My Tactical article pledge: I am not the greatest player, nor a seal pup. I will endeavor to speak from my experience and always be honest about what is theory and what is play tested. Never will I assume to know better than anyone... unless to call out ego or pretension.

As a few of you know, I've had access to the new Chaos Space Marine codex for a few months now. So with the public release only a few days away I think it is time to give you my initial impressions on this the first codex of 6th edition.

Taken superficially the Chaos Space Marine codex looks like the last codex only re-skinned, but now with dragons. The truth is that this is a very deep codex. It is a codex built with a lot of foresight and I foresee it easily mutating as the 40k meta turns.

The fluffy player (if they actually work at it) will find everything they need to have an effective army of whatever (exception being Night Lords) chaos legion story they want to tell. The key though is accepting the usage of Allies.

The competitive player will find a lot of things to like in this codex mostly with cheap troops and anti-aircraft options. This codex will break the AirCav "dominance" we currently see in tournaments around the country. Take an Quad Gun + Havocs + Dragon + Daemon Princes = Night Scythes of broken dreams.

The disappointing part about the codex is the anti-flyer tools: until the Flyer fever breaks you won't see many variation in lists. By the time players stop taking heavy Flyer lists (thanks to CSM) we could be on to the next shiny codex.

Competitive players will want the quick answers to see if the Chaos Marine codex can break the current meta.

Here is an example of the type of "competitive" list I think you will see out the box.

  • 1 Deamon Prince with Wings and psychic powers
  • 1 Nurgle Lord or Ahirman
  • 1 Terminator Squad of Slaanesh or Tzeentch
  • 1-2 Minimum Squad Size Cultist Units
  • 2-3 Plague Marine or Thousand Son Units
  • 1 Heldrake
  • 1 Havoc Squad with full Flak power
  • 2 Obliterator Squads with Mark of Nurgle
  • Aegis with Quad Gun

 

Taken superficially the Chaos Space Marine codex looks like the last codex only re-skinned, but now with dragons.

The reason you will see this sort of  army is pretty simple. Not only is it effective, it also requires a minimal effort to build.  Most current and past Chaos Space Marines players already have many of the units.

  • Change Long Fangs to Havocs.
  • Convert Cadians to Cultists.
  • Buy one Heldrake
  • Convert Terminators

The real questions is once the Flying armies start showing up op  Ebay, what will be next for the Chaos Space Marine codex?

Well I cannot answer that question without precognition. What I will do is go over some the winners and losers for the 6th Edition Chaos Space Marine Codex.

Winner Chaos Lords

Start at 65 points

Makes Space Marine Cult Units Troops

Access to unlimited number of load-outs

Access to Mounts & Daemon Weapons

Did I mention Cheap

Winner Daemon Princes

Start at 145 points

Wings for 30 points

Up to Mastery Level 3

Extra Special Marks

Ridiculous Stat line

Access to most Wargear

 

Winner Ahirman

230 points

Mastery Level 4

Makes Thousand Sons Troops

 D3 Units can Infiltrate

Can witchfire 3 times a turn

Loser Chosen

18 points each

Over Priced

Lost Infiltrate

Lower Leadership

Not Fearless

Loser Warp Talons

30 points each

No AP 2 weapons

No Options

Over Priced

Loser Hellbrute

105 points

Overpriced

No Smoke Launchers

Less options

Still Crazy

That is just some of the winners and losers found in the new Chaos Space Marine codex. In the coming days we take an in-depth looks at the units and tactics found in this codex. Blood of Kittens will not only take you through everything, but we will look back at the evolution of the Chaos Space Marines.

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Warning

It's Like Tactics is rated theory hammer because these are general observations and assumptions based on only few tested games.