CSM 9th Ed Troop Loadouts

[SyNidus]

As the title says, i'd like to pick your brains about what kind of Troop choices everyone intends to take. Do bear in mind we will be getting updated soon enough with the 2W CSM squads and upgraded weaponry. 

Here are a couple of choices i'm thinking of:

Running Double Patrol Detachments (so i only need 2 Troop choices)
10 man - 2 Reaperchaincannon, Bolters, Combi-plasma/PFist
10 man - 2 Reaperchaincannon, Bolters, Combi-plasma/PFist
2x Rhinos
 

I figure something like this gives a decent (if expensive) core which can hold objectives and push opponents off by sheer weight of force.

Although, i also think there's some room for something a little more radical:

10 man - 2 Missile Launchers, Chainswords, Combi-Plasma/PAxe
Rhino

The thought process behind this unit is that you want CSM troops to be grabbing objectives, and what better way to do that than in assault. But why missile launchers? Honestly, i think it adds flexibility (going for either blast against hordes or krak missiles to soften up something harder).

What do you guys think and how are you thinking of loading out your troop slots?

[Brom MKIV]

We're on a similar page.

 

I'll be running either mono legion battalion or 2 different legion patrols. In 8th I would take 2 and even 3 legions. I'm not a power gamer but I like options to represent my models. Now for troops I'll be using some combination of these which is similar to what I'm used to already:

 

Alpha legion

10 csm, 2 reaper cc, cbplas/pf, 3 chainswords.

 

5 csm, reaper cc, cbplas.. x 2

(5 zerks x 2)

Rhino x 2

 

5 csm, chainswords, power sword

 

Emperors children

10 noise marines, 2 blastmasters, pf/cbplas, 4 sonic blasters

Rhino

 

That's the main ones I'm brewing around since the spoilers on +1 wound etc.

 

Edit- and of course cultists will still make appearance. But now I'm actually leaning away from them.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Brom MKIV

[Snazzy]

For now, i'm going to stick with my standard until i'm forced by meta changes to scale back.

 

4x10 CSM, Bolters, Double Plasma, Combi-Plasma and Chainaxe.

2x Rhino, Combi-Meltas.

 

Bolters might get dropped for Chainswords, depending on the changes to those weapons.  Maybe swapping the Champion to have Combi-Flamer and Power Fist to give the squad more flexibility.

[Brom MKIV]

I think the chainswords may end up being a common choice. The squad will gain double wounds but then be subject to tarpitting unless it has the ability to dig itself out or a counter charge unit is handy.

[Special Officer Doofy]

I'm too curious to see the changes to wargear first. If chain swords do get the -1ap, are they leaving chain Axes alone? I saw power swords are getting +1 strength and I'm sure the others will get some form of buff.

 

I don't see any heavy bolters in your guy's lists. I thought I would see more people jumping at those since they are going to D2 to match all the 2W marines now.

[Brom MKIV]

Well my personal issue is they are too specialized against peq. HBs are worse than RCCs against peq and much worse against hordes with the main benefit being range. I'll stick to RCCs.

[zero88]

I see squads of 10+ with two Reapers and the rest chainswords. The Bolters never accomplished much anyways so that's a lot of -1 Melee attacks and lots of bubble wrap for the RCCs. Red Corsairs or CoB

[Special Officer Doofy]

More range and less points, but I get what you are saying. I wonder if the boltgun goes to 30" are other guns going to change? I kitted out most of my plague marines with blight launchers, it matched the 24" of the boltgun. I'm too much of a wait and see guy haha.

[Doom Herald]

I'm going to be doing Creations of Bile, so mine will look something like this:

 

Unit I:

10 CSM

Powerfist on Champ

X2 Autocannons (possibly Heavy Bolters)

X8 Bolters (possibly combi on Champ)

These will be my long range guys sitting in the back and holding my deployment zone while providing range threat. They will likely be the first squad to get a Bile upgrade and stand around with their 5 toughness.

 

Unit II & Unit III:

Champion w/ Powerfist and Combi-melta

3-8 Chainsword CSM

1 Meltagun CSM (or possibly flamer)

 

These guys will be objective grabbers and harrassers. Macrotensile Sinews (strat for advance and charge w/ +1 to both) and Legion Trait put these guys at an average 1-turn total movement of 19" if they charge. That's a large distance to cover to steal an objective from under enemy units using their ObSec. I was planning on 10-man squads, but we will see how durable they are in practice once the meta shifts to accommodate 2W standard Marines and trim them down to the smallest reliable size.

 

So far, I've had flexible squads of 5 (Powerfist Champ and Autocannon with bolters) do a great job making light work of Terminators and a Cataphracti Chapter Master. So, if points allow and I feel like Havoc's aren't a waste of points like they were in 8th, the ranged squad might be turned into 2 squads to be a flexible unit.

 

I feel like Cultists don't really have a place outside of Alpha Legion or Iron Warriors now, unless it's a single max size range blob using Endless Cacophony, VotLW, and maybe Tide of Traitors. I guess when we see where the points settle, I might have to ammend my opinion though. It would be interesting to see max Flamer squads of Cultists coming out of reserves with their new range to flank enemy units.

 

Edit:

I'd have to crunch the numbers on it, but a full squad of Cultists in reserves with all those Flamer shots with the above mentioned strats is sounding very dangerous the more I think about it and I might actually consider it if I didn't despise making/painting Cultists models.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Doom Herald

[Special Officer Doofy]

Blows my mind renegade chaos marines can't use Votlw but random human cultists can haha

[Relic]

3x10 Cultists or 3x5 CSM. Sorry to say, but until a new codex our non cult troops are meh.

[Sonoftherubric21]

Once we get 2 wounds, I imagine my IW, BL, and WB will all be running a fairly high number of Marines. 

Dual Chainreapers is still great, for something sitting closer to home Dual Heavy Bolters might be a go-to. 

 

Heck with the extra wounds and Ap-1 swords you may very well see Marine squads loaded for bear in a rhino diving out with melee in mind. 

 

Lots of great options given we are going 2 wounds. Our armies will be smaller....but we will benefit greatly from added life expectancy that will open up some *very* interesting design choices. 

[Marshal Loss]

I'll probably be sticking with Noise Marines as I currently run them (both as 10 man units and occasionally a single 15-20 man outflanking blob) but am very curious to see if vanilla CSM or Noise Marines kitted up for close combat are going to be worth the investment now. Certainly hope so!

[Snazzy]

I see squads of 10+ with two Reapers and the rest chainswords. The Bolters never accomplished much anyways so that's a lot of -1 Melee attacks and lots of bubble wrap for the RCCs. Red Corsairs or CoB

 

I see see someone who isn't Black Legion.

 

Bolters are more predictable.  The range, sure.  But, i have fewer things to worry about, like Overwatch or failing a charge roll in order to get the full effect of my squad.  If rumors are true, Bolters just won't be able to keep up, even with range 30.  +1S on Chainswords is just too tempting.  Oh, the work i would have to put in for all those swaps.

 

ftr, watching my 40 man core skyrocket in points from 11ppm to 14, to now a proposed 17 has taken a lot of the teeth out of the rest of the army.  But, having 80 wounds of ObSec with World Killers in my back pocket is really hard to ignore.

[Brom MKIV]

I see squads of 10+ with two Reapers and the rest chainswords. The Bolters never accomplished much anyways so that's a lot of -1 Melee attacks and lots of bubble wrap for the RCCs. Red Corsairs or CoB

Yea this is an interesting build I was stewing on too. Hadn't considered RC since thats not my thing really but it sounds good.

Bolters compliment the single damage of the reapers but otherwise are meh. Meanwhile games are more aggressive now and if csm can actually fight then this is probably the better option. Especially jumping out a rhino.. blast em then assault them off. Subsequent turns they can still camp and shoot. 

 

 

On cultists I think they still have their place. Cheap action takers and occupy space. Heck we can still get use from 30 bodies with tide not to mention they can assault from strategic reserve even up to 12" beyond their own DZ. I've seen it and its nasty (at least on real threats like boyz that is lol). 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Brom MKIV

[Gothical]

I am so conflicted right now.

 

My traditional way of running Iron Warriors was 2x5-man CSM with Reaper Chain Cannon, then one or more units of 10-man CSM with triple-Plasma in a Rhino.

 

The new changes make small units with Heavy Bolters interesting (and dare I say it, 4xHeavy Bolter Havocs for a fluffy Iron Warriors unit chucking out AP-1 D2 shots), and whilst it may seem like an odd mix at first a 10-man unit with 2 Reaper Chain Cannons but everyone else geared for melee could be rather brutal - even on the move it packs a ton of firepower, yet cannot be easily taken down in melee either. However, in turn it lacks the 2-damage weaponry that is so important against newMEQ, such as the overcharged Plasma Gun.

 

I will still run Cultists. Either as 10-man units to perform actions and score objectives, forcing the opponent to dedicate resources to taking out units fairly irrelevant to my game-plan, or as a 30-man blob to act as jammers and bullet-sponges, only to be recycled via stratagem.

 

With the upgraded Heavy Bolter I am waiting to see what happens to Autocannons before I necessarily commit to equipping my Havocs and backfield CSM units. As a weapon they seem fairly irrelevant now, so it will be interesting to see what shakes out of the Codex whenever it will eventually be released.

[SyNidus]

I want to do away with cultists entirely, but you do raise a compelling point. Sometimes i might just need a disposable squad for the purposes of doing actions/taking objectives. But can this be done by other power armoured units?

[MegaVolt87]

I want to do away with cultists entirely, but you do raise a compelling point. Sometimes i might just need a disposable squad for the purposes of doing actions/taking objectives. But can this be done by other power armoured units?

5 man squads using rhino's to block the easier LOS angles for doing actions, holding your closest/ backline objectives etc, bigger squads to push fowards aggressively.

[Lucerne]

I am so conflicted right now.

 

My traditional way of running Iron Warriors was 2x5-man CSM with Reaper Chain Cannon, then one or more units of 10-man CSM with triple-Plasma in a Rhino.

 

The new changes make small units with Heavy Bolters interesting (and dare I say it, 4xHeavy Bolter Havocs for a fluffy Iron Warriors unit chucking out AP-1 D2 shots), and whilst it may seem like an odd mix at first a 10-man unit with 2 Reaper Chain Cannons but everyone else geared for melee could be rather brutal - even on the move it packs a ton of firepower, yet cannot be easily taken down in melee either. However, in turn it lacks the 2-damage weaponry that is so important against newMEQ, such as the overcharged Plasma Gun.

 

I will still run Cultists. Either as 10-man units to perform actions and score objectives, forcing the opponent to dedicate resources to taking out units fairly irrelevant to my game-plan, or as a 30-man blob to act as jammers and bullet-sponges, only to be recycled via stratagem.

 

With the upgraded Heavy Bolter I am waiting to see what happens to Autocannons before I necessarily commit to equipping my Havocs and backfield CSM units. As a weapon they seem fairly irrelevant now, so it will be interesting to see what shakes out of the Codex whenever it will eventually be released.

Can you elaborate on what units you'll run alongside 10/30 strong cultists to take advantage of their respective strengths? Do their loadouts matter?

Edited August 18, 2020 by Lucerne

[RapatoR]

How do you guys see a prospect of a "bare-bones" 5-man units that would just run around and do actions? Would you field one? Two? None?

[Doom Herald]

How do you guys see a prospect of a "bare-bones" 5-man units that would just run around and do actions? Would you field one? Two? None?

Bare-bones being with Bolters or Chainswords?

 

The only change to Bolter Marines is durability with two wounds. I imagine they will run much the same but last longer. They are still a smaller footprint than 10 cultists so I think they are better for objectives and such. Also, they will benefit from Legion Traits unlike Cultists and newer strats sometimes specifically exclude Cultists, so we might see more of that in the new Codex. If Cultists stay the same points, it will be 60pts for 10 wounds of Cultists versus 90 for CSMs (assuming points match loyalists). Better stats and better weapons combined with the smaller footprint and traits are probably worth it if you have the points and are taking min size squads.

 

As far as Chainswords, I will be trying 5-man squads to see if they prove durable enough at two wounds, but that's because the Macrotensile Sinews strat and my Legion Trait let's them move 9+3d6" in a turn if they are charging. Red Corsairs will be at 6+3d6" but not needing a strat. If you have a Legion Trait or strats that benefit melee units well, it may be worth taking. The board is smaller, Chainswords put Marines at wounding Terminators on 3s (which we will probably be seeing more of), and a unit that survives the round they charge in can fight first in the opponent's fight phase with the new turn order.

 

I think if the points allow, I would add a Powerfist to the Champion in a melee squad (maybe even Bolter squad) since they pack a real good punch for the points. I'd also be likely to take a heavy weapon on the ranged squads. I think bare-bones could be alright if you're budgeting points, but I also think the upgrades will be worth investing in. We will see when the new Codex is out how the Legion Traits and strats shake things up, they could make them much better than they look now.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Doom Herald

[Doom Herald]

Short answer: I think they will work out alright, if you just want a small, cheap squad to walk around. I'll probably try two units of just Chainswords, but if points allow, you might as well give the Champ a Powerfist.

[battle captain corpus]

Honestly?.... you’re not going to be getting the vast majority of work done with just 2 troop choices. It’s far too easy to get tangled up and bogged down. 3+ is the key in my opinion.

I take various size squads from 5 man to 20 man units. :)

 

BCC

[PiñaColada]

I'm personally of the opinion that even a bare-bones squad should still have some sort of special weapon in there (so not really bare-bones I guess). A powerfist, plasmagun or meltagun just has so much possible utility and even just one of those makes a small squad a lot more dangerous to a lot of different targets. It's a small investment and I think it's easily worth trying to find some points for that, even if most of their purpose is just standing around doing actions.

[Noctus Cornix]

For me, here's what I'm planning on using with the current rule changes in mind. This will be the core troop choice for my Word Bearers.

 

Chaos Space Marine Squad (x10 marines)

- Bolt Pistol & Astartes Chainsword

- 2 Meltaguns

- Champion (Powerfist, Combi-melta)

-Icon of Vengeance

Rhino Transport

-Combi-bolter

- Additional Combi-melta

 

 

This will be the core of my force that will be up on the frontlines, contesting objectives from the enemies and popping any vehicles/monstrous creatures they com across. Honestly, I'll probably be sitting pretty with about 4 squads of these, which would allow me to roll up two squads at the (usually) two mid-ground objectives and mosh-pit the enemy while the rest of my forces are rolling up. This is also likely going to be in tandem with a Spartan Tank full of Possessed/HQ deathstar unit. We'll see about that one though. 

 

Behind them, I'm thinking I might have 2 foot-slogging 10-20 man squads of bolter boys with either plasma guns or reaper chaincannons. We'll see on that one though. Bolters are just woefully underwhelming right now and as much as I love them, they feel pretty much useless as they currently are.