Friday 28 May 2010

Fixing C:CSM - Part 1 - Marks and Icons


As you may or may not be aware Codex: Chaos Space Marines isn't very good..at all...not even slightly.

In the unlikely event that anybody from GW stumbles across my humble Blog i suppose I should be marginally more constructive than planning inventive ways of torturing Gav Thorpe to death.

Therefore...

Part 1 - Marks and Icons.

The problems.

1) Marks of Chaos don't really add much in real terms when you put them on a Chaos Lord or Sorceror and (up until recently) were only put on Daemon Princes so you could give them Lash of Submission.
2) On units I can understand them not having the same benefits as the 'Cult' troops, that's fair enough. What I don't understand is why they forget that they're slightly faster, tougher or whatever when the guy with the icon catches a bolt shell to the face. Apparently picking up sacred icons isn't covered in the 'So you've decided to turn to Chaos' handbook.

Solution to problem 1

Chaos Lords, Chaos Sorceror's and Daemon Princes should have access to a better Mark than an 'ordinary' Chaos Marine. Lets call them 'Greater Marks of Chaos' till I can think of something cooler.

Greater Mark of Chaos Undivided: +1S, Gains one free 're-roll' per game that may be used for any purpose.
Greater Mark of Khorne : +1 WS*, +1A, Furious Charge.
Greater Mark of Nurgle : +1 T, Feel no Pain, Defensive Grenades.
Greater Mark of Tzeentch** : Invulnerable save becomes 3+ (Chaos Lord), Rolls 3 Dice for Psychic tests and may discard one of his choice (Chaos Sorceror).
Greater Mark of Slaanesh : +2 I, Fleet, Defensive Grenades***.

* I'm going to make the Chaos Lord WS 8 basic so that +1 to WS will make a big difference.
** These are a bit lame but I couldn't think of anything better (for the moment).
*** Slaanesh is a tricky one as from a 'Fluff' point of view they should really have Feel no Pain.

Solution to problem 2

Units pay for a Mark. Feel free to make a nicely converted Icon Bearer but if he dies the unit still gets the 'Mark' upgrades it however loses the ability to use the Icon as a scatter prevention target for Deep Strikes. I personally think this is a decent compromise.

Note - These articles will probably get edited a lot as balance issues occur to me based on other changes.

Thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. What about getting free champions for your troops if their squad number equals the patron gods favoured number (indicated by greater mark).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you mean something like...

    If a Lord or Sorcerer takes a Greater Mark of Chaos any Chaos Space Marine unit that numbers equal to their Patron Gods sacred number may upgrade a single model to Aspiring Champion for free.

    Example - Lord Pukevomit takes a Greater Mark of Nurgle, therefore all CSM units that number 7 or a multiple thereof may upgrade a single model to Aspiring Champion for free.

    I suppose it would be a good way of rewarding people for taking armies that are in character.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I found that ridiculously hard to word. That should be in addition to some stat bonus imo

    ReplyDelete
  4. i like the idea behind greater marks, would help make the lords and sorcerers more appealing. the +1 s is a bit iffy(since the daemon weapon gives that) but the re roll is cool.

    for tzeentch what about ap3 bolts?
    maybe +1 I and sonic weapon options for slannesh?

    solution 2 also sounds good for troops but i reckon both would help. as you could actually start with proper traitor war bands, rather than the renegade codex that it is. (note all special characters are renegades from the original legions)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Undivided was a bit tricky as I needed to find something that wasn't the same as the God specific upgrades
    AP3 bolts is a good idea for a Tzeentch only upgrade.
    I still like the idea of +2I on Slaanesh Lords though sonic weapons are also a possibility.
    I'll probably do at least one of these posts every couple of days for the next few weeks. All input is welcome.

    ReplyDelete

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