Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Issue 35 Review

Happy New Year Combat Patrolers, and welcome back to the Combat Patrol Magazine Reviews! We are still in the Chaos Space Marine Zone, but it does not appear that we'll stay there too much longer, as this issue begins to transition us to Combat Patrol #5. As always, thank you to Goonhammer and Hachette for the opportunity to review these Models, Magazines, and Materials.

Narrative Materials

We start off this issue with a discussion of Chaos Renegades: Those Space Marines who fell to Chaos after the Heresy. "Although rare, Space Marines - the angels of The Emperor and the heroes of Humankind - have been known to turn their back on their sacred duty and case their lot in with the traitors of the Chaos Space Marines." No Space Marine Chapter is safe, and "it is rumored that even some of the Dark Angels, one of the most venerable and revered Chapters, have lost some of their number to the Ruinous Powers."

Fallen

A small unit of Fallen. Image Credit: Greg Chiasson

One Renegade Warband is highlighted: the Red Corsairs, formerly the Astral Claws Space Marines who fell to Chaos. Because they're well-known Chaos Space Marines, additional renegades join the Red Corsairs. We also have a breakout section on Huron Blackheart: He used to be the respected Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, but now he is Huron Blackheart and reconstructed with bionics. He also has a Blackstone Fortress from Abaddon the Despoiler. It doesn't really *work*, but he has one.

Red Corsairs Legionaries. Credit: Kevin Stillman

The narrative turns to the Armoury of the Damned. Instead of getting a listing of all the different weapons within the Havoc kit, we instead get a listing of most of the main weapons and wargear the Chaos Space Marines use. They of course have Power Armour, Heavy Weapons, Jump Packs (with a picture of a Warp Talon), Terminators, Obliterators, Helbrutes (with a picture of the Dark Vengeance Helbrute, versus the Helbrute that comes with the subscription), and Chaos Land Raiders (Phobos, not the cooler Proteus Pattern).

Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

This issue also has a fiction piece, which details a battle between the Aeldari and the Orks. While the Aeldari have technique, the Orks have Orks. Lots and lots of Orks. They happily smash up the Aeldari, and for every trick the Aeldari have up their sleeve the Orks have more Orks. When the Stompa arrives, the Aeldari character is in trouble!

Hobby Materials

We get two sprues from the Havocs Kit. This lets you build three full Marines (the Aspiring Champion and two others). You can pick which weapons you want to give them: Lascannon, Reaper Chaincannon, Missile Launcher, or Heavy Bolter. I'm going to paint my Havocs as Iron Warriors, because painting Iron Warriors is a lot of fun and they're easy to do quickly. And I am pressed for time this quarter.

Havocs. Credit: Rockfish

Next week I will talk more about the build of these guys and painting process. As for modeling: these kits go together pretty well. My one issue is that I'm not a huge fan of the Chaos Space Marine helmet options. Luckily, I have a bunch of earlier Mark heads that can give my Chaos Space Marines a bit more of an Iron Warriors flair. They have some pretty atrocious mold lines though, so keep an eye out.

Gaming Materials

We get the Havocs datasheet, which requires us to take one of four different heavy weapons: Lascannon, Heavy Bolter, Reaper Chaincannon, and Missile Launcher. The Aspriing Champion gets a Chainsword and a Plasma Gun. I don't think this is a good loadout in general, because the weapon profiles are not optimal for fighting most Combat Patrol enemies: there aren't a lot of vehicles but lots of infantry, so the Lascannon is a bit useless and the Missile Launcher has d6 shots (so casino gun!). This unit also has no special abilities, which is not very exciting.

The remainder of the gaming materials is the Core Rulebook's version of the Charge and Fight phases.

The Final Verdict

You're getting half the Havocs kit for over half off, and that's three unique Chaos Space Marine bodies. You don't get any bases, but those would be relatively easy to source. You could, in theory, get two sets of this issue and have a full Havocs unit with multiples of the same heavy weapon for 40K or if you needed multiple Reaper Chaincannons you could just buy this issue instead of buying multiple Havoc boxes. It's a pretty good bargain!

Until next time Combat Patrolers!

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Tags: reviews | combat patrol | Contemptor Kevin | Hachette