Chaos For Dummies

[Slyen]

So I decided to take up a new route with my play style and start a new army. Right now I am doing the fairly pricey mistake of building an Imperial Guard army at the same time of a smaller Chaos Marines army.

 

So I have gotten a codex and I have a few kits along the way (Squad of Chaos Marines, Defiler, and Termi Lord) but I would like suggestions on a build list for an army having only played against them in an evenly matched learning game. Looking at 750-1000 points in size.

 

Also I am curious as to people's recommendation for a theme warband wise. Like should they be Nurgal followers? Khorne? That sort of thing.

 

So basicly to start out the thread I'm wondering about army lists that are generally good all around and what people's perfered fluff for their chapters (or is it legions?).

[Brother Nihm]

Take a look here:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=195049 (check the asp. champ's handbook).

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...mp;s=&f=113

[Slyen]

Thanks for the links Nihm. The Aspiring Champ's handbook was particularly handy in that.

 

Now there would not happen to be a thread dedicated to CSM sprues and what comes in what kit would there?

[Brother Nihm]

It's not complete but check the first link again and then look for the sprue index.

[Rain]

Theme choice is entirely in the eye of the beholder. In my personal opinion, Khorne and Nurgle are the strongest, but Slaanesh can also be quite good, and Tzeentch is kind of meh, especially if you aren't playing against Meq. You can also always have a mix, but if you want to remain true to the background, Khorne should probably not mix with Slaanesh and Tz and Nurgle should not mix with Tz as those gods hate each other.

 

Finally, in most cases it's better to take straight up cult troops rather than icon bearing CSM's for reasons that are picked apart and discussed in other threads on Chaos Ascendant so look around, but the short version is that the extra abilities of cult troops are very economical in points and make them very good at what they do, with 'zerks and PM's being in my opinion some of the best troops in the entire game.

 

As far as list goes, a basic template would be

 

Daemon Prince w/wings

 

1 troops squad/500 points (roughly, might be more if unmarked CSMs)

Each troops squad should have 2x special weapons unless they are 'zerks and generally a fist champ though there is some debate on which squads do and don't need a champ

 

Rhinos for every troops squad

 

Termicide (3x termis with combi-meltas) These are a good choice for facing down tank heavy armies but are very unfluffy in that Chaos would probably not send its elite veterans on suicide missions so I don't field them, but gamewise they are good

 

Oblits/Predators/Havocs these are important as Chaos generally lacks long range anti-tank, oblits are in my opinion the best choice, but your mileage may vary.

[Lady_Canoness]

The great thing about Chaos is that you can fit whatever you like about any other army and into the Chaos Marines - which pretty much means that once you start Chaos you don't need anything else :P

Chaos Marines boast of more character and style than any other list - playing 'Chaos Marines' can mean anything under the sun. Assault or shooty or both, large squads, small squads, a lot of units or hardly any, the Chaos Army can be made into anything you want it to be.

 

It also can be adapted to any theme.

They can be the unstoppable horde of darkness, they can be manipulative and clandestine, they can literally be cultists or even hardened warriors. Every time you watch a movie, read a book, play a game, or even look at other armies and find yourself thinking "huh, that would be really cool to have in 40k" the army that lets you do that are the Chaos Space Marines.

Think that the idea of an Eldar Seer council is really neat? Put a tzeentchi sorcerer in a small thousand son's squad and you have yourself a Sorcerer coven. Like the idea of viking raiders looting and pillaging from their long boats? Chaos Marines fit right in - and they look great with bare arms! Punk rock? Noise Marines can fit right in with wild and colourful armour, tats, and hair (not to mention SOUND GUNS!)

 

Chaos, more so than Space Marines, lets your imagination run free.

 

That is my advice for any new Chaos player. Think about your favourite villain(s) (be they the legendary black nights, pirates, barbarians, Sith, or even Dr. Evil) and you can fashion an army - or even a single squad - after him/them.

 

You picked the best army to play, model, and day-dream about. Enjoy the ride :)

[davethebear]

khorne if you want to spill alot of blood.

nurgle if you want to laugh in the face of enemy fire.