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Hi friends,

This comes from a conversation on the CSM tactics thread. I was under the impression for a long time that Dark Apostles with a specific <Mark of Chaos> got three prayers, whereas non-aligned Dark Apostles only got two. Here's my logic:

From page 168 from Vigilus Ablaze:

"This model can chant prayers. It knows the Dark Zealotry prayer and one prayer from the Prayers to the Dark Gods."

So let's check the prayers to the dark gods:

"Before the battle, generate the prayers for Priests that can chant prayers from Prayers to the Dark Gods... a <Mark of Chaos> Priest that can chant prayers from the Prayers to the Dark Gods also knows the appropriate <Mark of Chaos> prayer on the right."

So as I read that, it seems to me that you get Dark Zealotry, one Prayer to the Dark God, and also the <Mark of Chaos> prayer.

According to H.B.M.C. (who also suggested that I make this thread ~ thank you!) the wording is the same in the CSM 2.0 codex.

That said, every other player posting a list in the CSM Tactics thread, as well as Battlescribe, limits you to only two prayers. And it does seem a little odd that non-aligned Dark Apostles get short-changed - although most of the <Mark of Chaos> prayers affect the DA rather than buff other units. Regardless, I can't quite read it in a way that doesn't give you three prayers.

Thoughts and feelings?

For what it's worth my battlescribe gives you the god specific prayer plus dark zealotry and a prayer of your choice. But that's battlescribe so take with a BIG grain of salt.

Yes, they get three prayers: Dark Zealotry, one of your choosing from the list of six, and if they have <MARK OF CHAOS> they also get their God's specific prayer. That is what "also" means.

Yeah, I was surprised when you brought this up as I had assumed that the default + 1 other was the limit.

But it says "also knows", and that's pretty hard to argue against.

Gadzilla666 wrote:
For what it's worth my battlescribe gives you the god specific prayer plus dark zealotry and a prayer of your choice. But that's battlescribe so take with a BIG grain of salt.

Well I haven't made a list in a while so I'm probably using an out-of-date version. Good to know!

And yeah, Battlescribe isn't the end-all-be-all, but it seems that at least my local community takes Battlescribe as the default way of organizing their lists. To that end, it has clout, even if no actual authority. To that end, many lists posted tend to only have two prayers and they were formatted as if generated in Battlescribe, so I figured that it was also the baseline for most of the Dakka discussions. Grains of salt, as with all things, really.

Thanks for your input, all!

CSM Data Author here.

If you select a Mark of Chaos for an Apostle, you do get the Mark-specific power as an option in the pick list.

It should be forcing you to take that power as well, but it looks like that's broken right now, due to a bug in the app.

You know three Prayers if you have a Mark of Chaos, two otherwise.

MadSpy wrote:
CSM Data Author here.

If you select a Mark of Chaos for an Apostle, you do get the Mark-specific power as an option in the pick list.

It should be forcing you to take that power as well, but it looks like that's broken right now, due to a bug in the app.

Oh great, thanks! That explains the disparity I was seeing between the Battlescribe and the codex. Thanks for your work on the app, by the by! I appreciate the additional labor that it takes.