Collecting a Chaos Space Marines army
With the latest version of the chaos space marines recently being revealed, I feel that it is necessary to revamp the old hobby guide on how to collect chaos space marines. In this article I hope to give advice on what models would be the best to use and how best to use them on the battlefield.
In the new chaos space marine far greater emphasis has been placed upon the normal marine compared to the previous version which had been focused on characters. The chaos space marine army now focuses on the ability to react to any situation with most units being equipped or with the option to have both combat and shooting ability; also the chaos space marines have the option to become elite rather than being purely elite troops as it once was. Chaos space marine armies as such can really be made to suit any style of game-play but in this article I will only isolate a few in which to discus.
Balanced
This section deals with making an army of semi elite troops that can perform combat and shooting. Its weakness lies in that is somewhat expensive and the different areas may not be used however its strengths are that it can react to any situation and is difficult to steal the initiative off.
This army requires a large amount of lesser troops, normal chaos space marines are perfect for this role (as a rule don't upgrade them, they are expensive enough as it is) and don't upgrade your HQ units to much as this will lessen the main body of your army to much. Other units to consider are: chaos bikers, Terminators, havocs and defilers as these units have ability to perform well in the shooting phase and the combat phase, although some are obviously stronger in specific areas. These are far from the only ways to make a balanced army and there are many other ways, but I think to best capitalise on that which is available these are the best options.
Any elder player will scoff at this section "why would you pay for things you will not use when you can specialise" to this I have many answers (admittedly most of them are baseless insults that are not politically correct) one is that it does not matter if you do not use them because you can pressure the opponent into not making you use them and also makes it easier for you to capitalise on a situation because most of your troops will ultimately be able to do anything. In this the elder though has a point, your troops may be unable to match the strength of units designed for this area, however you still hold one bonus against this, specialist troops will either be in small quantity (as the opponent has to split their forces into troops that can control certain parts of a battle) or focused on one specialty. This gives you the option of either taking out one part of an army at a time, as it is doubtful that any specialist combat unit can take an army of moderates, and performing the time honoured tactic of isolating your opponents; or, to combat an army of specialists counteract them with their weakness, which generally is the opposite, this is the most difficult to achieve as your are generally less able to enact this because of your broad capacity, but it is still viable.
One tactic to consider when playing against an opponent full of assault troops is to make a solid line of forces to assault, made of forces that can work at either shooting or combat and when they reach your lines split into two separate groups at either end of the table and to focus on two small sections of the opponents army so that you can over power this (with some meat to keep the enemy occupied in the centre) this will leave your opponent surrounded with a significantly damaged force and from here you will be able to shoot or assault at your wish.
Against a primarily shooting focused army the best chance your forces is to create a refused flank battlefield in an attempt to cut off some of your opponents shooting capacity and keep some soldiers behind to have a shoot off with the forces that can target you whilst your main body of men advances. Or alternatively you could make a refused flank and over power your opponent in the shooting phase by having all your fire power fighting a section of theirs.
Swift assault
Although the chaos space marine army has become more of a balanced force rather than an assault based army there is some still important availability of a shock assault force, and traditional chaos enthusiast may still enjoy the simple pleasure of butchering an opponent with tooth and claw.
The army is far more elitist than the previous force and makes great use of fast moving units, fortunately these can come in all shapes and sizes because most units can make use of the rhino, which is now even cheaper than before at a miniscule 35 points. Also to make the force even better I suggest also using deep striking units as this will enhance the forces assault, however if many units are taken I suggest taking particularly durable units to start the battle on the board (perhaps nurgle?) as you want to keep alive. Also do not shy away from taking a particularly over equipped leader as the smaller and more combat orientated your force is the better it will be eliminating forces quickly and moving on before the enemy has time to counter attack. To specify which units I would look at personally: chosen, possessed, plague marines, noise marines and khorne berserkers in rhinos; obliterators, raptors, daemons and terminators.
The main strength of this army is to perform the historical role of the space marines, the lightning fast raids. These raids should be focused on areas (again you talk of focusing your forces…) and obliteration before moving out quickly, however if an opponent finds out what you are doing they might be able to counteract this and spread out, this will force you to fight multiple enemies. One way to counteract this is to play bluffs and send out small vanguards of your army to act as relay points for deep-striking units (which means you will need to equip them with unit or personal icons for teleport users or daemons to utilise) and in this way you will keep your opponent constantly under pressure and unable to counterattack as he won't know which way you will strike. One thing to bare in mind however is that you may want to keep your units in reserve waiting for a small amount of time so that you know the fickle gods of luck will not ruin your plan and make only a small number of your units turn up on the board when you make your strike which could cripple you completely.
Missile specialist
Chaos space marines shooting lies mainly in its armour and more elite troops which limits a shooting army normally as it means it is difficult to lay out a fair number of shots a turn and a missile based army will most likely look like a balanced army if made conventionally, however chaos space marine armies can be made shooting based in that their elite units are particularly powerful units that keep on the move, which is a significant difference to usual armies which require you to remain stationary, also chaos armies shooters have weapons that are generally powerful against strong units which means you can take out particularly lethal opponents at long range. To make an army that does this I would look at taking units such as: dreadnoughts, noise marines, thousand sons, havocs, obliterators, predators, vindicators and daemons; also considering combat characters, not too well equipped but plenty if possible.
This army can be used by making a strong line in which the opponent may make a refused flank against and shooting the foe as much as possible and when they get close enough release the combat support (in my mind daemons) and then moving away whilst shooting the units that are not engaged in close combat, once the foe has dealt with your shield they will most likely have to traverse the table once again under a hail of missile fire, which will be enough to demolish most opponents. Alternatively you have the option of holding the position that a certain assault has and simply move into support them with your units as your opponent may be expecting the opposite and chaos space marines in all guises are usually able to hold their own in combat, this is particularly effective against a small number of assaulters with the rest of the opponent elsewhere ready to attack your retreat, or against a broad front attack from your opponent as this means you will be able to shoot them again.
Connor Barker