can undivided ie no/very few marked units work?

[Aspiringchaoschampion]

Hey guys now im looking more and more at ny army lists and im finding the extra points im spending on marks could actually be used else where for example i like to give my vanilla marines true grit (bolt gun bolt pistol close combat weapon) as i find it works quite well both offensively and defensively.

 

Now i know people are going to argue but plague marines can do this and more but lets look at the downsides of the plague marines

 

They require a nurgle marked lord. Now while a nurgle lord isnt bad by any means i find that once you add his points cost into the cost of the units of plague marines they become alot more expensive.

Fearless on one hand fearless is nice they dont have to take leadership tests but it also neans they cant fall back and if they get charged by a dread they are going to be stuck there trying to hurt it where as the chaos tactical marines can atleast attempt to get away allowing the rest of the army to shoot st the offending target.

Now imo plague marines push the msu approach where as in maelstrom a 10 man squad would be better and while its true 5 man plague marine squads allow you to spam rhinos vanilla chaos tactical marines can do this for cheaper too.

 

Now imo for these reasons alone completely undivided can work but id like your thoughts

[Tenebris]

I usually run a Black Legion army list with almost zero marks of chaos. My usual setup are MSU CSM with either a melta or a plasma with the obligatory VoTLW in a Rhino as my core. They are supported by a Mayhem Pack, two Maulerfiends and a Defiler. From here on I build the army according to my opponent, either more ranged with dakka Predators or more melee focused with expendable masses of Cultists led by Fearless characters. With the addition of the IA rules I plan to invest in a serious Rapier battery to deal with even more threats at range.

 

The army works, at least in my club. My trump card are the very cheap HQ (rarely they pass 125 points) which usually reap more kills then their points would suggest (Brand, BL power swords, Relentless Blade in a secondary HQ...). The main trick is to get them in position to do as much damage as possible. 

 

I also love to field a squad or two of elites, either Chosen or Terminators to boost my advancing infantry. 

 

At the end of the day I see an army without a single mark perform still well and unless one is dedicated to pure power play and optimization I see no fault in an Undivided force. 

[Aspiringchaoschampion]

I usually run a Black Legion army list with almost zero marks of chaos. My usual setup are MSU CSM with either a melta or a plasma with the obligatory VoTLW in a Rhino as my core. They are supported by a Mayhem Pack, two Maulerfiends and a Defiler. From here on I build the army according to my opponent, either more ranged with dakka Predators or more melee focused with expendable masses of Cultists led by Fearless characters. With the addition of the IA rules I plan to invest in a serious Rapier battery to deal with even more threats at range.

 

The army works, at least in my club. My trump card are the very cheap HQ (rarely they pass 125 points) which usually reap more kills then their points would suggest (Brand, BL power swords, Relentless Blade in a secondary HQ...). The main trick is to get them in position to do as much damage as possible.

 

I also love to field a squad or two of elites, either Chosen or Terminators to boost my advancing infantry.

 

At the end of the day I see an army without a single mark perform still well and unless one is dedicated to pure power play and optimization I see no fault in an Undivided force.

Thats good to hear tbh im not looking to poeer game as in my experiance ive found alot of power lists tend to have a one trick pony thing about them. Im thinking 10 man chaos tactical marine squads with true grit and vets with a few blobs of cultists. I also tend to try and keep my hqs cheap my most expensive is my sorceror

[Tenebris]

I personally try to avoid squads bigger than eight models since I like to threaten my opponent from several different directions, hence I need to cover the board with MSU. Also this allows me to put as many Havoc Missile Launchers on the board as I can (usually 4-6) which while they might not sound great on paper slowly and reliably wreak havoc among the enemy and are relatively precise. An argument is that such squads die quickly, and they usually do, but the flexibility you gain from various MSU and the board coverage you obtain are good payoffs for this army setup. Still I use marks only when I create thematic lists, especially since I have a dislike of Nurgle and Nurgle associated things in general. 

[MaliGn]

Thing is that if you were taking a lord anyway, the mark of nurgle is the only tax you pay for the troop plague marines. Rather than the full cost of the lord. I'd suggest that a mixture of units with and without icon of vengeance might help your fearless issue, although icons are not hugely popular by my understanding.

[Subtle Discord]

I'm trying to finish (I tend to get distracted and things never get done) a Black Legion list that is as Undivided as I can manage; you can see what I've come up with in my 1st of the 9th thread. I have plans to add units dedicated to specific gods once I have an Undivided center finished. I have nothing against any of the gods or using any mark where it will prove useful, they are all tools to be used for the glory of Chaos Undivided after all, but I'm drawn to the idea of an 'unbiased' Chaos army to start.

Many people will lament the weakness of C:CSM, and there's lots of merit to it; the book lacks a certain synergy that it needs to really perform well, and it's a true shame. Supplements, Dataslates, and FW do a lot to fill many of the gaps, but there is still room for improvement. However, there's also a lot to like about the Chaos faction, on many levels. It can be built into an effective army (if not the best) and played very well; there's some real appeal to being the bad guy, trust me, you get to make being eeeevil as part of how the army plays. And, no other faction gives the same opportunity to create, bash, convert, and totally personalize your force like Chaos, hands down.