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I played quite a bit of 3e 40k and very little 4e, then took a very long break. I sold all of my CC tyranid stuff last time I quit so I'm starting over with Chaos, which is my first MEQ army. I've got the CSM Battleforce, Renegade Strike Force, and the 15 termie box in the mail. I won't be playing in any tournaments in the near future. My friends are pretty reasonable about proxying models, etc. but for the most part I'll want to keep my list to models I own (the lone exception here is that I'll be using the basic CSM as plague marines and adjusting the paint scheme accordingly). I'm playing Black Legion so fluff shouldn't get in the way of an effective build. I know this is a straight-forward (read "generic") build but I want a balanced all comers list.

Plague Marines x 9 (305 points):
Meltagun x 2
Champion with Personal Icon, Combi-Melta, Power Fist

Plague Marines x 9 (305 points):
Meltagun x 2
Champion with Personal Icon, Combi-Melta, Power Fist

Plague Marines x 9 (305 points):
Meltagun x 2
Champion with Personal Icon, Combi-Melta, Power Fist

Terminators x 4 (150 points):
Combi-Melta x 3
Heavy Flamer
Power Fist

Terminators x 4 (190 points):
Pair o' Lightning Claws x 3
Power Fist
Icon of Khorne

Chaos Lord (160 points):
Terminator Armor
Combi-Melta
Blood Feeder
Mark of Khorne

Defiler (150 points)

Vindicator (160 points)
Daemonic Possession
Havoc Launcher

41 models
1725 points

The assault termies are a retinue for the Chaos Lord. I have 25 points left over to play with: The main thing I'm questioning is the icons I picked for the Lord and his retinue. Khorne seems wasteful given the insane amount of attacks the Lord is already going to have but I can't decide what to change it to. On the retinue it's tougher: Two lightning claws and Khorne makes for a ridiculous number of attacks. Or it might it be smarter to rethink dual lightning claws on the retinue since they can't assault on the turn they deepstrike?

If anything I would look at dropping one units of PM for two smaller weaker units. As it is you really dont have any down range direct shoots. Somebody with a good amount of fire power with range will put a major dent in your PM and thus the reason for the cheap cannon fouder which in turn will screen things behind them ie PM, Termies and such.

DS'ing one unit with LC is going to be tuff, really tuff. If anything I would just switch out the guys and have your lord run with the other unit. That way the unit can drop in and shut down any vehicle and use it for blocking LOS.

Tarval wrote:If anything I would look at dropping one units of PM for two smaller weaker units. As it is you really dont have any down range direct shoots. Somebody with a good amount of fire power with range will put a major dent in your PM and thus the reason for the cheap cannon fouder which in turn will screen things behind them ie PM, Termies and such.

Like what? Basic CSM?

DS'ing one unit with LC is going to be tuff, really tuff. If anything I would just switch out the guys and have your lord run with the other unit. That way the unit can drop in and shut down any vehicle and use it for blocking LOS.

What if I change the retinue to this? It makes them useful if I do deepstrike them while still making them pretty bad arse in CC.

Termies x 4 (210 points)
Combi-Melta x 3
Heavy Flamer
1 Lightning Claw per model x 3
Power Fist x1
Icon of Khorne

Daemons and or cheap CSM squad with some type of a ranged weapon per say. If you can buy two heavy bolters that would be great but what your looking at is getting something cheap with out upgrades if you can. Two squads of basic CSM for the price of the PM and or some Daemons just to have as back up when ever and where ever you need them.

Tarval wrote:Daemons and or cheap CSM squad with some type of a ranged weapon per say. If you can buy two heavy bolters that would be great but what your looking at is getting something cheap with out upgrades if you can. Two squads of basic CSM for the price of the PM and or some Daemons just to have as back up when ever and where ever you need them.

this isnt good advice. PM are better than CSM by far, and generic demons are worse than them, so dont touch them with a 10ft traitor pole.

large PM squads are incredibly hard to kill so you should keep them at the size they are. the only thing i would change is to get rid of the combi-meltas.

Your terminators are good, but i would try to get a heavy flamer in both squads if you intend to deepstrike them. if you are equipping them with lightning claws then khorne and slaanesh icons are your best bet. personally i prefer my terminators to be able to shoot on the turn they come in, so i give them a few PFs and combi-weapons, but others prefer more combat orientated terminators.

demon princes are better than lords, so i suggest that you look at getting one of those somewhere down the line.

defilers can be rather vulnerable. its not to hard to blow up an AV12 vehicle. vindicators are better.

speaking of vindicators, there isnt a lot of point putting a havoc launcher on them because they cant use it and their demolisher cannon, and it that gets destroyed they are better used as moblie cover, tank shocking infantry and ramming other tanks.

obliterators are the best heavy support choice chaos have, so unless you have some major objection to them, i would think about getting a few. you can easily convert them from chaos terminators so they needn't end up costing an arm and a leg.

its a goos start to your army and it should do well in a casual enviroment.

Thanks, Reg.

I will eventually get Obliterators and a daemon prince or two but I'll have to wait a few weeks before I make any further purchases to keep them under my wife's radar. That's why I'm trying to get something decent together with what I have.

I'm definitely not modeling any of the termies with two lightning claws. I'll probably give both squads the same pattern (but maybe move to combi-plasma instead) so they're useful on the turn they deepstrike.