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Looking to beef up my Death Guard, I have been looking at other units in the codex. Mostly at units that in my Black Legion / Khorne heavy list I would pass over.

Possessed caught my eye.

They are chaotic and almost too random but with 5th edition could they be more useful?
One of the chief complaints about them is how random they are. People say "You can't properly plan" or "It sucks because you have to deploy them first and what if I got scout and was in a rhino?!"
It seems to me that in 5th edition you can hold just about anything in reserves. So after deployment is done you do the roll. Just about all the abilities on the table are useful if you can plan to use them.
Suddenly you have a bunch of outflanking guys that hit like a ton of bricks. Also, if you did get scout it now works on their transport. They are fearless so they are annoying until they are all dead.

Granted, these aren't tourney winners but could be used in a competitive game, me thinks.

Is this the late night rambling of an over caffeinated gamer or am I on to something?

I havent studied the 5th edition but i have studied the possessed and totally agree with you.

I have played them and have found even tho they are random they are still very leathal in assault and with the cover saves now, why not take them?

I think they are cool, and Dire Avengers have shown that an invulnerable save in close combat can almost always be worthwhile. I am looking at squads of 6, like getting a free Tzeentch icon for a small squad.

Stupid question but if they get Scout and they are in a Rhino, can the Rhino not make a 12" move? Win.

To paraphrase a long forgotten debate, 'I've seen gene stealers, and these are no gene stealers'. But, they cost like gene stealers. Except you have no MC's or gaunts to screen them. You'd fight about even up against plague marines in hand to hand combat. Is there a Daemon unit you could beat with these guys? 5+invuln saves you against what? the occ. power fist or last cannon?

My opinion, you're giving up shooting to gain +1 strength, and maybe nerfed rending, or fleet, but not scouts and fleet at the same time, which might be useful. Chaos armies tend to be shooty, because EC/Oblits/TS are shooty. Hybrid CC/shooty difficult to use when you don't have enough of either.

Fun yes, but they'll need a landraider to hide in to get them into close combat.

Possessed can't outflank.

Outflanking needs to be declared during deployment; Possessed only roll for their abilities (and thus may gain Scout) after deployment.

Cheexsta is correct.

Still, if they gain Scout, they can rocket forward 12" in a Possessed Rhino. The first turn they move 12" again and dismount, and they're ready for a charge through the wreckage of the Rhino next turn!

Don't worry about the supposedly random quality of their abilities. They're like Chaos Dreadnoughts - you need to plan ahead and be ready for what happens, and be familiar with how that special rule will combine with their Icon.

the bottom line is what else could i be spending my points on?

i would much rather than more obliterators/plague marines/noise marines/demon princes/terminators/berzerkers/raptors than possessed. in their roll as a shock unit terminators, raptors and berzerkers outperform then point for point.

the models are fantastic, so ill be keeping those i have until the rules get a change (i may be waiting a long time) but unless i feel like playing a heavily themed list in a very casual enviroment they wont ever see the table top.

Maybe if you took a risk and learned how to use them effectively you wouldn't need to be so desperately afraid of losing in a 'competitive' environment.

They are a craps shoot. They could fulfill a number of different roles, but you can't actually know what role you will fill when making your army list.

Then again, this sort of thing is what made 2nd ed orks so much fun to play.

That said, gaining their abilities AFTER deploying them means that you really don't know what they'll do for you. And honestly, if you are looking to be competitive, you have better options.

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i would much rather than more obliterators/plague marines/noise marines/demon princes/terminators/berzerkers/raptors
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Well, that particular line of thought would eliminate raptors, terminators and noise marines, but anyway.

You can substititute a rhino full of Possessed w/Icon of Khorne for a rhino full of Berserkers w/Champ w/ fist without losing much:

The cost is similar, and their function is similar (assault troops in rhino).

Berserkers can score, but its really rare for them to survive a game that you didn't slaughter all the enemy in anyway, scoring is much more a plague marine/noise marine/kson's gig.

On the charge, Zerkers do more damage than Possessed who didn't roll a combat ability, but less than those who did roll a combat ability.

In particular I'd like to dispute the "they shouldn't be played because you don't know their ability before they deploy" theory. Possessed are rock hard CC specialists. No matter what they roll, what they do is drive up, smoke, and then hop out and kick trash.

I like them with mark of Tze 4+ inv save marines with str 5 are awsome in the extreme. I like them tooling around with my Lord and his Retinue.