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Hello all,

I have had the Chaos Marine box set sitting to one side for about a year but I have dug it out and decided to knuckle down and get it sorted because the more i read the more I want a Chaos army.

Could someone suggest a good starting army list for about 500 - 600 points?

Many thanks,

Personally I don't even play chaos, but friend of mine does, so I know a little about their troops.

HQ:
Well this is the section I know least about. My friend uses Aspiring Champion (wich is pretty nice in CC) and in rare cases if point-level is low he uses chaos sorcerer.

Troop:
Well you have pretty much 2 options as your basic core. First is couple of normal Chaos Marines. They are pretty similar to Tactical Marines: usually run in squads of ten, and have 2 special weapons. I would recommend using them in Rhino.

The other option is to have Cultists. They are weak and have only 6+ armor, but you can get a lot of these guys with low point level. Even tough I don't personally like them, these might suit you better in a small game. You would only get about 2 squads of 10 chaos marines in game this small.

Wichever you will choose, get 2 squads of them. Not one of each, two of same. Works better. If you still have points, there are couple of Elite choises you might want to consider:

I would say that here is also 2 options for you. First is Plague Marines. 5-men squad of these is only 120 (+10pts because you might want to get meltagun there and +1pt/model if you want Veterans of Long War special rule. Wich is useful and cheap) So pretty cheap for elites choice. They have mid-range weapons and are specialized in CC.

The other one is Beserkers. I'll make it simple. They're expensive and beasts in CC. Wichever you choose, it should propably accompany your Hq.

That's all I can say. I'll ask for my friend for some advice and return later with opinion of someone with more expedience

thats a great start, any more help would be greatly appriciated!

An aspiring champion can't be an HQ, I think you're talking about a chaos lord. They have a whole bunch of goodies (you can make them T6 or give them a 3++ or 4++ depending on marks). They can take a variety of demon weapons and mounts. This is all probably too expensive at this point level though.

If you're taking cultists, a dark apostle is probably a good idea for the moral bubble but he has a higher base cost, though the bubble is only 6".

Both the lord and sorcerer are cheap if you only consider their base cost but I feel the sorcerer would be better if you want to leave him bare because of his ability to use psychic powers.

Pick a theme. Do you want to play Slaanesh, Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, or Undivided. Whatever you choose will help shape how your core will look, which at 500 points is pretty much all you will be putting on the table.

If you can squeeze in a Solo Obliterator with Mark of Nurgle, that is points well spent also. Since he gives you a lot of flexible fire power, and the fact hes a 2 wound terminator with a power fist is also awesome.

My painting scheme is Black Legion but I have added in a nurgle banner into one of my squads so far.

So my advice as total (not sure of points but should be under 600):

Chaos sorcerer w/ power sword

Plague Marines (5 of them)
- Meltagun and veterans of long war

2 squads of 10 marines.
Both should take heavy bolter and meltagun.

If possible put all of those in rhinos. (rhino is only 35pts and can take 10 models.) If you can't put all, then if it is objective game, put one of your Chaos Marine squads there and try to get to objective as quick as possible. Follow with other squads and keep your elites and HQ behind normal troops for cover.

Why are you giving plague marines veterans? It doesn't seem necessary given they're fearless unless you're fighting a lot of marines.

Well as I said, I don't play CSM personally.
These advices are based on how I've seen my friend play them and he uses that. Not sure why, but since it's only 5p for whole squad I see no reason why not to (unless you're really tight on points).

Lord, MoN, Lightning Claw, Meltabomb-100

Plague Marines, 1 Melta, 1 Flamer, Meltabomb, Rhino, Havoc Missile launcher-187

Plague Marines+1, 2 Melta guns, Rhino, HML-211

total 498

Turn a regular box of 10 CSM $37.25 into a box of 7 Plague Marines at $45 with 3 extra bodies. can easily convert csm into plague by paint scheme and greenstuff.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
The list growing to 1k pts

Lord, MoN, Lightning Claw, Meltabomb, Sigil-125
Plague Marines+2, 1 Melta, 1 Flamer, MB, Rhino, HML-235

Plague Marines+2, 2 Melta, Rhino, HML-235
Plague Marines+2, 2 Plasma-198

207pts left over
Can get a Defiler+Dirge Caster+Another combi bolter?-205
or

Heldrake, BF-170
2 power axes+1 MB for Plague Champions-35
or 1 Power fist + 2 melta bombs-35
or 1 Power fist+ 1 Pow axe-40 (3 pts over)

or

Vindicator, combi bolter, siege shield-135
Predator-75 (3 Points over. can drop combi bolter)

or
Vindicator, combi bolter-125
Predator, combi bolter-80

(if you buy a predator or vindicator be sure to magnetize the optional guns so that it can be easily converted back into a rhino to transport more plague marines)