Just Dave wrote:The battleforce is a pretty good place to start with Chaos Space Marines, just use the possessed for additional bitz rather than an independent unit.
A general rule with Chaos Space Marines is the rhinos/mechanised is the best route to take, the fast attack section is best avoided and the Heavy Support section is best supported.
Meh, no it isn't. Possessed and Khorne Berserkers are...suboptimal.
Regarding the
op's question,
Since
CSM is a weak codex
atm you can't waste too many points on crap.
I therefore suggest an
msu approach ( 5csm, melter, champion, combimelter, rhino with havoc launcher or combiweapon ) with perhaps 3 autolaspredators (cheaper than the equivalent firepower in Oblits ). Upgrade the
csms to plaque marines if you have spare points. Others prefer 10csm squads with two melters in rhinos but i think that 85 points for a second melter are a bit steep. Take champions only when you realy realy need them ( like in the
msu variant ) and leave the powerfists at home ( they simply cost too much ). For the ten men squad a chaos glory standard is worth a thought.
Berserkers, while truly good in
cc, lack a good delivery system. 1k sons are overpriced. Noise Marines are interesting so shouldn't be completely ruled out and Plaque marines are good but rather expensive.
Princes are a rather good
hq choice but with wings ( mobility! ) and the mark of nurgle ( T6 is realy needed ) they get somewhat expensive. The warptime nerf hurt them and they are difficult to hide.
Sometimes the sucky lord with a simple combimelter might be the better, because considerably cheaper, choice. Defilers are too large and too thinly armoured to be worth it ( especialy since they take a heavy slot ), Dreads are unreliable, Terminators are worth a thought ( cheap combiweapons! ), Possessed would be ok if you could actualy chose what special ability they get (sadly you can't which makes them meh ).
Chosen are a good but expensive way to get lots of special weapons and in a certain way so are Havocs ( just that havocs compete in the heavy slot which makes them bad

).
Spawn are a waste of points. They share the throne of suck with Aun'va from the Tau codex. Chaos Landraiders lack the machinespirit rule and thunderhammer termies to ride in them which is sad.
This should cover most of it i think.