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Llike the name says, what are the most common, most , and effective competive army lists for Chaos Space Marines


Need to know what i could use that my opponets wont be immediately expecting

Well the most common is probably Lash Princes as HQs, bunches of Plague Marines with melta or plasma in rhinos, and maxed Obliterators in HS. Other slots usually go empty. Another fairly common one is Berzerker rush, with lots of Berzerkers in rhinos possibly led by Kharn.

Well...if you want a cheese list, then I would expect your opponent to see it coming.

Anyhow, lledwey was pretty spot on with Lash prince lists (sometimes you'll see a vindy or two tossed in there to maximize the pie plating insanity). Plagues, Zerkers and common CSM are the typical troop choices for most armies and just pick your flavor for what you want them to accomplish. Oblits are awesome choices, they have AMAZING diversity. One thing not mentioned are infilitrating melta-Chosen in Rhinos. These are a bane to many Riflemen SM armies or anyone else who likes to park their heavies in the back and not leave much behind to protect them.

The rest of the choices are hit or miss and depend greatly on how you utilize them. I personally like Noise Marines, but they can be a bit tricky to play if you don't keep in mind their strengths and weaknesses. YMMV with any of the units, the previously mentionied are the most common, but I encourage you to try everything and play what you enjoy the most. Good luck and good gaming!

Fabius bile is good and never used.

Defilers are common but solid bullet magnets and if your facing an assault they can really dish it out while being very hard to put down.

Infiltrating chosen give you some nice options, I like asp champ to bring in GD, 2mg in small squad as good snipe vehicle and primary GD entry points.

Tz terms are hard to put down.

Thousand sons w asp sorcerer using wartime? You get relentless ap3 and force weapon that rerolls to hit and wound and then can terminate a character as they have mark Tz

Lots of fun w CSM, enjoy

I think lash princes are out.

Way to much str8 ap3/ap2.

Other than that, plague marines, oblits and termicide are the most viable units available to chaos marines.

Well, generally, there were three strong CSM builds: monster mash (2 DPs, GD, 3 Dreads, 3 Defilers, Daemons), Rhino spam (Chosen, CSM, and Havocs in Rhinos with special weapons, led by lash Sorcerers), and double lash list (2 DPs, Obliterators, PM, Termicide).

With the emergence of more and more new codices, these builds became less powerful.

2 Nurgle Princes, Plague Marines, and Obliterators. that and Monster Mash are really the last bastion of CSM goodness.

Fabius Bile is a cool idea, but not what I would call really competitive; still a sweet idea.

Noob question: To what, exactly, does the term "termicide" refer?

3 Terminators, all with Combi-Meltas or Combi-Plasmas. They Deepstrike in, deliver their 1 turn of shooting, then promptly die. They can include another member, a Chainfist, and a Heavy Flamer, but you want 3 combi-weapons.

imweasel wrote:I think lash princes are out.

Way to much str8 ap3/ap2.

Other than that, plague marines, oblits and termicide are the most viable units available to chaos marines.

Did anyone else read this and chuckle ?

Thanks for the quick response. Minimum points on that is 105, so I'm assuming you try to take something out that's really troublesome or worth more points, with the meltas for vehicles and plasmas for MEQ and stuff?

Why would you want to include another member with a chainfist if they die before they can assault?

Tangent wrote:Thanks for the quick response. Minimum points on that is 105, so I'm assuming you try to take something out that's really troublesome or worth more points, with the meltas for vehicles and plasmas for MEQ and stuff?

Why would you want to include another member with a chainfist if they die before they can assault?

Because they survive, strangely enough. They are a small threat, but a threat none the less, and when you don't have ap1/2 weapons around, terminators can be surprisingly tough. Also, the rest of your army with much greater damaged potential is still rolling in on them, so they are between a pebble and a hard place- a minimum sized squad of terms, or the rhino's full of zerkers/plague marines incoming? I write termicides off at the end of their shooting phase, and often marvel at how often they survive to cause shenanigans. Chainfist shenanigans

I find that for tankbusting a unit if three CSM bikers with 2 meltas and a PF work wonders, deploy right on the line and turboboost up their flank turn 1, and prepare to cause havoc next turn!

Jihallah wrote:

Tangent wrote:Thanks for the quick response. Minimum points on that is 105, so I'm assuming you try to take something out that's really troublesome or worth more points, with the meltas for vehicles and plasmas for MEQ and stuff?

Why would you want to include another member with a chainfist if they die before they can assault?

Because they survive, strangely enough. They are a small threat, but a threat none the less, and when you don't have ap1/2 weapons around, terminators can be surprisingly tough. Also, the rest of your army with much greater damaged potential is still rolling in on them, so they are between a pebble and a hard place- a minimum sized squad of terms, or the rhino's full of zerkers/plague marines incoming? I write termicides off at the end of their shooting phase, and often marvel at how often they survive to cause shenanigans. Chainfist shenanigans

Awesome. Do you think it is better to specialize the unit by making it either TOTALLY anti-vehicle (meltas and chainfist) or anti-infantry (plasmas), or is it better to diversify a little bit (for instance, plasmas on 3 guys for infantry and a chainfist on the 4th for the incidental vehicle)?

The best way to run termicide is either:

1) 3 termies with combi-meltas and possibly add a chain fist.

2) 4 termies, 3 with combi-meltas (with one having a chain fist) and one with a heavy flamer.

Method 2 is my choice. It forces your opponent to deal with them. Build/take 3 squads of them.

Multiple 3+ man squads of terminators are hard to kill. Personally I run 3x squads. Generally I spec them with 2 chainfists, 2 combi meltas, 1 tlc. They are a little more pricey but last because of target priority. Drop them in your opponents backfield and pop heavy armor/ artillery with them. I pretty much get my points back with them every game and eliminate some serious enemy firepower.

Seems pretty great, I may have to try this.

I was a fan of 3 squads, 3 terms with combimeltas and one with a chainfist.

I might sound odd here, but why are you fitting out a term with TLC? I'd rather another combimelta and power weapon...

Am I reading the infiltrate rules wrong, as I thought it says units in transports lose the infiltrate ability? How can chosen in a rhino use this then?

They can't.

But they can still outflank in a rhino?

Yes, they can Outflank in the Rhino. It should be noted that they can still purchase the Rhino if they are going to Infiltrate, they just can't bring it with them. It has to deploy normally.