Combat Patrol Issue #40 arrives with the alternate Chaos Space Marine unit, a squad of Chaos Space Marine Terminators. How do these ancient Champions of Evil stack up against the other kits in Combat Patrol so far? While not necessarily impressive from a gameplay perspective, from a value and kit quality perspective this is amongst my favorite issues of the magazine.
As always, thank you to Goonhammer and Hachette for the opportunity to review these models, magazines, and materials.
Narrative Materials
Like
last week, we don't get any narrative materials. Nothing about the adventures of Black Legion Terminators, or why they're all wearing Indomitus pattern Terminator armor instead of
Heresy-era Cataphractii Armor. However, what we lack in reading material to help us expand our knowledge of 40K, we make up for in new toys to play with.
Hobby Materials
Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones
This week we have a 5 man unit of Chaos Space Marine Terminators. These biggish boys are from the 2019 refresh of the CSM line that brought us Legionaries, Havocs, and the new Abaddon the Despoiler. That means it's a modern kit and goes together like a modern kit. Having built a 2016 era kit right before building my first Chaos Terminator, I was struck by how elegant the assembly was. Everything fit together flush, and even in grey plastic it looks good. That being said, as a 2019-era kit, it doesn't *quite* hit the highs of a 10th-edition kit. It's a bit smaller than the 10th Edition Loyalist Marine Sculpt, and the scaling issues make cross-kit compatibility a bit difficult. That being said, this kit standing alone is cool and fits a Renegade Raider aesthetic for Chaos Space Marines very well.
Chaos Terminators Credit: Swiftblade
That being said, we don't often see units of Chaos Space Marine Terminators in top lists. Not being as clued into the competitive scene as my colleagues, I asked Rob why while he was in the middle of preparing his list for a GT next weekend. Rob explained as thus (paraphrased):
"Chaos Terminators are a melee unit in an army that has a lot of melee, so there is a lot of competition for the niche they fill. They have default d1 weapons, which means that you really need 10 of them in order to do any damage to a target that they want to hit. Furthermore, they are slow and do not have a lot of transportation options. Your only real option is to deep strike them via Rapid Ingress. Trying to deep strike 10 40mm bases is pretty difficult! Furthermore, some of the other similar units can be easily buffed, defensively, to be on par with CSM Terminator toughness. On top of all that, they're really expensive. They only really work as a bodyguard unit for Abaddon the Despoiler." Rob noted the optimal Terminators were the two Death Guard variants because their tech was specifically designed to overcome the limitations of CSM Terminators: Deathshroud Terminators have a 6 inch deep strike, which makes them easy to get into melee; while Blightlords are T7 with 2D weapons.
Thanks Rob!
Gaming Materials
In addition to the comprehensive hobby materials from the magazine, we also get the Chaos Terminator datasheet, Combat Patrol Core Mission 3, and a new model scenario. The Chaos Terminators replace the Havocs. The Chaos Terminator datasheet in the magazine is...odd. It does not identify which weapons the Squad has, or how many of the weapons each is supposed to take. Going by the instructions in the book, you're supposed to take one Accursed Weapon on the Champion, 2 Power Fists, 1 Chain Fist, and a Power Fist or a Chain Fist. This would appear to create the potential for an illegal-in-regular 40K loadout. Why anyone would want to take an Accursed Weapon instead of a Power Fist isn't something I can really fathom. Furthermore, it does not appear that these guys have either Deep Strike (?) or an Invulnerable Save (???), which are both 1) consistent elements and indeed the gameplay point of Terminator Armor, or 2) Any other special abilities. This means you have a T5, 2+ melee unit that is going to get devoured by the specialist killers of other Combat Patrols. It's not as mind-boggling odd to lack an invulnerable save because AP -3 weapons are not common in Combat Patrols, but they do exist. I don't think I'd want to put these guys on the table versus the Mordekai's Judgment Dark Angels Combat Patrol and it's Redemptor Dreadnought, but they are backed up by a Helbrute.
Night Lords Terminators - Credit: RichyP
That being said, this unit is a fair bit simpler to use in Combat Patrol than the Havocs, and decreased mental load counts for something. Plus it can make use the Bitter Blows stratagem. Not ideal.
The first mission in the book is Combat Patrol Core Mission #3: Forward Outpost. This is a relatively straightforward mission featuring Hammer and Anvil deployment with two objectives in the middle and one objective in each deployment zone. Players score 5 VP in their Command Phase for each No Man's Land Objective they control, and 10 VP if they control the Objective Marker in the opponent's deployment zone. Furthermore, if a player controls the opposing player's deployment zone objective marker, the opposing player does not get to use the Command Reroll stratagem to reroll their 1s into 1s.
This issue also contains Scenario 26, which pits the Chaos Space Marines against the Aeldari. The Heretics get the Dark Disciple and Schmucks, 10 Legionaries, and 5 Terminators. The perfidious Aeldari get the Farseer, 5 Wraithguard, and 10 Guardians plus the Heavy Weapons Platform (when an AP -3 weapon). This mission also uses Hammer and Anvil deployment, with three objectives in the middle with two terrain cards between the objectives. Players score 5 VP for holding 1 objective, and 5 VP for holding more objectives, in their Command Phases.
The Final Verdict
Like many issues of Combat Patrol, this one is a bargain. You get a 5 man Terminator Squad for under a fourth of the retail price, along with instruction manuals, a paint guide, and a mission to use them in. While the Datacard could be clearer, and while (in general) Terminators could be a better unit in the current edition of Warhammer 40K, these guys are still a relatively simple build (for Chaos purposes) with slightly less obnoxious heads. A Combat Patrol made up of a Dark Disciple, 10 Legionaries, 5 Terminators, and Helbrute stands as a dark reflection to the iconic Space Marine Force from 5th Edition's Assault on Black Reach, and would look formidable on display (if not, y'know, the Top Tables).
Until next time Combat Patrolers, when my (first half) of 2026 Grand Plan will be revealed!
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