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Hey guys! i was cleaning out my room and found a bunch of terminators!! yay!! 10 Loyalists, and 5 chaos and so,as the title suggests, what loadouts are good for melee terminators? I heard Stormshield/Thunder hammer work very well for loyalists, but how to outfit chaos termies? One chaos terminator has dual lightning claws and the others have their arms still on the sprues....I'm looking for a particularly vicous anti everything melee squad aligned to a god, was thinking of khorne or nurgle Thanks for any help/ suggestions!

~Ashley

how do you lose 15 terminators in the first place?

Twas' in a box

ok. I think a mix of LC's and hammernators for the loyalists is a good idea. If playing DA then toss in a couple assault cannons or CML's.
I dont play chaos but nurgle termies with typhus are tough. just dont get near black knights.

 ThunderFury 2575 wrote:
I'm looking for a particularly vicous anti everything melee squad aligned to a god, was thinking of khorne or nurgle Thanks for any help/ suggestions!

The key to run chaos terminators is to keep them cheap and flexible. You can do this easily by using the default power weapons they come with. Try using power mauls and power fists/chainsfists in a 3:2 ratio. The maul is just pure overkill against GEQ and lightly armoured vehicles (mauls tear apart anything that isn’t a land raider,) while a couple of chainfists lets your terminators take on tougher things. This configuration not only makes them cheaper than their loyalist counterpart, it also gives them the tools they need to handle a wide range of threats.

I run mine even cheaper, two power axes, two mauls and the champ with a claw. Normally versatility is punished, but in terminators case i think its the way to go.

 Musashi363 wrote:
I run mine even cheaper, two power axes, two mauls and the champ with a claw. Normally versatility is punished, but in terminators case i think its the way to go.

Why not put the claw on some other dude in the squad? The champion pays more for his equipment.

Edit: Never mind. The champion only pay 2 points more for his claw, a marginal difference.

IssacClarkeisBatman99 wrote:
how do you lose 15 terminators in the first place?

Warp storm

For normal marines, you can't go wrong with the standard TH/SS setup, and save some parts for making termi HQ's.

As for chaos, things a different. The points cost of fists for them is pretty high, but they all start with a free power weapon! In this case, I always recommend 2 power axes with combi-meltas, 1 dual LC guy (cause it's cheap) a champ with power axe and power sword, then the final guy has a chainfist and heavy flamer, for when you're not taking an HQ with the unit.

For loyalist Assault Terminators, your best bet is to buy or conjure up a Land Raider or two. Two SS+TH Terminators and 3 LC Terminators is the standard load-out for Assault Terminators, with Storm Shields to the front to tank shots that ignore your armor.

For Tactical Terminators get a heavy weapon you like and put one Chain Fist per five Terminators.

The real trick to Loyalist Terminators is picking a Chapter Tactics you want to use with them and you also get a bigger (and better) choice of Land Raiders than Chaos. Loyalists also have fewer moral problems that Chaos have due to ATSKNF. Remember that all Terminators can not make Sweeping Advances and are Relentless (it is under the Terminator armor in the armor section of the codexes). So Chapter Masters with Orbital Bombardments are popular for Loyalists.




For Chaos Terminators, you have more options. Suicide three man Combi-Melta squads are popular. I also feel Power Mauls are a good weapon due to the +2 Str, but since you don't have a second CCW your never going to get the extra attack. Thus upgrading to Chain Fists isn't a bad option, but I agree with the 3:2 ratio listed above by Redcruisair. You have little reason to take bigger squads unless your running HQ with them and turning the unit into a Deathstar. The other problem is apparently the Chaos Land Raider can only hold Five Terminators with no Power of the Machine Spirit. The real redeeming factor is being able to put a Dirge Caster on it. If your DSing them in, making them a larger squad is helpful (so soak wounds from shooting). Remember guys with guns get an overwatch and can shoot when they DS in. That is an advantage over melee for Chaos because Chaos doesn't get Storm Shields. Chaos Terminators also do not have ATSKNF, so have moral issues that could possible run them off the board. Vets of the Long War actually help keep a squad around with the +1 leadership, but gets expensive. The Bonus against half the Codexes in the game is nice though.

As for Marks though, MoN is not that great on one wound guys. All the stuff that is going to fire on you that ignores your armor is still going to wound you on 2+. All your doing is making it harder for bolter shots to kill you, but the fact is you fail your armor check on a 1 no matter what. Again, MoN isn't that bad, but isn't that great. Plague marines pull it off because they have Feel No Pain. The Nurgle Icon gives your unit Fear (make a Ld test or drop to WS 1). Problem with Fear is that any unit that is Fearless or has ATSKNF is immune to it, so enjoy slaughtering stuff you would probably slaughter without Fear. I consider this to be the second weakest Icon.

Mark of Khorne gives your guys +2 attack on the charge (Rage SR), so it is really good on twin LC guys (which also gives them +1 attack) if you want to go in and spam a ton of attacks on something. You also get Counter Attack to take away 1 attack by the Enemy if they charge you (if you pass a Leadership test). The issue is your not packing low AP weapons and your not high Str (Str 5 on the Charge with FC through the Icon). This means you /really/ want to be getting out of a Land Raider with a Terminator HQ with a high Str, low AP weapon to back up those attacks, otherwise your limited to what you can really deal with. The other option is to eat the +1 attack from the dual LCs and take Power Axes, Mauls, and Chain Fists because of the +1 Str bonus on Charges (Str 7 maul attacks, str 6 axe attacks, str 9 CF attacks) and hope you don't die before you get your swings off. It is very much a 'go big or go home' attitude with Khorne. The Icon gives you Furious Charge (+1 Str on Charge) and you re-roll charging distance. Again, these are Land Raider guys because you /have to/ charge to get the best out of your Icon and Rage. The Icon though is a must for these guys.

Mark of Tzeentch gives you +1 to your Invuln save, which is actually pretty hot (your Terminators are now 2+/4++). You still have the same problem as MoN though where you fail if you roll bad. You have a better chance to live against the stuff that kills MoN, but your just as likely to die to bolter spam as a normal Terminator. But these guys are actually pretty good offensively because they are the closest thing Chaos has to Storm Shield Terminators, but can still have a Combi-Bolter or dual LC. Giving all of these guys Power Axes or Chain Fists isn't a bad option because they are more likely to live long enough to get swings off at Init 1. Their Icon of Flame is only good on shooty Terminators (Bolter weapons only) and just gives them Soul Blaze. Soul Blaze is better against Hoards than smaller units that you might wipe out. All in all I consider it the weakest Icon.

Mark of Slaanesh gives you +1 Init, which is probably the weakest Mark. This limits your weapon picks (why waste that 5 Init with Power Axes and Chain Fists) which might also limit your targets, but you will have to have one guy eat that Init for a Chain Fist. But on the other hand, these guys with a single LC, Dual LC, Power Maul, or even Power Sword are pretty badass. Only (Dark) Eldar and some characters swing before them. The big thing for these guys is their Icon that gives them Feel No Pain, so you have a re-roll to save against anything less than Str 8. The Icon also means they can survive Bolter AND Plasma spam better than either MoN and MoT, (or at least be on par with them). This Icon also means due to it's cost you want it in a bigger unit and your rewarding any HQ with them with FNP as well (as long as they also have MoS), making Lords and Sorcs more survivable.

Remember that Abby has all Marks, so can join any unit and get it's Icons benefit. Also remember you can not have a character with a different Mark join a unit with a different Mark (so no mixing). Also remember that someone without a Mark can join a Marked unit, just not get any benefits of the Icon (Unmarked Mastery 3 Sorcs are popular for 3 rolls on a power). Another option is a Icon of Vengeance or a Lord (or some other Fearless character) to deal with moral issues. I think the Lord added to any unit of Terminators is a decent option as he can really give it a good melee punch and has a good selection of gear. Vets of the Long War also goes a long way if you don't want a Lord or the IoV, but anything less is considered a suicide unit by most. I think all the Marks and Icons give the Terminators a lot of options, and even a true Markless unit (ala Black legion) is not a bad option.

Hope this helps!

I run my chaos terminators in a block of 10, with 3 swords, 2 mauls, and 5 axes, MoK and a Wrath flag. Combine with Huron to infiltrate them (he then runs up to join them on turn 1), they mess things up something fierce.

The obvious choice would be lightning claws as they destroy marines and garentee lots of wounds against hordes and they can destroy things like carnifexs. But maybe it would be good to outfit maybe 2 with a pair of lightning claws and the rest with a combination of a single lightning claw and power fists, chainfists, and the various power weapons

 ThunderFury 2575 wrote:
Hey guys! i was cleaning out my room and found a bunch of terminators!! yay!! 10 Loyalists, and 5 chaos and so,as the title suggests, what loadouts are good for melee terminators? I heard Stormshield/Thunder hammer work very well for loyalists, but how to outfit chaos termies? One chaos terminator has dual lightning claws and the others have their arms still on the sprues....I'm looking for a particularly vicous anti everything melee squad aligned to a god, was thinking of khorne or nurgle Thanks for any help/ suggestions!

~Ashley

chaos terminators are not good for melee. Shooting with combi weapons is what they do. Once their shots are wasted they come stock with 2 attacks and power weapons so they arent terrible against expensive shooting units, but dont spend any more on their melee weapons.