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I've been building a Khorne Daemon army and started toying with the idea of using some CSM allies since the new codex came out. Over the course of things, I thought it would be better to make the Daemons the allies instead. The Daemon models listed are what I already have, which largely dictated my choice. I haven't purchased any CSM models yet. This isn't intended to be a competative list, just for fun.

CSM: 490

105 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne
105 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne
140 - 20 Chaos Cultists w/Mark of Khorne with 2 Flamers and Champion
140 - 20 Chaos Cultists w/Mark of Khorne with 2 Flamers and Champion

Daemons: 740

130 - Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut with Chaos Icon
120 - 3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
160 - 10 Bloodletters
160 - 10 Bloodletters
170 - Demon Prince with Daemonic Flight, Iron Hide

Total: 1230

This is what I have so far, but I'm kind of stuck on where to go from here. I'd like to take the points up to 1500-2000 and I think the Daemons are fine (though bumping the Bloodletters to groups of 12 might be better?).

I'm trying to keep everything in the flavor of a Khorne assault army, so with the CSM heavy weapons I'm torn. I'd like some anti-tank, but I'm trying to avoid vehicles and shooting. This probably isn't a realistic goal. Maybe include 2 Vindicators? For roughly the same cost I could get 2 Havoc squads with Missile Launchers, though. More shots, more range and maybe a little more utility?

I like the idea of the Dark Apostles with the Cultists (40 models with Fearless, Rage, Hatred and Counter-attack), but I haven't run CSM before and I don't know how effective they're actually going to be. Has anyone had experience with this combination yet?

I'm open to any and all advice on how to proceed.

I'm not sure. I think you could switch the daemon prince and maybe one squad of culstists for a C:CSM prince w/ an AoBF and perhaps some marines with MoK?

10 marines - MoK, Icon of wrath, 2 flamers and a power weapon champ ~195pts

Daemon Prince - wings, power armor, Axe of Blind Fury ~255pts

IF you ditch an apostle (which you have to, if you're getting a CSM prince) you should be able to afford this. About.

fenshysa wrote:


105 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne

You're 10 points shy on these units.

 SkinCarver wrote:

fenshysa wrote:


105 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne

You're 10 points shy on these units.

You're right, I missed those - thanks.

Giving it some more thought I was thinking of bumping the Bloodletters up to 15 each, adding a unit of 10 Flesh Hounds and adding two Maulerfiends. Units of 15 Bloodletters should survive a little better, the hounds will act as a screen and possibly tie up a unit and the Maulerfiends can run in and try to tank hunt. This leaves the Demon Prince as my only real flyer protection (I've never run flying units, I'm assuming flyers can attack flyers?), but this shouldn't be an issue because I hardly ever see any in games.

I think the biggest struggle with this list will be slogging into assaults. Rather than throwing in big guns and encouraging your opponent to come to you id get more mobile, give up your half of the board and grab the middle and contest your enemies deployment. Without ruining the cool assaultie khornie feeling of this list:

Maulerfiends are hurtie, awesome and fast- dont expect them to be alive at the end of the game and try to take 2 if you can.

Chaos spawn are fast, cheap and might help to set up some of those assaults (better than the flesh hounds). Throw a lord on jugger+ axe of BF with the spawn and you wont really need any help with the assault.

csm Deamon princes should be given black mace not axe of str imo. If your gonna go down that path they can get very expensive quickly.

Lastly i think Heldrakes can get you upfield quickly, burn meq and give you some mop up mobility at the end of the game to get pesky scoring units off backfield or out of the way objectives.

I know a Black Mace is a better deamon prince weapon. But he said he wanted Khornate, so I gave him Khornate.

It's not like the AoBF is bad on a DP.

This is all really great advice, thanks. My revised list so far is:

CSM: 930

115 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne
115 - Dark Apostle, Mark of Khorne
140 - 20 Chaos Cultists w/Mark of Khorne with 2 Flamers and Champion
140 - 20 Chaos Cultists w/Mark of Khorne with 2 Flamers and Champion
170 - Heldrake with Baleflamer
125 - Maulerfiend
125 - Maulerfiend

Daemons: 900

130 - Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut with Chaos Icon
120 - 3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
240 - 15 Bloodletters
240 - 15 Bloodletters
170 - Demon Prince with Daemonic Flight, Iron Hide

Total: 1830

My thought is that the Dark Apostle/Cultist squads can hold objectives in the back field while I attempt to Deep Strike the Bloodletters closer to the enemy. I know the Bloodcrushers suffer from not being beasts/cavalry, but hopefully if I can get them in among the enemy I can use the Icon to drop the Bloodletters exactly where I want. The Maulerfiends will hunt vehicles while the Heldrake hunts infantry and vector strikes on the way. The Demon Prince can offer support wherever it's needed.

I picked the Daemon Prince from the Daemons because it costs less points and takes a Heavy slot (which Daemons only get 2 choices for) instead of a HQ slot. The down side is I can't throw a fancy weapon on him.

I like the idea of the Maulerfiends because they can take on vehicles and look like they'd fit into a Khorne army (the heads especially) and the Heldrake seems like a great multi-purpose unit while also not being extensively "shooty". The only issue is that these three models will run me about $200...ouch.

So I've got 170 points left, but I'm not sure what else the list needs. Another Heldrake would be exactly 170, but that would be expensive and I'm not sure how useful and/or cheesy it would be.

My concern is you have 230 points worth of characters who are objective camping with the mark of khorne.... I understand you are going fluffy but this seems a bit much for my taste. just ditching the MoK on the apostles and cultists alone buys you 100 points! That plus the 20 your shy and one flamer buys you a third mauler fiend! Just paint them as worshipers of khorne, no need for the expensive MoK, think about it that mark is +50% the cost of a cultist... so not worth marking cultists ever IMO.

I agree, they are mortal meat Shields and baby sitters, not worthy for a mark.

Seriously they are expensive, and you could get another mauler fiend

That's a valid point. The Mark gives them Rage and Counter-attack, but if they're objective camping they won't really use the former. The Dark Apostle is mostly there to give them Fearless, I wasn't sure about giving him any extra equipment, but...

If I remove the marks from the Apostles and Cultists and add a Maulerfiend that leaves me at 955 + 900 = 1855, so I've still got 145 to play with.

Maybe throw in 3 Chaos Spawn to screen (120) and give each of the Apostles a Combi-flamer (10 each, just to spend the points)?

Also sorry, didnt realize you were pushing for 2000 (1850 was my guess).

I would personally ditch all upgrades on the cultists and split the units into 4 X10. Scrap the two apostles, now you have 480 points to get to 2000. Buy:

170 Chaos Lord: Juggernaut, SoC, ADG, Mok
190 Chaos Lord: Juggernaut, BBSkalthrax, SoC, Mok, PF
120 (4) Chaos spawn:

480 total

Awesome and fast deathstar that can split into 3 units once across the table. Maximizing your threats and placing forward pressure will protect your cultists.

Edit:forgot spawn come with rage for a sec.

fenshysa wrote:


If I remove the marks from the Apostles and Cultists and add a Maulerfiend that leaves me at 955 + 900 = 1855, so I've still got 145 to play with.

Maybe throw in 3 Chaos Spawn to screen (120) and give each of the Apostles a Combi-flamer (10 each, just to spend the points)?

Why not some more cultists?

Because while cultist score and they have lots of wounds they dont do anything else . This means they are ok for holding backfield objectives, setting up counter assaults, tarpitting, bubble wrapping and giving chars 'get im boss'. 2 20 man squads is gonna be plenty. Any more and i find that i they just take to long to move and die.

I dont like the model for the apostle, so I would either have to find a suitable alternative, or do something about the opera face.

Imo, I think flamers fit in a Khorne type of army, so dont worry about including a heldrake. Heck, I have 3 heldrakes in my list, and it's probably going to be a Khorne themed list.

Your a bad man Garukadon. Knowing your gonna have 3 drakes before you even think of a god for the list tsk tsk

Again, I want to thank everyone who contributed it, you all gave me a lot of really good advice. I think this is going to be my final list:

CSM: 1125

105 - Dark Apostle
105 - Dark Apostle
100 - 20 Chaos Cultists with 2 Flamers and Champion
100 - 20 Chaos Cultists with 2 Flamers and Champion
170 - Heldrake with Baleflamer
170 - Heldrake with Baleflamer
125 - Maulerfiend
125 - Maulerfiend
125 - Maulerfiend

Daemons: 868

130 - Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut with Chaos Icon
120 - 3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
224 - 14 Bloodletters
224 - 14 Bloodletters
170 - Demon Prince with Daemonic Flight, Iron Hide

Total: 1993

3 Maulerfiends and 2 Heldrakes seems excessive and expensive ($346 for five models), but if I'm sticking to my fluff I think it's the way I'll have to go. The Maulerfiends can hunt vehicles and don't require shooting, plus they have a Khorne aesthetic. The Heldrakes are vector striking and burning things, so I think they fit as well. The Maulerfiends and Heldrakes are considered Daemons, so they tie into the allied Daemons.

I'm also not a fan of the Dark Apostle model (what's with all the parchment hanging off him? Somebody got crazy with the post-it notes), so what I did is I picked up a Chosen Champion from the "Dark Vengeance" set on Ebay for a few bucks and I'll be converting him. I'm just going to convert the holster on his right hip to a book, give his left hand a bolt pistol, dress up the maul and throw a homemade Sigil of Corruption on him. I'm not sure what I'll do for the second one.

Good luck looks like fun.

I second that.

But isn't having fun supposed to be the point of the game?

I hate to say, but personally I wouldn't field it. Want to know why? Because, for my taste, its a bit too.... spammy.

I hate spamming competitive units, that's why I never even field more long fangs than one unit. Of course, troops are always a must. But you get the point? 3 maulers and 2 bloody heldrakes is quite a competing list. Sorry.