The Might of Abaddon the Despoiler

Abaddon is so mighty on the tabletop that it is quite likely that he will see the galaxy burn if left to his own devices.

In game, the model is a wrecking ball.  Ask yourself this question:  does YOUR HQ get a STR 8 weapon that doesn't go last and has shred?  Does he also (not instead of) carry a STR 5 AP2 weapon that can attack 12 times on the charge?  Hatred against Space Marines?  Terminator Armor with a 4+ invul?  Is yours an ETERNAL WARRIOR as well toting four wounds like a BOSS?  The dude is stupendously dangerous and hard to kill at the same time.  He grants preferred enemy to all within 12" of him as well.   Yikes.

So I have seen a LOT of Chaos lists lately and frankly am stunned that not one of them has Abaddon in the list.  WHY?  Rumor has it that the Black Legion supplement will hi-lite him even more than he already is by the regular Chaos Marine codex (though when that will drop is a good question).

So I thought I would explore this guy a little here.  The first important thing about his lists is that he can take Chosen as his troops.  Chosen have ridiculously good stat lines.  3 attacks to start with because they have pistols, and then if you Mark them with the Mark of Khorne, they are simply blenders on a charge and before it.  For example:

233pts  6 Chosen (4 Plasma Pistols, 1 MeltaGun, Champion with PowerFist, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath)
40pts  Rhino (Dirge Caster)

Looks Expensive, right?  Well it is, but it could also be the most unbelievably jarring thing the enemy could experience.  Kills 3 of just about anything outright with shooting, and then you're being charged (Rage and re-rolls on either charge dice).  6 of these bad boys fire off a ton of wounds.  10 MEQ targets will literally be wiped from the map between the shooting and charging of this unit with a little softening from Fire support.  What is it worth to be able to say that?  They will also wipe an entire unit of Tactical Terminators (Assault Terminators will live to fight back of course).  The Preferred enemy from Abaddon will make this much more likely than the enemy wishes it were!

As usual, getting troops to the objective is a function of both the number of units you have and the number of defensive/interference units you can use to block for them so that they can do their grisly work.  No less than 4 troops will do in any 6th Edition army so this is a considerable amount of points.  Four such units with their master is 1357 points.  Give them fire support on the way in and you will find yourself able to crash a side and maintain it.

Obviously, volume of fire is the way to go against such an army.  Prioritizing the targets that can really torrent you down is a must.  Being able to do so early and often is important.  

There is no bigger wall that you can put in front of the enemy than Land Raiders to insure the package of pain is delivered.  So lets make sureTHAT happens as well.

So here's a fun list for using Abaddons best attributes:

265pts  Abaddon the Despoiler

233pts  6 Chosen (4 Plasma Pistols, 1 MeltaGun, Champion with PowerFist, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath)
40pts  Rhino (Dirge Caster)

233pts  6 Chosen (4 Plasma Pistols, 1 MeltaGun, Champion with PowerFist, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath)
40pts  Rhino (Dirge Caster)

233pts  6 Chosen (4 Plasma Pistols, 1 MeltaGun, Champion with PowerFist, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath)
40pts  Rhino (Dirge Caster)

223pts  6 Chosen (4 Plasma Pistols, Champion with PowerFist, Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath)
40pts  Rhino (Dirge Caster)


235pts (Land Raider w/ Dirge Caster)

235pts  (Land Raider w/ Dirge Caster)

180pts  Havocs (3 Flakk Launchers, 1 missile Launcher, Mark of Nurgle)


 What we are attempting with this list is to saturate the place with armored hulls, hiding behind even BIGGER armoured hulls.  We laugh at STR 7 weaponry.  We have the Anti-aircraft weapons we need if the enemy gets cheeky, but they can move forward or just sit like a lump on an enemy objective, along for the ride in a LandRaider.

This is a relatively simple army to use.  Very few models, quick turns, brutal on the charge and the Dirge Casters stop Overwatch which is a very important issue.  AV 14 makes sure that there are few opportunities to screw with whats inside until they are good and ready to charge and the STR 8 and 9 the army possesses is plenty rough enough to get First Blood and to rock important anti-tank elements.

Overall it is not an elegant army at all.  Abaddons arrival from Deep Strike when appropriate and from the insides of the deadly Land Raider when necessary heralds the final approach.

I don't know whether this is a tourney army but it is competitive and in the right hands, could be like the blows of a hammer to the hopes and dreams of the Imperium.