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So I really need some suggestions here as my current meta has high toughness and high armour (Tau, Eldar Wraithhost, Dark eldar Talos Spam) and as CSM it is relativley tough to achieve a victory with S4 average weaponry. So I really need some suggestions as to what to take in order to be more viable. Currently I am wanting to field this in my 1000 points and add a few more formations in order to prepare for tournaments.

Lords of Slaughter -------

HQ- Chaos Lord (Power armour, Plasma Pistol, mark of Tzeench, Melta bomb, Sigil of Corruption) -Psy lvl 1

Elites - 4 Terminators with power axes and combi- melta (suicide squad)

Troops - 4 Chaos space marines with Bolters, 1 Aspiring Champion (Plasma pistol)
- 5 Chaos Posessed

Forgehost -------
2 Soulgrinders of Tzeench with Phlem Bombardment
1 Soulgrinder of Tzeench with Warpgaze


So I am dreading going up against a 1000pt wraithhost with this army but Im hoping that presience that my chaos lord has will do well with my termi suicide squad to ensure something dies to melta. Similarly with Tau battlesuits and the Talos' although the Talos' will be harder to take out as they are not in 1 squad, so almost a waste of melta but that cant be helped, soulgrinders should do well at a distance while my units seize objectives. Would love to know what you all think! Please help o_o

Well,

To begin, you have my condolences. Tau and Eldar can be a real nuisance to vs, especially as chaos. My local meta has seen a similar such shift.

As for the list, I have 3 questions. (not criticisms, just my own curiosity)
1) What squad does the Chaos Lord sit in?
2) Why are there 4 Termies in the suicide squad? (to my knowledge the minimum 3 was the standard)
3) Why put a plasma pistol (1 shot at 12") on the CSM squad instead of buying them a plasma gun (2 shots at 12" or 1 at 24") instead?

I do very much like the Soul Grinders, those things are amazing. I do wonder how effective the Chaos Space Marines are though. The terminators are all well and good, but I can't help but think that the Possessed, the CSM squad and to a lessor extent lord are a bit of a waste of points. I imagine that the reason behind taking the Lords of Slaughter formation is so you can prescience the suicide meltas, but given that it is the only performing part of the formation, I question whether or not it might be paying too many points to buff what is, at the end of a the day, a throwaway unit.

But that's just my

The presience from the lords of slaughter only lasts once per turn, so once the terminators serve their purpose I can buff the CSM or the possesed, it also costs no points and is free thanks to the formation and you are probably right about the plasma gun, will have to think about investing in that.

Also Im not sure what I should do with the chaos lord, I have been putting him with the CSM in recent games and he dies and often is left alone in combat to fend for himself, I was thinking of making him a prophet of the voices and giving him some CC weapons to pack more of a punch, maybe even put more possessed in the squad with the blade of the relentless. But not sure

I see.

To be honest, I don't think that the 5 man CSM squad or the 5 man possessed squad are really going too accomplish much (if anything). CSM squads can afford to be silly little small unit that distract the opponent, but the 5 possessed are a huge 130 point waste in my opinion. In general I think possessed are a waste of points. That aside, a 5 man possessed squad is probably not going to do much, especially against Eldar (trust me on that one, I've tried).

I think that the Chaos Lord really isn't worth the points for what he has the potential to be. A Chaos Lord can be a CC powerhouse, but all you've given him is a plasma pistol. I mean, it could be worse, but seems like a waste.

In summary, I can't help but feel that the CSM component is more of a dead weight than an asset.

Ive been playing a few games and feel the same way, thinking of increasing the CSM unit to 15 and include my chaos lord, giving them all CC weps and 2 plasma guns. The possessed are unfortunatly a formation requirement so not sure if I should increase their size to 10? Or something else maybe. Chaos Lord makes a much better HQ than a herald of slannesh (my other option) and is also cheaper than a daemon lord. If I equip all the CSM with close combat weapons I feel with presience they will be quite fearsome, I also gave the aspiring champ and lord melta bombs