There are five options, and theyre of varying levels of usefulness: Two are great, one is OK, the others are trash. The Lord of Skulls is like a less mobile knight that trades access to Chaos Knight Stratagems and rules for the
That they can move through ruin walls and other BREACHABLE terrain as Beasts is a big improvement on their 8th edition lot. All of a ranged weapons attacks must be made against the same target unit. The bigger, meaner cousin of the Death Guard Foetid Blight-Drone. This is a cooler ability in theory than execution. The remaining 7 are covered in Codex: Chaos Space Marines, along with the Book of Fire, which also has rules for another six Renegade chapters and the deranged group of genetically modified madmen that follow Fabius Bile called The Creations of Bile. Now much cheaper thanks to the Imperial Armour Compendium update down in cost from 450 points base to 340 before you take the quad heavy bolters or twin lascannons. If every unit in a detachment has the same Legion keyword, then Legion Traits apply to all INFANTRY (excluding Cultists), BIKERS, HELBRUTES, and CHARACTERS in that detachment. With Daemon Engines and Obliterators being really priced to move in 9th Edition hes an increasingly popular choice, and if you have a strategy thats going in hard on either of these (or still using Possessed) you should almost always take one. Skip giving a Doom Siren to the Champion though; give him a Sonic Blaster. All three of these are good.
There are several powers, relics, and Stratagems which are only available to devotees of a particular Chaos god, and some Legion traits require that your whole army be devoted to a specific god. Again, mostly an OK trade. These rules, though marginal for many other factions, were a major crux of c. 9th editions emphasis on holding objectives and controlling the table put a premium on melee units (good for CSM) and durability (not so good). Sorcerers have a great set of powers to choose from but can be a little fragile, with only 4 wounds and a 3+ save and no invulnerable, theyll die pretty quick if theyre ever caught in the open or forced to fight in melee combat. With 4 attacks each on the charge, Warp Talons are also major beneficiaries of the changes to Death to the False Emperor, particularly in Night Lords, where its very easy to get them a +1 to hit and a charge out of deep strike. Some units in the Chaos Space Marines army Marines, Chosen, Terminators, Bikers, and Raptors can take a Chaos Icon. If you select two, then each time an attack is made with this weapon this phase, subtract 1 from that attacks. Taking one is a great way to spend your last points when youre looking at 25ish points remaining. During the second battle round, the Tactical Doctrine is active for your army. Its not super clear that the hammer + scourge is better than fist + scourge (I personally prefer the higher hit rate and more consistent damage), but having melee brutes be cheaper is a welcome benefit, especially for World Eaters or Creations of Bile Helbrutes. Unfortunately, almost all of the Chaos Space Marine transports are terrible. The BLACK LEGION and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets: The BLACK LEGION and BIKER keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets: The HERETIC ASTARTES and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets: This datasheet has Troops Battlefield Role.
If youre taking them, run Lasher Tendrils they need the extra attacks. If you select both, then each time an attack is made with this weapon this phase, subtract 1 from that attacks, Before selecting targets, select one or two of the profiles below to make attacks with (you can only select one of the plasma gun profiles). Double number of attacks made if target is within half range. Above all though, Obliterators need support. They also explode on 5s, which is great when theyre stuck in with enemy units. This is a surprisingly viable strategy, especially when you can back it up with support from obsec cultists or marines. Scourge of a thousand tables. Chaos Space Marines require more books to play competitively than any other faction, even loyalist marines. As an always-on bonus, this is great, and getting hits instead of attacks is much better.
Basically veteran Chaos Space Marine squads, Chosen have all the issues that CSM squads have, but cost 1 point per model more, get +1 attack and lose out on ObSec by virtue of being Elites. Their only major downside is that they only have 4 base attacks, but they benefit from bothHateful Assaultand the ability to take a pair ofMalefic Talons,which is the way youll want to run them most of the time and gives them +3 attacks. Each time an attack made with this weapon targets a unit within half range, that attack has a Damage characteristic of D6+2. They have the option of a Hades Autocannon or a Baleflamer but at BS 4+ and 5 points cheaper the Baleflamer is the better option. Each time the bearer fights, it makes 1 additional attack with this weapon. Few can withstand their hateful assault. If a Blast weapon targets a unit that has between 6 and 10 models, it always makes a minimum of 3 attacks. They were OK mid-table board control units before and now theyre significantly better. Theres a ton of ground to cover, so rather than try and put it all in one article, weve chosen to put each legion and subfaction into its own section. Each time this weapon is selected to make a shooting attack with, select one of the profiles below to use: In the rare instance that bases prevent an intended target from being Visible to the. Its worth considering other options these days, particularly if youre using Abaddon for full re-rolls. Select one friendly. Melee-focused daemon engines tend to lack the sheer volume of attacks you need, especially while theyre still hitting on a 4+. The belligerency of some Adeptus Astartes machine spirits makes them unyielding foes to face. Emperors Spears Battle Tactic Stratagem, Use this Stratagem before the battle, when you are mustering your army, if every unit in your army has the, Use this Stratagem before the battle, after nominating a model to be your, Use this Stratagem during deployment. Chaos cults foment rebellion and betrayal on thousands of worlds. Ah, the mighty Chaos Cultist. A good Chaos Space Marines army will usually be active in every phase of the game. WithApoplectic Frenzyyou can move squads up 9 before the game starts, moving them into key mid-table terrain features like NOVA Ls to set them up for a turn 1 charge or protect them from enemy fire. Theyve got some value as World Eaters as well, where they can use Apoplectic Furyto make a 9 pregame move, then follow up with a first-turn charge. If youre going to try and make them work, one of your best bets for raptors is to give them the Mark of Slaanesh and an Icon of Excess, turning their 3 attacks on the charge into likely 3-4 hits.
Likewise, build your army with a thought toward how it will score secondaries and which ones it will pick. Give them an Icon of Excess, a single lightning claw, and a ranged weapon and theyll dump out 4 attacks each on the charge, plus an additional 1-2 hits from rolling 5+. This makes protecting your Lord Discordant is a tough prospect, and bringing three of them is way tougher than it used to be in 8th Edition. These fighters secrete a hardening resin through their skin, temporarily toughening their already resilient hides. A bigger, meaner version of the Dreadclaw,but can carry up to 20 INFANTRY models instead (or one helbrute or chaos dreadnought), and mounts the equivalent of 10 missile launchers for some reason. These are particularly good if youre running armies that are heavy on Possessed or Daemon Engines, but are very skippable if not. This article took me three weeks to write and ended up being more like a short novel in length, so theres probablysomethingI missed or didnt get right. Unlike with Khorne Berzerkers, theres not really a lot of compelling reasons to take Noise Marines outside of Emperors Children. Number of attacks = number after weapons type.
Instead, well cover each section with a general discussion of the good units, relics and stratagems, point out any traps, and then discuss how these pieces fit into a competitive army. Like litanies, prayers succeed on a 3+, but this can be improved to a 2+ by spending 10 points on a couple of Dark Disciples, something youre always going to want to do. To be snatched away by Fabius Bile and his creations for experimentation is an altogether nightmarish fate. This is a huge upgrade in value for Dreadclaws, which now give you a relatively inexpensive way to put your units in reserves and drop them on the table turn 1.
Unfortunately, 9th has turned slot filling from a blessing into a terrible curse and simultaneously increased the cost on these models by a significant amount, so theres suddenly not a massive amount of reasons to take these. Each time an attack is made with this weapon, that attack automatically hits the target. Warp Talons had a brief time in the sun following the release of Faith and Fury but since the loss of Specialist Detachments havent had much play. Chaos Space Marine tend to lack good long-range shooting, but they have a number of solid Heavy Support choices, both in terms of options for quality mid-range shooting and strong melee-focused daemon engines. Note that the November 2021 Balance Dataslate limits you to two Flyers in a 2,000 point army. Chaos Terminators are great targets forVeterans of the Long War, and often want to be Slaanesh so they can useEndless Cacophony. Select one, Use this Stratagem during deployment, when you set up a, Before selecting targets, select one or both of the profiles below to make attacks with. Some of these ratings may seem off if youre used to playing against Thousand Sons, who can also use these. Chaos Space Marines have access to a variety of relics; there are those in their codex, which include a set of god-specific relics and a set of legion-specific relics, plus another set of legion-specific relics in The Book of Fire. Lords Discordant are one of, if not the single strongestunits in the Chaos Space Marines army. Models cannot be set up within Engagement Range of enemy models. RIP. Most of the prayers are very good, and give you a lot of utility. Also note that the goal here isnt to provide a comprehensive listing of every unit; well be glossing over those that are so terrible they dont really merit consideration in a competitive list. The downside is that it can now degrade to a 5+ BS and it has that peskyMartial Legacyrule, but overall this is still better. Still generally not the core of most plans, but worth thinking about in some lists. As with the rest of these articles, the idea is not to give an exhaustive review of every unit and option. Unlike their imperial counterparts, Chaos Space Marines have nothing to lose from taking armies that include Chaos Daemons or other chaos legions, including Thousand Sons and Death Guard.
You still probably want the Autocannon most of the time because its cheaper, but the Baleflamer will help you a lot more if youre running Red Corsairs Lords Discordant who can advance and charge.
Its rare to see a Chaos Space Marines list (or even a Chaos list) not packing a Sorcerer or two, though as a unit theyve lost some utility thanks to the changes to psychic powers making them only affect
Thats all upside compared to the prior iteration. The ability to hose your foe in bolter fire while battling toe to toe has proven vital across countless trenches and battlements. Each mortal wound inflicted on a unit causes one model in the unit to lose one wound. A power fist or chain fist will cost you +5 points and is also cheaper, and youll get the best savings on double lightning claw terminators, who are now 5 points cheaper. The presence of these black-clad killers can force any challenger to back down, lest the wrath of the Emperor be visited upon them. Do you think that Imperial space marines are kind of lame? So the question becomes whether 3 wounds, 2+ save, and guaranteed 6 shots with an extra -1 AP are worth 20 points and 1 CP? Thats a bit of a shame because the basic function of Possessed, which is to be a bully melee unit, is something 9th Edition tends to reward, but Possessed mostly dont get there as-is. This means taking fast or deep striking infantry to have ways to Deploy Scramblers across the board, or having a plan for scoring Behind Enemy Lines or Engage on All Fronts, or having amble infantry to either Retrieve Octarius Data or Raise the Banners. Theyre 20pts each for a 2W, T4 3+/5++ model, have a unit-wide random attack characteristic of d3 and hit at a reasonable AP-2, but are hampered by only being D1. If youre not working with something like an untargetable blob of Possessed, the way youre going to get around using this problem is through redundancy and threat saturation that is, taking multiples of your key units such that it is impossible for your opponent to deal with all of them effectively before they can disrupt your opponents plans. When one squad fails, another will take its place. To pick a legion, you replace your
Weve put a load of sample lists into our legion pages, and will add more here in the coming months. The Venomcrawler doesnt benefit from legion traits, but will enjoy the +1 attack from Hateful Assault and gets the benefit of a 5+ invulnerable save and the ability to regain wounds after killing things (in addition to regaining one per turn).