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Hi.
My friend is selling ff his Chaos Space Marine army, and with my Orkz all but done I'm thinking of buying them for cheapsies. I have an idea of what I want my army to look like, though it's purely aesthetic, I wanted to see if any of you more experienced CSM could tell me how the list looks IF I was going to play with it. This is why models will be converted to hell in the name of their god. I'll write my list before any games so people can't say "Well I didn't know that was there, it's not on the model" like a baby.

Here's the jist:

Daemon Prince - Modelled to worship all gods. Horned/toothy Khorne head, feathery wings, 4 breasted chest and a stomach rotting out.
Sorceror - Just a religious looking model to stand next to the prince like a tome-keeper of dark secrets.
5xPossessed - Not sure about these, but just like the look of them. I'd model 1 to be possessed by each god or maybe each to be their own mix of 2.
20xCultists - A mix of all the gods throughout them, some devout to particular ones.

7xBerserkers +Rhino - Modelled as majorly bloody khorne worshippers. Rhino is an altar to khorne on wheels.
10xBloodletters - To follow the khorne altar around.

7xPlague Marines +Rhino - Modelled as rotting nurgle worshipers with a rhino/pusswagon.
10xPlaguebearers - Follow it around.

7xCSM + Rhino - Modelled as devout Slannesh followers. Rhino will have tentacles and a disturbingly unsatisfied screaming face.
10x Daemonettes - Follow around their guys.

7xCSM + Rhino - Modelled as devout Tzeentch worshipers, Rhino with... well, all sorts. He's change after all. Each wheel in the tracks could be Imperial guardsmen cursed into the rhino.
10xHorros - Follow their guys around.


This is how I in-vision the army. I want it to be a ball of death that gets more elite and more multi-god the further into the ball you get, until reaching the 4 god prince.

Has anyone got any suggestions on what I should do for the army? Here's some things I've been thinking.

-Plague marines could be replaced by standard nurgle following CSM, as my friend has plenty of those models I could convert.
-Having 2 Rhino's and 2 Looted ones for Orkz, I COULD just make all my vehicles without buying them. But this would mean turning the vindicator into my nurgle transport. I'd put a big maw on the front to give it a gun if I want it fielded as a vindicator.
-I half want some CSM termies instead of the possessed, and I also half don't want either. I just have them to make the centre more elite looking.
- Is it worth modelling each set of CSM as their respective gods elites like noise marines/thousand suns? I'd field Khornes as berserkers but still watn the core idea of the army to just be a few different attack squads each in their own gods colours.

Again, any suggestions on what to do to bring out the army into a nice aesthetically undevided list would be grand cheers

I'm a little confused. Are you actually trying to make a themed list that is competitive or just making a themed list?

Because if it is themed, I can't really comment on that. You need to do what you want to do.

Sorry for the confusion. It is themed for the most part, which I agree is 100% my decision, but I want to get some play use out of the models seeing as Warhammer is that sort of hobby that you sink stupid amounts of money into. I have a competitive Ork apocalypse army, so these guys don't need that.

Not competitive in a tournament sense, I hate those things, full of people who cry if your gun looks more like a burna than a deffgun, but I want to play with it in friendlies/the odd game with a randomer.

Because of this, I want to craft my themed army with palying in mind, while still keeping it themed. This means making decisions such as:
"Should I bring noise marines for Slanesh, or just regular CSM that are styled to worship Slanesh?"
"Is my army too heavily based on aesthetics to play a decent game? I have no heavy support because I focused so heavily on giving the gods their followers. Would it be better to replace the possessed (for example) with a vindicator decorated to the gods?"


Just the sort of things that keep my ability to style the army free, but if I wanted to get my money out of the models I could play a game and at least stand half a chance. Like i said though, I have Orkz for any seriously serious games.
Hope that makes more sense

Okay well I can certainly help with that.

Noise Marines are only good in three configurations:

10+ NM with BP/CCW with Icon of Excess and Power Sword (you should be taking berserkers if you want combat)

6 NM w/ Blastermaster in a Rhino (if you want the AP3/Ignore Cover)

10 NM w/ Blastmaster x2 in a Rhino (or with Icon of Excess if on foot without the Rhino)

5-10 NM w/ Sonic Blasters and Doom Siren in Rhino (if you know you're going against horde or 5+ armor)

The decision of CSM vs. NM (or any other cult..) comes down to the amount of Troops you want in your list, since you're taking a sorcerer and a demon prince so you cant swap Elites into Troops. I would go with CSM if you take a Demon Prince, but they'd need to be 10man for the dual Special Weapon.

I would consider replacing the possessed (being a Daemon doesn't help if you have to make armor saves from lasguns) with the Vindicator, but remember that they are better when taken in pairs.. Single Vindicators should have the TL Bolter *or* Daemonic Possession to make sure their gun keeps firing. Too much out there can take off their weapon.

To be competitive, you gotta use plague marines.

CSM with MoT is useless as it only gives a 6++ save. CSM with MoK makes fearful beserkers that can carry dual spec weapons.CSM with MoN still doesnt make them immune to instant death of a str 10 ap2 vindicator blast (mostly due to ap2).

CSM with MoS gives you acess to the fnp icon of excess. Often seen on mobs of 20 csm that are infiltrated by Huron black heart.

Because you are using a dp and a sorc, you can not use beserkers, plague, or noise as troops but you could give sorc MoT to get thousand sons but they really are not worth it.

If you use csm then i recommend this list.

Dp of Tz, wings, armor, black mace
Or Be'lakor

No sorc or Sorc with mastery lvl 3 (try to get strong arm and invisibl)

10 CSM, MoK, trade bolters for ccw, 2 meltaguns, meltabomb on champ, in rhino, dirge caster, dozerblade

10 CSM , MoS, Icon of Ex, 2 plasmaguns (footsloggin)

10 CSM, MoN, trade bolters for ccw, 2 meltaguns, meltabomb champ, in rhino, dirge caster, dozerblade

10 CSM, MoT, 1 ac, 1 plasmagun. March them and snap fire that ac all the way till you can sit & shoot plasmagun.

Run cultist barebones and wait them in reserves.



Some guy is going to tell you to take heldrake. Its up to u.

The only good elite are termicide

I think you should bring a pair of vindicators and atleast a pred with side lc. Because you will be presenting 2 rhino as first blood. U can screen the av13 to protect the rhino. Otherwise i would have suggested 3 pairs of oblitz.

To use daemons, you must ally daemons. So that means you could use the dp as a hq for daemons and your sorc for csm hq.

Allied detachment

Dp of Tz, flight, warpforged armor, exalted gift (portaglyph)

Plague bearers
Daemonettes (may consider claw)
Bloodletters (may consider ap2 sword)
Horrors

Unfortunatly I think troops are 1-2 from allies, maybe consider expanding into some other slots? Daemons have some great modeling opportunities, or put the daemons as the primary.

First off, MAJOR thanks for the help here. My 3k ork army has rattled my brain into thinking like an ork, and in turn I'm struggeling to comprehend half the chaos upgrades without just saying "Dese are 'eavy bitz n dese are 'eavyer!".
I'm slowly fading out of 1 section for each god too, and thinking of making their personality more undevided and their armour more like their own chapter. So rather than devoting troops to nurgle, they make corpse effigies for atop their vehicles and all that.

I've began re-thinking the list, but only to a certain degree. Given my lack of knowledge I've not included upgrades, but rather how they'd function fluff wise in the army. I understand this is not something I can get much feedback on, but if you could just give the list a look over and see how it would potentially field, again, to make it playable. . Here's what I'm currently considering:

CSM
HQ
Sorceror - Ritualistic leader for Tzeench/change. All chaos is change, spread it all!
Lord - Undevided - Again, all chaos is change and all change is chaos. Spread it all!

Elites
5 Chosen - Rhino - Mainly included because I love the models/concept and I can buy dark vengeance off my mate. Don't WANT the rhino, but I fear they will get insta-gibbed on foot.
Hellbrute - Just there because there's one in DV. Not hugely big on fielding it, just let me know if it's good or bad for the army to function on tabletop.
10 berserkers - Rhino - Either elites or troops depending on Lords mark. But there's 15 of the models going spare, so I threw 10 ina rhino to make sure they all get a charge off.

Troops
20 Cultists - Models going spare, I like the gretchin-esque body wall idea.
10CSM - Filler units. Slaanesh.
10CSM - Filler units. Tzeentch.
10CSM/PM - CSM Nurgle modelled to be fielded as plague marines if wanted. Apparently they're needed to be competative.

Heavy
Vindicator - Some much needed heavy support. Large blast templates to thin the enemy ranks regardless of how strong the unit is.
Predator - Debating making this into one of my rhinos, but it seems like a waste of a pred. Again, just my chance at getting some big ass guns in the game.


Daemon wise I'll be leaving it for now. While I have access to bloodletters, plaguebearers and lizardmen to convert, I may just make a DP lead daemon army later on in life.


So, what do people think of the list? Again, apologies for the lack of technical knowledge about chaos in game.
My main concerns are:
-Balancing rhinos. While i WANT as many as I can, I'd sooner limit myself for financial reasons. Any rhinos that can be spared without destroying the unit will be fine.
-The odd extra unit could be fitted in, just whatever you think would function well. I may buy some fantasy chaos to add the xtra "Ritualistic" armour.
- Still debating the hellbrute. It seems like some much needed strength but there's just something about it that puts me off. Possibly the fact my friend already converted it.
- Removing some CSM. Like is aid, I may move out of a squad per god, and make vagabond and renegade squads made from corrupted marines of all chapters and allegiances.
- Also, what do people think of me using the dark elder pirate gak models for either rhinos or pred or vindi's etc... just general vehicles. I love rhinos for their bunker style but the idea of a dread corsair ship sailing to battle with a lord aboard sounds incredible.

But yeah, any help will be great again ^^ Tytyty!!