Chaos Space Marine Kill Team Tactics: The Legionaries Kill Team (Updated May 2023)

Hello there! Are you a traitor or heretic who hates the false emperor of mankind? Do you seethe with rage at the sight of newer, larger space marines? Do you like the flexibility of being able to run cynical warriors from the Eye of Terror or a bunch of bare-chested religious fanatics with improvised weapons?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you’re just the right type of bitter madman to consider a Traitor Marines Kill Team. Welcome aboard! Your membership into this exclusive club comes with a gallon of Imperial Standard salt, to be kept with you at all times. The upside to Chaos Space Marines is that you get some sweet modeling opportunities and you aren’t playing a bunch of loyalist dorks.

World Eaters Killteam. Credit: Jack Hunter

Team Overview

The Legionaries Kill Team has been very popular since its release, and a regular fixture in top event placings. They’re a versatile team with lots of options which can play well in a variety of formats.

Strengths

  • Toolkit and Customization – A combination of Chaos Blessings and associated ploys give this team access to one of the most expansive list of options in the game. There is an answer for every problem on this team.
  • Deadly – Operatives live up to what you’d expect out of champions of Chaos with every specialist having very deadly and flavorful abilities.

Weaknesses

  • Roster Size – Since blessings are chosen at roster creation players will have to make a choice on what to leave at home. For many Kill Teams the Roster mechanic is often irrelevant, which is unfortunately not the case for Legionnaires.
  • Low Durability – With the change to Mutagenic Flesh and other damage reduction abilities Legionnaires find themselves amongst the least durable of the elite teams, having less wounds than their loyalist counterparts, while lacking abilities such as Disgusting Resilience like the Death Guard. Standard operatives having 12 wounds puts them in a perfect position to be killed in two critical hits by power and plasma weapons, the most common form of dealing with Marines.

Structure

Legionary Kill Teams consist of six operatives in the same way every Space Marine team now does. Players must choose a leader from either the Chosen or Aspiring Champion, either of which may be armed with a Plasma Pistol or Tainted Bolt Pistol (which you will almost never take) and a melee option. The Aspiring Champion has the option of choosing from a Powerfist, Chainsword, Power Maul, or Power Weapon, while the Chosen is granted a Demon Weapon.

The remaining 5 operatives are drawn from the following:

  • Legionary Warrior equipped with either a Boltgun or Bolt Pistol and Chainsword
  • Legionary Gunner equipped with either Flamer, Meltagun, or Plasmagun
  • Legionary Heavy Gunner equipped with Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, or Reaper Chaincannon
  • Legionary Icon Bearer equipped with either a Boltgun or Bolt Pistol and Chainsword
  • Legionary Anointed
  • Legionary Butcher
  • Legionary Balefire Acolyte
  • Legionary Shrivetalon

When you select each operative for your roster they must be given one of five Chaos Blessings: KHORNE, TZEENTCH, SLANEESH, NURGLE, or UNDIVIDED. 

Abilities

Chaos Blessings

In the above section we briefly covered the five keywords associated with the various blessings available to a Legionary Team. Each of these keywords, other than UNDIVIDED, excludes another from your roster meaning you can never have more than three types of blessing within your roster or team. Despite these limitations the Legionary players still has many interesting combinations they may choose from. It is also important to note that the Blessing you choose to give your operative will also determine which ploys they will have access to.

  • Khorne – Wrathful Onslaught – Allows to retain one normal hit per combat as a critical hit if you retained no others. A lot of Legionary abilities and special weapons revolve around or have special abilities based off critical hits, making this a decent option.
  • Nurgle – Disgusting Vigor – A slightly better defensive version of Wrathful Onslaught. Instead you may retain a single normal defense die as a critical save, but aren’t disqualified if you already retained another critical. This is considered by many to be the most competitive option as Legionaries often find themselves worrying about being shot to death rather than being killed in melee.
  • Slaneesh – Unnatural Agility – Adds 1 to an operatives movement…solid, always has its uses.
  • Tzeentch – Empyreal Guidance – Retain a single 5+ normal hit as a critical whenever you make a shooting attack. A solid choice for your Gunner operatives.
  • Undivided – Vicious Reavers – Re-roll a single attack die if the target is within ⬟. A solid ability that immediately cuts down on command point usage, however this Blessing’s biggest issue is that it doesn’t open up access to any additional ploys. 

Favored by the Dark Gods

This ability is slightly less impactful, and is found on your leader and Icon-Bearer. Once per turning point it allows you to use a Strategic Ploy for free based on the Chaos Blessing you have given that operative, and is perhaps the main reason you might give Undivided to an operative, as that corresponds to the two strategic ploys that affect the entire team.

Operatives

World Eaters Aspiring Champion. Credit: Jack Hunter

Legionary Chosen and Aspiring Champion

A lot of teams don’t give players much choice with regards to who will be their leader, and in the case of Legionnaires you have a genuine choice to make. The Chosen is the slightly more melee focused of the two coming with an incredibly deadly Daemon Sword, and the ability to regenerate 2 wounds off of a single critical strike per combat thanks to Soul Feast. Additionally, his Daemonic Aura reduces enemy Fall Back actions by 2 ⬤, effectively preventing them from escaping. All but the most resilient enemies are likely to die in combat, making this ability reliant on circumstance for its usefulness, but this is still strong if you manage to engage multiple foes.  As a final sacrifice, the Chosen only has +3 to hit with his Plasma Pistol, unlike most leader operatives that see an improvement to both hitting and shooting over the operatives they’re leading.

The Champion is the more utilitarian option to the powerhouse that is the Chosen. This isn’t to say the Champion isn’t a very capable operative as he comes with the usual suite of sergeant weapons along with a Tainted Chainsword that allows him to parry Critical Hits with Normal Hits, on top of this he is a slightly better marksman hitting/wound on a +2 with his pistol options.  This operative’s main draw is the In the Eyes of the Gods ability, which allows him to perform a single Free Action after it incapacitates an enemy setting up for incredibly powerful 4 action activations.

Credit: TheChirurgeon

Legionary Warrior

Your bog standard Chaos Marine who comes with either a Boltgun or Chainsword and Bolt Pistol. These guys come with no special rules outside of their Chaos Blessing. If you do take them it is because you are looking to increase shooting efficiency as the Legionnaires team has no shortage of melee specialists that easily eclipse this operative’s melee profile.

World Eaters Heavy Gunner. Credit: Jack Hunter

Legionary Gunner and Heavy Gunner

Basically the Warrior if he had access to a better gun. Your standard Gunner will almost always be given either a Plasma Gun or a Meltagun depending on what your opponent brings, while the Heavy Gunner is often given a Heavy Bolter and a Suppressor simply due to it being the only weapon that benefits from Malicious Volleys. However, if you did not bring an Undivided Leader and therefore are less likely to use Malicious Volleys, the Missile Launcher is superior to the Reaper Chaincannon in most respects.

World Eaters Warrior. Credit: Jack Hunter

Legionary Anointed

The first of several melee specialists the Anointed starts as basically a Chainsword/Pistol Warrior with Rending, but has the ability to enter “sicko mode”, which dramatically beefs up its melee presence and durability by granting it Ceaseless, Lethal 5+, Ignore wounds on a 5+, and the ability to Fight twice. In exchange it loses the ability to perform Mission Actions or Shooting Attacks, this former loss being of extreme importance during Loot and Close Quarters missions.

World Eaters Butcher. Credit: Jack Hunter

Legionary Butcher

A heavy hitting melee specialist the Butcher is an interesting choice, and often finds itself edged out by more versatile choices. Armed with a standard Bolt Pistol and heavy hitting Double Chain Ax that comes with 4 attacks, +4 hit/wound, 5/7 damage, Reap 2, Ceaseless when the attacker, and FINALLY Relentless if it has performed a Charge Action during that activation. Lastly, enemy operatives can not provide combat support against The Butcher, and treat the Butcher’s engagement range as ⬤ for the purposes of a Normal Move, Dash, or Fallback thanks to its Devastating Onslaught ability. All of this sounds like a lot, and it is, but the Butcher is also the only operative that hits on +4 and comes with 1 less attack than his peers, making him very vulnerable to counter charging from opposing melee specialists, or simply missing entirely. For these reasons he only finds himself taken on certain match ups. His Devastating Onslaught ability can make him particularly dangerous against teams that lack Indirect weapons or a melee punch, especially on Close Quarters maps as enemy operatives can not get within the required ⬤ to shoot him while he is under the Conceal order.

World Eaters Shrivetalon. Credit: Jack Hunter

Legionary Shrivetalon

The last of our melee specialists, and perhaps the most versatile. The Shrivetalon comes with a bolt pistol much like his peers, but brings Flensing Blades as his close combat weapon of choice with 5 attacks, 3+ hit/wound, 3/5 damage, and Lethal 5+. This makes the Shrivetalon a slightly lighter combatant than either the Annointed or the Butcher, but this weakness is offset by the Vicious Reflexes ability that allows the Shrivetalon to always be the Attacker. This ability makes him a natural counter for close combat specialists such as Harlequins, or Corsairs who can kill your operatives in two critical strikes.  Horrifying Dismemberment allows this operative to reduce the APL of an enemy operative within SQUARE when it incapacitates an enemy operative in combat. Lastly, once per game it may use Grisly Trophy (2 AP) to place a token on the Kill Zone that makes enemy Mission/Pick Up actions cost 2 AP and enemies count as one less AP for the purposes of controlling an objective while within SQUARE.

Credit: RichyP

Legionary Icon-Bearer

This guy is basically a warrior that counts as 4 APL for objective holding, and gives you another source of Favored by the Gods. Keep in mind that this ability can only be used ONCE per Turning Point, so you can’t double up on two free ploys per TP. This means the Icon-Bearer is more of a niche choice, finding a spot in situations where you want more bolter options in place of melee specialists. Another situation where the Icon-Bearer may be chosen is when you wish to play more aggressively with your Leader, while keeping the Icon-Bearer in a safe position so you may benefit from Favored by the Gods longer.

Credit: RichyP

Balefire Acolyte

The Acolyte is perhaps the most versatile of the operatives available to this team. First off, this is the only psyker in the team, and he comes with a short list of powers with very different effects, two of which also count as Shoot Actions meaning they can never be done in the same activation. The first, Fireblast, is a boltgun profile with Blast ⬤, No Cover, and Splash 1 added on to it. This is easily amongst the best area of effect weapon profiles in the game, and all the more nasty on Close Quarters maps. Life Siphon is  5 attacks, +3 hit/wound, 3/3 damage, and heals D3 wounds if at least two attacks are resolved, making it more niche than Fireblast. The third power is Malign Influence, a buffing ability that grants all equipped weapons Lethal 5+, Brutal, and No Cover. This power is fantastic for buffing your Gunners, or the Acolyte himself as it plays well into his melee profile. At first the glance this operative’s melee profile seems like nothing to write home about simply being one attack over a regular unarmed warrior, but thanks to the Demonic Energies ability the Acolyte can often punch well above their weight or simply outright kill weaker enemies before they have a chance to hit back. Under the effects of Malign Influence this can mean the Acolyte deals 4 to 6 mortal wounds to an opponent before the first blow lands. 

Ploys

Thanks to their blessings Legionnaires have the largest list of ploys of any Kill Team as each blessing receives two strategic ploys and one tactical ploy, while there are three generalist ploys available to any type of operative. It is worth pointing out that Undivided blessings do not receive any specific ploys, and that if your team was composed entirely of Undivided operatives you would only have three ploys to draw upon.

Strategic Ploys

Malicious Volleys and Hateful Assault – These are your standard Marine ploys that allow them to Shoot twice if they don’t Fight and vice versa. The usefulness of these two ploys coupled with how CP hungry this team is rewards players for taking either an Undivided Leader or Icon-Bearer.

Blood for the Blood God (C) and Perpetual Aggression (B) – Our two Khorne ploys, the first of which adds one damage to the first strike an operative makes if it performed a Charge that activation. Frankly, you’re not getting a lot for one command point here. There are niche situations where this allows either a Chosen or Butcher to kill 8 wound models in a single critical strike, but otherwise you got more useful things to spend your CP on. Perpetual Aggression on the other hand is a fantastic ploy that allows operatives to perform a free ■ move that may end within the Engagement range of enemies after they fight in combat. This counts whether they’re the attacker or not giving operatives significant movement potential if your opponent isn’t careful. 

Mutagenic Flesh (C) and Implacable (C) – Mutagenic Flesh was the key ploy for most Legionnaires team up until the Q1 2023 Dataslate, which now caps its damage reduction on normal hits to 3 as opposed to 2. This change drastically reduces its efficacy, and makes it near useless in some team match ups (Phobos Marines) while still vital in others (Pathfinders). Implacable is the only way that Legionnaires gain access to the ability to ignore APL and hit modifiers, and is now the main reason you would want to take a blessing of Nurgle. The change to the former of these two ploys will likely change the blessings we see players take going forward.

Graceful Killers (B) and Delicious Agony (D) – Graceful Killers is a slightly more useful version of Blood for the Blood God adding a straight 1 damage to critical hits on all melee weapons. This is especially nasty with weapons that do 6 or 7 damage on a critical hit, and can even be useful in mirror matches where it allows operatives like your ShriveTalon to kill opposing traitors with two critical hits. Delicious Agonies falls into the situational category as against hordes it is basically useless as none of your operatives do less than 3 damage in close combat, and 7/8 wound operatives are wounded at 3 wounds. Only use this ploy against high wound enemies such as Intercession or Gellerpox where any extra strike might make or break a fight.

Aetheric Ward (B) and Protected by Fate (C) – Aetheric Ward is a strong choice if your opponent has any strong AP threats, with Plasma and Melta being the obvious choices, while even Intercession with Bolt Rifles can make this ploy worth using. Protected by Fate, fittingly, makes its usefulness mostly on chance as relying on Critical Saves can be a risky proposition. Both of these ploys combined can make your operatives quite durable against shooting, however this means you will want to have either a Icon-Bearer or Leader with the Blessing of Tzeentch to avoid burning through your Command Points too quickly. The final downside is that these ploys ONLY work against shooting and thus nearly useless against Gellerpox, while can swing the game against a team like Starstriders.

Word Bearers Legionaries
Word Bearers Legionaries. Credit: Jeff Scarisbrick.

Tactical Ploys

Veteran of the Long War – The single generalist tactical ploy. This allows you to re-roll all your dice from a single shooting attack or time you fight in combat if you fail to deal any wounds. Keep in mind you MUST roll all the dice, repeating the entire attack, and that this will not trigger if your opponent manages to avoid wounds via abilities such as Disgusting Resilience.

Unending Bloodshed – A chance to land a single strike on your opponent after an operative dies in combat. While this one has the potential to be powerful the requirement that you must still land the hit makes it inherently unreliable, so if you are going to use it ensure you have remaining CP for a re-roll, or you have it on an operative that comes with in-built re-rolls such as The Butcher. C+

Mutability and Change – Add 1 APL to an operative. Simply the best tactical ploy, and perhaps the best ploy available to the team. As I’ve mentioned before, abilities that grant APL bonuses are amongst the most powerful in the game, and access to this one makes a strong argument for a player to choose Tzeentch as their patron. This ploy combined with a Champion of Tzeentch even allows players an exceedingly rare 5 action activation. A+

Malignant Aura – A Nurgle blessed operative reduces the defense characteristic of enemy operatives within ■ of them. A niche ability that requires operatives to be close to their opponents, which is somewhat unintuitive as the defense characteristic is not applicable to combat. A more likely scenario is players can treat this ploy as an improvised way of granting their team AP on shooting attacks by performing a Move + Dash + Shoot with an operative, closing with the nearest group of enemies. C

Sickening Captivation – The somewhat less useful version of mutability and change that allows a Slaanesh operative to reduce the APL of a single enemy within ■ by 1. This ploy  can prevent enemies from Falling Back from combat or moving away to perform a Mission or Shoot action. C

Blackstone Fortress Black Legion Legionnaires by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Equipment

Legionnaires come with an interesting set of equipment with half their options being limited to one per team, and another four being one per team simply due to their usage requirements.

Aggression Stimulants [3 EP] One Per Team – Re-roll a single die when you fight in combat if you charged during the Turning Point. Why is this restricted to one per team is baffling as it is rather mediocre. Take it on a melee specialist, but honestly there are more useful choices in here. C-

Frag [2 EP] and Krak Grenade [3 EP] – Not much to say here. Almost everyone has access to them, and there is a reason they got limited to one per team each. B+

Warded Armour [3 EP] One Per Team – A common choice, but a bit of a trap. The fact that it goes away once the operative takes damage from any fight or shoot attack makes this pretty awful. Against the right team it can be alright, but otherwise skip this thing. Why is this one per team? D

Suspensor System [3 EP] – May only be taken on a weapon with the Heavy trait which basically makes this another One Per Team option. Allows operatives to move a maximum of 3 ⬤ in the same activation in which they perform a Shoot Action. Keep in mind this does not prevent you from performing the Dash Action, but instead just limits the total movement that the operative performs. If you’re taking a Heavy Gunner, take this. B

Malign Scripture [2 EP] – Allows an operative to perform two Psychic Actions once per game, which means…YOU GUESSED IT! Another One Per Team item as this can only be used by the Acolyte, although keep in mind this still won’t allow you to perform two Shooting Powers, meaning this just allows you to use Malign Influence in the same activation that you use either of the other ones. Unfortunately, Malign Influences buffing powers aren’t very useful for either Fireblast or Life Siphon, making it best used on something else. Maybe take this if you’re taking an Acolyte. C

Tainted Rounds [3 EP] One Per Team – Ups damage of both normal and critical damage of either a Bolt Pistol, Tainted Bolt Pistol, or Boltgun by 1. A great piece of equipment and basically a requirement if you’re bringing any operatives with standard Boltguns. It makes sense why this one is limited. B

Grisly Trophy [3 EP] One Per Team – Enemies within ■ and visible to the bearer reduce their attacks by one for both ranged and melee. A solid choice for your melee specialists. This can be especially brutal against weaker enemies who only receive three attacks in close combat. Additionally, it synergies well with the Chosen’s Daemonic Aura as enemies attempting to Fallback and shoot will still find themselves within range of the trophy. C+

Malefic Blade [2 EP] – Literally the only piece of gear not limited to one operative, but fortunately the best of the lot. This can be used to upgrade the standard Marine profile by 1 attack and 1 critical damage, which is huge for your non-combat specialists allowing them to more reliably bully horde operatives in combat, or defend themselves against enemy specialists. A

Critical Operations Missions

How you approach your missions is determined by the three current mission types of Loot, Secure, and Capture. Like any other elite team Loot is the most disadvantageous since it requires operatives to basically remain back to score making it much harder to go on the offensive. With this in mind this is the mission best suited to focusing on ranged weapons, specifically bolt weapons, especially when facing horde teams who can easily overwhelm your forward operatives.

Tac Ops

Legionnaires come with access to two Archetypes, Security and Seek and Destroy, and the normal three faction Tac Ops. Both of these archetypes revolve around very different playstyles, and as such provide players with a real choice on how they wish to employ their team. 

Security

This archetype focuses on outnumbering (in terms of APL) your opponent on key locations and remaining static, meaning it can pair very well with Loot. However, Security has some of the more difficult Tac Ops to achieve, and can be especially hard for an Elite team. Protect Assets is the closest thing to an automatic choice when playing against hordes, while Seize Ground, Secure Centre Line, and Hold them Back are reasonable choices. Finally, Escort Operative and Central Control should be avoided. On Close Quarters missions Seize Ground is replaced by Seize Access Point, which is actually a strong choice when up against teams that lack either Indirect weapons or strong melee threats due to The Butcher’s Devastating Onslaught ability.

Seek and Destroy

A generally stronger set of Tac Ops as they play well with the more aggressive missions, such as Capture, and the general lethality of the team. Assassinate Target and Executioner are amongst the weaker choices as the former can be very difficult to accomplish since your opponent chooses your target, while the later runs the risk of making the chosen operative a prime enemy target. Rob and Ransack, Rout, and Eliminate Guards remain a strong combination, while HeadHunter can be very risky if you’re uncertain of your opponent’s playstyle. While this Tac Op remains hidden until accomplished experienced players will often figure out you are using it by the end of Turning Point 2.

Faction Tac Ops

Sacrilegious Mutilation – If you select this Tac Op when you incapacitate an enemy operative you place a Corpse Token where they were incapacitated. Operatives may then perform the Defiled for the Dark Gods (1 AP) action while within ▲ of the Token and more than ⬤ from enemy operatives, the token is then removed. 1 VP is gained when this is performed twice, while a second is gained after two more times. This requires you to basically kill AT LEAST four enemy operatives, and then use four actions to score. While killing your opponent is something this team does naturally over the course of the game, having four spare actions is another story. If you are looking to run this Tac Op you should avoid taking it during Loot missions, and have the Champion as your Leader with at least half your team using the Blessing of Tzeentch.  

Dark Desecration – Kind of like the Legionary version of Seize Ground, on the first TP you select a terrain feature with the Heavy trait, and then you must incapacitate two enemy operatives within ▲ of it to score 1 VP. The second VP is scored if you have more APL within ▲ of it than your opponent at the end of the battle. This is a rather difficult Tac Op simply because once you declare it your opponent has ample opportunity to avoid it. Basically, this is a Tac Op you’d generally avoid unless the board has VERY favorable terrain for it, such as multiple objective markers boarding a key piece of terrain. Lastly, this Tac Op may not be used in Close Quarters maps reducing your options further.

Savage Butcher – Our last Tac Op is perhaps the simplest as it bears a strong similarity to Executioner. Nominate an operative at the beginning of any TP and if they incapacitate two enemies in combat you receive 1 VP, and if they claim a third you get the second point. This runs all the same risks as Executioner with the added issue of having to kill your enemy in combat, which can be especially difficult against non-horde teams.

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

Building a Legionary Team

The main decision a player must make when creating their roster is which Chaos Blessings they will take on which operatives. In effect there are four blessing combinations you may take on your roster: Khorne/Nurgle, Khorne/Tzeentch, Slaanesh/Nurgle, and Slaanesh/Tzeentch. All of these have their Pros and Cons, and if you’re attending larger events it helps to take a look at what teams one is likely to encounter. In general your roster is likely to contain two of each specialist, one for each God associated blessing, with remaining spots given over to either an Undivided Leader or Icon-Bearer, and additional Gunner options.

Example Khorne/Nurgle Roster

Leaders

  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Nurgle
  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Khorne
  • Chosen: Demon Blade, Plasma Pistol, Nurgle
  • Chosen: Demon Blade, Plasma Pistol, Khorne
  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Powerfist, Undivided

Operatives

  • Anointed: Khorne
  • Anointed: Nurgle
  • Butcher: Khorne
  • Butcher: Nurgle
  • Balefire Acolyte: Nurgle
  • Balefire Acolyte: Khorne
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Khorne
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Nurgle
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Undivided
  • Gunner: Plasmagun: Nurgle
  • Gunner: Meltagun: Nurgle
  • Heavy Gunner: Missile Launcher: Nurgle
  • Heavy Gunner: Heavy Bolter: Nurgle
  • Shrivetalon: Khorne
  • Shrivetalon: Nurgle

Example Tzeentch/Slaanesh Roster

Leaders

  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Tzeentch
  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Slaanesh
  • Chosen: Demon Blade, Plasma Pistol, Tzeentch
  • Chosen: Demon Blade, Plasma Pistol, Slaanesh
  • Aspiring Champion: Plasma Pistol, Powerfist, Undivided

Operatives

  • Anointed: Slaanesh
  • Anointed: Tzeentch
  • Butcher: Slaanesh
  • Butcher: Tzeentch
  • Balefire Acolyte: Tzeentch
  • Balefire Acolyte: Slaanesh
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Slaanesh
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Tzeentch
  • Icon-Bearer: Boltgun: Undivided
  • Gunner: Plasmagun: Tzeentch
  • Gunner: Meltagun: Tzeentch
  • Heavy Gunner: Missile Launcher: Tzeentch
  • Heavy Gunner: Heavy Bolter: Tzeentch
  • Shrivetalon: Slaanesh
  • Shrivetalon: Tzeentch

In both of these lists you can notice a trend that Gunners don’t need to have either Blessings of Slaanesh or Khorne as they’re more concerned with staying alive or remaining mobile while providing reliable fire support. 

Additionally, you have 5 Leader options granting you significant options in terms of weapons and Blessing Keywords to benefit from Favored by the Gods. 

Playing Legionaries Against Other Teams

Elites

Legionnaires come with some of the best abilities for handling their elite counterparts, especially Intercession Squad and Phobos Strike Team, in the form of hard hitting melee threats and multiple high AP weapons. This fact alone is a strong reason to take them as Loyalist Marines continue to be the most popular teams in the game. The Chosen and Butcher are capable of killing their loyal brethren in two critical strikes, while Blessing of Tzeentch or Nurgle both have strong plays in this match up. It is important to remember that a lot of the advantages Legionnaires hold disappear in a match up vs custodians who are more than capable of killing your operatives in two hits, while negating critical damage.

Hordes

Legionnaires tend to find themselves in a more difficult matchup vs hordes due to their focus on melee and the changes to Mutagenic Flesh, however that doesn’t mean this is a weak matchup. They’re still power armored and more than capable to chewing through human equivalent operatives. In most cases your opponent is going to have 2-3 special weapons that you need to do your best to avoid, or bait out and kill quickly. In most cases plasma and melta are the primary threat making Blessing of Tzeentch a reliable path to take. Additionally, you will find yourself at an extreme action penalty to compared to 12+ operative teams meaning abilities that increase action efficiency, such as your Champion and Mutability and Change, are in higher demand.

Final Thoughts

Legionnaires are simply one of the best teams available in Kill Team both from a competitive and hobby standpoint. Not only do they provide a solid range of tactical depth, but they’re perfect for custom paint schemes and kit bashing as almost all their operatives can be easily substituted with an equivalent model from the various 40K Chaos Space Marine armies. 

Have any questions or comments, or want to share your Chaos Space Marines Kill Team with us to feature on the site? Drop us a line in the comments below or shoot us an email at contact@goonhammer.com.