Everything Old is New Again, pt 1

Ever had a book that weighs heavy in your hands, though it isn't the physical weight of the pages that makes it feel that way. Opening the well worn softcover to pages greyscale, stories and images that are both familiar and forgotten return in a flood of nostalgia. Poignant memories of specific events are triggered as each page is flipped, each contained in a moment of near-perfect clarity as a smile comes to your face.

Yeah, I remember that time I turned the Nightbringer into a my pesonal Chaos Spawn, and it was awesome.

 

Thumbing through Chaos Codex 3.5 is like that for me. Though I got into this hobby with Tau when they were new, Chaos 3.5 represents a time for me that I most fondly remember. I know a fair amount of people who cringe when I say that, some who lived through that pain since the book, at the time of 3rd/4th edition, was as painful as it was powerful. Of course, being new at the time, I remember nothing of that, and all the stuff I took was because it was cool, not because of how cheesy it was, which is something I feel a lot of books released in the following years were missing.

So, after a similar conversation with a friend of mine reminiscing about the glory days of Chaos Space Marines, he suggested we try out an old edition using the current ruleset. Intrigued, I pursued that line of though; I hadn't so much as read my Codex 3.5 years, but I remembered enough to know that both of the following books were pale comparisons. Suggesting I re-price some of the analogous wargear (like swapping heavy/special weapons costs, unit costs, etc) to be more in line with the current book, we set a date to play and a points value, and I went home to find my book!

For those who are unaware, 3rd Edition of Chaos looks like this:

This is an edition that was almost universally reviled. It was released in 1998, and within four years, a new Codex was released within the same edition, known as Chaos 3.5. It looked like:


After scanning over it again, I figured the best way to play a game using an old codex, which was balanced with its current edition (which was three editions ago), was to man-mode it and alter as little as possible. Yes, this means 35 point lascannons on my Havocs, but its a small price to pay considering they could snag Tank Hunter at a measly 3 points per model (hereafter, ppm).

Again, for the purposes of those who never have never seen this edition, the feel of this book is radically different than virtually anything from 4th edition onwards but most especially later Chaos books. This was a book about playing a Legion, the same villains that fought for Horus and their Primarchs in the Heresy that have raided the Imperium of Man for 10,000 years. As such, you could create theme and list with unique options unavailable to other players using other Legions, each with vast amounts of flavor.

Favor overwhelming firepower? Iron Warriors could exchange two fast attack slots for and additional heavy support slot. Coupled with the removal of 0-1 restrictions on Obliterators, Servo Harnesses for your characters, and access to Space Marine Vindicators and Imperial Guard Basilisks (neither were in this edition natively), you felt like you were playing Iron Warriors.

Night Lords were the exact opposite. Two heavy slots for an additional fast attack slot, they could field unlimited Raptors (which had hit-and-run and were also 0-1 due to their rareness pre-heresy). Plus, Night Vision!

Most of the army could take Veteran Skills (one if you were marked, unlimited if you weren't) representing their vast amounts of experience. You could give Havocs Tank Hunters, Chaos Space Marines Infiltrate, Bikes Move Through Cover (or any of those, on any of those). You could show that your army has been around the block for 10,000 years because of the skills they had (as opposed to what they hate, like its current iteration).

Marks were different, too. Tzeentch is currently a crappy +1 invulnerable save that works really well (but is expensive!) on units with invulnerable saves, but is a waste on units without. This wasn't always so! Chosen (which were your only avenue for terminators as well), Characters, Possessed, and Champions used to become sorcerers (no really, a whole unit of Chosen sorcerers. They had their own wargear they could take, and they auto-passed psychic tests. Masters of sorcerery, indeed! The rest of the unlucky buggers became Rubricae: hollow suits with dust inside, they gained an extra wound and became slow and purposeful. The cool(er/est) part? You could then upgrade them to Rubric Terminators for a price, turning them into an elites slot, but giving you two wound terminators! Okay, not as exciting now thanks to Grey Knights, but flavorful and cool.

Throw in the fact that there were whole sections of the book dedicated to god specific wargear, upgrades, and psychic powers, and it was so far the best time to play Chaos if you wanted to play your own legion/warband or play one of the big nine.

So, with all of these options available to me, and with some minor tweaking, I crafted a Black Legion list that represented all of the Chaos deities and as much of what the book could do in the newest edition.

More on the lists and the battle report, next post!