First let's talk about the codex and supplements, and how you can use them to build a list. The vanilla codex has been heralded as weak for some time, and compared to others that have been updated its kinda true. But let's not fall into the trap of whining about it. That's what space marine players do.
The codex itself has some strong units, especially with forgeworld options. Make no mistake, tournament players WILL bring their best units to the table. So don't let anyone tell you not to use the power that forgeworld brings. Let's talk about the good:
Choosing HQ to go along with your army is crucial to your success. If you are running an assault army, putting Kharn in a dreadclaw with some marines or bersekers is money. All he ever lacked to be amazing was a delivery system. Problem solved.
The demon prince of khorne with wings and the axe of blind fury kills everything it touches. I mean 7+d6 s9 ap2 attacks on the charge, can you say bye bye wraithknight?
Malefic sorcerers are cheap and useful too. Summoning is a powerful tool you can use, and he lets you take multiple infernal relics. (FW models such as the Kharybdis, Sicaran, and Fire Raptor)
Chaos space marines in dreadclaw drop pods-
This is a powerful tool for you as a chaos player. It's essentially a cooler version of a drop pod that flies. And your marines don't have to disembark the turn it lands. Flying objective secured assault vehicle drop pods? Suck on that imperial scum.
Chaos spawn of Nurgle- these are fast, hold objectives like nobody's business, and don't give a shit about strength D or s10 shooting. Park them on a relic or objective in a ruin and laugh as your opponent tries to take it from you.
Heldrakes- Not sure I need to explain this one. Takes pointy ears and those pesky space marines off the table in a hurry. Listen to them whine as you melt their jetbikes.
Heavy Support- OK so here's where I throw some of our best units out there in one go. The Chaos Relic Sicaran is the best tank in the game. Hands down. With s7 rending no jink shots laugh as you shoot warp hunters and jetbikes off the table. And those pesky rerollable dark angels jink saves. The rending bolters upgrade is soooooo good it is a must. With 13/12/12 armor and ceramite, and it's a fast tank too! So good.
Don't underestimate your good Ole Las predators either. For 140 points they can serve as your anti armor too. And if you take a bunch of drop pods and chaos spawn, any shooting your opponent does at a tank assures you of a win.
Lord of War- the Chaos Knights are fantastic support. Having a 5+ demon save is clutch in melee and wherever your shield isnt. The khorne demon knight with rampage is pretty sweet.
There are several formations that work well with a CSM army. The sorcerers cabal can be used with your spawn to take enemy shooting and for summoning, making you even more powerful. Summoned flesh hounds and bloodcrushers make for a bad day for the enemy. And of course using a skatach wraithknight against his own unit is more than payback for the games it ate your face. Paybacks a bitch.
Using your friendly battle brothers in a list is helpful too. Khorne Demonkin have two of the best formations to play alongside as support. The Fist of Khorne and the gorepack. I covered these in my last article so if you need more info on them check it out.
Another army to consider as allies are.... Orks! I took an ork and CSM cad to warzone atlanta last November and was at the top tables all tournament, with one loss to my good friend Price Wilkes.. who won the whole thing and is the last person to beat me with Eldar.
So how do I beat the meta lists with this? You're probably stumped. Anyone can lose if you roll badly and your opponent rolls well. We all know that. But if you take fast, hard hitting units that can control the table and use the correct heavy support and fast attack choices, you have all the tools necessary to win. Say you take a fire raptor, heldrake, and sicaran as support they are taking 3-4 jetbikes squads off the table per turn while your gorepack or mobs of chaos spawn crush the warp spider spam.
You can deal with super heavies and gargantuan creatures easily enough as well. Either use things to tie them up or kharn and a demon prince to smash them into a million pieces. Your call. I prefer to smash them, personally. And for the naysayers out there, these armies work will against space marines, eldar, tau, and you CAN beat them. So don't let anyone tell you that you can't win with chaos space marines. I've been doing it, and will continue to do so.
Good luck fellow heretics, and I hope you've found this guide useful. Share and spread our blog around if you liked what you read!
Great writeup! One thing I'm struggling with is figuring out how to handle Knights using a melee drop pod Khorne/CSM list you've talked about. You mentioned that Kharne can take out Knights and Wraithknights. But mathematically he seems to have a hard time against them. If you don't get a lucky scatter on them and have average rolls, and say Kharne gets stomped out the turn he charges in, what sort of redundancy would the list have to handle tough units like Knights and Wraithknights?
ReplyDeleteKharn is initiative 5 s7 armourbane with 7 attacks on the charge hitting on 2s rerolling misses with his warlord trait. He eats knights for breakfast.
DeleteI understand. But if you lose him to some unfortunate set of circumstances (like getting stomped out by a second knight.) How does the rest of your list deal with that?
DeleteJust curious because in the past when I've had one unit to deal with something and they get destroyed I really struggle to come back.
You can tie knights up with the fist, even though they can't kill one they can hold it up until he gets there. You can look out sir! Stomps as well. And if on a bad roll you do lose him to stomps you still have table control. Easily done.
DeleteRight on, that sounds good. Looking forward to more reports with this list, looks very fun!
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