Tactica Chaos - A guide to the latest Chaos Space Marines Codex.
An article by User:Grifthin.
Preface
I'd like to start this guide with a bit of a disclaimer/prologue. I don't play 40K as often as I would like, nor do I play many of the main armies. I have a tendency to gravitate towards fringe armies (pure Iyanden) and under-dog lists. This has taught me never to undervalue a unit, or to look at it's stats on paper. Sometimes there's more that meets the eye - and this can often be exploited for minor gain or devastating damage. So I'd like you to keep an open mind on many of the concepts written here in. Some may be new, other may be old - but hopefully everyone can come away from this having learned something new. This is part tactica, part overview and many parts insanity. I’ve written this for players new and old, and all in-between. Feel free to disagree – after all that’s what makes life interesting.
Concepts discussed
Target saturation: Simply put, this is providing so many viable/Dangerous targets to your opponent that he splits his force's firepower, thus targeting all or most of them. This leaves his force not accomplishing much of anything in terms of actual damage caused. An Example of this would be a list that only fields armour. If he focuses his fire and kills 1 or 2 tanks, the other 4-5 can advance steadily and disgorge their payload. If tries to spread his fire around he might end up not destroying a single tank. In this way you can force an opponent’s hand.
Army Specialization: Emphasizing a large character of your force, thus rendering some of the enemy’s weapons useless. Examples include all infantry forces where anti tank weapons can cause little damage to them, and all armour forces - drastically reducing enemy anti infantry fire. It also involves leaning heavily on one of the phases, be it movement, assault or Shooting and trying to gain superiority in that phase. Often it is possible to concentrate on 2 phase to dominate as many units have 2 characteristics they excel at.
Focus: Keeping your eye on the end game so to speak - Don't worry about losing a squad if it will help you win the battle. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. In this vein - don't forget your objectives, games are won and lost on objectives.
KISS: Keep it simple stupid. Easy tactics are easy to execute, and harder to foul up. If you pin all your hopes on a convoluted tactic the enemy may well destroy one tiny key unit that renders all your fancy maneuvering moot. In the same vein, try to keep upgrades sensible and minimal – if you have too many nit picky details you may well forget a rule or piece of equipment you paid points for while playing.
Quantity is its own quality: 1 Marine isn't much of a threat, 10 is a problem to be overcome, and 60 is an almost unstoppable wave of power armour come to convert the enemies of the gods by the sword. Remember quantity is important where attrition takes center stage.
Troops, troops, troops: That's right - you have 6 slots for troops - use them, fill them. Troops win you games. Guys with funny gloves or fancy guns help - but your 'foot-sloggers' will be the ones taking objectives, holding them and mostly doing the dying so that your giant gibbering warp entity can eat some Tau for Dinner.
Set achievable goals: Your 'termies' will probably be munched armour and all by a hive tyrant in close combat. If you knock off a few wounds with your havocs then beat the living warp out of it, things will go much better. Make your army work in concert - let it support and work together like a well oiled machine.
Adaptability/Flexibility: If your army can do virtually everything, your opponent can't ever do anything to surprise you. You can adapt to his army like water seeping into sand. Most of your units can handle armour - means he can't destroy dedicated tank hunters to keep his armour safe. Everything can kill hordes? Same thing - you don't have any real weakness other than the lack of specialization which has downsides of its own. (Lack of a quantity of a weapon/unit to get a job done)
MEQ: Not so much a concept as a description - It generally means T4 3+ Save infantry or armies.
Enough of this Theoretical nonsense - on to the good stuff.
Weapons of Chaos
Auto cannon: A much disliked weapon in the new chaos codex - for many people the loss of the "tank hunters" veteran skill has all but rendered this weapon useless. I hear many a chaos player bemoan their sad squads of 4 auto cannon havocs. I for one have not lost faith in these units, as I'm a firm believer in quantity over quality in my weapons. I prefer the extra shot and loss of AP and strength over the missile launcher. Half your auto cannon shots hitting are still the same as 2 krak missiles hitting - the trick is to maximize the strength of the auto cannon. It's not strong enough to be a head on anti tank weapon and not enough shots to be an anti infantry weapon. So what is it good at? Popping light armour and medium to high toughness enemies. Toughness 5 and toughness 6 enemies do not like mister Auto cannon. Toughness 3 enemies even less so. Tau, Tyranid warriors – anything short of 2+ save or T8 enemies is a good target, make the enemy take quantity of saves. AV10 Isn't impressed at the 4+ to penetrate it. The quantity of shots makes even AV11 a possibility. The auto cannon is the master of side and rear shots, since they come with termies too (twin Linked) pump a bunch into that soft AV10 rear.
Blastmaster: As much as I’d like to call the missile launcher the master of adaptability - the blastmaster really trumps it. Smart opponents will spread out to avoid missile templates, and the strength 4 doesn't exactly put the fear of the Chaos gods into them. The blastmaster's varied frequency on the other hand will make even MEQ opponents think twice about getting in that S5 AP4 range. You have 2 shots and the ability to pin (not to be relied upon). With a marine's BS this means on average you will hit more targets this way, than you would have with a blast template. Combined with the range of a heavy bolter and you have a disgustingly powerful assault weapon. It gets better - the suckers got a high toughness? Well switch blastmaster to single frequency and show your opponent the meaning of the word pain in the form of a Strength 8 AP3 Blast that pins. Essentially everything short of Heavy vehicles is your prey.
Boltgun, Bolt Pistol: Hmmm you'd think that there's not much to say about the humble bolter - but you'd be wrong. Most marine players take for granted the awesomeness that is a strength 4 squad weapon with rapid fire. Having played low T and low armour save armies I can assure you that being on the receiving end of 16+ bolter shots is not fun. Make your opponents roll enough dice and he will fail some of his saves. I have seen bolters accomplish feats that my heavy weapons failed at - don't neglect to include it in your battle plans, and it won't disappoint you. Every marine has a bolter or bolt pistol in your army – 30 marines with bolters = 60 shots with rapid fire. 50 Marines = 100 shots. Let’s say 60 hits, half wound – about 30 Saves. There’s bound to be some 1’s in there.
Doom Siren: The doom siren is the nastier cousin of that girl you dated in college. An AP of 3 and Strength of 5 means that not even marines feel comfy when a feller toting one of these gets in range. Treat it like a glorified heavy flamer and you won't be disappointed. Flanking heavy infantry with these things is to die for, as the auto hit makes mince of most MEQS.
Flamer: An incredibly difficult weapon to use, the template is both a blessing and a curse - it means you don't have to roll to hit, but it also means you’re virtually on top of the enemy. Backed by the okay strength 4 and an unimpressive AP of 5 most people will not fear the flamer. On the upside it ignores cover. There's method to these one's madness though. Quantity as always is the key here. A key weapon in 5th Ed – Rhino’s with 2 of these, chosen packing 4 and infiltrating are all a good way to clear a lot of enemies quickly (or die horribly, depending on the dice gods).
Heavy Bolter: In many ways one of my favourite weapons, it has a good strength, and decent AP (4), but the defining ability for me is its 3 Shots. That's right - 3. With a marine's BS that means that you usually hit with at least 1, and with a good bunch of rolls - all 3. A squad of these can quickly decimate hordes and even give marines trouble due to the amount of saves they have to take. Strength 5 is almost as good against MEQ's as Guard. It has a decent range of 36" meaning it will have a decent amount of shooting time before the enemy is close enough to start adding your bolter shots to the mix. An auto include in almost all my lists. If building a mobile army you’ll have to get your heavy bolter goodness from Predators and Land Raiders. Still a nice and versatile weapon.
Heavy Flamer: A flamer with reversed stats S5 and AP4 - this thing is used for burning tough enemies out of cover and destroying anything that relies on cover saves. Everything about the flamer applies to it. The AP of 4 is decent - use it against Tau in Buildings, Path finders, Rangers, Lictors gone to ground, and anything that will smell like chicken.
Lascannon: Aaah - the big boy, with a mighty strength of 9, and one of the few AP 2 guns in the Chaos armoury. This thing is brutal against vehicles and monstrous creatures. It has excellent Range, so you can really reach out and touch someone with it. Every list should have at least a few of these to deal with monoliths, Land raiders, small children and pretty much anything else nasty and dangerous. If your enemy lacks an invulnerable save it's most likely a smoking hole after firing this thing. Don't go overboard though - they are expensive and virtually useless versus line infantry.
Meltagun: I confess - I like these more than lascannon. The extra 2d6 penetration at close range is almost irresistible for me. Anything mobile or capable of deep striking usually carries some of these for the same reasons as stated in the lascannon entry above. Bikes, Terminators, Marines in a Rhino, Chosen – all good choices.
Missile Launcher: A weapon I always bring at least a few of - you never know what your opponent is bringing, so you can't go wrong with a gun that can kill hordes and still has a chance at blowing a tank to Chaos come. The Range of 48" means you don't have to move once you have picked an excellent firing lane, and adaptability means you’re a threat to virtually everything. Everything that applies to the blastmaster applies to the missile launcher. All it lacks is the mobility of its more destructive cousin. In all a good weapon choice.
Multi Melta: Angrier version of the melta gun, Longer range - available only on our dreads and Obliterators. I like the idea behind these but the platform they are mounted on limits their use a little bit. Your Dread if given these is more than likely to vapourise something of yours, and obliterators can deepstrike close enough to targets to use their twinlinked melta's. Their only use on oblits -as far as I can tell- is if you scatter out of melta range and need a tank to die NOW. Feel free - to add to this section if anybody has more uses for them.
Plasma Cannon: Seen on our Dreadnoughts. The strength is the same as an auto cannon's with the template of a missile and the AP of a plasma gun. Bad thing? It's mounted on a platform likely to go bezerk and shoot your own troops. Not a bad weapon - Just over shadowed by many other choices in our lists. Personally I like them – stick your dread on a flank with a unit it can’t hurt (land raider) and got to town. They can also be utilized by our Obliterators - tastiness to be had all round. Deepstrike + Ap2 template makes a mess of many enemies, especially when combined with the dreaded lash.
Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol: A staple work horse in many lists - I use one in almost all my infantry squads. Barring any misfires they will net you a kill a round from enemies in range. They are useful for adding some punch to marine squads with the same profile as their basic bolters. In all not a bad weapon at all, high strength and low AP in a decently priced package with a good range. Reduced value if your playing a dense terrain board – either pack flamers or more multi shot weapons.
Reaper Auto cannon: Essentially a blinged up version of the infamous auto cannon. Mostly seen on termies, they give you the ability to re-roll misses, substantially boosting damage output. Everything about the auto cannon applies to this one as well.
Sonic Blaster: In a nutshell this is a bolter with an assault profile. Move and fire is the order of the day here. The bonus of course is that you can take up cover to blast your opponents with the lovely heavy 3 profile. The second bonus is being able to move 6" then fire 24" giving you a 30" threat range.
Battle Cannon: Seen on the Defiler, this thing kills marine’s dead. A giant AP3 template scares the armoured pants off of most marine armies. After you get hit with 3 of these from a guard army in 1 turn you will realize why. Thank goodness we get to stick ours on a stylish demon engine instead of some boring tank. 72" range and large blast is your friend against hordes, and if you hit a tank it probably won't have a good day either. If you plan on bringing some ordinance you can't go wrong with a defiler.
Demolisher cannon: Strength 10 AP 2. Read that profile. Read it again. Savour it. If you can get this sucker to stick around (which we can do), you can really make your enemies sweat. It’s ordinance, it kills most infantry instantly. It fries vehicles. The only downside is the short range of 24" and the weaker side and rear armour.
Havoc Launcher: It's a cheap twin linked strength 5 weapon with a blast templates. Use them to fill out points left over as well as to provide mobile units with some extra firepower. They will most likely need it. This weapon's tactics depend on which vehicle you attach them too. More later on this weapon.
Chaos Sorcery
Doombolt: First on the list is the cheap and cheerful Doombolt. I often pick this power as it's the cheapest, has multiple shots, easily wounds low toughness enemies and still has a good chance to wound marines, and ignore their armour. It has a short range of 18", but most psykers use alternative transport anyway so it's hardly a drawback.
Warptime: Essentially the Chaos version of guide, we have to re-roll ALL hits and wounds. Essentially you can save yourself from a dismal round of combat with this power. There are many schools of thought on exactly how it works. As far as I'm concerned you have to re-roll all your hit and wounds if you choose one as the description does not specify misses.
Gift of Chaos: This gives you a 1 in 6 chance of outright killing an enemy model. If it has toughness it can be killed. It gets better - if you roll over the toughness it works. Thus most marine characters get spawned on a 5+ or a 6+. Not bad odds at all. It gets even better - if you have spawn model available you can replace said model with the spawn for free. It even works in close combat. The downside to this power is the fact that it only works in 6" of the sorcerer on a single model. It can however be used in close combat.
Wind of Chaos: Uses a flamer template, always wounds on a 4+ regardless of toughness and does not allow armor saves. Good for taking out high toughness infantry in cover.
Lash of Submission: It's a 24" range power allowing you to move an enemy non vehicle unit 2d6". I'm not saying any more as there's whole armies dedicated to lash, as well as tactica's written on it. I'd rather steer clear of the debate and let players decide for themselves. Uses include bunching up enemy troops for template weapons, dragging off of objectives or into assault range.
Nurgle's Rot: It hits all enemy targets in 6" when used. It's strength 3, so won't do much to most enemies. However if you get mobbed by gaunts/guardsman enc it can help you quickly clear the area around you to move on to fresh targets. A very fluffy and cool power for nurgley followers.
Bolt of change: Range of a bolter and stopping power of a missile. This power is disgustingly powerful against high toughness enemies and enemy vehicles. A sorcerer can quickly make a lot of points disappear into thin air with this. The AP of 1 means it has none of the normal issues that a missile launcher struggles with. An expensive power, but good if you have a plan for it. It's an assault weapon and thus can be moved and fired. Nasty on aspiring sorcerers.
Close combat Weapons
Chainfist: It's essentially a more expensive powerfist when used against infantry. It doubles strength and makes you strike last, so why would you pick it? One reason - 2d6+ Double Strength armour penetration. This bad boy is as good as a melta against vehicles and you will at least get more attacks as well. If tanks absolutely have to die then accept no substitutes.
Force Weapon: A favourite weapon of mine. It's a power weapon with the added bonus that you can kill multi wound models instantly if you pass a psychic test. This is often all a sorcerer needs to even out the slightly weaker close combat ability in comparison with a Chaos lord. You will love this weapon dearly once you send a few enemies HQ's screaming into the warp.
Lightning claws: Besides the pure appeal of having a little wolverine wannabe running around - you get a weapon that ignore armour saves, as well as allowing you to re-roll any to wound rolls. If taken in a pair you also get an extra attack. Most people will tell you to always take a pair - but in my opinion that isn't always the case. I often prefer a single claw over a regular power weapon when decking out my chaos lord. Go with what you feel is cool. The dual claws are definitely more effective – I just think the combi-bolter + claw looks bad arse (style over effectiveness sometimes)
Powerfist: A weapon that sees a lot of use, these things can wound almost anything in the game as well as bypassing armour saves. Many people feel they are mandatory in troop squads to protect them from rampaging dreadnoughts and the like. I rarely use them myself, except on terminators.They make you strike last and double strength – It’s good if your troops get caught in an assault – but the price tag is pretty steep.
Power weapon: It can take virtually any form, it’s cheap, and it’s cheerful and allows your chaos lord to harvest enemy troops by the truck load. If your building a cheap (points wise) Chaos lord, you can't go wrong with at least a power weapon. I prefer them on my aspiring champions as I don’t go last and get to make the best use of I4.
Daemon Weapons and Marks of Chaos
I felt this weapon type deserved its own section. There is always a lot of speculation and conjecture about daemon weapons. Many feel they are too dangerous, other that they are to expensive, and others that they just don't do enough for the points. I feel that if you’re going to be building a chaos lord of some prestige the least you can do is give him a daemon weapon. It's a bit more in character - as well as confirming his status as a total bad arse. I feel it's impossible to discuss the weapons without going into the marks as well. Many of the weapons become a better deal once you consider the benefits that the associated mark brings.
Mark of Khorne: The simplest of the 4 marks. It makes your chaos lord more killy by giving him an extra attack. That's it, nothing more. If you’re building the ultimate close combat machine, or a khornate war band you can't go wrong.
Mark of Tzeentch: This tasty little mark increases your invulnerable save by one. Thus chaos lord’s etc can end up with a tasty 4+ invulnerable save to ward off all those nasty power weapons and lascannon. If you lack an invulnerable save then it confers a 5+ save. In all this mark is used to increase your resistance to power weapons as well as low AP weaponry. It won't really help you when weathering 40+ bolter shots.
Mark of Nurgle: It boosts your toughness by 1. You get wounded less often by lower strength weaponry, and have to take less saves. The net result is a better resilience against small arms fire, and hand to hand attacks. If combined with terminator armour you can get a disgustingly tough HQ. Father Nurgle approves.
Mark of Slaanesh: It gives you a +1 to initiative. Simple and sweet. When you consider that many enemies already strike after a marines regular I4, then an I6 daemon weapon wielding terror becomes a lot more appealing. You can rip even specialist enemy close combat units apart with this thing, negating a lot of the units striking power before it gets used, and allowing you to finish it off the rest next round. A very powerful mark when used to its full advantage, although not as simple as the other 3.
All Daemon weapons require 2 hands, meaning you can't ever get a bonus for an extra close combat weapon. It counts as a power weapon in addition to any other attributes. It adds d6 attacks except where specified differently. On a roll of a 1 for your extra attacks, you get 1 wound and no attacks at ALL that round. You can ONLY take invulnerable saves against the daemon rebelling.
Weapons of Chaos undivided: If you have no mark, then you gain a weapon that adds d6 attacks as well as +1 to your strength. This means you will wound most MEQ's on a 3+ and slice and dice toughness 3 opponents on a 2+. A powerful option for chaos lords who want the possibility for a bucket of attacks.
Blood feeder: A much maligned weapon. You gain 2d6 attacks, however if either of the dice roll a 1 then you don't get any chance to attack and take 1 wound. Most people worry that the chaos lord will kill himself without making his points back. And yes he will often kill himself (at least once every other game), but he is a monster in close combat. Consider this, a chaos lord has 3 Attacks + 1 from mark of Khorne + 2d6 = 8 to 16 attacks. Even with only mediocre rolling it's possible to get an average of 8 attacks. So send him after massively expensive targets, let him rip them apart. The sheer devastation will cause your opponent so much worry, that he will dedicate way too much of his attention to who ever carries this.
Plague bringer: Essentially a power weapon that adds extra attacks, while always wounding on a 4+. Excellent for going after high toughness targets. Wraith lords, Wraith guard, Carnifexes anything that you can off with the 4+ is tasty. Make a mockery of the enemy’s toughness and take out targets they considered safe. An excellent weapon, but it changes the role of your lord significantly - you really don't want to get stuck killing Imperial guard on a 4+. If your strength is higher than your target's toughness you do get to reroll the "to wound" dice. Thanks to Nurglez for pointing this out.
Death screamer: It's ranged and close combat weapon. As well as functioning as the standard daemon weapon you also get the ability to fire multiple atrength 4 AP3 shots at 24". It's got an assault profile, so you can theoretically start the killing at 30" until you actually get stuck in close combat. Since it’s a daemon weapon you still get the d6 attacks in close combat as well as the bonus of a power weapon. A very powerful weapon really fitting the character of the lord of change.
Bliss giver: essentially it's a power weapon that strikes at initiative order and inflicts instant death. Meaning - you wound it, you kill it - barring eternal warrior. I don't have much experience with this weapon myself. (
Army types
There’s dozens of styles available to you when building an army, below I will attempt to give a few examples of armies I have used and encountered.
Gun line: Essentially you max out your heavy support units, and entire army with things that excel at sitting still and blasting the crap out of the enemies from the other side of the table. Not a very fluffy army (except for iron warriors maybe), as Astartes are a rapid assault force. It is effective however as everything has a high BS, you don’t need to invest heavily in counter charge units as most CSM units come with a bolt pistol and close combat weapon already. Their high initiative, toughness and armour combined with this fact can make this army very hard to break. Lists like these are not good at taking objectives, and aren’t mobile enough to respond to fast armies. They usually include a ton of havocs, predators and obliterators.
Mechanized: Load everything up in rhinos and land raiders, you either jump out in front of the enemy and rapid fire him to death, or charge into close combat with bezerkers and the like. Jump troops like raptors often feature in these armies as they can keep up with the transports.
Bike armies: Often called a poor man’s raven wing, we lack the combat squads, teleport homers and many of the other features that our loyal brethren get. However we can with the use of icons make our Bikes significantly better. Toughness 6 bikes? Sure take a mark of Nurgle. Invulnerable saves? More attacks? It’s all possible. It’s possible to build an awesome bike army, but it will be extremely difficult to play. Your troops are few and expensive. You can pick and choose battles though, slicing an enemy army apart like over ripe fruit, before hitting it like a sledge hammer. You will need either summoned daemons or marines in rhino’s to take objectives in the wake of your bikes. I favour Daemons myself.
Close combat armies: Hordes and hordes of berzerkers and the like. This army wants to get into close combat as soon as possible to take the enemy apart in a fountain of gore. On the upside very little will stand up to one of your charges. The downside is that mobile high firepower enemies can rip you a new one. Transports recommended, even though many people see them as rolling coffins – the addition of run has made the idea of a “sea” of berzerkers a bit better than it was, still not recommend against shooty forces.
Terminator armies: Taking a bucket load of terminators and once again using marks to boost their effectiveness. HQ’s in terminator armour, and all your elite slots filled up makes for a small extremely hard army to play. You’ll have power weapons on everything and combi weapons galore. AP2 will give you fits, unless you take mark of Tzeentch. Your army will be dependent on good reserve rolls, and scatter dice. A tough army to play (much like death wing) but rewarding none the less. Almost your entire army will be terminators, either backed by daemons to keep objectives in your wake or small squads of marines that go to ground purely to hold objectives.
Infiltrating armies: Primarily alpha legion players. Using all your elite slots to get chosen who come with the infiltrate skill, allows you to get in some really favourable assault positions. You can sit tight and shoot the enemy to death, or engage in hand to hand, while more mobile troops move in to capture points behind you.
Daemon Bomb: Armies who drive bikes at max speed towards you, before infesting your deployment zone with daemons summoned off of the icons. Usually Nurgle marked bikers bringing A LOT of lesser daemons backed by a greater daemon. Usually only the bare minimum of chaos marine infantry in these lists. Some of the most diverse armies seen, as every player finds their own solution for enemy armour and elite units. I just love these armies – damn difficult to play as plasma hurts as much as a bolter – fun none the less.
Legion Army: Essentially an army that sticks as close to the fluff as possible for it’s units. Examples would be an army with thousand son’s infantry, led by a sorcerer with some spawn and Tzeentch icons. Support units like termies or havocs. Another would be a word bearer list utilizing a ton of lesser daemons for fodder so that hard hitters can shatter the enemy. Basically self imposed restrictions to get a fluffy, fun and challenging list. I play black legion, and thus try and use the spear tip tactic as often as possible.
As you can see there’s a large variety of armies available for play. This diversity is chaos’s strength – its great fun to start with a goal in mind then expand your army so that it can do any of the above mentioned tactics. As always a balanced list is probably best, however it’s the most difficult list to develop and learn to play. You’ll always have some of the tools you need, but never in the quantities to be reckless. You can do anything with a balanced army, but won’t be able to specialize in anything. A favourite army type of mine.
Unit overview
HQ
Abaddon the despoiler: Costing more than a land raider, this bloke is terrifying. Terminator armour, Linked Bolter, Icon, All the marks of chaos means he can sit and take punishment with the best of them. Like all Lords he is fearless. He comes with the Daemon weapon Drach’nyen – He counts as Strength 8 and can re-roll ANY failed to wound rolls. Finally he is immune to the instant death attack, thank the warp. What this means is that he will rarely make his points back – but he makes a damn impressive splash whenever he jumps into a unit. Not much will walk away from him, and he can walk away from virtually everything himself. A 2+ save combined with toughness 5 and a 4+ invulnerable save means he is disgustingly effective at what he does, and he will stick around to do it. A potential 10 strength 8 attacks that ignore armour and strike at iniative 6 means anything caught in assault is almost guaranteed dead.
Kharn the Betrayer: Clocking in at a relatively cheap points price, Kharn is what they had in mind when they coined the term “killing machine”. With a Mighty weapons skill of 7 and a weapon that hits on a 2+ ignoring armour saves, and you know you have a winner. Kharn wears power armour and can hitch a ride with his bezerkers buddies in a rhino. If any stray dreadnoughts or small children cross his path, Kharn gets an additional d6 to his armour penetration. Not too shabby for a Looney eh? On the downside, should Kharn roll a 1 to hit, he hits 1 of your own troops instead. People with Abyssal dice luck beware! Kharn also ignores force weapons and Psychic powers. Lets us suck off other armies easier.
Ahriman of the Thousand Sons: He’s Expensive – but the art is damn cool. That aside he’s got staff that allows him up too 3 Psychic tests a turn. It’s also a force weapon – meaning he can pop, off Gift of chaos, switch on warp time, and then go to town on some poor sod all in the same turn. He has all the undivided powers in addition to the Tzeentch ones, due to his master of sorcery rule. His bolt Pistol uses Inferno Bolts and is thus AP3. He comes with a cushy 4+ invulnerable save to keep him safe from all those nasty plasma guns.
Fabius Bile: A very versatile character. He’s got good Close combat weapons as well as a decent range weapon. The rod of torment instantly kills any model it wounds regardless of toughness. Bad news for enemies, it's NOT a power weapon though. His xyclos needler, while having a pathetic range of 18” and no Strength does wound on a 2+ and has 3 shots. He comes with Feel no Pain to keep him from getting killed, +1 to strength and 2 extra attacks from his chirurgeon. He can choose to enhance a squad of Chaos space marines at modest cost. You role on a table to determine the results. You’re likely to get marines that are stronger and completely fearless. Having a squad hold an objective down to the last man is awesome. if you want to play a Safe list probably not your best bet - but if a little bit of randomness doesn't scare you, he can be a lot of fun.
Lucius the Eternal: A weapon skill 7, Initiative 6 Monster. He comes with a 5+ invulnerable save as well as the Armour of screaming souls. For each save Lucius passes in close combat his foes take a Strength 4 hit with no armour save allowed in return. His lash of torment removes 1 attack from an enemy facing him, allowing Lucius to dice his opponent with his power sword. Lucius also carries a Doom Siren for Longer range work. One of the coolest character killers in regards too MEQ’s and the like. Unfortunately, he has little effectiveness when fighting vehicles so watch out for that dread.
Typhus, Host of the Destroyer hive: a Sorcerer in Terminator armour that will give nearly anything pain in close combat. He boasts the feel no pain attribute in addition to having termie armour. He can use 2 Psychic abilities a turn and comes with Wind of chaos and Nurgle’s rot. This means he can use a Power and then follow it up with force weapon that same turn. When using these powers he automatically passes his test, as well as ignoring perils of the warp. He carries the Man reaper, which is a Daemon weapon AND force weapon. He is host to the destroyer hive and thus gains the Bonus of Blight Grenades and frag grenades. Toughness 5 and feel no pain means he should stick around a while in close combat. However, like Lucius, Typhus is abysmal against vehicles so keep him away from them.
Huron Blackheart: He’s chaos lord that comes with the warptime power courtesy of his little Monster that follows him around. He’s also got a powerfist with a built in heavy flamer. Not my favourite character in the world, but if you are building a red corsairs force then it’s very fluffy. Stick him with a squad of chosen with 4 flamers for maximum flamey fun!
Daemon Prince: Hands up those who like Monstrous creatures. Now who likes one that can take Marks as well as Psychic powers? Immunity to instant death? A daemon prince with only flying sets you back just under 150 points. In return you get a T5 monster whose attack ignore armour saves and strike at Weapon skill 7. Note – avoid anti tank weaponry or die. Hills are your friend. If all else fails find a nice safe close combat to live in – the new consolidation rules WILL kill you if you hit targets too soft. Brother Sanctjud notes that the Daemon Prince can also be used as a bullet magnet (unfitting a role as that is for a lord of chaos ) - If your enemy is firing his las cannons at your daemon Prince he isn't killing your vehicles/obliterators.
Chaos Lord: Probably one of the most customizable entries in the codex. With a wide selection of weapons to choose from he can be outfitted in any role. He’s fearless and comes with a 5+ invulnerable save. He can be marked as well being able to choose from a variety of transport methods. I favour Terminator armour myself, however many a player swears by a Jump pack and Lightning claws. Others prefer Bikes. I try and keep mine as cheap as possible points wise – but there’s something to be said for a Marked, Bike riding, daemon weapon wielding bad arse! Then again, beware enemies with high strength weapons, as your Lord has a mere toughness of 4 and thus is vulnerable to instant death!
Chaos Sorcerer: Our source of magical goodness. Also the second carrier for the dreaded lash. Once again there’s a wide selection of abilities to pick from, try and avoid picking equipment for "just in case". Once again I prefer terminator armour, but there’s something to be said for a Nurgle Sorcerer on a bike with Nurgle’s Rot. Imperial guard and Tau beware! Use your own discretion when building your sorcerer.
Elite
Chosen Chaos Space Marines: Coming with the infiltrate ability as standard, these are going to be our glory boys. They can be up to 10 men strong and can take a Rhino transport. They may have 1 heavy weapon or up to 4 power weapons or special weapons. They are extremely customizable for either close combat or ranged damage. They may select an icon to help them get the job done. I favour the Chaos glory one, because moral checks are the bane of my existence, and their likely to come under heavy fire. While Alpha legion players may have lost their cultists they have gained the ability to field 30 Infiltrating troops carrying 4 special weapons each. If you are going to use chosen, pick a job for them and outfit them appropriately.
Chaos Terminators: Hmmm – a unit I just love to hate, on the on side they have power weapons and are only slightly more expensive than possessed, on the other hand they have a tendency to die like flies to plasma (depending what icon they have). If you crank em up on powerfists the squad’s price also goes up rather steeply. If deep struck often they will sit around for a turn before getting shot back to the warp, a cheap squad with just a Reaper cannon is a good throw away unit for popping tanks from behind though. I find their best use is for Sticking em in a land Raider + Lord then driving up to the enemy and assaulting them. You wreak unimaginable damage like that, especially if using icon of Tzeentch (to weather plasma in between consolidation moves) or Nurgle (for small arms fire). Combi weapons are a god send, as they all cost the same you can just note down combi weapon on your army list and use whatever is needed (or modelled on your troops) for extra flamey or Melta goodness. I like using Reaper + combi melta’s myself, although many people swear by rapid firing Plasma’s for 1 round. I like the safe bet more myself ( and I prefer them go after vehicles). Like most things chaos – it’s up to the individual player.
Possessed: The Red Headed step child, most people hate these with a passion. I myself love them, many think that they aren’t worth their points – However consider this – Icon of Tzeentch cost more than 35 Points – so lets say you possessed are worth another 4 points than a regular marine for their invulnerable save. What more? Fearless – that’s easily another 2 Points per troop in value. What more? S5 – Means you wound MEQ’s on a 3+. Another 2 Points I’d say. Now on top of this you get another free ability that has a 5 in 6 chance of improving your troops – I’d say that’s just gravy. I like Possessed – stick em in a Land Raider (or rhino if you’re strapped for points), run em into an enemy squad and rip em a new one. These guys really make a mess of gaunts and the like – with the new rules and modifiers for assault you can kill huge numbers of enemy infantry off if you win an assault purely by virtue of your killyness. Try em out – if nothing else they are an opportunity to try your modelling skills, and they look awesome.
Chaos Dreadnought: Another hated unit – random is bad it seems these days – on the other hand it’s also hilarious sometimes. Less than a hundred points gets you the following: A dread with smoke/search light plus a twin linked bolter + CC Weapon. To this you can strap either a big gun or CC weapon. Now you have some nifty choices here – The plasma cannon is a rare commodity in a Chaos marines list – but your going to have to keep a eye on your deployment. I prefer the missile option myself – if it goes mad I can either fire the frag round at my own vehicle doing nothing to it, or at a marine squad likely to shrug off the hit. The dread is a nice close assault walker – but if you want something absolutely safe you might want to look elsewhere as they have a tendency to shoot the best laid plans to hell. I still like them, as many of the disadvantages can be negated with good deployment or weapon options giving me a cheap heavy weapons bearer that can tie up units like "without number" gaunts indefinitely.
Troops
Chaos Space Marines: Our bread and butter troops (unless you are playing a cult army) – 5-20 man strong, LD10 with a champion and the ability to take a heavy and Special or a second special choice instead. They come standard with frags, kraks, bolters and pistols. They get all the usual power weapons, combis and the like for their champ as well as a selection of icon’s. They can take a rhino for transport for less than 40 Points and be geared for Rapid assault or Defensive objective grabbing. My Preferred load out is either with 10 man, icon of Chaos Glory + 2x Plasma gun. If’ I’m holding ground I’d swap a plasma for a heavy bolter, and possibly add a powerfist to ensure nothing shifts me out of cover without a hell of a fight. Take lots of these in any all comers list – I recommend at least 30, ensuring you have 3 scoring units at least. 2 or more of these squads working in concert can deal out a horrendous amount of punishment, and the sheer look of 20 well equipped marines are more than enough to keep all than the most determined enemies off of a objective.
Plague Marines: Disgusting blokes with a T5 and Fearless. Can grab some special weapons as well as a Rhino. They come with "feel no pain" so if you wanna walk at the enemy, watch your bits get blown off before shooting him to warp you might wanna pick these guys. If you need a objective that won’t shift no matter what – these are your guys – with cover they can absorb a ludicrous amount of firepower. Small arms does virtually nothing vs them as they are designed to suck it up like a sponge. Even tau pulse rifles need a 4+ to even wound these guys. You do take a slight hit in I, (I3) – but if you are hiding in cover that’s rarely a problem. Excellent candidates for a Rhino rush oriented strategy. Drive up – offload 30 of these guys and just rapid fire the enemy to death, next turn take the punishment before handing it out again. In all one of my favourite cult troops stats wise, but least favourite looks wise.
Noise Marines: The reason to get these guys is their weaponry – read through the profiles and you will see – Excellent AP and rate of fire combined with good range. They have I5, combined with a power weapon they aren’t slouches in close combat either. You need a delicate hand playing these guys – they die as easily as normal marines, but fare slightly better in assault as well as having a significantly better shooting phase. They are fearless, and will carry on gunning down the enemy to the last man – With the advent of cover in 5th ed they have got a little better at surviving, but so has the enemy – now more than ever good assaults and supporting strategies are needed. For their points cost not too shabby at all.
Khorne Bezerkers: If you need close combat power in your troops section – look no further, furious charge, fearless, 2 Attacks each + 1 for CC weapons (4 on the charge), high I and W. What’s not to like ? Cheaper rhinos combined with these guys and you will have a squad to be feared – remember to add a powerfist to help deal with vehicles as nothing feels stupider than having a whole squad torn apart by a wraithlord because you can’t hurt it back. If you can get 10 or 12 of these in charge range you can rip even 30 strong ork units a new one. Use em wisely and you won’t be disappointed.
Thousand Sons: Anti Infantry bar none – move and fire 24” on your bolters, they are AP 3. Think about this – you can move forward steadily keeping up a stream of fire on the enemy forcing him to use cover (most likely worse than his armor save) and you get a 4+ invulnerable save to keep you save. They are fearless and slow and Purposeful. It’s both a benefit and a drawback. You have to take a sorcerer – so you do get some powers as well – although the squad is expensive as well. You could go with Bolt of change to fry vehicles for Flexibility or with Wind of chaos to help clear out hordes in addition to your Rapid fire weapons. I like the sons myself – a few big squads just walking up the field can be awesome against lists traditionally good against Chaos marines as you can shrug off half the usual shots that kill you, the down side is you might be to slow to get to distant objectives. The Answer? Rhinos baby! Stick those suckers in Rhino’s and Drive where you need to go in style! Rapidfire + AP3 = the Kings of rhino rush against MEQ Targets. Nobody want’s that much AP3 fire coming his way. Plus Egypt + Chaos = made of win model wise. I like squads of 9 myself, fluffy and Chunky to hold objectives with. Prevents wounds from “wrapping” around the sorcerer with the new wound allocation system.
Fast attack
Chaos Bikers: Lets See, what do we get... twin linked Bolters, T5 hmmmm, more than double the points – doesn’t seem worth it does it ? Aaah, but my friend consider this – Icons (T6 Bikes), turbo boosting, dual meltas on a small 3 man squad is less than 120 Points. Turbo Boost – Rock up at a tank – blow it to chaos come. If you make it a bit more pricy add a champ with a Power fist. Rock up – shoot it THEN assault it with a S8 weapon that hits rear armor. Even with the second config they still are cheaper than most tanks they blow up. Give em a icon – drive along the board taking pot shots and scattering daemons and termies like daisies at a wedding. Give em Mark of Nurgle, throw em into a unit of Devastators to tie them up for a few turns (as often they lack power weapons and the Like) – their uses are truly limitless. Give em mark of Khorne – take a moderate sized squad or 2 and CHEW through enemy light infantry (or chase those damn Tau suits). In all a expensive but really versatile and neat option. I never leave home without them.
Chaos Raptors: The Equivalent to our loyalist brethren’s jump troops. Jump Packs, Close combat weapons and some options for Icons. Think on this for a moment if you will – you can make them tank hunters if you take a small squad with melta Weapons, horde killers with dual flamers, go crazy give the champion dual lightning claws and icon of Khorne. The option is truly yours – you can use them as a counter assault unit, tank hunter, objective clearers – it’s all up to you. Like most chaos units the versatility is the key – with some care you can change them into whatever role your army needs.
Chaos Spawn: hmmm – well they are more than 30 points, so not that great for throw away points – on the other hand lets look at what we get. Gift of chaos can give us a free spawn so that’s something to keep in mind, get 1 or 2 for that reason if nothing else. They get D6 attacks so usually about 2 or so. S5 is good but not great. They do have T5 too and 3 Wounds. Hmmm – almost as good as 3 possessed but lacking the saves. They always try to attack the closest enemy unit so don’t plan a battle around them. Ideally I’d say they work best vs gunline armies – either your enemy shoots it and spares other troops you need more or leaves it and gets stuff tied up. Sorcerer with some form of movement like wings/ jump pack with gift of chaos is probably best. Swoop in – create some spawn and Cause havoc right in the enemy lines. Creating 2 – 3 spawns could seriously cause some havoc against tau fire warriors, guardsmen – pretty much any light infantry that relies on cover to protect it. I reckon with some creativity you can make spawn work – but they really are a difficult unit to make work.
Heavy support
Chaos Havocs: I always use at least 1 squad in my list. I recommend 10 strong squads for staying power and fire power. You can kit them to a variety of roles be it anti infantry, anti tank, anti horde whatever. You can make a sit back and shoot squad or a in your base killing your dudez squad. If you want versatility the Missile Launcher is a awesome option giving you 4x templates a turn or 4x krak missiles if you keep all the weapons the same. On the other hand you could go 4x lascannon – pretty much fries Terminators, Vehicles and most monstrous creatures on sight – 2 turns at most. Nothing shows you dominance of a table quarter more than that 48” no-mans land they create. If you want cheap firepower that can decimate hordes nothing beats 4x heavy bolters, tossing out 12 S5 shots a turn is a hoot, and can give even MEQ’s a run for their money based on the amount of saves they must take. The auto cannon is a bit of a strange one – I’d recommend against 4x auto Cannons unless your environment is swimming in Tyranids or skimmers and other light vehicles. It’s just a bit to low strength against anything without AV10/AV11 and 4+ saves is what it excels in killing, although it can help against T6 Creatures that rely on their T to stay alive. Rarely will a sit and shoot style squad require the champ upgrades for fists and the like, but there is another way of using havocs. Get a rhino, put 10x havoc’s in it, add 4 Plasma Guns + Power fist, add icon’s to taste. Drive up, jump out – rapid fire the target of your choice to death, be prepared for immediate reprisals. You can do the same with melta guns for anti tank, or even flamers for some REAL anti horde duty at close quarters. In all – how you use them is up to you. My preferred setup is icon of Chaos glory with 2x auto cannon and 2x heavy bolter OR 2x Missile and 2x lascannon. I know it seems counter intuitive – but it really works for me, so I stick with it.
Obliterators: These come with a complimentary “oh crap” sticker for your opponent. For just under 80 Points a piece you get 2W, 2+ save, 5+ invulnerable, Fearless unit that can fire either lascannons, multi melta, Plasma cannon, Twin-linked plasma gun, Twin-linked melta or Twin-linked flamers, slow and purposeful means moving and firing these tasty weapons. Stick 3 of these into a opponents battle lines and start taking out targets of your choice. You have to be careful where you deepstrike though, one plasma suicide squad of death can kill your very expensive troops quickly. So to that end – never include them to fill a specific purpose in your list – there are other units that can do specialized jobs better and cheaper. Your paying for versatility so USE it.
Chaos predator: Tasty AV13 on the front and a Turret auto canon for default killing, toss on sponson heavy bolters for a tasty hundred point odd infantry killer. A popular choice for many people, especially for horde killing power. The other end of the spectrum is the All lascannon special – 3x lascannons is really good at frying tough targets, but it’s a massive target for enemy shooting as well. Some stunned results could well result In you not firing for 3 turns or more. To this end the choice of Daemonic possession could be a good one, but is the drop in BS to 3 from 4 worth it ? I leave it up to you the reader to decide. Myself use the Lascannon Turret + heavy bolter sponsons. This means I can move 6” a turn and fire my Lascannon at hard targets, and once I get there I can sit and unleash hell with my 2x heavy bolters as well. I find after 2-3 turns I’ve annihilated most of the enemy hard targets so I value the Heavy bolters for their number thinning power at that point in the game.
Chaos Vindicator: S10 AP2 – Big Blast. Literally – a joy to use, this thing absorbs a unhealthy amount of attention and firepower. People always shoot at it – you can’t risk having that cannon shot at you – so they normally settle for stunning it and then ignoring it till their next turn. So what’s a person who loves massive firepower to do ? The answer ? Daemonic possession – you ignore annoying stunned/shaken results and force them to destroy it or be destroyed. Even then the amount of fire it soaked up compared to what the rest of your army would have taken is well worth it. It comes with smoke and dozerblade as default – so you can drive it into cover and then leave it there hull down blasting things. Also part of the Dread lash to Bunch then blast combo.
Defiler: Much hated and loved, like most things chaos opinions vary. On the one hand you have a spanking awesome looking daemon engine, on the other virtually everything can see and shoot it. It does come with a battle cannon – which is awesome, and Daemonic possession. Good stuff – ordinance that can keep shooting no matter what. What else do we get ? Reaper auto cannon, twin linked heavy flamer. This thing is built to destroy infantry at a ferocious rate. You can customise them for more Close combat ability, or more shooty goodness or a mix of the two. Generally I leave mine as is and use to stopgap my assault in which ever phase it seems to be having difficulty. The large blast and Flamer is truly a boon in the world of 5th ed.
Chaos Landraider: My favourite vehicle hands down. Ever. That probably says a lot about me, but it’s just so damn awesome. Twin linked heavy bolter, twin linked las cannons, AV14 all around, smoke launchers, assault ramp. The ultimate in versatility – S10 railguns need 5’s to penetrate – how awesome is that ? Get hit in assault ? no puny AV10 for you, AV14! Stick 10 berzerkers in it – drive it up 12” a turn, disembark and assault in 1 turn from it. You can pop anti tank threats with it after it’s done it’s job. You can hide a low strength squad in it, drive it on a objective and sit there in your AV14 bunker firing the weapons at your enemies and they have to destroy the raider if they want that objective back. Take a highly mobile/ high firepower force – use multiple raiders, destroy your opponents high S weaponry then retreat back into them – there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it. Stick Terminators in it for assault delivery – use it as a battlefield taxi to pick up squads if the weapons get destroyed. Pretty much anything you want really. It’s damn expensive at more than 200 Points but it’s versatility is it’s strength. You can spend turn 1-2 being a rhino and turn 3-7 destroying 100 Point odd tanks. AV14 + Ramming = carnage. The best advice for raider use is be creative, ride that versatility to the hilt – remember nothing else can transport termies, can assault out of a AV14 transport and have lascannon’s strapped to it. I love mine and routinely field it – but never field your raider alone, take other armor to help create more targets or it will be giant fire magnet if it’s alone and more likely to get destroyed. Admittedly it takes crap loads of shooting – but can be destroyed – especially if it is alone.
Other
Chaos Rhino: Keep em cheap, less than 40 Points is good. Don’t field them in ones or two’s. They have low AV so they can get destroyed easily But if you field enough of them in conjunction with other heavy vehicles then either your opponent wants to shoot the more dangerous stuff – or you just have so damn many he can’t get them all. If keeping your rhino’s moving is essential to your plans I’d grab the extra armor upgrade – otherwise points are better spent on more troops. If your playing a Rhino rush army I’d grab some havoc launchers for the Extra S5 Templates at low price – that should help even things a bit numbers wise between you and your opponents.
Lesser Daemons: an interesting unit – needs to be summoned off of Icons, so no need for it to be on table. It’s got 2 attacks, and a invulnerable save as well as fearless. Against assault marines and the like they are likely to get their warp based arses handed to them, but they have other uses. They are cheapish for a chaos unit, you can summon them anywhere and they count as troops. You can use them to reinforce a unit already in combat or my personal favourite – just drop them into cover near a objective, after all the cover save is likely better than your invulnerable save and can still you invulnerable vs flamers. S4 T4 is still better than guardsmen. You can start trying for a summons on turn 2 requiring a 4+ and it gets easier from there. You can summon them from within a vehicle as long as you have a icon. In all not a stellar unit – but can definitely work in armies built around them. Doesn’t take any force org slots. Arachnid notes you can use these to tie up enemy monstrous creatures and the like - They wouldn't get a armor save against these targets anyway, but are free to use their invulnerable save.
Greater Daemon: WS8 T6 S6 4 wounds – nice, 4+ invulnerable also nice. Fearless… tasty. BUT we need a unit to sacrifice to him so you will lose a champion – on the other hand his high toughness and good save should keep him in combat easily, he has 5 attacks – ample to kill most units with. He ignore saves due to his monstrous creature status but it’s mobility is limited to 6+D6 a turn. If you have a delivery system for this guy and the troops to back him up he can make a seriously good final blow in your opponents army. Counts as a HQ choice in most respects but does not take a force org slot. Arachnid notes that a Chosen squad is a excellent delivery for a greater daemon - you can infiltrate these boys close to enemy lines and them give them a excellent present in the form of greater daemon. Just make sure you keep the champ who bites it cheap.
OK - If you've had the decency to read this wall of text, I'd love to hear what people would like added. Any ideas will be added with full credit, if you're a new player or anyone that loves reading guides, please give me some feedback - what did you like what did you not like and why. Please provide a suggestion if you have improvement - as long as 1 person got some worth from it, it was worth writing - many happy wargaming hours to all!
