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Hello denizens of the interwebs! I've recently got back into the hobby after a year or two and have already got a bunch of new models, including a lot of Chaos Space Marines. I've worked up part of a 1000pt list, but need some help with the finishing touches and would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism. Here it is:

HQ
Chaos Sorcerer w/ Terminator armour, force stave, combi-bolter, Mark of Nurgle, blight grenades, gift of mutation, 2 extra mastery levels.
150pts

Troops
Chaos Space Marines
9 Marines, 7 boltguns, 1 plasma gun, 1 autocannon.
1 Aspiring Champion w/ combi-plasma, chainaxe, gift of mutation.
Mark of Nurgle
223pts

Chaos Space Marines
9 Marines, 7 bolt pistols w/ CCWs, 2 flamers.
1 Aspiring Champion w/ combi-flamer, power maul, gift of mutation.
Mark of Nurgle
Icon of Despair
Veterans of the Long War
235pts

Elites
Chaos Terminators
4 Terminators, 1 pair of lightning claws, 1 combi-bolter w/ chainfist, 1 combi-melta w/ power sword, 1 reaper autocannon w/ power maul
1 Champion w/ combi-flamer, power fist, gift of mutation.
Mark of Nurgle
Icon of Vengeance
Veterans of the Long War
268 pts

Total so far - 876pts
There's the list as it stands. At the moment, nothing is completely glued together so I should be able to make any changes relatively easily. The Sorcerer is staying, regardless of what people suggest. He fits in with the fluff I've already written and is going to be a blast to paint. I guess I should take a Land Raider for my termies (who, by the way, are going to be with the Sorcerer), What do you guys think?

Its a good idea to keep your units mobile, so a rhino and land raider are a good idea. It does usually lost you first blood, but that is something chaos marines are never gonna he good at.

You can deep strike terminators, but it is risky.

Can't the icons reduce scatter or get rid of it completely? So I could have the CQC Marines in a rhino and deep-strike to them prettyaccurately, right?

nah, thats daemon icons.

I don't like mixing Special Weapons and Heavy Weapons on my CSM. I like my Autocannons in the backfield, long out of the plasmagun's range.
I'd rather pay 35 points for a Rhino than 30 points for Toughness 5 CSM (Mark of Nurgle)

Gift of Mutation is fun, but not really worth it.

Terminator - one combimelta won't do much. Five will usually blow up a tank (4+sorceror).

The sorceror is pretty good. Daemonology, Telepathy, and Biomancy are pretty solid. Nurgle isn't all that impressive - I'm not sure if that mark is worth it. On the other hand, the Spell Familiar is amazing.

Other things to look at: Obliterators with Marks of Nurgle and Maulerfiends. The Fire Raptor, Chaos Relic Predator, and Chaos Sicaran Tanks from Imperial Armour 13 are also very solid.

The trouble with the Chaos Land Raider is that it can only transport 5 models in Terminator armour.

The Mark of Nurgle might not be that great, but I've decided that this force is going to be almost all Nurgle, so it's either MoN or nothing. Also, he can make all of one enemy squad's ranged weapons gets hot!

Caelim said it already but i will repeat it. I like all the same guns in the units so I would go autoguns in one and plasma in the other. Rhinos for the troops would be great and you can still use the special/heavy weapons out of it. Deapstrikeing can be rough but can throw a lot of frustration towards your enemy. That would only leave you about 70 points so a cultist unit with outguns would fit.

PotatoDaemon wrote:
The Mark of Nurgle might not be that great, but I've decided that this force is going to be almost all Nurgle, so it's either MoN or nothing. Also, he can make all of one enemy squad's ranged weapons gets hot!

That's just it... I'd recommend you go 'nothing' on most of your units. While it makes units tougher against most attacks, it's usually cheaper/more effective to buy another body, and just paint them all rotting anyway.
Multi-wound models are an exception, because higher toughness makes them harder to ID from double strength attacks. Obliterators and Chaos Spawn are amazing targets for Marks.
Sorcerors are an exception to my exception, for two reasons. One, they're hanging out in a squad, so they'll have to use Majority Toughness (Although they'll use their own toughness against ID). But play a few games, and pay attention to the powers that you generate, and the powers that you actually use. I'm betting that you'll use up all your Warp Charges on Summoning, or Psychic Shriek/Shrouding/Invisibility, or Iron Arm/Enfeeble/Endurance, that you won't even bother casting the "Cool, funny, and weak" Nurgle powers.

If an independent character is attached to a squad, then he doesn't count as part of it, right? So, if the sorcerer joined 4 termies, would the terminators now be able to take the reaper?

I have absolutely no luck with Gift of Mutations and it generally always a waste of ten points having rolled nadda.

I would drop all the GoM's. Also the Icon of Despair as Fear is pretty useless, more useless if you are keeping the Autocannon at the back as it's going to do even less if you had it moving forward. Lose the Chainaxe on the Aspiring Champion as it's not amazing.

The Sorcerer is a separate unit so wouldn't count towards the tax required to get the Reaper.

I would add in that Icon of Despair is next to useless as most armies are either fearless or have ATSKNF.