Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

The Lost and the Damned name it the Long War, and it has raged without pause since Horus fell.

Many thousands of Traitor Astartes survived the Siege of Terra. Many died as they fled, hounded without mercy by the fallen Emperor's victorious fleets, but many more eluded their pursuers to reach safety within the Empyrean. They took the strange, daemon-haunted worlds they found there for their own, and within the warped reality of the Eye of Terror they built impossible fortresses, raised mighty armies of daemons and mutants, and waged bitter, fratricidal conflicts against one another. But they never forgot their humiliation, and ever they turned from fighting each other to unite against the common foe.

Years, centuries, and finally millenia passed. Again and again the hordes of Chaos rampaged forth to drown the worlds of the Imperium in blood, to take ten-thousand-fold vengeance for the death of their Warmaster and the shattering of their dreams of conquest. But year after year, century after century, their numbers dwindled, victims of the weapons of their innumerable enemies or the cruel vicissitudes of the Warp. The twisted science of Fabius Bile could make Astartes out of men, nearly, and there were always a few of the Corpse-God's lackeys who could be persuaded to see the truth; but nothing could replace the long experience, immense power, and bitter, driving hatred of one of the Traitor Legionnaires.

There are few of those ancient and terrible soldiers still living. Though time does flow strangely in the Warp, less than a tithe of those who fled the collapse of the Great Rebellion survive; Imperial watch-dogs have slain them, the horrors of the Warp have twisted them beyond recognition, or they have died at alien hands attempting to retrieve some artifact from lost worlds. But those who yet live and carry on the age-old feud stand among the very mightiest of warriors. They have honed their skills and nurtured their hatred for ten thousand years. Some march in the armies of the Despoiler while others lead their own warbands out into the galaxy to lay waste to whatsoever they find. They are the champions of the Long War. They are the greatest enemies of humanity. They are the favored sons of the chaos gods, and wherever they go the power of mankind trembles upon its foundation.


These rules can be used to represent survivors of the original Traitor Legions; those Chaos Space Marines who lived through the Horus Heresy, and have survived all the millenia since. I don't feel the rules for generic Chaos Space Marines adequately represent such apocalyptic warriors, especially since there is no distinction drawn between renegade Space Marines and the original Legionnaires. If nothing else, these fighters survived the Siege of Terra, a battle where hundreds of thousands of Astartes and nearly an entire planetary population were annihilated. A Space Marine created from the Emperor's own gene-seed, who was worthy to fight alongside his Primarch, would in my opinion be much more powerful than a renegade from the 41st millenium, even leaving aside the difference in experience. My goal is to work up usable, relatively balanced rules for high-powered units that represent veterans from each of the nine Traitor Legions, with fluffy, balanced rules for each Legion's tactical peculiarities and whatever blessings they have earned from the Gods they worship. Yes, this will include alternate rules for the Thousand Sons.

Any unique or new special rules/wargear will be listed in bold, with an explanation immediately following. I'll start off with the World Eaters, then add the other Legions as I settle on the rules for them.



Traitor Legionnaire Special Rules

These rules are shared by many of Traitor Legionnaires, and so are explained here for ease of reference.

Ancient Rivalry - The Dedicant Legions each devoted themselves to one or more of the Ruinous Powers, receiving immense power from their patron in exchange for total submission. While many of the younger recruits ignore these pacts or dedicate themselves to the worship of Chaos Undivided, the ancients who fought alongside Horus in his great rebellion remember them still, and maintain the age-old jealousies of their deities.

Any unit with Ancient Rivalry has the Preferred Enemy USR when attacking any unit dedicated to the god or gods named. Furthermore, no models dedicated to a Rival god may be taken in the same army as a model with Ancient Rivalry (any model with a Mark of a certain god is 'dedicated' to that god). The Word Bearers have no Ancient Rival named; rather, before the game begins they may declare which god they are temporarily aligning themselves with, and thus which restrictions and benefits they will gain.

Dark Legends - Those few who have survived the full span of the Long War stand as colossi among the ranks of the Traitors, bloody-handed destroyers who know nothing of fear. They have spat defiance in the faces of the mightiest foes imaginable, and yet remain unbowed. Their very presence inspires lesser creatures to acts of suicidal ferocity, as they strive to emulate the Chosen of the Gods.

All models with this rule are Fearless; furthermore, any unit from Codex: Chaos Space Marines which has a model within 12" of a model with this rule may re-roll any failed Morale checks.

All units comprised of models with this rule are Elites choices. You may only ever have ONE unit with the Dark Legends special rule in your army, unless your army contains Abbadon the Despoiler or another Special Character with the same Mark as the unit. If Abbadon the Despoiler or an appropriate Special Character is present, this limitation is removed and you may take as many Dark Legends as your FOC allows.

Traitor Legionnaire Wargear
Items of wargear that are unique to a particular Legion will be explained in their unit entry; those which more than one Legion have access to are listed here.

Daemon Armor: The Warp is not utterly incomprehensible; for those who have spent many centuries within it, plumbing the depths of its horrors and secrets, the Immaterium can (under the right conditions) be manipulated and put to use. The elder and more powerful of the Traitor Marines know many such, for the knowledge of at least some basic Warp-craft is a priceless advantage in the deadly power struggles that constantly sweep across the daemon worlds. The ancients of the Legions may ritually anoint their armor with the blood of slain foes, carve sorcerous runes into the joints and seams, or simply make a pact with a minor daemon to ward them in battle; however they accomplish it, such Warp-infused armor is far stronger than mortal metal, allowing those fell warriors who wear it to shrug off blows that would shatter the hull of a battle-tank. Daemon armor confers a 2+ armor save.

Kai Gun: The Machine-Priests of Kai survived better than might have been anticipated after their world was engulfed by a warp storm and drawn into the Eye of Terror; for hundreds of years they played the Traitor Legions and other daemonic factions off against each other, manufacturing and selling powerful psychically-charged firearms for a degree of protection from the merciless caprices of their new masters. Their immense skill was their undoing, however, for eventually the Thousand Sons grew tired of competing with the other Legions for Kai's artifacts and overthrew the Machine-Priests, descending upon the world by night in a sudden wave of greedy sorcerers and implacable Rubric Marines. They carried away every Kai Gun they could find and a few select Forgemasters, leaving only silent corpses and smoking ruins behind. None except the Thousand Sons now know the secrets of constructing these terrible weapons; some few hundred still exist outside their control, however, mostly in the hands of the Iron Warriors. A Kai Gun fires with the following profile.
Kai Gun: Range 24", Str 5, AP 3, Assault 2


The Dedicant Legions

Of the nine Traitor Legions, four gave themselves over fully to the worship of one of the Ruinous Powers, and one devoted themselves to the worship of the entire pantheon. Some willingly embraced the worship of Chaos while others were tricked or coerced, but in the 41st millenium, none of the survivors retain any doubts or misgivings. Those who still live know they do so only because they have pleased their patrons; the Dark Gods have given them aid and succor for ten thousand years, and for that the Legionnaires have incurred an unpayable debt. The veterans of the Dedicant Legions evince the epitome of fanaticism; their faith is all they have left, for anything that might have held them to another cause was destroyed during the Heresy or has crumbled under the weight of years. They are the greatest mortal worshippers of the Pantheon of Chaos, bleak missionaries of pain and evangelists of woe. They carry the banners of their gods high as they wreak their endless revenge upon humanity.


------------------------------

World Eaters




------------------------------

Emperor's Children




------------------------------

Death Guard



------------------------------

Thousand Sons



------------------------------

Word Bearers




The Faithless Legions

The Horus Heresy is, perhaps, somewhat misnamed. It was not truly a religious conflict, certainly not at first; Horus was no zealot, but an ambitious and impatient man who saw a chance for power and grasped it with both hands. He never intended to truly worship Chaos, and even at the very end he offered them no prayers. The Warmaster saw his relationship with the Dark Gods not as that of a supplicant receiving divine aid, but an allicance between equals; he provided military force and influence in the mortal realm, while the creatures of the Immaterium gave him sorcerous aid and information. It was in this manner that he presented the prospect of revolt to the other Primarchs, and it was with such an arrangement in mind that most of them agreed to follow him. Only the Word Bearers, at the beginning, saw the Great Rebellion as a holy crusade.

As the war continued, of course, that changed. Several Legions were captivated by the Ruinous Powers, willingly or not; Mortarion was trapped in the warp and forced to bow to the Plaguefather, while Angron joyfully led his World Eaters into the heartfelt service of the Blood God. But nearly half the Traitors held themselves aloof, disdaining or distrusting the enticements offered by the Dark Gods; and they maintain that separation still. They do not fight from religious fervor; they sack the worlds of men not because the Gods have commanded it but because it is their own will and pleasure. They have turned aside from whatever comfort and security faith in Chaos offers, even rejecting the possibility of eventual Daemonhood in favor of retaining whatever shreds of humanity they have left. These bitter warriors are ever in the vanguard of the Long War, for they have little to distract them from it; where the attention of the Dedicants may be fixed upon the Immaterium for decades or centuries at a time, the Faithless own no master but themselves, and the one and only constant throughout all their endless warmaking is a burning hatred for the Imperium that cast them out so long ago.

------------------------------

Black Legion

Hmmm nice. However, there are some things that should be addressed:
-despite the hype, there are two things wrong with the idea that the original traitors are 10'000 years old- they never would have lived so long, becoming so decrepit as to be useless. Dante is the oldest space marine at 1200, and he is a chapter master. Time flows differently in the warp, so the traitors have probably only lived a few extra centuries.

Secondly, even if the warp made them immortal and they could live 10 millennia, if it takes a chapter master to survive 1000 years of constant warfare, then there's no way evena legionnaire can survive 10x that. Therefore, the current traitors in the eye are the descendants of the original traitors, (they know how to make more of themselves, with geneseed) not the legionnaires themselves.

That all said, space marines are horribly misrepresented in the game compared to fluff, so I support attempts to make more fluffy marines (both chaos and otherwise).

-I like ancient rivalry, but I think you should remove dark legends. Make these guys the standard chaos marine, forming small, elite armies. You should expand this to be a full chaos codex, with mutants and cultists supporting the small amounts of elite traitor marines.

-the statline I approve of. However, I think 2 attacks are enough, since they get extra attacks from his berserker rule and his bolt pistol. It's not that much of an issue I suppose.

-why an invulnerable save? Tzeentch gives magical protection, not khorne. He doesn't care from whence the blood flows, remember?

-all in all, very nice. Good job, I hope you get the rest of the legions done.

@Blackhoof - all sensible, except that a lot of the time, the gods resurrect their chaotic servants. It's quite feasible to have them living for 10,000+ years - in fact, it's one of the main reasons that good men join up with chaos - the chance to please them and receive immortality is temptation beyond sanity for some.

Blackhoof wrote:Hmmm nice. However, there are some things that should be addressed:
-despite the hype, there are two things wrong with the idea that the original traitors are 10'000 years old- they never would have lived so long, becoming so decrepit as to be useless. Dante is the oldest space marine at 1200, and he is a chapter master. Time flows differently in the warp, so the traitors have probably only lived a few extra centuries.

Secondly, even if the warp made them immortal and they could live 10 millennia, if it takes a chapter master to survive 1000 years of constant warfare, then there's no way evena legionnaire can survive 10x that. Therefore, the current traitors in the eye are the descendants of the original traitors, (they know how to make more of themselves, with geneseed) not the legionnaires themselves.

That all said, space marines are horribly misrepresented in the game compared to fluff, so I support attempts to make more fluffy marines (both chaos and otherwise).

-I like ancient rivalry, but I think you should remove dark legends. Make these guys the standard chaos marine, forming small, elite armies. You should expand this to be a full chaos codex, with mutants and cultists supporting the small amounts of elite traitor marines.

-the statline I approve of. However, I think 2 attacks are enough, since they get extra attacks from his berserker rule and his bolt pistol. It's not that much of an issue I suppose.

-why an invulnerable save? Tzeentch gives magical protection, not khorne. He doesn't care from whence the blood flows, remember?

-all in all, very nice. Good job, I hope you get the rest of the legions done.

Thanks! I'm still working on this; next up will be Death Guard and Emperor's Children.

As to the problems with a marine living for 10,000 years; nobody's gonna live long when he's charging a line of futuristic energy rifles with a sword! But given that the original Legionnaires were much closer to the Emperor and their Primarchs (and would thus be more inherently powerful, much like the original of a photograph is clearer than a copy of a copy of a copy) AND that the successful ones have some measure of support and protection from the Dark Gods, I think it's possible that some of the original Legionnaires have survived. Abbadon, for instance, we know has lived that long; he's a special case, granted, but that doesn't mean there can't be others.

For the statline; Basically, I have a template for the Legionnaires (4s across the board, 2 wounds, 2 attacks, Ld. 10) which I then give a couple of modifications for each individual Legions. World Eaters get +1 WS to represent their focus on close-combat, and MoK then gives them an extra attack; Emperor's Children, for instance, will be getting +1 WS and +1 BS, but fewer special rules, to represent their perfectionism, and then they'll also gain +1 Initiative from the MoS.

In general, I would rather raise the points cost than lower the power of the model; do you think the extra attack should bump them up by 5 more points?

The invulnerable save is honestly just for gameplay balance. Without one, these guys are easy meat for ID weapons or plasma, and nobody wants a 50+ point model that dies like a chump with no save. Fluffwise, even Khornate daemons get Invulnerable saves. The World Eaters, after having spent ten millenia marinating in Warp energy, are very nearly daemons themselves; their partially-daemonic nature, combined with their superhuman reflexes and literally unmatched experience in not dying, is what provides the save.

Instead of Invuln, Eternal Warrior works for 2-Wound models very nicely - and if any 6e rumours hold out, they'll do fine with Eternal Warrior (1). Very fluffy, very posh.

Mmm. . . that's true. I'll think about that. I may give the EW, and switch the rule to being an Invulnerable save only in CC.

EDIT: Made the edit. Does make a little more sense this way.

Emperor's Children are done; comments and criticism welcome! They've been added to the OP, but I'll also post the stats here for ease of viewing.

Emperor's Children

Ignorant Imperial scholars may speculate over why it is that even after ten thousand years, the Emperor's Children have never changed their name. Some call it mockery, a cruel jest at the expense of the loyal Astartes. Others believe it to be subterfuge, used to cause those ignorant of the true nature of the Emperor's Children to hesitate, for what planetary governor would open fire on a ship claiming the name of the Emperor himself? The truth is far simpler. . . they believe it. The Emperor's Children think themselves the pinnacle of creation, the endpoint of human evolution, and they half-sardonically honor the Emperor for the part he played in their existence. Without the Emperor they would never have been made into warriors powerful enough to attract the attention of the Ruinous Powers; without his arrogance and blindness, they would never have come to the Dark Prince.

The Emperor's Children are obsessives to a man, plunging themselves without reservation into their chosen fields until they have learned all there is to know. Not all choose the study of war, and so many of the Legion's survivors are never seen upon the battlefield, but those who do are the undisputed masters of their arts, dealing death with elegant precision to all who stand before them. They do not serve as mercenaries, but as leaders and champions; the mutants and lesser traitors which accompany them to the field do not really serve to support them in battle, but rather to provide a suitably appreciative audience to the thorough destruction that the Emperor's Children wreak upon their hapless foes.

Unit Cost: 45 points

Unit Composition; 1 Emperor's Children model
Unit Type; Infantry

Emperor's Children: WS5 BS5 S4 T4 W2 I5 A2 Ld10 Sv3+

Phoenix Guard: WS6 BS6 S4 T4 W2 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv2+

Wargear

Emperor's Children:
-Power armor
-Sonic blaster
-Bolt pistol
-Close-combat weapon
-Assault grenades
-Krak grenades
-Mark of Slaanesh (bonus included in profile)

Phoenix Guards:
-Terminator armor
-Sonic blaster
-Power weapon
-Assault grenades
-Krak grenades
-Mark of Slaanesh (bonus included in profile)

Special Rules

-Eternal Warrior
-Ancient Rivalry: Khorne
-Dark Legends
-Perfection of Form: The love of precision that was the hallmark of the Emperor's Children before their conversion has not died in the years since; indeed, in most cases it has strengthened, the desire for flawless performance twisted into mad obsession within minds cracked by millenia of existence within the Warp. The veterans of the Legion often gather into bands of like-minded warriors who share a single, overriding passion; ten thousand years of battle has given them plenty of time to hone their talents, assuring that a brotherhood of the Emperor's Children will nearly always be surpassingly lethal in their chosen area of expertise. Before any units are deployed, the unit must choose one special rule from the following list. They may not change which rule they will use during the game.

Shatter the Keystone: Through countless years of study and practice, the unit has learned the subtle weak points of thousands of designs of armor, martial arts styles, and even many arcane methods of protection. They are capable of dissecting unfamiliar guards with a moment's glance and knowing exactly where to strike to cause maximum damage. All successful saves made against wounds caused by this unit either in close combat or with ranged attacks (choose one) must be re-rolled, and the second result accepted.

Masters of the Hunt: The thrill of the chase can be as addictive as any drug to the altered brains of the Emperor's Children. Years in the Warp have twisted their bodies to match their desires, giving them speed and stamina far surpassing even that of a Space Marine. The unit has the Fleet USR, and may charge up to 12" (just like Cavalry).

The Eagle's Eyes: The Emperor's Children commonly delight in abusing their senses, but some find more pleasure in honing and exercising them instead. To a Legionnaire who has devoted himself to such practice, the night presents no obstacle and no enemy is safe; even at extreme range, these keen-eyed killers can place their fire with devastating precision. The unit has the Acute Senses USR, and may add 6" to the range of all their ranged weapons; so a Sonic Blaster may fire 30", and a Blastmaster may fire 52".

Rightful Prey: Any fool can slaughter a so-called warrior who lacks the speed to flee or the strength to fight; true glory comes only from conquering a stronger creature, or slaying those who possess a capability that you lack. Such is the martial philosophy of many of the Emperor's Children, and they have spent centuries in perfecting their skill at fighting such unusual enemies. These haughty warriors barely even condescend to kill the footsoldiers of their foes, instead hunting down more exotic and dangerous prey to test themselves against. Choose one unit type from the following list: Beasts/Cavalry, Jump Infantry, Monstrous Creatures, Bikes/Jetbikes, or Independent Characters. The unit may re-roll any failed rolls to hit against any unit or model of that type.

Princes Among Men: The Emperor's Children believe themselves to be unquestionably the mightiest of warriors; their champion's pride will brook no defiance, and they dislike to admit the existence of anyone superior to them. Anyone perceived to be a threat to this superiority arouses their wrath, and woe to such a man when the blades of Slaanesh's enraged champions reach his flesh. When engaged in close combat with any model that has WS5 or higher, every model in the unit gains +1 attack.


Options

May add up to 5 Emperor's Children at +45 points per model.

Any number of Emperor's Children may be upgraded to Phoenix Guards at +30 points per model. This cost includes the purchase of Terminator armor and a power weapon. Phoenix Guards have Princes Among Men automatically in effect at all times, but this does not count as the unit's choice from the Perfection of Form list; they will still gain the benefit of any other option selected, though they will gain no additional benefit if Princes Among Men is selected for the unit.

Any model may replace their power armor with Daemon armor (2+ armor save) or Terminator armor for +10 points. Any model in Terminator armor may replace it with Daemon armor for free.

The entire unit may take Combat Drugs at +10 points per model.
Combat Drugs: The Emperor's Children commonly make use of a wide variety of stimulants and painkillers, created from the rendered corpse of a sentient creature which has been carefully infused with warp energy. These drugs can massively enhance the physical abilities of the user. . . as long as he is strong enough to withstand the side-effects. The unit may declare they are using Combat Drugs at the beginning of any assault phase, before assault moves are made. For the remainder of that assault phase, the unit benefits from one of the following USRs, selected by the controlling player; Feel No Pain, Furious Charge, Stubborn, Hit and Run, Counter-Attack. However, a d6 must be rolled for each model in the unit when Combat Drugs are declared; on a roll of 1, the model loses a wound.

Any model may replace their close-combat weapon and/or bolt pistol with one of the following:
-Power weapon at +10 points per model
-Plasma pistol at +10 points per model
-Power fist at +20 points per model

Any model may replace their weapons with a pair of Lightning Claws at +20 points per model.


Any Phoenix Guard may replace their power weapon with one of the following:
-Power fist at +10 points per model
-Chainfist at +15 points per model
--Whispering Blade at +20 points per model
Whispering Blade: The Laeran sword of Fulgrim spoke to him, and with honeyed words led him carefully down the path to damnation. His followers have wallowed in that damnation for ten thousand years, and now the wicked blades of the legion's champions whisper to their enemies, hypnotizing them with half-heard murmurs and sly promises of endless delights for those who surrender to the will of the Dark Prince. A Whispering Blade ignores armor saves and decreases the Attacks characteristic of every enemy model in base contact with the wielder by 1. This is cumulative if multiple Whispering Blade-armed models are in base contact with a single enemy, but can never reduce the number of attacks to less than 1.

One model may replace their Sonic Blaster with a Blastmaster at +20 points. If the unit numbers 6 models, a second model may do so.

One model may take a Doom Siren at +15 points. If the unit numbers 6 models, a second model may do so.

One model may replace their weapons with a Blissgiver at +30 points.

If the unit contains no models in Terminator Armor, it may take a Chaos Rhino or a Chaos Land Raider as a dedicated transport. If the unit contains models in Terminator armor, it may not take a Chaos Rhino. Models in Terminator armor count as two models, for the purpose of determining how much of the Land Raider's transport capacity they take up.

Favored Sons: There are those among the Emperor's Children whose names are bywords even among their brethren for decadence and battle-lust, whose infamous feats of indulgent debauchery are spoken of in the same breath as fearful legends of the merciless slaughter they have wreaked. Such warriors have a dark, enthralling glamour about them which few men are strong enough to withstand; they go where they please and do as they will, and none can gainsay them.

Any unit of six models, counting Emperor's Children and Phoenix Guards together, is Favored. In order to target a Favored unit with shooting or assault it, enemy units must pass a Leadership test; if the test is failed, that unit may not shoot at or charge the Emperor's Children this turn. Units which are locked in close-combat with a Favored unit are considered to have shaken off the effects of the glamour, and do not have to roll.

A unit with an Independent Character attached LOSES the benefits of Favored status; no other warriors have the same hypnotic aura about them, and if they are attached to the unit they give the enemy something to focus on!




Next up; the Death Guard!

What is Daemon Armor? You mention it a few times but don't detail what it actually is.

IcyCool wrote:What is Daemon Armor? You mention it a few times but don't detail what it actually is.

Artificer armor for CSM; just a 2+ armor save. Thanks for mentioning it, I didn't notice that wasn't actually explained anywhere.

Nice. The children aren't my favourite legion but you seem to have represented them well.

A few edits; I tweaked some wording to be a little more precise, edited a couple points costs, and added a chainfist option for World Eaters and Phoenix Guards. I just noticed I'd forgotten to give the Emperor's Children transport options, so that's been fixed now, and I also added the Chaos Land Raider as a transport option for the World Eaters. Death Guard will be up tomorrow.

The third of the four dedicated Legions are done; here are the Death Guard!


Death Guard

The Death Guard of old were a secretive, monolithic force which took to the field in the tens of thousands, rank after rank of marines advancing without hesitation or pity upon the foe and raking them with a storm of bolter shells. It was the absolute and strictly-enforced authority of Mortarion that maintained them as a cohesive force, however, and when he retreated to the depths of the Eye of Terror in the wake of Horus's fall the Legion slowly crumbled, bereft of their Primarchs' controlling and guiding influence. The famously strict organization of the Death Guard disappeared long since, and most of the Legionnaires now operate in warbands of a few hundred or attach themselves to the forces of well-known and successful Chaos Lords; but while the Legion may be fragmented, the veterans of the Death Guard still retain their implacable battlefield discipline and brutal skill in the arts of war.

Of all the Traitor Legions, the Death Guard may the most well known and feared. While Mortarion himself almost never stirs from his daemon world, Typhus the Traveller and other champions of Nurgle are much more active, and the incredible scale of their depredations has spread the infamy of the Death Guard far and wide. The favored warriors of Nurgle are nigh-impossible to kill, for the gruesome blessings of their patron god grant them inhuman vitality and utter indifference to pain, but even that twisted immortality accounts for only a fraction of the terror they inspire. The horrific pandemics that spread from the Plague Fleets can depopulate whole worlds within weeks; the Death Guard can slaughter billions without ever unholstering their ancient bolters or drawing their rusted blades. In their vanguards go a thousand invisible forms of suffering and destruction, and any man who sees their rotting armor knows deep in his soul that he is already dead.

Unit Cost: 50 points

Unit Composition: 1 Death Guard

Unit Type: Infantry.

Death Guard: WS4 BS4 S4 T5(6) W2 I3 A2 Ld10 Sv3+
Death Guard Terminator: WS5 BS5 S4 T5(6) W2 I3 A3 Ld10 Sv2+

Wargear
Death Guard:
-Power armor
-Bolter
-Bolt pistol
-Close-combat weapon
-Blight grenades
-Krak grenades
-Mark of Nurgle (bonus included in profile)

Death Guard Terminator:
-Terminator Armor
-Plague Sword: Mere proximity to one of the Death Guard will coat a new combat blade with rust in a matter of hours, so powerful is the aura of corruption that surrounds them. Those ancient, once-honorable weapons which the Legion's warriors have wielded since before the Heresy have spent millenia bathing in the foul radiance of the Plaguefather's power, and like the warriors that bear them they have been twisted over the ages into something dark and terrible. Even a small wound from one of these fell blades means a horrific death, as the lethally-infectious slime that coats it drips into the victim's veins and rots his flesh from the inside out. A Plague Sword is a Poisoned (3+) power weapon.
-Combi-bolter
-Blight grenades
-Krak grenades
-Mark of Nurgle (bonus included in profile)

Special Rules
-Eternal Warrior
-Feel No Pain
-Ancient Rivalry: Tzeentch
-Dark Legends
-Slow and Purposeful
-That Which Doth Corrupt; The Death Guard are heralded by the drone of a thousand black daemon-flies; nurglings swarm around their feet, shrieking blasphemies in inhuman tongues as the Legionnaires advance. The very ground is blighted where Nurgle's warriors tread, and even strong men cannot withstand the swarms of vermin and clouds of foul vapor which surround them for long. Any non-vehicle unit which begins their Movement phase within 6" of a unit of Death Guard must take a Morale check before moving. If the check is failed, the unit must move directly away from them, ending their move more than 6" away. Any unit with the Mark of Nurgle is unaffected by this rule, as is any unit which is locked in combat at the beginning of the turn.


Options

May add up to 6 Death Guard at +50 points per model.

Any number of Death Guard may be upgraded to Death Guard Terminators at +30 points per model.


Any model may replace their close-combat weapon and/or bolt pistol with one of the following;
-Poisoned (4+) CCW at +5 points
-Power weapon at +10 points
-Plague Sword at +20 points

Any Death Guard Terminator may replace their Plague Sword with one of the following;
-Power fist at no cost
-Chainfist at +5 points per model

One model may replace their close-combat weapon with a Conqueror Worm at +30 points, or replace their Plague Sword with a Conqueror Worm at +10 points.
Conqueror Worm; The rotting bulks of the Death Guard are home to a massive assortment of parasites and symbionts, from Nurglings to daemon-flies and weirder, more horrible creatures; for those who have spent millenia dedicated to the Plaguefather such things are inevitable, and in fact many Legionnaires welcome them as signs of Nurgle's love and favor. The Conqueror Worm is undoubtedly the largest and most terrifying of them all; a massive, writhing worm with one end embedded deep within the Legionnaire's back or shoulder and a split mouth full of razor-sharp teeth adorning the other, held aloft at the end of a long column of slimy flesh. Those Legionnaires in whom a Conqueror Worm has implanted itself lavish enormous amounts of care upon the creature, for the worm is not merely a powerful symbol of Nurgle but a deadly companion on the battlefield; its acid spittle and armor-piercing fangs are lethal weapons, which it will readily employ in defense of its host. A Conqueror Worm is a Poisoned (2+) power weapon, and can additionally be fired in the Shooting phase with the following profile.
Conqueror Worm: Range 12", S 3, AP 3, Poisoned (2+), Assault 1

The entire unit may take necro-virus ammunition at +20 points.
Necro-virus ammunition; The blessings of Father Nurgle to his children are more generous than they seem; not only are they immune to pain and highly resistant to injury, but the Warp-tainted diseases with which they are infected are the source of any number of strange and deadly substances. The feared necro-virus is one such substance; once the liquid is extracted from the corrupted bodies of the Death Guard and alchemically concentrated, it is one of the most deadly and quickest-acting diseases in the universe. Concentrated necro-virus is capable of literally tearing a man apart; the daemonic cantagion rages through his body in a matter of seconds, explosively breaking down the victim's flesh as it reproduces out of control. The effect is significantly diluted by the heat and pressure of firing a weapon, but even so, shells infused with necro-virus can turn a minor scratch into an agonizing, crippling wound that will not heal for weeks, if ever. Any weapon affected by necro-virus ammunition adds +1 to its Strength value and counts as Poisoned (4+). The affected weapons are; bolters, bolt pistols, combi-bolters and reaper autocannons.


Every second Death Guard may replace their bolter with one of the following (a unit of seven power-armored Death Guard may have four weapons from this list);
-Combi-bolter at +5 points
-Flamer at +5 points
-Heavy bolter at +10 points
-Plasma gun at +15 points
-Meltagun at +15 points

Any Death Guard Terminator may replace their combi-bolter with a combi-weapon at +5 points per model.

Every second Death Guard Terminator may replace their combi-bolter with one of the following (a unit of seven Death Guard Terminators may have four weapons from this list);
-Heavy flamer at +5 points
-Reaper autocannon at +20 points

One model may replace their weapons with a Plaguebringer at +30 points.

If the unit contains no Death Guard Terminators, it may take a Chaos Rhino or Chaos Land Raider as a dedicated transport. If the unit contains any Death Guard Terminators it may not take a Chaos Rhino. Death Guard Terminators count as two models, for the purpose of determining how much of the Land Raider's transport capacity they take up.

Favored Sons; Even among the plague-ridden brotherhood of the Death Guard, all are not equal in Nurgle's sight. Some Legionnaires have done so much to spread the blessings of the Plaguefather that they have earned his most potent favors; they are heralds of rot and priests of decay, pestilential prophets who spread the gospel of ruin across the galaxy in the name of their loving god. Men choke and die at the mere sight of their tattered war-banners; the buzzing of flies drowns out the sound of their heavy footsteps, and the clouds of vermin that follow them to war dim the sun like a funeral shroud.

And unit of Death Guard containing 7 models, counting Death Guard and Death Guard Terminators together, is Favored. A Favored unit may choose to call down the blessing of Nurgle instead of shooting, gifting their enemies with the most deadly and agonizing of plagues. To do so, choose one unit which at least one model in the Favored unit can draw LOS to, and take a Leadership test. If the test is passed the target unit suffers 2d6 wounds immediately, with no cover saves allowed. This is not a Psychic power.

Attached Independent Characters do not count for the purposes of determining Favored status unless they have a Mark of Nurgle. If an attached character with the Mark of Nurgle makes a unit Favored (that is, if there are only 6 Death Guard or Death Guard Terminators, and an attached Independent Character with the MoN) then the number of wounds the target unit suffers will be reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 2).

Either tone down the plague sword fluff or make.it poisoned(2+). It just doesn't come across as a 4+ weapon.

Fair enough. I've increased them to Poisoned (2+), and changed the upgrade price for Death Guard, the price of Terminators, and the price of the Conqueror Worm to compensate for the increased killing power.

Any other comments?

I really like this stuff so far, it is very well thought out, the units are quite powerful, but I think you have priced them appropriately.

I initially thought the Death Guard were OTT as far as toughness goes, but on closer inspection they don't have any way to abuse invulnerable saves so it is probably ok, though might consider making them cost a little more 55 a model perhaps?

Otherwise well done so far, I imagine we are seeing Tzeentch's chosen, the boys in gold and red next?

Panopticon wrote:I really like this stuff so far, it is very well thought out, the units are quite powerful, but I think you have priced them appropriately.

I initially thought the Death Guard were OTT as far as toughness goes, but on closer inspection they don't have any way to abuse invulnerable saves so it is probably ok, though might consider making them cost a little more 55 a model perhaps?

Otherwise well done so far, I imagine we are seeing Tzeentch's chosen, the boys in gold and red next?

Thanks! The Thousand Sons are indeed next up, after which I'll wrap up the 'main' legions with the Black Legion and then possibly start work on the others. Feel free to make suggestions, by the way.

The Thousand Sons' colors are gold and blue post-heresy, though, aren't they?

I thought about whether the extra Toughness might be too much, but, well. . . it's Nurgle. Being excessively tough is really their stand-out point, though my interpretation of the Death Guard does also have a lot of Poisoned weapons. It is at least somewhat balanced by their lack of Invulnerable saves; in order to get even a 5++ they have to upgrade to Terminators, in which case they are quite powerful but cost a PAINFUL 80 points per model.

That said, it still might be a little OTT. Do you think making them SnP instead of Relentless would help balance them a bit better?

You know, that might do it just fine actually.

BeRzErKeR wrote:
The Thousand Sons' colors are gold and blue post-heresy, though, aren't they?

That said, it still might be a little OTT. Do you think making them SnP instead of Relentless would help balance them a bit better?

1) yes, pre-heresy they were red and.... something
2)yes, definitely. slow, scary and a bitch to kill.... sounds like the old necrons

I like these. Although I would like to point out we already have Legionairres in the form of Bererkers, Plague Marines, Noise Marines and Rubric Marines.

We do, but these rules are meant to represent those with the true power of a 10000 year veteran of the Long War. With all the skill and blessings of their gods that implies.

besides, marines are badly underrepresented in the rules compared to the fluff, so even if these guys are implanted cultists pressed into chaos marine service 100 years ago these rules could fit the TRUE bad-assery of a chaos space marine

Deadshot wrote:I like these. Although I would like to point out we already have Legionairres in the form of Bererkers, Plague Marines, Noise Marines and Rubric Marines.

See, but I don't like those rules. They do fine representing a recently-fallen renegade who's dedicated himself to one of the Gods, but not for the original Legionnaires. There's three reasons;

First, they take no account of experience. A Berzerker is practically the same as a loyalist Space Marine, just with FC and +1 attack; while that could well be perfectly adequate for a recently-fallen renegade who went under the knives of the Berzerker-Surgeons only in the last century or two, I don't think it properly reflects the incredible deadliness that a World Eater veteran who had lived several thousand years would have. I mean, look at Mephiston, and he's only lived a single millenium! Of course, I don't want to make the Legionnaires THAT OTT, but I do feel their much greater experience needs to be represented somehow. I chose to represent it through an extra attack and Ld10, plus increases in WS or BS if the Legion specialized in one type of combat (or, the case of the Emperor's Children, were obsessive about doing everything exactly right).

Second, the original Legionnaires were, I think, inherently more powerful than modern Space Marines. Why? Because they were only one generation removed from the Primarchs! Have you ever made a copy of a photograph, and then copied the copy, and so on? Every copy gets progressively blurrier than the last, because tiny little errors in the copying process creep in and build off one another. The Primarchs were the original, the Legionnaires were the copy; every generation of Space Marines since, for ten thousand years, have been getting slowly but steadily "blurrier". The Mechanicus can weed out major mutations, but there really isn't anything they can do about the gradual, general weakening. This is the justification for the extra wound.

And third, the veterans of the Legions aren't just devotees of the Chaos Gods; they are THE devotees of the Chaos Gods, the oldest and most powerful mortal worshippers of the Ruinous Powers. Abbadon counts among their number; so do Kharn, Lucius, Ahriman, and Typhus. The other veteran survivors may not be quite so well-favored, but the blessings they've received still make the minor benefits given to younger renegades pale by comparison. It must be so; any Legionnaire who WASN'T favored of the Gods has long since died or been reduced to Spawndom, and by now only the strongest and most dedicated have survived. This is the justification for the Mark effects (+1 Init for EC, extra +1 attack for WE, +1 Toughness for DG) and the special rules of each type.

Blackhoof wrote:besides, marines are badly underrepresented in the rules compared to the fluff, so even if these guys are implanted cultists pressed into chaos marine service 100 years ago these rules could fit the TRUE bad-assery of a chaos space marine

And there's this. If you feel like playing a 'fluffy' CSM game (and you get your opponent's permission, of course), just replace the Dark Legends rule with Fearless and use these guys as your elites choices. If you have an old LatD codex you could use that for troops, or use the Cultists, Daemonic Beasts and Daemon Packs entries from the 3.5 CSM dex.

Now, back on topic; I've edited the Death Guard, and they're Slow and Purposeful now; fluff-wise, I actually think that fits the Death Guard better, anyway! Also made a few wording edits to make the fluff sound a little better and more Nurgle-y. Thousand Sons are in progress, and will be up either tonight or tomorrow.

The Thousand Sons are done! If you have any comments or suggestions, please do give them; I'm not quite as confident about these rules as I was about the earlier three, as psychic powers are a bit tricky to balance.

Thousand Sons

The Imperium knows almost nothing of the Thousand Sons, and that is exactly the way they intend to keep it. Knowledge is power, as the followers of Mortarion know very well; the great librariums of the Planet of the Sorcerers hold ten thousand years of data on every world of the Imperium and the Eye of Terror both, information that helps the mysterious Daemon Primarch direct his minions to carry out Tzeentch's grand and unfathomable plans. But the data-vaults and archives of the Inquisition are silent in regards to the Thousand Sons. The chosen of Tzeentch are unfathomable and terrifying foes, appearing from nowhere to carry out weird rituals or sack ancient reliquaries before vanishing back into the Warp; the sorcerers of Magnus have little interest in maintaining holdings in the material world, it seems, content instead to work behind the scenes and let the passing of time reveal the true extent of the carnage they have caused. They strike without warning, carry out their fell purpose, and disappear with the ruins still burning behind them.

Paradoxically, the Thousand Sons are at once the smallest and the largest of the Traitor Legions. The only true survivors of the Legion are a scant few hundred sorcerers, those who found their psychic powers altered and vastly expanded by the magical maelstrom Ahriman's recklessness unleashed; but even after millenia in the Warp they are served by tens of thousands of silent, deadly warriors, for the Rubric Marines do not live, and they can never die. Even if one of the Rubric Marines is shattered so badly that the spells binding his soul to the armor evaporate, any damage can be repaired given time; and when it is, the helpless spirit of the marine is drawn back into his reforged prison, eternally chained to plasteel and ceramite as a slave of his sorcerous brethren. It is by the works of these undying warriors, as much as the strange magics of the sorcerers, that the dark reputation of the Legion is truly forged; they advance across the battlefield with relentless indifference to the attacks of their enemies, forming an impenetrable wall between their sorcerer and his enemies and cutting down any who stand in their way with howling bolts of balefire.

Unit Cost: 220 points

Unit Composition: 1 Thousand Sons Sorcerer and 2 Rubric Marines

Unit Type: Infantry

Thousand Sons Sorcerer: WS4 BS5 S4 T4 W2 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv2+/4++
Rubric Marine: WS4 BS4 S5 T5 W3 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv3+/3++

Wargear
Sorcerer:
-Daemon armor
-Force weapon
-Bolt pistol
-Inferno Bolts
-Mark of Tzeentch (bonus included in profile)

Rubric Marines:
-Power armor
-Bolter
-Inferno Bolts
-Mark of Tzeentch (bonus included in profile)

Special Rules
-Eternal Warrior
-Ancient Rivalry: Nurgle
-Dark Legends
-Relentless
-The Wall That Walks: The Rubric Marines of the Thousand Sons have no control over their own actions. Their trapped souls are drawn upon to provide the motivating force that allows their armor to walk and fight, but all they do is controlled by the sorcerer who commands them; and the first priority of that sorcerer is usually to protect his own life. Unable to disobey his desires, the Rubric Marines will form a shield of metal between their leader and any danger, deliberately stepping in front of the barrels of enemy guns or into the paths of swinging blades to keep him from harm. So long as the unit contains any Rubric Marines, no wounds may be allocated to the Sorcerer; for the purpose of wound allocation, he does not even exist until the last Rubric Marine has been killed. Furthermore, even abilities that specifically target a single model cannot target the Sorcerer if a Rubric Marine is partially or totally blocking Line of Sight between the Sorcerer and the model using the ability, as the Rubric Marine will shift to intercept the shot.
However, there is one downside to the mindless loyalty of the Rubric Marines; when an enemy manages to approach the unit closely it is easy for them to distinguish the Sorcerer from his bodyguards, and he immediately becomes a target. When locked in close-combat, any enemy model in base contact with the Sorcerer may allocate their attacks to him directly, rather than inflicting them on the unit as a whole, exactly as if he was an Independent Character. Wounds inflicted by these directed hits may not be taken on the Rubric Marines.
-Scion of the Changer of Ways: The Thousand Sons are wholly dedicated to Tzeentch, and he has blessed them with potent sorcery in return for their efforts to further his schemes. The will of a Thousand Sons sorcerer is practically a palpable force; the air shimmers with energy around his staff, and he enforces his will upon the roiling Warp with an ease no other adept can boast. The Sorcerer automatically passes all Psychic tests with no roll necessary, and will never suffer Perils of the Warp. He may use two psychic powers per turn, though he may not use the same Psychic power twice.
-Slaves to Darkness (Rubric Marines only): Rubric Marines are mindless automatons, with almost no power over their own actions. Without a Thousand Sons Sorcerer nearby to direct them they are nearly blind and easily confused, powerful but uncontrollable warriors who might wander slowly across the field in an attempt to carry out the last instructions given to them or might stand stock-still, awaiting orders that never come. If the Thousand Sons Sorcerer is killed, any surviving Rubric Marines in the unit immediately lose the Relentless USR and gain the Slow and Purposeful USR. They may never Sweeping Advance. They must always test to see if they can see their target as per the Night Fighting rules, even if that rule is not in effect, and their shooting is wasted if their target is discovered to be outside the rolled distance. Furthermore, at the beginning of every turn the Thousand Sons player must roll a d6; on a roll of 5+, the undirected Rubric Marines may do nothing that turn.

Options

May include up to 6 additional Rubric Marines at +60 points per model.

All Rubric Marines may exchange their bolters and Inferno Bolts with Kai Guns at +10 points per model. Every Rubric Marine must make this exchange if any do.

All Rubric Marines may exchange their power armor with Terminator Armor at +15 points per model. Doing so will additionally give them each a power weapon and replace their bolter with a combi-bolter if they have one (Kai Guns are not replaced), but will not affect their Invulnerable save. Every Rubric Marine must make this exchange if any do.

The Sorcerer is a Psyker, and has the Bolt of Change psychic power. He may take an additional psychic power from the following list.
-Doombolt at +5 points
-Warptime at +10 points
-Wind of Chaosat +20 points
-Gift of Chaos at +20 points

The Sorcerer may also take one psychic power from the following list.
-Warp-Borne Stride at +20 points.
The Sorcerer slashes the air with his glowing staff and opens a passage through the Warp to another part of the battlefield, leading his Rubric Marines through the half-real tunnel and reappearing instantaneously elsewhere. This power must be used at the beginning of the Movement phase, before the unit has moved. Immediately remove the unit and replace it elsewhere on the board using the Deep Strike rules; they do not scatter and may move and shoot after being placed, though they may not assault that turn.

-Rend the Veil at +30 points
The Sorcerer focuses his energies on a nearby area of the battlefield, tearing a small rip in the walls between the Warp and reality and, for a brief moment, allowing the roiling stuff of Chaos itself to pour through the rent and wreak havoc on anyone unfortunate enough to be close by. As a Psychic Shooting Attack, place the small Blast marker anywhere within 18" and line of sight of the Sorcerer. It scatters as normal. Any non-vehicle model partially or fully beneath the marker suffers an automatic wound, with no armor saves allowed; any vehicle partially or fully beneath the marker suffers an automatic penetrating hit.

-Aetheric Summoning at +60 points
The Sorcerer cries one of the nine hundred and ninety-nine secret names of Tzeentch aloud, igniting a blinding burst of energy within the Warp and drawing every daemonic entity who can see the beacon towards him. Within moments a wave of howling daemons vomits forth from empty air, raging out of primordial Chaos into the material world to wreak havoc on the enemies of the Great Conspirator.

This power is usable only once per game, at the beginning of the Thousand Sons' Movement phase. Choose a point within 6" of the Sorcerer, then Scatter 2d6", reducing the scatter distance by the minimum distance necessary to prevent the point from ending within 1" of enemy models or in Impassable terrain. Place 2d6 Summoned Lesser Daemons centered around the point indicated, following the Deep Strike rules; any which cannot be placed are destroyed. The daemons may move and assault on the turn they appear.

-Plots That Span Centuries at +60 points
The Thousand Sons take the field in force only at the culmination of a long-laid and carefully orchestrated plan; whatever they have come to do will undoubtedly further Tzeentch's grand, incomprehensible design and spell disaster for humanity. The sorcerers of the Legion can touch the strands of fate itself, and when they sense the possibility of failure they will use their powers ruthlessly to ensure their dire purposes are achieved. When one of the Thousand Sons bends the full force of his iron will to attain some mysterious goal, the very fabric of the universe seems to shift to aid him; his foes are stricken with sudden madness, the ground crumbles away beneath the feet of his attackers, and the fire of his Rubric Marines streaks into the hearts of their targets with impossible accuracy.

This power is usable only once per game. It may be declared at any time; for the remainder of that player turn, the Thousand Sons player may reroll (or force to be rerolled) any die rolls which affect the unit. This includes To Hit and To Wound rolls made either by or against the Thousand Sons, saves made by the Thousand Sons or a unit targeted by them, and any Leadership tests made by the Thousand Sons, any unit targeted by them, or any unit targeting them.

The Sorcerer may replace his force weapon with a Deathscreamer at +20 points.

If the unit contains no models in Terminator armor, it may take a Chaos Rhino or Chaos Land Raider as a dedicated transport. If the unit contains any models in Terminator armor it may not take a Chaos Rhino. Models in Terminator armor count as two models, for the purpose of determining how much of the Land Raider's transport capacity they take up.

Favored Sons: Many of the Thousand Sons are content merely to follow the orders of Magnus the Red and otherwise have little to do with the material world, but some among their number go much, much further in the service of Tzeentch. Some of the Sorcerers roam the galaxy with their silent bodyguards, performing inexplicable acts in seemingly random locations, only for the seeds of chaos they have planted to flower into rampant heresy and widespread destruction decades or centuries later. They are the source of a million strange rumors and dark myths; their twisted minds and diabolical abilities are utterly beyond the power of any man to comprehend, much less pit himself against. When such mighty harbingers of discord and ruin take to the field, they are literally enwrapped in the heatless, coruscating fires of their God, their weirdly-moving shadows chanting unholy hymns as the touch of the Warp twists those who approach too near into mewling, helpless monstrosities.

Any Thousand Sons unit comprised of 9 models is Favored. A Favored unit is surrounded by an aura of Warp flame, randomly mutating any of the enemy who come too close. At the end of every turn, roll a d6 for each enemy model within 6" of the unit; on a roll of 6, that model suffers a S5 hit with no saves allowed. Any multi-wound model killed by this ability may be replaced with a Chaos Spawn, if one is available.
Attached Independent Characters do not count for the purposes of determining Favored status unless they have a Mark of Tzeentch. If an attached Independent Character with the Mark of Tzeentch makes the unit favored, the Strength of the hit suffered will be reduced to 4.

They seem balanced at first glance. Deep Striking followed by moving and shooting for 20pts might be a bit OP though. Do you plan on doing the other legions as well?

Yep, I do, though since a new semester is starting today the next five might come a bit slower.

So here's the questions I'm really looking for an answer to; would you, assuming you knew there would be no problems from your opponent, take one or more Traitor Legionnaire units in a reasonably competitive TAC list, and why? Or, alternatively, what would keep you from taking them? Would you always pick one of them over the others or would you take different Legions in different lists (for reasons other than fluff)?

It's been a long time since I've had any chaos marines (2nd edition) One of the reasons I was not as interested in picking them up again was how blah they have become. In previous versions you could always customize your force to fit fluff and still be competitive. These rules would bring me back to playing chaos. There is plenty of fluff to back up the existence of chaos marines from the heresy. At least it was in most of the stories contained in the codex and seems to be basis for the many of the chaos books that are out these days. Abaddon himself was an original, he seems to be hail and hearty still, not so decrepit and turned to dust. There is nothing that tells me they couldn't still be around 10,000 years later.

If these rules were official, I would be building chaos armies based around each of the four gods, so I could change my armies to fit my mood. Berserkers and Plague marines would likely be at the top of my list. Poisoned power weapons? That's pretty epic even if you do only have a single squad of them.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback, even more so as it's positive. Just be careful not to make my head too big.

I made a few edits to the Thousand Sons; It occurred to me that 3 wounds with a 3+ invul and Eternal Warrior was SO hard to kill that they needed a little balancing. To that end, it is now possible to pick the Sorcerer out in close-combat with models in base contact with him, and when the Sorcerer dies the surviving Rubric Marines suffer from the new Slaves to Darkness rule, making them much, much less useful and reliable. Seemed like a fluffy way to limit their power; yes, they're an incredibly hard unit, but if you get too close to the enemy the Sorcerer is going to get sniped by BA Assault Marines or something, and then your Rubric Marines won't do much for the rest of the game.

BeRzErKeR wrote:The Sorcerer is a Psyker, and must take one of the following psychic powers at no cost: Doombolt (5 pts), Warptime (10 pts), Wind of Chaos (20pts), Gift of Chaos (20 pts), Bolt of Change (15 pts). He may take a second by paying the cost in parentheses.

This doesn't really work too well. The following combos cost the same (5pts):
Warptime & Doombolt
Wind of Chaos & Doombolt
Gift of Chaos & Doombolt
Bolt of Change & Doombolt

(Alternatively, the same combos could cost 10, 20, 20, and 15, respectively).

It does cost more to have two high-profile powers, but it seems odd to have these four all cost the same when you are valuing those powers differently.

As a side suggestion, instead of the "5+" do nothing rule for Rubrics, could you instead give them the Rage USR? Does Rage require you to run in the shooting phase?(I'm away from my rulebook) If not, then it might be a good replacement for the do nothing rule.

You're right, that is a little odd. Hmm. . . .

I'll edit it. The Sorcerer will come with Bolt of Change standard, and can then take one other from that list for the listed cost.

As for the Rubric Marines; I COULD give them Rage, but it doesn't quite fit what I'm picturing for them. Rage does require you to Run in the shooting phase, unless you're within assault range; it would be appropriate for an automaton that just ran totally out of control without new orders, the way I'm picturing it, without a Sorcerer around to direct them Rubric Marines aren't so much angry and violent as they are confused and barely active, having a hard time perceiving the physical world and figuring out what they should do. Absent the overriding control of a Sorcerer, they're capable of moving themselves, but their minds are so broken by their long imprisonment that they don't realize that they are no longer compelled to follow orders, and without a guiding force to draw their attention to things they tend to stop paying attention to anything outside themselves. For that Night-Fighting, Slow and Purposeful, and the 5+ roll do better.

In terms of gameplay rather than fluff, I think it also works better; if I gave them Rage then they'd always be moving towards the enemy and charging at them, and any unit that Rubric Marines charge is likely to be tied up for the rest of the game. The rules as they stand, by contrast, make being able to do anything at ALL with them unreliable, giving the Thousand Sons player a strong incentive to avoid any situation where he might lose the Sorcerer.

BeRzErKeR wrote:As for the Rubric Marines; I COULD give them Rage, but it doesn't quite fit what I'm picturing for them. Rage does require you to Run in the shooting phase, unless you're within assault range;

Just had a chance to check my book. Rage does NOT require that the unit run in the shooting phase. So this lets you simulate a lack of control without making a painfully high priced unit useless 1/3 of the time (once the sorcerer is lost).

A similar "useless" rule is what has hobbled Chaos Dreads for so long.

I understand why you think it is a good idea, but similar rules have shown it's probably not a great idea from a gameplay perspective.

Also, your change to the sorcerer's power choice seems like a solid one. I might have made Doombolt the default, but that's a matter of personal taste really.