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Hello everyone!
With the new CSM releases I finally decided to get in to 40K and as such I'm looking for some help with my armylist.
It's not meant to be overly competitive as I'll likely play mostly friendly games but I'd still like it to have some teeth to it. Themewise I was thinking about going heavy on mutants and mutations. I like the concept of Spawns but I'm afraid that I've might have gone a bit overboard with the numbers of them.

For tactics my thinking was to have the Master of Possession and Exalted Champion tag along with the Possessed who will be shielded by a screen of Spawn. This group will try to get into melee ASAP, and when the time is ripe for it I'll have my Terminators, Terminator Lord and Terminator Sorcererer arrive via teleport to hopefully assist them or bring the final hammer down on any opportunities that reveal themself.
Meanwhile the CSMs and Obliterators will try to take and hold key points, while the Chaos Lord supplies atleast some of them with his reroll to hits aura. The Helbrutes are there to pound the enemy from afar and divert attention away from the rest of the army.

Vanguard Detachment
Battle-forged CP [3CP]
Detachment CP [1CP]
Legion: Black Legion

Sorcerer in Terminator Armour: Combi-bolter, Force stave, Mark of Slaanesh, Prescience, Delightful Agonies

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour: Exalted Champion, Chainfist, Combi-melta, Intoxicating Elixir, Mark of Slaanesh, Warlord

Greater Possessed: Mark of Khorne

10x Possessed: Icon of Wrath, Mark of Khorne

10x Chaos Terminators: Mark of Slaanesh, Combi-plasma, Power axe

Battalion Detachment
Detachment CP [5CP]
Legion: Black Legion

Chaos Lord: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter, No Chaos Mark

Master of Possession: Infernal Power, Mutated Invigoration, No Chaos Mark

Chaos Space Marines: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Helbrute: Mark of Slaanesh, Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

Helbrute: Mark of Slaanesh, Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

2x Obliterators: Mark of Slaanesh

Outrider Detachment
Detachment CP [1CP]
Gifts of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]
Legion: Black Legion

Exalted Champion: Chainsword, Combi-bolter, Ghorisvex's Teeth, No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn: No Chaos Mark

Total point cost: 2000

For a fun list to play friends/gaming store this list is perfect. It has a bit of everything and nothing that is uncompetitive.

If you're wanting to tweek it a little there's a few pointers.

1) Swap the terminator lord for a jump pack lord and give him a thunder hammer or a chaunsword and the Gorvex's teeth relic (which your exhalted champion who is presumably running with the possessed won't get as much used out of). You need the mobility and then you can hit flyers.
2) Consider brining Abbadon. He really is a beast and will work well with everything in the list. Especially those possessed whi will get full rerolls and not worry about morale.
3) consider maxing out that possessed unit it's all about piling on as many buffs as you can on one unit in a lot of competitive plays. They seem to be your key unit here and would be getting, up to 120 (but more likely 80) str 6 attacks with full rerolls if you use the ferocity of khorne strat, with greater possessed and Abbadon.

Thanks for the reply and the pointers!
I'm unlikely to pick up Abaddon for fluff reasons but I'll definitly consider squeezing in some more Possessed into the list.
A flying warlord seems neat but for now I'll stick with one in Terminator armour.
Speaking of, I'm considering some changes to some of the characters:

For the Lord in Terminator armour the Indomitable trait seems like a better pick than Exalted Champion. I'm also considering giving him a relic weapon instead of his chainfist and Intoxicating Elixir. The weapons I'm considering are Ghorisvex's Teeth (however I'm worried about the low S), Spineshiver Blade (Just D1 seems kinda low though, then again its purpose seems to be to cut down a quantity of weaker foes), the Black Mace (the AP's kinda low though) or the Murder Sword (which just seems all around fun allthough not particularly great at anything but carving up the nominated enemy).

For the Exalted Champion I'm thinking that it might be good to give him the Mark of Khorne and switch out his relic weapon for a Power Fist and possibly give him a chain sword instead of his combi-bolter.

Lastly, I'm thinking about replacing the Sorcerer in Terminator armour for an identically geared non-terminator one.

Edit: Someone tipped me about the potential of goin with a pair of Lightning Claws, the Sightless Helm and Black Clad Brute on my Lord in Terminator Armour. What are ya'll's take on that?

With the update to the cost of Obliterators and some rethinking of my Warlord here's an updated version of my armylist, would love to read what you think about it!


Total Points: [9CP, 1996pts]

Battalion Detachment

Battle-forged CP [3CP]
Detachment CP [5CP]
Legion: Black Legion

Chaos Lord [77pts]: Chainaxe, Combi-bolter, No Chaos Mark

Master of Possession [98pts]: Force stave, No Chaos Mark

Chaos Space Marines [100pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines [100pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines [100pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Combi-plasma
. 4x Marine w/ Boltgun
. Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Helbrute [120pts]: Mark of Slaanesh, Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

Helbrute [120pts]: Mark of Slaanesh, Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

Chaos Spawn [25pts]: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn [25pts]: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn [25pts]: No Chaos Mark

2x Obliterators [230pts]: Mark of Slaanesh

Vanguard Detachment
Detachment CP [1CP]
Legion: Black Legion

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour [114pts]: Black-clad Brute, Combi-melta, No Chaos Mark, Power sword, Spineshiver Blade, Warlord

Sorcerer in Terminator Armour [112pts]: Combi-bolter, Force stave, Mark of Slaanesh, Prescience, Delightful Agonies

Greater Possessed [70pts]: No Chaos Mark

10x Possessed [210pts]: Icon of Wrath, Mark of Khorne

10x Chaos Terminators [420pts]: Mark of Slaanesh, Combi-plasma, Power axe

Chaos Spawn [25pts]: No Chaos Mark

Chaos Spawn [25pts]: No Chaos Mark


I'm considering dropping one or two of the Spawns and replacing the Terminators' Power Axes for the cheaper Chain Axes to free up some points. If I do that what do you think I should invest the points in?
Furthermore, what, if any, marks do you think I should give my unmarked characters?