Warhammer 40,000 > Enemies of the Imperium

Best in Codex; Chaos Space Marines

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Arguleon-veq:
I am going to make a series of 'Best in Codex' threads for them to be a handy reference for any players starting a new army or for people looking for something to add to their force. The basic aim is to outline the best option in every slot in the codex.

Special Characters

Whilst not a slot in itself there are a great many special characters in each codex now. For the Chaos Codex this is a tough one as I dont think any are really that game breaking and whilst some are great fighters they dont really add much to your army but here is my choice;

Typhus: You are getting a very durable character in typhus who happens to be the match of most other characters in combat. Couple that with the fact that he unlocks some very other good choices [Plague Marines as Troops and Plague Zombies] you are left with a very effective character who isnt the most expensive you will see either. The thing that pushes him over the line though is that he is also a Lvl2 Psyker and he gets to use one of the better Chaos Lores.

HQ

Chaos Space Marines now get 5 choices for none special character HQ's and whilst some are nice new additions that bring a lot of flavour to the army such as Warpsmiths, I think this option takes it;

Sorcerer: As most of you will know, psychic powers are a huge advantage in this edition of 40K and whilst Chaos Sorcerers can not take arguably the best lore [Divination] they can still choose from two pretty good ones in Biomancy and Telepathy. What really makes the Sorcerer such a fantastic choice is that you can make him a Lvl3 [which will often mean 3 psychic powers a turn] for a measly 110 Points! Something which I think is one of the best bargains in the game. That Lvl3 also gives you a 50% chance of getting the exact power you want from your chosen lore. That is not to say that Chaos Lords are a poor option, they can unluck other Troop Choices and Nurgle Bike Lords and Khorne Jugger Lords are very powerful options.

TROOPS

Now Chaos Space Marines have only two true troop choices so I will only pick from those;

Chaos Space Marines + Chaos Cultists [DRAW]: Neither option here are particularly powerful but they arent terrible either. They both provide fairly cheap numbers for your army and in my eyes it is just a personal choice between 3xthe numbers against 3xthe durability. Not having a terribly effective troop choice isn't so bad for Chaos Space Marines as we can make so many other units into troops.

ELITES

We get a pretty massive 9 elite choices but unfortunatly most are pretty poor. I personally believe that pretty much every choice besides the cult units are pretty poor and even half of those are not fantastic. That leaves me with a choice between Plague Marines and Noise Marines;

Plague Marines: Whilst Noise Marines do get to ignore cover with cheap sonic weaponry they also lose mobility for it and it does them little good against heavily armoured enemies. Plague Marines are fantastic in a fire fight thanks to the ability to take two special weapons even in a 5 strong unit. They fight great in combat thanks to two close combat weapons each including the very dangerous plague knife for poisoned attacks. Couple that with their blight grenades which let them take a charge from enemy units without them getting their extra attacks for charging and their durability [with T5 and Feel No Pain you will find fewer durable units in the game] gives us a very dangerous unit that can march into bolter or special weapon range and simply shrug off return fire and take an enemy charge with little fear. You pay for all of this as they are the most expensive cult option but it is points well invested.

FAST ATTACK

Strangely this is the most stacked slot in the Codex with three very effective units. Chaos Bikers are very cheap for what you get and get even better when given the Mark of Nurgle of Khorne. Spawn are also a great choice now as they are fast, durable and pack a serious punch on the charge the Mark of Nurgle almost making each one a monster in its own right but despite being fantastic [so much so that you will probably want to include at least one of these two units in your army] they dont compare with this;

Helldrake: One of the best flyers in the game right now and flyers are pretty scary for a lot of armies to deal with as it is. They get an invulnerable save, they get to vector strike [which now ignores cover!] it regains hull points, it has a 360 line of sight and the choice of two great weapons. The only thing that is a struggle about taking this option [besides the fact that the official model is a metal dragon....] is what weapon you will give it. The Hades Autocannon is great for dogfights, tank busting and for instant killing the ever present wraiths. The Baleflamer is great against power armour, jinking bikers and hordes of infantry and it doesnt even stop the drake from being effective against other flyers as it can still vector strike them.

HEAVY SUPPORT

Now this is quite a tough one for me as although nothing is amazing they have a few solid choices in Obliterators, Defilers, Forgefiends, Maulerfiends and Havocs;

Obliterators: I am really not sure if this is the best option. I think Oblits edge it though thanks to their versatility and the option of taking the Mark of Nurgle which greatly increases their survivability, no longer will Lascannons instant kill them. They give you efffective fire support without being a pushover in combat and their various weapon options let you choose the right tools for the job.

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So what do you think are the most effective choices in each slot? have an arguement for any I have not included?

Chicop76:
I wouldn't hold my breath the Daemons will lose Etrnal Warrios. The Avatar is a deamon and does not have it. Also chaos dameons and marine daemons since the material has split has been different.

Hopefully I hope they lose it with a reduced cost to the units. Flamers and screamers is still really good and losing eternal warrior is not a big them for them. The biggest impact will be on the codex MCs, but everything else can fuction with out it.

Narric:
You have some interesting Choices. Without playing with one, I don't know how effective a Forgefiend really is, so I'll take what you say with some salt.

I'll give some thought to this myself, and might post my own opinion sometime.

Chicop76:
Forgefiend vs Oblits:

The Forgefield as it self is not really all that great. 4 auto cannon shots on a bs of 3 with a chance to re roll to wound once per game. Against a vehicle not great or troops.

However if you take the Ectoplasma Cannon the unit starts to have bite. You can opt to take two cannons which can slice and dice anything in the game almost. Against vehicles it's not bad. It's basically a plasma cannon with +1 strength. Throw in that it can re roll to wound once a game it can get rid of annoying units and can instant death some.

The problem I see with the above unit it can easily hit 200 points, rather expensive if you ask me. With armour 12 it's not that durable. The +5 invulnerable and ignore shaken and stun helps, but in the end it still dies to glance death or one lucky shot.

I say it has average armour that is great anti not vehicle everything, but vehicle. The problem is although not a glass cannon it is still a wooden cannon. It's the second house on the wolves list.

Now the Oblits. You can easily take 3 for an upgraded Forge Fiends cost, so you can take one vehicle that fires 2 strength 8 plasma cannon shots, or 3 units at tougness 4-5 maybe a better invulnerable save which can fire 3 strength 7 plasma shots with 6 wounds. Not to mention you can deep strike Oblits and they have more versitility in what weapons they can fire. Reason I say this if you space your models right it can only hit 1-2 models, really one model if you space exactly 2" apart in a line which works well with small units like 5 or 6. If playing against a player like that the ability to switch weapons like an assault cannon for example would be helpful, although if said target happens to have a good save I would say that wouldn't be a good choice. Anyway this is why I lost faith in blast weapons and large blast and template weapons hapen to be better.

Now people scream that Oblits not being able to fire the same weapon twice is a limitation. Let's list the weapons shall we.

1. Assault cannon
2. Heavy Flamer
3. Lascannon
4. Multi-Melta
5. Plasma Cannon
6. Twin flamer
7 twin melta
8. Twin plasma gun

Ok let's say you are firing at a target 24" away. Let's see your choices is lascannon or multi melta. If 12" away the muli- melta is the obvious choice. Heck 6" away the twin melta turns into the better choice. How is this a limittation. Anything outside of 24" if you standing still you only can use lascannon shots and I think the plasma cannon. If you have this unit enter via ds or just walk up the board the 24" problem is not really a problem. The other weapon choice my not be the super choice, but it's still a good choice. Darn I can't shoot my lascannons at you and I am forced to used my multi-meltas instead, dumb oblits are so nerfed. Keep in mind not many people are using armour 14 vehicles as much and even armour 13 isn't all that common, Necrons are an excepton which on pen means that they go to being armour 11.

Let us argue if you in flame range. Do I use my heavy flamers or my re roll to wound flamers. Man such limitations. Hope I do not go against the huge number of models that have a save of +4 which would make the differance in which flame weapon to use.

Oh look they have a twin linked plasma rifle, so if I can't use my plasma cannon which weapon now becomes a no brainer. Heck if I am within 12" the rifles now become the better choice. Man I fired those 6 plasma shots last turn now I have to use my three plasma cannons instead to make up for that, or my twin melta which I get less shots, but higher strength and much saver to use.

I see not using the same weapon system twice as a minor annoyance which can be dealt with very easily if you use your noggin. Honestly it's not even a limitation. You have 8 weapons to chose from. What other models does that. Too many vehicles on the field I can deal with that, marines I can deal with that too, swarms no problem got something for that too, terms and MCs you kidding right.

Not going into the marks and powerfist they are super good. With marks they easily become much better. 3 marks are actually good on them. One gives them better toughness, one better invulnerable, and one helps them make sure they get good use of those power fist.

One or two weapon destroyed results the fiend is done. The Oblits not only a range threat, but a close combat threat as well. Those 3 melta shots for some reason didn't take out that tank, I bet those 9 powerfist hits will. Forgefiend is pure range with ok melee and Oblits are both.

Not saying the fiend is crap. I am saying I will go Oblits over the fiend almost every time.

Also the #1 reason that Oblits is aweaome is that when taken with the tallyman they become what I say just retarded. They can easily rack up tallies. Anyone that says a heavy flamer that ignores saves is not scarry clearly never had it happen to them or an Assault cannon that ignores saves. The other tallies are worthless, but getting 20 kills with theses guys included is not hard to do.

Oblits is a no brainer and easily the best Heavy choice.

Arguleon-veq:
I was tempted for Oblits but only if they have MoN and that is a big limitation. As I dont want to be picking units based on what marks they take. I may change it though as it was a close call. Your analysis of the weapons having to change doesnt stack up though. If they are out of 24'' range, which they often are then it is a big drawback. Plasma Cannon or Lascannon isnt great when their primary role in a Chaos army is usually anti tank, something the plasma cannons arent very good at.

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