My favoured legion, the Word Bearers!
It's happening. Choas are getting the love in 40k! It's not to say that I think they will be top dogs or meta kings, but if the leaks are anything to go by, Chaos will go back to being a FUN army to play again, as well as becoming very themed and characterful. More so than those loyalist dogs, anyway!
In the past, Chaos has really only come in five flavours. Nurgle (for people who love a good chesty cough and sneezing on commuters aboard public transport), Tzeentch (for people who love walking slowly and Dynamo), Khorne (for people who struggle to hold it together in the slow line at the super market), Slannesh (the less said about Slannesh, the better... This is, after all, an all ages blog.), and good Ol' Chaos Undivided.
And that's where I landed when I first ventured over to the dark side. I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too. Not only did I want unrestricted access to all marks and units within a single force, but also wanted a unique army, something you don't see all the time. Death Guard armies were a dime a dozen, Khorne Daemonkin did a lot for World Eater population, one of my close mates was a die-hard Thousand Son player, and Slannesh simply had next to no model range; not to mention the Noise Marine Upgrade packs were horribly dated and made a squad over $100 to make.
And you didn't really see the other five legions represented at all...
Until now! By the looks of things, the five "undivided" legions have received the full treatment, with relics galore, warlord traits and Legion Tactics that fit snugly into the playstyle and flavour of the army seamlessly! No longer are we the unwitting victims of the power creep! Chaos is ascendant once more!
Let's take a closer look at Word Bearers. Their whole "schtick" revolves around three things! Possessed, Dark Aposltes and the Malefic Psychic discipline. Possessed have long been considered, how you say... Not worth it. Not that their rules are trash, or even their points value too high (though some would argue). The problem was that they were oft overshadowed by Terminators and the likes as "Best in Slot" for elites. But not for Word Bearers!! These bad boys are Troops now, and are no longer in competition with other powerful units! Thanks to some new formations, they have become seriously scary and I have a great idea based around them that we'll discuss shortly! Oh, the shenanigans and trickery!
Dark Apostles have often been neglected in the past, being pretty locked into wargear and being 40 points more than a Lord with a quarter of the options. To be fair though, he comes stock with a 4++ and a Power Maul, as well as having Zealot and a handy Leadership 10 bubble. He's pretty much a must have for Word Bearers. I mean, it'd be in-Word-Bearer-like NOT to, right? But it looks like there is a lot built around Zealot and having a Dark Apostle seems like the right thing to do considering the legion...
Lastly, the Malefic discipline suits the legion perfectly. This is pretty much what the Word Bearers are all about, and the rules naturally steer them in that direction. I can harness on a 3+ when casting Malefic powers, which is super handy because it's already a pretty tough Discipline to manage Warp Charges with the high value of a lot of the abilities.
One combo I'm really keen to try is to take a big (and I mean BIG) unit of Possessed as troops with the mark of Tzeentch (bumping their Invulnerable save to a 4+). Then I'll jam a Cyclopean Cabal in there, rolling almost exclusively on both Malefic and Sanctic tables! Sanctic, I hear you say? Well, look at it like this (I can thank my chaotic mate, Blake for this treachery!) The Sanctic powers are amazing and for the most part only warp charge one. This means that one Sorcerer can calmly one-dice powers (two-dice if I'm feeling ballsy), and while they may be easy to stop, people have to decide if they want to use valuable dice preventing these instead of some of the more invasive Malefic powers! While things like Hammerhand and summoning will be nice, the two powers I'm really chasing are Sanctuary (+1 to unit's invulnerable save) and Cursed Earth (+1 to Daemons invulnerable saves within 12"). Possessed have the Daemon rule. Suddenly, there's the potential for my big unit of Possessed to be running around with a 2++ Invul, potentially summoning and Gating as I go. It's not without risk and there's a lot of moving parts, but it fits the theme and is at least a start to mastering the Masters of Chaos!
Edit: It would seem Chaos Sorcerers cannot roll on Sanctic, which makes sense and completely sinks my idea...
Now, before I get too carried away writing lists and buying reinforcements, I'm going to wait until the book drops and in the meantime, I'm brainstorming cool combos and upgrading the paint job on my existing force! 
It's been surprisingly quick and painless to add a few highlights and up the quality of (let's be honest, here...) a pretty average original paint job. 
Although widely considered to be perhaps on the expensive side, I've always loved the Chaos Space Marines army for exactly that. Chaos Marines. None of this clean-cut, purity-seal adorned, Aquillas-out-for-the-Emperor business. It's good to be bad, and although it's on the older side, the CSM sprues are still jam packed with cool bits, icons and shoulder pads. With limited special weapon options, it's hard to look past the trusty Meltagun for hard-hitting efficiency and affordability. I'm loving doing a red army (again), and the silver trim really unifies the scheme! I also love the idea of using the DV Chosen as my squad leaders, as they just have that extra level of detail and really stand out as unique champions in their own right (just the way it should be).
It wouldn't be a Word Bearers army without Cultists. These ten are geared for close combat and will be joined shortly by just a ton of their friends!
Lastly, these three slobbering powerhouses made the cut for some versatile, long-range displays of aggression. Obliterators, though pricey, have the edge over Havocs in most (not all) situations due to their increased survivability and array of weapons at their disposal. Sure, they have to cycle through guns, but there's plenty of great options to choose from!
Although widely considered to be perhaps on the expensive side, I've always loved the Chaos Space Marines army for exactly that. Chaos Marines. None of this clean-cut, purity-seal adorned, Aquillas-out-for-the-Emperor business. It's good to be bad, and although it's on the older side, the CSM sprues are still jam packed with cool bits, icons and shoulder pads. With limited special weapon options, it's hard to look past the trusty Meltagun for hard-hitting efficiency and affordability. I'm loving doing a red army (again), and the silver trim really unifies the scheme! I also love the idea of using the DV Chosen as my squad leaders, as they just have that extra level of detail and really stand out as unique champions in their own right (just the way it should be).It wouldn't be a Word Bearers army without Cultists. These ten are geared for close combat and will be joined shortly by just a ton of their friends!Lastly, these three slobbering powerhouses made the cut for some versatile, long-range displays of aggression. Obliterators, though pricey, have the edge over Havocs in most (not all) situations due to their increased survivability and array of weapons at their disposal. Sure, they have to cycle through guns, but there's plenty of great options to choose from! So here's the plan moving forward. I'm going to finish updating the paint job on the rest of my "painted" models (roughly about 1000 points worth).
Once that's done, I'm going to pick a Formation from the Legions book, build it and paint it. To satisfy my inner collector and completionist! Certain formations will take precedent, of course. Lost & the Damned as well as Favoured of Chaos lend themselves naturally to WB, being Cultist- and Possessed-focused, respectively. A Chaos Warband is also on the high-priority list. Much to my surprise (and a testament to how many models I own), I found a complete Cult of Destruction in a box of Chaos stuff; a Warpsmith, six Obliterators (three pictured above) and six Mutilators (don't ask, I can't really explain it...).
Long story short, things are about to get Chaotic in the Halls of the Rune Axe! Are you jumping on the Chaos train?
Would love to hear your plans,
Thanks for reading.
Gabe
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