Best/Cheapest Chaos Startup

[Teal]

First of all, an introduction. I've been lurking around this place for about a month now, waiting for the right moment to jump in with a first post. I played quite a bit of 40K back in the old days of Third Edition, and I even have an bunch of Rogue Trader Space Marines that were given to me when I began to get into the hobby. A few years ago, my interest began to die down. Recently though, my interest has been sparked again by the release of 5th Edition, and I've been slowly edging myself back into the world of the far future.

 

I've decided that I want to play Chaos this time around, but I want to do it in the cheapest way possible. I just picked up the codex, and for my HQ, and going to convert an old Space Marine Librarian into a Sorcerer using bits that I'll buy or get from other sets.

 

So now, to complete that handy little organization chart, I need two units of troops. This is where I'm lost. Without any knowledge of the effectiveness of the units due to playing with them or playing against them, five choices is a lot for me. So I need help. I want to:

 

1) Spend as little money as possible

2) Get as many points per dollar as possible

3) Have an effective force

 

And hopefully, those three things go hand in hand with each other.

 

Oh, and I apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum to post this is. I was torn between Army Lists and here, but this seemed more appropriate due to the fact that I'm asking for an army list, not presenting one.

[Retalitus]

As a new Chaos player myself, I can appreciate your position. Personally, I think you can't go wrong with getting hold of about 20 or so standard Chaos Space Marines. I picked up all mine off Ebay, there are always some on there (both unpainted and ready-painted), and I didn't have to pay a great deal of money for them.

 

You're always going to use the basic CSMs in my opinion, and I'm sure your fellow players will allow you to proxy these units for the other troop choices (bezerkers, plague marines, etc) while you get a feel for them on the table, and decide which you enjoy playing more. With a little extra attention to the paint job, there's no reason why you can't also use your CSMs as Chosen too, so that's another reason to pick up the basic marines.

 

I would also recommend buying a chaos rhino or two (or a space marine rhino, which you can convert). Not only are you going to need these for your squads, but again, these are good to use as proxies for some of the other armoured units (predators, vindicators). At least that's how I've been using them. I don't regret my first purchases as a chaos player being two squads of CSMs and two rhinos, and months later I'm still using all of them.

 

On another note, I picked up some Chaos Terminators, which I've been using both as termies and as proxies for Obliterators. My current gaming group are happy for me to carrying on using these termies as oblits (they're pretty similar anyway), which is going to save me a few pennies!

 

Hope this helps!

[Grey Mage]

Sorceror+9 Tzeentch marines in a rhino with a combi melta is a powerful force... that runs around 320pts. With simple conversions, the squad runs around 70 bucks.... 56 if you get it from one of those 20% off places, or less if you get it second hand.

[Giga]

You want few models and great efficiency?

 

Get this;

 

two demon princes

9 obliterators

two boxes of plague marines

two rhinos

 

This should give you a highly competitive force with a relatively small number of models and not such a high price. =P

[eyescrossed]

And an easy way to make Oblits is to get termies and stick on weapons with greenstuff. A lot cheaper, too.

[Retalitus]

Personally, I'd hold off on getting the more specialised troops like Bezerkers and Plague Marines until you've had a chance to see if you enjoy playing them first. Unless you've got all the fluff for your army already worked out, you don't know what kinda Chaos force you'll enjoy playing until you've actually tried them all, and I think there'll always be room in any force for basic CSMs.

 

I really do recommend proxying units for your first few games, maybe borrowing some of your opponents models (agreed prior to the game, of course!!) and getting a feel for the different units before spending a fortune on buying them. I say this from experience, because I jumped straight in and bought myself a Chaos Dreadnought, but have only ever played it in one game - once I'd actually played it, the unit just wasn't for me. Really wish I'd just borrowed one of my mate's Space Marine dreadnoughts first, and tried that on the table before splashing my cash!

[Teal]

I think I'll being what Retalitus suggested. I'm not sure what I want to playing style wise under these new rules, and basic Chaos marines seem versatile enough that they'll leave me room to decide. And, as you were suggesting, I could proxy them for other units.