Back in March at AdeptiCon, Games Workshop announced that the Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marines would be getting a new codex. This is important since a new codex for an army means major changes for units across the board as well as new mechanics as well as rules for new units. Later, during Warhammer Fest 2022, more units were teased for the army, teasing what else would coming along the way. Now Games Workshop has shown off more of what players can expect upon release.
What Is New For The Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marines?
According to an official Warhammer-Community post, one of the newest changes coming to the Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marines involves the Traitor Legions. Basically, the Traitor Legions are how the Chaos Space Marines differentiate themselves, similar to the Chapters of Space Marines. With the release of the new codex, each Traitor Legion will now be getting their own unique sets of tools. These will include a Legion Trait, Stratagems, Warlord Traits, Relics, as well as secondary objectives.
There were six Traitor Legions of the Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marines featured with these changes. First were the aggressive Black Legion with the new Legion Trait Black Crusaders. This trait will allow you to ignore any and all modifiers for a Combat Attrition test with any unit that shares the trait. It will also allow you to add 1 to an attack roll if it was a melee attack made after a charge or if you make a ranged attack against the closest available enemy unit. The Word Bearers get the Warlord Trait Exalted Possession. This gives Warlord units major increases to their stats and movement, a 4+ invulnerable save against Ranged attacks, and gives them the Daemon and Daemonkin keyword.
The ambush tactics of the Night Lords got a new stratagem, In Midnight Clad, which subtracts 1 from attack rolls made against infantry units in the shooting phase. The Iron Warriors get a new secondary objective, Masters of Demolition, where you must select three key areas on the map and attempt to blow them up. The Alpha Legion get the Relic, Hydra's Wail. This is a once per battle ability that increases the CP cost of one of your opponent's stratagems. Finally, The Emperor's Children receive the Unbound Arrogance Warlord Trait, a risk/reward mechanic where you and your opponent pick a number between 1 and 3 at the same time. If the answers are different, you add that number to your Attack characteristic of your Warlord for that fight.
These changes to the Warhammer 40k Chaos Space Marines will not affect three of the legions. The Death Guard, Thousand Sons, and World Eaters are now treated as completely separate armies, meaning any changes for them will be found within their own respective codexes. There is still no official release window for the new Chaos Space Marine codex.
