Dark Vengence Chaos Company

[Bacour]

So I'm getting back into the game after.... well let's just say "some time" away.  I'm picking up the Dark Vengence box set for the Chaos collection and the potential Fallen Angel squads.  What I'm wondering, has anyone has tallied up the points cost for the Chaos army included and tried to evaluate it's realistic potential on the table-top?

My best guess using the current and a past Codex for Chaos brings the total to just under 600pts.  This is making some assumptions, obviously, about the Cultists and Brute as well as their load out.  Given the uneven assortment of weapons given the Chosen it seems a strange squad set-up.  The Cultists should be cheap and the weapon loadout seems reasonable but not particularly effective.  I like the idea of the Brute as a Dread with more interesting weapons options.

Again, haven't been playing for sometime.   Any helpful opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[Irisado]

It's not feasible to tally up the points when the codex has yet to be released.  In view of recent trends, you could expect Chaos units to be cheaper, but how much cheaper depends on how effective they are.

Just be patient and wait for the new codex is my advice  .

[Bacour]

I disagree.  I think that using the newest and some of the older codices we can come to a reasonable estimate.  I did state that I was obviously taking some liberties with the tally but it seems appropriate to me.

One of the reasons I made this thread is that I see very little about Chaos Marines being discussed while Daemons have quite a bit of discussion going on for 6th.  I was hoping someone who'd played 6th might be able to shed some light on how effective this type of set-up might be.  CSM get expensive quickly and someone with combined experience  of CSM and Gaurd or LatD might be helpful.

[Irisado]

The reason why you won't see a lot of discussion about Chaos is because most players are waiting for the new codex.  Daemons have received a White Dwarf update, and will clearly not be getting an updated codex any time soon, hence there is a lot more value in discussing their sixth edition tactics and strategies at this time.

Even if you want to run with your points estimate, how are you going to evaluate the potential performance of units whose rules haven't been released?  The Cultists are an unknown quantity, and we don't know what special abilities Chosen and the Chaos Lord will have access to, or what the new rules for the Dreadnought will be.  You can probably be certain that regular Chaos Space Marines won't change very much, if at all, so that gives you some stability to work with, and if you assume that the Cultists will be similar to basic Guardsmen, then that's probably not going to be too far from the mark, but it's still all hypothetical.

I still think that your best bet is to wait for the codex, so that you can post a proper list, and receive better advice.  There are too many unknown factors at the moment to help your properly.

Of course, if you want to post an army list using the current codex just to get some practice in, then by all means do so in the appropriate board, and I'm sure others besides myself will be happy to assist you.

[Thantos]

Lets do a sweep stake Closest guess to what the unmodified box contents WYSIWYG points value is, wins (..a karma point?)

Id say,
Chosen 20x6 + weapon upgrades +champ = 160
Hellbrute +weapons= 165
Cultists 7x20 + weapon upgrades + champions =185
Chaos Lord +Daemonweapon+ PPistol = 130

640pts  (-100 points from my guess if Matt Ward is writing the Chaos codex )

[DEF Knight]

I am reaaaaaally curious about the cultists rules. I don't think they'll be straight forward Guard equivalent. I figure they'll be either weaker than Guard, probably a WS 3 conscript with 6+ save at 4 points a piece but a 14-ish point sergeant, or stronger than Guard weighing in at 7ish points a piece with extra Ld, WS4, flak armour, and some special rule or another. Both probably would have some options for marks/mutations to allow for more elite variants (like guant squads).