Chaos Space Marine Army Units and Tactics 2.1: Vanilla CSM

Alright, after much badgering and lecturing from Captain Obvious, I decided that my last post on Chaos Troop Choices was WAY TOO HUGE! I realize that often when we visit the blogoshpere, we are often there shortly, so I will break these posts up into 2.1, 2.2 ect. This post will focus on Vanilla CSM.

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"The Renegades" Chaos Space Marines: For all the bad rap they get sometimes, they actually aren't that bad of a deal. For 15 points you get a Space Marine with close combat weapons, a bolter, frag and krak granades and a base leadership of 9. If you take 10 (as you should) they can also either take 1 heavy and 1 special weapon OR 2 special weapons. You also have the option of giving them marks to increase their stats. . My simple rules for Chaos Space Marines are as follows: Never more than 10, never less than 10 (why give up the chance to max out weapons and why be so big that you present a huge foot-slogging target?), always take an Icon (for deepstike control and summoning) and always give them a rhino (mobility makes them deadly with two special weapons and protects teams with heavy weapons while they shoot from across the table.)

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What Icon should I take? Unless you have serious fluff reasons for taking the mark of one of the gods, I would choose the mark of Chaos Glory. The bottom line is that without And They Shall Know No Fear, these are Space Marines that can and will run away from a bad fight. I have had a 10 man unit of Marines marked by Nurgle lose three guys and run off the table and I don't even want to talk about close combat. With that being said, even without an Aspiring Champion, it gives the unit more staying power. Another point to look at is that the Cult units with their Built in marks are better at the jobs they do than a marked unit of CSM.

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What gear should I take? This depends on the kind of army you choose to run. If you want to run your Marines in an 'in your face' kind of army list, you will want to roll with 2 special weapons in each squad (in a rhino, EA or naked). Flamers will help you bust hordes and Meltas will help you bust vehicles, the choice is yours, but for these guys I would leave the plasma at home (melta does the job against creatures and elites without the possible suicide). If you are running up the field, remember the principle of Mutual Support from the first article, this will make your overall assault into the enemy's zone more effective and will keep your units alive and victorious.

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If you are running a more defensive, gunline based Chaos army, remember the principle of Defense in Depth, where your army is deadly from at least 48 inches and gets deadlier as the enemy closes. For this, each squad will need a rhino (bare or with a havoc launcher), a special weapon and a heavy weapon. Specials are on you (flamers are good for the troops coming to get you but Meltas are good for Drop pos dreads). For heavy weapons I would choose the Autocannon or the missile launcher for 10 points. While the missile launcher has higher strength, the autocannon gets two shots. Basically, while your big guns are knocking down their big weapons, your troops have the chance of popping his transorts, making him come to you and making Defense in Depth really work for you. If that appeals to you, then go for the autocannon and if you can afford it put the havoc launcher on the rhino.

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Just remember that you can and will be out-gunlined by true gunline armies like IG and Tau or even gunline SM, so while I can offer my advice, I would rather go for an 'in your face army'.

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Whether you go for the offensive or defensive stance, I recommend taking a champion with a powerfist. While this can be expensive, it will insulate your squads from the threat of drop pod dreads or other nasties that the enemy will invoke to break your squads. It is also a good way of ensuring you win close combats or at least tie them, further protecting you from being run-down. . These are all pretty good rules of thumb whether you run an all vanilla force or if you bak your units up with Cult Marines.