Games Workshop quietly dropped a new datasheet in their downloads today for another Kill Team, this time giving us an update we didn’t think was actually going to happen: Full rules for running the Nemesis Claw Kill Team in Warhammer 40k.
If you’re interested in the update, you can find it on the Downloads page over at WarCom, or here at this link.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into this Datasheet and talk about what Nemesis Kill Teams do, what they bring the to the table, and why you might (or might not) play them in your Chaos Space Marines armies.
Unit Overview
Nemesis Claw units come in sizes of 5 or 10 and consist of one Visionary and 4-9 Legionaries. These units have the Stealth and Dark Pacts special rules, meaning they’ll be -1 to hit with ranged weapons all the time. They have a similar statline to Legionaries but they give up the BATTLELINE keyword are only OC 1, making them worse at holding objectives but as we’ll see, arguably better at killing.
Nemesis Claw units trade out the Veterans of the Long War ability (re-roll 1s to wound, or all wound rolls against targets on an objective with melee attacks) for Visions of Suffering, a Psychic ability which gives them +1 to hit against targets below Starting Strength and +1 to wound against targets below Half-Strength, with this bonus applying to both melee and ranged attacks. This change is most important in the context of the wargear you get, so let’s take a look at those differences and then come back to this.
The wargear options for a Nemesis Claw are very different to standard Legionaries units. You give up the option to take a lascannon, reaper chaincannon, or autocannon (only missile launchers and heavy bolters as your heavy options), and you only get one flamer/melta/plasma gun and one heavy weapon, with no option to double up. What you lose in ranged options however you more than make up for with melee options. The Visionary comes with a Nostraman Chainblade by default, a 5-attack chainsword with Sustained Hits 1 and you have the option to trade it out for a power fist or Accursed weapon. Nemesis Claws don’t really have much in the way of multi-damage output, so you’re pretty much always taking the fist here.
After that, up to four legionaries in the team can swap out their bolter for a melee option, with no duplicates allowed. These are an accursed weapon, a Nostraman Chainglaive, a pair of Accursed Weapons, and a voice eater and astartes chainsword. These are all straight upgrades on the standard bolt pistol and Chainsword, and the Chainglaive gives you a semi-sidegrade on the heavy melee weapon, trading out 2 damage for 4 Attacks with Sustained Hits 1. What this means is that 5-model Nemesis Claw teams can easily field four models hitting at S5+ with AP-2, and that can make them an incredible blender when it comes to dishing out melee punishment – provided your target is below Starting Strength they can wound tons of Infantry targets on a 2+, punch up against T9 vehicles on a 4+, and just generally shred through hordes.
Finally, Nemesis Claws don’t get Chaos Icons but instead have the Voice-Eater, which makes it so Enemy units (excluding VEHICLES and MONSTERS) within Engagement Range cannot be targeted with Stratagems. This is a really nice touch; it basically guarantees your opponent can never use a Stratagem to interrupt against your Nemesis Claw and prevents them from using Insane Bravery to auto-pass morale checks.
Using This Unit
At 110 points for a unit of five, Nemesis Claws clock in at 20 points more per five models than a Standard Legionaries unit. That’s a steep upcharge for a unit that’s trading off some valuable keywords and 1 OC. That said, they occupy a different role to Legionaries, as they’ll more often be more focused on killing than retaking objectives. They really want to have a Master of Executions tagging along, as the below starting/half strength abilities on both combine well together for re-rolls and +1 to hit/wound, but they’re just as happy with a Chaos Lord and that’s because they really want to lob Grenades to soften targets up before charging. You can get ten models at a discount – 190 points – but given only four models get the melee upgrades this one can be hard to justify.
How you use these guys can depend a lot on which Detachment you’re taking them in:
- In Veterans of the Long War Nemesis Claws can use the Focus of Hatred to fish for Sustained hits, and it might be worth taking a chainblade on the champion there instead of a power fist, and considering a heavy bolter. I might consider a ten-model unit here for the extra ranged output.
- In Renegade Raiders, the name of the game is AP. Because a five-model squad can take four models with AP-2 melee attacks, you can easily get to almost an entire unit throwing out AP-3 attacks against targets on an objective, and these guys really want to combine their skills with the Ruinous Raid Stratagem coming out of a transport.
- The Dread Talons Detachment is still completely terrible, but it’s worth noting that if you’re running these guys your opponent won’t be able to use Insane Bravery while they’re locked in combat with you, at least making it less certain they’ll just ignore your army’s Detachment Rule.
- As Mike Pestilens pointed out, Nemesis Claws have a surprising amount of play in the Fellhammer Siege-Host, where they combine a natural -1 to be hit from Stealth with -1 to be wounded from the Detachment Rule, giving them a big durability boost on the approach. Meanwhile their damage output can help cover the detachment’s melee weakness.
- In Pactbound Zealots you’re going to feel the loss of the Icon on this unit – prepare for some heatbreak as you lose a model or two to failed tests every now and then – but making these guys Undivided is a great way to close the gap on their abilities and get them to the 2+ to hit re-rolling 1s land without the need for a Master of Executions.
Final Thoughts
Conceptually, the Nemesis Claw are just cool as hell – an absolute flavor win. I’m not sure if their added cost over Legionaries is warranted – I think most of the time I’d rather have 2 OC and BATTLELINE – but they offer some interesting change of pace and some intriguing abilities. That “no Stratagems” ability seems like it has some bonkers applications if you can hit the right target with it and the melee options you can put on a five-model unit are pretty tantalizing. And as a Night Lords fan, I’m just excited to have a unit that’s exclusive to the legion!
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