Matrix Games

Tomorrow the new expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Gladius is going to be released: Chaos Space Marines!

With a brand new playable faction, the new expansion is a must-have for all Gladius fans.

Of course the Chaos Space Marines come with a full roster of new units. Let's have a look at them!

 

Chaos Cultists

Mass infantry unit that can found cities and sacrifice itself to the Dark Gods

The cultists of Chaos can be found, in one form or another, almost anywhere the Imperium has spread. At first glance, they are indistinguishable from normal men, but under their clothes, their flesh is tattooed and branded with sigils that hurt the eyes of any faithful who look upon them. When the Chaos Space Marines come to a planet, the true colours of the cultists are revealed. The powers of darkness are ever quick to promise glory, and even the lowliest initiate knows that to fight alongside such legendary warriors is to court the gaze of the gods.

 

Chaos Space Marines

Versatile infantry unit

Ever since the Horus Heresy, Space Marines have been tempted by the path of Chaos, whether for selfish reasons or great ideals. Sundered from the Imperium, having turned their backs on the Emperor, these warriors know that there can be no peace for them, neither forgiveness nor absolution. They are wholly committed to the path they now tread, for good or ill, and they can expect no quarter from former battle-brothers.

 

Chaos Spawns

Fast melee infantry unit that mutates each turn

Although physically powerful and extremely resilient, Chaos Spawn are insane, mewling creatures with no mental powers or self-awareness. Their former intelligence has been sacrificed to their failed ambition. Many a champion of great promise has ended up as a seething mound of bone and blubber, monstrous and screaming with lunatic rage.

 

Chaos Lord

Hero unit that returns damage to attackers and slays units low on hitpoints

A Chaos Lord is a tyrannical warrior king who lives to bathe in the blood of worlds. He strives to bring whole star systems to their knees in the name of his patron deities. Typified by merciless ambition and fierce pride, many of these champions of disorder were once noble Chapter Masters and Captains of the Adeptus Astartes, but long years of unremitting war have twisted their souls beyond recovery.

 

 

 

Khorne Berzerkers

Melee infantry unit

It was the gruesome experiments of Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, that led to the creation of the first Berzerkers. By the ritual lobotomisation of his warriors, he removed all sense of fear and danger and then heightened the rush his soldiers experienced in combat. When the Legion swore itself to Khorne, the Berzerkers were no longer bound by Imperial battle doctrine and were given full rein to exercise their bloodthirsty skills. They have since become the ultimate close combat shock troops, entering an uncontrollable frenzy in the heat of battle.

 

Obliterators

Elite infantry unit with cyclable weapons

The monstrous warriors of the Obliterator cults are a blasphemy against nature and Machine God alike. Their forms are so altered, so thoroughly conjoined with the tools of war, that every cell in their bodies thrills with a spark of mechanical life. Only the Dark Mechanicum have mastered the complete fusion of metal and flesh, melding the inert and the animate together on a spiritual level in order to form something far greater than mere cybernetics. Because of their Chaos-born powers, Obliterators are capable of not only absorbing weaponry into themselves, but also of manifesting munitions from their titanium-laced flesh.

 

Daemon Prince

Monstrous hero that cripples foes with psychic powers before clawing them to death

Daemon Princes are infernal monsters that tower over the mortals they lead to battle. These paragons of evil take many forms, though all exude a palpable aura of terror and power. In battle, a Daemon Prince strides through the pitiful bullets of the enemy without pause, his unnatural laughter driving men to the edge of fear. Warp energy sizzles from his eyes, and black flames curl from his mouth as he speaks dread phrases that kill as sure as any blade. These are creatures of nightmare—a living expression of Chaos given form.

 

Master of Possession

Psyker hero unit that summons Daemons and supports allies

Masters of Possession lead warbands of devoted warriors in pursuit of untold power. These sorcerous figures have mastered the darkest and most blasphemous lore: the art of using hosts of living flesh to house daemonic spirits. It is they who perform the profane ceremonies of binding that imbue the Daemonkin with their warp-born power. Gouging a breach in the fabric of realspace, the Master of Possession draws a willing entity from the immaterium, channelling its terrible energies into the body of a supplicant or the chassis of a war machine. So thoroughly are these dread figures steeped in blasphemous sorcery that where they walk, reality itself recoils.

 

 

Havocs

Long range infantry unit that is more accurate while stationary

Some Chaos Space Marine squads carry a high proportion of heavy weapons, the better to annihilate the hated foe. Known as Havocs, these squads provide devastating anti-infantry and anti-armour firepower, dominating large swathes of the battlefield with volley after punishing volley.

 

Warp Talons              

Melee infantry unit that can warp across difficult terrain and blind unsuspecting enemies

When a pack of Warp Talons emerges from the warp, it appears to those on the battlefield below as if daemonic warriors have burst out from nothingness into fiery, vengeful life. Like the stuff of nightmares, they plummet downwards in an explosion of warp fire, tearing into the foe with murderous intent.

 

Warpsmith

Hero unit that supports vehicles and boosts the economy

Warpsmiths are the masters of the machine. Most can trace their origins back to the priesthood of Mars, whether through the schisms of the Magi or the rigid doctrine of the Techmarines. However, where the Adeptus Mechanicus regard technology as sacrosanct, the Warpsmiths seek to subjugate and control it.

 

Rhino

Armoured transport vehicle with many upgrades

The Rhino is the most common transport of the Space Marines, and the same can be said of the Heretic Astartes, for this machine is so ruggedly constructed it can see hundreds of years of warfare and still function at peak efficiency. The tank's chassis is based upon a Standard Template Construct, meaning that it is relatively simple to build, maintain and repair. Over the ten thousand years since the Long War began, the Rhino has seen continued use as the favoured transport of the Chaos Space Marines. They will even go so far as to loot them from defeated Imperial armies, though they will burn them clean of Imperial insignia as quickly as possible and festoon the stolen vehicles with spikes, blades and gory trophies taken from the dismembered bodies of their previous owners.

 

 

Defiler

Enormous walker unit with devastating melee and ranged weaponry

Defilers are truly massive beasts of war, twice the size of most other Daemon Engines and with a temperament to match. The ground shivers and melts as they stalk towards their foes on six massive, segmented legs, their great pincer-arms twitching and snipping with an impatient need to slice through warm flesh. The Defiler's crab-like body supports a daemonic torso that carries an array of deadly weaponry, ranging from reaper autocannons to racks of highly explosive missiles. It is the battle cannon mounted in its chest turret, however, that is undoubtedly its most potent armament. Each hell-forged shell that thunders out from its growling muzzle is capable of crippling a squad of Space Marines in a single earth-shaking blast.

 

Helbrute

Walker unit that goes crazed when damaged

Helbrutes are twisted mockeries of the Space Marine Dreadnoughts they used to be, combining the firepower of a small tank with the mind of a frenzied maniac. Each Helbrute holds a living creature within its plated metal chest—a Chaos Space Marine driven over the edge of madness by a never-ending cycle of war.

 

Maulerfiend

Fast walker unit that reduces the melee attacks of adjacent units

The Daemon Engines known as Maulerfiends thunder towards the foe like monstrous attack dogs loosed from the leash. Their eyes glow with balefire as ectoplasmic drool drizzles from their fanged maws. Their thick front limbs end in articulated claws powerful enough to tear a Dreadnought limb from limb. Should they catch a squad of infantry, they will scissor them apart or crush them into paste with a flex of their massive talons.

 

 

Venomcrawler

Terrifying walker unit that consumes the souls of its enemies to restore its hitpoints

Pounding forwards upon bladed limbs come the horrors known as Venomcrawlers. Grotesque amalgams of metal, flesh and daemonic entities, these monstrosities hiss and snarl as they scuttle towards their prey. Fleshy tongues flap from snarling maws and soulflayer tendrils lash back and forth, all tasting the air for the scent of their enemies' fear. As the Venomcrawlers continue to butcher, their fanged mouths gape ever wider, drawing the souls of those slain into their vast mechanical abdomens.

 

Heldrake

Flying vehicle that excels against enemy aircraft

Heldrakes are winged Daemon Engines that plummet out of the skies like living comets, hurtling towards enemy aircraft and crashing claws-first into them from above. Each is a vicious, hell-forged predator; a Heldrake takes cruel joy in diving down upon the unsuspecting air support of the enemy in order to shred them to pieces with its scything wings and rune-carved talons.