Help a n00b, csm :)

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**zionarbadon**

As a forewarning I am a complete n00b, if you don't want to read beginner questions you may not want to continue.

Good evening all,
I literally just started playing 40k. Last night my fiance and I bought the starter box with intent to trade the orcs to get her more space marines after we learn the basics.

I, on the other hand, wanted to play Chaos Space Marines. I trudged my way through a few games as orks and understand the basics (mostly haha). However, I am here to ask for help. Does anyone have a good composition for . . .1000pts? is that a normal game? Also, daring to delve into the realm of cost efficiency, are the battalions worth the cost? I got interested in the CSM from reading about Plague Marines and they sound very interesting. Where can I find out more about the chaos space marines?

I plan on playing CSM either way, but is CSM an army that would be somewhat easy to start out with?

If these questions have been asked before, I would appreciate a link and I will go about my merry way researching.

Well, I've rattled on long enough.

Thanks for the help!

Brandon

**MechaEmperor7000**

the standard game is anywhere between 1000-1500 points. 2000 is generally what most players aim for, but rarely do you get to play with that much.

Also CSM is a good starting point. A Battle Force is a good starting point. As I've detailed to another, by mixing and matching the parts that come in a battleforce, you can make either alot of berserkers (by mixing parts from the 8 Berserkers you get with the normal CSM) or get a bunch of Possessed (mixing the Possessed parts with berserker and csm parts). Plague Marines are one of the best troop choices in the game, however the models themselves are quite expensive and if you plan on fielding them in large numbers while keeping costs low, you'd better be good at getting armies off Ebay or using modelling putty.

As for info, all of the stuff you need to know about CSM are in it's codex.

**Brother SRM**

Marines of any flavor are easy to start out with. They're tough, fairly deadly, and functional in close combat or shooting. Plague Marines are tougher than regular Chaos Marines, and really cool both fluff and modelwise.

The Wikipedia articles on 40k and Chaos are very good, and for specifics you can use Lexicanum, the Warhammer encyclopedia: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page

**Medium of Death**

Plague marines are great,they don't need to be terribly expensive. You can just paint up regular CSM to look diseased/rusted. Maybe just mix in in some possessed parts and there you go.

Check out the Dakka gallery for some ideas.

Welcome to Dakka!

**maxpower3579**

they are pretty easy to start, and i also love papa Nurgles marines, but i dont get the metal models, i just pick a nurgle army and say they are plague marines because they would be in a nurgle army, but you may want to find a way to distinguish between normal CSM and plague marines.

**MechaEmperor7000**

For modelling plaguies, there's a tutorial on the GW website (which is a surprise considering how much of a catalog their site has become) about how to make corroded armor. You could also paint up the armor like The Cleaved in the CSM codex and call them plague marines.

**zionarbadon**

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:For modelling plaguies, there's a tutorial on the GW website (which is a surprise considering how much of a catalog their site has become) about how to make corroded armor. You could also paint up the armor like The Cleaved in the CSM codex and call them plague marines.

I just ebay sniped about 8 plagues for 15 bucks on ebay. Is it acceptable to paint models to look like other models and switch weapons and all of that? I'm not quite sure how it works. Are a lot of the parts easily interchangable? I know the ork ones didn't seem like they were.

btw, thanks for all the help so far, great info!

Brandon

**MechaEmperor7000**

You can paint them any color you want provided they conform to whatever standard the local gameshop asks for (it's usually 3 colors not including highlights or shades). As for switching weapons, try and remain to what you're allowed to use in the codex. You can give a Plague Marine a Missile Launcher, but you can only call it a Havoc with the mark of nurgle at best, since Plague Marines can't take heavy weapons.

**zionarbadon**

Also, are Nurgles part of CSM? I'm unsure about who they are.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Nurgle is one of the Chaos gods, patron of the Death Guard Chaos Space Marine legion. The Mark of Nurgle is also one of the upgrades you can buy for nearly all of your non-vehicle models.

**annabelle**

Make your army mobile and have a good mix of big guns and small guns.

**zionarbadon**

annabelle wrote:Make your army mobile and have a good mix of big guns and small guns.

Yeah, only thing I worry about is that my fiance has a dreadnaught (sp?) so those big guns would be a bit of a waste sometime

though she wont be the only person I'll be playing.

**LDOG NZ**

personally i use khorne with lots of berzerkers but if you are looking for a nurgle army go plague marines they are very good objective holders because of their feel no pain and the mark of nurgle ( + 1 toughness ) which makes them very hard to kill also theres also a defiler on forge world that is all nurgled up (awesome model) but nurgle is a very expensive army.

**MechaEmperor7000**

A Nurgle Army can be very cheap if you can convert them to look the part. a battleforce can easily yield 15-23 Plague Marines, a Rhino, and a group of possessed if you can use Greenstuff to "nurgle up" the berserkers and normal marines. Alternatively, a Combined Khorne/Nurgle force can be very competitive. Berserkers are one of the better assault troops and can go off charging while Plague Marines handle objective squatting. Give the Plagues a Power Fist (it wont affect them that much anyways, since they already go after normal SMs in CC) and they can crack intermediate tanks. Give the zerkers a power weapon and watch them tear down even terminators.

**ShadowZetki**

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:A Nurgle Army can be very cheap if you can convert them to look the part. a battleforce can easily yield 15-23 Plague Marines, a Rhino, and a group of possessed if you can use Greenstuff to "nurgle up" the berserkers and normal marines. Alternatively, a Combined Khorne/Nurgle force can be very competitive. Berserkers are one of the better assault troops and can go off charging while Plague Marines handle objective squatting. Give the Plagues a Power Fist (it wont affect them that much anyways, since they already go after normal SMs in CC) and they can crack intermediate tanks. Give the zerkers a power weapon and watch them tear down even terminators.

My friend loves his berzerkers it's brutal when ten of them counting the champion charge *shudder* I have some very bad memories of them ruining my day, as for plague marines just put them at an objecting (hopefully it is in cover) and your enemy will get pretty annoyed trying to get them out of cover.

Also Rubic Marines (Thousand Sons) are always good too put them in cover and their S4 AP3 bolters will make a marine player very angry. As for noise marines personally I love the idea of them I think they are so cool, unfortunately they are too many points to be viable which makes me sad because I would be playing chaos still if they were viable. Hope that helps

**zionarbadon**

Thanks for the info so far all. I'm quite excited. After I leave work today I think I will go to the game store and flip through the codex. I am sorry, bit I'm still confused about converting units? Is that allowed for leagues and what-not? I will probably ask someone at the shop to explain it to me. I can't wait to pawn off my orks and star on my csm army.

Does anyone have a suggested army buid for a balanced play at 500/1000 I like balanced and shooty, but not too fond of close combat after playin the orks.

Again, thanks for all this info you guys are great. Part o the reason I was excited to get into this was because the warhammer folks at the gamestore are incrdibly kind as well.

Brandon

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for the info so far all. I'm quite excited. After I leave work today I think I will go to the game store and flip through the codex. I am sorry, bit I'm still confused about converting units? Is that allowed for leagues and what-not? I will probably ask someone at the shop to explain it to me. I can't wait to pawn off my orks and star on my csm army.

Does anyone have a suggested army buid for a balanced play at 500/1000 I like balanced and shooty, but not too fond of close combat after playin the orks.

Again, thanks for all this info you guys are great. Part o the reason I was excited to get into this was because the warhammer folks at the gamestore are incrdibly kind as well.

Brandon

**Slipstream**

Chaos marines have the same stats as marines making them tough in close combat. Same shooting capabilites also. In regard to converting; get the codex and see what each unit is allowed and take it from there, remember that its chaos after all!

**Beast Warrior**

Get a couple of spawn, they will own units like guardsmen and eldar guardians, FTW.

**Sanctjud**

^If they get there.
In addition, Spawn are much harder to get the most out of compared to other options...

I would suggest against using spawn unless you want a thought experiment.

**FITZZ**

@ Zionarbadon.

Converting units/minis (so long as they're on the proper sized base etc) is perfectly "legal",so long as your opponent knows what they are/what they're equipped with. your good to go.

And seeing that your showing interest in a "Nurgle" based force presents a great conversion opportunity,converting regular CSM to represent Plague Marines is not only more cost efective...it's a hell of a lot of fun too.

There are many photos of converted Plague Marines/Death Guard in Dakkas gallery to give you some ideas on painting/modeling and you can also find some helpful info @ the Bolter and Chainsword website under "Legio Morbidus".

As for suggestions as to where to start,personally I recomend begining with two squads of Plague marines with rhinos and a winged Daemon Prince...with this "core" you have the beginnings of a solid Nurgle Army.

Best of luck with your new army.

**zionarbadon**

Thanks, I will definately look into those areas later (unfortunately I'm on my blackberry phone internet at work which is quite difficult to get any info on a 10min break). I've read about the prince being good, he also has an awesome model.

Is a squad considered 8 troops? Also, someone mentioned a nurgle mark, will that information be in the codex?

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Rules for Mark of Nurgle is in the book, along with the other Marks of Chaos (including Khorne, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh as well). Usually CSM squads number anywhere from 5 to 20 models, and each squad counts as a single troop (or other relevant FoC) choice.

**FITZZ**

zionarbadon wrote:Thanks, I will definately look into those areas later (unfortunately I'm on my blackberry phone internet at work which is quite difficult to get any info on a 10min break). I've read about the prince being good, he also has an awesome model.

Is a squad considered 8 troops? Also, someone mentioned a nurgle mark, will that information be in the codex?

A squad can consist of anywhere between 5 and 20 minis,I typically run 7 Plague Marines in each squad (simply for fluff reasons..not important to games dynamics).
Mark of Nurgle is included in a Plague Marines base stats,and yes,that information is in the codex.

**zionarbadon**

I went and traded my ork codex for the chaos codex. I have been reading the lore here and there when I have time and its pretty interesting.
The fellow who was working at the store said that chaos was weak right now and my fiances blood angel army would have an advantage, but I don't really care, these guys have an interesting story and will be fun to paint.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I went and traded my ork codex for the chaos codex. I have been reading the lore here and there when I have time and its pretty interesting.
The fellow who was working at the store said that chaos was weak right now and my fiances blood angel army would have an advantage, but I don't really care, these guys have an interesting story and will be fun to paint.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Quite the contrary. If you go by some tourney builds, CSM can be one of the more competitve armies there are. However the book no longer does them justice. see if you can find an online copy of the old 3.5 Edition book if you wanna see just how much character there was in the Chaos Army.

**zionarbadon**

Do you have a link to any tourney builds? I remember trying to look some up but all I kept getting was tourney results lol.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I like this build cause I like the daemon prince and plague marines. I read a bunch of people saying that there should only be 6 obliterators and put Rhinos in. I may try this. How do I end up getting plasma guns and meltas? Can you buy the bits seperately?

HQ
155 – Deamon Prince: Wings, Mark Of Slannesh and Lash Of Submission.
155 – Deamon Prince: Wings, Mark Of Slannesh and Lash Of Submission.

TROOPS
168 – 6 Plague Marines: 2 Plasmaguns
168 – 6 Plague Marines: 2 Plasmaguns
168 – 6 Plague Marines: 2 Plasmaguns

HEAVY SUPPORT
225 – 3 Obliterators
225 – 3 Obliterators
225 – 3 Obliterators

Total: 1489
Total No: 29
Kill Pts: 8

**Peter Wiggin**

My advice would be to purchase Codex: Chaos Space Marines and read it a few times. The fluff will give you a feel for the army, and you can look at their troops. Build an army that YOU enjoy, and use the models based on your enjoyment of their aesthetic IMO. Winning is nice, but not the point of this hobby. Not by far.

**zionarbadon**

I have the codex and am loving the flavor. I just wanted to build an army based on the plague marines because a marine that has no fear or care about pain just seems bad ass to me :p

**Samus_aran115**

A standard game is probably either 1000 or 1500 point. Anywhere in between is cool too. Prepare for those kinds of matches.

CSM are super easy to start with, IMO. Go for it. I started with CSM too, and I love them.

I'd say first of all, you should buy the following things:

-Either a Daemon Prince or a Terminator Lord kit

-Two boxes of CSM (the set with ten models)

-Two Rhinos

- Maybe some raptors

- A vindicator, or if you want to spend more money, three obliterators.

That should be pretty good for your skill level. Raptors are only really good when you load them with beter weapons, so model accordingly

Good luck!

**MechaEmperor7000**

For the actual list, dont go nutz on the Oblits. They are very good, but the cost of those things (both points and actual monetary costs) are just ridiculous. 6 is perhaps the max I'd suggest. A pred can bring on just as much firepower for much cheaper at the expense of not being able to use three identical weapons on a target.

Rhinos are almost manditory for Plaguies. Makes them faster for Point capping or just run up and forming a gunline. Plaguies have Defensive grenades, meaning they dont really care if the enemy charges next turn, in fact they might actually want it.