Hello everyone! Zak Ludick here from Cape Town, South Africa and this is a Warhammer 40k - Datasheet Review post!

What is it all about? It is not there to just give a stat. It is there to give MY review of the unit in the game of Warhammer 40,000

The last of the Indexes! A new challenge!

Right, I am finally ahead and by my best estimations as I explained in this Post, I should be able to keep ahead of the release curve and get the remainder of the Indexes reviewed before those Codex releases.

So I embark on a new challenge. I have calculated that there are roughly 148 reviews to do. I have chosen my frequency and have given myself 96 days to review them all.

Today is Day 51/96.
I have reviewed 72/148.

Time elapsed: 53.12%
Review Completion: 48.64%
Oof... can I still recover?

Hobby Fund - Working myself into the clear

With my hobby posts, I generate a hobby fund. 50% of the income goes into the fund. At the moment I put all my HBD earned from Warhammer posts into my alt account Hive account@zakl.hobbyfund.

I am collecting funds in the following ways:

Blogging about Warhammer to earn HBD
Accepting donations - Can be sent directly to Hive account@zakl.hobbyfund in HBD
Selling some of the collection to friends.

At the current count I am paying off some hobby debts. I still have $226 to pay off!

Every bit counts!

Back to the review!

Army Rule Recap

The Shadow of Chaos Rule was all about board control, gaining wounds and causing some mortal wounds to units within your Shadow of Chaos.

This Detachment will add something to that!

Detachment Rules

Thralls of the First Prince

When mustering your army, you cannot include Daemon Prince, Daemon Prince with Wings or Epic Heroes except for Be'lakor, but you can include any of the following Heretic Astartes units:

Chaos Lord
Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour
Chaos Lord with Jump Pack
Chaos Terminator Squad
Chosen
Damned units
Dark Apostle
Havocs
Master of Possession
Possessed
Raptors
Sorcerer
Sorcerer in Terminator Armour
Warp Talons

The combined points of these unit can be up to half of your army.

Keyword changes: Be'Lakor and Heretic Astartes units gain the Shadow Legion and Undivided keywords.

Legiones Daemonica units from your army gain the Shadow Legion keyword.

First Prince of Chaos

If your Army is Legiones Daemonica, you can use this Shadow Legion Detachment Rule.

Fist Prince of Chaos

Units from your army have the following abilities:

Murder's Cowl

Shadow Legion Khorne units from your army can Advance, Shoot and Charge.

Penumbral Puppetry

When being hit by an attack on Shadow Legion Tzeetch Daemon, they subtract 1 from the Hit roll.

Gloam Rot

When being hit by an attack whose Strength is greater than their Toughness, Shadow Legion Nurgle units subtract 1 from the Wound Roll of that attack.

Shadow's Caress

Shadow Legion Slaanesh units cannot be targeted by the Overwatch Stratagem.

Disciples of Be'lakor

Shadow Legion Undivided units only.

This unit has the Dark Pacts army rule as is described in Codex: Chaos Space Marines, even though your Army Faction is not Heretic Astartes. If this unit is Be'lakor, it automatically passes the Leadership test required for Dark Pacts.
Shadow Legion Heretic Astartes models have the Deep Strike ability.

Thoughts

What an insane amount of rules!

So... basically...

This army gives bonuses to all four types of Daemon... and can allow you to field up to half of your army as Chaos Space Marines... which you have also altered already to be more like Daemons since they ALL Deep Strike now.

Khorne and Chaos Astartes units are faster. Nurgle, Tzeetch and Slaanesh units are tougher.

You still have a Shadow of Chaos but some units have the Dark Pacts ability too... Which I have not reviewed on my blog series yet but basically you do a Leadership check and if you pass your attack gains Lethal Hits or Sustained Hits 1. If they fail the test, the unit suffers D3 Mortal Wounds as the Dark Gods eat at their souls.... Be'lakor passes automatically so he can choose but will most of the time choose Sustained hits 1.

Enhancements

Every Detachment has its own Enhancements to put on Characters. You cannot put 2 Enhancements on 1 hero, Epic Heroes cannot take them either, and you are limited to 3 of the 4.

Here are the Enhancements for the Shadow Legion.

Fade to Darkness - 30pts

Shadow Legion model only. At the end of the Fight phase, if the bearer's unit destroyed one or more enemy units and it is no longer in engagement phase of an enemy unit, you can remove the unit from the battlefield and place them into reserve.

Powerful and proactive, but needs a good eye. It means you can hurl the unit into an assault that you will likely win, snap the enemy up and then leave the battlefield and Deep Strike back down.

Leaping Shadows - 25pts

Shadow Legion model only. The bearer and his unit have a Scouts 9" ability.

Another power ability and with a large amount of unit that it could go onto. a 9" move before the battle begins. To my mind, this is always an ability suited to melee units that want to get in there and wreck things and could very well... spell doom if comboed the right way...

Blood Thirster gets Shadow Legion and Leaping Shadows... 9" Pregame move. 12" Movement, D6" Advance, 2D6" Charge... so... 24"-39" for an average of a 31" first turn threat range... this guy might be worth it just to see how the enemy's deployment buckles to try work around it...

Mantle of Gloom (Aura) - 20pts

Shadow Legion model only. While an enemy unit is within Engagement Range of the bearer's unit, subtract 1 from the OC of models in that in that enemy unit.

Amazing and simple - take away OC from enemy units while you fight them.

Malice Made Manifest - 25pts

Shadow Legion Model only. At the start of the Fight Phase, select an enemy unit within Engagement Range of the bearer's unit and roll a D6. On a 2-5 the enemy unit suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. On a 6 the enemy suffers 3 Mortal Wounds.

Also great. Direct damage, can be found on any character. Yikes.

All four Enhancements are so good that not one of them stands out as an Enhancement to avoid or Enhancements that are superior to others.

Stratagems

Stratagems are used in the battle as an elective rule that can be employed in crucial moments. All armies have access to Universal Stratagems but each Detachment has their very own Stratagems that they can use.

This is what the Shadow Legion can do.

Spiteful Demise - 1CP

Used in any Phase where a Shadow Legionunit from your army is Destroyed and it would be removed and before any Deadly Demise ability is rolled for

Roll a D6 for each enemy unit that is within Engagement range of the last model in the unit and add 2 to the result if the unit destroyed is a Slaanesh unit. On a 4-5 that enemy unit suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. On a 6 the enemy unit suffers 3 Mortal Wounds.

This means that units without Deadly Demise can also do damage... if it has both it could possibly explode twice. Nasty!

Channelled Wrath - 1CP

Used in the Fight Phase on a Shadow Legion unit that is about to attack. Melee weapons equipped by models in this unit have the Lance ability (+1 to Wound rolls when they charge) If the unit is a Khorne unit as well then they get +1 to Armor Penetration on their weapons as well.

Instantly more deadly and very useful when needed.

Death Denied - 1CP

Used in the Command Phase on a Shadow Legion unit in your army.

One model in that unit regains up to 3 lost wounds. In addition, if that unit has the Tzeentch keyword, return up to one destroyed model to your unit with its full wounds remaining (Excluding Character models).

The returned 3 wounds is amazing, especially on a Greater Daemon... but the regain 3 lost wounds plus revive model had me puzzled. What Tzeetch unit benefits from this when they all have single wounds?

Encroaching Darkness - 1CP

Used in the Shooting Phase on up to one Shadow Legion Heretic Astartes unit and up to one Shadow Legion Legiones Daemonic unit from your army. You can only select units that arrived from Reserves this turn.

Until the end of the turn, weapons in those units have the Ignores Cover ability.

This is amazing and since this Detachment gives all the Chaos Marine units Deep Strike... this could really mess up someone up!

Shade Path - 2CP

This is used in the opponent's Charge phase just after the enemy has selected its targets. One Shadow Legion unit that was selected as the target of that Charge is selected for this Strat.

Subtract 2 from the Charge rolls made for that incoming Charge. If the Chaos unit is a Nurgle unit, then the enemy charging needs to take a Battle-Shock test as well.

This is why its 2CP... an instant 2" extra on a 7-9" charge could mean uncertainty and possible failure, ruining the enemies plans.

Binding Shadow - 1CP

Used at the end of the opponent's Fight Phase.

Up to one Heretic Astartes unit and up to one Legiones Daemonica unit from your army. You can only select units that are NOT within Engagement range of enemy models.

Remove those units from the Battlefield and put them back into Reserves.

Insanely powerful and another combo where the Chaos Marine unit AND a Daemon unit can be selected.

Conclusion

This Detachment is really really powerful, with abilities, Enhancements and Strats for everything. Even the basic bonuses that the Detachment gives are off the charts.

But... I feel that you need to be either an experienced player or have a really good grasp on the game and have a good memory to make full use of the Detachment.

In the right hands... devastating...

In the wrong hands... lots of missed opportunity!

Thank you for reading this post!

Warhammer Review Library

Link Container Post: Warhammer 40k Links Container Post! 26/03/2025

I shall leave Army and Detachment rules here as well as The Space Wolves Datasheets I did before.

Army Rule and Detachment Rule Reviews

Faction	Detachment	Review Number
Agents of the Imperium		Army Rule #2
Aeldari		Army Rule #4
Astra Militarum		Army Rule #1
Astra Militarum	Combined Regiment	Detachment Rule #1
Astra Militarum	Bridgehead Strike	Detachment Rule #2
Chaos Daemons		Army Rule #10
Chaos Daemons	Daemonic Incursion	Detachment Review 15
Chaos Daemons	Blood Legion	Detachment Review 16
Chaos Daemons	Legion of Excess	Detachment Review 17
Chaos Daemons	Scintillating Legion	Detachment Review 18
Chaos Daemons	Plague Legion	Detachment Review 19
Chaos Knights		Army Rule #8
Chaos Knights	Tratoris Lance	Detachment Review #11
Chaos Knights	Iconoclast Fiefdom	Detachment Review #12
Death Guard		Army Rule Review #6
Death Guard	Plague Company	Detachment Review #4
Death Guard	Flyblown Host	Detachment Review #7
Imperial Knights		Army Rule #9
Imperial Knights	Noble Lance	Detachment Review #13
Imperial Knights	Questor Forgepact	Detachment Review #14
Space Marines		Army Rule #3
Space Wolves	Champions of Russ	Detachment Review #9
Space Wolves	Champions of Fenris	Detachment Review #10
Thousand Sons		Army Rule #7
Thousand Sons	Cult of Magic	Detachment Review #5
Thousand Sons	Hexwarp Thrallband	Detachment Review #8
World Eaters		Army Rule #5
World Eaters	Berzerker Warband	Detachment Review #3
World Eaters	Vessels of Wrath	Detachment Review #6

Datasheet Review list (Alphabetical)

Faction	Unit	Review Number
Chaos Daemons	Beasts of Nurgle	#98
Chaos Daemons	Be'lakor	#370
Chaos Daemons	Bloodcrushers	#371
Chaos Daemons	Bloodletters	#372
Chaos Daemons	Bloodmaster	#373
Chaos Daemons	Bloodthister	#374
Chaos Daemons	Blue Horrors	#375
Chaos Daemons	Burning Chariot	#376
Chaos Daemons	Changecaster	#377
Chaos Daemons	Contorted Epitome	#378
Chaos Daemons	Daemonettes	#29
Chaos Daemons	Daemon Prince of Chaos	#379
Chaos Daemons	Daemon Prince of Chaos with Wings	#380
Chaos Daemons	Epidemius	#381
Chaos Daemons	Exalted Flamer	#382
Chaos Daemons	Fateskimmer	#383
Chaos Daemons	Feculent Gnarlmaw	#384
Chaos Daemons	Fiends	#385
Chaos Daemons	Flamers	#386
Chaos Daemons	Flesh Hounds	#387
Chaos Daemons	Fluxmaster	#388
Chaos Daemons	Great Unclean One	#389
Chaos Daemons	Hellflayers	#390
Chaos Daemons	Horticulous Slimux	#391
Chaos Daemons	Infernal Enrapturess	#392
Chaos Daemons	Kairos Fateweaver	#393
Chaos Daemons	Karanak	#395
Chaos Daemons	Keeper of Secrets	#394
Chaos Daemons	Lord of Change	#75
Chaos Daemons	Nurglings	#82
Chaos Daemons	Pink Horrors	#396
Chaos Daemons	Plaguebearers	#397
Chaos Daemons	Plague Drones	#398
Chaos Daemons	Poxbringer	#399
Chaos Daemons	Rendmaster on Blood Throne	#400
Chaos Daemons	Rotigus	#401
Chaos Daemons	Screamers	#402
Chaos Daemons	Seekers	#403
Chaos Daemons	Shalaxi Helbane	#404
Chaos Daemons	Skarbrand	#405
Chaos Daemons	Skull Altar	#406
Chaos Daemons	Skull Cannon	#407
Chaos Daemons	Skullmaster	#408
Chaos Daemons	Skulltaker	#409
Chaos Daemons	Sloppity Bilepiper	#410
Chaos Daemons	Soulgrinder	#411
Chaos Daemons	Spoilpox Scrivener	#412
Chaos Daemons	Syll’Esske	#413
Chaos Daemons	The Blue Scribes	#414
Chaos Daemons	https://v3.ecency.com/hive-189497/@zakludick/warhammer-40k-review-library-415	#415
Chaos Daemons	The Masque	#416
Chaos Daemons	Tormentbringer	#417
Chaos Daemons	Tranceweaver	#418