Monday, December 28, 2009

Chaos Space Marine Units and Tactics: Fabius Bile!




Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for me to turn the Chaos Space Marine Units and Tactics article toward special characters and with that comes a disclaimer; For comp play, I do not generally recommend special characters, but I have fielded them and they can be fun and with the right army, they can be brutal. That being said, what I would like to avoid is the feedback of "I would just take a daemon prince instead," because in most cases, so would I, but this is a complete tactica and you never know, you might find something fun and brutal that you like!
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The first Character I would like to cover is the first Chaos character I ever fielded; Fabius Bile.
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He may be a scientist, but he ain't no pansy! Fabius Bile may look like a cross between a pimp and Buffulo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, but don't let his Mr. Burns looks fool you, this guy has 5 attacks at S 5, Weapon Skill 5 and to top it off, the old guy has Feel No Pain!
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As if that wasn't enough, he has a pimp cane that inflicts insta-death without needing a psychic test to make it work! He also has an 18" poisoned assault weapon, but due to its AP, I don't think it should be something to depend on.
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Not Just a Man, but an Army! Fabius is far from a one man show. He also enhances the warriors in his army by paying 3 points more a model. Just to be clear to all those who read codexes backwards and sideways, he may only enhance Chaos Space Marines (ie vanilla CSM), thought they may take an icon. Rolling the mid dice will give you an army that is fearless and extra strong, rolling a 1 will mean you will lose about a third of your squad, but they will still get the extra strength and fearlessness. Roll a six and you will get even stronger Marines, but you will lose one per turn. You can talk all the crap you want, for 18 points a model, this isn't a bad idea.
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I combat this by taking multiple squads and taking them in units of 10. Usually, I count on getting either three good units or two good ones and a group that had an accident.
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When I roll a 1, I take my losses then just move on as normal. When I roll a 6, I treat them as CC specialists and do everything I can to get them into combat.
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A Fabius Bile Army! What to take! For my troops, I like to treat them the way I treat any other troop choice. I give them a task of either tank hunting (2 melta) or infantry killing (2 flamers) or my flavor of the month (2 meltas, champ with combi-flamer). Once you have kitted your troops to your preference, it is time to kit out the champ. I always go for the powerfist as it allows me to deal with walkers, monstrous creatures and independant characters a little easier - I take it regardless of the mark I take.
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Icons for your freaks: Your freaks can take icons and I recommend it. Throw Icon of Chaos Glory right out the window as you are already fearless now!
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The Icon of Nurgle is expensive and without feel no pain, I'd rather have my plague marines, but S5/6 T5 Marines are nothing to sneeze at.
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The icon of Khorne is another that I leave behind as the extra attack is nice, but I still get my face stomped by those pesky Space Marine characters due to I4.
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I don't even consider the Icon of Tzeentch an option in this list as the hail-mary save sucks.
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This brings me to the Icon of Slaanesh, which is not only awesome here but fits the fluff of Bile being a former Emporer's Children Apothecary! The I5, plus the extra strength and the fearlessness make your guys a bunch of Khorne Berzerkers that always have furious charge - not to mention that they have bolters and can take meltas and flamers! They are like uber zerks in this combo! This is the way I run my bile army! Take Bile, three squads of these guys, a Daemon Prince or sorc (extra insta-killer in the crowd), and good long range fire power (Oblits ect).
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Final thought; In my opinion, Bile can be fun and actually pretty competitive. The randomness can suck when the dice suck, but they often do not suck and they are often pretty awesome. The trick is to not get stupid: Build a straight up awesome army with regular vanilla Marines (understanding that they are going to become monsters) as troops. DO NOT fall into that wierd train of thought that leads to "Well Fabius is random, so let's throw some random shit in here" as that will lead to disaster. Give Bile a chance, take a good army and call me when you have had some serious fun! Happy hunting!

2 comments:

  1. I agree Bile can be pretty competetive, and is a Kool SC with some really awesome quotes. Coupled with either a Lash Sorcerer or Prince an army with Bile is fierce!

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  2. I think Bile's not a bad choice. He's not necessarily uber, but he can supplement your army nicely. I think his biggest perk is making your troops Fearless. I mean, pistol, CCW, bolter, a couple specials, and fearless? That's honestly what you'd all hoped for with the cult troops, anyway.

    I think the Slaanesh mark is neat, but often optional; you'l out-I marines, and marines, and...maybe some 'nids. I'd say that the 'nid codex may be a big influence on the Slaanesh icon.

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