A whole lot of 40K Codexes have have Chaos Spawn in them. Here’s the best ones you should take to grasp creepy Spawn-y victory.
Did you know the current in use Chaos Spawn miniature came out in in the 2007 and we are still using this kit? I remember when they came out I used a few to build some Daemon Princes when those guys lived on a 40mm Terminator base. The current kit is still heavily in rotation and while most players convert their Spawn out of a plethora of other things the unit itself is still somewhat of a centerpiece to almost all the Chaos Armies.
If you need a cheap unit that somehow still have OC 1 then a Chaos Spawn unit of 2 is for you. They usually have a pile of wounds, fit into the cost of a character, normally are pretty fast, and thankfully easy to hide. They also end up having the beast keyword which allows them to scuttle around the board and not get stuck behind MDF Walls we see on most table tops. They are a powerful little unit and thankfully each Chaos Marine based army has access to them. They are all different and today I want to rank them from the worst to the best – based on the various Chaos armies that take them.
#5 – Chaos Space Marines – Chaos Spawn
Codex Chaos Space Marines Spawn are one of the most basic of them all as it continues the normal statline of Toughness 4, 4 Wounds, 4+ save, and a 5+ Feel No Pain. The extra wrinkle in this one is that their terrifying visage or Mind-Breaking Mutations is a 3″ aura that subtracts 1 from the OC value of any non vehicle unit. That doesn’t seem too bad and while it isn’t a useful rule currently it could be interesting. The game really doesn’t leave many “units” on an objective plus its 3″ range makes it where any kind of counter fighting rule will easily hit the unit and wreck them if needed. The worst thing for this unit is that they have 0 OC which makes them just about worthless as an extra “action” Jackson for the army.
#4 – Thousand Sons – Chaos Spawn
Codex Thousand Sons Spawn again follows the basic statline from the Chaos Space Marine one but with the added bit of having OC 1. On top of that they also get the interesting add on of Regenerating Monstrosities which has the unit heal 3 wounds in your command phase. I think it isn’t a bad backfield unit that can easily just help protect your home base and take some damage. The enemy has to push more attacks through to fully remove this as leaving it on a wound or two will just have them quickly heal up and be a pain in the butt.
#3 – Death Guard – Chaos Spawn
Death Guard Chaos Spawn follows the Chaos Space Marine one with all the same sort of basic rules but GW did get it right by giving this unit 1 OC which lets them be useful. They also started gaining the ability to Scout – this time 6″ which can be useful. They also decided to throw them a whopping 7 toughness value and Deadly Demise 1 too. Their extra rule is Lethal Ichor which has the unit throw back gross fluids if they are attacked in melee. For ever attack allocated to the unit you can roll one d6 and each 4+ throws a Mortal wound back at the enemy. It isn’t too bad and while they are not a unit that syncs up fully with the Death Guard strategy it isn’t bad to have one laying around and protecting the backfield like some kind of deranged attack dog.
#2 – Emperor’s Children – Chaos Spawn
In Codex Emperors Children, you start to see some shifts in the Chaos Spawn as they add in 2″ of extra movement to their base value. Now you add in the Thrill Seekers rule of getting advance and charge and you start to have a crazy little monster that runs around and can quickly put pressure on the enemy. You get some extra bonus points from the Coterie detachment and you start to see this guy rerolling hits and getting sustained hits on top of everything else. Their rule is Scuttling Horrors which allows them to have a normal move of 6″ if the enemy ends their move within 9″ of one of these things. This could be very helpful to get closer or even grab an objective as they still have OC 1 in Emperor’s Children.
#1 – World Eaters – Chaos Spawn
Here we have what is most likely the best version of Chaos Spawn and the one you will see in most World Eaters armies. They keep the same sort of build up like the Emperor’s Children with the added benefit of Scout 8″, Advance/Charge, and even more melee attacks with d6+4 instead of the normal d6+2. These monsters are your pressure units and almost like your Hounds of Khorne designed to get out there and cause mayhem with their heavily mutated bodies and madness chattering from all the mouths they have all over their body. Is there even a skull left in their head? What kind of madness are they living in? What did Khorne promise them to explode their bodies into murder machines?
Remember, never feed your Chaos Spawn after midnight!
Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.