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Hi people. So I played CSM and Chaos in general in te past, but dropped them near 2017.

Seeing their new sculpts, rules, and reading some old Warhammer Monthly comics, I feel a little interested at giving them a second go (especially with the new awesome contrast paint and their new awesome models).

However I'd like to get a good Idea of the do'S and don't of the current csm tactica : Which unit is recommended for which slot, which sub-faction is the least recommended, etc.

Is cultists still the way to go for troop choices ?

Which HQ choice will boost the most my army ?

Are Chaos Terminators even good ?

Thank you for your time.

CSM are in a pretty ok spot right now. It really depends on how you want to run them.

Cultists are a solid troop choice CSM have their place as well.

Most of our HQ choices are pretty good actually and they all fill out different roles. Again it kind of depends on what you want to do with your army.

I personally don't think chaos terminators are good.

Welcome back to the true faith!

As for your questions:

1) Cultists are absolutely the way to go with troops, CSM being generally sub-par. The only exception for this is a Red Corsairs detachment, for which you can take 3 basic squads of 5xCSM. This is the optimal way to grab Command Points for CSM as a faction, which is needed, as CSM are very command point hungry.

2) HQs are where CSM shine. The best heroes are:
DP: They are easily our best HQ, being able to hide behind troops (being less than 10 wounds), and being blenders. Killing everything is the best support an army can get in 8th.
Sorcerers: Perhaps our best pure support heroes, as Warptime, Prescience, and Death Hex particularly are just amazing buff/debuff spells.
Lord Discordant: Not a support hero at all (being more a replacement than a buffer for Daemon Engines), but the most killy of all. Note that, being T6 and over 10 wounds, they're easy to kill, so don't take one unless you take two.
Jump Lord: Jump Lords with a thunder hammer are also scary killers, but not quite as much as Imperial ones. DPs are almost always better, unless you're taking jump fast attack choices.
Dark Apostles, Chaos Lords, Exalted Heroes, and Warpsmiths (in that order) are also good, but not as useful as the above.

3) Chaos Terminators are ok, but nothing special. With a Chain Axe and a Combi-Bolter they're a cheap fire base, but not amazing. I wouldn't bother with combi-plasma, as they're too easy to kill for the points boost it would mean. But for all that they're not terrible, and certainly if you're not playing competitively, then they're a fine addition.

Have fun, mate!

Csm is fun just remember snipers can take out low Toughness HQ's so i prefer mixing in either plagueburst crawlers or deredeo dreadnought's from FW. Shut em down turn 1 if you go 1st.

I play EC and 20 Noise marine's with apostle, sorc and either DP or Lucius for a reroll 1's aura.

Def look at which legion trait you really want it matters very much how you build up esp with how big strats are for csm.

I also love bringing 30 horrors, changecaster and the changeling, fill rest of battalion with ur choice. Good screen clear and decent screen 4+ Invuln and 6+ FNP brings them just below Plaguebearer levels of don't die.

Poxwalkers are better than cultists (imo) if you want to screen with a cheap 20 pack, 5+ FNP and no morale check. 20 poxies then 5" behind them 30 horrors another 5" back my 20 noise marines.

I req looking at AL cuz the targeting trick people do but AL players have articulated that elsewhere on forum.

Cheers and GL

 TonyH122 wrote:

3) Chaos Terminators are ok, but nothing special. With a Chain Axe and a Combi-Bolter they're a cheap fire base, but not amazing. I wouldn't bother with combi-plasma, as they're too easy to kill for the points boost it would mean. But for all that they're not terrible, and certainly if you're not playing competitively, then they're a fine addition.

20 shots after deepstriking, hitting on 2s (with prescience), rerolling 1s(with a chaos lord), safely overcharging at S8 AP-3 D2, with +1 to wound from votlw, and shooting again with endless cacophony for another 20 shots really is nothing special

 Khornate25 wrote:
Are Chaos Terminators even good ?

In theory, on paper, they should at least be fun. However, the box that GW sells for them is a blatant rip-off. So buyer beware.

The base loadout looks like it could be pretty solid and is reasonably priced. However, to build it with GWs boxes you'd have to buy I think 3 boxes to make a 5 man squad.

Seek out third party options if you go that route.

 TwinPoleTheory wrote:

 Khornate25 wrote:
Are Chaos Terminators even good ?

In theory, on paper, they should at least be fun. However, the box that GW sells for them is a blatant rip-off. So buyer beware.

The base loadout looks like it could be pretty solid and is reasonably priced. However, to build it with GWs boxes you'd have to buy I think 3 boxes to make a 5 man squad.

Seek out third party options if you go that route.

Or get a box of cataphractii terminators and the fw upgrade sprue with chainaxes. Done. (And better looking imo).