That’s just not great, and it means that many of your hard-hitting units such as Berserkers and Noise Marines are also pretty fragile. Durability. Your average Chaos Space Marine has Toughness 4, 1 wound, and a 3+ save.
This can lead to some powerful combinations in soup armies, and tends to make up the backbone of strong competitive Chaos lists. Likewise, they share HERETIC ASTARTES with Thousand Sons and Death Guard, though recent changes via FAQ have reigned some of these in, most notably Warptime and Prescience. Cross-Faction Synergies. Because of the DAEMON and keywords, Chaos Space Marines have a lot of interactions with Chaos Daemons, with auras and abilities that can benefit units in both armies.Chaos space marines are also pretty cheap at 14 points per model, giving you a 70-point option with better saves and guns, albeit with only half the wounds. Cheap Troops. Thanks to recent point adjustments, Chaos Cultists are back down to a more sensible 5 points per model, giving CSM armies the ability to fill out troop slots with cheap, action-capable bodies for only 50 points.There’s a ton of versatility at the top of any Chaos Space Marines list. Great HQ/Character Options. Chaos Space Marines have access to some great character options in the form of Daemon Princes, Lords Discordant, Chaos Lords, and Sorcerers, to name a few.It’s very easy to build a Chaos Space Marine army that can wreak absolute havoc once it reaches the enemy. Lords Discordant are absolutely blenders, and Chaos Space Marine daemon vehicles and Helbrutes are also pretty good in this area. Berserkers are one of the game’s best melee units, and Emperor’s Children Terminators are incredibly deadly. Melee Combat. Chaos Space Marines are generally pretty good when it comes to melee combat and only got better when Death to the False Emperor was updated in the November balance Dataslate to work on all enemy units, not just IMPERIUM.Old Re-rolls and no CORE units. Chaos Space Marines haven’t been updated yet, so they don’t have any CORE keywords to worry about and all their character re-rolls just apply to any unit in the army.As a result, Chaos Sorcerers are some very solid units, and they can take Jump Packs. Psychic Powers. Chaos Space Marines have some of the game’s best psychic powers in the Dark Hereticus discipline (though these aren’t quite as good following the June FAQ changes to Prescience and Warptime).
Most recently, after the release of the Balance Dataslate in November 2021 which improved the Death to the False Emperor ability. This was written in November 2020, after the release of Codex: Space Marines for 9th edition, and updated multiple times. This is primarily a review of the units and options that are specific to Chaos Space Marines, but Chaos Space Marines often see play in Chaos Soup armies, and we’ll be covering some of those cases as well.Īs always, a guide like this represents a time and place. Instead, we’ll 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. As a faction, Chaos Space Marines have access to some of the best melee units in the game, including Possessed, Berserkers, and Daemon Princes, and access to some great psychic powers, but tend to fall short when it comes to options for mobility and shooting options and look a lot like glass cannons when it comes to their infantry.Īs with the rest of these articles, the idea is not to give an exhaustive review of every unit and option. Stack Effects With Endless Cacophony and Fury of KhorneĬhaos Space Marines look like Marines, but don’t let that fool you: They lack many of the tricks that Space Marine armies have, with none of the benefits of Doctrines nor the 2-wound resilience and they tend to have less range and shooting prowess.Build Armies that are Difficult to Pick Secondaries Against.