Chaos Chosen

This article or section is EXTRA heretical. Prepare to be purged.

Tzeentch loves his Champions blue.

"Chosen of the rabble,
Chosen for the battle,
Chosen to the slaying,
Destiny is waiting!
Chosen of the gods,
Chosen of the lost,
Chosen to the war,
For the reaping of gore!"

– Soul Grinder, Chosen

A mortal being beloved by Chaos, who gets shit done while at the same time managing to keep their shit together so they don't mutate into something awful.

Chosen in Warhammer Fantasy

Just a hint; the Chosen is the biggest, baddest motherfucker in any given lineup.

The eyes of the Chaos Gods are always on the mortal world, especially the lands around the collapsed Warp Gates through which Chaos enters the world. Any mortal who pleases the Chaos Gods in some way, from killing your father so you can be with your mother and sister before killing them out of boredom or killing every single thing you see for no reason other than the act of killing to donning a pointy hat, can catch the interest of the Ruinous Powers and begin to hear their whispers and feel their blessings. Oftentimes they find themselves lead to or chancing upon powerful enchanted items, gaining followers amongst the wandering warbands devoted to the Four, and before you know it they've mutated into a giant mass of pulp that was once a sapient creature because they had one too many gold stars put next to their name. Most Chosen come from one of the barbarian tribes, most of whom are clad in heavy armor and possess so much muscle that they would make Arnie look bleak.

The more favor they gain and show off their warrior capabilities (being able to slay something really big or prove their tactical capabilities to command), the higher they climb the hierarchical ladder up until they become Chaos Lords themselves, and from there they can either become Daemon Princes, or Chaos Sp...you know wha-wait! No! I didn't even sa-AAAAARRRGLUGRBERGBLESCREEE!!!

Chosen in 40K

Chosen, almost as inspired and relentless as a child hearing the ice-cream van on a hot day.

A Chosen is a term coined up by Chaos Space Marine Legions/Warbands that describes a particularly powerful member of a Legion/Warband and may have roots in a title attributed to Warmaster Horus Lupercal. A Chosen comes in many forms. They may be very experienced warriors that were chosen by their Chaos Lords to lead squads of Chaos Marines into combat, some are literally Chosen by the Chaos Gods (or a single patron) and given "gifts", others may be powerful Champions that are lesser Chaos Lords serving a more powerful individual...or simply all of those things put together. Whenever the case, all Chosen are characterised by having unholy bling, millennia of hard won experience (stretching back from the days of the Horus Heresy to present days 40K), mutations that are actually useful (this is still up to debate in most situations due to the gods having different moods) and sweet wargear. Due to their varied backstories and access to a wide variety of equipment, Chosens are basically Your Dudes for Chaos players, more of which can be read below.

Overview

Chaos Chosen usually start as normal Chaos Marines that slowly and steadily advance the hierarchical ladder of their Warband. At first the Chosen either lead the less experienced Chaos Marines like their Loyalist kin do, band together under a more experienced Chosen, or even become at one point members of a Chaos Lord's (or any other distinguished Chaos Commander's) retinue, eventually becoming Chaos Lords themselves if they keep up with the villainous heroism/Just as Planned ploys and piousness/satisfying the Chaos Gods/patron god (even going so far as becoming Daemon Princes or those-whose-names-we-will-not-utter if they screw it royally up). Hell, it's actually possible for any Chaos Marine (even a Possessed Marine, a Obliterator/Mutilator, a Hellbrute, you name it) to become one as long as they become better at what they do and show more interest in other forms of warfare.

Khorne's Chaos Lords and Chosen in both settings get such nifty gifts like Juggernauts.

Additionally, Chosen, as mentioned before, have either the favour of all the Chaos Gods, or a single Patron. Thus there are Chosen that are either Undivided, or serve a single Chaos God. Mixes of single god worshipers among Undivided Warbands are as common as those who worship Chaos as a pantheon, and each god gives unique Chaos Gifts to its Chosen. Additionally, Chosen also gain wargear that befits someone that either serves Chaos Undivided or a single patron god.

Aside from a single run of figures way back in the Dark Vengeance box set, these guys had never gotten a plastic kit for a while. Kitbash solutions vary from beefed-up ubermarines to Chaos special forces - 8th edition made them the backbone of most competitive lists, which meant you might as well get to work on your own. The Eldritch Omens boxset meant they finally got a proper plastic kit.

New Chosen models released with ther 2022 CSM codex/Nachmund kill team set. "Accursed Weapons" ho! Chosen have also been given the Tzaangor treatment where every weapon that isn’t a Power Sword will have the same weapon profile as such. This includes such weapons as Thunder Hammers, Power Axes, Lightning Claws, and other weapons that are important for customizing a versatile unit like Chaos Chosen.

Equipment

As Your Dudes, Chaos Chosens can wield a variety of weapons and equipment into battle. In terms of CQC they can wield Power Sword, Chainaxe, Chainsword, Thunder Hammer, Lightning Claws, a Power Fist and, thanks to the Black Crusade (RPG), you can (Assuming you are Larping as a Chaos Chosen) wield the elusive Chain Hammer. For ranged combat, you can choose from a Boltgun, a Bolt Pistol, a Plasma Pistol, a Plasma Gun, a Flamer, a Meltagun or a Combi-weapon of your choice. In terms of armour, a Chosen can wear your typical Chaos Power Armour to the more elite Warp-Forged Armour, or they can stick with the Mark IV: Maximus Armour, Mark V: Heresy Armour or even a Mark VI: Corvus Armour depending on how you want to roleplay.

Interestingly, Chaos Chosen that want to gain Terminator Armour need to gain it in different manners as opposed to their Imperial counterparts. Among Chaos Marines, Terminator Armours are limited (unless they have ties with the Dark Mechanicus, and even then these guys are no different from the Adeptus Mechanicus in term of hoarding stuff, so they rarely give the Spiky Boyz any newly made bling unless they get something valuable, though the Chosen can just directly threaten them too), thus in order for a Chosen to obtain one, they need to take it away from another Chosen either via heavily ritualised combat (aka: the manly duel to the death), or less warrior-like means (good old backstabbing or "a series of unfortunate accidents"). Krumping a loyalist Terminator and managing to salvage his armour is also one of the available options open to them.

Kill Team

Kill Team Chosen sporting the most awkwardly forced smile in modelling history.

On the Kill Team Nachmund tabletop, Chaos Chosens act as the leaders of a Legionary Kill Team.

As Chosens, they are the most experienced of the Astartes Heretics. They wear baroque armor and can count on the best equipment. The type of armour they wear can be any of the aforementioned above.

As far as weapons goes, specifically in this Kill Team format, the Chosen in particular, wield a Daemonblade, an odd choice given that Daemonblades are often wielded by Daemonhunters. For range, they can opt for either a Plasma Pistol or a Bolt Pistol of his choosing.

His Edgier (Believe it or not) brethren would be the Visionary from the Nemesis Claws.

On the tabletop, they are the opposite number of the aspiring champion with all the same stats and free ploy. While his gun options remain the same, his 3+ BS makes focusing on guns less than ideal. His lone melee option is a wicked daemon blade, with damage that outstrips all but a power fist and Lethal 5+ to ensure that those crits keep rolling.

This guy thrives off being in combat, as scoring crits lets him restore 2 wounds each turn (though this won't help him cheat death) and he has an aura that severely hampers the fleeing distance of any enemies that dare try and fall back within engagement range.

Chaos Chosens are categorised under Combat, Staunch and Marksman.

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  You like those lightning claws? Too bad!