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This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The detachment rule, stratagems and enhancements below are read from the printed pages of the free Chaos Space Marines Faction Pack version 1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026, checked on 27 August 2026. Detachment Point costs and enhancement points are not in the Faction Pack; they were read from the official Munitorum Field Manual on 27 August 2026 and are reprinted here as a planning aid. Points move with every update, so confirm them in the Warhammer 40,000 app before a game.
In your Shooting phase, when a friendly Heretic Astartes Psyker unit (excluding Daemon units) is selected to shoot, if it makes a Dark Pact its ranged attacks have +1 Strength. In the Fight phase, when a friendly Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince or Daemon Prince with Wings unit (excluding Khorne units) is selected to fight, if it makes a Dark Pact its melee attacks have +2 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration.
1CP. One friendly Heretic Astartes Psyker or Daemon unit (excluding Khorne units) heals D3+1 wounds, which is how a lone Sorcerer or Daemon Prince walks off a round of chip damage.
1CP. A friendly Heretic Astartes Psyker unit picks one visible enemy unit within 12" and rolls a D6: on a 1 that unit suffers 1 mortal wound, on a 2 to 4 it suffers D3, and on a 5 or 6 it suffers 2D3. These are inflicted by a psychic attack.
1CP. When a friendly Heretic Astartes Psyker unit is selected to shoot, that unit's ranged attacks have Ignores Cover.
Heretic Astartes Daemon model only, excluding Khorne models. This model's melee attacks have Lance, which suits a Daemon Prince that intends to charge every turn.
Heretic Astartes model only, excluding Khorne models. This model gains Psyker and its weapons gain Psychic, which is the cheapest way to add a second body to the detachment rule's Shooting-phase clause.
The core Psyker the Shooting-phase clause is written for, and the natural Fleshy Curse and Wreathed in Warpflame target.
See the box: price and offersA second Psyker character so the detachment rule and its stratagems have more than one home.
See the box: price and offersThe obvious Touched by the Warp carrier: 10 points turns a non-Psyker character into an Empyric Wellspring beneficiary.
See the box: price and offersThe Fight-phase half of the rule names Daemon Prince and Daemon Prince with Wings units specifically, excluding Khorne.
See the box: price and offersDaemon-keyword infantry that Infernal Vigour can heal, which is unusual value on a multi-wound unit.
See the box: price and offersFleshy Curse deals mortal wounds at range, and pushing a unit below half-strength is exactly the switch Terror Made Manifest keys off for its Hit and Wound bonuses.
A caster core has no answer to a single hard target. Focus of Hatred gives the whole army re-rolls against one unit each turn while your Psykers keep their own buff.
How to play Cabal of Chaos in 11th edition — the 1-DP support detachment that makes your Psykers and non-Khorne Daemon Princes genuinely dangerous when they take a Dark Pact.
BySprue Sentry
ReviewedAug 28, 2026
SourceFaction Pack: Chaos Space Marines v1.2 (official GW PDF, legal from 26 August 2026)
Sprue Sentry strategy commentary for 11th edition, not official rules. Games Workshop updates points and rules regularly; always confirm against the current official rules and latest update before a game.
Cabal of Chaos is the cheapest way to make sorcerers matter: a 1-Detachment-Point package that turns the Dark Pact your Psyker was going to take anyway into a real damage spike. It reflects Warhammer 40,000 11th edition (Chaos Space Marines Faction Pack v1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026), which prints its full rules.
This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The rule, three stratagems and two enhancements below are read from the pack's own printed pages, checked on 27 August 2026. Its DP cost and enhancement points come from the official Munitorum Field Manual, and the Warhammer 40,000 app is the final word as points updates land.
Two clauses, both conditional on a Dark Pact:
Read both exclusions, because they are easy to trip over. The Shooting clause excludes Daemon units, so a Daemon Prince that is also a Psyker gets nothing from it. The Fight clause excludes Khorne, which is exactly the Mark a melee Daemon Prince would otherwise want.
The practical effect on a Daemon Prince is large. +2 Strength moves a typical Prince into wounding heavy infantry and light vehicles far more reliably, and the extra armour penetration comes on top of whatever the pact itself granted.
Three, all 1CP, which is the standard allocation for a 1-DP detachment. Each one counts.
Fleshy Curse is the one that changes games it has no business changing, because it is ranged, targeted damage that does not care about cover, screens or line-of-sight tricks beyond visibility, and it can push a unit below half strength for a partner detachment.
Only two, which is again standard for 1 DP.
(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)
Take it as a 1-DP splash on a 2-DP core when your list already contains a Sorcerer, a Master of Possessions or a Daemon Prince, and you want them to be threats rather than buff batteries. It is also the answer for a core detachment that has no ranged reach, because Fleshy Curse works from anywhere your Psyker can see.
Be clear-eyed about the limits. It is 1 DP for a reason: three stratagems, two enhancements, and a rule that touches only Psykers and Daemon Princes. In a bolter-and-chainsword list with no caster it does close to nothing.
And one pairing is a trap: Renegade Warband removes the Dark Pacts ability from your whole army, and both halves of Empyric Wellspring are conditional on making a Dark Pact. Those two are legal together and do nothing together.
Sample gameplan: run a 2-DP core plus Cabal. Give a Sorcerer Touched by the Warp duties by putting the enhancement on a second character instead, and put Conduit of Chaos on a winged Daemon Prince marked anything other than Khorne. Open with Fleshy Curse on the enemy unit you most want thinned, pact for Sustained or Lethal Hits with the Sorcerer's unit and cash the +1 Strength, and hold Infernal Vigour for the Command phase after your Prince has been shot.
1 DP, so at a 2,000-point game it leaves 2 DP for a core detachment. DP costs are not printed in the Faction Pack; the official Munitorum Field Manual lists it at 1 DP, and the Warhammer 40,000 app is the final word as points updates land.
Empyric Wellspring. In your Shooting phase, a friendly Heretic Astartes Psyker unit (excluding Daemon units) that makes a Dark Pact has +1 Strength on its ranged attacks. In the Fight phase, a friendly Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince or Daemon Prince with Wings unit (excluding Khorne units) that makes a Dark Pact has +2 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration on its melee attacks.
No. The Fight-phase clause explicitly excludes Khorne units, as do both enhancements and the Infernal Vigour stratagem. If you are running Pactbound Zealots alongside a Cabal plan, mark your Daemon Prince as anything other than Khorne.
It is legal, since neither carries a Unique Tag, but it does nothing. Renegade Warband's Slaves to None rule removes the Dark Pacts ability from every Heretic Astartes model in your army, and both halves of Empyric Wellspring only trigger when a unit makes a Dark Pact.
Written by Sprue Sentry, grounded in the cited sources. Original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.