Goatboy here again with a quick little write up on how Chaos came out on top of the new FAQ – aka Warhammer 40K 8.75 edition.

Overall I think Chaos came out pretty well. One annoying thing happened (really for me and some of my friends…) but overall it was pretty nice to the true heroes of 40k. With that – let’s go over some of the new rules, ideas, and tweaks that Chaos got.

Goodnight Sweet Prince(s)

The big negative that really only effects me and my buddy Kenny is the loss of 9 Daemon Princes. I only played it a few times so in reality it didn’t affect me. I really only had so many Daemon Princes because I love painting them. The bigger thing in all of this is it started to lock in what GW feels is viable on models that have mostly the same name and stats and how many you can take. The rule of 3 should fall through all of the armies. We’ll see if they show up on some of the other things like how all these Marine Captains shouldn’t really be playing together. Either way – while the loss of so many monsters of Chaos is heart breaking – the other bits of the FAQ more than make up for it.

Chaos Rising!

Chaos Soup is Still Tasty!

The next big thing is that there was nothing limiting how different factions of Chaos work together. Eldar lost a lot of buff potential with the changes to their Psychic powers and I expect Chaos armies to get the same thing. Lucky for us – the glue of the Daemon Keyword means that all is still right in the multiple staking nonsense that is the Warp infused brethren. The other big change helped out a lot too as a lot of new things became viable but it is the keyword Daemon helping out the most. Now you can easily stack all your Daemon, Daemon Engines, and monsters into a list and watch as this synergy takes off. Chaos was the first of the books to get a real set of Nerf bats (and rightfully so as they all made things a little too good for the enemies of the game) so it is expect to have some return on all those limited rules.

Now Working for Legions!

Chaos Characters Buffed

After the not having to worry about losing abilities between books – the next huge update was the addition of “character” to the list of units that can get Legion traits. This is insanely huge as it activates so many other units out there. Khorne Juggernaut riders become viable again as well as the index induced Steeds of Slaanesh riders (I expect something to come back for them… maybe in a purplish pink shade who loves heavy metal). The biggest punch up is the awesome Lord Discordant who finally gets those cool Legion rules that Paul Murphy tried to talk about in this preview on Warhammer Community. I think the Lord Discordant becomes just insane as there is almost some bit of awesome for all Legions available. Are you worried about your expensive plastic jerk dying quickly? Make him sneaky like the Alpha Legion and throw a Nurgle Spell on him. Heck make him even harder to hit with the Priest praying over his mechanical tentacles of doom. I am really enamored with the Red Corsairs so having a Lord Discordant that doesn’t need a Slaanesh herald to advance and charge is a pretty awesome thing. The biggest one I expect to see is the Flawless Host Discordant with a 5+ to generate extra attacks. Heck all of the Renegade legions sound amazing for the Lord Discordant. I hope you guys bought some because they are going to be showing up on so many tables.

UP, UP and AWAY!

The <FLY> change for charging models is extremely helpful. The Daemon Prince having the ability to jump over screens will be helpful in getting some units. A few buffs and this cruise missile becomes deadly. The old Tzeentch Chaos Lord on a Disc seems pretty good as well and of course the new Smash Captain is going to be a problem for many armies. The Host Raptorial Detachment looks to be interesting with 3 Smash Chaos Lords and a Sorcerer to buff your buddies up. If only the Exalted Champion could strap on a jump pack.

Bolters & More

I think the removal of Bolter Discipline from special ammunition means your screens will last a bit longer. I am sad I lost it from my Rhinos (was planning a Rhino rush army) but most likely it needed to happen. I think there was a threat of vehicles getting a bit too much basic shooting to worry about. Heck the threat of so many Deathwatch armies coming was a scary thing to think about. A lot of players were building it out so I feel for them – but it seems like they will still work out pretty well. Speaking of Imperium nerfs – taking some of the bite out of the Castellan was a much needed thing. I think removing their 3+ all turn Inv save was extremely important. Now you can respond and remove the threat instead of watching all your damage bounce off to much of the time. I expect a lot more vehicles to show up so Chaos might have to invest in more anti vehicle options – or just have more Lord Discordant punching plastic boxes into oblivion.

A weird rule that hampers some of Chaos “double” attack options is removal of being able to be selected to fight again if you are not within 1″ of a model and did not charge. This is huge as a lot of Chaos Players liked to use the double attack of say – Tzaangors – to move more and lock up more things outside of the charge range. It doesn’t stop you from using it when you charge to go again and move closer – it just means you have to plan things better. It makes sense as they don’t want you to use the Stratagem to generate extra movement – especially when you didn’t charge or couldn’t charge for some reason.

Freedom From (Ynnari) Fear

From a non Chaos nerf perspective – the new Ynarri updates really helps out the army. Gone are the days of murderous Shining Spears getting buffed up, moving 40 inches, and punching you in the face. Now they have to stay Craftworld to be viable and that is a huge boon for Chaos armies everywhere. I’ve always hated the Eldar so anything that keeps some of the nonsense down is a good thing. They also lost Doom for all their friends and that is good thing. I won’t go into how many times I have lost something to doom and their friends shooting that doesn’t match the Eldar army. The stacks become an issue when it allows too much stuff to be effective.

Oh awesomely enough (just read it) it seems the Accursed Crozius is now able to be swapped for the 2 special Power Maul relics. This is awesome – if not really usable – so yay on common sense FAQ updates. But the weird Butcher’s nail FAQ is odd as it only allows the extra attack on the first fight phase. That just feels like an odd addition to the rule.

WINNER – Chaos!

Overall I think Chaos came out great from the FAQ. The only other army that seems to love the new set of rules would be the Tau army as it has some nice updates to the army. The removal of some of the big bads from the current Meta is a boom for the bad guys. Mix this with some additional cool rules and updates and we have a home run of an update. I guess I need to get started on finishing my 3 Lord Discordants and Daemon engines for the Alamo GT.

~How good do you think Chaos are post-FAQ?