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Hey guys,
I am building ten chaos terminators, and I have no idea the best way to outfit them. I have lots of extra parts, so need need to limit it to what comes in the box.

I could be running them in either a 5 or ten man configuration, or two five man squads. In either case, Typhus will almost definitely be leading them, as he is in pretty much all my army lists.

With that in mind, what would be the most versatile way to field them? I will probably do a little magnetizing, for the heavy weapons guy and the champ maybe, but not the whole squad.

Thanks so much for the help!

Probably the best way is to run them with combi melta or combi plasma and cc weapons to taste.

Ok, another question I had, what is their default "power weapon" can it be a axe or maul? or just a sword. Same goes for the power weapon the champ can replace his bolter with.

Half power weapon, half power fist (with a couple chainfists) seems the way to go.

I'm not a fan of lightning claws in this edition, but the power mauls tend to be quite nice, both at smashing smaller vehicles, instant-deathing eldar and dark eldar, etc.

 Spellbound wrote:
Half power weapon, half power fist (with a couple chainfists) seems the way to go.

I'm not a fan of lightning claws in this edition, but the power mauls tend to be quite nice, both at smashing smaller vehicles, instant-deathing eldar and dark eldar, etc.

So I can choose if their power weapon is a power ax, maul, or sword?

Yes. Or lance, actually, thanks to the current BRB.

 Spellbound wrote:
Yes. Or lance, actually, thanks to the current BRB.

The Lance, the most over looked Power Weapon. It can be a great choice of a Slanish Chapion when fighting MEQs. Odds are you will go of furst with a number of S5 AP3 Attacks when you Assualt.

Yes when doing your army list you choose whether it is an axe, sword or maul. Generally I pick maul because the +2 str is awesome but that all depends who you are fighting. Against SM armies the power sword is great at AP 3 but since you have a 2+ save and 5++ the axe is a great way to be deadlier without spending the points on a power fist

Their best loadout is typically loading them onto the shelf IMO. I refuse to pay 40+ points for a 1 wound model. But I realize you're not asking that.

Typically they are deep-striked into a high priority area with combi-plasmas or combi-meltas in small squads to remove a threat, like popping a tank, then they are promptly ganked next turn. That's why I don't like them, you lose a butt-ton of points just to kill an MC or tank, and you have to wait until turn 2 to do it. There are just so many better ways to do this, and without waiting until turn 2.

I guess there could be something said for running a larger squad but the bottom line is by mathhammer they just don't put out enough shooting/melee wounds to justify their points and at such relatively low durability. Of course mathhammer isn't the end all be all and there are tactical situations to take into account, but just based on my personal experience, every time I used them they were a huge disappointment.

But yeah, combi-plasma/melta. For power weapons either a sword or axe, depending on their role. I'd also take MoN for some durability although it just makes them even more expensive, but at this points you've already invested a lot of points anyway.

I think most people can agree that they are best used for termicide squads-cheap, small squads equipped to complete very specific tasks by deepstriking them in.

If you want to tool them out to go with typhus, id suggest maxing out their CC abilities while giving them some anti-tank to pop transports. For instance, lets say your opponent has some super scary terminators in a land raider. melta/chainfist them out, then power fist/sycth them. If yoiu dont want to pay 7 points per model for powerfists, take the power axe unless you really know what you're doing (i.e. everyone at your FLGS plays orks, so take power mauls)

I think half power mauls/ half power axes is the way to go. Also take advantage of their half price combi weapons and load up as many as you can take. I like plasma because relentless allows you to still charge but meltas are sometimes good (but in 6th plasmas are generally better)

Also, don't give them marks or VotLW, terminators just pay too much for those things.

Sorry I'm new to this game, and was wondering if you can equip terminators with chainaxe? If so would it be viable?

I am mainly asking for an upcoming 4000 point apoc game, in addition to normal games. So if you had no points restrictions, how would you equip them?

BigBuddhaGreen wrote:
Sorry I'm new to this game, and was wondering if you can equip terminators with chainaxe? If so would it be viable?

You can't take a chainaxe on terminators and you wouldn't want to anyway, chainaxes are only AP4 and terminators come stock with at least an AP3 power sword. For fluff/modeling it'd look pretty cool on some Khorne termis though, while technically illegal I don't think any opponent is going to complain about you taking weaker weapons that give no additional benefits, especially if you are doing it for fluff reasons in a casual game. If you did this your termis wouldn't be able to kill a housefly though and I guess that's not very fluffy for Khornates.

 Igloo wrote:
I am mainly asking for an upcoming 4000 point apoc game, in addition to normal games. So if you had no points restrictions, how would you equip them?

In Apocalypse things become interesting. I've only played one Apoc game but without point restrictions and especially because Apoc games are generally just "kill everything" terminators are almost strictly better than marines. However, looking at the math:

In a best case scenario, rapid firing with 10 combi-plasmas balances out to about 11 unsaved wounds on MEQ and a little over 7 on TEQ which is great and enough to blow some units off the board.

After rapid firing you can assault with terminators because of relentless. In a best case assault scenario, charging with tricked out termis including MoK and Icon of Wrath, the power sword numbers are exactly 10 unsaved wounds on MEQ and only about 1.6 on TEQ. With a power axe it of course becomes 10 against TEQ but you have to factor in that you're probably striking after their attacks and might lose a model or two. I don't much care for power mauls, they are concussive but anything that you care enough about bringing down to I1 is probably going to pass its armor save anyway. Lances are generally considered bad and I'd say that's so for terminators, but I actually like lances on aspiring champs of Khorne Berzerkers, although 'Zerkers themselves aren't very scary to begin with.

So with the right loadout and no points restrictions Chaos terminators can be downright nasty, but it depends on their role.

You can't take a chainaxe on terminators and you wouldn't want to anyway, chainaxes are only AP4 and terminators come stock with at least an AP3 power sword. For fluff/modeling it'd look pretty cool on some Khorne termis though, while technically illegal I don't think any opponent is going to complain about you taking weaker weapons that give no additional benefits, especially if you are doing it for fluff reasons in a casual game. If you did this your termis wouldn't be able to kill a housefly though and I guess that's not very fluffy for Khornates.

OK thank's for answering my question. So would you recommend a combination of power axes combi plasma and chainfists? Along with MoN?

That's an expensive unit!

If for apoc then certainly go with termicide meltas. 3 squads of 3.

The reasons is that in apoc str D weapons will destroy your terminators as if they were cultists. If you make a blob of 10 with typhus, then you are handing over (in a 4k points game) 1/8th of your army to a single str D blast.

Another reason is that apoc brings a lot of big toys to the table. Small termicide units shine here because of 2 things in particular:

i) They are fairly inexpensive - but still put out a lot of threat to those high point vehicles. Having large units/ vehicles waste turns shooting at cheap terminator squads is a good idea.

ii) They are still dangerous to the big vehicles in the game (void shields aside), and dropping a few of them around a parking lot can cause some damage and your opponent to redeploy his armour.

I agree besides for 2 points

1. This is the third game in a campaign ( 4 people per team with 4 k points each) and so far they have had no strength d (really stupid I know) the biggest thing they have is a bane blade when I have a warhound

2. Game is kill points so msu is a bad idea

Mark of Tzneetch - 4++ invulnerable save

Champion - power fist & lightning claw
3x Combi-melta (or plasma) & power axe
Heavy flamer & lightning claw

They should have a land raider.

BigBuddhaGreen wrote:

You can't take a chainaxe on terminators and you wouldn't want to anyway, chainaxes are only AP4 and terminators come stock with at least an AP3 power sword. For fluff/modeling it'd look pretty cool on some Khorne termis though, while technically illegal I don't think any opponent is going to complain about you taking weaker weapons that give no additional benefits, especially if you are doing it for fluff reasons in a casual game. If you did this your termis wouldn't be able to kill a housefly though and I guess that's not very fluffy for Khornates.

OK thank's for answering my question. So would you recommend a combination of power axes combi plasma and chainfists? Along with MoN?

Depends on what they're doing, what role do you have in mind for them? I know you said you're new, I'm fairly new myself (been playing one year) but I use this website to help me determine the combat effectiveness of my units: http://mathhammer40k.com/

Keep in mind this isn't the absolute on authority on what makes a unit "good" and there are lots of other tactical elements to consider.

You will want to have several roles filled in your army, like AT, AA, scoring units, etc. so whenever you create a unit you want it to excel at at least one of those roles. A common role is AT by deep striking three of them beside a tank with only combi-meltas and be done, melee weapon doesn't matter much because they're dead before they can assault anyway, and even if they do assault their effectiveness is limited to the slim chance of taking out a minimum sized objective camping squad of squishy troops or something.

What do terminators do that you like?

They are okay in CC. They are okay at shooting. They have 2+ armor. Problem is theyre expensive and need a transport.

Spawn on the other hand have multiple wounds and against low armor values are just as effective as terminators.

The game's I have taken terminators they have just died. If i put them in a landraider that dies too. Getting into CC with them sucks. Enemies in terrain making your charges shorter and just bad charge rolls really ruin your day. They die to small arms fire and eldar and tau just see them as free kill points. if i put them in a land raider then they get across the board but im living on the prayer that my 240 box doesnt get popped by a lucky shot.

You're better off spending points elsewhere as a few people have indicated.

jakl277 wrote:
What do terminators do that you like?

They are okay in CC. They are okay at shooting. They have 2+ armor. Problem is theyre expensive and need a transport.

Spawn on the other hand have multiple wounds and against low armor values are just as effective as terminators.

The game's I have taken terminators they have just died. If i put them in a landraider that dies too. Getting into CC with them sucks. Enemies in terrain making your charges shorter and just bad charge rolls really ruin your day. They die to small arms fire and eldar and tau just see them as free kill points. if i put them in a land raider then they get across the board but im living on the prayer that my 240 box doesnt get popped by a lucky shot.

You're better off spending points elsewhere as a few people have indicated.

Sometimes you just gotta take them because they're kool and look pretty badass
My luck with termies has been fifty-fifty. I'll go a match, decimate enemy squads with em and never lose a single termie. Then the next match i'll roll 6 saves from enemy shooting and roll a 1 on 3 of the dice... They really seem dependant on how many 1's my dice decide to throw in my nice any given match. I don't rely on them too much but I still enjoy fielding them.