How to build Chaos Lists?

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

I am working on my first 40k army, which is Night Lords, and am trying to figure out how to make a list that performs well in both casual and competitive games as I currently have been doing very poorly. I have a very hard time with list building and understanding how the army works and general table strategy. I was wondering if anyone could help me please? Thanks in advance.

[Azekai]

Anything can work in a casual setting. Some things work too well. As in anything, I advise you to start small- play a 1000 pt game or lower. 40k has a lot of moving parts. 

Night Lords aren't bad, but they are somewhat situational. They really excel at forcing opponents to remove extra casualties thanks to stacked morale penalties. While fluffy and cool, this is not helpful against, say, a knight army led by a dominus.

 

So, with that in mind, What sort of units do you currently possess, and what opponents are you facing? Guilleman-led space marines? Eldar of various flavors? Guardsmen?

[Pearson73]

As Azekai says, the Nightlords work best by forcing morale; lists with several raptor squads with icons of despair play well to this theme, as do Butcher Contemptors/Leviathans.

[Panzer]

Just take a look at general good combinations and think for yourself how to implement them into your army if you want to.

 

For example Slaanesh units can shoot twice via Stratagem so that's obviously strong on a good amount of different units like Devastators, Terminators with combi-weapons and Obliterators.

The Veterans of the Long War Stratagem gives a unit +1 to-wound which makes even S4 threatening if you bring lots of it (like with Stormbolter).

Prescience (Psychic Power) gives a unit +1 to-hit which is just an all around strong offensive buff for any unit.

 

Depending on how competetive you want to play you can combine all of those on the same unit to make sure you wipe out any enemy unit you point it at. That's just one (but probably the strongest) example of things you can do.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

So far I have a Chaos Lord with the relic, a Terminator Lord and Sorcerer, 10 Marines, 5 possessed,an assault Terminators squad, 5 havocs, a Rhino, a Contemptor, and a Helbrute. I've played mainly against Death Guard, Astra Militarum, Eldar, and Blood Angels.

[Akrim]

Those are some fairly tough armies youre up against Marbas. I recommend this;

-Get a unit of Obliterators (or a suitable proxy for the ugly models), bring them from deep strike, Mark of Slannesh, Endless Cacaphony strategem = destroy something important.

 

-Warptime is very valuable for getting a turn 1 charge off, i like to do this using a walker unit - Brutes, Defilers, etc. Ensure that your Sorc has a couple options to use this on nearby.

 

-Not sure what weapon options you have on your marines, havocs and terminators. Aside from Havocs this stuff can struggle a bit. Consider getting some Cultist units to bulk up numbers and grab objectives. A nice big unit is a good candidate for Tide of Traitors strategem.

 

-Lord wise - lately my go to is a Slannesh Termi Lord with Elixir relic and a Chainfist/Combi-melta. Cheap and deadly.

 

-Ill assume you are playing smaller games but in terms of expansion-

Maulerfiend is a great Warptime candidate.

All lascannon Pred is great for dealing high damage at a good cost.

Daemon Prince with wings and Talons are always good.

 

Night Lords is as mentioned, situational. I use the Renegades chapter traits with my Word Bearers for the same reason - its always beneficial. Consider the same.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Things that synergize with Night Lords (that have not already been mentioned):

 

The Lord of Terror Warlord Trait. Makes opponents within range roll two dice for Morale and take the highest.

 

A single 20 man squad of CSM, with the Mark of either Nurgle, Tzeentch or Slaanesh. Then add either Miasma of Pestilence, Weaver of Fates, or Delightful Agonies. Use "In Midnight Clad" on that squad to maximize its benefits as well. Alternately, can be used with a 15 man squad of Raptors or similar-sized unit of Possessed.

 

A 20-strong unit of Khorne Berzerkers with an Icon and Warp Time backup from a Sorcerer can make good use of that stratagem to cross the board and cause some panic.

 

Chaos Spawn, Renegade Knights with Traitor's Mark, and Land Raider Proteus each help by giving you additional sources of Leadership penalties (along with Icon of Despair, Raptors, and Terror Tactics). Slaanesh Daemons as allies allows for some pretty horrid Leadership-based damage and some charge bonuses to Slaanesh Marines who are also Daemons, while Khorne Daemons will give combat buffs to any of your Khorne Marine units that are also Daemons. Maulerfiends and Defilers can get a lot of help from Chaos Daemon HQ's, depending on Mark. If you want a shooty Daemon Engine like a Forgefiend, Tzeentch Daemons will help a ton.

 

If using Khorne Daemons as allies, Warp Talons suddenly become viable if they're also Khorne. This is because Khorne HQ's can have a reroll charge aura.

 

Dual Power-Scourge Helbrute is also a nasty Warp Time target. Or.... you can keep it dirt cheap by using two Fists with Combi-Bolters instead. Provided you target infantry at least some of the time, you'll be about as effective with the combined shooting and CC.

 

This is an army where I would personally use a Heldrake. They're great for sailing across the table and getting a first turn charge to either reduce chaff or tie up enemy shooting. This allows the rest of your stuff to close. A Heldrake will also soak up Overwatch like a boss.

[Panzer]

If using Khorne Daemons as allies, Warp Talons suddenly become viable if they're also Khorne. This is because Khorne HQ's can have a reroll charge aura.

That's actually a trap. Or at least misleading.

Even with a re-roll the Warp Talons would still have less than 50% chance to reach melee out of deep strike. And if one of your two dice is a 4+ then using the re-roll Stratagem is actually more likely to bring them into melee than re-rolling both dice.

 

 

 

Anyway, something I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Spawn. It adds another -1LD to a nearby unit.

[Midnight Brotherhood]

My question is are you wanting to build a thematic fluffy army, a competitive army, or a mix of both? Depending what you want to do is going to change the pool of units you'll be pulling from.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

A mix of both

[Azekai]

You have some good stuff already. Contemptors are pretty great, in my experience.

Berserkers, cultists, oblits, havocs, anything with leadership penalties, maybe raptors if you are feeling particularly favored by the spirit of the Night Haunter. Daemon Princes are always nice. A jump-pack sorcerer can also do some pretty cool things. Equipped with warp-time, death hex and smite, he can be a bit of a Swiss army knife, doing whatever is necessary as the situation warrants.

I cannot recommend warp talons or the heldrake in good faith. Drakes do very little damage and are impossible to hide, and the rules for talons are borderline non-functional.

I would also not focus on playing competitively right off the bat; this is your first army, so- first things first. Get the basics down. You will have to play 40k a fair amount to really learn how to get the most out of your army. Gotta learn how to s̶c̶u̶t̶t̶l̶e̶  walk before you can run.

 

[Trevak Dal]

I wish you could just buy the data slate and points/rules of a given forgeworld unit like contemptor for like $4-5. I *ahem* found it online and printed it, but still.

 

Warp talons are okay if you use them as lightning claw assault marines with a 5++ invulnerable save (so a bully unit, not a rip and tear unit)

 

What I mean is warp talons can start a fight but have too few attacks to finish it or properly maim a sufficiently large unit.

 

Now if you are dealing with multiple small squads...well that's another thing.

[Doom Herald]

I don't know if you are willing to diverge from a pure HERETIC ASTARTES list, but if you are there's a couple things that come to mind. The new Renegade Knights rules have a relic that gives a -1 or -2 to Ld, depending how close it gets, if you go with a Knight Atropos it will be a further -1, so a possible minus 3 from 1 model. Also, a Chaos Daemons Daemon Prince of Khorne in an all Khorne Daemon dettachment gains a Locus that allows nearby Khorne Daemons to re-roll charge, great for Warp Talons, plus there are some great relics he can get and a warlord trait for a -1 Ld aura. Fluff can have him be a Night Lord's Prince but using Daemon profile. Also, a Slaaneshi Prince with a similar premise can get a psychic power that does 2D6, I believe, minus the enemies Ld as wounds to a unit.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

I am working on getting a lot of cultists, a daemon prince, obliterators, and Raptors (still unsure about the Raptors tbh) right now. However, a big issue I am having is once my army is on the table and my first turn is started..... I draw a blank. Other than knowing where/what objectives are, I have no idea what to do or how to use my units. I'm just moving guys where I think something will happen. 

[Doom Herald]

If you're using cultists, remember they get legion traits, so in a Night Lords army, they are a cheap, large Ld rebuff zone. Mob them up on a target or use them as human shields to move you're hard hitters in. A 5 man raptor squad with maxed plasma is only 125 points, use them with a jump Lord for re-rolls to optimise high damage plasma bursts. Hold them in reserve and drop them for a massed strike. Slaaneshi Raptors are great shooters with the Slaanesh strategems. Alternatively Khorne Raptors are good because they can charge in more reliably, delivering a -1 or -2 Ld penalty. I highly recommend using a Daemons Slaanesh Prince, even if you just summon it, although you can make it a 15" movement character with a warlord trait and wings. That psychic power I mentioned is no joke, and it can turn Ld penalty into an advantage against characters and morale resistant units.

 

If you have possessed, I recommend making them Nurgle with the icon, they are in melee more often and have more staying power than other units.

 

I would say Be'lakor would synergise well, an additional -1Ld. People generally feel he is too expensive point wise, but everyone I talk to that uses him, myself included, feel he is expensive but hits like a ton of bricks, -5 AP weapon, with death hex, he shreds even Deathguard.

 

Maybe a supreme command of Chaos Daemons, Be'lakor, Khorne Prince with the -1Ld warlord trait, Slaanesh Prince with the power I mentioned. You'll get -3 Ld with Night Lords, raptor -1, icon -1, Be'lakor-1, Khorne Prince -1, chaos spawn -1, -8 Ld before you bring in Forgeworld units.

 

I run Crimson Slaughter with Night Lord rules, and personally I like using 8 Berzerkers in a Rhino with an Apostle and Exalted Champion. 3 units with Ld penalty in one transport. Deploy units, charge with Rhino to soak overwatch, bring the infantry units in and carnage ensues, morale finishes the rest.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

That's actually a trap. Or at least misleading.

Even with a re-roll the Warp Talons would still have less than 50% chance to reach melee out of deep strike. And if one of your two dice is a 4+ then using the re-roll Stratagem is actually more likely to bring them into melee than re-rolling both dice.

 

 

 

Anyway, something I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Spawn. It adds another -1LD to a nearby unit.

Mentioned Spawn in my post. Also, the combined option of either re-rolling one die with a CP or the entire thing for free works well enough, or people wouldn't use Berzerkers coming out of a Dreadclaw or Charybdis as often as they do....and those Berzerkers have to eat overwatch first. Talons don't. Plus, the Khorne Daemon HQ's will also be buffing Possessed, DP's, etc, so you're not buying them just for the Talons.

[Azekai]

Warp talons aren't good. I don't know why you guys are telling a new player to get some. OP is already saddled with possessed, for gods' sakes.

 

 Also, the combined option of either re-rolling one die with a CP or the entire thing for free works well enough, or people wouldn't use Berzerkers coming out of a Dreadclaw or Charybdis as often as they do....and those Berzerkers have to eat overwatch first. Talons don't. Plus, the Khorne Daemon HQ's will also be buffing Possessed, DP's, etc, so you're not buying them just for the Talons.

 

Berzerkers are much more reliable and efficient than warp talons. There is no comparison. Unless you are running face-first into armor-piercing flamer weapons, overwatch is rarely a significant factor.

While we are on the topic of berzerkers, bring some! ThanatosMalleus' suggestion was a good one. In order for the Night Lords legion trait to be relevant, you have to be racking up some casualties already. 'Zerkers are great at that. Figure out if you want to foot slog or stick 'em in a rhino.

Oblits are a great learning unit. They are tough, you can bring them in on your terms, and they have a lot of firepower. If they are marked Slaanesh, they get even shooty-er via Endless Cacophony. Deepstrike them into cover mid-field and melt those high-priority targets. Watch out for plasma, though.
 

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Warp talons aren't good. I don't know why you guys are telling a new player to get some. OP is already saddled with possessed, for gods' sakes.

 

Also, the combined option of either re-rolling one die with a CP or the entire thing for free works well enough, or people wouldn't use Berzerkers coming out of a Dreadclaw or Charybdis as often as they do....and those Berzerkers have to eat overwatch first. Talons don't. Plus, the Khorne Daemon HQ's will also be buffing Possessed, DP's, etc, so you're not buying them just for the Talons.

 

Berzerkers are much more reliable and efficient than warp talons. There is no comparison. Unless you are running face-first into armor-piercing flamer weapons, overwatch is rarely a significant factor.

 

While we are on the topic of berzerkers, bring some! ThanatosMalleus' suggestion was a good one. In order for the Night Lords legion trait to be relevant, you have to be racking up some casualties already. 'Zerkers are great at that. Figure out if you want to foot slog or stick 'em in a rhino.

 

Oblits are a great learning unit. They are tough, you can bring them in on your terms, and they have a lot of firepower. If they are marked Slaanesh, they get even shooty-er via Endless Cacophony. Deepstrike them into cover mid-field and melt those high-priority targets. Watch out for plasma, though.

I said they could be viable with Daemon support. They are in no way a replacement for Berzerkers.

 

+1 Strength and extra attacks on 6's to wound from a Khorne Daemon HQ get them closer to even, but not quite.

 

As for Possessed, in the right army that is doing the certain things anyway, they fit into the synergy and work fine. In my own table experience with Slaanesh Possessed, I haven't felt "saddled" at all.

 

However, if the OP is not going to also invest in Daemons, Possessed and WT shouldn't really be used in an NL army.

 

As for overwatch, my meta includes Deathwatch (with the aforementioned AP flame weapons) Renegade Knights, Imperial Knights, Tau, Dark Angels, Catachans (yay spammed blast/flame weapons), a Black Legion army with 36 Rubric Marines wrapped around Abaddon (huge numbers of rerolled shots w/-2 AP), Eldar with tons of Shuriken cannons and Dark Reapers, and infantry-heavy Mordians.

 

Either shot count or special overwatch bonuses can make it far more dangerous than people might otherwise think....which is why I mentioned the Heldrake specifically as an overwatch sink.

 

Coming back a bit, the Contemptor can work well with a Butcher Cannon build or a dual Soulburner/Chainclaw build for murdering big stuff.

[Midnight Brotherhood]

Well the good thing about Night Lords is that they are so fragmented as a legion that your warband can have whatever fluff you want, they can worship any Chaos god or none at all, or maybe a little here and there and it is all legit. So the first thing is to decide what is YOUR Night Lords warband like?  The 'canon' Night Lords in ADB's trilogy just follows the 10th company of the Night Lords and doesn't represent all Night Lords everywhere, 10th company is relatively anti-chaos but even they were led by a daemon-possessed Captain at one point and had multiple members in the warband who were marked and tainted by the Chaos gods. Looking back to the Horus Heresy is also a good place to look to see how the legion used to operate and may still operate today for your particular warband.

 

Once your fluff is established that gives you a better idea of units you might want to include. For my own warband the Midnight Brotherhood for example most of my units don't worship chaos but there are certain members who do or who have fallen too far. One of my Helbrutes has gone totally crazy from Khorne, my squad of Raptors takes pleasure in the terror and fear to the point they get a high from it and slaanesh has marked them. The warband has a defiler that was built by a crazed Dark Mechanicum priest that is on the ship, they unleash as a brutal terror weapon on worlds they want to subjugate. As a warband I like to keep them strictly Astartes as well and don't rely on cultists, I don't like the idea of my Night Lords assigning important tasks to such lowly serfs. Have a look at my gallery for some idea/inspiration for  your Night Lords and see what you can come up with.

 

With all that kind of stuff in mind I use this pool of units based on my fluff and the models I own, and then optimise them as much as I can while keeping the theme. Running small size squads is also important to try and stack the Night Lords Terror Tactics trait where possible:

 

CSM

Havocs

Chosen

Terminators

Raptors

Rhino

Helbrutes

Defiler

Chaos Spawn

HQs - Jump pack Lord, on foot Lord, Termie Lord, Sorceror, Exalted Champion

 

You can still field a limited pool of units and be competitive, it's not strictly just about net listing to win 40k. The only thing to keep in mind is making sure you have a force that is flexible enough to deal with different things like hordes or heavy armour etc. Without a doubt though one my favourite ways to play Night Lords is bring in a brutal deep strike involving terminators, 2 squads of plasma raptors and a Jump pack Lord, it hits so hard and is really fluffy. I posted this on another thread but I'll post it here too:

 

Night Lords - Jump pack Chaos Lord HQ with Claws of the Black Hunt relic with Night Haunters warlord trait for rerolling charges, teamed up with 2x 5 man squads of Raptors with 2 Plasma Guns and a combi plasma in each squad with one squad nurgle marked having an icon of despair, the other squad is slaanesh marked.

 

They all come down together, supercharge ALL the plasma putting out 12 shots re-rolling ones. Slaanesh squad does endless cacophony for another 6 supercharged shots re-rolling ones so 18 altogether. - average TEN dead MEQ models.

 

Charge with both Raptor units and the Lord, inflict even more casualties in CC (average SEVEN dead MEQ models) and then watch the rest run away as they try to pass leadership on -5 (-3 from 3x Night Lord units, -1 Icon of despair, -1 Raptor's fearsome visage) + casualties inflicted on top of that from the shooting and fight phase

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Well the good thing about Night Lords is that they are so fragmented as a legion that your warband can have whatever fluff you want, they can worship any Chaos god or none at all, or maybe a little here and there and it is all legit. So the first thing is to decide what is YOUR Night Lords warband like?  The 'canon' Night Lords in ADB's trilogy just follows the 10th company of the Night Lords and doesn't represent all Night Lords everywhere, 10th company is relatively anti-chaos but even they were led by a daemon-possessed Captain at one point and had multiple members in the warband who were marked and tainted by the Chaos gods. Looking back to the Horus Heresy is also a good place to look to see how the legion used to operate and may still operate today for your particular warband.

 

Once your fluff is established that gives you a better idea of units you might want to include. For my own warband the Midnight Brotherhood for example most of my units don't worship chaos but there are certain members who do or who have fallen too far. One of my Helbrutes has gone totally crazy from Khorne, my squad of Raptors takes pleasure in the terror and fear to the point they get a high from it and slaanesh has marked them. The warband has a defiler that was built by a crazed Dark Mechanicum priest that is on the ship, they unleash as a brutal terror weapon on worlds they want to subjugate. As a warband I like to keep them strictly Astartes as well and don't rely on cultists, I don't like the idea of my Night Lords assigning important tasks to such lowly serfs. Have a look at my gallery for some idea/inspiration for  your Night Lords and see what you can come up with.

 

With all that kind of stuff in mind I use this pool of units based on my fluff and the models I own, and then optimise them as much as I can while keeping the theme. Running small size squads is also important to try and stack the Night Lords Terror Tactics trait where possible:

 

CSM

Havocs

Chosen

Terminators

Raptors

Rhino

Helbrutes

Defiler

Chaos Spawn

HQs - Jump pack Lord, on foot Lord, Termie Lord, Sorceror, Exalted Champion

 

You can still field a limited pool of units and be competitive, it's not strictly just about net listing to win 40k. The only thing to keep in mind is making sure you have a force that is flexible enough to deal with different things like hordes or heavy armour etc. Without a doubt though one my favourite ways to play Night Lords is bring in a brutal deep strike involving terminators, 2 squads of plasma raptors and a Jump pack Lord, it hits so hard and is really fluffy. I posted this on another thread but I'll post it here too:

 

Night Lords - Jump pack Chaos Lord HQ with Claws of the Black Hunt relic with Night Haunters warlord trait for rerolling charges, teamed up with 2x 5 man squads of Raptors with 2 Plasma Guns and a combi plasma in each squad with one squad nurgle marked having an icon of despair, the other squad is slaanesh marked.

 

They all come down together, supercharge ALL the plasma putting out 12 shots re-rolling ones. Slaanesh squad does endless cacophony for another 6 supercharged shots re-rolling ones so 18 altogether. - average TEN dead MEQ models.

 

Charge with both Raptor units and the Lord, inflict even more casualties in CC (average SEVEN dead MEQ models) and then watch the rest run away as they try to pass leadership on -5 (-3 from 3x Night Lord units, -1 Icon of despair, -1 Raptor's fearsome visage) + casualties inflicted on top of that from the shooting and fight phase

 

Night Lords can make decent use of Obliterators in a nasty deep strike list too. There is also a case to be made for layering buffs on one huge unit of 15 Raptors (Nurgle for Miasma of Pestilence and Icon of Despair plus In Midnight Clad when needed for a total of -2 to be hit) and Warp Timing them up the field.

 

Next, they can make use of any of the Cult troops in the Elite slots. Berzerkers are great and have been discussed, but Noise Marines with help from Delightful Agonies, In Midnight Clad, and Endless Cacophony could be quite nasty. MSU Plague Marines piling out of double-stacked Rhinos with Terror Tactics, Icons, and spammed special weapons could be interesting, but I'm not sure.

 

Given that I'm a Tzeentch player at heart, I'll give Rubrics special mention. There are some canon references to Thousand Sons joining the Night Lords after the Rubric (at least one in the Ahriman trilogy) and Weaver of Fates plus In Midnight Clad could make a large unit durable while they march up the table....about as durable as TS themselves can make Rubrics. Add Prescience and Warp Time and you can actually do the same "Ru-Brick" strategy that us TS players like so much. CSM Codex Rubrics can also take one Soulreaper even at 5 men, so you could pile two squads into one Rhino, get two mini-Smites, two Soulreapers, and -2 to leadership while adding lots of anti-infantry firepower with good save modifiers. It's also possible to switch out the mini-Smites for real powers if you want to spend some CP.

 

Metallic blue Rubrics with lightning and red trim could look kinda cool, too.

 

Ironically, I would avoid Bikes, at least in large units. They can't benefit from In Midnight Clad, which our jump troops can.

 

Finally, you want a great threat to freak out your opponent and force them to make hard choices?

 

Lord. Of. Skulls.

 

Seriously, it hits hard, can move fast (especially with Warp Time), and if your opponent ignores it, it will eat about half their army before finally dying. It can also block LOS for assault units moving up behind it.

 

Most importantly for Night Lords....it would be the most metal thing ever once you decked it out in shiny blue with white face paint, red helmet vanes and some bat wings, and then lighting all over the place. Bonus points for airbrushing a mural on the side involving dragons, skeletons, and scantily clad women.

[Trevak Dal]

I hate how the Khorne tractor looks. It's :cussing stupid like the Tau fliers. (And the storm raven. And the Scion transport.)

 

If I could get one and make a kytan and use the tracks to make a Spartan or sicarian I'd do that.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

I hate how the Khorne tractor looks. It's :cussing stupid like the Tau fliers. (And the storm raven. And the Scion transport.)

 

If I could get one and make a kytan and use the tracks to make a Spartan or sicarian I'd do that.

Buying an actual packaged Kytan from Forge World is cheaper in U.S. dollars than the Lord of Skulls is. Not sure where you are, but might be worth a look.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

So how do I make the most out of our Legion's choice units tactically?

[Doom Herald]

For the legion trait to work, you will want to be in melee. Raptors are better as plasma bombs but are good melee cleanup if need be. The trick with Night Lord's rules is to be prepared for units not affected by morale, characters and things like conscripts with commissars. You will need hard hitters, such as plasma Raptors for tougher Characters and vehicles, and you will need infantry shredders or your own bullet sponges for things like conscripts. Berzerkers and standard CSM are good for chewing squishees, and cultists are good sponges. Again, to beat a dead horse, the slaaneshi daemon psychic power that deals 2D6 minus enemy leadership as mortal wounds is good for both tough units and squishee units with large numbers, especially paired with terror tactics.

 

Characters are a single unit, so keeping 1 or 2 of your characters with melee units stacks up the Ld debuff quick. Characters are definitely a good thing in Night Lords, but you need to use them to optimise your core units. Berzerkers with an Apostle and Exalted Champion shred basicly anything and that's because they re-roll failed hits and wounds, attack twice and were already stronger than tac-marines. In this case it is really the Berzerkers doing the work, but the characters amplify their efficacy. Similarly the plasma Raptors can fire overcharge plasma relatively worry free if you keep the Lord nearby. Really, you would use similar tactics to other CSM. The legion trait isn't something exquisite, but it is something people will generally dismiss and if you can find a way to work that, you're good. Remember, you need to generate wounds for morale to matter so even mixing sure wounding weapons like plasma with a lot of shots like combi-bolters can be a good thing.

 

I would definitely do possessed as Nurgle since they are melee units, they should get the best use of the Nurgle icon and can benefit from the use of the Night Lord's strategems in combination with the Nurgle power for -2 to hit to help them close in.

 

I would do Raptors as either Slaanesh, for the shoot twice strategem, or Khorne for the re-roll charge icon. I would do Slaanesh because plasma Raptors with extra shots do major damage. I would do Khorne because if they can more reliably charge, they can be used as morale bombs: -1 Ld for Terror tactics, -1 for being Raptors, since they will mainly be melee cleanup, you don't really need to put many points into their weapons. Yes, Nurgle Raptors can become -3 to Ld on their own, but I would rather the reliable charge, plus you can make the units you know they will assist Nurgle with Icon since multiple icons of despair don't stack.

 

Scenario: Cultists provide screen, Nurgle possessed close in, Khorne Raptors deepstrike (perhaps with accompanying lord), possessed charge, Raptors charge, Lord and/or surviving cultists also charge. 3+ Terror Tactics units, plus Icon of Despair, plus Raptors, perhaps Lord has Lord of Terror warlord trait; -5 Ld, plus opponent rolls 2D6 and takes worse result. Keep the horde rolling, supplying occasional support as need be.

 

If you do decide to do the Slaanesh Daemons Daemon Prince, it might be worth summoning since summoned Daemons don't need to be on your list which can add the element of surprise. When you get your Ld debuff around a character or vehicle they assume is immune to morale, its going to hurt when you surprisingly unleash the daemon and its Psychic power on them. And if you find summoning the daemon unnecessary, you can use those points for more screen units like horrors if need be or Nurgle characters for synergy with possessed.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

I got some more Marines to make a battalion and a Chaos Predator now.