Got Dark Vengeance, what next?

[AGPO]

I recently bought DV as a) I wanted to bulk out my Angels Sanguine and b ) I haven't played regularly for a few editions and needed a rulebook. I had originally intended to sell the Chaos figures and make back a little money on the box. However, having seen the models in the flesh I couldn't resist them and decided to begin a new project with them alongside my loyalists.

 

The only problem is I have no idea what to take to expand the army. I'm not a super-competitiveplayer and prefer narrative games to anything else, but obviously getting steamrollered every time is not much fun. Are there any must have/avoid units in the current chaos codex?

 

From a theme point of view I'm going to paint them as Sons of Horus. That way they could represent the Legion during the later stages of the heresy, between the end of the Siege and Abaddon's reorganisation or a warband that is stubbornly sticking to its old colours. I'd like to add in some elements from other legions too, but I've had a soft spot for Horus's boys since reading Horus Rising.

 

Any help is much appreciated.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Hmm. One unit I'm toying with (I've had the models on the painting deck since 5th, and 6th gave them a nice boost) is a Khornate Lord on Juggernaught in a pack of Chaos Spawn.

 

Heldrakes are often seen as very powerful, although you've probably already heard that! Similarly, Obliterators are good, flexible fire support.

 

Havocs are a great unit. Cultists are pretty good too, and DV should have you off to a good start.

 

The only units I (personally) think of as so-so would be Mutilators and Warp Talons (although I'm making some Tzeentchian Warp Talons to hang out with my TSons sanyways...).

 

Maybe some Mark of Khorne troop Chaos Marines to represent their Heresy-era Reaver squads?

 

Mostly, you'd probably want to start by bulking up on some power armour dudes to fill out basic Troops/Havoc/Chosen units.

 

Since you're doing Sons of Horus/Black Legion with other forces mixed in, pretty much anything goes!

[Lucien Eilam]

Are there any must have/avoid units in the current chaos codex?

Based on the Chaos section here, 3 Heldrakes and a giant box of Kleenex to mop up all your tears.

[Cap'm Heckus]

It depends on what type of units you enjoy.

 

I'd grab a box or 2 of Chaos marines to start.  Bikes are always nice.  If you like heavy units Obliterators or autocannon havocs are pretty solid.  The chosen from the box make nice unit champions or character pieces (unless you want a really expensive melee unit that can't claim objectives).  Spawn are big fun too.

[Hellios]

Get yourself over to FW and buy those wonderful Sons of Horus bits and bobs :D

[the jeske]

40 cultists , 2 helldrakes , enough parts to make 1 biker sorc with Lclaw and fist and 1 sorc on bike , 5-6 bikers . 6 oblits 10 hacocks with 8 assault cannons and an aegis .

[Someblindmarineplayer]

what I did was buy two DV boxes and the chaos codex. I traded my hellbrutes, the extra hq models, and plasma cannon marines for paint. I converted 9 terminators into obliteratirs, all of the bikes and marines were converted, I used my old space wolves to make berzerkers and my brother gave me awesome blood angels models with feathered wings which have become my

raptors. helldrakes are awesome but they are very cookiecutter and ugly as sin. nurgle obliterators are pretty standard as well and combo well with Blackheart, a blob of khorne cultists is also pretty nasty as a second or third wave charge behind some nurgle bikes and/or chainaxezerkers. several small units of cultists make a good meat shield. a small unit of Raptors with a couple melta guns seems to draw a lot of

fire.

[AGPO]

Thanks for the advice all. Having read the bayous horror stories people are spouting about the new book, I'm going to focus more on the units I like than try to build a truly competitive list which seems pretty cookie cutter I'm going to try and build something a tad more fluffy with the models I like. I do have a few more specific questions about the army in general.

 

1) veterans of the long war seems really cool from a fluff perspective but is it worth taking?

2) I'm going to include a sorcerer as my HQ, how many mastery points should I take?

3) do you trend to tend to take icons with CSM squads? Again they seem fluffy but I'm not sure of their use fullness in game terms.

4) with compulsory challenges is it worth kitting out my aspiring champions or should I just keep them cheap to minimise the loss when they run into something truly killy?

 

Thanks again for the help. At the moment I'm looking at a couple of boxes of chaos space marines and a box of raptors, which in addition to the six or so marines I was given by a friend and a pack of forge world autocannons should give me two large squads, a smaller unit of drive plus a squad of Havocs, using the DV chosen as unit leaders. Next up I guess I'll need more fast units and fire power, maybe some nurgle bikers and a helldrake?

[bjoluemblem]

Welcome to the Chaos! As per your questions there:

1) It's cool for a fluff perspective, and if you know you're going to be playing against marines, it's a decent choice. The leadership boost is decent if you want the points for it.

2) You want all three MLs. The ability to spec into Biomancy or Telepathy makes the sorcerer really good. You definitely want three mastery levels. He's cheap, too!

3) I take Icons of Vengeance on squads because they die fast, so fearless prevents them from falling back or being swept in close combat. The issue is, watch out for snipers or characters' shooting. To hit rolls of 6's will let them allocate wounds to your icons, so be careful with placement/target priority of your own shooting. Your lovely chaos blob becomes a lot less scary if Telion snipes their icon, for example.

4) Sergeants should be kitted to deal with things that they could potentially kill. A power sword or axe is pretty much mandatory so that, theoretically, if you punk a marine sergeant you could ascend to a daemon prince. The points are worth it even if the champ gets sacrificed to a melee character like Mephiston or a wraithknight or something. The Chaos boon table is one of the coolest parts of the codex, and you should try to get rolls on it if you can. Even a spawn is better than a sergeant sometimes.

 

Good luck!

[Dragonlover]

1) I always take Vets. The first couple of games I played with the new dex I failed so many Ld checks by 1, in the end I said screw it and started taking it. Since then, I fail a lot less.

2) Take all three. At least, that's what everyone else says, I don't think I've ever used a Sorcerer as my HQ. My ALpha Legion use Huron.

3) I never bother with Icons. I debated Vengeance after my guys kept running away, but Vets seems to have worked well enough. Spend the points on extra CCW's instead.

4) I go power fist and combi plasma at the moment, but I'm thinking of switching to power swords rather than fists because I keep getting ganked in challenges.

 

Nurgle bikers and a Heldrake seems like a pretty solid pair of units to bring in as well.

 

Dragonlover

[Pure]

I too bought DV box with chaos goodies, and now i have 150€ gift card to GW, what should i buy? Any ideas? 

 

I have Ahriman, rhino, 3 bikers and all that DV box stuff.

[the jeske]

2 oblits .

then more cultists , you need around 60 to play chaos without tyfus.

[oreaper84]

I too bought DV box with chaos goodies, and now i have 150€ gift card to GW, what should i buy? Any ideas? 

 

I have Ahriman, rhino, 3 bikers and all that DV box stuff.

its up to what you wanna do, being that you have 2 hq's two troops, some elite/champs, and some fast attack it depends where you wanna go from here. the chaos box is one idea, fills out that bike squad gives you some power armour troops, and even some possesed. if your goal is the start of an super competative tourny army than youll wanna go in an opposite direction of your collection, but i say bullocks to that. you do need some power armour troops, in whatever fashion they manifest, the all cultist troop section is a gample that rarely pays off

[the jeske]

List building 101.

chaos player takes meq troops , they lock him in to certain choice[OP not using any of the good ones] . are high cost or uneffective or both at the same time . Chaos players has fewer points for the units that actualy kill the opposing army . He doesn't kill opposing units fast enough and his army goes puff or his kill units die too fast and the same happens only on later turns. the chaos player loses no matter what he does.

 

chaos player takes minimal cheap troops , has more points to buy stuff that actualy does something. still isn't wining as good armies , but the army has a chance to do something when it is lucky.