned to dust by the machinations of Ahriman in his bid to deny Tzeentch his goals...the silly fool. I'm fairly much in favor of calling them Rubric Marines, because eof the fact that they were only created after Ahriman did his spell: the Rubric of Ahriman. So, let's get down to it:

(1) Psychic Will (new rule, name can change, basically +2 to Deny the Witch; stackable with Sorcerer being a Psyker)
(2) Aura of Dark Glory (as is)
(3) Mark of Tzeentch (as is, but this could include the Deny the Witch bonus mentioned above)
(4) Feel No Pain (5+)
(5) Fear
(6) Fearless
(7) Veterans of the Long War (as is)
(8) Slow and Purposeful
(9) Psyker (Mastery Level 1) (Sorcerer only)

(a) Bolt gun, bolt pistol, close combat weapon (Thousand Son only), force-weapon (sorcerer only), Inferno Bolts, krak grenades

WS:4 BS:4 S:4 T:4 W:1 I:3 A:2 Ld:10 Sv: 3+

Why These?
Thousand Sons are the most linked to the raw power of the warp, more so than any other Cult Marine; this is reflected in an increased ability to deny that same Warp power affecting them. FnP is greater than their fleshy brethren because, well, they are only suits of power armor propelled by the chained wills of psykers and the trapped souls of former Thousand Son marines. As for the war-gear, just like it seemed silly for the Berzerkers to misplace their bolt guns, so too was it strange for the Thousand Sons to somehow misplace their butter knives. Also, I added krak grenades to give them a bit more versatility.


Death Guard - The First Plague Marines

The kind of folk you never want to invite to a dinner party – to many flies – are the Death Guard/Plague Marines. Well, by now you know the spiel, so let's get on with it, eh? Here we go:


(1) Mark of Nurgle (as is)
(2) Feel No Pain (3+)
(3) Fear
(4) Fearless
(5) Hatred (Imperium)
(6) Veterans of the Long War

(a) power armor, boltgun, bolt pistol, plague knife, blight grenades, krak grenades

WS:4 BS:4 S:4 T:5 W:1 I:3 A:1 Ld:9 Sv:3+

Why These?
Well, to be honest, the Death Guard are fairly decent as they currently are – but they lack that extra bit of edge that a model so expensive truly needs. As devotees to the Grandfather of Pestilence, they are more familiar with pain than even a Dark Eldar is likely to be, existing as constant, roiling petri dishes for Nurgle to play with as he wishes. Making them pay an extra tax for VotLW seemed excessive as well, so I included that in their profile as well.

Additional: Squad size limited to 10 models.

Emperor's Children Noise Marines

What happens when you combine Keith Richards, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden, and an Astartes together? You get a Noise Marine. There are section headers here in bold, after all. Same deal, different Cult:


(1) Mark of Slaanesh (as it)
(2) Fear
(3) Fearless
(4) Feel No Pain (4+)
(5) Rampage
(6) Hatred (Imperium, Eldar)
(7) Veterans of the Long War

(a) power armor, boltgun, bolt pistol, close-combat weapon, clamor grenades, krak grenades

WS:4 BS:4 S:4 T:4 W:1 I:5 A:2 Ld:10 Sv:3+

Why Theses?

Wait – what the frak are clamor grenades? Well, I'm glad you asked other-me. They are as follows:

Weapon: Clamor Grenades
Range: 8”
Strength: 4
AP: 5
Type: Assault 1, Blast, Clamorous*

Clamorous: A unit that suffers a wound from this weapon may not make an Overwatch charge reaction during the following Assault Phase.

So, yes, due to their grand experimentation into the excessive amount of noise and sights that can blind the senses, they get a grenade that is similar to Blind – but more specific and more effective. The reason being that if anyone knows how to make a weapon to paralyze a foe through their senses (audio, visual, etc), then it's the Noise Marines. I also gave them Hatred for Eldar in addition to the Imperium faction; and Rampage – because if you're rock stars on steroids, you know how to throw a good rave and rampage.




What Else Can Be Done?


So that is something that can be done to the base flavor of these Cult Marines. Point-wise, if they were to make these changes, then I would keep them all as the points that they have right now. But that does mean that another issue needs to be made:

(1) Include the Thousand Sons to the Chaos Lord's profile, enabling them to be taken as troops if the Chaos Lord takes MoT (not just Ahriman). There are other Thousand Son sorcerers running around, after all.
(2) The Chaos Boon Table. It's a table that is meant to have rewards for especially loyal servants of Chaos that have achieved their goals and pleased the gods. I'd remove the spawnhood result. Some people may get angry about that, but I'll simply sip my tea and glance at the current Perils of the Warp; I think we can all agree that if you screw up when using the titanic forces of the warp, you shouldn't then be rewarded by becoming a Super Saiyan (looking at you #6: Warp Surge). Other's might argue that this is the fluff bit, where the warp is fickle...hmm, yeah, no. There shouldn't be any positives on a table entitled “PERILS of the Warp”.
(3) Fold the daemonkin blood counter system into the CSM codex, but more general. Instead of granting FnP (we already dealt with that above) and an extra attack; it would grant more things like +1 Initiative or maybe +D6” to Charge ranges, etc.
(4) Bring back the old 5th Edition rules concerning transports and units disembarking from a transport that has not moved. The old rules had it that if a transport had not moved, any units that got out of it, could assault the turn they did so. This would give not only CSM, but nearly every army, a better way of delivery for close-combat. Lot of people complain about how “Assault is Dead,” but that's only up to a point. By making this change, it would, I believe, even the scales that have been tipped by the inclusion of Overwatch.


Think this is all crazy? Comment! Think of some new ideas or critiques? COMMENT!


Happy wargaming folks.

Day 7, week 7

Today, we were visited by a group of die-hard Nurgloids. Their Champion had newly been given the legs of a fly. Imagine trying to walk about on those thin little legs when you’re eight feet tall and wearing power armor... Well, at least he can hang from the ceiling, and I guess it could be worse. One time back in camp I heard a story of a Slaaneshi Champion who was given a most unusual gift by his patron god. All his body-parts became erogenous. Whether this was meant to be advantageous or not, we will never know... Later, we all teleported aboard the supply-ship which was passing through the fleet en route to the Eye. The ship was carrying all kinds of junk. Before we departed from it, I had got hold of a collection of Waystones, a shrunken ork-head, two kegs of some kind of drink, and Angron’s autograph signed in blood (probably a fake, since I doubt Angron really spells his name with a smiley at the end. Furiax found a fake “Forgebreaker”-hammer, a pint of old combat-drugs, a humorous parody of the Codex Astartes, and a crappy old weapon with “Mjalnar” engraved into it’s rusty blade. We also got our hands on an old map, quite fortunate, since we couldn’t get hold of any toilet paper! And who’s looking for the location of a so-called “Black Library”, anyway? Later in the evening, our ship was almost hit by a two-tailed comet! We watched it zoom past our window and impact on a nearby planet. We were originally scheduled to virus-bomb that planet for fun, but Lord Astralax assumed that the comet had probably already caused some serious destruction. And when a comet impacts on a planet, it’s gonna destroy a little more than just a single town. Trust me.