Chaos Space Marines Units and Tactics 2: Troops

Old School here,

It's time for the second installment of our CSM Units and tactics guide. In this edition we will talk about the most important units in 5th edition: the Troops. I will focus this article on the CSM and the marked Marines. Summoned Daemons will get their own article later.
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One thing I will not do in this article is tell you what troop choices you should run because there are many different reasons to choose your cult whether it be for stomping the enemy or to create a fluff-based warband, so I will stay out of the symantics and stick to the tactics!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"The Tainted" Plague Marines Plague Marines are the rock which an enemy assault will break itself against. T5, Fearless and Feel No Pain along with Blight Grenades and the standard CSM loadout makes them the biggest gearheads in the codex and makes them some of the toughest objective holders in the game.
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Just as I stated in my first article, everything that rates a rhino should have a rhino and Plague Marines are no exception. The rhino is their means of getting across the field and on to an objective without getting whacked by weapons that negate FNP. I recommend taking the rhinos naked or with EA since you will always want to be moving and if you plan to shoot it should be from a firing point.
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What do you get the Marine who has everything? Plague Marines can only take special weapons, but with the bonus of being able to do so in smaller squads. The short answer to the question is that they can excel with each weapon. 2 Meltas will drop Elite infantry, tanks and walkers alike. Flamers will butcher light armoured troops and Plasma will toast Elite infantry, troops and Most monstrous creatures alike without the danger posed to most firers.
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I suggest the Double Plasma or the Double Melta layout, giving the unit a purpose. It really is up to what fills the other roles in your army.
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Other than that, I recommend always giving your champ a powerfist. Yes, I know that is a really expensive guy, but it is key to making these guys really excel: The great thing about Plague Marines is that they are survivable. They can and will put the enemy's units into long, grinding assaults. Adding a powerfist gives your plaguers an answer to harsh units like walkers that can crush plaguers, but it also makes them more survivable agianst troops. By this I mean, between their two natural attacks, the addition of PFs will almost always result in a win for you in CC, making you take less damage each turn and also giving you the chance to run them down without the aid of a Daemon Prince or counter assaulting unit.
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How many do I take? While it may be tempting to take 10 plague Marines, you should save the points. Seven Plaguers are almost always enough to tie up units, defend objective and fulfill any other goals they may have if you are playing them correctly and not sending them to fight walkers and Bloodletters. Take those points and use them on other squads or unit types. And remember, while they are good at playing defense, they are also great at offense, always be moving toward an objective!
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"The Madmen" Khorne Berzerkers Zerks are easily one of the deadliest troop choices in the game. They have 2 attacks base + close combat weapons and the Champ has three. Combine that with grenades and Furious Charge and you have the makings of a dead enemy unit!
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How do we get to the battle? The awesome armor may be tempting when considering using a Land Raider to get your Zerks to the fight, but fight it. The points they cost and the Heavy Support slots they take are much better used to support your Zerks. For Zerks, I recommend as always, taking rhinos to help get you up the field. You will want Extra Armour to ensure that unless you get destroyed or immobilized, you will always be moving forward.
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Crazy, but not Stupid While Zerks are tough, they are not invulnerable. You will need to be smart about how you get them up the field. You can take them up behind other units, like tough Daemon Princes or units of Plague Marines as a counter charging force, or you must really pay attention to Mutual Support when moving up the field and keep in mind that unless you are running behind your rhino wall, you will need to stop the rhino for a full turn in order to get out and charge (this means supporting units need to be used to their max potential to get your Zerks into the action correctly.
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Another method for getting them up the field is to come in 2 waves, the first 2 rhinos move up and stop while another two move up behind them. The first zerks run out and get into the enemies charging range, forcing him to try to assault them and leaving him open to a counter charge with the rest of your zerks and your heavier assault units.
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Nothing worse than a crazy guy with a Giant Fist! Nothing worse for the enemy anyway! While you will be told by some to take a powerweapon on your champ to take advantage of the extra I for Furious Charge, I really recommend you take a fist. This is because Zerks scare the hell out of people and they tend to run at you with walkers and crazy assault units. Krak Grenades won't do the job here and melta bombs aren't rliable enough. A fist, however on a model with 3 base attacks, will help you deal with both Dreads AND those pesky A2 unit out there. They will also help you fight through and durvive more standard combats for the same reasons I mentioned in the Plague Marines section.
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Other than that, you have the option to take up to three plasma pistols in your squads. Take them if you really need them, but I think this kind of firepower is best found elsewhere in the army (where those points will be better spent). I prefer to keep the Zerks alive to do their real job, assault (c'mon, 4 attacks on the charge) and keep my squads cheaper.
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"The Soulless" Thousand Sons My first true Chaos love were the Rubrics and truthfully, I still have a softspot for the 1K Sons! The sons excel at killing everyone's favorite armour, power armour.
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Simple Construction Building a Thousand son squad is fairly straight forward because all rubrics are the same. The question then becomes "How many". I prefer to take them in squads of 9 (including the sorc) mostly due to fluff, but also for the number of dead Marines I can create.
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The Sorceror Commands Every TSons squad is led by an aspiring sorceror who costs a whopping 60 points before giving him a power. What powers do I recommend? There are three that really stand out to me: Doombolt, Wind of Chaos and Bolt of Change. Bolt of change will give your squad the only means of anti-tank you can take in the squad, but for 25 points, a responsible commander should have another means of anti-tank tucked into the army somewhere, making this the least attractive option. Next is Wind of Chaos, which is very expensive, but can also do very well against elite armoured troops AND answers the horde dilema pretty well in close quarters. The only down side is the cost for me. I usually run with Doombolt because it gets me a couple more shots at 24" and compliments the Sons at Rapid Fire range as well. The low cast of DB also makes it attractive so you can add those points back into the army elsewhere.
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Rolling Deep! Another important thing to remember is that if you are hunting Marines, then you will need to run 2 squads side by side. This is because a full squad in rapid fire range will hit an average of 12 times, causing about 6 wounds, killing six marines in the open. If they are cover, which they usually are these days, you will want that extra squad present to help keep the number of dead.
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What about rhinos? Rhinos add so much to the ability of TSons that they are mandatory! This also will allow slow and purposeful to be used to your advantage, allowing them to take troops in the open at 24 inches after disembarking. The first time this happens to an enemy, he will restrict his movements a little more and alter his plan (a chance for him to make mistakes and for you to implement your plan to the fullest). I recommend Extra armour or even Daenomic Possession for the Sons' rhinos as it is very important that they get to shoot the enemy.
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Lastly, I would like to add that Thousand Sons will always struggle against the A5 and A6 hordes because those armies tend to have a high volume of damage output either in the form of shooting or assault, while you will have a much lower volume of shooting and assault (no cc weapons) to deal with their numbers. This leads to a higher chance of failed saves and also to allocating wounds on sorcs. On the other side, you have a good chance (50/50) of surviving deadlier ordnance. Overall, the rest of your army will have to be very good at providing the mutual support needed to keep the Sons effective, I recommend other dedicated assault units nearby in case they get bogged down in CC and to help them push from target to target.
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"The Twisted" Noise Marines
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Finally, we get to the Noise Marines. Noise Marines are great for two purposes, long-range, static fire and mid range mobile small-arms fire.
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Armed for Pleasure! I generally have two layouts for Noise Marines and it depends on what I want them to do. First, there is the Blastmaster and sonic weapons fire-support squad, which is usually 6 Noise Marines (for fluff and in order to afford more squads). This squad is great for being able to sit back in a rhino first turn and deliver S8 AP3 small blasts on the enemy and doing so until it is no longer beneficial, then it can disembark and fire 24 inches, using its rhino to bloch LOS from deadly enemy weapons.
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The blastmaster is expensive, but it is also the key to this unit, delivering harsh stationary weaponry onto the enemy with the small and seldom effective bonus of pinning. The squad is also good standing beside the rhino (if the enemy id standing close enough) to deliver three shots a peice while doing so. I 6 also means that most of the time, the unit will strike first against the enemy. The weakness of the Blastmaster is the fact that it scatters, so always have more dedicated anti-tank units in the army and use the Blastmanster to hunt infantry.
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These squads tend to run expensive so I really leave them Champ-less for the most part as they are meant to hang back and if they assault, it is to support another unit that is in assault already, but if you would like, a powerweapon works just fine. I tend to avois the Doom-Siren in fire-support squads for the counter assault and distance shooting reasons.
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The second kind of squad really only works in Slaanesh themed armies where they will be supported by long range squads. These squads are meant for assault. I give them all sonic weapons in order to always have the option to shoot at 24 inches or to assault after shooting 2 shots. I then use a champ with the doom siren for lightening up the enemy load before assault. These units work very well due to the initiative (unless you fight Eldar) and while I would like to say you should equip the champ with a power weapon to take advantage of the I, I have to say that a powerfist will keep you alive longer due to the threat of enemy walkers and MCs. I also tend to take these squads in units of 10 to make the most of their offensive abilities and to keep them alive longer.
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Maybe you noticed the fact that I tend to use the sacred numbers in my cult troops. That is because in games of 1500 points or more, most of the cult units are at their best efficiency when at those numbers, TSons for killyness and survivability, Plaguers for pointscost and survivability, Zerks for Assault power and the ability to get enough living Zerks to the fight and Noise Marines to match the killing power of their counter parts while keeping the points cost down.
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You can explore this yourself. You may notice that by the time you kit them out, most units will match the cost of a fully-geared and transported vanilla CSM squad (except the TSons when taking expensive powers). The added bonus is the cool-factor of keeping the favor of the Dark Gods!
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Playing nicely with others Unless you are bent on your fluff, it can sometimes be beneficial to take a force that mixes cult troops. Vanilla CSM can surely benefit from taking a unit or two of Zerks for assault power or Plague Marines for objective holding ect. Zerks and Plaguers are very good together (Plaguers tie up combat while zerks come in and charge the combat). The possibilities are endless, so find your flavor and make it your own, but remember the Principles of Mutual Support, Mobility and Defense in Depth, Take it or leave it, happy hunting heretics. Feel free to comment.