Chaos Space Marines Units and Tactics: The Chaos Vindicator

The next article in the hopper deals with the Chaos Vindicator!

.

Shock and Awe and ... awwww Let's face it, the vindicator is good at killing things in close range. If you can get close to ANY infantry (even termies), they will die in short order as long as you don't scatter too much. Tanks can get it too as the vindi will roll two dice for penetration and take the higher. The trouble with the vindi is that it takes up a heavy support spot, which for Chaos is the home of our only significant long range firepower (Havocs, Oblits and to a lesser extent preds), making the decision to take a vindi one of great consideration when trying to follow the rule of Defense in Depth.

.

IT MUST DIE!!! Able to drop mass killyness on the enemy and shake off all but the dealiest attacks, the Chaos Vindicator might as well have a giant target painted on it! Sometimes, I will take just one in my take all comers list just to save the rest of my army (particularly my rhinos, enabling me to take advantage of my mobility) from the first round of shooting. It never seems to fail that an enemy (even the smart ones) will dump whatever it takes onto it to make sure it dies before worrying about anything else. For me, this is one of the greatest strengths of the vindicator, but at the same time it suffers from it's infamy by almost never getting in range to kill something.

.

Strength in numbers Much like the Obliterator, the vindi finds stregnth in numbers. One vindi can get popped, even with denomic possession, but three vindis ... that is a lot of pucker factor for an enemy to deal with. Three vindis will create large portions of the board in which the enemy fears to tread and much like the oblits, this creates a tactical advantage for you by controlling enemy movement. In numbers, you have the choice of taking them naked to save points, as AV13 will go a long way toward protecting them from most things, but if you have the points, Daenomic Possession takes this tactic into a silly degree of effectiveness.

.

Be Warned however than Space Marine Dreadnoughts in drop pods can pop you on turn one and there are a number of deep strikers out there with melta equivilents that can be dangerous in subsequent turns.

.

You will also have to build your army to be a little more in your face with this layout to make up for your shorter range, but I think when it comes to vindis, it really is 1, 3 or none at all.

.

How Do I pimp this badboy? The vindi, when fielded alone should always have daenomic possession as it will help you in either the fire magnet situation AND in the rolling deathwagon scenario. Extra armour will do little for you as it only allows you to move after being shaken, denying you that shooting power you will need. As I stated above three vindis can go with or without possession, but if you field two, I would still take it unless you are playing at a low point game and you feel there will be little there to hurt it (yeah right).

.

A dozer blade can be nice for helping you get into good cover and getting out of it if you have to.

.

Havoc Launchers can be nice, but you are already getting an awesome template out of the deal and the 15 points are better spent somewhere else. If you really must put a second weapon on it, then take a cheap twin linked bolter just to give you one more layer of protection from an auto-wreck or auto-immobilize.

.

Well, that is all I can think of for the vindicator. I just want to say that Death Guard with three vindis is a sexy fluff army, but I prefer some oblits outside of the fluff armies. Let me know what you think as your feedback is highly valued.