Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate
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dated 5th Mar 2000
REVISION HISTORY
v 1.0 on 4th Mar 2000 - That's it! The whole thing is out! It's done!
v 1.01 on 5th Mar 2000 - Or so I thought. The shame ... inadvertantly left out some
special grenades in the Grenades & Equipment section. So, I've quickly corrected that
omission. *hits head* Remind me to proofread better before I submit ...
The latest version of this FAQ can always be found at http://allgames.yeah.net
INTRODUCTION
Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate is a great turn-based strategy game set in the (what else?)
Warhammer 40k universe created by Games Workshop. For those of you who don't know,
40k is actually a tabletop wargame in which you collect and paint miniatures and later
pit them in simulated battles against other hordes of miniatures ... a cool but
expensive and sorta time-consuming hobby. While Chaos Gate doesn't fully recreate
the tabletop experience, it is a pretty functional interpretation of things, adapted
to a PC strategy game format. ... well ... let's have a go, then!
The fluff story goes something like this: In the 41st millenium, mankind has spread
through the far reaches of the galaxy. To keep order, the Imperium of Man, a
techno-gothic empire ruled over by a psychic Emperor, has emerged. To cut a long story
short, the Emperor created tribes of augmented humans who were divided into legions
to do his bidding. However, nearly half of his superhuman warriors were eventually
corrupted by the powers of chaos, and tried to bring down the Imperium in what became
known as the Horus Heresy. For a much more detailed storyline, just visit any of the
numerous 40k sites your search engine will throw at you if you bother to look :)
Chaos Gate pits a force of Ultramarines, a chapter of space marines loyal to the
Emperor, against the Word Bearers, who are part of the traitor legions. The whole
plot of the game, spread over thirteen missions, involves you tracking down the nasty
Chaos Lord Zymran and his warp gate so you can shut his operation down and give him
a good ass-kicking in the process.
This is the first FAQ I've ever written, and it aims to be a guide primarily for getting
familiar with the game, as well as profiling the characters and equipment. The
strategies and tips are applicable whether you are playing the campaigns or random
scenarios, but this guide is aimed more at the latter - I'll do a walkthru of the
campaign when I have the time, I suppose. All the opinions held in this FAQ are culled
from my own experience of the game ... they may not necessarily be the "best"
strategies or the most correct opinions etc, so if something else works for you, then
great! Perhaps you can share your views in a FAQ of your very own :)
Also! A little copyright disclaimer thingie:
This FAQ is meant for private and personal use. Please don't make any money money
out of this - which means no selling it to anyone, or incorporating this FAQ in any
publication or compilation for profit. If you post this at a website, please just
give me credit as the author. If this FAQ is reproduced in any form, include it in
it's entirety - don't edit. The Warhammer 40k concept and all its related material
and terms are property of Games Workshop, not me (as if). I reserve all rights to
this unpublished work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- INTERFACE
- Options
- The cathedral bridge
- The combat screen
- UNITS AND CHARACTERS
- Character statistics
- Descriptions and opinions on your troops
- WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
- Weapon descriptions
- Grenades and other equipment
- MARINE HONOURS
- PSYKER POWERS
- Descriptions and opinions on psyker powers
- ENEMIES
- Descriptions and opinions on Chaos
- TACTICS AND TIPS
INTERFACE
The first screen you'll see is a main screen with the Warhammer 40k title on it. By
the way, in case you haven't noticed already, hot text on all the tabs and buttons
in this game can be seen if you just let the cursor hover over the area. Let's explore
the "options" tab a little.
Keyboard settings - Keyboard settings let you adjust the various keyboard command,
naturally. Have a look at this screen and familiarise yourself with the shortcuts,
as they can save a lot of mousework throughout the game.
Show paths - Very useful; maps out the route your marines will take from point A to
B. Sometimes you'll notice they walk through fire or other hazards, in which case
you can then plan another route. Keep this on.
Point saving - This interrupts your troops from their movement path when they reach
an action point (AP) level required to fire off one shot with their selected weapon.
This is useful for beginners because it allows you to plan for overwatch, and gives
you a couple of spare points for little things like kneeling or changing direction.
You can still override the interruption by clicking to restart movement. Experienced
players who know exactly what they want to do and the AP needed to do it will probably
find point-saving an annoyance. Your call, though.
Grid - Creates a grid overlay on the map. Don't really see the need for this, plus
it makes the map look cluttered.
Autocut - The map is layered with up to seven height levels. If this option is on,
your character will only be able to view terrain and features at his height level
or below. You can still manually adjust the visible height level by pressing keys
1-7 on the keyboard. Well, why should you leave this on? Because if not, you might
have difficulty seeing characters who will be blocked by high terrain/buildings. I
find it useful to keep this on and manually change height levels if I need to take
a detailed look at the map.
Play movies - If you say so! :)
Unit animation - For those with slow computers, you know what to do.
Music - I turned this off after the first few games because although it's appropriately
spooky sounding, it's distraction. And repetitive, too.
Voices - Some hate 'em. I don't, I think it gives character to the units.
The two sliders are for speed of unit animation (which is unslidable if animation
is off), and speed of other stuff like flames and smoke. Choose your music and voice
volume from the next two sliders, and your screen resolution too.
Note on Level of Difficulty - upping the level affects enemy smarts, enemy skills,
and chances of reinforcements. Mighty Hero is the same as Hero, except you have only
one automatic save when the turn ends, a character is killed, or you exit the game.
The Cathedral bridge
Once you've set up a game, you will appear in the cathedral bridge of your ship.
Always go to Mission Briefing to obtain your mission objectives, and to open up the
squad config door. You can access an options screen from the bridge too.
Choose and configure squads
Alright. You can choose a number of squads, depending on the mission at hand. Select
and deselect squads by clicking on their representative icon. Do the same for
characters by clicking on them too. Clicking on their name allows you to edit it.
You can rearrange squad members by dragging and dropping. However, only characters
with a "Crux Terminatus" award can be dropped into Terminator armour. Read the section
on units and characters to see how you should choose your men. Once you've selected
your squads, go through the right door to equip them. There, each character will have
a list of available equipment displayed once he's selected. There is the weapons &
ammo tab, the misc equipment tab, and the grenades tab. Clicking on equipment will
add it to your man's inventory, and clicking equipment already in the inventory will
send it back to the armoury. Again, read the weapons and equipment section to see
what you should choose. The little book at the bottom of the screen calls up the in-game
encyclopaedia, which you really should read to get a working knowledge of the game
- it's worth it for a quick reference on weapon stats especially. You can go back
to the cathedral bridge through the right door ... if your psyker Librarian is allowed
to choose a new spell, he will be allowed to do so at this point. Choose carefully
because although you can return to reselect and reconfigure your squads, the psyker
powers will be unchangeable.
Choose and configure vehicles
This door can be opened only if you are authorised to use vehicle for your mission.
The only vehicle you can configure is the Rhino troop carrier - just drag and drop
up two 2 squads of normal marines or 1 squad of terminators inside. They can mount
and dismount vehicles in combat if needed. They can also fire out the sides. They
will be protected from enemy fire too, but if the vehicle goes, so do your men.
The combat screen
The top of the screen is obviously a pictorial representation of the units and terrain.
If a movement button is selected, the cursor shows green when over a friendly unit,
and changes to a red targeting cursor when placed over an enemy. To move, simply place
the green cursor and left-click. If you can move to that terrain, the cursor will
indicate a double triangle. If you are trying to select a spot that is impassable,
the cursor will show a green box with a cross to tell you. If Show Paths is selected,
the route will be displayed and you can confirm by left-clicking one more time.
When the cursor moves over an enemy, or the direct fire button is selected, the red
targeting cursor appears. Three numbers will be shown. The top is the percentage
chance to hit. I'm not sure about the second (any help guys?) but I think it's some
sort of modifier for cover. The third indicates range. If everything is OK, the top
right of the cursor will show an eye icon and a target icon. If you get an eye icon
with a cross, it means that your line of sight (LOS) to the target is blocked, or
you aren't facing the right way. If there is a blockage, you can't hit the target.
If you are facing the wrong way, clicking on the target will make your character face
the target and fire, but he will use some APs for the direction change. Sometimes
you will get a scanner icon with a cross in the top right corner. This means that
you are out of range and must move closer.
Lets see what the rest of the screen is about.
The top left of the info screen (which is the bottom half of the whole screen) is
the visible enemies gauge. Every enemy your man can spot is indicated. Berserkers
are the Khorne icon (the one that looks like an "X"), Terminators (which I will
abbreviate to termies) are the skulls, Chaos Space Marines (CSMs) are the empty circle,
and daemons and HQ characters are the filled circle. Clicking on any icon will move
the screen to the appropriate enemy.
Immediately below that is your selected man's stats. There is his unit designation,
his portrait, his name, his APs, armour and HP. Click on the marine's portrait to
center the screen on him. To the right of those stats is the current visible height
level. Some areas of the game screen will be blacked out. You can make these areas
visible by adjusting the height level from this bar or through the keyboard. The blue
squares to the right of this bar allow you to change the map size from close-up to
faraway pan.
The top middle of the info screen has little icons representing your squads. Clicking
on an icon will move the screen to the leader of that squad.
Under that row is a lot of buttons. The first allows you to access game options and
the save/load screen. The next calls up a (useless) mini-map. The next refreshes your
mission briefing in case you forgot what you were supposed to do :p
The next button is the important inventory button. When you call up an inventory screen,
you can use items such as medkits and scanners, drop items, throw items to other
marines, and view the encyclopaedia. Clicking on a grenade allows you to throw a
grenade offensively too (ie the grenade blows up instead of just lying there). After
selecting throw grenade, you will notice neither your ballistic weapon or melee weapon
is now selected. Instead, you get a target cursor. You can throw grenades anywhere
within range and LOS - not necessarily at an enemy.
To quit throwing, just click on one of your normal weapons or a movement button.
The next button will move the screen to the next marine in your squad. The button
after that will move the screen to the next visible enemy in your list. Use these
buttons if you're not sure where to locate certain marines.
The three boxes under the row of buttons are your ammo gauge and weapon indicators
respectively. Remember that after a round of hand-to-hand (HTH) combat, the selected
weapon is automatically your melee weapon. You have to manually select your ballistic
weapon if you want to use that.
The top right row starts with the aimed shot button. Don't use this at all - doesn't
seem to affect the to hit percentage in any way - maybe it increases chances to damage?
Then the direct fire button. Learn how to use this. Especially for area effect weapons,
the best spot to fire may not be at a particular enemy, but an empty cell. Or you
might might want to use a terminator HTH weapon such as a chainfist to attack an
obstacle. This is the button to force the cursor to change to the targeting cursor.
The walk button is in my opinion, useless. No marine should walk if he can run. Just
be careful because termies can only walk. So when moving a marine after moving a termie,
reset the button back to the run button. There's also a crouch/uncrouch button.
If you have selected a marine with a special skill eg librarian, there will be a special
button to use this skill. If the skill is unusable, the button is blanked out. To
heal marines, your apothecary has to be adjacent to and facing his intended marine
before the button is available. For librarians, their special button also comes with
a little number indicating the number of force points available to them this round
- up to 6.
The retrieve button can be used to open crates with the imperial marking. You must
be facing and adjacent to the crate. Pressing this button when you are nex to and
facing a friend (whether alive or dead) allows you to exchange equipment from
inventory. Remember tht you must have free slots or you'll be wasting your time. It
also costs 4 AP for every exchange you make.
Pull switch and open door - you can use these, right?
Then there's the overwatch button. Your character will use any leftover points to
fire his primary ballistic weapon in the enemy's turn. Your marine will fire at the
first enemy that appears. See the tactics section on how to use overwatch.
Formation movement has 2 sorts - the top option makes all your marines face forward,
and the bottom option will automatically arrange your marines with some of them facing
the sides and back to prevent sneak attacks. You can click and hold the left mouse
button to select more than one marine, or use SHIFT click for more precision.
The next button allows you to get marines out of vehicles like Rhinos ... to select
a marine in a vehicle, use the Marine Icons and the Next Marine buttons, and then
click on the vehicle button to get them out. And of course there's the end turn buttton.
UNITS AND CHARACTERS
Every one of your men is rated for certain abilities, the higher the better.
Action points (AP) - Gotta have lots. I think anyone with less than 54 is sort of
sucky (at the highest experience level).
Health (HP) - Zero and you're an ex-space marine.
Armour - Absorbs damage from hits that can't penetrate. Always 40 for normal armour,
110 for Terminators. Wow.
Ballistic skill (BS)- Determines to-hit for ranged weapons. Affected by range, weapon,
cover and smoke.
Weapons skill (WS) - To-hit for HTH weapons. Affected by weapon type.
Strength - Determines how far you can throw stuff. This score is used for HTH if higher
than WS.
Toughness - Affects how much damage you take if armour doesn't cover you.
Initiative - Who strikes first in HTH.
Attacks - The number of unmodified HTH attacks in one round of HTH combat.
Leadership - Sometimes units have to take a break test to see if they run ... like
when a unit is decimated, or a Greater Daemon gets too close. Your guy has to make
a roll against his LD score. If he's within five cells of his squad, the highest Ld
score is used for all.
Enemies Killed - Shows 'em who's a bad mutha.
Missions - Bragging rights?
Experience points (XP) - How much your character has currently got. Every character
starts at at level 1 in a campaign game ... by accumulating more XP, he raises level
and his stats increase. I don't propose to talk much about XP in this FAQ because
it really has no bearing on a random scenario. Rest assured that if I do write a
walkthru for the campaign, though, I will put in a section about gaining XP etc.
HQ
The HQ squad is the row of guys at the bottom of the character selection screen. Some
members may only be selectable once you complete a certain number of missions. HQ
member are represented by a golden eagle.
The Captain
Cpt Kruger - your erstwhile leader. He isn't available to you until the last mission,
but that's no big deal. I find him kinda annoying, especially during the cut scenes.
I mean, I know the Imperium of Man is a self-righteous sort of organisation by
definition, but this guy really sounds like he's got a big stick up his bum. He looks
dumb too, with the broom bristles on the top of his helmet. Abilities wise, I have
little idea why he happens to be your top commander. His stats can't even match up
to a regular trooper - even in leadership *koff koff*. He's only average in HTH, and
his power sword doesn't really have a great deal of armour penetration or damage.
Even if he strikes first, he'll take his time to actually finish off a well-armoured
opponent. His ballistic skill is not bad, which means he'll hit what he wants to.
Again though, he's limited by his compulsory plasma pistol - the plasma pistol's
distinct lack of capability has been covered already, so I won't bother here. In
conclusion, since he doesn't have any special skills, he's just another pack mule
for the last mission. Try and keep him at the back because like all HQ characters,
he seems to take damage easily and it is kind of embarrassing to have your captain
bumped off in the last mission, even if he is a whining pansy.
The Chaplain
This guy is supposed to provide spiritual guidance to the rest of his battle brothers.
That doesn't mean squat in Chaos Gate though. Again, just a pack mule unless he's
expressly required. However, his armour looks a lot cooler than Kruger's, plus his
Crozius Arcanium is quite a kickass HTH weapon. He should have little trouble
defending himself against berserkers, unless they always strike first.
The Apothecary (medic)
Ahhh ... an alright choice provided you keep him away from the fighting - he soaks
damage like a sponge. Moreover, he has no HTH weapon - he uses his teeny bolt pistol
if engaged in close combat. So again - keep him out of trouble. If he has to be around,
you can load him up with an assortment of grenades (and medkits, if you like playing
in character). The medic has the ability to heal hit points in combat. Every one AP
of his translates into one HP in healing. Bear in mind that he is the only dude who
can restore Termie HP, since they can't use medkits. You have to balance the need
to keep him in a position to heal Termies, who are frontliners, and the need to protect
his wimpy ass though. Remember also that when he uses his healing ability, all
available APs are used up. He will also rise up if previously crouching, and have
no APs left to squat again, so be sure he's behind cover. You have two apothecaries
to choose from, so pick the one with higher APs. His combat skills don't really matter.
The Techmarine
The techmarine is the equivalent of a machine priest in Warhammer 40k. His special
skill is only expressly required in certain missions, and unusable otherwise - another
grenade carryboy for you, if you choose to bring him along. His pwer axe is alright
in HTH, and he'll be able to take care of himself against berserkers and demons.
The Librarian
This guy is the most useful combat member of the HQ team. Bring him along the moment
you can, and let him kill stuff so he can raise to his max level ASAP in the campaign.
His force axe will chop up close combat troops, and his selection of spells will aid
you immeasurably. His only drawback is his weakness to damage, and the fact that the
AI always marks him out for death if it can. Always end his turn crouched, 'K? You
have 4 Librarians to choose from, so APs and weapon skill should be the priorities.
Tactical squad
The Tac squad is the basic marine organisational unit. It's a five man squad, with
one special or heavy weapon allowed. Because of their wimpy combat knives, don't let
these guys go HTH. Keep them as a "shooty" squad, for throwing all manner of useful
grenades, and for shielding your more important troops, if necessary. Their regular
power armour can soak up a surprising amount of bolter fire. Whether you arm them
with a special or heavy weapon really depends on the sort of mission you undertake.
Tac squaddies are represented by an upwards pointing arrow.
Devastator squad
Your heavy support squad - two men out of five are allowed to carry heavy weapons
(not special weapons). Again their combat knives aren't up to close combat. Use the
non-heavy weapon carriers just as you would a regular tac squaddie. Devastator squad
members are represented by an upturned chevron.
Assault squad
Now we're smokin'! These guys are great. Five marines, all equipped with jump packs
that allow them to cover up to 24 cells for a mere 10 APs, and close combat special
weapons. And that is the point - get them stuck in as soon as you safely can. Of course
flying them in with no support and no smoke is asking for it, but once you learn to
use them they are possibly even more valuable than Terminators because of their
mobility. Give as many of them hand flamers as you can. Why? Well, bolt pistols are
super weak. Plasma pistols are not much better, and they eat up ammo like crazy. Those
plasma ammo slots are much better spent on grenades. But the hand flamer has the
distinct advantage of being able to set an enemy alight in one shot. This is great
for assault squaddies because most of the time they will be right in the thick of
things. Setting dudes on fire is a sure way to reduce the odds against you in the
enemy phase - this and a couple of smoke grenades normally ensures you stay alive
long enough to wade in and massacre the enemy with your HTH weapons. And believe you
me, the power fists and axes really add up - especially if you gang on the baddies.
You can't use a jump pack if your marine is indoors or right under a tree or something,
so keep his head clear. Jump packs carry enough fuel for 120 cells of jumping. Assault
squad members are represented by crossed arrows.
Terminator squad
Terminators are equipped with special armour that makes them more like walking tanks.
Your squad of five can be equipped with two terminator heavy weapons, and a selection
of other Termie gear. Bear in mind certain limitations though. Termies cannot carry
anything - no grenades, no medkits, no extra ammo, no candy bars. (??? Strange
system ... I mean they have hands, right? Just strap stuff on their armour like every
other space marine, whydontcha) Also, Termies cannot run (and as White Dwarf sez,
they are poor at pole vaulting and rope skipping too :p); that means they eat up more
APs for movement than a regular marine. However, their armour is plenty thick, and
they soak up the hits well. Moreover if you are playing to cream the opposition, the
Assault cannon and Heavy flamer are indispensable weapons. Terminators equipped with
close combat weapons such as the thunder hammer can take out squads of berserkers
all by themselves and still have energy left over to compose religious poetry. Putting
them in front is alright, but remember that their size and the fact that they can't
crouch will block line of sight for your other troops. They are represented by an
Ultramarine "U".
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
Weapons
Detailed stats of the weapons can easily be found by looking through the encyclopaedia.
What I've done is to give, as always, my own opinion on how effective they actually
are in game combat, and how I think they should be used. Weapons are rated for the
following:
Strength - Weapon damage modifier.
Range - You know, I know.
Blast radius - Range of area effect, if any.
Damage potential - Maximum damage a weapon can inflict on HP or armour
Bolt pistol - The default weapon for your assault squad and most of your HQ. It really
sucks, change out if you can. It's really only good for blowing away cultists and
small furry mammals.
Plasma pistol- I'm going to take a bit of time here to rant about plasma weapons in
this game. Well, they suck big jobbies. OK, so you get sustained fire with them. They
also happen to have the smallest ammo mags available of all weapons - so to take
advantage of sustained fire, you're going to have to bring along a lot of ammo. This
wouldn't be so bad if they were kickass weapons, but as it is, they are most definitely
not. Anyhow, the plasma pistol is what you give your assault squad if you run out
of hand flamers. Don't even bother with much ammo, since an assault squaddie is better
off just chopping someone up anyway. Actually, even if you stuck with the bolt pistol
it wouldn't make a great difference. Bah.
Hand flamer - Yaaaay! The weapon of choice for assault marines. Set your opponents
alight before they can gang up on you the next turn! One shot is all it will take
to render a heavy weapon CSM useless, and there's more than a fair chance of that
happening.
Bolter - Default weapon for Tac squad and Devastators. Lousy. Takes forever to crack
armoured marines. It has decent range, but really not effective for the AP cost. Use
this to finish off weakened foes or just to annoy them.
Plasma gun - Better than a bolter, but suffers from a great ammo hunger. A flamer
or meltagun is normally a better choice, unless you really need that bit of extra
range. Only for Tac Squad.
Flamer - Terror in enclosed spaces! Purify their souls! You see any bunched up marines
nearby and ... toast. Just be careful not to flame your own guys, or block a passageway
you need yourself. Suffers from crap range, so try and think of mission requirements.
Only for Tac Squad.
Meltagun - Yaaaaay! Again if you don't need the range, this is a great special weapon.
It sizzles the armour right off your enemies, and all at a decent AP cost. You don't
need to kill enemies outright ... just melt their armour and let the bolters rip.
Just a note - killing someone with a melta weapon means there are no remains ... which
means that enterprising CSMs can't run over to the dead body and grab the weapon,
which they sometimes do if the weapon is juicy enuff. Only for Tac Squad.
Heavy bolter - Hmmm, not too bad. Great against unarmoured dudes in big pack (ie
cultists), since it penetrates better than a bolter and has sustained fire. It works
pretty well against armoured foes too; the drawback here is that the sustained fire
does eat the ammo. This is a flexible choice that provides a balance between range
and power. For Tac or Devastator squads.
Missile launcher - Flexible long ranged weapon. Can blast entrenched Chaos dudes from
all the way across the map. You can bring a selection of missiles depending on the
mission. And, a marine with 60 AP can fire twice a turn and still have AP to spare!
Doesn't require 30 APs a shot like the encyclopaedia sez. For Tac or Devastator squads.
Krak : No area effect, but good to take out enemy heavy weapons and vehicles.
Plasma : Area effect, but crap armour penetration.
Melta : Area effect, and well worth their weight. Preferable over plasma any day.
Great for busting enemies before they break formation.
Frag : Blah. Don't bother.
Blind :Useful in the right circumstances. Can block line of sight for faraway enemy
heavy
weapon emplacements.
Antiplant : Whaa-? Don't bother either, just wait for them to get out of cover.
Multimelta - Ahahaha, turn those chaos traitors to puddles of slag. Area effect, and
if it doesn't kill 'em, it'll surely leave 'em freezing in their chaos underoos. But
it is notoriously short ranged, plus it takes 30 AP to fire. Still, a great choice
for indoor fights and against squads of armoured terminators. For Tac or Devastator
squads.
Lascannon - Tankbuster, for those evil enemy vehicles. Give this to someone with a
high ballistic skill, 'cos you don't want to miss a shot. It's good for frying away
armour on troops too, but kind of a waste. Has great range, though. For Tac or
Devastator squads.
Heavy Plasma Gun - This has two modes, max and low power. At max, it has an area effect
of 1 cell, great range and good armour penetration and damage. At low power, the area
effect is still there but armour penetration and damage is greatly reduced. The
problem is you have to wait two turns before the gun charges to max. You waste a turn,
and you waste a shot too if there's nothing worth firing at in the charged turn. I
don't recommend this weapon although itis the best of the plasma weapons in this game.
It's not good at what it's supposed to do, which is kill lottsa dudes. For Tac or
Devastator squads.
Serpent's Breath Flamer - Slightly more powerful than a flamer. The book says it has
greater range, but that's not so. It's slightly more powerful than normal, though.
Tac squad only.
Star Thrower Plasma Gun - Better penetration and damage than normal, but the same
other drawbacks. Tac squad only.
Mastercrafted anything - Adds longer range to the weapon, and has a slight to-hit
increase as well.
Nova Storm Plasma pistol - This is more powerful than normal, but doesn't have the
increased range the encyclopaedia boasts of. Assaut squad only.
Purifier Hand Flamer - Slightly more powerful than normal, but isn't double the range
of a hand flamer. It does fire 2 cells farther, though. Assault squad only.
Storm Bolter - Whatever. Twin-linked bolters with sustained fire. Better than bolters
alone, but not by much. The default weapon for your Terminator squad, so not much
choice there. Termies only.
Assault cannon - This rocks! Only a Terminator can carry it, but, woohoo! Sustained
fire and a good armour penetration, plus killer damage. It'll take out anything you
want it to, even daemons and vehicles. Termies only.
Heavy Flamer - The other half of the dynamic duo. This fella has poor range, like
all flame weapons, but a high AP termie can blast around three or four shots of area
effect flames that'll psitively raze the baddies to the ground. They'll all be running
around screaming pathetically as they burn, or they'll be stuck in a sea of fire
wondering what happened. Use liberally for maximum fun. Seriously, there's nothing
like knowing where the enemy is going to appear, flaming the whole area, and watching
them all catch fire as they teleport in. Termies only.
OK, that's about that for shooty stuff. Now let's take a look at the hand-to-hand
(HTH) items.
Combat knife - Default for Tac and devastator squads. You got no choice here. Anyhow,
it's a lousy weapon and you're in a bit of a desperate do if you're down to using
this. It can slice up blue horrors, cultists, and very weakened marines.
Chainsword - The worst of all the special HTH weapons, switch out ASAP. Default weapon
for your assault squad.
Power sword - Nothing much, only slightly better than the chainsword. For assault
squad.
Power axe - Slightly better armour penetration than the power sword. For assault
squad.
Power fist - Good penetration, the best of the normal assault squad HTH weapons. For
Assault squad and termies.
Force axe - Ahhhh ... good. Good penetration and damage. The reason why your Librarian
can hold off berserkers and daemons who come at him. Too bad it's Librarians only.
Crozius Arcanium - Same as the Force axe, and only for your Chaplain.
Vindicator Chainsword - Less penetration than a power fist, but more damage potential.
BUt I prefer penetration over damage. Assault squad only.
Juggernaut Power Fist - Mmmmmm ... good for cracking armour and squishing foes. Best
of the assault special HTH weapons in combat terms. Can even beat on vehicles in a
pinch. Assault squad only.
Reaper Power Axe - OK, in a campaign you'll find two. Although they're not powerful,
they give the wielder 20 more APs. That's 20 whole APs for any purpose. Take this,
man. Assault squad only.
Conciliator Power Sword - Cheh, just a power sword that makes sure you'll always strike
first by upping your Ini score. Not useful. Assault squad only.
Liberator Power Axe - Can't quite crack armour like a power fist, but kills enemies
pretty quick. Not too shabby a choice. Assault squad only.
Righteous Fury Power Sword - Again, just a power sword. At least you get two free
attacks, but the weakness of the weapon makes me shake my head. Assault squad only.
Chainfist - Upgrade your Termies from power fists to this if you can. Even more
powerful than the Juggernaut carried by an assault marine. Will hold its own in HTH.
Can be used to rip apart obstacles and doors. Termies only.
Lightning Claws - Oops. Choosing these will give you only HTH capability. And unless
the stats in the encyclopaedia are wrong, it's just not as good as the thunder hammer.
So don't pick this. Termies only.
Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield - For the discerning HTH terminator. Only HTH
capability, but it will take out anything it comes into contact with. If you are really
daring, It can even beat up on vehicles and cause a real pounding. Equip your non-heavy
termies with this if you can swing the lack of a ranged weapon. Can be used to bash
down doors and other obstacles. Termies only.
Grenades and other Equipment
Grenades are your friends. Absolutely essential for the serious space marine. In a
random game, load up on offensive grenades in favour of ammo. You need a better balance
if you're playing the scripted campaign, but my opinions of the grenades don't change.
Krak - Main offensive grenade. No blast radius, but works good to split open armoured
marines for weaker fire. Don't waste these on cultists. Stock up on these for random
scenarios, especially.
Blind - Very important in the campaign, less so in random scenarios. For scenarios,
just 1 per marine should be enough. The number you should carry in a campaign mission
varies. Smoke covers you from long range fire, but also means you can't target them
either. Smoke is most effective on flat ground - the effect is severely lessened when
thrown on slopes. Don't always count on just one grenade to cover everything ... the
smoke cloud varies in size, and can sometimes be quite small.
Plasma- Area effect, but weak armour penetration. Not really worth the space.
Frag - Area effect. Only effective for damage against cultists. Frag grenades are
primarily used to knock enemies out of overwatch. Get in a position where you can
throw one round a corner, and hope the area effect catches any unseen enemies. Useful
only in campaign games, and even then I don't really use them ... I'm lazy so I just
soak up the overwatch fire.
Antiplant - Yucks, what a waste of space. The AI isn't that bright about using cover
anyhow, so don't bring these, even in jungle/swamp environments.
Rad - This works goods, except you don't get very many. Rad grenades seed a large
area with harmful radiation that stays the whole scenario. Use these to block
important through routes - any enemies charging in will then have to take sustained
hits before they reach you, or waste APs going another way. Remember not to block
routes that you need to go past yourself, like bridges and stuff. If you really need
to seed a bridge, throw the grenade just past the bridge. Chaos troops will normally
run through all the irradiated cells, taking 2-3 hits. You can probably plan a route
for your men that will expose them to only 1 hit max later on.
Vortex - Instant death! Plus area effect! Send 'em back to the warp. You get very
few of these, so use carefully. Best for taking out large clusters of enemy termies.
You can also exploit AI stupidity by throwing a vortex grenade at a well-travelled
spot. The grenade lingers for a turn, and the enemy will often blindly walk into the
swirl. I've killed nearly 2 squads worth of chaos terminators in a random scenario
this way, the poorly-programmed fools.
Stasis - Ah. Anyone (your men included) caught in the blast radius is cocooned in
an energy field and cannot move or perform any action. They are also effectively out
of the battle ... ranged shots and HTH doesn't seem to affect them. Vortex grenades
and spells will still wipe them out though. They can be set on fire, but they won't
break and I don't think they take damage either.
Haywire - OK, again I must confess I dunno what this is all about. It makes a sparkle
and a cute twinkly noise when it hits, but ... then what? I've thrown this at enemy
termies, but they still keep coming at me undeterred.
Meltabomb - Very powerful, but it takes AP to plant and set. It has a blast radius
so get away before it blows. You don't actually ever need this, except maybe in the
campaign - and even then, a bunch of krak grenades will accomplish the same job.
Medipack - In a random scenario, about one is enough in case your marine gets his
nose punched in. Take two in a campaign. Healing is indeterminate ... it seems to
range between 20 -40 HP a pop.
Scanner - This calls up a simple grid display of the battlefield. It has less renge
than a scan spell and you can't distinguish enemies well. Your men are blue dots,
vehicles blue squares. Word bearers are red dots, and red squares for vehicles.
Daemons are yellow, radiation green. Not too useful, just choose Scan.
MARINE HONOURS
At the squad selection screen, you will notice some empty spaces on the right hand.
These are for honours awarded, if any.
Crux Terminatus - Any dude who kills at least 5 enemies in a scenario gets this deaths
head award. No bearing on random scenarios, but important to obtain in the campaign
for one reason - only veteran soldiers who have this honour can be switched into termie
armour.
Purity seal - This seal is awarded to any marine who goes 5 missions without breaking.
Marksman - This is awarded to any marine who scores ten hits in a mission.
Imperial laurel - This is worth XP. Awarded to any marine who completes the stated
mission objective.
PSYKER POWERS
Your librarian gets a power for every level he's at. I must confess that I haven't
used all the powers available, because not all appear so useful. You may well have
a different opinion with regards to this section.
Hellfire - I always take this. OK range, plus area effect, plus flames that roast
and toast. Very rarely will characters cught by hellfire not burst into flames. And
cheap at 2 force points.
Lightning Arc - Not as useful as hellfire. It's got the same range, but not reliable,
plus expensive at 3 pooints. The lightning bolt will jump to the nearest model if
it kills it's first target and so on, in chain lightning way. It doesn't discriminate
between friend and foe though - if the nearest model is your own guy, too bad. Also,
the chances of it killing the first target are not particularly high. Best used against
lightly armoured or weakened foes - but still seems like a waste.
The Gate - The first click sets up the entry gate, the second the exit gate. It's
cheap at 1 force point, but I don't really use it much. An unlimited number of marines
can use the portal until it ends.
Assail - The victim is pushed back, but takes no damage. So you have to push him into
something like flames or a vortex or whatever. Even for 1 point, it's crap.
Displacement - Hmmm. I don't normally use this unless it's for displacing a squad
into a suspicious room where they can do some ass-kicking. But, I concede that it
could be a versatile spell if you've adapted the tactics for it. OK cost at 2 points.
Machine curse - Same range and cost as hellfire, but not as versatile. It does affect
ballistic weapons, but doesn't hurt the carrier. Just burn them, it's better. And
as for freezing vehicles in their tracks - well, there aren't a whole lot of vehicles
for you to curse.
Scan - Another must-have. For just 1 measly force point, you get to see exactly where
your enemies are and what equipment they're carrying. You can tough it out without
this spell in a random scenario, but it should really be chosen for the campaign.
Quickening - One of the best spells there is, take all the time. For 2 points, you
can add 25 AP to a model and double their attacks! Whether you use this on your Assault,
Terminator or heavy weapons marines, you won't be disappointed. Always cast this spell
last, because the quickening effect can last for several turns - if you cast another
spell after quickening though, you cancel the quickening effect automatically. Don't
bother casting it on your own librarian though, he'll only gain 25-20=5 APs. Make
sure the intended target is within range, and within the caster's line of sight.
Strength of mind - Fortify against psychic attack? What for? Kill the enemy sorceror
and you're done.
Smite - Expensive for the effect, I feel. Everyone in the affected area takes damage.
Iron Arm - Wow, strength and toughness. Yeah, yeah. Super short ranged ... maybe only
HTH guys need it, but it's not very useful.
Teleportation - It seems useful, but you won't actually be using it often because
it'll cost you 20 APs to use this, and you won't have many left to cast more spells
even if you're in a good position to. Use it for escape? That's just poor planning,
why's your librarian in such a sticky situation anyhow?
Psychic Shield - Ummm, alright I guess. Protecting your librarian is important, but
I think crouching and proper placement should be adequate.
Destroy Daemon - I use this sometimes ... if it works, then you've just creamed a
daemon. But, I don't normally consider daemons a big threat so I'd rather choose a
spell that can affect any enemy.
Holocaust - Yeesh ... OK, everybody burns ... even your psyker! Pretty last ditch,
and for 3 whole force points too. Worrisome that you should be considering such a
self-destructive spell.
Your units on fire don't break, though, and can still be controlled. Every enemy who
runs into the affected area will also combust.
Scourging - Weak and girly. Waste of time.
Purge Psyker - Again, only good against psykers. Just shoot them to death and save
a spell.
Aura of Fire - Gives your psyker an edge in HTH, especially since it's only 1 point
and reflects HTH attacks. A self-defence spell, but one I don't normally choose.
Vortex - And this spell completes my essential quartet. So powerful you'll weep. Every
dang thing in the way is utterly destroyed - whole squads of Chaos troops have been
mashed by a well-aimed vortex. Make sure to clear the area in front and to the side
of your psyker of your own men though. Warning! If you haven't downloaded the Chaos
Gate patch, using this spell will sometimes quit the game and punch you back to your
desktop.
Storm of Wrath - Forces a Ldr check on affected enemy units ... but if successful,
only prevents them from advancing. I don't think the spell is worth 3 force points.
Aura of Fortitude - Same criticism as strength of mind.
So, if you're gunning to win, take Scan, Quickening, Hellfire and Vortex. You can
drop Scan in a random game and replace it with something else, that's OK.
ENEMIES
Chaos cultists
Jeez, if "coming to Chaos" means ending up like these dudes, then I'd really rather
not. They have sore throaty voices, look like power ranger puttees, wear rags and
explode in green blood. Naaaah. As opposition, they are a joke. Their laspistol has
crap armour penetration, if they even manage to hit you in the first place. The vast
majority of them are armed with frag grenades that can put you out of overwatch, but
not much else. Their leadership rating sucks too, so if you beat up on their squad,
chances are the rest will run for it. Actually I'd prefer it if they just continued
coming at me - saves the trouble of chasing them down. On Hero setting, they take
at most 2 bolter hits to kill - never seen one that stood up to more. So even if these
guys come at you in huge hordes, take it as a chance to rack up kills and Marine Honours.
Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines (CSMs)
Whew, what a mouthful. CSMs are corrupt space marines; as such, they have the same
profile as your troops. Their armour is as least as good as, if not better, than yours.
Bolter shells splash off them like rain, so don't count on sustained bolts to take
them out. Much better to bust them up a bit with grenades first, if you can. Because
they are shooty troops, they are susceptible to close combat against HTH assault
troops. Their knife won't hurt you unless they get lucky, which is not often. Their
aim is good though, and they will lay down a hail of fire given half the chance. This
can be hazardous especially if they are armed with more than a simple bolter. Always
take out the heavy/special weapons CSMs ASAP, or be prepared to suffer long range
pounding. CSMs use all your heavy/special weapons with the exception of the heavy
plasma gun. CSMs will also aggressively throw grenades of all normal sorts at you
if they can't get a good shot in. They tend to advance more cautiously than most of
the othe troop types, and will use overwatch tactics and cover if they can.
Khorne Berserkers
These marines have given themselves over to worshipping the Blood God Khorne ...
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for Khorne"! Anyhoo, they are the Chaos assault troops.
But in this game, they are far inferior to your Assault squad. Being equipped with
only close range weapons, their only option is to run in and attack. But, although
their charge distance is prodigious, they have no brains at all. Judicious estimation
will leave your troops just outside their charge - meaning you get to slaughter them
in your next turn, whilst being safe from their attacks 'cos they've got no APs left.
Berserkers, being, well, berserk, will never take the opportunity to gang up on you
even if they've got you surrounded, so that's one less thing to worry about. Armour
wise, they are resistant to bolter fire, but krak grenades work wonders. Learn to
use troops with better HTH weapons to take them down. Berserkers are more a nuisance
than anything else; they are only a threat in large numbers that have suddenly sprung
up right next to you, or when confronting troops armned only with combat knives.
Furthermore, the only berserkers who have a decent chance of chopping you up are the
ones with power weapons - the chainsword guys are pretty weak.
Chaos Chaplain
This guy is a heretic chaplain ... if I'm not wrong only the Word Bearers still bother
with chaplains for their unholy rituals 'cos they were an especially devout chapter
before they went bad. Well, whatever. He's OK in HTH, but since he blindly charges
into anything you care to throw at him, he normally doesn't last long. Just treat
him like a berserker.
Chaos Sorcerer
A little more dangerous, because of his combat spells. He will rarely run all the
way in for HTH, preferring to cast spells and lob grenades. Try and take him out soon,
because although his spells fail a good amount of the time, a well-placed Pink Fire
of Tzeentch (cool name huh) could ruin a careful setup. His armour's no good, anyhow.
Chaos Terminators
Aieeee! Flee before the might of Chaos! Well, OK, Chaos termies are hard but not too
terribly so. Like all power armoured foes, they are vulnerable to fire. Even a simple
hand flamer has a good chance of setting them alight. Otherwise, the only weapons
that will effectively hurt them are heavy/special weapons, special close combat
weapons, and krak grenades. Chaos Termies have the reaper autocannon - the nasty
looking three-barrelled one. Don't let that guy live too long - once he's within range,
as few as two solid shots will take out one of your marines. Chaos termies, being
of older design, also have no heavy flamer. Instead, termies without the autocannon
all have a combi weapon. Aside from a bolter/bolter combi, there are flamer/bolters
and melta/bolters. Learn which are which, because the meltagun combi can be a real
pain, and the flamer combi will just light your guys up. They all also have old but
effective HTH weapons, so no HTH unless you use a termie yourself, or can gang up
on him. Normal knife-wielding marines will get creamed.
Lord Zymran
Ewww. Ugly and brown. He's not too tough on his own, aside from his armour which seems
slightly more effective than the average marine. His plasma pistol seems to have a
much better penetration than the regular piffle gun, so don't let him get too many
shots in. He's really nothing much, but his stupid Termie bodyguard makes up for that.
Hellhound
This looks like a cross between a lizard and a dog. This lesser daemon is basically
a four-legged berserker - great charge distance, close range bite attacks. Just be
wary of its charge. The bite itself isn't too bad, but the hellhound can be
surprisingly resilient to krak grenades. They rarely burn and break from flame attacks
too, so fire is no good.
Bloodletter
The red daemon with the cone head and big feet. Being one of Khorne's minions, he
has only HTH attack capability. His charge isn't as lengthy as the hellhound, but
his hellblade packs a mean bite, so don't let him get close. Krak works good on him,
fire not effective for setting him alight, but alright for diverting his path so he
wastes AP.
Flamer
The daemon with the beak and the skirt. This guy is a pain because aside from pretty
good hit resistance, he also has a flame attack (normal flamer equivalent). Take him
out before he gets close enough to let go his fire. Also, don't ever attack him HTH
unless you're sure you'll kill him before he gets a chance to fight back. He has no
HTH attack, so he will end up firing off a flame burst that most probably will set
your guy alight.
Pink Horror
Loser. This dude just runs around making goofy noises and hoping to get to HTH. No
great charge range, merely average hit resistance. His "special attack" is ... hold
your breath ... splitting into two blue horrors when he dies!
Blue Horror
Loser. This dude just runs around making goofy noises and hoping to get to HTH. No
great charge range, crap hit resistance. Even normal marines with knives can kick
his blue ass.
Bloodthirster
Oaaah. This is a greater daemon of Khorne. Don't play HTH, you will die terribly.
He eats Termies for breakfast that way. But sadly, for all his battle prowess and
resistance to punishment, he has no ranged attack so just keep away and pound his
brown behind. In the tabletop game, he can fly around and pick his targets, so he's
mean. Here, he seems to have kept his wings but doesn't use them at all. Too bad for
him, I guess. Oh, If you get too close, you'll have to take a break test to see if
you guy turns and runs - so don't.
Lord of Change
This is the big bird Daemon, favoured of Tzeentch. I have tried him out in HTH and
he is also quite fearsome. He has some combat spells also. The sad thing is, he's
done in by poor programming. The only time you meet him, he just stands there and
lets you attack him without retaliating. He'll only wake up if you get right up close
to him, and why would you want to do that?
TACTICS AND TIPS
These here are general tips/tactics for use with random scenarios. They will work
with the scripted missions also, but I'm consodering writing a more detailed walkthru
that will provide specific details on how to beat those missions. You can determine
the nature of the random scenario from the scenario generator, so play around with
those options. Most are pretty self explanatory; the "level of Ultra skill" merely
refers to how high up the experience ladder your marines start out.
1. Choose your squads wisely! You can drag and drop marines at the character select
screen. Switch out losers with fewer APs for more industrious dudes. Take note also
of things like ballistic skill and weapons skill. You don't need high BS for assault
marines, and you don't need high WS for shooty marines. Give the marines with the
highest APs the heavy weapons - depending on the weapon, a high AP marine can get
off 2 shots of a heavy weapon in one turn. There's also no real need to take most
HQ characters unless you think you need the grenades. Some say the more marines the
merrier, but I find it a hassle to keep having to mind deadweight.
2. Equip well! After choosing your weapons, let's consider ammo. The way I play (more
grenade intensive), I don't shoot if I can throw. I give bolter marines only 2
magazines (the one they start with and one extra). I don't take any plasma weapons
because you will need at least three or more refills - not worth the space. I give
missile launchers a total of 4 fills, or sometimes even 3. Heavy bolters need all
5 ammo mags, trust me. Multi meltas get only 2 mags max, because wach mag holds quite
a bit. Same for Lascannons. I generally don't give flamers more than 2 mags, but I
allow for up to 3 if it's a meltagun. Of course, this is all up to style ... and if
you intend not to bring along certain squads or limit your number of squads, you might
have to factor in more ammo. Note this advice is for random scenarios, OK?
Once you've settled ammo, pack it in with grenades. See the equipment section for
my opinion on grenades. Generally, the most useful are krak, blind, and rad. If you're
playing random game, then you'll have 3 vortex grenades from the start. These are
absolute death, so bring them and throw wisely. Other special grenades like the stasis
grenade can be fun too, but krak is safest for damage.
Don't bother with too many medkits - two is more than enough, and one will normally
suffice. A scanner is also quite pointless because I don't like the dot display -
I find it not as informative as I would have preferred.
3. After equipping, save your game. Should you realise that your weapon selection
for the scenario is not ideal, you can re-equip should you want to start over.
4. Send expendable marines to scout out the enemy. It's important to know where they're
coming from and what they're packing. The scan spell is especially useful here. Pull
your scout back to a defensible position once you roughly know where the enemy is
coming from.
5. Don't forget to always select the run button for your normal marines. Running saves
a lot of APs as compared to walking, and there's no other difference. I remind you
of this because the interface will always reset to walk after you move a termie -
they can't run, remember?
6. The high ground is good, but getting it can be a pain. Chaos will blast you the
minute you appear. You might like to send up a scout first, see if he gets shot at.
If so, you can throw some smoke to cover the high ground and then proceed to move
the rest of your guys there.
7. Don't cluster about when the enemy draws nearer. It's a good way to get hit by
area effect weapons. But don't spread out so much that your men are put into places
with no cover, or poor firing angle.
8. Learn how to use overwatch, and when. If I have a clear attack at an enemy in my
turn, I won't save anything for overwatch - might as well get rid of him now before
he even gets a turn. Plus, I get to choose how I want to attack (which means grenades
over bolter fire for me).
Three or four bolter shots in overwatch isn't worth a good grenade. Use overwatch
when you really don't know what to do with leftover APs and don't want to waste them.
Weapons with area effect are not too suited for overwatch - your man will fire at
the first single enemy he sees, wasting the area effect, or worse, blasting a friend.
Be careful too of blocking your own fire - characters at the back on overwatch might
sometimes fire into friendly ranks if they are blocking. Remember that frag grenades
will knock you out of overwatch, and the enemy is very fond of tossing frags about.
9. You can afford to wait a turn at the start, not really doing much besides scouting.
The AI will reveal its positions to you in the next turn and charge all the berserkers
and HTH troops who will normally still be unable to reach you. This gives you time
to formulate a better strategy. Generally also, let the Chaos troops come to you and
not the other way around - the AI is stupid that way. Don't waste APs on movement
when they'll happily run within range.
10. Deliver the so-called "beat down". When entering HTH, surround the unfortunate
victim. Select all the HTH weapons by clicking on them. Then, hold down SHIFT and
click on you surrounding men. You should now have selected more than one of your
marines at the same time. Move the cursor over the victim and you should see the HTH
combat sign above each of your marines. If not, you might have forgotten to select
that marine's HTH weapon. Then click on your victim. Each subsequent marine after
the first should now get an extra HTH attack - guaranteed to whup ass.
11. Soften armoured troops with grenades. Here I go again, extolling the virtues of
the grenade. But trust me, it makes a world of difference. Many times, 3 or 4 krak
grenades is enough to kill a regular armoured marine. 20+ bolter shots might barely
wound him. Meltaguns and lascannons also do wonders for removing pesky armour, leaving
their soft white underbellies open for your smaller fire.
12. When they're clustered together, let them have it with area weapons. Missile
launchers with melta missiles can hit enemy formations even before they've started
to disperse. Multimeltas make short work out of berserkers who have foolishly charged
into your position.
13. Control choke points with fire and radiation. Enemies will be forced to take damage
if they plow through flames or cells contaminated by your rad grenades. Even if they
don't walk through the affected area, they'll have to waste APs going around. Note
about flame - the area effect can be broken if you fire on large slopes, so try and
catch Chaos on flat ground.
14. Learn to crouch and take cover. Ending your turn crouched or in cover makes sure
some enemies won't be able to spot you, and really reduces chances of taking damage
from those who do attack you from a distance. Be aware also that certain cover can
be destroyed - especially those dinky barrels. They behave like frag grenades if they
blow. Termie Close combat weapons can also be used to destroy locked doors and other
cover - use the direct fire button.
15. Yup, the direct fire button. This is useful for area effect weapons. Instead of
aiming at a particular enemy, you can use this button to aim for a central spot that
will catch the most number of enemies. Use this button also to aim area effect
grenades.
16. Factor in the hidden points cost of direction change. Always leave a few points
spare ... it's irritating to have 30 APs left to fire a multimelta, but then spend
an AP turning to face the enemy squad - whoops, no more multimelta shot. In the same
vein, take note that turning to face an enemy for HTH doesn't take any points at all,
So with just 10 APs, you can still attack an enemy right behind you in HTH.
17. Use your assault squad to good effect. These guys should all have more than 56
APs each, so fly them in, flame a few dudes or chop them up, then either fly them
out or throw smoke or run to cover. First to suffer should be any CSM with a heavy
weapon, so the rest of your men can move around unimpeded. The 2 reaper power axes
are invaluable here, because they give the wielder an extra 20 APs. If that marine
also happens to be under a Quicken spell ... well ...
18. Stop squads of berserkers with a Termie equipped with either a chainfist or thunder
hammer. The berserkers, when charging in, tend to go for important HQ characters (who
still normally have more potent HTH weapons so it's not too bad). But if a tasty HTH
equipped termie is nearby, it's an even toss-up as to who the berserkers will spring
for. And if they run into the termie, they're not long for the world. Blood for the
blood god!
19. If you're outgunned, throw a lot of smoke. This will block line of sight and save
you some grief. But remember that smoke hides your enemies too. If there's some space
in between you and the chaos squads, throw the smoke further from you. This gives
you more unsmoked ground to move about in, and allows you to blast away at any troops
emerging from the smoke while allowing a bit of reaction room. If you are caught in
smoke, a way to identify a suspected enemy position is this: just click on the
suspected cell and see if the PC allows you to move there. If not, there's probably
a hidden unit waiting. If you need to attack it, you have to walk adjacent to the
cell and use HTH, or else use direct fire, which is less reliable. If you know a massed
unit of longe range heavy weapons is on a vantage point waiting to let you have it,
send a spotter to scope them out, then send a blind missile right into their midst.
This forces them to move off their vantage point to get a clear shot, or at least
makes them stay put and not bother your men as they move out.
20. Move in close to CSMs if you can, or throw smoke near them. Often, instead of
blasting at you, they'll start throwing frag grenades instead, which are less
dangerous. If you get right next to them, they won't fire at you either, but use their
crap combat knife.
21. Your assault cannon termie is your friend. Unleash him on heavy armour, like enemy
termies. 2 or 3 shots will whack a regular marine and about 5 will send a chaos
terminator back to the Eye of Terror. Don't bother with upgrading his power fist 'cos
his cannon will clear anyone before they even get close. Putting him on overwatch
is sometimes a useful tactic, if you know where the enemy will come from - bear in
mind that his sustained fire is reset if he changes direction. Likewise, the heavy
flamer termie will be responsible for torching a goodly number of foes and making
important places impassable to the enemy. He, however, should be given a chainfist
to stave off the hordes of berserkers who realise the worth of his heavy flamer and
try to take him out.
22. Anything is better than bolter fire. Storm bolter fire, which one might think
should be double the worth since it's 2 bolters, is also crap. Use bolter fire only
when the enemy is too far for more powerful alternatives - just to give those chaos
guys something to think about.
23. Make sure your men are facing outwards and the general directions of the clockface
when in strange areas. No dirty chaos bugger is going to sneak up on your marines
that way :)
24. Make full use of your Librarian. Although he's a bit of a baby, make sure he does
have some form of line of sight to the enemy because many of his combat spells need
LOS. Just make sure he gets to cover after he casts. Let him handle the occasional
berserker or daemon himself in HTH, he's OK that way. It's long ranged fire he's
susceptible to.
25. How do you clear suspicious rooms? Well, this is my method. Cast a Scan spell
first, to determine just who exactly might be waiting for you behind the door. If
there are CSMs near, but not in a position to fire on overwatch the minute the door
opens, then have one or two regular marines lob frag grenades at the CSMs when the
door opens. After knocking them out of possible overwatch, your special/heavy weapons
marines and Terminators can then charge the room. If there are CSMs on overwatch right
behind the door, check the weapons they use. If it's just bolters, you can put Termies
right in front to block the largely ineffectual bolter fire, and then cream the CSMs
with HTH. Move your termies into the room, and the rest of your men can mop up. If
the enemy is packing heavy heat and you don't want to expose your valuable terminators,
you can still put them right in front, but crack open some smoke to cover everyone.
The CSMs won't open fire on overwatch when the door opens 'cos they can't se anyone.
But you know where they are, and will probably be in position to open some HTH whupass
on them.
What if you didn't cast a scan spell? Well, this is what I'd do. Put two regular marines
in front of the door. Keep your special/heavy marines behind them, but allow a one
or two cell space in case some enemy pops up with are effect overwatch. Your Termies
should be on hand also. Open the door. Right - anyone there? If they're waiting,
they've probably shot off some rounds at your blocking marines. Return that fire,
but remember to leave 2 APs so your front marines can crouch, leaving your heavy
weapons marines with clear shots at remaining enemies. Then place your heavy weapons
men and your termies on overwatch so any remaining APs can be spent on thumping CSMs
who might expose themselves to the door in their upcoming turn.
If you're feeling aggressive, just use your initial two marines to charge the room
once the door opens, immediate enemy or no. Have them lob frag to clear overwatch,
or simply run in and tough it out. This exposes all the possible enemy to your sight
and lets you plan how to advance the rest of your force in order to clear the room.
If you've miscalculated and the room opposition is overwhelming, not something you
can clear in the rest of your turn, then just throw smoke to cover your troops. Of
course, this tactic only applies if you can use you first marines to run in - sometimes
their way might be blocked with CSMs.
What I'd like to see in future games!
Well, 3D support, for one. And better looking 3D modelled sprites. It would be great
to have a free floating camera too, that we could rotate about the battlefield. Also,
I'd like an auto zoom function everytime a character does something - y'know, zoom
in, watch him fire, then return to the normal "I want to see the whole map" screen.
I want better firing, hand-to-hand, injury and death animations please! The game could
also do with more varied backgrounds and maps. The in game cut scenes aren't as
enlivening as they could have been, more's the pity. Despite what some people think,
I enjoyed the cheesy quotes and really wouldn't mind some more!
Oh, would it be too much to ask for a replay function, or some sort of autolog whereby
the computer could generate some sort of battle report later? The battle replay would
just be neat to see the way events unfolded, like a mini Warhammer 40k movie.
I'd really enjoy a game like Chaos Gate from the chaos side too. I mean, I don't see
why we can't play the baddies except in multiplayer mode. Wouldn't it be cool to be
in control of say, Warmaster Abaddon and lead a Black Crusade out of the warp? They
could allow us elites like the old favourite Berserkers, maybe Plagumarines, and all
the nice new units like Raptors, Obliterators and stuff, and we could go on a
world-chomping rampage through units of pitiful Imperial Guard and Space Marines
(from some other chapter from the typical Ultramarines who seem overrepresented as
it is - maybe Imperial Fists, I'm partial to their bright yellow colour!).
Whatever comes out, I wish they'd stick to the tried and tested turn-based AP system ...
maybe I'm just not very advanced, but I can't get the hang of RTS ... I'm too slow,
*sniff*. I want the time to think through my moves without the evils of time pressure
crunching on my limited brain. And I want the time to zoom in my troops and admire
them from various angles before letting them run loose over the enemy - I think
surveying the battlefield is half the fun of this sort of game.