Chaos (BGA2)

The Chaos Legions are traitor marines that have once again launched a Black Crusade from the Eye of Terror, led by Abaddon.

PROS:

* Long range weapons
* Decent speed ships
* Marks of the Chaos Gods
* Viable fleet-wide stealth

CONS:

* Less durable ships
* Slightly lower than average raw damage output

## FACTIONS

### Renegade

No core description, typically cheaper commanders with less abilities, good as defense fleets.

### Chaos Legion

* Alpha Legion: "The Alpha Legion are masters of intrigue and infiltration. indeed, it is said that few within the Legion even know the ends towards which they labour. They have spies everywhere, even amongst those who foolishly consider the Alpha Legion to be their 'allies'."
* Iron Warriors: "The Iron Warriors excel at pounding enemy fortifications to dust and raising their own immutable bulwarks in their place. They are relentless and logical in their approach to warfare, renowned for the precision with which they obliterate their foe."
* Word Bearers: "None can match the zeal with which the Word Bearers worship the Dark Gods of Chaos. These are no reluctant heretics, drawn into temptation by circumstance or bleak fate, but men whose madness burns like a black and unholy flame."
* Red Corsairs: "Under the command of the infamous traitor Huron Blackheart, the Tyrant of Badab, the Red Corsairs have grown to be a resilient power. Attempts to obliterate these renegades have only driven them deeper into heresy.:
* Night Lords: The Night Lords always excelled in sowing terror - so much so that they invited sanction from the Emperor himself in the days leading up to the Horus Heresy. Now a renegade and leaderless faction, their excesses have only grown."
* Black Legion: "The survivors of the arch traitor Horus' own gene brothers, the Black Legion are counted amongst the foremost traitors to the Imperium. Even though Horus is long dead, his Legion fight on from the depths of the Eye of Terror.

### Marked Legion

* Death Guard: "The Death Guard were once loyal defenders of a fledgling Imperium, but offered their bodies and souls to Grandfather Nurgle after becoming becalmed in the warp. Since that day they have spread their baleful patron's diseases across the galaxy."
* World Eaters: "The World Eaters were known for their savagery even before they were corrupted to Khorne's worship. Now, they are blood-crazed maniacs, driven to slaughter and claim skulls in the name of their otherworldly master."
* Emperor's Children: "There are many paths to damnation. For the Emperor's Children, it was desire for perfection that wrought their ruin. Now they are hedonistic worshippers of Slaanesh, who live only to slake passions of all stripes."
* Thousand Sons: "The Thousand Sons' ranks are filled with unthinking automata - the ghostly echo of a Legion reduced to dust in a tragic attempt to stave off mutation. Only the Legion's sorcerers endure as they did before - a cabal of the damned leading an army of ghosts"

## AVAILABLE COMMANDER SKILLS

### Active Abilities

* Supercharged Void Shield (BGA2)
* Micro Warp Jump (BGA2)
* Augur Disruptor Bomb
* Augur Probe (BGA2)
* Stasis Bomb (BGA2)
* Plasma Bomb (BGA2)
* Disruption Bomb (BGA2)
* Daemonic Ritual

### Passive Abilities

* Emission Dissipater
* Power of the Damned
* Chaos Space Marines
* Many-Eyed Prophet
* Daemonic Infestation

### Elite Abilities

* Daemonic Navigator: From the next turn, grants an additional movement point to the fleet
* Master Warpsmith: When the fleet is stationed in a system, every allied fleet in the system (including itself) increases hull repair value by +10% and troop recovery by +3 troops. The effect is non-cumulative.
* Ruthless Warlord: The system where the fleet is stationed gains one additional evolution point at each turn. The effect is non-cumulative.
* Demonic Bound ritual: Every new ship hired by the fleet is recruited directly at level 2.
* Master of Slaves: When the fleet is stationed in a system, every allied fleet in the system (including itself) has its ships upkeep reduced by 25%. The effect is non-cumulative.

## TACTICAL SUMMARY

Chaos hasn't changed very much since BGA1. They still have the broadest spread of ships that can hit at the maximum weapon range (now 18000 from 12000) including the largest assortment of ships with perfectly accurate, armor-piercing Lances at this range, and a good assortment of Carrier ships.

In the Campaign you are forced into a fleet subfaction split, like the Imperium; within your total fleet count you are forced to have an even spread between Rebel, Chaos Legion and Marked Legion fleet commanders. The Rebel and Black Legion forces are functionally identical ship-wise, however pay careful attention to the planets within your systems; several have effects dependent on interacting with a fleet of a specific faction, such as a number of planets giving you a one-time bonus of 5 Battleplans if an Alpha Legion fleet (sub faction of the Chaos Legion) shows up in the system.

The Marked Legion fleets are the most important; these are where the original Chaos Favors from the first game can still be found and they can significantly affect how your forces perform in the campaign. A Marked Legion Commander will give one bonus Active ability to his flagship and one bonus passive typically to his own fleet. Considering how few ships you will be able to field with these abilities, choose them carefully.

* NURGLE (via the Death Guard): Nurgle commanders gain the active ability Void-Locust Swarmcloud, which causes 10 damage per second ignoring armor to all enemies within a 4500 range, and simultaneously heals ally ships by 2 hull points per second, for 45 seconds. This is identical to the Necron Scarab Swarm effect. Their bonus passive is Den of Pestilence, which gives all ships in the fleet 1 additional troop in each troop step.
* KHORNE (via World Eaters): Khorne commanders get the active ability Bloodletters Parties, which launches 10 assault actions on a target. Morale damage is troop damage x 10, can be done within a 4500 range 360 degree angle. Their bonus passive is Khorne Berserkers, which for the entire fleet makes their Boarding Actions have a 20% increased critical assault chance.
* SLAANESH (via the Emperor's Children): Slaanesh commanders get the active ability Slaanesh's Promise, which has the user aim a short range AoE cone and all enemy ships within the cone are rendered inactive for 5 seconds. It shuts down their shields, holofields or shadowfields and defense turrets during this duration. Their bonus passive is Siren Cannon, which makes any weapon hit onto an enemy hull caused by the flagship while it is in Lock On mode also cause 3 morale loss.
* TZEENTCH (via the Thousand Sons): Tzeentch commanders get the active ability Winds of Change which as before creates a gas cloud centered around his flagship that Stealths all ships within a 5000 range for 45 seconds. Their bonus passive is Tzeentch's Flamers which makes any successful Critical Assault action also cause a Fire On Board

With the changes to the stealth mechanics of the game (most notably the removal of Running Silent for any ship above Light Cruiser size), not only is the All Lancers fleet build from the original game alive and well it is in fact one of the most effective fleet builds of any faction for the campaign. The Winds of Change ability from a Tzeentch commander makes Chaos the only faction at all that can reliably re-stealth multiple fully identified fleets of ships above Light Cruiser size whenever they want outside of being Marked, as long as all of the ships are close enough to the Tzeentch commander, utterly breaking enemy inbound weapons fire and forcing the return of inbound enemy strike craft that were guiding to a Detected ship's sensor blip. Chaos commanders are also still able to gain the Augur Probes active ability and Emissions Dissipator passive for their fleet. Combining this with having a fleet of ships filled with 18000-range weapons in Lock On stance to push their range to 22500 and careful scouting via probes and escorts, along with priority targeting on enemy escorts and the Deck or Engine subystems of enemy ships, and you end up with sets of ships that have been proven very capable of completely destroying enemy fleets larger than themselves while taking utterly trivial damage in return. Non-identified ships with 18000 range weapons in Lock On stance can also completely out-distance all known types of defense turret and space station, allowing you to destroy an unlimited number of them over time without even being fired upon once you've dealt with the standard ships (and given that for a standard battle victory you also need to destroy every enemy turret and station to win, this is important to factor in). Fleet pairs/trios spearheaded by a Tzeentch commander using this long range stealth kiting tactic are capable of entering, and winning, very heavy combat every single turn without even needing to wait a turn for repairs, something the other factions can have a great deal of trouble matching, and is an astoundingly efficient use of your time and resources.

## SHIPS

ESCORT

* Iconoclast Destroyer (BGA2)
* Infidel Raider (BGA2)
* Idolator Raider (BGA2)
* Apostate Raider

LIGHT CRUISERS

* Hellbringer (BGA2)
* Hellbringer MK2 (BGA2)

CRUISERS

* Slaughter (BGA2)
* Carnage (BGA2)
* Murder (BGA2)
* Devastation (BGA2)
* Emasculator

BATTLE CRUISERS

* Acheron (BGA2)
* Hades (BGA2)
* Styx (BGA2)
* Hecate

GRAND CRUISERS

* Repulsive
* Retaliator
* Executor
* Hellfire

BATTLESHIPS

* Desolator (BGA2)
* Despoiler (BGA2)

TITANS

* Vengeful Spirit
* Blackstone Fortress
* Planet Killer
* Monarchia's Redeemer