Stormonu wrote:I'd like to see them get rid of the "just copy the loyalist units" aspect of
CSM and see more unique units and vehicles.
Replace Land Speeder with a vehicle that looks like a hornet or wasp and fires corrosive acid from a stinger that doubles as a power (fist) spike.
Replace the Rhino with an eight-legged spider walker that holds up to 20 marines in its abdomen while it spits death from the head section.
Replace the Land Raider with the Land Crawler, a scorpion-like creature with a unit-devouring maw in place of the front assault ramp. Make a Nurgle variant with tentacles instead of walking struts. A Slaaneshi version ala Mad Max's "flame guitar car" with a "Death Metal" band playing on a stage at the front.
Rename Terminators into executioners. Give them wings - or a fearless use of their teleporter homers (sort of like Warp Spiders) - and a more demonic look.
Merge mutilators and obliterators into one model that has both shifting ranged and close-combat weapons (one of each?).
Completely rework possessed and allow for them to have demon-specific abilities that are meaningful.
No.
Okay, I understand the point here - you don't like
CSM being
SM-Spiky but at the same time there's no need to get rid of everything and basically turn the range into Greenstuff, Superglue and a Random Roll through the Bits Box. Why?
Because the fact that
CSM were once Loyalists and use similar equipment, vehicles and tactics is what makes them terrifying in terms of game-fluff. They represent the corruption and downfall of the ultimate good-guys. They are the monsters that the Imperium doesn't want to talk about. So they're supposed to have boltguns, Rhinos, Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders. They're supposed to have access to drop pods and Imperial equipment - essentially the Traitor Legions AND Renegades both embody the idea that no one is so pure that they cannot fall to corruption. Getting rid of all that is just an insult to the entire faction.
You want crazy spider leg walkers and flying bug machines? Daemons and Dark Mechanicus are what you want then. These concepts fit in perfectly for those specific sub-factions. But they are NOT suitable for either Traitor Legions or Renegades themselves.
CSM need their identity defined and reinforced - and really, the best way to do that is to split them apart into sub-factions.
Traitor Legions - go for the whole
DV aesthetic in terms of appearance. Heresy era equipment, corrupted and warped armour designs, archaic vehicles, relics. Make them a small, Elite sort of army - buffed troops but small numbers. If you want an Imperial counterpart? Grey Knights. Basically give us a Traitor Legion army that is small in number but Elite. An army of Veterans that is scary but strong, perhaps even with modified 30k style force org approaches - Tacticals, Tactical Support, Assault Marines, Raptors, Heavy Support squads, Dread squadrons...
Renegades - this is the
SM with spikes and trims aesthetic. Modern style equipment and armour, access to Imperial vehicle patterns and a similar layout to them. This is probably what the current
CSM book is closest to in terms of design.
Dark Mechanicus - this is your daemonflesh techno-organic, many legs everywhere aesthetic. Obliterators, Mutilators, Dinobots, Heldrakes, Helbrutes - work in some Mechanicus units and let people field their army of mechanical spider legged abominations here.
Lost and the Damned - Cultists, Traitor Guard, fantasy elements such as Beastmen and Spawn. Add in some unique Monsters and we're good. To be fair Forge World did a good job on this one already.
I'd also like the Infernal Device back as an option - especially for Renegades and Traitor Legions.
In addition I'd love if the Daemon Engines actually became Monstrous Creatures in terms of rules. If they're going to use that 'spirit animating a construct' argument for Eldar or whatever they use for Tau then really, Daemon Engines need this.
