Chaos Sorcerers
Chaos Sorcerers are potentially the most powerful psykers in a Chaos Space Marine army. They have a wide selection of war-gear and psychic powers, and with lots of potential for powerful and not-so-powerful combinations. So if you feel daunted by this wealth of options, don't despair; as this guide will help you make a Sorcerer right for your army.
Before going into options, I should mention what a basic Chaos Sorcerer begins has. They start with a Force Weapon, Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, and Krack Grenades. The Force Weapon can be used as a psychic power to cause Instant Death to a model that it wounds, giving you character and monster killing potential right there.
Aside from being Psykers, Chaos Sorcerers have another significant attribute, or rather lack of one: they're the HQ choice without Fearless. In a way this is good, because Sorcerers have I5 and can usually evade a Sweeping Advance. But this is also bad, because Sorcerers do not always avoid a Sweeping Advance, and can be pinned. However, it's not as bad as it seems: if a Sorcerer joins a Fearless unit, the unit remains Fearless and confers that on the Sorcerer until he leaves it. Finally, as an Independent Character, Sorcerers have the Move Through Cover universal special rule.
Marks of Chaos
Mark of Slaanesh
The least expensive of the Marks of Chaos. The +1I it confers turns the Sorcerer up to I6, allowing him to hit before a majority of opponents in close combat, but confers no advantage in shooting. It combines well with Warptime to kill your opponents before they kill you, and enables a Sorcerer to take the Lash of Submission.
Mark of Nurgle
This Mark of Chaos confers a +1T that can stack with that of a Bike, making the Sorcerer more resistant to shooting and close combat damage, and allowing him to take Nurgle's Rot.
Mark of Tzeentch
Those Sorcerers marked by Tzeentch gain the widest selection of benefits, at the cost of paying the most points. It improves the Sorcerer's Invulnerable saving throw to 4+, allows him to select an extra psychic power (allowing up to three powers with a familiar), and to use two psychic powers a turn provided that they are not the same shooting power. This Mark of Chaos also grants its bearer the option of the Bolt of Change.
Unmarked
You don't have to take a Mark, and you can save on points that way if you don't want extra psychic powers, improved characteristics, or a Daemonic Steed.
Mobility
Wings/Jump Pack
Wings/Jump Pack. Taking a Jump Pack makes the Sorcerer Jump Infantry. These are good for moving the Sorcerer around to where he needs to be, particularly since the Chaos Sorcerer is a close-combat oriented psycker, almost the equal of a Chaos Lord in close combat, and equipped with a range of close combat oriented psychic powers. The difference between Wings and a Jump Pack is important, since a Sorcerer equipped with Wings only moves like Jump Infantry, so he can enter transports, and is not affected by rules which reference Jump Infantry. The difference is cosmetic rather than points, and you should consult with your opponent or tournament organizer beforehand if your Sorcerer is not WYSIWYG ("What you see is what you get"). A Sorcerer with Wings or a Jump Pack can Deep Strike, albeit without the benefit of Icons. Combined with Move Through Cover, a Sorcerer with Wings or a Jump Pack is highly mobile. If you wondering about why you would take a Jump Pack rather than Wings, consider that the Space Wolves have a psychic power that can remove a Sorcerer from the board on a failed Initiative test, unless he's Jump Infantry.
Bike
A more expensive option than Wings or a Jump Pack, but it makes the Sorcerer faster, giving him the option of a Turbo Boost, and add to his firepower with an integral Twin-Linked Bolter which he can fire as Relentless. In addition, the Bike grants the Sorcerer +1T, although not for the purposes of figuring Instant Death. This bonus stacks with the Mark of Nurgle, complements the Mark of Tzeentch, and synergizes with the Mark of Slaanesh, making the Sorcerer's survival in both shooting and combat more likely. It also restricts his mobility somewhat, making the negotiation of difficult terrain dangerous. Remember that Independent Characters benefit from the Skilled Rider rule, making the negotiation of Dangerous Terrain less than usually hazardous, but still a hassle if you want to attack foes in upper story buildings, and hunkering down in water.
Daemonic Steed
The Daemonic Steed that a Sorcerer can buy depends on the Mark of Chaos that it already has, so while the points cost is the same as a Bike, the attendant cost is actually greater. They all confer +1A on the rider, as well as a Mark-specific bonus.
Mark of Slaanesh
Steeds of Slaanesh make the Sorcerer a Cavalry unit, giving him Fleet and a 12" charge range.
Mark of Tzeentch
Discs of Tzeentch make the Sorcerer a Jump Infantry unit.
Mark of Nurgle
The Palanquin of Nurgle is basically a chair hoisted by a swarming mass of Nurglings, and confers +2W. The model can still be transported by a Land Raider, although taking up the same space as a Terminator.
Terminator Armour
Terminator changes the options available to a Chaos Sorcerer, preventing him from taking a mobility option, or a Plasma Pistol, or Melta Bombs. The Sorcerer also loses the Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades. However, Terminator Armour confers a better armour saving throw than Power Armour, the ability to Deep Strike with Icon-precision, and a Twin-Linked Bolter that can be upgraded to a Combi-Weapon. The Combi-Weapon in particular synergizes nicely with Warp-time, helping to ensure those Melta shots, burn with those Flamer templates, and prevent embarrassing mishaps with Plasma that the Sorcerer can move and shoot thanks to Terminator Armour. Remember that a Sorcerer in Terminator Armour will not have Frag Grenades, so assaulting units in cover will be done at I1, and will prevent his unit from conducting a Sweeping Advance - which means that winning a combat can mean the enemy gets away, particularly if they have the Combat Tactics rule. Weigh the potential casualties caused by attacks against the potential casualties caused by Sweeping Advances, and choose carefully.
Combi-Weapons
Combi-Melta
Combi-Flamer
Combi-Plasma
Miscellaneous Options
While these options don't fall under any other category, they're all very important options and part of what makes a Chaos Sorcerer a live option when in competition with the Daemon Prince and the Chaos Lord.
The Familiar
This item enables a Sorcerer to take another psychic power in addition to whatever he already has. This enables a Chaos Sorcerer to take one more psychic power than a Daemon Prince of the same Mark of Chaos, but at the premium put by both paying points for another psychic power and paying the points to unlock the option. It's more useful for non-Tzeentch marked Sorcerers, giving them at least one of the benefits of the Mark of Tzeentch, and giving them more options. Giving a Sorcerer of Slaanesh Warptime as well as the Lash of Submission, for example, allows him the option of a psychic power in close combat beyond his Force Weapon.
The Personal Icon
This item acts as a locator beacon for Terminators, Obliterators, and Lesser Daemons, all for a very cheap price. This is a good way to include Icons in your army if you are taking lots of Cult Troops, and making sure that the Icon survives to get nice and close to the enemy where these unit types need to be for full effect.
Melta Bombs
These are not so much miscellaneous as insurance for the times that the Sorcerer will be stuck in combat with a walker, or needs to take down a vehicle that a krak grenade won't scratch. Naturally these go well with Warptime, and they're cheap enough that they're worth taking on the principle that you'll be embarrassed if you don't. However melta bombs only have a short range but can prove deadly
Psychic Powers
Chaos Sorcerers have access to a variety of psychic powers, mostly of the pyrotechnic variety that don't do anything particularly fancy, but express the power of Chaos in its rawest terms. This suits the selfish and esoteric nature of Chaos Sorcerers, and if you read Codex: Space Marine you may notice that many of their powers are cheap knock-offs of what a Chaos Sorcerer can bring to the game. The disadvantage that the Chaos Sorcerer faces is that his psychic power is about protecting himself: instead of Force Dome he has an integral Invulnerable save of 5+, and he has no anti-psychic rules. But he's also WS and BS5, I5, and A3, which makes him much more functional where he does best: in combat murdering the enemy. Keep in mind that a Chaos Sorcerer using psychic shooting attack powers is essentially an expensive Assault weapon unless he also makes it into close combat. Onto the powers:
General Psychic Powers
Doombolt
This is the least expensive powers, at the cost of a combi-weapon. While it seems like a pretty worthless power at first glance, just another gun, it has its potential. Remember that it's being used by a model with BS5, and that three attack dice is heavy weapon territory. You shouldn't take a Chaos Sorcerer for Doombolt, but taking it as a secondary power is definitely worth it, especially if another power is Warptime.
Winds of Chaos
This is a template weapon with an advantage not many template weapons have: it ignores all armour saves as well as cover saves; which means it also defeats Feel No Pain. It can also inflict glancing hits on tanks, and even tanks like a Land Raider, so it's got that going for it. However, since templates are 8" long, you have to get very close to use this power effectively, and you can't use it in close combat. Use with caution, especially if you are using it on very homogeneous units prior to the assault: the opposing player might be canny enough to remove casualties from amongst the models the Sorcerer can reach with his charge.
Gift of Chaos
This is a very tricky power, because it must be used on a model within 6" at the start of the turn. However, this power can defeat large fancy characters with low saves, lots of wounds, and Eternal Warrior. Take Marneus Calgar, for example. You'd need a 5 or 6 to waste him, after passing a psychic test and perhaps winning a Psychic Hood roll, but that's more likely than doing it the old fashioned way by chopping four wounds off of him! Equally evil is using it to clear units of small squishy shooters who aren't worth killing the old fashioned way, because you can not only use this power to remove models from the board, but put Spawn models in their place. Avoid placing Spawn in kill point games, but in objective-based games they're gravy. Fortunately this power can be used while the Sorcerer is in close combat, so you want to get your Sorcerer into combat. In addition, a Sorcerer with the Mark of Tzeentch can cast it twice in a turn, and two Spawn joining a combat can turn the tide in favour of Chaos, as well as to provide a valuable meat-shield to the Sorcerer once the combat is over.
Warptime
This psychic power is the acme of Chaos Sorcery, and what makes the premium paid by Sorcerers of Tzeentch worth it. All it does is allow the Sorcerer to re-roll any rolls to hit and to wound for that player turn, and can be can in any player turn. This turns the Sorcerer from a mediocre combatant into something more serious. Suppose a Sorcerer is facing a Tactical Squad in close combat: Without Warptime he would have four attacks (assuming Bolt Pistol and Force Weapon, no charge), hitting on 3+ and wounding on 4+. On average he'll kill one measly Space Marine. With Warptime he would kill two on average. That's on top of a similar improvement in capability to shoot giving you a 1/36 chance of misfiring a Plasma Pistol, or missing with a Combi-Melta. A Sorcerer with the Mark of Tzeentch can combine Warptime with another psychic power, like the fickle Bolt of Change, or the weak Doombolt, or the murderous Wind of Chaos and make them hurt. This power can be used in combination with a Force Weapon, ensuring the chance of a wound in preparation for Instant Death.
Marked Psychic Powers
The Lash of Submission
As mentioned, only Sorcerers of Slaanesh can take this power. Despite its short range, requiring a line of sight, preventing the Sorcerer from using another range weapon, and impotence where vehicles are concerned, this power has great utility for its cost. It can be used to push enemy assault troops away from where you don't want them, move enemy Troops out of cover or away from objectives, and drag the enemy closer for an earlier assault. In fact, you can even clump enemy units together to make them more vulnerable to template and blast weapons. The only problem with this power is it's best used at range and in line of sight, and you really want your Sorcerer in close combat, and out of line of sight to stuff that might shoot him and make his Mark of Slaanesh useless as a defensive asset. That said, a Sorcerer with this power can do evil evil things to the enemy - just make sure you bring plenty of transport cracking weapons as well as blasts and templates.
Nurgle's Rot
This psychic power is a weapon of mass destruction, and best used in conjunction with Terminator Armour or a Palaquin of Nurgle to get the extra range out of a 40mm base as opposed to a 25mm base. It's only S3, but it can be used in combat, against models in combat, and the 6" radius means the area of affect is 13"+ in diameter. For purposes of comparison, the large blast template is 5" in diameter. It's best for clearing hordes of weak enemies like Termagants, Imperial Guard, or Orks, but it has its role against even heavily armoured troops like enemy Terminators. For extra nastiness, get a Sorcerer of Nurgle on a Bike, for T4(6) and get him in a scrum of Space Marines and detonate him. Just as the humble Lasgun is feared because they come is mass numbers, so is Nurgle's Rot fearsome because it can affect masses of Sv2+ models.
Bolt of Change
This psychic power can be disappointing, given its S8 AP1 profile, but it can be quite useful for swatting down transports, and bothersome light vehicles that won't hang around to be assaulted. Recall as well that it's wielded by a BS5 model. As usual it works best combined with Warptime, so you can get the most out of a single shot. Something to consider is that this power is essentially bought at a discount because a Sorcerer of Tzeetch equipped with it doesn't need a Plasma Pistol or Combi-Melta for a nasty shot.
Cost and Effect
Having looked at all the options available to a Sorcerer, and how they stack, it's something to consider both the cost of a Sorcerer to an army, and his benefit to an army, and thus what he should take.
Firstly Sorcerers are expensive. They start at 100pts and only get more expensive. Tzeentchian Sorcerers can be in excess of 200pts, fully loaded. But why should he be fully loaded? What are you planning on doing with him? As mentioned you want to get your Sorcerer into combat to get the most out of him. Secondly, you want to equip him to complement, synergize, or provide redundancy for the unit that you choose to escort him on the battlefield. Finally, you need to decide how he's going to get to the enemy. You may find that a minimalist Sorcerer can do the trick better than a flashier one because you had more points to spend on the rest of the army.
Here are some sample Sorcerers:
The Cheapo
Chaos Sorcerer
w/Warptime, Personal Icon, Melta Bombs
This Sorcerer is there to take up an HQ slot, and to kill stuff in close combat. Don't neglect the Bolt Pistol as every wound dealt by the pistol is one that can't attack you back in close combat. Stick him with some Chaos Space Marines with Melta Guns and a Champion with a Power Fist, and you'll have a stompy unit to pry the enemy out of their transports and curb-stomp them.
The Assassin
Chaos Sorcerer
w/Jump Pack, Personal Icon, Melta Bombs, Familiar, Warptime, Gift of Chaos
This Sorcerer is there to hunt down and eliminate enemy characters, using Warptime to clear a path to them, a Force Weapon to distract them, and Gift of Chaos to ignore their Toughness, Saves, and human decency. Bring Spawn models for objective based games. Match him with a unit of Raptors, or upgrade his Jump Pack to a Bike and send some Bikers with Flames to clear away the meat-shield that independent characters may have joined. Use his Personal Icon to summon help and to put the hurt where it hurts most. But don't be afraid to have him go off on his own if the terrain protects him while he closes with his prey.
The Deathbomb
Chaos Sorcerer
w/Mark of Nurgle, Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Nurgle's Rot
This Sorcerer exists as a weapon of mass destruction, to sweep up those annoying hordes, and to put paid to multiple small units. Send him in with a Terminator squad, as he won't distract them from Rot-resistant targets when the unit lands, and the unit can prevent him from being summarily executed for his temerity.
The Dominator
Chaos Sorcerer
w/Mark of Slaanesh, Personal Icon, Melta Bombs, Familiar, Lash of Submission, Warptime
This Sorcerer exists to change the game. He's there to make your blast and template weapons hurt like hell, prevent the enemy from closing or running away, and generally make life miserable for him. Stick him in a large unit that gives him Fearless and that complements the Lash of Submission's shooting nature, so that you don't waste firepower setting up units for your big guns to smash. Possessed are excellent for this mission, given their Fearless and Invulnerable nature, and so are the Cult Troops.
The Apprentice
Chaos Sorcerer
w/Mark of Tzeentch, Personal Icon, Disc of Tzeentch, Warptime, Gift of Chaos, Bolt of Change, Familiar
This Sorcerer is a mini-Ahriman, but rather than grinding forward in a tide of Spawn, this guy jumps around with a pack of Raptors making life hell. Use Warptime and the Bolt of Change to smash vehicles, and pop enemy independent characters. If you have a Dominator as well, consider swapping the Bolt of Change for the Wind of Chaos. Combine the Wind of Chaos with a unit lashed into position by a Dominator and you may come to understand by Sorcerers sell their souls to the Dark Gods.
Don't be afraid to rush this Sorcerer into combat though, as he can combine Warptime with a Force Weapon to dissect an enemy, or two Gifts of Chaos a turn(!). In addition, his mobility and Personal Icon can put troops like Terminators, Obliterators, and Lesser Daemons where they'll hurt the most.
