Detachment Focus: Veterans of the Long War (Updated November 11, 2025)

In this series of articles we take a deep dive into a specific detachment for a faction, covering the faction’s rules and upgrades and talking about how to build around that faction for competitive play. In this article, we’re covering the Veterans of the Long War Detachment for the Chaos Space Marines.

The Tenth Edition release of Codex: Chaos Space Marines gave the faction access to a whopping eight detachments, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These can dramatically change how the army plays, as each one tends to push players to build in a different way. In this series we’re diving deep into each Detachment and talking about what its rules are and how to play it. This article will be focusing on the Veterans of the Long War Detachment.

Changelog

• November 11, 2025: Updated with new lists and tactics
• January 9, 2025: Updated with errata, dataslate changes, and a new list
• May 11, 2024: Initial Publication

Detachment Overview

Ostensibly designed to be the Black Legion Detachment for Chaos Space Marines, the Veterans of the Long War Detachment gives Chaos players the closest thing we’ll get to a “dark mirror” of a Space Marines army, offering an analog of the faction’s Oath of Moment rule. Power-wise Veterans of the Long War isn’t quite in the top tier of Chaos Space Marine options, but full re-rolls to hit are powerful and there are some strong abilities in the Detachment’s Stratagems. There are a number of units in the Chaos Space Marines army which really need re-rolls to hit to reach their full potential, and Veterans of the Long War lets them get there. It doesn’t have the +1 to wound add-on that Space Marines get for their Oath of Moment target, and while it probably should, you can build a perfectly competitive list with this Detachment, even if you aren’t one of the world’s best players.

Detachment Rule: Focus of Hatred

At the start of your Command phase, select one unit from your opponent’s army to be the focus of your hatred. Until the start of your next Command phase, each time a HERETIC ASTARTES model from your army (excluding DAMNED models) makes an attack that targets your focus of hatred, you can re-roll the Hit roll.

Anyone who has played against Space Marines knows how powerful Oath of Moment can be, and this gives you a similar boost. It combines extremely well with Dark Pacts to let you fish for additional Sustained or Lethal Hits. It’s great for focusing down key targets without having it overcommit, and great for punishing elite armies relying on a small number of powerful units. What’s also great about this is that, aside from a few key units we’ll mention, pretty much any unit can benefit from this, letting you keep your options open. 

If there’s a downside here it’s that the ability isn’t great for dealing with hordes of cheap models, and there are a number of units in your army which can already re-roll hits, such as Chaos Terminators. On that note it’s ironic that Abaddon’s aura to re-roll hits butts up against the core rule of his detachment (though it does free you up to use his 4+ invulnerable save more). That said, it’s only for one enemy unit, so don’t be afraid to take units which re-roll hits anyways, as you’re going to shoot/fight more than one thing per round most of the time.

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

Enhancements

The Veterans of the Long War Enhancements are a mixed bag. They’re just okay, and not really things you’d build around. Warmaster’s Gift is the one you’ll end up including in most lists, but if you have the points, the Eye of Abaddon and Mark of Legend can each be worth taking.

• Warmaster’s Gift (15 points) – Chaos Lord model only. Each time you make an attack that targets your focus of hatred an unmodified successful wound roll of 5+ scores a critical wound. This is good for one thing and that’s a Daemon Hammer Chaos Lord, where you can use it to score more Devastating Wounds, particularly in concert with the Chance for Glory ability to bump those to 3 damage. Pair him with Legionaries for re-rolls to wound and you’ve got an incredibly nasty melee threat.
• Eager for Vengeance (20 points) – Goes on a non-DAMNED model. Your unit is eligible to Fall Back and shoot and charge. Additionally, if you fell back this turn, then each time your unit makes an attack that targets your focus of hatred you get +1 to hit, and each time you select your focus of hatred as the target of a charge you get +1 to the Charge roll. This is a really powerful effect, but the fact that it’s all gated behind having to actually make a Fall back move makes this incredibly situational and a bit too expensive at 20 points. I’m sure there are times when you can use this but this is easily the least useful of the four options here.
• Eye of Abaddon (15 points) – Goes on a non-DAMNED model. While the bearer is on the battlefield, each time the focus of your hatred is destroyed you roll a D6 and on a 4+ you get 1 CP. This is something I’d pay 5 points for, but at 15 it’s a bit too much. Chaos Space Marine armies often really want CP and have very few ways to get more of it, which can potentially make this a solid addition, but 15 points for a 50/50 shot at more CP is a bit too much, and Warmaster’s Gift just gives you more power on a hammer Chaos Lord.
• Mark of Legend (10 points) – Goes on a non-DAMNED model. Once per turn you can re-roll one hit roll, wound roll, or one saving throw for the bearer. The obvious place to put this is on a Daemon Prince, where the save is helpful for keeping him on the table and having an extra re-roll during the attack sequence (in addition to the one hit/wound re-roll you already get) is pretty great. Otherwise it’s also okay on a Hammer Chaos Lord, and at 10 points is likely to be where you spend your last 10 if you end up short of 2000.

Stratagems

The Veterans of the Long War Stratagems are an interesting mix. One of them is absolutely amazing, to the point that you more or less always want 1 CP available to use it. The rest are mostly situational.

• Endless Ire (Epic Deed, 2 CP) – Used when your focus of hatred is destroyed. Pick a visible enemy unit within 12” of one of your non-DAMNED character to become your new focus of hatred until your next Command phase. This one is very situational, requiring a lot of things to line up right but every now and then you’ll be able to use it to double up on hit re-rolls and surprise an opponent by finishing something off, then pivoting to a second big kill. It’s very situational and expensive, and as a result something you’re likely to use a Chaos Lord for to drop the cost to 1. The ideal scenario here is often going to be “shoot one target to death, then use this to nominate a second one you’re about to charge.”
• Contemptuous Disregard (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Worsen the AP of incoming attacks by 1 for a phase on a non-DAMNED unit for a single activation. The Chaos version of Armour of Contempt is OK. Similar to other effects, the Q4 Dataslate nerfed this, dropping its window of utility from an entire phase to just a single unit’s attacks, making it substantially less useful. It’ll still have its moments, but it’s not the auto-fire it used to be. It’s really good for those moments where you have a unit in cover being shot at by a high volume of AP-2 attacks, like a Gatling Cannon on a Despoiler, and you can combine it with the cover bonus to take regular armor saves against those shots.
• Bringers of Despair (Epic Deed, 2 CP) – One non-DAMNED unit within Engagement Range of your focus of Hatred gains the Fights First ability. This is really strong but also pretty situational. Your key use for this Stratagem is as a deterrent – you mark a key melee unit as your Focus of Hatred and then hold 2 CP to prevent them from charging something like your 10-model Chosen brick, Warp Talons, or Chaos Lord with Legionaries. That’s a compelling reason not to charge your unit, but it does mean that you’ve chosen a target that you couldn’t just kill with Focus of Hatred, making that a bit of a waste. This works on units in Reserves however, and can be helpful against something like Deathshroud Terminators.
• Black Crusade (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your Movement phase on a non-DAMNED Infantry or Mounted unit. Until the end of the turn your unit can shoot after Advancing or Falling Back, and its bolt pistols, boltguns, and combi-bolters gain the DEVASTATING WOUNDS ability while your unit has not already inflicted 6 wounds this turn using that ability. The key here is just that you can Advance or Fall Back and Shoot. Ignore everything else – that part’s more a fun bonus and it really only does anything on Bikes, where a unit of six might get enough shots to make it worthwhile for the mortals. But being able to Advance and Shoot is huge on Obliterators, who suffer from a 4″ movement characteristic, or on bikes, where they can really stretch the field and still deliver some good bonus mortals, or on Havocs, who also like the extra movement. It’s also pretty good on Bikers, who have high speed and a decent number of bolter shots to work with. It’s less great on units that want to charge.
• Let the Galaxy Burn (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – One non-TZEENTCH unit from your army that hasn’t shot yet gets [IGNORES COVER] on its ranged attacks and the attacks characteristic of torrent weapons in the unit becomes 6 until the end of your Shooting phase. They’ve carefully worded this to prevent you from taking it on Rubrics, but there’s still plenty of value if you want to throw it on a unit of Plague Marines sporting four snot cannons. That said, the real value here is Ignores Cover, which is great on something like Obliterators, who would love that ability attached to their Indirect Fire ability – use this to fire through walls at your Focus of Hatred target. 
• Millennia of Experience (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s movement phase, after an enemy unit ends a Move within 9” of one of your INFANTRY or MOUNTED non-DAMNED units. You can immediately make a Normal move up to 6”. This is absolutely fantastic. Reactive moves are always great, and having one that gives you a full 6″ move instead of D6 makes this reliably amazing. It’s a great way for getting free movement to block enemies, deny charges and, most importantly, put a unit that’s wholly within 9″ of a transport back inside. Opponents always have to plan around this while you have 1 CP open and it’s one of the most powerful effects in the game. That said, smart opponents will plan around it, so be careful not to over-extend.

Playing This Detachment

Veterans of the Long War may not be the strongest detachment in Codex: Chaos Space Marines, but it’s still pretty good. That core ability is very strong and more importantly, it’s generically strong – there really aren’t many units which won’t benefit from the Focus of Hatred ability. It’s a Detachment built for Legionaries, Predators, Obliterators, and Vindicators, and those are all very strong units to build and play around. Being able to focus down big targets really helps shore up one of the bigger weaknesses of the Chaos Space Marines, which is that they lack some of the truly hard-hitting weapon options of their loyalist cousins. Additionally, mobility tricks like being able to fall back or advance and shoot via Stratagems gives units like Obliterators and Havocs a ton more utility, and being able to use Millennia of Experience to reactive move around key threats gives you a ton of counterplay, either to get away from threats, move block with key units, steal an objective, or get into position for a charge.

Because you have multiple solid Enhancements and 2 CP Stratagems, you’ll want to put at least one and potentially two Chaos Lords in your list. Chosen also work well here, where it’s easier to protect them with the Contemptuous Disregard Stratagem and they’re just already very good units to have. A unit of ten Chosen with Fabius Bile is more or less a must-take here, and you can use Millennia of Experience with them to get out of a Rhino, advance and charge into a target to kill it, stay wholly within 9″ of your Rhino, and then reactive move back into it if an opponent gets too close.

Despite looking like a Black Legion detachment, this doesn’t really scream out for Abaddon. That said, there’s some real value here in being able to put Abaddon with a unit of Chosen and just rock his 4+ invulnerable aura all game and not have to worry about re-rolling hits. The downside here is that you really want Abaddon somewhere he can get re-rolls to wound so he can fish for Devastating Wounds with Drach’nyen, and not having that on offer here stinks. 

The Veterans Detachment lists almost always run one or two units of Obliterators, and have recently been swapping out Vindicators for Predators, who just provide a better bang for their lower points cost. Warp Talons are also good in this detachment as a threat that can drop in via Rapid Ingress, kill a Focus of Hatred target, then disappear back off the board.

Strengths

• Versatility. Detachment ability works with pretty much any unit in the game, freeing you up to build however you want. It’s always powerful and works well with your army’s Dark Pacts ability.
• Taking on Big Threats. Full re-rolls to hit against a key target is huge for taking out your opponent’s most powerful unit early in the game to cripple them.
• Reactive Movement. That reactive move is such a huge ability it’s almost worth taking this Detachment just for it alone.

Weaknesses

• Hordes. That Detachment ability isn’t great against horde armies where re-rolls to hit aren’t as necessary, and into something like a lot of War Dogs or Armigers you’re really going to struggle.
• CP Costs. The Stratagems here are expensive and tend to be pretty limited situationally
• Skill Requirement. This is a very skill-intensive detachment; knowing which threats to pick as a Focus of Hatred and how to use your units against them requires a ton of skill and there are easier detachments out there to use.

A Sample List

The most notable success with this Detachment has been from Liam VSL, who took it to win the London Grand Tournament in September and won the whole thing, going on an astounding 10-0 run, beating some of the best players in the world in the process. It’s a powerful list that has a lot of tricks and utility and ultimately works by combining the best pieces as needed to take down threats.

Liam VSL's List List - Click to expand

Liam’s list is a full toolbox of interesting units and threats. Bile joins the Chosen to give them +1 Strength/Toughness and a free damage blank every turn, the Lord joins the Legionaries, and those and the Nemesis claw go in the Rhinos, while Cypher hangs out near the Chosen to prevent units from firing off key stratagems like Overwatch or Fight on Death. The Noise Marines start on foot but can be cycled into the Rhino early, and the Obliterators and Warp Talons start in Reserves. This list plays very reactively, using the tools at its disposal to take out key threats by combining firepower from a number of different sources. This isn’t a list that scores a ton of points and Liam will frequently play it safe early and go down on points to preserve his forces for later. The name of the game here is not giving anything up for free, and forcing opponents to trade at great cost. Because your army is built of a bunch of disparate units, you need to make good use of them together to take down threats.

Final Thoughts

This is a tricky Detachment. The raw power here comes from re-rolls to hit, which makes a lot of otherwise high variance units like Vindicators and Obliterators much more powerful. But don’t sleep on the movement tech – being able to disengage and re-engage from combat is huge, and that reactive move can do a ton of work. Chaos Space Marines already have good damage and output, so when you give them their own versions of the loyalists’ fancy movement tricks, they get a huge boost.

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