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I was told Chaos Space Marines are not part of the meta now. What armies are? And how can i maximize my efficiency with Chaos Space Marines in a 1250 point army. Thanks.

just play regular marines and keep the evil paintjob.

Wait for Traitor Legions to come out, see what's in there, then we'll let you know.

Avoid competitive opponents, strongly consider emphasizing Nurgle, and consider Daemon allies. Other than that recommendations depend on what drops in Traitor Legions and what models you've got/what your meta consists of.

Hi BillyN831, like what AnomanderRake says, a good place to start would be letting us know what stuff you have available to you then tell us what your usual opponents are.

Our best units are Plague marines, nurgle marked bikes, nurgle marked spawn, Helldrakes and Obliterators.
Don't pick standard chaos space marines, mutilators, warp talons, possessed, thousand sons (yet) or berserkers
Formations have altered the above somewhat but not by much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add, cultists are good too, for their points

I second waiting for wrath of magnus and traitor legions. The preorders are within the next few weeks, so it's not a long wait. In theory they should shake up the chaos game quite a bit.

What models do you have so far? I feel that "most" Chaos Marine units have some use, some more niche than others. Units can be bad, but you can still make an army work with bad units as long as they mesh well with the rest of your army.

Or simply put, an army with two B-level units that cover each others bases will most likely be more viable than an army with two A-level units that do the same thing. *shrug*

What do you have? Bikes, spawn, Sorcerers, Daemon Princes, and Heldrakes are all decent, but if you want them, go KDK (or take a Cyclopia Cabal Formation). If not, you're up Warp creek without a Geller field.

Short of that, you're gonna get more mileage out of playing against Orks, 'Nids, and IG or using the Space Marine codex.

I wouldn't bother pinning my hopes on the Legion supplement; no amount of free Marks, VotLW, or rolls on the Boon Table will even the playing field, if the three previous supplements are anything to go by.

 Huron black heart wrote:
Our best units are Plague marines, nurgle marked bikes, nurgle marked spawn, Helldrakes and Obliterators.
Don't pick standard chaos space marines, mutilators, warp talons, possessed, thousand sons (yet) or berserkers
Formations have altered the above somewhat but not by much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add, cultists are good too, for their points

Cultists are expensive Guardsmen with worse arms and equipment and even worse equipment options. They are only taken because taking another DP means your Allied detachment tax is only 50pt.

 ChazSexington wrote:
What do you have? Bikes, spawn, Sorcerers, Daemon Princes, and Heldrakes are all decent, but if you want them, go KDK (or take a Cyclopia Cabal Formation). If not, you're up Warp creek without a Geller field.

Short of that, you're gonna get more mileage out of playing against Orks, 'Nids, and IG or using the Space Marine codex.

I wouldn't bother pinning my hopes on the Legion supplement; no amount of free Marks, VotLW, or rolls on the Boon Table will even the playing field, if the three previous supplements are anything to go by.

 Huron black heart wrote:
Our best units are Plague marines, nurgle marked bikes, nurgle marked spawn, Helldrakes and Obliterators.
Don't pick standard chaos space marines, mutilators, warp talons, possessed, thousand sons (yet) or berserkers
Formations have altered the above somewhat but not by much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add, cultists are good too, for their points

Cultists are expensive Guardsmen with worse arms and equipment and even worse equipment options. They are only taken because taking another DP means your Allied detachment tax is only 50pt.

But Chaos space marines can't take guardsmen, we have to take what's available. Cheap scoring units that can sit on an objective.

I apologize for making two threads in such a short amount of time, but I found my missing necron army so I won't focus on a second army until 8th edition comes out. Hopefully Chaos Space Marines gets buffed then.

 Huron black heart wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
What do you have? Bikes, spawn, Sorcerers, Daemon Princes, and Heldrakes are all decent, but if you want them, go KDK (or take a Cyclopia Cabal Formation). If not, you're up Warp creek without a Geller field.

Short of that, you're gonna get more mileage out of playing against Orks, 'Nids, and IG or using the Space Marine codex.

I wouldn't bother pinning my hopes on the Legion supplement; no amount of free Marks, VotLW, or rolls on the Boon Table will even the playing field, if the three previous supplements are anything to go by.

 Huron black heart wrote:
Our best units are Plague marines, nurgle marked bikes, nurgle marked spawn, Helldrakes and Obliterators.
Don't pick standard chaos space marines, mutilators, warp talons, possessed, thousand sons (yet) or berserkers
Formations have altered the above somewhat but not by much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add, cultists are good too, for their points

Cultists are expensive Guardsmen with worse arms and equipment and even worse equipment options. They are only taken because taking another DP means your Allied detachment tax is only 50pt.

But Chaos space marines can't take guardsmen, we have to take what's available. Cheap scoring units that can sit on an objective.

They aren't cheap for what they do when compared to comparable units though. They are, however, 25pt cheaper than 5 CSMs, so they are comparably better as an obligatory Troop choice.

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Huron black heart wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
What do you have? Bikes, spawn, Sorcerers, Daemon Princes, and Heldrakes are all decent, but if you want them, go KDK (or take a Cyclopia Cabal Formation). If not, you're up Warp creek without a Geller field.

Short of that, you're gonna get more mileage out of playing against Orks, 'Nids, and IG or using the Space Marine codex.

I wouldn't bother pinning my hopes on the Legion supplement; no amount of free Marks, VotLW, or rolls on the Boon Table will even the playing field, if the three previous supplements are anything to go by.

 Huron black heart wrote:
Our best units are Plague marines, nurgle marked bikes, nurgle marked spawn, Helldrakes and Obliterators.
Don't pick standard chaos space marines, mutilators, warp talons, possessed, thousand sons (yet) or berserkers
Formations have altered the above somewhat but not by much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add, cultists are good too, for their points

Cultists are expensive Guardsmen with worse arms and equipment and even worse equipment options. They are only taken because taking another DP means your Allied detachment tax is only 50pt.

But Chaos space marines can't take guardsmen, we have to take what's available. Cheap scoring units that can sit on an objective.

They aren't cheap for what they do when compared to comparable units though. They are, however, 25pt cheaper than 5 CSMs, so they are comparably better as an obligatory Troop choice.

I'm certainly not raving about cultists being good, but they're the best troop we have, when costs and survivability are factored in. And with regards to options, if they had loads I'd probably still recommend taking them bare bones and use them as objective campers