I have been delving into some different options for the terminators I have laying around from my old Deathwing army. In addition to using my old Terminator models and my LandRaiders, I also want to have the army conform to the ideas put forth in the Water Warrior philosophy. You can find out more information about that in either the first installment of this series (link above) or in an article I wrote about it here. (Note that the philosophy is not my creation, but that article contains links to where it was initially laid out.)

While I've detailed the philosopy elsewhere, what this means is that I want the army to incorporate Terminators in some numbers, LandRaiders and that the other units should generally be capable of moving and still shooting at full effect, and should also be capable of shooting and still assaulting. Basically, it should be extremely flexible, which greatly limits the number of options I'll be able to use. While I'll go into more details in a later update, suffice to say that I've been struggling with how to set up various units, since I am used to making them extremely effective at one style of warfare. For example, I might give a unit more heavy weapons to make them better at shooting, but sacrifice their mobility and assault capability. While this is generally a very effective way to build a unit, it would severely limit the flexibility of this army. While no unit will be able to beat the best assault unit in assault, or the best shooting unit in shooting, they should be able to make the enemy unit fight in the opposite style, or be completely irrelevant.

My old army list followed the DeathWing army, a subset of the Dark Angels Chapter of Space Marines. While I've checked out the Dark Angels sub-codex and the Space Marines Codex, I know that Chaos Space Marines can also field Terminators, and have a variety of options that may complement the Terminators and even the Water Warrior philosophy.

It was more clear to me than in the other two codices that I wouldn't be able to use Terminators in the Troops section...

As there are no options for taking a special character or a specific army type to allow me to better use the terminators, the whole codex is available to me. While that gives me a lot of options, I can narrow them down a bit using the concept of the Water Warrior philosophy. I want to avoid units that are incapable of moving and shooting, or units that are incapable of shooting and assaulting. That actually narrows the list down quite a lot. For example, no matter what you do to Khorne Berzerkers, they won't have good shooting capability.

There are several options for Terminator or Water Warrior leaders. Both Abaddon and Typhus are special characters with Terminator armor, but they are also both heavily specialized in assault with little shooting capability. A Chaos Lord has the option of Terminator armor and one with the Mark of Tzeentch can even take a serious gun in the way of a Daemon weapon. The most Water Warrior-capable HQ unit, however, seemed to be a Flying Demon Prince with a psychic power or two. Of all the psychic powers, the best ones were Gift of Chaos, Wind of Chaos and Doombolt. Of these, the first two are too short-ranged for flexible use. (Getting within flamer range of an enemy unit means you are either assaulting or you will be assaulted momentarily.) Doombolt is pretty good, but with Warptime in effect, rerolling failed hits and Wounds, it will be much more effective. The Mark of Tzeentch allows the DP to use both in the same turn, and the basic DP doesn't need a boost in close combat to make it effective. (On the other hand, it's not so effective in assault that it would be foolish not to assault with it, which is a problem I ran into with a few options in this codex.) 185pts for a flying, assaulting gun platform.

Terminators: While Chaos Terminators can be fielded in squads of 10, they cannot be used as Troops, so the extra durability isn't nearly as important. Chaos Terminators don't have the option of Assault Cannon, but they have the Reaper Autocannon, which is a pretty good anti-vehicle weapon. They can also get a chainfist for additional anti-vehicle effectiveness. The basic Terminator is also equipped with a power weapon instead of a powerfist, which makes them very effective against their loyalist brethren if it comes down to it. Much like standard Space Marine Terminators, they also have the option of including a LandRaider as a dedicated transport (meaning you don't have to use up a Heavy Support slot.) 6 Chaos Terminators with one Reaper Autocannon and one Chainfist comes to 220pts. (Note that a Chaos LandRaider can only transport 5 Terminators.)

Troops: While the basic Chaos Space Marine is pretty decent and can get some mobility with a Rhino, I really wanted something with more survivability. The first thought was Plague Marines. With T5 and Feel No Pain, they are definitely survivable, and with 2 plasma guns and a Plasma pistol for firepower, they aren't slouches either. With their survivability, a powerfist is all the assault addition they need. On the other hand, Thousand Sons are an interesting option as well. With an invulnerable save, they are less vulnerable (duh!) to the types of weapons that normally kill Power Armored troops. Their Inferno bolts are all the firepower they need, but they could use some support in assault. While their sorceror cannot take a powerfist, Gift of Chaos would make a pretty effective weapon in assault. Wind of Chaos used right before an assault would be even more effective, however. After much waffling back and forth, I decided that the more reliable option would be Plague Marines. Given 5 of them and a Rhino, it would be 235pts.

Chaos Bikers: I've been including Bikers in the other lists, because they are another unit that can move, shoot and assault, and their movement is excellent for a Water army unit. 2 Bikers with Plasma Guns plus a Champion with Plasma Pistol and Powerfist gives this unit plenty of firepower and assault. 184pts.

Dreadnaught: While I've included Dreadnaughts in the other two lists, since they can move, shoot effectively and assault effectively, they didn't make this list. Chaos Space Marine Dreadnaughts have a 1/3 chance of being uncontrollable (shooting your own units or charging into assault whether you want to or not.) On the other hand, a Defiler is basically a giant Dreadnaught. Simply replacing the Heavy Flamer with a Close Combat arm is the only adjustment needed. 150pts

LandRaider: Heavy anti-tank and anti-heavy infantry shots and very long range weapons. It can also move 12 and transport Terminators, allowing them to assault straight into combat if needed. In addition, it has legendarily sturdy armor. The only real upgrade it needs is Daemonic Possession. 240pts.

Obliterators: After Terminators and LandRaiders, Obliterators were the first thing I thought of. Being able to move and shoot heavy weapons (admittedly slowly) and having access to Powerfists as well as Terminator-level protection and 2 Wounds each makes them sort of "Big Brother Terminators." 3 of them cost 225pts.

that brings me to this approximate list for 1500pts...

185 Demon Prince of Tzeentch: Wings, Warptime, Doombolt

190 5 Chaos Terminators with 1 Reaper Autocannon and 1 Chainfist
260 7 Chaos Terminators with 1 Reaper Autocannon, 1 Powerfist and 1 Chainfist

235 4 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns. Plague Champion with Powerfist and Plasma Pistol. Rhino.

235 4 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns. Plague Champion with Powerfist and Plasma Pistol. Rhino.

240 LandRaider with Daemonic Possession
150 2x Obliterator

1495pts This definitely fits into the Water Warrior concept as I understand it. It also uses 12 of my Terminators and one LandRaider, which isn't too bad. Using 26 models, this would be the largest of my potential armies. It's not huge, but it's larger than the others. It'd be 14 units that I don't already have. In the next installment of this series, I'll be explaining some of my decisions and figuring out which army would be the best for me.

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