First Two Games with Chaos Space Marines in the Books

by kunkka

I have gotten two games in with the new Chaos Marine codex and would include my thoughts as part of the ongoing review.

I am not going to provide a battle report just a review of how the games went and what units stood out.

The first was Chaos vs Chaos at 2500 points:

 

My list:

Lord,JP,MoN, Black Mace, Sigil, boon, mb	180
Lord,Death Axe, MoK, Sigil, boon	145
7 Terminators, MoN, 1CF, 1PF, 3CWPN, boon	296
12 CSM 2 melta, Chmp mb/pwr wpn, vet, boon, Mok,wrath	265
10 CSm AC, PG, Vet, Boon,  rhino	220
5 PM' 2 PG, Chmp, boon	160
7 PM 2 FL, Chmp,mb,pf, boon	228
9 Zerks, PP, Chmp (PF), boon	220
3 Oblits, MoN	228
Defiler	195
5 Spawn MoN	180
5 Spawn MoN	180

This was basically a list of almost every viable thing I have painted. My opponents list was similar. It contained:

·         DP, wings, armor, MoN, black mace

·         Khorne lord on juggernaut, ax of fury, sigil,

·         4 10man squads of CSM with various weapons in rhino’s with dirge casters

·         Defiler with 4 CC weapns

·         10 man Korne bike squad with Icon of wrath

·         10 man Terminator squad with Icon of wrath

I don’t think I am forgetting anything.

Game was Kill points, with usual extra points, standard deployment.

Observations:

1.       My MoN lord pwnd the chaos lord due to poor rolling on my opponents part in a large multi unit combat. I was able to use the MoN Spawn and JP on lord to “sling shot” him into a charge after the large bike squad and jugger Lord surged forward. My on foot khorne lord was able to re-roll charge range for 11” with a full zerk squad. The MoN lords ability to wound everything on a 2+ while being T5 with 4++ is hell on wheels. He would be even badder on a bike. Part of the reason he did so well against my opponents Khorne lord was that he was outnumbered 15 to 1 and I was able to make 3 rerolls each fight sub phase…rerolling my 4++ invuls.

2.       The Khorne lord is a weed whacker for just about anything it faces. In the course of our game, though his got pwnd in a challenge, mine killed 7 bikers, 15 marines, and 6 terminators….by himself…he never took a wound.

3.       Spawn with MoN are a standout unit in the codex. They make EXCELLENT lineman. As Beasts they have great speed, fleet, and very likely to get into assault. I totally forgot about rolling for their bonuses in the fight sub phases. T6 just makes the unit even better as it cuts way down on the number of wounds. At T6 they are practically immune to small wpn fire. 30 T6 wounds with a potential 24” charge range really frees up the rest of your army to do as it pleases.

4.       My nurgle marines held up his DP for 4 rounds of combat with their T5, fearless, and FnP...They are still quite good at doing what they do best…surviving. 

5.       Oblits are still good and took out the defiler handily and then went rhino hunting.

6.       In this game I noticed my two regular CSM squads and the terminators really did not do much and were really not needed for the win, surprisingly enough.

In my second game I took a scaled down list of 2000 points similar to the first vs Blood Angels.

Blood Angel List:

·         Chaplain, jp

·         Honor Squad with apothecary

·         10 assault marines 2 melta, fist, combat shield

·         Storm Raven

·         5 LC terminators

·         Death Co dread, with talons

·         Dread in Drop Pod with multi melta

·         2 Tac squads in Drop Pods with multi meltas, meltas

·         Sniper squad

·         Baal Pred with heavy flamers and flame cannon

My list:

Lord, MoN, JP, Blk Mace, Sigil, blight grenades	175
Kharn	160
5 PM, 2pg, mb	155
8 Zerks, icon wrath	172
8 Zerks, icon wrath	172
10 CSM, AC, PG, Rhino, Havoc	212
10 CSM, PG, AC, rhino, Havoc	212
5 Spawn, MoN	180
5 Spawn, MoN	180
Oblit, MoN	76
Oblit, MoN	76
Oblit, MoN	76
Total Points	1846

The mission was Emperor’s Due with short table end deployment (forgot name)

1.       Here again I used the Spawn as offensive lineman, running the zerks oblits,  and csm squads behind them. They function great in this roll. They basically controlled the game starting round two.

2.       Despite the extra distance on deployment they were in CC round two. Again T6 having a big impact on their survivability. This time a rolled on their chart in the fight sub phase and often rolled “roll 2d6 and take the highest” for numbers of attacks. I could not pick up all the dice a couple times and this never happened with Orks…lotsa fun.

3.       I like running the Oblits in 1 man units. MoN ensures 2 wounds in 90% of situations and this allowed me to mix up the weapons. They took out a dred, drop pod, bal pred, no causalities. This way I could use a MM, an assault cannon, and a las cannon in the same turn; always having the right wpn in the right place at right time. They were also easy to hide this way. The fit with the army as they could advance and shoot.

4.       Kharn is an absolute brute. I couldn’t tell you which is better him or the Khorne lord. The lord is a bit more durable with the 4+ invul and T5…but the lord suffers from the occasional demon wpn roll of “1”; which happened to my first opponent twice. Kharn, especially versus marines, is like an autochop with 7 S7 AP2 attacks on the charge. He is generally…7 attacks, 7 hits, 7 dead. He also has the ability to destroy vehicles/dreds with equal viciousness. Kharn killed today: 7 BA marines, 5 LC Terminators (before they even swung), and was homing in on the Storm Raven when we called the game turn 4 as it was the last BA model standing.

5.       Again my two CSM squads did very little. They never got out of the rhino and killed nothing all game…they really did not have to.

Looking to take this information and continue to tweak the list. I plan on attending a 1850 local tournament November 10 at AFK hobbies in Holt MI. Pretty stoked as this will meet my goal of 6 of 6 Tournaments for the year with a fully painted army.

Thanks for the read,

BDS