Warhammer 40K Metawatch: I Regret to Inform You That Chaos Has Crabs
The Chaos Defiler (the Crab) has breathed a lot of life into all those worshippers of Chaos. Here’s why these CSM Crabs are so good!
Goatboy here with a meta chat. The biggest release so far this year for the Meta right now isn’t some terrible Marine Detachment – it is instead a big shot of awesome shoved into all the Chaos Armies. The Chaos Defiler has breathed a lot of life into all those worshippers of Chaos – especially since all flavors (The Nurgle Flavor of Gross) gets to use the new kit. Let’s talk a bit why these monsters are so good and what I expect to happen to tone a few of them down.
The reason these models are just doing a lot for the so called bad guys is that they give all the armies a very powerful shooting and assault platform. These Defilers are true bullies of the tabletop with a ton of wounds, high toughness, invulnerable saves, and they shoot a lot for their points. They do cost a lot and thankfully it seems they can easily balance some of their costs as each army has their own “version”. All of these rules and then their own Army/detachment rules is what really brings out the monster on the neoprene mats of battle.
CSM Crabs
The one that is probably the biggest issue in the game right now is the Pactbound version for the Chaos Space Marines. This version lets you mark your crab with some Chaos goodness and it gives them some extra powers when they Pact to the Dark Gods. They are usually marked Nurgle to help give them exploding 5’s for their sustained hits. You mix this with a lovely Abbaddon Reroll aura and you can see how you could super charge your shooting with more hits from all your guns. Then on top of that they get a rule that lets them do a full set of wound rerolls once per game if they Dark Pact. One of their weapon load outs is the flat 3 damage Reaper Autocannon that also gets Devastating wounds. You can start to see how this can combo out to have Sustain hits on a 5+, with rerolls, and then full wound rerolls to push out a few Devastating wounds. All of this combos is just basically passing your Leadership roll and being near Abbie’s aura. All of these things are pretty easy and don’t waste any resources beyond just your one per game full wound reroll.
This is starting to feel like maybe the hit reroll aura for Abbaddon should be limited to just infantry models. I always thought it’s as a bit much to let him give everyone Rerolls as this game shouldn’t have nearly as many as they do. Now is this better than some of the nonsense Ultramarines still throw out? I am not so sure but it does do a great job murdering 3 wound models and other infantry sitting on the table top.
Emperor’s Children Crabs
The next one that I think has some legs (6 of them to be exact) is the Emperor’s Children one. If this one shoots at something that isn’t wounded it hits on a 2+ which is pretty powerful and since they get the Thrill Seeker ability all these crabs can advance and charge. This is a pretty crazy thing to see all the crabs rushing across the field and getting into your business very quickly. They also give the army some much needed shooting with Lascannons that and Executor cannons that have a longer range then their old Noise Marines. I don’t expect to see this one nerfed like the CSM one as I feel this guy opens up the EC army to be something more exciting.
Thousand Sons & Death Guard Crabs
The Thousand Sons one and the Death Guard one both seem ok. The T Sons option is powerful with a better Overwatch ability as well as a FNP but as that army is extremely tight on points we probably will only see one at most. I think the army doesn’t need it as much. The Death Guard one is pretty interesting too but that is more so due to the already powerful combos the army has with Daemon Engines and its design. It does give them a few more Bully’s to use with Mortie and the FNP Daemon Prince so a big monster mash option will probably show up. It is an easy army to play and will look cool on the table top with a few big models, enough other options to do missions (Poxwalkers and other small things).
World Eater Crabs
The final one is the World Eater one and while I think it is good it is in a weird spot for the Army. I plan on taking some with my World Eaters because they will be painted and I think utilizing them with some other MSU options will let your small things live a bit longer while your crabs bring the murderous itch to the table top. If we ever get a truck Daemon engine Detachment for World Eaters we could see this becoming a powerful choice. I do wonder if having a few of the Baleflamer ones and utilizing their rule to shoot things that deploy to the table top might be a good thing. They do have a ton of attacks (the App has them wrong while the Download shows them having more) and love to fight with their Eightbound nearby.
It is going to the a Summer of the Crabs and hopefully you can figure out what kind of Crab Boil you like to get rid of them. It is a pretty sweet model if you happened to have grabbed one and I really only expect the CSM one to get hit whenever they decide to tweak their points. I do feel the meta will adjust as again they are huge and love to get hit by Lascannons and other big damage guns that the good armies are packing. An Exalted Eightbound unit will tear this thing apart when they charge from behind a wall.
Crabs for the Crab Throne – SNIP SNIP SNIP!
