Welcome to Nights Tactics! We’re going to be talking about how to take your game to the next level with units or combos for a given army so your list construction and gameplay is a breeze. For context, we’ll be assuming 2000 point army sizes. If you play a different size for your games, you should adjust the unit sizes and occasionally upgrades to fit.
Today, we’re looking at Chaos Space Marine(here after CSM) Terminators and how you can use them to form the core of a devastatingly powerful list. Terminators are one of the most iconic units for any Power Armored army in the game, but they’ve had a really rocky history on the table. With the new rules and updates for CSM, this is no longer the case. Almost any CSM list can be improved by adding some Terminators, and we’re going to talk about why. For context for why this unit is so impactful, we’ll be comparing to our Loyalist counterparts a bit.
The Crunch
CSM Terminators have many advantages over their loyalist counterparts, but these advantages boils down to one word: Flexibility. Loyalist Terminators have a couple of options at best, and the load outs are all very expensive or very inconsistent, sometimes both. For us CSM players, this is not the case. For starters, we have access to Veterans Of The Long War, easily one of the best Stratagems in the game. In addition, we have access to a shoot-twice stratagem in Endless Cacophony, which makes us extremely effective at range.
Luckily for us heretics, the baseline for CSM Terminators is far more attractive. At 29 points after paying for the Chainaxe and Combi-Bolter, you have a durable unit at a reasonable price. You can also shell Bolter rounds at 24” range thanks to the finalized Bolter Discipline rule, and at Strength 5 and AP-1, you can engage a lot of units in the game impactfully if you end up in melee. 145 points gets you 5 Terminators that spit 20 bolt rounds down range (40 with Endless Cacphony), and with easy access to +1 to hit from Prescience and +1 to Wound from Vets, we have the beginning of a very reasonable unit.
However, this is just the baseline for CSM Terminators. We have full access to all Combi weapons and melee weapons, which means that CSMTerminators can be equipped to do a variety of things in a list. Need anti-infantry? Keep them stock.Want to build a list around a squad of Terminators? Improve their Combi-Bolters to Combi-Plasma’s, and now we’re threatening against any unit in the game.
We still have Bolters and a Plasma round to spit down range against hordes, and we can threaten heavy units by just shooting it with Plasma. These bad boys can easily contest the middle of the board and rain death all over the table, and control an objective or two while you’re at it.
The best part is that with a little Psychic support and a Dark Apostle, you can take on anything. Need to be super accurate? Take Warpsight Plea, and combine it with Prescience so you can hit on 2+ while shooting both weapon types, or shoot at something with a -1 to be hit with no risk of killing yourself from your Overcharged Plasma. So much for Lightning Fast Reflexes!
Alternatively, you can take Benediction Of Darkness to make your Terminators -1 to be shot. Combine this with a 5+ Feel No Pain from Delightful Agonies and an extra -1 for being Alpha Legion, or perhaps In Midnight Clad for you Night Lords players out there, and you have a very difficult brick that’s impossible for a lot of lists to shift.
The best part? The two HQ’s and the 10 Terminators only cost about 600 points if you take Plasma, 500 with just Bolters. This means you have plenty of points to squeeze in the rest of a list. Add a HQ of choice (probably a Chaos Lord), and you have a nasty Supreme Command that leaves plenty of room to experiment with.
In Conclusion
Today, we’ve covered how you can use Terminators to form the core of a durable list that controls the middle of the board by shooting your opponent to death without breaking the bank when it comes to points. However, this leaves our Khorn players left out in the dust a bit.
Not to worry, we’ve got you covered! Next time we’re going to look at how Khorne Warp Talons can decimate anyone foolish enough to stand in their way!
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