Chaos Space Marine Units and Tactics: Chaos Sorcerers

It is time to get back on track with the Chaos Units and Tactics guide. Tonight, we will explore the uses of the Chaos Sorcerer and I did not slouch on the tactics, so here we go!

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Jock Strap: The Chaos Sorcerer is a fantastic HQ choice in our codex and for all the fearsomeness of the Daemon Prince, the Sorc can have all the same powers, but gains the ability to hide in squads and shoot from the safety of his rhino!

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I call him a jock Strap because he is a support character and should be treated as such. Unlike the prince, you should not be counting on your sorc to head into the fight and wipe squads on his own no matter what the surrounding units are doing, nay, as a support character, he will best serve you by complimenting and amplifying the abilities and strengths of your units.

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Gear: To do this correctly, your sorc should be able to match the mobility of his squad, so he needs a bike to run with bikers, wings for raptors, no TA to run in a rhino, TA when he travels with termies. To further continue this support idea, you need to think about the situations you are likely to put him in and what situations the enemy is likely to put him in. For instance if he is likely to end up in assault, whether your choice or the enemy’s, then a familiar will help you not only use a power during the shooting phase, but also will allow you to take another psychic test to potentially insta-kill an enemy HQ or MC. For this reason (and because they are fun to model), I almost always run a familiar!

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As far as bells and whistles go, plasma pistols can be left behind as can most other gear unless he need it to compliment his mission in the army. Generally extra spells are also a little lack luster – remember that a Tzeench sorc still only gets a single psychic test, two if he take a familiar.

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Marked or unmarked? Once again, it depends on what you want him to do.

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The Mark of Slaanesh is great for the sorcerer as it gives him an I boost that will set him ahead or at least on par with many of the HQ and monstrous creatures he will likely come up against in CC, which makes him much deadlier with his force weapon. It also can give you the ability to hide a lash sorcerer in a staunch unit like plague marines, nurgle bikers,ect.

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The mark of Nurgle is pretty good for those matches where you know you will be fighting low S enemies like guard, tau and orks (without the charge) as it will give him an edge in the survivability department and will also give him access to Nurgle’s Rot, which coincidentally also works well against those foes. I like T5, but in a take all comers list, I generally save the points and go for a different layout on my sorcs.

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The Mark of Tzeench gives your sorc a 4+ Inv, which can help him out against those pesky powerfist/weapon troops out there and it gives him access to a bonus spell. This can be expensive however, so you really have to make the most out of the powers you give him and the way you use them. Once again a familiar is key here even more than it is for other marked sorcs. As a final note here, a lot of folks shy away from using the Bolt of Change tucked into a troop choice, but a Tzeentch sorc tucked into a squad carrying two meltas can be a supreme tank hunter unit and makes them a threat (though not a major one) from 24”.

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The Undivided sorc is pretty good on his own and the standard spells can be used pretty effectively, but if you don’t mind taking a Slaaneshi sorc, then I generally recommend taking the mark anyway, just for the cheap I boost. Other than that, Wind of Chaos is a great choice for a unit and can turn a standard troop choice into an objective clearing beast. Warptime can be fun also for pure CC craziness, but I really prefer to run DPs with Wt as they are much better at using it.

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Uses I like for sorcs: It is probably pretty apperant that I like the mark of slaanesh on my sorcs, so I will cover that first.

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For slaaneshi sorcs I generally tuck them into my troop choices and give them either lash or wind of Chaos. This comes in handy as I can sit in the comfort of my rhino, drive and lash squads into position for my heavy support to blast them to bits, or to lash squads off objectives so I can get the turn 5 scramble for the win. This can be used both defensively and offensively and compliments the way the rest of the army works as I move toward and onto objectives. I can also preserve my kill points and help me earn them in KP games. Also if I do get assaulted by those pesky ICs, I often get the initiative edge and can kill them before they kill me.

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This also works for Raptor squads (though they are much less survivable) and biker squads (though they are much more expensive).

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For Nurgle sorcs, the rhino rush works well and when combined with plague marines, they can make a bad day for most units. For this layout, warptime is good for an extra powerweapon flurry in CC, Wind of Chaos or Nurgle’s rot are both also excellent as both spells work great for clearing infantry off the board and both of those can be used from the comfort of your rhino! This is a very fun unit for Death Guard armies!

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A nurgle biker squad is also a fun (but oh so expensive) option as it lets you boost, then reek havoc with a bunch of T6 models killing infantry in the enemy’s deployment zone!

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For Tzeentch sorcs, the best role I find for them is with the troops. They can really make a squad of CSM a force to be rekoned with as they have the ability to make a full melta squad that much better at their job and they can make a flamer squad the bane of all footsloggers (even termies)! Add in Warptime and you have entered the land of overkill!

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This is another sorc who can be fun with bikers, though given the expense, I would probably just leave him with the troops.

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The undivided sorc is really something that I never run as I just use the undivided powers with marked sorcs, but once again, he is great for hunting infantry especially with Wind of Chaos.

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Note: There are other squads that can take the sorc like Chosen that I have never tried. This seems like a good way to get a sorc behind enemy lines, but Chosen are usually so good at the purpose they are designated that they generally don’t need the sorc and I generally like to have mine operational from turn one.

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I think the same thing really applies for terminators in the sense that they can be so tailored to what you want to do that they don’t really benefit from the sorc as much as other units do.

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Anyway, that is my Giant article on sorcs, if you read it all thank you and feel free to add your two cents as that is the whole idea of tacticas, to bring those great ideas to the fore and increase the abilities of ALL Chaos players to go out and hunt the servants of the corpse god!