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Pretty much sums it up whats what's fluff for the shelf
And what's money well spent chaos on a budget right here

Buy the models that you like the look of.

Yes, I agree with daddyorchips. If you get models you dont like the look of they will be difficult to paint. Rules wise, Daemon Princes are pretty good. So are Land Raiders and vindicators.

Sorry for having next to no info, i found all this out in one 2h battle at a competition

While I do certainly recommend you get the models you like the look of, here's a basic rundown of the units I recommend.

HQ:
Lord - PF and LC on Bike. Or Khorne Juggerlord with Murder Sword.
Sorceror - All marks are good. I'd say Slaanesh is the best. Keep him cheap. Can also be used as battery for a Daemon Prince Psyker.
Daemon Prince - Power Armour is mandatory. Wings are great, but not needed if you want points. Black Mace for ultimate cheese.

Troops:
Basic CSM - Two meltas in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher.
Cultists - Either large blobs with Autoguns for objectives or Autpistols in small groups as a distraction. Flamer if you insist on taking a special weapon.
Plague Marines - Very hard to kill, good for objectives and for just marching forth and being scary.
Thousand Sons - Overpriced, don't bother (Cool models, though)
Khorne Berzerkers - Tend to just die, and because of the current focus on shooting, avoid them.
Noise Marines - great for medium-range firepower, small units bubblewraped for MEQ.

Elites:
(Cult marines addressed in troops)
Helbrute - good in it's formation, not so great as an elite slot.
Chosen - Get expensive quickly, avoid.
Terminators - Meltacide, Plasmacide or Flamercide. Power Fist as well in case they survive to CC a tank to death.
Possessed - Fun CC unit that can be good if you get them in quickly.
Mutilators - Don't even bother reading their page.

Fast Attack:
Bikers - Mark of Nurgle or Mark of Slaanesh with Icon of Excess for FnP.
Raptors - Chaos Assault Marines. Nurgle with meltas.
Warp Talons - MEQ blending.
Spawn - Great for Juggerlord and Bikerlord bodyguard.
Heldrake - Baleflamer to wreck infantry.

Heavy Support:
Defiler - Flexible and fun, not the MOST competitive, but good.
Havocs - Missile Launchers for flexibility. Would take them over the Predator.
Predator - Okay, but not great. Dakkapred isn't that effective and a Laspred is too expensive.
Land Raider - Flexible and killy. Take in games of 1000pts+
Obliterators - Mark of Nurgle and they become practically invulnerable with huge focus-firing. Great weapon platforms but expensive.
Vindicator - Str9 Large Blast, what's not to like? Stick a Combi-Bolter on to avoid Weapon Destroyed.
Forgefiend - Hades Autocannon are good for more dakka and fliers (which the Codex lacks)
Maulerfiend - Run down vehicles and Monstrous Creatures.

Thank you the man

cultists are the go to right now, however as a servent of grandfather nurgle I would find the PDF for the new seige of vraks and take two units of plague marines, and then fill the rest with the zombies.

Havocs are super versatile, as they can take 4 of pretty much every weapon in the codex. You can have long range shooty guys with autocannons or run them with melta/plasma for going alonsgide an assault army.

Chaos Sorcerers on bikes are great too. Stick an unmarked sorcerer with a nurgle spawn and fish biomancy for iron arm/endurance for a 2-man deathstar unit.

Cultists are your cheap go-to troop that will provide no actual offensive punch, but will eat bullets and stand on flags better than anyone else for their points cost.

That's actually one of the biggest advantages you have - compared to loyalists, anyway - having havocs with four assault weapons and chainswords isn't that expensive but can be lethally effective.

Chosen with multiple assault weapons are the same - a bit more expensive but with a higher leadership and even stabbier.

I think you can practically run small squads entirely armed with flamers, which makes for scary, scary crowd control.

Of course, killing infantry tends not to be the trick these days, but melta and plasma chosen can cut big things and tanks up pretty fast

I was thinking of converting the chosen and the aspiring into plague marines and a sorcerer

I'll make a long winded post later as someone that actually used them as a Primary competitively, since there's some major problems internally within the codex.

I first wanted to build a chaos army in 1993 I couldn't afford 40k and got battletech instead maybe by the time I assemble an army and know what I'm doing there will be a different meta anyway in the meantime I'm playing primarily against my son who is 8 and going to be way over me in points deployed any way I just want the squad built well on the off chance I play anyone else

If you're into Khorne I would recommend looking into the Khorne Daemonkin Codex and rules. It doesn't fix all the current problems with CSM, but it does make them scary as all hell. Or consider bringing a formation detachment of Khorne Daemonkin for the formations instead.

I'll give you the REAL rundown, as the codex is woefully underpowered.

HQ:
Lord - There's only a few ways to really run him. You got the AoBF Juggerlord w/ a Spawn retinue, and if you want Nurgle you should choose the Crimson Slaughter codex, and give him the Daemonhart and Horns. The Horns help make up for having less attacks, and T6 IWND is pretty good. If you want Slaanesh, might as well do a Biker in a Biker squad with the IoE, and the only time you'd want a unit from the Black Legion supplement (Spineshiver gives +1I, so that's I7 at AP3, though it'll be a lot of attacks). MoT has no real benefits. The first two I listed are really the only good ones.
Sorcerer - NO MARKS. I cannot stress this enough. You don't want to roll on the God tables. Mastery LV3 and a Bike, but Terminator armor is kinda okay if you just want him in an Obliterator squad tanking wounds. Crimson Slaughter gives access to Divination + Spell Familiar all in one. So that's advised, though not necessary.
Dark Apostle - Total gak. Cannot take a bike or steed or Terminator armor.
Warpsmith - If you cannot spam Warp Charges, the Warpsmith is the best option for getting multiple Infernal Relics, and can repair ones you want in the backfield. Keep him at 150 points: MoN, Aura, and the Gift.
Daemon Prince - Wings are a mandatory purchase. No excuses, if you want to ever make combat at some point. Slaanesh is the absolute worst mark and essentially pointless. MoT calls for the Burning Brand, MoN wants the Mace, and MoK wants the AoBF. Mastery Levels are recommended but not necessary

Special Characters:
Abbadon - Sucks. End of story. Has the worst Warlord trait by default, and is balls slow, and doesn't actually contribute anything as a force multiplier.
Typhus - If you want a MoN Lord in Terminator armor, just go all the way and buy Typhus. He gives Plague Marines as troops, makes better Cultists, gives Warp Charges, and has a fantastic weapon. Main downfall is the second worst Warlord trait and being LOTS of points.
Lucius - Sucks. He makes Noise Marines troops, but doesn't actually do anything else. He can't kill as many targets as Kharn or Zhufor, and doesn't have any durability. Avoid.
Kharn - He lacks any mobility, but at least has a decent Warlord trait and can kill even Imperial Knights when he charges. If your opponent doesn't suck, that won't happen though.
Ahriman - Too expensive. Has the best Warlord trait and gives a bunch of Warp Charges, but Rubrics suck and he only has a 4++. You could buy multiple Sorcerers to cover more ground for cheaper.
Huron - The cheapest way to get the best Warlord trait. Advised if you got Plague Zombies or a bunch of Raptors or something. I personally run him in conjunction with Typhus to Infiltrate the Zombies.
Zhufor - Better than Kharn. He's not as killy, but a LOT more durable, more mobile (even if Deep Strike can't be relied on), and gets a retinue without taking up an Elite slot which, while not excellent, is better than nothing. He also ID's targets easier than Kharn (S10 is more reliable against more targets than rolling a 6 to wound), and can do swarms okay. PLUS he has a great Warlord trait. Advised if you absolutely want a special character of Khorne. Still be wary of less mobility though.
Necrosius - He doesn't really do anything. He unlocks Zombies too I guess, and they're a little better on the charge. He has a meh Warlord trait, knows an alright power, and kinda durable. If you just want Plague Zombies and don't care about Plague Marines, you can use him over Typhus no problem. He's less killy though.
Arkos - I only have theories on how well he works as I never used him in an actual battle, and only ever made a single list using him. No comment overall, though he does some neat tricks.

Troops:
Chaos Space Marines - Suck. Plague Marines get you more special weapons for cheaper and are more durable to boot. They also lack as good a weapon as the Blastmaster. Still better than Bersekrers (they can carry more shooting power and be not crap at melee for the same cost or lower) and Rubrics (where x9 and a Champ with 2 Plasma Guns kill more than x5 Rubrics and a Champ at any shooting distance).
Cultists - 100 points to fulfill your Troop requirement if you don't want to spend a lot in that area. Highly recommended to have at least 20 of them in your collection.

Elites:
Plague Marines - Better as Troops or under The Purge FOC. Otherwise, cheapest means to carry special weapons. Only real issue is that you have to use Rhinos to transport them. Gross.
Noise Marines - The second best Cult Marine choice because of the Blastmaster alone. A minimum squad carrying one and MAYBE Sonic Blasters (highly overpriced and really should've been standard), along with a Rhino with a Havoc Launcher, can cover a backfield objective really well. Only issue is that this is all expensive, and that sometimes you'd rather cause Jinks rather than ignore them.
Berserker Marines - Horrible and overpriced. Under the Khorne Daemonkin they can be okay, but even the Vanilla Marines are better in there since they benefit more from certain Tithes.
Rubric Marines - Literally garbage. They're even worse than Mutilators, because at least you can Deep Strike a single Mutilator and maybe have it be a distraction. Rubrics don't really do anything well. Some people say they can still give Warp Charges, but 10 more points nets you a new CAD with a Sorcerer and 20 Cultists to cover more objectives.
Mutilators - Also complete garbage. You can Deep Strike one and have it be a distraction but that''s about it. Don't really benefit from MoS, and MoN is more advised to avoid being ID'd so easily. Otherwise, MoT and MoK are tied for second best marks.
Helbrutes - Terrible outside their formations. Wait until the new codex when they have 4 attacks like their Loyalist counterparts.
Terminators - Overpriced outside Termicide, and we don't even have accurate Deep Striking. Avoid outside Termicide (3-4 with all the same Combi-Weapon).
Chosen - Suck unless you have the Crimson Slaughter supplement to give them PE for a few points, and then you load them up in a Dreadclaw with all Plasma Guns and have a fun time wiping out something. Otherwise, you're paying a lot for not much benefit (LD9 and 3 attacks. Woohoo?). They're basically bad Sternguard and Vanguard.
Possessed - Just as bad Berserker Marines. Outside the Crimson Slaughter supplement (seeing a theme here?) they don't make it into combat ever. The supplement entirely helps that problem. Best mark is MoS for the IoE, but that requires a much larger investment.
Spined Chaos Beast - Have no comment. Seem less useful than other Elite choices though.
Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought - I don't know the rules to this one overall, so I'll maybe let someone else tackle this one.
Sonic Dreadnought - Awesome when you upgrade it to have the Blastmaster and Warp Amp. Pretty expensive but you can throw it at the enemy with glee. Should still have an FAQ to give it four attacks though...
Contemptor Dreadnought - Has lots of nice options, but fails to be a Sonic Dreadnought. MoK and MoN are the best choices here.
Decimator Engine - If you want an expensive melee dread, it might as well be this? MoN and MoK are once again the better options.

Fast Attack:
Heldrake - Still overall our best choice and still nerfed for no reason. Couldn't it at least have had a 180 degree of vision? Anyway, Baleflamer or nothing.
Bikers - Decent retinue for our HQ's. Melta Guns or Plasma Guns are advised. MoN and MoK are the best marks.
Raptors - Inferior to Bikers. Give them Melta Guns, our main advantage over the Loyalists, and give them MoS for a large group for IoE. Otherwise, MoN if you want a Jump Lord for some reason to help with Majority Toughness stuff.
Warp Talons - Barely above Mutilators and Rubric Marines because they can actually make combat. They'll still falter to anything in cover though because a lack of grenades. If you want Warp Talon models, make them count as Raptors.
Spawn - Another decent retinue for our HQ's. MoN or nothing here, as they don't really gain anything from the other marks (Counter Attack, 6++, or I4. Woohoo?)
Hell Talon - Bizarre. I wouldn't recommend it, even though it IS cheap.
Hell Blade - If you want a VERY cheap Flier, go for this and give it Helstorms. Will maybe even outperform the Heldrake for damage but will definitely die faster.
Dreadclaw - Our cheapest "Drop Pod" equivalent. Doesn't have safe Deep Striking though if I remember correctly. so leave it alone if I'm right.
Blight Drones - REALLY awesome. Can be squaded to save space in the FA slot, have awesome weapons that don't rely on BS, and somewhat durable. 2 HP hurts though.

Heavy Support:
Obliterators - Usually the go-to Heavy Support choice. Unfortunately they have to switch weapons every time they fire, and they're a metric ton of points for a W2 unit. Therefore give them MoN. MoT is a close second and then you ignore the other two options (though at least MoK is kinda fun and can actually be used).
Predator - Wait until the new Codex when you might be able to squad them up for a bonus. Otherwise, Lascannon Sponsons and the Autocannon is cheap AT.
Havocs - 115 points gives you 8 S7 shots across a table. If you need to blow points around this range, this is the proper way to do it. Get the models from Forge World though.
Maulerfiend - Popular for a reason. Quick enough to get to their targets, and can cause Melta Bomb hits on what they're attacking. This helps with their low amount of attacks. Usually proper in a rush list.
Forgefiend - Pretty bad. The equivalent amount of Autocannon Havocs covers more ground and does a but more damage. Even IF more vulnerable. The Plasma Cannons would be nice if they weren't so short ranged. If you want to use one, and I highly recommend you don't, use the Cannons and the Cannon head.
Vindicator - Same as the Loyalist version. It makes a large BOOM and then disappears.
Defiler - Worse than the Maulerfiend and Forgefiend. Having a multitool is nice, but a fragile multitool is pretty bad. They unfortunately fall under that category. Model is REALLY nice though.
Land Raider - Nope.
Plague Hulk - Your Soul Grinder equivalent and what you do with your Defiler models to count as. BS2 doesn't matter with its weapons, is durable to shooting AND melee, and is a scary target overall. Pretty good deal overall.
Assault Claw - It has its ups and downs. It does firepower okay, it can carry a lot of stuff, it Deep Strikes accurately, and has this fancy Heat Blast thing going on. However, it's possessed and REALLY more expensive.
Vindicator Tank Destroyer - Better than the Predator for AT AND cheaper to boot. Highly advised. It has a 75% chance to kill an AV12 out of cover right off the bat, if it isn't hiding in cover.
Spartan Assault Tank - Better than the Land Raider. About 70 more points gives you immunity to Melta and an additional HP, in addition to having more space to transport things. Not great, but not terrible. I like the model a lot, personally.
Sicaran - THE gold standard of a multitool. Camping with a Warpsmith is advised. Hell, they don't even NEED the Lascannon sponsons. 6 S7 Rending shots is already pretty good stuff. Still, sometimes you want to force Jinks and THEN target them with the main gun. Is that worth 40 points though? That's for the player to decide. Definitely better than the Forgefiend though, as 6 S7 Rending shots and 2 S9 AP2 shots is a lot better than 8 S8 shots at BS3.
If you ask nicely, you might be able to proxy a Hades Forgefiend as a Sicaran. I mean, I LOVE the look of the Sicaran, but I can understand someone liking the looks of a Forgefiend too.
Weapons Battery - Cheap source of Hades Autocannons, which are not bad when fired at BS4. 20 more points than a Forgefiend gets you 12 shots instead at BS4. You might be less mobile, but with that range you really won't have to move. Just camp in cover whatever you do.
Proteus - Don't have any comment as I've never used it. The Ark and Ceramite, while not having lots of room (Capacity of 8) it can be pretty darned survivable. Space is an issue though, and the Ark doesn't stop everything from firing at it. At that point you're still paying almost Spartan prices. It's what you do with your Godhammer Land Raiders though. At the very least that's a pretty darned good use.
Achilles - It can be dirty, but it's a shame that its sponsons don't match what the main gun is firing at. Also has basically NO transport space. I wouldn't advise it until we get some sorta Honour Guard equivalent to throw with our Terminator HQ's.
Fire Raptor - Blazingly awesome. Give it the Autocannon batteries and it's a great gunship.
Blood Slaughterers - Can be squaded, easily get Rampage, and can make it into combat, though less quickly than a Maulerfiend. Still an alternative though in a larger game.

SO, as you might've noticed, not a lot of the codex is exactly great, and what is either has limited builds or comes from Forge World.
So we will go over the best choices in each slot since I already gave explanations for each unit.

Good or usable HQ:
Crimson Slaughter Nurgle Lord
AoBF Juggerlord
Mastery LV3 Biker or Terminator Sorcerer
Nurgle Prince w/ Mace
Khorne Prince w/ AoBF
Tzeentch Prince w/ Brand
Warpsmith (though VERY limited in use)

Good or usable troops:
Cultists
Plague Marines
Plague Zombies

Good or usable Fast Attack:
Bikers
Spawn
Heldrake
Hellblade
Blight Drones

Good or usable Elites:
Termicide
Noise Marines
Plague Marines
Sonic Dreadnought

Good or usable Heavy Support:
Autocannon Havocs
Obliterators
Maulerfiends
Plague Hulk
Vindicator Tank Destroyer
Sicaran
Weapons Battery
Fire Raptor
Blood Slaughterers

You will notice that only SOME slots are crowded. Heavy Support is probably the worst offender since our best tools are gonna be in this slot. For this reason, the FOC The Purge is pretty good. You'll find the rules in IA, but you have mandatory Elite slots instead of Troop slots and an HQ. The main downside is that only MoN or no mark is allowed. Luckily, most of our best choices fall under that category, some don't have the choice for a mark, and Sonic Dreadnoughts don't count as Slaanesh aligned, so you can still use them. You'd have to leave the Noise Marines at home though, which is kinda lame. You could, in a larger game, get them in an allied CAD, but it's expensive and only really doable in larger games
The MAIN selling point outside that, though, is 4 Heavy Support slots. While you won't get any Fast Attack slots, those can be allied in easily. After all, Blight Drones can simply be squadroned, and now you have your air support covered outside Fire Raptors.

That's about all the advise I got as I'm mostly playing Necrons and waiting for this codex to get the same treatment.

I have to disagree with some parts, but I play friendly games, so that's only natural.

However, I'm curious about why you missed some units. You missed the deimos predator and the storm eagle for one. Also the super heavies, such as the typhon which is pretty good. Not to mention the new chaos knights.

Also I'm curious why you didn't mention some weapon loadouts, such as the cyclotrathe conversion beamer on the rapiers. For only a bit more than a vindicator you can get 2 S10 /AP1 large blasts that shoot further.

Roknar wrote:
I have to disagree with some parts, but I play friendly games, so that's only natural.

However, I'm curious about why you missed some units. You missed the deimos predator and the storm eagle for one. Also the super heavies, such as the typhon which is pretty good. Not to mention the new chaos knights.

Also I'm curious why you didn't mention some weapon loadouts, such as the cyclotrathe conversion beamer on the rapiers. For only a bit more than a vindicator you can get 2 S10 /AP1 large blasts that shoot further.

It's only natural I would miss a couple of units, because there's a lot to review!
The Deimos Pred has the Plasma Cannon x3, which isn't bad and somewhat cheap. Storm Eagle, well, just pay the price for an Assault Claw.

I also wasn't sure on how Lords Of War were looked in your area, so I skipped them for convenience. I'll get on my computer and do it soon, but know that Khorne and Nurgle are gold on the Imperial Knights.

As for disagreeing, I've played in almost exclusively competitive settings. The internal balance in this book will how THAT much some units suck. I'd rather bring the warning now.

Thank you slayer for the advice I'm bookmarking thisI was leaning to nurgle AL sprinkle some Khorne

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

Roknar wrote:
I have to disagree with some parts, but I play friendly games, so that's only natural.

However, I'm curious about why you missed some units. You missed the deimos predator and the storm eagle for one. Also the super heavies, such as the typhon which is pretty good. Not to mention the new chaos knights.

Also I'm curious why you didn't mention some weapon loadouts, such as the cyclotrathe conversion beamer on the rapiers. For only a bit more than a vindicator you can get 2 S10 /AP1 large blasts that shoot further.

It's only natural I would miss a couple of units, because there's a lot to review!
The Deimos Pred has the Plasma Cannon x3, which isn't bad and somewhat cheap. Storm Eagle, well, just pay the price for an Assault Claw.

I also wasn't sure on how Lords Of War were looked in your area, so I skipped them for convenience. I'll get on my computer and do it soon, but know that Khorne and Nurgle are gold on the Imperial Knights.

As for disagreeing, I've played in almost exclusively competitive settings. The internal balance in this book will how THAT much some units suck. I'd rather bring the warning now.

How would you rate the storm eagle as anti air? With twin multi-melta and twin lascannons it hits hard and if there aren't any flyers around it still hits hard on the ground and still keeps the two 5" large blasts if there aren't and vehicles around either. Plus it can transport if you need it to. It's expensive but pretty versatile and other reliable anti air solutions are also expensive.

Roknar wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

Roknar wrote:
I have to disagree with some parts, but I play friendly games, so that's only natural.

However, I'm curious about why you missed some units. You missed the deimos predator and the storm eagle for one. Also the super heavies, such as the typhon which is pretty good. Not to mention the new chaos knights.

Also I'm curious why you didn't mention some weapon loadouts, such as the cyclotrathe conversion beamer on the rapiers. For only a bit more than a vindicator you can get 2 S10 /AP1 large blasts that shoot further.

It's only natural I would miss a couple of units, because there's a lot to review!
The Deimos Pred has the Plasma Cannon x3, which isn't bad and somewhat cheap. Storm Eagle, well, just pay the price for an Assault Claw.

I also wasn't sure on how Lords Of War were looked in your area, so I skipped them for convenience. I'll get on my computer and do it soon, but know that Khorne and Nurgle are gold on the Imperial Knights.

As for disagreeing, I've played in almost exclusively competitive settings. The internal balance in this book will how THAT much some units suck. I'd rather bring the warning now.

How would you rate the storm eagle as anti air? With twin multi-melta and twin lascannons it hits hard and if there aren't any flyers around it still hits hard on the ground and still keeps the two 5" large blasts if there aren't and vehicles around either. Plus it can transport if you need it to. It's expensive but pretty versatile and other reliable anti air solutions are also expensive.

The Hellblade is better AA for the price. 100 points less and can nominate a specific target to wound easier.
Transport fliers are a trap. Stormravens don't transport stuff for good reason: if they blow up when they arrive, most of their cargo WILL die.

That's true, but the storm eagle can hover to get into rear/side armour or taking an objective and is much better armoured, but more importantly, it only needs a single fast attack slot.

I'd actually take the storm eagle over the hell blade anyday but then again I avoid auto takes lol

Roknar wrote:
That's true, but the storm eagle can hover to get into rear/side armour or taking an objective and is much better armoured, but more importantly, it only needs a single fast attack slot.

A single Fast Attack slot isn't a great advantage with how easy it is to spam CAD's in this army. We aren't Tyranids (30 points for two frickin troop slots) but we can come somewhat close.

Better armor is a misconception. It would HAVE to have better armor if it were twice as expensive, yes?