Chaos Space Marines Units and Tactics: Ahriman

"And what are the achievements of your fragile Imperium? It is a corpse rotting slowly from within while maggots writhe in its belly. It was built with the toil of heroes and giants, and now it is inhabited by frightened weaklings to whom the glories of those times are half-forgotten legends. I have forgotten nothing, and my wisdom has expanded far beyond mere mortal frailties."

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-Ahriman of the Thousand Sons.

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That's right, the exile of the Thousand Sons himself is next up for my Chaos Space Marine Units and Tactics articles and as with all special characters is subject to the standard caveat that we all know there are cheaper and better non-named options than special characters, but this is a complete tactica and that being so, let's get on with Ahriman!

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The Sorceror Commands! Ahriman is the master of all the undivided psychic powers and the Bolt of Change too. Combine that with the ability to use three of these a turn or two and an inst-kill in CC and you have the makings of something dangerous.

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Using Ahriman: Given Ahriman's magical prowess and his slightly better than average CC ability, Ahriman does his best work on the front lines. He needs to ride with the infantry and be in a rhino. The type of infantry does not matter as long as they have a place in the front lines but not necessarily a dedicated CC unit (ie CSM, PMs ect.) I say this because he has some impresive shooting attacks. His BoC with BS 5 means you stand a good chance of popping transports, depending on what might be in them, you can also set yourself up to pop them and hit the troops with Wind of Change ... pepper in a little Warptime and the rest of what ever squad you happen to be with's shooting and you are looking at a dead unit. If you support this unit right, you can use Ahriman's squad to pave the way to the enemy's objective or to create awesome multiple KP opportunities.

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This also means that the enemy will make Ahriman's unit a major priority, but if you plan ahead, you can play this to your advantage, because making them shoot ahriman means that your long-range anti-tank, your DP or your CC specialists aren't getting shot at. If they don't shoot at him, well then they get the results stated above. Also, Ahriman is good for handling hordes or MEQs, so feel free to head out and face the enemy, just avoid the Powerclaws and the units that can dump multiple S8 hits on him in CC.

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The downside of Ahriman is the fact that he costs 250 points, which is way beyond the price of a DP with the mark of Tzeentch, Wings, Warptime and Wind of Chaos. This makes taking Ahriman a tough choice outside of fluff reasons ... honestly his other powers are cool, but outside of BoC, WT and WoC, the rest are cheap parlor tricks at best and each role can be performed as a power or through the awesome physical powers of a daemon Prince and two sorcs can be made for about the same price as Ahriman who can both perform similar roles to the Exile or even take on powers that are specific to other powers, like lash.

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The bottom line is that you can make Ahriman a badass and that he can rock in the hands of an able tactician, but so can cheaper units that can perform better or just as well for less. At the end of the day the choice is yours and characters can be fun to play and to paint, so try him out and have some fun while you torch the enemy!