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Hey all, Strasgard here, and I'm looking for a bit of help in combating one of my friends' Chaos Space Marine armies! I'm quite new to the 40k universe (and this website), but I'm a veteran at lotr SBG. Anyways that aside, to the main topic! My friend and I play together, as IG and DA, against another friend (uses CSM), and we can't seem to beat him...ever. We do balance the point values, but because his total army size is much larger (he has about 3500 pts to work with, we have a combined total of ~2500), he seems to be able to counter anything we noobs throw at him. Our total army lists are as follows:

Imperial Guard List:
x1 Commissar Yarrick w/ power fist
x1 Company Command Squad w/ standard, sniper, medic, vox caster
x1 Infantry squad w/ x25 Veteran guardsmen, 2 grenade launchers, 1 flamer
x1 Storm Trooper Squad w/ x9 troopers, 1 sgt, 1 flamer
x1 Heavy Weapons Squad w/ x3 lascannons
x2 Leman Russ Tanks 1 w/ Vanquisher BC, another w/ Punisher GC
x1 Vendetta
x1 Basilisk

Dark Angels List:
x1 Azriel w/ combi-weapon, power sword
x1 Terminators Squad w/ 5 terminators in it (mainly geared for CC)
x1Terminator Chapions squads w/ 5 terminators in it (all geard for CC)
x1 Tactical Marine Squad w/ 9 marines, 1 sgt, 1 plasma cannon, 1 plasma rifle
x1 Raven Wing biker squad w/ 3 bikers

Chaos Space Marine List:
x1 Daemon Prince w/ black mace, wings
x1 Ahrmin
x1 CSM squad w/9 marines, 1 sgt
x1 thousand suns squad w/9 marines, 1 sorcerer sgt
x1 cultist squad w/ 15 cultists
x1 predator tank w/ lascannons
x1 Spartan Assault land raider
x2 terminator squads w/ 10 total, geared for range/ AT
x1 Forge Fiend
x2 Hell Drakes w/ 1 autocannon, 1 bale flamer
x1 daemon engine

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys! (note: if ive left any weapons off the list, its because we designate them as different weapons from game to game and are therefore impossible to guess what will be used)

Well if he uses FW units you should be using them too 3-5 saber weapon platforms supported by a screen of IG would help you a lot with his flyers and tanks.

You seem to not have any of the good DA units , like multiple LR crusders with dakka banner and a power generator near. Same with IG no +4 inv for your Russes , no manticore , no plasma vets and only 1 vendetta.

Ok so pick up a manticore, how does one get a 4+ cover save on LR tanks? and as far as FW goes, I'd like to try to stay away from that for now. Any other advise for units and/or tactics?

 Strasgard wrote:
Ok so pick up a manticore, how does one get a 4+ cover save on LR tanks? and as far as FW goes, I'd like to try to stay away from that for now. Any other advise for units and/or tactics?

My main opponent is a Chaos Marine player and I've learned a few things.

I would suggest investing in an Aegis Defense Line. Park a few units behind that thing and suddenly your Imperial Guard aren't dying as quickly. 4+ base cover save with a 2+ if you Go to Ground. Then use Get Back in the Fight! to act as if nothing happened. Slap a Quad Gun on there to shoot that pesky Flying Demon Prince out of the air too. Can't go wrong with 100 points.

A fun alternative, but not that competitive, is to use Conscripts as a mobile screen. Deploy them in a long line across your front and have them march to their doom; your opponent will have to shoot them before getting to your other units, or shoot through them, giving everyone behind the Conscripts a cover save. Cheap cannon fodder and a cover save to boot!

Use your superior range (Pask in a Vanquisher, Basilisk firing indirectly, and copious Lascannons) to outshoot Chaos. And in a pinch, the Punisher makes a decent AA defense due to the number of shots it churns out. Use that Basilisk to murder his Marines and light transports. And as an Ordnance, it can do some damage to heavy vehicles if you need it to.

Deep Strike the Stormtroopers to get behind his vehicles/infantry. The Hotshot Lasguns eat Marines with AP3. They are pretty accurate when Deep Striking so giving them melta guns isn't a bad idea.

Slap a Lord Commissar/Yarrick into the Combined Infantry Squad to get a 20-man, rerollable Stubborn, multiple Heavy and Special weapons, Scoring unit that will rarely break. And bring krak grenades! Useful upgrade. I like to run my blobs with Autocannons and Flamers for a well-rounded unit but tailor to your needs of course. I have absolutely rotten luck with Plasma (someone overheats and dies every turn...) but the superior AP can chew through Terminators. Just give them to the Veterans for that BS4. And put the Command Squad in a Chimera/in cover to make use of their Orders. FRFSRF or Bring it Down! can turn the game in your favor at the right time.

Use that Vendetta to hunt his vehicles and drop a unit of Veterans on an objective. 3 Twin-Linked Lascannons and a squad of BS4 Troops are quite the combination. With superior armor and weaponry, your Vendetta can run havoc around his forces.

And, if he's cool with Proxies, I would run Marbo for his anti-everything abilities and a Master of Ordnance, Officer of the Fleet, and Astropath in the CCS for their abilities. An indirect Basilisk shot, +1 to your Reserves, and -1 to his for less than 100 points? Awesome sauce!

Hope all that helps.

I'd recomend DWK because the rules on their weapons means they're going to be killing most CSM on 2s with no save.

@mr_bruno

Thanks so much! I'll get working on that right away!

Does anyone have further input on the role my DA partner should play? other than get some DWK?

 Strasgard wrote:
@mr_bruno

Thanks so much! I'll get working on that right away!

Does anyone have further input on the role my DA partner should play? other than get some DWK?

No problemo.

As for your DA Ally, I would suggest he Deep Strike his Terminators into the Chaos backfield. They are too heavily armed and dangerous to simply ignore outright, so he'll be forced to decide on attacking your weaker Guardsmen, or doubling back to protect his exposed rear. Try and have Marbo work in conjunction with these guys too. His Demolition Charge is best used against an exposed squad, so try and pop the transports early (Pask!). Whoever survives the Demolition Charge now has to deal with a horde of angry Terminators whilst Marbo can join in the fun (assuming he survives; he's never lasted more than a shooting phase). And when the Terminators survive, you can secure the Linebreaker point too.

Keep his Tactical Marines on the Aegis for their superior Ballistic Skill, dividing them into Combat Teams so as not to waste the 10-man Tactical Squad's shots. Between your infantry and your allied DA Tactical Marines, you can dish out some firepower and force your opponent to choose his targets. A 5-man team can secure your exposed vehicle flanks and provide a deterrent to assaults. If you get in close combat, your guys can drown Chaos in cheap bodies and attacks while the Marines do the real damage. He'll want to get into assault, but he'll think twice about charging through difficult terrain (Aegis) into a Space Marine and IG gunline. Don't forget to give your guys krak grenades to compliment their low Strength; a S6 Krak grenade can hurt things up to AV12.

I would load out the Bikers with anti-Marine weapons, so Plasma and Melta, and send them up the flanks to harass his transports. If they pop a Rhino, good, the more footslogging the better. If you can get them to Outflank (unsure if you can), then I'd do that. Outflank is fun and forces him to bottle up lest his flank gets exposed to a mobile anti-everything squad. Three bikers are a small target, have superior mobility, Toughness, and wargear, so use them to harass and draw fire. If he's shooting at a 3-man unit, great, he's not shooting at your more valuable stuff.

Thanks so much everyone! Ill be back with a battle report if ya'll would [see forum posting rules] to know how it goes!