TheChirurgeon's Road Through 2026, Part 7: Testing Renegade Warband

Welcome back, Dear Reader, to my ongoing blog of hobby and competitive progress through 2026. Last time around I was playing test games with the Nightmare Hunt Detachment. This time around I'm testing some new rules and trying to figure out some of the new rules and datasheets for Chaos Space Marines in the upcoming Maelstrom supplement.

Then Games Workshop went ahead and dropped a bunch of new rules for Chaos Space Marines - four datasheets and two Detachments - Huron's Marauders and the Renegade Warband. You can check out those links for my detailed thoughts on those and I'll have some more at the end of this article after the battle report.

This week is a bit of a treat for me - normally when we review new supplements and products they're under embargo until the Saturday when preorders go live. But this time around the embargo for the datasheets and detachments fell on a Wednesday, which means I get to talk about some of the testing process for the new rules.

At first glance, I actually like the Marauders Detachment more out of the two. It's better suited to Huron and the number of movement tricks it can pull out is insane. The challenge with the Renegade Warband for me is that CSM lists tend to be built around units like Chosen - which already have the ability to advance/fall back and shoot/charge - and units which I'm generally trying to put in transports or keep out of combat. That said, the general consensus in our NDA channel was that Renegade Warband was the better of the two thanks to being a kind of "always on" Gladius for CSM.

Building a Renegade Warband List

Setting up a game for playtesting a new book or rules is always a fun challenge; you need to get someone else in the NDA circle to come over and play a game, and typically within a tight turnaround window. In this case, TwoHorse was my Huckleberry, offering to get a game in on a Tuesday morning. So I scrabbled together a quick Renegade Warband list to test. Here's what I settled on:

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

My Renegade Warband Test List - click to expand

Chaos Space Marines 2,000 Points Renegade Warband

++CHARACTERS++

Huron Blackheart (120)

Masters of the Maelstrom (115)

Cypher (90)

Dark Apostle (125) - Enhancement: Weaponised Hatred

++BATTLELINE++

Cultists (50)

++DEDICATED TRANSPORT++

Chaos Rhino (75)

Chaos Rhino (75)

++OTHER DATASHEETS++

Red Corsairs Raiders x5 (110)

Red Corsairs Raiders x5 (110)

Red Corsairs Raiders x5 (110)

Obliterators (160)

Obliterators (160)

Chaos Vindicator (185)

Chaos Bikers (70)

++ALLIED UNITS++

Noise Marines (145)

Noise Marines (145)

Noise Marines (145)

There are definitely some suboptimal choices here. Those are in most senses intentional - I'm not just trying to test the new Detachment but also the new units, so I'm running Raiders and the Masters of the Maelstrom along with Huron.

The goal here is to build a one-two, multi-phase strategy. The Obliterators love being able to advance and shoot, but also really want to charge as well and throw out 8 power fist attacks. The Noise Marines give up nothing to be here and are a natural fit. Huron's unit are a bit weird, but are capable of doing a reactive move back into their transport and can hit pretty hard. They're also the only way to get extra Command Points here - but the catch is you have to lose a model first.

The big question mark are the Red Corsairs Raiders - at 110 I think they're too expensive, even for how cool they seem. The Reave-Captain doesn't help them enough to be worth it, but I want to test them out.

Otherwise, the goal here is to adopt a two-phase strategy: Oath a target for killing in the shooting phase with Noise Marines + Obliterators + Vindicator, and second Oath a target for the Fight phase, taking it out with Masters, Raiders, and Obliterators. As I look back at this list, I think it's light on real melee threats and I needed Plague Marines. That'll be something I look at in the next iteration.

Test Game: vs. TwoHorse's Adepta Sororitas

T "TwoHorse" Chambliss dropped by on Tuesday morning for a game, bringing Sisters of Battle. On the one hand, this is a good test because T is a great player; on the other hand he's running Army of Faith with lots of Heavy Bolters, and that's real bad news for me.

T's List - Click to Expand

2th and Grail (2000 Points)

Adepta Sororitas Army of Faith Strike Force (2,000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Daemonifuge (85 Points) • 1x Ephrael Stern ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Sanctity • 1x Kyganil of the Bloody Tears ◦ 1x The Outcast’s Weapons

Dialogus (40 Points) • 1x Bolt pistol • 1x Dialogus staff

Dialogus (40 Points) • 1x Bolt pistol • 1x Dialogus staff

Junith Eruita (80 Points) • 1x Mace of Castigation • 1x Twin Ministorum heavy flamer

Ministorum Priest (50 Points) • 1x Zealot’s vindictor

Morvenn Vahl (185 Points) • Warlord • 1x Fidelis • 1x Lance of Illumination • 1x Paragon missile launcher

Saint Celestine (150 Points) • 1x Celestine ◦ 1x The Ardent Blade • 2x Geminae Superia ◦ 2x Bolt pistol ◦ 2x Power weapon

BATTLELINE

Battle Sisters Squad (105 Points) • 1x Sister Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Condemnor boltgun ◦ 1x Power weapon • 9x Battle Sister ◦ 9x Bolt pistol ◦ 7x Boltgun ◦ 9x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Meltagun ◦ 1x Multi-melta ◦ 1x Simulacrum Imperialis

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Immolator (115 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks • 1x Heavy bolter • 1x Hunter-killer missile • 1x Twin multi-melta

Immolator (115 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks • 1x Heavy bolter • 1x Hunter-killer missile • 1x Twin multi-melta

Sororitas Rhino (75 Points) • 1x Armoured tracks • 1x Hunter-killer missile • 1x Storm bolter

OTHER DATASHEETS

Celestian Insidiants (120 Points) • 1x Celestian Insidiant Superior ◦ 1x Condemnor bolt pistol ◦ 1x Null mace • 9x Celestian Insidiant ◦ 2x Blessed sword ◦ 3x Condemnor bolt pistol ◦ 1x Denuncia oratory ◦ 2x Ministorum hand flamer ◦ 6x Null mace ◦ 1x Simulacrum Imperialis ◦ 1x Virge of admonition

Dominion Squad (120 Points) • 1x Dominion Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Condemnor boltgun ◦ 1x Power weapon • 9x Dominion ◦ 9x Bolt pistol ◦ 5x Boltgun ◦ 9x Close combat weapon ◦ 4x Meltagun ◦ 1x Simulacrum Imperialis

Paragon Warsuits (210 Points) • 1x Paragon Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Heavy bolter ◦ 1x Paragon grenade launchers ◦ 1x Paragon war mace • 2x Paragon ◦ 2x Bolt pistol ◦ 2x Heavy bolter ◦ 2x Paragon grenade launchers ◦ 2x Paragon war blade

Repentia Squad (160 Points) • 1x Repentia Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Neural whips • 9x Sister Repentia ◦ 9x Penitent eviscerator

Retributor Squad (120 Points) • 1x Retributor Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Condemnor boltgun ◦ 1x Power weapon • 4x Retributor ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Close combat weapon ◦ 4x Multi-melta

Retributor Squad (120 Points) • 1x Retributor Superior ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Condemnor boltgun ◦ 1x Power weapon • 4x Retributor ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Close combat weapon ◦ 4x Multi-melta

Sanctifiers (110 Points) • 1x Miraculist ◦ 1x Burning hands ◦ 1x Holy fire • 1x Salvationist ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Salvationist Medikit • 1x Death Cult Assassin ◦ 1x Death Cult blades • 2x Missionary ◦ 1x Holy fire ◦ 1x Ministorum flamer ◦ 1x Plasma gun ◦ 2x Sanctifier melee weapon • 4x Sanctifier ◦ 2x Close combat weapon ◦ 5x Ministorum hand flamer ◦ 2x Sanctifier melee weapon ◦ 1x Simulacrum Imperialis

Exported with App Version: v1.46.2 (1), Data Version: v732

I've got some comments from T on this one:

"Glorious Heavy Bolter Vahlgons and the Army of Faith fuel the Celestine Bullshit Engine. I've been iterating on my WCW list and testing the new Insidiants while trying to find a way to work more melee into the list. Insidiants are shockingly good, Repentia are still terrible, and Heavy Bolters are probably the wrong call in a C'Tan meta but they're great into CSM. I'll end up reshuffling some of the list, but the core felt great."

This list is understandably designed to kill 2-wound infantry, and is going to be a huge problem for my Noise Marines while also not being particularly kind to my Raiders, either. It's the kind of list I'd be fine with going into with my Death Guard, where shrugging off S5 shooting is no big deal and flamers aren't a problem while the small number of melta shots can be held at bay, but here it's going to hurt. My plan is to try and keep the Vindicator alive and point it at Vahl, but that's easier said than done - one of T's favorite tricks here is to just double up on Miracle Dice when shooting a vehicle to push through 12+ damage with meltas, and even one lucky shot can ruin your day.

The Mission: L - Search and Destroy + Take and Hold

I'm going first here, which isn't ideal. I put one unit of Raiders behind the ruin wall on the north objective, and put the other in the middle ruin close to my long board edge. I put one unit of Obliterators on the table - they can advance and do some real damage to a unit behind a wall, and every paragon Warsuit I can kill is a big plus. I put the other unit and one unit of Noise Marines in reserves.

I draw No Prisoners and Sabotage turn 1. Sabotage is free, but my plan is to stop T from moving onto the north objective. I Oath that Rhino along the top board edge. The plan there is to get out of the Rhino with one unit Noise marines and make a 3+ advance to reach the ruin while the Rhino advances up and shoots with firing deck. I want to use the Rhino, Noise Marines, and in a pinch, the meltagun on the Raiders to destroy the Rhino, then shoot/charge the unit inside and kill it.

None of this happens. I roll a 1 on my Noise Marines' advance, then CP re-roll that into a 1. They don't make it. I somehow only score one wound with the Firing Deck Blastmaster, and the Raiders end up having to charge the Rhino, where they don't destroy it. Meanwhile the Obliterators kill zero Warsuits.

T moves out on his turn and the slaughter begins. I lose the rhino and all but two noise marines, plus the raiders. This is where that 110 point cost on the Raiders hurts: I really want them to be Legionaries who infiltrate; they don't have the damage output to be a real threat and they aren't cheap enough to be a unit I can afford to lose. Celestine jumps toward my backfield, so now I have to deal with her. She charges the Vindicator but gets nothing out of it.

I oath the Dominions and the unit of Sanctifiers and try again. This time I'm going to kill half of the battle sisters at mid table with my Raiders, shoot the five Sanctifiers to death with my remaining Noise Marines and the Vindicator, and then kill the other half of the battel sisters with my bikers while the Vindicator and Obliterators kill the Immolator. This... doesn't really happen. I roll horribly, T spikes his saves, and the Sanctifiers only lose two models while the Immolator lives on 1 wound. I kill the battle sisters and that's about it. Huron and his unit push out and kill Celestine, but have to do so in melee after three full units bounce off Celestine rolling an insane number of 4+ saves and 4+ feel no pains, so she stands back up and will jump onto my point next turn.

Things basically just bottom out from there. The Immolator drops 8 damage on my Vindicator, Celestine takes my home point after Vahl's unit converts a ridiculous number of shots into my Cultists, wiping the unit so I can't use Heroic Intervention into Celestine, and the Insidiants wipe out my Noise Marines. I'm losing badly at this point, and the secondaries aren't helping. The Obliterators die to Vahl's unit, and I'm realizing I just didn't have enough melee power here to close thanks to spending 330 points on Raiders. That said, the Noise Marines did almost nothing for me all game, improbably failing to kill more than a few sisters any time they shot, to the point that it was laughable.

Result: 32-100, Loss

Not the most successful test, but I did learn quite a few things. First being that Huron's unit really doesn't want to be in this Detachment and they need to be out in the wild, attached to a unit of Chosen. Chosen feel like a waste in this Detachment, so my takeaway is more "don't take Huron." On that note, the Noise Marines were good but felt like too much and I can add two units of Plague Marines if I take one unit out. Two Rhinos, one each with noise marines and plague marines, feels better and I can drop the Vindicator for a third unit of Obliterators and drop the Raiders to fit in a 10-model unit of Warp Talons. I can use bikes for my fast outside objective holders/action doers.

T's comments on the game:

"Nb: Anyone who's played Rob knows that he hates losing at Warhammer almost as much as he hates winning at Warhammer, and that he's perpetually mad at his dice. Normally it's fun to rile him up with platitudes about how it's not actually a dice game, but this was actually the worst dice game I've seen in a long time. Improving the list and fixing a misplay here or there would have made it closer, but with Rob's ice cold dice I probably could have walked my whole army straight into the open like the world's must cunning Custodes player and still not lost.

Seeing it in action, I think the play for Baddius is to lean into the perpetually maligned Chaos datasheets that have a confusing mix of middling shooting and middling melee and cost too much as a result. If you want fast shooting there's renegade raiders, and there are myriad better ways to focus on melee for CSM. The value of Baddius is in unlocking a multi-phase all-in style that leverages army-wide adv+shoot+charge, which isn't something that exists elsewhere. Can the CSM datasheets carry that? I'm not sure, but it'll be fun to see what folks come up with in the weeks ahead."

Thanks, T. It's always validating to have your opponent be like "yeah your dice were so bad it's hard to learn anything from this." The good news is that I seldom learn anything anyways, so whether I had good or bad dice means little. I do think there's a lot of value to gain on CSM units who pay to shoot and fight, but Helbrutes do frustratingly little for you here. Obliterators and Plague Marines seem like better shouts, but neither gets leaders, which makes them harder to use and Chosen just don't need what this Detachment offers. Defilers might be the play if their new models have smaller bases.

Hobby Progress

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

I crunched for two weeks on these new Red Corsairs models, trying to get them all done for a brutal deadline to get them up on WarCom. That ended up being Huron, the Masters of the Maelstrom, three Red Corsairs Raiders, three bikes, and a Rhino. The rest of those yabbos were most already painted - I did a bit of work on their bases to update them a bit, and I may do more in the future but for now my goal was to get the new models painted.

You can read more about my take on Huron, the Masters, and the other new models and kits this Saturday in our review of the new kits. But what I can talk about today are those bikes and that Rhino.

I've had a MkII/Deimos Rhino sitting around since last year, when I assembled it for my Night Lords and then ended up not using it. The kit looks great but doesn't fit the aesthetic I'm going for and I don't care for the side doors - I really need those large, open spaces on either side of the vehicle to use for painting freehand. So when I was looking at the new Red Corsairs kits, which use a lot of older marine marks in their armor and have less trim, the Deimos was the perfect kit to use for their transport. So I took some relatively thin plasticard and made a plan to cut it into the faction's new logo.

I drew this on plasticard with a pencil and it's close enough. Looking back on it there were definitely some things I could have done better but getting curved cuts in plasticard with a hobby knife is tough.

Of course, once I'd cut it out, I realized that it was going to cover up the cracks for the top doors, which was no good. So then I cut it up along those lines in order to make it visibly clear that the doors can still open. This was a pain in the ass and I should have incorporated it into my initial design but here we are.

Something I did here that I might not normally is I kept the rivets I shaved off. Adding those back on to the icon really helps make it look legitimate in a way that I love.

The end result however looked great, and I had to supplement it a bit with a tiny sliver on the middle finger. Still, the goal here was achieved and the next stop was re-priming the Rhino in Mephiston Red. I masked off the doors because they were easy to do, then flipped it over and masked off the top while I primed the treads with Leadbelcher.

It looked amazing in red and I'm so very satisfied with how much of a difference having raised details makes on the model. The rivets too - they really lend it an air of legitimacy that's otherwise hard to come by.

Of course all that was left from here was to paint the model and I'm very happy with how that turned out.

I think it turned out really well and I'm extremely happy with it.

On the other side of things, I also finished my bikers. The Hounds of Huron are a storied unit in 40k, so it was cool to build these using older Space Marine bikes instead of Chaos Bikes. This of course once again meant cutting the legs and feet to fit the new bikes. What I couldn't show off last time were the new riders, who use bits from the new kit. But you can see them on that WarCom shot above, and it's worth showing them off more in detail here.

I'm really happy with these, and dreading the notion of building any more. I suspect I just won't, no matter how much lists might want them. For one, I only have like one or two more classic marine bikes, and I don't want to buy any more. But for now they do exactly what I need which is look amazing and give me a unit of fluff-friendly bikes to go with Huron.

Next Time: More Practice and Hobby Prep

That does it for this week but I've got to start practicing for Clutch at the end of the month. I haven't decided what to bring yet, and I want to get in more games with Nightmare Hunt and Huron's Marauders before I make a final decision. So stay tuned for next week when I'll talk about that and also painting the rest of my Red Corsairs.

See you next week.

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