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Hello, I have a vast knowledge of the fluff of the setting of the armies and such of the game. But I have recently begun collecting an actual army for the tabletop and the army I have begun with is a Red Corsairs Chaos marine army. I was originally going to do Word Bearers but I didn't like how they came out after I painted them, so I painted certain parts black and I made them Red Corsairs. Anyway, My army consists of mainly infantry units at the moment and I would like to get some feedback and some recommendations for certain units such as troops, vehicles, and maybe even special characters that would make a good CSM fluffy and/or a good army all around.


Now here are the units I have so far, I mainly want a melee based army that has somewhat of a diversity with them.

Army: Red Corsairs

HQ/Leader: Chaos Lord: Mark of Khorne, Armed with Power Claws

Troops: Chaos Space Marines squad (10): 3x CQC (Armed with Chainswords and Bolt Pistol), 5x Ranged (3x Armed with Bolters, 1x Armed with Melta gun, 1 heavy weapons armed with heavy bolter),
1x Icon bearer (Icon of Khorne), 1x Aspiring Champion (Mark of Khorne, armed with Power sword and Plasma Pistol)

Cultist Squad (Haven't built yet)

Hellbrute: Undivided, Armed with Power Claw and Melta cannon

Khorne Bezerkers

This army is fairly new so I would like to see some recommendations for units. (One quick Question I have. Could you have a Chaos army that can dedicate themselves to various gods example: Have a Cultist Squad dedicated to Nurgle but have another that is dedicated to Khorne, Now I know this would be a bad idea fluff wise but how about game wise?)

2 things to start with, 8ed is coming soon and may change things a good bit, and consider what you want to build towards, because that's going to determine what you need.

If you want a melee heavy list, with what you have, there are 3 options that spring to mind with what you have, CAD, Black Legion, and World Eaters.

Black Legion Option:
1 Chaos Lord 1 unit of CSM and 1 of Khorne Bezerkers gives you the Hounds of Abaddon formation. They can run and then charge once turn in the game, and they all get the Mark of Khorne for free, and they get +1S if they roll an 8 or higher on the charge. Combine with the Icon to get +2S charges with your lord before his wargear even takes effect. Put the Axe of Blind Fury on that Lord and he hits at S8 AP2 at initiative. It's kinda gross.

This is also a Core formation for the Black Leagion Speartip Formation, so you can go from here into a lot of powerful Command and Auxillary formations, including the only unit Chaos gets that is a turn 1 charge, the Black Legion Raptor Talon. They can mix marks after the Hound formation, but the lord and CSM must be Khorne.

The World Eaters option
These dudes all move 2D6 before the game even starts, and have a talisman that adds 3inches to your move, run, and charge. Combine with the Re-roll failed charges icon, and this whole damn army will be in combat by turn 2, and turn 1 charges are possible from multiple units with good rolls. Everyone gets adamantium will, every one gets fearless, everyone gets furious charge for free...This keeps going. Wargear, access to special formations, these guys just CHOP THE THINGS until they aren't things. You can do a Chaos Warband and make your whole force ObSec also, which is great.

No psykers at all, and it's all in or lose with these guys, but for choppins, they the best the game has right now. No mixed marks either.

The CAD option:
You can play any of the other legions, gain some awesome benefits and play a more flexible game. You can also use all the units you currently have. You gain ObSec cultist, for what it's worth, but your Helbrute and Bezerkers are not. This is the least choppy option, but you can play a game right now with all the stuff you have.

To play with your stuff:
1) Lord with Pfist and LClaw. It's better that two claws in every way. If you have the points, Axe of Blind Fury is amaze.

2) CSM: Several options. Go with a 10 man squad and specialize. CQC, get all pistols and swords, two flamers. Range? Get 2 plasmas. Armor? Get 2 Meltas and a Melta bomb. Give them a Rhino if you can, in small point games it is crucial and Havoc Launchers are great for 12 pts. Other option is 2 5 man squads, one special weapon if you want, bare bones rhino if you want. I play with 5 man squads, plasma gun, Rhino, havoc. It's a janky razorback. Or just use em as bare bones 5 man squads. They cover both troop taxes in a Chaos Warband, and you have a Helbrute, so you're halfway to one of the most basic army structures we use.

Cultist: Not used in alot of the traitor legion formations, except the one where you need 30+ for it to be good, so either have 20-30 cultist minmum on the board if you want them to do anything. They will die and break, so a 10 man squad is basically paper. Good for fulfilling tax units in a CAD though, so adding an Iron Warriors or Night Lords daemon prince (2+2++ rerollable) is easy by just attaching two basic cultist squads to them. This makes Belakor a 400 pt option for any army, and he's great, so think about it. Give him some bloodletters and hounds of khorne for a fluffy allied detachment that has a giant invisible dogpack. A squad of 30 cultist with 3 flamers and your chaos lord gived him a fearless 30 wound meat shield that is funny.

NEVER GIVE CULTIST MARKS. The marks all do good stuff, but the math has been done. None of them pay for themselves. For a little more than the mark you can always buy...another cultist. Who can shoot, or more importantly, who can die. That's what they are for. To die.

Helbrute: Take the heavy flamer when you go, and godspeed my crazy friend. If you like playing with them, look into the Helbrute and Traitor legion formations. They are gimmicky but can be effective and fun, but not hyper-competitive.

Zerkers: So, give em a Rhino? Take world eaters or black legion to make these guys worth it. As basic elites, they are essentially terrible. With 2d6 scout moves adamantium will or run and charge options they become scary. As is they are over costed. Funny option, two plasma pistols running around in a rhino is alarmingly dangerous for TEQ and when you pop the rhino in your turn, you get charged by angry boys immedeately after. 60% of the time it works all the time.

You can and should mix marks. Tzeentch is good for combining with Sigil's and Deamon saves or Jinking DP's, Nurgle works great on most things and Khorne gives you access to the choppy wargear rules and banners. Slaanesh does some specialized stuff, like make your turn 1 charge raptors into marine killing aholes or give you the FnP banner for bikes or IC's.

GL HF man, I'd go world eaters and start building a Warband. Play with the Hounds of Abaddon formation or run a CAD for right now, pick up some rhinos and get a Daemon Prince ASAP. It's gonna be good in anything. Allies give you access to bloodthirsters or psykers if you wanna mess up the fluff.