Hello, you lot.
JoshThis is the TTP field manual.
JoshJosh is talking at you once more.
JoshWelcome back.
JoshToday we are talking about Chaos factions in Warhammer 40,000.
JoshI am joined, as always, by my dear good friend, totally fall into Chaos.
JoshJohnny.
JoshHello.
JohnnyHow we doing?
JoshI'm doing pretty good.
JoshI assume you're feeling very good about today's topic.
JohnnyOh, we're finally in my hometown.
JohnnyIt's great.
JoshIn the Warp.
JoshHometown in the Warp.
JohnnyThat's it.
JoshThat's it.
JoshWe made it through several episodes talking about literally every other faction you can play in this game, talking about their lore, talking about the visual and thematic stylings of them, talking about whether they're an expensive army to collect, a high skill ceiling army to play, etc.
JoshBut today, you get to take us through the realms of Chaos.
JohnnyOh, it's where all the wacky, fun stuff goes on, right?
JoshYeah, fun.
JoshFun's one way of putting it.
JohnnyWhat do you mean?
JoshHow does Chaos.
JoshHow is Chaos more fun with everything that goes on in the twisted, you know, not exactly emotional, but just twisted nonetheless.
JoshWarp.
JoshHow is Chaos so different to the Imperium in being more fun?
JoshBoth are awful.
JohnnyWell, yes, both are awful.
JohnnyLet's be real.
JohnnyWe're talking about a natural force of entropy, essentially a space between realities that just eats and mutates everything around.
JohnnyAnd.
JohnnyBut the thing is, it makes things more fun.
JohnnyIt's okay with you exploring your vices.
JohnnyIt's okay with you embracing change and all of these things that the Imperium just say no to.
JohnnyWhere the.
JohnnyWhereas the Imperium controls everyone and everything.
JohnnyChaos just wants you to do your thing and give you the tools to.
JoshChaos wants you to be your true self.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshFor better or worse.
JohnnySo vote Chaos at your next election.
JoshBut let's not talk about elections with that.
JohnnyThat brief introduction to Chaos.
JoshProbably, like, just clarify exactly, like, what the Warp is though, right?
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnySo the Warp is, as I said, the space between space.
JohnnyIt is a turmoily river of emotional influence.
JohnnyEveryone's soul is linked to the Warp because souls are inherently warp energy.
JohnnySo all of your emotional needs come fuel what might be in there.
JohnnyAnd even the Chaos Gods are beings of emotion.
JohnnyThey are beings of certain ideas.
JohnnyAnd obviously with how grim, dark, and gritty things are in the 40k universe, the gods kind of are pretty grim and gritty as well.
JohnnyOne focusing on bloodshed and murder as well as honor.
JohnnyAnd like 1v1 stuff like this in Khorne, you've got the plague, Grandfather Nurgle, who is focused on disease and Pestilence, but also medicine and healing.
JohnnyYou've got Slaanesh, the God of excess, focusing on both like perfection as well as lust and desire and anything that you could want to do and going as far as these things can take you.
JohnnyAnd then you've got Tzeentch, the God of magic and change, who focuses on knowledge and those needs to fulfill your mind, essentially.
JohnnyAnd fueling a lot of the psionic energies.
JohnnyAnd nestled in amongst this, there are space Marines and entities that look to these creatures, these emotional entities as gods and ask favor or do jobs to help them and worship them as gods.
JohnnyAnd that's where we.
JohnnyWe kick into our first faction in the Chaos being the Chaos Demons, which are the entities that work for these godlike figures.
JohnnyWe have different demons, which is a bit of a weird word.
JohnnyIt's the Imperium's term for what they really are.
JohnnyThey are warp entity made manifest.
JoshYeah, they're basically extensions of the warp soup, aren't they?
JoshThey're not exactly individuals, they just are extensions of it.
JohnnyYeah, exactly.
JohnnyThey are, yeah.
JohnnyJust the warp made into a physical form.
JohnnyThey are an idea with legs, essentially.
JoshUnfortunately for everyone in the modern setting, you know, we have the Warp, you could call it other things, the Imperium, perhaps the astral plane, etc.
JoshAnd as you mentioned, they are beings of emotion.
JoshBut when you've had 60 million years of war and conflict, starting from, you know, the Necrons, genociding the various other races, you've had the whole, like human conflicts in recent times.
JoshThe Aeldaris, like civilizations fall.
JoshWhilst, you know, the gods might mean well in this setting, they've kind of become twisted and perverse to the most sort of negative components of it, haven't they?
JohnnyOh, they definitely have, yeah.
JoshWe have Chaos Demons, though.
JoshThey are their own faction.
JohnnyThey are.
JohnnyThey are the Warhammer Fantasy 40K crossover faction, which sits in a weird spot in the hobby.
JohnnyIt is.
JoshDo you remember when we tried to figure out the connection for that?
JohnnyOh, man.
JohnnySitting there and trying to work out why the same demon can exist in two different realities.
Johnny@ the end of the day, the answer is it's the space between dimensions and they are separate dimensions.
JohnnyAnd these guys can sometimes just go there.
JoshYeah, the warp just creeps through all the games workshop realities, eh?
JohnnyEssentially it's its own little cinematic universe.
JoshTo the perceptions of these, there's four concentrated sort of sources of this energy.
JoshAs you mentioned, there has been more.
JoshThere may be more in the future.
JoshBut to these big four, you can't even really say they're focused exactly on 40k.
JoshThey just see everything omnipotently, which is kind of fun if you want to really save money.
JoshJust play Chaos Demons and you get two games.
JohnnyYeah, but in a weird space you can kind of play them both in Age of Sigma and in 40K, but also not really.
JohnnyIt's like this weird crossover that almost works.
JoshYou can play them more effectively as a Chaos demon faction in 40k.
JoshIn Age of Sigma they really expanded the four styles of demons to include more of like a cults side of things.
JoshYou've got like the Blades of Khorne or your gladiators, etc.
JoshWhereas in 40k you've got more of a space Marine adjacent thing.
JoshBut you still have the Chaos Demon's core.
JoshDo they exactly play particularly different though?
JoshThe answer is a big maybe the.
JohnnyAnswer is yeah, kind of.
JoshYeah, kind of like they have the various demons of the four various Chaos Gods.
JoshKhor, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch all have a specific role within the army.
JoshBut it's a bit hard to actually get everything to play all four parts of the army because a lot of these models are old man old and.
JohnnyA lot of them are weirdly supported but out of print.
JoshYeah.
JoshThe start box is exclusively Corn Demons.
JoshThe start box to get you into this faction is entirely Corn Demons, which.
JohnnyPuts you into a very melee focused game style that if you gel with that.
JohnnyCool.
JohnnyIf you wanted something a little more balanced, it's.
JohnnyIt can be difficult to find some of the other Chaos Demon models to actually field.
JohnnyBut shall we get into our ratings?
JoshI think before we quite get into that, we should give a brief description of the each of the four like.
JoshEach of the four in terms of like their visual identity and what that means as well to play them in the tabletop.
JoshAnd then I think going into the ratings would be easy then Corn Demons to start with.
JohnnyThey are in the starter box.
JohnnyThey are the more recent sculpts for the mortal range as well.
JohnnyAre your melee brutes.
JohnnyThey are your very typical what you would see in fantasy from like a demon.
JohnnyThey are blood and skulls and wings.
JoshAnd claws and very Christian depiction of Hell.
JohnnyYes, Very focused on the melee front of the force.
JohnnyThey don't shoot well, if at all.
JohnnyBut they love to get into a fight.
JohnnyThey know their base battle line unit.
JohnnyThe Bloodletters are squishy with big swords.
JohnnyThey hit like a truck.
JohnnyBut they die really easily.
JoshEspecially if you're fighting Imperial agents.
JohnnyOh yeah.
JohnnyYour Nurgle Associated demons.
JohnnyYour nurglings, your plaguebringers are kind of your gross, swampy, diseased, big, bulbous and full of pus and pustules.
JohnnyThey're gross and big and fat and full of some of the cutest models in the entire range.
JohnnyBecause for some reason, Warhammer has fun with Nurgle.
JoshNurgle has probably the most fun from what I've seen in the whole, like, chaos setting.
JoshThere's this one novel I listened to where this one planet's taken over by this, like, plague of Nurgle.
JoshAnd the, like, greatest, biggest demon of Nurgle's just like, basically doing like a carnival show with his nurglings as they erupt from the bloated carcasses of things.
JoshAnd he's singing and the nurglings are dancing and all the pus puddles.
JoshAnd the whole scene is meant to be comedic.
JoshBut if you weren't part of Nurgle, holy crap.
JoshLike, you're vomiting your guts up just because they're right next to you.
JohnnyDisgusting and wonderful all at the same time.
JoshSlaanesh has lots of fun, though.
JohnnySlaanesh is your fast moving, slim, semi melee, focused army.
JohnnyThey have some very interesting models that have definitely moved away from their previous over sexualization.
JohnnyThey are your slave sort of vibe with whips, and I'm just making it sound like they're still sexualized.
JoshThey're BDSM demons.
JohnnyYeah, sure.
JohnnyThey kind of are.
JoshThey are.
JoshThey are the excess demons that just happen to manifest as your fast attack units.
JoshAnd so naturally are very dexterous, feminine bodies.
JoshAnd because they're really quick, they have a lot of that, like, you know, slim blades, whips, etc.
JoshBut they're definitely Meteor 7 demons.
JohnnyOh, yeah, for sure.
JoshAnd then easy to define compared to Tzeentch.
JohnnyYes.
JohnnyTzeentch, being the God of change, is probably the weirdest to stick in a box.
JoshThe most Eldritch.
JohnnyYes, for sure.
JohnnyWe have their battleline unit, which are blue and pink horrors that split and change and become smaller versions.
JohnnyThey have a little bit of like a bird vibe is the easiest way to put it.
JohnnyWith their Lords of Chains, they've got a few beaky things, but then other than that, they're kind of just like weird, amorphous amalgamations of arms and legs.
JoshAnd then you have them as your midline spellcaster unit.
JohnnyYeah, they're your more ranged option with weird shenanigans.
JoshAll right.
JoshIt's a pretty good groundwork, I think.
JoshNow we could definitely fall into how we personally rate the factions.
JohnnyHow did you find the Chaos Demon faction as a.
JoshAs a whole, I'm actually pretty positive on Chaos.
JoshI just don't seem to collect them.
JoshI actually quite enjoy Chaos.
JoshChaos Demons, however, tied for my lowest overall.
JohnnyOh, wow.
JoshScore in the Chaos range.
JoshFunnily enough, y part of that's just that a lot of the models are old.
JoshA similar problem I had with other factions that I do like, such as Drukhari and Grey Knights.
JoshThe models just need a bit of a range refresh, and then I'm totally on board.
JoshI gave them four for style.
JoshI love the eldritch horror of them.
JoshI love how different they all are.
JoshI love that you have your Infernal Demons of Khorne, your Tankish blobs of nurgle, etc.
JoshAnd I love that you have a lot of different tiers, I suppose, of Demons from your lowly battle line soldiers all the way up to what are known as Greater Demons.
JoshAnd they are akin to, like the knights that you like so much.
JoshJust these huge centerpiece models that really just tie your army together.
JoshLove the style.
JoshFor the Lore, I like them.
JoshI'm just not really, like, excited by them.
JoshSo I gave them a 2.
JoshThey seem to be more of a.
JoshLike a base ingredient for other factions.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshAnd so because of that, I tend to like the other factions more as they really run with the theme.
JoshFor accessibility, I gave them a three.
JoshIt would be higher if it was, you know, easier to acquire, but there's a lot of options and variety in an army, which is always good.
JoshAnd then for gameplay, I gave them a 3.
JoshIt'll be interesting to see what they do when the Codex releases.
JoshI assume that each of the four demon groups will get a flavored detachment, but it's going to feel real bad if there's not some new models to really, like, fluff that, like, fluff that detachment up, you know, for sure.
JohnnyFor sure.
Josh12 for me.
JohnnyWell, we had similar ratings.
JohnnyThe only difference is I gave them a five for style because I really like the aesthetic of all of the different demons and the vibes, and I really do like what they have.
JohnnyBut yes, the.
JohnnyThe Lore does definitely feel like they are a base ingredient.
JohnnyWe'll see later on that a lot of the other Chaos factions have a higher rating in Lore because, you know, they've expanded on this premise.
JohnnyAccessibility are three similar reasons.
JohnnyThere's a lot of models.
JohnnySome of them are hard to get, but there is a lot of variety out there.
JohnnyAnd the gameplay.
JohnnyI gave a three as well, because they seem Fine.
JohnnyAnd yeah, they will obviously get some sub factions when they get a codex, but the gameplay in and of itself at the moment is still pretty cool.
JohnnyWith their four distinct play styles trying to work together, I think it's a nice puzzle to try and learn.
JoshThey really play off of morale as a mechanic as best as they can in this, in the current edition of the game, which is cool.
JoshYeah, it would be nice to just see what they do with that in the future.
JoshYeah.
JohnnyYep.
JoshSo what did that total for you?
JohnnyAh, 13.
JohnnyOne up for me.
JoshOkay, cool.
JoshNext up, your boys.
JohnnyNext up, we're gonna move into Chaos Space Marines.
JohnnyThis is your Space Marines, but with more fun.
JohnnyNo more spiky bits is the better.
JoshWay of putting it.
JoshMore spiky bits.
JoshThere you go.
JoshThere are some questionable dudes in here.
JohnnyOh yeah, and some.
JohnnyThe Chaos Space Marines are for the most part veterans from the old Horus Heresy age.
JohnnyThere are some that have been created since using some weird and wacky methods from either using Gene Seed that they have stolen or from other Chaos Space Marines who have passed these.
JoshThey also have some like Modern age traders as well, forming new warbands as well.
JohnnyYeah, for sure.
JohnnyThey definitely do.
JohnnyThis is one of the more fleshed out armies in the game.
JohnnyHaving been around since the dawn of time.
JohnnyThey are, for the most part Space Marines.
JohnnyThey tend to have a lot more mutation and weird and wacky stuff going on, but for the most part, they are still super soldiers.
JoshYeah, they have a lot of analogy to Space Marines, of course, because they start off as, you know, normal Space Marines.
JoshA lot of their patterns of armor and heavy support vehicles will actually be just about identical, except for the spikes and trophy racks and evil sigils.
JoshI found it quite interesting that because there's an even amount of traitor legions to loyalist legions from that heresy era, everyone's kind of got an analogy.
JoshYou've got like the sneaky bad guys, the Alpha Legion compared to the sneaky good guys, the Raven Guard.
JoshYou've got like the more recent Traders, the Red Corsairs, the speedy bad guys compared to the speedy good guys, the White Scars.
JohnnyYeah, I dislike your term good guys, but yes, you make a valid point.
JoshBut they also bring in like cultists and stuff like that.
JoshSo there's more than just Space Marines in here.
JoshYou can add the daemons in from Chaos Daemons as an allied unit, and some of the actual Chaos Space Marines became so unique they became their own factions.
JoshWe'll discuss later.
JoshWhat else do you have to say about them?
JoshFrom, like, a gameplay and army collection and even a lore standpoint, they.
JohnnyThe easiest way to think of these guys is, whereas your Space Marines are very clean, very militant, very focused, these guys are a little more gritty and dirty.
JohnnyThere's a lot of spikes, and there's a lot of weird trim that you have to, like, paint, which is definitely a challenge that you need to be aware of when you start collecting Chaos Space Marines is.
JohnnyTrim is everything, but it actually helps to make them look very good on the table as well, with patience and a little bit of effort.
JohnnyTheir lore is expansive, and as you said, they have an analogy in the Space Marines.
JohnnyIn the Space Marines as well.
JohnnySo there's a lot of similar tropes and gameplay styles that you can play just with a slightly different twist.
JohnnyFor the most part, they tend to use old pattern equipment compared to the newer age Space Marine stuff.
JohnnyWe don't have Repulses and all of these cool Dreadnoughts anymore, but we do have their old baby Dreadnoughts and we do have old Predator tanks that they've, like, taken from old usage and made their own.
JohnnyThere's definitely a feel of, like, Renegades and Raiders as a feel for the entire army.
JohnnyThank you.
JohnnyAs a feel for the entire faction as a whole.
JohnnyThey definitely feel like outcasts and broken, isolated sections, whereas the Imperium works very much in one cohesive unit.
JoshDo they, though?
JohnnyThey pretend that they do.
JoshNo one can get along in this setting.
JohnnyNo.
JohnnyAnd I mean, when you're.
JohnnyWhen you're building a war game out of miniatures and then trying to add lore, you kind of have to give everyone reason to fight everyone, right?
JoshYeah.
JoshEven.
JoshEven Chaos Space Marines will fight themselves.
JoshYou know, you hear about sort of one of the key instigators of the heresy, the word bearers.
JoshThey are Chaos Space Marines that dabble more into demonic possession than the other Chaos Legions.
JoshBut they will just straight up go murder like the next Chaos Space Marines group to just achieve some impossible agenda the Chaos Gods asked of them.
JoshYou know, there's so much infighting here, it's kind of hilarious.
JohnnyEven in the novels that I've read and listened to, it's so hard for these guys to work together, and they're always trying to backstab each other.
JohnnyThere's always another agenda, another reason.
JoshYeah, I find the Chaos Marine novels a lot more engaging than the Space Marine novels for the most part.
JoshThere's some tragic Space Marine novels which are very gripping.
JoshBut one thing to remember is a lot of the Chaos Space Marines have been around for, like, 10,000 years and going and hiding inside the warp, which there are certain tears in real space they can use to get into the warp.
JoshThis alternate reality, they are sort of cut off from the passage of time so that, you know, they don't just turn into old wizened things and just fall apart.
JoshNo, they.
JoshThey come out and they, you know, they know the history of the Imperium.
JoshThey know how hypocritical it's become.
JoshThey, you know, walked amongst the gods, so to speak, and they have all this, you know, history to every single Chaos Space mar.
JoshIt's really nice to see compared to the Space Marines, which might have been around for like, 200 years, comparatively.
JoshAnd they're all Julian, honor, brother.
JoshAnd in the Chaos Space Marine, like, I know your dad.
JoshYour dad was a pos, you know.
JohnnyOh, yeah, for sure.
JohnnyYep.
JoshDo you want to give them some ratings?
JohnnyI sure do.
JohnnyThese guys are, I think, tied for my highest rating.
JohnnyNo, not quite.
JoshI'm not surprised.
JoshI'm not surprised that you would say both of those statements in a row.
JohnnyFor style.
JohnnyI've given them a four.
JoshYeah, fair.
JohnnyI think that they're very near perfect.
JohnnyThey definitely have a lot of fun, a lot of cool instances.
JohnnyThey.
JohnnyYeah, as we said, we've been going through, like, they're just.
JohnnyThey're just having a blast, man.
JohnnyEveryone's trying to do their own agenda.
JohnnyEveryone's working against each other while pretending to cooperate from a lore perspective.
JohnnyI gave them a five.
JohnnyI think they have some of the more impelling and gripping lore they have.
JohnnyI mean, nightlords who are terrifying to read about.
JohnnyThey've got the word bearers who are religious fanatics that started the greatest divide in human history.
JohnnyYou know, they've got giant siege engines and demon engines that are just vehicles filled with the souls of a demon.
JohnnyIt.
JohnnyIt's super cool and really impelling.
JohnnyI've given their accessibility A4.
JohnnyI think they have a very good range with some very good models.
JohnnyA lot of their older models still stand up.
JohnnyOkay.
JohnnyToday, and they do have some old models, but some of them are very in need of a refresh, if you can.
JohnnyThe only reason I didn't give them a 5 is because trim is terrifying.
JohnnyIt's.
JohnnyWhen you come to paint these.
JohnnyWhen you come to paint these guys, a lot of people will suggest you paint them in the color of the trim and then fill in the gaps.
JoshAh, that's smart.
JoshI didn't think of that.
JohnnyBut if you can get past the insane amount of trim on a hell Drake.
JohnnyI feel like the model looks so glorious with patience as opposed to effort.
JohnnyThere's no secret techniques to making these guys look good.
JohnnyAnd then for gameplay, I gave them a five.
JohnnyThey're one of the more fleshed out and internally balanced groups in the game.
JohnnyThey have quite a few detachments that perform at a decent level.
JohnnyTheir different gameplay styles come across while still sticking to this, like, gambling theme where they can get benefits, but there's a chance at them getting injured as they make Dark pacts to the Dark.
JoshGods after versing Yue sometimes forget that there is the potential to roll badly and be hurt by your dark pact you're making.
JohnnyI mean, in saying that it doesn't happen very often with me.
JohnnyI've had a lot of luck.
JoshAll right, chat if you will.
JoshWhen you verse Chaos Space Marines, they can essentially do this dice gamble, like any time they go into like a fight, right, a shooting or a melee and there's like what, like a roughly 40% chance you failed the roll and you get hurt.
JohnnyFor the most part, yes, you can.
JoshStill get the benefit, you know, if you're hurt.
JohnnyBut you might have to sacrifice someone.
JoshTo the gods, but you never seem to fail.
JoshYou are Chaos Pill.
JoshYou are praising Tzeentch in public or something holy.
JoshOh, all of your opponents, me with my Necrons, our other mate with Space Marines, our other other mate with Orc failing these leadership checks and amidst the chaos is got his back covered by these Chaos Gods.
JohnnyIt's.
JoshWhat did that total you out though?
JohnnyAn 18.
JoshThat's pretty good.
JohnnyWhere are you sitting with these guys?
JohnnyWhere do you gel?
JoshI'm somewhere between a 13 to a 15, which, you know what, it's not bad.
JoshChaos Space Marines I like similar to Space Marines in my eyes.
JoshNot for, you know, what they visually represent, but just in terms of like a collection and game perspective.
JoshI'm just a bit indifferent to it.
JoshBut I am more positive on the Chaos Space Marines, that's for sure.
JoshFor style, I'm sort of between a 3 and a 4.
JoshI am not really sure.
JoshFor lore, I'm between like a three to four as well.
JoshYou know, I'm not really sure which way to go.
JoshI'm pretty positive though, so I would likely just be higher for the style.
JoshI love that there's so much differentiation in the group of models here.
JoshYou know, you've talked about the word bearers, the Demon Boys, the Night Lords are your, you know, terror tactics group.
JoshYou've got the classic Black Legion, which are your, you know, as like quintessential Chaos Space Marine.
JoshYou got Alpha Legion.
JoshThey're your infiltrators.
JoshThe Chaos Cult is actually like the human servants, the lost and the damned, the corrupted guardsmen, etc.
JoshThey have their own sort of sub faction within the faction as a whole.
JoshI feel like there's more.
JoshThere's the demon engines, there's the vehicles you mentioned.
JoshThere's so much there.
JoshIt's pretty cool.
JoshAnd the lore is just really fun for accessibility four for me, gameplay four for me.
JoshIt's really nice to see everything get represented within the Chaos Codex.
JoshThe crusade stuff seems very fun with like ascending a character through like demonic possession and gaining artifacts of power.
JoshIf you want to play a narrative ongoing game.
JoshYeah, just cool.
JoshI'm happy that you love them so much.
JoshYou're always having fun with them on the tabletop.
JohnnyEven if I don't win all the.
JoshTime, like somewhere around like the 1516 mark.
JoshI would say if I'm leaning all.
JohnnyPositive, hey, I'll take it.
JoshYeah.
JoshA lot of the other factions we'll talk about, except the last one, they're basically the same rating just for different reasons.
JoshI'll just put that out there now.
JoshBut that will take us to the next one.
JoshThe Thousand Sons.
JoshWas it.
JoshWere we talking about these guys next?
JohnnyWe sure are.
JohnnyWe as the person who has very recently started collecting these models as well.
JohnnyThey're pretty cool.
JoshLove them.
JohnnyThey've got some very nice looking models, some very interesting style to them.
JohnnyThese are the Necrons in human form.
JoshYeah, they got a similar Egyptian theme.
JohnnyEgyptian theme, but turned up to 11.
JohnnyThey're devoted worshippers of Tzeentch.
JohnnyTheir primarch Magnus did nothing wrong.
JohnnyDid everything wrong.
JohnnyIt is a bit of a meme in the community, but oh boy, did he not listen to his daddy.
JoshHe meant well.
JoshMessed up and then thought about it.
JoshAnd then after most of his sons died in battle, he's like, actually, you know what?
JoshYeah, screw that.
JoshAnd then just was an angsty emo teen for the next 10,000 years.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyThe Thousand Sons had a bad case of mutation that forced them to basically seek Tzeentch's help in creating a.
JohnnyWhat they call the Ahriman's Rubric.
JohnnyThe spell they cast to try and prevent their body mutations.
JohnnyWhat it really did was turn their flesh to dust and it fused their souls into their armor.
JohnnySo they're now kind of like war living armor.
JohnnyIt also removed a lot of their autonomy, which is why I also bring in that reference to the Necrons.
JohnnyThey're kind of suits of armor, whereas.
JohnnySimilar to what happened to the Necrons all that time ago.
JoshYeah, much like the Necrons too.
JoshThe Thousand Sons that got dusted, if you will, were more of the non sorcerer variety of Thousand Sons.
JoshTheir home world was very much like in the practice of teaching magic.
JoshYeah, you got the sorcerers leading the dusty boys.
JoshVery Necron pilled.
JohnnyAnd these guys are very sorcerous.
JohnnyTheir whole shtick is magic.
JohnnyBeing followers of the God of magic, they like to cast spaceships.
JoshYeah, they're not spaceships.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshThey are like windows in reality that just fold reality in on itself and then a door appears and then they just walk out of it.
JohnnyThey just pop right up.
JoshWow.
JoshThey're ballin'I.
JoshLove them.
JohnnyThese guys are super cool.
JohnnyThey have some really cool models.
JohnnyThey have some really cool characters.
JohnnyThey've got a really tragic backstory.
JohnnyThis is everything I want out of my Chaos Faction.
JoshYeah.
JoshWith the exception of the sort of Ahriman saga of novels.
JoshAhriman's Magnus, favored son, very powerful sorcerer.
JoshYeah.
JoshOutside of them, they have come back into the game around a decade ish ago.
JoshThe army range is a bit smaller.
JoshThousand Sons have had a couple of community rumors of getting a lot more of the automata, but more of like magic possessed machinery.
JoshLike Mechanicus automata.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshBut I.
JoshOh man, I feel bad for Thousand sons because in 9th edition and prior there was a psychic phase.
JoshYou would have like your command phase where you maybe do a couple of like commander abilities, roll a couple of resources, and then you'd move to movement phase, self explanatory.
JoshThen you would do the psychic phase where you apply spells before you then go into the classic shooting and melee and stuff like that.
JoshIn 10th edition, they really wanted to sort of simplify the game and make it a bit more accessible.
JoshIt's not that simple.
JoshBut the psychic phase was folded into attacks and the Thousand Sons got shafted with a lot of their nuance, didn't they?
JohnnyOh, yeah.
JohnnyThey're definitely overly.
JohnnyThey were the masters of the psychic phase and now they've lost their mastery, you know.
JoshYou know what I realized after doing like four episodes of this stuff?
JoshBy now all the detachments that seem to come out, at least in this first batch of codices, they released them staggered.
JoshAll the detachments are like, every army gets a melee focused one.
JoshEvery army gets like a shooting focused one, a character focused one.
JoshThey're all like the same.
JoshSame, but different.
JoshAnd it really Relies on the models you have access to to make the most out of those detachments.
JohnnyYeah, I mean, it's a competitive game, so they call it.
JoshYeah.
JoshBut then the Thousand Sons, this whole schtick is psychic phase that doesn't like super exist at the moment.
JohnnyGuess we'll have to see what happens when they get a credit.
JoshHowever, they are doing pretty well overall from like a, you know, a win rate perspective in like, high level play.
JohnnyThey have this army rule that focuses on the ability to cast spells using a resource you gain based on how many sorcerers you have, which kind of ties your like, psychic phase into your command phase.
JohnnyIsh.
JohnnySo they kind of get this weird hybrid psychic phase.
JoshYeah.
JoshOkay.
JohnnyAnd you have the ability to cast more than one spelling around based on how much of this resource you gather.
JoshIt is a lot more digestible, I will admit.
JoshPsychic profiles were like, bloated, I must say.
JoshI read some 9th edition Necron codices preparing for one of our upcoming episodes.
JoshAnd like one character could have like.
Johnny10 abilities and they're all abilities you.
JohnnyAnd you'd pick the abilities in your list building and then your opponent needs to know what all these abilities is like.
JohnnyIt's a lot to track.
JohnnySo I understand why they did it, but they're pretty cool for ratings.
JohnnyI will lead the way here because these guys are very high up there for me as well.
JohnnyThey got a total of 17 for me.
JoshNo, that's just below Chaos Marines, isn't it?
JohnnyJust below.
JoshOkay.
JohnnyAnd you'll kind of see where for style, I've given these guys a5.
JohnnyI think their models look so cool.
JohnnyThey're like big beast model is really fun.
JohnnyThere's a lot of magical sorceress elements.
JohnnyEvery single unit gets like a special sorcerer that leads them.
JohnnyThe model range isn't huge, but the style is all there in every single model.
JohnnyShows the Thousand Son style, which shows a lot of cohesion in the army.
JohnnyFor lore, I've given them a four.
JohnnyThey had some ups and downs in the lore, like moments where they were more pronounced and moments that they weren't.
JohnnyObviously.
JohnnyMagnus was a very big character in the later events of the Horus Heresy.
JohnnyThe lore around Ahriman is really fun and desperate and fantastical in a sci fi setting.
JohnnySo I gave them a 4.
JohnnyFor lore accessibility, I've given them a 3.
JohnnyThey don't have a huge range, which really limits what you can field.
JohnnyAnd even then, for the most part, you're fielding a lot of the same guys.
JohnnyThey're very monopose and the trim is insane for the same reason that I had to, I had to, you know, dock a point off of Chaos Space Marines for their trim.
JohnnyThese guys turn it up to 11 or 12.
JoshThis is like a kids coloring in book that's for some reason labeled like expert coloring in.
JohnnyYeah, yeah.
JohnnyThis is like giving an adult coloring in book to a kid.
JohnnyIt's insane.
JohnnyBut boy, do they look.
JoshThey do.
JoshIt's true.
JohnnyAnd then for gameplay, I've given them a five.
JohnnyI think the ability to cast spells and influence your units and is really cool.
JohnnyYeah, yeah.
JohnnyIt's that like fantasy element added into this sci fi universe.
JohnnyThey are an elite style army.
JohnnySo they have quite a high cost point wise which both helps and hinders their abilities.
JohnnyBut they have this cool like flame sort of aspect.
JohnnyLike a lot of flame weapons if you want to build in that way and they can be quite good.
JohnnyOr you can go into your spells a little more and focus on the shooting and give them like keywords to make their shooting better.
JohnnyThey kind of just do a lot of cool things that I'm really excited to put these guys on the table.
JoshThey combine two of your favorite gameplay elements, manipulating the system as a whole and magic.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshI'm surprised you didn't get these guys sooner.
JoshEh?
JohnnyI was scared of the trim.
JohnnyLet's be real.
JoshOh, fair.
JoshYeah.
JoshOkay.
JoshYou went from Necrons to Chaos Marines to Thousand Suns.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyIt doesn't help.
JohnnyTheir starter boxes, not the best way to start the army.
JoshThey're weird beastly, because it focuses more.
JohnnyOn their like culty sort of cheap units as opposed to their more practical battle line.
JoshFun fact, I'm not sure if it was 9th edition or if it's current edition, but at some point the models, the Beastly Cultists, the Zangors, they had a caveat where you needed like I think a sorcerer in your list for every group of Zangors you ran.
JoshBecause they, you know, you could keep them in your backline, hold objectives and then move the bulk of your army up pretty good.
JoshBut the start box, the box that's like, hey, if you buy this, you can start your army decently.
JoshWell, all these boxes are well priced, but the Zangors outnumbered the sorcerers.
JohnnyYeah, I think that's a 9th edition mechanic.
JoshYeah, I just find that kind of hilarious.
JohnnySo legally you couldn't even run them in the same army at that point because.
JoshNo, no, no, look, I do love Thousand Suns.
JoshI think it was that start box that actually stopped me from getting them because When I first got back into this hobby, I looked at Aeldari.
JoshAs we discussed at that point in time, the models weren't great.
JoshI then looked at Thousand Suns because I love the magic aspect too.
JoshBut I saw the boxes itself weren't, like, the most well balanced or stocked.
JoshThen I went into Necrons.
JoshThat's fine, but I really liked the Thousand Suns at some point.
JoshI don't know what's changed since, but I'm just not as hot on them now.
JoshThey were tied for, like, my next army, and now they're, like, lower than normal Chaos Space Marines for me.
JoshSomehow I gave them a four for the style, a three for the lore.
JoshThere's just something more I want out of them, but I don't know what that is yet.
JoshThey kind of suffer from the.
JoshWe added this group of models into the game so you can play it and then, like, forgot to update them as a whole for a while.
JoshLike, they're there and Die Hard fans will know everything about them because there's always stuff to learn.
JoshBut they're just lacking a little bit of that, like, background.
JoshI think.
JohnnyThey haven't been fleshed out as well.
JoshThat.
JoshBut for the range, though, I love the models.
JoshI'm sort of between a three and a four for them because they are cheap to get, relatively speaking.
JoshYou don't have a lot of options to choose from, which makes list building actually easier.
JoshBut I want to see a bit more out of them as well.
JoshI want to see maybe a couple of those, like, psychic automata that they had in the Heresy, like, lore.
JoshI want to see maybe a couple of different, like, they're called Rubric Marines.
JoshI want to see a couple of different, like, variants of them.
JoshZangors can get shafted for all I care, though.
JoshMaybe like, a magic cultist mob would be nice, like your typical dudes, but, like, walking around like staffs.
JoshOr maybe they've, like, blinded themselves to see better, like, wizard them.
JoshI don't know.
JoshThat puts me at a.
JoshI think a 15.
JohnnyAll right, that's acceptable.
JoshDeath Guard.
JoshNext faction.
JoshNurgle's boys.
JohnnyThese guys are gross.
JoshI know.
JoshDo you.
JoshAre you squeamish?
JoshDon't look these up.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyNah, these guys are disgusting.
JoshSlaanesh.
JoshSlaanesh things.
JoshAt least you can sort of look at them and think, that's not for me.
JoshBut Nurgle will make you feel queasy the more you look and think about it.
JohnnyBut as we said before, Nergal has the most fun in terms of, like, what you See, in the lore and stuff like that.
JohnnyLike, Nurgle loves his children.
JoshYeah.
JoshSo Nurgle infects you.
JoshYou get sick.
JoshYou're puking your guts out.
JoshAwful.
JohnnyThe worst possible plagues.
Josh17 plagues at once.
JoshInstantaneous bubbles across your skin.
JoshYour eyes are swollen, blah, blah, blah.
JoshNurgle psychically reaches out to you.
JoshHey, do you want.
JoshDo you want to let me in?
JoshDo you want to, like, sell me your soul?
JoshAnd the moment you say yes, it doesn't hurt anymore.
JoshYou might have, like, a distended jaw in your belly.
JoshYou might have your arm burst out into a tentacle.
JoshYou might have, like, eyeballs on your tongue.
JoshBut you don't feel bad about it.
JoshYou might be repulsed by what's happened to you, but you're not in pain.
JoshYou're just part of Nurgle now.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyDeath Guard were led into the jaws of Nurgle by the word bearers, everyone's least favorite.
JohnnyOh, not.
JoshNo.
JoshAt the very end of the Horus heresy, Mortarion, primarch of the Death Guard, his first mate, or favored son, Typhus, is a sketchy boy.
JoshTyphus hijacked their flagship in warp travel into, like, a Nurgle storm.
JoshThe whole ship got, like, corrupted.
JoshAnd the only way they would be saved is of Mortarion except a Nurgle.
JoshAnd this guy hated anything to do with the warp.
JoshHe rejected Psychers, hated, like, the Thousand Sons, blah, blah, blah.
JoshAnd.
JoshBut Typhus became so juiced up as, like, a reward.
JoshHe carries the.
JoshOh, my God, what's it called?
JoshThe Destroyer Plague.
JoshThe Fly Eater pack.
JoshI don't know.
JoshHe is a walking, like, beehive now of just flies and maggots, and Mortarion is just this sad bastard because he didn't want this.
JoshHe's one of the only Chaos Boys that didn't want to do this.
JoshBut he valued the lives of his sons, however that would actually happen over them, just, like, rotting away.
JohnnyMan, that's rough.
JoshYeah, right.
JoshBut, you know, the word bearers did engineer everything into motion.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyWhen you're not sure who to blame, just blame the word bearers.
JohnnyRight.
JoshFudge.
JoshErebus.
JohnnyWell, the Death Guards, aesthetically, are pussy and covered in boils and weird mouths in weird spots.
JohnnyThey tend to be a little plumper than some of the other models due to whatever is going on inside Death Guard.
JoshMore like dad Bodguard.
JohnnyOh, yeah.
JohnnyYep.
JohnnyIt's gross and at the same time, kind of cool.
JohnnyLike, their models are probably some of the most detailed in the range.
JoshI know.
JoshTheir character sculpts are next level oh.
JohnnyMan, they're so cool.
JohnnyAnd I just wish everyone else got anything close to what they get.
JohnnyMortarion is beautiful.
JoshTheir range bumped me up, like, two or three points.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyThese guys scored surprisingly high for an army I would never collect.
JoshYeah.
JoshI'm tempted now, like you are doing Thousand Sons.
JoshA maid of ours is doing the next faction we're going to talk about.
JoshNo one's in Death Guard right now.
JohnnyNo one is in Death Guard right now.
JohnnyBut I thought you were holding out for a hero, which we'll get to soon.
JoshYeah.
JoshAnyway, we'll talk about that soon.
JoshThe Death Guard originally were, like, the toughest bastards out of the original legions.
JoshThe Thousand Sons were your scholars, but the Death Guard were like the folks you sent into, like, you know, poisonous war zones and, like, swampy terrains.
JoshAnd they, like, were fine about it.
JoshThey're naturally very resilient folks.
JoshThey were able to actually not immediately die to Nurgle.
JoshSurprisingly, other Space Marines would have.
JoshThey're just tough bastards.
JoshBack in the day, they didn't even care to clean their armor.
JoshThey were just rusty and gross because they were just going from one terrible place to the next.
JoshAnd that's really blossomed with Papa Nurgle's blessings into what you.
JoshWhat you said already.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyOh, yeah.
JoshIn Law In Lord, they are meant to be like your immovable wall.
JoshThe Necrons get back up, you know, but they, like, can be put down.
JoshThe Death Guard are meant to, like, tank, quite literally, with their bodies, like damage.
JoshThey move, like, probably the slowest in the whole game, but you're gonna have a tough time getting rid of them.
JoshAnd they're bringing, like, plague auras up the board with them that worsen a couple of your, like, statistics, like, your toughness and stuff like that.
JoshSo you become easier to hit when you're close to them because you're sick.
JohnnyNow, which is a pretty cool aesthetic.
JoshYeah.
JohnnyAnd has decent implications in the game as well.
JoshYep.
JoshShall we just go to our Slag rating?
JoshWe've spoken heaps about Nurgle already.
JoshIt's pretty obvious what they are.
JohnnyWhy don't you take the lead on this one?
JoshAll right.
JoshI am Emma.
JoshAn odd mixture here for accessibility.
JoshNumber five.
JoshGreat sculpts.
JoshFantastic sculpts.
JoshI really hope that when they get a Codex, there's, like, a character focus list, because, hot damn, the gameplay 5i, if you haven't noticed, love not dying in this game.
JoshI love to outlive my opponent.
JoshSo, you know, whether the weather, my plague, boys and girls style, normally I'd be turned off.
JoshBut they're not like horrifying murderers with skulls on their back.
JoshYou know, they're just gross and unhinged.
JoshI kind of dig it.
JoshLike, I kind of dig this version of horrifying.
JoshSo 5.
JoshBut Philora gave them a 1.
JoshI just don't care about their background.
JoshSo I had like a 5.
Josh1 and then 5 and 5.
JoshSo it was 16.
JoshInteresting beat out Thousand Sons.
JohnnyInteresting.
JoshAlmost beat out Chaos Marine.
JoshActually, no they didn't.
JoshI think my original notes just straight up beat out Chaos Marines and Thousand Sons.
JohnnyWell, for Death Guard, I gave them a five for style again.
JohnnyYeah, no, they.
JohnnyThey're so cool looking models.
JohnnyTheir whole style fits in with every single model because they've put so much effort into the sculpts.
JoshI didn't even mention the vehicles.
JohnnyOh, the vehicles are gross.
JoshThey have like an aerial drone which is technically a lawnmower now because it's infected with a nurgle demon.
JoshSo they have this like aerial one man drone that's now a demon engine that like spews plagues and when you're sick, just like dive bombs you with this like rolling pin that's spiky.
JoshAnyway, sorry to interject.
JohnnyFor lore, I've given them a two.
JohnnyAgain.
JohnnyJust.
JohnnyYeah, I just don't care.
JohnnyBut then for accessibility, I gave them a 4 because the range is sick, dude.
JohnnyYou get to paint them in some really weird and different styles.
JohnnyMistakes come off as purposeful.
JohnnyIt could always just be, you know, a bit of a rash.
JohnnyBut for gameplay I gave them a three.
JohnnyI don't really know a lot about their gameplay other than that they're really tanky in.
JohnnyIn my like, brain due to me playing Chaos Space Marines.
JohnnyThe.
JohnnyThe nurgle keyword tends to be used on ranged units, but these guys aren't for the most part.
JohnnyAnd also they have a small aura around them, which means they don't want to be enraged.
JohnnyThey want to get close to the enemy.
JohnnySo for me, that's like a weird.
JoshThe aura gets bigger as the game goes on.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyBut it just feels weird in my brain because of previous stuff.
JoshYeah, there was a lot of hoo ha.
JoshWhen the start of 10th edition rules came out, everyone was like, not my Death Guard.
JoshWho's this?
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyWhich put me at a 14 for these guys.
JohnnyStill surprisingly high.
JoshYeah, I'm definitely seeing them with plague tinted glasses here.
JoshI completely agree with your caveats, but I'm very optimistic about what's to come.
JohnnyOh, their codex is going to be great.
JohnnyMoving on.
JohnnyWorld leaders, which are the devoted of horn, the angriest of boys.
JoshI feel rage building up inside me, Johnny.
JohnnyTheir primark was Angoron, you know, the angriest of boys, Angry Rob, and the only one in the entire faction that didn't want this.
JoshOh, my Lord.
JoshAngron is the most tragic primarch, in my opinion.
JoshYou have, like, the Night Lords, the Terror Boys.
JoshThe guy, like, edged himself into being the bad guy, quite maybe literally.
JoshAngry Ron was like his.
JoshHis baby version crash landed into a gladiator planet, and then some old tech was stuffed into, like, the base of his skull to remove, like, sensory pleasure from any emotion except anger.
JoshSo he's just pissed off unless he's violent.
JoshWhich made for a great gladiator, but a terrible person.
JoshAnd supposedly, the Emperor's original plan for the World Eaters was actually to be, like, the medics of the Space Marine legions.
JoshSo.
JoshWell, that didn't go well.
JoshAnd then his whole legion, really, because they're literally, like, part of him.
JoshLike, they're kind of, like descendants.
JoshAll the Primarchs have, like, little bits of them embedded as an organ in the other Space Marines.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshThey have this fatherly reverence to their Primark, whether they're a frothing maniac or not.
JoshAnd the World Eaters went and, like, found this tech and just, like, voluntarily did it to themselves.
JoshAnd so you just have this crazy pack of rabid dogs.
JoshBut they're also Space Marines.
JohnnyThey are your melee brutes for chaos.
JoshSpace Marines, the most melee est army in the whole game.
JohnnyThey move so fast.
JohnnyThey run in and they hit you with their axes.
JohnnyTwo axes sometimes, or just a big chain.
JohnnyGlaive these.
JohnnyThese guys are pretty cool, if you're into that vibe.
JoshThey.
JoshThey wear themselves on their sleeves so hard.
JohnnyThey're the epitome of anger and frustration.
JohnnyFor me, I didn't gel as much with these guys.
JohnnyI think they're very one note.
JoshYep.
JoshBut they are.
JoshThey do it well, though.
JohnnyAngron's backstory is so sad.
JoshMakes grown men cry.
JohnnyAnd it's not even just, like, getting stuck on the wrong planet every step of the way.
JohnnyEverything went against him.
JoshDo you know?
JoshLike, heresy, error.
JoshAngron, if you've ever seen artwork of him, he has all these skulls on his belt.
JoshDo you know who they are?
JohnnyHis brothers.
JoshYeah.
JoshThat he couldn't save.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshHe went back and was like, I failed you.
JoshCome with me.
JohnnyIt's insane the things this man went through.
JohnnyHe didn't even want to be a demon.
JohnnyHe ended up Being a demon, his.
JoshWord bearer brother, like, tricked him into becoming the first, like, demon primarch.
JoshThe others, like, kind of had to just go with it, but Engron was, like, he was okay not being one.
JohnnyHe just got punched in the gut every step of the way.
JoshHe literally.
JoshHe exited his, like, birthing pod to a bunch of elder, like, hit squad that, like, saw the future and were like, not this guy.
JoshHe's gotta go now.
JoshWe're killing a baby.
JoshWho cares?
JoshAnd he killed them as a baby.
JoshAnd the only time he knows peace is when he gets blown up, only.
JohnnyKnowing that he will come back very soon.
JoshOh, my goodness.
JoshWow.
JohnnyUnfortunately for me, Angron couldn't save them.
JoshHe's not even my favorite character here.
JohnnyNo.
JohnnyBut my Slag ratings are fairly middling for these guys.
JoshCool.
JoshYeah.
JoshGo on, please.
JohnnyFor style, I've given them a three.
JoshYeah, fair.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyFor Lore, I've given them a two.
JohnnyThis would be a one if Angron didn't have such a tragic backstory.
JohnnyBut they are very one.
JoshThey are.
JohnnyFor accessibility, I've given them a three, mainly because they don't have their full range yet.
JohnnyThey've been told that they will get their range in two waves, and we've only received the first one, so they're missing a lot of tools in their pack.
JohnnyThe models they do have do look pretty cool, though.
JohnnyThey definitely have that, like, skull and bones aesthetic.
JohnnyThe big melee weapons, very little in the way of shooting, and some cool sculpts.
JohnnyThey just need some more stuff.
JohnnyAnd then for gameplay, I've given them a two.
JoshYou just don't like melee as much, eh?
JohnnyWhich is funny, considering most of my army is in melee.
JohnnyBut they just.
JohnnyThey're so one.
JohnnyNo, the Blessings of Khorne is a cool little mechanic having, like, a random chance at a buff or two.
JoshYep.
JohnnyAnd there's also a chance you get nothing at all.
JohnnyBut outside of that, they just don't gel with me as much as some of the other sub factions and other Chaos factions do.
JohnnySo I just couldn't rate them much higher than a 10.
JoshA 10's okay.
JohnnyYeah, it's fine.
JoshMiddle of the road, right?
JoshI love them.
JoshI have to admit, I, especially, through the Imperium, tried to be as optimistic as I could.
JoshIn this instance, though, I genuinely love them.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshAnd that I think anything above a 15 is me really liking them.
JoshBut, like, the 10 to 15 is me just being nice.
JoshOkay, that came out wrong, but I feel like you get my point.
JoshThe World Eaters, so, so humorously.
JoshCreeped up on me because they're not subtle, but they kind of just like came out in ninth edition.
JoshAnd just like as the weeks go by I'm like, you know what, I'm down.
JoshIf it wasn't for our friend picking World Eaters, I might have done them as my next army.
JoshBut I have the classic case of choosing an army and then one of our friends is like, nah, I'm gonna take that one.
JohnnyYou just gotta pull the trigger sooner.
JoshI do, but I also have an extensive backlog of necrons.
JoshAnyway, anyway.
Josh4k points later.
JoshAnyway, World Eaters for style.
JoshI gave them a 5.
JoshThey're so unapologetically themselves and I'm down for it.
JoshBerserkers.
JoshWe don't really have a melee crazed bunch of maniacs like these guys and I'm happy for them.
JoshFor lore I actually gave them a three.
JoshI don't really you know, resonate with their like plight of being angry all the time, but there are some characters like Lord Avocado actually Lord Invocatus and his like flaming Valkyries.
JoshI'm joking around but you read up on Lord Invokatus and you'll get what I mean.
JoshCadre 331 which like old school version of World Eaters.
JoshI'm pretty on board for the accessibility.
JoshI gave them a four.
JoshIf I were to get a Chaos Faction, that actually might hinge on their next release wave.
JoshWe need some of their Lore staples.
JoshTheir specific Terminators, the Red Butchers.
JoshMaybe like some sort of like surgeon.
JoshMaybe some anti psycho stuff.
JoshBring back some of their forge world corn specific demon engines like the Kaitan, which is a big metallic beast of burden of a demon in metal.
JoshIt's cool gameplay.
JoshI said they have melee magic because it's just thousand suns mechanic, but melee and that's four.
JoshThat puts me at a 16 tied with death God.
JoshShall we do like a minute long?
JoshHonorable mention for number four.
JohnnyEmperor's Children don't have a faction yet.
JohnnyThese are the worshipers.
JoshThey barely have models.
JohnnyThese are the worshippers of Slaanesh.
JohnnyWe have had an announcement that they will be getting their first wave of models next year 2025.
JohnnyThat is all we really know for style wise and through reading through.
JohnnyWell for me the.
JohnnyThe Fabius Bile books, they're pretty cool.
JohnnyThey have some interesting lore.
JohnnyThere's definitely a large emphasis on addiction and vices.
JohnnyThe Noise Marines are really cool concept.
JoshSonic weaponry.
JohnnySonic weaponry through enhancement and demon stuff.
JoshThey sing you to death.
JohnnyThere's one Terminator Noise Marine whose voice could punch holes in ships.
JoshOh, I didn't know about that guy.
JoshYeah, Lucius the Eternal.
JoshThey're like one named character.
JoshIf you kill him in battle but you're happy about it, he becomes you.
JoshHis armor is just faces of every other person that's killed him.
JohnnyThey have some really cool lore.
JohnnyWe can't really give them a rating because they're not an army yet, but we did want to mention them as the fourth God and the fourth faction.
JoshI'm really excited for these folks.
JoshActually.
JoshI'm really, like, hedging my Chaos bets about picking this faction myself because they are unapologetically insane.
JoshThey have this really interesting, like, black and pink color scheme.
JoshThey have this body modifications, weaponry.
JoshThey seem to be very oppressive from the lore and gameplay teases we've had.
JoshBut it's really going to come down to, like, what their army does compared to everyone else.
JoshThat will really set them apart.
JoshBut we have one more.
JoshWe have one more faction that we can talk about before you can go to bed.
JohnnyHey, it's not that late yet.
JohnnyChaos Knights.
JohnnyThese are my jam.
JohnnyThese are.
JoshI almost forgot to make notes on them, but they're your jam.
JohnnyYou constantly forget these guys exist until I'm like, but what about Chaos Knights?
JoshPlease, please take the stage for your.
JohnnyThese guys are everything I said about Imperial knights, but with the coolest sculpts.
JohnnyThey're giant walking machines.
JohnnyThey still have that noble household vibe, but these guys have started down the Eightfold path of damnation.
JoshYeah.
JohnnyThey are.
JoshYou said noble houses.
JoshI was like, do they, though?
JohnnyWell, it's where they started.
JoshOkay.
JoshYeah.
JohnnyAnd then corruption ensued.
JohnnyWe're talking giant, essentially demon engines where the person could be fused into the engine is now no longer in control.
JohnnyThis is the worst of the nobles who have willingly gone down this path.
JohnnyWe have demon possessed knights.
JoshOh, yeah.
JoshYeah.
JoshYou just answered my question.
JohnnyThere's, There's.
JohnnyYeah.
JohnnyThere's just a couple of ways that they like sub factions, AKA how their journey down the path has taken them.
JohnnyThey don't have a codex for 10th edition yet, but I'm expecting to see those different methods of depravity brought forward in their sub factions.
JohnnyThey're big and spiky.
JohnnyThey tend to have these like, vulture like birds called Terror Shades following them around.
JohnnyThey're big on the despair and morale debuffs.
JohnnyIf you're near them, it's enough to be like, oh, I need to get out of here.
JohnnyThey have an aura of despair around them.
JohnnyThey lack the one thing that Imperial Knights recently got, which is foot soldiers.
JohnnyAnd, well, they got the entire Imperium faction.
JohnnyInquisitional agents.
JoshI was daydreaming about, like, making some, like, Attack on Titan memes out of this faction, so I wasn't, like, super listening.
JohnnyWhereas these guys do not have access to anything except Chaos Demons.
JohnnyBut there's a weird caveat to how you feel to Chaos Demons that makes it a little more difficult.
JohnnyI'm hoping for some sort of, like, infantry foot soldier mech mechanics when they do get a Codex, but we'll have to wait and see.
JoshImagine Dark Mechanicus folded into this faction with, like, Vashtor as an allied unit.
JohnnyYou've got me going there.
JoshOoh.
JohnnyThey have a little bit of internal balancing issues, and people tend to favor their smaller class, the War Dogs, as opposed to the larger knight class.
JohnnyBut the knight models are so fun to build, so fun to paint.
JohnnyThey leave you with so many extra bits for spiky stuff that you can add to other models.
JohnnyLike, Chaos Knights are my jam, and they're just so much fun and they look so cool.
JohnnyHow do you feel about Chaos Knights as a faction?
JoshI like them more than Imperial Knights, that's for certain.
JohnnyYep.
JoshI love the spectrum they bring from, like, a Lore perspective and a stylistic perspective especially.
JoshYou can add a lot of bits to sort of reflect various Chaos Gods compared to just, like, paint and banners to represent, like, the Imperial Knight heraldry.
JohnnyThey're a kit Bash's dream.
JoshSame sort of like, oh my God, can't even.
JoshWords like.
JoshIssues I had with the Imperial Knights is what I'm having here.
JoshJust the lack of, like, a couple of, like, those sort of added henchmen units.
JoshA bit more of that Allied support.
JoshLike, I know when we first you.
JoshYou rely, you know, kind of exclusively on one chassis of Night Body, the.
JoshThe littler ones.
JoshAnd you've got, like, these three or four bigger knights, but then you have nothing else.
JoshSo for me to like them more, I would need more of that.
JoshI don't have much to really say on them, if I'm being completely honest, except for I like them more than Imperial Knights, but you're really the one holding their banner here.
JoshDid you give them a perfect score?
JohnnyNo.
JoshI think I know where or where the score might drop, though.
JoshBut I'll let you give us your thought processes.
JoshMaybe say what you would like them to improve on, especially considering, like, this is your faction and I love how excited you get by them.
JohnnySo I gave them an 18, which does put them on par with CSM.
JohnnyI gave them a five for style.
JohnnyI think the models are sick.
JohnnyThey really show that chaos aesthetic.
JohnnyThey do have the trim, but the trim is more interesting than the Imperial Knights stuff.
JohnnyThey have more loadouts and less loadouts at the same time than the Imperial Knights.
JohnnyThey've been simplified a little bit.
JohnnyThat kind of makes more sense.
JohnnyAnd I really struggle getting my head around the Imperial Knights more than I do the Chaos Knights.
JoshDid they get the really.
JoshThe really big knights from the Horus heresy?
JoshThe was it lances?
JohnnyYes.
JohnnyBut there's cool.
JohnnyThey have access to them.
JohnnyBut you do have to kit bash them if you want to make them look like a spiky mess.
JoshOkay.
JohnnyFor Lore, I gave them a four.
JohnnyAnd I feel like this is hyper inflated by my love for this army.
JohnnyFor most people, it's probably a lot lower because they don't really have a lot of lore.
JohnnyI think they have a lot of interesting theories and possibilities behind them, but they just don't have the huge impact that a lot of people will probably see and expect from, like, other factions.
JohnnyFor accessibility, I gave them a 4.
JohnnyYou can buy one kit and make it into most of their knights.
JohnnyYou can then buy another kit and make it into any of their war dogs.
JohnnyLike, their kits are very well designed to be easily accessible.
JohnnyThey're pretty standard and easy to put together.
JohnnyThe only thing that anyone who has built this army will suggest is paint your chassis and then add the armor plates afterwards just to make it easier.
JohnnyBut these guys are a Kitbash's dream.
JohnnyLike, you can throw all sorts of weird and wacky ideas at these guys and make anything you want out of them.
JohnnyAnd then for gameplay, I gave them a five.
JohnnyThey're so fun.
JohnnyAnd it's not anything to do with the fact that they have a Codex or that there isn't potential.
JohnnyBut man, it's just fun to throw giant death machines across the table and doing it with that chaos despair vibe.
JohnnyLike, even if I get wiped off the table because I'm an idiot, it doesn't happen.
JohnnyTell it to Jon Jon.
JoshOkay.
JohnnyEven if I get wiped off the table, I have such a blast doing it.
JoshYeah, the fun.
JoshYou definitely bring a lot of that fun energy this hobby really needs.
JoshSome people take it a bit too seriously.
JoshAnd you bring like four or five murder machines as tall as our terrain and have so much fun doing it.
JoshI can't even be mad if I'm, like losing terribly because it's just a blast.
JoshDo you Remember at the start of 10th edition when we had our first ever game when I played Index, which was the like pre Codex rules for Necrons and it really favored a sort of reanimation nigh invulnerability, like silver tide of bodies.
JoshAnd I didn't have enough strong weapons to bring down any of your knights in a, you know, efficient manner.
JoshAnd you didn't have enough knights platforms to kill me faster than I was reanimating.
JohnnyIt was just none of us were.
JoshAble to score anything.
JoshWe were just in the middle, just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom for like five rounds and called it a draw.
JoshLike quite literally a draw.
JohnnyIt was an interesting time both for our learning purposes and oh, we were so incorrect.
JohnnyOh, we had no idea what we're doing back then.
JoshDo you have anything else to say about them?
JohnnyChaos Knights?
JoshThey are pretty cool.
JoshI actually miscalculated.
JoshI like them more than demons, which means they're not my least favorite Chaos Faction.
JohnnyWhich is great considering you always forget they exist.
JoshIt's.
JoshIt's just the big model thing.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshJust I just focus on the.
JohnnyThey feel very out of place on the tabletop and they're kind of like a stat check.
JoshEspecially when like every other factions lost a lot of the access to their bigger titanic units.
JoshThe Eldar Knights, the Necron Monoliths are kind of there, the Orc Stompers are not feasible, etc.
JoshI just.
JoshI just don't see it.
JohnnyYeah.
JoshBut I gave them a four for style.
JoshVery cool.
JoshVery spooky.
JoshLove it.
JoshInfernal War Engines.
JoshVery cool.
JoshFor lore, I gave them a 3.
JoshVery fun as a concept.
JoshThere's this one like Core Night I think we talked about before that we'll save maybe for a later episode for accessibility.
JoshI gave them a four because it's very cheap to get them.
JoshThey would be a 5 if they had the little dudes and some support.
JoshBut for gameplay, I gave them a two.
JoshI just.
JoshI'm.
JoshI'm just.
JoshI'm indifferent.
JohnnyIt's not your jam.
JoshThat's fair.
JoshIt's not my jam.
JoshI'm just indifferent.
JoshBut you know, we're not the start and end of critical opinion here.
JoshYou.
JoshYou definitely just go with what you want to go with.
JohnnyOh, this is totally subjective.
JoshWe try to be objective and then subjective.
JoshSometimes it doesn't quite sequence like that.
JoshBut please be very open minded to everything we've talked about today.
JoshDo some more research.
JoshLook up battle reports such as play on tabletop, certain YouTubers like Luton's really fantastic on deep diving the Law.
JoshGo on a Games Workshop's website and look at the various models.
JoshCombat patrols, your best starting point.
JoshWe have spent four episodes and have covered all the factions in the game, including the ones that aren't even factions in the game yet.
JoshYeah.
JoshWell done us.
JoshGo us.
JoshNext episode is going to be a different topic entirely.
JoshWe'll save that for then.
JoshHow are you feeling, Mr.
JoshChaos?
JohnnyI'm.
JohnnyI can't get the smile off my face.
JoshI won't lie that we're done or that you talked about Chaos episode.
JohnnyThat I finally got to get to the Chaos episode.
JoshWe could have done it earlier, but.
JohnnyNo, I wanted to save it to the end.
JoshCool.
JoshI'm surprised myself at how positive I was overall.
JoshThere's more Chaos in the top half than any other faction collective.
JoshSo that's fun.
JoshThat's fun.
JoshNice.
JoshSweet.
JoshAny closing remarks, my dear friend?
JohnnyJust looking back, it looks like I gave quite a few armies the top slot lot.
JoshOh, you have some ties.
JohnnyI have four armies at 18.
JohnnyWho are.
JoshWho are your top picks?
JohnnyNecrons, Orcs at the top.
JohnnyYep, all at 18.
JohnnyNecrons, Orcs, chaos Space Marines and Chaos Knights were my tied for first factions, which I think yours was a flat 20 for Necrons.
JoshI had 20 was Necrons.
JoshI am awfully Necron pilled when at first it was just a nice interest.
JoshNow I'm super.
JoshIn second place was Craftworld Eldar at a 19, which was my original pick before I went to Necrons.
JoshIn third place was Sisters of Battle, which makes sense considering I have roughly 1k of points on sprues right now.
JoshMore on that in a later episode.
JoshAnd then I actually have my fourth place tied three ways between Blood Angels, Chaos Blood Angels, World Eaters and the Death Guard.
JoshActually interesting.
JoshWhat.
JoshWhat do you think about those ratings?
JohnnyI'm glad that we had a lot different armies in the top picks.
JohnnyIt really goes to show that, like, everyone will resonate differently with this game.
JohnnyObviously we've given everyone a brief sort of summary into what these armies can do, what they feel like, how we feel about them.
JohnnyIt's.
JoshIt's always give me your least favorite.
JoshLike give me a couple from the bottom.
JohnnyWe're talking least favorites.
JoshI mean, I could go while you.
JohnnyLook up Astra Militarum at a five, Adeptus Mechanicus at a seven, Blood Angels at an eight.
JoshOh, my point.
JohnnyAnd Codex Astartes at a nine, tied with Black Templar.
JoshI can't be mad at that.
JoshCodex Astartes I feel the Space Marine pain at the moment.
JohnnyOh, sorry.
JohnnyAnd League of Oten?
JohnnyA six.
JoshOh, all right.
JoshI only had two that were below a ten, because again, ten was like my baseline.
JoshSeven was Mechanicus.
JoshThat's my lowest.
JohnnyYep.
JoshNine was Astra Militarum.
JoshThey have cool models.
JoshThey're new.
JoshThat's probably what kept them above being lower.
JoshSpace wolves were 10 and tied with Votan.
JoshAnd Imperial Knights just eeked above them.
JoshBut that's fun.
JoshYeah.
JoshWe'll talk about a different topic altogether next episode.
JoshAnd I will spoil it by saying it's a birthday episode of mine and I want to talk about Necrons.
JohnnyLet's do it.
JohnnyEh?
JoshLet's do it.
JoshWe'll catch you next week.
JoshThank you so much for listening, you cheeky boys.
JoshWatch out for whispers in your head from Dark Powers that Be.