Sonoftherubric21

That sounds about right. I think we will get some "walker/engine" equivalent. I don't think we will get more infantry either, though I am hoping we get something for it, perhaps even a simple character for the elites slot the way so many armies have them. "Sorcerer" in the elite slot of some variety, or aura-generation, unique spell or what have you.

Exalted Sorcerers are our "Chaos Lord" equivs, they won't become elites. Thing is: we have a total of 4 generic HQs, and 2 of them will be "1 of each" despite us getting a 3 man box set of 3 exalted sorcerers?

Anyone else have thoughts on the "1 lord / prince per detachment"? I have an odd feeling Exalteds may not get this rule, or a different version perhaps. Why you ask? We get *THREE* in one box set. Given we have 4 HQ choices (discounting Ahriman) I think princes will still be 1 to a detachment, but Exalted may very well not be.

Did you mean a 5 man squad? so 1x chain, 3x sword, and power wep/plasma pistol sarge? Or did you mean a 10 man, 2x chain, 4x bolter, 3x chainswords, and sarge? I could feasibly see 5 mans being pretty great, so I could agree with either!

I dig the engines personally, but I get its a taste thing. Though I totally echo the sentiment regarding "heresy" tanks (or heresy guns? unit types? or anything else!) in a Chaos Marine army.

Bare in mind the C:SM upgrades have *massive* opportunity cost involved. That is to say: When you buy that points upgrade you get a bonus for the character, and THEN have an unlocked set of relics and traits to go with it that are unique for that character. But that relic and trait still have opportunity cost involved with spending points, followed by spending CP. I would imagine that Vectors will cover the "extra relic/extra trait" aspect that you are seeking, Masterdeath.

In most casual metas or even semi-casuals it will probably do fine. I used engines regularly and did fairly well locally, and that was when they were considered awful. YMMV however!

I really don't get GW on this release schedule, if we are getting updated plauges, engines, and weaponry...... can't they just drop an FAQ they could throw together in 10 minutes that would allow us to use some updated profiles? Its odd and also frustrating.

YOU HEAR THE VOICES TOO!?!? How do I keep them at bay? HAH! Embracing the insanity. Though I am not saving for a wedding so I suppose my 3 separate vanilla Chaos armies (WB, BL, IW) and my massive Thousand Sons army are..... perhaps going overboard.... On a serious note: I stopped a while ago collecting models until the book is out for vanilla chaos and am going to recommit (I.E: pick one and stick hard with it and down-size just a smidge) when the book drops and we finally know what our 9th armies are going to look and feel like. Though I will say that I have found collecting "several" 2000 point armies, at least for myself, is far more enlivening for the hobby then (1) 4000-6000 point army. As above "Self-contained" armies are a really good idea and limit overspending, hence the idea of getting a single army and setting a hard point/unit limit and *sticking to it* stops some of the overspending and deep-dives we all do in our minds from becoming an expensive reality. If you have a major financial goal: limit yourself to 1 kit a month. Helps sate the hobby need and the prices become reasonable when you buy 1 of a kit per month.

I think we are guaranteed something. Look at the current release pattern. No codex has dropped without *at least* one model and orks, sisters, marines, crons, death guard, are all getting (or have gotten) something new. Death Guard are getting a new character, I would bet we will get something similar + a terrain piece. That would be my bet. The "ideal" would be a psyker dreadnought or psyker vehicle of some variety which (honestly) I would bet will occur *eventually* but who knows when that may be. I would rest assured that we are going to get something, but "what" that something is depends on GWs release schedule and what they want to put effort into.

Dual Lightning Claw- (Master Crafted) White Scars Captain in Terminator armor isn't too shabby. 7 swings on charge, 2+ to hit, D2 (D3 on turn 3+), re-roll all wounds. Before hitting them with strats, they can put in some real work on the table and can theoretically re-charge every turn.

As a scars player its annoying, barely customizable. Can do some minimal work, as I am running 6 but both look almost identical. Irritating for sure.

I have a feeling we will be seeing a big uptick in variable squad load outs. These changes make Warp Talons, Raptors, even basic troop CSM far more tasty and valid. Havocs, chosen, and terminators are a far bit sturdier, and the Cult troops will all look and feel far better with 2 wounds a model. There are a drastic number of changes that change our designs and what we can field that counts as effective, mid-tier, or even upper-tier load outs. I am very optimistic regarding chaos in the coming months, the Death Guard book will be a stepping stone until we see the full codex for Vanilla chaos. This unfortunately (much as I love theory-hammer!) will be heavily debatable until we see what precisely is changing within our book. Namely, mono-bonuses or Mark bonuses as well as strats and variable unit load outs. As well as the biggest issue: LEGION TRAITS Chain axes I would be willing to bet are going to see some form of overhaul to accompany the new Chain swords to make them worth taking. (D2? More AP? More strength?) Could be anything.

The real advantage is that we PICK our engagements. Something is probably gonna die, that game one of the rockgrinder popped top of 1, but I was able to deploy in such a way (using the extra blips strat) to effectively "Zone out" his executioner so turn 1 it killed nothing. The fact that we pick where things drop top of their shooting phase is *hugely* advantageous for us. I am only one game in but frankly I think we are in a solid position. GSC seems like we are going to do fine in 9th. I have a russ, a sentinel, and aberants, but frankly I don't want to use any of those ATM.

The Rockgrinder wiffed that particular game, but that was on a charge against a primaris walker (the one with the Marine in the chassy) and awful dice rolls on my part! I adore rockgrinders, on decent rolls they can shred a ton of hard targets on a charge with minimal support. (I had a Rockgrinder in 8th grind a Chapter Master into a fine red paste in one charge, and plow through whole units of intercessors in a turn. Hilarious and fitting!) Rockgrinders are almost always going to die, so explosive charges are a solid option overall, leaving random characters near units for support especially in tight setups makes for perfect rockgrinder charges. As for my other big units: IMHO in this edition they are fantastic. We can very handily stop claiming of certain objectives, The acolytes are often a "one and done" kinda deal, but they hit hard *AND* are troops with Obsec which is critical this edition. The 20 man Shotgun/Grenade unit of neophytes is similar, I plan to often use "perfect ambush?" (the one where you drop 3 inches away) and feed something 36 Str 4 shotgun shells and 2 Krak Grenades from Launchers preferably on an objective. Support optional depending on how the table is setup, but the Kelermorph is good support for that unit, as he creates an Aura by killing a single model (very likely against infantry of most stripes) The Ridge Runners and Jackal Alphus form a module that runs around, tags important tanks, and Fires 3d3 Lascannon-equiv shots into them hitting on 3+ and wounding on +1 to the wound roll.