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I have a pretty competitive meta where everyone plays Tau, Eldar, Wolves or Super Friends and I have been trying to make a standard CSM army that can at least last 4+ turns. Would it be over kill to bring 3 Heldrakes to a game? I know I would need something to supplement them to be able to kill armor, but would it be a disadvantage to me to bring so many of the same unit? The total would be 510 pts for them and we usually play 1850 pt games. I really don't want to be TFG but I find it hard to compete when almost all of my games against these lists end up with me being tabled by ridiculous decurian bonuses and other formation special rules.

You're looking at 595 because with 3 flyers (and arguably the main strike force for CSM) then you need to get them all on and communications relay are vital for that

Communications relay? I do not know what that is, is that similar to the dimensional key?

you play competitive and you dont know what comm relay is?

I never considered the possibility of using emplacements along side my army, I guess I just assumed since CSM is not a shooting only army they would not be useful for me, and I normally do not use many reserve units so I never solely rely on them

3 Heldrakes plus 3 units of Obliterators should be the best anti full Battle Company Gladius force combination.

Could be done, 3x3 Oblit units is 630 pts, leaving 710 pts for the rest of the cad, I might even be able to throw in a knight for fun. Although this could make holding objectives more difficult

I f you are up against super friends or taudar, you should feel absolutely no guilt in taking 3 hellturkeys

Personally I'd go 2 x 5 spawn w/ MoN and 1 drake or 5 spawn and 2 Drakes.

Unconvinced that 3 will do a job any better than 2. Comms relay is great though, especially helps you with a few squads of min size melta/plasma Terminators. Don't fall for the Oblit hype they really overcosted.

If you are planning on running multiple helldrakes you need some form of reserve manipulation and that means a comms relay is really valuable as other posters have pointed out.
I fear the hellturkeys will be ripped apart by a plethora of Tau skyfire/interceptor units but they should perform really well against the rest (just watch out for that Crimson Death formation from the Eldar!)

I definitely feel like 2 Helldrakes are more than twice as effective as 1 but I cannot be certain if 3 will be as much of a force multiplier, I'd still run 3 for redundancy purposes though but you'll have to confer with player more experienced with Chaos...

I'd be tempted to run the 3rd with the hades autocannon for anti air / pinning...

nareik wrote:
I'd be tempted to run the 3rd with the hades autocannon for anti air / pinning...

To be fair I think you have enough AA potential in the form of D3 vector strikes against flyers but that's just me

Look into FW stuff to get your super competitive meta on. IA:13 has some pretty sweet stuff, like the hellblade gunship. Artillery that can lay out serious S8 firepower, or S10 blasts, and you could take a small R&H detachment for super cheap artillery, as well as access to cheap obsec spawn (if your warlord is R&H)

I think the drake with a hades is outshined by a helltalon with Helstorm.

Drake - 170pt, 4 S8 bs3 shots.
Blade - 115pt 6 S7 rending BS 3 twin linked shots.

The blade is 10 all around, but much smaller. It loses the vector strike, which stinks, but gains the unnatural predator rule, which makes it an AA champ. It also gets to re-position D6+something inches before it moves, which can be very useful.
Both have the invul save. The Blade is supersonic though, and only has 2HP instead of 3. It is not a daemon, but can deep strike, and has 2 guns instead of just 1.


If you want 3 flyers, and are considering an autocannon drake, I highly suggest checking out the hellblade. 6 twin linked rending autocannon shots is very nice, and the additional move will help you get into position easily. The only downside is everything will snap fire at that AV10.