Chaos Space Marine Troops

[Samael-TheFallen]

Hello,

 

As I'm relatively new to the hobby I played my first two games last Saturday (one against Space Wolves and one against Tyranids). As a part of my army I used a squad of fifteen Chaos Space Marines. I armed two Chaos Space Marines with flamers. In those two games I never used those flamers and I think they are not worth their points. Therefore my question: How do you arm your Chaos Space Marines? (If you got advice on how to use those 15 Chaos Space Marines better, like dividing them in two squads please also tell me.)

 

Greetz

[JamesI]

I use a squad with 2 plasmaguns and a squad with 2 meltaguns. one squad is 10 men, the other 12. Flamers work best for something fast (raptors, bikes, troops in a rhino)

[kharn_the_betrayer]

I field 2 10stong squads witha plasma gun or a melta gun and a las cannon on both. This is also a gunline so I'm debating the melta for another plasma gun (for range).

[Zeller]

I field 2 twenty man squads with ASP, PP, Melta, Flamer. I'll probably change the special weapons and yes I'm the kind of guy the dump more points than necessary into his squads.

 

Flamers not worth their points? 5 freakin points is nothing to fret about. Besides, if you had gotten them to fire on those bugs you wouldn't be saying that. You could try to use a horshoe formation with the legs of either side pointing away from your opponent. Put a havoc squad with 4 flamers in the middle of the legs and walk them to the enemy. When the big squad gets into HTH the havocs wait it out and burn anyone left. Never tried it but... :rolleyes:

[Brother Nihm]

From the stickied Tactica post at the top of this forum:

 

Chaos Space Marine, well yeah its hailed as the best basic trooper in the game now. For good reason! CCW, Pistol, Bolter, Frag and Krak. I'm half tempted to send these guys in without any upgrades at all! In large threatening squads with a defensive icon, they can hold the line or objective for a very long time. You can make them small and send them in as 5 or 6 troops with an assault weapon or plasma gun inside a rhino with a havoc launcher for decent shooty troops for cheap. You can send them in as 10 guys with a melee icon and do damage while having 2 meltas/flamers for versitility. You can pack a powerfist serg or meltabombs on him for decent measure, and to further bolster their example. They can kill anything in the game that has toughness 7 or lower and AV12 or lower on any side. That means land raiders and monoliths are your bane, while skimmers can be very hard to crack with krak grenades you still have the ability. (Troops that can do anything, can do everything!) For some of the best troops in the game, having any of these guys is good no matter what kind of army you have brewed.

[sonsoftaurus]

In my Word Bearers my basic CSM squads are ten strong, 2 melta, Icon of Chaos Glory, Champ with PF and combi-flamer mounted in a Rhino.

[Tfcdogbert]

10 strong, 2 plasma, champ with power fist, they are the workforce of my army, killed deathwing squads, striking scorpions up close (although not THAT well... There are limits :angry:) carnifexes and hive tyrants and dreadnoughts, they can kill almost anything and do, im adding more, i find that a 24 inch range 2 plasma shot allows them to sit on objectives and dakka at everything, and outshoot almost anything the loyalists can throw at me, i had 1 squad that killed a Dark angels master, dreadnaught, 10 man tac squad with HB and plasma gun all alone, they pulled the game back from the brink of defeat for me, that second plasma shot is really worth its points.

[Night Stalker]

10 Chaos Space Marines. 2 special weapons. icon of chaos glory. naked rhino [or with additional combi-bolter]. about 205/230 points - well worth it.

 

i take two squads for every 1000 points.

 

thought of the day. do not overbling them. they are just cannon fodder anyway.

[Tfcdogbert]

thought of the day. do not overbling them. they are just cannon fodder anyway.

 

I disagree, if you equip them well they will return their performance, ive had my marines make bigger returns than my tricked out daemon prince and my obliterators in one squad.

[Night Stalker]

for the cost of your bling i can take another unit. terminators for example :> pf for ac is ... well ... expensive. and only needed for mc/walker heavy list.

 

but, to be honest, i play for fun. IF i'll have to win, i'll take 2xDPlash 2x2 oblits 2x7 rhino PFzerkers [add more stuff for larger games]

[benno_wallace]

I field 3 troop choices in a 1500 point game.

 

10 marines, 2 melta guns champ with combi melta and power fist

10 marines, 1 lascannon, 1 plasma gun

3rd choice is either 10 marines, 2 plasma guns, champ with powerweapon or 8 plague marines, 2 plasma, champ with powerfist

 

I also buy a Rhino, the melta squad and the plasma squad share it, rushing one up then turning around to get the other to an objective by turn 4/5.

[Neigorath]

I have two 10 man squads with 2x plasmagun and aspiring champion with a powerweapon with rhinos for transport. Nice against MEQ, which is what most of my opponents use, althought a fist might be a good investment someday.

[Smurfalypse]

x10 champion with PF, meltagun, flamer, combi-melta on the champ. Rhino

[chillin]

I field mine one of two ways...

10 csm - melta/flamer, asp champ w/ PF, rino x armor

10 csm - 2 plasma guns, asp champ or not depending on pts, rino x armor

 

either way they are a work horse, can do well against just about anything, one of the best all around troop types in the game.

 

Samael the mistakes you made

- foot slogging , give them a rino

- 15 man squads, too big and unwieldy, not to mention, too big for rino

- getting that melta/flamer and assault in is a bit tricky, especially when first learning. I would suggest starting with 2 plasma guns (w champ), just get to w/in 12", jump out and ripidfire plasma and bolters

. You might get charged but as long as it's just by the unit you just shot up tour csm should be able to handle it. don't put them in a situtation where they can be assaulted by more then 1 squad (coordinated attacks and rino placement as a road block can help with that).

 

read the "tactica" forum and the asp champ and chaos lords handbooks on this forum.

 

welcome to chaos and the B&C.

[Samael-TheFallen]

Thanks for all of your reply's! :D I will soon test your advice as I'm playing my next game this Saturday (against the same opponents).

[Trve]

With my raptors (and I have 4 squads of em, Night Lords baby!) They all have 1 flamer and 1 meltagun. Champ has power weapon.

 

 

My Chaos Marines tend to be armed with a heavy bolter and a plasma gun. Aspiring champ has a power fist. With 5th edition however, I have began to swap the HB for a flamer.

[Cornelias]

i usually run smaller squads of 8(including champ) with power weapon, meltagun, IOCG mounted in a rhino and increase the squad size to 10 in games over 2k ;)

[Mutt-Man!]

I field three units of 20, each with an Icon of Tzeentch. Thats it. I won't explain why I use them like this, I'll just say that it wins me lots of games.

Total: 1020 points.

 

Sun Tzu

"If you are strong, feign weakness."

 

Someone adept with 5th edition can see where these units strengths prevail.

[Dràyhèn]

For meh, it's two ten-strong units in rhinos, with a fist, Undivided icon and either two meltas or plasmas, depending. Anyways, it works perfectly against any army, ability to fire four hot-shots in rapid fire range to that sooo scary carnifex or two super-heated energy rays to that damned tank is all you really can hope of an infantry squad. Ten can hold their own well enough and blast away everything with ease. It costs but it pays back itself, anytime. :)

[jeager]

I prefer plasma power arranged in 2 5-man squads, 1 fire-support with 2 plasguns + champion with plasma pistol and no close combat boosts moving in sync with and covering an assault unit with 3 plasma pistols (total) and close combat upgrades. If more troops are needed repeat with another 2 5-man squads. Giving at least one unit tank hunters allows it to deal with any threat that they might need to in terms of firepower being laid down.

 

For close combat I prefer demonic strength and furious charge upgrades with a power weapon over the power fist, ignoring melta bombs even if tank hunter is involved relying on the 6-12 effective strength 8 shots being applied to a target vehicle.

 

Other than that I tend to steer clear of basic infantry in favour of dreadnaughts and more specialist assault units.

[Primarch Naogedd]

Um... Are you sure you're using the new codex? Last I checked, we didn't get tank hunters or daemonic strength/furious charge.

 

Chillin's 10-man plasma squad sounds like a good option, but you should have a powerfist in each squad *just in case*.

[jamjar]

6 guys in a havocrhino, melta gun and champ with combi melta gun.

 

drive by melta's on juicy targets, mobile shooting from 2 guys combi bolter and havoc launcher, comes out at round 150 points, i take 3.

 

mobility is a must with normal squads of marines, your not hard enough to take on close combat units, nor can you play the heavy weapon game,

 

the flamers i prefer on raptors or bikes, so i can better get in position, plasmas belong on terminators or chosen where you can mass them and effectively target select with all the squad members. 6 guys so i can rally untill i am down to 2 guys and to keep my numbers meaningful while cost effective. krak grenades kill every tank but the big ones and meltas poke dreads.

 

Quite a hard unit to plan for but this is tactical flexibility.

[Cmndr Sarpedon]

In my 2500 points game I field:

 

10 CSM HB Flamer AC PF Rhino: Twin linked bolter, X armour, Dozerblade (I love cityfight)

12 Zerks SC PF 2XPP (i dont have a PP on my champ because plasma weapons hate me and he always fries himself)

9 1K sons Doombolt, MB, Rhino: Twin linked bolter, X armour, Dozerblade

7 PM 2 Plasma guns

 

 

I have just thought, why do I give demonic possesion to a rhino when it doesnt shoot much anyway?!?!?! I'v been wasting points for no reason...

I love the idea of Mutt-Man's 20 man Tzeentch squad... and the Jamjar 6 man driveby at a mere 150 points... In apoc.... you could have 100 of these squads! My lifes dream after a company of dreads :P *drool* I love those guys, very good at cards, but awfully depressing..