Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

===Word Bearers===
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Word Bearers trade raw bonuses for versatility. They're the only other Legion besides Black Legion that can mix-and-match different Marks, they're potent at Daemon summoning, and their Warlord Table changes a lot of how they play. 
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*'''Requirements:''' No unique characters (presumably this will be changed if Lorgar and Erebus ever get rules in 40k). No units with pre-bought marks (such as Noise Marines or Exalted Sorcerers). However, units that can purchase marks can still take them. Marked Psykers and DPs can choose to generate all their powers from their gods' discipline. Like all legions, you must take VotLW, which is free and grants you your "legion tactics".
*'''Benefits:'''
**'''Unholy Pact''': Word Bearers Psykers harness Warp Charges on 3+ when rolling Malefic Conjuration powers, and Possessed are Troops.
**'''Blood Feud''': Models with VotLW re-roll to hit against Ultramarines, but Ultramarines gain Hatred (Word Bearers).
**'''Profane Zeal''':Word Bearers units within 6" of Word Bearers Dark Apostles gain Zealot.

*'''Warlord Traits'''
**'''1:''' '''Unholy Firebrand''': Zealot. If Warlord already has Zealot, affected models re-roll hits every round, not just the first. A big improvement over the vanilla CSM 'Lord of Hatred."
**'''2:''' '''Latent Powers''': Become a Psyker. If already a Psyker, +1 Mastery Level. Note that unless you were a psyker already, you can only use Malefic Daemonology: there is a high risk of perils, and big summoning powers will be unreliable anyway on a non-dedicated psyker. However, Cursed Earth, the two witchfires and Sacrifice can all be quite useful if you happen to roll one.
***This trait, uniquely, allows [[Dawn of War|a Warlord with the Mark of Khorne to become a psyker]].
**'''3:''' '''Voice of Lorgar''': [[Imperial Guard|Lets you give orders to your Legionaries]]. Each turn you may grant a friendly unit within 12" Counterattack, Fearless, Furious Charge or Relentless.
**'''4:''' '''Unbreakable Devotion''': Adamantium Will and Fearless. Unfortunately, no additional bonus to characters who already have those abilities. Can be somewhat useful on Sorcerers if you face enemy Psykers which may target you with their focused witchfires. Otherwise, re-roll.
**'''5:''' '''Nexus of the Gods''': You and friendly Characters within 12", when rolling on the Chaos Boon table can either add or subtract 1 from the second die when rolling on the boon table. This prevents your warlord from accidentally turning himself into an [[Chaos Spawn|unnameable beast]], and makes the d3+1 boons, 2+ armor, Daemon Prince, etc. easier to fish for. No, it won't allow to turn Witch-eater to Fleshbane weapon or +1BS to +1I.
**'''6:''' '''Unexpected Boon''': Gain an extra roll on the Boon table. Re-roll if you get nothing or if it would turn you into a [[Chaos Spawn|you-know-what]]: however, keep the roll if it turns you into a Daemon Prince! But do you need the Warlord which is a squishy fire-magnet, loses all special rules and wargear and can't score objectives?

'''Summary:''' 2 of the three Warlord Traits grant Fearless and a second effect, 3 out of the 6 Warlord Traits are force-multiplier effects which are actually rather incredible to have, and the last one is...a 1 in 36 chance of being a Daemon Prince, so in those other 215 games it's just a random effect. That said, when you re-roll this, you have at least 3 in 4 chance of getting a good trait, and they let you do things you normally can't!

*'''Relics'''
**'''Malefic Tome:''' Bearer gets 1 extra power, which must be rolled on Malefic Daemonology. Very inexpensive, it can be taken like any more generic piece of wargear, rather than being a major investment like a daemon weapon: it's a very straightforward way of getting good use out of your legion tactics without over-committing to psykers. Take it on a Sorcerer with a Mark so you won't lose your psychic focus, and get summoning on top of whatever else you are using. Alternatively take it on a Daemon Prince, so that you can summon like crazy without the high risk of perils.
**'''Skull of Monarchia:''' Bearer and unit re-roll all failed to-hit rolls against Armies of the Imperium in close combat, and if against Ultramarines re-roll to wound. This is fluffy item is unfortunately limited in usefulness, with the same issue as VotLW has for non-legion armies: you are paying extra points for bonuses in close combat that are only against specific enemy factions. While getting ripped up in melee is certainly what the smurfs deserve for being the false Emperor's bitches, this artifact won't really do much in the other 95% of battles you fight. Give it a pass, except for narrative campaign play.
**'''Scripts of Erebus:''' Generate D6 Extra warp charges in a psychic phase, once per game. Another cheap psyker item! Similar to the Malefic Tome, this allows you to have a strong psychic phase without spending all your points on sorcerers. What is more, this works for all disciplines, not just Malefic Daemonology: other disciplines with lots of expensive powers, such as Tzeentch, become a lot easier to use with this item. Take it on a character who doesn't already have another artifact, such as your Dark Apostle, and pop it as required.
***On average this will give you 3-4 psychic dice, which when combined with a Spell Familiar is enough on its own to cast a WC3 Malefic power, or a WC2 power from any other discipline. Depending on your powers, that's enough to save, destroy, or summon a unit, on top of whatever else you would do that turn, meaning as long as you keep your sorcerer alive this item can easily make its points back.
**'''Baleful Icon:''' Enemy units must re-roll successful charges, and if they still succeed, the charge is disordered. This one is weird among the Word Bearers artifacts, a defensive item for a legion that wants to get into melee combat, and is only helpful if you're getting charged(expect it to do nothing against armies like Tau). The most obvious uses for it are to protect your dedicated summoner, or make a large shooty mob of cultists more resilient: it certainly has its place, and much like the psyker artifacts is extremely cheap for what it does.
**'''Crown of Blasphemer:''' 4+ Invulnerable Save, Adamantium Will, and Fear. For just five extra points, you get a better Sigil of Corruption. In addition, this item is a relic, NOT special issue wargear, so you can take it on a [[Awesome|Warpsmith or Daemon Prince]]!
**'''Cursed Crozius:''' AP3 Power Maul that grants Preferred Enemy: Armies of the Imperium. Jealous of those loyalist captains with their Relic Blades? This is like the Relic Blade, except better, because you can dual wield it. A good choice for a Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince. Ironically the points are somewhat wasted on a Dark Apostle, since they already start with a power weapon, and you're still paying full price for this item on top of it, but that's life. The Preferred Enemy(Imperium) is a bonus, that will do some gnarly things if witchfire or plasma weapons are involved(remember a Chaos Lord with this item grants Preferred Enemy to his entire squad). Much more worthwhile than the skull, because even though it is especially powerful against the loyalist unbelievers, it does good work against xenos too.

'''Mission Objectives'''

Word Bearers tactical objectives focus around summoning daemons and getting into close combat with the enemy. 

*''Unholy Crusade'': 1 VP if a unit with Zealot model successfully charges. A dead draw the first turn, but worth keeping if you have it right as your forces get into charge range.
*''Feed the Daemon'': 1 VP if your daemons wipe something out in melee. Weaksauce.
*''Slay their False Prophets'': 1 VP for killing an enemy character. Easy enough to get, as it doesn't matter how you kill the character.
*''Allies Beyond the Veil'': d3 VPs for summoning daemons. Since you are Word Bearers, you were doing this anyway, right? Easiest d3 VPs ever.
*''Delight in Despoliation'': d3 VPs for seizing an objective from the enemy during a single turn of yours. Riskier than simply seizing an objective, but with a better payout.
*''For the Glory of Chaos'': 1 VP for getting a boon, d3 VPs for getting 3 boons, d3+3 VPs for getting 6 boons. This one is quite useful if you are running a Chaos Warband in a Grand Host, as you have access to a free boon each turn and whenever you trigger Champions of Chaos. Hilariously enough, the normally useless Tzeentch boon-giving power can actually net you lots of victory points if you draw this objective. If you aren't running a list with lots of boon-earning potential, however, this objective might as well read "1 VP for winning a challenge"- it's quite poor and often worth discarding. To note: Unworthy Offering results are not counted.

'''Word Bearers Tactics:'''

The List-Building section expands on this more, but more so than other Legions, you care more about using your Legion's special detachment rather than a vanilla CAD; you don't care about Possessed as Troops, and either having Respawning Cultists or a tide of universally Objective-Secured units both matter more than getting Possessed Troops (eww). Really, the only things you end up losing access to by not taking a CAD are some flexibility, access to Forgeworld units, and the ability to re-roll Warlord Traits on any table and not just the Word Bearers one.

If you make a Palanquin Sorcerer your Warlord (and this is highly recommended, due to the mix of extra wounds and useful blessings), positioning is going to matter more than in most armies due to your relative slowness, even with Crusader. Voice of Lorgar and the free boon from Eight-Fold Path take place at the start of your movement phase, meaning a Warlord with '''Voice of Lorgar''' should start within 12" of any units you wish to buff, while a Warlord '''Nexus of the Gods''' should be within 12" of any notable Characters(!) you wish to ensure with Eight-Fold Path. You have more leeway with the Psychic Powers due to your 6" move, but the traditional CSM trick of using a Bike Sorcerer to move 12", Psychic Shriek, then Turbo to safety is generally not going to be as much of an option for you. Remember your Sorcerer is not Smashfucker and your goal is not to rush into a good fight. Rather, you are an anchor, and a force multiplier.

Lore of Nurgle gives you options for Poisoned, or extra Strength, and Voice of Lorgar gives you access to several buffs. The most immediate use for Voice of Lorgar is to give Furious Charge to a unit that's already moving fast (say, a few throwaway units of...those things), or even Chaos Bike Champion, though even a mob of regular Marines can use the boost. Relentless mostly lets your unit charge-after-firing, though that's more of a situational bonus. Fearless is less relevant due to the ability to give Cultists a Zealot bubble (or you '''want''' them to die), but it can be used for pseudo-Stealth via the Go-to-Ground/Fearless maneuver, or if you want your Cultists to tar pit a unit without worrying about them Piling in away from the 6" Zealot Bubble. 

Regarding Summoning, do not try to play a Daemon farm, and try for the old Recursion Trick of using Pink Horrors for more Warp Charge, for more Pink Horrors. Not only did Wrath of Magnus remove the ability for Horrors to use Malefic Daemonology, but you don't have the raw Warp Charge to do a factory, nor do you have the in-built resilience against Perils that Daemons do unless you fork over extra points for a Daemon Prince (and unlike 3 of the other undivided Legions, you can't get a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch with a 2+ save). Rather, Summoning is about maintaining your positional advantage, and allowing the rest of your army to take the mid-field uninterrupted. Screamers remain a priority unit, as their ability to Turbo & Slash from Summon means they're immediately contributing to the fight, and they force your opponent to dedicate energy to killing them, but Flesh Hounds are also a good area denial unit too. If your opponent tries to rush the center of the board, you can take a few losses standing without much issue. If your opponent tries to hang back, you move to lock down objectives. With Word Bearers, get used to the fact you WILL lose troops, and get comfortable with sacrificing them to control the board. With the right list, innate perseverance, and thinking a few "parts" of your turn ahead, you can win with Word Bearers quite handily. Daemonology is still risky but you can mitigate peril wounds by taking a Mark Of Nurgle Palanquin Sorceror. 4 Wounds would be enough to last all game. Not cheap - he ends up in the 200-something region - but could be an option.
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