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I dont mean the faction, I love em. I mean the troop choice. Between Chosen becoming way better and cultists being great too, why on earth would I ever pick this unit now?

If you wanted to do a massive blob of 20 for gaks and giggles.

Abaddon (or plety of CP)
20 CSM
Warp time
Delightful Agonies or Miasma

Or if you just want some durable-ish objective holders. It also depends which flavor of Chaos you want to run.

How do you play? If you're playing tournaments etc. I can't comment. If you're playing casual or narrative or fluffy...they don't suck. They're still good generic multi-purpose untis which become tough as nails when placed in cover. It all depends on what you're building your army for.

You pick them when you need a budget 2 special weapons. A squad of 5 can pack 2 plasmas (1 Plasma, 1 Combi-Plasma). While it's better to go for Havocs or Chosen, if you need to shave just a few points to have a legal list, this is a way you can do it.

Five man squad, single heavy weapon, tucked in cover on a backfield objective. It doesn't do much, but it's a couple extra heavy shots that are often ignored, and can score points. The aforementioned five man plasma works decent, too. Both have worked well enough that I wasn't disappointed when playing my casual games.

I rather like that they get 2 heavies for 10. When I was running Black Legion I had a bunch of squads with double Lascannon or double Missole Launcher, fearless and rerolling to hit via Abaddon.

I'd use them for a cheap troop choice that's a bit stouter than cultists.

The cultist vs CSM isn't as clear cut decision than it is for scouts vs tacs.

Neither cultists or CSM's have special deployment rules, so it just comes down to the role they'll be playing.

As others have stated, CSM's can bring firepower that's often ignored but can come handy in a pinch, while cultists bring spammable 1W models for better resistance against high S, multi-D weapons.

 Insectum7 wrote:
I rather like that they get 2 heavies for 10.

Is this in the Index or Codex? I only have the Index and it's not with me at the moment. I'd love to update my Index if this is only an update in the Codex.

 Galef wrote:

 Insectum7 wrote:
I rather like that they get 2 heavies for 10.

Is this in the Index or Codex? I only have the Index and it's not with me at the moment. I'd love to update my Index if this is only an update in the Codex.

At minimum of 5, you get one who can take a special or heavy. At 10, you get a second. Beyond that, no additional.

Yep, a squad numbering 10 or more can take an additional Special or Heavy weapon, so combined with the Aspiring Champion's combi-weapon of choice, you can put a lot of firepower out there, without using Havocs. The lone lascannon/missile launcher hiding in a squad of marines in cover isn't anything to sneeze at.

I run simple squads of seven. But a single heavy weapon and a champ with a combi-weapon (and close combat weapon) makes a nice simple unit which can get lots of random things done. They may not be X% as good as something else, but I don't mathhammer nor play in tournaments, so there are loads of reasons to take normal marines...because they're pretty damn cool.

I really love their flexibility. 5 man cheap objective holder that is 2+ in cover. 5 man heavy weapon team. 10 man "devastator lite" squad with 2 heavy weapons. 2 plasmas + combi plasma or power weapon for a flexible all-purpose midfield squad... They can even be fitted with chainswords, bolt pistols and a power weapon on the champion to form a reasonably decent assault squad that benefits from Objective Secured...

Having played Necrons and Daemons before I am not used to having so many options for a unit...

Honestly we're just spoiled at this point. CSM are a good middle of the road unit but with so many units that are amazing in ranged or amazing in melee they get lost. I'm taking some as backfield objective holders with a single heavy weapon.

A little off topic but what heavy weapon do people think is best? I was going with the Lascannon because I have no other ranged shooting in my World Eaters army and some anti-tank would be really nice.

 andysonic1 wrote:
Honestly we're just spoiled at this point. CSM are a good middle of the road unit but with so many units that are amazing in ranged or amazing in melee they get lost. I'm taking some as backfield objective holders with a single heavy weapon.

A little off topic but what heavy weapon do people think is best? I was going with the Lascannon because I have no other ranged shooting in my World Eaters army and some anti-tank would be really nice.

Autocannon is my favorite. But lascannon seems like a good idea.