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I'm looking to shift my CSM army into a more mechanized force, though I'm not quite sure how to make this change effectively. So far I've been using Hellbrute formations, Heldrakes, Rhino Rushes, etc, but I haven't found the perfect balance between them all. Are there any tips out there for running a power-armored mech build? Not necessarily CSM, but anything really!

Thanks!

In a mech enviroment bear in mind that Rhinos die especially easy. They are essentially FirstBlood on tracks for your oponnent.

A good starting point is to get IA13 and a Sicaran Battle Tank or a Fire Raptor. I would think this is what Chaos mech is all about now.

If you are not into the FW stuff, it's worthwhile to consider the standard tank options before going with fiends, drakes, etc.

- Land Raiders are still hard to kill on the gaming table. The fact they are assault vehicles makes them an important, but expensive, part of standard CSM lists.

- Vindicators are probably undervalued for what they can do. It's worthwhile to consider multiple for your lists.

- Predators are pretty killy under 7th edition rules, since they are a little harder to kill.

Vindicators are very nice and useful, still, but always take more than one. They got "shoot me" painted all over them and I can't remember a game where one did not get focused down in enemy turn 1. Make sure you have enough target saturation and use this sacrifice to its fullest so your other Vindicator(s) and tanks get into the enemy face.

I would focus on daemon engines and fast attack. One of the only advantages chaos get over most armies vehicles is daemonic possession, letting vehicles ignore half the damage chart on a 2+ and the 5+ invulnerable save. Plus they have IWND. After looking through the loyalist codex, I truly appreciate our Dino bots a little more now.

Of the regular tanks, the vindicator and predator are the most useful.

All of the daemon vehicles can be good. Heldrakes, forgefiends and maulerfiends are good units (even with the 7th edition nerf to heldrkes, they remain good). Helbrutes are bad by themselves, but really shine if you buy multiple and use the dataslate formation. The defiler has become a fairly intimidating assault walker in 7th edition, especially if you swap in as many melee weapons as you can to get 7 attacks on a charge. If you want to make a walker themed mech army, then you're spoiled for choices.

The only underwhelming choices are the two transports: rhinos and land raiders. I like rhinos, but playing with them almost always puts you at a one point disadvantage from first blood. The Land Raider's lack of POTMS exacerbates the flaws in it's weapon loadout and sponson placement - AV14 can't make up for it's flaws.

If you decide to delve into forgeworld models, then a world of options opens up. CSM are really only rivalled by IG and SM when it comes to forgeworld vehicle options. They get access to a lot of the best of both worlds.

 techsoldaten wrote:
A good starting point is to get IA13 and a Sicaran Battle Tank or a Fire Raptor. I would think this is what Chaos mech is all about now.

If you are not into the FW stuff, it's worthwhile to consider the standard tank options before going with fiends, drakes, etc.

- Land Raiders are still hard to kill on the gaming table. The fact they are assault vehicles makes them an important, but expensive, part of standard CSM lists.

- Vindicators are probably undervalued for what they can do. It's worthwhile to consider multiple for your lists.

- Predators are pretty killy under 7th edition rules, since they are a little harder to kill.

This. So much this. The sicaran is an awesome tank with the ability to down a Serpent a turn with a cheap price tag (well points wise). If you really want to invest in it you can give it melta-proof armor, lascannon sponsons, and a choice of legacies that can either buff the tank or your forces near it.

Fire raptors are one of the few cases where the Chaos version is hands down better than the loyalist version. Two quad autocannon batteries that can shoot at seperate targets if you please? Hell yes.

I think you're right about vidicators too. I made a double CAD 1850 list with daemons cav rush, a spawn bomb with Nurgle Lord, and triple Vindicators. I just might try it out tomorrow.

I long for some of the daemon engines, but alas all I have is a single Heldrake (and money is tight at the moment). Maulerfiends seem super fun and fairly competitive when backed up right. I think you could make a cool and strong list with a lot fast walkers by allying in Daemons. Soul Grinders are super tough and decently killy for their points. A pair of these with some maulerfiends presents your opponent with a lot of fast, fairly durable threats. Being that they are all daemons I think it would be worth while to invest in a couple Tzeench heralds on disks with Screamers fishing for Cursed Earth. Potentially buffing all those daemon engines to have a 4+ invuln could be pretty huge. Throw in another fast assault threat and you're golden.